[Brian_dark_angelo] Seducing Love [Dysy]

[Brian_dark_angelo]

Green eyes looked almost desperately at the clock on the far corner of the room. The girl who sported those eyes kept changing her stance every minute, going from standing still to moving around the room to push or move something to a different place. She groaned as she dropped onto a black colored sofa in the middle of the small living room she was now in.

"I thought she would've been here by now. If she doesn’t get here soon I’ll end up arranging the whole apartment all over again." She mumbled to herself evidently frustrated. She looked back down at her phone and groaned once more as she saw that the flight had indeed landed already, so she didn't understand why she hadn't heard anything from her yet. She had actually been hoping and wanting to pick the other up from the airport, but she had been turned down with no room for argument.

She had wanted to be standing there by the glass doors waiting to catch a glimpse of her old friend. There was no way she would miss her. No, no matter how much she had changed she knew she would be able to recognize her. She sighed knowing well enough herself that she was getting too anxious. Natasha passed her fingers through her loose hair moving it to the side as she felt a small breeze from the air conditioner that was turned on in one of the rooms graze her skin.

It was a hot day and she was glad she had at least decided to dress accordingly. She wore a white loosely fitted sleeveless dress that reached just below the middle of her thigh leaving most of her legs and shoulders exposed to the breeze. It had taken her a while to get ready in the morning, as she just stood in front of the mirror for most of it.

She had traced her face with her fingers over and over again trying to think weather or not she had changed too much since the last time she had seen her, or what the other might say once she saw her again. She had passed her fingers through her bangs knowing that was the only change she had done to her hair since they last saw each other, other than that she couldn’t really think of anything that might make her look different, maybe a bit older. Her features had lost the last signs of childhood they use to have.

The night had been a whole different story though. She’d woken up in the vacant room of her apartment after she had closed her eyes for just a second. It was her own fault for leaving things for the very last minute, but she wanted everything to be in place for when the other came. Also she had needed the distraction. She’d bought new sheets for the bed, a box full of hangers, another laundry basket, a small night table, and a few empty frames and small boxes for the other to use. Everything else she had left bare knowing that the other would decorate it as she saw fit. It had been while she was putting the new sheets onto the full sized bed that she had decided to just close her eyes for a second and thus fallen asleep.

The small apartment was almost taken up completely by the two rooms and bathroom inside of it, leaving a small square for the living room and an even smaller rectangular for the kitchen. But Natasha preferred for things to feel a bit more cramped as opposed to having too much space and feel alone. The couch she sat was the only furniture that fit in the living room and it was just big enough for two people, three if you didn’t care about personal space. The back of it faced the door to the apartment and the front to the currently turned off television.

 

[Dysy]

Things had changed since high school. They had to go their separate ways – there was no other choice.

At least, that’s what she convinced herself.

They had finished high school, and had plans to go to the same college together, but by the time they had decided to attend the college, she had backed out of her own accord and left the state. Instead of attending college, she had joined the force; she had been a rough girl growing up so she had found a profession to put that brute force to work to make some proper money with it. She was a bit of a tomboy growing up, and that seemingly cute characteristic as a child, had stuck around even till her 20’s. She was never one to be caught dead in a dress, and she wore but the minimal amount of make-up – just a bit of chapstick and some mascara. Becoming part of the S.W.A.T. team seemed like the perfect job for her, and she was willing to put the work in, so she chased the dream. But even states away, and throughout it all, the entirety of training and actually getting to work – there was something that stayed constantly on her mind.

She had grown up with a girl; they were near inseparable, but for different reasons. Carina had grown up with a girl that was her polar opposite, and while it was shown that opposites attracted, no one really understood how they had stayed friends for as long as they had - and how they had parted so easily, as if all of those years together almost meant nothing.

But they meant everything to Carina.

During training, she had forced herself to think about nothing but work, forcing her body and her mind to its limits in her training, and then applying everything she could in her work. Somehow in her mind, she thought, that if she focused on one thing, and only that one thing, her work, she could forget about everything else – perhaps she could even forget Natasha. And for a while, it worked, all Carina could think about was work, and become a member of the S.W.A.T. team, it was something she had wanted for herself. But, the more she tried not to think about her childhood friend, the more it tried to force cracks into her thoughts to sit, and settle in the forefront of her thoughts.

But while it lay dormant, it had festered and grown like a child’s nightmare in a closet, until it was something she could no longer hide from herself.

And then there was that phone call.

They hadn’t spoken for three years, and now Carina found herself in the back of a taxi cab, holding a backpack navy blue flannel covered chest, her fingertips pushing dark brown, almost black strands of hair from her brown eyes that darted back and forth from the doors of the car. Perhaps, this was a bad idea? She had left Natasha for a reason, but that very reason was what was dragging Carina back home to her, and back to stay with her for an impromptu vacation of some sorts. “Visitin’ someone special?” The taxi cab driver spoke up to her as they neared their destination, but the question only settled heavily in the pit of the woman’s stomach.

“You could say that.” She muttered softly turning her eyes back to the outside world.

When they had arrived, Carina dragged out her suitcase with a low huff and flung it to the curb with a soft ‘thump’ as she paid her fare and slowly made her way up to Natasha’s room – at least, what she thought was Natasha’s room. Really, the last time she had seen the girl, they weren’t living on their own, and this was a new sensation for Carina – all she had was her wits and a small crumpled, torn sheet of paper with the apartment address and number.

Wiping her hands on her torn jeans, Carina gave a small huff. It wasn’t like her to feel nervous, in fact, the girl almost always exuded confidence and almost arrogance 24/7, but she could feel her hands perspire as she raised a fist to the door and gave three hard knocks. “Natasha?” She called out.

While her voice seemed perfectly normal, her hand only gripped the handle of her suitcase tighter.

 

[Brian_dark_angelo]

Hearing her name being called out so suddenly startled Natasha out of her thoughts. She separated form the couch almost instantly not a thought crossing to her mind as her body seemed to just be moving forward of it’s own accord. Of course it wouldn’t surprise her if that were the case. Every part of her missed Carina, had missed her since the second she had los sight of her when she got in a car in the way to the airport. The way things between them had abruptly changed had left her shocked and for the first time in years, without anything to say to the other girl.

The day she was told by Carina that they were not going to be studying together the next year, that in fact they weren’t even going to live in the same state anymore had left her, well the only word for it was empty or blank. She was used to their voices talking back and forth for hours, but the silence that followed the news was something very out of place. It was as if she couldn’t understand or comprehend it. But a thing she would never do was telling the other to stay.

