Chapter Text
Marie had always been the smarter, more studious cousin, but lately she found herself lacking the ability to pay attention in class. She was tired. More tired than usual, really. Due to unfortunate circumstances, her cousin Callie and her mother moved in. Considering their house wasn’t really built for five inklings, it was decided that Callie would share Marie’s room while her mother would take the guest room. They all agreed it would be the best solution, but internally Marie knew it was a death sentence.
On her thirteenth birthday Marie realized she had “other” feelings for Callie. Deeper feelings. The kind of feelings you definitely weren’t supposed to have when you were thinking about your cousin. At first she boiled it down to confused hormones. This excuse allowed her to put away the butterflies that lit up in her stomach or the blush that creeped onto her face when Callie smiled at her, but as the years went by she realized they were all too real.
Despite the fact that the two were best friends, they lived cities apart. Taking the train took at least an hour or two and most days they just texted on their shellphones. The only times she would actually see Callie in person were holidays and rare weekdays when her mother was feeling especially irresponsible, opting to have Marie’s parents babysit her. This never happened more than once a month, so she could tolerate it.
Not having Callie around daily helped her hide her feelings, but the weeks that lead up the the move left Marie was an anxious wreck. No amount of mental preparation could have saved her from the overjoyed look Callie wore as she brought her bags into Marie’s small room. She almost lost her composure when Callie hugged her, genuinely thanked her for sharing the space. She must have mumbled something like “it’s nothing,” because Callie seemed oblivious to the fact that she was practically melting on the spot.
The first couple of days weren’t any better. Callie was a decent roommate, sure. She actually cleaned after herself and usually tried not to touch Marie’s belongings, but it was the little things that got to her. The way she insisted on striking up conversations any time they were in the room together, always wanting to know more and more about her favourite cousin. The way that she snored ever so lightly as she slept, stirring up some sense of protectiveness in Marie. Even the way that she snuck glances at Marie when she thought her cousin wasn’t paying attention was definitely getting to her!
Marie went from a normal high school student to someone always on edge. Someone who always thought twice about her actions. She was so worried that if she spoke too much or let her guard down, Callie would figure her out. She knew she had it bad, but trying her best to cover that up and act normal left her drained. There were no phone screens to cover up her face, no disconnection of her tone from her words.
The worst part about it all was that Callie talked in her sleep.
Any normal person could have slept through it, but Marie was already hypersensitive to Callie’s presence. Any time she mumbled in her sleep, Marie’s eyes flew open and she subconsciously strained her ears to listen. No matter how many times she tried to force herself to ignore her cousin’s presence, the mumbling would bring her attention back every time.
She considered ear plugs, but some irrational part of her told her that if she wore them she’d miss something important. What exactly was she hoping for, or what exactly was she afraid of?
None of these burning questions had any answers, so Marie was forced to suffer. She would just have to catch naps on her lunch break and go home like nothing was wrong, like she did every night.