Welcome to Gaia! ::

Lily had been peacefully practicing some vinyasas at home, really getting into a zen mood for her next video. There were candles lit, some mood music going, and she was at least eighty percent sure that she could get a cool shot of her doing a headstand in the dim lighting that would get her at least a few likes on instagram.

And then this s**t started lighting up her phone.

What started as some post-workout lounging slowly became a series of angry clicks as she typed something, then erased, then typed it again exactly as is. She didn't like that they were booting Temperance from the listserv. She especially didn't like the reason why and what that was supposed to imply. And when Ashton decided to butt in, she started to see red. She switched apps and thumbed through her contacts to find a direct number, and immediately she began typing.

She thought about texting Temperance, or whether this was a dire enough emergency to merit calling her, but she couldn't do either when her hands were starting to shake.

Lily knew that spilling her guts was a horrible, terrible idea, especially to someone she'd deliberately cut out of her life and especially especially when it was about a new girl that she'd made out with in a movie theater. Nevertheless, she couldn't keep the panic from rising up through her throat, and the only thing she could do was channel it down into a series of texts to her ex.

Something in Lily's chest bristled at the thought of Ashton reaching out first, slow-boiling anger that made her curl inwards on her mat. But she breathed, re entered herself, rememberedit wasn't Lily's place to dictate who Temperance talked to, and in all likelihood they were even classmates. It didn't stop the ugly sensation of jealousy burning in her throat, but it kept her from becoming defensive as a matter of course. Not every encounter was a battle to be won.



She started to type more, but stopped herself, backpedaling in the hopes that she didn't start the little '...' bubble on Ashton's end. It wouldn't do to look too attached, after all.

She paused, then added:

A moment later, she sent this picture.

Lily stared down at her phone, and despite all the worried feelings floating around in her head, smiled. And just as quickly, Lily closed her phone and put it away, her eyes widening as she put her face in her hands.

"s**t. s**t s**t s**t."

April 16th, 3:57 PM