malory towers fic | complex | chapter 8
Title: Complex, Chapter 8 (Chapter 1 here)
Fandom: Malory Towers
Pairing: We're still on Sally/Darrell for the moment, for sure.
Rating: Oh, creeping towards PG again I dare say.
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Enid Blyton, or her estate or publishers or whatever, not me.
Words: 2000-ish.
Spoilers: The whole Malory Towers series.
Notes: Malory Towers post-fic, with Darrell, Sally, Alicia and Betty at St Andrews university. Darrell and Sally are on Christmas break, together at Darrell's family home. Yes, I know the 'two girls, one bed' thing is a total cliché, but honestly, they're tropés for a reason, people, just enjoy it!
Chapter 8: sleeping arrangements
The evening was as lively - and exhausting - as Darrell and Sally had expected, and the already tired girls were subjected to a barrage of affection, questions, and food by their attentive families. Sally's mother was delighted to see her, having missed her particularly when her husband was away in Europe, leaving her with Daffy.
For her own part Sally's younger sister, once a rather shy child, was becoming more lively and gregarious every time Darrell saw her, as bright and sweet-natured as her elder sister but at a considerably higher volume! She flat-out refused to go to bed until she'd been read to from her storybook by Felicity, Sally, and Darrell, and it was fully an hour after her bedtime before she finally settled down to sleep in the room she was to share with her mother.
"So, now that the little one's in bed," Darrell's father said, as those remaining downstairs settled down with cups of tea, "let's get to business. How are you doing at university?"
Darrell chuckled, shaking her head incredulously. "Daddy, I've written practically every week - you know how everything's been going!"
"Well, of course, and so has Sally," said Sally's mother with a gentle smile. "But I'd like to hear anyway, from the two of you."
Darrell turned her head to catch Sally's eye, raising her eyebrows expectantly.
"Well..." Sally began, wracking her brains for something positive to say about the place that, wonderful though it was, seemed to have brought her little but confusion, frustration and heartbreak. "St Andrews is simply lovely. The weather's colder than Cornwall, of course, but it's so nice to still be by the sea, and the buildings are marvellous..."
"Mhm, and your studies?" Darrell's father prompted with a slight smile, shooting the girls a look from beneath his dark eyebrows. Sally felt herself blush, just a little - his eyes were so exactly like Darrell's.
"Daddy..."
"Darrell..."
But then Darrell's mother cleared her throat, leaning forward to top her tea up from the pot on the side-table. "I think there'll be plenty of time to discuss Darrell and Sally's classes at length over the next fortnight, don't you, dear? The poor girls have been travelling since this morning, let them go to bed."
"Oh, they don't want to go to bed yet..." Felicity said. Now that she was allowed up as late as she liked on holidays (within reason), the idea of going to bed before midnight seemed like a terrible waste. But Darrell was already standing, reaching to pull Sally to her feet.
"We'll see you in the morning, Fliss," she said, shooting a grateful look at her mother. "Good night, all."
Sally was nervous. Actually, she was downright terrified. Darrell's mother had taken their cases upstairs when they arrived, so in her weariness she hadn't really thought about their sleeping arrangements. The Rivers' house was of a good size, but what with the library and Mr Rivers' study there was only one spare room to sleep in. Usually when Sally stayed, of course, she slept in the guest bedroom, which was of an ample size and furnished with both a double and single bed. But naturally, that was where her mother was sleeping, with Daphne. And so...
"Well, this will be cosy," Darrell joked, making a face as she lugged her suitcase up onto her bed with a thump, flipping it open to retrieve her nightie and toiletries. "D'you remember when we used to insist on sharing my bed so that we could lie awake and talk all night? Until we decided we were too old, of course..." She chuckled, hoping it didn't sound as nervous as she felt. The room just seemed too quiet without her chatter, so she tried to keep it up, pottering about as she unpacked her clothes for the next day and laid them neatly out on a chair, leaving the rest in the suitcase to be dealt with tomorrow.
Sally followed suit after a few moments' pause. Although the room was cool from having been aired out that day, and of course tiredness always makes one feel cold, Sally couldn't help but feel a little stifled. Darrell's room was spacious and her bed, though not a full-sized double, was easily big enough for the two of them, but the whole thing just seemed too... intimate.
