fandomhighdorms | The Gym, Wednesday Morning

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The Gym, Wednesday Morning

It had been a weird, emotional few weeks. It had been a weird month. But nothing before compared to just how surreal Tuesday had turned out to be.

First of all, Kate had finally gotten a call from her old ballet instructor. Thursday next week, she was going to go to Baltimore to demonstrate her skill level to her potential new teacher, and if the woman liked her, she'd start taking private classes once a week.

Kate was supposed to be deliriously excited and cheerful right now. But she wasn't, and the reason was simple.

Tuesday was also the day Jason left.

...

Visitors to the gym shouldn't mind the girl standing by the barre in the dance studio, staring off into space while completely dance-inappropriate music blared. She was just trying to come to terms with just what the hell she lost.

This boded well for class later in the day. Only, y'know, not at all.

[ooc: Open for gym/dance studio/Kate needs, although obviously with a warning of a girl on the verge of a nervous breakdown.]

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Jack didn't visit the gym often. However, his match with Rose had him aware, even a month later, that not being on any set training schedule had him slipping out of form. It was still too cold to do much of anything outside, which lead him to the gym. He could use the stretching and perhaps a treadmill run.

The "music", though ... that was distracting, and he went over to the dance studio to see what was going on. "Kate?" he called, a bit softly, when he realized the girl wasn't moving. "Are you all right?"

This was really a textbook example of Kate's shields going up. She straightened up and turned to look at Jack with a carefully composed little smile.

It would've helped if she hadn't quickly wiped at her eyes before she spoke.

"I'm super. Never better. Hi Jack."

"... I might have bought 'no, I'm fine'," Jack said mildly, giving her a more concerned look. He knew what defenses snapping into place looked like. "As it is, I think what Mitchell said to me yesterday was 'That'll fool the pope.''"

He took a step closer. "But hi."

Edited 2010-01-13 15:09 (UTC)

"What Mitchell told me was that he prefers to think of me as a floating head," Kate replied with a slight snort.

She fidgeted a little, then wrapped her arms around herself. "It's not the best day I've ever had," she admitted.

"A floating head?" Jack echoed. "That's rather disturbing. It'll make me expect floating heads to enroll next time around."

... and now he was going to be picturing that for a while, thank you.

He added, "I'm sorry, though. Can I ask what happened?"

"You can ask," she replied. "But I'm not sure if I want to answer. ...If I can answer."

She was so very confused about the whole thing.

The pain, that was very much there, though. That was the one certainty.

"You can," Jack said, watching her. He saw the pain, but he wasn't normally the warm-and-fuzzy, get-your-feelings-out type. "I wouldn't blame you if you didn't want to, though."

He paused, then threw out, "Would it help at all if I told you someone I had been seeing has decided he just wants to be friends?" He hadn't talked about Tony with anyone who didn't have ulterior interests; it helped just to say the words to someone outside their situation.

"No, it wouldn't. It wouldn't help at all," Kate said. Not harshly; just stating it. She pushed an unruly strand of hair behind her ear, the expression on her face softening a little. "But that really sucks and I'm sorry for you."

"It's all right," Jack said. "I don't think it was going anywhere, anyhow. I'm happy for him, really -- he found someone who wants what he wants."

He meant it, too. The whole thing just stung. He gave her a speculative look.

"What would help, if my misery doesn't?"

"Time," she replied, sarcastically. "Isn't that what everyone says?"

"When they aren't mentioning alcohol," Jack said lightly.

Kate shook her head. "I think I feel like shit enough as it is. A hangover isn't gonna help."

"And it's not like you can just stay drunk until time's done its job," Jack said, agreeing with her. "I hope you wouldn't."

He sat on a practice mat.

"I think I'm completely out of advice that can be applied to any situation."

"It's okay." Which was a funny thing to say when you felt nothing at all was okay. "I don't need advice. I just need to get over this."

And figure out just what 'this' was.

"What is 'this'?"

Jack remembered she'd said she might not answer, but he figured a direct question was ... acceptable? He just felt wrong leaving her. Kate seemed like the kind of girl who would tell him to sod off if that was how she felt, and she hadn't yet, so ... still talking.

"I don't even know. A guy who's been making my life complicated for, like, a month, just left yesterday. Really, I should be happy. No more complications."

It was a little easier to think about it in those terms, and Jack wasn't part of the very select few who Kate actually really trusted, so that's the answer he got.

Really, that was about the level of detail Jack would have expected, so ...

"It still sucks and I'm sorry," he said, echoing her words from earlier. "Even if it'll make things easier, you can still miss him."

"Hmmh."

Which, really, was Kate saying 'that's what I'm already doing'. As much as she hated it.

