After leaving Rusty and Jim, Mazie had meant to stop by her room but hadn't. Whatever lame reason she had to stop by her room wasn't important anymore, not when there was someone else she wanted to see more. She trudged right to Autumn's room, knowing she looked a mess, knowing she was exhausted and still wearing clothes from a day before and knowing Autumn would probably see that she'd forgotten to shower in the midst of all this, but right now she just needed to be there.
It hadn't occurred to her that maybe Autumn wouldn't be in her room so when she knocked and came to that realization a second after, she bit her lip as she waited to see if she was there.
Autumn did happen to be in, listening to some music. There was a pretty heavy cheese factor happening when she opened up the door and some Lionel Richie was playing. She smiled when she saw it was Mazie, though it faded nearly immediately. "What's wrong?" she asked, stepping back so Mazie could come in.
The music felt strange, something fun and normally Mazie would like it, but right now it just felt weird. Coming inside, Mazie didn't really go further than just past Autumn enough to get into the room. Then she turned and went in for a hug, closing her eyes once her head was pressed on Autumn's shoulder. "Shitty day…"
Autumn immediately embraced her. "This has to do with the cameras, doesn't it." she said. It didn't take a rocket scientist. "What happened?" she asked, leading Mazie over to the couch.
Taking a deep breath, Mazie followed Autumn over to the couch, really wanting just to curl up there with her and not have to deal with the cameras right now. "Yeah," She said, sitting down on the couch and resting her head against the back of it. "We were working on it, trying to crack some codes, and this morning they just…it glitched. Something's wrong, I'm not sure what exactly and we can't figure out how to make it stop or go back on." Closing her eyes, she shook her head. "I don't like not being able to fix it, I don't like that They have to know that something's up…I just don't like it. Everything was going wrong and all I could think of was how much I just wanted to see you…"
"Well, I'm here, hon." Autumn said, giving Mazie's hand a squeeze. She didn't say 'I told you so'. "I'm sure it'll get fixed. And from there...you can decide what your next move is." She hoped the next move was No Move, but she didn't say that. She was still a huge believer in not trying to bend Mazie to her will.
Looking down at her hand in Autumn's, Mazie sighed. She turned so she could look at Autumn more, just watch her for a minute, the shifted until she was leaning against Autumn instead of the couch. "It wasn't supposed to go down like this…We were supposed to be able to crack it. It just sucks." She really wanted to ask if she could stay here tonight, if she could get to sleep next to Autumn again, but she wasn't sure she should ask that yet. She didn't want to push Autumn, especially when she wasn't pushing Mazie herself.
"I'm sure it wasn't, hon. But I'm sure this isn't the first time you've dealt with things not going perfectly?" she suggested, at least hoping this wasn't Mazie's first failure. "And I'm sure it does suck. But, you can sleep on it, see what happens tomorrow, and come at it fresh then." she said, knowing full well if people spun their wheels on something for a long time and got nowhere it was simply exhausting.
"Definitely not the first time. Won't be the last, but that doesn't really make it suck less." Mazie sighed again and closed her eyes. "I'm so tired…Don't know how long I've been up with them working on this stuff." She looked back up at Autumn after a moment. "What've you been doing?" Just being here was helping but maybe hearing about Autumn's day would help too.
"Take a nap." Autumn invited, motioning to her bed. "Sleep. And I've been listening to some potential fires I need to put out, but it's nothing to worry about. It'll be handled. I promise. Right now, I'm more concerned with your wellbeing than recounting my day." She pressed a kiss to Mazie's temple.
There it was again, that flip-floppy feeling in Mazie's stomach that had her leaning even more into Autumn. "I should have showered…" She said, just a hint of humor in her tone. "But if you want to tell me about the fires, I want to hear about them. If something wrong's going on, maybe I can help…" Not like she was helping right now but maybe it would be easier to do than crack a code, even if a nap sounded pretty awesome.
"Well, I can draw you a bath." Autumn said, getting up to do that. "And it's just...Adam. That boy needs lots of guidance. Unfortunately, I think lately he's started flailing, and you know what happens when people flail? They smack anything in the near vicinity."
