There was no missing the way the blonde was staring at her, but Edan tried to ignore it, setting her towel down on one chair then drifting to sit at the edge of the pool, feet dipping into the water. A pool, a real pool. The water felt tingly like it always did the first time after the winter that she'd stuck her feet in the chlorinated water, something that took a moment to get used to. It took a moment before she glanced up at the girl, not smiling, but not scowling either. It was hard to scowl with her feet in the water. Shrugging one shoulder, she looked back at the pool. "I had some free time." While words had flowed freely with Matt, Edan felt herself retreating back to the standoffish demeanor she'd developed in prison. It was a few more beats of time before she spoke again. "Edan."
She watched as Edan dipped her feet into the pool and carefully sat down, crossed legged, beside her. “From Arizona, right? We spoke over the journal system here. I’m from West Virginia.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, exposing the myriad of circles, triangles, and squares tattooed on her neck, and glanced down at Edan. She took time to examine the tattoo on her side and smiled. “Nice ink. “So Autumn’s making margaritas too, should be around here soon with some of them, if you like margaritas. I prefer darker liquor I guess, but if she’s making it, I’m drinking it.”
Edan wasn’t sure she was great with Mazie sitting down with her, but she didn’t say anything about it just yet. Nodding about Arizona, she wasn’t going to answer about anything else, but then Mazie commented on her tattoo and she looked down at it, face shifting from pleased at the compliment to sad about the meaning behind the tattoo. “Thank you. It’s for my brother.” Margaritas and a pool. It was like being at home without being at home. Shaking her head a little she touched the water, watching it ripple out under her fingers.
Mazie watched Edan, not sure what had happened to make her look that way, but the wheels started turning. She might not be tactful about a lot of this stuff, but she’d seen her fair share of tattoos, memorial ones, that had something and a date under them. And she knew Edan had mentioned a twin brother before but she hadn’t thought it would go like this. “...Hey...sorry..I won’t bring it up again if you’d rather I not.”
Edan didn’t look up, still watching her fingers in the water as she shrugged. “It is what it is. I can’t change it.” She would if she could Just like she’d change the scars on her right arm. She’d put everything back together again. “He was a soldier.”
Mazie would have commented on that, about thanking her brother for his service because that meant something to her. It always had, but then there was shattering glass and she looked up to find a scene she was not pleased with. She’d glanced up just in time to see red, because some bastard had his hands on Autumn and that shit was not going to happen. Without another word to Edan, she took off running towards the man, at once thankful her feet were still dry.