Disclaimer: Still and always belonging to Jon.
A/N: CHRISTMAS! WOOOT! dons a Santa hat
…wadaya mean, it's May? Stop crushing my soul, will you?
Anywhoo, yes, chapter four. I actually started it off quickly and was rolling along at a positively tra-la-la pace. Then came the Chenzel ficage that I'm totally not admitting to reading because, hey, I don't ship reality-people. Really, I don't. whistles, kicks folder full of collages behind back Anyway, I got slightly distracted—slightly, I tell you!—and so this took a little longer than I'd originally intended. So sorry. I should be flogged. teasing grin And I could so add something dirty to the end of that, but it would only prove that one of my dear perverted friends has indeed corrupted me on a level that means I must forever pay her nickels for every gutter-thought that ever crosses my mind—and I'm totally babbling. Wow. Sorry. On with the chap.
Dec. 25th, Part I
The first thing Joanne processed on Christmas morning was the darkness behind her eyelids. She wondered what the hell had caused her to wake at what was surely the most unholy of hours when she should so clearly still be unconscious and drooling into her pillow.
Then the second thing registered—in other words, the bouncing—and it clicked.
"Wake up, sleepyhead!"
Joanne moaned, rolling over as best she could with a way-too-exuberant bohemian straddling her midsection. "Mmph," she managed to say, though what she'd attempted was, "What the hell are you doing? Get the hell off of me, you sick freak, it's three in the fucking morning."
Ignoring the groan and all that it was supposed to convey, Maureen simply bounced again, jostling her roommate obnoxiously. Joanne wrestled with the frustrating wakefulness that was starting to overcome her mind, hoping she could push down the sensations that came with having Maureen riding her like a pony in her excitement and just go back to sleep.
The butterflies, coupled with a heated sensation in an unfortunate region, however, didn't seem to want to cooperate with that idea.
Sighing helplessly, Joanne opened her eyes. "Why do you hate me?" she asked, almost conversationally. Maureen beamed down at her.
"Honey, you're sleeping away Christmas! That just can't be allowed!" Another bounce, rocking her pelvis dangerously into Joanne's stomach. The smaller girl bit her lip and forced a grimace.
"Maureen, it's only—" She struggled with her left arm, trying to untangle it from under Maureen's leg enough to see her wristwatch. When this failed miserably, she continued anyway with an estimate: "Somewhere between two and six. This is the time when Santa's still making his rounds. Good little girls should be asleep."
Maureen pouted. "You're such a stiff, Joanne."
"And you, my dear, are certifiably insane." Rubbing her eyes with her free hand, Joanne sighed. "All right, since you're so big on deals, here's one for you: give me another half hour of sleep. Then, I promise, you can haul me right out of this bed and have your lunatic way with me. Okay?"
Maureen considered this for just enough time for Joanne to kick herself for reminding the brunette about the original deal—a concept that Maureen had, miraculously, not touched in a month. Then, offering a reluctant little nod, Maureen rolled off of Joanne and curled herself tightly against her roommate's body. Joanne sucked in a surprised breath.
"Maureen?"
"Hmm?"
"What are you doing?"
Maureen lifted her head from its resting place on Joanne's shoulder. "Come on, Jo. I know you well enough to know that, if I go back to my own bed, you'll be out like a light and I won't be able to get you up for hours. This way, I have some control over how far back into dreamland you slip."
Yeah, you've got control. Maybe a little too much of it.
"Oh," Joanne replied in a slightly-strangled voice. Maureen smiled and huddled back into her, snaking an arm around her waist in a disconcertingly-possessive fashion. Joanne, for her part, forced herself to lie very still, fearing that this might be yet another sensory-encompassing dream. The dreams had taken it upon themselves to visit her almost nightly, growing more and more vivid as the weeks rolled by. They'd even attempted to hack through her guilt and tension to invade her waking thoughts, which worried her. Control was a good thing. Losing control was bad. Time with her parents had taught her this lesson well; time away from them had cemented the idea permanently.
Maureen, though, was chipping away at the permanence. Joanne wasn't sure if she liked that or wanted to sprint as fast and far away from the other girl because of it.
Sleep, she reminded her dangerously-wandering mind. That's the deal. You get a precious thirty—well, twenty-eight, now—minutes. Don't waste them thinking.
Still moving about as much as a moss-covered boulder on a hilly plain, Joanne forced her eyes closed and tried to focus on anything but the warm body against her own. It took a few minutes, but she managed to reach the place where she wasn't thinking about the curls tickling her cheek. Or the hand that was tracing circles so absent on her hipbone that Joanne wasn't sure it was even an intentional motion on her roommate's part. Or the sensation of Maureen's cheek against her neck—
"Time's up!"
Oh, shit. Joanne gritted her teeth. No way had thirty minutes flown that quickly, but what would possibly come of telling Maureen that? It was surprising enough that the crazy girl had relinquished control to Joanne for even the amount of time it took to strike up the deal; she'd never give in further.
