Cursed Summer Lazyness

[Alexandra Lawson]

Alex was out of shape.  Not horribly so, of course, but enough for her to feel it whenever she worked out.  With the new semester of school came the opening of mandatory training and practice for sports and other activities.  She was able to get back into the swing of cheer easily enough, what with the boot camp like practices Ellen Banks ran, but she was finding track coming along far slower.  She knew she would never be able to reasonably compete, of course.  Her slight frame didn't lend itself well to displays of pure athletic endeavors.  She had taken to the sport more for it's physical benefits than anything else.  Still, Alex was nothing if not stubborn and refused to look bad (or worse, really) in the eyes of her coach or teammates.

The music from her iPod drowned out the sound of Alex's breathing as well as the steady thuds of her sneakers against the hard surface of the track.  She'd been out there alone for a while now and was nearing the end of her aggressive session.  Clad in tight, black shorts and a loose fitting, sleeveless t-shirt bearing the Bellefonte Athletics logo, Alex had taken lap after lap.  She mixed up the training, pushing herself to sprint through long sections before slowing to let her heart rate drop.  By the end, the sweat poured off her brow and her shirt was soaked.

Rounding the last corner, as fatigue and the lure of the finish line took hold, Alex grew complacent.  She let her guard down for just a moment and stumbled.  She fell forward, hand coming out to brace her fall.  She hit the ground with a grunt, the hard, rough track surface catching her knee and opening a decent sized gash.  With a wince of pain, Alex sucked air in through her teeth and shifted to sitting position on the track.  She wasn't going to bother finishing.  The streaks of pain that shot through her torn, bleeding skin was enough for her to opt on packing it in for the day.  She brought her knee up to her chest, grimacing as she eyed the wound as the blood began to slowly spread across her skin.  her brow furrowed, though, as a pair of tall shadows loomed over her.  Peering upward, squinting in the afternoon sun, Alex sighed.  "Oh.  Uh.  Hey."  She murmured, her tone quiet and subdued.  "I'm fine.  I was just finishing, you can have the track."  She said to Casper & Jasper Emory.  She was speaking quickly, as she didn't want to fight with them again or be a bother, though she looked as though moving wasn't her first choice of activities at the moment.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

The brothers of course planned to stay in all of the sports they were in last semester, they needed ways to get out all of their energy. That and they were hoping that it would be a way to distract them and hopefully help them change. Franck suggested that they needed to change, so did Beth, and the brothers were feeling like that was what was needed. Not like they actually knew what they needed to do but they had worked on not viewing people as toys anymore. Then they were working on just mostly sticking to themselves. Or only involving themselves with others when it was something that they enjoyed doing; besides getting a reaction out of people.

It was certainly hard, but they were trying. They had heard stories of people putting all their efforts and energy into sports to keep themselves well behaved and making something of themselves. Perhaps that was something they could do, or at least try and see how it went. They had been heading down to the track to get in a good run in, with a plan to use their ability and see how far apart they could get this time and still be able to use their power. It was then that they spotted Alex; it was hard to not see the girl when they basically had her whole psychical features memorized.

Her hair was different, a bright red now, but her body still looked the same. If anything they were enjoying the view of her running in tights pants and a lose shirt. They likely would have stayed back and just watched if she had not fallen but as soon as she did they could not help but to go over to check it out. A small part of them wanted to laugh at her pain because she hurt them but another part of them just hurt seeing her that they were not really able to feel anything but a growing sadness. "No rush...you sure you are okay?" Casper asked as he knelt down. Jasper looked away for a moment before bending down; he then would reach out to move Alex's injured leg to see just how much pain she was in.

[Alexandra Lawson]

"Yeah. I'm okay." Alex murmured as she lowered her gaze from the twins. She had never known how to fully respond to them when they came around and recent events had made her confusion even worse. The last she'd seen either of the Emorys they were storming out of her dorm, leaving her in tears for reasons she still didn't completely understand. She supposed, though, in due time the Twins had gotten their wish. She was single now, something she assumed the twins would be h happy about.

Alex sucked air in through her teeth as she winced. Jasper had started working her leg, causing the abrasion on her knee to flex to flare up in pain. She let out a low 'ow' under her breath and grasped at her leg, just above the knee with both hands. "It's fine if you don't do that." She said, her tone still quiet and almost subdued. She fell silent for just a moment as an awkwardness unease settled over her. She didn't know what she could or should say. As confusing as the twins had been in the past, she still had considered them friends. Still did in every sense of the word in spite of their recent spat. "Uh. So." She glanced down to the track sitting beneath her as she attempted to drum up some small talk. "How have you guys been?"

