#anyway dirk here is based on his morning-after-sound-of-nothing look because that made me open a third eye

[psychosassicvampire]

im extremely absorbed in a nonsense skate park AU with romeo and juliet flavors big thanks to @drawyourgunsr5​ again for indulging me always

(tonal and alt under the cut)

alt because todd and i are both very concerned with dirk’s pecs

[musetotheworld]

Supercat. Kara realises her feelings for Cat when Cat's beautiful ex girlfriend visits National City for a few days and she can't quite hide her jealousy

“I’m sorry, do youhave an appointment?” This isn’t the first time that Kara has had to facedown someone determined to make it into Cat’s office, but something isdifferent about the woman in front of her. There’s a confidence to her step, anunconscious ease that few carry with them when facing Cat Grant.

“I’m afraid Idon’t, but Cat always said I’d be welcome to drop by,” the mystery womansays with a smile and wink, not bothering to hide a searching glance up anddown Kara’s figure. “If I’d known she’d finally hired someone decent, Imight have stopped by sooner.”

“Sarah, stopbothering my assistant,” Cat says from the door of her office, herapproach somehow going unnoticed by either woman. “You know good and wellthat your invitation was not for CatCo during businesshours.”

The name is familiar,and Kara quickly manages to put the pieces together. She’d arrangedreservations for Cat and this woman on a few occasions during her first year atCatCo, and had always assumed she was an old friend or business colleague.She’d never seen a hint otherwise in the papers or Cat’s directions, but fromthe way the two are staring at each other now, there’s more than justfriendship in their history.

“Well I’m here nowanyway, so surely you have a minute to spare?” Sarah says with a grin,repeating the once over she’d given Kara on Cat. “For old time’s sake?”

The way Cat’s eyesnarrow, Kara is expecting to be instructed to call security instead, so she’sthrown when Cat steps back and waves Sarah into her office instead.“Reschedule whatever my next meeting is and have James look at the spreadsbefore they come to me, this may take a while,” Cat tells Kara beforeclosing the door to her office.

It only takes a minuteto accomplish that, the meeting is with a board member that’s only too glad toget a reprieve on facing Cat alone, and James is well used to Cat delegatingthis particular task when something comes up. And with no meeting to take notesfor and Cat closed off in her office, Kara is left with nothing to do.

Normally she’d use thetime to catch up on work she’s let slide while off on Supergirl duty, butthings have been calm enough that there’s not much to do. She could take aquick lap of the city to look for trouble, but something keeps Kara in herseat, occasionally shooting glances into the office as she tries to look busy.

“You know, if youstare any harder your laser eyes might kick in,” Winn whispers from hisdesk after a few minutes, and Kara jumps. She’d thought she was being discreet.“Just listen in, if it’s that big a deal.”

She shouldn’t, it’sobviously a private conversation, but as soon as Winn reminds her that she canher hearing is engaging without another thought. She feels guilty as soon asshe hears the first hints of their voices, but not enough to stop just yet.

“Is it so hard tobelieve I’m in town for business and thought of you? No ulterior motive beyondcatching up?” Sarah sounds almost pleading, and Kara fights the urge tostare and give herself away.

“Considering how weleft things, yes,” Cat says, voice sharp as Kara hears her shift in herchair. The fact that Cat has them speaking across the desk soothes some nervein Kara’s chest, one that she tries not to think about. “You’re the onethat left, after all. What was it you said? ’Longdistance doesn’t work when you’re dating a workaholic bitch’ wasn’t it?”

“Oh come on, Cat! Iwas hurt. You wouldn’t even consider working remotely, and I had agreat opportunity in front of me.” Sarah sounds genuinely apologetic, butafter hearing what she’d said to Cat there’s no redeeming quality Kara can findin her. It explains why Cat had been so bitter and difficult for a week solid.

“My company ishere, Sarah. I told you that. You couldn’t accept that then, what’s changednow? Because I don’t believe for a second that you’ve returned just to catchup.” Kara’s guilt is starting to grow with each second she listens, butshe can’t seem to pull her focus away even though this is undeniably private.

