Log: Layla and Sarah, Tuesday evening

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Layla summons Sarah to the guest suites where she's got a big surprise for the other girl, which leaves Sarah amazed and Layla shy and quiet.


It was maybe a little awkward asking Xavier if Layla could use one of the empty suites for a project. He was sort of a mind reader and stuff. And okay maybe he didn't go around just reading people's minds all the time because that was totally creepy and probably took a lot of concentration and he had like better things to do. But she had manned up and asked and he'd given her permission to use one of the empty guest suites for her "project." Which was awesome because, well, she needed like days to pull this off.

Layla waited until six to text Sarah and tell her she needed her help with something so could she come meet her up near the guest suites. When Layla had texted her and asked to meet up, she hadn't been quite sure what to expect. She brought along a surprise of her own, currently concealed in a paper bag, which she had been holding behind her back as she strolled to the designated meeting spot. There were so many post-it notes, and her smile got bigger and bigger as they changed colour, her cheeks deepening in hue along with them. Sarah paused before opening the door, letting that tingly anticipation feeling last a bit longer before she went inside. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the door open and then stepped inside.

What the brunette found, though, wasn't Layla. She was hiding around the corner in the hallway. Instead there were post-it notes stuck to the wall. They started off white, first with Sarah's name and then with individual notes that read "follow us" with arrows leading her down the hall. They became pink and then when she got to the right door they were red. Red post-its made a heart on the door with the one in the middle reading "Enter." The door was unlocked.

Inside furniture was draped with white sheets, gathered and tucked to fit chairs and couches comfortably. Even the bed in the single open room had been dressed in white. The focus, however, was obviously above. From the ceiling dangled strings with little individual pink hearts or strings of hearts. Pink and white twinkle lights crisscrossed the ceiling, edged the windows and fell in cascades down two walls. The small table held a vase of white, pink and red roses, all of which looked like they had been dipped in glitter. Some only had glitter edging their tops while others were submerged. Everywhere the lights touched reflected off the sparkling flowers. Leaning against the vase was another notecard, identical to the one which had accompanied her rose that morning. The only word it held was Sarah's name. Beside it laid a small jewelry box.

Sarah was followed at a distance by a tiptoeing Layla. She waited until the brunette was inside before inching the door open to linger in the background and watch her reaction to the whole scene.

She could only take a few steps inside before she came to a complete halt, utterly in awe of the sight before her. The room was absolutely beautiful, just the most gorgeous thing she'd ever seen. And then it hit her, that Layla had done all of this for her? Wow. Once again she was rendered speechless by Layla's actions. She held the bag with one hand, just about completely forgetting about it, her other hand over her heart. What a breathtaking sight. It took a few more seconds but she finally willed her feet to move, going over to the table with the oh-so-sparkly and pretty flowers, and a note card. There was also a box on the table and wow, she remembered the bag in her hand as she picked up the card with her other, and realized her gift for Layla was way, way, way, totally inadequate now.

Starting to open the envelope, Sarah stopped when she realized one key thing was missing from the room. Where was Layla? She stopped and turned around, looking around the room to see if the blonde girl was anywhere to be seen.

To be honest, Layla had sort of wanted to hang back and just watch the scene unfold. The problem with this whole thing, really, was that it was easy to put together. It was easy to set it up and lead Sarah here. It was sort of sappy and schmoopy but it was probably totally the sort of thing Sarah would like. But having to be present for it involved a level of... embarrassment, maybe. Because it meant she was admitting things. Things she had pointedly not said to Sarah in any sort of explicit way until now. Things she probably still wouldn't say with words. But, damn, did she ever make it obvious.

A debate pushed and pulled in the blonde's head. Either she could slink back into the shadows and let Sarah think she'd abandoned her or something, or she could own up to what she'd done. Ultimately, though, the blonde let the door fall a little more closed before Sarah's gaze swept across it and waited. Hopefully for when she could find a good time to sneak up behind her. Which, okay, maybe would scare the hell out of her but it seemed easier. Better. It took less nerve if she didn't have to look Sarah in the eye at first.

There was no immediate sign of Layla, maybe she was running a bit late or something. She'd texted Sarah to get her to come to the room so obviously she knew where it was; maybe on the way there herself someone stopped to ask her something or she had to use the washroom or something, who knew? Sarah tapped the card against the palm of her hand, biting her lip for a second, and then put it back down on the table. Layla went through all that trouble for little old her, the least she could do was to wait for her to arrive before opening anything. It'd be rude to do otherwise, wouldn't it?

