winds of change ~ wolverine

twenty

LOGAN'S POV

The nauseating alarm blared, so did the backup. I sat up and turned them both off after a long thirty seconds where Bailey didn't move an inch. I turned over to look at her, she had both arms propped over herself, hiding her upper face. 

I was about to gently wake her up as I had been doing in the weeks since she'd convinced me, or more like coerced me, to sleep up on the bed again, when I noticed her breathing was shallower and more intentional. She was already awake. I retracted my hand, and a second later, I caught the faint scent of salty water.

I frowned and looked at her shielded face more closely, seeing now that tears were running down the sides of her cheeks and disappearing into her wild hair. "Bailey? Are you crying?"

Her lip started to wobble with emotion and my brows flew up in surprise, suddenly very unsure of what to do. "Did you... have a bad dream?"

She lifted her arms to wipe the tears and quickly slotted them back over her face to hide it from view. "No, it was a great dream actually." She whispered, her voice breaking a bit.

I frowned even more deeply, placing a tentative hand over one of her arms and gently prying it away from her face. When she opened her eyes to look at me, they were puffy and red from both sleep and tears. "Then what's wrong, sweetheart?" I asked, confused but trying to be supportive anyway.

Bailey huffed and sat up, her head only reaching my shoulder even sitting. The tears were still flowing, but they seemed somehow so much angrier than they had been a second ago. "I... am so sick, and fucking tired, of being in college."

I caught myself smiling a bit but quickly made it disappear before she turned back to me. "Every fucking morning, for the last four fucking years, heaving myself out of bed to go and be miserable in a lecture hall for hours. And then from there to the library to be even more miserable for more hours... I'm just," She angrily wiped at her tears, becoming sad again in the span of a millisecond. Bailey pulled the cover up from her lap and over her face, shaking her head as she cried. "I'm so freaking tired!"

Smiling, I pulled her into my side for a warm hug, marveling at her erratic emotions. "You only have a week left, Bailey. We can just stay in today and rest." 

She seemed receptive of the embrace until suddenly, it was like she'd just registered what I said and pulled away, violently whipping the cover off herself and climbing to her feet. "Are you crazy? It's the last week of my entire college career, I can't skip! What if I miss something?" Haphazardly grabbing clothes from her desk chair, she stormed out of the room and into the bathroom to get ready, leaving me dumbfounded on the bed.

"What the hell was that?" I muttered to myself, stupefied at the whirlwind of emotions I'd just faced. I quickly dressed and stepped out to the kitchen to make some coffee for us, hoping a hot drink would save me a confusing outburst down the line.

When Bailey emerged from the bathroom, I was screwing the lid on our travel mugs and ready to go. As she turned to corner and entered the kitchen behind me, I faced her and cautiously handed her the drink, watching her carefully. 

"I love it when you make coffee." She said, accepting the mug with both hands and a bright, but tired smile. "I don't know what it is, but it always tastes better when you make it for some reason." She said, stretching her shoulder before grabbing her computer bag.

I quickly stepped in, taking it before she could and slinging it over my own shoulder. "I got it." I said, heading to the door to grab my shoes. They were on in seconds and when I turned back to see if she was ready, I found Bailey zipping up her boots while she dabbed her eyes dry with a sleeve. "Everything okay?" I implored gently.

She turned, blinking the red out of her eyes. "I'm fine." She said. Then she frowned and started patting her pockets. Pulling out her phone, she swiped around for a moment before apparently finding what she'd been looking for and pocketing it again with a small eye roll. "Well that makes sense." She murmured, facing me again with a small, apologetic smile. "I'm sorry about all that... stuff earlier. You can," Bailey laughed quietly. "um, forget all that happened. I'm fine, really."

I pulled the door open for her and shook my head incredulously. "Good to hear. Now do I get an explanation for all that crazy?"

Bailey tilted her head at me in a way that made me think I was in for another emotional whirlwind, this time directed at me. She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again and took a grounding breath, beginning the walk through the hallway to the elevator. "That was not crazy. It's been a long four years in a very challenging degree that I get, or don't get, depending on how I do in these next weeks, and on top of that, a very strange couple of months." She said measuredly. Then, she glanced at me from the corner of eye sheepishly, saying the last bit quickly. "And also my period's in a couple days, so it might be that."

I covered my smile with a hand, quickly wiping it off so I could press the button to call the elevator. "Anything else?" I teased. 

Bailey shook her head, her dark curls swaying. "No, was that not enough?"

"That was plenty."

BAILEY'S POV

"Alright everyone, before you all run away, I want to let you know the final assignment for the module has just been released! 3000 words please and have it in by end of day Friday!" 

Instead of joining the stampeded heading for the doors, I slumped forward against the bench, my head buried in my arms as I dutifully fought back tears of frustration and exhaustion. I felt a tentative hand rubbing my back comfortingly and smiled a bit as I sat up to look at Logan beside me. "I apologize in advance for what I'll be like this week." I grumbled, slouching back in the uncomfortable seat with my head on his shoulder and watching the lecturer wipe the blackboard far down below and the streams of students leaving.

Logan just shrugged minutely. "Can't be much worse than what you're usually like."

I rolled my eyes, checking the time. "Alright stop stalling we have another class." I quipped, standing up and heading for the door myself.

An hour later, I was back in the exact same spot, slumped forward in psychological agony in a different lecture hall. "Before you go, I know you're all itching to graduate and leave me in the dust, but you have one last assignment to complete. I'd like to gently remind you all that it's worth thirty percent of your final grade in this module, and it's due noon this Saturday."

"Oh my fucking god." I grumbled mutely into my sleeves as the room emptied out. 

When I sat back up, Logan gently wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Please don't start crying again." He said quietly.

I laughed, leaning in to his side a bit and appreciating the comforting touch. "I'm trying really hard not to, I promise."

He squeezed his arm around me briefly, and I could feel him looking down at me as he spoke again. "Good, because I'm taking you out today."

I shook my head with a defeated smile. "Did you not just see me get slapped with those two huge assignments?" I tilted my head up to catch his eye, a little caught off guard by the well of fondness I found there.

"I did, and I'm also seeing you struggling not to implode, so try not to argue too much with me on this one, alright?"

I narrowed my eyes lightly up at him. Hesitating, I finally conceded with a tiny smile. "Fine... but only because you're a stubborn ass and I'm too tired to argue."