early morning twtiching...with coffee!

Who: Cheryl and Drew
When: Morning (?)
Where: Drew's house

Cheryl did exactly what she told herself she would do. She got up, showered, dried her hair and got dressed. And then she went to the park for awhile, trying to sort out her thoughts and dredge up some determination to be stronger about the entire situation. She thought of it as a self-motivating pep talk, which she realized halfway through was sort of pathetic, but if it worked, then who cared?

She went to the diner soon after and picked up some coffee and donuts before making her way to Drew's house. She promised herself she wasn't going to bother him too much, but she hadn't seen him since that first initial morning and she wanted to make sure he was all right.

Walking up to his door, she balanced the coffee carrier and donuts in one arm and knocked with the other, hoping that he wouldn't mind having some company. Maybe if she could get over the constant suspicion of everyone in town, she could maybe let her guard down long enough to form a few new connections, but she didn't see that happening any time soon.

Drew was up, as was usual for him, and he headed to the door to open it. When he saw who it was, he smiled, a helpless sort of automatic reaction. "Hey, good morning...want to come in? there's coffee." he said. Not that that was unusual for Drew. Coffee he lived on. It helped keep him awake. And right now, he just couldn't convince himself he could sleep easy.

Cheryl smiled back, a lot of her anxiety fading at the sight of him. She stepped inside his house and looked down at the coffee carrier in her hand. "Well, I bring you more coffee then. I wasn't sure if you would have made any. And breakfast." She wiggled the bag of donuts in her other hand. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" She didn't see any other company or anything, but one never knew.

"Breakfast?" Drew asked. "Seriously? That's...about the best thing ever." he decided. Plus unexpected. But he was game. "Come in, um...kitchen is this way." he said, starting to lead her there. "And no, you're not interrupting at all. I've got nothing going on, promise." he assured her. "Um...so how're you doing? Like...everything's good? You're okay?"

She followed him, knowing the layout fairly well, given she had the exact same one. "I'm okay. A little tired, but that's not unusual. It's hard sleeping alone after everything." She wasn't going to tell him how Jeremy hadn't wanted her to stay over - for understandable reasons, but still - she felt like it might make her sound like she was whining about it. Cheryl set the bag of donuts on the counter, along with the coffee. "What about you? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I mean, goodish. As well as can be expected?" he suggested. "I mean, I know I'm more used to what this feels like than you are, so...and oh the sleep thing. I don't sleep. I kinda haven't slept right in months." he said, totally truthful there. "I'm not sure I'll ever get back to it, it's paranoia and I know that but I can't help it." he rambled. Then he recognized he was rambling, and tried to stop. "Um. Mugs." he said, getting two out.

Cheryl lifted both eyebrows and watched as he went for mugs. He did look tired. But so did a lot of people in town. She could understand it. "You don't sleep well either? What do you do, when you can't sleep?" Was that why he was so... twitchy? She couldn't really remember him ever being so rambly either. Immense lack of sleep would explain it. Only her own lack of sleep just made her slow and groggy. Her lips twitched upward slightly. "Drink a lot of coffee?"

Oh you know, the usual. Sit up, paranoidly watch outside, troll the journals looking for people who might want to stab me through the back of the head with the nearest sharp thing they can find. Nothing out of the ordinary, no! He gave a short little laugh that probably came out just a wee bit hysterical, and he rubbed at the back of his neck. "Yeah, a bit." This is only the third pot, seriously... "I um. got used to it at the house." Where I was waiting every night for either the scientists to fuck with me, or the housemates to come and kill me. It makes one paranoid.

"That's not very healthy." Cheryl walked over to the pot of coffee he had brewed and lifted it up to sniff. At least it still smelled somewhat fresh. She set it back down and moved back to take the mugs and fill them with the coffee she had brought. Maybe she should have opted for juice, but she needed some caffeine herself. "I went to see Jeremy yesterday," she began, pouring him a cup, though she didn't fill it to the brim. Maybe he needed to start weening himself off of it. "He's really... he seems..." She paused mid-pour, her brow quirking in thought before she shook her head. "Maybe you could talk to him? Since you've got experience, er, coming out to the participants so to speak? The reaction he got on his journal... I don't know if that's helped his situation at all."

Drew winced. "How is he? And I can, I will, promise." he added immediately. "But what did he say to you? And how are you doing with everything yourself? I guess I have experience and everything, but I can't say that I know how to deal. I was just in the middle of it, and had to, doesn't mean I was any good at it. What I did was tried to help wherever I could, and in some cases, that worked out fine. I know some people didn't even seem to bat an eye when I was outted. And other people couldn't care less what I ever did, and wanted to rearrange my face. Some people need that outlet, I guess. Even if it's not what they want to be taking down. ...am I even making sense?"

