Paxton had heard the old cruiser park out front, doors opened and closed before the sound of two sets of footsteps on the stairs. The teen sighed but didn’t move from her computer chair, electric guitar in her lap with her notebook of lyrics open in front of her on the desk. She rolled her neck counting to ten in her head. She wasn’t ready to emotionally handle all of this yet. The small time she’d had after school hadn’t done much to settle her, the milkshake on her desk not even half way gone.
The Swan knew it was only a small matter of time before her father or twin entered her domain, gunmetal blues glanced around her room; the large collection of books—classics, rare classics that a certain blonde had helped her collect, graphic novels and comics, some unknown and bought online for all over the world, and books about world travel and other cultures—lined more than a few bookshelves, collectible vinyls carefully stored and organized, posters from older movies and indies on her walls, along with some music equipment. An extra guitar, electric drum set synced with her laptop, and electric piano all in one corner. This room was going to be her only place of solace from now on.
She heard Bella’s steps before her words. Paxton closed her eyes for a moment, shoulders straighten. One more slow exhale and she placed her guitar down, her tattooed hand on show as she did so. She knew the music notes behind her left ear were also on show with how her shorter hair was pulled back into a small ponytail, along with her gauges in her lobes. Paxton turned the chair to face Bella, taking her in after all this time. She was shorter than Paxton, just as thin framed but less muscled, her body language just as uncomfortable as Paxton felt. “Stuck…” The brunette muttered but had to nod once in agreement. “Guess so…” One hand went to rub the back of her neck as her right knee started to bounce some.
“It was your idea to come back though, right?” She asked.
"hmm.” it was a sound -- the best she could manage to get out in a timely manner. her eyes roved curiously over the room, taking an interest primarily in the large collection of books her twin appeared to have. so that was one thing they had in common, then -- reading. in the depths of bella’s mind, the question buzzed, asking whether that was something they could bond over someday. she was standing too far away, and her eyes were too hazed over with tired emotions to be able to read any of the titles -- though she made a mental note to take a better look at them next time she happened to be in paxton’s room -- whenever that might be.
pearly teeth were silently chewing on her bottom lip -- a habit she never noticed was taking place until she felt the sharp, bitter iron on her taste buds. finally, she willed the strength to divert her eyes back upon her twin’s face -- a face so unfamiliar to her -- a face that should be the most familiar to her. in that moment, the realization dawned on her. while her coming here filled charlie with joy, it did not fill either of the twins with joy. no, this would not be easy on either of them. her soft eyebrows flitted together in concentration, a soft v appearing in her skin between them.
what else could she say, except perhaps the hard truth? would paxton care about the truth, or even understand where that hard truth was coming from? if there was any other way to make her mother -- her best friend -- happy, without making the life of her twin complicated, she would gladly have done so. she was anything but selfish -- even if that meant sacrificing her own happiness to please others, in even the most rudimentary of ways. and it was that trait about her that landed her in forks to begin with -- leaving only renee, charlie, and phil happy. her own happiness didn’t matter that much to her, and she wasn’t sure if that was a bad thing.
“i did it for renee, you know. she wasn’t happy, staying home with me instead of taking off with phil. i did this for her. phil and charlie are just reaping some benefits from that decision, i suppose.” she paused, her eyes flitting back down towards the floor, her teeth once more gnawing on soft, tender bleeding lips. “we might both be miserable from that decision, but maybe with time...” she let the thought flitter away into the air between them, the rest of the sentence unfinished, yet hanging in the air heavily between them.