xp_logs | Callie and Julian, Thursday Night

After seeing her journal post, Julian seeks Callie out to try and comfort her with cocoa and is not well received.

He was concerned about Callie, the journal post that she'd made a short time earlier seemed out of character for her. Things had been busy lately, maybe a visit from a friend with some hot cocoa would improve her mood. They were teammates and if having been on a team for several years before moving out here had taught him one thing, it was that teammates had to watch out for one another. He knocked on the suite door, two mugs on the tray- with whipped cream on top.

After a moment with no reply, he tried the handle and found it open. He poked his head inside and looked around with a quiet, "Hello?" Not seeing anyone he walked all the way in and closed the door to the hallway. He carefully maneuvered his way to Callie's door and knocked.

"Go away," came the muffled reply from within. Callie didn't care who was on the other side, she had no desire to talk to them. All she wanted to do was finish up this stupid art project and be done with it. She had no time to waste on socializing, even if she had a desire to. "I'm busy."

"I've got chocolate!" Julian shouted, "c'mon Callie, open up!" He waited patiently, involuntarily tapping his foot gently against the carpet in his sock covered feet. He was still carefully balancing the tray on his arm forearm- a skill he'd learned from a girl he met at a Denny's a few years before. "I'm not going away!"

Ugh. People. If she said she didn't want to talk, that meant she didn't want to talk. If ever there was a time to be thankful about having a room to herself, it was now. She could choose to turn up her music and choose to ignore the annoying Julian who was currently waiting outside her door. In fact that's exactly what she decided to do. Acknowledging his presence hadn't made him go away like she wanted, so maybe ignoring him would do the trick. With Bond now loudly playing from the speakers attached to her laptop, she turned her attention back to her work.

He could feel the beat thumping against the door- she was persistent, but so was he. Finding a suitably even place to do so, Julian set the tray down and pulled out his school phone. He quickly found Callie and started texting her [Coco hre 4 u com out now pls]. Not so sure it would work, he saved the message to his draft file and then proceeded to send it, eight times before knocking again.

Six, seven, eight. Eight text messages, Callie counted the number of text messages alerts she received. And per her suspicions they all bore the same message, and were all from the same person, namely the one still outside her door. It didn't seem like anything would make him go away. In one last desperate attempt, she turned down her music, rose, and opened the door. She leaned against it, arms crossed, her body language clearly saying he should go away.

"Ah," he rushed over to the nearby chair and grabbed the tray. "I've got something for you," he said, smiling confidently and holding out the tray. He noticed her closed posture, but didn't care- he wasn't walking out of here with two mugs- both of which had rapidly depleting whipped cream dollops. "And don't bother sending me away, I'm not going anywhere."

"Thanks," she said curtly, taking a mug of hot chocolate. Well if she couldn't make him go away she might as well return to what she was doing. Leaving the door opened, Callie stomped back to her desk. She set the hot chocolate down (having not bothered to taste it), causing a little bit of it to spill out, and busied herself in an attempt to ignore Julian's presence.

Her behavior surprised him, this was not the same sweet and seemingly-innocent Callie that Julian had met his second night here. Wow, she is pissed about something, Julian thought as he took his mug and let the tray drop. "Can I come in?" he asked with a slight hint of sarcasm he knew he'd immediately regret. Julian walked into the room and sat down on the unoccupied bed. "You seem angry, Callie."

"I'm fine," her voice was even but there was a heavy layer of coldness in it. She focused on shading the drawing before her. Stupid still life. It still didn't look like the photograph she had taken. The pencil dropped from her hands as she sighed and rubbed her eyes. They ached from concentrating so long; she really didn't want to be doing this. "I'm just trying to finish this drawing so I can hand it in."

Julian gave a slight frown before taking a sip of hot chocolate. Setting it down he considered his words carefully, but then ended up blurting out, "Yeah, it could be that- or it could be that someone, somehow managed to piss you off." For the second time in so many minutes, he regretted saying something to her and winced inwardly. "I mean, you're acting oddly and I read that journal entry and you just seem-"

"I seem what," Callie snapped, turning to look at him. Her stony expression was daring him to continue. When he failed to do so she just sighed and shook her head. "I don't see why it matters."

"It matters," he said quickly, "because you're my friend and you don't seem to be…okay." He paused and took another sip, the whipped cream now gone. "I mean, you're on our team and so am I and…well, I'm worried…about you." Emotional interventions were not his strong suit, but he was trying. He took another drink from his mug, a much longer one this time and burnt his tongue as a result. "Ah, dang," he said, trying to keep the pain inside.

"I'm fine." The words were becoming more terse every time she spoke. She did not want him there. In her mind, he had overstayed his welcome the minute he step through the door and into her room. And he wouldn't leave. Didn't he have anywhere else to be? Away from her? Callie watched as he drank his hot chocolate and rolled her eyes as he, unbeknownst to her, burnt his tongue. "What now?"

He sighed, which just made the scalded taste buds hurt more. It took him a moment to find the right words, this time considering himself a bit more carefully. "Look, you don't have to talk to me, but I and the rest of the people on the team- we're all here for you if you need help." He stood up and did his best to smile despite the pain. "You know where to find us," he said, as he headed for the door. Julian took the door knob and gave her one last sympathetic smile before walking out and closing the door behind him.

Finally. Callie turned and faced forward in her seat once more. Now if I could only finish this stupid drawing.