When Darrell left, pyjamas in hand, to change and perform her ablutions, Sally sat down heavily in an armchair, dropping her face into her hands. It was warm to the touch and she felt sure she was blushing. It was as Darrell said, of course - they'd shared a bed every time she'd stayed until they were at least fourteen, but...
It feels different now. Darrell frowned at herself in the mirror as she considered this, before drying her damp face roughly with one of the bathroom hand-towels, for she had forgotten to take hers from the bedroom. She felt goose-pimples beginning to prickle across her bare shoulders and quickly unfolded and donned her nightie before attending to her teeth in a vigorous fashion. Hang it all, it is different. She had been so very pleased that the two of them were getting along as though the last few weeks hadn't happened that she'd almost managed to push aside all the muddled thoughts and feelings she'd been having of late, but now they came back in a rush. She'd been worried before about sitting too close to Sally, or taking her hand, and here they were to share a bed! She remembered the way they'd used to snuggle together for warmth, whispering into one another's ears - how strange that would feel after everything that had happened.
But Darrell was resolute. She had made up her mind that things were to get back to the way they were between the two of them and she wasn't about to do something silly to spoil that now. Although what I'd do I don't know in any event - I can hardly sleep on the couch for two weeks! For Sally and her mother and sister were to spend the first fortnight of the break, including Christmas, with the Rivers, leaving for home to have the last week just the three of them. Good Lord, that seemed an awfully long time now!
Sally was already in her nightgown when Darrell returned to her room, her fresh clothes from the morning laid out also, shoes (for they'd forgotten, in their tiredness, to leave them downstairs) tucked neatly away under a chair. She looked up almost guiltily from where she sat on the bed when Darrell entered, feeling her heart skip a beat as it always did when she caught sight of her friend. Darrell's face was a little ruddy from its thorough washing, a few damp locks of her dark hair clinging to her forehead. Her nightie was fairly shapeless, chosen for warmth and comfort rather than form, but Sally could still just make out the curve of her slim hips and flat stomach, her eyes trailing upwards a little before she stood abruptly. "I'll... teeth. I mean, I'll be right back," she said with a sheepish smile, hurrying past Darrell out of the room.
By the time she came back, Darrell had turned of the main light in the room, and was already in bed, sleepily staring at a page of Middlemarch in the light from the bedside lamp.
"You can't possibly mean to read," Sally murmured, lowering her voice now that the light was dimmer, as always seemed appropriate.
"Mm, no, not really," Darrell said with an expansive yawn, leaning over to replace her book on the night-stand. Sally turned her gaze away sharply as she did so, for the neckline of Darrell's nightdress was quite loose.
I shan't survive this, she thought feverishly to herself now. I shall have a heart attack, I'm quite sure of it... But of course she knew that though she felt her heart was going to beat out of her chest she would have nothing of the sort, and, steeling herself, she climbed into bed with her friend. Darrell's presence had already warmed the sheets a little and her bed was comfortable, but neither girl seemed able to settle, even once Sally clicked the lamp off. They had been a little smaller when they'd last shared Darrell's bed, of course, but not so much so that it should be so hard now to maintain a polite space between them, surely?
Even under such circumstances, however, the activity and length of the day got the better of them both, and Sally and Darrell drifted off into peaceful slumber.
Darrell Rivers was nothing if not straightforward and practical. She reminded herself of this when she woke the next morning and the first thing she registered was the warm body pressed against hers, Sally's back to her front. The second thing she noticed was the hustle and bustle of the household waking up and beginning to attend to the tasks of the day. The sounds drifted up from downstairs - a kettle boiling, the clinking of silverware being laid out for breakfast, Daffy's excitable chatter, Darrell's father's basso profundo - he was probably being harassed by Felicity while he tried to read a newspaper. It sounded very much as though they were the only people left in bed in the house, and for this Darrell was profoundly grateful, for she was quite sure she could not have dragged her eyes open a moment earlier if her life depended on it.