Cheryl's smile was small. "Sort of. I know what you're saying. I understand you don't have all the answers, Drew. But you've been around these people longer. Jeremy's just a bit worried, I guess. I am too. I don't want either of you to get hurt. I don't want you, or him, to be someone's outlet." She leaned against his counter and took a sip of her coffee. "As for me, I'm dealing as well as I can. I hate sleeping by myself, when I do sleep. I constantly feel like running to Jeremy's, or here, and I can't do that. But being alone for six months..." She trailed off and then shifted her gaze to Drew's face. "I really missed you."

But I haven't been. There were four other experiments that had nothing to do with ours. We have a town full of them. I haven't been around them, I don't know them at all. I just know the A'ers. "Cheryl, you know you probably could run either there or here when you want to, right? seriously. I know Jer wouldn't mind, and I wouldn't mind, so...don't worry about that. We'll be here for you." he assured her. "And I really missed you too." he said, his voice softening a touch.

"See, that's the thing..." She grimaced lightly, still staring at her coffee. "Jeremy's so paranoid now, after his journal entry, that someone's going to break in and try and hurt him..." Which she could understand, since she was constantly feeling the same way, only it was participants she was worried about as much. "He didn't really want me to stay. I asked," she clarified, feeling a bit of embarrassment, though she wasn't sure why. And then she shook her head. "Nevermind... are you going to this meet and greet thing? Or do you plan on staying home?"

"Why didn't he want you to stay?" Drew asked, wondering on that too. "Nevermind, don't answer that, I'll come up with something, alright?" he promised. When did I become the go-to guy? Isn't that Jer's territory? Wasn't he always the one? When did it land on me? I suck at this. But he didn't want to let her down. "And um. I dunno. I know there's a lot of people from our experiment around, and I'm sure there are a few of them who don't want shit to do with me..." He didn't especially want to get punched in the face again.

Cheryl nodded, relieved that Drew had agreed to talking to Jeremy. They had to help each other somehow, right? Otherwise she had a feeling everything would fall apart. "I was thinking about going, but I'm not sure... I've already run into Chris Faris. I've sort of been hiding since then. And with all this talk about getting a job in town? I don't know the first thing to do." She knew she didn't want to go near the hospital. "It just seems overwhelming, trying to readjust to real life so quickly after everything. I kind of feel like I'm completely directionless. Is that a word?" she mused, quirking her lips thoughtfully. "If it isn't, it is not. That's how I feel."

Just hearing Chris' name, Drew tensed up something fierce. His jaw set, the muscles in his back clenched up, and he could just feel 'pissed off' rising up in about .2 seconds. He had to kind of mentally rewind what she said to catch it, since he'd sort of stopped hearing anything past Chris' name. "...yes. Directionless is a word." he said distractedly, trying to get back into what she was saying but it was difficult.

"Good to know." She arched an eyebrow at him, wrapping her fingers more tightly around her coffee mug. "Drew, are you okay?" Cheryl asked, noting the way he tensed, the absent-minded way he answered her. She could write it off as lack of sleep on his part, or too much coffee, but she doubted it was either. "Did I say something wrong?"

He shook himself, and looked over, trying to force himself to clear his mind out of the twitching. "...no, you didn't say anything wrong." he said firmly. "I just..." he made a bit of a sour face. "I just hate that fucker." he said, and yes, he could use the word hate, even though he'd never meant it in his life until meeting Chris. Other people he was afraid of, like fucking Cortez and shit, but Chris? No, that was special.

Both eyebrows raised then and she studied him for a moment before turning to set her coffee down on the counter. She never liked Chris much either, in the short amount of time she knew him. Something about the guy rubbed her the wrong way and their brief encounter in the grocery store reminded her of that. "Why do you hate him?" She had a feeling she knew - since Chris was still an intern when Drew was placed in the house, but she wanted to hear it from Drew himself.

Drew shook his head. "He was a sadistic son of a bitch, isn't that enough?" he asked rhetorically. "He just...hell, when I was dropped in, he was narrating Dave Peterson's every move, and he enjoyed it. You could tell. And before then anyways he was just always a dick, he...I just think he got off on it all. I think he really got off on it." And that made Drew shudder in revulsion.

"That's more than enough," Cheryl agreed with a nod. Which was probably why she'd never liked Chris in the first place. "That's part of what worried me when we were there, was that some of the interns enjoyed what they were doing. I did, at first, until I started seeing what was really there. How can someone just..." She shook her head and trailed off with a sigh. "You know, when he saw me in the grocery store, the first thing he asked was what happened to me. Not, a hello, not how are you? Or, are you okay? And then he pretended that the reason he hadn't helped you was that he was scared, because all three of us disappeared and you showed up in the house. But fuck that," Cheryl said angrily, not realizing how furious she was becoming just thinking about it. "He could have warned you, or helped you, or something and he didn't because he said he was afraid, and I'm sorry, that's just bullshit."

