Amanda awoke to a very soft peck to her temple. "Mmmng." she moaned tiredly.
"Go back to sleep, Ma Chere." his French tone curled in her ear like a soft and warm cat in her lap.
"I dunwanna." she slurred, still having not opened her eyes. But oh, the bed was so warm and she could already feel herself slipping into slumber again.
His chuckle tickled her ear and another kiss was pressed to her temple, "You are safe here, Ma Chere. Sleep tight."
"Okay." she whispered, allowing herself to feel her hair get tucked behind her ear before she finally fell asleep. Deep and dreamless… Just the way she liked it.
When she next awoke she could feel the last remnants of her tired and deprived state. She was a little confused as to where she was at first, but then she remembered. Spy had offered to have her sleep in his room with him, where he'd be a reach away.
If Amanda were honest with herself, which she tried to be, she would acknowledge how nice it felt to sleep next to a man again. It felt like it had been forever! Simply too long for her tastes.
She stretched where she was and groaned happily with it. His linens smelled of cigarettes and cologne… A scent she wasn't going to oppose to anytime soon. It gave her a little smile.
He was so kind to her and paid special attention to her… He called her "Ma Chere" and seemed to always be there when she needed him most. And he did have some pretty blue eyes! Much lighter than her own… Like the blue of the sky is to the blue of the Ocean… Sort of.
Finally, Amanda sat up and rubbed at her eyes. When it stung to do that, she had to recall that she was still bruised… Though, now that she thought about it, the bruises should have hurt more to her touch.
Standing, Amanda looked around and found a pretty standard mirror on the wall and darted to it. What she saw shocked her.
Those dark bruises she'd had seemed a few shades lighter-despite the forming of tired bags under her eyes. Her nose still seemed pretty crooked from when it'd been broken… But then again, it was in the other direction before Janine popped it into a different place.
Amanda winced at her next thought; Perhaps Janine can take another whack at setting it straight, like it used to be? The memory of the noise and feeling made her toes curl and the hair on the back of her neck stand up.
What if her nose couldn't be fixed?
Now that idea made Amanda feel extremely self conscious… And not the "Oh, she's pretty and I'm never going to look like that no matter how hard I try" self conscious… It was the "Whatever chances I had are gone now" self conscious.
Suddenly, those fluttering ideas about Spy rotted like beautiful fruit out in a bowl too long. With that came the "I look like I was in a fight in the prison court yard!" It was now very hard to continue looking at herself in the mirror and she turned away. Why would any man waste his time on someone with her current face?
She wasn't sure if she was angry or relieved when a knock interrupted these depressing thoughts, but she was brought out of her thoughts and onto the present. Should she answer the door?
"Why the hell not?" she murmured and opened the door.
"GOOD! You're awake!" came the boisterous voice of Janine. "Ooh, whatever Shada put on yer face works like a charm!"
Amanda couldn't help but smile, "Thank you Janine."
"Sure thing!" Her nearly green nearly brown hazel eyes scanned Amanda a moment before a sly smirk covered her freckled and pale face, "Oooh, you naughty girl!" Amanda glanced down at herself and realized just how revealed she was and opened her mouth to respond but all that came out was a long noise of uncertainty. "Quite a catch, Mandy."
"Mandy?" Amanda snapped her head up in confusion.
"Yeah… Do you not like nicknames?" Janine asked.
Amanda glanced about before shrugging, "Never really had one."
"Oh!" Janine then grinned, "Well, y'do now!" She was just so chipper… How the hell'd she do it? "Well, Spy told me to check on you every now'n'ag'n… So… How'r'yuh?"
Amanda shrugged, "Alright I guess… I don't like how my nose looks so crooked… I was thinking maybe you could try and…" Amanda watched the expectant and eager look on Janine's face and nearly died as she spoke the next words; "put it straight?"
There was a pause before Janine nodded, "Sure can… Though, we should prolly wait a day or two…Just to be sure… An there's nuthin wrong with a crooked or broken nose-adds heap loads of character to a face!"
Amanda scoffed, "Yeah, but for men… I'm not so sure it works the other way around, Janine." she paused a moment as the ginger laughed, "Hey, uh… Is there anyone out in the halls on the way to my room? I'd rather not flash too much leg to the people I work with…"
"Oh, nonsense! Y'got th'legs fer't!" Janine waved a hand at Amanda who shook her head.
"You are a nut case, you know that?" the black haired young woman sighed.
"Hey now! You, Shada, and Scout are the youngest and I'm all for all three of you showing off that younger skin to the world." The thick, practically orange eyebrows on Janine's head wiggled like worms.
"Yeah…" Amanda stated slowly, "But no. Are the guys all out to fight?"
Janine sighed and nodded, "Yes."
"Good. Thank you. Excuse me." Amanda stated before shutting the door behind herself and bolting to her room. There was slight panic in her while she ran through the hallways, but she stuck to her objective… Get to room, pronto.