Doesn't Smell Like Teen Spirit Who: Avery & Lochlan Where: Hospital When: Evening
Lochlan had finally gotten a second gown to cover his ass and had walked himself down to a waiting room that had been supplied with books and ancient magazines. He sat himself in a chair and began to read Gulliver’s Travels. Not exactly his thing but it was something at least to take his mind off of everything happening and get him the hell away from Patrick. He wasn’t sure how much longer later he heard Avery’s shoes in the hallway. He called out to her so she wouldn’t walk all the way to the room without seeing him first.
Avery had slept a bit restlessly the night before, lingering worries and irritations keeping her mostly awake. She had gone to school for some of the day, spent some time with Finn, then spent an hour or so trying to help out at the pub before she walked to the hospital to see Lochlan. She was about to pass by the waiting room he was lounging in when he called out to her, and lifting a brow curiously, she took a few steps back and peeked in to see her brother sitting inside with a book in his hands. That was kind of... weird.
“Hey,” she said slowly, a small smile curving at her lips as she wandered over to flop down in the seat beside him. “You’re reading. A book. Are you getting worse or something? You can tell me, Lochlan... you’re dying, aren’t you?” She was teasing him, of course, but it was nice to see him up and moving around instead of being stuck in that hospital bed. This was a good sign.
Lochlan was only mildly surprised that it actually had been Avery he'd heard in the hall. His hearing was so acute as to pick up differences in shoes and that was pretty cool but a little worrisome. He chuckled as she sat, glanced at the book, and tossed it on top of a tome of War and Peace. "Pretty much. It's terminal. Whatever it is." He poked her arm. "You doing okay?"
"I'm fine," Avery told him. She didn't want to unload completely on him, since he was the one in the hospital and Lochlan probably didn't need her whining. "What about you? Are you doing okay? Are they going to let you leave soon?" She knew Eily had said Avery didn't need to help with anyone but visiting, but Lochlan was her brother and Avery wanted to make sure he would have everything he needed.
"Good Lord, I hope I'm getting out of here soon. Mr. GrumpyPants is driving me up the wall and across the ceiling with his bad attitude." He stretched slowly, barely wincing in pain now as apparently his ribs had mended sometime in the past few hours. Strange that but he'd take it. "So I heard you bumped into Chiri,” he said, and watched her face for a reaction to that statement. Chiri had said things hadn’t gone too well between her and Avery. He wanted to know what had happened.
It was sad that Avery knew immediately that Lochlan was referring to Patrick when he said Mr. GrumpyPants. She loved her cousin, but Avery wouldn't want to have to share a room with Patrick either. She could only imagine how he and Lochlan were getting on, cooped up together. She pulled her knees up, resting her heels on the edge of the chair before her brother mentioned Chiri. It was instinctive to wrinkle her nose. "Yeah. She was a bitch." A bitch with no sense of humor, if you asked Avery. Not that Lochlan had, but it was hard to keep her opinion to herself sometimes.
If Avery had only known just how much Lochlan was disliking staying in the same room with Pat, she might have been a bit shocked. He couldn't remember the last time he'd intentionally picked a fight with someone, let alone family, and it had almost come to blows before he'd realized what he was doing and backed down. Lochlan frowned at Avery. "What are you talking about?" he demanded, feeling a bit growly to hear Avery say such an across-the-board statement about someone he really enjoyed. If she was going to take that kind of stance on Chiri, he wanted to hear her back it up with some kind of explanation.
"What am I talking about? Arching a blonde brow, Avery looked over at Lochlan while she began to pick at the denim gray around her shoes. "I told her that you dating a seventeen year old was a little weird for me. Because she asked what I thought and I told her, but I guess that’s not okay if it’s not the answer she wants. Then she got all high and mighty, saying I was rude and judgmental and oh woe is Avery, never going to have any fun in life because of it." Chiri hadn't said those last words exactly. She had added the woe is Avery part, at least. "I had told her that yeah, it was weird for me, but if it made you happy, I'd try and deal with it, and made a joke about how I might even use it to tease you a bit, then she said I wasn't giving her a fair shot. Uh hello! Did she not hear me say I would? It's like I was suppose to just brush aside the fact that she's my age dating my thirty three year old brother. Oh! And by the way, one of the first thing she says to me is she had planned on kissing you senseless at the end of your date and seriously, why would you lead off with that when meeting someone's sister? For real." Avery paused and sucked in a loud breath, having rambled on without taking much time in between words to breathe. Then she exhaled swiftly and frowned, staring down at her shoes. Apparently Chiri had bothered her more than she initially thought.
