Chapter Text
IT begins like any normal day. Connie wakes before the sun has risen, the sky beyond her window still a dark whirlpool of grey clouds and early morning sky.
She tucks herself deeper into the warmth of her duvet, trying to hold onto the last vestiges of her dream. But it quickly slips between her fingers, like a thread too fine to hold. She sighs, and reluctantly pulls back the covers to begin the day.
The house is eerily cold as Connie tiptoes her way down the stairs; the wooden floors creak under her already frozen toes. Gran Gran must have forgotten to put the heating on again, she thinks, diving straight into the kitchen to start the coffee machine before her fingers freeze and snap off from frostbite.
She chitters in front of the counter, hopping from foot to foot in the early morning silence. Her mother would have chastised her for being dramatic by now. Connie can almost hear her voice, still thick with sleep but mirthful as she stepped into their tiny kitchen in a cloud of lavender–
She stops that thought before it can continue.
After a few impatient moments, she pours her coffee into the largest mug she can find with lashings of milk until the liquid inside turns as pale as the sand on First Beach. She downs the caffeine in one large mouthful, ignoring the way it scalds her throat.
She sets the chipped yellow mug on the counter and–oh. She dreamed of this mug, didn’t she? It was a little more worn in her dream, the yellow paint more dull and another chip missing from the handle, but it was undoubtedly the same mug. It was sat on a different counter, one made of–granite? No. Wood. A wooden counter, sanded and polished to an impossible shine, and the mug was dwarfed by a much larger stainless steel mug, strong fingers wrapped around that mug and a deep voice, rough with sleep–
‘Connie?’
She blinks. Gran Gran stands in the kitchen doorway, wrapped in a threadbare pink housecoat, coke bottle glasses gleaming in the kitchen light.
‘Morning Gran Gran!’ She chirps.
‘What are you still doing here, child?’ Gran Gran asks, shuffling towards the kettle. ‘Shouldn’t you be at college?’
Connie frowns, college? Isn’t it–? The date blinks at her from the radio on the counter and her chest flutters, ‘Shit!’
‘Language!’ Gran Gran shouts, as she sprints back to her room.
‘I’m going to be late!’
‘That’s no excuse!’
Connie shakes her head, pulling some warm clothes from her wardrobe, before rushing to the shoebox bathroom to splash some cold water on her face and shove her toothbrush quickly between her teeth.
‘You better remember to brush your teeth!’
Connie spits into the sink and scowls, ‘I’m not a child, Gran Gran!’
‘You’re right,’ Gran Gran retorts, ‘a child knows to brush their teeth for a solid two minutes.’
She ignores her grandmother’s mutterings, too preoccupied with hopping into her thermal leggings, then shoving one leg and then the other into her jeans. Finally dressed, Connie shoves a few textbooks from her desk into her rucksack and prays to the College Gods that they’re the right ones.
‘Slow down, child,’ Gran Gran laughs, as she shimmies past her in the kitchen, a hair bobble between her teeth and a half-opened bag over one shoulder.
‘No time!’
Gran Gran shakes her head fondly, and takes a sip from her tea. The scent of peppermint fills the kitchen, filling Connie’s lungs and warming her. She pauses long enough to pour her second coffee into an old thermos and to shove a protein bar into her back pocket.
‘Don’t forget you promised to give me a lift later.’
Connie pauses in tying her boot laces to eye her grandmother over the table, ‘What lift? I thought Bridge Club was suspended this week after Anita tried to choke Gris with her cards.’
‘It is,’ Gran Gran replies calmly, ‘I’m visiting the Elders tonight.’
Connie rolls her eyes, ‘You’re playing poker with Old Billy.’
‘I am not!’ Her grandmother pulls an aghast expression, ‘How dare you suggest such a thing. The work we Elders do is vital–’
‘–to the survival of the community and the protection of all who live here,’ Connie finishes, tightening the lace on her left boot. ‘I know, Gran Gran. Doesn’t mean you don’t have time to also con Old Billy out of his well-earned retirement fund, you card shark.’
Her grandmother scoffs, the picture of distaste. But Connie can see the small smirk tugging at her weathered lips concealed behind the mug. She grins, standing and leaning over the table to press a soft kiss to the crown of her grandmother’s head. The scent of peppermint and lavender overwhelms her.
A loud horn beeps from outside the house, and Connie pulls back, ‘That’s my cue.’
‘You tell that Kim to drive safely, you hear me?’
‘Gran Gran, if I tell Kim to drive any more safely it’ll take us a hundred years to drive to college,’ Connie replies. ‘She drives like a little old lady.’
‘I take offence to that comment.’
