xp_logs | Two consecutive logs

Log 1: Amanda tracks Angelo down to make a few things clear to him about what the triangle situation is doing to Paige. Log 2: He goes looking for Jono, then the two of them go find Paige and come to an agreement.

Angelo was sitting out on the back porch, as usual on weekend mornings, having a leisurely cigarette and enjoying the sunshine. Hearing the door open behind him, he twisted to see who it was.

A carton of English cigarettes hit him in the chest as Amanda tossed them at him, and as he fumbled to catch them, she said, without preamble. "We need t' talk. 'Bout Paige."

Angelo blinked up at her, finally getting the cigarettes securely in his hand. "...We do?"

"We do." Crossing her arms over her chest, Amanda gave him a long, assessing look. "Do you have any idea of the state she's workin' herself into over you an' Jono?"

Angelo frowned, then ducked his head. "Uh..." he replied weakly, unsure of what to say. "It's really gettin' that bad?"

Reminding herself that not everyone could do the aura thing, Amanda resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him. "Yeah, it is. Maybe bein' away for a bit gave me a bit of perspective, but I got a good look at her aura last night an', mate, I gotta tell you, somethin's gunna give soon an' it's probably gunna be her."

Angelo winced, not looking up at her. "What'd you see?" he asked softly.

Amanda sighed and came over to sit beside him, pulling a cigarette out of her pack and offering it to Angelo before lighting up. "Confusion," she said, taking a deep drag and exhaling smoke in a long plume. "Disgust with herself. She loves both of you, but since you two won't share, she feels like she's doin' somethin' wrong."

Angelo took the cigarette and absently put it down beside him, holding up the almost-finished one in his hand for her to see. "But... things are better'n they were. We're not even arguin' anymore. Much. An' not about that."

"She doesn't seem t' think that." Amanda shrugged. "I ain't a mind reader - the aura thing don't work that way - but all I know is she's in pretty much the same state as she was when Rom talked t' her back in March. She's all knotted up, an' since she don't talk about this stuff, it's just gettin' worse. I mean, she flinches when I talk 'bout how things are with Beth an' Manny, like it hurts her t' think about it."

Angelo looked pained, just for a moment. "I didn't know that", he said neutrally, grinding his cigarette stub out with perhaps unnecessary force. "God, I wish she'd talk to me."

"Yeah, well, she has t' show everyone how well-adjusted she is, so she don't talk 'bout her problems with anyone. I've tried, once or twice, but she just gives me that 'everythin's all right' smile an' changes the subject," said Amanda, looking at Angelo with sympathy, mingled with frustration. "You an' Jono should just talk this over with her an' sort it out, once an' for all. Like you said, yer've been gettin' on lately - is there any reason why that wouldn't work full time? Like what I have with Manny?"

He shrugged miserably, picking up the cigarette from the wood floor beside him. "I'm startin' to think it's the only thing that would. But Paige... she was raised so traditional. I mean, I was too, but I'm not gonna be the one seein' two people..."

"Maybe she'll surprise you - Paige ain't half as traditional as people think. An' at least if you lot talk about it, instead of dancin' 'round each other causin' each other grief, you'll know one way of the other, won't you? 'Cause, mate, seriously, if someone doesn't do somethin' soon, Paige is gunna snap or somethin'." Amanda handed him her lighter. "Talk t' Jono, tell him what's happenin' - I would, but I don't know if he'd take it from me. An' then talk t' Paige. Put the poor girl out of her fuckin' misery."

Angelo grinned wryly. "Not sure he'd take it from anyone, but I guess it's me or nobody. Yeah, I'll talk to him."

"Good. 'Cause I might be practic'ly livin' in Manny's room now, but she's still me roomie an' I'd have t' kick both yer arses if she broke or somethin'," Amanda said, decisvely. "'Sides, I owe her for puttin' up with me when I was doin' the addiction thing - better t' avoid the mess altogether an' sort this out."

Angelo nodded. "Yeah - if she broke? I'd let you." He swallowed, before admitting quietly, voice rough, "An' even if she doesn't break, she might end this just to make sure she won't, if things don't get better. I can't lose her, Amanda..."

"Then _do_ somethin', instead of sittin' back an' waitin' t' see if things work out on their own. They haven't yet, so it ain't likely they will." Amanda's tone was gentler than her words. "She won't say anythin', so you have to."

Angelo nodded, taking a drag on his cigarette and handing back her lighter, as if he'd only just remembered he still had it. "Yeah. I will."

