*AN: Thanks for your faithful reading, friends. All plot ideas are solely my own, although I don't own characters from X-Men. Please review because there's nothing better than knowing people are reading your stories! ~Ruby Sunrise~
Something Out Of Nothing: Chapter 7
After her father's phone call, the horrific reminder that her life was not her own hit her like a ton of bricks. She retreated back inside herself, letting her shyness engulf her once more, and began dodging texts and phone calls from the few people who reached out to her, Alison included. In fact, for the present, Ororo almost reveled in the fact that Ali could do nothing to reach her. She just didn't think she could take any pep talks, sympathy, or even anger at this time; she was not in control of her own life, and it hurt too much to keep pretending she'd ever be able to have a normal existence. Instead, she did her homework like a zombie, rote memorization doing more for her than critical thinking at the moment, and ate alone in her room, shutting out any human contact.
The only appointment Ororo felt obligated to keep was the next night, when she met with Katherine Pryde to learn how to copy the newspapers. She was mostly silent throughout the training, which seemed strange to Kitty, since the day before they had laughed and shared stories with each other. "Everything all right, Ororo?" She asked as they finished up for the evening.
Her companion's eyes were dull, her answer short and to-the-point. "Yes."
"Really?" Kitty rifled through some petty cash to pay Ororo with for the training. "You just seem...I don't know, unhappy?"
The white-haired youth accepted her payment before answering in what she hoped was an even voice. "Oh, no need to worry. I guess I'm just quiet when I'm thinking things over."
They stepped outside and Kitty began locking the office. "Anything you'd like to discuss?" She looked imploringly at her new friend, trying hard not to press too much, since they didn't really know each other very well.
There was a tiny part of Ororo that almost wanted to give in, to dump all of her emotions out on this near-stranger, just because she was the first person that she'd spoken to since that crippling phone call, but ultimately, she couldn't do it...she had spent too many years practicing silence until it was her go-to defense mechanism. "It's nothing important." She let loose a small smile, trying to convince her companion that all was well, but Kitty was keen enough to notice that it didn't quite extend to her eyes. "I really have to be going now, though. I have some homework to finish."
"Okay, well, have a good night. Thanks for your help; I'm looking forward to working with you on the paper."
"So am I," Ororo told her more genuinely, and left for her own dorm after saying goodbye.
Piotr was expecting Kitty, so she began making her way towards his building, all the while pondering Ororo's strange behavior. Why would her personality have changed so suddenly? Is she actually more quiet and reserved like she was tonight, and yesterday was just a fluke? It didn't seem likely since Ororo had originally been quite friendly, clearly interested in her new companions and what they were saying, whereas today she hadn't asked Kitty a single question. "Ugh, people are so much more baffling than computers," she muttered as she walked along.
"Spoken like a true nerd!" Remy ribbed her, leaping out suddenly from the shadows nearby. Poor Kitty jumped about a mile.
"Remy LeBeau, I HATE YOU," she seethed, slapping his arm over and over. "Give me a freaking heart attack, why don't you?"
Her companion laughed and put up his hands in surrender. "You a vicious little sprite, neh? Just seen you walkin' along an' couldn't resist de opportunity."
"Well you can wipe that dumb smirk off your mouth, or else I can have Piotr wipe it off for you." Kitty raised her eyebrows at Remy's look of mock hurt. "That's right, I am not against playing the very-large-boyfriend card! And not to mention the fact that I'm sleeping over, so you just may find yourself left out in the hall in nothing but your boxers in the middle of the night." She grinned evilly. "Now that's a prank I can get behind."
"Wouldn't be no worse than the time you remotely changed my laptop background to de Care Bears right befo' I got up t' give my final Powerpoint presentation in Freshman Speech," Remy told her pointedly as she began to laugh. "Dat teacher still calls me 'Funshine' when he sees me."
"Professor Langley is a jerk," Kitty chuckled. "But you have to admit you deserved it, going on and on about how I was too short to reach things!"
"Girl, Piotr and I had t' lower de bar in de closet for you so you could reach your clothes wit'out a stepstool," Remy replied drily.
"Whatever, I'm just saying you'd better watch out for us little ones. We've developed superior intelligence to overcome our other weaknesses!"
"If you say so, chere," her companion grinned, and the pair began making their way towards the dorms again. "So, where were you on dis fine evenin'?"
"Training a new employee. Actually, I think you know her..." Her pause was calculated; she wanted to gauge his reaction. "Ororo Munroe?"
