"Why don't you just go eat over there?" Natalia says bitterly.
Looking back down at Natalia, Aria frowns. "Because I don't want to eat over there. Duh." She ruffles her friend's hair again, pressing an amused kiss to her forehead. "Someone got up on the wrong side of Ryan, this morning."
Stabbing at her salad, Natalia rolls her eyes. "What's your excuse, wake up on the wrong side of the corner?" Natalia smirks, taking a bite of salad. She is about to pass over the tempura, but decides to humor Cassis and eat it.
"Natalia.." Cassis starts, looking at the senior uncertainly, not knowing how she will react. The blonde shifts slightly, tensing as she eyes Desman's face.
Aria freezes, her eyes on the halted chopsticks halfway to her mouth. All of a sudden, the piece of neatly cut salmon sashimi fails to look appetizing
She doesn't know. Let it be.
However, Aria can't just carry on after Natalia's comment. Slipping behind her dangerous, blank mask, she sets her food down beside her.
"Fuck you."
Without further adieu, Desman slips off of the table, grabs her black cardigan, and stalks off towards the door.
"Desman-" Cassis pleads, but the senior is out the door, slamming it shut behind her.
The senior's boots collide with the hard floors of the school's hallways, echoing down the vast space. The noise follows her up the staircase, up the second set of stairs, and onto the roof.The teachers who spot her don't bother stopping her, knowing she just needs to be up there, sometimes. That, and they know it's better not to provoke her in one of her moods.
The cool September air calms the girl's heavy heart, slowing the angry fire to a dull, burning ember. Aria stands tall on the roof, taking in the sight before her. The sun, high up in its afternoon perch, envelopes the rows and rows of average-looking houses with its light. The forests of British Columbia are ever present, even in the urban neighbourhood.
The ground, a couple of stories below, is grey and hard. Aria steps closer to the edge. Her eyelids close, covering the brown beneath, and her hands lie loose at her sides, relaxed. Aria inhales deeply, letting the scent of soon-to-fall leaves wash over her, letting it calm her emotions.
Opening her eyes, the dark-haired girl sweeps her gaze over the houses below. Past them, on the east side of town, she can see her best friend's mansion, and beyond that, the water. It is a castle, really; Cassis is part of the British royal family, though distantly. Basically, if a whole lot of people died, she could actually inherit the throne to the British Empire.
But that would take a lot of deaths to happen.
Aria takes another deep, slow breath, her gaze drifting over to the west, where the less desirable houses are. Little old things that are ready to be knocked over. Small, unkempt lawns and scrawny backyards. Few streetlamps. Graffiti.
The trailer park.
Aria wonders, vaguely, if the student body would think differently of her if they knew where she lived. If they knew that she was an accident of intoxication, drugs, and the need for a dollar. Her best friend knows, of course; they've been friends since they were little dancers. But that's Cassis for you. She'll go on a hunch, and if it's a good hunch, she'll love you anyway.
Though, their opinions wouldn't matter much to the senior dancer. Most of the school already thinks of her as a promiscuous slacker. She likes it that way. She likes having an image to mask herself with. It makes her feel safer. Aria cares, however, what her two best friends think of her. It hurts her to think that Natalia would judge a woman by her sexually-inclined occupation... when Aria's own mother is a stripper.
Once her anger and hurt over Natalia's comment has more or less been controlled, Aria returns to the dance studio, intending to ditch class, wanting to avoid the other brunette. She doesn't want to answer her questions, and she doesn't want to talk about her home life. Definitely not her home life.
Desman opens the door to Cassis' office within the studio, and she and the blonde both halt, face to face.
"Hi."
"I'm going to work," Aria says shortly, slinking past without looking at the blonde, sparing only a short glance at Natalia. She grabs her bag from the floor and her food, then is out the door again.
Aria knows she's likely hurting Natalia, acting like this, but she doesn't care. She just wants to get out of here, away from Natalia and her unintentionally hurtful words.
Though the two friends-with-benefits came to school together, they did so in separate vehicles. With her fingers stuffed into the front pockets of her skinny jeans, Aria makes her way across the parking lot to her old, used, red car. The paint is chipped in places, and the vehicle is nothing special. It's a sturdy little thing, but it's nothing to really be proud of.
But that doesn't stop her from loving it.
Desman jams her car keys into the lock and turns, letting herself in after the old fashioned click. She checks herself over in the mirror before starting the engine. She pulls out carefully, but confidently; Aria drives well. Despite its tattered state, she looks after her red car, as it is her transportation to her freedom from the hellhole that is her home.
The senior pulls onto the highway, driving confidently towards the nearby U.S.A. border. When she was about twelve, the dark-haired girl used to spend her free time making cream designs for a coffee shop in Canada. The Italian owner, having a soft spot for the talented pre-barista, paid her under the table in cash, until she was old enough to be put on pay roll. In the meantime, he had her trained in the art of coffee.
When his business had the opportunity to move across the border and grow, he offered her a position in his first Washington coffee shop. La Sveltina, a coffee shop by day, a bar by night, provided Aria with a unique opportunity to also become a bartender - illegally, of course. However, the sultry, half-Italian teen excelled as both barista and bartender, and now illegally tends to private parties on occasion.
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There you go! Photo is Aria with her seriousface. Or her vulnerableface. I dunno. It's Aria. If anyone knows the woman's actual name, do let us know. Please. Thank ye, minions!
-Lion.