"Good." Amanda's posture relaxed, as if she'd gotten rid of something heavy. "Sorry t' chew you out like that, 'm just worried. How's yer summer been so far?"

Angelo grinned suddenly, even if there was still a shadow behind it. "'s been good. 's my birthday soon, did I tell you that?"

"No, you didn't. Fuck, if I'd known that I would have looked for something decent for you while I was away." Amanda shrugged a little apologetically. "'M still gettin' the hang of this present thing. Like tryin' t' figure out what people'd like. Got any plans for the big day?"

Angelo's grin turned wicked. "Well, we gotta go out. An' not a school-sponsored trip this time, either, just with permission."

"I like where that thought's goin'," Amanda said with an answering grin.

"Well, I'm turnin' eighteen. Gotta do it properly."

The oranges were bright and healthy-looking, and Jono tilted his head, considering them. Then he picked a few and carried them over to the counter where he cut them into neat halves. It was quiet in the kitchen, as most people seemed to be spending their Sunday outside in the warm weather.

On leaving the porch, as he'd promised Amanda, Angelo headed straight off to find Jono. Opening the kitchen door, he paused on seeing him cutting the oranges, then moved into the room. "Jono."

Jono glanced at him, putting the orange halves into a straight line before wandering around opening cupboards, obviously looking for something. "Angelo", he replied.

Angelo leaned against the doorpost, oh-so-carefully not obviously blocking it. "Need to talk to you", he continued neutrally.

"What about?" Jono gave him a slightly more quizzical look, then peered into a drawer.

"Paige", came the simple answer. "She's not doin' so good."

The drawer closed with a click, and Jono leaned against it, crossing his arms. "What do you mean?"

"I was just talkin' to Amanda. She's got..." He gestured vaguely. "Think of it like a kind of artificial empathy. She can see what people are feelin', sometimes. Says the way things are... it's drivin' Paige crazy, hurtin' her, only she won't talk about it."

"Suppose it's not an easy subject to talk about." Jono shrugged, noticing Angelo's tactical position in the doorway. He didn't continue with the obvious question of 'what can we do', not wanting to implicate he was ready to come to terms about the whole situation himself.

"So", Angelo stated, not moving. "We gotta figure out what is goin' on, an' what we're gonna do to help her. 'Cause if this carries on like it is, she's either gonna break or we're both gonna lose her."

Jono was silent, turning back to whatever it was he had been looking for. He found it one cupboard later, a juicer, and carried it to where the oranges were. "I agree", he said. "Things have to change."

Angelo nodded. "Not even that much, I don't think. I want her to be happy, 's all. But if that's gonna work... she's gotta know it's okay. That she's not doin' somethin' wrong an' makin' us unhappy by it."

Bright yellow liquid flowed in the grooves of the juicer as Jono squeezed an orange against it. "She isn't making us unhappy? Do you really think so?" He gave Angelo a brief, searching look. "You really don't mind sharing her with me then?"

Angelo shrugged. "I think she doesn't have to be." He sighed. "Look. I'm not gonna say this is how I'd imagined things bein'. But I love her. An' I know she loves both of us. So I... I'm not sure she could be really happy any other way, right now."

"Yeah, it's really not how I thought things'd be, either. But", Jono shrugged, "I suppose they're better than what I did actually think." He paused in the squeezing, staring at his orange-stained hands. "I've friends here, well, one at least, and I've her. And for better or for worse, I've you. I'll survive it. Sharing, I mean."

Angelo's head came up sharply. "For real? An' you'll tell her that?"

"With a complimentary glass of orange juice, if you want", Jono muttered, continuing in his task. "She likes it fresh."

Angelo chuckled, disbelief still a little obvious in his eyes. He hadn't expected it to be that easy... "Yeah, she does. We gotta... if we're acceptin' that things are as they are, we gotta tell her. Soon as we can."

"I'll just", Jono nodded at his work, "finish this first. You could help instead of blocking the doorway, you know." He gestured at the still whole oranges in their bowl.

Angelo laughed. "Fair enough. What wants doin'?"

"Just cut a few more", Jono instructed. "Might as well give her something to drink before shocking her."

Angelo moved into the room and picked up a spare knife, snagging an orange with his free hand and quickly cutting it as Jono had the others. "Yeah, you're right. Keep her blood sugar up."

