Peter Kimura Whelan (itakunai) wrote in remains_rpg, @ 2016-10-16 18:56:00 |
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10/6/19: 4PM. Olivia took a seat in the front waiting room of the downtown quarantine center, her belongings in a drawstring bag slung over one shoulder. There were a couple of other people waiting to get picked up; she guessed they'd all come in on the same day she had, when shit had gone down at school and a couple of different places. She'd tried to tell everyone -- the center as well as her family -- that she didn't exactly need to get picked up, since the center was within walking distance from her house, but no one seemed to think it was a good idea. Something about 'formal discharge processes,' which sounded gross, and safety being a concern considering what things had been like a month ago in the city. Olivia begrudgingly had to admit that she couldn't disregard that, especially since she was pretty sure that if she ran home -- God, she wanted to run -- Maizie was going to be super pissed. So she sat in the waiting room for what felt like forever, and when Savannah's familiar car pulled up out front she bolted upright. Except some guy on the other side of the room had stood up, too. Maybe he was getting picked up by another car, but the only one that was out front belonged to her people, not his. Olivia turned to scowl at him as they walked through the front doors together, one of the quarantine staff following behind them both. Her eyes had narrowed automatically, but she wasn't sure if it was due to her skepticism or the fact that she hadn't seen this much natural light in a month. "Where are you going?" she asked, but as soon as the words left her mouth she remembered that this was Savannah's friend -- Pete. He'd come over like, twice during the summer when she'd been home, and he frankly seemed like an enormous douche. "Uh," Pete said, pointing over towards Savannah's car. "I'm coming home with you guys." "What?" Olivia stopped walking and put her hands on her hips, effectively standing in his way. "No you're not." "Yeah, I am." He pointed again, this time over her shoulder. "Ask her if you want." Savannah pressed her lips together, trying not to laugh at the scene in front of her. Looking back, she maybe should’ve warned Liv that this was happening. If she hadn’t been trying to work out all the details and get everything ready for Liv to get out of quarantine, she would have taken a moment to think about how she wouldn’t take this well. “Miss Posey?” The nurse said, “I have the discharge papers for Olivia Jensen and Peter Whelan. Please sign for both of them to be released into your custody.” Looking between Liv and Pete, hoping they could not kill each other for at least thirty seconds, she turned to the nurse and accepted the clipboard to sign her name. It took all of two seconds for Maizie to fly like a blonde blur to Liv’s side, doing her best to smother the girl alive (or so Savannah assumed) and with those two preoccupied, Savannah moved over to Pete and leaned in for a hug. “Glad to see you in one piece, honey.” "You, too." Pete wrapped his arms around Savannah, pulling her in for a hug. Unwelcome wagon aside, he felt like he was on cloud nine, standing outside for the first time in a month. He was still himself, regardless of the new scar on his upper forehead and the still-healing bite wound on his left arm. And as long as prevailing medical opinion held steady, he was going to remain himself for as long as he could manage. "Thanks for picking me up," he added as he took a step back. Next to him, the girls seemed distracted enough by each other's presence to not notice. Pete wasn't exactly complaining about the bit of faux-privacy, though. "The house is a ton bigger than that room I was in, but after being alone for so long I'm pretty sure I would've gone crazy if I had to stick it out myself before Nathan got out." And there was no way Nathan was going to not come back; he wasn't considering any other possibility. “Wouldn’t want you bein’ alone either,” Savannah said, her eyes quickly scanning the healing injury on his forehead before meeting his gaze and smiling. Turning her eyes to Olivia and Maizie (who were still tangled up in each other) she gave a shrug and a roll of her eyes before calling out, “Girls. Car. Now. Let’s go home.” 10/6/19: 7:50PM. As cool as it was to have their family (minus Nathan, plus Pete) reunited again, Maizie was secretly a little relieved when she and Liv headed up to their room for the night. She'd shared her girlfriend as long as she could stand, but it had been 10 long, lonely