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 Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 6:06 pm
The grapes her mother had given her had been whisked away by Nurse Sourpuss after Sarah Farrago’s first visit, the PJs from her second she’d been allowed to keep but the iPod from her third Imogen had had to keep secret for a few days just in case that nurse was on roster. Even with her mother doing her best Momma Bear act, coming to bring her the odd item and phoning her here at the hospital way too many times, Imo was sure it would have been confiscated. The other nurses were much more indulgent, Nurse Sourpuss would probably not even let her visit Aggie soon. She'd been pissed off when she'd leant about their sleepover and that they'd eaten pizza and was still on the rampage about it.
Getting Aggie her best friend back she’d been feeling better, she'd been feeling great, but now with music too?
Imo was well on the mend.
She wasn’t about to do backflips for joy because a lot of people had died, others still hurt and she’d lost a year. But Imo felt she did have to count her blessings. Tomorrow her mother’d be back to get her, Aggie remembered her, she could wear actual clothes rather than PJs and she’d get to eat something besides soup and illicit pizza. She’d survived whatever had happened at Barren Pines (and she still didn’t buy it was organ trafficking) and was going home for a week of R n’ R before she had to go to another school.
She was happy and healthy enough to be dancing a few light solo swing steps, anyway.
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 6:18 pm
Sue had definitely not been going to Barren Pines for dancing. He knew a few quick-steps his uncle had taught him; that covered it. And despite his newfound heritage of the Feline tribe, he lacked the grace necessary to bullshit his way through.
So when he (dressed in cargo pants and an oversized hoodie) walked in to find Imogen dancing, there was pretty much one thing he could do and one thing only. Watch, marvel, and wonder how the hell it was people could manage things like that without winding up flat on their a**.
"Talk about secret talents," he greeted her. A bit of a friendly curve tugged on his lips. Sue really couldn't tell you why if you asked him, but there was something about visiting Imogen that put him at immediate ease - which was probably why she was the lucky first stop today. Pushing the door closed behind him, Sue proceeded into the room without waiting for an invitation, approaching the unoccupied bed and fiddling with the zipper of his hoodie. "So, what're you? A cola or root beer girl?"
Cola or root beer wh--
The zipper tugged open cleanly. Out onto the bed spilled a bundle of soda cans, bags of M&M's, pudding cups, and jerky sticks. You know, just the survival essentials.
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 6:35 pm
Imogen finished the step, turning with a sway of her hips and a brilliant smile. It seemed like today was just getting better and better, for Sue was here for a visit and that was such a Good Thing. She had this weird instinctive trust for the guy and rather than question that, Imo was quite happy to just roll with it and enjoy his company. She was friendly by nature and anyway she had reason (more than she knew) to be grateful to him.
“Only secret depending on how much you remember.” The redhead raised her eyebrows and was actually joking about it – far cry from the girl who’d freaked out and demanded for a minute to calm the hell down the first time they’d met.
“Sue you are my hero, for you bring sugary contraband goodness.” She could have kissed him, really, as she grabbed a coke. It felt like forever since she'd had some goddamn caffeine and the tab was pulled and the sweet sweet first sip taken in mere seconds. It was no triple triple expresso but hell yes it was good.
"The best food has to be food given on the sly." Take that Nurse Sourpuss!
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 6:44 pm
"Well, it's not like I'm sneaking in beer cans or anything," Sue confessed apologetically, digging through the manifold pockets of his cargo pants to produce off-brand candy bars, "but ********, there's something to be said about visiting prisoners and good karma, right?"
The finishing touch, produced from somewhere beneath his pants legs, was a candy cane. Sure, it might be a bit after Christmas, but that just meant that they were a little cheaper and a little rarer, right?
"So," he seemed to grin a little as he offered the candy cane out to her, "how long're you in for?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 7:08 pm
“Caffeine is my poison really, so you might as well have. And I get sprung from the joint by the administration tomorrow.” She took the candy with her free hand and twirled it in her fingers before adding. “I am so looking forward to getting out of this place. About half everyone from Barren Pines is out now, including Aggie.”
Poor Laney was still along the Glasgow ward of course but not so many of the others were still about. She’d probably have got out herself quicker if the stupid shrink that the hospital had assigned to her hadn’t been the biggest b***h in the whole wide world (besides Kyle’s Mom anyway). Over-emotional was normal for her, kthx, not a delayed reaction to trauma.
Anyway, the lucky quick healers were all out already and were getting on with their lives. Imo was so ready to join them and the world at large again. Thinking of which -
“How’s life on the outside been treating you?”
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 7:19 pm
"Like crap." Sue shrugged. "So like usual." He didn't need to go into details. He could guarantee that Imogen didn't want to hear about the nest of roaches he'd found under the sink of his hotel room today, for example, or the guy he'd been stuck sitting next to at the only open computer in the public library who had smelled like he'd taken a bath in ranch sauce. Things would look up once school started, anyway, so why worry about it?
