Sunday afternoon, Lorna and Amanda

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Amanda and Lorna run into each other in the stairwell. Shouting ensues.



Lorna dropped her bag on her bed, looked at the clock then ran a mental inventory of her small suite kitchen. She was pretty sure that she was limited to coffee, milk and possibly some lemons and not even she could do anything with that, which meant that she'd have to venture downstairs. She looked at the clock again and sighed. Well, maybe no one would try to talk to her. She didn't know how much more sympathy she could take. She was fairly certain that she was flirting with dehydration as it was.

"I'll catch you later, roomie, yeah? Can't let you miss World Cup and all..." Amanda was saying as she closed the door to the suite she used to share with Marie-Ange. Now for home and bed before work on Monday morning... "Fuck, I'm getting too old for this partying all weekend bollocks," she muttered to herself as she headed for the main stairs. Clarice certainly was a hyperactive bundle of energy, that was for sure.

Lorna jogged down the stairs with the weary motion of one moving entirely by habit and dodged the random blond person in her way with the same familiar movement. She didn't spare a moment for eye contact because eye contact meant interest and interest meant talking and talking meant questions and Lorna didn't want to have to start crying again. "Pardon," she mumbled.

"No, entirely my..." Then Amanda actually focussed on the person she'd nearly run into and her eyes narrowed. "Well, look who it is. I was looking for you last Friday. Wanted a word. Well, several actually." Despite the polite-ish words, her tone was pure acid as the anger came surging back. Considering the state Remy had been in this week, it didn't take much.

Lorna recognized the tone before the voice and just sighed, stopping without turning around. "What is it?" she said in long-suffering tones, determined to just get this over with as quickly as possible. Her temper was none too stable these days.

The martyred tone did nothing to improve Amanda's mood. Lorna was fucking around with someone she cared about, dammit, and that was important. "I was wanting to know why it was you can't listen to a bit of friendly advice. I warned you about breaking Remy, back in New Orleans. Well, looks like you've gone and done it. Leading him on and then dumping him when the next new shiny thing comes around." The younger girl crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to back down this time, but glad the piercings were greatly reduced. Getting them yanked on hurt.

Lorna turned around very slowly and tilted her head, rubbing at her temple. "Amanda, what the hell are you talking about? I haven't done anything to Remy, I haven't even seen him in a week." And he'd brushed her off then for god only knows what reason but that wasn't any of Amanda's business.

"So you have been seeing him, then? Making him think he had a chance?" Amanda's voice was pure venom now. "And then you go off with this counsellor bloke, and dump Remy like he's nothing. Which is great, 'cause that's what he thinks he is. Have you got any idea how much you can fuck with his head?"

Lorna's jaw dropped. "What the…How does David…" Was this why Remy had been so cold the other day? She stopped talking and took a deep breath. She was not going to stammer or explain herself to Amanda. There wasn't anything that she owed her. "Look, this is none of your business. And I don't know what kind of sick little lies you've been coming up with in that brain of yours but you can just keep them there. If I find out that you've been trying to turn Remy against me or something, I'll find a way to make you suffer."

"You don't know the meaning of the word suffer!" Amanda's voice rose and echoed slightly in the stairway. "What do you think Remy's doing, every fucking day? What do you think I felt when I put him back together and stopped you from being a fucking murderer?" The words, long bottled, spilled out. "Personally, I don't give a fuck what you and Remy do - you're both grown ups, you can shag like fucking rabbits for all I care. But like I already told you in New Orleans, you've got the power to hurt him more than anyone else and I don't want to stand by and watch you do that just because you fancy a bit of rough, all right, princess?!"

Lorna went deathly pale then grabbed Amanda's arm and dragged her off into one of the empty suites, slamming the door behind them. "I don't even know where to start with you!" She shoved her back. "Where the fuck do you think you get off? Let me just straighten something out for you. David is my friend. I'm sorry that you can't conceive of having a male friend that you don't fuck but some of us have proper relationships. I would never do that to Remy. Ever."

