Victoria pulled out her desk chair and sat down, before scooting the chair closer to her desk. She pressed a button on the keyboard of her laptop, making its screen brighten. As she did so, she noticed that her finger nails were jagged and her nail polish chipped. This was just not acceptable. Long, slender fingers such as her own deserved to have beautiful nails to match. With everything that had happened the past few days her mind had been all over the place. She had simply forgotten to get her manicure. She made a mental note to make an emergency appointment with her beautician.
With a few swipes of the mouse she pulled up Facebook and scowled at what she saw on it. Everywhere she looked were messages about Kate, giving her their best wishes. Most of them from people who had made her life a living hell. There was no mention of that now though. It was all 'we're sorry' and 'we love you' and 'feel better'. Not once did Victoria see an apology. At least, Victoria thought, when she had sent the post card to Kate she acknowledged that Kate had reason to hate her.
She hadn't said the word sorry though. How could she? How did sorry even cover what she had done? Even saying sorry one million times wouldn't be enough. No, this was a case where actions were going to speak louder than words. However, Victoria didn't want Kate know she was trying to apologise. She just wanted to do something for Kate that might have a chance of making her feel a little happier.
With shaking hands, Victoria picked up her pack of cigarettes and lit one, not even caring that smoking in the dorm rooms was banned. She closed her eyes and took a deep drag, relaxing slightly as the nicotine entered her system. When the cigarette was half gone, she stubbed it out. Victoria never smoked a whole cigarette at once. It always gave her a migraine.
Suitably calmed down, Victoria remembered what her intention had been when she sat down at her desk. She picked up a pen and started to write, in perfect cursive, on the cute teapot shaped gift tag. 'I heard you like tea. I hope this helps you to feel better. Stay strong.' Victoria almost signed the gift tag with her signature 'X.O Vic.', before remembering she had chosen to leave the tea hamper anonymously. She began to muse how it was odd that she signed everything 'Vic', but rarely let anyone use the hypocoristic reference.
She pushed the first tag to the side and began to write upon a second. 'Thank you for saving her.'
Victoria tied one tag to each of the hampers she had purchased before glancing at her wristwatch. It was two in the morning. No one would be about this time on a Wednesday morning, so Victoria decided it was the best time to leave her gifts outside their recipient's dorms.
Victoria, holding a hamper in each hand, opened her door and glanced quickly down the corridor in both directions. Seeing that no one was around, Victoria walked toward Max's room. She never ran any where. With Max's gift successfully deposited Victoria sauntered towards Kate's dorm room, and placed the final hamper in front of her door.
When Victoria stood up again, Max Caulfield was in before her, her face literally centimetres away from her own face. How Max had managed to get so close to her without her even noticing, Victoria had no idea.
"Hey Vic. Whatcha doin'?" Max questioned, with a huge grin upon her face."
Victoria took a couple of steps back, uncomfortable with her proximity to Max.
"Tell anyone, and I swear it will be the last thing you ever do."
"It's no big deal Victoria. I've known for days who was leaving them."
"And how, pray tell, could you possibly know that? I've been covering my tracks."
"I caught you a couple of days ago. Then I rewound time because it got kind of awkward."
"Maxine, have you been out all night smoking pot with that punk ass friend of yours?"
Max shrugged. "Sure, if that's what you want to believe." Max stated to walk past Victoria, and clipped the other girl with her satchel as she did so. "Oh. Sorry." She said vacantly, as though she was thinking about something else. "If you're feeling guilty, you should just apologise to Kate. She's nice. She doesn't hate you. You don't have anything to be scared of."
"I don't feel guilty. And I'm most certainly not scared. Damn it Maxine, why do you always act like you know everything when you so clearly don't?" In her annoyance, Victoria's voice had risen. She forgot that people were sleeping and she was supposed to be being conspicuous.
Kate's doors opened with a creak and Kate walked out rubbing her eyes. "Hey. What's going on out here? I'm trying to sleep."
"Oh, just great. Thanks, Max."
"You're welcome." Max said quietly as she walked back to her dorm, deciding to leave Kate and Victoria to their own devices.
When Kate realised that it had been Victoria making all that noise, she shrunk away from her and wrapped her arms around her own body. Since Victoria had been actively avoiding Kate, it was the first time she had seen her since she had almost ended it all. "Hey, Victoria." She whispered.
"Hi." Victoria said with a curt nod. She then turned her back on Kate to go back to her own room. She wasn't ready to have a conversation with Kate. She wasn't sure she would ever be ready.
"Wait."
Victoria sighed and turned back to Kate. "What? It's late. I would like to get some sleep tonight." Victoria wasn't being deliberately cold towards Kate. It was just a defence mechanism she had always had, to avoid having to deal with all of the emotional stuff that life liked to throw at people.
"I got your note." Kate still had her arms wrapped around herself, but she removed one arm to push a stray hair out of her eyes. "I don't hate you."
"Well, that makes one person. But don't lie for my sake, Kate. How could you not hate me?"
"When you uploaded that video did you know what I would do?"
"What? Of course I didn't. Do you really think I would have if I knew? Do you think I'm that fucking evil." Victoria misinterpreted what Kate was asking, and her voice shook a little as her annoyance seeped in.
"Did you force me to go up on that roof? Was I left with no other choices?"
"If I hadn't of done it, you would never have gone up on that roof. It was my fault."
"It was always going to happen."
"Damn it Kate, will you stop defending what I did? I'm sorry, okay? It was a malicious thing to do. You should hate me. I give you full permission to hate me. I don't believe in turning the other cheek." Victoria, out of habit, made a jab at Kate's religious beliefs.
Kate laughed at this. "Neither do I. All the stuff about Jesus, that's just to keep my parents happy. If anyone put me on that roof, it was my parents. I don't blame them though. I let it all happen. I pretended for so long, and it just all got to be too much. So stop blaming yourself, please." Kate glanced down at the tea hamper "Thanks for the tea, though."
Victoria stared at Kate, her mouth slightly open, speechless for once. "You're welcome. Don't tell anyone though."
"Why?"
"I do have a reputation to keep."
"You mean the reputation of being a huge … being a terrible person? You do know that everyone who matters can see right through that act?"
"I think we're done here. Enjoy your tea." Victoria walked back to her dorm, this time without Kate calling her back. Victoria smiled for the first time in days. Her heart felt a little warmer, and she felt that somehow the events of the past few days had somehow gained her a new … friend? It has been so long since Victoria had a real friend, who wasn't afraid to be honest with her, that she had almost forgotten what a friend was.