days and so she needed some one-on-one Liv time like crazy. And not even just in a bedroom sports kind of way, though that was certainly part of it. Maizie just really, really wanted to curl up on the bed as close to Liv as possible and revel in the fact that they'd made it again and they were reunited. “C’mere a sec.” Wriggling out of her cut offs -- might as well be comfy after all -- Maizie flopped down onto the bed and then patted the spot next to her. “I just wanna be close to you for a little bit. I'll even be the big spoon.” "Sure thing, babe." Olivia double checked the lock on the door before she took her shirt off, tossing it onto the dresser, and lay down next to Maizie, pulling her girlfriend's arm around her waist. God, it was super nice to be in her own bed -- in their own bed -- surrounded by her stuff, and her girlfriend, and her family and her house. She twisted back to sneak a kiss onto Maizie's cheek, then settled down again with a contented sigh, her head on her pillow. "Joke's on them, since they totally think we're doing it but we're not." Not that she was complaining -- she just thought it was sort of funny (and admittedly a bit weird) how Savannah had totally jumped to conclusions on that. “Not yet,” Maizie corrected, her mouth curving up into a tiny smirk. The hand that was on Liv’s waist stroked along the bare skin there, not with any particular intent behind it but just because she was starving for even the littlest gestures of affection. “Because, I mean, it’s definitely on the list, so she’s not completely wrong.” Maybe she should’ve been embarrassed that Savannah assumed they were sneaking off to have sex, but Maizie couldn’t bring herself to care that much. Not when she was all cozy, curled up next to Liv, and close enough to smell the scent of shampoo from her hair. “God, I’m so glad you're home,” she sighed, then giggled. “Have I mentioned that enough times yet? Are you sick of hearing it?” "Are you kidding? First, you could tell me anything a million times right now and I'd be super stoked about it either way." Olivia shifted so she was on her back -- all the better to look up at Maizie while they talked -- and moved an arm around her shoulder. "Second, no, I love hearing that you missed me, because I missed you too. And today, besides all the waiting, has basically been one of the best days of my entire life." She paused then, a slight frown crossing her features, before adding, "I just wish we hadn't had an interloper around." “Hmm?” Wrapped up in the bliss of being back with Liv and that feeling of contentment that could only come with everything being perfect again, it took a moment for Maizie to connect the word ‘interloper’ with someone. Oh, right. Duh. She meant Pete. “He bothers you?” She turned her head to meet Liv’s eyes, her expression worried. “They used to date before, y’know, my dad and all that. I guess I figured that if Savannah likes Pete then he's probably a good guy.” "Sometimes good people make bad choices about their friends or boyfriends," Olivia said, almost primly, but that look on Maizie's face -- as always -- was enough to diffuse the irritation she felt. At least, a little bit. Besides, at least it wasn't like he lived there. "I guess I just was kind of looking forward to spending time with you guys without someone random. But when he leaves maybe we can do something together. I'd even watch Legally Blonde again." Maizie laughed. “We've got to get some new movies.” But the truth was she'd watch Legally Blonde a million times too, as long as they did it together. “He's only here for a little bit, then I promise we will do stuff with just the three of us. Family stuff.” Hooking her leg across Olivia’s, she lifted herself up off the bed to resettle in a position where she could sit astride Liv’s hips. “Right now I'm thinking about some just the two of us stuff, though.” She wiggled her eyebrows. “What do you say?” "Hmm." For a moment, Olivia had forgotten that Maizie had already taken her shorts off. The realization was a nice surprise and an instant distraction from whatever weirdness she was feeling about Savannah's friend. "We were interrupted earlier before dinner," she said, pushing herself up onto her elbows. She tilted her head upwards to shoot Maizie a smirk. "So you should probably finish welcoming me home." 10/6/19: 10:45PM. After dinner -- after Maizie and Liv disappeared and made it crystal clear what they would be doing for the rest of the evening -- Savannah and Pete watched a movie. It was perfectly innocent and thankfully distracting enough to stop Savannah from thinking too