Sleepover Fun Who: Day and Chrissy Where: Chrissy's house When: Evening
After the movie with Tilly, Day still had time to swing by the house and get a change of clothes and something decent to sleep in-- all folded nearly before he put them into his backpack, so they wouldn't get as wrinkled as if he wasn't careful-- and then run to the video rental shop to grab a few random movies-- a couple old favorites, a couple random new releases he hadn't seen yet. Then, the night was going to be all Chrissy's. Hopefully-- hopefully, hopefully, hopefully-- there would be no more drama. Dealing with Tilly had been trying enough....
He pulled up at her house and hopped out with his backpack hanging from one hand and locking his car over his shoulder with the other. Climbing up to the porch, he knocked lightly.
Chrissy was still in a pair of pajamas. She'd been in a pair all last night and since she got home from the doctor that morning, she'd gotten another pair and lounged about the house in them all day. It was probably strange to see her not completely put together. Pajama shorts and a pj tank top, bright pink and happy looking even though Chrissy herself wasn't feeling exactly happy. The sound of the door startled her at first and she slowly made her way to it. Looking through the peephole, she breathed a sigh of relief and pulled the door open for him.
"Hey, Day." she said, giving him a little smile and pulling the door open to let him in. At least she wouldn't be alone tonight.
"Hey, Chrissy," Day answered, looking her up an down in amusement. "Don't you look cute. Did you get all fancied up just for me?" He was teasing, of course, because while she did look quite cute, they were still obviously pajamas.
Chrissy looked down at herself and flushed a little, pulling the door open to let Day inside. "Sorry. I've been in pajamas all day today and yesterday since I got home. I only put on something to head to the doctor." she explained. "Next time I promise to be uber cute for you." she assured him.
"You are uber-cute just like you are," he told her firmly, and set down his backpack so he could hug her, hiding his frown against her hair. She'd been to the doctor? And hadn't left the house all day, in this wonderful weather? Something was definitely wrong-- that was not like Chrissy Chapman. When he let her go again, after a tight hug, his expression was searching. "What happened?" he asked.
Chrissy furrowed her brow and shut the door behind Day, shrugging a little. "I'm not completely sure." she admitted. "I went to the grocery store yesterday because Mom told me there wasn't much food in the house and when I got out to my car again, I was going to get inside the car and then some guy... some guy grabbed me." she explained.
"Grabbed you?" Day asked with alarm, taking her around the shoulders and steering the to the couch to sit down. The fact that she'd gone to the doctor and hadn't left the house otherwise sent his imagination down a path that was going to make him very angry in a minute here. "Did he hurt you?" he demanded.
Chrissy let him lead her to the couch where she sat down and showed him her arm. She'd wrapped it again with a new bandage and a little cotton ball. "He took my blood." she said, obviously still just a little confused about the whole thing. "I fainted."
It looked like she'd donated blood, just the little cotton ball and tape. Day stared at it, then up at her. "I have no idea why someone would do that," he admitted. His knowledge of hunters was very minimal, limited mostly to the kind who hated vampires and weres and such, and his understanding of blood type effects was even less. "Are you okay? That's all he did, take blood?" He sounded pretty confused, himself.
She nodded. "Just took blood." she told him. "I fainted so I think that's all at least. He put me back in my car, but it was raining and I was soaking wet and when I woke up I felt a little lightheaded. The doctor said that I just needed to eat something but I didn't want to tell him that some guy stole blood from me." Chrissy pointed out. "So I lied and said that I donated."
"That is really weird," Day said, sitting back and looking confused, still. He hated not understanding something like that-- especially not when it concerned himself or a close friend. "Are you feeling okay today? Better?" He felt her fingers-- they weren't cold, or anything. "Did you eat something?"
"I'm better today." she nodded. "I was lightheaded this morning. I guess I'm just more freaked out than anything really. I was just... scared." she admitted. "I mean... what if he comes back?" Chrissy asked. "And yes I ate something." she sighed. "You're as bad as the doctor. His prescription was stuff my face with a hamburger and fries." She hadn't eaten much of course, but something at least.