Remy's poker face was perfection as usual, and Katherine had no way of knowing that his heart leapt in surprise. "Yeah? How you meet her?"
"It was Piotr who introduced me. They spent a pottery class together yesterday and became friends. I guess it came up that you were Piotr's roommate," she offered, filling in details he was just about to question. "She said that you tutor her each week in Academic Watch."
"'Tutor' is stretching it. She don' really need my help," Remy shrugged. "She jus' fell in wit' me after havin' a bad week."
Kitty stopped short just before the door to their building. "Does that mean she talks to you then about things that are bothering her?"
"I don't know," Remy looked at her weird. "I mean, I guess so. Says she feels alone here, dat people aren't always nice to her. Tells me some experiences she had growin' up when we get to talkin', so yeah, I guess she opens up t' me."
"Then maybe you should call her this evening."
"Why, Kitty?" He squashed feelings of nervousness down and reached out to open the door for her, so they could begin making their way up the stairs.
"Something was wrong with her tonight at work. She didn't talk barely at all, whereas yesterday she was laughing and enjoying herself with me and Piotr. I asked her if she was all right and she basically gave me the brush-off, even though she was nice about it. Maybe she would tell you what's going on because you know her better."
Remy stopped on the landing and turned to his companion. "I'm not gonna call an' harrass her if she wanna be left by herself."
"You just told me she feels isolated here," Kitty pointed out to him. "Maybe the whole reason you two got put together was so you could change that for her." She shrugged and opened the door, continuing down the hall to Piotr and Remy's room, choosing to leave their conversation at that, but was pleased to find that Remy didn't follow her. Instead, she caught one last glimpse of him pulling his phone from his pocket in the privacy of the stairwell, as she greeted Piotr in the open doorway of the dorm.
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Ororo lay in darkness in bed, waiting for slumber to overtake her. She would usually put on music or a favorite TV show to fall asleep to since it made her feel less alone, but tonight she couldn't fool herself with outside comforts. Behind closed eyes, she tried not to worry about what dreams she would have that evening, especially since last night had brought back childhood terrors that she'd never quite forgotten. The young woman pulled her down blanket tighter around her in response, and willed her mind to stop playing games so that she could have a moment's peace, but it was then that the chiming of her phone broke apart the silence in the room. Probably Alison trying to reach me again, Ororo sighed to herself, and reached over to grab her cell, which was charging nearby. She was dumbfounded to see that the text was from someone else entirely, and imagined his drawl as she read the words.
'You awake, chere?'
Should I even answer back? Ororo pondered, still not wanting to talk to anyone really, but curious to find out what he wanted at such an unexpected time. 'Yes, but not for long,' was her eventual reply. 'How come?'
A few minutes later, Ororo was surprised when she received,'Just was thinkin bout you,' and had no idea what to say back. Luckily, he sent another text a short while after: 'How was your weekend?'
She wanted to be honest with him, with anyone, and say that she felt so out of control that she had to will herself to breathe, but that would expose her carefully portrayed façade, the one where she had it all together and was totally functional, never giving anyone cause for alarm. 'It was okay.'
'Only okay? Did somethin happen?'
Ororo's breath hitched. She hated to lie when she wanted nothing more than to yell and scream the truth about her life, but there was nothing she could say that wouldn't get her into trouble one way or the other. She felt tears forming at the corner of her eyes, but managed to type out two simple letters, the falseness of the text burning a hole in her heart. 'No.'
His text came in reply a few minutes later, but she wasn't sure she had sufficiently fooled him. He was far too intuitive for his own good, in her opinion. 'All right. Well, I'm lookin forward to seein you Thursday. Hey, you met my roommate and his girl, huh?'
'Yeah. They were really nice.'
'They said the same bout you :-) Maybe we can all hang out sometime.'
Ororo sighed before replying. 'I would like that.' He would never know how much she wished for normalcy she couldn't have.
'Well, don't wanna keep you from your beauty sleep, chere. Seems to be workin for you, after all :-)'
His compliment caught her completely by surprise, and she felt the edges of her face grow a little warm. She smiled for what felt like the first time in days, and replied as nonchalantly as she could, 'Thanks. Goodnight, Remy.'
'Goodnight, petit.' Ororo closed the phone and put it back where it was, covering up in her blankets once more, unsure of what to make of that entire conversation until a final chime broke into her thoughts. She reached over again and flipped her cell open to read, 'I'm always here to talk if you need me.' She made no reply, but rather unplugged the phone and cradled it next to her until she finally fell into the dreamless sleep she had been craving.