InsaneJournal

Who: Alice Ayres and Verity
When: May 20
Where: Tea Shop
What: A visit!
Rating/Warnings: Low/None
Status: Complete.


Verity hadn’t seen Alice in quite some time. She was a little nervous that things were... awkward, or bad, or that something ill had gone down. Of course, she was in her own little pregnant world, and hadn’t spent a whole lot of time paying much attention to other people. The sickness really drained her. Now that she was feeling better and eating again, though, she wanted to make sure to mend the ties she may have severed while she couldn’t stop throwing up.

Like with Alice. They were becoming good, close friends, and she didn’t want to do anything to disrupt that.

She was sitting in Alice’s section, waiting for the woman to come by and see her.

She did soon enough. When Alice spotted Verity, she bounced and squealed happily, leaning down to hug her. “I’m so glad to see you out and about, how’re you feeling?” Alice sat down for a moment. She figured she could hang out and then tell someone she was going on break.

Verity gave a humble chuckle, and reached up to hug her friend. “Much better. I’m past the worst of the morning sickness phase, so they tell me. The drugs to help with the nausea helped, but I’m weaning off of them now.” She explained quickly. “You really moved out of Oliver’s place?”

Alice was so glad to hear that her friend was better. “I just hope that was the worst of it.” She squeezed Verity’s hand and sat back, wishing she could smoke. “Yeah. I still go see him a lot, but ... yeah. He was being an ass.”

“Yeah.” Verity nodded a little. “I can’t blame him, though. I really can’t. The situation is just too strange to hold it against him. I would have freaked out myself. Hell, I was freaking out. I was just so sick it didn’t show as much.” She knew that the situation was impossible for both herself and for Oliver. And she still wasn’t planning on holding him to anything. This wasn’t his fault. It was her mess, and just because he shared dna with the little bit, she couldn’t hold him accountable.

“I wasn’t mad at him for that. I was mad at him for wanting to move, and expecting me to pick up and mince off with him. I would have before, when I was single, but I’m not. I’d never hurt Gracie that way, besides.” Alice looked at her hands. “I was mad because he doesn’t treat me like a sister, he treats me like a crutch. And running off to another country, putting his hands over his ears and going ‘la la la’ is no way to deal with things. He’d be miserable there too.”

Verity nodded. “He was really going to go, wasn’t he?” Again, she couldn’t have blamed him for wanting to leave her. It wasn’t fair what she’d done had happened to him. It wasn’t fair what had happened to her, either, but she was the one who had to carry this burden. Even though they knew now that the baby was genetically his, she still wasn’t expecting anything from him.

“Yeah. He was.” Alice’s hand balled into a fist. “And you know what? Is he helping you at all? Like, has he signed you up for lamaze classes or gone shopping with you for new clothes or anything?”

“He gave me a key to his house.” Verity said, giving a little shrug. She reached for her water glass to take a sip, shifting a little in her seat. “Alice, I haven’t asked him for anything. This baby may be genetically his, but... I’m not holding him to anything. I don’t want him to feel obligated. I... I love him, and I want to be with him, but I don’t want him to be with me because of the baby.”

Alice didn’t understand that mentality, but at the same time, it wasn’t her life to live. “Well, if you need someone to do those things with you, you know where I live. Oliver’s got Jefferson’s address.”

Verity nodded softly. “I know. And I really don’t know what I’d do without my friends. I owe you so much for your help and support,” she said, giving Alice a little smile. “I’ve got your cell phone number, which might be enough, too.” She added, then winked.

“Might be.” Alice winked right back. She pulled her knees to her chest. “How is Oliver, anyway?” Besides emotionally manipulative and egocentric, but she wasn’t going to say that out loud.

“I... I’m not sure.” Verity said, feeling a bit sheepish. “I haven’t spent all that much time with him lately. I’ve been busy at work,” lie. She’d been a bit afraid to talk to him, honestly.

Alice just nodded. “Same.” She’d been worrying and trying not to avoid him on purpose.

“It’s so good to be feeling better, though. I can’t even tell you. I’ve got energy again. And I’ve been eating so much... and crazy things, too! You know those pepperoncinis? I eat them by the jar. With bacon. Oh my god, the bacon.” She laughed. “Dipped in chocolate.”

“That sounds ... sort of good, actually.” Alice giggled, pushing a plate of macaroons over to Verity. “Here, you eat some of that. You need to get your strength back, so it’s good you are.”

Verity reached forward and took one of the macaroons to devour. She was always hungry lately. (heh, wonder why.) “Thank you. It’s not chocolate covered bacon with pepperoncinis, but it’ll do.” She winked.

“Hey, they’re there.” Alice smiled and took one for herself, nibbling the edges. “I’m just glad to see you. I was worried.”

“You were? You don’t need to worry about me,” Verity said, though she was touched at the thought. “I’m a rock.”