xp_logs | Tuesday Night: On the next episode of AMMC

x-polarisstar.livejournal.com posting in

AKA the shouting match that interrupted Scott and Betsy.

We'll sell you the whole seat but you'll only need the edge!

Alex saw Lorna's last comment on his post then realized he had better move fast. Quickly, he logged off his roommate's computer and ran to the door, with questioning glances from his roommates. Quietly, he slipped out the door, wondering where to go to hide...

Lorna threw open the door to the suite and stalked out into the common room, rage making her pale. She saw Alex sneak out his door and look for escape. Not gonna happen, she thought grimly. "Alex!" She quickened her steps, "What the hell!"

He jumped about a foot in the air at the angry voice behind him. Slowly, and surprisingly to himself, calmly, he turned to face her. Being the ever rude teenager the he was, he put a snide smirk on his face. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Skipping class my class, treating me like crap." She waved her arms expansively, "What did I do to deserve this?"

He crossed his arms over his chest, still looking smug, though his voice borderlined on shouting. "Nothing...you did absolutely nothing!" Alex shook his head to calm himself. "I don't want to talk about this right now..." He made for the stairs.

Lorna followed and grabbed his arm, jerking him around so she could face him, "I don't care if you don't want to talk about it! I don't want to have to suffer your attitude anymore! Talk to me, damn it!" She had started shouting by this point and didn't particularly care who heard.

He roughly pulled his arm out of her grasp. If she was going to shout in his face then he felt encouraged to respond in the like. "Talk? You made it perfectly clear there was nothing to talk about! You're too scared, remember? So I think I'll keep my attitude, thank you very much!"

She jerked back like she'd been hit and flushed a deep red, "That's...Christ, Alex! How the fuck can you ask me to trust you then treat me like this? You can keep your damn attitude. I was right and thanks to you now I have proof!"

Alex took a step back and away from her. "Keep your damn proof, along with your stupid letter." He smirked again. "You were never going to trust me anyway...I'm a baby, remember? Too young to trust with anything!"

Scott halted for a moment on the stairs, surprised at what he's hearing, and seeing.

Lorna screamed in frustration. "This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't taken my letter in the first place!"

Betsy following close behind, stopped short of running into Scott. She leaned in and whispered into his ear. " I wondered how long it take for the two of them to get this out?"

"WHAT is going on here?" He asked loudly as he started back down the stairs again, looking from Alex to Lorna, his mouth set in a stern line.

Alex jumped for the second time that night and looked up startled at his brother and Betsy. "Oh shit..." he mutters to himself before looking at his feet.

Lorna jerked in surprised and spun to stare with wide horrified eyes at Scott and Betsy. "Shit" she sighed, unconsciously mimicking Alex.

He walked down right next to them, ready to drag them away from each other, if necessary. Though he was pleased that it didn't seem to be heading that way right now.

"This is a school. But of course, you already know that. Now, in much quieter tones," he looked back and forth between them, and settled on Lorna, "why don't you start and tell me what happened."

Lorna set her jaw and lifted her head, pulling arrogance around her like a shield, "We were just...settling a little disagreement." Poison dripped from the edges of every word. Her lips curved into a bitter smile, "I think we're done."

Alex snorted when she said "disagreement" and then had to bite his lip not to respond sarcastically as she finished.

Betsy reached out and grabbed Lorna's hand before she could make her leave. "Oh no, you're not."

Scott just stood there and waited, and not very patiently, for a further response.

Lorna glanced down at Betsy's hand on her arm but didn't try to pull away. "It was a private matter." She gave both instructors a vaguely challenging look, "I didn't realise we weren't allowed to have those."

"You are. But you two have been playing this little game, and I'd like it resolved before evening's end." She motioned to the couch at the farside of the common room. "And we're not leaving till you do."

Scott looked around the room, then back at Lorna. "Yes, really private, I can see that."

Alex's eyes went wide. "By the end of the night?! You can't be serious?"

She turned to face Alex. "Try me."

Lorna's bitter smile only deepened, "Unfortunate choice of venue. But like I said, I don't have anything more to say to him."

"Was I asking you to talk to him? I believe I asked for an explanation." He looked right at Lorna, though with the glasses, it was hard to tell what he was looking at.

Alex glared at Scott but remained huffily silent.

By now, Betsy had pulled her hand away from Lorna. "You gave up your chance at silence the moment you took this matter out here for everyone to gawk at. Talk."

