Re: [above the ice cream shoppe: steph & cat]
Coincidence? I have no idea. I just know this- [Here she motioned to herself] isn't Dane. [She laughed a bitter-boy tangled laugh.] I'm much less afraid of Dane than I am of these motherfuckers, Steph. Dane has cackled and twirled his mustache, but whoever did this? Whoever did this aged Reece and I down, and they're not afraid of getting their hands dirty. They make changes and then set their experiments in the wild to see if they gnaw their own legs off. [Which was a lot of venting, and that hadn't been the goal when coming here. She set down the wine glass - empty now - and she leaned her head back and rubbed both of her eyes until all she could see behind her closed lids were stars; she only stopped when the cat jumped up, and then she rubbed an ear and scratched a chin.] Honestly? I just want it to go away. [She lolled her head against the back of the couch, and she looked at Stephanie with an expressive, scared-looking boy face.] Why the fuck can't they just back off?
[But the comment about being sixteen made her laugh, and she leaned forward to recollect her glass when it was once again filled.] No. It's okay. Talking to Reece is okay. I want him to have someone to talk to about it, someone who knows. It can't be easy having your girlfriend suddenly be a boy. Anyway, it's recently come to light that I suck at being a girlfriend, which can hardly come as a surprise to anyone. [She sighed.] I don't know if he's crazy about me, Steph, but he's a good guy, and he's going to try. [She downed her wine in one very long swallow.] How about you? I don't want this visit to just be about me.