Room 323 [Tuesday, After Classes]

[comeoutwrong]

This was just exactly the reason that Effy avoided phone calls home, (except for the ones to Tony) like the plague. Couldn't manage one sodding five minute conversation without going off on one about something.



... "Now Elizabeth, it's important for you to remember, your mother and I still love each other--" Like she was five. Seriously.

"No, we don't." Her mother's quieter offering from the background.

"... No, that's right. We don't." At least they were being honest, right? Effy shook her head, even if they couldn't see that.

"And that's why you're leaving."

"That's why I'm leaving. That's why I am fucking out of here, woman." Ah, there was the yelling and swearing. Right on cue. They didn't even need her for this. "I am on a fucking plane, you're dead right.... So little imagination you have to shag my fucking boss. Could've fucked the turd from Tesco, but no--"

Didn't take much of that back and forth before Effy deliberately hung up and threw her phone down onto her bed and cranked up some music in the hope that might drown out her thoughts. Ten quid said it took them a good twenty minutes to even notice she wasn't on the line anymore.

Just when she thought she was four thousand miles away and they couldn't keep fucking with her emotions. Just fantastic.

[[NFB on the contents of the parental conversation, which once again was taken with some modification from Skins 3x05, because I can't just let her be yet. Door's cracked, and the post can be open, sure, if someone actually wants to deal with her emo.]]

Comments

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"Yep." He even stuck out a hand to seal that deal. "And it'll be the good strawberry kind with the sprin--"

Jesus, he knew too much about Pop Tarts.

"Shut up," he said, more of a preventative measure than anything, and just covered that up by going back to kissing her neck.

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

Too bad, not quick enough to stop a short laugh from escaping, as she reached to take that hand he'd offered, even with his lips against her neck.

"Good thing I found the expert," she commented.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"Shut up, they're cheap, I ate them back home a lot," he said and bit her neck just for the taunting. "I'll burn yours if you're not nice."

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"What about this isn't nice?" she asked, sliding her hands up his arms and letting her eyes slip closed.

Look, she thought she was being plenty nice here. One slipped snicker did not make her evil and deserving of burnt breakfast.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"Please, even if I burnt yours, you'd just take mine," he reasoned, amusement in his voice. He pressed a kiss against the hollow of her throat and then wriggled his tongue against the same place. "You'd call it the right of the room or something."

He was just assuming here. But he could see her doing that if he brought burnt breakfast back.

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

Effy shrugged, completely innocent. "Maybe," she allowed, tilting her head back with a little smirk. Well, now she would. Might not have thought of that before.

He was putting ideas into her head. Bad plan, Alex. Bad plan.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

Well, he'd never been accused of always being smart. He had his lapses. Apparently, that was one right there.

"I used to make them for my mom," he said, letting just a sliver of his guard down even while he kept his face pressed against her neck and his lips moving on her skin. "She'd eat them even if they were burnt. She said the 'extra crispy meant extra good.'

See, he could share! A little. A very little. It was something.

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

It was something, and it brought out a slight hint of a smile in her as she moved her hands over his shoulders, around his neck.

"Tony always ate my shitty cooking without complaint too." Give some, and he'd get a little tiny bit back.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"Your cooking wasn't that bad when I had it. Mark of a good brother though, stomaching shit cooking to make his sister happy," he replied, shrugging and feeling a little more comfortable now that he'd actually shared something about his family and he hadn't ended up shaking with rage. "I don't have any brothers or sisters, I don't know if I've told you that."

Of course, that was probably for the best but it was still a little more he could give without touching those sensitive topics.

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"He's not good," Effy corrected mildly. "He's amazing."

"And I don't think you have." Pretty certain he hadn't, actually. Liked to think she'd have remembered that.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"All right, amazing then," he said, knowing better than to try and tease her about her brother. He'd picked up a few things here and there, after all. He did loop one of his arms around her waist, fingers finding and brushing the small of her back lightly.

"But yeah, none for me. I'd probably be a shit brother, anyway," he remarked with a small shrug. "My...dad's a musician. Wasn't much time for babymaking anyway."

