.byebailey:
Bailey had probably just been ignorant when she had initially thought the man would deny he was having a panic attack. It didn’t seem like something that people readily admitted to, or maybe Bailey was just used to people jumping to denial and lying to her in the least malicious way possible. It was like when Mack claimed she didn’t like Adam more than she liked her actual boyfriend, or when Dakota claimed that she was fine whenever Bailey asked after her following the accident with Camden. But this guy was straight up telling her he was in trouble, and she didn’t know what the heck she could to do help.
“Oh!” she said. She knew she had breath mints in her pockets – always there because she didn’t know who she could end up kissing whenever she left the house, and it was always good to smell and taste minty fresh. But she doubted that the man still struggling to maintain a regular breathing rhythm would take one, probably because it wouldn’t help him.
“Should… should I be doing something?” she asked, gnawing on her lip with more fervour. It was probably selfish to think about herself at that moment (and people hadn’t hesitated to tell her on numerous occasions that that’s exactly what she was being) but Bailey was feeling significantly helpless and wished she had taken note of her surroundings to prevent this from happening.
Dakota knew all sorts of first aid because of how outdoorsy she was – and because it was probably like, a requirement when applying to be a camp counsellor – and she didn’t doubt that Adam had taught Mack some stuff about making sure someone was okay in these sorts of situations. On top of that, Lana was as gentle and calming as they came and could talk anyone down with that soothing tone of hers in a matter of minutes. Bailey possessed none of these qualities, and wished that her sisters were here instead of her. All she could treat was an insufferable hangover, and that was only because she’d long since discovered that the best cure was hair of the dog, to knock back more whiskey in an attempt to keep her throbbing headache at bay until she carbed up and slept the whole thing off.
However, when she asked about the rabbit whose nose was twitching as he peeped out from the man’s pocket, it seemed to distract him a little bit, so she kept a bright smile on her face.
“Well yeah, I’ve seen rabbits before. That definitely looks like one,” she giggled, watching as the man’s hand frantically made its way through the animal’s fur. She wondered if the rabbit was like one of those anxiety dogs people got that were trained to calm their owners down.
“Hey, Jeremiah,” she greeted the bunny cheerfully, crinkling her nose in an unconscious imitation of the rabbit’s own little twitch. She wanted to ask if she could pet him, but suddenly became preoccupied with holding back Lucky whose curiosity got the better of him as he stretched up onto his hind legs to get a closer look at the little ball of fur in the man’s arms.
“Ack, and this is Lucky,” she grunted, pulling her dog back. “Sorry about him. I promise he’s like, totes harmless. He’s just nosey as hell.”
She smiled apologetically and shook her hair out of her eyes with a jerk of her head. Wondering if it would put the man at ease to know her name, she figured that she’d let go of her reservations about an introduction with a stranger being old-fashioned and overly formal, and gestured to herself.
“Oh, and I’m Bailey. Who… still has your paperweight,” she realised, wiggling it in the air.
When the girl before him posed her question, curious as to whether or not there was something that she could do, Cedric could only feebly shake his head in response. Quite frankly, he didn't know if there was anything that she could do. He was trying to calm himself, trying to focus on his breathing, or Jeremiah's breathing, or anything but the boisterous girl and her loud dog. A part of him knew that she wasn't in the wrong, and hadn't knowingly upset him, nor had her actions been too far from what might be considered 'the norm', and yet still he cowered away from her. Even if Cedric had known of any particular technique that might help relax him in his current state, he was all too certain that he wouldn't very much like for her to try. If anything, she seemed a little on edge herself just at the prospect of having to bear witness to the entire debacle.
So, instead, the girl merely stood there staring at him, a little helpless. Cedric truly couldn't blame her, he had been told all too many times that he was a difficult person to deal with, and that he made things all the more complicated when having one of his episodes. What people didn't seem to understand was that he couldn't control the dizzying, all encompassing sensation that surged through him on a daily basis, and that he didn't want to be rendered completely useless at any given moment. Some people seemed to believe it was all an act, that it was his way of crying out for attention – despite the fact that attention was the last thing he desired.
