Room 323 [Tuesday, Evening]

[comeoutwrong]

Looked like it was threatening rain outside, so Effy was staying in for once. Every girl needed a night off sometimes, even if they were few and far between for this one. She'd been out and got things done during the day, and to her, that should count for something.

So between the odd text to Tony (whose evening was going far more interestingly than hers), she was flopped back on the bed, holding the book she was reading up over her. She'd even got into it enough her hot chocolate had gone cold. That was actually kind of rare.

[[Door is cracked, but the post can be open!]]

Comments

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

Jesus, they were doing pretty well in the screwed up department, weren't they? Alex dropped his eyes down to their hands for a minute, taking that new bit of information in.

It wasn't that hard to imagine how fucking awful seeing something like that could be especially for someone who regarded her brother as highly as she did. He was pretty sure that was something you never stopped seeing on repeat in your mind.

"You can't go back and it fucking sucks to live with," Alex agreed quietly, squeezing her hand briefly. "Shitty lives all around."

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

Year and a half down the line and a lot of repression and the repeat showings of that particular scene in her mind were comparatively few and far between.

"Not being there kind of helps, doesn't it?" Did for her, anyway. Distance made it all nice and easy to forget about all that sort of shit for periods of time.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, it's kind of better not to have reminders of all that every single day," he said, unable to deny that his time on the island hadn't been that terrible. "Doesn't mean the reminders don't come find me."

Those, he could ignore for a time though. If he'd been home, that wouldn't be the case.

"You've got the edge in distance over me," he said lightly, going for a joke. "You've got the whole ocean."

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"Worth all the jetlag--" she said, smirking a little and nudging against his shoulder, "and putting up with you lot." Because obviously she found spending time with him such a hardship in the long term. Really.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

Of course she did. Which just made her as masochistic as him.

"Jetlag doesn't look bad on you. I saw you jetlagged, you saw me asleep on my feet," he teased, smiling a little easier now. That was kind of a compliment. In a way. It was the truth, at least. "And you know..."

He stopped for a minute, trailed off and took his hand off hers so he could brush a thumb over her eye and to her temple lightly, just a touch to touch.

"I pay attention too," he said, wanting her to hear it even if she suspected. "And it's not just because I'm curious."

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"Didn't even know you got curious," she said, throwing in a little joke of her own, lips curling more of a smile. Well, supposedly that was her downfall rather than his.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"I get curious," he insisted, letting his fingers trail back toward her ear and into her hair gently.

"I pay attention too," he amended, snickering and keeping his eyes on his fingers while they brushed through her hair. "And not just because I'm...whatever I am that isn't curious."

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"Can't quite put your finger on what you are," she said, tapping her own finger on his leg a couple times. 'Not curious' was a very wide description, and she assumed that was the reason.

"Maybe just actually do give a shit." Or maybe he cared.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

Alex grinned a little, dropping his eyes down but letting his fingers wander to the back of her neck, brushing back and forth slowly.

"So what if I do give a shit?" he asked, looking back at her. "Doesn't seem like a bad thing to give a shit about."

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

Effy shrugged, smiling a touch more herself. "Not going to complain." She may go into denial about certain things, but she wasn't dumb enough to object to that one.

"I give a shit about you too." Because she was taking that as some admission, yeah.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

Truthful admissions all around tonight, it seemed. And, even though it wasn't 'I care' exactly, it was pretty damn close considering the two people admitting things. Alex wouldn't complain either.

"Yeah?" The fingers on her neck turned into just his thumb, dragging up and down along her skin, dipping below her shirt and taking on an overall lazy stroke. "You picked a prick to give a shit about."

Not like he hadn't done the same thing, though.

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"Really?" Oh yeah. Both bloody difficult when they put their minds to it. "Damn." Not trying to take it back so far at least, which was positive.

"Have to try working around that." And try to resist the urge to lean a little more into his hand. That too.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"That sounds like you'd be saying something's too hard for you to handle," Alex teased, half smiling. "Something's too hard for you."

