Desperate Measures (Lucy)

[Carleigh Davidson]

Backdated to: March 19th, 2015

What was she thinking?

Carleigh sat on a couch in the common room of her dorm, head in her hands. 2 am. While it wasn't unusual to see her awake at this time, the context was a little different. Still wearing a dress, makeup smudged, and only one heel on her foot. At this point, she had lost track of the other one.

Leave it to the blonde to go to a party not specifically intended for her, but still end up upset over it. She slowly lifted her head, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand. Everyone had been older than her by at least a couple of years, and never had Carleigh ever felt so out of place. A few drinks couldn't give her the sense of belonging, either. A few more and she was trashed. Somehow, she had managed to make it back to Hammel in one piece without bringing any attention to herself. A miracle, really.

The loneliness tugged on the very drunk Carleigh's heart. It took her a moment to find her phone, scrolling through the contacts. Even in this state, she knew the name she was looking for. The contact who had once been called Wifey, now #1 Bae.

Dialing, she lifted the phone to her ear, silently shaking with each sob. Lonely. So lonely. As soon as the dialing stopped, Carleigh called out "Lucyyyyy, oh my god Lucy," in a slurred voice.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

It was a Thursday night. Well, really, it was a Friday morning by the time Lucy's phone started to ring. At around two, she'd been asleep for hours. Like she always was when she slept, Lucy was pressed as intently into her counterpart's side, an arm draped across her form loosely despite the way she kept herself so close.

Janelle Monae's Electric Lady was the most blaring thing available to cut that silence; a phone call at the late hours which she was sure Penny would blame on some Australian relative not understanding the difference in a time zone. It was difficult given the placement of her phone and how she opted to sleep against the wall; reaching for the device meant leaning over her completely. And the moment she did, of course she stirred.

"I know, I know," Lucy pointed out, before a potential argument could flare up between herself and the psychometrist who was always a little bit clingy herself when she was tired.

Cautiously, she pulled the device from the cable that charged it, falling away to her back on instinct. Drawing it to her ear, she was immediately graced with a familiar voice in a very sorry state. "Mmm," Was the only response she could think to give, eyes shutting tightly at the mere idea she'd been so suddenly jolted awake.

"What?" She then asked, genuinely.

[Carleigh Davidson]

Thursday. It was Thursday. Carleigh had school tomorrow. She had classes in a few hours. The thought briefly flickered across her mind, and she groaned to herself. But she was too out of it to really focus in on how much she would regret this in the morning.

With her free hand, Carleigh pushed strands of blonde hair off of her forehead, leaning back against the cushions of the sofa. Waiting for her to pickup. She didn't really know why she was calling, what purpose it served, until the familiar Australian accent graced her ears. Even in her current state, it was enough to draw out a smile, as shortlasting as it was.

"Oh hey! Thank God you picked up." Carleigh loudly exclaimed through hiccups, from the alcohol and the tears. "Lucy, Lucy... I'm just... I'm so glad you picked up. You're the best." She went off on a tangent. "Like, I feel so... I feel so lonely.. but you answered. You know, it just means... it just means so much to me. You know?"

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy felt the sting in her eyes, the desire to throw her phone and fall back to sleep becoming more and more paramount as seconds ticked on. Not because she disliked Carleigh by any means - rather, she was in friend-love with her - but at that hour of the morning, it was rare to catch Lucy not sleeping sounding.

And it only took seconds to catch onto what was going on; to realise from the dramatic phrasing to the heightened pitch to the lengthy way in which she offered her words that she was, without a doubt, well and truly travelling up the highway of totally way.

"Are you for real?" Lucy finally managed, feeling the urge to sit up. But she couldn't; such movements were difficult with a person right beside her. Lucy could only imagine the thoughts running through the very awake psychometrist's head at that point. She doubted it'd take much insight for her to figure out who Lucy was speaking to.

"Where are you?"

[Carleigh Davidson]

"For real? Yeah, I'm real." Carleigh answered innocently, in her confusion. It hadn't dawned on her that it was early in the morning. Too early. Her gaze flickered through the common area, not taking in anything in particular. Her head was spinning and the tears kept rolling down her cheeks, in silent paths.

"I, I'm in my dorm. Like, the main area. Not my room room, you know? Like... the couch. I am.. on a couch." Carleigh sniffled, wiping her nose with the back of her hand.