“I miss you. Ireacted badly, and I wanted to see you again. My work is mobile now, I’ll bepassing through National City a few times a month. I thought we could getdinner, at least try to clear the air.” Kara bristles, she can’t help it.This woman had hurt Cat, hurt her badly if the still present note of painbeneath her words is anything to go by, and now she wants Cat to just forgiveher? Kara is usually very good at finding the best in people, but this timethere’s no denying her instinctive dislike.

“Fine, dinner then. Make the arrangements with my assistant. Keirais very good at getting tables on short notice.” Kara tries not to wince atbeing asked to help with this mess, but from the way Winn is looking at her shedoesn’t quite manage.

She is able to get herreaction under control by the time Sarah makes it back to her desk, looking upwith a bland and professional smile despite the anger and distaste coiling inher chest.  She can be better than thiswoman she barely knows.

“Hey, Cat said to see you about getting reservations somewheretonight,” Sarah says with a smile. “I was hoping you knew somewhere with alittle romance in the air, you know? Nothing major, just enough to set a mood.”

Kara hopes her flinch is too quick to be noticed, but she knowsWinn at least catches it when he shoots her a worried look. But she’s fine. Shecan do this.

“Romantic might be hard with it being February,” Kara says as sheconsults her planner page of restaurants that are willing to work with her onshort notice. She sees at least five on the page that would fit thedescription, but pretends to scan it in disappointment. “Most of these areplaces Miss Grant chooses for business meetings, but Overlook might be closeenough.”

It’s not, while it’s one of Cat’s favorite restaurants it’s theopposite of romantic. Brightly lit and open, there’s no sense of privacy orintimacy to the tables. It’s somewhere Cat chooses for dinners where there’snothing to be discussed and no one to impress. Casual dining, never anythingimportant.

“That sounds perfect, thank you. Here’s my number, let me know theaddress and what time I should meet her there.” Sarah hands Kara a card beforeleaving, tossing a wave and grin over her shoulder at Cat through the glasswalls of her office.

The display leaves Kara seething again, barely able to pick up herphone without breaking it in her hand. Thankfully the welcome normalcy ofexchanging promises and favors to get a table manages to calm her frustrations,enough so that when Cat calls her in for an update on her evening Kara is ableto answer the questions calmly and without giving herself away. Still, she’sthankful when Cat dismisses her, sending her home for the night with a carelesswave of her hand. She really needs to find a mugging or three to stop, or analien to capture. Maybe Alex will spar with her. Kara doesn’t much care whichit is, she just needs to punch something.

X

Cat takes her latte without a word the next morning, and thatseems to set the tone for the day. She doesn’t say anything to Kara, not evento give her a list of duties and tasks to accomplish. If not for the searchinglooks Kara notices every now and then she’d think Cat was furious aboutsomething.

Even though she’s pretty sure Cat isn’t actually angry, Kara iscareful to be the perfect employee for the day. She doesn’t slip out to makerounds of the city, she tells Alex she needs a calm day without DEO duty, andshe throws herself completely into her work to avoid giving Cat any reason tobe upset with her.

That’s how the evening finds her still working, refusing to leavebefore Cat does. It’s late enough that the sun is setting on the horizon andeveryone else has already left, but Kara just keeps working, finding new thingsto focus on as she tries to seem busy. She’s resorted to reorganizing her filesinto alphabetical order by date and type before Cat breaks the silence andcalls her into the office.

“You made reservations at Overlook,” Cat says once they’ve settledopposite each other on the sofas, her gaze piercing as Kara tries to avoid it.But there’s no avoiding the question, so Kara nods, remaining silent until shebetter understands what’s going on. “Of all the restaurants you could havechosen, you picked the one least suitable for a private discussion.”

“It’s February, so many other restaurants were booked,” Kara protestsweakly, unsurprised when Cat glares at her with a warning shake of her head.