much about the fact that her daughter was getting more than her. After the credits rolled, she turned to Pete and gave him a smile. “Watchin’ movies still feels so novel, doesn’t it?” "I know what you mean." He grinned back at her as he moved his feet down from the coffee table, where he'd had them propped up. Pete had forgotten what a luxury it was to not be confined to just one room, to come and go as he pleased, and that had only been a span of ten days. He couldn't imagine what it was like to have to go through that for even longer. "Thanks again for having me stay with you," he added, running a hand through his hair as he talked. "I think I've had enough time alone for now. You know what I mean?" “Yeah, I can imagine,” Savannah said, sitting forward to stretch after sitting still for so long. Hands stretched above her head, she reached up and somehow a yawn escaped at the same time. Falling back against the back of the couch, she glanced at Pete and said, “You can stay in my room tonight if you want. Y’know, so you don’t have to be alone. Plus, the guest room is next to Maizie and Liv and…” she trailed off, giving a helpless shrug. “I’m thinkin’ they’ll appreciate the privacy.” He couldn't help but laugh, even if it was kind of cringeworthy to think about Savannah's daughter getting it just upstairs -- And was it weird to think about her daughter's girlfriend as her other daughter? Pete wasn't sure. "I don't really mind," he said, intending to simply decline politely, but that kind of made it sound like he was interested in overhearing whatever would be going on next door to his room. "I mean, I don't want to put you out or anything." Besides, things had always been complicated between them, and Pete didn't want to mess anything up so soon after getting his new lease on life. Then again… if they were really working on being friends, though, maybe this was a good first step. "But actually, if you wouldn't mind, it'd be kinda nice." That was true, too, even if it was followed up by him looking back over at her just to make sure she didn't regret the offer. “I wouldn’t offer if I thought you were puttin’ me out, Pete,” Savannah said, giving him a pointed look, before moving to stand. “C’mon then,” she said and began leading them upstairs to her bedroom, with Finn dutifully following behind them. Usually he slept on the bed with her, but tonight his dog bed would just have to do. “You might want to apologize to Finn, though,” she teased, once Pete had retrieved his nighttime stuff and they were in the bedroom with the door closed. "He's probably not used to sharing, huh?" Pete looked around the unfamiliar room, unable to help a chuckle as the dog, clearly defaulting to learned habits, jumped onto the bed and looked at Savannah expectantly. "He can have until I get ready for bed to enjoy that," he said, patting Finn on the head before he gestured to the bathroom. "I'm just gonna…" He mimed brushing his teeth. “Finn’s been my main squeeze for over a year now,” Savannah said, in a joking manner as she scratched behind the dog’s ears. It wasn’t too far from the truth, though. It wasn’t like Savannah really shared her bed with anyone besides the dog, but she was trying not to focus on how weird it would be to have an actual human sleeping next to her. It didn't take very long for him to do his washing up, but it was hard to not think about the fact that he and Savannah hadn't shared a bed in almost a year. Actually, they hadn't ever done it without having sex first, and that wasn't really on the table for tonight. They were working on being better, actual friends, after all, and Pete really didn't want to screw that up when she'd gone out of her way to offer him a place in her home. He felt a bit ridiculous, being so nervous as he left her bathroom in his boxers and a t-shirt, but he smiled at her nonetheless. "Your turn." Similar thoughts ran through Savannah’s head as Pete exited the bathroom and she stood to wash up, wondering if there had ever been a time where they’d spent a night together and just slept. She’d never had to bother with pajamas around Pete before, but when she came back from getting ready for bed she was dressed in shorts and a tank top. “C’mon, Finn, you gotta sleep in the dog bed now,” she said, beckoning the dog over. It took a little coaxing, but he eventually settled down on the cushion on the floor. If dogs could sulk, Savannah would swear that was what Finn was doing. Giving a shake of her head and a laugh, she walked to her side of the bed and settled in, turning to look at Pete. With another laugh, a more nervous one this time, she