A/N: WARNING—allusions to sexual intercourse are made in this chapter.
Following a good work-out, Jody yawned and rubbed her eyes, feeling unusually tired. Chalking it down to stress over her imminent exams which were now only two months away, she stretched her arms, only to flinch at how stiff they felt. The clock on the wall read 18:10, nearly a full hour before the time she usually headed home, but maybe it was time to call it a day; the homework she'd been too moody to do over the weekend had piled up, and she could practically hear it beckoning her from its place on her bedroom desk. She yawned again, casting a glance around the room to see that Amabel still wasn't back from the toilets. Amabel had been gone for at least twenty minutes which was odd because she, like Jody, wasn't the type to spend ages in the ladies'; they left that to the idiots who only came to the gym to find new boyfriends and therefore had to constantly prune themselves in front of the huge mirrors.
Spotting Brandon near the door, Jody walked up to him and asked if he knew where Amabel was. He briefly looked up from his phone, replying in the negative, and she sighed, before heading for the toilets. Of course, she could've just told Brandon to tell Amabel that she'd gone home for the evening but, personally, she found that to be a little rude. It was somewhat acceptable between acquaintances but she liked to think that she and Amabel had moved past that. They weren't quite friends yet but their sort of heart-to-heart last Thursday had definitely been a step in the right direction to her ultimate goal.
To Jody's relief, none of the timewasters were hanging around in front of the mirrors today, meaning she wouldn't have to listen to whispers and giggles about how she and Amabel had kissed and made up following the punch. A couple of cubicles, however, were occupied, the closest to Jody being the one in the middle. Unable to discern which one her partner was in, she opened her mouth, about to call for said girl, when a moan came from the cubicle on the far end. A loud moan.
"Amabel?" she called quietly, dismissing the moan as a result of painful period cramps. She'd had her fair share of those.
No one answered, at least not in the form of words. This time she heard a low grunt, too low to be a female's. Her eyes widened. What was a guy doing in the women's toilets? Was he a pervert? The decidedly female moans returned, intermingling with the grunts, and Jody's hand flew to her mouth as the reality dawned on her, or rather, smacked her in the face.
She willed her legs to move, knowing that she ought to just leave and forget what she'd heard, but found herself rooted to her spot. Somehow, the... noises... made her feel all weird inside, and not in a bad way. The dirty part of her mind had wondered once or twice where on Earth Charlie and Alex used to go to get it on prior to the former inheriting a house, and the answer seemed to be right in front of her. However, for their sakes, she hoped they hadn't sunk quite so low; little children used public toilets too.
The sobering thought snapped Jody out of her stupor, and she instantly felt ashamed for stopping to listen in on such activity while on a search for Amabel. Whoever was in the middle cubicle was apparently listening in as well because she hadn't heard so much as a rattle from them. Was it Amabel? If so, she knew she wouldn't be able to look at her the same way again.
Realising that the couple, for lack of a better word, had gone silent, Jody quickly swung the main door to the toilet open before running into a random cubicle and slamming that door behind her. Sure enough, she heard the door to her far right open followed by footfalls and finally the main door opening. Once she heard the soft click of the door close, she immediately flung herself out of the dirty cubicle, heading straight for the basin.
"Dirty arses didn't even wash their hands."
Jody's head snapped up, her gaze falling upon the mirror where she saw Amabel emerging from the cubicle in the middle. Remembering what they'd just overheard together, she blushed and looked back down at her wet hands under the running tap, trying to find her voice.
"Yeah, well, I guess they didn't want to risk being seen..."
Amabel joined her, standing in front of the basin to her right. It was then that she glanced back up at the mirror and noticed Amabel's bloodshot eyes. She knew that look all too well. She'd seen it in the bathroom mirror at home the day she'd met Millie, and then more recently right after Luke had sent her an ultrasound photo of his baby.
"You know all about that, do you?" Amabel asked. Jody blinked, tearing her eyes away from Amabel's reflection. What had they been talking about again? "Wait. Did you and Dalton do it here too?"
"No!" Jody exclaimed, everything coming back to her. She turned the tap off, shooting Amabel a dark look. "We were too young!"
"What about you and what's his name..." Amabel's eyes lit up, despite their redness. "Tyler?"
Jody pressed her lips together in irritation, nearly retorting that she and Tyler didn't need public toilets because they had his room on the days both his mum and stepdad were working. Her eyes widened in horror. Why was she even thinking about that? Why did she have all of that availability worked out?
