Room 429, then Room 414 - Early Saturday Morning

[once_a_traitor]

It wasn't like Edmund to end up back in his dorm room when they were supposed to be in the cabins, but then it wasn't like him to have a girlfriend either.

There was also the issue of it not being like Edmund at all to go anywhere near Turkish Delight for a good reasons. But he had. He'd gone near two and a half boxes of the sticky sweet last

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[wannabehunter]

Due to the fact that despite Ellen's best efforts there tended to be at least one hunter a fortnight who'd drunk too much to let leave the roadhouse until the morning, Jo recognised that sound.

"Ed?"

[once_a_traitor]

He was going to answer, to reassure her he was fine even though he clearly wasn't, but the warm feeling rose in his throat and he was sick again. In between heaves his breathing was laboured and ragged.

[wannabehunter]

Jo winced and got out of bed to crouch next to him, reaching over to rub his back. "You'll feel better once it's all up."

[once_a_traitor]

Sugar wasn't the only thing that was making him sick. In fact, it played a very small role. The thought that he'd gone and eaten that stuff again and couldn't stop eating it made his stomach roll and the bile build up again in his throat. The humiliation that made his cheeks burn as he hunched over the hamper only added to his misery. Now he was only dry retching. "Sorry," he said in between two moments of incoherence.

[wannabehunter]

"I'll get you something to drink," Jo said. "Think you can make it to the bathroom so we can get you cleaned up?"

[once_a_traitor]

Edmund gave a small nod. There was a small fridge in the room but no bathroom so he would have to go to the shared one on the floor.

He sat back, leaning his head back against the wardrobe. He was pale and clammy and his hand shook as he reached for a towel on the floor nearby. After snatching it up, angry at himself, he wiped his mouth. Edmund couldn't bring himself to look at Jo, so he settled on focusing on the carpet in front of him.

[wannabehunter]

Jo took a bottle of water from his fridge and offered it to him, as well as a hand to help him up. "C'mon you."

[once_a_traitor]

He wanted to refuse the hand and ask her to leave so he could suffer alone (it was much easier to deal with when other people weren't watching), but he didn't. Edmund put the towel down with one hand and took her hand with the other, dragging himself to his feet. He looked a lot more unhappy than a sick stomach should have made him feel. It was the kind of look that someone had when they realised that they had done something horrible. He took the bottle from her once he was standing and unscrewed the cap to take a sip. Swallowing it was visibly hard. "Did you do anything you shouldn't have yesterday?"

[wannabehunter]

Jo thought about it. "Not really. I applied to college though. A lot of colleges." She frowned. "Did something happen?"

[once_a_traitor]

Edmund drank more of the water, trying to get rid of the taste of acid at the back of his mouth. He nodded and glowered, not at her, but at himself. "Something I would never do if I was of sound mind."

[wannabehunter]

"Something bad." Since people usually weren't this angry if they'd accidentally done something good.

[once_a_traitor]

He looked out the window. The anger couldn't last, and it didn't. When it was gone, Edmund found himself struggling to put it into words. "Something unforgivable."

[wannabehunter]

That did not sound good. "Okay, on a scale of one to ten, where ten equals selling your soul to a demon, how unforgivable is unforgivable?"

If he'd cheated on her, Ellen wouldn't have time to kill him though.

[once_a_traitor]

Selling your soul to a demon was a fairly good way of putting what had almost happened with the White Witch. "I was close to a ten once," Edmund admitted. "What I did then was unforgivable and yesterday was too much a reminder of that almost ten. I'm not making sense and I won't without you knowing the whole story. This isn't something I tell anyone, but I should tell you if you've time to listen." That he was even considering telling her said that he cared more than he should have for something that was only supposed to be for the summer.

[wannabehunter]

An almost ten was definitely Not Good. "If you need to talk, then I've got the time," Jo said softly. "I've also got a bathroom and a bottle of something strong in my room if you need either of those first."

[once_a_traitor]

After a moment's thought, Edmund nodded in agreement. "I'll get a shirt and meet you there in a moment."