Under Control.

chapter sixty three.

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When Nora emerges from the bathroom Julian is off the phone, and his mind is the tiniest bit more at ease than it had been when she'd left.

Or, about one thing, it is.

Nora is pink and damp and she smells of him and her legs are bare and her eyes are still sad, and nothing is quite right. And just the sight of her like she is, is enough to drive Julian to bravery — to make him finally ready to say anything that might be enough to begin to fix things. But then, before he has the chance, there's a timid knock at his door, and before Julian can manage to stagger up from the bed, Nora is already there.

'Oh, shit.' The voice that floods into the room is Albert's. 'Hey! What are you doing here?'

Nora doesn't know what to say, but thankfully, before she even has the chance to try, Al has already swept her up into his arms and is walking them both backwards over the threshold.

'Fuck, man. You look...you good?' Albert catches a glimpse of Julian over Nora's shoulder, and the way his brows shoot up his forehead at the mere sight of him makes Julian's stomach turn. If Albert thinks he looks like shit, then he must really look like shit, Julian decides. And he knows that Nora must be having the same thought, because lately, if Albert was the straightest one in a room, then they were all in trouble — big trouble.

'Yeah, everything's fine, man. What's up with you?' Julian lumbers to the side of the bed and leaves enough room for Nora to sit back down beside him. She was, after all, wearing nothing except a shirt of his, and neither of them had really planned for impromptu visitors.

'Ryan was looking for you — said he came by but there was no answer? Something about Regina. I dunno, man. You were obviously just in the shower or something. I'll let him know.' Al is rambling, but even like he is, both Nora and Julian can tell he knows that something is not quite right. And the side-eye that Nora tosses Julian's way while he's chattering away that says — 'so, you ignored the door while I was in the shower, then?' — doesn't exactly help matters.

'I interrupt you guys having a fight, or fucking, or something?' Al clearly doesn't actually know much of anything — not about what's gone down recently, or semi-recently, either. But still, he's suspicious.

'I got a red eye. Little bit tired, but wired. You know how it is.' Nora is cool and icy and it's another flash of the her of time gone by that had rattled Julian so much, earlier. 'How're you, Al?'

'I'm good. You know, yeah, fine.' It doesn't take much to distract him, these days. And even though Julian is glad for it right now, it's still sad and it makes him so, and he knows that Nora feels the same way. 'You seen Cat?'

'Yeah,' Nora says, before yawning lightly. 'She's okay. We had dinner the other night.'

'That's good,' Al muses back, throughly distracted by now. 'Alright, well, I'll let you two get back to it. Maybe we can grab some lunch, or whatever? Or dinner? You around for a while?'

They're on a stopover in the middle of a tour and all three of them know that the strangeness of this whole situation is making not a lick of sense. But it's so late it's early, and none of them have slept, and there's a torrent of things left unsaid between them. And so when Nora shrugs and smiles and says — 'Not sure, yet. But that sounds nice, Al,' — that's enough for all of them to be done with the moment, and their petering conversation, too.

Albert hops from one foot to the other and then moves to leave, but not before turning back and giving Nora one last, quick squeeze before he goes.

'Love you,' he whispers, his breath damp as it breezes though her hair. And with that he goes, and he shuts the door solidly behind him, and then, Julian and Nora are all alone, again.