“You’re a terrible liar Keira. Sarah told me you suggested itpractically before she made it to your desk. That tells me it was deliberate,and I want to know why.” Cat has her pinned in place with a searching look, theone that tells Kara she isn’t getting out of this without answering.

“She hurt you,” comes the explanation, bursting out from Kara withouta thought. She realizes once she’d said it that it gives more than just herfeelings about the situation away, because there is no way Kara could have knownthat fact without having heard a conversation held out of earshot. It’s theDirk situation all over again, and this time Kara knows she’s not getting outof it.

“Jealousy then,” Cat says, skating over the other accidentaladmission with nothing more than a sharp glance that tells Kara they’ll becoming back to it later. “At least you picked a decent restaurant for your powerplay.”

Kara wants to protest that she wasn’t jealous, that she was justbeing protective, but she finds that the words feel like a lie. She wasjealous, that anger and distaste had a base of envy that Kara is only nowconfronting. Now Cat has pointed it out, and Kara can’t ignore it any longer.

“She hurt you once, I didn’t want her to have a chance to do itagain,” Kara says in a quiet voice rather than disagreeing, looking down at herclasped hands to avoid the reaction she knows Cat has to be having right now.She supposes having an inappropriate crush isn’t unheard of from an assistant,but she’d gone out of her way to make an evening the complete opposite of whathad been intended. That’s grounds for termination from any employer, let aloneCat.

“And I suppose I ought to thank you for that,” Cat says dryly butwithout a hint of anger, and Kara looks up in surprise. “It’s far harder totell someone to fuck off and out of your life when the waiters are servingchampagne and strawberries, or whatever ridiculous ideas she had in mind.”

That’s so far outside of what Kara had expected that she can feelher mouth drop open slightly in shock as she stares at Cat. Words seem to havedeserted her, and for a long moment only silence stretches between them as Catgives her a knowing look and Kara struggles to get her brain working again.

“I thought you were going to fire me,” Kara admits once she’sfound words again, unable to move past that part of her shock.

“Of course not. Where else would I find an assistant willing tocompletely disregard all sense of propriety in order to look after what I need?”Cat says with a smirk. “And besides, we have far too much to talk about for meto fire you.”

“You promise I’ll be allowed to stay?” Kara asks, voice tremblingas she tries to pretend the answer couldn’t wreck her completely. “You won’tmake me leave this time?”

“Kara, I don’t want you going anywhere ever again,” Cat says, and Karanearly breaks down then and there.

They have a lot to discuss, she knows that, but she knows she hasa place here. And whatever else happens or comes of this, that’s all she’s everwanted.

[3one3]

The Sequel - 845

Quiet Storm

André Schürrle, Juan Mata, other Chelsea/BVB players, and random awesome OC’s (okay they’re less random now but they’re still pretty awesome)

original epic tale

all chapters of The Sequel

Scuba diving had to wait until Wednesday. Captain Theo wanted to take Lilly XO and her family down to Hyères, or more specifically, to the area around the Île du Levant and the Parc national de Port-Cros. He said there were good spots for rookie diving there, there was a nature reserve to explore, and a nudist village. André thought that all sounded wonderful, and consented to spending much of Tuesday sailing instead of anchored somewhere. Christina napped a lot. She needed it, and it was surprisingly easy to sleep even while the 56m boat was underway and moving at speed. Everyone spent a lot of time on the fly bridge too, and took turns learning what to do at the helm. Lukas liked it up there in the wind. He liked playing in the lounge and watching musical Disney movies too. Only the dogs were grateful when Captain Theo decided to call it a day outside the entrance to the harbor in Hyères and suggested the family go ashore to check out the sprawling town and have some dinner. He would take them around the islands in the morning.