Mazie sat up and followed Autumn into the bathroom. "Autumn, hey…You don't have to run me a bath or anything. I didn't come here so you could do stuff for me. I just…wanted to see you. I missed you," She said, but kept quiet while Autumn spoke. She hadn't seen Adam in a while and hearing Autumn talk about him set this pang of guilt in her. "Is he gonna be ok? Is he getting worse?"
"I know." Autumn said with a warm smile. "I just like doing things for you. I want to draw you a bath, and dump in some awesome smelling stuff." She carefully chose some bubblebath to do just that. "He'll be okay, so long as he's willing to listen. We're getting to that part where everything is going to suck for everyone. It's hard to see friends struggle. It's hard to see them struggle, and have to do things that make everyone unhappy, just trusting that it'll get better once it's done."
Mazie leaned against the doorframe to the bathroom, watching Autumn. She could smell the addition to the bath water from here and it definitely smelled better than she did, so she wasn't complaining. "You wanna join me?" Mazie ventured, thinking that it might still be a little soon and she might get a no, but it was worth a shot. She missed a lot of things about Autumn and her caring nature was just one of them.
The rest, the Adam parts, were not making Mazie any happier. She really needed to see Adam, make sure he was as ok as he could be. "I'm gonna see him tomorrow," She decided, thinking it would be for the best. "And if I can help before then, you'll let me know?"
"I really do." Autumn said, standing up to start getting her clothes off. Snuggling seemed like the way to go. Plus, just because they'd had some disagreements didn't mean she wasn't still all about Mazie. "I'll let you know. I'm going to talk to him in the morning, hopefully, so after that he should have a lot to talk about. Or I hope he does, anyhow. Just...be supportive of the therapy. I guess he's been kind of wrecking havoc with his friendships, so...got to put a stop to that."
Yes! Mazie tried to keep the big grin from her face but it didn't work, instead shining through just at the thought of Autumn joining her in the tub."I am supportive of the therapy. I'm for it. I know that you're the best person I've ever talked to so I can only imagine it'd be the same for other people." She started to pull at her own clothes hurriedly, tossing them aside before she went toward the tub and slipped in it as the water kept running.
Autumn couldn't help but smile in return at Mazie's expression. That was a good look on her. "I appreciate your confidence in me." she said with a wink. "Mostly I just know it's going to be hard, but have high hopes for it. The guy isn't a dick, he's just acting like one."
So Adam was acting like a dick? Maybe Mazie needed to have a real Talk with him. She decided she’d check on up, see if he acted that way to her, and if he did she’d call him out, but she wasn’t sure going straight for the jugular would help him. Thoughts subsided, though, as Mazie reached a hand out for Autumn. “C’mon, get in before I pull you in.”
"I might enjoy that." Autumn said, though she got in either way, immediately going to snuggle up with Mazie. "Ahhh...there is something to be said for just snuggling in a bathtub." she said. "I'm a huge fan."
Mazie didn't hesitate in wrapping her arms around Autumn and closing her eyes. For the first time in what felt like forever, Mazie really felt better. She was quiet while Autumn spoke but ended up smiling. "There's somethin' to be said about snugglin' with you anywhere," She added, not wanting to ever really leave this place. It was safe here in Autumn's bathroom, in the tub with her. "I missed it."
"Well, you don't have to miss it anymore." Autumn said. "Okay? Let's just...not." she suggested, giving Mazie little, light kisses on her shoulder. "You want to stay here tonight?" she asked in a sweet murmur.
Mazie wanted to answer Autumn but she had to wait a moment, to let the words really process and the sentiment really get to her. And she ended up slumping a little, some of the tension leaving her shoulders as she moved in to kiss Autumn. "Hell yeah I want to stay." They were better. They were better and in that moment, everything was better. Even if there was some unfixable crack out there looming, at least she and Autumn were better now.
"Good." Autumn said. "Then let's shut up, soak up this nice smelling heat, and snuggle all night." she suggested. That sounded like a damn good idea to her, at any rate. Her world felt better now.