Tous les Mêmes [Dorm 401]

The Autumn let out a slight groan as he swung open the door to his dorm room, his luggage bag getting caught before he could pull it inside, swinging back and pushing it back again so he could get his shit through. It didn't take him long after that to walk in and toss it by his personal door, not bothering to much more before falling back on the couch with a huff. For a few moments, he did nothing but lay there, shutting his eyes and getting comfortable.

It was almost easy to forget what a bothersome trip in an out Beata really was. Not only that, but the train ride from Glacier to the nearest station was bordering on nine-hours itself. To say it left him tired was an understatement. It might not've been as bad though if the ride back home with Evelyn hadn't been so awkward. It wasn't as if anything particularly bad had happened between them - Hell, that had to have been one of the best weeks of his life, but it was as if the moment they left the park, everything came to a standstill. He wasn't sure what to make of it.

Even if it made his head pound in protest, he couldn't stop thinking back, sub-consciously reaching for the phone in his pocket. There were still a few pictures he forgot to send. Jace sighed, pushing the idea away for the moment. He supposed he should make at least some small effort to say "hey" to the others, let him know he was home - if they were even there, but the only thing he wanted in that moment was a nap. It probably wouldn't take long for someone to find him anyways.

Verona lounged lazily across a modest red couch that had been positioned near the door. It was late morning, but the cup of coffee positioned on the coffee table was proof that Verona was still in the process of waking up. She had arrived home from Hawaii nearly three days ago, but she still couldn't shake the last little bit of jet lag. And so this was the reason she lay half awake in only her nightgown, but she didn't really care too much, for the most part her dorm was empty.

And then again, Verona hadn't been too lucky lately.

At hearing the door open, the girl lifted up one eyelid slowly, revealing a pair of curious green eyes. It didn't register what was going on for a few seconds, and Verona laid there, almost sure she was dreaming. Finally the autumn rubbed her eyes and sat up. Her hand grabbed at the coffee mug and she brought it up to her lips, taking a fluid and hearty gulp of the creamy liquid.

"Oh hey there stranger," Verona teased, pulling furiously at the blanket that had been folded neatly across the couch. She then proceeded to wrap the fabric around her shoulders, as the nightgown was not exactly the gettup she preferred being seen in. "How was your trip?

Oh, shit. How long had she been there? Jason twisted around to look up behind him, seeing the familiar face of his roommate as she tugged fiercely at the blanket that had been underneath him - that he apparently hadn't noticed either. The young man gave her a slightly curious look as she quickly covered herself, supposing she wasn't expecting company anytime soon. "Hey, Sweet Pea." He muttered before getting comfortable again, far too lazy to move somewhere else for the time being.

Had she left Beata for her own trip before or after he had? He honestly couldn't remember. "It was..." Jace hesitated on his own words, glancing away from Verona. Memories of pristine lakes and breathtaking scenery flashed through, of finding obscure things to eat from the hotel's store (because he dare not try to cook for Eve again), forgetting an empty bottle on the table. Mostly, of the many things that happened late into the night, and the short mornings after - waking to see the Winter curled up next to him. "... alright, I guess." Jason smiled weakly, looking a bit embarrassed. He threw an arm over his face to avoid her gaze and block the light from his eyes.

"Just alright?" Verona said, peeking over the rim of her mug. Something seemed off, but she couldn't quiet put her finger on it. She looked over at him, but when he wouldn't return her eye contact, a frown creased her face. The autumn tried not to let it bother her and instead convinced herself she was just exaggerating the situation. Verona took another sip and yawned.

She ran the scratchy blanket fabric between her palms. A deep silence filled the air and clung there for what felt like years. The brunette looked back over at Jason, whose arm now rested over his face. What the hell was going on? A few more silent seconds ticked by. Finally Verona decided to speak up with a subject change, "My trip went pretty well, but I mean it was Hawaii, you can't get much better than that." She let out a small laugh, hoping to stir some sort of reaction out of the boy. He seemed like a different person, where was the confident, flirty bastard she had talked to before she left?

Jason simply shrugged back at her little question, having nothing much more to say on the matter, as far as he was concerned. He wasn't about to go and gush about how amazing it was to her, for one reason being that his head was still hurting like hell, and another because he wasn't quite sure how far her curiosity would push into the subject. He'd thought their little chit-chat was over after the long awkward silence and had started to practically drift off before her voice reached him again.

"I can't agree," He muttered back, imagining going to the island. Burning sun, crowded beaches, cheesy flower patterned shirts. The idea of the island paradise might've been appealing to him a while ago, but now it only left him feeling a bit indifferent. "Montana is better than you'd think." The young man lifted his arm, shooting Verona a look, a small smirk on his face before he hid again.

