Quieta slept peacefully, as always. Well, actually, she was dreaming a rather strange dream where she was piloting a huge machine and destroying things while some annoying bitch kept yelling "Heero! Heero!" at her, then Alea came in in her own huge machine and stepped on the girl, then laughed and called herself the Goddess of Death.
"Nmmm... Alea... what are you doing...?" She mumbled in her sleep in a slightly confused voice and cuddled closer to the girl.
Nothing yet, q-chan... did you have anything in mind?" She leaned over and kissed the girl on her snowy crown.
Quieta yawned as she woke up. "Hnn...?" She looked around and rubbed her eyes, "What am I doing here...?" She wondered to herself before the morning amnesia fully cleared out. Quieta must have deiced that here was as good a place as any, because she laid her head back down on Alea's chest and proceeded to try to get back to sleep.
Alea wiggled the rest of her body during the brief time that Quieta was awake, and got comfortable against a small dune of sand. She giggled softly as she watched a sand crab investigate the caverns of her bra, which lay to the side of them, removed the previous night to make a better cushion for her girlfriends head. Soon, the crab, no Marco Polo of the crustacean world, gave up on the exploration and wandered off. She turned her attention back to the finely etched features of her Sleeping Beauty.
She longed to trace those features with her fingers, but merely allowed herself that privilege with her eyes, lest she awaken her. She watched her breathing quickly settle to a rhythmic pattern of sublime peace, and tried her best to match that pattern. She smiled again, and prepared to drift off herself.
After a few minutes, Quieta suddenly bolted up. "For the Revolution of the world!!!" She yelled out. Then paused and rubbed the sleep from her eyes once more.
"......huh? .......must have been a dream... strange one..." She mumbled and sat back down. "...Alea...? Are you awake?"
Alea lay there, her neck back over the dune and her mouth agape, sleeping. She started to stir as the quick release of weight from her chest had caused a ripple across her front. She stretched again and sat up, causing her cutoff t-shirt to creep up a bit far. "Morning, q-chan... nice day, isn't it?"
Quieta nodded and yawned to herself, then noticed Alea's shirt and blushed, politely looking away. "Did you sleep well?" She asked, trying to make conversation.
"Actually, yes. I'm surprised I slept so well... It must be the company I kept."
She scrunched her face and hit the palm of her right hand against her head. "That didn't come out like I meant. It's more like, when I was sleeping with you, all was right with the world, or something."
Quieta blushed slightly.
"Thank you... Ah!" Quieta looked down at her cloths and tried to dust the sand off of them. "...Maybe we should go home and change..." She said. Having grown up in a world where you practically change cloths for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, sleeping in one's cloths and wearing them the next day was not a good thing.
Alea stood, her cut-off still riding above one nipple. "If you want... I was going to suggest we catch a quick swim. This is a fairly isolated stretch of sand, nested in a pair of outcroppings. The only voyeurs would be anemone and eels. What do you think?"
Not being able to stand it any longer, Quieta -still politely looking away- stammered out "Um, Alea... your... shirt?"
Alea looked down. "Oh... oops. I hadn't been expecting a sleepover when I picked this out." She grabbed the edges of the shirt and lifted her arms above her, peeling the sandy top off of her body and exposing the extreme fullness of her chest in the brassy morning sun, then bent over and set down the shirt.
Quieta did a full body blush and suddenly found the sand to the side of them very interesting. "Swimming? But, I um.. I don't have my bathing suit with me
Alea moved her hand scant inches from where she had set down her shirt and picked up her bra. Fitting it on, she picked up the shirt again, stood, and fastened it, then slipped the shirt over her now contained front. "It's called skinny dipping. We take off all our clothes and frolic, Nereid-like, in the waves. Wanna try it?"
Now, at the moment, Quieta was blushing so much that one would think it would be physically impossible for one to blush harder. Quieta proved this wrong.
"But... um.... but...." Quieta was unable to think of an appropriate argument that wouldn't hurt Alea's feelings. Normally, she wouldn't give a flying Fig Newton about other's feelings, but for some reason she didn't want Alea to be hurt.
"Oh dear... I'm so sorry... I've been terribly self-centered, haven't I? I wasn't thinking about how soft and fair and delicate your skin is. Between the sea breeze and the sun, you've got quite the red skin. Let's get you home and get some lotion on it."
Quieta sighed in relief and nodded in agreement. 'I wonder if she even knows what embarrassment IS...' she thought as she straightened out her cloths and picked up her plushie, waiting for Alea to get ready to go.
