Haunting Beauty

Charlotte awoke slowly. Like always she woke up long before she opened her eyes.
Her head was spinning and aching, and in all honesty, she wanted to puke. But not this time. She didn't want to be weak any longer, specially not because of this stupid gas. She had to get used to it sooner or later.
She groaned as she opened her eyes and sat up, noticing she was still wearing the costume.
The gas was making everything blurry as she struggled to shake it off.
The gas? An unweary feeling overpowered her. She knew what the gas meant. They had moved to a different room. And gotten new roommates. No.
She could already feel the hard lump in her throat and her eyes stinging at the thought of losing him.
"Dimitri?!" she cried out and looked around the room.
"Dimitri, are you still he-"
She was cut off as she saw a sleeping body laying not too far away from her. She would recognize that face anywhere. It was the girl from the TV screen. The girl Dimitri had identified as Odette.
It was her. But it couldn't be...
Fuck it. Fuck being strong. She stopped holding back and imidiatly let a few tears stream from her face as well as a soft sob.

[OOC: Odette, I know we never RPed you leaving Villain's room, but I was thinking he brought you to a new room while you were sleeping, so just pretend like you fell asleep in the Villain's room and woke up here ^^]

Odette yawned, stretching her arms out to her sides only to feel the familiar cold floor beneath her.

'Guess he's had enough of me already ..' she said to herself as she wondered whether or not that was actually a good thing.

Her eyes widened suddenly as she remembered what she was wearing the last time she was awake. She sat up quickly and looked down, sighing in relief when she saw that she wasn't still naked. Instead she was wearing .. well she wasn't quite sure. She reached up and took off whatever was on her head.

'Well ..' she said, letting out a surprised laugh when she saw that she was holding pink bunny ears, 'this is definitely better than nothing ..'

She placed the ears back onto her head before looking up at the camera with a smile, grateful that John had given her clothes instead of letting her embarrass herself in front of her roommate .. her roommate? She'd almost forgotten about them. She looked around the room and saw another blonde girl nearby .. was she crying?

'Are you ok?' she asked with concern, wondering what the girl had been through to upset her like this.

She quickly wiped away her tears as Odette turned around.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," she said and tried to fake a smile, not too successfully.
She didn't need this right now. She didn't want to look weak.
Specially not in front of the girl who had almost taken everything from her without even knowing it.

'You sure?' she asked, unconvinced that she was really ok, 'if something has happened, it might help to let out what's bothering you to a complete stranger ..' she trailed off as she looked away for a moment, knowing that there were things that she had been through that she wouldn't want to tell anyone else, 'but only if you think it would help,' she finally added as she looked at her again with a small smile.

She smiled weakly.
"No, it's ok," she said softly, still not wanting to meet her eyes, but forced herself to, as it would be suspicious not to.
"It's in the past now," she said and smiled genuinly remembering what had happened between her and Dimitri.

'Good,' she said brightly when she saw her smile.

Odette watched her for a while, wondering if she'd seen her face somewhere in here before but after a few minutes she gave up, she didn't seem to recognise her from anywhere.

'We haven't met before have we,' she said as she shuffled a little closer to her, 'what's your name?'

"I'm Charlotte," she said and forced a smile, noticing her costume.
So she had ordered the playboy bunny.
What bothered her was that she had always known she was beautiful. She had even seen her on the TV screen and there was no denying her beauty. But standing her in front of her it was almost as if she was angelic. Never had she seen such a beautiful face before and it stunned her. No wonder Dimitri preffered Odette.
She would never be able to compete against that.

'I'm Odette,' she said, smiling back.

She looked down at herself when she saw Charlotte notice her clothes.

'Yeah, I kind of just woke up in this, it's not too revealing is it?' she said with a slight laugh, 'I thought maybe it was just a way for me to cover up ..' she trailed off before quickly pointing towards Charlotte's costume, 'do you know if they're for anything in particular?'

"I don't know, I just bought one for fun," she smiled forced.
Was it too revealing? Yes. It was definitively too revealing. But she wasn't gonna say anything.
She didn't want to talk to her. Hell, she didn't even want to look at her.
So she did nothing except from staring blankly ahead waiting for Odette to do something she needed to respond to.

'For fun? Is there going to be costume party or something?' she said, laughing again, 'Not that I'd mind, I could use a bit of fun after the last few days I've had,' she sighed sadly, looking down for a moment before turning back to her, trying to smile again, 'so, did your old roommate buy one of these just for fun?'

She blushed and flinched. She didn't like talking about Dimitri in front of Odette, even though she had no idea that was her last roommate.
"He... he did," she said hesitantly hoping she wouldn't ask anymore.

'He?' she said, smiling playfully when she noticed her blush, 'so, do those red cheeks mean that something else happened between you two?'

She hesitated. How was she gonna answer that?
"Ehmm.. yeah.. no, I mean maybe.."
She blushed even more and looked down as she hunched her shoulders.
Damnit, why wouldn't she shut up? Couldn't she tell she didn't want to talk about it.
"So who were you roomed with last time?" she asked to change the subject.

'Aww, it looks like someone's in love,' she said teasingly and couldn't help but laugh when her blush deepened, she was just too adorable. It seemed like forever since she'd last been roomed with a girl and she didn't realise how much she'd missed just talking to someone, without all the other drama she seemed to get herself into while being roomed with a guy.

'Sorry,' she tried to stop laughing, 'I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable,' she said gently and put a reassuring hand on her arm.

'Well, I wasn't really in a room like this before ..' she paused, wondering if she was allowed to say anything. Well, he didn't say she couldn't and Sinbad knew where she'd been, so she didn't see why she couldn't at least mention it to Charlotte.

