𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐁𝐈𝐃

𝐎𝐍𝐄 ✩ stranger danger

angel flicked her white lighter and held the flame to a stick of her favorite incense — dragon's blood.  she watched as the incense caught aflame, the fire slowly trailing down and engulfing the entire end of the stick. she puckered her lips to form an O shape and gently blew the fire out, allowing the end of the incense to burn evenly. quickly after, she cracked open the nearest window so the stagnant energy could escape, and then closed her eyes to meditate.

she pushed away any and every intruding thought that dared to invade her mind; what she truly needed at the moment was peace and quiet from within. it'd been an extremely draining week and the last thing she needed was excess thoughts and worries to crowd her head. but, before she could get deep into the meditation, she was interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing.  she took a deep breath in and out before opening her eyes to see the screen.

she frowned once she saw who was calling.

she debated whether or not to answer the call, but ended up deciding to answer anyways. she didn't have much to say to jade, but she wanted to try to hear her out. she pressed the green button on the screen and put the phone on speaker and closed her eyes once again, keeping quiet and letting jade be the first to speak.

angel heard sniffling from the other end of the line, then took another deep breath to release the irritation that was starting to build inside of her. "i know i'm bothering you, but i just need to express how sorry i am." jade's voice cracked over the phone. her sadness sounded real, but to angel, it seemed like she was putting on a performance still. "i know i should've been there for you when you heard what happened to —"

"you said this already." angel interrupted her. angel didn't answer the call to hear the same sob story twice. she was hoping for jade to have gotten herself together and apologize without all the theatrics.

jade was a great actress, and everyone knew this, but it wasn't always easy to tell when she was putting on a show. since angel spent a few years living with her a long time ago, it was easier for angel to deduct when she was acting and when she was being genuine. a lot of the time, jade would do a mix between the two — express true emotions, but amplify it to get an emotional response out of people. unfortunately, for jade, angel had enough experience to know when someone was being manipulative.

jade sighed, realizing the performance wasn't going to work. "i miss you, a lot." jade admitted truthfully.

"i miss you too.  but.. i trusted you, y'know?" angel's stomach dropped; a mix of emotions swirling around in her stomach. she hated being upset at her best friend, but she hated the fact that she couldn't trust her even more.

"i know." jade said quietly.

"i trusted you with my life." angel opened her eyes to examine the smoke emitting from the burning incense; she observed it's chaotic flow of waves and swirls as the smoke lost it's form, indicating the unstable energy in the room.

"you can trust me with your life."

angel couldn't keep herself from chuckling at the statement.

"i wanted to defend you... it just looks really bad, angel.  really bad. how would that make me look?  you know how serious this is. and, you know... your past..."

"why the fuck would i kill red?" angel got straight to the point, her voice low, but stern.  "it wouldn't make any fucking sense for me to have killed red."

angel would have never done anything to hurt red — she was in love with her. if it weren't for red, angel would have given up on the thought of romance. red was proof that there was still true love in the world.