"It's all very complicated. I don't think it's really going to get much easier from here on, either." Which sucked, because Jason was gone, and she still had to deal with the effects of him in the way she looked at her other relationships.

"I don't think it ever does," Jack said. "Maybe if you're the type to fall in love now and want to stay with that person forever. That would be easier."

Jack would be with Sebastien until he died. But that was Different.

"I'm not that type. And I'm happy I'm not." At least she had been.

After a pause, she added, "And I doubt that's really easier, either."

"I'm not either," Jack said. "You don't think it is, though? It looks that way to me -- you only have to make one person happy, instead of trying to balance everyone out."

He was a tiny bit bitter, yes.

"If you put it like that, then maybe," she allowed. "But is any of this crap ever actually easy? My experience so far says no."

Except Leto. Even after the fight with Jason.

But that, as they say, was Different.

"Sometimes it's easy if you don't talk about it."

That was a no.

That was how it was perceived, yes.

Kate snorted. "That would be so wonderful if it was true."

"It's the only way I manage," Jack said.

... which probably said more about Jack's limitations than anything else.

"Well then remind me never to get into your situation."

Talking about it had made things go better between Jason and her, although other conversations about the subject of Leto had still been needed. But now they were never going to be had.

"My situation is not terribly likely to recur, don't worry about that."

Well, unless Kate was bisexual. And confused. And started sleeping with a vampire who was also bisexual and confused.

Kate was merely confused. Really, really confused, but that was pretty much it. Thankfully.

"That's good to hear. I have enough to deal with as it is."

"I'm always happy to help." Jack made a good-natured face at her, and ... decided to change the subject. Yes.

"How did you think your audition went?"

It was a good decision. Kate approved.

"I think it went pretty well. Better than the last one, that's for sure. Yours?"

"Geoffrey told me to make sure I made time for rehearsals, so he liked it?" Jack hazarded. "I enjoyed myself more than last time, too. I did Edmund from Lear."

"I did Cleopatra. I'm sure there was a lot more emotion this time." And not all of it good.

"I haven't actually gotten 'round to Lear yet. I should get back to my Shakespeare reading."

"I had to read it all," Jack said, in a tone that suggested this was a project undertaken out of duty and not out of pleasure. "Cleopatra's not bad, but I've always liked all the tragedy in Lear. Even if Cordelia is a bit of a nit."

Kate shrugged. "I like Cleopatra a lot." For reasons that didn't need to be explored now. "Why did you have to read it all?"

"Part of my guardian's idea of a proper education."

It wasn't all exactly the same in Jack's world as it was in this one, but Jack hadn't had a reason to work that out yet. Sebastien's method of turning out a well-rounded young gentleman still involved rather a lot of poetry full of thees and thous.

"Why, what did you have to read?"

Sometimes Kate forgot people's backgrounds were so different to hers. And then she was reminded. Like right now.

"Some Shakespeare, but not nearly all of it. We were more about modern stuff at my old school."

"When I was younger, the modern stuff was my reward for finishing with my lessons," Jack said, though his true reward had always been pleasing Sebastien. "... of course, my modern stuff is a hundred years old to you."

Which would remind Kate a little more, yes.

"Oh." Yes, it definitely did. But. "Still more modern than Shakespeare."

And after a pause: "I'm not sure I've ever asked you where you're from, actually."

"That hasn't come up, has it?" Jack said, surprised. Between their classes together and play rehearsals, he tended to feel like he knew Kate better than he actually did. "I was born in Europe -- Prague -- and lived in London and Spain before we moved to America. My guardian likes to travel, but he's in Baltimore now. It just turned 1900."

"Where are you from?"

1900? Somehow that was harder to wrap her head around than the 20,000 years that were between this time and Leto's time.

Mostly because 20,000 years just made her brain go 'lalala cannot understand numbers this big', whereas a hundred years was something she could still actually process.

"Overland Park, Kansas. The same time we're living here."

If he could read narration, Jack would have agreed with Kate. It was irritating -- he was close enough to understand most things and most references (or think he did, anyhow) but far enough off that he kept getting stopped short every day or so. If he'd been from 20,000 years in the future and a different planet, he wouldn't have had the expectation that things would make sense.

... anyhow.

"I've never been that far west," Jack said, hoping he had it right and Kansas was one of the western ones. "What's it like?"

"Kind of flat. And boring." This was what passed for a description of the general area where Kate's home was, yes. In her opinion, anyway. "Going further west would be more interesting."

Then there was another thought. "Leto thought it was interesting in Overland Park, though. So who knows. You might, too."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "I can't say that flat and boring has ever been my taste before."

"'Boring' is a relative concept." Beat. "'Flat', however, is not. But I'm learning not to expect everyone to be bored by the same things as me."

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The Gym, Wednesday Morning

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