There had been a feeling of impatience in the air lately when it came to one Lisa Knotley, and the longer time went on, the thicker that aura felt, almost as if one could cut it with a knife. The break was approaching and the blonde waited for classes with bated breath, needing some sort of task or activity to keep herself from going insane after a few weeks of sitting on the sidelines. Although, despite her workaholic tendencies, not all was bad. Throughout the break, her schedule did find itself quite busy - that had been Aspen Clarke's full responsibility, and something the Sturt was quite grateful for. They had spent nearly every day of the break together, for hours on end; and, on occasion, multiple times in the same day. There had even been a day where she had gone to visit Lisa at night on her request, and the Sturt figured they could pull a second round of it all to bid goodbye at their little vacations.
Just like the last time, it had been quite the simple affair to sneak the girl in; unlike that time, however, the blonde had ideas unbecoming of teenagers like them - she took to alcohol to make the seconds more tolerable. It had taken a bit of convincing, but she eventually got Aspen to agree to that little activity (much to Lisa's surprise). The conversation flew back and forth easily during the first few swigs they shared from one of the few bottles she had found over the past year laying around the school premises. However, as time went on and a potent buzz solidified in each of the girls, things turned south and the room grew distinctly quiet, devoid of laughter and amusing conversations.
They sat against the headrest of Lisa's bed, dressed as if ready to go to sleep, leaning against each other in the somewhat uncomfortable silence. Not because of one another's presence or proximity, but because of what was going through their minds. At some point, the Sturt had handed the beverage to Aspen; to occupy her now idle hand, she pulled her friend's leg up to a bent position gently, if a bit clumsily, and found herself resting that hand on the top of her thigh, with a thumb running back and forth within its range. Despite her eyes being cast down towards the active finger, her gaze was anything but focused as the thoughts in her mind threatened to suffocate her at the drop of a hat.
"...This is the part where I tell you to stay away, I think..." She muttered, breaking the silence, gaze stuck to the perpetually moving finger. Despite her words, no part of her body made a move to get away and escape the personal bubble of the friend she had grown so fond of. "I've come to really care about you, so... I don't want to end up screwing you over too at some point." It was remarkable how easily Aspen had broken through every barrier Lisa had so carefully built for a little over two years; and in a way she had betrayed the Bourke already by her very inaction at nipping the friendship in the bud the moment she noticed it was blossoming. She had wanted to feel close to someone again, she realized, but ultimately she knew she had been setting both up for failure and dooming the Bourke to the pain Lisa always seemed to inevitably cause.
"That stuff you heard about me... From the Dueling Club. That's barely scratching the surface..." Her phrases dragged on as the alcohol took effect. She was conscious of the fact she was talking too much, but lacked the concern over what her words could end up doing to herself; the care for her friend dominated. "You already know I'm a lousy friend. I'm also, let's see... Lousy daughter, lousy sister, lousy girlfriend... S'just pick your poison at this point, really." She let out a deep exhalation. If only she knew how to stop herself. "I guess... I just don't want you to be next on the list." As her speech slowed to a halt, she decided to reach over with her free hand to take the bottle out of Aspen's hands, her head inadvertently pressing harder against the Bourke's with the leaning before she managed to return to her previous position; she then took a rather large swig in a vain attempt to forget her plights.