Mel plopped down on to her bed. "Hey, Katie-" She began, before realizing that her friend wasn't there. Peeking into the bathroom, she saw the new window but nothing else.
With a frown, she sat back down. Apparently Katie was off hanging with her Master. For a strictly master-padawan relationship, they spent an awful lot of time together. Besides leaving Mel a bit lonely on their off time, it also worried her. Katie had already been a tad morally ambiguous (or had thought she was) and now the increased contact with someone who was definitely evil…
It was worrisome, to say the least.
- - -
"So… how was your nap?" Mel asked pointedly, eyeing her friend as she waltzed in the door some twenty minutes later.
Katie raised an eyebrow, looking a tad taken aback. "Um… yeah. I was. Until he came bursting in and woke me up." She stepped towards her bed to sit down, then paused. If Mel was looking for a fight, then she might as well get ready to storm off in a huff. Katie wasn't very good at deflecting her friend's energy.
"So where were you? I've been hanging around here for ages. If I'm going to be under room arrest I might as well have someone to talk to."
"I'm sorry I wasn't here. I didn't know when you'd be back, so I left." It's not like it was illegal or anything… After all, Obi-wan had forgotten to lock the door again in his preoccupiedness.
"You two spend an awful lot of time together, you know that?" Mel commented, changing the subject.
"What's wrong with that? We're sort of friends." Friends in the loosest sense of the word that was.
"How can you be friends with someone who orders you around?" It was more of a question than an accusation, but there was a definite undercurrent of why-him coupled with why-not-me.
"Why are you questioning me? I didn't do anything!" Katie protested, feeling defensive and very put-upon. She hated arguments with her friend, and even more so when she didn't even know what she did.
"Except for leaving me all alone! All the time!" Mel heard her voice rising, and felt bad for it but was unable to do anything. She'd gotten herself worked up, and it was going to stay like that. "When was the last time we actually had a conversation? About anything? Or even spent more than ten minutes in the same room, awake?"
Katie looked stricken. "I didn't realize…" She murmured, feeling suddenly the weight of all that she hadn't realized. Oh god, I've really screwed it up haven't I? Her knees gave way and she sat down heavily. "I'm sorry…"
"Just… try not to do to again, please?" Mel was still mad at her friend, but didn't have the heart to yell at her when she obviously understood. "I need you here for me."
Jumping up, Katie grabbed her friend in a hug, holding her tightly. "I need you too."
They stayed there for several long moments, thinking. Nothing else was said, but there wasn't anything that needed to be. Their moods might change faster than New England weather, and they might be sorely tried by the events ahead, but they'd have each other. As cliché as this might seem, it was more true than they might have wished.