A part of her felt that she would have stayed if she had just begged her to, but another, the one that won, bit back her tongue and accepted that it was a great thing for Carina to want to pursue something that seemed so right for her. She just never thought it would really mean cutting off almost all communication with each other. And when she realized just how much of a separation it truly was she started regretting not acting like a spoiled child and demanding the other not to leave.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t been fine, of course she had moved on and of course she understood, but she had never really thought about not having the outspoken and strong girl beside her.

She opened the door in exactly two seconds after the other had called out her name. Her eyes fell upon Carina and she could feel herself biting back the grin that wanted to crawl into he face. She had been right; she wouldn’t have missed her if she had gone pick her up. Sure there were changes she could definitely see the training the other underwent was evident and like her she seemed to look slightly older, but she was there in front of her now. She seemed to hesitate for a second before throwing her arms around the other girl and giving her a welcoming hug.

“Sorry.” She spoke pulling back a bit before looking at Carina’s face once more. This time she couldn’t help the small grin that fell on her lips. “Carina I missed you.” She spoke sincerely feeling her voice waver a little as the nervousness seemed to kick right back in. “Did you find the place alright? How did you get here, a cab?” Her eyes fell upon the bag beside the other and she frowned. “I wished I could’ve just come pick you up. I could’ve pointed out a few places around her so you’d start knowing a bit about our surroundings….well what’s changed anyway.” She looked back into the apartment and took a step to the side giving the other space to enter. “Come in.”

She was evidently frazzled by it all. Her thoughts just seemed to keep pouring out of her mouth much like they had done on the day of the phone call. She guessed that’s why she was feeling half like everything would be the same and half like she should really speak up and tell the other she had never been alright with the whole separating thing. That and cutting communication for three years could mean they were different, but then how more different could they already be? “You owe a lot of stories you know? I’m sure watching you in gym class years back was nothing compared to the kinds of things you had to do for the training you went under.”

 

[Dysy]

If there was ever a time Carina felt like an awkward teenage boy – this was that moment.

Reaching out, Carina returned the hug gently, only patting the girl’s back gently with two firm pats before pulling away slightly. “Hey…” was the only greeting she could manage. She knew this was a bad idea, but gods that hug felt like the best welcoming Carina could imagine. Unlike Natasha, who felt soft and pliable in Carina’s strong hands, Carina wasn’t quite as soft as the other girl. The years of training had left her body lacking fat of any sorts and her skin tanned to a dark olive tint. But Carina only let out a small sigh, as if releasing all of her frustrations and anxiety that had led up to that simple hug.

Dragging her bag indoors, it seemed that a heavy bag filled with her boots and miscellaneous items was nothing for Carina to carry as she pushed it aside as if it were only as light as a sack filled with air. “Stories huh? What about you? I think we both owe each other some story telling.” Carina’s eyes swooped carefully around the apartment. It had become natural for her to do, training was much more than just physical limits, it was about knowing your enemy’s weakness, knowing strategies, and always understanding your surroundings – this was Carina’s way of getting to know the ‘new terrain’.

It was almost as if Natasha felt like uncharted territory too.

“Ha, if I said it was any fun to train to be part of S.W.A.T. I guess I’d be a liar.” Carina had almost already made herself at home around Natasha. The person she had thought she could have her guard down around – her guard was at its highest. Details were always important – they were the things that could make or break a mission, and it was the details that screamed the loudest to Carina. Natasha was just as pretty as she was in high school, and hell even younger – she had always had this feminine beauty about her that Carina was not jealous of, but it was something Carina could appreciate. It was like looking at a painting, sometimes words just didn’t describe it, but you wanted to step back and just admire it for a while.

“Most of training was just – well, think of a sort boot camp.” Flicking off her shoes, she had undone her boots easily without her hands, and soon the heavy boots were thumping against the ground near the couch. “We run those six days out of the week, Sunday is supposedly our day off, but really they just decided to change up the routine to something a little bit harder.” Carina let out a small laugh, “That and studies. S.W.A.T. isn’t all fists and punching, you have to learn a couple of things to get better at – well, evaluating situations. Y’know?”


Carina’s eyes were moving around the pieces of furniture, jumping from each piece before landing on Natasha. Shrugging her shoulders, Carina’s arms had draped over the back of Natasha’s couch in an attempt to get comfy. “Nice place you have here, anyways…” She looked around once more, but her eyes always landed on the other female – even when she wanted to look away, her brown eyes met green ones. “What’s up with you anyhow? I haven’t seen you in three years, and suddenly I come back, and now little Natasha isn’t living with her parents, but instead she’s out on her own two feet. I’m proud of you. I never imagined you living alone anyways - if things went properly we probably would've been sharing an apartment. You never did like being alone.” Carina gave the other girl a small cheeky grin.

She had always seen Natasha as her equal, but Carina was a little – rough around the edges, which with the way her feelings were towards Natasha made her feel responsible for the softer of the two girls. Even if it was just small things, Carina always tried to make the other girl happy. If someone made her unhappy, Carina made it her job to make Natasha laugh and the other person meet her fist.

Because gods, how she loved it when Natasha smiled.

 

[Brian_dark_angelo]

Natasha gave a small shrug of her own as Carina accused her of having stories of her own to tell. She was a bit anxious as she watched her look around the apartment. She always found herself guessing weather or not the other would like something. One of the things she missed the most was the other’s opinion on things.

Carina seemed to be everything she had been and more. And as Natasha watched her walk a bit around the living room she knew that she’d have just as a hard time letting her go when her visit ended as much as she had the first time. But even with those thoughts in mind she couldn’t help but want to listen to every word. Hearing her made her feel as if things were back to how they used to be, like the other really hadn’t changed.

She narrowed her eyes halfheartedly a bit at Carina as she heard her comments on her new living arrangements. “You make it sound a bit like it’s some kind of miracle. Besides I should be the one saying that I’m proud of you.” She moved towards the couch as she placed herself closer to the other girl. “Honestly….” She spoke sighing as she leaned into the side of the couch. “I dreaded this place my first few days, hated actually.” She turned her eyes towards the other smiling sheepishly as before shrugging.

“After my first year it just felt weird to live at home. I didn’t really get a chance to tell you back then, but my dad had offered to get us an apartment as long as you we there. He had that whole mindset that you were more intimidating than he would ever be so I would be fine if you were my roommate. But then that didn’t work out and he said there was no way he was paying for me to be on my own and, in his words, exposed to a world that would devour me.” She laughed at this. “So, I got a part time job and moved as soon as I got enough money. Thought it was the worst decision of my life at first. Everything was so quiet, but I forced myself to get through it. I couldn’t very well see you one day and tell you the story of how I ran away from an apartment.” She grinned now as she extended her arms showing off her apartment.

