LABYRINTH | Scarlett Johansson x Daughter

5 | empty bottles.

Maybe I should feel embarrassed by the fact I had a panic attack in front of a woman I've only met twice, but for the first time in my sixteen years of being on this earth, I feel comforted like never before.

It makes me a little sad to think about, knowing I could have had this my whole life, but the feeling of being held in the arms of my biological mother for the first time is a feeling unparalleled to any another. It outweighs that sadness.

With my head slumped against her shoulder, completely worn out, she has her arms wrapped firmly around my body. My eyes are closed, breathing deeply as I'm still calming down.

"I'm sorry if I've ruined it," I mumble.

"You haven't ruined anything, Kenzie. You don't have to apologise," she says, rubbing a reassuring hand on my back.

"Are you sure? I know I can be really high maintenance sometimes and I'm a lot to deal with and I understand if you don't want to see me again," I admit, lifting my head from her shoulder and focusing my gaze on my feet that are still dangling from the bathroom counter.

"Hey, of course I still want to see you," she states, lifting my chin up gently with her hand. "You had a panic attack, Kenz. That's not your fault."

"Still," I bring my shoulder up to my ears before relaxing them with a sigh. "No, no 'still'. It's not your fault," she repeats herself, quirking an eyebrow.
I manage a subtle nod.

"Now, do you want to finish breakfast?"

I turn my head toward the bathroom door and take a moment to contemplate. I would much rather not cut my time short with Scarlett, but I think being around that many people and that much noise might just send me into another panic attack.

"I want to, but it's really loud."

"Okay, that's okay. We can find someplace else? Somewhere quieter?" She suggests.

"Like where?"

"You were reading when I came in here, you like to read?"

"Yeah," I mumble, nodding.

"Okay. Well maybe, if you'd like we could go to a bookstore? Or if you'd rather not be around people we could go for a drive? What would you like to do?"

"We could go to a bookstore," I agree, a hopeful smile resting on my lips.
"Alright then," she returns the smile. "Wait here, I'll be back in a second."

It's stupid that the moment she leaves the bathroom, my mind tries to convince me she's not going to come back, despite the plans we just made.

I jump down from the counter and turn to look in the mirror, only to realise the absolute mess of my face. The mascara is down my cheeks and my eyes and nose are a light shade of red from all the crying.
In attempt to clean up a little, I reach for another paper hand towel.

"Hey, I've got makeup wipes," Scarlett announces, coming back into the bathroom with her purse, and my bag.

"Oh, thank you," I half-heartedly chuckle and take them from her.

After cleaning myself up, Scarlett takes my headphones out. "It's still quite loud out there. Do you want to put these on until we get to my car?"

"I don't want to be rude," I shrug, feeling awful about my inability to cope today. "You're not being rude, I understand," she assures me, her lips curling into a gentle smile.

Agreeing that it's probably a good idea, Scarlett places my headphones over my ears and I take my bag from her, pulling it onto my shoulder.

I follow her out of the bathroom and as we go to walk out the café, the now dark red haired waitress is cleaning up our table and waves me a goodbye after her eyes glance around the room and stop at me.