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

Their former toy, former friend, and well they didn't know who she was to them now; but she said she was okay. The siblings didn't buy that after seeing the fall she took. They had always known Alex to be a little on the clumsy side, but they never had a problem with it. They honestly liked the girl the way she was; minus the whole being with a guy that almost killed one of them, but they were trying not to think about that at the moment. The Emory's had been working very hard in trying to just be in a good mood because lately things were sour and it just built up their hate for the world.

Jasper moved her leg on purpose, wanting to test if she was actually in pain or not. She was...even if she had a valid point on how it could just hurt when it was moved or touched. "It still hurts. Come on, let’s get it fixed up." Jasper said, practically demanding it as he reached to go pick her up. He then hesitated, looking at his brother, and then to the ground as he stopped from touching her or doing anything for the moment. They could not treat her like a toy; they had to allow her to make her own choices. That was what Beth had said and what Franck kept pointing out to them when he spoke of them needing to change or whatever.

There was a moment of silence, the siblings debating if they should just help her out, ask her if they could, or wait until she asked them for help. Then the silence was broken by Alex asking them how they had been doing. Did she actually care or was she just being nice? The brothers didn't know for sure. "Bad." The brothers both said at the same time. It was the truth and they didn't see the point in lying about it. "You?" Casper asked. "Can I pick you up and we clean that up?" Jasper then was asking soon after his brother's question. There, it was out of the way and now Jasper was mentally telling himself that whatever she decided he would just have to be okay with.

Even if he already knew that he would not be happy if she turned down their help.

[Alexandra Lawson]

For a moment Alex completely forgot about the pain shooting up through her knee or the embarrassment of having stumbled over her own feet in front of people. Surely it was more in the twin's nature to simply laugh at her and be off on their way but here they were offering help even if they were acting a little strange. Alex peered up at the twins, curiously taking in the sight of each one in turn before dropping her gaze. They were asking if she needed help and wanted to be touched? That just wasn't like them. Her brow furrowed and then she glanced up to them again.

The curt response caused Alex to wince, though she hoped it would just be shrugged off as being caused by her knee, rather than the single word the twins uttered in unison. 'Bad.'. She still didn't understand it fully but she knew she was partially to blame for any rough time they may have been having. She'd never seen the twins as upset as they were the day they stormed out of her room. "I've been better." She admitted. She figured the twins would probably be pleased to hear of her recent change in relationship status though she didn't want to see to eager to talk about it.

At first Alex didn't know what to say or how to respond. Was this because they didn't consider her a friend anymore? Was that what it took for them to start respecting personal boundaries? Nevertheless, they were offering help and Alex was, admittedly, kind of a wuss when it came to such things. She nodded faintly before reaching her hands up for Jasper to help her to her feet. "I can walk... sort of. If you could just help me get up." She said sheepishly.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

It really was in the nature of the brothers to tease, make fun of, and in general have their own fun at others expense. However; now they were actually working on changing and not treating people like they were simply their toys. It was still hard and in general the brothers just didn't want to deal with people if they could not mess with them like they liked but they were still giving it a go. For Franck's sake, even if Franck wanted them to do it for themselves and not for him. They didn't give a damn about people so had no desire for their own purposes so it had to be for someone.

They were getting a look from Alex, one that they were not sure if she wanted their help or was just confused by them offering help. They had helped her in the past so that part could not have been weird and it must have been the fact that they were asking to help her and touch her before just doing it like they would in the past. AS for how they were doing, well they were honest. They didn't see the point in lying and saying everything was perfectly fine when it was not. The only thing that was fine was Franck and that was still on an up and down from things going on here and there. Her response did have them wondering for a moment; since while they had been keeping up in her bushiness, they still didn't know everything.

"What’s been up...like why have you been better?" Jasper asked, trying to say it the right way but was not certain. He looked to his brother then, leaving it to him since Casper was known to be better with the whole kind and caring thing. She spoke of how she could walk, but the twins were still a little uncertain. Still, Casper reached out to take her hand and help her to her feet. He then would wrap his arms around her to be her support while they would walk to an area where they could clean up and take care of the wound.

Alex was too short to simply just bend over and let her lean on him and they would have preferred to carry her. However; they just stood by her, ready to help more if she looked like she was having some difficulty. "We missed you." The brothers spoke up in unison, figuring she should know.

