Room 324, Monday Afternoon

[vanillajello]

After the arrest and everything, yesterday had continued to be just as moodswingy a day as many of the others before it. On one hand, her video had gained more than 250,000 hits in a single day, and Lynda had invited her to the Crossroads art shindig this Friday. On the other, she and her brother had had to listen to their parents fighting for like two hours in the evening. That always made her feel like an orphan. It sucked.

As did having to leave Marshall alone with the mess she could escape, especially when it was going to be his sixteenth birthday tomorrow. But Kate was still insanely glad when she finally managed to convince her parents to unground her so she could come back to Fandom.

She flew back, her parents paid for the tickets. She was too late for her classes, and probably would've skipped them anyway, so once she made it into her room, she just dropped her bags on the floor and fell over onto her bed, burying her face in her pillows.

Home sweet home, or something.

[ooc: Door is cracked, post is open, girl is... a lot of things.]

Comments

[therewaslife]

"I'm not on anybody's side," Bod said, maintaining his calm in spite of her getting angry. He'd half been expecting the explosion of emotion at some point.

"I'm trying to have a logical conversation with you based on the facts I have," he added. "I haven't degraded your point of view at all."

[vanillajello]

"Well don't!" Kate knew she was being unfair by targeting her anger on him. She always knew when she was being unfair. She just couldn't bring herself to care about it.

She pushed herself all the way up to a sitting position, now. "I don't need any fucking logic, okay? My mom's crazy. I thought she was better but she's not. So excuse me if I'm not exactly in the mood for being logical."

[therewaslife]

"Crazy or not, she's still your mother," Bod replied after she'd gotten her latest angry retort out of her system. He didn't think it'd be the last, though.

"And I'm sorry she's not better both for you and for her," he added after a moment. "You make it sound like you're just going to give up on your family, Kate."

[vanillajello]

"Well what if I am?" Kate asked, almost challenging. It didn't seem like such a bad idea. "I'm so fucking tired of all of it."

[therewaslife]

"I think you'll be making a mistake, if you are," Bod said honestly. "You're going to have instances where you need your family and not having one is the hardest thing in the world to realize."

He knew that all too well.

"And knowing you made that choice of your own free will is going to be even harder to deal with."

[vanillajello]

Kate couldn't exactly attack that with pure anger, so she just looked unaffected by his words. Or like she was putting up a near-emotionless facade again.

She rolled her eyes, ignoring the stinging she could feel in them. "I so don't need this right now."

[therewaslife]

"Right," he mumbled, looking down and making to move off her bed. He'd seen that look before and it never stopped twisting his stomach. "I can go. I'm doing no good here."

[vanillajello]

"No, you're not," Kate agreed, tone unnecessarily harsh but maybe she was a little desperate. Having said that she looked down, and something in her expression softened, just a little bit.

And she muttered, "Just needed my fucking boyfriend."

[therewaslife]

Something about that sentence, for some reason, made Bod's calm waver enough that he stopped and turned back towards the bed and towards her, almost near glaring.

"And your boyfriend is here," he said quietly but sharply. "I'm sorry if I didn't do something that you expected of me but you're being unfair to me now, assuming that I'm not here for you. I am always here for you. Obviously, you want something else right now so I'm going to go."

Maybe it was unfair to get that from her statement but Bod thought he was allowed some unfairness.

[vanillajello]

It did seem unfair to her, and she looked up, completely ready to spit out that it hadn't much felt like he was there for her.

Except that she didn't. Couldn't. The stinging in her eyes got worse, and she just ended up biting down on her lower lip, unable to stop herself from looking briefly pained before she looked down again.

So, her family was falling apart, and now her boyfriend was walking away from her because she was too angry and proud and stupid to ask him to stay. Oh yeah, her life was just fantastic.

[therewaslife]

Bod glanced at her bowed head for a moment more and almost decided to stay on his own. He knew he'd been unfair but he'd gotten a little stung by her words just like she'd gotten stung by his.

So, his shoulders drooped and he headed towards her door again, quiet and dejected that things had turned out this way. It was making a real case for him not talking ever again.

[vanillajello]

Kate pulled her legs up to her chest, resting her forehead against her knees, balling herself up on her bed. She felt awful. Even worse than she had all those quiet moments over the weekend, when she hadn't had anything to distract her from how shitty everything was.

And still she waited until the last possible moment before she managed to get any quiet words out.

"Bod."

Something like don't may have been better, but that was what she settled on. Not like she took much time to think it over.

[therewaslife]

He'd been about to slip out her door so it really had been the last possible moment. He stopped though with half his body outside her door and looked back toward her.

"Yes?"

[vanillajello]

Kate didn't look up. Being a ball was too comfortable that. Or it wasn't, and she just couldn't bare to look up. One of those.

"Don't go," she mumbled.

[therewaslife]

"You don't think I'm doing any good, Kate," Bod pointed out quietly. "I don't want to continue making you feel like that."

[vanillajello]

"Then don't," she replied, sounding tired. "Don't talk."

[therewaslife]

That still made him feel somewhat bad, that talking would only lead to him upsetting her. He frowned and looked down but did step back inside her room so he could shut her door.

He didn't quite make it to wandering back towards the bed though.

[vanillajello]

Kate listened for a moment without looking up, just waiting to hear him returning to her.

When he didn't, she reached out a hand in his general direction. Didn't want to have to gather up the strength for actual words. Didn't want to say she was sorry even if she was.

[therewaslife]

Bod hesitated a moment, just a brief moment, before he walked back towards her bed, took her hand and settled back down beside her gingerly.

[vanillajello]

Kate laced her fingers with his and gave his hand a faint squeeze, but stayed as she was. All balled up, small as possible.

She didn't say anything. Maybe she'd find a word or two in a moment.

[therewaslife]

Bod wasn't going to be the one to talk first either. She'd told him not to talk and, with that in mind, he was going to sit silently and wait for her to talk or act or something.

[vanillajello]

Act. Kate could do that. Take from him what he couldn't figure out to provide her with on his own.

Not that she did much. Just unballed herself some so she could lean towards him, against him.

[therewaslife]

Bod glanced over at her briefly and then let go of her hand only so he could slide his arm around her shoulders and make that lean a little more comfortable for her.

He continued being mostly silent though.

[vanillajello]

Kate could deal with that. She preferred that over everything he'd been saying, after all. All fine points, but not what she wanted to hear, and she wasn't feeling up to explaining why that was.

She scooted closer, to rest her head against his shoulder, and sighed.

[therewaslife]

Bod still wasn't all that sure about things but he could still do this even if he was confused. His fingers moved back and forth against her shoulder but he kept his gaze straight ahead.