Alea scooped up her jigglypuff, blowing sand off its velvety pink exterior, then lead Quieta to the hole in the fence and scooted through. "If you want, we can get a cab so you have less time in the sun. We'll have to remember a parasol for our next date."
"That would be nice, plus, I do rather hate walking too much after I've just woken up..." She said, though it was mostly to herself. As they left the beach behind them, Quieta glanced back once more and wondered for a second if this was the best idea, and what WOULD have happened if she'd agreed to the skinny-dipping?
'No matter.' she thought quickly, hugging the Vaporeon 'It didn't happen, and that's that.
They walked down an embankment to one of the roads, then spent a few moments finding one of the taxis prowling the early morning streets. "Do we want to go to your place, my place, or split up and call it a night?"
"Let's go to your place." She said before the question fully registered itself in her mind. "I don't feel much like going home yet
"Okay." They climbed into the cab and Alea gave the address, and then the vehicle sped off. Corners were taken sharply, and the edge of the speed limit was kept to, or broken, for most of the journey, as if every second spent transporting them was a second spent away from breath, life, or further profit. Alea folded her hands and enjoyed the wild ride.
Quieta held onto the door as the corners were turned, trying to keep herself from falling from her seat. "Alea, is it just me, or is this driver going just a LITTLE above the speed limit?" she asked, keeping her voice low enough for the cab driver not to hear.
"True, just a little, but he's old." Alea blinked her pale grey eyes. "Wait a minute... you mean the speed limit isn't the MINIMUM speed you should travel? Oh dear, no wonder no one lets me drive..."
Quieta stared at her for a few seconds. "...You're kidding, right?" she asked, hoping that Alea was -indeed- kidding.
"Nope, I'm not kidding. No one lets me drive, ever. It's kind of sad, actually. I've never had an accident. Hey, do YOU have a car?"
"Technically, it's my parent's, but I'm the only one who uses it, so... I guess so."
"Rockin'. So we should go roddin' sometime. Or... hmmm... there's this great park at the far end of the city. We could take a trip there. Just an idea."
"That would be fun, we should do it some time..." Quieta was about to say something else when the cab driver screeched to a halt, Quieta almost falling out of her seat. Apparently, they had reached their destination.
Alea reached her arms out and caught Quieta as she almost tumbled forward. She clutched her tightly, but carefully, as one would an egg which meant more than gold. Reluctantly, she let her loose when the vehicle had come to a complete stop. She clambered out and pointed to a modest, but well kept house with flowering shrubs as hedges. "Be it ever so humble. Come on in." She bounced up the walk and flung open the door.
Quieta stepped gingerly from the cap and walked up the... well... walk. "Thank you very much." she said to Alea as she held the door for her and stepped inside, looking around the house from a few steps from the door.
The interior had much dark wood and ecru wall, but plants were the immediate focus of attention. Ferns and flowers vied for premium positions. Only after ones eyes and nose ceased to be overwhelmed by them did one notice the bronze skinned woman who was tending them. The same woman who looked up at them and smiled. "Welcome home, honey. And welcome to our home..." She paused expectantly.
Quieta blinked for a second, then bowed politely to the woman. "Quieta Deus, pleased to meet you."
"Felicity Forte, and likewise." She started to reach out her hand, but noticed the soil upon it and pulled it back. Alea, why don't you take Miss Deus to the kitchen. I'll be there as soon as I've cleaned up and I'll make breakfast. I hadn't done so already because I know how your "nights out" go... sometimes I don't see you for a day or two, depending on the girl your out with. She headed off to clean up. Quieta looked over to Alea, slightly nervous.
"She doesn't hate me, does she?"
She started to lead Quieta into the dining room. "Nah, My mom doesn't hate anyone. Actually, I think she likes you. At the very least, she's curious, or she would have told me to make breakfast, since I wasn't here at the proper time. Expect some questions, though... mom can be a bit blunt sometimes."
"Alright..." Quieta said, letting herself be lead into the dining room. Did this mean that she had to introduce Alea to HER mother, now? Oh, she could picture exactly how that would go. 'Mama, I'd like you to meet Alea. *pause* Mama, are you even listening? *pause* Mama, Alea is my GIRLFRIEND. *pause* Mama, are you deaf or something? *pause* Let's go up to my room, Alea, I'll show you my stuffed rabbit.'
Quieta giggled quietly to herself at that mental image, actually.