Plus all that other bad stuff was happening. But, the musician thing was new, he was pretty sure. And light. Or something.

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

Apparently, he paid some attention when she talked. Of all people, she'd do just about anything for that brother of hers.

Effy nodded, some vague sort of understanding. "Famous one?"

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"He'd probably say so," Alex said after a moment. Alex had gotten the ego from somewhere. "But, no, he wasn't. Maybe his luck's changed, though. I haven't seen him in a long fucking time. He left."

After Alex put his ass in the hospital, that is. He only regretted that sometimes. Stupid stupid emotions.

"Karev's not a very common last name though so finding a mention wouldn't be too hard," he said, trying to pull himself away from all those darker thoughts. "Maybe he's famous in fucking Denmark or something."

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

Effy quirked a quiet smile and ran her fingers down his jaw. "Maybe," she agreed quietly. Never could tell what would go down well when it came to music taste on the Continent. Could be fucking bizarre, sometimes.

"Not tried?" she assumed.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

He shook his head but managed not to look away from her even if he really wanted to. "No," he finally said. "He's a fucking bastard and I'd put money on him being dead in some fucking gutter rather than him being famous for anything."

Oh, there was that anger. He'd been doing so well. He figured it was natural though, considering she was the first person in...a long time to even get pieces of the story. He'd been keeping that in for awhile.

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

At least Effy was rather more immune to his sudden changes in temper than some people might be. She'd nudged at various issues enough times to know his defense mechanism.

"Some people, better left lost," she decided after a moment.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"It'd be beneficial for the entire fucking world," he said, tone still edged with anger. He'd tightened a hand in her shirt throughout this and didn't loosen that hold now. "He wouldn't be missed."

Unless his mother was having one of those days where she did miss the bastard. Those were the days that Alex got the phone calls that pissed him off for weeks.

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

That grip had definitely not gone unnoticed, and Effy still stubbornly kept looking at him as she let her hand slide down a little from his face.

"Don't think he would." On this particular subject, she'd assume he knew what he was talking about. Her parents may be dumb, but that was about it.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

While Alex tried to calm down, he found himself wondering what on the fucking Earth had possessed him to start sharing at a time like this. He had no idea other than...well, maybe there was a want of getting it out there to someone who wouldn't throw back hollow apologies.

And maybe there was a small amount of trust there. Maybe.

"Fuck," he muttered, tried to loosen the tension in his shoulders and neck that had flared up during his sharing time. He kept his grip tight in her shirt, more for something to ground him than anything else. "Fuck."

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

Effy wasn't often that great at being a calming influence. Today, at least she was trying, which was more than she could normally say. All she could really do was keep a vaguely reassuring grip on his shoulder.

"Alex?" It was almost a 'you okay?' but somehow, she thought, less intrusive.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"I'm fine," he said, taking a few deep breaths and shaking his head. His grip on her shirt finally loosened slightly and he shook his head again. "I'm fine."

Convincing her, convincing himself, he didn't know, but it wasn't very good convincing either way.

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"You're not fine," she said calmly, echoing back some of his own words to her. "One of those things we have in common." One of a few, oddly enough.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"What a similarity to have," he muttered, still trying to reign in that anger so he wouldn't end up yelling at her since she really didn't deserve it right now. "We're just really healthy people here."

At least his sarcasm still worked even if that statement was laced with truth. They'd never really had the most healthy...whatever. It just tended to work despite that.

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

Possibly even because of that. A certain understanding, even if they tried to push it sometimes.

Effy gave a little 'Mmm', her own sarcastic agreement. Hers wasn't broken either. "Still making me Poptarts, right?" Just checking. Let it never be said she couldn't bring the less complex tangents when she thought she needed to.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"Yeah," he said, the laugh that escaped catching him by surprise. "Yeah, I'm still making you Pop Tarts. I wouldn't back out on a promise of breakfast."

Okay, he would but he wasn't going to this time. With another shake of his head, his grip on her shirt finally loosened enough that it returned to just being a hand on her back.

"I didn't know you'd look so forward to my breakfast," he said, half smiling. "Anticipating it, even."