ONE CLICK AWAY
"Oh, why the hell not," Brienne sighed and pressed the return key on her keyboard. Her friends Sansa and Margaery squealed but Brienne could not and would not share even the smallest level of their excitement. She, after all, had tried to convince her friends that online dating - dating! - would be an absolute waste of everyone's time. Especially on a site which didn't even require a picture. Which men would possibly stumble across her page? There wouldn't be any, right? Right? RIGHT?
Three months earlier.
"Brienne, this has got to stop!" Margaery said softly, and tentatively tucked a huge bowl of chocolate ice cream into her friend's lap before sitting down next to her on the turquoise sofa in Brienne's living room.
"I know," the other woman sighed, swirling the melting ice cream around in her lilac IKEA bowl.
"I mean ..." Margaery trailed off, her voice laden with more meaning. Brienne understood what she was hinting at. Her non-existent life outside of work, her need to always best her work colleagues, her zealous, over-punctual self.
"I know I am not appealing," Brienne shrugged and shoved a huge spoonful of ice cream into her too-wide mouth. She grinned helplessly at her friend, who in return smiled softly at the blonde woman.
"That's not what I meant - at all! - and you know that" Margaery said and sighed, "but you do have to admit that your life has been ... how do I say that ..."
"Boring?" Sansa helped, entering the living room, throwing her designer handbag into the chair next to the window.
"Did you let yourself in again?" Brienne joked, half-amused, half annoyed at Sansa's intrusion.
"Is it letting myself in, if I have a key?"
"Yes?"
"Even if you gave it to me yourself?"
"Yes!"
"Ah, I see," Sansa laughed, "is there any ice cream left?"
"Suit yourself," Brienne grinned.
"Ahhhh that's what I'm talking about," the redhead said and ventured off into the kitchen to fetch herself a helping of the finest Westeroosi chocolate ice cream, courtesy of Brienne's last online food order, thank you very much.
"So you were saying I am boring?" Brienne said, looking at her friend Sansa with mild annoyance.
"Well..." the redhead trailed off, suddenly preoccupied with the caramel sauce she was pouring over her chocolate ice cream.
"Eww, Sansa, that's disgusting!" Margaery complained.
"'s not," Sansa replied, her mouth full of an exquisite swirl of flavors.
"It very well is," Margaery grinned, setting her bowl onto the living room table and turning towards Brienne, wearing an expectant expression on her round beautiful face. These two were her best friends, they had been for quite a while. Brienne could not even remember the exact day they had met and didn't remember the reason both of the beautiful and intelligent women had decided to stick around and become her friends, but Brienne was nothing than grateful for it.
"Soooooo..." Brienne, despite not wanting to touch any of the topics that could possibly be awaiting her, could not help but shift the attention back to the point that Margaery had brought up mere minutes ago.
"So, I didn't wanna infer that you were boring," the brunette said, playing with a strand of her long, curly hair, "but ..."
"But ... you didn't wanna say it wasn't true, either, am I right?" Brienne sighed at her friend's shocked expression qua her bluntness.
"Brienne!"
"Huh?"
"Oh Brienne," Margaery suddenly pulled Brienne in for a tight and loving hug which made Brienne hold on tighter to her now-empty bowl of ice cream.
"Careful," Brienne said, ice cream!"
"Oh shit, sorry!" Margaery apologized and sat back up straight.
"I mean ... you're probably right," Brienne admitted, placing her bowl onto the table, next to Margaery's, "I have been very focused on work lately and didn't even go to the gym as much. I've been trying so hard to impress the new boss ..." - at the mention of Brienne's new boss, Petyr Baelish Sansa made a snorting sound that poorly concealed her disgust.
"I can understand that you would want that, Bri," Margaery said softly, "but don't you think you could dial down a little bit and do a little something for yourself once in a while? Like going out? Meeting people?"
"I go out with you guys!" Brienne protested weakly only to be confronted with Sansa's laughter.
"When was the last time you went out with us?" the redhead giggled and Brienne's face fell. She couldn't remember. Shit! It must have been months!
"It's been months!" Sansa laughed as if she could read her friend's mind.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah..." Sansa trailed off.
"Shit, I had no idea."
"That's because you're just too invested into work. I am sure you could do less and still never impress that arrogant jackass Baelish ..." Sansa cursed. Brienne knew that Sansa was spot-on with her analysis and it bothered her that she had allowed herself to be sucked into a work environment as competitive as Winterfell Inc. She could really use a break, dial it down a notch and try to enjoy life outside of work.
Feeling the shift in her friend's mood, Margaery tried her luck with one more idea.
"Then there's always online dating, you know? In case you think that you don't feel like going out..."
"Online dating? Absolutely not!"
"Oh come on," Sansa squealed, "this could be so much fun! You don't even know, maybe you do meet someone on there, you guys fall in love and you make a lot of super awesome blonde kick-ass babies!"
Brienne laughed, her big teeth exposed. She hated the way she laughed but she couldn't help it this time. Online dating? What were her friends thinking? One look at her face at a blind date and the guy would most certainly run if he even showed up.
"There have been more improbable things that have come true," Margaery grinned.
"Such as...?" Brienne teased her friend and playfully nudged her side with her elbow before pulling the comforter out behind her and covering both their pajama-wearing bodies.
"Why am I not in my PJs?" