Love Through a Lens
five.
Valerie has been best friends with Mallory since they were little. They'd done everything together. They were each other's refuge in a sea of strangers as they went through school, Girl Scouts, countless failed attempts at sports. They shared most everything.
So Valerie figures that's what's bothering her whenever she talks to Mallory without mentioning the pictures and her new found fascination with KC. They don't keep things from each other; the total honesty they share contributes to the kind of trust they have in each other.
So when she's with her best friend and not talking about what's really on her mind, it feels like there are little insects - tiny, microscopic things that no one can see and she logically knows aren't there - crawling across her arms and down her back, trying to burrow into her skin.
When Mallory asks, "You okay?" Valerie ignores her basic instinct to spill everything and yank out her camera to show the other girl her pictures.
When Mallory tells her, "You've just been acting weird lately," Valerie shrugs and says she ran out of painkillers for her headaches.
When Mallory reminds her, "You know you can tell me anything, right?" Valerie just nods and smiles while outright contradicting herself by keeping this from the other girl.
But she can't know about it. No one can know. Valerie can barely acknowledge it herself, and even she knows that it's pretty fucking weird.
So Valerie figures that's what's bothering her whenever she talks to Mallory without mentioning the pictures and her new found fascination with KC. They don't keep things from each other; the total honesty they share contributes to the kind of trust they have in each other.
So when she's with her best friend and not talking about what's really on her mind, it feels like there are little insects - tiny, microscopic things that no one can see and she logically knows aren't there - crawling across her arms and down her back, trying to burrow into her skin.
When Mallory asks, "You okay?" Valerie ignores her basic instinct to spill everything and yank out her camera to show the other girl her pictures.
When Mallory tells her, "You've just been acting weird lately," Valerie shrugs and says she ran out of painkillers for her headaches.
When Mallory reminds her, "You know you can tell me anything, right?" Valerie just nods and smiles while outright contradicting herself by keeping this from the other girl.
But she can't know about it. No one can know. Valerie can barely acknowledge it herself, and even she knows that it's pretty fucking weird.