Paige and Sam have a little Talk about Boys.

[x-cannonball.livejournal.com]

Monday, Early Evening-ish

Sam finishes showering up after his afternoon ride, pulling on some jeans and a white tanktop. He remembers as he looks out the window that he wanted to to talk to Paige, so he pulls a brush through his hair quickly and walks down the hall to her room, knocking softly. "Gee? Y'home?"

Paige opens the door in a pair of loose cotton pants and a lilac tanktop of her own, her hair pulled into a tight French braid and a book under her arm. She smiles at the familiar face, but there is something shadowed in her look. "Hey there brother darling."

"Jus' wanted to chat. Y'got a minute, hon?" He has a tender smile on, and wonders why she looks awkward. How weird can a talk with your big brother be, really? It's not like he's going to yell at her or anything...

"Always have a minute for my favourite big brother," she grins, opening the door a little wider to let him in. She crosses the room, sitting on her bed, and pulls a leg under her comfortably. "What's up?"

"Not much. Just wanted to know how life was treating you. What's up, an' all that." He grins, plopping down next to her, bouncing with the mattress.

"Not too much, really," she replies calmly, playing with her braid. "Classes, classes, more classes. Paige is happy."

"Mmhmm. How about..." his expression is a little more serious, and knowing, though there's still a light in his eyes. "Boys?"

Raising her eyebrows, Paige gives him an odd look. "Uhh... there are boys here, yes. Good job?"

"Nice try, Paige. You know what I mean." He gives her a patronizing look, but is concerned that she should be reluctant to talk about it.

"No, Sam. I honestly don't," she replies.

"Paige, you're not a little girl anymore. You're a real pretty 17 year old, and there are a lot of teenage boys around and I just want to know if, y'know. There's anything I should know. About a particular one."

Paige shakes her head, laughing quietly. "You got the looks in the family, Sammy. We've been over this. But no. Nothing that I can think of."

He raises his eyebrows, frowning a little. "Paige. Come on. I know there's something going on with you and Jono. I know you too well."

Paige's face goes white and she backs up a bit, spine against the headboard. "Sam, honestly. To think that..."

He blinks, worried but also validated, as obviously there's something there. "Paige...you okay? I just. There is, isn't there..."

"I'm fine. I'm just fine. I just..." She rubs the bridge of her nose trying to think. "There's nothing like you think there is."

"What do I think there is?" He scooches up next to her, sitting on the edge of the bed by the headboard. "I just worry about you, is all. And I don't want you getting hurt, or doing anything rash...not that I don't trust you, but. Well. Jono's kind of not the type I'd pinned down for you."

Paige laughs, a sharp bark that's quite unlike her regular one. "You have nothing to worry about then. Jono and I won't be- he doesn't... and I don't... Nevermind. The point is, I won't be going around dishonoring myself or the like."

Sam sighs, relieved that Paige is going to be sensible, or least thinks she is for now. He'll keep an eye on her still. "You do like him. I know you do. An' I talked to him, and...I think, even if he's not gonna admit it, that he...has feelin's for you. Maybe he just shows it in funny ways."

Paige glares, suddenly angry. "No, he doesn't Sam. Unless you count funny ways as not being able to stand me. Stop talking about things you can't understand."

Hurt by her tone, Sam flinches and stands. "I'm. Okay, Gee, I'm sorry...I just. Maybe you can't see the forest for the trees, y'know?" His eyes downcast, he walks over to the door, turning to face her and lowering his voice, "I'm just bein' the big brother. I wanna watch out for you, 'sall. And maybe you don't believe me, and I know I'm not usually real on-the-ball about things, but when it's you, Gee, I always know what I'm talkin' about."

Paige looks embarassed, jumping off the bed and toppling into him, arms around his waist. She doesn't say anything for a long while, burrowing her nose into the back of his shirt and trying not to be a girl and start crying. Muffled, she finally mutters, "Thanks."

Turning and wrapping comforting arms around her, he rubs her back with one hand and smiles at his little Gee, standing in silence as long as she needs to. "Aww, sweetie. You shouldn't thank me. I just worry. And I couldn't bear to see you sad or brokenhearted. So really, it's kinda selfish of me."

"Maybe. I guess. I don't like this sad thing much myself," she says, laughing through a glimmer of tears. "Maybe Daddy was right when he said he was sending me to a nunnery when I was twelve."

