 Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?
Ash was better. As better as she could be, considering she was Ash and she was rarely better at anything when it came to her personal life. But she actually was sort of better. Since the summer, her life had calmed down a bit, and she wasn't worried about her safety or her apartment or things like that. Instead, she was worried about getting support for her business idea, and the upcoming trial, and what she was going to do all day now that she was an adult (so far, it was getting adopted by about 500 friends' families, and painting, and divination, and therapy, and reading). Also, she saw her stepmother and half-brother every week and usually it went fine (except for the time Charlie had pulled her hair and she yelled at him and then felt bad because he was 4). So... she was better. Mostly.
She was late again, though she'd warned Heath(big bro) that she was in the habit of being late to things. She was only a little late, and from the appearance of her dress and jacket and hair she certainly seemed to have been rushing. She smiled as soon as she saw him-- Ash really had a lovely smile, when she was wearing it. "Heath!" She slipped into the seat across from him. "I see you've already gotten your ice cream. That's good. I didn't keep you waiting too long, did I? I tried my best to be on time but somehow I am never on time and it's frustrating." All this tumbled out of her mouth in one breath, and she was still smiling despite her apologies. She was so excited to see him! "How are you doing?" Yes, she knew that one reason they were meeting was because she was a mess and sort of needed a good listener, but that didn't mean she wasn't allowed to ask after him. He probably hadn't seen the newspaper articles about her family, so it wasn't like there was an elephant in the room. No need to rush. After all, they were catching up. She hadn't seen him in ages, and she'd missed him. |