As she drew in a long breath, Darrell inhaled the sweet, floral scent of Sally's hair, and smiled. No need to get up quite yet, surely? After all, they had a terribly long day the day before and there would be plenty more chores to help with later on, too. For now, she was warm and deliciously comfortable. Though one arm was trapped a little awkwardly between her and Sally, which she tried to move now, slipping it beneath Sally's neck between her shoulder and the pillow - there, that was better. Sally stirred, then, and Darrell made to move her arm from around her friend's waist, but was forestalled as a warm hand caught hers and squeezed, a gentle sigh escaping the other girl's throat. It made Darrell want to squirm, but she only closed her eyes and exhaled slowly.
"...Darrell?" The utterance was muffled, Sally's voice thick with sleep. "Are you awake?"
Darrell considered not answering, lest waking would mean they could no longer lie like this, but her natural honesty got the better of her and she nodded, the crisp linen pillowcase rustling a little beneath her cheek. "Mhm. Just, I think."
"Oh." Her friend didn't seem to have much else to say to this. Sally had been most surprised to drift into consciousness to feel Darrell's arms wrapped around her, her breath tickling the back of her neck. But she wasn't inclined to complain, even as a flush of embarrassment crept up her ears and across her cheeks. I must have moved closer in the night. I can't even trust myself when I'm asleep! It didn't occur to Sally that she was in Darrell's embrace and not the other way around.
"Er... cold night last night..." Darrell said now. She framed it almost in the tone of a suggestion rather than an observation, as though giving Sally the opportunity to pass off their current situation as the product of heat conservation.
Grateful, Sally took it. "Oh, yes. I think perhaps your windows were left open too long yesterday when the room was being aired."
Darrell smiled tightly, although of course Sally couldn't see her face at present. "I suppose we'd better get up."
Regretfully, Sally agreed. As the pair shifted to sit up there was a moment where Darrell leaned over her friend, and Sally thought she saw the dark flicker of something quite unexpected in Darrell's eyes that made her breath catch in her throat and her pulse jump. But the moment passed as soon as it arrived, and by the time the pair were washed, dressed and down for breakfast she had pushed it back into her imagination, where it belonged.
( Chapter 9)
Fandom: Malory Towers
Pairing: We're still on Sally/Darrell for the moment, for sure.
Rating: Oh, creeping towards PG again I dare say.
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Enid Blyton, or her estate or publishers or whatever, not me.
Words: 2000-ish.
Spoilers: The whole Malory Towers series.
Notes: Malory Towers post-fic, with Darrell, Sally, Alicia and Betty at St Andrews university. Darrell and Sally are on Christmas break, together at Darrell's family home. Yes, I know the 'two girls, one bed' thing is a total cliché, but honestly, they're tropés for a reason, people, just enjoy it!
Chapter 8: sleeping arrangements
The evening was as lively - and exhausting - as Darrell and Sally had expected, and the already tired girls were subjected to a barrage of affection, questions, and food by their attentive families. Sally's mother was delighted to see her, having missed her particularly when her husband was away in Europe, leaving her with Daffy.
For her own part Sally's younger sister, once a rather shy child, was becoming more lively and gregarious every time Darrell saw her, as bright and sweet-natured as her elder sister but at a considerably higher volume! She flat-out refused to go to bed until she'd been read to from her storybook by Felicity, Sally, and Darrell, and it was fully an hour after her bedtime before she finally settled down to sleep in the room she was to share with her mother.
"So, now that the little one's in bed," Darrell's father said, as those remaining downstairs settled down with cups of tea, "let's get to business. How are you doing at university?"
Darrell chuckled, shaking her head incredulously. "Daddy, I've written practically every week - you know how everything's been going!"
"Well, of course, and so has Sally," said Sally's mother with a gentle smile. "But I'd like to hear anyway, from the two of you."
Darrell turned her head to catch Sally's eye, raising her eyebrows expectantly.
"Well..." Sally began, wracking her brains for something positive to say about the place that, wonderful though it was, seemed to have brought her little but confusion, frustration and heartbreak. "St Andrews is simply lovely. The weather's colder than Cornwall, of course, but it's so nice to still be by the sea, and the buildings are marvellous..."
