2 and ½ weeks

All you do is cry

Summary: As opposed to 9 and ½ weeks lol! Sandy, Kirsten, Berkeley, fight, break-up, something's wrong.

Disclaimer: I wouldn't be here if I did.

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Penultimate chapter. Enjoy it!

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'All you do is cry these days,' her roommate observed a few days later. I thought things were better now.'

Better. Better? Could they ever be? She still cried herself to sleep. She still cried when she woke up. She cried at children in the park, she cried at adverts for baby lotion and sometimes she simply cried at nothing.

'Kirsten? You and Sandy ok?'

Sandy. She didn't know what was going on there.

Saturday, after Kirsten's roommate had left they'd sat on the dorm floor until Kirsten cried herself sick, again. And Sandy had held up her hair as she crouched over the toilet.

She'd blocked him out and here he was helping her, again and again.

He'd tidied her room while she showered and then forced her outside. The sun had finally come out, the soggy campus was quiet and they wandered along in silence.

Silence. She didn't think she'd heard Sandy be silent. Eventually it was too much.

'Say something Sandy,' she begged.

He looked at her startled.

He wished he knew what to say. He wanted to say so much, to ask so much but he couldn't. For once he couldn't find the words and he also didn't want to pressure the fragile girl beside him.

'Please. It's weird you being quiet.'

It was weird being together like this she added silently.

Sandy gave a hollow laugh. 'I have a lot questions I know you don't want to answer. I want to talk about a lot of things but…'

'You know I don't want to talk about them?'

God, he knew her better than she knew herself.

'Yeah. And I don't think you're really in a fit state to talk about everything right now anyway.'

'I don't have any answers Sandy.'

'That makes two of us.'

More silence.

'It's getting dark,' Sandy observed. 'We should head back.'

Sunday, Kirsten's roommate had her boyfriend over and if the devil had asked her out she would have gone. As it was it was Sandy, offering to help her catch up on the work she'd missed. He had a test to study for and said they may as well study in company. He'd insisted.

It was a weird day, the relationship between them undefined, the silences sometimes so awkward and other times comfortable. Sandy would crack jokes and they'd laugh before suddenly catching each other's eye and stopping, suddenly, uneasily and going back to their work. Kirsten offered to make lunch, an offer that was politely declined and they laughed again. Sandy made cheese sandwiches which Kirsten insisted she could have made. She found herself rambling like him as she tried to pretend that her heart wasn't fluttering simply because his hand had brushed hers as he handed her the plate. The afternoon wore on and her Art History notes became less and less appealing. She began to watch him studying; stretched out on the floor, unruly black head bent over his textbook. It made her think of the last study session they'd had together. The next day she'd got her first C of the semester and not just a C, a C- to boot. She'd taken the paper to the mail truck that evening to back up her demand that Sandy help her study for the retake and 'actually study this time'. He'd laughed at that and the test was crumpled between them as he kissed her.

'You just need more practise,' he said when they broke apart.

'You mean more revision?'

'No, you need more practise at spending your study time making out and still getting As.'

'Are you gonna teach me?'

'With pleasure.'

Kirsten smiled slightly at the memory and then flushed when she realised Sandy knew she had been staring at him. Her gaze was swiftly returned to her file. Sandy grinned. If only she knew he'd been watching her too.

'Don't get all embarrassed,' he said, crawling towards her.

That just made her rosy cheeks colour further.

'I'm quite open to being stared at.'

'It wasn't…'

'Kirsten,' his voice was lilting teasingly, 'you were. Anyway, if it makes you feel any better, I was watching you.'

Her cheeks had to be crimson by now.

'Y-You were?' He was right beside her now and for some reason the close proximity was making her stutter. She dropped her eyes away embarrassed.

Sandy reached his hand across the few centimetres between them and gently cupped her face, turning it back towards him.

Kirsten couldn't breathe.

Her eyes were still puffy he noticed, the mauve shadows beneath them masked by concealer. Why hadn't he realised these things earlier? Probably because he hadn't been this close for a while.

'You've been crying,' he stated simply, his breath fluttering across her face.

Kirsten closed her eyes, willing the tears not to come.

'And you haven't been sleeping.'

'I thought you were becoming a lawyer not a detective.'

'Sometimes it's the same thing. Are you okay?'

She wanted to shake her head, cry into his chest but she'd promised herself she wouldn't cry about this in front of him again.

'I'm doing okay.'

'That's not the same thing.'

'Sandy…'

'You know, technically we never really broke up. You said 'you tell me' and you know what I say?'

Kirsten couldn't speak; he was too close, the lump in her throat was too big, she wanted him too much.

Sandy smiled, brushing a strand of blonde hair out of her face, 'I say no. That wasn't it. It's not over.'

And then he kissed her.

She shouldn't let this happen, she knew that. She didn't deserve this. But she didn't have the strength to fight; it felt too right.

And Kirsten kissed him back, nervously at first and then ravenously. She wanted him, needed him, had missed him so much. She pushed the guilt away, revelling in how much better he made her feel. Better. So much better.

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I know it's sort of sudden and strange that they can get back together like this but the title is 2.5 weeks so that's how it has to be.

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