Putting an arm reassuringly around her shoulders again-- as if weakling little Day could do anything to a guy coming after blood, but the sentiment was there-- he said, "Well, I'm sure he didn't say a hamburger and fries." He understood Chrissy's dieting relatively well-- he had to watch what he ate, too, after all-- though he tended to think she took it a bit too far. "Come on, I bet you have something tasty in the house for me being here." He hopped up again, and offered her a hand up gallantly. "We'll make sure no weirdos with needles come in tonight, that's for sure!"
Chrissy's mother had gone shopping that morning thankfully, so there was food in the house. Plenty for herself and Day and the whole senior class if they decided to stop by. Her mother didn't like to shop, so she overdid it a little whenever she got around to it. She got up and followed him into the kitchen, already knowing she'd have to put on a show tonight. She'd be paying for the overeating later, she was certain.
"Why would someone want to take blood from you?" Day wondered aloud, already poking his head into the fridge. The subject bothered him, on multiple levels, and it would until he at least figured it out a little. Well, there was blood involved, so it would always bother him some, but still.
"The guy that found me in my car said something about blood hunters." she sighed, setting herself down at the kitchen table. "I don't remember exactly. Everything is just a little foggy, honestly." Chrissy admitted.
Day poked his head out from the fridge to give her a horrified look. "Blood hunters? Whatever would someone hunt blood for?" That was just disgusting. And creepy. And disgusting.
"I guess some people want 'special' blood...?" Chrissy shrugged, shaking her head and raking her fingers through the mess of curls on her head. "I don't know. I just wish he would have taken someone else's blood and not mine."
That was a tad less disgusting and a tad more disturbing. Day frowned at her over the open fridge door. "Like vampires," he said, remembering what Nastasiya had said about his blood. Fae blood helped vampires resist the drain of sunlight. "Because you're an elemental?"
"I guess." she shrugged. "I don't see what fire elemental blood could do for anyone." Chrissy muttered. "Maybe I need to look it up or something. There's got to be some sort of reason that he wanted it. I mean... he didn't kill me, obviously. So he just wanted my blood. I just don't get why."
"I don't know," Day fretted, finally giving up on the fridge for the moment and shutting it. "I mean... fae blood makes vampires resist sunlight better. Nastasiya told me that. Maybe fire elementals make them... resist... fire?" It was a total stab in the dark. Were vampires even in danger from fire?
"Maybe." she shrugged. "I don't even want to think about it right now." Chrissy mumbled. "It just confuses me and makes my head hurt. I've been trying to forget about it since it happened."
"Which is totally why you're hiding at home in your PJs on a beautiful summer day," Day said shrewdly. "Instead of out having fun or something."
"I just didn't feel up to leaving." Chrissy muttered. "Can you blame me?"
"No," Day said more gently, dropping the confrontational tone. "I just don't think you're doing a very good job forgetting about it." He opened the fridge again-- this time the freezer portion. Good, there was ice cream. "When was the last time you ate?" he asked.
"Lunch." she shrugged. He probably wouldn't consider what she'd had a 'lunch' but he didn't have to have the list, now did he? And besides, that ice cream that he was pulling out of the freezer looked damn good to her. Her stomach made a very unattractive and unladylike noise and Chrissy flushed. "Guess I could eat again."
"Apparently you can," Day agreed, one brow up teasingly. "Okay, if you're that hungry you're getting something real before the ice cream." He hunted for something quick and got out a carton of cottage cheese and a pair of bananas. Those always sounded good together for some reason.
Hey, at least he wasn't insisting she eat something like pasta or meat, right? He offered her one of the bananas and a fork to share the cottage cheese with. "For the lady."
Chrissy smiled at him and took the fork and the banana. At least it wasn't a huge meal. He could have forced her into eating something a whole lot worse. Maybe she wouldn't gain ten pounds from this. Either way, she was slow with eating the banana. "Thanks." she said, folding her legs beneath her on the chair.
Sitting down to join her, he unpeeled his own and opened the cottage cheese. "You're very welcome. So are we still straightening your hair while I'm here?"
"Yeah, sure." she smiled. Maybe a bit of hair care and some conversation would make her feel better. "That'll help me take my mind off of everything. Besides, like I'd refuse to let someone help me out with hair straightening." Chrissy grinned.
"I thought not," Day grinned, right back. "That'll be fun. I've never straightened anyone's hair before." His own was already straight, so he never had to worry about it.
