A Bitter Brew | Leanne & Sonya (modern AU)
vindictivemage
Sonya looked down curiously as Leanne tapped her nails on the book. She was almost distracted by how cute the nails were - clearly natural, but clean and fresh. Sonya held up her own nails, pointed purple acrylics. They were both very similar in their femininity, she noticed, though Leanne was softer where Sonya was harder.
“It’s psychology,” she replied, turning her laptop screen to face her friend. Sonya tapped her head as she did, trying to help clarify to Leanne what she was studying.
Based on their level of communication prior, Sonya didn’t expect Leanne to fully understand the paper on her monitor, but the basic idea would likely be there. Her thesis was a study on childhood trauma and its effects on later development. It was an interesting subject. More so, though, it was personal to her heart.
“Are you in school?”
“Psycho…ology…words…lots.” Leanne repeated as she gazed at Sonya’s laptop computer screen, which was nearly completely filled with words. Recognizing the word program she was working, she wondered how long it had taken her to write something so sentence-dense. Even in her mother tongue, she could never imagine herself writing so extensively, even for schooling. Writing so much would be boring, hehe. She thought to herself, her face carrying a smile.
She straightened at Sonya’s question, processing the sentence carefully. It was simple enough that she understood and that was an immense relief for her. In fact, her eyes glowed with excitement that she comprehended, and she eager to give an answer.
“No…no school. Too hard….don’t know words,” She explained, her eyes shifting about as she tempted to source words from outside her typical lexicon, “brothers…care…of me.” She took another drink of her coffee before speaking once more.
“One day….I like to…school.”
Sonya laughed lightly. “Yes, it’s a lot of words.”
Finishing the last of her drink, she gave Leanne her full attention, nodding.
“You’ll get there one day. I’m confident in that.”
For her to have gone through such a traumatic event and even be where she was was a miracle. Leanne was by no means a weak woman - to even be where she was was a miracle. Sonya had complete faith in her friend going on to master the language and be a wonderful academic.
Sonya sighed. Shutting her laptop, she leaned back in her chair, more carefully looking over Leanne. In honesty, she found her quite interesting. Dedicating her studies to psychology and childhood trauma, Sonya knew just how something like a fire-induced coma affected one as they grew up. Children who experienced that were far more likely to develop mental illness, perhaps even act out violently. Sonya herself was known to experience bouts of violent anger when she thought of her father. But Leanne, though clearly struggling with her past, sat across from her with a smile. She was gentle and welcoming. Her demeanor invited friendship, as though she were eager to meet new people and share good times.
That kind of positivity was rare in someone like them. It was infatuating.
Her smile widened as Sonya laced her hands together.
“What would you study? What do you like?”