'I .. was with the villain,' she said slowly, nodding towards the camera.

Her eyes widened in shock, forgetting where she was and who she was with. Even forgetting what they were talking about. All she did was stare at Odette with wide eyes. She was with who?!

'Maybe I shouldn't have said anything ..' she said, laughing awkwardly and looking away as Charlotte stared at her.

"Did he... did he do anything?" she asked, concern obvious on her face. Being roomed with the villain himself could never have been a good thing.

'No, nothing bad!' she said quickly when she saw the look on her face, 'he actually .. well, he saved me,' she smiled to herself for a moment before shaking her head, he only saved me so he could mess with me some more ..

'If it wasn't for him, I would have died when I lost ..' she trailed off as she looked down and moved a hand to her stomach, biting her lip as she tried to keep the memory at the back of her mind.

"Oh.." she said remembering the horrors she had witnessed on the TV.
"I'm sorry. She's... she's horrible..." she said and referred to the woman who had tormented Odette in such a way. She couldn't imagine what would drive anyone to do that to another human being.

'So it really was broadcast to everyone ..' she said, smiling sadly, 'Sinbad did say that it was shown on the tv .. I just really hoped that he was wrong ..'

She didn't know what to say. She hadn't even thought about what she was saying when she told Odette. She looked down and blushed.
In all honesty, her blushing wasn't entirely to blame on her little mistake, but also on the fact that Odette was sitting beside her. She honestly seemed like a nice person, and yet she could not make herself like her.
Of course Dimitri prefferred her. She would have to be a total moron not to realize that. And yet, she felt it was unfair. Yet it stung her heart more than a thousand bees. Yet it hurt more than anything.
By looking down she could successfully cover up a tear, running down her cheek due to her hair falling in her face.

'Have you met her before? Ariel I mean ..' she spat out her name in anger, oblivious to Charlotte's silence, 'I really hope I don't have to see her again .. I don't think I could take much more of her screaming at me for sleeping with Sinbad,' she said and sighed.

The name brought the pain to a whole other level.
"Excuse me," Charlotte muttered as she silently walked to the bathroom and closed the door behind her.
She silently slid down the wall and put her face in her hands, feeling the silent stream of tears run down her cheeks and make the palm of her hands wet.
This woman had everything, and everyone she wanted. Everything Charlotte had ever wanted, had come to Odette without her even trying. The jealousy stung so deep, it ripped her heart a bit more every time she thought about her. In one way, she realized that Odette could never have known, and that she couldn't possibly be blamed for the pain inflicted on Charlotte. And yet, still, on the other side, Charlotte couldn't help but feel that Odette was stealing everything from her. Ripping everything from her bare hands.
As long as Odette lived, Dimitri would never chose Charlotte. Who in their right mind would ever want a normal, spoiled, stupid blonde instead of Odette. Who?

Odette looked up, frowning slightly as she watched her walk away, did she open her big mouth and say something wrong again?
After a few minutes she stood up and slowly walked towards the bathroom, hesitating for a moment before knocking lightly on the door.

'Are you ok?' she called out softly as she leant against the wall just beside the door.

She looked up from her hands only when she heard Odette's voice from the other side of the door. She dried her tears and snot, before taking a few moments to calm herself down before she answered.
"Yeah, I'm... fine," she said, her voice breaking at the last word.
Only then did the fear strike her once she remembered she had not locked the door. Odette could come in any second, and she made a point out of being busy. She could not let Odette see her like this if she happened to enter. She went over to the sink and turned it on before cupping her hands under the water and leaning over to splash it in her face, desperatly trying to remove the red eyes and cheeks she had gotten herself from crying.

'Liar ..' she whispered to herself when she heard Charlotte's voice.

She slowly reached for the door handle, opening it slightly to see her standing at the sink.

'Are you sure you're ok?' Odette asked as she walked up to Charlotte. She put a hand on her shoulder, turning her around to face her.

'What's wrong?' she said when she noticed her red face, 'and don't lie to me this time,' she said gently, giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze, 'whatever it is, you don't have to go through it alone.'

"Maybe not," she said while looking down.
"But I'd rather not have you to comfort me," she muttered.
"My problems are my own, and I want to keep it that way," she said while still looking down, her face turning more and more red by the second. She wished she knew whether it was because of anger or shyness.

'If that's what you really want .. I can understand that,' she said before stepping back, 'I'll leave you alone then ..'

She walked towards the bathroom door, stopping for a moment to turn back and look at Charlotte.

'But if you need to talk or .. anything, I'm right here .. for now at least,' she smiled a little before walking into the other room.

She leant against one of the walls, sliding down until she was sitting on the floor. She sat in silence, absent-mindedly playing with her hair as she tried to distract herself from thinking about any of the bad things that had happened to her lately.

Charlotte stood there dumbfolded for a second as Odette left the bathroom, but anger quickly started to rise in her seeing her little smile. It was unfair that she was so happy.
"I don't need your help!" she screamed a while after Odette had left and flung the first thing she could find at the door, which happened to be a roll of toilet paper.
"I don't need anything from you.." she sobbed before pulling herself back in and blinked away more tears that threatened to run down her cheeks any second.

Odette jumped when she heard Charlotte's screams.

'All I've done is try to be nice to you, so what's with that attitude?!' she shouted back from her spot on the floor, confused at why she was suddenly so angry.

Charlotte was about to reply, but suddenly felt her mind go dizzy. She couldn't think of a coherent sentence. She sat down on the floor and held her head between her hands and not long afterwards, she fell to the ground asleep. The gas had kicked in again.