Christina found two things of interest right away when she fired up Google Maps. The first was a racetrack directly behind the marina and associated hotel, of the equine variety. It was a simple dirt track with some dirt paddocks in the infield and small bleachers. The website for the facility was useless, so she couldn’t find out if anything fun was happening there. The second point of interest was another racetrack, of the go-kart variety. And it was on the way to the denser part of Hyères where they could find lots of restaurants to choose from. Naturally they had to go do some racing. The staff wouldn’t let André take Lukas for a ride around the circuit, but it was still fun to race against the other random people there for some early evening competition. Christina got Espen to give it a go too. The nanny was pretty handy behind the wheel, much to her employer’s surprise. None of them won any of the arrive-and-drive races. Young kids seemed to have an inherent advantage in that they weighed much less than the adults.

After motorsport came dinner. Christina found a restaurant with an expansive garden, uncomplicated food, and a live band that covered everything from Bob Marley to Harry Belafonte without skipping Springsteen in between. She got drunk after the first course and made her own dance floor with her son when dancing on her banquette- cushions on top of wood pallets- wasn’t satisfying enough. With a Corona in one hand and a delighted child figuring out how to dance in the other, there was no question for André that his wife was still in a good place, even without Juan, even without Dirk, and even with him around her for a day and a half. He watched her try to show Lukas how to do a spin while she held his hand, and pick him up to dance with him on her hip, and let go of him and invite him to dance across the floor between them and into her arms, completely unbothered by the other people watching her or by the fact that they were the only ones dancing. The lead singer of the band complimented them and urged them on. André didn’t know what the guy said because it was in French, but it made most of the other dinner guests laugh. Only when the rider realized he was eating the fried chicken tenders that came on her Caesar salad did she return to the table.

“Do you need another beer, pretty girl?” he laughed when she gulped the last of her bottle and set it down so she could help Lukas with his tiny steak.

“Sí, por favor. Or...oui s’il vous plaît.”

“One more for her,” he told the waitress who returned to the table when Christina did, presumably to see if she needed anything as everyone else was already all squared away. What she needed most was an explanation for her salad.

I thought it was weird that it comes with chicken fingers, she thought once she was done cutting the baby’s food into baby bites so he could feed himself. She stared at the large bowl André slid back in front of her. It’s even weirder that it has big chunks of hardboiled egg, whole cherry tomatoes, endive, red onions, and a Parmesan chip made from like 6 bucks worth of cheese sticking out of it. Also, no sign of Caesar salad dressing. How does a Caesar salad not have Caesar dressing? Forlorn inside, the rider glanced around the rugged wooden table in hopes that her dressing was just in a side dish, misplaced. Ordering a Caesar salad was an internationally safe option for her. She had it everywhere. Sometimes it came with a creamy dressing, and sometimes an oil-based one. Either was fine. It could be tangy, or cheesy, or even mustardy. It could even have recognizable anchovies in it and she’d still eat it. There could be small variations on the theme and it would be perfectly acceptable. The mixed greens and inexplicable add-ons before her were puzzling, and disappointing. What’s he eating? Is it any better, Christina wondered curiously as she shifted her searching glance toward the plate across the way. Eww! His squid actually looks like squid! They’re like whole little squids! And what’s that goopy yellow stuff in the dish? Ugh. No. Nothing good to steal there.

“What are you looking for?” André asked.

“Salad dressing. There’s lots of shaved cheese on my salad, and things that don’t belong on it, but no dressing.”

“Eat the chicken in the meantime and when she comes back you can ask her for some.” He wasn’t as concerned about her salad. His plate of “whole little squids” was very appetizing, and Espen was already enjoying her veal meatballs. Lukas was shoving a French fry in his mouth. “The chicken is good. I don’t know what it’s doing on a salad, but, eh.”

“How many Instagram stories did you post of me dancing?” his mom inquired knowingly while transferring the breaded chicken to her bread plate so that she could cut it.

“None. I don’t need to share my holidays with three million people.”

“Mkay.”

“And you’ve been dancing all day. Whenever you weren’t sleeping. Dancing in the gym. Dancing in the shower. Dancing in the mirror after the shower. Dancing while steering the boat. Dance-“

“Okay we get the picture,” Espen assured the footballer. “Chris likes to dance when she’s in a good mood, and Luke likes to dance in every mood, especially if there’s any Shakira music.”

