It was almost funny — funny wasn’t the right word, there wasn’t one. After all this time, all these years of not seeing her, after all of the hurt and betrayal, the first emotion to flash across Fawna’s face at the sound of the other girl’s voice was excitement. Her first instinct, for just a second, was to pull her into a hug, ask her how she’d been. Then it hit her like a brick. She hadn’t even noticed she was nearby. If she had, would she have spoke at all? “Penny,” was the only word she could manage to get out, the excitement gone, replaced with something else, something unknown, a mix of emotion she couldn’t quite process.

Penny looked at her old friend for a moment opening her mouth trying to say something else but her mouth felt dry as she started speaking again “Hey, Fawna.” Her voice was soft as she spoke, Penny was afraid to move closer to her not knowing how she would react next. She hadn’t been slapped in the face like she had expected after seeing Fawn for the first time in years, this was a good sign. “I-”  Her voice cracking trying to make the words come out next. “I missed you a-a-and I’m sorry.” I’m sorry was something Penny must have told her a million times before her brother died and she completely shut down. As soon as Fawna found out about her and Nik Penny had called and texted so many times I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry but this was the first time she had been able to say it to her face. But the ‘i miss you’ was new but once looking at her old friends face finally the blonde remembered every sleepover, rides home, drunken talks, girls night, whisper and hug all at once that she had tucked away in her mind.

george looked at the hand reaching up to his face in distrust wondering where it could have been. a confusing amount emotions seemed through cross in the moment unwilling to understand what had brought them on. hadn’t he just seen her a couple of hours ago? “you’re sort of freaking me out, penny. have you been drinking?” he asked, unsure. tugging her onto him, arms wrapping tightly around her as he tried to comfort her.

“i’m thinking you need one strong coffee to sober up before the ‘rents see you in this state,” george mused, almost sure she had to be drunk. 

When he pulled her in for hug her heart leaped she gripped onto him tight now letting the tears fall completely. The way he was talking to her, like nothing had changed as if he had always been there she wasn’t sure how to respond. She only held him closer taking this moment in that she was finally holding her brother again as she cried into his chest. “Okay just...give me a minute.“ The blonde said wanting to hold him for a bit longer.

It was strange — she couldn’t remember ever waking up in a dream before. It wasn’t uncommon to be plagued with memories of the past, though it was typically a much more disturbing scene she was forced to relive; Fawna figured that’s the direction it was heading. It was only a matter of time before she was surrounded by smoke again and had to blink herself back into reality. For now she’d just roll with it. “I’d almost forgotten what it was like to be forced out of bed by 6:05 sharp,” she spoke, to what she assumed was a figment of her imagination. “If there’s one thing to be said about my mother, she’s dedicated.”

“Yeah she always knew how to press the right button.“  Penny answered without thinking before looking over at Fawna. She hadn’t seen her since before her brother died and now looking at her made her stomach turn a mixture of guilt and something else she couldn’t place.  

George tipped his head back as the sun hit his face warming everything the light touched. Breathing in the crisp air of the day, nose scrunching at the lingering scent of smoke. Had the day been so cold people had turned on their fireplace? An as a shiver passed through his body he could not help but wish for the small comfort of a nice fire. Eyes glaring up at the sky as the clouds rolled through covering the sun and with it taking away the light.

An so, with a lighter in his pocket he began the trek down the street fingers twirling the ring at his hand as a nice whistle tune broke from his lips. George was happy. Life blessed him with so much that he could ask for no more and complain about nothing. Sure, he had no clue what his life would be like tomorrow, or if he would even be alive. Maybe he had no clue what he actually wanted to do or be, but he had time.  “Okay. Okay. So, maybe I’ve got a lot to ask for like some guidance.” he groaned out loud. “But I’ll worry about that tomorrow.”

Penny looked at him in absolute wonder, trying to figure out if this was a trick or a dream or if she had in fact finally lost her mind. For a moment she didn’t move in inch not processing at all what he was saying and just gazed at him. He looked exactly the same from the last time that she saw him, he hadn’t changed at all and somehow she herself was stuck looking like when he last saw her. “George?“ Her voice coming our soft but broken as she slowly stepped closer to her brother. Her bottom lip shivering as she was on the verge of crying, seeing him in the light of day like this made her heart break because of this wasn’t real this would be so cruel to just show her and then suddenly take away but if this was real. She wasn’t sure what to do if this was, maybe this was her second chance. Her second chance to say sorry to hug her brother to make it all right. That was something she had thought had long passed, she had spent multiple night drinking alone in her flat thinking about this exact chance. Slowly she raised up her hand her finger tips softly touching his cheek her eyes swelled up into tears realizing that she could feel his skin and he was in fact there. When she felt his stubble under her fingers she let out a breath not even realizing she was holding it in. “George, I’ve missed you so much”