“See everything turned out for the best because now I actually have a room to offer you. Good thing I never actually got myself a roommate or moved in with anyone. Though I’d probably just kick them out or move out after getting your news about coming back.” All nervousness had left her body now and she moved and talked just like they used to.

“This is nice. Like old times right? I’m really glad you decided to come back this year. There’s so much that’s happened, but I just want to hear more about you. Did you pick up any new habits? Did the training help you with the whole authority issue we both used to have?” She grinned leaning closer to the other as she remembered their high school days. “Who exactly did you have to keep you out of trouble? How many people did you offend, insult, and ultimately prove wrong? You know that was one of the first thoughts that crossed my mind after you left? Who would pull you back? So I said I forced myself to live on my own what did you do?”

She was halfway seated on the arm of the couch by now her eyes looking directly at Carina’s. It was true she had always wondered who would be there for the other to tell them that it was alright and that even though the person probably deserved anything they got that they weren’t worth it.

 

[Dysy]

At the barrage of questions, only a small laugh escaped Carina’s lips, it was like nothing had ever changed between them. “I wasn’t that bad, was I?” She found herself reminiscing about their high school years. Carina had a mouth of her – and that wasn’t a compliment. She was a decent student, a B average, but the teachers despised that sort of student. The student that actually wasn’t terrible at academics, but made their life a living hell.

‘Carina, where’s your hall pass?’

‘Don’t have one.’

‘Why not?’

‘Why do I need a piece of paper, just to show off in the hallways I needed to take a piss?’

The smile still lingered on Carina’s lips as she began speaking once more, “I guess they kind’ve had to fix that. My first year of training was hell. I almost didn’t make it.” The smile saddened slightly at the thought, the thought that perhaps, maybe she wasn’t fit enough to do something on her own. While anyone that looked at the ‘relationship’ Carina had with Natasha, it was obvious who was the more physically fit, so it would be assumed that perhaps, Natasha leaned on Carina, rather than the vice versa. But Natasha had gone through hell and back with Carina, and the trouble her mouth had gotten her into. Hell, if it hadn’t been for Natasha, Carina could’ve easily seen herself as a delinquent that possibly didn’t finish high school because she had been suspended too many times.

“I got into a bunch of fights my first year.” Carina’s arms drew back away from the couch, it wasn’t something she was proud of, but there were few, and only choice things she chose to purposely hide from Natasha. “I was actually really worried they’d give up on me. I even got sent to live in my own barracks. The head of the training grounds had had so many strikes on me, and when I got, ‘the talk’, I immediately thought of you.” Carina was back to her trademark smirk once more. “ I guess you were still holding me back, even from all the way back here – I don’t mean that in a bad way of course.” Carina’s eyes fell slowly to her jeans, her fingertips fingering the hold in her knee. “I didn’t want come home after leaving you and our plans only to tell you I was coming home as a failure. That was really rough, I had to bite my tongue a lot and learn how to work with others. And god – you know how I hate to work with groups.”

Carina looked back up at Natasha, “What about you?” Her head lolled back slightly as she leaned against the cushions of the girl’s couch. The room seemed a little cluttered for her tastes, but Carina was a minimalist when it came to apartments. She was sure if they had ever lived together, their tastes could clash and would ultimately end up in conversations in department stores dealing with:

‘Do you really need that Natasha?’

‘But it looks nice doesn’t it?’
‘Yes, but we have one already.’

‘Yes but…’

And ultimately Carina would probably give into any whim Natasha had.

“Who have you got around to protect you? I know you’re not helpless, but I was always around to protect you.” Carina seemed amused by the comment dealing with Natasha’s father. “Well assuming since you’re not living with anyone, does that mean you’re still single?” The idea amused Carina, perhaps this wasn’t such a bad trip to take after all. But in all honesty, while Carina was curious about Natasha’s living state, and her life, the real question she was really trying to get at was:

‘Have you replaced me?’

 

[Brian_dark_angelo]

“Good to know I was still somewhere inside your conscience. You know, I would’ve really liked to have seen you working with others. I could just imagine the look on your face every time you had to hold back something, I used to laugh so hard whenever I saw you back then.” She laughed once more just from the memory.

“But you know you need to give yourself more credit. I’ve told you before that I really think you could probably make it through hell in one piece, so of course you would make it through this.”

Natasha bit her lip for a moment as she looked down onto her lap thinking over the question. “You know I never realized how….I guess determined is a polite word to use... guys were.” She still remembered how uncomfortable the first few months of getting asked out had been. She’d actually had to say a few chosen words and sentences that only Carina would’ve used, but at least they had done the job of leaving them stunned and somewhat scared. “But like you said I think I did a pretty good job of surviving on my own, well for the most part.”

She shook her head and turned her eyes back towards Carina. “But no, I’m actually not so single anymore?” She spoke ending in a question almost as if to see how the other would react. “I really got used to my apartment so I didn’t want to leave it even if it meant no being alone in it anymore. That’s why I’m still living here alone.” She sighed knowing that she had to explain more of the part that included why she wasn’t single. “His name’s Josh. I met him about a year ago after my current date decided to leave me behind after we had exchanged a few chosen words, most of which you would most likely be proud of.”

She was grinning once more, just remembering the look of shock on the guys face as the words had left her lips. Of course she was sure she had most likely been sporting a similar look after she processed exactly what she had told him. It had been something along the lines of him not being man enough for any girl and to get away from her before she decided to make a scene from which he would most likely not get away unharmed, of course the swears she threw in were quite shocking as well.

”I think you weren’t the only one who was still influenced by our time together. If I remember correctly he said his first impression of me was a pretty face with an impressive mouth on her. Kind of hard to believe.” She moved away from the couch feeling herself become nervous once more. Natasha couldn’t help the part of her that really wanted the other to almost approve of everything. She would never outright say it, but she always seemed to want to know weather Carina approved of things or nit, she really valued the other girl’s opinion on things.

“Anyway, I think you two will probably get along great. I told him about you, you know and he actually wanted to come by today. But I said there was no interrupting this.” She spoke moving her hand and gesturing between the two of them. “The first day I had you back and have someone else in the room? There was no chance of that happening. We need at least a week to ourselves, don’t you think?”

 

[Dysy]

And that’s when she KNEW it was a bad idea to be here.

Carina could feel the anger pooling inside of her stomach, but after years of training, it had suddenly become a lot easier to hide – at least with facial expressions. There were years where Natasha could always tell something was wrong with Carina, but Carina, while she was still the same girl Natasha knew from the past, there were things that had – changed with her, she had obviously grown up. She no longer lost her temper at the drop of the hat, and instead made it wait until it came up to a boil before she exploded. But this, this had immediately brought the girl up to a boil, and the only sign of it showing, was the slightly clenching of the girl’s fists, but at the mention of not even bringing him over, Carina relaxed.