So she walked around the table, to one of the chairs that was there beside it. Then inspiration struck her. Remembering the paper bag again, she retrieved it and brought it over to the chair. Once she pulled the chair out from the table a little, she opened the bag and took out the teddy bear that was inside of it. It was a cute little teddy bear, so soft and fuzzy, its fur nearly identical to the colour of Layla's hair, which had been what had drawn Sarah's eye to it in the first place. On its belly was a heart, since it was a Valentine's gift after all, with the words 'Be Mine' stitched into it. She sat the bear down into the chair, then went back to the bag. There was also a heart-shaped box of chocolates, which she took out and, after considering the scene before her, placed under the bear to boost him up a little. Now he was better seated at the table, his furry little paws almost touching the table itself.

"There we go, Mr. Teddy Bear." She hadn't named it yet herself because, well, it was for Layla, so she would get to name him. Sarah smiled and looked around the room once again. Still no sign of the other girl. Her eyes moved back over to the teddy bear and she spoke again. "What's that? No, she's just a little late, she'll be here." Pause. "Of course she will, Mr. Bear, we just have to wait patiently." Another pause before she frowned. "No, sir, those chocolates are for Layla, you cannot open them yet."

While Sarah was busy with "Mister Bear" Layla finally slipped through the door of the guest suite. She shut it behind her near silently, the click masked by Sarah talking to the fuzzy little guest at the table. It was really hard not to feel like a cartoon character tiptoeing around on socked feet, dashing into an open closet and ducking down to try to creep up as silently as possible. The real key here was whether Sarah was paying enough attention to Mister Bear to not notice the blonde sneaking around in a somewhat stealthy but mostly ridiculous manner. Layla managed to get up behind the brunette, though, and went up on her tiptoes so she could stretch her neck and just barely perch her chin on the other girl's head. Sarah was tiny, but Layla didn't have that much height on her. "You're talking to a bear," she commented casually.

She really was talking to the bear, forgetting herself and her surroundings as she did so. Sarah opened her mouth to speak to Mr. Bear again before she felt something on her head that startled her. "Ohmygosh Layla!" Her hands were up on her chest again, the surprise of the other girl's sudden appearance from behind causing them to fly up there. The shock only lasted for a second though before that expression was replaced by a big smile on her face.

Not moving, she tilted her head a bit, looking over at the blonde girl as best she could in that position. "Looks like someone's been busy, because holy crap." She gestured up at the ceiling and at the flowers and at everything because wow. "Did you really do all of this for little old me?" It was beyond touching, and she may have been tearing up a bit the more she realized that Layla really had done it all for her.

Layla shrugged, arms moving up to loop around Sarah's shoulders and effectively keeping her right where she was. The blonde's chin dropped down to her arm resting on one of the other girl's shoulders so she could sort of peer over at her. "I figured, you know, you really like sappy movies and stuff. So, you know, probably the way to go, right?" Right? She hoped so anyway. Besides, Sarah's eyes looked a little watery so Layla was hoping that was a good sign that she was doing that girlie, flaily thing on the inside about it all.

She wasn't in a hurry to move away any time soon, so Sarah leaned back against the other girl a little. Nodding in answer to the question, she reached up with her hand and sought out one of Layla's. "It's perfect. Absolutely perfect." It really was like something out of a movie, for one of those Hollywood actresses or a model or something. This kind of thing wasn't supposed to happen to her, she didn't deserve it, that was the first thing that came to her mind. And yet, there it was. She sniffed a bit, still smiling widely though and insanely happy, just overwhelmed. "Thank you so much, Layla." The thank you seemed a little underwhelming but she really didn't have any other words coming to her mind at that moment, so she just squeezed the other girl's hand tightly.

"You're welcome." Layla didn't think there was anything to say other than that so she kissed Sarah's cheek and then half buried her face between her arm and Sarah's neck. It was a good hiding spot, actually. Especially since there was no way for Sarah to see her when she was back here, beet red and trying really hard to sound casual. "Is Mister Bear like your new best friend? 'Cause you were totally having a conversation with him," she murmured almost directly into the other girl's ear from her half-buried spot.

Tilting her head so that it rested against Layla's, Sarah chuckled a little bit. "No, he was just keeping me company while I waited for you. He's going to be your new best buddy, because he's for you." She emphasized the 'you' part by gently nudging Layla's head with her own. "And he has a gift for you which he's, um, he's kinda sitting on right now, but don't worry, he doesn't weigh much." The chocolates would still be fine, even if Mr. Bear had wanted to open them up before her arrival. "There's a card too but, well. Nothing like this. This is just... wow, hon." The words still weren't coming to her and she looked around the room again, just grinning at the whole scene. "How did you do all this?"