"Mhm, and your studies?" Darrell's father prompted with a slight smile, shooting the girls a look from beneath his dark eyebrows. Sally felt herself blush, just a little - his eyes were so exactly like Darrell's.
"Daddy..."
"Darrell..."
But then Darrell's mother cleared her throat, leaning forward to top her tea up from the pot on the side-table. "I think there'll be plenty of time to discuss Darrell and Sally's classes at length over the next fortnight, don't you, dear? The poor girls have been travelling since this morning, let them go to bed."
"Oh, they don't want to go to bed yet..." Felicity said. Now that she was allowed up as late as she liked on holidays (within reason), the idea of going to bed before midnight seemed like a terrible waste. But Darrell was already standing, reaching to pull Sally to her feet.
"We'll see you in the morning, Fliss," she said, shooting a grateful look at her mother. "Good night, all."
Sally was nervous. Actually, she was downright terrified. Darrell's mother had taken their cases upstairs when they arrived, so in her weariness she hadn't really thought about their sleeping arrangements. The Rivers' house was of a good size, but what with the library and Mr Rivers' study there was only one spare room to sleep in. Usually when Sally stayed, of course, she slept in the guest bedroom, which was of an ample size and furnished with both a double and single bed. But naturally, that was where her mother was sleeping, with Daphne. And so...
"Well, this will be cosy," Darrell joked, making a face as she lugged her suitcase up onto her bed with a thump, flipping it open to retrieve her nightie and toiletries. "D'you remember when we used to insist on sharing my bed so that we could lie awake and talk all night? Until we decided we were too old, of course..." She chuckled, hoping it didn't sound as nervous as she felt. The room just seemed too quiet without her chatter, so she tried to keep it up, pottering about as she unpacked her clothes for the next day and laid them neatly out on a chair, leaving the rest in the suitcase to be dealt with tomorrow.
Sally followed suit after a few moments' pause. Although the room was cool from having been aired out that day, and of course tiredness always makes one feel cold, Sally couldn't help but feel a little stifled. Darrell's room was spacious and her bed, though not a full-sized double, was easily big enough for the two of them, but the whole thing just seemed too... intimate.
When Darrell left, pyjamas in hand, to change and perform her ablutions, Sally sat down heavily in an armchair, dropping her face into her hands. It was warm to the touch and she felt sure she was blushing. It was as Darrell said, of course - they'd shared a bed every time she'd stayed until they were at least fourteen, but...
It feels different now. Darrell frowned at herself in the mirror as she considered this, before drying her damp face roughly with one of the bathroom hand-towels, for she had forgotten to take hers from the bedroom. She felt goose-pimples beginning to prickle across her bare shoulders and quickly unfolded and donned her nightie before attending to her teeth in a vigorous fashion. Hang it all, it is different. She had been so very pleased that the two of them were getting along as though the last few weeks hadn't happened that she'd almost managed to push aside all the muddled thoughts and feelings she'd been having of late, but now they came back in a rush. She'd been worried before about sitting too close to Sally, or taking her hand, and here they were to share a bed! She remembered the way they'd used to snuggle together for warmth, whispering into one another's ears - how strange that would feel after everything that had happened.
But Darrell was resolute. She had made up her mind that things were to get back to the way they were between the two of them and she wasn't about to do something silly to spoil that now. Although what I'd do I don't know in any event - I can hardly sleep on the couch for two weeks! For Sally and her mother and sister were to spend the first fortnight of the break, including Christmas, with the Rivers, leaving for home to have the last week just the three of them. Good Lord, that seemed an awfully long time now!
Sally was already in her nightgown when Darrell returned to her room, her fresh clothes from the morning laid out also, shoes (for they'd forgotten, in their tiredness, to leave them downstairs) tucked neatly away under a chair. She looked up almost guiltily from where she sat on the bed when Darrell entered, feeling her heart skip a beat as it always did when she caught sight of her friend. Darrell's face was a little ruddy from its thorough washing, a few damp locks of her dark hair clinging to her forehead. Her nightie was fairly shapeless, chosen for warmth and comfort rather than form, but Sally could still just make out the curve of her slim hips and flat stomach, her eyes trailing upwards a little before she stood abruptly. "I'll... teeth. I mean, I'll be right back," she said with a sheepish smile, hurrying past Darrell out of the room.
