Rigmarole: Chapter 11
Summary: She felt foolish, really, for staring so long, but then he wasn't looking away either. It's a college fic but bare with me, I think it could turn out to be really good!
Disclaimer: I'm too new to get clever with this so I'll just say that I own nothing.
Aberrant
deviating from the proper course
Finals came quickly. The weeks preceding their big tests saw Seeley and Tempe practically camped out in the library writing last minute papers and scurrying to finish outlining chapters. By the end of their third consecutive week of spending every night into the early hours of the morning crammed into their table, Seeley was about to explode. Not only had their morning runs stopped but, in an effort to spend as much time as possible with his girlfriend and not feeling comfortable leaving her at the library, his personal gym time disappeared. He was feeling sluggish, exhausted, out of shape, and quite frankly fat. He admired his girlfriend's endless dedication to her studies but knew that if they didn't get out of that room soon, they were both going to collapse dead.
And so at noon, two days before Tempe's Statistics final, Seeley snapped. Throwing his pen onto the table and stretching out in his chair, he watched her work for a few moments. Finally, noticing his stare, she placed her pen down and looked over to him questioningly. "What?"
"I can't sit in here any longer, Bones. I'm going crazy. I need to move and breathe air that isn't as old and stale as this library. I need sun, I'm about to suffer from a severe vitamin D deficiency. This isn't health. You tell me that all the time, right?"
"Are you going to the gym?" she asked. As she picked up her pen to jump back into her work, she added, "I can meet you later for a quick dinner, I think."
"No Bones. We're going on a hike. A long one," he told her enthusiastically, anticipating immediate dismissal of the idea.
"I can't go on a hike," she argued as if it was the craziest idea she had ever heard. "I have a statistics final in two days. This last section is pretty difficult."
"Bones, we've been camped out here for 3 weeks. We need to move around, stretch our muscles, flex them. You should know better than anyone how important exercise and health is to studying. And what we're doing isn't healthy."
"It's just another week, Seeley. And then I'll be back to my regular routine. My body can handle it fine for a few weeks," she rationalized.
"Bones," he begged, "please, for me. I need to get out of here for a little bit. I promise after dinner we can come back and stay all night."
She sighed, "I really don't think I should."
"It's just a few hours. You still have all day tomorrow to cram."
Finally giving in, she agreed, "Fine. But we're bringing dinner here. I can't agree to a hike and dinner. I just don't have the time."
And so they went hiking. It turned out to be a very nice day. The sun was warm, but not too hot. The shade from the trees and the slight breeze offered a nice contrast to the beating sun. They started off at a leisurely pace, holding hands, making out against various trees along the trail, and enjoying nature. Half way through, Tempe's competitive side began showing through and she challenged him to a race through the rest of the path. He agreed but she won.
Despite the enjoyable time she had on the hike, she stayed extra late at the library in order to make up for lost time. When she finally left early the next morning, she opted to go back to her own dorm room for a quick nap before heading back to the library. Seeley hesitantly agreed, knowing he would be sleeping for longer than just a quick nap
–
The next time Tempe opened her eyes, the sun was shining brightly through the window. A quick glance around the room told her that Amelia had already left for the day. Cringing, she knew that was a sign that it was way later than she planned. She mentally cursed herself for sleeping through her planned study time and quickly got out of bed, packing for the day in the library. She called Seeley before leaving her dorm room.
"Hey I think you're still sleeping but I wanted to let you know I slept in a little so I expect to spend the entire day in the library. You are welcome to join. But Seeley, no distractions today, I'm serious. If I don't see you, we'll get breakfast tomorrow before class. I love you.
–
Seeley didn't show up at the library that day. It was late when she first noticed and a flash of disappointment ran through her but she quickly recovered, knowing it was more important to study right now. She was still having trouble figuring out the last section of her statistics book and vowed she would figure it out before leaving.
As the night wore on and even the group of late-night studiers that have taken up residence in the library during finals had left, Tempe began to get stressed out. She was tired and lonely. She missed Seeley and his nice comfy bed. She wondered where he was but knew he was probably trying to give her space. At the moment she didn't want any. She wanted his comfort. She wanted his arms around her as she cried about her impending final. She was feeling dumb for still being confused and she wasn't used to that feeling. What she did know was that if anyone could convince her otherwise right now, it was Seeley Booth. And so she packed up and made the trek across the dark campus, despite not finishing her studying. Tomorrow was her final, but she couldn't really bring herself to care. She needed her boyfriend.
–
Despite the late hour, Seeley jumps from bed at the sound of knocking on his door. More like pounding. He knew there was only one person who would be that frantic at 2o'clock in the morning. Just as he's opening the door, she flings herself into his arms, gripping him tightly around his middle. Shocked and still a little slow from sleep, his arms automatically circle her and he starts rubbing soothing patterns on her back.
It takes him a moment to realize she's crying but when he does, he tightens his grip and asks, "Baby, what's wrong?"
She sobs even harder, rehashing her thoughts from the library. Finally when she calms down, she quietly admits into his chest, "I'm dumb. And tired. And I missed you. I couldn't stay in that library for one more second and I'm going to fail tomorrow." It came out in a rush.