"It.. I am just so lonely, you know? Do you ever feel that sometimes? Just so alone. So, I figured I would like, call you."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

So Carleigh was in the dorms; at least that was one positive thing to take out of this. Lucy felt her mind slowly catching up to the situation at hand. In moments, she might feel the draw to go and find her build, but as Carleigh rambled to her from the other end of the phone, it didn't seem like such a bad thing.

The loneliness, though? Slightly worrying, honestly.

"Are you-" She started, but there was no need to finish that sentence. Carleigh was clearly drunk; even the most sobering tired mind could piece that together within seconds.

So Lucy opted for an altered approach. Dark eyes opened so she might stare at the clear-white ceiling of her counterpart's room, the phone still pressed to her ear as her free hand dragged her hair off her forehead. "That's so stupid," She stared, exhaling an audible sigh within the small break she provided, "You're like, the nicest, brightest person in the world. You're the literal sun." An easy throw the to burst of colour that covered one of her bedroom walls; "Why would you be lonely?"

[Carleigh Davidson]

Staying on the phone allowed some part of Carleigh to keep preoccupied. To keep distracted from her less than sober mind. She sunk further into the cushions, leaning her head back to stare up at the ceiling while blinking repeatedly.

She waited for the rest of Lucy's sentence, the rest that never came. Not that the blonde was in a state of mind where she would remember after the moment passed.

Shifting, she sat upright again, stomach churning with the sudden motion. Blue eyes moved to look back at her dorm, the place where the sunshine was. On her wall, permanently painted on the surface. "I.. I don't know Lucy. But it's just so lonely. And..and I try so hard." She paused to swallow the lump in her throat. Carleigh likely made little to no sense, incoherent thoughts struggling to find the right words. It was hard enough when not intoxicated, and damn near impossible now. "I, like, can't explain it. I can't."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Carleigh was digging herself in somewhere between loneliness and trying so hard. At what, Lucy couldn't say. She didn't rightly understand anything about their conversation beside the fact that she was clearly drunk and clearly being affected by it. It wasn't as if she'd never had a heart to heart with the blonde about personal things, it was just that this was... Different.

Things fuelled by way too much alcohol always were.

The sounds that accompanied the breakdown of Carleigh's words were the most worrying. It took a tired mind a few spare seconds to really piece everything together. And the moment she did, she reeled a hand away from her hair, pressed it into the mattress and hauled herself to sit up.

"Why're you crying?" She asked, immediately drawing the fallen blanket over her counterpart's shoulder with her free hand now that she herself was upright, "What happened?"

[Carleigh Davidson]

To Carleigh, she was making perfect sense. Her words were conveying exactly what she was thinking; which was true in a sense, since her thoughts were as muddled as her words.

Friends; a singular friend in Lucy Serrano. It was quality over quantity, but even so, the blonde couldn't help but wonder if there was something wrong with her. She tried to be someone that everyone would like; to appeal to different people. But where she ended up, Carleigh likely wasn't going to make any friends at the party she was at just an hour or so ago.

"Well...I don't really know." Carleigh admitted with a frown. "Like, I was out... at a party I saw. And it just, didn't really work out. I knew nobody. God, I felt like such a loser."

"I tried, to reach out, you know? Talk to people and.. and meet new people but.." She trailed off, unsure of what point she was trying to make, if any.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

As Lucy listened to the disjointed story handed to her, she felt the corner of her mouth pull downwards. It was bad enough that it was so early in the morning - or late in the night, or whatever - but there was a clear part of Carleigh that felt the need to reach out. To her, of all people.

And she should have figured that that made sense. After the relatively pressing conversation they had not too long ago, it should have been cemented in Lucy's mind that she was at the line when it came to who Carleigh might call when things were grim,

"Hey, it's fine." Lucy replied, a frown replacing what little composure she had left, "You're not a loser, you're just off your face."

Like that was somehow a better explanation? The softer tones to her own voice reminded her that there was little anyone could say against how they said it. By now, within her years, she was completely adept at talking a drunk person off a ledge; "What can I do?"

[Carleigh Davidson]

It didn't necessarily bother Carleigh that the one person she could call was Lucy, but a small, more sober part of her wondered if she was annoyed by the phone call at this time of night. She hadn't been thinking, sitting on the couch of her dorm as she dialled the number. "I'm sorry." She apologized into the phone, frowning.