[Alexandra Lawson]

A thin, tight-lipped smile turned toward Jasper as he helped pull Alex to her feet. It flashed through her mind how effortless it must have been for him to do so. She barely weighed over a hundred pounds soaking wet. A low sigh escaped as she then felt his arm go around her, taking on the bulk of her weight so she could keep the pressure off her knee. She followed suit, slipping an arm around his waist and holding onto him. "Thank you." She muttered softly.

Alex's eyes dropped to the ground beneath her feet at the simultaneous confession. She understood, perhaps more than she'd been able to express, where the Twins had been coming from when they confronted her about her previous relationship. They didn't look at people in the same way as she did. The relationships they built were different and she couldn't help but feel she had, in some way, betrayed them. "I missed you guys too." She admitted honestly. "I'm... I'm sorry for everything." She added quietly, still unable to bring her eyes up to look at either of them as they moved along. "You don't have to worry about, um..." She trailed off, not knowing if she spoke the name it would invoke a negative reaction. "He's, uh..." She paused and took a breath before being able to finish. "He's gone, so, yeah." There was no helping the faint wince that came with this admission.

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

It was indeed very easy to lift the girl up and in fact it was so easy it just made the temptation to carry her that much stronger. Why not just scoop her off her feet and that her where they could help her out better? That just seemed like the best idea to them and they would have done it in any other situation. However; they were trying to change and grow, to be different in some small ways. One of those ways was allowing others to have choice and not be as controlling as they had in the pass. If that meant they had to not pick her up or do things the easy way because she didn't want things done that way then so be it. They were at least going to try.

"No problem. You are really light so it’s not even a bother at all." Jasper pointed out. It was indeed true and it didn't really feel like he was lifting up anything. Yes, he could feel that she was there, the warmth from her, and the little bit of weight but compared to what they were used to lifting and trained with it was nothing. Then came their confession, one that kind of slipped out but they also really wanted her to know. She was one of those people who they grew to care about a lot and for things to have gone the way they did they felt a little empty about it. They felt like she was one of the few that actually cared for them, and perhaps they were wrong but they wanted to hear her say it.

The brothers were instantly smiling when she confessed that she missed them too. Part of them wondered if she was just saying it so they would keep helping her but they really, really wanted to believe that it was true. That she missed them and that they did mean something to her and in her life. She was apologizing then, making them feel the need to say sorry as well and just hug it out for a while. "We're sorry too." Jasper spoke up. "We...we should not have made it like you had to choose us or him or...well anything like that." Casper added, struggling a little bit.

Both the brothers were now as that emotion was starting to build up inside them and threating to take over. Alex was then saying more, the brothers not catching on at first until she said he. Casper was already reaching to place a finger carefully on her lips. "It's okay, we know. You don't have to talk about it." Casper assured her. He could tell it was causing her some pain and he didn't want that for her. Not when they were trying to make up and get her to understand that they were actually taking some of the blame here. Not all of it, but some.

[Alexandra Lawson]

Alex again missed a beat at the response she got from the twins. Were they really apologizing? Were they actually taking somewhat of a responsibility for their actions? She stammered a little, even though a warm smile played upon her lips. She didn't get much of a response out before she found a finger shushing her and she did ad directed.

Her body visibily relaxed in Jasper's grasp and she leaned into him slightly, letting him take on more of her insubstantial weight as they moved along. She nodded, thankful that they understood her apprehension about speaking on such a topic. "Thanks." She replied quietly. "Does, uh... Does this mean we're cool?"

[Casper & Jasper Emory]

The twins knew that Erin had to be a little shocked about all of this, since this was something that the twins were giving a go. It shocked them on some levels because they were not used to doing such a thing, but they wanted to try. They wanted their Alex back and if they could not have her as a toy then they wanted her as one of their people...their friend. They had cared about her since the time they met her, so of course they wanted her back. The siblings were not dumb, they might not have been super smart when it came to certain things but they knew she would not want to talk about such a thing.

Jasper could tell that Alex was feeling better around them, just by how he could feel her against his body and it made him smile. To think that all they had to do was apologize and Alex would be cool with them again. They would have done this a lot sooner; that was probably a lie, they had to first come to realize and accept what they did in order to make things better. "If you are cool with us, yeah." Jasper responded as he moved to help Alex sit down once they got to where they needed to.

There was a place to sit and a first aid kit close by so they could take a look at her injury and try to make it better. "You mind if I remove your shock and shoe to get a better look at your ankle?" Casper asked as he grabbed the first aid kit and was already looking around for what he figured he needed. They were not doctors but they were injured enough to at least know how to take care of certain injuries.