And immediately tensed once more – at least mentally.

Was it because Natasha truly felt that way? Natasha had never been the conniving type , but what if she didn’t want Carina to meet her new boyfriend? Did she know? Carina was almost 99% sure that Natasha didn’t know anything about her – at least, not in the sexuality department much less her feelings towards the other female. She had been careless when she was younger, she often ran her mouth – but the one thing she tiptoed around was her relationship with the other girl. It was downright past infatuation at this point, and Carina was old enough to deduct, it wasn’t just a simple puppy love crush – felt downright obsessed with the girl. How she laughed, and how she wanted to be the one that made her laugh – and how she smiled, the things she would do to make sure that she would never cry or frown, because that smile was too beautiful to disappear.

She put on her best smile.

She was good at it by now- she had been doing it for years.

“Nonsense. Why don’t you invite him over for dinner?” She smiled, “It’s not like he’ll be spending the entire week and a half I’m here with us. It’ll just be dinner, and I won’t be going anywhere without you, so you can spare one night.” She wanted to meet this guy – the guy that had apparently excelled where Carina could not – he had robbed Natasha as his own. “Besides, I gotta make sure that the guy you’re dating is treating you right y’know! I don’t want you slacking just because I haven’t been around. If you’re dating someone,” not necessarily a guy, Carina thought to herself bitterly, “They should treat you right. You deserve to be treated right, and nothing less than that.”

While her intentions about meeting the guy weren’t genuine, her words were at least sincere.

Picking the phone off of the table, Carina smirked, as she stood up and nearly pushed it into the girl’s hands. She would never accept that someone could treat Natasha better than her, but she seemed genuinely happy right now, and Carina didn’t want to be the one to ruin that happiness, even if she wasn’t the only one causing it. “Here, give him a call.” She urged with a pleasant smile.

 

[Brian_dark_angelo]

Natasha’s eyes searched Carina’s face almost as if she was studying it intensely. “Invite him over?” She asked out loud seemingly confused. Natasha wasn’t expecting for Carina to want to meet him right away. She looked down at the phone now in her hands as she had completely forgotten about wanting to try and read Carina’s reaction. It was nice having her old friend wanting to make sure she was being treated right, much like before. She just didn’t exactly want him to come over today, but she couldn’t exactly say that to Carina. “Alright.” She nodded turning over the phone as she began to search for the number. “But I can’t promise you anything you know? I told him specifically to distract himself with something, so he could have plans by now.”

How could she explain to Carina that the last time she talked to him eh hadn’t been to happy about her request to not visit her for a while not only because her friend was coming, but because she was still mad about how their last ‘conversation’ went. Of course she had to admit part of her was happy that maybe she could just forget about and go back to being happy with now both him and Carina in her life once more. She put the phone up to her ear and smiled at Carina.

“Hey. Wanna come over for a last minute dinner?”

The small mumbles could be heard coming from the phone as Natasha nodded her head gently. She walked in small circles around the living room floor all the while keeping her eyes on the other girl.

“Yeah, like in an hour or two should be fine. Hmm, oh Carina wants to meet you.”

She hung up the phone just as fast as she had dialed and nodded. “Well he said yes. Guess you’re going to be able to meet him today then. But don’t go and scare him away or anything. You know that whole intimidating thing you used to do back at high school that made everyone keep a least one feet away from us at dances?” She spoke jokingly as she moved to grab onto Carina’s arm. “Come on, now you get to help find something in the fridge to cook. I was planning on just ordering before, but he doesn’t really eat any of the things we used to order at my house.” She stopped a few feet into the kitchen before letting go of her arm and turning back towards her. “Oh and not many questions either. I don’t want to end up listening to the both of you going back and forth with different types of question, or have you say anything compromising about my high school years. I haven’t had anyone from home or high school meet him, so he knows no embarrassing things.”

She turned back around moving into the kitchen and opening the fridge leaning over to begin her search for anything she could cook. Natasha had learned how to cook since small, but she had never really liked to do much of it unless she had time on her hands and she wanted to think, that and the times she liked to just make some pastry and fool around in the kitchen with Carina when younger were the only times she had enjoyed cooking. She had a passion for ordering out way too much and leaving her fridge empty most of the time, and somehow she had still not outgrown that.

 

[Dysy]

“Mind if I just get something from my bag?” She smiled calmly. The entire conversation felt – awkward to Carina. It was so short, there were no ‘I love yous’ much less anything remotely gushy, but perhaps Natasha was sparing her the details of that. Or perhaps maybe – it was a good thing, she didn’t seem that serious with her new boyfriend. This was, perhaps more emotional than she could have ever pictured this trip on being. She was happy – she was sad, she was guilty – and most often, she found herself pissed.

Pissed at Natasha for replacing her, pissed at the jack wagon of a boyfriend, regardless of the fact that she hadn’t even met him yet, and most of all, pissed off at herself for ever coming here.

Dragging her suitcase to the bedroom – after a few moments of peeking into other rooms (even if the apartment only had one other room, Carina was easily the type that would snoop through her best friends belongings – just out of curiosity), Carina had dragged her suitcase into her supposed room and dropped it on the floor. She was sure Natasha would tell her if she was sleeping on the couch later anyways, but for now, the girl just wanted a quiet, secluded place to open her luggage.

Opening her suitcase, Carina stared down at assorted clothing, only haphazardly folded, a couple of pair of boots, toiletries, and then a small silver box. Plucking the silver box from the side compartment of her suitcase, Carina opened it slowly, as if to check that her manhandling of the bag hadn’t damaged it. Smiling at the jewel inside, Carina closed it. Sure, giving gifts wasn’t normally her forte, but Carina had seen this in a shop in the small town outside of her ‘boot camp’ (as she called it, for the training really felt no different), and thought it perfect. The trinket inside of the silver was a small silver chain, which had a small heart pendant at the end of it. It had cost the girl a pretty penny, but she thought Natasha would like it. Upon closer inspection, the single chain actually was two chains. Reaching down, Carina parted the heart calmly into two pieces and placed one aside.

Best Friend Necklaces.

Carina was not, I repeat, NOT the type to give gifts, when it was Natasha’s birthday they normally just hung out together, one of their mothers would bake a cake, or when they were a little older, Carina would treat the other girl to lunch or even dinner. The necklace seemed like an impromptu thing, but it was the only way Carina could possibly show to herself, and Natasha what she meant. Perhaps staring at “BFF” would be enough to convince Carina that Natasha had a boyfriend, and she was always just going to be ‘friend’.