This was so strange. Verona felt like she was talking to a completely different person. "Mmmhmm." She replied, setting her mug down and turning herself so that her full attention was on Jace. Every single glance he made towards her was brief, and she found herself thinking back to their last meeting in the classroom. She distinctly remembered how he used to keep her gaze. At the time, she would feel butterflies, but now the feeling was different. Jace was different.

"Okay I'm sorry," Verona finally blurted out, dramatically throwing her hands up, like this moment had defeated her. "What is wrong? You're not even acting like yourself." The brunette pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders and shot Jace another glance. Her eyes narrowed, her brow creased, and her smile was completely gone.

He made no movements, feeling her shift around behind him, instead taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. The blond had a fairly good idea of what she was expecting out of him, but he couldn't be bothered to act like that at the moment. Still, he didn't expect her to blurt out apologies so suddenly, moving his arm and glances up again. He'd thought about just telling her how he was just tired and hurting, or something along those lines, but he knew that probably wouldn't fly - she'd seen him in worse conditions.

Jason didn't exactly expect to see her glaring down so harshly either, giving her a strange look. "I don't know what you're talking about." He muttered back simply, but it wasn't that convincing. With a sigh, he felt a small buzz in his pocket, glancing down and quickly slipping out his phone. Nothing more than a text from some random, and one that he didn't feel like answering. With a huff, he shut his eyes and moved to set it down on the coffee table - not well enough, though. Having set it too close to the edge, it tipped over and fell flat on the ground as he was rolling over the other way.

Verona slumped back into her spot on the couch, completely dropping her gaze all together. "Pfft, okay whatever. Nevermind Jace." This whole passive, pathetic thing he was going for, was honestly pissing her off. The girl pushed herself off the couch, carefully making sure she didn't touch Jace on her way to the kitchen. She sloshed her coffee down the sink and with a frown, slammed her mug onto the counter. A loud and angry clatter boomed throughout the living space, Verona's mood was clear. But it was accompanied by another clatter, a more forgiving one. The girl looked over at Jace and rolled her eyes, moving a few steps to pick up his phone.

"You dropped thi-" Verona sneered over at Jace, stopping as she looked down at the screen. It had been lit up by a notification, a text message by presumably one of his friends. At first it rose no alarm, but she looked past the notification and saw his screensaver. It was a picture of Jace with some girl, a brunette with short hair. She flashed back to when she had spotted a brunette clamoring out of Jace's room. Her heart panged. She then noticed his goofy grin and his arm draped lazily across her shoulder. Her throat clenched. But the final blow was the background. A beautiful location that Verona realized must have been where he came from. "Oh." Verona looked away to keep herself together, her expression becoming as solid as stone. She chucked his phone at his chest, her face blank, but her heart screaming. "You probably want this."

She had to leave. Verona couldn't stand to be in the same room with him. She could feel the tears forming in her eyes, but she forced them back. Not now, Verona. Not now.

The Autumn was honestly at a loss of words of what to say back to her, wondering what on earth had crawled up her ass and died. Why was she being so serious? The young man said nothing as he saw her crawl gingerly off of the sofa, careful not to touch him - he noticed, and walk over to the small kitchen. He'd started to shrug it off, before he'd heard her glass slam down on the table, making him flinch. Yeah, okay. Something was definitely wrong here. He'd never seen her so upset before - well, only once, back in the old classroom when she was having trouble with the window... but that was different, right? What'd he do this time?

He sighed and closed his eyes again, thinking to ignore her until she'd said that he'd dropped something. Still Jason didn't even bother to look up, paying half-a-mind until he felt his phone be thrown at him. "Ah-" The blond made an awkward sound, sitting up quickly and glaring back at her. "What the hells your problem?" Jace demanded. It wasn't until he'd caught her look, the completely blank expression, the small bit of tears forming in her eyes, that he thought to look back unto his phone.

"... Vera." He muttered, looking down at the picture on his screen. That's right. Sometime during the trip, the two of them - him and Evelyn - thought it'd be a good idea to change each others screens, for some reason. "This is - ..." Nothing? Was that was he was trying to say? There was no way he could say that, though. Verona had already thought that him and Eve had done certain things, only now it wasn't a passive lie. That first night in Glacier, he'd kissed her. He'd kissed her again, and she'd kissed back and then... A sharp pain jabbed at his head, as if condemning him for trying to think about it. No, it was definitely not nothing, whatever it was.

Jason couldn't find the right thing to say. "I can explain," he lied. What could he say? Why should he bother to say a thing? The two of them were nothing but rivals, or that's what he kept telling himself anyways, though they both knew that that wasn't completely true.

