xp_logs | Kitty plays counselor for a change!

Kitty'd been in the lab for almost and hour, and was likely to be there through all of lunch as well. A turkey sandwhich sat next to her, mostly untouched, although the can of soda that had come down with it had already made it into the trash bin. She wasn't worried though - she knew where the doctor kept his stash.

In front of her were her notes from an experiment she'd been working on last term, as well as her Quantum text book, with a copy of Haliday and Resnick sitting close enough to hand, should she need to go looking for any constants.

True to her word, Paige arrived in ten, her book bag stuffed to the brim - although, stuffed in a neat and orderly manner - and yet still a stack of books under her arm. She rapped on the door with her free hand and pushed it open just a smidge, peeking in. "Knock knock?"

"Hey Pagie," Kitty said, jotting down a few quick numbers. "Come on in. Copies are over there, somewhere." The pencil motioned vaguely towards a rather haphazard stack of papers, of which probably only five were really useful.

Slipping in, Paige made her way to the desk and set her books down, mindful to keep them away from Kitty's things. "Thank you," she said, sorting through the papers she had been directed to. "I mean it. Thanks a lot. I was worried I was going to be a bother and this is so much easier."

"No worries," she said, circling whatever she'd just written and then looking up. "I've been making copies off thoes since the second year I was here when the doc suggested I could be getting credit for the stuff he was teaching me outside of class." Kitty grinned. "Sorry about the mess. Meant to sort them out for you, but then I figured out what I was doing wrong and got side tracked."

Paige nodded, pulling the things she needed and setting the rest away, exactly as they were minus the couple of now missing pieces. "Makes sense and sounds nice all at the same time." She returned the grin with one of her own. "And don't apologise; I know exactly how it is. My side of the room can certainly vouch for that."

"Ah, the terror of the overachiever. Or at least, the terror of the over achiever's room mates."

Paige laughed. "Lucky for me I've had equally messy roomies so far. Or at least, Amanda will be messy once she gets any possessions to be messy with I suppose."

"Heh. Yes, she does seem the type. And Jubes' got no call to complain, but together we used to drive Terry up the wall." Idly, Kitty tucked the pencil she'd been writing with behind her ear, using it to keep some of her hair back.

"Oh, teenaged girls. I guess we're allowed to have a little normalcy, even here." Paige slipped the papers that she'd been holding in her hand into a folder and then somehow managed to get it into her bag. "Well. I'm afraid conversation is lacking in me right now and you seem awful busy so thank you again. Do be sure to eat that sandwich of yours."

Kitty eyed Paige, arching an eyebrow. "Not going to push, now or ever. Like I said on the journal, I'll chat with you if you want, about anything..."

Paige smiled shyly and perched herself on the edge of the desk. "I know and it's awful sweet of you. Especially since we hardly even know each other. Kind of odd when you think about it. We live in the same building for several months, take most of the same classes, and I don't even know your favourite colour."

Kitty grinned. "Charcoal blue, although I know it was a rhetorical statement. And I know what you mean." She smiled at the older girl. "I maintain that this place is just like a normal high school, only smaller and wierder. We all have our groups we hang out with, for no apparent reason other than, I don't know, laziness."

"Good choice," Paige replied. "I'm rather fond of blue myself." She smiled at Kitty and nodded a bit. "It's silly really. I'm not a very touchy feely sort of person but you're one of the few people in this school I wouldn't mind just telling things straight to. Clearly this is a sign that I'm going to have to start passing notes to you in class or something. Is that girlie friendship enough?"

Kitty grinned. "Well, a girlie friendship would be a novel experience, so I'm game."

"Yes. We'll be all cliché since we'll be going solely off what we have seen in horrible teen movies or read in books." Paige looked quite serious about all this until her stomach growled. "Hm. I think I'm being reminded that I skipped breakfast for a mandarin on the go. May I take a raincheck on the gushing until tomorrow at least where I will pass you a very long and intricately folded note complete with letters dotted with hearts?"

Kitty snorted. "Sounds like a plan. Don't forget the 'do you like so and so's with yes, no, or maybe check mark boxes." She grinned. "Go on then, get fed. I'll even work on remembering to eat myself, or Jamie will yell at me."

Paige laughed as she stood, picking up her books. "I'll be sure to pick up a purple sparkly pen before tomorrow. Maybe Tabs with have one. Have a good lunch and for about the millionth time, thanks again."

"If anyone will, it'll be Tabs, or maybe Clarice. And for probably the fourth time, you're welcome."

Giving her a little wave and a grin, Paige headed out the door on the hunt for something resembling food.

Returning the grin, Kitty turned back to her notes, picking up the sandwhich with a smile.

