Young God [GirlxGirl]

9. One Foot In, One Foot Out

And I don't want the world to see me // 'Cause I don't think that they'd understand // When everything's made to be broken // I just want you to know who I am // And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming // Or the moment of truth in your lies // Iris, Goo Goo Dolls

It was Thursday evening.

For Violet, the past few days had consisted of patiently showing Ash how the world worked, college included. Violet had been shocked to find that Ash excelled in drama, but she had claimed to have been an esteemed Thespian back home. Music, however, she wasn't so prepared for. Violet offered to help her learn to play guitar, but it was coming along slowly, since Ash had the attention span of a goldfish and always found something else that amazed or interested her. Psychology, Violet's final subject, definitely intrigued Ash. She was very eager to learn about human behaviour and how the brain of a mortal worked, but as it turned out, she had great difficulty keeping up with the jargon the tutor used in class. So Violet spent a lot of her time translating.

That day, Ash had wanted to further practice her guitar skills, but Violet had somewhere to be - same as she always did on Thursday evenings.

"Tell me, Violet, have there been any interesting new developments in your life since we last talked?" Asked a tall, suited man with thick white hair and skin like crumpled paper. He peered at Violet over the round spectacles perched on the end of his nose as his beady, colourless eyes studied her carefully. The man was Dr Rey, Violet's psychiatrist.

Violet thought about how she could possibly answer that question. Of course there had been new developments in her life, but she could hardly be truthful about them, not if she didn't want him to advise her immediate admittance into a psych ward. This frustrated Violet, because this one room had always been a place where she felt she could be completely honest without fear of ramification, and Ash's presence in her life had changed that. She picked at a loose thread on the arm of the sofa and shrugged.

"I guess there's someone new in my life now." She admitted, after working out a way in which she could be both truthful and simultaneously avoid coming off as unstable.

"All right, tell me about this person." Dr Rey said, his pen poised and ready to document the conversation. Violet knew she had to choose her words carefully from then on.

"Well, it's safe to say she's unlike anyone I've met before. She has this way about her... when she's in the room, she's all anyone sees." As Violet spoke, her psychiatrist scribbled down a few notes. "Everybody worships the ground she walks on."

"Do you?"

Violet shook her head, thinking back to the conversation she had with Ash wherein Ash acknowledged that Violet didn't treat her like everybody else. "No, I can see her for who she is."

"And who is she?" He asked, and Violet could tell he was intrigued by Ash's involvement in her life, probably because nothing interesting ever happened to Violet until Ash fell from the sky. At least, that's how she saw it.

"She's just a girl, and she has a lot of growing up to do." Violet said, referring especially to the incidences of reckless mind control Ash had a habit of using whenever it suited her. Violet wasn't so sure Ash had fully appreciated her lecture about that. "But she's also been through a lot. She's lost people, like me, and she understands what it's like to hurt. And now she's on her own and I think we might be all she has."

"We? Is your friend Blake acquainted with this person too?" Dr Rey had heard Violet talk about Blake in many previous sessions; he knew she was practically her only friend. Violet nodded her head, and the doctor wrote something else down and asked another question. "How does she feel about your new friend?"