"It's not so hard." Chrissy assured him, finishing off her banana and taking a bite of the cottage cheese he'd gotten out. "You think my hair is long now, you should see it after it's finished."
"And I believe I will," Day said with a chuckle. "Hair-straightening first, or movies and ice cream first?" He finished up his own banana with relish. That was really quite good, actually. And a definite good prelude to ice cream.
"God, that's such a hard decision." Chrissy said, lightly tapping her chin. "Let's get the hair straightening out of the way first then." she suggested. "Then we have all the rest of the night to watch movies and pig out."
"You? Pig out? I'll believe that when I see it," Day laughed. "All right. Just give me a few more minutes with the cottage cheese, and we'll be good to go." He hadn't had dinner, and lunch had been a while away.
Eating that banana and more than a forkful of cottage cheese was pigging out in Chrissy's mind, but she didn't say that out loud. Chrissy took one last bite from the cottage cheese and slid the container across to Day, getting up to toss her banana peel into the garbage.
After handing his own off to Chrissy to trash, too, Day had a few more bites himself, then picked it up to take it back to the fridge-- sneaking another couple bites on the way. "Okay! Lead the way, beautiful."
Day was good for Chrissy's ego, of that she was certain. Calling her beautiful and just being a decent guy. One of the big reasons she liked him so much. She gave a smile and reached out to take his hand, leading him up the stairs and into her bedroom. She pulled out her desk chair so he could sit down, then made herself busy with finding her straightener. "So what'd you do all day?" she asked him.
He sat, straddling it and watching her. "I spent until, like, two at that movie thing. That was rather horrible, actually. We did the same scene sixteen times. Then I got a number for a college-aged air elemental who seems promising, and had a fight with Tilly." He tried to say it nonchalantly, but it came out a little whiny. Oops.
"Ooh, college girl." Chrissy grinned, finally grabbing hold of her straightener and plugging it in on her desk to let it warm up. She then set about getting her combs and brushes and little clips to keep the extra hair he wasn't working with out of the way. "Go Day getting college hotties already." she teased. "What'd you and Tilly fight about though?" she asked. Clearly he didn't seem too happy about it.
Watching in mild fascination-- he'd never known just what this kind of thing entailed, after all-- Day shrugged off the "college hotties". He hadn't thought of Hannah as someone to date, just someone to get him into the college social scene, and maybe a friend, since they were both Air. "Her boyfriend," he sighed, focusing on the Tilly question.
Chrissy arched a brow as she set the clips and combs out on the desk for him. Settling at Day's feet, she looked up at him over her shoulder. "What about her boyfriend?" she asked.
"Just that I'm not deliriously happy for her, despite the fact that she claims to be in love after only a week," Day snorted lightly. Sure, he was putting a little of his own spin on it-- he didn't like the boy, though part of him he knew he had no real reason to; he was admittedly jealous of her liking someone more than she liked him; and he was hurt that she'd gone on to do something he didn't want to and didn't think he was capable of, and left him alone.
"She loves him?" Chrissy asked, brows furrowing just a little bit. "Really? After a week? Well that's just... super fast. I mean... teenage relationships are fast anyway, but a week? Really? A month would be less startling than that. Damn."
"See, that's what I thought!" Day said. "And she, like, takes offense when I question that. I know I have issues with the guy in general, but I was polite and friendly when I met him.... But honestly, he refuses to get a job because it wouldn't be 'something he likes doing', and he lives in his van." He sounded quite unhappy with the whole situation. After all, he was, especially since Tilly and Christian and everyone, it seemed, was unsympathetic with his side of the story. Like he was being unreasonable.
"He lives in his van?" Chrissy questioned, scrunching up her nose. "God, that's just tacky. What does he possibly have to offer her if he's living in a van and refusing to get a job?" Chrissy didn't understand that and she wasn't about to pretend she did either. "That's... just stupid."
If Day was a praying sort, he'd be thanking God right now for someone actually seeing his point of view. "I know. And if I say so, people jump on me like I'm some kind of monster for thinking so. Even Chris!"