Lorna shrugged, before responding to Scott, "I gave one. We had a fight. It's over. It won't happen again. I think the details are irrelevant." She winced and looked at Betsy, "No."

"Fine." He turned to Alex, looking even more displeased than before. "Then you explain."

Lorna winced again and wrapped her arms around her waist, "Yeah, fine. Then you explain. You're the one who can do no wrong,"

Scott glanced at Lorna at that outburst, but then focused on Alex.

Betsy turned from the three people in the common room to face the doorway. They obviously had an audience. Before anything serious could be said she walked into the hallway, her voice carrying through the room. "You. Bed. Now."

Alex raised himself up under his brother's gaze and shot a glare at Lorna. "Fine, I will. A few days ago, I asked Lorna to explain something to me...but she again dodged the question, like now."

"You returned what you stole. I didn't realise that entitled you to anything," Lorna said sharply.

"I didn't steal anything! And I don't see why you had to hide behind that stupid thing when you could have come talked to me instead!"

"I wasn't hiding behind it! I was honest with you! Would you rather I'd lied?"

"Enough!" Betsy walked back into the room.

Scott darted at glance to Betsy, wondering if she knew what they were talking about, but then refocused on Alex. Scott looked up at the ceiling, as if praying for guidance, or something to just strike him down on the spot. "Yes, enough."

"I'm not going to feign ignorance on this. Especially to save me the aggravation of a very long night."

Careful with her words, Betsy continued. "Alex found something of yours. Something private that you wished he hadn't. Right?"

Then, realization struck Scott, a skimmed post in the journals, and he shook his head, and let Betsy do the talking.

Lorna clenched her fists tightly at her sides, digging her nails into her palms, "Found. Fine, if that's what you want to call it," she agreed tersely.

Alex had to resist the urge to stick his tongue out at her in a smug fashion.

Betsy was looking to Lorna and Alex with a bemused expression. "Yes, found." She managed a glance at Scott. No help there.

Lorna pointedly ignored Alex's existence. "Found, read, took and replaced with a book list."

But Betsy ignored Lorna and turned to Alex, "What did you think about it, dear? Honestly, now."

Scott watched Lorna, since Betsy focused on Alex.

"Honestly? I was scared shit less and pissed over the fact that she had written all that down without giving me a clue..." he added the last part very softly, "of what I had done..."

He looked away from all of them, rubbing his eyes with his hands.

Lorna snuck a glance at Alex, unaware she was being watched. Her expression was for a moment unguarded and was a mask of hurt and a strange sort of longing.

Damn hormones. Betsy sent the thought to Scott without taking her eyes off of Alex.

Scott rolled his eyes, hidden behind the red lenses. At least now, he was certain what the shouting was all about.

Too bad we can't just have them kiss and make up, he sent back to her, still unsmiling, though the thought was slightly amused.

Betsy tried desperately not to respond. Her face still stern, she faced Lorna. "And how do you really feel?"

Betsy's lips turned up in a small smile. I could, but I don't think that'd be totally ethical. Might let us get some sleep though.

Scott pursed his lips, and adjusted to face Alex. Stop that. You're distracting me.

Lorna was once again coldly composed, "At the moment, I never want to see him again." She says it with hate but while the sentiment is true, the emotion behind it is not.

"Be careful what you wish for," Scott said to her, over his shoulder. He did not indicate Betsy at all, but let Lorna think it for herself.

Betsy's hand went for Alex's shoulder, preventing him from moving. "Lorna. Don't."

All the emotion Alex might have been feeling after Scott and Betsy's interruption was immediately drained away. He turned to glare at her, eyes red from being rubbed. "Fine by me."

Damnit, Scott. She's so damn stubborn. I just want to shake her sometimes. "But that's not how you felt before, now was it?"

"Don't!" Lorna repeated incredulously, "He hurt me!"

Holding onto her temper, Betsy says calmly. "But not on purpose and you've given just as much as you've gotten. Or can't you see that?"

Alex opened his mouth to shout something back but ended up only closing it again for lack of the proper words to suit his reaction.

Lorna's fists tightened further and she began to tremble almost unnoticeably. "I..." she began then stopped. "Better now than later."

"That's not the way to go about it, Lorna. But, I'm not going to force you to realize it, either. I'm hoping that maybe you'll figure that out sooner than later." Betsy gave Alex a sympathetic squeeze then released her grip.

"I'm not going to set myself up to be hurt." Lorna closed her eyes, "And I won't set him up for it either."

