Limelight

Rizzo and Zephyr: Peace Offering

(Despite having so many Limelight ideas written down that I wanted to get to (the Zaz one from last week and the next one coming being among them), I actually came up with this only a few weeks ago)

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It was just another fight between the twins, nothing new. It happened all the time. One of them would provoke the other over something frivolous, they'd argue, there'd be a minor scuffle (Rizzo may or not lose a foot in the process) then they'd be made to begrudgingly apologise (and return Rizzo's foot) by either of their parents. Except tonight, it went a little too far. Someone shouted too loudly, someone pushed the other too aggressively, and in only a few seconds, there was a thud, a crack and twang of strings.

Neither of them made a sound. Rizzo held her breath, her eyes wide with fear and guilt, as she watched her brother's face go through every expression possible. He may not talk about his feelings a lot, but he sure showed them. His mouth kept opening and closing but he wasn't finding any words.

"... Zephyr...?" she risked speaking, "Zeph, I'm so sorry, I'll-"

"You'll what?" Zephyr snapped and she instantly shut up again, "You gonna fix it? What do you know about fixing a guitar?"

"I-"

"I got a gig tomorrow night!"

"Look, I'll take care of i-"

"How exactly you gonna take care of it? When you gonna take care of it? It's five minutes to curfew and I'm supposed to be at rehearsal first thing tomorrow morning!"

He sounded mad. He was mad. But Rizzo could also see stress, and hurt, on his face. A broken guitar meant he couldn't play at the zombie mash, and if he couldn't play, he'd be disappointing Alonzo. Just the thought of telling him, imagining the sight of his face falling and the sound of his voice going quiet. He'd say it was alright but it wouldn't be.

"At least-"

Zephyr gave her a light shove towards the door as he turned away, "Just get out. I'm going to bed. I'll figure it out in the morning, without your help."

There was nothing she could do, not right now, so she gave in and walked out, dejected.

Half an hour later, Zephyr's bedroom door creaked open again. When she found him fast asleep, she creeped inside.

– LIMELIGHT –

She was waiting for him to wake up the next morning, standing outside his bedroom with his guitar case propped against the wall at her side. Eventually, she heard the rustling of the covers and a small grunt as he stretched, then feet hitting the floor. Then silence. He had noticed, she guessed, that his guitar was gone.

"Riz-"

She'd opened the door and stepped inside with the case before he could actually shout her name, and she launched straight into an apology, "I'm sorry I broke your guitar. I told you I'd take care of it, though, so I did-"

"What are you doing with my guitar?"

"This isn't yours," she explained, still nervous but a little more hopeful now, "I got you a replacement, just for tonight."

"What? How'd you get a new guitar that fast?"

"I texted Bonzo last night. After the patrol came through town and his parents had gone to sleep, I snuck out. Gave him your guitar, he gave me his," she patted the case beside her, "He'll have it fixed up after the zombie mash. I told you I'd take care of it."

Zephyr was shocked, to say the least. She easily could've been caught, either by their parents or by the zombie patrol on their rounds, or even by Bonzo's parents if they heard him answering the door, and that would've landed them both in trouble. She only had to go next door but that didn't make it much less of a risk. He glanced from her to the case and back again.

"Bonzo's sure he can fix it?"

Rizzo nodded, "He checked it. He can replace the strings and the split wood and repaint it and everything."

"And I can use his tonight?"

"Yup."

There was a pause and Rizzo just hoped that was enough. She relaxed when he finally stepped forward and hugged her.

"You're a lifesaver, Riz. Thank you so much."

"I know."

The sweet moment couldn't last forever, though, and he soon straightened up again, holding her shoulders at arms' length and looking her in the eyes.

"You're lucky you're smart enough to do that, though, 'cause you almost got every limb on your body ripped off."

Rizzo rolled her eyes and shoved him back, "Oh, like you'd even risk trying," she scoffed. He went to open his mouth but she interrupted, throwing the guitar case into his hands, "Don't you have somewhere to be?"