"With a ton of thumbtacks," was the first response out of her mouth. It was mostly true. "And glue. And scissors. And a lot of showering to de-glitter myself. And like three days to try to pull it off. And a ladder." Hey, she'd asked how. What other answer was there to that? "There might be cookies, too. And, um, cake." Because for some reason Valentine's day was totally about making people fat, just less so than every other holiday ever. It was all chocolate and cookies and cakes and candlelit dinners or whatever. So Layla figured the small heart-shaped red velvet cake she'd made Sarah was appropriate enough.

"That is a lot of work. You didn't have to do all of that, Layla." She was still looking upward at all, but her eyes always went back to the sparkly shiny roses that were just so bright and pretty. It really was quite amazing and no one had ever done anything like this for her before.

"Wait, there's more?" She pulled away a bit, just enough to step back and turn around to face Layla again before moving in just as close, wrapping her hands around the blonde's waist in a loose hug. "Ohmygosh, Layla, sweetie." Sarah was both amazingly touched and overwhelmed by all of her gestures and also disappointed in herself for thinking just a little bear and some chocolates would do. What had she been thinking?

It was entirely possible Layla was blushing more now that Sarah was facing her. Her eyes dropped to somewhere around Sarah's collarbone, though she kept her arms up around the brunette's shoulders. "Did you just call me sweetie?" That seemed like such a grandmotherly term. "It's not a big deal. Really. I just figured I should...I dunno. Do something. And you're all girlie and sappy and into movies that make you cry because they're so sappy," which was the first time Layla had admitted to being awake still at that point in the movie. Half the time she'd fallen asleep and was waking up but pretended to be asleep still so Sarah didn't know her weepiness was being caught in the act. "So, y'know, just figured...I dunno. It wasn't that much work." Her eyes shifted from side to side, though her gaze still wasn't meeting the other girl's. "Cake's in the little mini fridge with the cookies, actually. 'Cause, y'know, people like sweets on Valentine's or something I guess."

"I did, heh. I'm not the best at coming up with little nicknames, I guess." She would have to think about that probably, because Layla definitely deserved one. Sarah grinned at Layla's explanation, and how she was saying all of these things without looking up and meeting her eye to eye. It was absolutely adorable to see her like this, a side of the girl that she hadn't really seen much of before. Layla, feeling shy? "It looks like a lot of work to me, a lot of effort to get a room like this - how did you do that anyway?" She must have had to pull some strings to get this done, which impressed her even further.

"Mmmhmm, they do like sweets, and they like their sweethearts, and they like, um." Alright, Layla was usually the aggressor, or at least she had mostly been last weekend, but this time it was Sarah who decided to take the initiative. "They like this." Reaching a finger up, she gently placed it under Layla's chin, raising her head up and leaning in to kiss her softly.

Layla basically did not believe in refusing or denying kissing when it involved Sarah. Like...ever. It should be law or something. Only not for other people. Other people weren't allowed. Or something. Wait, was she allowed to not allow other people to kiss Sarah? She tried not to think about it because the really important thing here - like the really, really important thing - was kissing her back. It was that same sort of soft, slow manner they seemed to be sticking to since, well, neither of them knew what the hell they were doing here and it seemed safe. And Layla liked to think they'd gotten pretty good at this version together. 'Cause, yeah...practice totally made perfect and they were obviously aiming for perfection here. A lot of perfection.

Kissing was one of the many things that they agreed upon - each one kissing the other was a Very Important thing and was always allowed. Sarah was more than ok with not kissing anyone else, and if she'd thought about it she'd hope that Layla felt the same way. Right then, however, she was solely concentrating on their kissing. It was definitely something they were practicing a lot and improving on - she found her eyes naturally closed just before they touched, her head tilted to one side while Layla's to another in anticipation of each other, etcetera - but practicing was always a good thing. Sarah pulled Layla a bit closer to her, pressing her own body against the blonde's, and squeezed her arms around her a little. Gosh, that felt nice.

When the kiss broke Layla rested her forehead against Sarah's, eyes half closed and a silly little smile on her lips. "I just asked," she whispered after a moment. "The room, I mean. I just asked Professor Xavier for a room for a project and he totally probably knew why but he was awesome enough to like pretend not to know so I could pretend he didn't know, too."

There was a very similar smile on her own lips as she listened to the other girl speak. "You asked the Professor if we could do this? I mean, I know you didn't tell him, but, oh wow. Layla." That was a huge thing to her for some reason, such a grand gesture, her heart may have beaten so loudly there for a second or two the other girl may have felt it. "I am so incredibly lucky."

