location: waffle cottage
date: january 5, 1997
@nxnbinarydracvla
Romi had called Cyrek early that morning. After all, they hadn't really talked in months. If she was honest, she'd been avoiding him. She hadn't wanted to call him--she almost hadn't, convincing herself that he'd be pissed for possibly waking him up so early. But she knew that that was just an excuse. Shit had been piling up. Her mother was gone again, Meera was in trouble, and it didn't look like she was going to be named underboss anytime soon. She was drowning in self-loathing and every fiber of her being was practically begging her to call up her old dealer and dive back into the abyss. Normally, in the past, she would've followed her impulses and not even bothered calling her sponsor, figuring Cyrek probably didn't want to see her anyways. But lately, she was trying to do the right thing first. If it bit her in the ass then maybe she'd never do it again but she had to at least try, right?
She'd arranged to meet in their usual spot, at the Waffle Cottage. It had subpar coffee and pretty good waffles so it was almost always a safe bet. When she saw Cy walk in, she gingerly waved, though she could feel the knots in her stomach become tighter as he made his way over. It wasn’t his fault that she was nervous but hers. Lately, she’d started expecting everyone to be disappointed with her presence and she couldn’t really blame them if that were the case. When he sat down, she averted her eyes, as if she’d already done something wrong. The confession about what she’d been wanting to do alone was shameful enough, wasn’t it? “Hey,” she said softly, giving him the faintest of smiles before staring back down at her coffee. “Thank you for meeting me.”
In the past, she would have been full of snark or had endless jokes, unable to take anything seriously, doing every thing possible to ease the uncomfortable tension. She knew that Cy had only agreed to take her on because no one else would. She understood why. But frankly, now, sitting here, she didn’t have enough energy to be sarcastic or crack jokes at the situation. She was too tired.


















