Ms. Alone and Mr. Lonely

prologue

(unedited)

✨✨✨

Back slouched, one hand resting on her jaw, eyes trained on the untouched sketchpad, Justine tapped the graphite pencil on her desk idly; to say she was deadly bored was an understatement. It was one of the perks of living with an illness—there were limitations in your life.

     Despite having it for almost three years, she was still struggling to accept the fact that she had SLE; it was definitely hard. Before, she used to play her favourite sport, tennis and aspired to follow her parent's footsteps as champion titleholders. She used to be carefree, and was able to go to beaches and very exposed places but now, she rarely went out, there wasn't a day where she wouldn't bring an extra mask and umbrella in her bag, she had daily medication, became self-conscious of her image, she was restricted to certain foods, and and she lost friends because of it—which she partially didn't mind since it made her open her eyes who her true friends really were.

     She sighed as she laid down her head on the study desk; she wouldn't be in this state if she went along with her friends at Jamie's house, where they were happily lounging and chilling at their pool. But due to their latest exams which gave her stress that eventually led her to an inflammatory state, she decided that she wanted to rest and recover—not that missing one hangout would kill her anyway.

     She closed her eyes as she steadied her breath; this was a habit of hers when her actions were limited. She was humming a song in her head, Symphony by Clean Bandit and Zara Larsson, until it was cut short when she remembered what today's date was.

     It's the end of the month, she gulped worriedly.

     Which meant it was time to confront and remind her dad about her medicines.

     She absolutely despise this occurrence; she hated how stress lines would crease on her father's face everytime she would mention about her medications. She attempted to atleast stop taking a day without it, but her anxiety would get the best of her. She couldn't even try to do it since she knew it wouldn't make her health any better, but she was tired of being constantly the reason behind her father's distress.

     These thoughts were making her throat crave for some water, so she stood up to head down to the kitchen were she saw Luke and her dear mother bantering about something.

     "Lucas Grayson Reeves!" her mother yelled.

     Luke's face cringed at the name. "Yes, mom?"

     "Did you remember what I asked you to do last morning?" she narrowed her eyes at his twenty-two year old son.

     The man raked a hand through his copper locks, "I know, but let me explain—"

     "You had eight hours of free time and couldn't even spare a second to take out the chicken from the freezer!" she huffed out. "What are we gonna have for dinner now?"

     "Takeout," he said simply. "I'll call for some pizza—"

     "No," she shook her head. "I want some Chinese food."

     "Then I'll call—"

     "No!" she stomped her foot as she crossed her arms. "I want you to drive to the nearest Chinese restaurant and get a takeout."