The soft giggle that broke through the girl's lips surprised him, and with Jeremiah now carefully tucked into his palm he found himself staring, a little too intently, at her. If the look on her face only moments before, or the awkward way with which she had asked if she could help, had been anything to go by, he had expected her to completely give up. He had been all too ready for her to tighten her grip on the leash at her side and go about her day as though the encounter hadn't ever happened. He had hoped that he'd be now given the opportunity to rush away home and end this nightmarish day, but instead she wore an excitable expression that strongly implied she had no intentions of going anywhere at all. Swallowing back the lump that was forming in his throat, Cedric averted his eyes from the girl once more and watched Jeremiah instead, hoping that, should he focus his attention on the tiny ball of fluff in his hands, he might be able to relax even just a small bit.
“Wh– what?” he frowned, glancing back up again as he heard the girl's words.
Jutting out his lower lip in confusion, his forehead wrinkling as he furrowed his brow, he cocked his head to the side and watched her. While her attention was solely on Jeremiah, he found himself observing her with complete and utter intrigue. After a moment's pause, he realised that her comment had just been a joke, or perhaps a sarcastic comment, and he nodded briefly to himself. While Alaric had always been patient with him – giving him time to catch up to his surroundings, and often explaining things that went amiss to Cedric's busy mind – Ariadne didn't always have the same approach. While still soft and one of the very few people who held the ability to calm Cedric, his little sister could have a tendency to be loud and unthinking, often firing back sarcastic and teasing comments that were sure to baffle him.
“Hm? Oh, gracious, yes,” Cedric started, torn away from his own muddled thoughts by a flurry of movement close by.
Pulling his hands close to his chest, he ran a gentle finger over Jeremiah's fur, before taking a look at the dog in front of him. The dog in question – a Labrador – appeared all too eager to make a break for it, edging his nose closer and closer to Cedric. While dogs – and any animal, really – tended to be a calming presence for Cedric on most occasions, this one only set him even further on edge. He was sure that the canine was utterly harmless, and in any other given moment Cedric might have lowered himself to his knees to rub behind the pup's ears, but instinct told him that he was better off focusing on the safety of Jeremiah, for fear that the dog might unintentionally frighten his friend.
“Hullo, um... Lucky,” he nodded, eyeing the dog warily. When he was certain she had him under control, he smiled stiffly at the girl – Bailey – and awkwardly shifted his eyes away from her stare. Momentarily pressing his face into Jeremiah's fur, he bestowed him with a gentle kiss, before pulling away once more and breathing out a long sigh of relief. While he wasn't sure he was entirely out of the woods yet, he felt a little more at ease knowing that he had his best friend nestled into his hand, and he eventually returned the girl's smile as best he could.
“Hullo, Bailey,” he greeted her. While not always entirely well practised as far as social interactin went, he was certain that this would be the moment that Alaric would effortlessly offer up a suave, albeit forced, smile and sweep strangers off their feet. Usually lead by an introduction of sorts, and so Cedric decided that perhaps he could muster up the courage to try for the former, rather than the latter. “I– Ahem, I, um. I'm Cedric, hullo. It's, um, l– lovely to meet you.”
As his hands threatened to tremble again, the mere effort of introducing himself suddenly feeling like too much, he squeezed his eyes shut for a brief second. He wondered if perhaps he looked quite as pathetic as he felt, and so he shook his head and let his gaze fall back on Bailey once more. Eyeing the paperweight, and weighing over the possible scenarios and the bizarre situation that had unfolded, he gave a soft shrug in her direction.
“I think it would only be right to, ahem, to reiterate that you are more than welcome to keep it,” he told her, his bottom lip wobbling as he offered her another puny smile. “I apologise for being quite so, um... harsh... with you, just before.”
Clasping a careful grip onto Jeremiah in one hand, he used his free hand to gesture the briefcase at his feet.
“I have plenty more of where those came from, I'm sure just one won't go amiss. That is to say, of course, that you– well, that you... want to keep it.”
