Discalimer: Sailor Moon characters belong to Naoko Takeuchi. Everything else belongs to me. Please do not steal!
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32
Carefully removing the excess off, she finished applying a second layer of nail polish in her big toe. Wiggling it to the beats of 'Be our guest' once it was done, happily singing along with Lumière as he took the song to the first chorus.
"Oh my God," Rei's voice distracted from her task, making her look up and at the raven haired girl sitting on the couch beside her.
She had a coral nail polish in her right hand, as she had been working on her left one. It was a color Zoe would never have chosen for herself, but on the raven beauty, it looked good.
"Uh, I like it," she said, reaching for the girl's hand and taking it, inspecting the color and how it complemented her fair skin more closely.
"Oh, please," the girl said. "Don't interrupt your singing on my account."
Only now catching the mockery in Rei's tone, she let go of her hand, not before gently patting it as one would do to a child.
"Don't worry, you'll learn the songs soon enough," she teased.
"You're such a dork," the other said, slapping her hand away and laughing.
She just shrugged, smiling sheepishly.
So, it was a guilty pleasure. So what?
Every body had one or two, and hers just happened to be kiddy movies. And the 1991 animated version of Beauty and the Beast was, hands down, one of her top five favorite movies of all times. She knew all the lines and songs to heart, and was not too proud nor too old to admit it and brag about it.
It was Sunday, and deciding that if even God had a break on a Sunday, she had taken a break from the task of setting up their Headquarters. Inviting her new buddy over for a well deserved lazy afternoon while they enjoyed a movie or two was a better way of spending her Sunday than being locked up, surrounded by cables and computers and annoying brothers-in-arms, all the while fearing running into the one person she was trying to void as much as possible.
Keeping her out of her mind was an entirely different matter.
Shoving that one thought to some dark corner of her mind, she looked at the raven haired girl next to her, shrugging.
"Beast is cute, and Belle's pretty cool," Zoe stated, defending her case.
"A bookworm for a heroine," Rei noted, tapping her chin with one long finger in fake thoughtfulness, before eyeing her up and down. That mocking glint dancing in her amethyst eyes as she arched an eyebrow her way. "I guess I can see why you like her."
It was her turn to rise an eyebrow, even as she tried with all her might to fight down and crush that annoying blush that wanted to decorate her cheeks. "No idea what you're talking about, Pyro."
"Uhu, sure you don't," Rei put in, shaking her head. "The fact that there's a real life bookworm heroine we both know and love," she teased, mockingly accentuating that last word, "is just a coincidence."
She wasn't sure if her cheeks were burning red, or if all color had just drained off her face. Was she really that obvious?
It didn't matter. She was not just about to give the Miko the satisfaction of having the upper hand. Not when said Miko had some secrets of her own she was not sharing.
Closing the nail polish and placing over the stand table, she fully turn to look at her. Arms crossing around her chest as she rested her back against the couch.
"You really wanna go there right now?"
Rei shrugged, as if considering for a moment. That mocking smile turning the corners of her lips just so. "I'm just trying to be a good, supportive friend, here."
Green eyes narrowed at that. "Sure," she said, not falling for it; Rei was fishing. But she could play that game, too. "But, you do realize that goes both ways, right?"
It was her turn to smile, wide and triumphant, as she saw the other girl blink in surprise. She thought she saw a hint of a blush coming to her face, right before Rei fought it off, glaring and frowning instead. Vaguely, and somewhat curiously, she wonder how long it would take for the girl's infamous temper to show up.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, nothing. Just that maybe there's a Beast to your Belle," she teased, chuckling when the other girl just crossed her arms over her chest, looking every little bit annoyed. "An Aladdin to your Jasmine?" she tried again. "A John Smith to your Pocahontas."
Amethyst eyes rolled at her. "Your knowledge of Disney Princesses is quite impressive."
"Not really," she argued. It was common knowledge, after all. "Changing subjects, aren't we?"
"You started it," Rei accused.
