Gail Peck didn't know how to deal with her feelings.

Years of emotional abuse and neglect didn't help that fact. It wasn't like anyone in her family noticed. The only people who knew were the people she pushed away or the people whose lives she had ruined out of spite after being hurt by them. She had become skilled at getting away with being a bitch. People still wanted to be around or be with her despite everything. Maybe they thought they could change her. Maybe they thought they were just different.

No one was different.

Everyone ended up hurting her in the end.

This time, there was no one else to take it out on except herself and as she stared at herself in the mirror, surrounded by her hair on the floor at her feet, she knew someone would notice. She sighed as she ran the fingers of one hand through the choppy hair left on her head and pulled the bottle of whiskey to her lips with the other. She'd have to get it professionally fixed if she didn't want to look like she just escaped the psychiatric hospital.

The sound of the bathroom door opening dragged Gail out of her thoughts and she looked over just as the woman rounded the corner to the line of sinks Gail was currently standing in front of. It was starting to dawn on Gail's drunken brain that it was probably a bad idea to have an episode in her dorm.

"Sorry, I didn't…" The woman stopped in her tracks and took in the sight of Gail with an open bottle of alcohol standing in a halo of blonde hair. "Are you okay? You know there's no alcohol in the dorms right?"

"Which is it?"

"What?"

"Which do you care more about? Me or the alcohol?" asked Gail with the snarkiest tone she could manage.

"Well, I like to think I'm capable of caring about more than one thing at a time. Being sober helps," the woman replied.

Gail studied her unwanted companion quietly for a moment. She was a little taller than Gail and looked like just rolled out of a thrift store's half price bin. With her thick rim glasses, worn down cardigan, and vintage Goonies tank top it was like she was a diagram of hipster fashion but with a tan. If Gail wasn't annoyed with her she'd swear the woman was beautiful.

"Look nerd, can I have my break down in peace? Thanks."

Gail turned back to the mirror and swallowed down another mouthful of liquor. Then the bottle was gently pulled from her hand and when she turned to yell at the mystery woman she ended up caught off guard the second their eyes met. Unknown to her, this gave the intruder the opening she needed.

"As a future doctor I can't in good conscious leave you to destroy yourself," she said.

"Okay, I was originally kidding with the nerd comment but apparently I was spot on," smirked Gail as she continued to try and regain her composure. "Now give me back the bottle and go back to your shower."

The woman made no indication she was listening to Gail other than the way one side of her mouth curled up slightly into a lopsided grin.

"Would you like me to fix your hair?"

"What?" Now it was Gail's turn to be confused.

"I can fix your hair," she repeated. "If you'd like."

Gail just watched her for a minute before shrugging.

"Sure. I guess."

The woman capped the bottle of whiskey and shoved it into the bag she'd had on her shoulder. Then she pulled Gail with her toward the showers. When they reached the furthest stall from the door, Gail was fairly certain she was about to be murdered.

"What's your name?" asked Gail.

"Holly."

"I'm-"

"Gail Peck."

"Okay, I was only kidding with myself a second ago when I thought you were going to murder me but now I'm-"

"We have the same Intro to Forensics class. You'd probably know that if you didn't come in hungover all the time."

Never in her 19 years of life had Gail ever met someone who had so effectively shut her up. Well, besides her mother. But this wasn't in a terrible, demoralizing way so Gail wasn't really sure how to process it. The alcohol didn't help.

Holly pulled a little black bag out of her tote and pulled a pair of hair cutting scissors out. She reached up and ran her fingers through the choppy mess on top of Gail's head. Without thinking Gail closed her eyes and moved into the touch. In an instance Gail realized that the only people who'd ever touched her before were the rough hands of boys whether it was wrestling with her brother and his friends or fooling around with the men who used her. Swallowing and shaking her head she fought back the tears on the edge of her eyes and thanked the dim lighting of the bathroom.

"Keep your head still okay? I don't want to mess this up." Holly chuckled a little at the last part.

"What? Are you saying you don't like my modern interpretation of a haircut."

Holly laughed.

"Modern art is garbage."

"The doctor's an art expert, huh?"

"Future doctor," corrected Holly as she started snipping lightly at Gail's hair. "And that doesn't mean I can't have opinions on art."

"I don't know doc," said Gail. "Sounds a little judgey to me."