Alex cupped his hand against the back of her neck, tapping his fingers there briefly before sliding them up into her hair again and pressing gently but firmly there.

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

Effy breathed a little huff of amusement, and shook her head. "Believe me, I've dealt with worse." Crowds she ran in sometimes back home in Bristol could be much worse. "You're the fluffy one."

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"I'm not fluffy," he protested immediately, making a face but keeping his hand moving. His fingers wandered back down and his thumb brushed behind her ear lightly.

"Got a long list of people who could vouch for that," he told her, shrugging. "I can't see you tolerating someone fluffy for more than hour anyway."

And considering they were well past that, he decided he could not be fluffy.

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"My best mate's fluffy," she argued easily. There was no way Pandora as anything else. The girl carried around lollipops and had a rucksack Effy was fairly sure was designed for a ten year old.

Admittedly, Panda had followed her around and insisted they had to be friends for months before Effy gave in on that point.

And it was done with much eyerolling.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"I'm not fucking fluffy," he said, trying not to laugh at the absurdity of her claim. He was not fluffy. "How the hell did you end up with a fluffy bestie, anyway?"

See, he could be curious. She'd mentioned her friend a few times but he'd just gotten distracted before he could ask about her almost every time before. Now, he wasn't distracted and his thumb was back against her neck, drawing a line up and down the length.

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"Our art teacher told her I'd look after her," she replied. "Followed me around ever since." Panda could resemble a limpet in that way, and Effy had tried to resist, but who could ignore the 'I don't have any friends, and you don't have any friends! Isn't that great?' logic.

Eventually Effy got used to her talkative shadow, and then got attached. As you do.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"I don't do that," he pointed out even if he did find himself in her room more often than not. That was not following her around. "Sounds like fluffy works for her, though."

Hey, they'd ended up friends, right? Something was working there.

"I'm not fluffy," he said even if he did have a fluffy side. "You know I'm not."

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

Effy grinned a little, lifting her hand to brush his cheek with her fingers. Almost like she was testing for that cutesy fuzziness. "Right. Silly me. Course you're not." But he was fun to tease.

"Anyway, Panda's... kind of endearing in her way." And ditzy as anything, which was always entertaining.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

"I'm not," he agreed, nodding and resisting the urge to lean into that hand of hers. He was not cutesy or fuzzy (unless she took that literally) and he was now resisting the urge to lean into her hand so he wouldn't look fluffy. "I'm a lot of things but fluffy isn't one of them. Silly you."

He just had his moments. "You've mentioned her to me before. Besides your brother, she's the one other name I know. I wouldn't think you'd do that if she wasn't important."

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"Not big on having a million BFF's to handle." Hey, that was an improvement on 'I don't have friends', which had been her stance until Pandora yanked her out of it.

"Give me low maintenance any day." Effort when it came to friendships was not something she did much of.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

Alex kept his mouth shut on the fact that she made an effort for him from time to time. She probably knew it and he didn't feel the need to aggravate that nerve.

"Better things to do, right?" he asked, finally stilling his hand but keeping it lightly pressed against the back of her neck. No need to move just yet. "I'm pretty low maintenance. Don't wanna handle me?"

Sometimes. Sometimes, he was low maintenance. Besides, he was being more cheeky than anything else. Sure, there was a side of seriousness but he was smirking too.

[pastmewrong.livejournal.com]

"If it was that horrible I'd have quit already," she pointed out.

He was not that low maintenance. Not really. But at least he didn't expect her to be all communicative or excessively friendly or showy about it at all.

[fratboybitch.livejournal.com]

Easy enough to believe her on that one. He wasn't that low maintenance of a person (despite his claims) but she hadn't quit so he must have been doing something right.

"Such a brave person, sticking out a situation that could go horrible at any time. You should get a prize," he said, using that hand he had on her to pull himself a little closer. Just left him close enough to lean down, press his lips against her shoulder and sort of stay there. He wasn't tired but it was just one of those gestures that meant...something. It was something.