Characters: Ben & Erica.
Setting: Monday afternoon, Ben's dorm. Or outside in the hall, if he should decide not to let her in.
Rating: SFW.
Summary: Erica just got off of the phone with their mother, and she has vital news to pass on to her brothers. So she's getting Ben out of the way first.


There was a lot to think about, and a lot to be considered. Erica's mind was flowing with about a thousand different thoughts and problems, it was hard to believe that just last night she had been so carefree, out on the field with Stas, then online and joking with Addy. Now it was less than twenty four hours later and it felt like she was in lower institute again, with the world coming down around her, once again all her father's fault.

Her parents were going to get a divorce.

It was more complicated than it needed to be. Michael was, naturally, still in prison and Barbie intended to get out while that was still the case. It had been hard to ever consider leaving him while he had been free, but now he was behind bars, and there was no way he could take out his frustrations on any of them. It was, in her mother's words, the perfect time. She had cried as she explained, which had gotten Erica crying, and silently hoping her roommate wouldn't walk in and see her bawling her eyes out over the phone.

Barbie had spoken to her daughter in confidence, asked her not to tell her brothers just yet, but Erica didn't have any choice in the matter. It was one promise that she had to break to her mother. Ben and Brian needed to be told, regardless of how they took it, or whether they even cared, they deserved the chance to deal with it however they so chose. She might not have been the closest person in the world to her siblings, but she didn't want either of them to find out the news in the papers. They had all done that once already with news about their father, and that time had been enough.

All of the news about their father had died down long ago, over a year ago now, and other than the occasional 'you-look-familiar' that she usually got from some people, they hadn't needed to even give Michael Redd more than a passing thought. But this would be big gossip, or so Erica assumed. Their father's trial had been a big deal while it was going on, and though that thrill was gone now, it would surely pick up when the newspaper caught wind of the fact that Michael Redd's wife was serving him with divorce papers from the outside while he still served. She could picture it now, front page news as their lives had been so much during the investigation. Battered house wife retaliates; Michael Redd to be divorced behind bars. Yes, she could picture that, her father's stern face staring out at her from an inset photo to accompany the headline. They would explain who he was, who they were, and drag the whole case back from rest. People would be talking again.

Erica didn't think it could go any other way. People loved to latch onto gossip, they loved to drag the skeletons out of closets, and even if her father only got another five minutes of fame, it would be enough to set things into a domino pattern of disruption in her life. She didn't even want to remember the way other girls had laughed at her, spoke in hushed whispers, picked on her. It had been back then that she had met Adelaide, and she had clung onto her ever since. Even if no one else liked Addy, Erica did. There was something about her that she couldn't pinpoint, but she liked it, and she almost idolized it. She would tell Addy next, after her brothers.

She was, mostly, confused about her own feelings on the matter. It was no affection for her father that caused this. For all she cared, she supposed he could just rot behind the bars for as long as they would keep him. Her hesitation rose only because she didn't want it to drag them into the limelight again. She did want it on the other hand, despite that, just because her mother deserved to finally be free of him. They all did. She couldn't believe that it had even taken this long for Barbie to get the right idea. She wouldn't detour her mother from her goal, but she had to prepare herself, and telling her brothers was the first step to that.

She wanted to get Ben over with first. Brian might, at least, offer some kind of constructive input or at least a reaction. She would need to spend time talking with him, and maybe they could come up with something, anything, to find a way around dealing with this. Ben, on the other hand, she was already acknowledging as a lost cause. Telling him was more of a courtesy. She could almost imagine her brother's impassive stare. It wouldn't change an inch even if she told him their father's head had spontaneously exploded. It would be that same look, and Erica felt irritated almost in advance.

Making her way toward Sonnier, she went inside and began to ascend the stairs, heading toward Ben's room. She had only been there a handful of times, despite going to school with him for ages, and even then she had usually stayed outside of the door. She had only ever been inside one time. Not that she minded; the glassy stares of dead animals weren't exactly her thing. Reaching the door, she lifted her hand, giving a loud series of knocks. "Let me in, we have to talk," she called, unsure if he would even recognize her voice. She found herself sounding more choked up than she realized, and quickly cleared her throat, trying to make it pass. It would do no good to break down in front of Ben.