‘I know,’ Connie steps out of the kitchen. ‘I love you, see you later!’
‘Study hard!’
The air is colder and thick with moisture as she steps out of the house. She exhales, her breath turning into a fine mist in the chilly air. Connie shivers, tucking hands under her armpits as she hops to Kim’s car.
‘Morning!’ Kim beams, as Connie slams the door behind her. ‘How are you this morning?’
‘Good,’ Connie replies distractedly to her friend, hands fiddling with the heating dials. ‘It’s freezing in here.’
‘Yeah, well maybe if you wore gloves, it wouldn’t be such an issue,’ Kim says, peeling out onto the road. ‘Where are your gloves?’
‘Gone, mom , lost to the monster underneath my bed, no doubt,’ she laughs, expecting Kim to join her. But her friend remains mysteriously quiet. ‘Everything okay?’
‘Yeah, I–’ Kim shakes her head, a weary smile crossing her face, ‘Sorry, bad sleep last night.’
‘What, did Jared kick you out the bed again?’ Connie turns to peer at Kim’s mysteriously empty back seat, ‘Where is your man child anyway? Doesn’t he usually have early morning classes too?’
‘He’s…he’s helping a friend with an emergency,’ Kim says quietly. Then her eyes narrow, flickering between Connie and the road, ‘Hey! Jared only kicked me out of bed that one time! And he was extremely apologetic about it.’
‘How apologetic?’ Connie smirks.
‘Incredibly, thoroughly , apologetic,’ Kim sighs dreamily, and Connie barely resists the urge to gag. She is incredibly happy for her friend, and has been since Jared first turned around in that stupid History class and finally noticed the girl who had been sitting next to him all semester. Even if they are so sickly sweet sometimes it makes her simultaneously physically ill and green with envy.
Connie isn’t in the habit of being jealous of her friends, she is happy with her life. Extremely happy with her life given the plot twists it's thrown her over the years, but sometimes when she catches the way Jared gazes adoringly at Kim and the way Kim seems to fit just right into his arms, her stomach inexplicably drops.
What would it feel like to be so devastatingly in love with someone like that? Connie doesn’t know–other than a handful of extremely regrettable high school crushes (thank you Jeremy and Paul), she has never really fallen in love. She’s not even sure she wants to–or so she tries to tell herself in the dark of the night, tucked up alone in her bed while the wolves howl outside her window, grasping for something she cannot name in the dark.
‘Connie?’
‘Hm?’ Kim is glancing at her concernedly, a look Connie is unfortunately all too familiar with. ‘Sorry, I zoned out for a second there.’
‘That’s okay,’ Kim grins, ‘I was asking what you were doing later?’
‘Driving Gran Gran to go con more money out of Old Billy,’ Connie snorts, and Kim’s grin grows. ‘Then nothing other than studying, I’m not back at the bar until tomorrow.’
‘Oh, ace! You fancy coming around to mine later?’
Connie eyes her friend, ‘Will Jared be around? ‘Cause the last time you asked me over to study and he was there, we managed about 15 mins before he started moaning about being hungry and then you guys ended up necking until I felt I had to leave.’
‘Oh, no, Jared is…’ Kim trails off, hesitating. ‘He’s busy tonight.’
‘Okay?’ Connie’s brow furrows, ‘Is everything alright between you two? You’re being weird this morning.’
‘Yeah! Of course!’ Kim says a little too brightly, the edge of her voice too sharp for the usually soft-spoken woman. ‘Why would you ask?’
‘I dunno, you’re just acting a bit…off.’
Kim reaches across to quickly squeeze Connie’s hand, ‘Everything’s fine, I promise. Jared’s just dealing with this emergency.’
Connie stares at her friend, searching for any hint of deception in her friend’s body language. Kim seems tense–her grip on the steering wheel almost too firm–more than her usual stress about college and exams and papers tension, and Connie’s gut twists.
Still, she finds herself nodding, ‘Sure, I can come over after I drop off Gran Gran. Same snacks as usual?’
Kim beams at her, her white-knuckled grip on the wheel easing slightly, ‘Ace!’
For a moment, Connie debates pushing the issue. But something about Kim’s tone makes her hesitate, her usually happy-go-lucky friend seems–dare she even voice it–miserable. She hasn’t seen Kim like this since high school during that increase in animal attacks around Forks, just after she started dating Jared. Actually, now that she thinks about it, there was that weird period where Kim and Jared weren’t speaking while he was away…somewhere. Kim was sharp and mean, and sported those bruising eye bags for far too long until–well, until Jared returned from wherever it was he was.
Huh.
Something is terribly amiss here, and Connie is going to get to the bottom of it.