asked, “Do you wanna just go to sleep then?” Pete tucked the pillow underneath his head, trying to get comfortable. He didn't think it was too far a leap to think that she seemed as unsettled about this as he did, a realization that didn't do much to make him all that tired. "Yeah, we can. Unless you want to talk about anything?" “I dunno. This is weird, right? Maybe if we just talk about how it’s weird then it’ll stop bein’ weird? Maybe?” She didn’t even know why it was weird. Was it because they’d never shared a bed platonically before? Was it because the last time they’d been in a bed together it was her birthday last year where she just invited herself over and then he had pity sex with her? Was it because they were trying to actually be honest-to-God friends after knowing each other for so many years? Probably a combination of all of it. "Yeah. You're right." Pete found himself relaxing already, too, knowing that Savannah was picking up on just how weird he was feeling. At least it wasn't just him. "You'd think after almost ten years, this would be a lot easier, but I guess there's a first time for everything. Unless you're feeling weird about something else than this?" “No, I think that was it. Though now I’m feelin’ old thinkin’ about how long we’ve known each other,” Savannah said, mouth turning up in a smile now. “But you’re right. This is new for us. Do you think…” she paused a moment, debating whether she should even open this can of worms, but then did it anyway. “D’you think if we’d been friends first, we might’ve worked out?” "I don't know." He was silent for a moment, thinking through the hypothetical. He wasn't usually the kind of person to think about what might have been, especially since something like this would've changed everything about their lives now. It was hard to imagine his life as anything else but what it was now. But that wasn't really what she was asking, was it? "I don't think it mattered so much whether we were friends before," Pete said finally. "Maybe if we'd talked about what we were doing and gotten on the same page before we stopped hooking up, things could've turned out better. But I don't know if I was really in the right place for being in a real relationship back then. Maybe we could've dated for real, but who knows if that would've gotten us to the point where we could've actually done it successfully." He paused, hoping she wasn't offended by any of that, before adding, "Even though some things have sucked, I think we were supposed to get here." Savannah nodded at Pete’s words, understanding where he was coming from. Most days she landed at the same place, thinking that if they’d just talked, things would have been better for them. She also knew that she hadn’t been in the place where she was ready to get serious with someone. She’d been too focused on college and the sex was a much needed stress relief. Actual relationships were real work. “Yeah, I think you’re right,” Savannah said, moving to lay on her side so she could face him, a hand tucking under her head. “But I… you know I’m sorry for how things happened, don’t you? I didn’t ever mean to hurt you or be so selfish. And I’m glad we could be friends despite all that. Says a lot about you as a person,” she smiled. “I’ve always known there was good in you, Pete.” He returned the smile readily, though his had more of an embarrassed tinge to it than hers. "I know. We both were kinda…" Pete trailed off for a moment, unsure if he had a better way to phrase it besides 'dumbass kids,' before figuring she knew exactly what he meant. "But thanks, Savannah," he said, looking back at her as he tucked one hand under his head. "That means a lot." Pete had done a lot of thinking over the last ten days, trying to figure out what he was going to do with his life if he made it through the other side, and she'd been a big part of helping him figure out all of that heavy stuff. He didn't think he would've been able to do it without her. With a big of a laugh and smile, she nodded. “Yeah, we were pretty stupid back then. But I’d like to think we’re a bit smarter now. At least we know what this is now so that’s a good start.” Weird as it was, they were just two friends sleeping in a bed together. "Yeah, it's nice for us to be on the same page for once," he agreed, unable to resist the subtle dig at her. Savannah rolled her eyes at Pete, not missing the jab at her, but followed it up with a smile. It wasn’t like he was wrong, after all. He grinned, shifting slightly as he sought to get more comfortable. It was easier to relax now, though. Talking things through really was