"We're both still fifteen," she managed to say before scurrying over to the hand dryers. She cringed. Still fifteen? Why had she said that as if it was the only thing standing in her and Tyler's way?! She needed the spotlight off herself, ASAP. She turned back to Amabel who was still washing her hands. "Anyway, the whole reason I came in here in the first place was to tell you I'm going home early."
Amabel looked up from her hands at Jody, appearing to be strangely subdued. "Okay."
As Amabel averted her gaze, Jody furrowed her eyebrows. 'Okay'? Just like that? She shook her head and muttered a 'bye' before exiting the toilets.
The next fifteen minutes went by waiting in the corridor for May-Li to pick her up but by the time May-Li arrived, Amabel still hadn't come out of the ladies'. Jody got into May-Li's car, unable to shake off the image of Amabel's bloodshot eyes seared into her mind.
.:. QK .:.
The next day, Jody laid in wait for Amabel to come into the gym and when she did, she grabbed her by the hand and tugged her over to the corner. Amabel shrugged her off with a scowl, asking her what the hell she thought she was doing. Jody didn't quite know herself but, for once, Luke and his problems hadn't been on her mind after completing her homework last night; Amabel's had, namely her weird behaviour as of late. That in itself was enough to warrant questioning; Amabel had to be going through something serious to displace Luke from Jody's thoughts.
"What were you doing in the toilets yesterday, listening in on those people?"
Amabel looked irritated. "You were listening too!"
Jumping, Jody frantically looked around to make sure no one had heard that. She didn't know exactly who had been in that cubicle together; it was quite possible that one or both culprits were in the gym right now, acting innocent. Either that or they were in the toilets once more, going for round two... or twenty. She shivered at the thought.
"Yeah," she began, turning back to Amabel and fixing her with a reproachful look, "but I already told you why I was there. Why were you? You were there for ages before I went in and you were still there when I left for home... It's not like you."
"And how would you know what's like me? You've only known me for three months, maybe four."
"Three months is enough to know that it's not like you to cry. I've never seen you cry before, not even when you found out you didn't get into the team."
"Shut up!" Amabel hissed, her eyes darting wildly around the room. "This is not the time or place! And I wasn't crying, okay?!"
Jody chose not to call Amabel out on her blatant lie. "Well, when and where, then, because I'm not going to stop asking until you tell me. Or do you want me to guess, instead? Because I've got a really good idea that explains everything!"
"Look, Gray, it's really none of your business!"
"Jody," she corrected, crossing her arms. Honestly, they should've been on a first-name basis by now. "Jody, okay? You called me that last Thursday, so I know that you can do it if you want to."
"Well, Jody, I don't want to or have to tell you anything. Just forget about yesterday, and we can both move on."
"Okay, so you do want me to guess? Fine. My guess is that you saw the guy you like go into the toilets with another girl, followed them, and then got upset when you realised what they were doing in there."
Amabel peered up at the ceiling and pressed her lips together, her eyes watering up, before bolting out of the gym. Jody watched on in shock; her so-called guess had been more jest than a serious, educated assumption. In fact, she'd started to think that Amabel was either asexual or a closeted lesbian. She ignored the stares from the others, including Brandon, and swept up the gear Amabel had discarded on the floor, wondering which one of these guys had struck Amabel's fancy and left her brokenhearted. For all she knew, it was one of Brandon's mates.
After locking Amabel's things away in an extra locker for safekeeping, along with her own, she searched the entire building for her sparring partner. Luckily, she didn't have to look very far, because she found her out back where the slackers usually slipped off to for a cigarette. Not that she'd ever been involved in that; she'd just happened to hear her fellow gymgoers discuss it from time to time.
"Amabel?" Jody called as she walked up to said girl from behind. "Are you okay?"
Amabel only burst into more tears, clamping her hands over her face. Jody swallowed deeply, feeling like a right idiot; if Amabel was okay, she wouldn't have cried in the first place.
"Look," she started, gingerly sitting next to Amabel on the brick ledge she was perched on, "I get it. I felt like shit when the guy I liked started going out with someone else. If I'd heard him getting it on with her or some other girl, I probably would've cried too."
Croaked laughter came from Amabel. "Oh, Jody," she said, throwing her head back and wiping at her eyes, "you're so stupid..." Jody stared back at her, flabbergasted, her face heating up. She'd just poured her heart out and this what she got in return? "Do I really look like the type of girl who'd cry because I heard a guy fuck a girl?"