"Ooh... is it a private joke, or can your girlfriend come inside?" Alea set out plates, glasses, and utensils, then poured some reddish purple liquid into each of the glasses. She looked distastefully at the coffee maker, then poured some into the cup that was at the empty spot. "Would you like some coffee?"
"No thanks, I usually only drink coffee when I need to stay awake for more then five hours." Quieta said. "And, I was just imagining what it would be like to introduce you to MY mother..." Quieta couldn't help but giggle silently to herself as the image resurfaced in her mind once more
"That's cool. Want to do that later today?"
Quieta's giggling stopped suddenly. She blinked a couple of times. "Um, I'm not sure... My mother has a very busy schedule... she may not even be home..."
Alea shrugged impressively. "Oh, oh well then. We can invite her over here for dinner sometime, or something. What does she like to eat?"
"Invite her over? ... I don't think that's such a good idea..." Quieta looked down. "My mother... well.. you don't want to be around her more then you absolutely have to. Nothing ever pleases her, I've almost given up trying..."
Alea reached over, gently lifting Quieta's chin and staring deep into her eyes. "She may not show it... some people are that way, but I can't see how she could see you as anything less than the jewel of existence."
Quieta blushed slightly.
"Thank you, Alea... for everything. " She leaned over and kissed Alea softly. 'She makes me so happy... is this... what it feels like.. to really be in love?'
Alea returned the kiss, gently but with the certainty of a full heart. When the moment passed and they slowly separated, each blinking yet unaware they had closed their eyes, a plate was slid in front of each of them.
"Don't mind me", chimed in Mrs. Forte. I just thought you might want your omelettes. I'll eat on the patio. She smiled at her daughter and slipped out the sliding glass doors with her food on a tray.
Quieta blushed a little again.
"Oh my, that must have been terribly rude of me." She said, covering her mouth with her hand, hoping she hadn't somehow made Ms. Forte angry, despite the fact that the woman had smiled.
Alea blinked and paused in her rapid devouring of her cheese filled breakfast. "What was rude? Did I miss something?"
Quieta blinked.
"We were just kissing right in front of your mother, don't you find that a little rude?"
Once again Alea gave one of her rippling shrugs. "Trust me, she's done enough kissing of her own to know what it is. Otherwise I wouldn't be here, right? Trust me, she's heard enough tales from my grandfather that anything I do is going to be tame. And you're not the first girl I've brought home, just the prettiest."
Quieta was silent after that statement. She ate her omelette and decided to try to digest that information and her food at the same time. It saved time that way.
Alea finished her eggs, at a few muffins, and washed it down with a few glasses of juice, then stood, took her dishes to the sink, and rinsed them off. Returning to the table, she stopped and hugged Quieta from behind. "What's wrong, dear?"
Quieta managed a small smile. "Nothing, just thinking... Anyway, I should probably go home to at least change cloths sometime, I'd hate for this to get too dirty and have Babette wondering what I did while I was with you." She said with a small smirk
"We could always tell her. Oh yes, Babette... My bra was in the way, so it was tossed aside. And then we slept together in the sand. Do you think it would make her steamy?"
"Probably just fuel her quest to have a talk with mama about my-" sanity. "-life."
Arms still draped around Quieta's fron, and her snowy hair cradled in the canyon of her cleavage, she leaned directly over Quieta to look, upside down, in her eyes.
"Why?"
Quieta shrugged. "She just seems to think that she's responsible for me and tries to control my life. You saw how she is."
She gave a pleasant squirm as her girlfriend's shrug tickled certain sensitive spots. "I think she's lonely. We should find her a date. I hear Godzilla's not involved right now."
"Perfectly wonderful idea, once again." She said with a smile. "I wonder if Godzilla has a phone number where we can reach it? It shouldn't be too hard, Japan isn't THAT far away..." She laughed slightly.
Still gazing into Quieta's eyes from her leaned over position, she pursed her lips, paused, and then resumed speaking. "What is it about people that makes them think life is about control? It's not, not really."
Quieta shrugged again.
"Who knows... some people do and some people don't..." She said simply. 'Life IS about control in my family...' she thought.
Alea squirmed again as the shrug brushed sensitive portions of her anatomy pressed against Quieta's back. "I don't know anyone whose life would be better if they were in total control of it. Not just getting to do whatever they want, but actual Total Control. Imagine having to choose every aspect of your life. My imagination isn't nearly as good as God's, or whoever makes the sunset and the pretty fishes. My philosophy is to go through life and take the chances that are offered. I can't be bothered to create all the flowers, but I'll go sniff the ones I like. What's your philosophy?"
