Wednesday morning arrived sooner than expected. The air was still and silent, the clouds above giving the day a somber feeling as the clock ticked away. Zeke stumbled out of his bed, his head still slightly heavy from his sleep. Clambering over to the door, he noticed the place oddly silent. "Did she leave early?" He asked himself, looking at his phone before walking over to her room. Placing his hand on the knob, he twisted it to find that it was locked. "Sis, wake up!" He knocked, trying to yell as much as his throat would allow him.
Inside, laying down with half of her body dangling over the edge of her bed, Leslie was tossing and turning. Her face wearing a sour expression as she kicked her feet and rolled back onto her bed. "Mmmhh five more minutes." She mumbled to herself, burying her face into her pillow to muffle all the noise. The knocking subsided, and Leslie once again fell into a deep sleep, only waking up when the sound of her phone blared into her ear. She fumbled with it, turning it on to find it filled with texts and missed calls from Betty, as well as multiple missed alarms from morning until noon. "Fuck!" She said, jumping out of bed and rushing to the bathroom. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck!" She cursed herself as she haphazardly washed her face, looking at her phone once more to see that she'd missed all but one hour of class that day.
"What happened to you?" Zeke asked, sitting at the kitchen table with a book open in front of him and a pen in his hand. "You were asleep all day!"
"I... I don't know..." Leslie said, taking a seat nearby; defeated. "I can't believe this happened..." She groaned, putting her head in her hands.
"Is something wrong? You've been like that since yesterday." Zeke shut his book, putting it under his arm as he walked to a seat closer to his sister. "What were you and Betty talking about?"
"You noticed?"
"How could I not?" He looked down at his hands, twiddling his thumbs as he struggled to find the words. "Is it about... you know..." Asking with a weak voice, he saw Leslie shift her eyes away from him briefly, leading him to sigh. "I knew it. Any word from mom or dad?" He pulled out his phone, frowning to himself as he looked for their parents' numbers.
"I haven't told them yet. But I don't want to... I told them that I'd take care of you. It's just, your medicine..." Leslie's voice was wavering, her eyelids nearly shut as she looked up at the ceiling. "I don't know what to do."
"I'm sorry, sis." Zeke said, standing up and heading into his room. "Just call them. It's okay..." He paused for a moment, looking at his phone again. "It'll be alright."
"But your..." Leslie started talking but was interrupted by the sound of Zeke's door shutting behind him. "I... Zeke, I won't let that happen. Somehow..." She said to herself as she got up and headed toward the door, wanting some fresh air. Pulling out her phone, she rested her hands on the railing of their floor, opening up a VOD from one of Nebby's streams.
"O-oh everyone... thank you for coming toda- Ah, Eagan, thank you so much!" Nebby smiled on the screen, her chat flying behind her as a donation of a few hundred dollars caught everyone's attention. Leslie looked at it, feeling a small pit open in her chest.
"Damn... don't think like that..." She scolded herself silently, redirecting her attention back toward the stream. The child-like laughter, the genuine enjoyment in her voice, and the amount of support that Nebby gets from her audience; it made Leslie's heart ache a little. She let out a long sigh, the frigid air making it visible in front of her. "What if..." She mumbled to herself before shaking the thought away. "I should get back to work... make myself useful to someone at least."
Returning to her room and taking a seat with a heavy heart, Leslie looked at her screen as she opened up her new project: Mizuna Fi. She stared at her blank work, looking over at the side every so often to see the pictures that Betty had sent her. She placed a hand on her keyboard, her fingers gently resting on the keys without pressing them down. She sat there, motionless save for minor twitches at the tips of her fingers.
"What's wrong with me today?" She asked herself, kicking the floor to roll her chair away from her desk. Taking in a deep breath, Leslie stood up and started pacing around her room, staring at herself in the mirror. Frown plastered on her face, she was tempted to pull out her hair. "Why, why can't I do anything today?" She sighed, heading to the bathroom to freshen up before heading outside of the apartment. "Hey, Betty..."