<lj-cut text="And late Saturday night, Doug comes by, looking for a sympathetic ear, or at least a hug." Doug padded down the hall in sock-clad feet. Reaching Kitty's room, he tapped tentatively on the door. Kitty glanced up from her laptop, surprised. Nobody had mentioned anything on the journals last time she looked, and there hadn't been a note on IM, had there? "Come in," she called out, saving her work before she forgot. Doug peeked around the door. "Hi, Kitty," he said softly. "I'm not bothering you, am I?" "Nah, come on in. I'm just working on the AI term project Dr. McCoy assigned. Very preliminary stuff. What's up?" Doug ran a hand through his hair and sighed raggedly. After all the things that had happened to him, he was pretty much an open emotional book, even to people without his gift. "I...let's just say it's been a long day," he replied. A little worried at his tone, Kitty quickly put the laptop down and shifted her legs, making space on the bed. "Come here, take a seat. Want to talk about it?" Rather obvious that he did, given he'd come by. Doug shrugged noncommitally. "I dunno. I've done a lot of talking today. Mostly, I..." he chuckled wryly. "This is going to sound kind of five years old, but could I have a hug?" Kitty smiled. "Of course," she said, holding her arms open. Doug closed his eyes and clung to Kitty, letting out a deep sigh. Wrapping her arms around him, Kitty just held him, letting him hold on for as long as he needed. She certainly understood that there were times you just needed someone to touch. After an indeterminable amount of time, Doug pulled back and dashed his sleeve across his eyes and nose. "I...thanks, Kitty. That really helped." "You want to talk about it?" she asked quitely. Doug fidgeted with his hands in his lap. "I don't know. I'm just so tired. Part of me wishes I could just do today over." "Haven't got a time turner, unfortunately." Kitty smiled gently. "What happened?" Doug ticked off on his fingers. "Had a fight with Paige, had a long complex discussion with Angelo, then told Marie that I love her." He sighed raggedly. Kitty's eyebrows lifted fractionally. "Well, you've certainly be busy. Shall we talk about it chronologically, by level importance, or not at all?" Doug shrugged. "Well, the Paige and Angelo things are sort of related, I think. Paige is wound up about something, and me being me, I pushed. Which led to her being snippy, which led to me raising my voice, and eventually storming off in order to have the last word. Mature, huh? Angelo's stressed out because he knows Paige is wound up and can't help." Kitty nodded. "Hey, mature is over rated, especially given we're none of us even old enough to vote. Besides, everybody loses their temper sometime." Doug nodded. "Doesn't stop me from feeling guilty, though. So I was already kinda drained from all that, and then Marie dropped by my room. She could tell something was up, so she offered to go for a drive, get out of the madhouse for a while. And I was just so tired of pretending. So I told her." Kitty nodded. "What'd she say?" Her voice was quite as she asked, her eyes dark. Doug sighed. "That dating's not for her, she has to be practical with her mutation, that she'll never have something normal like that. But the thing is, somewhere in all that rationalization, she said she likes me. And I don't know if I'm being stupid or what, but I just can't help but cling to that, and think maybe somehow I have a chance." He closed his eyes, weary. Smiling softly, she brushed his hair away from his eyes. "Hope springs eternal?" she asked. "And hey, she knows and she still likes you. I'd say hope wasn't entirely off base." Doug shook his head. "I just don't know. I mean, at the end she just couldn't run away fast enough." Kitty nodded. "Bit of a shock to her, was it?" Doug nodded. "I think so. Although I was convinced that with the way I wear my heart on my sleeve, she had to know. Maybe she just wasn't expecting me to say it. Or maybe she knew and just would rather run away then set me down." "Doug, can you always read her?" Kitty asked, looking curious. Doug shook his head. "Not really, no. I could tell if she was lying to me, and I can sometimes read her emotional state if it's really strong, but otherwise not really." "Cause, you know, it's really hard for _everyone_ to know that somebody likes them. You'd probably have said it was blatently obvious that Jamie had a thing for me, but I didn't believe it for ages. It's just the way people are." Doug shrugged. "Maybe. I dunno." "Mmm, well, I do. It takes somebody with supream self confidence to believe another person's in love with them without external proof. And even that usually gets disbelieved." Doug nodded. "And if you're convinced that you'll never have anything normal like that because you can't touch anyone..." Kitty nodded. "It certainly wouldn't help." Doug flopped backwards and stared at the ceiling. "So basically I just have no clue what I'm doing. I mean, I want to cling to that little bit of hope from her saying she likes me, but I don't know if I'm making a fool of myself." "When do we _ever_ know what we're doing? I mean, when it comes to love, that is." Doug snorted. "Never. Talk about the blind leading the blind. We're all just fumbling in the dark." She smiled softly. "And sometimes we get lucky. But it takes a while." Doug smiled wryly. "So we keep trucking along." Levering himself up, he gave Kitty another quick hug. "Thanks, Kit. I needed this. Needed to talk and get a hug. And now, I'm going to go sleep and do my best to pretend today never happened. At least until breakfast tomorrow." "Tomorrow is another day," she said, grinning. "Cliche, but there it is. And glad I could help." Doug let himself out quietly and padded back to his room, where he flopped into bed, staring at the ceiling. Sleep was a while in coming.