"It's not that important," Quieta said "And you probably wouldn't want to hear it. It's kinda depressing."
Alea shook her head, which caused pastel cascades around her overturned face. Her smile softened slightly, from its normal aggressive "take-on-the-world" joy to a gentler style.
"I think you misunderstand something about me, snow-bunny. I like fun. I love fun. But that doesn't mean that I shy away from things that aren't entirely happy. Your philosophy is an essential part of you, and I'm attracted to you. Not just your body, although that is hot. Not just your face, ethereally stunning as it may be. There is an essential aspect of YOU, and I want to know that. Depressing, chilling, charming, fun, whatever. I may be a bimbo, but I'm not JUST a bimbo."
Quieta smiled slightly. "You're so nice to me, and I don't do anything for you... I feel bad about it..." She said, trying to discreetly change the subject.
"Well, I guess if you want to do something, you can tell me more about the girl I love... what do you say?"
Quieta sighed, giving into the fact that she wasn't going to get away from this. "Fine... what do you want to know in particular?"
"Well, the question at hand was your philosophy..." Alea's eyes widened. "You really don't want to talk about it do you?" She hugged her tighter and leaned farther to give her a quick kiss on the lips. "My Quieta can stay quiet, if she wants. I'll just have to act on faith."
"Thanks..." She said, absentmindedly. She didn't want to talk about her real self to Alea. 'She means too much to me... she can't figure out what I'm really like... I don't want to loose her.'
"So, q-chan, what do you want to do? We could go onto the patio and visit with mom, or we could head over to your place to get you new clothes, or we could go out, or... " She smiled impishly and let the question hang in the air.
"I think I'd like to get a change of cloths. This is getting a little uncomfortable." She said.
"Well, that cuts out the hidden last option. Oh well... so, do we go to your place, or do we go shopping for new clothes?"
Quieta thought it over for a second. 'Hm, mom should probably be at the office today. So it should be safe to go home.' "Well, if there's one thing I DON'T need, it's more cloths. How about we just go over to my place so I can change, then if we're hungry again, I know a great ice cream shoppe..."
One last squeeze and another quick kiss later, Alea unwrapped herself from Quieta. "I'll be right back down. I've got to get some stuff." Without a moment's hesitation, she bolted for the stairs, leaving Quieta alone in the kitchen.
Quieta blinked, realizing she was alone. Trying to get over her slight feeling of awkwardness, she pulled her hair out of it's bun and shook it around for a second. Realizing her hair was in a less-then-perfect condition, she resolved to at least brush her hair when she when she got home as well.
"Would you like some more juice, dear?" Mrs. Forte stood next to her, decanter at the ready.
Quieta looked up, not noticing Mrs. Forte before now. "Yes please, if it's not too much trouble." She said, rubbing the back of her head slightly, not sure how to act around such a nice woman.
Felicity poured more juice for her guest and for herself, then sat down across from Quieta. "You seem to be nervous, dear. Alea can be a bit overwhelming at times. If you want to talk about something, I'm here..."
"I'm alright, I'm just... not really used to this." She said, slightly flustered. Quieta picked up her cup and sipped some of the juice.
Felicity smiled gently. "And which 'this' would that be? You seem nervous and sad. The one indicates a present uncertainty, and the other a past certainty. Tell me to shut up if you want to, but my daughter is your first girlfriend, isn't she?"
Quieta paused, then nodded.
"Do you want to talk about it, dear? You seem like you're normally a very private person. It's good to be able to count on yourself, but we mustn't get trapped in ourselves. Sometimes we just have to reach out to others."
Quieta looked down. "I'm not good at talking to people about myself like that. I've never had anyone to reach out to before this."
"And now you've found Alea, and part of you wants to run TO her, and the other part wants to run FROM her, right? You're afraid you'll lose her if you open up and reveal yourself, and afraid that you'll lose her if you don't. Is that a fair assessment?"
Still looking down at the table, Quieta quietly said "Yes."
'Is this how a real family is?' she thought 'Is this what a mother is supposed to be like? ... Why does my heart hurt so much?'
Felicity nodded slightly. "I'm sure your heart knows what to do. You just have to learn to hear it. Alea's a good girl. Not the most care-ful at times, but she's car-ing, and that means alot."