“Oh!” Christina’s outburst made everyone stop eating and look up, and even the waitress delivering her Corona abruptly froze and looked confused. She then asked her for the salad dressing- tentatively, of course, because she was afraid she was asking for something she wasn’t meant to have, as if she’d misunderstood the menu in the first place or something- and tried to make it sound like that wasn’t why she shouted “oh”, because it wasn’t. It was about dancing. “Do you think there are nightclubs around here with Latin music? That are open on Tuesday nights?” André and Espen both looked at her disapprovingly. “I wanna go out dancing for real.”

“I know of a club in Antibes with a Havana theme?” Espen offered, turning the rider’s face white.

“Yeah,” she frowned. “I know that one.”

“Is it not good? We’re going back that way in a few days, no?”

“It’s owned by one of Juan’s dad’s friends,” Christina supplied flatly. “They just played regular top 40 club music when I was there,” she added, trying to make it sound like her reaction was to the type of dance club it was rather than the memory of the role her visit there played in the night that changed her life during the Euros.

“What do you want Latin music for anyway?” André asked while she took the first and best sip of the cold beer.

“Isa got me hooked on a couple of artists. It’s fun to dance to. Not that you’d come dance with me anyway.” A tongue poked out between baby pink lips to taunt him for his lack of interest. It’s really a shame. We could be so sexy together if he had any rhythm. Damn it, where’s Reus? I need Reus to have any real fun on a dance floor. He’s in a knee brace anyway. Le sigh. Christina had another sip of beer and a bite of the chicken, and the dance club conversation was over. It was of no interest to André, and André was in charge of conversation, agenda, and decision making. He had been all day, or since he arrived in Cannes, really. His wife didn’t exactly ask his permission to do things like get up and dance with Lukas, or ask him what she should do on the boat on the way to Hyères, but she recognized when the decision was made to go ashore for the evening that she was deferring to his judgement and desire at every turn. The realization made her wonder if she was doing that at home too, on a “local” level- meaning she let him decide the day to day things while she was making her own big choices, like when to go away to compete and when to schedule time at home. She wasn’t really sure if she had been doing that or not, and thought it possible that she was deferring to him on those things to compensate for the big decisions, like she thought he deserved to choose what they did together when she was home because her big choices were so hard on him, and perhaps it wasn’t even a conscious thing on her part. The logical subsequent question was whether that potential deference was a source of some of their problems.

It was a lot bigger than fairness. Christina came up with a lot more when she dug into the subject while she and Lukas watched André and Espen go round and round the go-kart track. Dortmund was André’s. He lived there first, and he made a life there without her. He had friends there that were just his. He knew the city better. He knew Germany better. She felt there was something to that- that she was a second class citizen in the family because she was away so much, because she wasn’t from there, because she had to ask him where to go for things and explanations for basic cultural questions, and because he had a life outside of his marriage there. And she thought maybe he’d kind of gotten used to that. Back in the fall when they were waiting for the house to be finished, Christina thought her player changed a lot because he wasn’t living with a woman anymore, and he had more independence. He got reacquainted with sharing his home with her again, and with being considerate of another person in his day to day happenings, but because of that deference and authority she was inadvertently yielding to him, the balance in their relationship was still a bit askew. His being wholly dismissive of the dance club notion reminded her of that, because she thought there was a time when he would have at least pretended to be interested just because she was. The rider didn’t know the significance of any of that, but thought it useful to have considered it and added it to the worksheet, so to speak. There was plenty of time to ponder it at the table because despite André’s enjoying and appreciating her bubbly happiness and radiance, he largely ignored her at the dinner table in favor of interacting with the baby and talking to Espen about her vacation. Christina just ate quietly like someone who didn’t expect to be engaged in the conversation, including when it turned to what to do after dinner.

“It’s a 30-minute walk back, so we’ll just do that, yeah?” the BVB man suggested. “Mausi can ride in the stroller when he gets tired.”