Lochlan pursed his lips, trying to make sense of the seemingly conflicting accounts of what had transpired between Chiri and his sister. From what Chiri had said, Lochlan had pictured Avery freaking out and ranting at the other girl. From what Avery was saying, she'd been accepting but Chiri had already made up her mind that Avery was against her and wouldn't hear anything else. He didn't know Chiri well enough to say whether or not she'd exaggerate or lie about something like this. But she'd been so concerned that his family dynamic be first priority for him. Chiri was pretty matter of fact, which he could see bugging Avery but what he couldn't see is Avery being blatantly rude without more reason than an age. "So you didn't give her a bad attitude or freak out on her?" he asked, his tone curious but not accusatory.
Her frown slipped into a scowl and Avery tried hard not to say something cutting. "Did she say I did that? I didn't, Lochlan. I swear. I just said I didn't think my opinion mattered a whole lot when it came to who you dated, and she got all offended about it. But I swear I didn't get a bad attitude! I was joking around even, and she suddenly went off about me being rash and rude and all that. Then walked away." Ugh, no she really didn't like Chiri. Sighing again, Avery rested her cheek on her knee. "She's seventeen anyway. It's... did you know that?"
"You both seem to have had two separate experiences and neither one of them makes sense to me. You both think the other is nuts but both of you are pretty sane when I interact with you. Girls. I don't think I'll ever understand you people." He yawned and scratched his scruffy chin thoughtfully. "No, I didn't know she was seventeen until I spoke with her earlier today and she told me about your conversation. It never occurred to me to ask. She always seems older." He shrugged slightly and patted her hair. “So you don’t mind me dating her but you don’t much like her, do you?”
"I don't know what she could have said differently since that's how it went," Avery said with a stubborn lift of her chin. "And I never said she was nuts, I said she'd been a bitch." Unfolding her legs, Avery stretched them out in front of her before she gave Lochlan an incredulous look. "I wasn't going to mind you dating her before she turned into Miss Meanie McSmarty Pants but now I don't like her and I don't want you dating her at all! She's too young anyway, I don't care how silly high her IQ is. Plus bitching at a potential boyfriend's sister within ten minutes of meeting her is crap too. You need to find someone whose your age who deserves you." And who Avery liked and could get along with, but that went without saying. "She's my age, Lochlan."
Lochlan stuffed down a laugh, pressing his lips together. "Okay, bitch... nuts... kind of the same thing to me. Sounds like there was some kind of communication barrier or something." He was firmly decided to avoid passing judgment on the whole thing since he hadn't been there and he refused to choose sides. That always seemed to be a bad idea where women were concerned. "Well we aren't getting married, Aves. We haven't even officially had a first date really so it's not like we're exclusive. Who knows. She might find someone her own age and get bored of your old brother." He chuckled, thinking for a moment. “She really brought up her IQ?”
"You don't need an official date! As the best and most important sister you have, I should be able to veto your dates who are jerks to me. So veto. Just think about me hanging out with a thirty three year old guy and see how that makes you feel. Like... Thirty three with the IQ and brain space of a seventeen year old boy. That should put things into perspective, huh?" Avery was only joking. Sort of. Though not really. She knew Lochlan would flip his shit if she started dating a man his age. It shouldn't be okay for him to do it! She gave a small nod and slouched a bit, swaying her shoes back and forth. "What'd she say? She had an IQ so silly high that it wasn't worth throwing the number out there or something." Avery stuck her thumb out then pointed it down with a loud raspberry noise. Yes, it was immature of her but whatever. She was seventeen and she acted like it sometimes.
Lochlan grinned at her veto. "I hear what you're saying but it's kinda something I have to do since she won me fair and square at the auction. She deserves a finished date for what she bid. And, you know, I like her. I know I have no bad intentions with her but not all guys my age, or otherwise really, are as honorable. Which is why you are never dating someone twice your age." He lifted his brows to show he was serious even if his tone was light. He knew it was probably not a fantastic idea to date someone half his age but he couldn't find it in himself to care, not where Chiri was concerned at least. "Silly high IQ and interested in me, huh? One has to wonder," he said playfully.
"It's gross, Lochlan. I don't care if she's like, a freaking genius. She's my age," Avery pointed out again, feeling petulant now that her brother seemed to still be willing to date Chiri. Hadn't she told Chiri her opinion wouldn't matter? "And yeah, fine, official date and all that but she was rude to me too and didn't seem to even care or want to listen to me," she pointed out. "Doesn't that matter at all? If some guy was a dick to you, I wouldn't blow it off. You can't seriously tell me not to date an older guy when you're willing to go out with someone that could have easily been a friend of mine if she, you know, had a sense of humor or something. That's not fair at all."
Lochlan raised his hands defensively in front of him. "Okay, okay, Aves. I almost would rather face the wolf again." He coughed a soft laugh. "I'm not blowing it off. I don't think you should have to put up with someone being a bitch to you, but I haven't seen her behave that way so what can I do? I'll definitely talk to her if we end up getting serious. Who knows? It could happen, I suppose. But I don't want you girls hating each other." This was getting dangerously close to him having to pick sides and he so did not want to do that. At all. Because if he was honest, he'd choose Avery and that would close the door on a fun girl he was beginning to enjoy spending time with. "As for her age, like I said, I'm not marrying her! I mostly want to hang out in the cemetery and listen to ghosts with the girl. Is that okay to do with someone your age?" He made a face at her, his eyes smiling.
Huffing out a sigh, Avery clasped her hands loosely on her stomach, scowling at the wall across from them. She still thought it was pretty gross, and extremely unfair. But she wasn't going to worry so much about the boys she brought home anymore. Not that she brought any boys home yet but still. If Lochlan was going to date a seventeen year old with a supposedly big brain, then Avery could date whoever she wanted, no matter what their age. Big brain or not. There was a joke in there somewhere about boys and their big brains, but she wasn't in the mood to voice it out loud. "You don't need to get serious with a teenager," Avery muttered before she finally shifted her gaze to his face. "Do whatever you want to do, Lochlan. You know how I feel about it, so... yeah. Just... whatever makes you happy."
Lochlan sighed, trying not to be annoyed with her but it was difficult when she wasn't to be reasoned with and the walls came down. He never quite understood what triggered her to stop mid-argument and shut down, but he could see it in her eyes. The conversation was probably over regardless of what he said from this point on. He tried anyway. "I'm sorry you don't like it but it's definitely not serious. I have no idea what is going to happen between Chiri and me." Which was true. He wasn't sure what she'd meant about getting his family dynamic squared before she'd see him again. He looked at her for a long moment, feeling defeated. Time for a change of topic. "So, I almost beat the crap out of Patrick."
Avery knew on some level she wasn't being reasonable, but on another level, she felt she had a valid enough argument. Even if Chiri had been super duper nice, Avery would have still found it weird and a little icky for her to be dating Lochlan. But she would have been willing to give it a chance. Since Chiri wasn't super duper nice, or even super nice, Avery was simply going to stick with the weird and icky. But, it was Lochlan's life, and even if she wanted to, she couldn't tell him what to do. If Chiri was nice to him, then Avery supposed that was all that mattered. She was happy for the subject change, though, because she didn't want to talk about it anymore. Although this particular subject change was a bit jarring. Both blonde brows shot up in surprise. "You did? What for? Was he being an asshole?"
Ah that was better. He could handle surprised far better than he dealt with sullen. "I'm not even sure, you know? I mean, he was being annoying as hell. He started off staring at me like this." He demonstrated the intense, bizarre look Pat had been giving him non-stop. "And when I asked him what his problem was he started telling me to shut up and go to sleep. But you know me. Lover, not fighter, right?" He made a face and rubbed his stubbled chin. "It was like some part of me I didn't even know was there just took over and it wanted to beat the ever-loving daylights out of Pat to make him quit telling me what to do." It made even less sense to him when he said it out loud but it was good to get it off his chest too.
Hearing that Lochlan wanted to beat up Patrick wasn't a funny thing at all, but her brother mimicking Patrick's intense look had Avery choking back a laugh, just because he did it so well. But Lochlan was right. He wasn't one for confrontation, especially a physical one, and Avery frowned. "That's... weird. And not like you at all. Maybe you both were having, uh... what's that thing? Cabin fever? Being hurt and stuck in this place, especially in a room together would totally suck. You were probably both irritable, right? How do you feel now? I was telling you not to date Chiri and you didn't get all pissy or anything like that." Avery wasn't sure of the last time she saw her brother truly angry. Like physically angry. It had been a long, long time. It just wasn't in his nature to get violent.