Quieta kept her eyes down, her hair covering most of her face and expressions, as little as they were. 'Where is Alea? I shouldn't leave without her, but I can't stay here much longer. I feel like I can't breathe...'
Alea skidded into the room, unchanged but with a stuffed bag over her shoulder. "Sorry it took me a while to pack. Shall we go to your place?"
Felicity started to stand. "Would the two of you like a ride?"
Quieta stood and straightened out her cloths. She glanced over to Mrs. Forte once more. That woman seemed to be able to see through Quieta's ice shield too much, and it scared her. She glanced back over to Alea.
"...a ride would be nice, but I don't care much either way." She said, not wanting to be rude, and not being quite sure whether accepting or declining would fall under that category.
Alea smiled at the two of them and headed towards the door. "Last one to the car is a dizzy poliwhirl!" She headed towards a simple but sturdy station wagon and opened the passenger door, waiting for the others to catch up.
Felicity went out with the two girls, but stopped to lock the door, easily allowing Quieta to arrive at the car before she did. "I don't know what a poliwhale is, but I suppose I am a rather dizzy one."
Quieta managed to smile slightly, sliding into the car next to Alea as Mrs. Forte walked down to the car and got in. She absentmindedly wondered how she'd managed to keep her cool this long as she checked to make sure she hadn't left anything behind.
Alea tentatively reached to place her arm around her girlfriend's shoulder, mindful of her apparent earlier discomfort.
Quieta blushed slightly, bur rested her head on Alea's shoulder, finding herself starting to get tired again. Decided she probably shouldn't fall asleep, but finding nothing really THAT wrong with it, she pleasantly drifted between slumber and the world of the conscious.
Alea sat on the side of the bed, watching as Quieta fluttered her eyes open. "Good evening, sleepy head."
She stood and stretched, her body wrapped in a fluffy bathrobe and her hair bound up in a large, slightly damp, bun.
Quieta blinked sleepily. "Hm...?" She sat up, looking around her room. "How did I get here? What time is it?"
Alea bent over to pull a pocketwatch from her clothing pile. "6:27. And an elderly gentleman lead me to your room, and you got here by being carried. You were too sweet to wake."
Quieta rubbed her eyes a little and sat up.
"Would you find it rude if I went to take a shower before I show you around?" She asked.
"Nope, not at all... You need your back scrubbed?"
Quieta blushed slightly as she got off the bed. "No, I'll be fine." She said and walked over to her closet, grabbing a change of cloths and walking into the bathroom to take her shower.
Alea flopped back onto the bed where she had been curled up before Quieta started to stir and placed Vaporeon in the crook of her arm. She looked around the room once more in amazement, awed by the decor.
About fifteen minutes later, Quieta emerged from the bathroom with a towel around her shoulders. She was wearing a simple white blouse and a pleated navy blue skirt that went down to her knees, one of her favorite outfits.
"I'm a little hungry. What do you say we go get something to eat?"
"Great idea. I hadn't wanted to wander earlier. Well, actually, I HAD wanted to wander, but I hadn't wanted to upset you. So I just crashed here. Your bed is wicked comfy. But I'm starved. Should we raid the fridge or head out?"
Quieta smiled. "Sure." She stood and walked over to the door, dropping the towel in the dirty cloths hamper near the door. "Anything in particular you'd like?" she asked Alea as she stood at the doorway.
Alea struggled to resist falling once more to the sleepy tsunami of the bed's comfort. "Must resist... can't... give in... will to stand... fading fast..."
Quieta laughed and walked over to Alea, taking her hand and pulling her up. "Come on now, if you don't get up now, then you're gonna miss the food
Alea let herself be pulled to her feet. She looked at Quieta, then looked back to the bed. "Dinner or bed, they seem so evenly matched. I guess the deciding factor is a certain frost-maned beauty. Whither thou goest, I follow."
Quieta gave a half smile and walked over to the door. "So, I ask again, anything in particular you want to eat?"
Alea raised an eyebrow, blushed dark bronze, and covered her mouth with her hand. "Q-chan, don't ask questions like that..."
Quieta sighed and shook her head. "Just come on." She said with a small smile and proceeded to walk down to the dining room.
Alea quickly dropped her robe and slipped into a navy mini skirt and a teal silk blouse, then traipsed after the other girl. She caught up to her at the staircase. "Sorry... I didn't have a thing on under the robe... as it is, I didn't have time for any of the niceties... like socks or panties... so I guess it's raid the fridge."
