cruel world

one - radio

she picked up the gun, feeling the weight of it in her hands. 

"times up, fucker."

one shot to the head.

"that's for cheating on me with that bitch susanne."

another shot to the chest.

"and that's for cheating on me with that other bitch katharine."

his body fell to the ground, limp. she chucked the gun onto his corpse.

her heels clicked on the pavement as she strutted away from the crime scene, her raven hair blowing behind her. she stopped to reapply her cherry-red lip gloss and -

"see, that's the problem i have with these movies. she just left the gun? she wasn't even wearing gloves. does she not care about fingerprints? dna? didn't he scratch her earlier?" gale was gesticulating wildly, his volume steadily increasing.

the living room was a mess. gale banner, lilith vicker, and vivianne lake sat on the couch watching the dumbest movie they could find on netflix. there were lacroix and bang cans all over the table. 

"you know, gale," vivianne piped up from the other end of the couch, rolling her eyes. "maybe she just isn't as smart as you. maybe she didn't get the chance to read forensic science for dummies like you have." her usual sugar-sweet voice was laced with sarcasm.

vivianne had her legs over lilith and held a can of cotton candy bang in one hand and a carrot stick in the other. her dark ginger hair spilled over the side of the couch. once, when they were younger, she and lilith had tried to count the freckles on her face but gave up after 100. 

"can't you guys ever just watch a movie?" thomas had stumbled across their argument on his way back from the kitchen. "i swear it's every time you're all over you get into some dumb fight about special effects or some nonsense."

thomas green only existed in states of drunkenness and hangover. today's state was of the latter. he looked paler than usual, which was quite the achievement. his golden brown hair was disheveled and the bags under his eyes were darker than ever.

"at least you don't have to sit in the middle of it," lilith cried from the middle of the couch. "we've missed so much important dialogue now. it's not even worth watching anymore." she reached to grab the remote from the glass coffee table and turned the movie off.

lilith was the girl to be at st. mary's. she'd been bleaching her hair to ash blonde since fifth grade, was the perfect shade of pale, and had strikingly green eyes. she was currently the class's valedictorian and hadn't really had to work to get there. 

gale groaned. "you're kidding. if i promise to stop talking about my internship with the crime scene unit, can we finish the movie?"

gale was the lucky guy who'd finally gotten to be with lilith. her parents had always told her that boys would distract from god and from school. when they met gale, though, they wavered. he had kind brown eyes, a permanent smile, and well-kept and styled auburn hair. he was the class's salutatorian and was loved by the local catholic community: every parent's dream.

 lilith stood up from the couch and began clearing away the mess from their movie snacks. "i'm not really in the mood anymore. plus, for once, thomas is right. trying to watch a movie with both of you is like trying to cheat on mackenzie polluck with that bitch susanne or that bitch katharine. it's just gonna leave you in pain."

"okay, don't get me wrong. i hate how pretentious gale is about his unpaid internship his daddy scored him." vivianne shot an 'i want to puke' look at lilith. "but now we'll never know if the police catch mackenzie or not." gale nodded, and vivianne continued. "c'mon, lilith, i know you're curious. does she get away with it? is katharine really dead? what happened to mr. polluck?"

lilith sighed. "as much as i love listening to you guys debate the believability of the various movies we watch, it's 5:00, which means..."

"i have to leave for the boutique," vivianne groaned.

"and your parents are almost home for family dinner," gale added.

this had become a daily routine for the three of them. school ended at 4:00, which gave lilith, vivianne, and gale an hour to book it back to lilith's to watch part of whatever b-movie they found on netflix before vivianne had to work and lilith and gale had to attend a family dinner with the parents of one of the two.

vivianne collected her car keys, backpack, and water bottle, before telling lilith she was going to 'bid thomas a quick goodbye.'

"i know i shouldn't say this because he's my step-brother and that's disgusting," lilith said as she sat back down on the couch, snuggling into gale's side. "but i wish she'd just screw him and ghost him three days later like every other guy she's been hopelessly infatuated with."

"hang on," gale laughed, running his hands through lilith's hair. "is the obvious awkward shy flirting not part of the ten-day cycle?" this prompted a giggle from lilith.

vivianne popped back into the room. "see you guys later. love you lil. gale, good luck with the greens."

after the front door slammed shut, gale turned to lilith. "aren't steve and your mom still off on their cruise until tommorow?"

lilith grinned. "yes, but don't tell viv, okay? i love her but i didn't want her to be tempted to shrug off work and stay. i don't want to celebrate twenty-four incredible months with her over."

"oh?" gale whispered. "is that so?" his fingers made her way up her thigh.

their lips met and the two quickly became frantic. in a matter of moments, gale was on top of her, pulling her school uniform top off, revealing her light pink floral bra. 

"god," he breathed. "you look so angelic, lil. i love that about you." he reached around to undo the clasp on her bra when thomas walked in.

"shit," lilith exclaimed. she fumbled with her top before giving up and covering herself with a throw pillow.

"oh don't mind me," thomas called out from the kitchen, opening the fridge. "i'd hate to ruin your last-ditch attempt at teen pregnancy."

gale rolled his eyes. "great content there, thomas." he answered. "sorry you haven't gotten to bone your dreamy catholic schoolgirl yet."

thomas laughed. "dude, that would be so much more of an insult if you weren't trying to bone a catholic schoolgirl on my living room couch."

"can we just ignore him?" lilith whispered. she was more than ready to go upstairs to her room and get away from thomas. she had been dreaming of this night for three months.

things between gale and lilith had been tense lately. the first six months of their relationship were perfect. they spent every possible moment by the other one's side, went out of their way to show the other one they cared, and doted on each other constantly. lately they had gotten into a routine. she could feel them becoming more and more like an old married couple and less and less like two dumb teenagers in love.

tonight was supposed to fix that. 

she'd bought a new pale pink teddy, covered the bed upstairs in pink rose petals, and arranged for sushi from gale's favorite restaurant to be delivered later. she'd even curled her hair and done more makeup than usual that day.

gale frowned. "yeah, but you know i hate the way he treats you."

lilith smiled, grabbed his hand, and led him upstairs. when she opened the door to her bedroom, gale gasped. 

"who is all this for?" he asked coyly, stepping into the room.

lilith giggled. "you know it's for you." she paused, then added, "i have to freshen up, i'll be just a second."

she stepped into her en suite bathroom and shed her school uniform. she slipped on her teddy, touched up her makeup, and took one final look in the mirror before going back out to gale.