Xaviers!

The invisible man sat in a window seat, completely invisible to the naked eye. If it weren't for the free-floating book and the open bottle of wine paired with a glass, one might think no one was there at all.

A particularly unobservant creature might not notice his presence as he sat alone, reading High Fidelity by Nick Hornby.

((Open))

An already slightly-buzzed Texan sauntered towards the window seat where a book floated.

"Hi, Basil," she twanged, a tipsy smile on her face as she snatched the bottle of wine and curled into the seat, taking a swig directly from the bottle.

"Hey Wino." He teased back. He was not drunk yet, but didn't mind sharing. He had more.

"Celebrating something before finding me?"

"I passed my organic chemistry final," she giggled, "and I have my own room now, I guess...roommate who hated me's been gone for....who knows."

She looked at the bottle appreciatively before taking another swig.

"Congratulions." He replied in a warm tone.

"Privacy is always worth celebrating.

Did you know that proper British Unis have overwhelmingly single occupant dorm rooms?"

"Yeah? That'd be nice...."

She eyed him, "Whatcha readin'?"

"A book about an insecure idiot and his love of vinyl records.

He was played by John Cusack in the film version.

You probably wouldn't like it." He laughed.

"You're not home for Christmas?"

"Texas ain't big enough for me," she smirked, looking away and out the window, though the look in her eyes said her heart wasn't really into the joke.

"...hard to get back to the States when you crush a car into a cube in front of a crowd..." she sighed.

"And you're family can't come here?" He asked.

"Not enough money to get the whole crew over here," she sighed.

"I have it." He replied, not missing a beat.

"Asssuming they have valid passports and what not."

Haley quirked an eyebrow at him as she was mid swig from the bottle. "You...what?" she asked, leaning forward and pulling the bottle away from her lips.

"Have the money for them to come and visit you. I could wire it to them."

"....why would you spend that much money on me?" she asked in disbelief.

"I mean....I... that's super sweet and all, but..."

"Why wouldn't I? If it would make you feel better." He replied back, his tone genuine.

"...but I could...I'd never be able to repay you," she replied.

"Well... Fortunate then i am not looking to get repaid." He joked.

Haley scoffed, "Basil, I can't just take money like that. It's.... it's too much!"

"It's not that much. I am not bringing the while Crusek clan.

Mom, dad, other baby Cruseks only. Maybe grandma if she isn't too old to fly."

"That's still like. Thousands of dollars!" she slurred slightly. "Are you... being serious? What do you do that you have that much money?"

Haley pulled again from the bottle.

"Stay put here.

My parents pay me a handsome allowance to not cause a scene.

And yes, I am being serious."

Haley looked across the space between them, tears welling up in her eyes. "This is the nicest thing anyone has ever offered me...I...I don't even know what to say."

She set the bottle down and crawled forward quickly, wrapping her arms around him tightly. "Thank you so much, Basil..."

Haley would feel an invisible hand cautiously wrap around her back, not wanting to startle the drunken girl.

He hugged her back with one arm.

"You're welcome."

His left hand went creeping for the bottle she had abandoned, it floating disembodied towards the void that was him.

"Just get me the details of where to send the funds."

“Thank you,” she sniffled, trying to plant a kiss on his cheek but probably landing far closer to his mouth than she’d intended.

She did, and could feel the edge of his lip as he backed away, the smell of wine on his breath confirming it was indeed his mouth.

"Whoa, alright." He laughed, pulling away. " That's more than required."

Haley giggled as she pulled back, “Sorry. That was meant for your cheek. But. Like. Really. I can’t thank you enough.”

Clank clank-clak wob wob wob wob wob wob wob-wob-wob-wob-wobwobwobwobwobwob....

Between the doorway to the common room and the kitchenette Colette was knelt and attempting to pick up the round metal cake pan from the floor, fumbling with it awkwardly as she tried not to drop the other trays and bag of groceries she had in her arms. In a moment of stunned silence she had been standing and watching the two, the pan having slipped from her hand and brought her suddenly back to reality. Now she was trying to retrieve it while making every effort not to look toward the window seat.

Basil flinched at the loud sound, dropping his book.

"Oh. Hello Madame. Do you need some help?" He asked, acting like nothing was the matter.

Haley practically jumped out of the seat and into a defensive stance before recognizing the gooey girl.

"Are you okay, Colette?" she asked, visibly relaxing.

"Oh non-non-no no no." Colette said a little too quickly as she recovered her lost pan, only to awkwardly struggle with putting everything on the kitchenette counter without having stuff tip over as she held everything in her arms. "I am fine. Please, do not allow me to interrupt you... two." There was a pause before her hands were busy trying to set her items in order, head down as she took the ingredients out of the paper shopping bag and placed them on the counter. Graham wafer crumbs, brown sugar, milk - the latter she tipped onto its side and fumbled with getting upright again with a shaky little twitter of a laugh.

"From what?" He asked, casually. When she dropped the milk he jumped up to help her, picking up the item to hand it to her.

"Oh, I have no idea, maybe nothing at all!" Colette's smile was a bit forced, made more obvious by the fact that her face didn't have the restrictions of flesh & blood so it was a little wider than what she normally sported. She took the offered jug of milk in shaky hands and carefully set it on the counter.

“Basil an’ I were just talkin,” she smiled. “And the big ol sweetie just offered to help me fly my family out here for Christmas, so I had to give him a hug.”

Colette's shaking began to subside as the girl's shoulders relaxed.

"Of course. Basil can be so selfless and kind, it is only natural."

It didn't take a psychic to tell-

"Something's wrong." Basil stated.

Colette shook her head. "It's nothing."

It wasn't nothing.

Haley was psychic, but she was also drunk, so that wasn’t helping much. She was, however, a girl, so she knew for a face it *definitely* wasn’t nothing.

“Colette, I wasn’t making a move on your man.”

"Oh no, of course not. You were just appreciative! What kind of girlfriend would I be if I were to presume - zings, just because she sees her boyfriend being k...." Colette trailed off and had difficulty looking at either of them, but mostly Basil.

Haley would feel some of those patent Basil mixed-emotions broiling up in the boy. Fear and anger, mixed with a sense of defensiveness as if he were being attacked somehow. Even though she was a bit sauced, he was not good at hiding things from telepaths.

"You're right." Basil replied. "She did attempt to kiss me... on the cheek. She missed because she's tipsy. I didn't take advantage of that partly because I have a girlfriend, partly because she has a boyfriend and partly because that's not the sort of person I am. If a girl is going to kiss me, I would rather us both be available and preferably both drunk or both sober.

Most girlfriends would be appreciative of that Colette.

Why aren't you?" He lashed back in potentially the (intentionally) rudest thing he'd ever said to Colette.

The rush of emotions was a bit overwhelming for the tipsy Texan and she rubbed her temples, cringing. "Basil...that wasn't very nice...Colette. I'm sorry I..." Haley trailed off, distracted by all of the emotional energy flying around the room.