Quieta smiled as she walked down the stairs with Alea. Once they reached almost ground level, she managed to catch a glimpse of... snowy white hair in the dining room?
She blinked for a second, slightly confused, leaning over the railing of the stairs to get a better look, but the wall still blocked her sight. She sighed and continued to walk down the stairs.
Peeking into the dining room, a look of sheer terror passed her face for a moment, before she turned back to Alea.
"Y.. you know, we can just have the maids bring us something to eat. Why bother looking through the entire kitchen after all, it's really more trouble then it's worth, how about we just go back to my room?" She asked, already starting to gently push Alea back up the stairs, glancing back at the dining room door occasionally.
"What's wrong, q-chan? You look like you've seen a ghost." She started to move by her. "You go up and lay down, I'll bring you dinner in bed, okay?"
Quieta grabbed onto Alea's arm gently. "No! No, I'll be fine. In fact, I'd probably be better if I moved around some. How about you go up to the room and I'll just get us something to eat?"
Alea started to protest, but stopped, staring into Quieta's deep eyes. She raised her hand, brushing the flaring nostrils and lighting upon the trembling lips. "I don't know what has you so frightened, but... anything for you. I'll head right back up." She leaned in and brought their lips together for a tender full kiss.
Quieta kissed her back for a moment, before slipping away and into the dining room. She quietly tried to make her way past her father as he sat at the table, drinking coffee and reading the paper, looking so much like an ordinary father. She managed to make it by him without him noticing (or not caring) the first time, but on the way back, she was just about to make it out the door when she heard the strong deep voice call out.
"Quieta..."
Quieta gulped, trying to keep her ice shield up, the turned and looked back at him. "Yes, daddy?"
Her father set down his coffee and newspaper, folding his hands on the table as he looked at her intently. Quieta's ice shield was crumbing under the sudden attention.
"...How's school?" He asked. Not in the normal caring parent way, but in the way one asks someone if they've finished getting something for them that they wanted.
"Fine, daddy."
"You're doing well in all your classes?"
"Yes, daddy."
"...Anything you want to tell me?"
Quieta almost broke down in a panic. He hadn't seen her kiss Alea, had he?! What if he knew?! What if he didn't and he was just trying to see if there was something she was keeping from him.
"N.. no, daddy. I'm fine."
He stared at her for a few more minutes, then picked up the paper and coffee once more, his way of saying 'This conversation is over, you may leave.'
Quieta gladly left, almost bolting out of the dining room with the food.
Alea had returned to the cerulean room. Her curiosity had begged her to stay, but she had to respect the wishes of the girl she... loved. She sighed, knowing how often her tendency to fall, and fall hard, had caused her problems, but there was no escaping it. She was in love with Quieta. Love at first, second, and third sight. She sighed again and shimmied out of her blouse and miniskirt. She was preparing to get her previously neglected bra and panties when the door opened and Quieta bolted in.
Quieta skidded to a stop as she bolted into the room. Were she a less dignified person, she'd get a nosebleed. However, being Quieta, she simply turned around politely and did her second full body blush for the day.
Alea slipped her panties on. "Am I really that unattractive, Q-chan?"
"Nobutit'sveryrudetostare!" Quieta said quickly
Alea blinked, then gaped. "I'm usually a quick speaker, and I couldn't make that out... would it be terribly rude to ask you to repeat it, a bit slower?"
"I.. I just said 'No, but it's very rude to stare.'"
Alea placed her hands on Quieta's shoulders and turned her around. "It's only rude if the staree minds it. I don't. Not from you at least."
Quieta blushed and looked away. "It's still very embarrassing." She said quietly, hoping that Alea would quickly get dressed in case the snowball's chance in hell that her dad might come in arose.
Alea sat down on the bed, topless and slightly confused. "I... I guess I overstepped my bounds. No wonder I can't keep a girlfriend." She reached down for her bra.
Continuing to look away, Quieta said "I... I'm just not used to 'dating' girls as it is... plus, we haven't known each other for very long, anyway.." she ended up adding a nervous laugh at the end of her sentence.
"More than 24 hours, for what it's worth. Okay, the bra is on. I presume you want me to cover up more. Give me a minute, and I'll have only the tip of my nose showing." She finished redressing, then slipped into the oh so comfortable bed and wrapped herself in one of the myriad down comforters. "Okay."
Quieta turned around once more, holding some of the snacks out to Alea. "I got the snacks." She said, simply, as if the whole event just a few minutes before never happened.
