pretty when she cries ; fitz

chapter eleven

after chowing down and strengthening their friendship with the newcomer, they all admitted that they had work to do and decided to come together again, sometime soon.

"y'all could come over and stay during the week, my uncle is leaving for a business trip, some art expo thing in milan. i have the house to myself."

"that'd be awesome," matt replied, combing his fingers through his hair.

"i'd be down to get away from here," jay agreed, and toby nodded.

"it's settled, then." cam smiled, one of the first things he'd said the entire time. he made eye contact with amalie. she kept it for a moment before her eyes nervously darted elsewhere.

"well then, i guess i'll talk to you guys later? in the discord call." cal rose from her seat and lead amalie towards the bathroom to go get changed before they left. the two brushed their teeth, splashed their faces with water before shouting a goodbye near the front door.

mason hurried in before amalie had the chance to get her hands on the doorknob, spinning her around by the waist and wrapping his arms around her in a tight embrace.

"bye bye am," he pouted, his chin settled on her left shoulder. she hesitated for a second before hugging him back, but he out-squeezed her.

"thanks guys, see you soon!" she slowly unclamped mason from her, noticing cam again leaning against the wall. she bit her lip, nodding at him. he did the same, crossing his arms as the two girls walked out of the house, their bags in hand.

"shit, cunt." mason shook his head at cam, patting him on the shoulder.

***

amalie has been waiting--any day now-- for the call that would tell her she should return to nashville for her family's funeral.

cal's fingers tapped against the leather steering wheel, unsure of how to bring the subject of amalie's family up.

but as she had just thought of something, amalie's phone started to ring.

"hello, who might this be?" amalie's voice went a bit higher, cal observed.

she couldn't hear what was being said on the other line, but she felt amalie tense up next to her. that side of the car grew serious, and the brunette was too quiet. the volume of the radio had been turned down by cal when amalie took the call, but that was the only thing that could be heard as well as the air pushing around the outside of the car.

"oh. okay, uh--yeah. i can do that." her voice was now heavy and sad. "thank you. talk to you soon. bye," she locked her phone, letting it drop onto her lap. it smacked against her bronzed thighs.

"what was that about?" cal poked. amalie hesitated to answer right away, but did anyway.

"i have to go back home," amalie sighed. "for my family's funeral."

***

the flight was what it was--long and aeonian.

she couldn't sit still through the entirety, the woman next to her must've thought she was a psychopath. amalie was filled with an immense amount of apprehension.

the brunette had a difficult time trying to figure out what goes on ahead of her. she'd packed everything she needed, a few tears slipping when pulling an all black outfit together for the service. a few of her mother's closest friends all pitched in to make a beautiful ceremony, and amalie didn't doubt that it was going to be. after finally telling her best friend, cal was extremely supportive and comforted her despite not ever knowing what had happened. amalie came clean and presented everything that was known about the murder, which wasn't much. not much at all.