[ no, logan doesn't return for another couple of days.
karen tries to act like she's not looking for him, tries to act like she's not mildly disappointed when she doesn't find him there, and also tries very, very hard not to think about the why. to not recognize the fact she knows what this fluttering is starting to mean, and what that might mean for. the rest of it.
she eventually convinces herself to stop looking, to get back to what she'd been doing, to what she had resolved to do during this time. if she was going to lose her job, if she was going to be stranded at a creepy resort, she would make the most of it. and she does a decent job - has a good time, meets a couple of people, feels a little less like she's simply there to take up space, and more like these people, this time they spend here, something can happen with it. that maybe she can find others to help her figure all this out.
it's not perfect, it doesn't solve anything, but with each day she feels a little stronger in her footing. footing that, at some point, she acknowledges will have to end. murmurs of how diffusion zones work start to spread around the resort. more and more people leave, finding pathways to work their vehicles out of the parking garage and heading back to the city. karen feels the urge to fight it in her chest, stays probably a couple more days than she should, but there is something in logans eyes - when he does come back, when they see each other again, when he asks you heading back? with a look that says it all.
yeah, she says, with very little fight, to her already packed bag. it's probably time.
she doesn't remember asking him to, he does follow her back to the city - some comment about diners, about heading back himself, about making sure he gets into the city without issues - and she tries, really honestly tries, not to let that simple thing make a world of difference.
because the drive is hard - she laughs a little to herself somewhere on the drive at how ridiculous it is that it feels a bit like she's having some sort of post-holiday blues. how, despite it all, the closer she gets to the city the heavier her chest and shoulders start to feel. she notices the electricity is back, notices that the drive back to the motel is about the same as it was when she left it, and somehow that feels wrong. like there should have been more that changed, despite the fact it had only been a week or so.
by the time they pull into the parking lot, karen feels a bit of that old weightlessness returning to her. the feeling she'd been trying to run from when she'd decided to stay at the resort. she hides it well enough, taking a breath and grabbing her bag, smiling when logan makes it obvious he plans on walking her to her door. when she gets the keys into the lock and pushes open the door, the homecoming is less than joyous. less than nothing, somehow, in a weird way. she tries not to think about how often she'd had this feeling - this emptiness at looking through the front door of a place that was supposed to be 'home', and how used to it she feels.
she walks inside, tossing her bag on the bed and looking around - pleasantly surprised nothing seems to be touched, or looted, or moved. in the span of those seconds, she very nearly forgets that logan is there, only looking over to him at his question. you gonna be okay?
karen, out of habit more than anything, offers him a small smile - her hand going to comb back her hair from her face. ] Yeah. [ though it's not her most convincing. ] Of course. Thanks for walking me in.
[ and the plan, or at least the initial plan, is that karen was going to say goodbye. that logan would probably nod, hopefully reach in to close her door, and she'd settle in for the night. get some sleep, plan to get up and look for that new job, get back to whatever counted as normal around here.
except that something stops her - her hand slowly drifting from her hair to the back of her neck. she doesn't know if it's something she sees, or if maybe it's logan - hesitating for just a moment longer than she expects - but something surges behind her ribs. ]
Logan? [ she looks back to the door - suddenly hoping that he hasn't walked away just yet. hoping that she hasn't missed a chance she didn't know she needed to take.
he does stop - whether he's turned down the hall to walk back to his room or he's still standing there, somewhere in her doorway. karen meets his eyes and some kind of stubborn tension that had been holding her shoulders up fades, and the drop a bit. ]
I'm- [ what is she saying? what is she doing? she doesn't know, but that doesn't stop her.
get it together, karen. she takes a breath. ] Are you working tonight?
no subject
karen tries to act like she's not looking for him, tries to act like she's not mildly disappointed when she doesn't find him there, and also tries very, very hard not to think about the why. to not recognize the fact she knows what this fluttering is starting to mean, and what that might mean for. the rest of it.
she eventually convinces herself to stop looking, to get back to what she'd been doing, to what she had resolved to do during this time. if she was going to lose her job, if she was going to be stranded at a creepy resort, she would make the most of it. and she does a decent job - has a good time, meets a couple of people, feels a little less like she's simply there to take up space, and more like these people, this time they spend here, something can happen with it. that maybe she can find others to help her figure all this out.
it's not perfect, it doesn't solve anything, but with each day she feels a little stronger in her footing. footing that, at some point, she acknowledges will have to end. murmurs of how diffusion zones work start to spread around the resort. more and more people leave, finding pathways to work their vehicles out of the parking garage and heading back to the city. karen feels the urge to fight it in her chest, stays probably a couple more days than she should, but there is something in logans eyes - when he does come back, when they see each other again, when he asks you heading back? with a look that says it all.
yeah, she says, with very little fight, to her already packed bag. it's probably time.
she doesn't remember asking him to, he does follow her back to the city - some comment about diners, about heading back himself, about making sure he gets into the city without issues - and she tries, really honestly tries, not to let that simple thing make a world of difference.
because the drive is hard - she laughs a little to herself somewhere on the drive at how ridiculous it is that it feels a bit like she's having some sort of post-holiday blues. how, despite it all, the closer she gets to the city the heavier her chest and shoulders start to feel. she notices the electricity is back, notices that the drive back to the motel is about the same as it was when she left it, and somehow that feels wrong. like there should have been more that changed, despite the fact it had only been a week or so.
by the time they pull into the parking lot, karen feels a bit of that old weightlessness returning to her. the feeling she'd been trying to run from when she'd decided to stay at the resort. she hides it well enough, taking a breath and grabbing her bag, smiling when logan makes it obvious he plans on walking her to her door. when she gets the keys into the lock and pushes open the door, the homecoming is less than joyous. less than nothing, somehow, in a weird way. she tries not to think about how often she'd had this feeling - this emptiness at looking through the front door of a place that was supposed to be 'home', and how used to it she feels.
she walks inside, tossing her bag on the bed and looking around - pleasantly surprised nothing seems to be touched, or looted, or moved. in the span of those seconds, she very nearly forgets that logan is there, only looking over to him at his question. you gonna be okay?
karen, out of habit more than anything, offers him a small smile - her hand going to comb back her hair from her face. ] Yeah. [ though it's not her most convincing. ] Of course. Thanks for walking me in.
[ and the plan, or at least the initial plan, is that karen was going to say goodbye. that logan would probably nod, hopefully reach in to close her door, and she'd settle in for the night. get some sleep, plan to get up and look for that new job, get back to whatever counted as normal around here.
except that something stops her - her hand slowly drifting from her hair to the back of her neck. she doesn't know if it's something she sees, or if maybe it's logan - hesitating for just a moment longer than she expects - but something surges behind her ribs. ]
Logan? [ she looks back to the door - suddenly hoping that he hasn't walked away just yet. hoping that she hasn't missed a chance she didn't know she needed to take.
he does stop - whether he's turned down the hall to walk back to his room or he's still standing there, somewhere in her doorway. karen meets his eyes and some kind of stubborn tension that had been holding her shoulders up fades, and the drop a bit. ]
I'm- [ what is she saying? what is she doing? she doesn't know, but that doesn't stop her.
get it together, karen. she takes a breath. ] Are you working tonight?