"Too late..." Alex said calmly, after giving Betsy a small smile of thanks.

The urge became too strong, Betsy opened herself up to Lorna and sent warmth through her, trying to break her cold front.

Scott looked at her incredulously. "What? You won't..." He threw his hands up in the air. "Life is pain. You can't go through life without it." His voice got hard, stern. "Deal with it." Then, he offered a hand to Betsy.

Lorna shook her head, "For both of us." Unable to control herself, though unaware of Betsy's meddling, Lorna dissolved into quiet sobs. "But I can't keep you," she whispered to herself.

Scott wiggled his fingers at Betsy, trying to extricate Betsy and himself from what might start happening, before their presence was noticed.

Noticing a slight change in the younger woman's stance, Betsy spent a moment, studying the two of them. She decidedly took Scott's offered hand. Whatever will happen between them did not need their meddling. At least not anymore.

Alex takes a step toward Lorna, her sobs making him almost forget his anger. "What..." he croaks, winces then tries again, "What did you say?"

Lorna shook her head, struggling to fight back her sobs. She hated crying, hated the loss of control. "Nothing. Nothing, please, just..." She broke off, unable to go on.

Alex sighed, his voice becoming soft as he took another step forward. "Lorna, stop being noble...and tell me what's wrong..."

She brushed tears out of her eyes and simply looked at him for several seconds, "I can't keep you," she repeated very softly. "I'm not being noble. I won't be able to keep you and I can't bear to lose you."

He couldn't help but give her a playful smirk. "You make it sound like I'm a puppy..." then his voice becomes curious, "And why exactly can't you keep me? I'm not going anywhere..."

Lorna took a step nearer to Alex and raised her hand as though she was going to touch his face but pulled away first. "Look at you," she said in a murmur, "You're gorgeous. Girls like me don't get to keep guys like you. We just get to hold on for a little while then get left behind"

He caught her hand and placed it on his cheek, holding it there with both of his. "So now I'm a fish...the one that got away?" He snorted softly. "Lorna, I would never just leave you behind...I could never do that to anyone, let alone you..."

Her hand shook in his. She desperately wanted to take that last step forward, to trust that he would not hurt her as he promised. But caution, fear and pride held her stiff. "Not a puppy, not a fish. You can't invest your whole life into a pet."

"Alright, then let's go with me as a turtle. I'd out live you anyway so you can invest your whole life into me." He smiled, hoping at least to get her to smile if anything.

He succeeded and she shook her head, amused despite herself, "I would." She brought her other hand up to the other side of his face and met his eyes squarely, "I don't give loyalty lightly, Alex."

"I never asked you too." He moved one of his hands so one was covering each of Lorna's. "Just don't hide things from me...especially things that will hurt you..."

Lorna took a small step forward, not quite closing the distance between them but definitely pushing the limits of personal space. "I won't if you won't."

Alex took another step so they were almost touching. "Deal."

Lorna smiles very slowly, a real smile this time totally unlike the bitter one she was wearing earlier. "Good. Then there's just one more thing." She leaned forward and raised up on her toes so they were on eye-level with each other.

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? And what would that be...?" He asks curiously, staring into her eyes. Why didn't I notice she had such beautiful eyes before...

Tilting her head to bring her lips very close to Alex's ear, she murmured in a quietly husky voice, "Next time you find something that isn't addressed to you, don't read it."

He sighs contently as her cheek brushed his hand. "On my honor...promise I won't read anything without Alex Summers written on it...unless it has Scott Summers written on, then I will have to read it..."

Lorna wrapped her arms around his neck and nodded, "Well, that's okay. Family doesn't count. So it's a pact?"

He nodded, wrapping his own arms around her waist and resisting the urge to twirl her around, "Yep."

As delighted now as she was angry before, Lorna couldn't help throwing back her head and laughing. "Shake on it?" she suggested impishly, raising an eyebrow at him.

He couldn't help but laugh also and offered a hand. "Sure. Shake on it."

Lorna looked from her hands, still firmly around his neck, to his then laughed again. "Actually, I have a better idea. Traditionally, a contract is sealed not palm to palm but lip to lip." Suiting action to word, Lorna pressed closer and very gently and very softly kissed Alex.

He raises his eyebrows as he replaces his hand around her waist. Then he smiles and gently returns the kiss, softly.

She drew away and favored him with another impish glance. "Mine," she said satisfied.

Smiling giddily, he touched his forehead to hers. "All yours."

Oh come on, you knew it was going to happen.

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