All Right Now

Juneau flinched at yet another creak from the floorboard. She shook her head, rubbed her eyes—which were starting to get teary—and pressed forward. There was no coming back, not when she had made it that far alone.

Perhaps it's only her mind playing tricks, but she could swear the floor of the Union dorm, which was admittedly quite old, would seemingly only creak at night. That is, the time of the day she disliked the most; she simply could not stand the dark. That the dorm was eerily quiet—thanks to most of its occupants being out on commissions—just made the feeling worse.

I'm brave, I'm brave, I'm brave, Juneau repeated with trembling lips; it was some sort of mantra that Atlanta taught her. It worked most of the time.

Calming down to a degree, she continued walking towards the bathroom at the far end of the building, wondering where San Diego had gone. If only she hadn't, she would've asked her sister and roommate to accompany her there.

Her thoughts and pace went to an abrupt stop when Juneau heard the sound of faint footsteps. Calm down, she told herself. It must be San Diego.

Despite that, she remained firmly rooted at that spot, unable to go on as her legs began shaking.

"San Diego…?" she called out, even though it came out weaker than she'd liked.

"Ya rang?"

Despite recognizing the voice, Juneau jumped and squeaked anyway.

Turning around, she saw San Diego, who had just appeared out of nowhere, grinning as if nothing had happened.

"Sandy…you scared me," Juneau whined. Her efforts not to cry were wasted, and now she was tearing up.

"Oh, did I? Sooo~ry; where are you going by yourself at this hour, Junie?"

"Um…Ah…bathroom."

"Ooooh, I see. Alrighty then. You're going by yourself?"

Juneau hesitated as San Diego waited, seemingly oblivious.

"I'm scared…" she finally admitted.

"You are? Okay then," San Diego extended her hand to a surprised Juneau. "I'll go with you."

Juneau ran a hand across her eyes and smiled a little.

"Yeah, let's go."

***

"Hey, hey, Junie, can we go get some snacks from the kitchenette before we get back?" San Diego requested as she and Juneau walked back toward their room.

Juneau would've preferred to go back right away, even though San Diego and her boundless cheerfulness had put her at ease, and she wasn't scared anymore. While San Diego certainly wouldn't be mad at her if she declined, she didn't feel like disagreeing with that simple request, so she said yes.

From her seat, Juneau watched as San Diego climbed the counter to reach a cupboard; she rummaged for a while before finding what she was looking for—a bag of cookies.

"There you are. Thought you could hide, huh? I—Whoa!"

Juneau winced as San Diego slipped and fell. Almost immediately, she got up and laughed it off.

"Silly ol' me, "she said, putting the cookies on the table. "Now for the milk…"

San Diego walked to the fridge and took out a milk carton before glancing at Juneau, noticing her sister was fidgeting in her seat.

"You know, Junie, you could use some warm milk," San Diego declared. She didn't bother to wait for Juneau to answer, went to another cabinet to retrieve a cup, and poured the liquid into it, adding a bit of honey.

San Diego preparing warm milk wasn't something Juneau expected to see, ever. With her hair down as she worked like that, her sister really seemed like a completely different person.

A few minutes passed, and the ding from the microwave told both the milk was ready.

"Here ya go. Maybe it's too sweet; I kinda forgot how much sugar and honey I was supposed to add," San Diego placed the cup on the table.

Juneau smiled and sipped the drink. It was indeed too sweet but not overbearingly so.

"Thank you, Sandy...It's good."

"Eheheh. Have some cookies, too," San Diego tore the bag of cookies open, and in no time, she was already munching on one. Juneau followed suit after a moment's hesitation.

"So, Junie, why were you so surprised when I called you earlier?" asked San Diego after a while, speaking with her mouth full as she'd often do when Atlanta's not around.

"I…I thought you were a ghost…" Juneau sighed, feeling a little guilty. San Diego's laugh after that was also particularly embarrassing.

"Eh, there's no ghost around here. 'Cept maybe for Long Island. She's not here, though," San Diego said as she put another cookie in her mouth. She stood up after that and struck a pose.

"But if there's something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? San Diego the number one, of course! I will take care of 'em."

Though she was touched by the declaration to the point she got teary-eyed again, Juneau could not help but laugh, too.

"Thank you, Sandy."