“What?” She lets out a heaving sigh before turning away from me again.

“Fuck. Them. They don’t want you? They don’t love you? Then fuck ’em. You don’t need ’em. You should be throwing up middle fingers till you sprain your wrist. Not smiling in the corner like a fucking idiot.”

She scoffs.

“You’re not a kid anymore, Elizabeth.” My voice gets softer. “You don’t need to waste your time trying to please those fuckers anymore.”

“That’s easy for you to say. You don’t have any family left to disappoint.”

Fuck, that was harsh.

She whips around to face me, slapping both hands across her mouth as her eyes go wide in terror. I stare at her in stunned silence.

“Austin, I’m sorry. That was… I shouldn’t have said that.”

She reaches out to me, but I’m too far away. Neither of us moves to get closer, so she drops her hands listlessly down to her sides.

“Why not? It’s true. I don’t have a family. Never really did. And even I know that”—I point through the darkness back toward her house—“isn’t how a family should treat you.”

She wraps her arms around her waist, hugging herself tightly, and drops her eyes to the ground for a few excruciating heartbeats. When she gazes up at me, the moonlight catches the glint of a tear rolling down her cheek.

“I know.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re right, okay? I know my family are a bunch of assholes, Austin.” She brushes the tear off her cheek and stares out into the black night. “I hate it, the way they talk to me. How they’ll always see me. But they’re all I have.” Her voice is soft. Childlike. It breaks my heart because I get it. I was raised by disappointment and nurtured by neglect. I know deep down how it feels to love someone who can never love you back. How she’s survived by telling herself she doesn’t deserve better. But fuck that. She deserves the world.

“I’m sorry.” My voice is awash with regret. I take a tentative step toward her, testing the waters. Her eyes snap to mine. They aren’t angry, they’re sad. A frown has replaced her scowl.

“I don’t regret calling Cruella out on being an obnoxious twat, but I am sorry for what I said to you.” I take another small step closer. She doesn’t pull away. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. It’s just seeing them shit on you was driving me crazy…” There’s a hint of a smile on her lips. “I shouldn’t have gone off. I really am sorry. I guess seeing people I care about get shit on pisses me the fuck off.”