Verona stood helplessly in their dingy little kitchen. She stared blankly at the imitation marble counter tops, her brain swirling just as much as the cool pattern strewn across the counter. This had to be some sort of misunderstanding, right? Surely she was just jumping to some sort of conclusion. Verona was seriously convinced that Ashton Kutcher was about to pop out from behind a door and tell her she had been punked. Because there was no way that all of a sudden Jace decided that some average looking brunette was more exciting... more worthy of his affection than she was. She focused on this thought and felt it calm her down just enough for Verona to choke down her tears and regain her composure.

But she was hurt, she was very hurt. And it was strange that all she had to see was a picture of him with this girl to put these pieces together. He had, after all, seemed so strange lately, treating her as if she wasn't good enough for his attention. And this girl in the picture, although hard to look at- literally and not in a mean way... although in Verona's opinion, she was plain looking- fit the silhouette that she had seen sneaking out of Jace's room. He had slept with her and Verona had been stupid enough to go along with his gimmick, believing that his actions meant nothing to what he felt when he kissed her. His voice taunted her.

"If it's any consolation, kissing you was far more enjoyable."

The autumn swayed helplessly on the spot, grabbing hold of the smooth counter tops to keep from toppling over. It all made since now. Verona was just another one of those stupid girls he played. All this time she had thought they were on an equal playing field. But through their whole flirty and albeit- competitive relationship, Verona was the one being played. Their whole relationship meant nothing to Jace. She was just a pretty face to tote around, another pair of lips to kiss. And maybe it hit so close to home because this was what Verona did, she was the player not the played. Verona didn't develop feelings like this normally, she hated how she felt when she liked someone. It just left her too vulneranle. But just moments early this week, as she had sat on the beach with Richard, all she could think about was her meeting with Jace in the small classroom before they left. Other than the fact she was convinced he had slept with this random chick, Verona had been convinced he might actually like her after they're last meaning. But she had been wrong and that hurt. Was she not good enough for him?

"I-I don't think there's anything to explain Jason," Verona said calmly, staring blankly at the wall adjacent to her. She was gripping the counters so hard that her knuckles were white. "So... what's her name?" Verona offered up quietly and forcing a wry smile. The slight transition in the subject had been in an attempt to get some sort of closure, but Verona made the mistake of shooting a quick glance at Jace. Immediately she wished she had't. Verona hated herself for getting so emotional, but looking at his face told it all. He must've really liked this girl or something. And sure, Verona had no reason to be so upset, she knew better than developing feelings. (Feelings always led to her getting hurt, especially in a relationship like this.) What they had, had only been a competition, nothing more. And yet, Verona felt the familiar hurting pang in her heart. She had once again found that her feelings weren't reciprocated and immediately felt stupid for ever thinking that he might feel the same way. Jace had obviously only talked to her for his amusement. Not because he liked her. It was the hard, simple truth. And it sucked, but Verona knew this was the truth.

Jason knew that her calm composure was nothing but a show, he knew that all too well. He'd had the same distant look on his face before, the same rigid stance, and he even saw as she clawed helplessly at the innocent counter. He understood that frustration as well. In a lot of ways, it was easier to pretend to stay cool and act like you didn't give a shit than it was to lose yourself. It was tiring as fuck. Knowing Verona, she probably saw spilling her emotions as a sign of weakness. He hated that. He hated when he did it himself and he hated seeing it from his roommate. He couldn't help but compare her to Evelyn then. Eve was a lot of things, but she wasn't two-faced. Her feelings were always clear on her face and in a lot ways, it was refreshing. He never had to wonder if she meant what she said or if there were other intentions to the things she did, not like Vera. Maybe that's why things ended up like this.

Nothing to explain? She had everything figured out in her mind then, judgement already passed? He didn't know what to do in this situation, throwing a glance aside when she asked for the Winter's name, wondering if she should tell Verona at all. He sighed, going with it anyways. "Evelyn." Jace said simply, running a few fingers awkwardly through his hair, shaking his head and wondering what he should do. The weight really piled on when he looked back up again, seeing the emotional look strained on her face. The young man immediately felt guilty. He wanted to win their silent competition, but not like this. He didn't know if there was any other way he could've, but -

Jason set his phone down back on the table, getting up and walking slowly towards her. "Look - it's not you -" He tried to say, but that was sort of a lie. "I didn't know that you -" Liked him? He remember teasing her about that very thing back in the classrooms. "I didn't think - ..." That was it, really. He didn't think about it, or her much at all, actually. He gave up on trying to say anything and sighed again. "I'm sorry." That had to be the worst thing he could say.