“Is it 30 minutes at my walking speed or yours?” his girl asked dubiously. “Is it really safe to walk on the main road at night? Why don’t we just get a taxi?” My flip-flops aren’t meant for long distance walking, and it’s almost dark out, and I kind of wanted to put the baby and the nanny in a car back to the boat and then go find a cute lounge or patio or something to have a couple glasses of wine with boyfriend, since we’re not going dancing. I guess there’s wine on the boat, she concluded.

“If you want,” André shrugged. He was signing the credit card receipt for the check, and it caught him off guard when he looked up and caught her frown. “Did you want to do something else?”

“No. Not really.”

“No, or not really?” He knowingly sought clarification because there was a distinction in her two-answer answer. “No” meant he was in the clear. “Not really” meant there was something she wanted to do and just didn’t want to make a big deal out of it but could do so later, to his detriment.

“No.”

“Okay.”

That was that. They did all go back to the boat, but they did also take a cab, so Christina couldn’t really say he just got his way by default. Part of her wanted to yell and shout at the rest of her for looking for something to get upset over. A different part of her wanted to consider all the facts and evidence, and quit pretending about certain elements of her relationship struggles. It was well past Lukas’ bedtime by the time the launch approached the fold-out deck at the rear of Lilly XO, so bedtime procedures were commenced immediately. Espen claimed the TV in the living room and commenced the binge watching of Amazon shows saved up for months with her vacation and her working boat holiday in mind. André changed his clothes and then pondered which part of the boat he and his girl should claim. They could watch TV outside, or in bed. They could use the hot tub up on the top deck, or they could sit on the beanbag up there and do nothing. They could sit anywhere and have a drink. There were board games, and cards. There was music. It seemed to him like someone had finally pulled Christina’s cord from the socket and she was out of energy, so he didn’t imagine she’d be doing any more dancing. Indeed, she looked sleepy and a little “leftover drunk” when she emerged from her own wardrobe change. She padded right by him on the couch in the lounge, mumbling something about it being too stuffy in there, and continued outside into the cooler, fresher night air. He caught up to her while she stood between the couch and the dining table, trying to decide where to put herself.

“You okay, Prinzessin?” André asked, not really that concerned, when he hugged her from behind. She had an adidas hoody on with a big front pocket, so he put his arms through there and squeezed her tight for a second. Georgina was on his heels.

“Can I get anything for you?” she asked politely.

“Want anything?” the footballer parroted.

“Will you have a glass of wine with me?”

“Sure, baby.” He kissed her temple and then used his hold around her middle to turn her 45 degrees to face the chief stewardess. “She needs wine,” he smiled at said stewardess. “What kind?”

“Something chilled and fresh but not too fruity.”

“Something chilled and fresh but too fruity.”

“Got it,” Georgina smiled. She turned on her heel and disappeared into the lounge.

“Why are you so small?” André asked rhetorically after putting his chin on his girl’s head and leaning on her heavily. He had to bend down quite a bit to be able to do that.

“Why are you so tall?

“I’m not. I’m normal. You’re small.”

“K.”

“What’s up with you?” He leaned clear over her head and looked down at her upside down. I can’t help but think she’s been kind of quiet since dinner. She can’t be tired. She slept more today than probably all of last week, I’m guessing. “Tired?” Christina just shrugged and teetered under his weight as she tried to walk away. “Where you going?”

“I dunno. I was gonna sit on a lounge chair but I just remembered they’ve been put away.”

“Want to go upstairs?”

“K.”

The player nodded to his right, beckoning her to head back from whence they came so they could take the stairs up from the junction between the outdoor lounge and the inside one. Her walk in that direction was considered- she almost walked on her toes- instead of relaxed. Her short answers and her whole demeanor said there was something amiss with her, or at the very least, less than ideal. He poked her butt as she climbed the tiny stairs in front of him, and got no reaction. Instead of asking for a third time if she was okay, he tackled her at the top of the stairs and carried her, running, around the hot tub and one of the masts, and threw her onto the deep and cushy beanbag before also throwing himself on it.

