An Art of Balance

Chapter 18: Ambiguity

As she rounded the corner of the hallway where they had held their team meeting, the rest of her team was already coming in her direction. Most avoided looking at her, except for Everett who gave her a smug grin and a wink that made her want to punch him in the face there and then.

Judith was walking behind him, Lizzie's sentiments mirrored on her own features. Her golden eyes found Lizzie's and worry crossed her face as she took in the pallid complexion of her friend.

"Are you okay?" she asked, her voice radiating warmth and comfort. Lizzie nodded curtly; her attention were fixed to the door of the classroom the others had just left; it still stood slightly ajar.

Guessing her thoughts, Judith inclined her head in the same direction. "The captain's still back in the meeting room if you... want to sort things out, I suppose." She offered Lizzie another encouraging smile and continued her way back towards their Common Room.

When Lizzie carefully opened the door to the classroom, Orion and McNully were still in front of the teacher's desk, just where Lizzie had left them what felt like an eternity ago. They were deeply immersed in their discussion; Murphy was talking insistently to Orion while he animatedly gestured with his hands to drive whatever point he had home. Orion, on the other hand, had his head bowed and his face was brooding; he nodded at his friend's words and only interjected him every now and again.

Lizzie closed the door behind her as quietly as she could; she breathed deeply one last time, trying to ignore her somersaulting stomach and then cleared her throat.

Both their heads perked up at the sudden sound and Lizzie's eyes quickly dropped to the ground as they fell silent. She could feel the heat rising to her face as she buried her clammy hand in the pocket of her jacket, the other still resting on the door handle as if ready to run from the room at any moment.

She drew a shaky breath. "If this is a bad moment..." she spoke up hopefully. Her attention was fixed solely on Murphy; she didn't dare look Orion in the face.

But the blonde commentator shattered her last chance at an escape as he gathered up his playbooks from the desk and stacked them on his lap. "No, not at all; I was, in fact, just leaving." With a short and sympathetic look at Orion he rolled out of the room. As he passed Lizzie, he gave her a warm, encouraging smile she couldn't quite reciprocate in her current emotional state. The door falling shut behind him sounded unnaturally loud to her ears and made her jump; the silence it left them in was even more deafening.

Plucking up all of her courage, Lizzie stepped further into the room and raised her eyes to meet Orion's.

He looked at her apprehensively, the palpable tension hanging between them mirrored in the way he carried himself; although his dark eyes were unwavering as they met her own, his shoulders were squared and his jaw locked.

He said nothing, waiting for her to begin the conversation; much like the habit Lizzie had adopted herself, his fingers were slowly twirling the round pendant of his necklace.

Lizzie walked towards him with shaky knees and sat on the edge of the desk. The way he regarded her was too intense for her to maintain the eye contact; she dropped her gaze to her feet, that couldn't quite reach the floor and were dangling in the air.

She knew she couldn't put this off any further, so she ignored her burning wish to just dart out of the door again and turned towards Orion with a sigh.

"Captain, we need to talk."

He let go of his necklace and pressed his palms lightly together. It was apparent that he was equally as reluctant as she was to have this conversation. "I think we do, Chaser."