What Friends Are For

Oct 01, 2013 21:31

Title: What Friends Are For
Rating: PG-13
Pairing/Characters: Reagan, Levi, Levi/Cath (from the novel Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell)
Genre: Drama, Angst
Word Count: 781
Summary: Reagan and Levi have a talk about Cath.
A/N: Fangirl Missing Moment. Spoilers.


Reagan couldn’t deal with Levi when he was making that face - the one like he was a puppy who’d just been kicked. While it was kind of a relief not to be the cause of that expression (as she had been numerous times in the past), Sad!Levi was definitely not her favorite Levi either. He was sitting with his back against the door to her room as she approached from the far end of the hallway. He didn’t look up until she was standing over him, and then he scrambled to his feet.

“Hey,” she said as she unlocked the door.

“Hey.”

Reagan kicked open the door and heaved the bags she was carrying down on her bed. “How’d your final go?”

Levi sat down on Cath’s bed, carefully, like he didn’t want to leave his impression behind. “Fine, I think.”

She kicked off her boots, accidentally banging them against the wall. “Where do you want to eat? Anywhere but Olive Garden. I’m starving, but not that starving.”

Reagan turned around as she shrugged off her coat and caught another glimpse of kicked-puppy.

He looked up at her. “Why didn’t you tell me Cath came to the party that night?”

She sighed and tossed her coat on the end of the bed. “I’m not getting in the middle of this.”

“I’m not asking you to get in the middle. I’m just asking why you didn’t give me a head’s up.”

“Because doing so would have put me right in the middle of this,” she said. “What did you want me to say? ‘Hey Levi, Cath is upset because she saw you kissing some girl at your party.’ Who was that, anyway?”

Levi ran his hand through his hair. Now he just looked frustrated. This was better. She could handle Frustrated!Levi.

“I was being stupid. She didn’t return any of my messages…”

“Because she’s a socially inept weirdo…”

“…I thought I’d misread her…”

“Because you’re a jackass who didn’t hang around to deal with the aftermath of your little sleepover.”

He gave her an odd look. “There was an aftermath?”

Reagan rolled her eyes. “Okay, so now you know. I didn’t think she’d stay upset with you this long, but she’s young and pretty naïve. She’ll get over it, and…”

“I don’t think so.” Kicked puppy was back.

“God, Levi! This is why I didn’t want to get into it.”

“I told her it was just a kiss.”

She shrugged. “Okay.”

He rubbed his face. “No, the other kiss. Our kiss.”

She shook her head in exasperation. “Are you fucking kidding me? Why would you say something so ridiculous?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I panicked.”

“You two are a complete mess, and I can’t believe I’m getting involved when I told myself specifically that I wouldn’t.” She sighed loudly and flopped down on her bed across from him. “Just talk to her, okay? Tell her the truth.”

He shook his head. “It’s not that simple. She was pretty upset.”

“Can you blame her?” Reagan asked incredulously. “She read an entire book to you. She gave up a night of geeking out over Simon Snow to go to your party, where you happened to be kissing another girl. And then you tell her when you kissed her it didn’t mean anything.”

Levi winced.

“Listen, I promised her I’d try to keep you away when she’s around,” she said. “I won’t go back on that. But if you’re really serious about making this right, you’ll find a way. Just give her time, okay. What you said… it had to hurt. I don’t think I could have forgiven you for that. But this is Cath…”

“I really screwed up.”

“Yeah, you did,” Reagan said. “But you’ll make it right.”

He nodded, looking thoughtful, hopeful.

“And you can thank me for all my wonderful advice by never putting me in this situation again,” she said, standing up and pulling on the sweater she had hanging on the back of her chair. “You know, if it works out with you guys, I think I’m going to have to come up with some ground rules.”

Levi was smiling a little now. “Can’t wait to hear them.”

“I’ll tell you all about it over burgers. You’re buying,” she said, slipping into a pair of shoes. “Come on.”

He hopped up off the bed and smoothed the cover carefully. As Reagan put her coat back on, she scanned Cath’s side of the room. Her laptop was gone, so she was probably off writing in the library. She wondered if she’d see her before she left back to Omaha in the morning.

“To Pear’s?” Levi asked.

Reagan nodded. “To Pear’s.”

reagan, fangirl, holy crap i'm still writing fanfiction, pg-13, levi/cath

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