xp_logs | Thursday evening

x-dazzler.livejournal.com posting in

It wasn't very often that Paige cleaned her part of the room. She usually had more interesting things to do, to see, but tonight her mind in its racing state wouldn't let her. She'd already been running, this much was obvious by her state of dress, which consisted of her pajamas, although it was not even ten o'clock and she wouldn't be getting to sleep for many more hours, and wet hair from her shower. Her eyes were sore, dry and tired, although not red or puffy in the right places.

She picked up another book, Hamlet in fact, and put off shelving it beside its Shakespeare brothers to stare blankly at it's cover for a moment. The young man clad in black gave her no answers, only more questions she couldn't answer. Away it went, beside King Lear who had also been of no help, and she sought the vast array of writing utensils scattered around her desk for information.

A series of knocks sounded at the door, the first few short angry raps that soon softened as though in mute apology for their harshness. Alison's voice called through the door, an oddly neutral quality to it, each word measured and weighed meticulously. "Paige, are you there?"

Pausing from her task of setting up a colour coding system for her pens, Paige raised her head, eyes to the door. She pondered remaining silent, letting Alison pass by, but couldn't manage it. Paige had to try out her voice two times before she finally pushed it into response with a slight crack.

"Come in."

Opening the door Alison stuck her head in without any preliminaries, taking a careful look around the room to make sure that Paige was alone, before stepping inside, closing the door firmly behind herself. She walked up to the young girl, her expression still as neutral as before, and finally reached over - leaning in and hugging Paige for all she was worth.

There was a brief moment where Paige's smile was still pulled over her features and she tried to duck away. But she wasn't up for the charade tonight, her chest hurt too much and something in her was breaking. So instead Paige took a deep breath that rattled her lungs and wrapped her arms around Alison's waist, burying her face into her shoulder. It would be just this once and Lee wouldn't tell.