Althea laughed again. "I know," she said, deciding to close the gap between their faces with a kiss. She pulled away after a few seconds, trying to gauge Stella's reaction.
Stella was surprised, eyes wide, heart pounding and face red. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out, she was still in shock.
Althea immediately backed away to give Stella some space, silently panicking. Fuck! Had she read this wrong? Was Stella going to be pissed at her? "Stella? You okay?"
“I’m uh, yes…yes I’m okay…” Stella sat awkwardly not knowing what to say. She really liked Althea but wasn’t great at expressing emotions, she buried her face in her hands trying to think.
That was bad, wasn't it!? Shit! Althea had just messed things up with the one person on this boat she actually liked, and now things were going to be weird and awkward and it was all her fault. "Sorry about that. I'll just go… stand over there, And stay out of your way," she said, crossing the hull of the boat and slumping against the far wall.
Stella leaned her head on the wall, not responding. She was distressed and could barely breathe, “God I’m such a fucking idiot…” she mumbled aloud mostly to herself.
Althea plopped to the ground and slammed her head into her knees. That was so stupid! She should've asked permission first. Or signaled her intentions better. Or… something! Anything! Gods, she was such an idiot.
Stella eventually stood up, wanting to apologize and nervously walked over to Althea, “Hey…Althea…” Stella paused, “I’m really sorry…the k-kiss was um nice, I was just surprised…”
Althea perked up considerable, a look of shock crossing her face. She hadn't fucked up? "Oh! Um…. sorry for surprising you? I really should've warned you or something anyway, so you really don't need to apologize."
Stella smiled, “No, no, it’s okay. I should’ve taken the hints, but I didn’t…” she laughed running her hand through her wavy golden brown hair.
Althea laughed as well, grey eyes sparkling with relief. "Nah, I still should've asked you if I wanted a kiss. It was kind of out of line." She smirked. "Maybe next time I'll do better."
Stella blushed again but smiled, “Yeah, maybe…”
Althea patted the ground beside her, signaling for Stella to sit down. "Come sit with me! I really wasn't kidding about being bored, and you're definitely the best thing that's happened all day. Tell me how you valiantly almost escaped the soldiers or what you were reading in your book or… anything really. I'm kind of desperate."
Stella laughed and sat next to Althea on the floor, "Ummm, the fight wasn't too interesting…I threw some of my knives which hit one soldier in the gut but the others got deflected by the other soldiers armor."
"I mean, better one guy than nothing at all!" Althea joked, shooting Stella a conspirational look before she leaned in and whispered "And between you and me, I think some of those Greek soldiers really had it coming. Not to complain, but that guy from the bakery was kind of a douche."
Stella raised an eyebrow, smiling softly, "Agreed."
"On a different note, how long do you think this trip is going to take? Because if I have to stay down here for a whole day, I'm going to scream." Althea kept her tone joking to hide the worry she'd been feeling since she'd been thrown down here. Stella was a great distraction from the way the walls seemed to be closing in, but now that things were calming down Althea could practically feel the space shrinking.
(I just realized some of my summer is kinda packed, so i wanted to tell you that i'm going to be off for two weeks starting the 16th and ending the 28th, and then I have a family vacation from the 29th to July 14th so replies'll be limited. after that i'm pretty much home free)
(Okay)
“I suppose it should only take a few hours…” Stella said, thinking about it for a second.
Althea breathed a sigh of relief, grinning cheerfully at Stella's answer. Thank the gods! She'd been worried they would be trapped down here for days. For once, she was glad their town was close to the front line. "Good! I mean, I'm all for fighting this war, but it's fucking gross down here. They could've chucked down some posters or some board games or something to make the ride a little nicer."
