Participants:
| Scene Title | If I Hold You Instead |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Gillian and Aaron wake up as a result of the earthquake. They switch positions and Aaron goes back to sleep. |
| Date | October 6, 2009 |
Aaron and Peyton's Apartment — Upper West Side
Sometime between when he fell asleep and when Gillian did, Aaron's turned around and practically clung onto his couchmate. His head has somehow managed to get tangled in her hair. Then there's a rumble. It's loud and it moves the apartment, yet somehow, Aaron manages to sleep through it. Then again, with how exhausted he was, there are few things he couldn't sleep through.
It could have been a lot worse. With the sudden rumbling, Gillian gets woken up quite a bit easier. She'd not been nearly as exhausted. It's not really the shaking or the tangles that wake her up— it's the DVDs falling to the floor, dislodged by the earthquake. It takes a moment of blinking up at the ceiling to realize what's happened— and then her hair gets caught when she tries to move, pulling against her scalp. She looks down. Well— at least they're still clothed. "Ow," she says outloud, though, cause hair pulling is not her favorite thing, and she tries to move him while she fumbles around for a remote. People always stick the remote between couch cushions.
Apparently, having his head tugged at — on account of how it's tangled up in Gillian's hair — is one of the things that can wake him up, combined with the sound of pain from Gillian. Aaron is completely sluggish when he comes to, and it takes him a moment to get a few strands of hair out of his mouth. He mumbles something about floss until Gillian goes reaching beneath him. "Whoa, what are you doing?" That seems to wake him up, and he promptly falls off the couch, backwards, hitting the floor with an off and noticing the DVDs on the floor. He picks on up and looks at it, confused.
"Trying to find a remote," Gillian explains, getting up from her slouched positioning once he's fallen off the couch. It's easier to do the search, but she pauses to look down at him instead. "Didn't mean to knock you off the couch— I think we maybe had a fucking earthquake, though." Or could have been other things, like a bomb. That's the last time she felt the ground rumble, and she'd been in Brooklyn. If it wasn't for the fact she knows there's someone that causes Earthquakes— and that they'd happened recently…
"New York's in the middle of a tectonic plate. We don't get earthquakes," is the first thing that Aaron says. It is clearly denial. No, there was not just an earthquake. No need to panic. Then again, the thought of the last time there was something like an earthquake is not something he wants to relive. He spots the remove buried under two DVD cases. Good vantage point on the floor. The television is turned on. Naturally, all regularly scheduled programs have been upended for news broadcasts. "Fuck…"
"Fuck's the word," Gillian says, looking at the television and the earthquake. There's a rather serious frown already forming, but after a few moments some relief. For reasons she may not be able to explain well. "Remember those earthquakes down in New Jersey a few months ago?" she asks, looking over at Aaron and trying her best to sound calm. He needs not to panic right now. "I think this is the same thing." It wasn't Staten Island, though— the Lighthouse should be fine. "I'm not going anywhere," she adds on, even as she bends to clean up the DVDs. Tonight wouldn't be good for travelling, but that's not why she's staying.
"That doesn't look like the same thing," Aaron remarks, mainly because he doesn't recall an entire building sinking into the ground with the other ones. Then again, he has actively avoided as much news as possible— it never seems to do him much good. He finally makes it back onto the couch, after helping with the DVDs, and curls up, thankful that Gillian intends to stay.
Once the DVDs are stacked back up, Gillian returns to her slouching against the soft cushions of the couch, looking at the television, before saying, "Might as well put in a DVD or shut it off. They'll just repeat the same shit every few minutes." With some updates, sure, but still— same shit." A glance back at him drives her to ask, "Think you can get back to sleep— if not, did you see any DVD that you'd want to watch? They're all mine, so it's not like I won't get to watch them later."
Once Gillian's slouched back against the couch, Aaron scoots next to her and lays his head on her shoulder. He's way ahead of her, and does in fact do something about the television. He turns it to blank blackness of Video Input 1 in the case a DVD is necessary, though he's mostly still out of it, even if shocked from the whole earthquake news. "I don't know," he says. "I should try. I don't sleep well anymore and…" He almost starts crying again but stops himself, taking a few breaths. "I need to. I think I can. If you hold me?"
"Yeah, I'll hold you," Gillian says, though she pushes her hair behind her shoulders so that it's more or less out of the way. Her feet shift around as well, kicking off her shoes finally to get more comfortable and help her with her own sleeping. "I've not been getting nearly enough sleep either." And she's not going anywhere, as she already assured.
Asking the question was weird. Getting an affirmative response is also strange, and strangely comforting as well. "Can't sleep alone anymore," Aaron mumbles as he drapes on arm over Gillian's waist as the other slips behind her in some strange protracted hug, his head on her shoulder. It's not the most comfortable position, as it turns out. The couch really isn't meant for sleeping together. "You're a bit smaller than me…. maybe it will work better if I hold you instead."
"We might need to get you one of those huge pillows, cause I really can't stay every night," Gillian explains, but she shifts until she's leaning against him, so he can wrap arms around her. "I do like the 'me laying on you' thing better than the alternative." Helps that he's fairly comfortable to lay against— and it means her hair shouldn't get pulled.
"That's what Peyton's for," Aaron says, before he can help himself. He'd cover his mouth if he weren't wrapping his arms around Gillian and all. So instead he pushes her hair aside. "Except it's weird, you know?" Because this isn't, clearly. No, not weird at all. He lays a hand upon the name of her neck, and then looks somewhat confused at her. "I thought… didn't… Wasn't your pain all gone before?" Because he sees some lingering, and it's too soon by his usual power for her to still have some. "Probably just too fried to notice…." Rambling dismissal.
A hand reaches up and lightly taps the side of his head, nearly a slap, but far too light to count as one. "Maybe I'm worried about you, dumbass," Gillian says, before the hand drops back down. The truth is often more complex than simple defenses, but after his outburst earlier, she is worried about him as well. "Just close your eyes and try to get some sleep."
His eyes actually light up from that remark. Plus it makes sense, so he can rest on it. Aaron lays his head back on the cushion of the couch. He's not clinging like he was earlier— just gently holding. Cradling, maybe? Perhaps the only reason he manages to fall back to sleep so quickly is because of how worn out he is. How worn out he is is the only reason he hasn't quite realized that Peyton's not home yet. Probably a good thing considering what might happen if he were to realize she's out there and he doesn't know where.