shay:
Shay wrinkles her nose a little bit. She doesn’t mean to come across as hard as she tends to around new people, she’s just wary. When there’s an expiration date, when you know you don’t have a lot of time, it tends to make you less trusting. There’s so little time left that she doesn’t want to waste it on people who will just hurt her. “Obviously the music is where I hide my good attitude.” She always has lyrics swimming around in her brain, basic melodic outlines, but she doesn’t know how to get past that point, to flesh out full songs. “I don’t know, maybe some people are born knowing how to use Garage Band.” She doesn’t say what she’s thinking, that she’s probably just not good enough to get her songs out there, or that it’s pointless because she doesn’t have time anyway, but Flora seems intuitive. Which is probably what scares her the most about all of this. It’s easier to be friends with people who just want to one day make Instagram posts about how their friend died from cancer, rather than the people who are dreading that day because they care. It’s only with slight reluctance that Shay returns Flora’s high five, smiling in spite of herself. “Let’s call it a probationary period.” She bites her lip to stop her smile from widening even further, but it breaks free anyway. “See? I can guess things too.” Shay shrugs a little, partly because she’s never considered it that way, and partly because she’s not sure how much she agrees. She wouldn’t say she was particularly strong, rather just used to what she deals with. Shay has no idea what it’s like to be healthy, what it’s like to just live a normal life. To her, cancer is a way of life, not something to face head on with bravery. “I like to make people uncomfortable. It makes them think about it, and their own behavior.” Figuring this is the end of it now, the surprise shows on her face when Flora indicates that she wants to hang out again, and so soon. She doubts her parents will care. They’re the ones always pushing her to try and enjoy life, when they’re not pushing her to get treatment. “Ah, I have a pretty wide open schedule. So uh… whatever you want to do, I guess.”
Flora drops her jaw in fake surprise, placing a hand over her chest. “You? A good attitude? I didn’t think such a thing was possible,” she says, trying to be as over-dramatic as she can manage. Truthfully, that makes her want to listen to her music even more than before. She can only hope that eventually, with time, she’ll get to listen to some clips. “That would be weird, wouldn’t it? Babies coming out of the womb and being like, little mini D.J.s and whatnot,” she wonders, pursing her lips at the image that brings up into her mind. She’s a little ashamed to admit how excited she is that her high five was returned, doing her best to keep her level of excitement at a normal level. “I hope we pass the probationary period. I love making new friends.” Her smile widens to match Shay’s, heart swelling a little at how cute she is now that she’s actually smiling. “That’s hardly impressive. Of course I was dramatic, I’m an actress,” she states, rolling her eyes. She purses her lips as she considers what Shay says, lifting a hand to rub her lower lip softly. She supposes that she’s right - the more honest she is about what cancer is actually like, the more people are aware of how they’re acting. She wonders if that’s something that she has to deal with regularly, other people and the way that they act toward her. She can only imagine how annoying that gets after being sick for as long as she’s been. “I hope you at least get some entertaining reactions out of people. In the short amount of time I’ve known you, I’d think you’d like to watch people trip over trying to say things that won’t aggravate you, if there are any,” she jokes, trying to lift the mood a little. She doesn’t know whether she’s doing it for herself or for Shay, but she feels this is a little heavy of a conversation for meeting for the first time. Then again, this is what the other girl has to deal with daily. Maybe it’s only fair that she be able to talk about it whenever she wants with whoever she wants. Part of her is shocked that Shay is so willing to hang out later tonight, though she knows she would’ve given her a hard time if she’d tried to say no. “Perfect! I don’t really have anything planned for later... But we can figure it out as we go, as long as that’s alright with you? I know a few spots around the city that are alright,” she says, trying to remain some form of nonchalant. She doesn’t want to oversell anything; she knows that if anything is less than stellar, Shay will let her know without an ounce of hesitation.