a better strategy than ignoring it. He fought off another swell of gratitude that she'd stuck around him for so long, then added, "We're definitely smarter now." Rolling onto her back, she let out a relaxed sigh. “Yeah, well, don’t let it go to your head,” she teased, a yawn catching her towards the end. “Think I’m gonna try and sleep now. G’night, Pete.” 10/7/19: 7:00AM. By the time Olivia came home from her run -- she'd woken up extra early for it too, so ready and excited for her first in a month she hadn't been able to even wait for her alarm to go off -- the front room smelled like bacon and sausage and maple syrup. She kicked her shoes off and pulled her sweaty shirt up and over her head, bounding down the hallway and around the corner to see what Savannah was making, before she stopped in her tracks once she saw that it wasn't Savannah cooking at all. Really, this shouldn't have been a surprise; she knew he was staying over, and he wasn't leaving until the next day. Olivia had habits and routines and she hadn't planned for this guy to ruin all of them. It was totally unfair. Maizie's voice echoed in her head then, annoyingly: if Savannah likes Pete then he's probably a good guy. Was he? Olivia wasn't sure. But for Savannah's sake, and the sake of getting some of that breakfast that was plated on the kitchen counter, she could at least make an effort. Olivia shrugged her shirt back on, frowning as he turned around from the stove, and asked: "There's coffee, right?" "Yeah," Pete answered, cocking a hat up on his head before he turned to hand her a mug. "Right over there." She stepped forward, intending to take the mug, then stopped in her tracks. "That's -- you took my hat!" A confused look crossed his face as he reached up to touch it again. "Savannah said I could wear it when we took the dog out this morning." And then he grinned, unable to resist needling the girl in front of him. "I'm just borrowing it. Chill." “Oh, good. Liv you’re back. Go wake Maizie up and then we can have breakfast. That Pete so kindly made for us,” Savannah said as she stepped into the kitchen, giving Olivia a very pointed look. It was a good thing she’d showed up when she had, because Savannah had an inkling that Liv was getting ready to throw down. And while it was true that she’d said Pete could wear the hat this morning since he didn’t have any sunglasses, she hadn’t meant for him to keep wearing it or tease Liv about it. Those two could be so difficult sometimes. “Smells good in here, by the way,” Savannah smiled, moving to grab a mug so she could pour herself some coffee. “Omg, you're not kidding. I can't wait to dive in.” Already awakened by the delicious scent of bacon, Maizie came into the kitchen only a few steps behind Savannah. The sight of Pete at the stove -- in a hat that looked an awful lot like Liv’s -- might as well have been the norm, given her complete non-reaction to seeing him there. Rather than make a beeline for the food or the coffee, she detoured to give her sweaty girlfriend a kiss good morning. “Have a nice run?” she asked, knowing how much Liv had been looking forward to getting out there and shaking off some of the dust from spending the last 10 days cooped up inside. "It was kind of sucky," Olivia replied, though the way she was glaring holes into the back of Pete's head made it unclear if she was talking about the run or their breakfast chef. She huffed out a sigh as she dragged her attention back to Maizie, though her girlfriend's cheery presence was at least enough to get her to stop from picking a fight about it. And if she did, she was sure Savannah wouldn't let her have any breakfast. Ugh. Another sigh, then: "Ten days is just a lot to not do like, anything. But I'll get back into it." Olivia pursed her lips as she gathered every bit of self control she had to stop from totally whining. "It'll be okay. But yeah, I should go shower and then we can eat." She glanced over at Savannah, hoping that they'd be okay to wait for her. It would be totally sucky if they didn't. Savannah gave a nod, silently confirming that they would wait for her to get cleaned up, but also shooed her out of the kitchen with her hands. “Hurry up, though. My grumblin’ stomach is dependin’ on you,” she teased. As Liv made her way upstairs to shower, Savannah took in the sight of the people she cared about all gathered in her kitchen (plus Liv upstairs), a content smile forming on her face. Soon enough they’d be onto the hustle and bustle of the day, dropping kids off at school and heading into work, but for now she just glad that everyone was home safe and sound. |