wren * / / !
Wren rolled her eyes at Gloria’s attempt at a low blow, not necessarily finding it within herself to grant Gloria the win she so desperately craved by trying to cut Wren off at the knees. It was a defense mechanism, Wren knew, and while it might have bothered her at another time, another place, another life, now it only infuriated her. Gloria had always been stubborn, willful and prideful and boastful, and Wren had fallen in love with that very woman because of what she held within her, not in spite of it. It hurt to know that, after leaving, Gloria was still the same. She hadn’t been irreparably damaged by her own actions. She existed in the same form, just somewhere else, away from Wren.
“Why do you care so much if I live here? What difference does it make? I’ve been here a year and you’ve managed to avoid me,” she accused, further proof that Gloria had had no interest in finding her, her mind, it seemed, made up. “What do you care that I’m here now?”
-
Wren had a point. She always had a point. It was something that Gloria had always resented; even damaged from an unstable childhood and an even more unstable parental figure, Wren was better than Gloria. It was simple fact, and it drove Gloria crazy. Initially, it was what had drawn her to Wren; to hold something so precious, so bright in her own hands - it was something magical. Gloria had hoped that some of that goodness would rub off, and that eventually she’d begin to feel it within herself, too. What a waste of time it had been.
“It’s the principle, isn’t it? It’s my hometown. My family is here,” her family who she actively avoided, “my friends,” what friends? Her shit-for-brains roommate, or the one Wednesday night regular who tipped her the full 20%? “My... house.” Her small, cluttered, busted apartment. She was fishing. She could tell she was fishing, and if Wren still knew a thing about her, she’d be able to tell, too. “And besides, do you really want to spend the rest of your time here with your head on a swivel, worried about whether or not I’m standing in the same room? I sure as hell don’t. And seeing as I was here first, I believe that’s your cue to leave.”