"Got to eat at a steakhouse yesterday, though, so it's not all bad," Sue decided, his tone warming up a bit again. Sitting himself on the bed, he tore into the wrapping of one of the jerky sticks and ripped a bite free. "What about you? Where's the first place you're gonna go to eat, once you're free?"
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 7:31 pm
“Well s**t.” She doubted Sue wanted heaps of her sympathy piled on him. Having a bunch of male cousins had taught her growing up that hugging and fussing and encouraging boys to share their woes (or most feelings actually) was not the way to go. Still, she sort of wanted to anyway and she bit her lip before taking another long gulp from her can of cola. Poor guy.
Subject change.
“Hmm, tomorrow once I get free I’ll find somewhere, anywhere that does good pizza. Smothered in cheese and toppings and where they have nothing at all like soup on the menu.” Pizza was Imogen's Anti-Soup.
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 7:48 pm
Good pizza. Oh god yes. Meat Lover's, with garlic sticks, and a ******** pitcher of graveyard soda....
"Want company?" It was a joke. Sue meant it as a joke, anyway. He wasn't really presuming to invite himself to pizza with a girl he'd barely met, especially not to intrude on her first day free of the hospital.
But if she said no, Sue was taking that as full license to be ordering pizza for himself that night. Just saying.
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 8:05 pm
"Why not!" Imo's delight was obvious.
She'd not even considered how they'd stay in touch after this or if Sue would even want to, she'd just assumed they would. When she considered someone a real friend, she pretty much assumed they'd always be friends. Sue, by virtue of being so oddly trustable and bonding over trauma and such, was pretty much a friend to her now. One she needed to get to know better but a friend. And so he was sort of stuck with her now.
"Will have to be a bit late so my mother has some time with me first, but after that, going for pizza would be great."
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 8:12 pm
... Or she might prove herself to be totally ******** insane, and take him up on it.
The odd thing was that Sue accepted this. He didn't stop to inspect it; didn't wonder if it was a trick, or if she was just pulling his leg in return. Imogen wasn't the sort of girl that he could apply those things to, where she might have been teasing or cruel or in any way fake. When she lit up like that, it was because she meant it, and that was all.
Clearly, Sue decided, her amnesia had allowed his reputation to slip through the cracks. Lucky him.
"I don't mind late," Sue answered honestly. He'd been sleeping in a little later every day, now that he didn't have anyone telling him when he was supposed to be up - another week, and he'd be going to be at dawn, anyway.
These hospital rooms always had a pad of paper near the bed - Sue searched it out, produced a pen from a bedside drawer, and scribbled down a few digits. "This's my number where I'm staying, right? Give me a call and tell me where, and I can hop a bus over." As an afterthought, he wrote his name in sprawling letters at the top, first and last both. Just in case Imogen forgot it or something.
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 8:38 pm
She tucked the number away safe once he’d passed it over. Imogen really had no agenda at all beyond wanting company and a good Hawaiian pizza (nor memories of any reputation since she'd never been one to gossip and they just simply had not crossed paths at BP). She snagged some paper to write her own number in return. Amused at getting his ‘autograph’ on her slip of paper, she added hers above her number, signed her name before offering it to Sue. Imogen Farrago, that was her!
“Here, in case you need to call me if your plans change or something.”
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 8:50 pm
"They won't."
It was a stupid promise to make. Sue wasn't really planning his days anymore - he just drifted wherever people were that were worth his time. For all he knew about tomorrow, the ghost of Barren Pines would rise from its grave and hunt down the Zodiacs, and Zue would be needed somehow.
But... for what it was worth. Anything short of that, and Sue had no intention of missing the pizza-date.
"So, look - pick out what'll last you to tomorrow, and I'll help you hide it around the room," Sue instructed, folding the paper and tucking it into his pocket. "I got some other friends that'll be happy for the rest, I'm sure."
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 8:58 pm
"Rations to last me through my last night hmm?" She joked before grabbing a few things; jerky stick, pudding cup...easily hidden and hey, it was sort of like a mini meal. You had your meat main course then a dessert. Really. She might even order up some of the soup to have as a starter. Or not. Imo would be surprised if she could ever have soup again without thinking of this place.
"There, that leaves a plenty for the others stuck here in this oh so cheery ward of fun." Another warm smile. "Thanks for this Sue...and I'll ring you tomorrow when I can. Got some pizza to track down."
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Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 9:19 pm
Plenty and plenty; Sue was going to be the Santa Claus of Barren Pines. He might even be able to make up somewhat for the jerk he'd been prior to the apocalypse hitting. (At least, until he proved he was still the same jerk after, of course, just one that might be more willing to approach people.)
"Right, right," the boy agreed, packing up the remaining junk food carefully back into his clothing. In no time at all, all signs of contraband had vanished; there was just Sue in a baggy hoodie, with his hands tucked into the front pockets. "Take it easy then, Imogen. Talk to you tomorrow."
And that was enough; Sue wasn't one for drawn out good-byes, especially when it was such a temporary one. He nodded briefly, and was on his way.
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