“I guess so. Feels so long ago now,” Vieve sighed, then stepped aside and gestured for Katya to enter the apartment.
It was hard being there. She'd only been there once before, and though it had seemed like a magical time, everything had come crashing down right afterwards. So the space made her feel uncomfortable. In a short span of time, she'd made a lot of memories in that home. Ones she now worked very hard to forget.
“Yeah, but sometimes, it kinda feels like it was all just yesterday. So what brings you to San Francisco?” Katya dove right into her twenty questions. Vieve blinked her eyes in surprise, then quickly got control of herself and glided into the kitchen.
“I've been needing a change. A month or two ago, I had mentioned to Wulf that I was thinking of moving. He offered to find me a place. I was going to come here for a sort of extended visit, see if I liked it enough to relocate here,” she explained.
“Oh. So you're thinking of moving here,” Katya clarified.
“Maybe. I like it a lot, and it's nice to be close to Wulf. Is that why you're here? Were you hoping to catch him? He said he wanted me to have space, to really get a feel for living on my own here, so he's staying somewhere else,” Vieve told her. Katya coughed out a laugh, maybe a little too forcefully.
“What, Wulf? Looking for him? No, no. I, uh, found out you were here, and thought it would be fun to catch up,” she said quickly. Vieve smiled again. She had such a gentle smile, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. For someone so young, there was something about her that seemed so old. A person could just feel how weary her soul was; Katya wanted to wrap her up and take care of her.
“He told me about you two.”
“He did?”
“Yes. When I called about looking for a place, he mentioned that living here would bring me closer to you. I was surprised he even knew you were in San Francisco,” Vieve said, and Katya gave a genuine laugh. “He told me you guys had been seeing each other. I thought it was … nice.”
“Yeah. Yeah, it was nice, for a while.”
“He also told me it ended.”
“It did.”
“Do you … want to talk about it?” Vieve offered. Katya snorted.
“I don't think you want to hear it.”
“I don't mind. I mean, he is my brother, so I'm going to love him no matter what. But that also means I know how difficult he can be.”
“Difficult isn't a big enough word for what your brother is.”
“Tell me about it. I lived with him, remember?”
Katya laughed again.
“He didn't tell you how it ended?” she asked.
“He mentioned that it didn't end well, and that he'd made some bad mistakes,” Vieve replied.
“That's kind of downplaying it. Nothing else?”
“Not really. You know him, he's not a big talker. But then when I got here, after a couple days, I finally asked about you. He said not to worry, that you'd be speaking to each other soon. So that's why I assumed you were here for him,” Vieve said. Katya groaned.
“No, I came here to see if you were in on his little plot to drive me batshit insane,” she explained.
“Oh. Um, that would be a no. I have not heard any plan for insanity. Maybe you should tell me what, exactly, is going on between you two.”
“I really don't think you want to hear about all that,” Katya waved her hand as she spoke. “I've been awkward enough, I should just go. I just … I don't know, like I said, I had to know that this wasn't all some Illuminati master plan to destroy me.”
“Nope. I forgot to pay my Illuminati dues. But I'm an exceptional listener, and I like to help people, and I know Wulfric pretty well, I could offer some insight. It's not good to leave it all bottled up,” Vieve insisted in that earnest way she had.
So Katya did just that – leaving out the dirtier and nastier details. She figured a sister didn't need to hear the kind of nasty language and activities Wulf was prone to. She also didn't want to make him out to be a monster to his family, Katya wasn't that mean.
She explained how she and Wulf had met, him tricking her into that first date, then just showing up at her house or job whenever he felt like it. Forcing his way inside her life. Into her heart. Then she glossed over the horrific train crash of an ending and wrapped it up with the current events.
“And then I walked downstairs yesterday, and found him moving into my building. He told me you were living here, and he was giving you space, so of course I kind of thought maybe you were working together,” Katya finished explaining. Vieve nodded. She'd moved to sit on a stool next to Katya.
“We're not, uh, 'working together', but I have to ask you – if we were, if this was some elaborate plan for him to get you back, do you think I'd work against him and help you?” Vieve asked. It wasn't said with any malice or in any sort of tone, just a genuine question. Katya was pretty sure Vieve didn't have a mean or nasty bone in her body.
“No, and that's not what I'm here to ask or anything. I just wanted … I don't know, a heads up. To know where you stand. We're sort of friends, I'm sure we would've wound up in each others space at some point. I would hate to think someone else was keeping crazy secrets from me. It was … the worst feeling. If you're his new best friend, fine. If you don't plan on spending a lot of time with him, cool. I just want to know so I'm not caught in the middle again,” Katya explained. Vieve smiled.
“I don't think Wulf's ever had a best friend, and if he did, it certainly wouldn't be me. There's no diabolical plan to get you back and I'm not keeping any crazy secrets for him. Though to be totally honest, I gotta say, I'm kind of rooting for him. He sounded … happier when he was with you. I hope things work out.”
“That's very sweet. But if we're being honest, I don't. I hope that someday, someone makes Wulf feel as awful as he made me feel.”
“IF THAT'S TRUE, THEN YOU'RE GOING ABOUT THIS ALL WRONG.”
Katya gasped so hard, she almost fell off her stool. That wasn't Vieve speaking. Someone was in the living room, yelling to be heard from across the spacious apartment. A half wall separated that room from the kitchen, blocking the stranger from view. Katya got off her stool and leaned around the black marble structure.
She could see a pair of shoes propped up on the arm rest of a white loveseat. Leaning a little farther, she saw that the shoes led to a pair of legs belonging to a woman. A short girl, she fit fairly comfortably on the small couch. Her long dirty blonde hair was hanging over the edge of the cushion, almost brushing the floor. Her face wasn't visible, though. It was blocked by a ridiculously large smart phone, which she held up and continued playing with despite the fact that another person was approaching her.
“Um, I'm sorry … do I know you?” Katya asked. The other girl snorted.