Fall Into Me

.VII.

Mona woke slowly, hearing the soft movements of Minerva as she went through her morning routine. The gentle rustle of fabric as she rose from the bed, the soft clunk of the glass hitting the wooden nightstand. Determined to stay asleep, she burrowed further beneath the duvet.

Some time passed, Mona drifting in and out of sleep until finally, the bed shifted gently.

"I know you're awake," Minerva said, voice light and playful.

"You don't know shit," Mona grumbled, digging herself deeper under the duvet. Vaguely she recalled Minerva suggesting a walk this morning so they could talk about some things, but the last thing Mona wanted to do was walk and talk.

Her emotions had been everywhere since this had begun, and she didn't trust herself to not cry. Again. She despised crying, especially in front of people and all she'd done lately was cry in front of Minerva.

"I've made you a coffee," Minerva tempted, "I even added the amaretto syrup you like."

Mona scrambled up from her spot, "gimme," she reached for the mug that Minerva held out for her. Minerva laughed a little.

"You're a coffee fiend," she commented.

"We all have our vices," Mona mumbled as she sipped the drink, "be glad mine ain't drugs."

Minerva hummed and stood from the bed.

"I brought you up some pastries from the kitchen."

Mona went to speak, mood souring, but Minerva cut her off quickly.

"You don't have to eat them. You've had a rough few days emotionally, so I only did it because I thought you might not wish to be around anyone this morning."

Mona felt her eyes prickle and looked down at her coffee. No one cared about her like this, and she couldn't figure out if Minerva was acting or not.

"You being serious?" She asked quietly.

"I am," Minerva replied. "This is one of the things I wanted to talk to you about on our walk. But I won't dig into it now.  Drink your coffee, eat or don't eat, get ready, then come and meet me in the main house. I'll text you to let you know where I am."

With that, Minerva was gone, leaving Mona sniffling over her coffee. It wasn't fair how she kept bursting into tears every time Minerva treated her nicely. Mona couldn't even blame Minerva for it because it wasn't her fault that Mona was getting so emotional all the time.

Maybe her period was due, as irregular as it was, she would get overly emotional whenever it was near. Then again, maybe it was because for the first time in years someone was treating her like a human being, allowing her to have her emotions, and was borderline working through them with her.

Swiping at her eyes, Mona swallowed down the coffee. Minerva had made it ready to drink, which was a nice change from Mona burning her mouth trying to figure out if her coffee was the right temperature or not. Getting out of bed, Mona went into the bathroom for a quick shower, only noticing now that Minerva was right.

There was no tub in here. The fact Minerva had remembered that, and pushed it so hard made Mona warm inside. As she washed her hair, Mona wondered if she should tell Minerva why she hated baths. Quickly she decided not to. She wasn't ready to share that trauma, and she still wasn't completely set on Minerva and her intentions.

Mona didn't know if she was being nice for the sake of it, if it was practise for when they were in public, or if she was genuinely like that. Minerva was so good at acting that Mona just couldn't tell. Hopefully they could sort it out in their conversation, because Mona didn't know if she could keep this emotional roller coaster up for a whole year.