Of course, the girl was right. Not that she would ever admit to it, but still. They were probably admitting more to each other by dancing around the subject than if they were to openly talk about it. But what was she supposed to say? That she had unwillingly and unwisely developed an unwanted crush on the one girl that would never look her way?
'Yeah, you're pathetic, Calhoun,' she scolded herself.
"All I wanted to say is," Rei started, playfully hitting her shoulder against hers, "I'm here if you wanna talk."
She had to smile at that, slightly nodding her head. It was touching, knowing she had a good friend in the Miko, willing to lend an ear if and when she needed to. But she wasn't quite sure of what to do, let alone what to say, about those annoying, unwelcomed feelings that kept on sneaking up on her.
And, again, she knew the girl sitting next to her had some feelings of her own she wasn't dealing with, or even acknowledging.
"Right back at ya."
Rei snorted, rolling her eyes. "Fine. Truce?"
"Truce," she agreed, chuckling. "Now hush," she said, going for the remote control and rewinding, "you made me miss the song."
"Seriously?" there was incredulity in the girl's voice.
"What?" she asked, smiling widely and cheekily now. "I'm a kid at heart!"
"Yeah," the raven haired beauty agreed, nodding once. "A very girly one."
She shrugged, her smile still in place, as she pressed the play button again. "I'm gonna take that as a compliment."
.-.
Stepping out of the shower, she grabbed the fluffy towel she had previously left at hand's reach, and wrapped herself around it. Grabbing a second, smaller one, she massaged her scalp with it, letting it absorb the water dripping from her hair.
Stepping in front of the steam covered mirror, she used the hand towel to clear it, looking at the image it gave back to her.
Her short, wet locks going this way and that one in disarrange, before she ran her hand through them, combing her hair. Her skin was reddish, as it always was after a hot shower, and she studied her face, this side, then the other.
She blamed it on Minako, really. But after being around the blonde for so many years, she had picked up on some beauty tricks and habits of her own. Vanity aside, she had to admit, it felt good to indulge herself, even if it was with something as silly as a facial cleaning, or a pedicure every now and then.
Opening the cabinet, she grabbed the coconut scented body lotion and poured a small amount in her palm, massaging her neck and shoulders with it. Her eyes still studying her own image as her hands spread the lotion over her skin.
Her hair was of a peculiar color. But it was soft, and she always made a point of keeping it trim and well kept. Her skin was fair, never having suffered from teenage acne, other than the rare pimple here or there, and she knew herself lucky on that front. Again, she did her part and took care of herself, using moisturizing lotion after being exposed to the sun, always making sure not to get sunburn, and occasionally pampering herself with scented lotions and other cleaning products.
She did everything any other girl did to take care of herself. Maybe not as religiously as she probably should, but still. And she enjoyed it, too. But she was not as naïve as to fool herself.
She knew her worth. She was smart, she worked hard, and she was a good person. But she was not as pretty or delicate, not like her friends. She was not able to illuminate a room with just a smile, the way Usagi did. Her hair was not as silky as Rei's, there were no cute freckles decorating her nose like Makoto had, and she most certainly didn't have anything on Minako's curves.
Plain, simple Ami.
What would someone see in her? What was she supposed to do, what could she do, to catch someone's attention? Recite the periodic table? That was hardly sexy. Not that she had any clue of how to manage to ever be sexy…
Shaking her head, she tossed the thought to a side. 'You're being silly,' she scolded herself. It wasn't as if there was anyone's attention she craved for.
Right?
Bright emeralds crossed her mind, and her stomach did the strangest, sink and twist dance inside her.
Shaking her head, she cleared her mind and proceeded to spread the remaining lotion in her hands over her face, closing her eyes. Nose, forehead, cheeks and chin, where her hands slowed their movements, now following her jaw line.
The tip of her fingers gently tracing down her neck, over her collarbone, feeling the smooth, warm skin beneath them. Gingerly caressing the soft fabric over her cleavage, she opened her eyes, following her hand movements through the mirror, as if in trance, she watched the towel slid down her frame, pooling at her feet.