Even though she knew in her heart – that really wasn’t enough for her.

Standing up slowly, Carina placed her own necklace on and hid it beneath her flannel shirt, and closed the box. Striding outside, Carina smirked and held the box behind her back. “So, I know this is kinda out of the ordinary for me, but here.” Placing the box carefully upon the table, Carina slid it towards Natasha. “Just because I wasn’t physically here, doesn’t mean I wasn’t thinking about my best friend.” There it was against – that word, friend, how it made Carina cringe inwardly, but she still kept the smile on her face. Leaning against the counter, while she waited for Natasha to open it, Carina eyed the kitchen. “So, what have you decided on cooking?” Carina wasn’t much of a cook, but she was nowhere near burning an apartment down at the very least, “Need help? I doubt I can do anything with a frying pan, oven, or pot – but give me something to chop or prep and I can help there.” She said with a small laugh.

[Eh, sorry if I got some of the layout of the apartment wrong, you can correct me in your next post.]

 

[Brian_dark_angelo]

She’d searched through the whole fridge managing to find a few vegetables that were still good and a box of pasta. She was sure that if she looked through the cabinets she would find a can of sauce or two. They wouldn’t die from eating just that for a meal and maybe she could get away with at least ordering desert over. As she placed all the ingredients on the small counter she carefully watched Carina walk back towards her. She raised and eyebrow as she saw one of the girl’s arms hidden from sight. She wasn’t sure what she was up to, but it was evident she had definitely not been expecting that.

Her eyes widened almost inhumanly, as she looked at the box that was slowly being pushed towards her. She tuned out anything else the other said about the cooking as she took the box in her hands. She just really couldn’t believe or understand it. For Natasha out of ordinary was a bit of an understatement for Carina to be using. “You got me a gift?” She asked as she slowly opened it seeing the necklace inside of it. She placed the box down and took the necklace in her hand before retuning her eyes to Carina. “Who are you and where did they hide Carina back at that training camp?” She seemed completely serious for a few seconds before she smiled brightly much like she did whenever the other found a way to cheer her up. She couldn’t really say how happy she was that the other had thought of her even as they were far away.

She moved away from behind the counter to wrap her arms around Carina once more in what was the second hug of the day. “I can’t even……I love it! I really do! It looks expensive, you didn’t go and spend a lot on it did you? Not that I would ever let you have this back now.” She asked as she leaned back from the hug with the smile still completely present upon her feature as she looked down at the necklace once more.

“Do you even know how much I tried to get you to give me or anyone a gift the first year we knew each other? I had no problem with giving up easily after that year because I never really minded it was just this need for me to try and make you do. Besides with everything you did for me, but it’s like this thing where I should be somewhat worried about the sudden change.” She laughed shaking her head a bit as she moved to put the necklace on while trying to catch her breath again. “I take you really aren’t lying about missing me. Here I thought I missed you more than you did me.”

She let her hand fall down once the necklace was on. “Thank you, really. Though as shocked as I am you definitely still have to help me chop everything on the table. I can’t even remember the last time I’ve been this excited, happy, and anxious in such a short period of time since you left.” She spoke her eyes still lingering on the heart shaped pendant that lay now against her skin. “So does this mean you don’t get to complain like you would if I happened to get you something for your birthday or Christmas?” Natasha looked up with a glint in her eyes realizing she now got to give a gift back later on. In truth in the years it only frustrated her to be almost prohibited to give that gifts.

[It's fine.]

 

[Dysy]

“Don’t you dare.” She hadn’t meant it as a threat, but she was sure Natasha had been around her long enough to know, that even with a stern face and a stern tone, at the very least Carina wasn’t angry – but she had meant it. There was a reason to her odd ways around Natasha – gift giving was a big thing to Carina, she did it rarely and only for a few, Natasha and her parents being those few. She had never wanted to receive a gift from Natasha, she knew from the first few weeks of just hanging out around the girl – that she liked her. Perhaps at their age, it wasn’t quite what it was now, but she knew it was – different. She felt compelled to be around, her just for the sake of being around her, even when they were just children.

It wasn’t normal.

Or, that was the way she was brought up.

So she buried it within herself, and promised herself, she would never accept any presents from Natasha, because, she was being honest to herself –she’d get hurt in the ending. Natasha didn’t see her that way – at least, that’s what Carina had always convinced herself of, and if she was given a gift, she would only be forced to reject it, because if she accepted it, she would only read too far into it. The temptation of a simple gift was too great, because a gift from Natasha would mean everything to Carina, even if it was something as odd as a pair of nail clippers, Carina could never picture herself throwing away anything Natasha gave her.

While Carina mulled over the girl’s words, her body still tingled in what was perhaps the female’s most ecstatic moment of visiting. It was like being jolted by electricity, her body felt warm and tingled under Natasha’s touch – and her hugs were the best, it was as if she could really feel all of her love and appreciation in a single movement. “I haven’t changed much.” She finally spoke again, as she rummaged through the girl’s drawers trying to find a decent cutting knife, “Yes, I had my edges sanded down a little – just A LITTLE,” she emphasized with a cheeky smile, “But I can still kick ass and takes names y’know? Just, got a little more restraint. And anyhow – think of it as a step in the direction of becoming a better person. At least I made that step towards you.”

Finally, with a knife in hand, Carina eyed the vegetables placed in front of her – while Natasha was a good cook in her opinion, she couldn’t fathom why the boyfriend Natasha had picked out would ever ‘dislike’ the things they would go out to eat. Sure, a home cooked meal was always appreciated – hell, Carina would even eat something she cooked, as long as it wasn’t something served in the barracks. But, Carina and Natasha had tried to eat out once in a while, but their rule? It had to always be some place new, and if they ordered at a place they had already been to – they had to pick something new on the menu. Sure, on special occasions they ordered what they had deemed as good – but it was always a fun way to brighten up a simple human task of just eating.

Chopping silently, Carina diced, cubed and sliced the vegetables into neat piles, all the while looking up once in a while to get a glimpse of Natasha. “So, tell me more about Josh. I feel like you might’ve told him stuff about me, but I’m kind’ve in the dark about this guy. And you certainly don’t want me bombarding him with questions when he gets here..”

 

[Brian_dark_angelo]

Natasha moved around Carina saying nothing about the other’s usual answer to her offering to get her a gift. That was a fight she never seemed to be able to win with the other, she had yet to find something that she would be sure the other could not refuse. She let her fingers play a bit with the pendant as she took out a frying pan to begin making the sauce.

