Spillage

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Lee dropped his suitcases in the corridor, cursing as the zip split open and several of his posessions spilt out onto the floor. Kira dodged the tidal wave of clothes and Christmas presents gracefully, her own bag held aloft.
"Maybe I should go get some help..." she said softly, biting her lip as she watched Lee drop to his knees, and begin to stuff everything clumsily back into his bag.
"No," he sighed. "No, it's fine. You go on, Kira. I'll sort myself out."
She hovered uncertainly. "Are... are you sure?"
"Positive," he said, conjuring up a much larger suitcase, and beginning to move his stuff into that. "Really. Go on."
"Kay," she sighed, and moved on with much further argument. They'd been arguing on the train, and she was still in a bit of a bad mood with him, but the tension had eased slightly now.
What were they arguing about?
Maddie, of course.
Lee sighed, slowing down as he pulled his T-shirts out of his broken bag, and folding them properly. He'd been dreading his return to Orchid- and already, it was sucking the life out of him.
And this just felt like a bad omen.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming along the corridor, and cursed inwardly. He was bound to look such a fool...

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

They were coming back today.
Madeleine had been back a couple of days already. Being in Orchid without Lee there felt weird... so weird. It felt so alien being there without him there. Unnatural.
But she'd settled back in far more easily without him being there, and she knew that once he was back, she'd have to avoid him, and the tears might come again, and...
And after what she had saw at the formal... well, what if Lee and Sophie were together? Could she cope with seeing that?
So she was avoiding the common room, because that was likely to be the first place he went to. She would look for ... Jude, or Olivia, or Jack... or she could go and visit Will! Yes, let's go see Will, Madeleine.
That was where she was headed to when she saw him.
He was on the ground, transferring clothes from one suitcase to a bigger one.
Her heart swelled, happy to see him, but causing her unbelievable pain...
Okay, walk away, turn around...
Aw, d**n. He'd seen her.
"Um... hey," she said, slightly breathlessly, in almost a wince.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Sod's law. The curse of irony. An unlucky coincidence.
This was fate screwing him about.
"Hi," he said, standing up and dropping his jumper by accident.
He sighed heavily, beginning to kick it into his bag. She watched him; so he deliberately didn't look at her. He kicked the jumper several times, finally managing to flip it clumsily into a heap in the middle of his open suitcase. Satisfied, he made himself look up at her, and a strange sense of deja vu washed over him...
Whenever you looked at people, and forced them to look back... it would work. By looking away, you were hiding from what you felt. But by looking at the person... it was almost like facing them, and confronting whatever it was.
Made sense. And he knew... he knew he'd thought this before...
Because it was true. It was logical.
His brain froze, his emotions clicking into check, and suddenly, he felt that small, helpful little voice of logic speaking to him. Helping him. Because he didn't want to think about what he felt.
That's when stuff got confusing.
"How was your Christmas?" he asked calmly; his brown eyes watching her blue ones carefully.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

She wished he wouldn't look at her.
"It was... it was good, thanks," she said, attempting to smile. "Em... yours?"
Why was he looking at her? It was just making her want to melt. To cry.... To hug him. To kiss him.
Except... that had ended in tears last time. And so, it probably wasn't the brightest idea. She shouldn't even be thinking it, because... because. She couldn't. He didn't want to see her again.
But he wouldn't stop staring into her eyes. Brown eyes. So dark, much darker than she was used to, but they were still his eyes. She could still see him there.
So she tore her gaze away, looking down at the ground.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Oh no...
The second she looked away, Lee felt his logic crack. Her eyes had served to hold it in place; they'd served to keep him calm, because then he could watch them, and see what was going on in them. But now, a dark, acursed curtain of curls fell forward, shielding her face from view, and leaving it to the terrible power of his imagination...
"It was good," he said softly, turning away, and fixing his crumpled jumper. "Sorry about this mess..."
He was more than sorry. He was mortified; he could see a pair of black boxers poking out from underneath a pair of wrinkled jeans, and felt his cheeks burn.
Maybe it was a good thing she wasn't looking after all.
He snatched the boxers, stuffing them in his conjured suitcase as discreetly as he could.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Madeleine carefully kept her eyes on the floor as she saw him move, determined not to look at him as she responded:
"It's fine."
It was just mess, after all.
"Do you... em, d'you want any... any help?"
God, this was awkward.
Of course, the downside of looking away was that she couldn't see what he was thinking - it was both a good thing and a bad thing. She wanted to know what he was thinking... oh, so badly. But she knew it would more than likely hurt.
So it was best not to know, right?

[Kira & Lee Norris]

"Yeah," Lee said, grabbing a final pair of boxers from the mess and stuffing them into a compartment of his bag; thankfully out of view.
He sighed in relief, standing up again and looking around at her.
"Yeah, it'd be good if you could help..."
She still wasn't looking at him, no matter how he tried to catch her eye. Suddenly, he looked back at the mess on the floor, and found himself regretting his acceptance of her offer. He hadn't thought- that was the problem. Not thinking got you into trouble. Like when he'd kissed her back-
No!
Don't think about that now.
For god's sake, don't think about that now...
But his brain ruthlessly plunged on; dark hands reaching into his memories and dragging the scene out. It danced before him, and suddenly, he could feel it all again, like he was reliving it. Her lips were on his, and her soft skin was searing his... the wind brushed back his hair, and suddenly, he saw it. Hanging, mid-air above the lake...
He was kissing her, his wings supporting them as they sailed lazily through the air. Lee's stomach gave a sickening jolt. A new memory. Something that'd happened before...
Oh, god.