Lochlan was pretty laid back and everyone knew it. So laid back he often flaked on things. He wasn't the type to go around picking fights. Especially not with family. The whole thing had him perplexed as did the rest of whatever was happening with him. Feeling so warm he would rather have been naked, hearing and smelling things so strongly that it couldn't be normal. He wondered if rabies caused some of that stuff. He'd have to ask a nurse next time he saw one. "That's probably it," he said with a nod. "Cabin fever. Not sure what Pat's deal is though. The guy needs a girlfriend or something. Got too much time to sit and stare at me. We all know I'm a handsome guy but this isn't West Virginia." He chuckled at himself. "I feel okay right now. But then, you aren't giving me the stink eye anymore. It was a little touch and go there a few minutes ago," he teased.
This time she did laugh, though she knew she probably shouldn't have. At least Lochlan was joking about it, although he joked about pretty much everything. "Patrick's probably going through stuff too," Avery said after her laughter died down. "And his stink eye is a lot more effective than mine. He probably does need a girlfriend though. Or maybe he just needs to get laid." Avery reached over to grab Lochlan's hand. She immediately noted how warm it was, and her next joke was forgotten as her brows drew together in concern. "Do you feel okay? Like, do you have a fever or something?" If he did, he needed to be back in bed, resting. Not wandering into waiting rooms and pretending to read big books.
Lochlan laughed with her. His brows raised and he said, "He's definitely going through something. Whatever it is, doesn't need to include staring at me. It gets a little creepy after a bit. No woman in her right mind is ever going to bed with that. I mean, imagine waking up to this?" He imitated the face again. "To be honest, I feel pretty good right now. Sometimes I feel like I might be coming down with the flu but it usually passes." As soon as the food cart did. He didn't want to really worry Avery so he didn't mention the heightened senses and feeling overly warm most of the time. "I'm pretty sure a long run in the park away from Pat would set me right again."
She giggled at the face he made again, but was far more concerned about how he was feeling. Lochlan could pass off a lot of stuff with humor, but Avery saw through it most of the time. And even if they were teasing Patrick without her knowledge, she didn't want her cousin to be feeling miserable either. Although Patrick usually came across as miserable anyway, wolf attack or not. "Okay," she murmured, still holding onto his hand. "You just feel really warm and stuff. Fever is a sign of infection, right? I just want to make sure you're okay."
He liked being able to get her laughing. There was something so nice about the often moody girl actually letting loose. He enjoyed her most this way which was probably why he ever got into trading gossip with her as though he were a teenager. He didn't, however, like seeing her worry. "Yeah, it can be," he admitted, nodding. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "They're monitoring me with fluids and antibiotics and what not. But I was planning on asking about why I'm so warm. I'll be okay. I mean, I think they'd tell me if I was dying. Or they'd have told Eily and she wouldn't hold that back. You'll see. I'll be out of here soon and up to my usual shenanigans in no time."
If he was dying, Avery wondered if they would tell her. Or maybe just pretend everything was fine and the one day, doh! Lochlan's dead by the way! Yes, she had more faith in her family like that, but she was also aware that they sometimes treated her like she was eight years old. "Okay," Avery said, though it wouldn't really be okay until he was out of the hospital and up and about again. "Hopefully you can leave soon. The bar is super boring without you, 'cause I actually have to work and stuff. Plus, I really hate coming here, no matter how funny you look in a hospital gown." She didn't like hospitals at all. Mostly because she was always afraid she would see blood somewhere and throw up, or faint. Hospitals weren't the best place to be for someone with hemophobia.
He could see she was thrilled to have had his death mentioned. He wasn't so keen on discussing that himself though it seemed like a lot less of a possibility than it when he had first awakened in the hospital and remembered the wolf attack in vivid detail. "Oh man, you poor thing having to actually work!" he laughed. "I'd rather be at the bar myself. I'm sure there were at least 5 girls with fruit names in there and I missed them because I was in here." He pouted just a little. "I'm with you, kiddo. Hopefully I'll be out of here soon." He was about to say more when the food cart with the squeaky wheel went by. He cringed, his face contorting with disgust.
"I know! They like, make me carry the dirty dishes bin and everything," Avery whined, although she was clearly joking. It was easier to slack off when Lochlan was there. He wasn't a drill sergeant or anything and she usually got most of her work done when he was around before leaving the pub. Not always, but usually. Grinning, Avery let go of his hand to push her hair back from her eye. "Yeah. Kiwi and Mango and I had a great talk about you the other day..." Her joke trailed off at the look on his face, and she glanced at the door. "What's that look for? Are you hurting?"