Alea, wrapped in the soft pale masses, started to extract herself, then merely opened her mouth and made a vague chirping noise.
Quieta smiled slightly, putting a cookie in Alea's mouth. "There you go, little birdie."
Alea gave another chirp as she accepted a second cookie. For the second one, however, she caught Quieta's fingers in her lips and held them there, smiling slightly around the pale digits.
Quieta blushed slightly. For a few moments she just stood there, then she blinked suddenly, as if woken up from a dream. She pulled her hand away and put it behind her back. "W... well, anyway, what do you want to do now?"
Alea lay there, her mind drifting in the nectared sweetness of cookie crumbs and lovely girl. The question took a moment to catch, and a second moment to hold in what she almost said. Instead, she gave a smile, half sultry and half impish.
Quieta blushed even more at this wordless statement.
"We could, um, watch a movie or something!" She said quickly.
"We could watch a movie, if you'd like... or we could..." She grabbed a pillow and extracted herself partway from the comforter, displacing a stuffed snorlax. "... have a PILLOW FIGHT!"
She swung the pillow, aiming deliberately wide to allow her partner a chance to arm herself or call an end to the downy game.
Quieta quickly snatched a pillow and swung it at Alea, guessing that that's what you did in a pillow fight. She wasn't quite sure, as she had never been in one before.
Alea rolled back and across the pale blue covers, dodging the blow and attempting to lure her prey onto the spongy surface of the bed. Those first moments as she climbed on would be crucial, she knew, and leave Quieta at her most vulnerable...
Quieta climbed onto the bed to continue her attack on Alea. However, caught up in the adrenaline rush of the pillow fight, she failed to notice Mr. Bunny until she 'stepped' on it. Letting out a small yelp, she let go of her pillow and fell to her back on the bed.
Alea pounced. Dropping her own pillow, she jumped to catch and loom over the prone Quieta. Hands holding down her wrists, legs pressing down on her legs, she straddled above the pale girl and smiled down at her. "Now, my helpless beauty, what shall I do with this prize?"
Quieta opened her mouth to say something, but then realize she didn't know what to say. So she closed her mouth. And blushed. She opened her mouth to say something again. Damn, same results as last time. Closed mouth again. She blushed some more.
Alea stared down at the flushed girl. She started to say something as well, but her breath caught. Quieta's face, her eyes, everything about her... it mesmerized Alea. More than just beauty, there was something compelling in their interaction... fire and ice, meant to be in balance and union. She continued to gaze into the eyes of her love, and matched Quieta's silence with an equally profound stillness of her own.
After a few more minutes of staring at each other in profound silence, things were JUST starting to so somewhere (Quieta had blinked at the same time as Alea, you see. Something MUST have been going on there.), there was suddenly a loud knock at the door.
"Miss Quieta?!" said the slightly annoyed voice of Babette.
Alea heard the less than dulcet tones of Babette, and the scrape of metal as she turned the doorknob and opened the door. In deference to Quieta's concerns, she tried to quickly extract herself from the siren's call of Quieta's soft breathing. Tried was the correct word, because it was then that Mr. Bunny struck again. She slid on that velveteen plush and fell back forward. Legs around Queita, upper body pressed virtually nipple to nipple with the girl beneath her, and face stopped scant centimeters from a painful crash, she knew she presented a less than pristine image to the irate interloper.
Quieta let out another small yelp.
Babette opened the door and stared at the scene before her.
Quieta stared back.
Babette stared some more.
Even more staring from Quieta.
Babette blinked.
A-ha!
Quieta yelled out the first thing that came to mind. With a very pissed expression and voice, she yelled out to Babette "Do. You. MIND?" as if such a thing were normal.
Surprisngly enough, that worked.
"Sorry Miss Quieta, I didn't mean to bother you!" Babette ducked out the door quickly, closing it tightly behind her. Quieta stared at the door for a few seconds.
"I can't believe that worked. She must be stupider then I thought..."
Alea pondered a moment whether to congratulate Quieta with a kiss, but remembered her previous response. She sighed and rolled off of her, towards the wall, and lay there on her back, panting slightly and flushed darker bronze.
Quieta sat up, her legs dangling on the edge of the bed for a moment, her arms crossed. A minute later on the dot, just as Quieta had expected, Babette rushed back in.
"JUST WHA-"
"Shut up." Quieta snapped at the young maid, coldly. "You'll tell no one of this and if you do, you will not only be fired, but I swear I will make sure you have a bad enough reputation that no one will ever hire you again. Now go away."