"I just asked for a room for a project," Layla muttered, her eyes falling once more. She was obviously trying to downplay the importance and effort of what she'd done. Obviously she had not thought enough about the reaction from doing this. Yeah, it made Sarah all happy which was totally the point. But if she knew it was gonna be about how Layla had gone through all this effort and Sarah was so lucky because of Layla doing this then, well, maybe she would have like scaled this shit way down. Because the attention was sort of embarrassing even if there wasn't anyone else to see it.

It was pretty clear that all the attention was making Layla uncomfortable, which definitely wasn't the point at all. Sarah was just amazed in the difference from not having dated or kissed anyone a little over a week ago to someone so amazing doing all that for her, it was a little overwhelming. Hugging Layla again, she started to walk over to the table, tugging the blonde on the arm as she did so. "Come here, Layla, someone wants to meet you." She pointed to Mr. Bear, who was still propped up in his chair on top of the chocolates, all gentlemanly like and stoic looking. "This is Mr. Bear. Say hi, Mr. Bear." Then she remembered the whole naming thing. "Uh, if you want to actually give him a real name, that's totally cool, of course."

Following along like a sullen child, Layla's head was lowered and her feet shuffled across the floor. But when Sarah stopped in front of Mister Bear Layla stopped too, hanging out behind the brunette. She peered over the other girl's shoulder and reached around her to reach out and shake the teddy bear's hand. Paw? Did bears have hands or paws? Maybe it was a paw. "Hi, Mister Bear. I'm Layla. But I dunno if I can be yours. I, uh, I think I um...already belong to someone." She patted him on the head as if that was ever comforting to anyone.

Watching Layla interact with the bear, Sarah smiled. She really was adorable, shaking hands with the stuffed animal, and then Layla's words made Sarah blush. "Aww, don't worry Mr. Bear, you can still be our friend. But I think she's right." She reached out and lifted him up, taking the box of chocolates out before putting him back down on the chair. "And these are for you, and this too." There was a card in a red envelope on top of the chocolates, with Layla's name written in fancy calligraphy and little hearts drawn randomly around the envelope.

Layla was pretty stubbornly staying behind Sarah. She helped justify it with her arms wrapped loosely around the girl's waist, but mostly it was just a lot easier if she didn't have to look Sarah in the eyes about all the, well, sappy stuff she pulled off for her. So she remained back there, chin perched on the brunette's shoulder while she opened the envelope. The card she pulled out had one of those spherical bottles from chemistry on it with a few "Hug"s floating around in it, plus a test tube with two "Kiss" words floating around, which apparently equaled a beaker half filled with red with little floating hearts. Under it read "better loving through chemistry." Inside was just "Layla, Be my Valentine? -Sarah." It was kinda cheesy, but sort of awesome. Layla wound up grinning and muttered a fond comment about what a geek Sarah was before she kissed the brunette on the cheek.

It was a little weird not facing the other girl, but seeing as Layla had her arms wrapped around her waist and her chin resting on her shoulder, hugging her from behind, Sarah didn't complain about it. She turned her head to the side, watching Layla as she read the card and hoping that she liked it. It was very simple indeed but hopefully it wasn't too, too bad. Sarah grinned when she heard the little comment, and then blushed at the kiss on the cheek, reaching down to squeeze Layla's hand as she did so. "I'm glad you like it, Layla." She'd spent a long time looking for something that was a little goofy but still romantic and touching, but not overbearingly sappy or what have you. "So that's a yes, you're my Valentine, right?" She was just being playful, of course, trying to joke and make Layla feel a bit more comfortable hopefully.

What Sarah got wasn't Layla reverting back to her usual rapidfire rambling, joking self. Instead she got a small smile, a bit of a blush and the girl ducking her head before nodded. "Yeah, I'm your Valentine." She could have joked and told Sarah that she'd won by default because no one else had asked. But being anyone's anything sort of overruled the joking. 'Cause it'd been a really long time since she'd been anyone's anything. Kinda since her parents died really. But she didn't say that because no one needed to hear stuff like that. So she laced her fingers through Sarah's with one hand and nodded toward the fridge. "So chocolate and cookies and cake?"

Even though she knew the answer, it was still nice to hear it out loud, and it gave Sarah a little shiver, in a good way of course. She beamed at Layla, leaning over and kissing her on the cheek. Her eyes followed the blonde's to the fridge as she opened her fingers to allow Layla's to slip through. "Ooh, yes please, I would like that very much. And then I would like to hang out with you some more and not watch movies together, please." That seemed to have become their own little term and she was quickly becoming fond of it.