Everything comes back to you -J.MARIANO

[2.05]

𝓥alentine's day passed with hating looks to their partnered up peers. Ri had joined her for the majority of that hatred but when Trina gave her a bunch of flowers and a handwritten poem, that hate changed rather dramatically and quite quickly. Taryn was suddenly accustomed to checking to see if there was a sock on the door before she knocked on it. Thankfully though, after Tas had stayed over in Stars Hollow for a weekend to be with Angela, he stopped at hers and spent the night. There wasn't much sleeping as they were out until the very early hours of the morning and were both so drunk when they got to hers that she slept through about fifteen alarms and Aria had to wake her hungover self up with sheer violence from pillows.

Besides from that, college was going well. She had the usual stress of approaching finals in the next few months and her lectures had started to crack down on homework. Their apartment was often silent baring the humming of various sewing machines and the semi regular scream or groan of frustration. But she loved it, she loved every second of the environment and quickly learned to thrive within it.

On a crisp morning, Taryn woke early despite the fact that she had no plans for the day. She thought it could be a cute idea to go and look around a few smaller bookshops, not that she had the money to spend on them anyway. She planned to make a coffee, put it in a travel cup, then loiter and waste a few hours perhaps in the library. She had slowly gotten used to doing things alone and quite enjoyed it, when in the right headspace.

As she rested her back against the kitchen sink and ate from a bowl of cereal, the front door was pushed open and Olive stepped into the living area. Each person in the flat had a mundane job assigned to them by a game of cards after the bins had overflowed for the fifth time. Taryn, having won the game, managed to acquire the role of cleaning their damp window sills every evening to ensure mold did not grow. Ri, having lost the game, took out the trash. Olive's job was to bring in the mail from the shared box on the bottom floor so it came as no shock to Taryn when she walked up to her with a letter in hand. "For you Taryn," Olive smiled as she ceremoniously handed over the mail and turned to deliver the other letters to the rest of their housemates.

She thanked her in sign, as her mouth was full of food and took the letter after placing her spoon back into the bowl. She, after noticing the return address and the wax seal on the back, put her near empty bowl into the sink. She loved that Miss Patty sealed her letters with wax, it just had a certain appeal. Taryn carefully opened the letter and slipped out the piece of paper inside, smiling as the perfume smell of the dance studio reached her nose.

'Sorry it's late! Your Dad gave me the address.'

She frowned in brief confusion as she pulled out a check from the envelope and felt her jaw slacken at the total written on the front. Two hundred dollars. Two hundred dollars for the Christmas costumes. She had only expected maybe twenty, not even that. But two hundred dollars?

Taryn of course instantly knew how she would spend the money. So she forked own the rest of her cereal and placed the bowl back in the sink, promising Olive she would clean it up when she got back after she had received a grueling stare. Taryn grabbed her bag, pulled on her boots and wrapped a thin scarf around her neck. The scarf itself had been a present from Tas and it had quickly become her favorite accessory.

"Off somewhere nice?" Ri asked as Taryn approached the front door.

"Yes actually, to fufill a childhood dream of mine."

"Ominous I like it," Aria nodded before she disappeared into her bedroom again, only having emerged for a glass of water as she was very behind on assignments.

Taryn then closed the front door and walked quickly to the fabric store they loved the most. She stopped outside the window and, as per usual, stared at the vintage dressmakers doll in the shop window. It was on sale. Down from two hundred fifty to one hundred and fifty - some sort of clearance sale. She contemplated her purchase for just a second, wondering if it was truly the time to buy this. But, of course, her thoughts about how this had always been her plan took over and she stepped inside the shop.