"Does Remy know that?" Amanda had been saved the effort of wrenching her arm away when Lorna shoved her. Just as well there was no furniture in here or she would have knocked something over. But she still wasn't going to back down. "I haven't said anything to him about any of this, but something still has him in the world's foulest mood and I think it's to do with your mate calling to sort things out, what with Remy catching you in his suite and all." The anger in her eyes was balanced by concern and fear for her friend, one of the people she trusted above all others. "Remy loves you, do you have any idea what that means for him? In all his fucked up life you're probably the first one he's ever felt like that for and you're messing him about like he's just another one of your pretty boys!"

"Catching me in his suite? Christ in heaven, you make it sound like we weren't just hanging out! There was nothing going on! No one would think there was something going on unless SOMEONE had put that into their mind." Lorna folded her arms glaring and trying to ignore the threatening tears, "Did you tell him something? I know you hate me but God, Amanda!"

"I haven't said a word against you to him!" Amanda retorted. "And you want to know why? Because I know how much you mean to him and there's no fucking way I'd put him in a spot where he'd have to choose between us." Because I'd lose, every time. Now it was Amanda who had to blink rapidly to halt the tears, groping for the anger that had sustained her so far. "Your mate Haller called, said he wanted to talk to Remy about the misunderstandin'... what else was I supposed to think? If Remy's been seeing you, he's kept schtum about it to any of us, but I did see you and Haller dancing at the prom like you owned the place. What's that joke you're so fond of? Two and two making six?"

Now Lorna did start crying, just too tired to fight it and already overwhelmed with grief. "Bite me, Amanda! You'd love to make him believe that I'd cheat on him. You'd love it if I was really that kind of person." She dragged her hand through her hair, struggling for breath and composure and getting neither. "Do you have any idea how hard this is for me? Do you have any fucking clue? Yeah, I danced with David at prom. What was I supposed to do? Ask Remy? How much do you think he'd have enjoyed it, with his leg and the fact that half the damn school would have been whispering behind our backs? And how often do you think I don't look at him and think of how Malice nearly killed him. How she would have if she could have forced me to instead of just making it nearly so that you could come along and heal him? I wouldn't hurt him again for all the world. I have too many destroyed hearts on my hands as it is."

"If you care so fucking much, you wouldn't let him dangle like this, hide him like you're ashamed of him." Amanda's voice was cold now. The phrase 'destroyed hearts' made the ruins of the link throb in her head like an old tooth. Oh, Lorna had it so hard. "I know him, I know how he thinks and he's probably sitting there wishing you all the best with your new flame - even if Haller's just a friend, that's probably not how that idiot Cajun sees it. All Remy's gunna see is you with someone better than him and he's gunna think that's the way things should be. When he was hurt, when he was dyin', he thought it was what he deserved, that it was the only thing left for him. I'm fucked if I'm going to see someone drive him back to thinking like that." Reluctantly, the words dragging as she forced them out, Amanda added. "So if you want to be with him, fucking well be with him. You're right, I don't like you. I think you're an arrogant, selfish bitch who spends her life running away from stuff 'cause she can't handle it. But... he loves you. He wants you. And you'd be good for him."

Turning away, Amanda started for the door, face twisting where Lorna couldn't see. "If you want to tell Remy about this, 's fine by me. He won't hear anything about you from me, same as he hasn't yet - I know you don't believe me, but I couldn't give a flying fuck what you think."

Lorna flinched and let Amanda go past her to the door. "Well you'd know all about running away, wouldn't you?" she snapped harshly and shook her head. "Now that I know what he's thinking, I'll be sure to talk to him. I'm not a mind-reader. I'm not letting him dangle. I'm trying to make sure we don't screw this up. Remy is important to me. Even if I wasn't in love with him, he would be."

"Yeah, right." The contempt was obvious in Amanda's voice, even if she hadn't punctuated it by slamming the door behind her.

Lorna didn't scream, no matter how much she wanted to. She just sat down in the middle of the floor and cried.