Bea sat herself in her car, tying her hair in a loose ponytail. She checked her reflection in the side mirror and groaned- last night's wound was no longer red and inflamed, but the purple bruising she was all too familiar with was starting to show. She forced herself to remove her gaze from her reflection when she felt the tears coming. What did she do to deserve this? How had she not seen Harry as the awful, distasteful man he was before it was too late? She started the car and began driving before she could dwell on it too much.
She had to stay, for Debbie. Bea knew Debbie had noticed what Harry was doing to her and they had developed a sort of unspoken understanding, but she knew that talking about the issue openly would just break her. So, she had to stay. As of late, work was providing a somewhat pleasant distraction. Bea's hairdressing business was taking off, and she enjoyed spending time with the girls at work- Liz, Maxine, Boomer and Doreen. She could always count on them to help her through her rough days.
Bea parked outside the building and walked to the door, where she met Maxine. She watched her gaze flicker to the wound under her eye and back up again, a small sympathetic smile on her face.
"Morning Bea!" Maxine smiled. "Apparently the building is still in use, so I suppose we'll just have to have a quick look around and leave them too it."
With the current success of the business, Maxine and Bea were on the hunt for a larger premises, and had seen an ad in the newspaper that the lease contract on this building was almost up.
"In use?", Bea questioned.
"Yeah.." Maxine stated, "apparently the women's shelter operates from here".
Bea nodded in response. She'd thought about finding this place on a few of Harry's worst nights, but she never had the courage to actually do it.
Maxine saw the concern on her face and patted her shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll be quick," she assured. She opened the door for Bea, and they continued inside the premises.
—
Bea gulped as she took in her surroundings. A lady named Kaz was showing them around- she seemed nice enough. As they walked, Bea watched the women carefully. To her surprise, most of the women seemed genuinely happy. Some looked beaten down, but this place sure did a great job of helping these women recover. Bea felt the sting of her own wound against her face and wished she could be happy, be safe. But she knew the minute she left, Harry would go absolutely ballistic. Come after her, after Debbie- it wasn't worth it. She was so lost in thought that she didn't see the young blonde walking in her direction as she rounded the corner, and they collided with a decent force, the girl's coffee spilling down both Bea's front and her own, both women falling to the ground. Bea's face flushed profusely as she noticed the girl get up quickly and dust herself off.
"Oh I'm…" Bea stammered, "I'm so sorry.. I didn't see you there".
"Ah, not a problem!" The girl chimed. "The coffee was cold anyway.."
Bea continued to look down, but felt her face flush brighter when she noticed the girl's gaze on her coffee-soaked body.
"Here, let me help you up", the girl offered, grabbing Bea's arm and pulling her up, gripping her other shoulder to steady her. Bea became short of breath when she felt the girl's strong yet sensitive touch, but quickly gathered herself and allowed her eyes to meet the girl's gaze.
"I'm Allie," the girl smiled, "and you are?"
Bea froze for a moment, staring into the striking ocean of blue that patiently awaited her answer. "Uhh..", she stammered, "I'm Bea. Bea Smith."
Allie flashed a smile and Bea's insides knotted. Why was she feeling so strange? Bea fidgeted and turned away from Allie- she had to catch up to Maxine and Kaz before they got too worried.
"Aye Bea, where ya going?" Allie questioned, "I need to get ya cleaned up!"
Despite the interesting vibe she got from Allie, Bea continued walking. She didn't need to be interacting with this woman, she had business to do.
"Bea? Bea!" Allie called, chasing after her and grabbing her arm once again. Bea inhaled sharply upon Allie's touch- it was almost involuntary. Shit… what had gotten into her? She felt her cheeks grow pink as Allie quickly pulled away.
"Sorry…." Allie mumbled, "are you hurt?"
"Nah, nah… I'm fine." Bea replied. Bea became defensive when Allie's face grew slightly confused. "I'm going anyway, I have business to sort out", Bea mumbled.
Allie picked up on Bea's defensiveness and bit her cheek as she tried not to smile. She lifted her hand back to Bea's arm and looked at her, drawn in by her breathtaking brown eyes. "Don't be silly… you won't be doing business with anyone looking like that".
Bea broke Allie's gaze and looked down at herself, chuckling lightly.
"I'll get you some clothes, c'mon," Allie smiled. Bea shyly returned her gaze back to Allie and nodded, following the blonde down the hall.
They walked in a reassuring silence until they reached Allie's small bunk room. It was quite dark, with only a small window in the corner for light to come in through. There were a few cracks in the wall, and the concrete floor looked less than inviting.
"Here we are. It's quite the place, as you can see," Allie giggled. Bea wondered what brought her here- she seemed too positive to be in a place like this- but she didn't dare ask. Instead she just laughed along with Allie and sat on her bed as she waited for her to grab some fresh clothes from her small drawer. Allie turned around with an armful of clean clothes, noticing Bea on her bed.
"Wow, making yourself at home already?" Allie joked, but again Bea felt the heat rise to her cheeks. Normally she was readily able to fire a good comeback, but she just shook her head, trying to hide her blush.
Allie noticed Bea's reaction to her comment and quirked her brow, silently questioning the woman's sudden nervousness. She too shook her head at the thoughts that were coming to mind, but she couldn't help but wonder. Who was this woman, and why was she here? Maybe running into her wasn't such a bad thing.