Characters: Abernathy and Mari Setting: Tuesday after class, Mari's room Rating: Probably SFW, maybe some language Summary: Abernathy needs to talk to someone and runs to Mari.
Having coffee with Leon Shaw was pushing Abernathy over the edge of reason. It was unexpectedly pleasant, but it turned out to be the proverbial straw on the camel's back.
She had too much in her head, too many things going on. She needed to unload on someone sympathetic and at least somewhat objective. Mari seemed like a very good choice.
She grabbed her Secret Santa gifts (except the soap, she'd make use of that) and brought it along to Mari's dorm room. It was always polite to bring a gift, especially considering that she planned on dumping her thoughts to her friend. She knocked at the door and peeked her head in with a forced smile.
Mari was sat cross-legged on her bed, TV remote in hand and flicking through the channels on her little TV at a fast rate. There was never anything on TV at this time, but putting off homework was one of Mari's talents. She was practically overjoyed when AB stuck her head around.
"Hey!" She said enthusiatically, clicking the tv off and chucking the remote. "'Course I am. What's up?"
"Oh God, I don't even know where to start." Abernathy shrugged through the doorway and flopped onto Mari's bed next to her. She presented the glittery lotion and the tubes of bath salts. "I come with presents," she attempted cheerfully.
She really didn't know where to start. There was the thing with Leon and Adelaide that she hadn't told anyone about. Then the coffee with Leon, which was nice and disconcerting. The plans her family made to spend Christmas in NOLA was gnawing at her. The big one, the one she hadn't even really broached in her own head was the whole Sam thing.
How could she explain the situation when she didn't want to admit to herself what was going on?
"I have a lot on my mind. Tests coming up isn't really helping." She laughed to ease the tension building in her chest. "I'm about ready to crack."
Mari took the offered presents gleefully and sniffed the different contents whilst listening to AB talk. She was mildly taken aback by how stressed she seemed to be.
"It's okay, I've got all night" she reassured the other girl, squeezing the glittery goo onto a finger and inspecting it. "Start at the beginning and we'll work our way through." She grinned and raised her eyebrows. "A problem shared and all that."
Abernathy wrinkled her nose at the lotion. At least someone would get some use out of it and the generous secret present wouldn't go to waste.
"How about I start at the end?" She sighed and flopped backwards, hugging one canister of bath salts to her side. "I had coffee with Leon Shaw yesterday." She let that statement linger a moment before adding: "he was nice to me."
"Holy shit!" Mari sat up in shock, her eyebrows shooting up somewhere in her hairline. "If Addy finds out you're dead meat." It was the first thing she could think and she shifted, trying to find something more helpful to say. "Whatdid you even talk about?" Leon wasn't really Mari's cup of tea, but then she didn't exactly know him either. Maybe he was nicer on an individual basis.
"Right?" It was hard enough to believe that Leon could carry on a civil conversation, but that he'd ask his girlfriend's archenemy out to coffee... That was on a whole other playing field. "It's my hope that she never finds out."
"Just let me start off this conversation by saying it's so much more complicated than just having coffee with the school asshole." Abernathy decided at the moment to keep the Halloween incident to herself. "I can't even really get into it too much. I ran into Leon and we started talking kind of awkwardly and then it was just normal, like I was talking to a friend I hadn't seen in awhile. It was fucking..." She struggled to find the word. "Surreal," she finished.
"We talked about all kinds of things, school, friendships, growing up in weird families. I can't believe how easy he was to talk to. It's really turning my head around."
"Fucking surreal just about covers it" she chipped in, but let AB talk until she was finished otherwise.
"Okay, so you bonded and everything, but he is totally douchey. I mean, look what he writes in the journals and shit. He's not normal. What if this is a setup by Addy?" Mari loved Addy and all, but she'd seen the two of them go at it before and it could get vicious.
"As much as I'd love to believe this is an evil plot by Adelaide I'm inclined to think it's not." Abernathy sat up on her elbows and frowned. It slowly turned upward into a smile and she wanted to laugh at how absurd it was. "I'm not always the best judge of character, but I think the Leon I saw last night was genuine."
She frowned again and rolled her eyes. "I mean, yeah. It's only a matter of time before he turns into the bigotry-mobile and sprays his douchebaggery all over the school again, but... I dunno. There's something about him and the things he shared with me. I don't think it's an act as much as a front. There's a nice guy under all that bullshit. I don't know if he's afraid or hurt or some other thing. But it's like he's holding the world at arm's length."
That was a bit more deep than Abby intended to get tonight. She shook her head as if the act would push the thoughts right out of her head. "Just tell me I'm crazy."
Abernathy bit the inside of her lip. She didn't think it was a crush, but she wanted to talk to him again. Much to her relief chatting with him had removed the naked images from her mind. Though now that she was thinking about it, there he was front and center. She closed her eyes tight. "I hope not," she whispered. "That would just be too... You know?"
She shivered even though it was what Abernathy thought of as s reasonable temperature. Being from the North Country the minor dips into the 40's they experienced this time of year in NOLA was like an autumn breeze back home. "I do want to talk to him again, but it's not like that. It's like..." what Sam and I used to have. She strangled that thought, refusing to speak it out loud. "I was just surprised at how much we have in common. We're both twins, you know? It's kind of cool to talk to someone who knows what it's like."
"You're totally in love with him!" Mari teased, prodding AB with her foot. The concept of wanting to talk to a guy and not make out with him was foreign to Mari and she found it a little hard to swallow.
"Besides, there are other twins around. There's um, that tiny red head girl. I heard she's a twin! And those two blonde cheerleaders."
"Am not," AB pushed back with her foot and giggled it off. There was a sinking feeling in her stomach that those words were a little close to home. She just had to convince herself that it wasn't a crush, just an interest. He was nice to her and she was surprised to find that they had a lot in common. That's all it was.
She wasn't about to remind Mari that Sam was also a twin. They shared plenty of conversations about being a twin; it was one of the bonding points that had drawn them so close together. "Yeah, I guess. It's just weird. I don't know what to make of the whole thing really."
And then there was the other thing... Abernathy was quite good at dragging her heels. "At least it'll be break soon."
"Well, crushes are fine anyway" Mari pondered, fiddling with the corner of her comforter. "They're fine as long as you don't act on them. I don't think Addy would see your innocent coffee quite so innocently." She grinned at the other girl wickedly.
"Yeah, boring break. I'm not looking forward to going back to the freezing cold."
"The less Addy knows the better." Which was probably the understatement of the century. "Though Leon said most of her friends don't like him, so it's probably just as well that she hates me." She shrugged. "I have to admit, I'm enjoying the chance that she might find us talking a little more than I probably should."
"Well, that's the other thing that's bugging me. I'm going home to the cold for a bit; I'm actually looking forward to that. But Aunt Veruca wants us to come back to NOLA for Christmas. I didn't think my dad would agree, but apparently we're all flying down here for a week."
"A Christmas without snow?" Mari knew how much backhome meant to AB, she was bummed out for her. "Shit man, what are you going to do? Isn't that a little weird?"
"I don't mind it so much. Aunt Veruca is trying to be more involved with the family. I give her credit for that. But it's putting a cramp in my plans. I haven't told Sam I'm coming back down yet."
She shrugged, trying to make this not as big a deal as it was. "What are you plans for the holidays? Doing anything cool?"
Previous
![[info]](https://www.scribbld.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
![[info]](https://www.scribbld.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
