When Claudia finally shut the B&B door and re-entered the living room with a faded smile, she lost it completely at the stolid tone coming from the other end of the room. "So who was that?"
Claudia took a double take at the bitterness coming from her friend, but perched on the edge of the woman's seat. "Tom… he's in this wickedly hot new band and wanted to see if I could collab. Should be good," she smiled. She didn't receive one back. Frowning, she stood up and began to pace lightly around the room. "Uhh… Leena?"
"Yeah…" Leena was furiously scribbling in her sketchbook and Claudia would pay good money to bet that the scribbles were just that.
"You okay?" All the younger woman got as an answer was a nod of the head. It would be so easy to just ignore the woman's weird mood, but something told her to dig a little deeper. "Leena… what's up?" She bent down and tried to look her friend in the eye.
"Nothing, just… next time you plan on having boys round I'd like a little notice." She grumped, curling her feet underneath herself.
"Wh…" Claudia was stumped to say the least. "Ooookay, I didn't think it was a problem." she noted. "But okay."
"Okay," Leena affirmed, still refusing to look the woman in the eye.
"Jeez," Claudia snorted, kind of pissed off. She didn't deserve this shit. "You know what?" She shook her head. "Anybody in their right mind would think you were jealous or somethi…" She trailed off and stood up hastily.
Only then did Leena look up, color blushing her cheeks. "Please, don't…"
Claudia jumped back, her mouth wide open. "You… you like me."
"Claudia—"
"Just tell me. Do you like me? Like… like that?" Claudia pointed at her.
Leena merely closed her eyes, holding her head in a hand. She nodded slowly. She couldn't look up, tears springing immediately to her eyes. Her shoulders began to shake, but they stopped just as quickly when she felt arms wrap around her and hold her close.
"It's okay…" Claudia mumbled after a while. She smiled. "It's cute."
It's cute. Possibly the worst brush-off she had ever gotten in her whole life. Pulling herself free, Leena fumbled for her sketchbook and ran upstairs after a hasty goodnight, closing her bedroom door with a slam.
Oh. Claudia rolled her eyes at herself and merely followed. Walking into Leena's bedroom without knocking, she saw the embarrassed innkeeper lying on her side, knees curled up. She didn't even look up at the woman, a steady stream of tears trickling down her face.
Wordlessly, Claudia climbed onto the bed and lay behind her, pulling her close until she could rest her chin on Leena's shoulder. "I am not saying I don't like you," she whispered softly. "I'm saying give me some time." Leena just sniffed and turned, pressing her face into Claudia's chest. Okay now that is super cute. Claudia wrinkled her nose and stroked Leena's back. "Hey…" She heard the small squeak of a reply. "I love that you like me." she smiled. "Just give me some time." There was a long silence. "Okay?"
"Okay," Leena nodded. "Claudia?"
"Yeah…" Claudia pressed her lips to the top of Leena's head, grinning when various naughty curls tickled her nose.
"Can you stay here while I give you time?" Leena grinned, already knowing the answer. She felt the nod against her head and realized then that this could have gone a whole lot worse.