someone might look at a scar ; not with fear or pity, but with a kind of reverence for the healing it took to still be standing, even broken and raw.
“ i see. i'll be around if you need me, shauna. ” said at last. not moving away until her friend chose to.
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⠀she didn’t ask again, not daring to push buttons. some things break when you touch them too much—— even with kindness. instead, she let the stillness settle between them like snow, clean and undemanding. and she stayed in it with shauna.
her eyes softened, the way
i crush her against me. i want to be part of her. not just inside her but all around her. i want our rib cages to crack open and our hearts to migrate and merge. i want our cells to braid together like living thread.
a small breath, almost a smile, like she understood all the things that weren’t being said.
and lottie stayed there, not filling the space shauna reclaimed, but holding it up, as if to say: i see you. just as you are. “ what is it that you want .ᐣ ”
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⠀lottie stood there, fingers hovering in the space where they’d almost connected, where shauna had made it unmistakably clear they wouldn’t. there was no offense in the retreat, no wounded pride — only that aching, quiet recognition that shauna could be done. “ . . okay. ”
her voice was soft, but not pitying. not the coaxing, delicate thing it had been before, when she wasn’t sure if shauna could bear the weight of anyone else’s presence. now, it’s grounded. she let her hand fall back to her side, the gesture easy, surrendering without demand.
else is just noise we’ve learned to live with. ”
fingers curl slightly on the cool rocks beneath as she exhales, slow and steady. “ it makes me want to stay. do you feel the same .ᐣ ”
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⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀her gaze doesn’t leave the sky, but she shifts slightly, just enough to acknowledge them without breaking the delicate spell of the night.
⠀⠀“ peaceful . . . ” she echoes, voice barely more than a whisper. “ it’s been here longer than us. everything