Filling In
By Goliath
A/N: Obviously Zoey 101 and its characters aren't mine.
"You lied to me." Quinn said curled up next to her best friend practically laying on top of her in the tight confines of the hammock.
"How'd I lie?" Lola responded staring into the night sky. Quinn turned her head so that she too was looking at the stars.
"You said no one could be depressed if they were in a hammock." Lola thought back to when her father had told her the same thing after the family's beagle, Skip, had been put to sleep. She was five at the time and found that her father had been right. Since that day whenever Lola had felt sad, she would find or set up a hammock to lie in and stare at the sky until usually sleep would overcome her. She sighed.
"Well, this is the first time. I miss Zoey." she admitted.
"Want to go do homework?" Quinn asked.
"Gross." Lola answered "Want to go look at boys?" she asked Quinn hopefully since their were both looking for solutions out of their funk.
"No. I already have a boyfriend." Lola could not prevent the derisive snort from escaping.
"You mean Mark?"
"Yeah." Quinn said somewhat dreamily.
"Whatever." which earned her a mild glare from her best friend. After that they lay in a comfortable silence. Quinn felt she needed to do something productive. She carefully got out so she wouldn't disturb the other girl.
"Where are you going?" Lola asked.
"I need to be doing something. You coming?" Lola shook her head.
"I think I'll stay here a little while longer. Don't wait up for me, I've got my key." Quinn gave her a small smile and walked away. Lola looked back into the sky as the events of earlier played out in her mind.
-flashback-
Zoey said goodbye to all her friends before ending up in front of her two roomates. She stepped forward between the two girls and hugged both tightly.
"Take care of him." she asked them simply. Neither had to ask who she was talking about.
"We will." Lola whispered just before Michael came forward and engulfed them all in a hug, bawling.
-end flashback-
At that very moment the focus of that last discussion was wandering in her direction. She didn't so much hear him coming as felt his presence. Finally she heard the soft crunch of grass beneath the boy's feet and moments later found herself staring up at his tear-stained face.
"Hey kiddo." she said quietly, reaching up to brush an errant tear from Dustin's cheek.
"Hi" Dustin replied, his voice was strained and his face still looked like he could break down sobbing at any second.
"C'mere." she said carefully helping him into the hammock. Dustin layed his head on Lola's shoulder and she wrapped a protective arm around him. He snuggled against her for warmth and a sense of security. Lola could feel him shiver.
"Cold?" she asked. He shook his head and sniffled.
"This is the first time that I've been without family at least a phone call away." Lola understood what he meant. It was one thing to be at a boarding school in another state. It was something else altogether when your entire immediate family was on a different continent. "I was afraid I'd be all alone."
"You won't be." Lola assured him laying her cheek on top of his head gently stroking her hand through his hair. Soon she felt him relax and looked down to see he had fallen asleep. Lola checked her watch and found that it was quite late. She pondered whether to take Dustin back to his dorm and return to her own but as she watched Dustin sleeping peacefully in her arms she decided she could take the possibility of getting in trouble to allow the small boy some peace.