Chapter 24

"Afternoon..." Marcus strolled through doorway for lunch to find the sitting area full. Briana, Elspeth and Hope stretched out across the sofa's, and Tony and Lorraine were sitting two deep on one of the arm-chairs.

"Hey!" Shawna appeared from the kitchen with a plate for him, and a broad smile.

"Thanks..." he stood, rather stupidly, bag in hand, in the middle of the seating area as everyone stared at him.

"If you don't sit down," she told him, primly, "how am I supposed to sit on your lap?" She pointed towards Tony and Lorraine to illustrate her point, then shoved him with both hands towards the seat. He very obviously didn't move an inch, smiled, and then turned and walked to sit down, holding the plate out of the way as she settled.

"So..." Tony offered, as Marcus reached the halfway point of the first sandwich, "are you still OK with me moving out and Briana moving in?"

"Break it to him gently, Tony, good going." Briana mimed slapping him around the head, and Lorraine did it for her.

"From her." She pointed out, when he turned a wounded look her way.

"Um-hmm." Marcus nodded, mouth still full of ham and salad. "Whun?"

"Excuse me?" Tony replied, and Marcus exaggeratedly finished the mouthful.

"When?"

"I didn't really unpack fully, so I can probably be ready to go by tomorrow night — I've already got a room booked over there."

"I'm so desperate to move I can be here by... well, now, frankly." Briana added.

"Is it really that bad?" Hope asked.

"No, probably not. I'm just used to having the room to myself and... it's not good, sharing. I don't share well."

"I'll say." Elspeth added. "I lost count of the number of times I had to steal Shawna's duvet over the Christmas 'cause you stole all of ours."

"Briana Richardson, are you blushing?" Hope smiled, gently.

"No, it's just unseasonably warm." By the time the laughter had finished Tony and Lorraine were off to get the bus for their trip across town to lectures, and Shawna and Marcus got up to take all the plates and cups out to the kitchen.

"Hey, Hope." Elspeth leant forward, Briana following her movement. "How are you holding up?" She stared at them both for a moment, eyes narrowing for a moment.

"What's going on?" she finally managed, looking back and forth between the pair of them.

"We're... well, you've been through a pretty crappy holiday. We just wanted to make sure you were OK, that's all."

"I'm fine." She told them, bluntly. "It... shit happens, but I'm not a little girl, OK. I can deal with this, it's sad, I'm not happy, but I'm getting through it. I'm not helpless."

"Sorry..." Briana managed, after a few moments, fumbling for something to say. "We... just... if you need to talk to someone, you know. With Lorraine moving out, and so far as we know the only other people you talk to a lot are Marcus and Shawna, and they're all wrapped up in themselves right now, so..."

"Oh, look, I'm sorry, I didn't meant to snap, it's just everyone's been on about it, and I know that's understandable, but I want to try and get past it, get on with things. I don't want to keep harping back to it."

"Ok." Elspeth smiled, standing up. "We've got to go anyway, and we'll try not to mention it again... but the offer's there if you need it, yeah?" Hope nodded, and the pair of them smiled gently and left, leaving her on the sofa, drained and tired.

Marcus and Shawna returned to find the sitting room practically empty. Shawna flopped down into her armchair, seeing Hope's drawn face and closed eyes as Marcus took his bag into his room to swap his books out for the afternoon lectures. When he returned, Hope was still leant back on the sofa facing the ceiling without looking at it, and Shawna had turned on the TV, although she didn't appear to be watching it.

Marcus gestured towards Hope with a questioning look, but Shawna just shrugged.

"You ready for computing?" he finally asked, snapping Hope's eyes open.

"How long have you two been back in here?" she asked, a little distractedly.

"A few seconds for me," Marcus replied, "Shawna's been there for about five minutes."

"And you didn't ask?" She didn't need to say what.

"You didn't seem to want to talk about it any more." Shawna pointed out.

"Thank you." She managed, sniffling as she stood up, and Marcus came round the sofa on the way to the door. She snagged his arm and buried her face in his chest again, bringing a slight smile to Shawna's face as she saw his expression. Stepping up behind Hope she wrapped them both up in a hug until Hope's sobbing faded away.

"You guys are too good at this." She mumbled, muffled in between them. "Look at me, I keep ending up crying round here."

"Better out than in." Shawna told her, stepping back a little — and pulling Hope gently with her to get her away from Marcus who was looking twitchy. "You know you can always come here, right?"

"Yeah, yeah I know." She wiped at her face with her sleeves, laughing the last of the tears away. "Seems like everyone's telling me that lately. Bri and El just said the same thing."

"See, you have friends everywhere."

"Yeah, but... shouldn't it be Marcus and Briana inviting me here, or you and Elspeth inviting me there?" she pointed out.

"Yeah, I suppose it should. We'll worry about that later, though."

"We're going to be late if we don't get going." Marcus pointed out, grabbing his bag up from the floor, and lifting Hope's too. She gave him a little mock curtsey, and Shawna stepped around her to kiss Marcus on the way out.

Down the steps Marcus turned to wave to the window, and Hope saw the curtain twitch back into place before they set off down the hill towards the computing building. "You two are turning into quite the little married couple already, aren't you?" she smiled, taking her bag back off Marcus.

"What?"

"Lunch waiting for you when you get in, kisses on the way out the door, waving from the window as you go... how much money do you want to bet that Shawna sleeps in that flat more often than Bri does?"