Besides, Joanne reflected with a sigh, she wasn't getting any shut-eye with Maureen in her bed. Might as well get up and face the reindeer.
"All right, you win," she grumbled, rolling to the edge of the bed and teetering there, precariously close to falling right off. "I'm up."
"You don't look it." Maureen had clambered over to her again, her head cocked as far as her neck would allow to peer at Joanne's dangerously-perched form. "Come on, Joanne, I want to give you your present!"
She bounced several more times, threatening to dislodge Joanne from the bed entirely. The smaller girl rolled back to look up at her in surprise.
"You got me a present?"
Not looking even remotely shy about the situation, Maureen nodded. Then, appearing to rethink the question, she mused, "Well, maybe not got so much as made…ah, you'll see. Come on, get your ass up before I get too impatient and just tear the paper open for you."
Baffled, Joanne allowed the too-energized young woman to grasp her by the arm and haul her from the mattress. "I-I didn't realize we were going to—," she stammered. Maureen made an impatient jerking gesture with her free hand.
"Oh, shut it. You're helping me pass Calc. That's enough of a gift for a year, trust me."
Joanne shook her head. "No, that's…I mean, I should've…I wasn't thinking about—"
"Joanne." Maureen had paused in rummaging through the trunk at the foot of her bed. Rising to her feet, she took her friend by the shoulders and gave her a hearty shake. "Listen to me, okay? Stop trying so fucking hard."
Joanne swallowed. "What?"
"Remember the deal we chatted about? The one where I was to drag you out of your frighteningly-compact little shell?"
"I remember," Joanne replied nervously. "I also remember you promising to read a novel a month. Don't suppose you've held up on that one."
To her surprise, Maureen gave a wicked grin and reached beneath her pillow, withdrawing a hard-backed copy of 1984. She tossed it at Joanne, who reacted just in time to keep the cover from smacking her in the face.
Eyeing the book suspiciously, uncertain if it would explode or not—one could never be sure with Maureen—Joanne asked, "Are you kidding me?" Nowhere near the most brilliant of things she could have said, she realized, but it was three-thirty in the morning and Maureen had just told her she was actually reading in what little time she spent away from her roommate. Excuse me if I'm a little perplexed by the whole thing.
Maureen shrugged coolly. "I've been reading it when you run off to the library. Gotta say, honey, I'm not sure Winston was cut out for the superhero biz. He seems a bit pathetic."
"He's not—that is, he's—dear God, you're serious." Joanne was perfectly aware that her mouth hung open. Maureen flashed another grin.
"What can I say? I like to keep my promises."
"But…why don't you read when I'm here?" Joanne slowly sat down on Maureen's bed, processing what this meant: She's actually going to make me fun. Shit. She didn't forget.
Not that I really thought she had, but a girl can hope…
"Why would I want to ruin the surprise?" Maureen arched an eyebrow, turning back to her trunk and fumbling through it again. "You know how I love surprises—ah hah! Here we are."
She swiveled around again, grasping a thin, rectangular package between her hands. Her face couldn't have looked more excited if their roles had been reversed and the gift had been offered to her. Flopping down next to Joanne, she dropped the red-paper-wrapped present directly in her friend's lap.
"Open it," she commanded, when Joanne proceeded to only stare at the gift as if she'd never seen anything like it before. Snapping free of her reverie, Joanne obeyed, tentatively working her fingers through what felt like four layers of scotch tape. Peeling back the paper, she found herself facing the back of a frame.
"What is—," she began, turning it tentatively in her hands. Shockingly, an image of herself stared back at her. The sketch looked to have been done in a talented mix of pencil and charcoal; in it, Joanne's likeness looked mostly-serious, excepting the tiny smile that flickered in her eyes. Joanne, who had never been much for art, thought it was one of the most beautiful things she'd ever seen.
"You like it?" Maureen asked eagerly, leaning forward and resting a hand on Joanne's knee. Unable to speak, the smaller girl nodded, eyes glued to the picture. Maureen gave a squeal of joy and scooted closer.
"Great! I really hoped you would. It took me two weeks to get it perfect, honest to God, especially since I could only work when I knew you weren't looking."
Joanne gawked at her. "When I wasn't—Maureen, when exactly did you find time to do this without my noticing?"
"Mostly in English. Which reminds me: I'm going to need the past two weeks' worth of assignments from you, when you get a chance." Stretching out, Maureen laid her head in her roommate's lap and beamed up at her. "Merry Christmas, Jo."
Feeling just a little too-warm from the unexpected gesture and the closeness, Joanne could only whisper the words back. Maureen didn't seem to mind; she just snuggled in and closed her eyes. When she didn't move for several minutes, Joanne uncertainly touched her hair.
"Maureen?"
"Shh," the other girl mock-admonished. "I'm sleeping. It's four in the fucking morning, dontcha know?"