They worked in silence until they had a brimming glass of orange juice sitting on the counter, looking delectable. Jono seemed a little sad, looking at it, but the look he gave Angelo was more wry. "Should we go find her then?"

Angelo nodded, swallowing just a little. "Yeah, I think we should."

That decided, Jono picked up the glass and started out of the kitchen, Angelo following. Every once and for a while Jono stopped to scan the immediate the area to determine if Paige was near, and finally, after the halting journey, they came to the sunroom, finding her on a reclining chair.

Paige had a book opened across her lap and her glasses on her nose, but they had slid down far enough that when she looked out the window onto the grounds everything was still in focus. Her current novel was therefore abandoned for the view outside, eyes half closed in the lazy afternoon sun.

Angelo was the first to walk into the room, smiling at the sight of her and knocking on the wall to attract her attention.

Behind him, Jono waited, his head turned towards the windows, trying to see what Paige had been looking at.

Starting, Paige snapped her head in the doors direction, smiling at the sight of Angelo before trying not to frown at the sight of them both. There was something distressing about the two of them in the same room together. "Hey boys. What can I do you for?"

Angelo moved forward into the room. "We kinda need to talk to you."

"And there's this", Jono added lifting the glass of orange juice he had, as he walked in, dodging a few plants. "It's for you. Fresh."

"Uh huh?" she asked, pulling off her glasses and accepting the orange juice with a smile. "You two make me nervous when you feel you have to bribe me before talking to me, you know."

"When have we ever done that?" Angelo asked lightly. "An' it's nothin' bad."

"Yeah, can't we just be nice?" Jono didn't sit down, and leaned against the window instead.

Paige stared at them long and hard. "Have you merged brains? Is that the news? You keep saying we."

Angelo blinked at her. "No. Just been talkin' some."

"About where the 'we' comes in, actually", Jono explained.

"Uh...huh?" she replied somewhat nervously, hoping they'd go on soon before she developed another ulcer.

Angelo nodded, suddenly nervous himself. "Yeah. Worked some stuff out."

There was a silence, when Jono, and Paige most probably, waited for Angelo to go on. When he didn't, Jono rolled his eyes. "For fuck's sake", he thought, slightly more loudly than he'd meant to, then turned to Paige. "He told me Amanda's been watching you through her magic goggles and that you're apparently near the breaking point over this whole", he waved his hand, "thing we have here. And we agreed to consider it all right, to spare you."

This was certainly not what she had been expecting and invoked only a long silence in which Paige attempting to gather her thoughts. "First of all I never... I would..." She tried to find words and only came up with more confusion, putting a hand to her temple. "Thank you. I think."

Angelo reached out for her hand. "I know you weren't ever gonna ask. But that don't mean you didn't need to. We want you to be happy."

"If you're somehow able to be happy", Jono muttered unhelpfully. "Look, next time you've got something on your mind, tell us. Better that than hearing it from Amanda or someone."

Paige shot Jono a look through dark, narrowed eyes. "It's not exactly something that's easy to bring up, Jonothan, especially if the answer wasn't one that I wanted."

Angelo glanced between them, frowning. "It... is, right? We talked about it, an' we thought... we thought this'd be the best thing. We're okay with things as they are, we wanted you to know that."

"So you were going to torture yourself over it until whatever end? That's some planning from a girl who's so brilliant", Jono replied, frowning, then made an effort to relax. "But, yeah. You've got your answer now. It's the one you wanted, isn't it?"

"Yes," Paige answered firmly, as if she had nothing to hide. "To both of your questions." She shrugged, pushing back a piece of hair from her face and returning her hands to her lap. "I just don't want you lying to me because you'll think it'll make it better somehow."

"No lyin'", Angelo answered honestly, meeting her eyes. "You know I'm no good at that. I'm really okay with this... if it makes you happy."

Jono had watched Angelo as he spoke, then turned his attention back to Paige. "Yeah. There's no point in lying about this."

"There's generally no point in lying about anything. Doesn't stop people from doing it," Paige said pointedly, flicking her gaze over to Jono from Angelo.

"No, it doesn't", Jono agreed easily. "But there's nothing to be gained by lying about this. And other than that, I can't believe we're nearly arguing about that when we should at least pretend to be happy."

Angelo shot him a look. "Can we stop with the pretendin'? Paige. If this is what you want, what makes things okay for you, then I'm good with it. If not... I don't know what t'do."

"God." Paige laughed, although, shakily. "If I had known a year ago I would be debating the thin line that makes 'us' right I would have called myself crazy." Smiling at the two of them she continued, "It makes me happy. Very happy. Just surprised, that's all."