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

With one quick hand movement all of the stuff had lifted from the ground, and floated swiftly into the larger suitcase.
She smiled carelessly without thinking. "Much simpler, see?"
Oh, God, Madeleine...

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Lee felt himself laugh. He couldn't help it.
"Thanks, Maddie," he grinned, looking at her.
And their eyes met.
He kept the smile on purpose, bending down and turning to zip up his suitcase. This one was much bigger, thank god, and everything fit in comfortably enough. He straightened up, hoisting the bag upwards. Feeling its heavy weight, he bit his lip, looking at her again.
"Maddie, sorry, d'you reckon you could...?"

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Longing.
Why was it that every time she looked at him the deep dark pit opened again?
And every time he said "Maddie", her heart bounded?
She'd never known that you could feel joy, hope, loss and despair all at once.
"No problem," she said, smiling weakly. "Your dorm?"
Now, she'd have to walk to his dorm, through the common room, through the school beside him, having to keep up conversation.
Stupid manners.
But... maybe it wasn't just politeness. Maybe... maybe on some level, she wanted to talk to him.
Okay, the some level was just stupid. Of course she wanted to.
But she knew that she couldn't, because it would just hurt her. And him. Or both of them.
And there was... she didn't even want to think the name... there was Sophie to consider. She still hadn't heard...
But it was just a strained conversation whlie she was helping him. There was nothing wrong with it.
Couldn't hurt, right?

[Kira & Lee Norris]

"My dorm," he confirmed, giving the bag a final tug for luck.
It was no use. This new bag he'd conjured up may be convenient in that it held his load, but it added to the already massive weight. Lee could pick it up, sure, and could carry it... but he would be doing so at the risk of slipping several discs.
"Oh, well," he sighed, looking up and smiling sheepishly at her.
That's right. Hold her gaze.
Don't hide from it, or shy away from it. You said you would keep yourself separate... but you can still be acquaintences, right? They didn't have to be on hostile terms, right...?
That's selfish.
How is it selfish?
Those eyes were confusing him. But it felt weak to look away. He wouldn't be weak.
Weak Lee. Poor Lee. Stupid Lee.
Where'd that come from? The unsettling sense of deja vu was really beginning to bother him now. He didn't know what was worse. A renewed sense of self-hatred; or the feeling of her soft lips burning his skin...
And he was back- in a forest clearing now, somewhere he knew well. They lay, hand in hand, staring up through the green canopy above... and angels. He could remember angels.
Why could he remember angels?

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Stop looking at me...
It was so much harder to smile and pretend to be fine when he looked at her, because Madeleine found it hard to breathe.
So she had to look away, back at his bag. With a mere flick of the wrist, it had risen and was floating alongside them.
"Onward, then," she said, smiling, unable to resist the temptation to look back and meet his dark eyes.
And there, she forgot to breathe.
She shouldn't look at him... she knew she shouldn't. She shouldn't cave to temptation like that, for God's sake. He'd asked her to stay away...
The problem was, by his smiling and looking at her, Madeleine was receiving mixed messages. Confusing mixed messages.
Or was that just false hope?

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Stop it. Stop it now.
That lousy little voice seemed to have turned against him now, and Lee pulled a face. He didn't like listening to its reason anymore; now, its reason failed to agree with him.
Lousy hypocrite.
So what if he was hanging around with Maddie after telling her he didn't want to see her anymore? He wasn't doing anything wrong- he wasn't leading her on, he wasn't... he wasn't kissing her-
Lousy, selfish hypocrite.
How was this selfish?! It was hard for him, for god's sake!
Don't lie to yourself. You love spending time with her...
Oh, great. So now the little voice of logic and reason was telling him he was a lousy, selfish masochistic hypocrite! He hated that bloody thing!
Blocking it out, determinedly, Lee quickened his step, arriving at Maddie's side and matching her pace.
"So..." Lee said, determined to keep up a flow of polite conversation. "Anything exciting happen here while I was gone?"

[Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford]

Don't walk with me like that... please don't walk with me like that...
... because when he walked alongside her like that, they should be holding hands.
They should be.
Madeleine laughed hollowly. "You could say that... new teacher... the search for Steve... Will's stabbing..."
Had he heard about any of that? Unlikely. If even Macy hadn't been contacted about Steve...
Thank goodness Professor Hoodham had had the foresight to send for her when Lee... well. She didn't think that she could have coped just being... told.
"Have you heard about any of that?"

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Okay- the who, the what and the huh?
"No..." he said slowly, his curiosity and confusion sparked off at once. Good. A distraction. "What... ok... hang on- what do you mean about Steve?!"
And everything else, besides, but Steve was a good place to start!