@the-lyme-light
(this is what I came up with if you don't mind please let me know if it feels weird) The rain had stopped, but gusts of wind moved cold air through the shop as Naomi walked through. A few people watched her and stood in respect. She glanced their way and dipped her head, acknowledging them. Manna looked at them and sighed before whispering to Naomi.
“You’d better go upstairs.”
She climbed the steps in quiet exhaustion. In their room, James lay on his mattress on the floor staring at the wall. She opened her mouth to speak but floundered for the proper words. She quietly crossed the room and sat on her own bed, watching him as he stared into space. The silence inched across the wood floor with the grey light and rattled against the window with the wind. James’s under eyes were deep purple, his lips were tinted red and she couldn’t ignore flecks of dry blood that mingled with his freckles and trickled from his mouth. His hair was wet and the curls were matted to his pale face.
“Where did you go?” She asked so quietly the words hardly escaped her throat. He was silent for a long time, she almost thought he hadn’t heard.
“The pier mostly.” His voice was hoarse.
“Where did you sleep?”
“Dunno” he muttered.
Naomi tried to slow the beating of her heart, tried to hide her alarm. “You know I didn’t mean that. What I said it- I mean, I didn’t mean to-”
“You did though.” He was quiet. “Not on top. But deep down we don’t say things we don’t mean. Not like that.”
“James-”
He was quiet again. Still staring at the same spot on the wall. Naomi wondered if he could hear the cracking of her heart.
“I love you, you know,” he said after a while.
“I love you too.” She turned to look out the window so he wouldn’t see the tears running down the right side of her face.