"Your brother thinks that it's okay for her to be head over heels for someone that obviously doesn't care enough about himself to have a home, let alone enough about her to get a job?" Chrissy sighed and shook her head. "Maybe you should talk to him. Maybe he just doesn't want to pick sides or something. I don't know. It all sounds crazy to me."
"I already did talk to him," Day admitted unhappily. "It ended with both of us storming off to our rooms." Or thereabouts. Chris had stormed off to his room, and Day had stormed off to the kitchen. Storming off to their rooms at the same time would have resulted in walking together, which was of course unacceptable. "He and Tilly are definitely on one side about this whole thing." That still hurt, that Christian couldn't even try to understand how Day felt.
Chrissy frowned and lifted a hand to lightly pat his thigh. "Don't worry about it sweetheart." she told him. "Think about something else. It's not your fault she's insane. Maybe Christian has too much love in his system or something."
"Thanks, Chrissy," Day said with a little chuckle. "That's probably what it is...." Not that it made him feel a whole lot better-- his brother and the water elemental. Ah, well. "So how does one do this hair-straightening thing?"
"Okay..." Chrissy said, turning around a little and grabbing one of the clips to put her hair up. She separated out a small portion near the nape of her neck and then put the rest up and out of the way. Pulling that section over her shoulder and taking the straightener, she showed him the way to straighten out the strands. It was a little difficult for her to do herself, obviously with the length of her hair, but she managed a pretty good demonstration.
As soon as he thought he understood the gist of it, Day took over, gently taking the straightener from her hand. "At least you have a benefit with using straighteners and curling irons," he commented idly as he ran the hot clamp slowly down another strand of hair. "You will never burn yourself."
"That's true." Chrissy smiled. "I can imagine with all this hair that I'd end up being all burnt up by now if I wasn't me." She could practically see the burn marks she'd probably have all over her neck from getting too close to the straightener.
"It would certainly not be something you would do often." Day finished with that lock and started on another, careful not to pull too hard or suddenly. "Have you been practicing at all?" he asked curiously. He had elemental practice with Hayden tomorrow-- not to mention lunch with that Christopher fellow-- and while he didn't really practice much with Chrissy, he was still curious about her progress.
"I always practice." she told him. She would have nodded, but she didn't want to mess up his actions. "I have a lot of free time when mom and dad are at work, so I spend a lot of it just practicing." Chrissy explained. "Not going to get better if I don't practice, right?"
"Oh good," Day said with a grin. "What're you doing with it these days? Can you create a full flame yet?" Last he'd heard, she was just starting to make sparks-- she'd certainly told him of that, it was a milestone.
"No." Chrissy pouted. "But, if I concentrate really hard, sparks come a little easier." she grinned. "So flame shouldn't be too far behind that. I guess I just need to spend more time practicing." she shrugged.
"You'll get there." Day started on another strand. "Just like you'll get to hearing Fire eventually." He was really, really hoping he got there soon. That was what he was aiming for.
Chrissy smiled. "Yeah. Eventually. I'm not too worried about it. I mean, I'm pretty young for making sparks right. I'm right on track at least. Some people don't ever even get that far." She wasn't too hard on herself when it came to being all the way up to making fire. Like Day said, she'd get there eventually. "What about you? How far are you with everything?"
"Still not as good as Lucia," Day sighed. At least Chrissy wasn't impatient like Hayden was-- unusual in a fire elemental, but hey, he wasn't complaining. "But I don't know if I will ever have that kind of fine control. But small winds take very little effort to call and control, as long as I'm not trying to levitate or manipulate something with it. I'm getting quite good at sounds, though," he added smugly. "In a crowd, I can pick out a single voice."
Chrissy grinned at that. She was a little impatient with trying to get control of making a flame, but she supposed if she got angry with the element she may not get to have any control of it at all. Be aggravated and lose control, or deal. Dealing was easier. For now at least. There was no telling what might happen later on. "That's pretty awesome." she grinned. "Wish I could do that."
"You can do all sorts of other neat things, though," Day pointed out. "You can cheer people up and give them energy. Or you'll be able to." Nothing he could do would affect people, unless you just wanted to buffet them around.
"True." Chrissy nodded. "I suppose I should be happy with what I've been given, right? Wouldn't want to piss off fire for being too greedy and wanting other things." She shrugged a little. "I guess really it doesn't matter, I like what I've got. For the most part. It's hard to not be completely perfect at it, I'll admit though."
