"Looks like your little stand did not go unnoticed," Chris remarked, a smug smirk adorning his lips. The girl didn't respond, but he could see she was shaking. An unpleasant feeling stirred in his stomach when her trembling seemed to intensify as the seconds ticked by. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, taking a tentative step towards her. Melinda shook her head, her arms coming up to wrap around herself. "Something feels wrong, tell me what's going on," Chris pressed, but she only shook her head harder.
The jingle grew louder, even Wyatt seemed to notice, and he scrunched his face, before orbing away. Chris took a second to make sure he'd returned to his room, before focusing solely on the girl in front of him.
"Melinda," he said, slowly making his way over to her. He saw her eyes snapping to his. "Melinda," he said, again, and she swallowed hard, her trembling subsiding a little. "Look, I don't know what's happening, but you need to go up there," he said, trying to sound as comforting as he could.
"No, no, Chris, please! Please, don't make me, please, I don't wanna go!"
And suddenly Chris found himself holding an armful of a crying teenager. Her arms latched tightly around his neck, her fingers snatching at his sweater. Her face hid on his chest and Chris' could feel her whole body heaving with sobs. His alarm spiked, but he could think of anything else to do, other than hold her as she cried.
He tried not to think how sad it was that this had been the first type of physical contact he'd had in months. He tried not to think how easily she'd thrown herself at him, seeking comfort. He tried not to think when was the last time he'd felt at ease enough around someone to demand they comfort him as freely as Melinda was currently doing. Instead, Chris moved his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him and resting his chin on top of her head. She was so much smaller than he was...
Really, Christopher, you've known this girl for a day, and you are already hugging her? Sometimes I wonder how you are still alive.
Yeah, Chris often wondered the same.
The Elders hadn't stopped calling, on the contrary; it was progressively getting louder, and Chris feared it would wake up Paige. And wouldn't it be just awesome if that happened?
"Melinda, look I..." he trailed off, not knowing how to continue. By now she'd almost stopped crying, he could only hear small hiccups coming out of her mouth. He pulled her at arms' length, and looked her in eyes; "We can't stay here any longer, if they keep calling and Paige wakes up-"
"But I can't go up there, Chris," she said, her eyes filling up again. "You don't understand," she mumbled, miserably and Chris felt something tug at his heart at the familiarity of her tone.
"I'll come with you," he said without an afterthought. "I'll be there, the whole time. We'll make it quick and then maybe you can tell me what's going on?" Chris didn't mean it to come out as a question.
Melinda avoided his gaze.
"We really need to go," he pressed, squeezing her shoulders with his hands. "I won't let anything happen to you," he promised, surprising himself. Where had that come from?
Melinda looked at him then, eyes red and puffy, her lips swollen from all the time she'd spent biting on them and he knew he meant it.
Chris wasn't going to think about that now.
"Okay," she said her voice small. Okay, he mouthed back at her. He was about to orb, when he felt her fingers gingerly wrapping around his own.
What was happening?
And they orbed out.