"Both, probably." She corrected, with a slurred voice. A loser who was too drunk to even think properly. To talk without hints of the eventful night she had.

"Lucy... Lucy, you're the best." Carleigh repeated. "Can you come over? Or.. something. Meet somewhere." She didn't know where, or how she was going to get there, but the walls could provide some sort of stability for the blonde. "I just, I just really need someone... to see."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy was quick to respond to the apology handed to her over the phone. It was the kind of answer she didn't need to think about before it passed her lips; "Don't even." Lucy offered lightly, well aware that taking the brighter tone was the smartest way to go about a drunk person's mind.

"Nah, not both." Lucy went on to correct her. Of course, she really had to.

And she felt the form beside her twist, turning from facing away to facing inward as the ink manipulator's attention was completely drawn into the way Carleigh rambled. Her free hand immediately worked to filter through the familiar head of dark hair beside her, the instinct taking over any prior thought that she shouldn't reach out. But Lucy was silent as she contemplated the best answer. Really, it took no effort at all to consider her options.

"I-" She started, but the second she kicked off the mark, she felt the hand around her waist tighten instinctively. It was enough to drag the rest of her sentence out on a breath; of course, she knew Penny was awake, but conversing with her over a call hadn't crossed her mind. "Yeah, sure." Lucy finally conceded, as if she truly had to think at all, "Give me a few to get dressed and I'll catch you. Okay?"

[Carleigh Davidson]

Exhaling a sigh of relief, Carleigh took in her words, even if they were empty and just there to assure the drunk blonde that she was going to be alright. But she knew that there was meaning and a truth behind each word. Even with a mind that wasn't all there.

Carleigh waited for an answer, staring straight ahead with a blank expression. Vacant of any real thoughts; time seemed to pass at a slower rate. It was entirely possible that it was just the effect of the alcohol running through her system.

As soon as Lucy said yes, the blonde sat up a little straighter, beaming. "Okay! Okay, thanks... thank you so much." A pause. "I.. I think the door's unlocked. So, just come in.. whenever you're here." Carleigh told her.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Agreeing to leave the comfort of her bed - and in turn her counterpart - in order to attend to a clearly weary, tired mind was hardly something anyone could have expected. Lucy was adept enough at handling a drunk person, and she knew what it was to get so inebriated without a second mind to bounce the concept off. It did no favours to leave her on her own, despite how she was clearly needed where she was, too.

"Okay, cool. Just don't leave." Lucy pointed out, knowing well enough how an intoxicated mind could switch on any given moment. This was one she hardly wanted to alter. "I'll be up in a few."

Drawing the device away from her ear, Lucy glanced at it for a spare moment before her thumb pressed down to finish the call. Somehow, coaxing a girl out of crying more was the easy part of this entire ordeal, because as she placed the device on the bed, that hand reached for her shoulder instead. "Hey," Lucy tried, offering little pressure despite how she knew she didn't need to. Fingers tracked the length of the arm that held her slowly, curling around her wrist in order to threaten to ease it away, "I gotta go for a bit."

[Penelope Serrano-Blaise]

Penny was one to wake up relatively easy at night. Small shifts caught her attention in ways that it wouldn't most. Any movement she made, Penny was often aware of on some level. Needless to say, the blasting music that came from Lucy's phone jolted her up before it even had the ink manipulator. Still, she recognized the sound immediately, squeezing her eyes shut as the Australian who had been so content curled up next to her instead reached for it.

Wide awake but barely moving, Penny kept herself quiet for the duration of the call, only occasionally offering signs of life for the ink manipulator to catch. Anything to bring her back in.

Yet a story was being pieced together incredibly quickly. Even while only hearing Lucy's side of the call, and the very faint blubbering that came from her phone, she was cued in with the proper information quickly. More importantly, the fact that Lucy sounded as if she was planning to leave.

The call ended and a familiar hand pressed to her shoulder; finally Penny opened her eyes to try and catch sight of Lucy through the darkness. To see if she could see the evident look of distaste she wore. "No you don't." Penny pointed out, likely too factually for her own good. An arm wrapped around Lucy's torso, fingers applying enough pressure to keep her from properly moving.