“Ugh, Jesus, babe. My tummyyyy,” Christina groaned on her back. “That was worse than being sideways in rough water. I just aaaaate.”

“Are you gonna barf?” André asked, smiling. He rolled over to rub her stomach via that sweatshirt pocket. He liked the word “barf”. It wasn’t part of his vocabulary before he met his wife.

“Yes,” she told him with mock contriteness. “All over you. Repeatedly.”

“Love you too, baby.”

“Stop smirking at me,” she scowled while affecting an allover, full-body stretch with her arms above her head. He felt her torso shift as her top half went one way and her bottom half went the other. Her body vibrated a little as it reached the limits of its ability to stretch. In the back of his mind, he thought about how nice it was to feel her body move about under his palm. His girl as a living, breathing creature was something to marvel at sometimes. Sometimes it made him feel very connected to her to experience the sensation of feeling her physical form do things, particularly involuntary ones. Sometimes it made him feel very powerful, because he knew and could see that he had the ability to influence her involuntary movements. Sometimes it just made him feel the opposite of loneliness, and that was the hardest one to really understand.

“You’re an adorable little person,” he sighed, dropping the smirk. “I wish I liked it less when you get quiet and timid, but it’s cute. It’s not always because you’re upset or sad, so I guess it’s okay, eh?”

“Okay?” Christina squinted at him, confused. She had no idea what he meant.

“I think sometimes you get like this- you stop talking unless someone talks to you first, and you tiptoe around, and you make sort of sad faces- when you’re very busy thinking about something in your head.”

“As opposed to thinking about it in my knee?”

“Pfft! You know what I mean. It’s cute though. Except when it’s because you’re upset, or scared about something. What’s on your mind tonight, Prinzessin?” André questioned softly. He leaned on his elbow but stayed close.

“Nothing.” The bronzed little person beside him rolled onto her elbow too, and mingled her short and smooth legs with long and hairy ones. The fuzzy coating made them soft in a different way than hers were. His were like a cozy blanket and hers were like silk.

“Are you sure?” She’s lying, he thought.

“Mhm. Ooo, wine.” Her face brightened when she saw Georgina’s head pop up from the stairwell with two glasses of Côtes de Provence rosé. Whatever is on her mind must not be that serious if some pink wine erases it, the rising sophomore Bee decided. He sampled his pink wine and waited to see what Christina would do or say next.

She curled up perpendicular to him and leaned on his hip, making herself comfortable at his expense. Her arm dug into his side. That was evidence of her state too. It seemed unlikely she’d want to be close if whatever was on her mind, and sapping away resources, and forcing her to outwardly power down to compensate, was in any way to do with him. She held her glass in her palm and her thumb and used the rest of her fingers to gently feather around his stomach, just inside the bottom of his t-shirt and just above his sweatpant-like shorts. She liked that spot. Serious muscle felt firm against pressure, but his skin was smooth and soft and even kind of loose. Almost nothing tickled him, so she could feel and poke around there however she wanted without bothering him.

“Did you ask them to get rosé?” the player asked curiously. “You don’t normally drink it.”

“No, but I didn’t give them a bottle list or anything. It’s good,” Christina shrugged.

“Are you going to tell me what’s up with you tonight? Since dinner? Or do I have to guess?” André smiled. He was sure there was something using up all of her processing power. She didn’t seem particularly down or upset- just quiet and aloof, off in Christinaland.

“Nothing is up with me.”

“Just so you know, I don’t mind. As I said, I think this is cute, this thing you do. I don’t only enjoy being with you when you’re either dancing, talking my ear off, or sleeping. I enjoy this too. You convince yourself sometimes that I only like spending time with you when you’re smiling.”

“I know.”

“And you don’t have to talk to me, but I can just listen if you want to.”

“I know.”

“Is there anything you want me to listen to?”

“Soon.”