xp_logs | Jay and Crystal - Finding Out the Facts (Reply)

After seeing an article in a tabloid, Jay comes to Crystal with questions.

Jay knocked at the door, brisk and to the point, while he waited, bouncing on the balls of his feet with a magazine clutched under his arm pit. He waited, raking his hand through his hair and knocked again, worried he had missed Crystal.

Moments later, the door opened and Crystal tried to hide her surprise when she saw the identity of her visitor. While they had interacted with each other as part of Red X, they didn't socialize elsewhere. "Good evening, Jay," she greeted him. "Is everything all right?"

"Ah dunno, you tell me," Jay said and produced the paper, folded back to a certain section, page seven. "Ah called Forge but he ain't exactly takin' calls."

"Oh." Crystal looked at the folded magazine, more specifically at the article with a nice-sized headline and photograph of Forge and herself two nights earlier. "I suppose I was distracted and did not take enough care to ensure that no photographs were taken back to the tabloids. Generally, if I do not want a photograph of me to be publicized, cameras have a mysterious way of being damaged somehow."

"Well they got you," Jay said and tucked the magazine back under his arm. "What's goin' on, if ya don't mind me askin'?" He didn't like to pry but since Forge had all but slammed the phone down, claiming he was 'too busy to talk', Jay had his suspicions.

"So they did," Crystal agreed, looking at Jay. "We have grown apart," she said, echoing Manuel's words to her as they had walked up the stairs. "You know that Forge becomes very engrossed in his work, yes? He is quite pleased with what he able to do at the West Coast Annex, and so he has decided to remain there."

"Huh." He tucked his hands under his arms, not expecting that answer from her. "Thought you was goin' really good though?"

"We both thought things were working out, yes," Crystal explained. "It is not as though we have both lived in the mansion for our entire relationship. I returned to Attilan, and then I traveled with Laurie on her World Tour, but I came back here for visits and he visted me as well. However, I viewed those times apart as temporary, assuming that at one point or the other, we would be back together in the same place. Now, Forge has made it clear that his work is important to him and that he feels his place is on the West Coast. My place is not there."

"Huh," he repeated, for lack of anything better to say or even comforting. He knew Forge could be an ass sometimes, but this,maybe this was mutual. "So.... that mean Ah can steal ya as mah date then for Red X meetin's?" he asked. It never hurt to change the topic, especially not after something so awkward. "Maybe hot chocolate." He almost said 'a shoulder to cry on' but she didn't look like she needed it.

"I suppose you could have done that even before this," Crystal said. "While Forge did participate with Red X on a couple of occasions, he did not attend meetings on a regular basis." She felt a bit ackward, suddenly realizing that she had not invited him into her suite, and they had been having the entire conversation while he stood out in the hallway. This was not good; her mind was still a bit in shock over the finality of it all, and she was once again not acting as she should. "Hot chocolate would be nice; did you want some now?"

"Ah reckon that'd be pretty nice about now," Jay agreed and nodded, smiling as she opened her door wider by invitation. Funny how some doors closed while others opened.