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Katherine feels like an absolute mess as she knocks on Bill and Darcy's door. She's holding her heels in one hand and banging on the door with the other. She hadn't even bothered to go back to her own dorm room first- she'd started crying almost as soon as the car her father had hired had pulled away from the curb. Most days her father's casual derision of her life didn't bother her but today was just too much and she knew Bill and Darcy would understand.
Darcy answers the door. "Hi- oh, Kath, come in, what's wrong?" He pulls her into the room and wraps his arms tightly around her. "It's alright, you're alright," he whispers as she sobs into his shoulder, surely making a mess of her carefully done makeup. "Bill, will you grab some clothes for Kath?"
Darcy continues to rub her back as she sobs but hands her to Bill when he came over. She's managed to calm down enough to mumble a hi into his shoulder. "C'mon, Kath," he says, herding her towards the bathroom and handing her a change of clothes.
They got lucky with the building their in- Kath has a single and only shares a bathroom with another single and the boys share with another double- and Kath is grateful for the time to herself. She steals one of Darcy's make up wipes and then uses Bill's ridiculously expensive cleanser and moisturizer to clean off her face. There's a pair of Bill's sweatpants since she's much closer in height to him than Darcy but the sweater is Darcy's. It's the giant crew neck sweater his grandmother had knit for his twelfth birthday. After he'd opened it, she'd explained that everyone needs a sweater that feels like a blanket sometimes. Katherine remembers thinking it was weird at the time, but now, almost 8 years later, she sees the wisdom in it. This sweater has seen her, Darcy, and Bill through bad breakups, high school drama, college admissions, and stressful finals seasons. It’s seen Darcy through his grandmother’s death, Katherine through an attempt at drugging her drink, and Bill through his parents divorce. It's seen a lot of tears and a lot of late nights, all their insecurities and doubts and fears. It's warm and cozy and familiar and everything she wishes the dinner with her family could have been but wasn't. Katherine finds herself a little more stable now that she’s wearing it.
When she leaves the bathroom, their room is dark except for the fairy lights she helped them put up during move in. She finds Darcy and Bill sitting together on their bed, which they’ve made by pushing together their school issued twin beds. Their tv sits on a stool shoved into the tiny space between the end of their beds and their wall. It's currently cued up to start Hocus Pocus. She vaguely remembers them mentioning plans for a date night movie at breakfast this morning.
"I'm sorry, guys, I forgot it was date night," she says as she grabs her shoes and heads towards the door, even though she doesn’t really want to be alone.
"Get your butt over here, Katherine Ethel."
She drops her shoes and falls into their bed, curling into Darcy's side when he offers the space under his arm. "Thanks for letting me ruin your date night."
"You're not ruining it," Bill assure her. "We still get to watch Hocus Pocus and also you're here."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Darcy asks, rubbing her arm.
"Not really," she admits. "But I should," she says because she knows it will help. Darcy and Bill both look at her, paying full attention. She knows the attention they give to conversation makes most people feel uncomfortable but it makes her feel safe and heard. "It was just our stupid family dinner. My father still thinks it's ridiculous that I want to pursue digital journalism instead of print journalism and my mother doesn't understand why I can't just present myself properly and Ralph and Lucy are still the perfect children which isn't even their fault but I don't get it. And they're wrong and I know they're wrong and most days I just don't care but tonight I did a lot."
“You know this already but you’re insanely talented and you’re going to win a Pulitzer someday,” Darcy says, sounding completely sure and leaving no room for argument.
“And your worth is not in what people think of your outfit. You’re beautiful and put together and anyone in a room with you can tell you’re a boss by the way you hold yourself, not the way you’re dressed,” Bill adds. He grabs her hand and squeezes and she squeezes back.
“Thanks,” she says, grateful to have someone else say the things she knows are true. The three of them are similar in the way they get caught up in their own heads and they get that sometimes you just need someone to say the things you already know so that you can feel them. She’s so grateful for Bill and Darcy and their moms taking pregnancy yoga together. “Who has the remote? Let’s watch this movie.”
Darcy hits play and Bill hands him the bowl of popcorn since he’s in the middle. Katherine snuggles deeper into the sweater and is quickly caught up in her favorite Halloween movie.