"That's it, I'm not going," Sloane sighed as she looked at her reflection in Abby's floor length mirror. Currently, she was wearing an old white dress in an attempt to be Marilyn Monroe, yet she could not feel any less glamorous. "This is useless, I don't feel like myself."

"Well, duh, it's Halloween!" Abby laughed, messing around with the dress to make sure it fits correctly.

Sloane just shook her head, "I think I need something more than a costume. I need a real change."

"All right, Sloane, I know we haven't known each other very long, but I think I'm starting to know you pretty well. You've got lost girl in your eyes and it's glaringly obvious. Talk to me, I've got the feeling you don't have a lot of open ears around," the brunette led the other girl so they were both sitting on her bed, Sloane with an upset expression as she considered the pros and cons of opening up to Abby. A pro was that she would have someone to talk to and they would most likely feel a lot closer after this. Cons? Sloane would be opening up. Big no no. Last time she opened up, they moved halfway across the country. However, there was a kindness in Abby's eyes, a kindness that part of her knew would never betray her.

With a sigh, she weighed how to express her feelings. Finally, she settled on, "Part of me still feels like I'm that girl in San Francisco. That girl wasn't me, not who I thought I was, at least. I need to get away from that because that girl is sticking to me like fucking superglue. I need a change so I can feel like myself and not like my past."

"Call me crazy, but I think I know what you need to separate yourself from that bitch in San Fran, you with me?"

"I'm with you."

"What in God's name did you do to your hair?" Sloane's mother gawked at her as soon as she entered the house, "And where have you been? Not even a phone call?"

Abby and Sloane had settled on an only-slightly risque Debbie Harry costume for the Halloween party tomorrow night and to complete the look, they decided to cut off about three inches of Sloane's long, blonde hair. They were planning on having her straighten it for the party, but now it settled just past her shoulders in its natural loose waves. She carried her costume in one arm and her school bag in the other as she walked past her mother without saying a word. An explanation could be given, but it felt much better to simply walk on by and leave her wondering.

A haircut and costume were nowhere near fixing all of Sloane's problems, but there was a part of her experiencing a certain weightlessness, a more carefree aura.

Her mother's footsteps following her up the stairs could be heard, but her door was already closed and locked by the time the woman caught up to her. The angered knocking was consistent, but Sloane zoned it out as she put her Pink Floyd cassette tape into her walkman and placed her headphones on, drowning out the knocking with the sounds of The Wall. Most people might expect a girl like Sloane to listen to people like the Go Go's or ABBA, but more often not she filled her ears with bands like Pink Floyd or The Cure. She found comfort in David Gilmour's lostness, his lonliness, and his confusion. The soft guitar of Hey You overtook her senses and she felt listened to. Now, that wasn't saying Sloane didn't enjoy a little ABBA every now and then.

After a while, she fell asleep, waking up when the album ended and she had to reset it. With a sigh, she sat up and pulled off her headphones, noticing her mother's knocking had ceased. With only a moment of silence after her eyes opened, there was a different, softer knock on the door.

"Sloane, it's me. Mom sent me to talk to you," Elliot's voice wafted through the door. For the first time in God knows how long, there was no agitation or irritation in his voice. It was comforting to not feel like he was angry at her.

Against her better judgment, she unlocked the door and let him in. Without a word, she fell back onto her bed as he sat down next to her.

"I like the haircut," was the first thing he said to her. A beat of silence. He spoke again, "Mom wants me to tell you that you're crazy and she won't tolerate you acting out, but frankly, I don't give a shit about all of this. I mean, this is probably the least self-destructive you've been in a while so I'm happy. Do you like it? The hair?"

She nodded, "I love it. You know I only kept it long because mom liked it that way. This feels way more like me than that ever did. Also, now that you're talking to me like a normal human being again, can you tell me why you've been so mad at me?"

Elliot didn't respond for a moment. He stood up, closing the door and locking it again before sitting back down on the bed. His breaths were shallow, worried. "I know you didn't leave anything in San Francisco. You were able to pack up and leave without looking back or leaving anything — anyone — behind. I wasn't. I-I was in love with someone, mom and dad never knew, we never told anyone. Not even our closest friends. Then, we moved and now I'll never — I'll never see him again."

The words hung in the air for a moment as Sloane registered what her brother just revealed to her. Her heart and face fell as she realized. "El, I am so sorry. If, if I had known I would have convinced mom and dad not to move. I would have had them just ship me off with an aunt or an institution somewhere."

"No, no, this isn't your fault. You didn't know. No one did. No one can. You can't tell anyone, okay? I could get in some real trouble, especially in a town like this. I need you to promise me," he rushed out, looking at her with worried, troublesome eyes. She understood everything about keeping a secret like this.

With a small, almost sad smile, she held out her pinky. "Pinky promise."

Elliot laughed slightly, intertwining his pinky with hers. "Thank you."

"So, what was his name?" Sloane attempted to pry, even though she was lucky enough her brother shared this much with her. They didn't talk as much as they used to, which saddened her. She wasn't planning on taking this for granted, but she wasn't going to not try and get details.

"Phillip," Elliot smiled, almost as if remembering the boy. Sloane knew Phillip. He and her brother had been best friends since the first grade. So, that was why Elliot cried the night before they left. It made sense now. He wasn't just leaving a lover, he had been leaving his other half. Sloane felt selfish; selfish for being the reason her family uprooted themselves and moved. She kept these feelings to herself, not wanting to make Elliot feel guilty or as though he shouldn't have told her.

Instead, she simply said, "Thank you for telling me. Now, can we go back to acting like siblings who actually like each other?"

Elliot looked at her, a slight smile peeking through the corners of his lips. "Absolutely."

IT'S BEEN ALMOST TWO WEEKS SINCE I UPDATED THIS IM SO SORRY HERE'S SOME CUTE SIBLING BONDING ALSO IF YOU WANNA ACTUALLY SEE THE LENGTH ABBY CUT SLOANE'S HAIR TO IT'S MORE THE LENGTH OF DOVE'S CHARACTER IN AGENTS OF SHIELD WHICH I USED IN THE HEADER SO YEAH. I GOT HYPED BECAUSE I REALLY WANTED A DRAMATIC TRANSFORMATION AS A SORT OF BREAKTHROUGH FROM THE CLOSED OFF BITCH SO IM IN THE PROCESS OF MAKING SLOANE FEEL MORE LIKE HERSELF, CUTTING HER HAIR WAS JUST THE BEGINNING GET READY FOR SOME FEELS