Flame & Flood (Marellinh Kotlc)

«03» in which they say goodbye

Tam

I clutched the back of my head in my hands, the sudden pain shocking me.

"Tam, I'm so, so sorry! I didn't know the door would do that- I-I swear! It must've been the storm-"

I Looked up at Sophie, only taking one hand away from my hair. "It's alright Sophie. I know you didn't mean too."

When I came back home early from my date with Biana, I met Sophie in the driveway and she had walked in through the door first. Unfortunately, the wind blew it shut straight into the back of my head before I could go in.

Linh and a small, blonde girl rushed down the stairs.

Is that Marella Redek?

I didn't think Linh was the type of person to be hanging out with the gossip queen of Foxfire. I hope she's not bad news, Linh can trust people easily. No one hurts my sister.

"Tam? What's wrong, are you okay?" Linh put her hand on my shoulder with a worried expression.

"Yeah, I'm good. We- uhh- I decided to go home early because of the weather." I glared cautiously at Marella.

Sophie nodded in agreement. "Edaline sent me to go home with Marella. Sorry, we have to go. Hey! What happened to your eyeshadow??"

Marella glanced at Linh and smiled wide. "Um. Flour."

"Flour? Oh, the cookies." Sophie smiled. "Would you mind if we take some before we go? They smell really good."

Linh raced over to the kitchen bench and took a couple of cookies and put them in a container for Sophie and Marella. Only now did I notice the splotches of flour coating Marella's clothes as well as Linh's face. The aroma of fresh cooking filled my nose.

"Here. I'll see you two at school?" She handed the baked goods over.

"Yeah."

I waited for Linh to give Sophie and Marella a quick squeeze and left before I questioned Linh about her new 'friend'.

"Marella Redek? Infamous gossip queen of Foxfire?"

My question earned an eye-roll from her. "She's not infamous. Marella's nice. You can't always judge people before you meet them, Tam."

You can't always trust people so easily. "Alright then, but just be careful."

"Don't worry about me, Tammy. How was your date?"

"Everything was going great. Que the terrifying thunder and lightning. Postponed next weekend." I grabbed one of Linh's cookies and slumped down on the couch, trying to eat away my denial and sorrows. I was looking forward to today. "These are good cookies."

My sister sat down next to me. "Oh, Tam. You can look forward to it next weekend, though! And you can still see her at school."

I smiled at Linh's attempt to comfort me. She could always make people feel better, regardless of the situation. That's one of the reasons why I love her so much. "Thanks."

Marella

The city streets were crowded as people rushed to get home and safe from the terrible weather, that had only escalated horribly in the past 30 minutes. Unfortunately for us, this meant that there was a large traffic jam blocking us from getting home. The cars steadily moved along as thunder cracked and lightning broke through the large grey clouds accumulating in the sky. The windshield wipers continued once again to work overtime as rain pummeled down.

"What do you think of Linh?" Sophie asked me.

I thought for a moment, staring at the glow of the headlights from the cars around us. There was a constant honking of car horns.  "She's cool. I like her hair."

I think I like more than her hair, actually. Her smile and personality are very... bright. I hope we can be good friends.

"Here I'll give you her number." As she entered the silver-haired girl's number into my phone, the cars along the highway started to move faster.

"Oh my lord, finally!" Sophie gave back my phone and started driving once more.

Linh
Inactive

Hey:)
Its Marella
Soph gave me ur number
3:34 pm

I stared at the word 'inactive' below her name.

~~~ 

Linh

I lay on my bed, listening to the sounds of the storm outside. I pull out my phone to check my messages.  I hadn't been on my phone in a while.

Unknown Number
Recently Active

Hey:)
Its Marella
Soph gave me ur number
3:34 pm

Hii
Wanna call?
9:17 pm

I'm curious to know more about Marella, regardless of what Tam says. I like her and I wanna talk to her.

Incoming call from Marella:)

~~~

I'm not sure how long we talked, or when finally we decided that it was time for us to sleep. We spoke about a lot of things. About life at the moment, school, favorite things, old memories, and so on. I enjoy hearing her voice, she's easy to talk to. I didn't overshare though, as I promised Tam that I would be careful about trusting her. I don't think have anything to worry about, I think we'll be good friends.

Call ended. Lasted 1 hour and 26 minutes.