After staring at Quieta for a few more moments, desperately trying to think of something to counteract what Quieta said, Babette simply bowed slightly and left the room. Quieta sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Sorry about that, Alea. That woman thinks she runs my life, I swear..."
Blink. Blink. Blink. Alea stared in wonder and no small amount of fear at Quieta. This was the first time that her authority and experience at wielding power had imprinted upon the pastel-haired girl. Her feelings of attraction and love did not diminish., but they were paced by confusion, and perhaps a touch of inadequacy, neither feelings she was used to dealing with outside of her romantic relations.
Quieta paused as Alea's response was only silence. She was careful not to look back at the girl. 'I shouldn't have done that. I should have taken Babette out into the hall and talked to her. Why did I have to mess everything up like that?! Now Alea is probably scared of me and doesn't want to see me again!'
"Anyway..." She said quickly, her voice almost cracking at one point. "Do you want to watch a movie or something?" She asked again.
Alea nodded. There was a touch of submission to her nod, but no fright. She was awed, cowed, by Quieta, but held no fear. "Whatever you'd like...", she gave a half-smile, "Miss Quieta."
Quieta smiled weakly as she got up and sorted through some movies.
"Please, don't call me anything with 'miss' in front of it..." she said. She stopped at the movie 'Cats'. She really did love that musical, but did Alea like it?
"Not even Miss Jellicle Cat?" She scuttled over to sit beside Quieta. "Or Miss Mistopheles? Miss McTavity?" She smirked a little, then reached over and began to tickle Quieta's side. "How about Miss Tickle Bunny?"
Quieta covered her mouth, trying to keep from laughing, but she was soon doubled over in laughter. How could she have been this ticklish without noticing? She wondered that to herself as she tried to catch her breath.
Alea pressed her advantage, leaning farther and farther over towards her giggling and squealing girlfriend and ignoring the dynamics of her top-heavy build. Soon, she was precariously balanced on her knees, leaning once more above the girl who squirmed and giggled beneath her.
After a few minutes, she managed to gasp out "I can't breathe!"
In response, Alea lifted her hands away quickly. Too quickly, in fact, and she lost her balance, falling chest first on the gasping girl beneath her.
Quieta let out a small squeak as the breath was squeezed out of her. She could swear that she felt her ribs cracking.
Alea rolled to the side, gasping from the thrill of the accidental contact and regretting its end.
Quieta sat up, albeit painfully. She clutched her chest and tried to get her breathing back to normal, managing it with some effort. She would probably be slightly bruised in the morning, though.
Alea looked shocked. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to hurt you..." She started to reach out, then pulled her hands back and sat on them. "I've caused enough problems. Why don't we just watch... umm" She looked over at the movies. "Why don't we watch Cats. I love that play. If you don't mind, that is
Quieta smiled "I love Cats. It's my favorite...well, play, movie, musical... you name it. I guess I'm an unhealthily obsessed fan. It's what got me into dancing in the first place..." She stood up and took the movie, putting it into the VCR and playing it as the opening previews rolled. "My dream is to someday be in it..."
"If I hadn't just hurt you like the lummox I am, I'd ask you to dance..."
Quieta smiled slightly. She pulled Alea over to the bed and sat down on the bed. "I don't think I'll be doing much dancing anyway... My legs hurt a little from all this activity I've been doing in the past couple days."
Alea lay down around the base of Quieta's back, knees to one side and chest to the other, forming a cushioned chair. She propped her head on her hand and watched the tape, taking pleasure in the presence of her snowy love.
Quieta sighed slightly as she watched the movie, leaning back into Alea. She smiled softly, just enjoying the company as she quietly whispered out every single line in the movie to herself. However, the excitement of the weekend had greatly depleted her energy, and she was fast asleep by the middle of the Mr. Mistoffelees song.
Alea gently took the remote from Quieta's now limp fingers. She paused, wondering whether she should stay or leave. She had decided that, perhaps, she had caused enough damage and should leave when she remembered that there was something, or someone, downstairs that Quieta did not want her involved with.
She nudged forward to lift Quieta up slightly and free the edge of the covers, then slowly eased back, lowering her but keeping the bedclothes back behind her. Scooting under the blankets, she turned the girl and slid her until she was aligned head to pillow.
She then wrapped an arm around her beloved and let her rest against her softness and sleep. She kept the tape playing, feeling that, even asleep, her Q-chan would want it to finish out.
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