"I know," Day agreed mock-mournfully. "I want to be able to do it all now...." Wouldn't it be awesome to fly? Or talk to Air as if it were a person? Or summon lightning? God, he wished. "I hate being patient sometimes."
"I know the feeling. Patience didn't really get put into me when I was being made." Chrissy muttered. "But I guess there aren't a lot of fire elementals that are patient though."
"Nor air elementals," Day grinned, working on another strand now, the last one until he undid the clips in her hair. "So we can be impatient together while the water and earth elementals shake their heads at us."
"Guess it's safe to assume that Christian is super content with slow and easy learning?" Chrissy questioned. "Being water and all. He's probably content with waiting years and years. Like water molding the Grand Canyon or something."
"If he isn't, he certainly isn't telling me about it," Day huffed. "He tends to hide his practicing from me, and won't practice with me... he says it isn't important and doesn't matter to him. I don't understand that." To Day, magic was the most important thing in the world.
Chrissy shrugged a little. "Christian always hides everything he does. Hell, he pretty much hides at school." she pointed out. "Maybe he's afraid he's doing it wrong or something." She wanted to say that Christian was a total dork and he probably was doing it wrong, but she knew how Day felt about his brother and she doubted that would go over well. "Have you ever tried to get him to practice with you?"
"I bring it up now and then," Day shrugged, handing her the straightener to hold so he could start taking some clips out. "He rebuffs me every time, so it does tend to get less and less frequent."
Chrissy held onto the straightener and shrugged. "I guess that would suck." she nodded. "I don't know, if he doesn't want the help with his practicing, you can't really force it on him. I just don't know why he wouldn't really. I mean, I wanted to get better at mine... I figured most people did. He practices by himself though?"
"As far as I know," Day shrugged helplessly, himself, and reached around to take the straightener back once he finished undoing more of her hair to work with. "He tries to pretend he doesn't, though I know he does now and then, at least." Yes, Day spied on his brother sometimes. So what?
Chrissy shrugged a little as she let go of the straightener. "Maybe he'll hit a growth spurt, get all hot and surprise himself." she chuckled. "Or one of those guys who went from geek to chic and they come onto Maury Povich to tell some guy that beat them up how shitty they were to them and now they're all awesome with the perfect life." She could really picture Christian blooming. Hey, he might grow a foot or so and totally transform. Not likely, but anything was possible.
"Wouldn't that be something." Trying to imagine Christian being confident was like trying to imagine a fish with feathers. He could do it, of course, but it looked very alien. "I'll just be happy if he doesn't wind up bullied anymore. Hey... you'll still be there next year. Do you think I could talk you into keeping an eye on a few people for me? Just to make sure they're leaving him alone?"
"A few people?" Chrissy asked as if that topic was alien in and of itself. "You are aware that I have cheerleading and dance and all this other stuff I have to do next year on top of regular school work. Keeping an eye on Christian would take round the clock care." Chrissy figured Day knew how much Christian got teased. She did, after all. It wasn't hard to figure out. Of course she also hung out with the girlfriends of some of the underclassmen that spent their time teasing Christian. She just figured Day already knew how many people teased him. "Who do you want me to watch?"
Considering how well Christian had hid it, and how the bullies were generally careful not to bully or mention said bullying around him-- his protectiveness of his little brother was nearly legendary around the school, as was his vindictiveness when crossed-- Day was pretty much in the dark. He listed off the four people he knew of. "You don't have to follow Chris around, or anything, just... if you happen to see one of them bothering Chris, let me know."
"I can make their backpacks smolder." Chrissy grinned. "Hey, practice on top of taking care of business. I'll watch. Can't hurt to help him a little. Maybe they'll get the picture by the time I graduate and he'll be okay on his own."
Laughing and moving the straightener aside so he could put his arms around her shoulders, Day said, "You know I love you, right?" Because that? Was totally an awesome idea.
Chrissy smiled and nodded. "Course you do. What would you possibly do without me?"
"I would be desolate and bored and terribly alone in the world," Day quipped at her, leaned over to kiss her cheek from behind, then let her go to go back to her hair.
