incandescent

v

lorelai sinclair
october 26th 2023
manhattan, nyc

╰➤ ❝𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐥𝐞.❞
☽༓･*˚⁺‧⁺˚*･༓ ‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾

𝐈𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐀 𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐄 album to define you, what would it be?

Mine would probably be "Superache." As much as I love T-Swizzle and Reputation, Conan Gray really hit close to home with "Family Line." I chuckled dryly as I looked at the notification on my phone. It was unbelievable, really. After all this time, Lena decided to call? Normally, I would've been happy. But I was just pissed.

It had been an entire decade of me ignoring and moving on from my family. I was living my best life.

As crazy as it sounds, I won't deny that I didn't miss them. After all, they were my blood. Like Conan said, "I truly am my parents' child." I couldn't be like them. I wouldn't. I can't block out the good moments we had as a family, albeit they were rare. Like the movie nights we had. Or the beach trips. Lena and I were closer back then, because all we had was each other.

I would do anything for her. It was my job. She had called me 4 times already, telling me to pick up. Calling her back, she picked up on the first ring.

"Lena?" I held my breath, incredulous that it took all this time for her to call back.

"Rory. Rory, I'm in trouble," the sound of deafening club music drowned her out. I could hear teenagers in the background, shouting and likely high.

"Lena, where are you?" The second she was in trouble, my mom instincts kicked in. She was 19 now, practically an adult. I always told myself to call or text her, reach out to her and tell her happy birthday, but I always told myself next year. Now she was 24, and I missed out on her entire teen years. Knowing how she gravitated towards parties when we were younger, this wasn't her first rodeo with drugs and alcohol. But it was my job to be worried about her.

"What?" She shouted, slurring.

"I said where are you?" I paced around the room, and Blair knocked on my door.

"I'm at Tate's cabin! Whoo!" It was like the world stopped spinning. I hadn't heard that name since college. He was a fever dream.

What was my extremely drunk sister doing at my ex's cabin?

"Oh my god. Lena, listen to me. You need to sober up. Drink water and stay away from Tate, you hear me?" I sternly snapped. She laughed humorlessly, startling me.

"What, so now you care about me?" She spat.

"Don't." I wasn't going to argue with her.

"Whatever, Rory. There's no point. You're just gonna leave, like you always do." Instead of coming off as angry, she was melancholy. Great. The first conversation we had in so long, and it turns out exactly the opposite of how I wanted it to be.

"Why'd you call? Are you really in trouble?"

"Yeah, I need money. I got caught up in some shit. My boyfriend will be so mad if he figured out what I did."