Dorms - Sneaking Home

[Nailah]

"Right, yeah, 'course we will..." she mumbles, on the verge of lots of bottled up tears by now. Don't cry! She'll feel even worse if you cry!

[Samantha McManus]

Even though she wasn't trying to read Nailah's thoughts, the emotion was hard not to pick up on.

Spontaneously, she tried to reach out and pull the sphinx into a hug.

[Nailah]

Nailah's lip quivers. Part of her just really wants to give in but somehow she knows it's only going to hurt more in the end and she almost unconsciously takes a small step backwards.

"Don't... please... not now...

[Samantha McManus]

"Sorry. I just..."

"...it felt like you needed one."

She sighed and took a step back towards her room.

[Rebecca Valentine]

Becca forced herself to be patient, and gave Sam a gentle push toward her room. "Bed. Sleep. Morning. Clean your bloody ears out while you're at it, I think I already said that." The corners of her lips quirked up a bit to take the edge off the words.

[Samantha McManus]

She nodded, and stepped back into her room, closing the door.

[Rebecca Valentine]

Becca sighed, not really liking feeling like she was bossing Sam around... but sometimes something had to be done.

She waited a second to make sure that she wasn't coming back out, then turned back to Nailah. "She was right about one thing, though," she added, before stepping forward and hugging the taller girl.

[Nailah]

She really was. And it doesn't take a long time of leaning into Becca before she quietly begins to sob. She's not even sure about what. This whole days is just bursting out of her.

[Rebecca Valentine]

Conscious of the sound of it and really not wanting Sam to feel bad about anything either, Becca gently pushed her a little more into her room so she could quietly push the door closed with her foot. "I know... it's never easy. It'll be okay, though..." she whispered, trying to comfort her

[Nailah]

"How'sit gonna be okay... She feels terrible when it's my fault... Just looking weird wasn't bad enough, I had to be extra different so even my friend runs away when I try to tell her!" she sobs.

[Rebecca Valentine]

"Because it will be okay," she whispered, pulling her over to sit on the bed so that they were more on the same level, still hugging and comforting her. "And it's not your fault either. She doesn't like seeing you hurt because she cares, that's all. It won't take long before everyone starts to get over it, then everything will be fine."

[Nailah]

"But it is my fault... If I just would have kept my mouth shut then everything would be fine. Instead I had to scare the hell out of her. And myself. You're the only one who... I dunno... has it all together."

[Rebecca Valentine]

Becca laughed at that, she couldn't help it. "Me? Together? Please, I can't even keep myself visible much around anyone other than you two," she admitted. "You took a chance. It didn't work this time. It doesn't mean you shouldn't have done it. It'll be okay. we're kids... we're not supposed to know what we're doing yet, right?"

[Nailah]

"You have this more together than me, that's for sure..." she sniffs. "And I guess you weren't paying attention earlier. You're more confident than you think when things, like, matter."

[Rebecca Valentine]

"In here I am," Becca admitted. "With you two, maybe. When it's one of you at stake... sure." She gave the other girl a squeeze. "When you're invisible all the time, it doesn't give you much to do but sit and think. And watch people living."

[Nailah]

"Doesn't mean it's not there, right?" she whispers, leaning back to look at Becca. "You just... don't show it for anything. Just... things that are important to you..."

And then she's not quite sure what she's doing, but this day had been exhausting and confusing and maybe it's just a mixture of that, loneliness and being held by Becca... Regardless of why, she slowly leans forward and kisses the other girl. She hesitates a bit and the kiss is a little awkward but right now she doesn't care.

[Rebecca Valentine]

Becca shuddered a little as things became just that much more intimate. She'd always- always, kept walls up for everyone, even Sam, and now Nailah. The isolation hurt... but she'd found that having it shoved back on her after opening up hurt even more. Today she'd forced some cracks in that wall, and it'd scared her some, but she'd kept from thinking about it by worrying about Sam and Nailah. Now, though...

She blinked her eyes shut, trying to drown the swell of emotions inside her before it overwhelmed her, as she kissed her back, maybe a little less awkwardly than Nailah, but only a very little.

[Nailah]

After a while Nailah pulls back, almost seeming a little scared of what just happened. And it's not that she hadn't noticed Becca returning the kiss, it would have been hard not to, but this whole thing is still freaking her out a little. And wasn't she upset about Sam? Everything was making very little sense to her right now.

"S-sorry... I... that... you..."

[Rebecca Valentine]

"Shhh," Becca whispered, pressing a finger to Nailah's lips. "No apologies. No worrying about anything in the morning. In the morning we talk, and we don't worry about any of this, whatever we decide we decide." She leaned in and kissed Nailah, just next to her mouth, obviously offering her an out. "You want to stop, we stop, you want me to go, I go. But right now you're lonely and I'm lonely. Nothing wrong with changing that that I can see. Even for just a little while."

[Nailah]

She's still scared she's going to make an even bigger mess out of all this and had she been thinking clearly she probably wouldn't have believed Becca that this was perfectly fine and detached from everything. But right now she just wants to sink into this warm, fuzzy feeling and forget about consequences or anything else. "Nothing wrong with that..." she repeats and turns her head a little to return Becca's careful kiss, closing her eyes as she slowly lies down, pulling the other girl with her.

[Rebecca Valentine]

Becca nodded, kissing her back, letting herself be pulled down to the bed. She didn't know what she was going to do, she just knew that being this close to someone, after all the distance she kept from everyone, was completely intoxicating, and she wasn't going to do anything to change it before morning, at the very least.

[Nailah]

And Nailah wasn't about to change that. She is perfectly happy just lieing there next to Becca with her arms wrapped around the girl until sleep eventually catches up to her.