Log [Alison, Lorna] Returns and goodbyes...

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Lorna drops by to visit Alison on her return from Hawaii. Alison manages to pull off the casual act with some level of success, to her relief. Birthday gifts are given, to the surprise of the birthday girl, and a few hard moments follow.

Lorna dumped her bags on the bed and rifled through them to find Alison's present.  She reemerged with a carefully protected lei in a clear plastic box, fresh even after the insane amount of time on the plane and a brightly wrapped box.  She didn't bother to change from her breezy island wear.  With a grin, she dashed down the hall to Alison's suite and rapped on the door, "Ali?  Open up, I have things for you."

Startling at the sudden sound, Alison took a deep breath before peeking through the bedroom door towards the suite's main entrance. Haroun was in the shower, water echoing within the confines of the bathroom and after biting her lip, she padded over to the door of the bathroom, prying it open long enough to let him know Lorna was at the door. And that she would answer.

It was, she kept telling herself, stupid not to, really. And it was that thought which drove her towards the door step by step, and had her take a deep breath and open it with a smile.

"Aloha Auinala" Lorna greeted her and placed the lei over her head, the sweet scent of plumeria caressing the air.  She stood for a moment, bouncing lightly on her toes then laughed, "Well?  Invite me in, silly.  I have presents!"

Though she'd stiffened a bit at the motion, the flowers smelled diving and Lorna's expression and laughter were unmistakably screaming 'I have new, wanna shaaare' at her. Bouncing and giddy and with a new layer of tan in – that was everything Lorna and Alison couldn't help a laugh at that, breathless and short. "Come on in. Presents?"

Lorna laughed again and flopped onto the couch, kicking off her sandals and tucking her feet under her, "Of course presents!  What kind of person would I be if there weren't presents.  Do you like the orchids?  I thought you'd like live plants better than cut ones."  She set Alison's gift on the coffee table and gave her a pleading look, "Do you have coffee?  Airplane coffee is not to be spoken of."  She shuddered delicately.

Coffee. "No. No but there's tea..." Nodding firmly, back a bit stiffer than it normally would be as she turned to get the coffee, Alison resisted the urge to tug at her blouse and instead busied herself with pouring two cups full from the kettle Haroun had kept stoked and ready all day, thus far. "Did you find an apartment?" she asked, trying to keep from wanting to turn around, to keep her back from being in Lorna's field of vision.

"Tea...well, that'll do.  I'd be disappointed by coffee right now anyway, I think.  Kona is sooo good.  They have a festival every year and they enter recipes that use the coffee.  I think I want to try."
In answer to Alison's query, she tossed her keys in the air.  "It's totally cute.  Tiny, of course but it's only a short walk to the beach and the college and the freshman dorms just a few minutes away." 
Despite her perky exuberance, it hadn't escaped Lorna's notice that Alison was unusually subdued.

"Kona? Oh yeah, you told me about that once." This was, Alison realized, the first person she interacted with since the weekend, who did not know. Had no clue. Not a single idea... taking a deep breath she squared her shoulders as she placed the traditional Moroccan tea glasses on the tray, heat steaming upwards, the scent perfect and safe and relaxing. And turned around with a smile for Lorna. "I will be expecting Kona, if you haven't already brought me some back," she stated firmly, eyes flicking towards the gifts. It was funny though – Lorna didn't use birthday wrappings for presents from tips.

"...oh." Blinking, Alison stopped dead in her tracks, staring at the gifts in stunned realization.

That was an easy enough look to interpret and Lorna fell over laughing, "You forgot, didn't you?  You forgot your own birthday!"

Reaching out, she tugged the tray from Alison's hands and set it on the coffee table next to the gift.  Still giggling, she patted the couch next to her, "Sit, silly!  You're clearly getting old if you're forgetting things like this."

The tray tilted to the side from Alison's surprise, though she caught it at the last minute and gratefully surrendered it to Lorna before sitting down slowly. She'd lost track of time that badly, she realized – and it hadn't really been that long had it and that thought was cut short there as she buried her face in her hands. Embarrassment wasn't the issue but Lorna would assume so and that was quit all right. "I can't believe I forgot," she added, shaking her head.

"I can't believe I'm the one to remind you!" Lorna replied, "I mean, Christ, did everyone have a massive brain-wipe while we were gone? You'd think at least Haroun would have remembered…well, maybe not. Guys suck at that kind of stuff."  She gave Alison a quick hug, "Well, happy birthday, hon."

Alison blinked but managed to throw herself into the hug, holding on tightly - and then had to force herself to let go, when she sensed Lorna was pulling back. "Haroun is about the worse when it comes to remembering days," she confirmed vaguely, before letting her eyes track back to the presents. Her birthday. It was her birthday. The whole thing felt surreal. ""I'm just going to dive into unwrapping stuff now…" she said, because that's what she'd normally say, even as she gave the packages a curious look.

Because she was looking at the gifts, she missed the flicker of concern that passed over Lorna's face.  Something was definitely weird.  Hopefully, it was just a mood.  "Tear in.  I wrapped it on the plane while the flight attendant tried to flirt with Alex."  The gift was a small stack of boxes wrapped together with a ribbon.

Alison paused in mid motion, the largest package balanced on her knees solidly. "Should I worry about what might have happened in here while the attendant was doing that?" she asked, though it didn't take her long to finish unwrapping the package, blessing the distraction it offered. "Oh…" with a small smile she withdrew the large conch shell, gazing at it as required before setting it on the low tea table carefully. "It's beautiful." The other package was unwrapped far more quickly, the charm bracelet draped over the conch shell after each charm had been admired carefully. The third's content caused Alison to stare for a while though, at the small key now in her hollow of her hand. "You're going away."

And of all the people who had left over the last year, this one suddenly hit the hardest.

"I wasn't worried.  I don't think Alex even noticed her except that it meant he got more snacks really fast." Lorna replied as Alison unwrapped the presents.  She smiled softly as Alison fingered the charms; she'd been designing them for a month now.  Her smile became a bit tremulous at the change in Alison's voice and she nodded, quite unable to speak about the sudden lump in her throat.  She reached out and covered Alison's hand with her own and drew her friend into another hug.  "But you'll come visit right?" she managed finally.

Lower lip quivering, Alison took a deep breath, closing her hand over the key so that it dug in her palm so that she wouldn't cry. Crying would be the single most disastrous thing she could do just now, she knew that with utter certainty. "I"ll come visit!" And while crying was right out, at least holding on to the hug tightly worked just fine, just then. Which was what Alison did, unreservedly so.

Lorna clung back and rested her head on Alison's shoulder.  She still wasn't ready to put into words just how much this whole process scared her and how hard it was to keep up an excited front.  So she just hung on instead.  "I'm going to miss you." She blinked rapidly then squeezed her eyes shut, dangerously close to tears herself.

"Miss you too." Short breaths were good, as it meant no crying. No crying meant no breaking down - Alison refused to do that, would not even contemplate the notion. The key was digging into her hand too deep and the focus was enough to get the rest of her mind in line, for a moment, at least. That and the crushed flowers about her neck, bleeding scent desperately in the process. "You come visit too."

The words were spoken roughly, though Alison still didn't let go, hiding her expression that way, at least.