OOM for Bela

[ikissdhimbck]

[following this:]


The bar is loud, and Kate looks like she's about ready to pass out at any moment. Scaling the stairs to get to her room isn't high on her list of Things To Do right now, but with a little encouragement from Bela she manages to get up as far as the second landing before she has to stop and sit down.

Her mind is reeling, her body is shaking, and though this isn't the most private of settings, it is at least much quieter. In a minute or two, she'll be able to think about getting up and walking the rest of the way to her room.

.

Comments

[not_lugosi]

"After tonight? Wherever the hell you want."

This is strange. But it's strange in a good way, and not an awkward, uncomfortable way. Before Milliways, she had no time for friends and girlfriends were an abstraction. Even as a child, she was the odd one out, thanks to her situation at home. There were girls who were friends, but never close friends.

She never had hair-brushing friends.

[ikissdhimbck]

Neither did Kate. She got on well enough with the girls at university, but most of them were preoccupied with suitors, while she was preoccupied with academics.

(Her father was proud.)

She settles near Bela's feet on the rug, and begins to unbraid her hair.

"Thank you."

She tips her head back so she can see Bela, sincerity shining bright in her too-blue eyes. They look every bit as much as a wind-whipped sea as one would expect after a night like tonight.

[not_lugosi]

Bela glances down at Kate's eyes and expression, but averts her eyes quickly. It's a bit too much emotion to deal with. She'll focus on brushing.

"You start at the tips and work your way up, in case there are tangles," she says, brushing carefully. "At least that's what- God, I've forgotten her name. But she was one of the nice ones. They didn't last long, the nice ones."

She falls into a rhythm as she methodically brushes her way through Kate's long hair. It's easy once you get going, except for the occasional snag from a tangle.

In that way, it's not too dissimilar from friendship, Bela thinks.