"Leslie? I heard from your brother. Are you sick?" Betty opened the door with her eyes half-closed. Wearing a nightgown with a raindrop design.
"I don't think so... can I come in?" Leslie grabbed her arm with her hand, gently rubbing it as the cool air of the night sent her legs trembling. "I... need to talk to someone." Betty swung the door open a little wider, her arm reaching out to gently pull her inside by nudging her back. As Leslie took her first few steps inside, she felt Betty's arms wrap around her body as Betty enveloped her in a hug. She just stood there letting Betty slowly move both of them inside.
"I'll get you something to drink, does hot chocolate sound good?" She asked, watching Leslie take a seat on the sofa and hug a pillow tightly to her chest. Letting out a nod, she moped for a while until a warm mug was placed on the coffee table in front of her. "Leslie..."
"I don't think I can do it, Betty..." She stared at her drink, a few tiny marshmallows floating on the surface of the steamy beverage. "You should probably look for someone else. I just don't think I'm ready for it." She added, taking the mug in both her hands to bring it up to her nose. It turned her frown into a soft smile, if only for a moment.
"Leslie, it's okay. I'll be happy with whatever you give me. Don't beat yourself up over it." Betty sat down across from her with her own mug and a small bowl of strawberries. She took a sip, looking, and analyzing Leslie's expression. The two of them locked eyes, Betty noticing that Leslie's eyes featured a thousand-yard stare. "That's not what you're worried about, is it?" Crossing her legs as she set down her mug, she leaned forward until she was literally at the edge of her seat.
"I..." Just as Leslie was about to take her first sip, she stopped and stared with her face slack-jawed. Silence filled the room, Leslie and Betty both holding their tongue as the tension rose between them. "It's... I don't know anymore, Betty." She takes a sip, the flavor, and warmth spreading through her body and enveloping her with a fuzzy feeling. "There's just so much I have to do, and I can't... I..." Sighing and setting down her mug, she rubbed her eyes and noticed that her skin was slightly damper than before.
The sound of footsteps reached her ears, a hand being placed on her shoulder. "Just be quiet for now, okay? Calm down and let's think of a plan together." Giving her a kind and caring smile, Betty sat down beside her and placed Leslie's head on her shoulder. They sat there for a minute as Leslie regained her composure, both slowly sipping their drinks until they were about halfway done with the mug. "So, let's list out your problems, try to get everything organized." Betty said as Leslie wiped away a few wayward tears with her finger with a quiet chuckle.
"That's ironic, coming from you." Leslie joked, her cheeky smile accompanied by her arm gesturing around the room which had the makings of a pigsty. "So..." The two of them conversed, listing out everything that was troubling Leslie.
"How many times have I told you not to push yourself too far?" Betty said, taking their mugs away once they were finished with them. "Now, look at what happened. I'll help you with what I can, but seriously stop doing that. You can't keep doing this to yourself." She came back, helping Leslie get to the door. "Sleep properly, okay. Don't make us worry like that again."
"Us?"
"Me and your brother. He was worried sick when I came in earlier in the day to check in on you." Leslie walked away while mulling over Betty's words, unlocking the door to her apartment to find Zeke at the end of a phone call.
"Yeah, I'll tell her, good night..." He said before hanging up, pocketing his phone before laying himself on the couch. His eyes were dull, glazed over with a lifeless haze, save for the small beads of water around them. "Hey, sis..." He said without looking up; he simply turned to the side and coughed a little into his arm.
"Zeke, go to your room at least." Leslie bit her lower lip, struggling to find the right words. "... good night." She said, walking past him to get to her own room. Checking the time while staring apprehensively at her workstation, she put her hand to her chin as she paced around her room; Mizuna Fi's reference art still on her screen. Just as she was about to work on it, a text sent her phone buzzing.
"Go to sleep." It came from Betty. Leslie chuckled to herself, choosing to take her advice and retire for the night instead of watching Betty and Tabatha's collab.