"I doubt this is something any of us expected." Jono raised a hand to play with the leaves of the plant next to him. "But here we are. Using the word 'we' in abnormal amounts."

Angelo nodded. "Here we are. An'... everythin's okay?"

"See? There we go again." She paused, looking amused. "And again." Paige couldn't help but smile a little wider, a little brighter, a shy blush rising to her cheeks. "I think so. Unless there is another surprise?"

Jono tapped his cheek with a finger. "Let me think. Orange juice, acceptance speech.. I'm sorry, I think we're done." But he ducked his head like he was pleased Paige was happy.

Angelo grinned at her, in sheer and obvious relief. "No, no more surprises. Promise - at least for now", he couldn't resist adding.

"Are we allowed to make innuendos this early? You'll have to excuse me, I don't have my rule book on hand." Paige returned the grin over her glass of orange juice.

"Were innuendos not allowed at some point?" Jono wondered, ripping off a leaf from the plant, and twirling it in his fingers.

"Stop abusing the foliage and sit down, Jonothan," Paige answered, smirking slightly. "You as well Angelo."

Angelo sat down willingly, reaching out for her hand again. "Happy to."

"All right." Jono pushed himself off the window and sat next to them. The leaf in his hand found a new home in Paige's hair.

Letting Angelo and hers clasped hands dangle between them Paige turned her smirk into something like a soft smile. "You two have such an affinity for my hair." She flicked a look over to Angelo. "Perhaps we should teach him Scrabble?"

Angelo raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps", he allowed, wanting to see her keep smiling.

"Ganging up on me already?" Jono gave them both a suspicious look.

"Us?" Paige asked innocently, using her long eyelashes to her advantage.

Angelo grinned, echoing her. "Would we do that?"

Jono raised one eyebrow. "Er, yeah?"

Paige dropped the innocence and shrugged. "Okay, good point."

Angelo grinned wickedly, squeezing her hand. "Only for everybody's good, though."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly what you've got in mind." Jono rolled his eyes in disbelief. "Everybody's good."

Angelo shot him a look. "You want to see how this can be to everybody's good? Fine." Reaching to grab Jono's wrist, he leaned forward quickly, before Jono could react, to kiss Paige, concentrating on pushing the feelings outwards.

"Hey-", Jono started, then went quiet very quickly, shocked out of his objections with the sudden burst of sharing.

Paige's eyes went frightfully large for a moment, but Jono wasn't grabbing his hand back and she couldn't feel any underlying anger, although, she could feel just about everything else from the feel of her own mouth to the hair on the back of Jono's neck raising. The only reasonable next step was to kiss Angelo back.

Angelo, sensing the same lack of anger she was, relaxed into the kiss with some relief, smiling slightly against her mouth.

It wasn't a bad feeling, not at all, but it was rather poignantly reminding Jono what he was missing, so he eventually twisted his hand out of Angelo's grasp. "All right, point taken", he admitted, rubbing at his wrist as if it was burned.

Pulling away Paige swallowed hard, offering a quick last kiss to Angelo before leaning back into her chair. "What he said."

Angelo looked at her quietly, glancing sideways at Jono. "Thought it might be."

At a loss for words, Jono dropped his hands in his laps, and just looked at the two others. "Thanks, mate", he offered to Angelo then.

Angelo shrugged, a little sadly. "If... we're really all gonna be in this together, like things are, an' if Paige's okay with it... it's only fair. If you want."

"...Are you expecting me to say no to that?" Jono asked after a few seconds of silence, seeming genuinely surprised. He glanced at Paige. "If you don't mind, of course."

Paige, who had remained silent, watching the two of them as one might watch a tennis match finally realized they were both looking at her. "Oh! No. No, I don't mind. At all. No."

Angelo chuckled, looking at her warmly. "Enough emphasis there, chica. You got your point across."

"Yeah. So that's that", Jono concluded, and stood up, stretching. "I'm done sitting here in the microwave room. Are you coming or staying?"

"Says the human microwave," Paige replied idly without a bat of an eye.

Angelo glanced up at him. "Depends. Where you goin'?"

"You know, can't stand my own kind." Jono shrugged at Paige, then looked at Angelo. "Don't know yet, suppose I'll figure it out on the way."

Paige got to her feet, piling her glass and glasses on top of her book to carry. "Sounds like an adventure."