i'll be here 'til the end of time

five .

linh

"And I had Sophie's spyball, so I was watching Lex as he frosted a giant wall around Dex's bed-"

"Wait what? Dex never told me this!" Marella managed between choked laughs.

"Dex is a liar, then." I grinned as she snickered. "because I saw it all. And then Lex sat there, literally sat there, for like 2 hours, waiting for him to wake up just to see the look on his face when he woke up surrounded with a bunch of ice bricks."

"What did he do? What did he do?" Marella asked eagerly.

"He sat up, looked around, and literally just laid back down," I wheezed. "He was not having it. It was so fucking hilarious."

"Must've been if you had to use a potty word." Marella poked me.

"Shut up. I'm not a child."

"Eh..." She trailed off with a smirk. I feigned offense and slapped her. "It's true! You never curse. It's almost scary when you do."

"Why's it scary, Redek?"

"Because that means that the end is near."

Lively laughter echoed in the hall, distracting me before I could slap the smartass again. Maybe the end is near, I thought, smiling. We were sitting in the kitchen, strategically positioned so we could tune into Biana and Tam's conversation in the living room when we wanted to, and tune them out when they were being disgustingly flirty.

"They're so obviously flirting, it's hilarious." I giggled.

Marella nodded and sighed, all traces her preppy mood from a moment ago gone.

"What's wrong?'

"... nothing."

"It's funny how you think you can lie to me. Something's obviously up."

She twisted her blonde hair around her fingers. "It's complicated."

"So?"

"So you're going to judge me."

"Me? Judge you?" I shook my head, amused. "Mare, if you know anything about our relationship, it's that you judge me. Just spill."

Marella sighed. "Well... I like someone..." She started slowly. "And, uhm, they're- they're in a relationship, and even if they, um, broke up, I wouldn't be her- their type, at least- I mean, I don't actually know, but uh... yeah..." She sighed again, twiddling with her little braids.

"Her?"

"Yeah."

"So you're into girls?" I asked curiously, and Marella straightened slightly.

"God, you're clueless... yeah, I am."

"Cool."

"Yeah." She rolled her eyes and went back to twirling her hair.

Should I tell her?

Marella turned to face away from me, her sad smile reappearing as she watched Tam and Biana bicker over who would get the last ripplefluff.

Should I tell her?

She got up and walked over to where they were, standing behind Tam and placing her elbows on his shoulders. Tam jerked at the sudden feeling, and the three burst into laughter. My lips twitched too, at the way Marella's eyes crinkled softly when she was laughing, at the way she and Tam were basically siblings at this point, which would have made Marella my sister too. But somehow, that felt wrong. Everything felt wrong, and the first thing that came to my mind was Fitz.

I should have told her.