"If you liked him, then yeah... Isn't that what happened?"
"No, that's not what fucking happened!"
Jody wrinkled her nose at Amabel's pottymouth. It was as bad as Kingsley's. "Alright, you don't need to swear in every sentence."
"I won't, then," Amabel said, actually cracking a wry smile. "But I think it's offensive that you think I cried because I like some wanker who gets it on in a public toilet. That's effin disgusting. Who knows how many STIs he has? Besides, I am so not interested in men."
Now that made sense. "So... you were upset because you like the girl, then?"
"Ugh, no! I'm not into girls! I'm straight!"
What? "But you just said..."
Sighing, Amabel shook her head. "I'm attracted to guys. If I ever had sex, it would be with a guy. I'm just not interested in a relationship with one."
"Why?"
"I hate that question. Everyone's always asking me that! My friends, my cousins, everyone! You know, they all think I'm a lesbian too, just because I don't talk about guys twenty-four-seven like they all do!"
"Okay, never mind," Jody said, realising that they'd gone off-topic. If she took any longer, Amabel would likely clam up and shut her out again. "Now tell me, why were you crying? You can lie all you want about yesterday but you just cried in front of me."
"Remember when I told you that it's not the right time or place?" Amabel asked, looking off into the distance. Jody raised her eyebrow but nodded. "It still isn't."
Jody couldn't help but let out a frustrated noise. Amabel had to be the toughest nut she'd ever tried to crack. Admittedly, it'd taken her two whole years to have an honest talk with Sasha before they became friends but that was different; she hadn't been trying. Amabel, though? She'd been trying since day one (of learning her last name) and still hadn't got anywhere!
"Relax," Amabel continued. "I'm not just saying this to shut you up. I mean it. I'll text you the name of a place later and we'll meet there. I just don't want to waste any more time today." She looked at her watch, immediately standing up. "I've been sitting out here for fifteen minutes already!"
The way she said it made it sound more like fifteen hours, but Jody got her point; Amabel wanted to make it into the team next year and so did she.
"Fine. Let's go."
A/N: After watching the other promo for 7B, I think I get why the writers have gone and wedged Piper in between Jyler; in season 6, we saw Jody realise she preferred Tyler to other guys but because we didn't see the reverse, the writers have Tyler take Piper to prom and then say 'she's not you' to Jody about Piper. This plot in itself isn't bad but it makes Tyler comes off as sleazy because it happens after he promises Jody that he won't get another girlfriend. I know that taking a girl to prom doesn't mean she's your girlfriend but 'she's not you' is something you say after you seriously consider 'she' as a partner. It just makes one wonder how many more times Tyler will waver over the years. I mean, this sounds like the beginnings of a weak husband: the type that has numerous affairs but comes back home to his wife after each one, realising he'd rather be with her than any of them.
Overall, Tyler's behaviour in the promo seems so OOC to me; why would he ever purposely hurt Jody? That's just not something he does. I'd rather that Jyler break off their understanding to not date others than Tyler do this while that understanding is still in effect. That's the only way this upcoming storyline will ever make sense to me.
As always, thanks to everyone who reviewed.
Emily—I write when I get inspired, so if I get inspired by that pairing, then sure!
yourfire—Believe it or not, I totally thought Kazima and Alex had crushes on each other, because of her smile when she had flashbacks about meeting him and his smile when he looked at the necklace she'd given him. They certainly had more chemistry than her and the Umblebys' son. But it was never going to happen because she was older than him and it was clear that he was to her what she was to Frank: the person they got off the streets and brought under Mike and May-Li's wing, thereby coming full circle and completing their arcs.
About Charlie and Alex, I honestly didn't see the appeal until I rewatched Series 7A. Before that, I found the Peeta/Katniss parallels and Alex's sister asking him if he had a crush on Charlie in S6 so forced, and on my first watching of 7A, I was against them because Bird seemed to have a crush on Candi-Rose in the penultimate episode and that just made too many in-house couples. Now, though, I can see Charlie and Alex getting together somewhere down the line (in the show). I see it as a comfortable love born out of friendship, not some incredible all-consuming passion. Kind of like Jyler, but not quite. Those sort of relationships are often the best ones.
I'm glad to hear that you enjoy the subplots. I, too, think it'll be hard to finish it all in 60 chaps but we'll see.