Strawberry Banana #22, Pomelo #26, Angel Food #2
Author: winebabe
Title: Because You Got Out of Hand
Story: The Gemini Occurrence
Rating: PG-13 (Content: vague mentions of domestic abuse and drug usage)
Flavor(s): Strawberry Banana #22: a hug; Pomelo #26: often one finds one's destiny just where one hides to avoid it; Angel Food #2: false idols
Word Count: 1025
Summary: 2025; When you grow up in the golden glow of wealth, it shouldn't be such a surprise where you end up.
Notes: Genevieve Kessler-Downing, Jude Downing, Adelina Garland.
15-year-old Genevieve Kessler knows Daddy means well. She sees the way he looks at her mother, the glassy glaze over his eyes as he watches the woman a decade younger than himself, her fingertips grasping the delicate stem of her wine glass. This is all she knows, that love is sometimes violent and loud and possessive. Love is diamonds and pearls and champagne. Love is locking the door at parties, hiding from the prying eyes of associates. Everything is a secret when you're in love, she learns. Love turns you into a master actress.
It doesn't mean she thinks her mother is happy. Love doesn't always mean you're happy, she learns early on. When she was young, just a child, she thought her mother's tears turned into diamonds. Every time Evette Kessler cries, new sparkling jewels appear--on her wrists, in her ears, around her neck. Genevieve watched as the glistening on her cheeks turned to glistening elsewhere, and the poor, deceived child thought that was something to look forward to.
So, when Daddy introduces her to 25-year-old Jude Downing, Genevieve takes it all in stride. He's the man she'll marry, Daddy tells her, and Genevieve accepts it. He's handsome, in a very straight-laced way--like Daddy, of course Daddy would want her to marry someone just like him. He's kind, gentle with her, and treats her like a princess. They marry the day she turns 18 and she becomes Genevieve Kessler-Downing. Her tears, like her mother's, turn to sparkling gems.
10 years later, it's so very empty in the mansion that Genevieve's never quite grown to call home. Her jewelry sits in piles on top of her dresser so she can stare at the pieces. She thinks about hocking it every day. She thinks about hiding a stack of cash in her underwear drawer, stuffed inside a pair of plain white socks that Jude would have no reason to pull out.
Still, she thinks she loves him. She knows she's supposed to. Jude provides for her, takes care of her, and without him she would be nothing. She loves him, but she desperately wants to leave.
"You look awful," Adelina whispers, reaching across the small cafe table to grab hold of Genevieve's free hand. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"I'm so tired," Genevieve says and laughs. She steals a glance at her wrist, where the heart sits, embedded in her skin. The surface is dull, dark, so unlike what she knows it's supposed to look like. The man who had brought them their coffee has the same heart, everyone does, but his is bright. She could see the color, the vibrancy of it, like there was a light coming from within. No one knows how the implants work, but they do. The hearts are bright when you find your love, the one people call their soulmate, but until then it sits in your skin like a shadow, like a raised tattoo.
Adelina's own heart is dark as well, but it's of less concern to her because she's not married. She's still free. "Is Jude still...?" she asks, and she doesn't have to finish the question. Genevieve already knows where she's going with it.
"He's been better," she replies, pulling her hand away from her coffee cup to gently rest her fingertips against her cheek. Mere days ago, in the heat of an alcohol-fueled argument, he'd slapped her--hard. It wasn't the first time, but it rattled something loose inside of her. "God, Lina, I want him dead!" she whispers. "I've been daydreaming about his funeral!"
"You need to leave him," Adelina murmurs, then takes a sip from her own coffee cup. "I mean it, Genevieve. He's no good for you."
"Don't you think I know that?" She's stopped taking the pills, hiding them away after Jude gives them to her, and suddenly the world seems so much harsher. Of course, the world seems so much clearer, too. She's been deceived worse than her own mother had been. "But I can't. I'm too dependent on other people."
"You can stay with me," Adelina insists, squeezing Genevieve's hand. "I'll take care of you. You can be dependent on me."
"You know I can't do that," Genevieve sighs. "I couldn't do that to you."
"It's better than running to another man." Adelina eyes her suspiciously, as though she may bolt from the table that very moment. "You can learn to take care of yourself."
"You know I can't," Genevieve says again in a sing-song voice.
"You're full of shit, Genevieve," Adelina says and rolls her eyes.
Genevieve only smiles and separates their hands, raising her cup to her lips. Outside of the pill haze, maybe she doesn't feel so helpless after all. It's easier to play the damsel in distress, the shrinking violet when her brain is clouded by chemicals, but she remembers the act well enough to keep it up when she needs to. She knows that Daddy tried, rather desperately, to mold her into the woman he'd wished her mother was. Small, delicate, dependent. She knows that's what Jude wants of her, too. And she knows that's not what she wants to be.
"I want him to die," she says, very quietly, and Adelina's eyes widen.
"You don't mean that."
"I do." Genevieve gently dabs at her lips with a napkin. "It's the only way out."
Adelina sits still under Genevieve's gaze, her mind working. She knows all Genevieve's secrets, and in a way it means she knows all Jude's secrets as well. When weighing the options, Genevieve Kessler is always more important than Jude Downing. "Do you have a plan?" she finally asks, and Genevieve laughs.
"Of course not. Not yet." She reaches across the table to take Adelina's hand again. "But the second I do, you'll be the first to know. And you'll help me, won't you?"
Adelina laces their fingers together. "You know I will. It's always been us, together."
When Genevieve returns home that afternoon, Jude pulls her into a hug, and it feels very much like she's holding a knife behind his back as they embrace. The feeling thrills her more than anything.