“About Josh….” She said aloud thinking for a few seconds. “Well he’s the kind of person that likes to be spontaneous or push boundaries. He can just waltz in one day and tell you to pack your bags because your spending the weekend somewhere with an actual beach near by.” She laughed as her hands kept moving over the stove preparing everything while she kept on.

“He’s a bit guarded at first and when others meet him he doesn’t seem very sociable or all that nice, but it’s just because he’s ‘testing the waters’ so to speak. But after a few hours he changes and starts conversations. He hates it when someone is in a bad mood so he’s always trying to cheer me up whenever he can because of it. And it’s funny because he keeps telling me I’m too nice and that I should speak my mind ore even if it’ll hurt other people, just like you used to tell me all those times I went home crying after volunteering to do something I didn’t really want to do.”

She turned around moving to grab some of the vegetable that Carina had already chopped. “He’s a complete gentleman as well. He’s the whole old fashion kind of guy; he opens doors, buys flowers, makes dinners with candles, and gives the whole speech of waiting until marriage. It’s weird, but a good kind of weird I guess I used to call him Prince charming in my mind because of it. But it’s nice to actually see a guy who leaves in the middle of the night because it wouldn’t be right to spend the night if were not even living together. Though it kind of sucks when I don’t want to be left alone in the middle of the night.” She seemed to stop to breath for a moment as she realized she had babbled on about the other. “Sorry I think I talked a bit too much about him there. I mean you are going to meet him all those things you’ll most likely see for yourself.”

She spun the spoon around a few times mixing in everything as she waited for the water to boil in the pot next to her so she could add in the pasta. Talking about him made her feel a bit better about everything, she did really like him and all his good points. The argument could be forgotten on her end and if he let it pass as well everything would be fine once more. “So you didn’t have time to have your own little romance while on training?” She asked shifting the topic of conversation once more.

 

[Dysy]

“Really now?”

Gentleman? Carina had heard almost about enough about this guy, and honestly, if Natasha hadn’t stopped talking about him, Carina would’ve asked her to. Was she so blind?! Carina was mentally rubbing her temples, but physically she simply just continued to chop the vegetables. He doesn’t want to spend the night with you! He’s probably going out elsewhere to spend the rest of his night with someone else! Why can’t you see this? Carina let out a small sigh, boy, she was going to regret saying this, but she looked up with a smile, “He seems like a nice guy But you are a nice person,” She chuckled slightly waving her other hand about, “You might be embellishing him a little too much. I’ll make sure he’s good enough for you!”

There was never time for romance when you were training, you had no personal space, and no personal time, and on the rare occasion you did often times you wanted to spend that time just sleeping you were so exhausted. But there was one man – it wasn’t something she had planned on doing, nor was it something she had ever wanted to do in the first place, but on a night off, they were allowed into the town to do as they liked and obviously, by Carina’s choice, they went drinking. They had come home completely sloshed and she had slept with the guy – of course, by morning Carina had threatened the guy with harsh words and brute force to keep his mouth shut. How she regretted that night, it was definitely not something she was proud of. But, the next morning she had her priorities straight, and had sworn off men and women alike – her only focus was Natasha.

“Ha, romance.” The girl smiled at Natasha, “Look at me really? Guys don’t want a broad like me.” The female smiled as she slid the vegetables into a spare bowl and pushed them towards Natasha. “They want a girl like you, you’re soft and feminine, clearly if I was training with them, and I’m not really their type.” She grinned. Pushing a few hairs away from her face, Carina looked back over to Natasha, “You don’t really have time for romance Nat,” she paused slightly, “Well, actually you do – but it’s always off of training. A lot of the guys’ there have wives back home, most of them showed me pictures, that they kept in their wallets or just in general with them for good luck and to keep them safe and such. Training is rough, the actual work – isn’t that much work until you get a mission.”

“They asked me if I had someone back home worrying about me.” Carina only rolled her eyes calmly, her knife chopping faster now, “I told them I had someone, but they were of a different sort.” Carina moved over slightly nudging Natasha in the ribs gently. “Ha, I think you were the only one that might’ve been worried about me. My mum and dad always knew I’d be doing something dangerous, not that my mother ever accepted that fact.” She laughed.

By then, Carina had bit her tongue and frowned calmly - gods she wanted to ask more about Josh. She could already tell this one was a 'real winner', but it was like word vomit. Carina couldn't help but want to know more about her so called competition, and while she wanted to convince herself that he wasn't really that - he made her happy, at least, that's what Natasha was telling her. And Carina had been the one to ditch her - and leave her alone.

Perhaps had she not have gone, things would be different between the two...

 

[Brian_dark_angelo]

Natasha laughed as she took the bowl from the other. “Come on, your parents weren’t as shocked as I was, but they must’ve worried some. But I won’t deny I was probably the one to worry the most.” She mixed the last few vegetables in setting two timers near the stove before moving back next to Carina. “And don’t tell me a guy wouldn’t want you. You have absolutely not fat on you.” She spoke as her finger moved to poke at Carina’s arm and the stomach. She grinned as she gave a few more pokes with her finger. “Only reason I’m soft is because I have absolutely no muscle in me. You’re really attractive; you should know that by now. I bet you just glared or threatened the single guys away from you back at training. That Carina is the only reasonable explanation in my mind.”

She leaned back into the counter pushing aside a few things in her way before she sat on top of it leaving her feet to dangle some. “Oh and I don’t embellish.” She cringe a bit as she herself caught the slight whine in her voice. God, she felt like she was a toddler all over again. Denying things others would point out about her, or more precisely Carina. “I will admit I’m too nice sometimes, but I don’t think it’s as bad as it was before.” She cleared her throat a bit wanting to get the whining sound out of her system. Of course she didn’t really mind Carina’s comments she wasn’t even truly mad because she knew this was normal for them.

“So no romance then?” She seemed to hum for a moment as thought she was pondering on weather or not she should throw the next question out there. “Well how about any attractions to someone?” She grinned once more as she turned her eyes upon Carina. She never remembered Carina ever saying anything about liking someone of being attracted to someone all through their high school years. Of course Natasha herself had never really noticed anyone throughout high school and those that grabbed her attention never really lasted more than a day. She only liked one boy when she was around fourteen, and he had made her cry, Carina had hurt him, the boy had fought back, Natasha tried to make them stop, and then they all had a two day suspension for fighting. Her mother had a fit and her father for some reason couldn’t stop laughing at the sight of three children with messed up hair and dirty clothes. She was sure there was a picture somewhere.

“Did you like the guys that trained there? I always wondered just what the ratio was men to women over there. I mean they couldn’t al be married and there had to be at least someone that caught your eye right?” She asked wanting to pry even more before she heard her phone ring from where she had left it at the couch.