Lochlan chuckled at her 'horror' story about work. He patted her forearm gently and shook his head. "They just don't know how delicate a flower you truly are or they wouldn't put you through so much hardship. Big.brother will be back soon to set things right. And get together with Kiwi and Mango. You told them only good things about me, right?" The smells from the cart and the grating of its wheel turned his stomach. "Don't you smell that? It's like a dumpster."
Confused, Avery sat up a little straighter in her chair and breathed in through her nose before shaking her head. "I don't smell anything, Lochlan." She pushed up off the chair and wandered over to the small plastic garbage bin by the door to peek inside."There's just an empty paper cup and a tissue in here. No food or anything." Avery turned to face Lochlan. "Do you still smell it?" She couldn't smell anything but the distinctive scent of hospital. It didn't smell like a dumpster to her though.
He watched her wander the room looking for odd smells and he almost didn't have the heart to tell her he had known the source before she stood up. But it was too funny to see her sniffing everything to pass up the opportunity to direct her to a couple 'possible' odor producing areas. "It's the food cart in the hall. Every time they bring it around I have such sympathy for pregnant women. The smell is horrendous. You really don't smell it too?"
Looking over her shoulder, Avery then stepped back to peek into the hall. The food cart was several feet away and she still couldn’t smell anything rancid about it. Arching a brow, she returned to the waiting room. “No, I don’t smell anything. Doesn’t even smell like anything’s gone bad... unless I’m getting a cold or something but I don’t feel sick. Maybe it’s you,” she pointed out, lips twitching into a grin. “When did you shower last?”
"No, it's not that it smells like the food went bad. It's all the smells combined. It's absolutely disgusting and seriously pungent. I can't believe you don't smell that." Though, in a way, he could believe it. He'd been overly sensitive to smells and sounds ever since he got to the hospital it seemed. It was a little frustrating because he could swear he could hear Patrick breathing and being weird even here in the waiting room. He made a face at her. "I got a sponge bath from Carmela earlier. Rosalita wouldn't do it but the lovely Carmela took pity on a poor, wounded man."
Avery sat back down beside Lochlan, her eyes on his face. She was trying not to look concerned, but failing. "You don't look too wounded anymore," she pointed out. He was up about moving and seemed to be in good spirits. That was pretty impressive only a couple days after being attacked by a wolf. "And now you're like, smelling food carts and garbage. And you're still really warm. Do you promise you're okay? Promise you would tell me if something was wrong."
Lochlan leaned over and gave her a short, tight hug. When he stepped back he nodded. “I promise you that if anything is wrong, I will tell you. I love you, Aves. And I love that you’re concerned but don’t worry too much, okay? I feel pretty good as long as I’m not in the same room as Patrick.” He rolled his eyes and chuckled. “You should go visit him, by the way. Give him some hell or something. He deserves it.” Now he grinned, joyfully imagining Avery annoying the hell out of his cousin by giving him the same stare he’d been giving Lochlan. Which meant Lochlan had to imitate the look again for her just to get her to laugh.
“Okay.” She sighed and pulled back from the hug. All Avery could do was hope he was telling her the truth. She was painfully aware that the adults in their family saw her as a kid most of the time, and she was trying hard to prove that she could handle anything they could. Her brother’s silly face diminished some of her worry, and Avery grinned again before poking him in the side. “Okay. I’ll go say hi. Give him the Intense Patrick stare down for a few, if I can do it without laughing. Maybe I’ll tell him about my picnic date with Finn earlier. Girl talk, you know? He’ll love it.”
Lochlan wasn’t sure if she quite believed him or not and he wished there was some way he could assuage her worries in a way she’d accept as being wholly the truth. He had yet to feel like Avery fully trusted him but he was sure as hell going to do as much as he could to keep proving himself trustworthy. Even if it meant girl talk. Not that he minded that so much. That could be a lot of fun! He nodded seriously. “He will love it, I know he will. Man, wish I could see his face when you give him that look right back. That will be priceless.” He stood up to give her a proper goodbye hug then. “You take care and mind Eily, okay?”
“I will.” Take care, anyway. Eily wasn’t her mother, and Avery wasn’t going to treat her like she was, especially when Eily got snappy and called her names. Otherwise, Eily was usually pretty cool and laid back, and it was those times that Avery didn’t mind listening to her. “Let me know when they’re going to let you leave,” she said before kissing his cheek. Hopefully the next time she visited him, he would be home. With any luck, Avery wouldn’t have to step foot in the hospital again for a long time.