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𓆩♡𓆪
"Shouldn't you two be in school?"
"Mom?"
"Yes. It's Monday. Why aren't you in school?"
Melissa Waller did not fit in the house anymore, her pant suits and pager and briefcase and worry lines no longer worked in the home, her whole presence brought a sense of uneasiness to the teenagers sprawled on the sofa watching Shawshank Redemption.
"Well, it's Monday the third of October." Wren told her softly, heart fluttering with nerves.
"And?"
"Dad's first imprisonment."
"We stay home and watch famous prison movies." Robin chimed in bitterly.
"Like some kind of joke?"
"No, I mean- not like that, it's just-." Wren stammered, shrinking under her mother's strange gaze. "No. Not a joke."
"I'm grabbing some stuff, I've got a trip to the firm in Canada for two weeks. So I'll leave some cash okay? And the two of you get up and go to school." Melissa instructed, heels clicking on the wooden floor as she walked into the kitchen, already on her phone again.
"We don't go to school on Monday 3rd of October, Mom." Robin shook his head stubbornly and Wren sank into the blankets, wishing herself anywhere but there.
"I don't care what silly tradition this is for you two, you need an education and you can't slack off and watch movies all day just because you want to." Melissa scolded from the kitchen.
"What do you care, you're going to fucking Canada anyway." Robin didn't mutter his insults like his sister, but spoke them clear and loud.
"Don't swear at me, Robin. I am your mother and you need to start showing some respect. By the time I'm packed, I expect you two out of the house and in school."
"What the fuck." Wren whispered but the two complied angrily and dragged themselves out of the heaps of blankets, the dogs following them upstairs. Every single fiber of her body wanted her to stop and turn around and say something and sit back down and watch Andy Dufresne tunnel out of prison and block her mother out of her life. The only thing stopping her was the hope she might one day be a mother and not Melissa Waller, lawyer and absent parent figure.
"Scotty's." Robin mumbled around the cigarette he was lighting.
"Luke's."
"Meet back for Green Mile?"
"Half and hour."
"Bye Wrennie."
"Bye Robin."
"Hey, don't I get a goodbye? I'll be gone for two weeks!" Melissa called out, walking into the hallway with a duffel bag in her hand.
"See ya." Robin waved, pushing the dogs back as he opened the door.
"Yeah, have fun." Wren all but whispered, lighting her own cigarette and walking out, petting the dogs and telling them to stay, before heading right for the diner. Luke knew the minute she walked in that it was not the time for scolding her. It was her eyes, sad like her father's.
"Hey Wren, you okay?"
"Mom's home."
"Really?"
"Well, to pack. Canada. Two weeks."
"Oh. She interrupt?"
"Yeah."
"How far did you get?"
"Only to Shawshank." Wren mumbled, muffled by her hoodie as she lay her head on her arms at the counter.
"Donut on the house."
"Thanks Luke."
𓆩♡𓆪
"You weren't in school today."
"Aren't you a fucking genius?" Wren whispered, Snoopy pawing at her leg for the stick trapped beneath her knee.
"Ooh, snappy." Jess teased, standing over her as she lay on the bridge, eyes shut. He noticed immediately the faint tear marks on her cheeks. Copper hounded him until he pet the dog's head and he lowered himself, sitting next to her silently. "You okay?"
"I don't want to tell you." Wren whispered, and she swallowed more tears. Jess would not be the same person to her if her knew about her family.
"Ok."
"Tell me about Hemingway again."
"I don't know that much about him."
"Anything."
"Shakespeare?"
"Go for it."
𓆩♡𓆪
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