Seeing his girlfriend in an obviously and extreme troubled state, his grip on her tightened even more. He kissed her hair and traced gentle paths on her back, trying to soothe her. "You're the smartest person I know. You know that. So if you're dumb, what does that make the rest of us?" She rolled her eyes in response, not giving in to his teasing. "Okay, that didn't work," he said, more to himself than for her benefit. "Bones, I know right now, this final tomorrow seems like the end of the world but you've been in that library for three weeks straight now. You're overworked, tired and stressed. Let's get some sleep and you'll have better perspective tomorrow," she nods into his shirt. "No matter what happens, I love you and you'll never convince me that you're anything less than amazing at everything you do. You've worked your absolute hardest, there's nothing else to do at this point." She nods again. "C'mon," he gently leads her to his bedroom where she snatches up his tshirt from the floor and quickly changes in the bathroom. She crawls into bed beside him, glad that she decided to come home. Cause wrapped up in his arms, in his bed was exactly where she needed to be at the moment. They were both asleep in seconds.
–
She woke up the next morning wrapped tightly in Seeley's arms. Her head was on his chest and his nose was buried in her hair, inhaling her scent with every breath. Despite her still-lingering pounding headache from the previous night, she smiled at his sleeping face. She couldn't help herself, she loved him. When she shifted in his arms, he loosened his grip and she was able to slip out of his embrace and into the bathroom without waking him. After a quick shower, she dressed and packed her bag to go. She stopped by his bedroom one last time, to say goodbye. He was still sleeping soundly, little snores coming from his nose. Feeling guilty for waking him the night before and keeping him up in her panicked state, she didn't wake him but opted for a quick kiss on his forehead before heading to class.
The test was long and very difficult. At the beginning of the semester, she knowingly chose to take statistics with the harder professor, wanting to challenge herself and prove to the world that she wasn't afraid of some old guy's intimidation tactics. She was now regretting that decision. At 100 questions, her final more than doubled the length of the other class' final. She rolled her eyes and began her test.
Three hours later, she left the classroom feeling deflated and tiny. Never in her academic career had she ever felt that horrible about the work she had done. She wondered how bad she had done, how it would effect her grade, and where the heck she had gone wrong. The grades would be posted later that night, she had quite a few hours to wait. She would take a nap in the meantime. Hopefully her headache would be gone by the time she woke up.
–
Hours later she was leaving her professor's office with tears brimming in her eyes. She couldn't believe it. Though thankful she was able to pull of an A in the class, she was incredibly disappointed in herself. She hadn't gotten a B on anything since before her parents had left. She kept repeating her professor's words in her mind, "What happened Ms Brennan? I'm not used to seeing a B at the top of your papers. Knew your previous grades were high enough that you didn't have to try as hard?" He had laughed and then told her, "Well done, anyway. You still somehow managed the highest grade in my class." He dismissed her with a cherry "Have a nice summer, Ms Brennan," as if that was possible after such a unsatisfactory grade. She would be spending the summer working and reading through her statistics book, figuring out what she missed. She shuddered again at the joking tone he had taken when accusing her of slacking off. She knew he was joking but she couldn't help but take it personally.
On her walk home, she was pondering over the past semester and the time she had spent on statistics, trying to figure out what happened. She flew through the beginning of the semester with flying colors. Not only was it mostly review but she seemed to have much more time then. Trying to figure out what had changed between the beginning of the semester and now that had eaten up her time, one name came to mind. Seeley Booth. Suddenly, every moment that Seeley had lead her away from the library, distracted her with his charm smile and the promise of food and movie, or had encouraged her to sleep more flew through her mind. What gave him the right to mess with her ambitions? She had worked so hard to get where she was now and she had come so close to throwing it all away over some guy.
Sure he was handsome, and nice, and practically perfect. But she had certain expectations of herself and she knew she would have never before left that library without being 100 percent certain that she was prepared for her exam. Suddenly she knew what needed to happen. She changed directions from her dorm and determinately made her way to the other side of campus.
–
Seeley hurried to open the door as the pounding became more and more insistent. He flung the door open and for the second time in as many nights came face to face with his distraught girlfriend. Her eyes were red and puffy, the tear tracks down her face were obvious and her breathing was quick and uneven.
He stood back to let her into his apartment, the worry evident on his face. "What's wrong, Bones?" he asked when she didn't make a move to come in.
"We need to break up."
A/N: Dun Dun Dun. Sorry guys! For so many things including (but probably not limited to): the long wait you had to endure, the shortness of this chapter, that horrifying cliffhanger that I can already tell will result in much hate, and the probable wait before next chapter. What can I say? Summer is good and work is long. Hopefully I'll see you all again soon. In the meantime, review and we can have long discussions on exactly how evil I am! ;)
A/N 2: For some reason when I upload these chapters they sometimes upload all funky and I don't really know why.. I forgot to check last night when I posted but realized what happened this morning so I'm just re-posting this so it makes a bit more sense.. Sorry for the nonsense.. I'll try to remember next time!