She smiled a little at that little kiss. It was funny how much closer they were now than they had been. Day was one to count on and Chrissy knew that. He was probably one of the few people that she was actually loyal to, but she kept that to herself. No point in admitting it, right? "I can almost picture one of them running from the building with their mathbook on fire." she smirked. "I bet they'd even get detention for smoking at school."
"And then they'd have to pay for their math books, to boot!" Day chortled. Though now that the Light of May was out, maybe people would start looking for fire elementals at the heart of such pranks... he hadn't quite gone there yet, though, not at the moment.
"And I'm far too sweet and innocent for anyone to suspect me." Chrissy smirked. "Sometimes it pays to be sunshine and light."
Day supposed that was true enough. "Unlike me who has his penchant for mischief." Only not exactly. He managed to be teachers pet more often than not, even if he did like his gossip a little too much. He was just glad he didn't have any psychic teachers.
Psychic teachers, Chrissy was certain, would totally suck. She just hoped that schools wouldn't start recruiting psychics to be teachers. School was nearly unbearable now. "Oh yes, you're so horrible." she chuckled.
"Absolutely awful," Day agreed cheerfully, picking another strand of hair to straighten out. He was, quite honestly, rather fond of Chrissy, right back. Now he just had to hope she stayed single, so he wouldn't have to go through with her what he was going through with Tilly. "I don't know how I get by. I'll be a real terror at the university next fall."
"Just ghastly." she teased. "At least you'll be able to branch out. No one will know just how terrible you are." Chrissy smiled.
"There are people who knew me in high school, I'm afraid," Day chuckled. "They might spread word ahead of me. Danny knows all about how terribly I am." And Danny had already promised him help. And so had Hannah. Things were looking good.
Chrissy shrugged. "Guess you'll just have to clean up your act." she teased. "Otherwise you'll be left with nothing but boredom and you'll have to keep hanging out with lowly high schoolers like me."
"No matter how exciting college life is," Day said simply, "I will still have time for you and my other high school friends." With Day, who never forgot anything, he wasn't about to ever forget his friends and the people who mattered to him.
"Good." Chrissy nodded. "Life would be horribly bland without you."
"And we wouldn't want your life to be bland." Day smiled smugly, glad of the compliments, teasing though they were. "Almost done with your hair. I'm guessing this went a lot faster than doing it by yourself."
"Definitely." Chrissy nodded. "I'd probably be on the first couple of strands still, to be honest."
"I guess you'll just have to invite me over every time you want to straighten your hair, then," Day said loftily, grinning. "Since this is so much more efficient."
"Much more efficient. It shall be our gossiping tradition. You'll come tell me about college life and I'll tell you the goings on of SO high." Chrissy smiled.
"I think you have yourself a deal," Day said with a smile; he had no real qualms sharing college gossip with Chrissy, he doubted she could do much damage with it-- and besides, then she could have a leg up once she graduated next year, if UoM was where she went. "And," he added, pulling the straightener away from her hair, "I think you also have straight hair. Congratulations."
Chrissy smiled at that and got herself up from the floor. "See, told you it's way longer." she chuckled. "Gosh..." she mumbled, pulling her hair over her shoulder to show Day. "Wow, huh?"
"Very wow. How long will it last?" Day asked curiously; he'd seen how long it got, all right, up close and personal as he was straightening it. Heh. "Just until you get it wet next?"
She nodded. "Pretty much." Chrissy said. "Which is why I don't do it that often. A lot of work for a short lasting effect." she explained. "Thank you though."
"You're always welcome, any time you like. I'd make you curl my hair in repayment, buuuuut I think that would probably look stupid." Day reached over to unplug the straightener. "I do believe ice cream and movies await next. Yes?" He shot her a grin.
"Mhm." she smiled. "Ice cream and movies it is. I can get the ice cream if you get a movie picked out and started." Chrissy suggested.
"That sounds like a plan, to me!" Day set the straightener down somewhere where it wouldn't burn anything while it cooled, and stood up, offering her a hand up, too. He grinned more broadly. "As long as you promise not to skimp us on the ice cream."
She smiled and took his hand, pulling herself up and heading towards the door to her bedroom. "Course not." she told him. Even if she probably would on her own bowl. That was just the way things were for Chrissy.