Rhiannon: Chapter 4

Looks like I crapped double for you, tonight, har har. Enjoy and please let me know what you think. I've been appreciating all the comments.

Rhiannon: Chapter 4
"Alright, fine. So I'm a terrible person," she said with a slight smirk.
"See, you can't even say that with a straight face! You really are a terrible person!" Sara. Her only real friend in the real world. Sara had tried to save her so many times before. From herself, from the pills, the booze. A few times she had saved Rhiannon's life. That's how she knew she was a true companion.
"I really don't see what the big deal is, anyway. It's just like Valentine's Day. The card companies invent these holidays to make more money." Rhiannon quipped, taking a drag from her cigarette.
"Yeah, but you know how mother's take them so seriously. I forgot Mother's Day once, too, when I was like, eleven. My mum never forgave me for it. She still brings it up. You know how mothers get.."
Rhiannon stopped walking and took Sara's wrist, bringing her to a sudden halt.
"You don't have my mum, Sara, you don't. My mum is different. She's... controlling, and clumsy, and worrying, and emotional, and--"
"She's just a mother," Sara interrupted, timidly. "She's the same as mine. I know." Sara's dad had died when she was only six. She did know. The difference being that her mother re-married.
"I know.. I'm sorry. I just.. she's always so--" Sara's arm was suddenly linked with her own. "C'mon. I'll help you pick out a card."

The two of them perused the shelves for a moment before deciding on a sappy "belated" card and a rose. After they had paid, they walked back out into town.
"Do you ever get the feeling all those cashiers are.. laughing at you?" Rhiannon questioned, thoughtfully.
"They usually only laugh at people who forget Mother's Day." Sara checked Rhiannon's response, which was a playful glare.
"Who's the horrible person now, hm?" They laughed, and Rhiannon pointed to a coffee shoppe across the road. They started towards it.
"I hate these corporate bastard coffee companies," retorted Sara, despite being on her way there. "Which reminds me," she poked Rhiannon's side, "when are you going to get a job?"
"I--"
"Writing and 'sketching on occasion'..." she used air quotations to emphasise the sarcasm, "... Does not qualify as work, Rhiannon."
"You're supposed to be my friend and back me up on my decisions! It is too work!"
"Not if it isn't selling.." Sara smiled smugly and approached the counter to place her order.

After they'd both gotten their caffeine fixes, they decided to head back home. Rhiannon hopped into the driver's seat, coffee in hand.
"You really should, you know." Sara said, sipping the frozen drink.
"Should what?" Rhiannon turned onto the main road, and lit another cigarette in one fluid motion.
"Get a job! I know someone who could get you into a position, real fast. The pay is good, and you just sit and answer phones all day. It's not much, but at least you'll be able to--"
Without taking her eyes off the road, Rhiannon interjected with conviction.
"Sara, I will never. EVER. Have a telemarketing job, okay? It's not me. You know what is me? Writing. And sketching on occasion." She ashed out the window and took a long drag before continuing. "And I'm fucking sick of hearing from everyone that I need to get a job. I do okay, y'know?"
"Yeah." Sara muttered, afraid to say anything more.
"I do! I fucking do. And I don't need to be in some white shirt, answering phones all day for some shit head with a stick up his arse, and waiting all month for a measely check that has all sorts of taxes taken out of it. I don't need it, Sara. I hear it all the fucking time from my mother, and the rest of her fucking family, so I don't need it from you, okay?" She exhaled shakily, immediately regretting flying off the handle at her, like that.

"Jeez.. jeez, I'm sorry. I didn't know you felt that way. Well.." she scratched behind her ear and drew a sigh, unsure of what to say. "If you want to draw and write, for the rest of your life, you draw and write."
Rhiannon smiled and chuckled softly as she flicked the cigarette out the window. She could tell how forced it sounded. "Say it like you mean it!" she cried.
"Rhiannon, you'd better be a fucking artist, or I'll find you. And god help you if I find you.." Sara reached over as though she were about to strangle her, and choked out strange zombie sounds. The two of them laughed as Rhiannon pulled into her driveway. She parked the car and looked down at her lap.
"You're my only friend." she said, practically whispering.
"Oh stop, you're making me blush." Sara swatted the air playfully, still maintaining the light attitude they had before.
"You are," Rhiannon whispered, seriously. "And I.. love you." She kept her eyes averted and fiddled with her fingers. Sara suddenly realised how serious she really was. Rhiannon glanced up, afraid of her response, but Sara just smiled and said "I love you, too, Rhiannon." Sara pulled her into a rather awkward hug, inside the car, and whispered in her ear.
"I do, Rhiannon, I love you."

That night, Rhiannon didn't drink. And she slept wonderfully for the first time in a long time. The next day, Rhiannon felt fantastic, and went back to working on a novel she hadn't touched in four months. That night, Rhiannon's mother killed herself by downing 21 sleeping pills. Rhiannon tore up the mother's day card and tossed it into her mother's grave. Later that night, Rhiannon got drunk and pilled, and wondered if her mother's death was meant to be a sign. She guessed that it meant happiness can only last so long, before passing out. She awoke 3 days later, with a splitting headache and a renewed sense of reality.
-L-