Chapter Text
Lorna folded her last shirt, tucking it into her suitcase gently. With a heavy sigh, she slammed the top of the case down.
“What’d that case do to you?” her boyfriend Alex asked, poking his head into the room.
“Alex, can we…not?” she asked, slumping backwards onto the bed, her hands covering her face.
“Not what?” he asked, hovering just uncomfortably close enough to block the light.
“Not talk,” she grumbled, turning on her side.
“My stomach is already doing backflips.”
“Hey, c’mon, they’re gonna love you,” Alex whispered. “They’ll take anyone.”
“Yeah, easy for you to say, your brother’s in charge.”
“So you have extra nothing to worry about because we have the safety net of nepotism,” Alex joked.
“Why do we even have to go?” Lorna asked.
“You were enthusiastic, like, a day ago,” Alex folded his arms.
“Yeah, before I remembered all the reasons I don’t belong there,” Lorna whispered.
“Like what?” Alex insisted.
“Just…stuff about my family. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Look, the Professor has been asking me to go for years and he was ecstatic when I said my girlfriend was coming too,” Alex assured her, brushing her green hair out of her face.
“Whatever went wrong with your family, they won’t care. And I don’t care either.”
She smiled as he planted a quick kiss on her forehead before leaving.
She tried to look on the bright side. Maybe Alex was right.
Uncle Charles had always been nice to her.