Title: Because You Got Out of Hand
Story: The Gemini Occurrence
Rating: PG-13 (Content: vague mentions of domestic abuse and drug usage)
Flavor(s): Strawberry Banana #22: a hug; Pomelo #26: often one finds one's destiny just where one hides to avoid it; Angel Food #2: false idols
Word Count: 1025
Summary: 2025; When you grow up in the golden glow of wealth, it shouldn't be such a surprise where you end up.
Notes: Genevieve Kessler-Downing, Jude Downing, Adelina Garland.
15-year-old Genevieve Kessler knows Daddy means well. She sees the way he looks at her mother, the glassy glaze over his eyes as he watches the woman a decade younger than himself, her fingertips grasping the delicate stem of her wine glass. This is all she knows, that love is sometimes violent and loud and possessive. Love is diamonds and pearls and champagne. Love is locking the door at parties, hiding from the prying eyes of associates. Everything is a secret when you're in love, she learns. Love turns you into a master actress.
It doesn't mean she thinks her mother is happy. Love doesn't always mean you're happy, she learns early on. When she was young, just a child, she thought her mother's tears turned into diamonds. Every time Evette Kessler cries, new sparkling jewels appear--on her wrists, in her ears, around her neck. Genevieve watched as the glistening on her cheeks turned to glistening elsewhere, and the poor, deceived child thought that was something to look forward to.
So, when Daddy introduces her to 25-year-old Jude Downing, Genevieve takes it all in stride. He's the man she'll marry, Daddy tells her, and Genevieve accepts it. He's handsome, in a very straight-laced way--like Daddy, of course Daddy would want her to marry someone just like him. He's kind, gentle with her, and treats her like a princess. They marry the day she turns 18 and she becomes Genevieve Kessler-Downing. Her tears, like her mother's, turn to sparkling gems.
10 years later, it's so very empty in the mansion that Genevieve's never quite grown to call home. Her jewelry sits in piles on top of her dresser so she can stare at the pieces. She thinks about hocking it every day. She thinks about hiding a stack of cash in her underwear drawer, stuffed inside a pair of plain white socks that Jude would have no reason to pull out.
Still, she thinks she loves him. She knows she's supposed to. Jude provides for her, takes care of her, and without him she would be nothing. She loves him, but she desperately wants to leave.
"You look awful," Adelina whispers, reaching across the small cafe table to grab hold of Genevieve's free hand. "Are you sure you're alright?"
"I'm so tired," Genevieve says and laughs. She steals a glance at her wrist, where the heart sits, embedded in her skin. The surface is dull, dark, so unlike what she knows it's supposed to look like. The man who had brought them their coffee has the same heart, everyone does, but his is bright. She could see the color, the vibrancy of it, like there was a light coming from within. No one knows how the implants work, but they do. The hearts are bright when you find your love, the one people call their soulmate, but until then it sits in your skin like a shadow, like a raised tattoo.
Adelina's own heart is dark as well, but it's of less concern to her because she's not married. She's still free. "Is Jude still...?" she asks, and she doesn't have to finish the question. Genevieve already knows where she's going with it.
"He's been better," she replies, pulling her hand away from her coffee cup to gently rest her fingertips against her cheek. Mere days ago, in the heat of an alcohol-fueled argument, he'd slapped her--hard. It wasn't the first time, but it rattled something loose inside of her. "God, Lina, I want him dead!" she whispers. "I've been daydreaming about his funeral!"
"You need to leave him," Adelina murmurs, then takes a sip from her own coffee cup. "I mean it, Genevieve. He's no good for you."
"Don't you think I know that?" She's stopped taking the pills, hiding them away after Jude gives them to her, and suddenly the world seems so much harsher. Of course, the world seems so much clearer, too. She's been deceived worse than her own mother had been. "But I can't. I'm too dependent on other people."
"You can stay with me," Adelina insists, squeezing Genevieve's hand. "I'll take care of you. You can be dependent on me."
"You know I can't do that," Genevieve sighs. "I couldn't do that to you."
"It's better than running to another man." Adelina eyes her suspiciously, as though she may bolt from the table that very moment. "You can learn to take care of yourself."
"You know I can't," Genevieve says again in a sing-song voice.
"You're full of shit, Genevieve," Adelina says and rolls her eyes.
Genevieve only smiles and separates their hands, raising her cup to her lips. Outside of the pill haze, maybe she doesn't feel so helpless after all. It's easier to play the damsel in distress, the shrinking violet when her brain is clouded by chemicals, but she remembers the act well enough to keep it up when she needs to. She knows that Daddy tried, rather desperately, to mold her into the woman he'd wished her mother was. Small, delicate, dependent. She knows that's what Jude wants of her, too. And she knows that's not what she wants to be.
"I want him to die," she says, very quietly, and Adelina's eyes widen.
"You don't mean that."
"I do." Genevieve gently dabs at her lips with a napkin. "It's the only way out."
Adelina sits still under Genevieve's gaze, her mind working. She knows all Genevieve's secrets, and in a way it means she knows all Jude's secrets as well. When weighing the options, Genevieve Kessler is always more important than Jude Downing. "Do you have a plan?" she finally asks, and Genevieve laughs.
"Of course not. Not yet." She reaches across the table to take Adelina's hand again. "But the second I do, you'll be the first to know. And you'll help me, won't you?"
Adelina laces their fingers together. "You know I will. It's always been us, together."
When Genevieve returns home that afternoon, Jude pulls her into a hug, and it feels very much like she's holding a knife behind his back as they embrace. The feeling thrills her more than anything.