By the time she came back, Darrell had turned of the main light in the room, and was already in bed, sleepily staring at a page of Middlemarch in the light from the bedside lamp.
"You can't possibly mean to read," Sally murmured, lowering her voice now that the light was dimmer, as always seemed appropriate.
"Mm, no, not really," Darrell said with an expansive yawn, leaning over to replace her book on the night-stand. Sally turned her gaze away sharply as she did so, for the neckline of Darrell's nightdress was quite loose.
I shan't survive this, she thought feverishly to herself now. I shall have a heart attack, I'm quite sure of it... But of course she knew that though she felt her heart was going to beat out of her chest she would have nothing of the sort, and, steeling herself, she climbed into bed with her friend. Darrell's presence had already warmed the sheets a little and her bed was comfortable, but neither girl seemed able to settle, even once Sally clicked the lamp off. They had been a little smaller when they'd last shared Darrell's bed, of course, but not so much so that it should be so hard now to maintain a polite space between them, surely?
Even under such circumstances, however, the activity and length of the day got the better of them both, and Sally and Darrell drifted off into peaceful slumber.
Darrell Rivers was nothing if not straightforward and practical. She reminded herself of this when she woke the next morning and the first thing she registered was the warm body pressed against hers, Sally's back to her front. The second thing she noticed was the hustle and bustle of the household waking up and beginning to attend to the tasks of the day. The sounds drifted up from downstairs - a kettle boiling, the clinking of silverware being laid out for breakfast, Daffy's excitable chatter, Darrell's father's basso profundo - he was probably being harassed by Felicity while he tried to read a newspaper. It sounded very much as though they were the only people left in bed in the house, and for this Darrell was profoundly grateful, for she was quite sure she could not have dragged her eyes open a moment earlier if her life depended on it.
As she drew in a long breath, Darrell inhaled the sweet, floral scent of Sally's hair, and smiled. No need to get up quite yet, surely? After all, they had a terribly long day the day before and there would be plenty more chores to help with later on, too. For now, she was warm and deliciously comfortable. Though one arm was trapped a little awkwardly between her and Sally, which she tried to move now, slipping it beneath Sally's neck between her shoulder and the pillow - there, that was better. Sally stirred, then, and Darrell made to move her arm from around her friend's waist, but was forestalled as a warm hand caught hers and squeezed, a gentle sigh escaping the other girl's throat. It made Darrell want to squirm, but she only closed her eyes and exhaled slowly.
"...Darrell?" The utterance was muffled, Sally's voice thick with sleep. "Are you awake?"
Darrell considered not answering, lest waking would mean they could no longer lie like this, but her natural honesty got the better of her and she nodded, the crisp linen pillowcase rustling a little beneath her cheek. "Mhm. Just, I think."
"Oh." Her friend didn't seem to have much else to say to this. Sally had been most surprised to drift into consciousness to feel Darrell's arms wrapped around her, her breath tickling the back of her neck. But she wasn't inclined to complain, even as a flush of embarrassment crept up her ears and across her cheeks. I must have moved closer in the night. I can't even trust myself when I'm asleep! It didn't occur to Sally that she was in Darrell's embrace and not the other way around.
"Er... cold night last night..." Darrell said now. She framed it almost in the tone of a suggestion rather than an observation, as though giving Sally the opportunity to pass off their current situation as the product of heat conservation.
Grateful, Sally took it. "Oh, yes. I think perhaps your windows were left open too long yesterday when the room was being aired."
Darrell smiled tightly, although of course Sally couldn't see her face at present. "I suppose we'd better get up."
Regretfully, Sally agreed. As the pair shifted to sit up there was a moment where Darrell leaned over her friend, and Sally thought she saw the dark flicker of something quite unexpected in Darrell's eyes that made her breath catch in her throat and her pulse jump. But the moment passed as soon as it arrived, and by the time the pair were washed, dressed and down for breakfast she had pushed it back into her imagination, where it belonged.
( Chapter 9)