Silver Lining [Mick Schumacher]

Selfish

"Don't know why I looked the other way
I wanted you to change
I shouldn't love you, but I couldn't help it
I always knew that you were too damn selfish."
Selfish; Madison Beer

-

Hestia made a decision to put Alistair's words to heart and concentrate more on her well-being, at least for a few days. She chose to do something she'd been meaning to do for a while: cultivate her garden. She wasn't sure how long she would live here, but why not make it pretty while it lasted?

Yet, some questions were nibbling her brain, not allowing her to rest. One of them was about the cultural center that had been closed for some time and whose fate was in the hands of the mayor. It was an odd situation, to say at least. Mick revealed that people lost interest, but that wasn't entirely true. When she chitchatted with the locals, it turned out that not only were they against the decision to close the center, but they did miss it. It didn't take long till Hestia started creating a plan in her head as a thank you to a little town that treated her more like a home than the city she was born in.

The other question was much less laughable. And - what a shocker - it was about a certain German driver, who should be paying rent for being in her mind too frequently. Who are we to each other? A five million dollar question. The answer was painfully easy yet difficult. She could feel that her heart was holding on to the very last threads before it would be his. Yet, there was some kind of invisible barrier. Something was keeping them from burning the last bridge of friendship.

He was making her feel less alone, which she adored and despised at the same time. At some point, she would do something to hurt him because that was what she always did: hurting the ones she loved. Or he would hurt her by desiring more than she would be able to give. One way or another, this was destined to end up as a failure. And if there was someone who didn't deserve such heartbreak, it was Mick. Therefore she decided to stay away from him, at least for a few days. To think about what to do next.

"Hi, Hestie Bestie," Hestia was about to pick up a particularly heavy box when a voice tinted with a French accent spoke up behind her. She glanced up from beneath her buckle hat, "let me help you with that," Esteban gentlemanly offered, and before Hestia could throw feminism at him, he was already holding the box in his arms.

"Hey, Estie, thank you," she smiled at him, not expecting to see the Frenchman around, let alone talking to her. He was Mick's best friend, but that didn't automatically make him hers as well, "put it next to the other boxes please," she pointed at the heap by the bush.

"Gladly. What are you up to?" Esteban curiously asked while carrying the box, Hestia walking next to him to have things under control.

"Turning this," she motioned with her hands, "into a Zen garden...of some sort. I don't know for how long I will be here but since I am, I want to make it feel like home."

Esteban nodded in understanding, but a pending question didn't let him move on. Like any other sane person, he realized something - or rather someone - was missing, "why is Mick not helping you?"

"He doesn't know," Hestia answered truthfully. She didn't feel obligated to tell him about every single move of hers. He had his own life, after all.

Esteban's face formed a frown, "did something happen between you?"

Hestia fought the urge to scoff. Why is it that when two people are not glued to one another for twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, it automatically means they despise each other with passion? Who came up with such ridiculous stupidity? In which book is it written? "No, of course not. I just wanted some me-time, you know. We are not forced to do everything together. We are not Siamese twins."