you're just as far in as you'll ever be out

the time for being sad is over

Alana woke up in an absolute haze.

She carefully sat up in bed and glanced around Danielle's bedroom, trying to figure out how the hell she got there in the first place. The previous night was a total blur. All she remembered was storming out after getting into another fight with her mother. The rest was unclear.

"Ugh," Alana groaned as she rolled out of bed and rifled through Danielle's closet for something to wear. It was gross being in the same close as the night before.

After settling on some sweatpants and a t-shirt that lacked holes, Alana tiptoed down the stairs and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Morning," she mumbled to Danielle, who was slumped over the island glancing at her phone.

"Afternoon," Danielle corrected dryly, gesturing to the clock on the stove. It was almost one.

"Oh." Alana yawned and sat down on the stool, resting her head on the counter and sighing heavily. "What did we do last night? I feel like death."

Danielle went to take a sip of her coffee but stopped to stare at her sister in disbelief.

Alana looked up when Danielle didn't answer. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"We didn't do anything," Danielle began. "You did this to yourself."

"Did what?" Alana asked in annoyance. "I don't even remember how I got here!"

"Are you kidding?" Danielle stood up straight and crossed her arms. "Lucy brought you home from the bar. You should probably call and apologize to her. You were such a bitch last night."

Alana bit her lip and frowned. "But I don't remember anything," she protested sadly, trying desperately to piece together what happened.

"I can't help you there," Danielle whispered sympathetically. "Mom called and said the two of you got into a fight and you stormed out."

"Yeah..."

Danielle sighed. "What do you two keep fighting about?"

"It's nothing," Alana said dismissively.

"It has to be something."

"Stoppppp," Alana groaned. "Stop interrogating me while it feels like there's five elephants sitting on my head."

Normally Danielle wouldn't let it go, but she had so many other things on her mind that she gave in with a slight eye roll and checked her phone again. She sent another text to Este and tried not to lose it when she saw Este had read all eight of her other texts and chose to flat out ignore her.

It's like her older sister purposely turned on her read receipts to drive her crazy.

"Can you make me something greasy?" Alana requested with a cute smile, whimpering when Danielle ignored her. "Hello? D? Danielle!"

Danielle looked up. "What?" she snapped, checking her phone. Este had read the newest message two minutes ago. "No. I'm not in the mood. I'll drive you home."

"What? Why?" Alana pouted. "I don't want to go home."

"I don't have time for this, okay?" Danielle stressed, her voice an octave higher than it normally was. "Just go home. I have so much to do."

Alana slumped in her seat and stared at the floor. "I'm sorry if I said something mean to you last night. I honestly don't remember."

"Yeah, because you were stupid enough to get shitfaced while on anxiety medication," Danielle pointed out angrily. "Honestly, Alana, what if something happened? Huh? What if..."