“That’s probably Josh to say that he’s on his way.” She spoke making no move to go look at the text that was most likely on her phone now. “So we have about ten more minutes.”

 

[Dysy]

“Ha, did you ever think perhaps that maybe I just didn’t want the guys coming onto me? Maybe I was looking for something else?” Carina leaned back slightly on her heels looking at Natasha as she finished up their dinner. “I just wasn’t attracted to any of them really.” It was hard to be attracted to someone when you always had a constant person on your mind. Pursing her lips slightly, Carina smirked at the questions – it really had been a while since Natasha had seen Carina, she couldn’t really blame the other female, if Carina wasn’t the type to hold back so much, perhaps Natasha would’ve found a handful of questions in her lap as well.

But really, Carina only wanted to know the important things.

Was she missed?

Had she been replaced?

Was she happy?

“It was maybe about…” Carina pursed her lips together once more in thought this time rather than frustration, “Maybe a 1:6 ration female to male? I can’t say much, I was only in one camp, and they had us separated pretty well, into camps anyhow.” She smirked. It almost sounded like an extermination camp, they were separated into large groups, so at the very least trainers were given a manageable amount of people to deal with. “And no, many of them weren’t married, but I found the married men to be much more enjoyable to be around – they talked to me a hell of a lot less.” There was that old Carina, that attitude of a, ‘I don’t need anyone to get around’, when in reality, if the only person she knew in the world was Natasha – she’d be completely fine with that.

As the time ticked away, Carina could feel a knot forming in her stomach at the thought of this Josh guy actually showing up. Would they kiss? They would hug – wouldn’t they? And the hug to Carina would lose its meaning. “There were attractions, but they were never very strong, or really – you couldn’t even call them attractions. It was mostly out of personality, not out of mutual attraction. Some guys had really strong personalities, that caught my interest – but not out of the reason you might think…” She had seen guys who had just shown up, and had so much passion that they pursued something so blindly, regardless of what happened to them. Carina wasn’t attracted to them the way a woman should be, but often times she pictured herself as them – what if she were the type to not care about what others thought? To push her way through, and to pursue Natasha as if her feelings meant nothing to her? But that wasn’t Carina, she cared too much about Natasha, that she pushed her own feelings aside, and out of sight. Natasha gave her no reason to pursue her; she treated her like any other female friend, just a little closer because of how long their history was…

She wasn’t special.

When the phone rang, Carina looked up and watched Natasha mosey into the living room to grab it, as Carina toyed with the knife, the point pressing slightly into the cutting board as she draw small invisible circles with it. “So how long have you been seeing Josh anyhoo? I know you said you met him a year ago, but have you been together that long?”


Did she love him?

 

[Brian_dark_angelo]

Natasha looked down at her phone for a couple of seconds before scrunching her nose some as she tried to think back as to when exactly things had become official between the two of them. “No we haven’t been together a whole year, though he did kind of asked me out on the same day he met me but it was more of a joke than anything else and I said no. Had I said yes we probably would have passed the year mark already. We’ve been together for about six months though. That would be the official time where we decided, but our first date together was a month before that so it would be better to say seven months.” She smiled some at this before placing her phone down once more.

“I’ve really been with him for quite a while now. It’s funny because I never really had any serious dates during high school did I? I have to say this the only serious relationship I’ve ever been on.” She grabbed a few plates before pointing towards the glasses. “Help me set the table will you?” She walked around the small table and moved the plates around so that two people would be facing each other while the other would be at the end beside the two. “I we weren’t serious and if we weren’t together for so long I don’t think I’d be introducing him to you.” The words were more of a thought spoken out loud for Natasha as she finished setting the table in time for the first timer to ring.

“It’s a bit important for me to have you like him Carina. So though I wanted to have more time before making any introductions I still had in mind this whole thing.”

And it was true she had spent a few hours devastated by the thought that she had had an argument just a day before Carina came home. At some point the thought that maybe more than being upset by the argument itself it was not being able to completely happily present Josh to Carina, had crossed her mind.

She moved back to the stove and turned off the heat for the pasta and moved to drain the hot water. She heard a slight knock on the door making her almost drop the whole pot into the sink. “Shoot I almost dropped it.” She spoke to herself letting the pot fall back on the stove as she moved across the room to open the door. “Well he’s early I guess, so……” Her words faded slowly as she moved to open the door a small smile falling on her lips.

The first thing that seemed to fall through the door was a small bouquet of flowers that were soon laid on Natasha’s arms. The roses in her arm were far from being her favorite kind, but she usually got them whenever he wanted to make it up to her. Of course she wouldn’t mention that.

A man about five inches taller than Natasha stepped through the door smiling down at the girl. His light blond hair and brown eyes contrasted with Natasha’s own looks as he stood even closer to her now. “I finished as soon as I could and came straight here. I couldn’t really pass up you lifting the quarantine rule could I?” With this he leaned down placing a small peck on Natasha’s lips. “I missed you.”

Natasha’s face seemed to redden some at the attention as she turned Josh towards Carina. “Josh I’d like you to meet Carina. You know the one I’m always babbling about, but no one has ever really met. I’m going to go put these in my room.” She mumbled the last sentence still somewhat embarrassed at the small display of affection she had just given Carina.

Josh turned towards the other girl in the room giving a small smile as he extended his hand. “So you’re the infamous friend that Natasha keeps telling me about? It’s nice to finally meet you.”

 

[Dysy]

Grabbing the glasses quietly, Carina only listened to her friend tell her more about Josh – she don’t know why she tortured herself by asking more questions about the guy she had already decided on hating. Pursing her lips, Carina stared at the set-up of the table and only shook her head as she decorated each setting with a cup beside the plate. She just had to open her mouth didn’t she? But inside she knew there was a part of her that just wouldn’t be able to live it down if she had chosen not to meet Natasha’s new boyfriend- it was downright cowardly if she just hid from the fact.
Knock knock.

Carina froze just as much as Natasha did – how she was dreading this, why did she open her mouth? Even Natasha was willing to spend the week with her without her having to meet her new beau, but here, Carina had to open her mouth and say she WANTED to meet the damn guy. Watching Natasha get the door, Carina was honestly shocked at the flowers – all girls liked flowers, but the reason behind them? Carina didn’t know that – all she knew was that this guy seemed like stiff competition, and the sooner she got rid of him the better.

But would it really make Natasha happy with him gone?

Probably not.

And Carina didn’t want to be the one that scared him away – and made her unhappy.

