Who: Kal Sharma and Lex Yaxley Savage What: Kal stumbles across Lex after her talk with Jason When: Monday, 5 March before Montrose practice Where: Showers, Montrose club rooms Warnings: Feelings
Kal arrived at the pitch a little bit before practice was supposed to start, though not quite as early as some of the others. She had already warmed up before leaving home, though, so she wasn't too concerned as she strolled into the club rooms to stow her things in her locker. The place had cleared out already, except that she could hear the shower running. A little odd, for this time of the morning, but not unheard of. She poked her head in to see who was going to be last out onto the pitch and was surprised to see Lex standing, unmoving, her forehead against the wall as the water ran over her.
"Lex?" she said tentatively, taking a step into the showers. "Everything okay?" It seemed like a dumb question to ask, given the other's posture, but what else could she say?
The voice jolted Lex out of thoughts and she started, turning to see who was there. "Hey Kal…" she said quietly, hand scrubbing over her face, trying to hide the tears. She had no idea how long she'd been in the showers, lost in her thoughts, trying to make sense of everything. "Did Coach send you?"
"No, no one sent me," Kal said, shaking her head. She grabbed a towel from the rack before continuing in. She was trying not to frown, but the expression on Lex's face made it difficult. "I just heard the shower running when I came in to put my bag away." She held out the towel. "Can I do anything?"
Lex took the towel, wiping it over her face and damp hair. The shower hadn't helped as much as she wanted, but the options were either suck it up and go to practice or come up with some excuse and head home. She didn't think that would go over too well with Coach. Or Jason. Time to suck it up.
"I'm fine," she lied, turning 'round to shut off the water before starting to dry off, shivering. Had the water been cold?
Kal's expression fell into the frown she'd been avoiding as Lex turned away from her. She bit her lip. She didn't normally like to press when people didn't want to talk, but she hated to think that Lex might be upset about something without anyone around to offer support. She put a hand on Lex's shoulder. "You don't have to talk to me, but, well, just know that you can."
Lex bit her lip, trembling slightly before shaking her head. "Cheers… I appreciate it… it's... " Lex ran a hand through her hair and headed towards the lockers where she'd left her clothes in a pile, sinking down onto the bench. "It's just family stuff.."
Kal couldn't tell from Lex's answer whether it was a 'no' or a 'yes' for wanting to talk, since her gestures and her words seemed to contradict one another. Still, she followed and sat down on the bench next to Lex, just far enough away that their shoulders didn't quite touch. "Is everybody okay? I can let Coach know if you need to go."
"Everyone's fine.. It's not.." Lex pressed her hands to her face. "It's fine."
"I just need to get out there and smack some bludgers around. I'll be fine."
By this time, concern had outweighed any hesitation on Kal's part, and she put an arm around Lex and gave her a squeeze. "I'll smack Bludgers with you all day and all night if it helps."
Lex smiled weakly at Kal. "I could almost go for one of Coach's 24 hour practice sessions," she said. She wasn't much for talking - or dealing - with feelings and had always found bludgers to be a much more effective coping mechanism. "I think I'm still required to have medical staff on site if I want to do extra practice, and I don't want to ask Florrie when her birthday's coming up. Any chance your boyfriend wants to watch us smack bludgers around?"
"Want is a strong word," Kal said with a light laugh. "But he'd probably do it, if I asked. And if he's not working." And, truth be told, she was always looking for a good excuse to have him around.
"Yeah? Think you can persuade him?" Lex asked hopefully. "I can have Micah stay to keep him company."
"I'll send him an owl to find out," Kal said, giving Lex one more squeeze before standing. She could probably get Dani to send the short message for her. "And even if he can't, we could always go for a good, hard fly instead?"
Lex nodded, taking a deep breath and giving Kal a smile. "Sounds like a plan. Thanks… I.. tell coach I'll be right out there? I just need to get dressed."
"No problem. I'll pop down to send my owl, and then I'm heading out. Take your time." With one last smile, Kal turned and headed down the hallway to compose her request to Augustus.