R.A.D

His smile was infectious. Not just to the point where it made her smile to, but where it generally cheered her up. It was nice to have at least someone around she didn’t feel the need to hide from. “Well, whatever reason it is we’re back.. you still look cheerful as always.”

“Surely we didn’t miss too much. I mean, everyone’s pretty much forced to follow the same every day schedule. How much trouble could they have gotten themselves into?” Probably a lot. Possibly a lot she didn’t care too much about anyhow. “Have you settled in yet? Oh! Does Angeline already know you’re back?” She wiggled her eyebrows, still utterly in the dark when it concerned their past.

“I’m trying to be cheerful as always... I guess it helps that your here and my family isn’t though,” he said with a dismissive shrug. “No... unless someone got killed or something I don’t think we’ll have missed anything big,” he said with a shake of his head.

The warm embrace came as a welcoming surprise; a genuine smile breaking through as she held him as tightly as he held her. She didn’t want to let him go. He was the first friendly face she had seen that day, and genuinely one of the only reasons why coming back didn’t suck completely. 

“Hi.. I’ve missed you, you know that?,” she mused, holding him a little tighter before creating enough space between them so that she was able to properly look at him. “I eh.. well, do I need to explain how I am if I’m back here?” She attempted a joke, a soft chuckle escaping her lips although it wasn’t very convincing. They all knew why they were there. “But well, I’m back. So how are you? Did I miss a lot while I was away?”

She took the liberty of leaning in for another hug. She had missed him a lot and their fair share of phone calls hadn’t exactly been the same as seeing him on a daily basis. 

“Of course I know that, I’ve missed you too!” he replied, whining a little and relaxing his hold as she made space between them, “I suppose you don’t need to explain no...” the boy said with a sad pout before offering his friend a cheerful smile to try and lift her spirits a little.

Nervously meandering through her room, Lucinda was nowhere near finishing unpacking her back. She knew she should hurry as the day after would most likely be filled with therapy sessions and group dinners. Something she was not looking forwards to. No, she should probably get her room together now. Still, a knot had formed in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t want to wait around for her roommate to arrive. She didn’t want to pretend she was pleased with whatever girl she had been assigned to. The whole situation made her nervous to the point of nausea. No, there was something more important she had to attend to first. 

Leaving the heap of clothes on her bed for what it was she slipped out of the room. By now she knew the building from the top of her head, making it surprisingly easy to reach her destination - all the while wishing she wouldn’t come across someone she knew. 

Within no time she had reached his room, Mason’s, yet a simple knock on the door told her there was no one around. It frustrated her a little. She had hoped to find him immediately and now she had to wait around once more. Not that anyone was allowed to lock their doors around here. 

She had been sitting on his bed for approximately half an hour, sincerely wishing that this was actually his room and they hadn’t switched him to another. The sudden noise of a door opening had her startled; a hopeful smile twitching at the corner of her lips as she peaked up. 

Mason finally got to his room, having decided he’d socialised enough for one day to slink back off to his little private(ish) space to daydream about all the things he could get up to in the asylum. He’d been a little sad to be back with few familiar faces to keep him company... but people have been friendly enough and obviously knew nothing about why he was there in the first place, so everything was good.  He let out a small surprised squeak at first, seeing someone on his bed was not exactly what he expected when he got back to his room- if it had been Angeline he’d have thought he was dreaming. Instead it was Lucy- and when he recognised that face it was like it was his birthday. 

It had taken him a few seconds at first since currently, as far as he was concerned, the girl was home and away from the asylum. This was most definitely a pleasant surprise to him. “Lucy!” he cried out before leaping across the space between them in a matter of seconds and wrapping his arms around the girl; while he squeezed her as tight as he possibly could he began to babble, “I didn’t expect to see you here! How are you? How’s life? Why are you in the asylum? I thought you were home! Oh I’ve missed you so so so so much!”