a/n: this is long and the end kinda sucks but here you go
Light filters through the window blinds, the sun rising to bird song.
It's like a movie, Mare thinks as she watches the window from where she lays in bed, wrapped in silk sheets. A movie where it starts of beautiful and ends terribly.
She turns away from the window, instead focusing on her sleeping fiancé and the way his glossy black hair sticks to his forehead. The way his patterned breaths create waves through his body, his chest rising and falling.
In his sleep he wraps his arms around her and pulls her close.
Mare wonders what it would take for him to let go and never reach for her again. Too many times in the past she pushed him away, but he always pulled her back.
"What are you thinking?" His whisper brings her back to reality.
"Nothing." She responds in the same hushed tone.
"Liar."
Mare watches his face for a change in expression, but he doesn't even open his eyes.
"I'm thinking about you."
"About how much you hate me?"
"Yes."
Blue eyes finally open, filling her with both comfort and dread.
"You don't hate me, Mare.
"No, I was kidding."
"You weren't."
"Yes I was."
A hand slips under her chin, pulling her face closer to his. Mare tries to pull away.
"You weren't kidding." Maven tells her. "You don't hate me, but you think you do."
"I love you." She objects, the words burning her throat.
Maven brings her lips to his, kissing her harshly, without the hope and romance. When he's finished he lets go, pushing her back.
"Liar."
...
Maven left for work that afternoon, so Mare got dressed and called Cameron, hoping for an escape later.
After hanging up, she made another call to her brother.
"Shade, hey! Mavens working tonight so I was wondering if you'd come get me for lunch." Mare smiles at the sound of his voice. Hopefully he isn't busy, she needs to get out of the house. "That's great. Okay, two o'clock. See you then."
She hangs up again, wiping the sweat from her brow.
"Please tell me it didn't freeze again." Mare whispers to herself. She waves her foot over the vent in the bathroom, feeling nothing even though she turned on the AC.
After hiding her cell phone under the sink, Mare finishes her hair and makeup. Shade hasn't picked her up in a few weeks, and since she doesn't have a car he and Cameron are her only real sources of transportation.
The house phone rings, blaring through the hallways. She runs into the kitchen and answers it, balancing the blocky device between her shoulder and ear as she examines the dishes.
"Mare speaking." She says into the phone like Maven likes, knowing it's him. "Oh hi honey."
"Don't 'honey' me." Maven sounds disgusted with her attempt at affection. "I already told you not to call me that unless you meant it."
