Sugar

[carlyinrome]

Angel’s not like other men, Cordelia says. She is pouring tea in a way that reminds Fred of stories about geishas, and has arranged a ring of sugar cookies on a paper plate. The box they came out of is still there on the counter, but Fred likes how she does that, makes things look nice.

Fred knows how the rest of this talk is going to go. Even before that mean guy in Angel called her sweetheart, Fred didn’t think, really, that she could be with Angel. Hoped it, sure, but never really thought it. Angel’s all big and strapping and a hero, a real hero who saves people, and Fred’s only Fred. So even if Angel were like other men, and he could do normal stuff like dating without being afraid it would end the world, it’s not like he’d ever choose Fred as his girlfriend. He’d pick someone like Cordelia, someone warm and brave and strong, someone who knows how to make things look nice.

Fred eats cookies, the hard little beads of sugar rasping on her tongue like sand. It’s strange how something so sweet can be so abrasive, all at the same time.