Laughing a little, trying not to think about painful memories, Sam holds Paige's face gently between his hands. He brushes away her tears with his thumbs, and hugs her closer. "That'd be an awful waste, Gee. You're so smart and pretty...at least when you're not all red and puffy from crying." He winks, grinning.

She laughs again, smacking him on the arm as she rubs the remainder of her tears. "What about pulling out the shot-gun?"

Sam makes a silly face, letting his arms drop to his sides. "Euuch! That'd be painful and a waste! And you'd be even uglier with a hole in the head, lemme tell ya!"

Paige clutches her heart, toppling backwards quite a few paces and flopping onto her bed dramatically. She raises her head for a moment only long enough to say, "I'm dead. You killed me." before falling back down again.

Sam laughs mock-evilly, waving his arms in the air and dancing around, "Bwahahaha! My master plan is complete! I have succeeded, at long last!" He flops down on the bed next to Paige, grinning.

Paige turns her head, grinning, and flicks him in the forehead. "Yes yes, finally dead, alright. You better have some pretty flowers for my funeral."

Sam sits up, still smiling and trying not to snicker. "'Course I will. Now then. Feeling better? Not gonna bite my head off?"

"I'll try my best. You're just such a boy sometimes Sammy, and I forget that." Paige looks up, pulling a pillow over her head to protect herself. "But you're also my brother, best one I have, and you don't deserve my hormones."

Sam blinks, trying to figure out if that was more of an insult or a compliment. He shrugs, giving up. "Well, you're my best sister, but...Sorry, Gee, I don't get how I'm 'such a boy'. Wanna explain yourself, or just leave me flailing here?"He pulls at the pillow over her head, trying to see her face.

"Don't you go getting your panties in a twist, Sammy. I just mean that you're not all that subtle sometimes. Which is probably a good thing, what with me being such a drama queen these days." She tickles him teasingly as he pulls the pillow away.

He sticks out his tongue at her, and tosses the pillow on the floor. "Oh! Okay. Well if I ain't subtle then I might as well not be subtle. Let's try again. Paige, I know you've got a thing for Jono...now spill."

Watching her pillow hit the floor she pierces her lips, diving after it and dusting it off. She clutches it to her chest and takes a deep breath. "What do you want me to say?"

He watches her with amusement, then furrows his brow and thinks. "I want you to say that you won't let him get to you, and that you're not going to go after him or any other boy ever and you're gonna stay a little girl your whole life. But somehow, I'm thinkin' that ain't gonna happen, so I want you to tell me why you two insist on yellin' at each other most of the time when it's real easy for me to see that you're sweet on him, and that he's prob'ly at least a little stuck on you, too."

Swatting him with her pillow, Paige snorted most unladylike. "We hate each other, really. That's why."

Sam shakes his head in disbelief, saying with awe, "You can't honestly believe that, Paige. Good God Almighty...you two are like. Well, okay. If you want to believe you hate each other, I guess that just makes things easier on me. But I don't want you to be upset over him, okay? Promise?"

"Too late?" Paige replied somewhat sadly. "And you know I honestly don't believe that I hate him either."

"Ooh, sweetie..." he says, taking her hand and holding it in both of his. "I thought so. This is what I didn't want to happen..."

"Hey, I'm tough. No worries." She gives him a brave smile, letting him hold her hand. "Besides, I can only take so much before I'll let it wear off or something."

"Hmm...well, you'll let me know if I need to go give him a piece of my mind, right?" He winks at her and ruffles her hair. "Now, I have an extremely cute Russian to go have a chat with, so I'll see you later, okay?"

"Yes shoo. My teeth are starting to fall out from an overload of sappy brother sister lovingness." She gestures him towards the door, grinning. "Just make sure to not fall under the Russian boy's spell now, won't you? He seems to have this following that I don't quite understand yet and will have to account to mutant powers."

Sam falls silent, staring at the floor for a second before grinning back at Paige, looking a little strained. "Haha! Right. Bye, Gee..." He opens the door, stepping out into the hall and closing it behind him, then striding off to see Piotr, not realizing that he's holding his breath and his hands are clenched at his sides.

Paige watches him go, a pained expression on her face. The moment the door closed behind her brother with a loud click, she slaps herself in the forehead. "I really need to learn to just shut up."

Comments

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Aww! They're so cute!!!

;D

[x-piotr.livejournal.com]

Well golly gee, you two. *blushes* Shucks...