Watching the scene before her, Carina had to turn her eyes away – if she kept watching this scene, she couldn’t guarantee that she wouldn’t walkover there and just sock the guy in the nose – or the eye, both were viable options for Carina. Gritting her teeth, Carina was sizing up Josh, her brown eyes scanning him almost angrily, but the entire ‘tough guy’ demeanor dropped as soon as the party turned to look at her. Smiling slightly she gave a halfhearted wave from the kitchen. He was only five inches taller than Natasha, making him only two inches taller than Carina. Frowning, Carina could feel her grip tighten on the handles of the drawers – she could take him on, height didn’t play a huge factor in a fight, it all depended on whether you could throw a punch – but the main 51% of a fight? Was how many punches you could take back.

She doubted this guy could take many punches.

“Ah,” Carina wiped her hands on a nearby towel, her eyes following Natasha – what did this jerkwad mean by ‘Quarantine rule’? Sure, Carina had her own assumptions, but were they right? Not necessarily, just because she knew Natasha didn’t mean she knew what the girl meant by EVERYTHING. “Nice to meet you,” she finally walked from the kitchen and extend her hand out, gipping the male’s hand firmly, giving him a very, tight gripped hand shake. Withdrawing her hand, Carina eyed the male calmly , ‘make pleasant conversation!’ her mind screamed to her, but Carina could hardly find the proper words for it. Sure, she had some words for this guy – but they were ones that would certainly get her into trouble.

“I don’t really know what you mean by – ‘infamous’ anyhow.” Carina gave a small smirk to the man. “So what’re the roses for? Special occasion? Or do you always bring her flowers?”

Well – it wasn’t the MOST polite thing she could’ve said but hell, it was far from the rudest she could think of.

 

[Brian_dark_angelo]

Josh seemed clearly taken back by Carina’s first question. It wasn’t every day that someone would question why he brought flowers for his girlfriend instead on just commenting on how sweet the gesture had been. He merely smiled back as he shook his head. “I like spoiling, never thought it might be a bad thing. But as for special occasion meeting the friend she has spent the last three years missing could count as one don’t you think?” His comment wasn’t meant to imply anything other than the truth, yet he knew it had been just as ‘nice’ as her first question had been. “It’s sweet to see how her friend takes her of her though. I came prepared to be sure to pass the test.”

Natasha hurried back from he room almost in record time. She had the uneasiness feeling about leaving the two alone for even a slight second. In her mind there were so many ways this could go, yet she tried to convince herself there really wasn’t anything to worry about. She heard Josh’s words and shook her head. “Oh no, there will be no thing remotely similar or close to testing anyone. I already told Carina there would be no interrogations and I’m asking that you do the same.” She spoke as she stood between the two. Her eyes seemed to shift from Carina and Josh back a forth a few times not really sure who she should be looking at. She was starting to feel that inviting Josh over today had not been such a good idea with how her own feelings were acting up with everything that had happened in such a short period of time.

“Come on.” Josh spoke moving one of his arms on top of Natasha’s shoulders. “What is there to worry about? I thought you wanted us to get to know one another right? So a few simple curious questions should be fine.” As Natasha began to shake her head he spoke up once more this time turning towards Carina. “I’m sure you have a few questions of your own as well, you agree with me right? A few question couldn’t hurt?”

Natasha’s eyes fell on Carina as well as Josh’s words sink in a bit. Was her request to not have any kind of interrogation a bit over the top? After all most normal people asked each other questions the first time they met. She seemed to sigh almost as if defeated deciding she didn’t really want to be the one to act worried over the whole thing. “Fine.” She spoke under he breath leaning a bit into Josh. “If you’re both fine with this I guess a few interrogative questions wouldn’t be so bad?” She spoke still seemingly uncertain about the whole thing. The last timer went off and she moved away from the pair. “Ill bring the food you two just seat and I guess talk.”

“You made something here? I really thought I would be coming here and see some ordered food.” Josh spoke as he watched Natasha disappear into the kitchen. “So Natasha told me you were off training for the past three years?”

 

[Dysy]

“Natasha is a really good cook.” Carina couldn’t help but want to defend the other girl, the male’s comment had come off so snarky! It just sent Carina’s blood boiling, but at the very least, saying something not-so-offensive calmed her slightly. But, her blood was boiling once more at the second comment… Carina inwardly rolled her eyes at the comment, but outside she only gave a small smirk. “Yeah, you could say that,” she shrugged calmly, but her brain was screaming:

‘No dipshit, I just disappeared off the face of the Earth for three years…’

“It’s not like this is an interrogation.” Carina shrugged her shoulders once more – really, if this was an interrogation, she have that son of a bitch tied to a chair, with a hot light burning down his neck – she’d put any mafia interrogation room to shame. “We just want to get to know each other a little more.” Because hell, they were both big parts of Natasha’s life, and questions were the only way to find out, who really had themselves more rooted in the girl’s life. Carina wanted to know that she did – but really, her gut was telling her, she couldn’t be too sure. It wasn’t as if it was rare for girls to leave their best friends just as soon as something better came along.

Even if, in Carina’s heart – she knew she wanted to be the best.

“So, I feel like, I’m the only one here that doesn’t know you.” Another smile, boy Carina was starting to hate smiling at this guy – but it was for Natasha. Natasha liked this guy, and there had to be a reasons he did, though so far – Carina couldn’t really think of one decent reason to fall for the male – except, he was tall. And height was really all that he had going for him.

‘Carina stalked over to Josh – she was still smaller than he was, but taking the surprise advantage, she had grabbed the male’s head and twisted it under her arm. Natasha had backed away stunned at her friend’s antics, but Carina could only feel her blood pumping. How good did it feel to lock this jerk in a headlock! Ignoring the groans of pain, Carina shifted her weight away, only to push back up, using her weight and momentum to push Josh onto the floor. Standing above him, she grinned, “Stop dating my best friend, and – Get. Out.” Of course, Josh ran away like a scared sissy, and Carina finally let her feelings out to Natasha…

And of course, she accepted.

Sure, it seemed like a childish fantasy, but Carina’s mind was reeling with that exact scenario as she stared quietly at Josh. Finally, Carina shook free of her daydream and only fluttered her eyelashes slightly, blinking rapidly as if she had just woken up from a nap. Smirking, Carina leaned back slightly on the counter, “My training was for S.W.A.T. finally got in after two and three quarter years – and now I’m working at the police department for their S.W.A.T. team.” Carina told her story as if it were no big deal. But really – finishing training and getting through their rigorous curriculum was possibly the hardest thing Carina could’ve done. In high school, Carina lacked drive. She was always one of ‘those’ students that skated by – and always got the comment, ‘I know you’re smarter than this.’ On her papers. Though, bragging was something Carina really wanted to do in front of Josh – because in her mind, she was sure he worked some form of menial job, but she held her tongue. “So, what type of work are you in Josh?”