No Flowers On My Bones - 5
CW: mention of controlling parent, mention of custody battles
Steph was sprawled out on the floor of Lex’s room. She stared at the ceiling. It was plastered with plastic glow in the dark stars. Hannah had done it to surprise her sister years ago, and Lex never bothered to take it down.
Their friendship had been one of circumstance.
It was before Lex dropped out. Steph was a junior, and had wound up in detention. Again. The two had been the only girls in detention, and ended up chatting (much to the teacher’s annoyance). Turns out when you both have terrible parents and a penchant for alternative music, you bond pretty quickly.
What had started out as simply keeping each other sane in detention ended up snowballing into Lex Foster and Stephanie Lauter being best friends (much to Solomon’s chagrin).
This was the first time since her dad’s death that Steph had gone to the trailer park for a sleepover. Ethan (who had quickly become a brother to her), was working late, and Peter was out of town on a family trip. The last thing Steph wanted in that moment was to be alone, and Lex had always been a safe space for her.
“—And then this asshole is all like ‘I’m in a hurry!’ I don’t fuckin’ care, wait your ass in line like everyone else, I don’t get paid minimum wage to spoil someone’s manchild,” Lex ranted, laying back on her bed, head dangling upside down off the edge of the mattress.
Steph drew herself from her thoughts, and scoffed at Lex’s story. “Sounds like a fuckin’ tool.”
Lex laughed in agreement, and let out a sigh. She reached to the floor below her to grab another lukewarm pizza roll from the plate she and Steph were sharing. She took a bite, and chewed a couple times.
“…How are you holdin’ up, Stephie?”
She sighed, knowing what her friend had meant. It had now been four months since Solomon Lauter was buried, and she still didn’t know how to feel about everything.
“I dunno…I just feel kinda numb, I guess…?” Steph trailed off. She felt Lex’s eyes on her. She continued, “Like…I keep expecting to be lectured or told off, keep expecting to be texted or tracked wherever I go, to be yelled at for my public life. But then I go back to that damn manor and it’s so empty…It’s soulsucking.”
Lex popped the rest of her pizza roll into her mouth, and nodded softly.
“It sounds shitty,” she empathized, reaching down to put a hand on Steph’s shoulder.
After a moment of sitting in silence, Lex shuffled, moving to get off the bed and to lay on the floor with Steph. She looked at the door then whispered, “I have something to tell you.”
Steph looked back at her friend, confusion knitting her brows together. “What?”
“Eeth and I finally have enough saved to move in together,” Lex hurriedly whispered. “And Mr. Keane’s been helping me with the paperwork to get custody of Hannah, too. We’re gonna leave this broke ass trailer.”
Despite the exhuastion in her face, Steph grinned, happy for her friends. “Hey! That’s fuckin’ awesome, Lexi. I’m proud of you guys.”
“That’s not all. Eeth and I were talking, and we found a place. It’s an apartment. Three bedrooms, two baths. Eeth and I are gonna share one, then Hannah has a room….” she trailed off.
Steph was confused again. “Why three bedrooms then?”
Lex propped herself up in her elbow, looking down at Steph with a big grin. “…You wanna ditch that manor?”
The moment the realization set in, Steph’s eyes widened.
“You better not be fuckin’ with me, Lexi,” Steph whispered. “Are you fuckin’ with me?”
“Nope! We know you’ve wanted out for a while, and I know you’re on your own now, but if you wanna move in with us…”
Steph barrelled over Lex, the two rolling on the floor with laughter as Steph hugged her best friend.
She’d been wanting to leave the manor for months, but also knew that she and Pete weren’t ready to move in together. They’d talked about it and agreed that they wanted to take things slow, so that they weren’t rushing to cope with their hurts. And this felt like Steph’s golden ticket out of that empty, haunted house of memories.