Tilting her head to a side, she chewed on her bottom lip. Her fingers lingered over her collarbone once more as she contemplated the image the mirror gave back to her.
Gently, barely with the tip of her fingers, she let her hand travel down.
Laughing green eyes crossed through her mind once more, the whisper of a soft, husky voice dancing in the air all around, and wide sapphires drifted closed. Her skin trembled and her fingers left goosebumps on their wake, a gasp escaped her lips as her fingers reached the top of her breast. But they were no longer her fingers, as they traveled further down, gently, sensually gracing her already hardened nipple.
Another hand made its way up her stomach, touching her trembling skin in loving caress. A sound, somewhere between a gasp and a moan, erupted from her throat as that second hand closed itself around her other breast, sensually yet gently massaging it. Those green eyes she could see in her mind, looking back at her so bright, so tender, drowning her…
"Ami!" Minako's voice broke the trance she had been in, making her jump in the spot. "Please, please, please, hurry up!"
Makoto's voice from somewhere in their apartment and what sounded like some sort of commotion reached her then, and she hurriedly grabbed the forgotten towel, covering herself with it once more.
She caught her own reflection in the mirror, crimson now burning her cheeks. Mortified, she opened the faucet and splashed cold water into her heated cheeks.
"Ami!" Minako insisted, her name becoming a long whine as the blonde started to repeatedly knock on the bathroom door now.
"Alright, alright!" she exclaimed.
Unable to look at herself in the mirror again, she stopped the running water and went for the door, unlocking it and opening it.
An impatient looking Minako was on the other side, practically glued to the door. It was a miracle the blonde didn't land face first on the floor as she opened it. The second miracle being herself not following that fate, as Minako shoved her aside and pushed her out of the bathroom, slamming the door in her face.
She blinked, surprised.
"Too much iced tea, honey?" Makoto teased as she came to stand beside her in front of the closed door.
"I hate you!" came Minako's singsong answer from the other side.
The Amazon laughed, shaking her head, obviously amused over something.
"She's been doing the pee dance all the way back home," she offered, as she turned her widely smiling face to her. But then green eyes blinked, a concerned looking frown coming to her features. "You ok, hon?"
Blue eyes blinked up at the tall girl. The crimson she was sure never truly left her cheeks burning brightly once more as she ran a hand through her still wet locks, trying to compose herself.
"Yes, yes," she managed to blur out. "Why you ask?"
"I don't know…" Makoto trailed off, studying her flushing face. "You look… off?"
She closed her eyes, massaging her temples and taking a deep breath. "I'm fine," she stated, hating the way her voice sounded as unsure as she felt inside. "I'm just tired, that's all."
"Oh, sweetie, you work too hard," the brunette said, rubbing a gentle hand over her arm, blaming Ami's state either to her summer class, or to her developing security system. Or maybe both.
Deciding it was better to let her assume that, even as a small part of her felt somewhat guilty for lying to her friend, she let out a tired sigh, nodding her head.
"Let me just fix up dinner real quick and…"
"No, that's alright," Ami was fast to say. "I'm just gonna go to bed now, if you don't mind."
She didn't want to offend the brunette. But she didn't quite feel like facing her friends right now…
"Of course," Makoto said, nodding her head. "You sure you're ok?" she asked one last time.
Turning on her heels, not quite sure of how to answer that question again and actually manage to sound half as convincing as she whished she could, she simply nodded her head and waved her hand, mumbling her good night.
Walking into her bedroom, she closed the door behind her and, she threw the towel away, grabbing a pair of clean panties and then putting on her favorite t-shirt; an oversized gray thing that had he phrase 'Come to the nerd side, we have Pi' in bold letters in the front.
Not bothering with her still wet hair, knowing it would probably be a complete disaster in the morning but not finding the strength to care at the moment, she crawled into bed.
'Duodenum, jejunum and ileum. Appendix, cecum, colon and rectum.' Closing her eyes shut and hugging the pillow, she mentally recited the parts of the digestive system, followed by mentally naming all the organs in the gastrointestinal track. And trying really, really hard not to think of soft green eyes and sided smiles.