The more Gail focused on talking the less focused she was on how close Holly was to her face. Holly's lopsided grin at being called 'doc' definitely didn't help though. Sadly, Holly didn't take the teasing bait and quietly focused on Gail's hair. As the minutes passed and Gail studied every individual feature of Holly's face she was starting to wonder.

"Why are you being so nice to me? We've never said two words to each other before now."

"Actually you have." Holly grinned. "Professor Stein brought in donuts and you said 'move nerd.'"

"I'm not a good person."

Holly met Gail's gaze for a moment. The way her eyes darted around Gail's face it seemed as if she was looking for something. Then one corner of Holly's lips curled up and Gail found it made it hard to not smile back. As Holly went back to trimming down Gail's disaster of a haircut the silence and intimacy of the moment started to get to Gail again. When Holly turned Gail around so she could cut the back it helped ease Gail's racing heart but she found herself trying to turn to look at the other woman.

"How do you know how to cut hair?"

"My mom was a hairdresser when she was younger. Taught me and my sister how to cut our own hair," said Holly.

"My mom's a cop. She taught me how to take apart a Glock 17, clean it, reassemble it, and shoot it," said Gail with barely a thought. "Not as practical as cutting hair."

"I'm sure knowing how to do all that can be useful," said Holly. "Somehow."

"Oh it'll be really useful when I'm a cop. But at 10? Not so much."

"Twisted," said Holly as she started to run her hands through Gail's hair to try and spot anything that might have been left uneven.

"I feel like my whole life has been mapped out for me. Like, I need to go to get my degree, go to the academy, excel as a cop, become a detective, etcetera," mumbled Gail into the wall. "Meeting the man of parents dreams is somewhere in there. And something about a house in the suburbs with two point five children…"

As Gail spoke, Holly turned her back around to face her and continued to check Gail's hair for any spots she might have missed. She caught Gail's gaze for a minute and tilted her head to one side.

"How do you have half a child?"

"Maybe it's supposed to be a dog," shrugged Gail.

"So, what's a cat? A quarter of a child?" Holly smiled her lopsided smile and Gail rolled her eyes.

Holly leaned back against the divider of the shower stall and looked at Gail.

"Man of your parents dreams, huh?"

"Hey, maybe it will work out better that way. It's not like the ones I keep picking are all that great."

Holly pursed her lips and nodded before smirking.

"You know what will help?"

"More whiskey?"

"Nope," said Holly, popping the 'p'.

Holly pushed herself off the wall and moved toward Gail. Not understanding what was happening Gail stood her ground as Holly placed a hand on each shoulder and turned Gail so she was in the middle of the stall.

"Washing this mess down the drain."

Before Gail could register the words, Holly had already leaned forward and reached behind Gail. As the freezing cold water hit Gail square in the back Holly pushed her back slightly so it was running over her head and stepped back out of the stall. Holly did all of this while trying to stiffle her laughter. She couldn't tell if it was the shock of the cold water on her system or the alcohol still running through her body but Gail knew that had anyone else done this she would have already destroyed them, verbally and probably physically. Instead she just stood under the cold water staring at Holly as she giggled to herself about what she had done.

For a moment Gail just enjoyed watching Holly revel in her own bad joke. Then Holly moved to go into her bag and Gail smiled to herself as she reached out and pulled the nerd under the spray of water by the hem of her tank top. As Holly yelped and tried to back away Gail turned them so Holly couldn't easily get out of the stall and held her under the freezing cold water. Both girls laughed at the stupidity of the situation but didn't move. It wasn't until it dawned on Gail's drunken mind how being pressed against Holly under the running water was making her heart race. Especially with the way Holly's hand rested on Gail's hip just at the hem of her shirt.

Quickly shaking herself out of the moment, Gail backed up and made little gun shooting motions with her index fingers.

"Thanks for the haircut, nerd," said Gail. "See you in class."

Holly's smile faulted slightly as she was left soaking wet in the shower stall but she waved and just let Gail leave. Maybe Holly understood. Maybe she didn't. Gail didn't really care. Well, she did. But she didn't. It was a complicated web of denial.

Gail left a trail of dripping water as she headed through the bathroom toward the exit. As she passed the sinks and the pile of hair on the floor she looked up at herself in the mirror and froze. She smiled slightly as she reached up and ran her hand through her hair. It actually looked really good. Matted to her head with water but still good. She thought about how easily Holly had stopped to help her and looked back toward the showers.

Maybe some people were different but Gail wasn't, even if she looked like she was.

Gail still didn't know how to deal with her feelings.