"I'm pretty sure that wasn't the case." Drew said, and he could hear the bitterness in his own tone, which he didn't like at all. Fuck. "He just...yeah. I don't know. He was a sadistic asshole and if I see him again...I'll--" he paused. "Probably get myself put into the hospital, but I'll definitely throw the first punch." He didn't have any illusions there. He'd get his ass kicked.

Watching Drew, Cheryl managed a tiny smile. She didn't want to see Drew get hurt over an asshole like Chris, but at the same time, Drew might think it'd be worth it to get at least one hit in. She walked over to hug him tight, as much for herself as for Drew. "Next time I see him in the grocery store I'll throw my cereal box at him. Or kick him in the balls. We'll see which one comes to me first."

He was surprised at the hug, but hugged her back readily enough. "Cher...don't, okay? Seriously. Just stay away from him, don't start anything." Not that he was sure she was serious. She probably wasn't. But he couldn't take the chance, either. "Promise me you'll steer clear."

She pulled back and smiled warmly at him. "I know, Drew. I'm not going to try anything with Chris... unless he tries something with me first. Or you. He's already on my shit list for leaving you hanging in that house and not trying to help..." She stepped back, wanting to try and lighten the atmosphere. "So on a less infuriating note, what do you think about me working in a bowling alley? Or being a laundromat girl." Cheryl pushed her hair behind her ears. "It seems twisted that I went to college and have a degree and I'm going to find myself potentially working at like... the gas station, or something."

He gave a weak attempt at a smile. "I think that it'd probably be a nice change of pace for a while?" he suggested. "I don't even know what I'm going to do. I haven't thought about it properly yet. Though I think I should probably attempt to get something that deals with the public as little as possible. I dunno. Maybe I'll offer computer repair services..." It might work. Everyone had one.

Cheryl nodded, figuring that would be the best thing for Drew. At least he wouldn't have to deal with many people. She, on the other hand... Cheryl sighed and then managed a smile before it faded somewhat quickly. "Things aren't... the same anymore, are they?" They couldn't be. Not after the last nine months. "Everything feels different... like things that should be connected are only hanging on now by a thread." She wasn't the same person. Drew surely wasn't and neither was Jeremy. She worried about what that meant.

Drew paused, not sure what to say. He was pretty sure things had stopped being the same the second she'd had her breakdown, when she'd been taken away in the first place. Leaving he and Jeremy to wonder. That had been when things had changed. Or maybe it was when he'd watched the monitors in absolute horror, when Holly was being killed. When Emma was taken away. Or when Simone killed herself. "No, Cher, they're not the same anymore." he agreed quietly.

She already knew the answer to that, for herself and for them, but it was still hard to hear it. Somehow she didn't think the three of them would be the way they were before everything went down. A part of her still didn't know what had truly happened there other than what she'd been told, and can she even trust what she'd been told? "I don't know what to do here," she said finally, her eyes shifting to the ground briefly. With a sigh she looked at Drew and managed a small smile. "I guess all I can do is try to do as they told me and... readjust? Meet people. Or something." It would get better. She would get better and then she could go home.

"That would be good. Getting out, stuff like that." he agreed, though he was mostly just telling her what she might want to hear. "My friend Rin is nice." he added. She was a sweetheart is what she was, and wouldn't ever say a bad thing about anyone, so she'd be fine for Cheryl to meet up with. there'd be absolutely no chance things would go sideways.

"Rin." She nodded and told herself to remember the name. The nicer people were, the better. She wasn't so much in the mood to deal with jerks at the moment. "I'll see if I can look her up. Thanks, Drew." She knew she kept saying it, but she was glad he was there. He was a reminder of sanity in a way. It was still really good to see his face. "I should go, I think. Maybe I'll see you later?"

He nodded. "Yeah, um...whenever you want." he said truthfully. He wouldn't kick her out or say she couldn't stay if she wanted. "I'll be around. So...stay safe, okay?" he said.

She went to hug him again, enjoying the feel of it for a few moments. Human contact was something she hadn't been able to have in the past six months, unless you counted the doctors. Which she didn't. "I know it's kind of... weird to ask this now," Cheryl said, pulling back. "Do you want to come over for dinner or something soon? I did this whole grocery shopping thing and bought a lot of food before I realized I live alone and... might be nice to eat with someone else."

"I'd love to." Drew said automatically, wanting to make her happy and if that meant letting her feed him, he was okay with that. "So, no problem. Maybe we could do dinner with all three of us sometime, or something. Maybe I'll bring Rin along too, just to be sure. But whatever you're up for or want to do." he said, realizing at the last second that he was possibly over-extending her invitation.

"Oh! Sure, that would be great." Cheryl smiled and nodded in agreement. A part of her wanted to eat with Drew alone to maybe talk to him further about things, but more company was okay. "Maybe this weekend? I'll let you know after I talk to Jeremy if you want to get ahold of your friend." She glanced around her, like she was searching for something to do. Something to keep her hands busy. When she found nothing, she looked back at Drew. "Okay, enjoy the coffee, okay? If you need anything, you know where I am."