Even in a whisper, James’ voice caught Tina off guard, and she jumped. Her eyes, bright with tears, darted in his direction, and she stood poker straight. For the briefest of moments she thought it might be Peter and like the snap of a finger the hope was dashed. Her shoulders slumped and her eyes dropped to the floor.
“Oh, Jesus fuck…” Tina grumbled, turning her face quickly away to wipe her tear streaked cheeks with the back of her hand. She was hesitant to turn back around.
Because she didn’t want anyone seeing her cry right now. She didn’t want anyone to see her cry ever. But especially right now. Tina had cried about Peter, and because of Peter, and for Peter too many times to count in her lifetime. This was just another one of those times, and it surely wouldn’t be the last, but that didn’t mean it got any easier, and it didn’t mean that she felt any less pathetic either. In fact, she felt even more pathetic now that she had been caught sobbing at his bedroom door. Every time she cried about Peter another notch was added to her heart and as of late there was becoming less and less space for new notches. Soon there might be notches on top of the notches, and what would be left when she had gone over them one hundred times each? Two hundred? Three Hundred?
Tina really wanted to look like she wasn’t listening because any minute now the tears that she had just dried were about to flood her cheeks all over again. Not only was she utterly heartbroken, she was now utterly mortified to top it off. And how in the hell was she going to turn around, in the current state she was in, and tell James that she was totally fine? Of course, he had offered for her to come inside – quite a few authorities in her life had asked her to come inside for a chat at some point or another, but more often than not the offer wasn’t optional, and always lead to a stern talking to about her behaviour and how disappointed said authority was in her. This felt different, sounded different, but Tina was now completely convinced that the world was out to get her today, and she didn’t hear it as anything but one of those authorities ready to tell her off for causing a scene. Here she was, standing in the middle of the corridor at work, bawling her eyes out. What kind of message would that send to the guests. These chats had never been optional before, she had assumed that this one wouldn’t be either.
Finally, with a defeated sigh and a pathetic little sniff, she brushed past James into the room, her eyes never lifting from the floor.
There was what felt to be a pause before Tina noticed him. It seemed like he had startled her, which wasn't his intention. She looked at the floor and for a moment James wondered if something was on it. Of course, it wasn't it was just her trying to avoid his gaze.
Oh, Jesus fuck. Well, that was an...interesting reaction. Well, it was different from the 'you bloody pirate' saying that people seemed to have around him. He noticed her attempt to hide her tears but alas he had already noticed them and he already felt quite concerned about her because of it.
James had never seen Tina cry before, and now he wished someone would take away the experience because it was very painful to watch. It reminded him of that fight they had a while ago over bedsheets and the pool. The same small feeling she had back then seemed to come over now. James was a bit prejudged, his first instinct was to punch Peter later. It had to be him, he had been acting rather coy today and also seemed in quite a hurry after his nagging to let him sleep.
Did she need him? Did he say something? Did one of her teapot projects not work out the way she wanted to. Did Wendy do something? Did her hair work against her? Was it that time of the month?
There were so many possibilities that could have been wrong, James didn't know what to ask. Well, he still felt Peter had to be to blame, after all, she was banging on his bedroom door. He would kill the boy later when he was calmer and knew where to put his body.
James waited for her to enter, but didn't immediately say something. Rather he walked to a drawer and pulled out a box of tissues and quietly presented it to her.
"You don't need to talk about it if you do not want to. But know you can, I am not a man that judges."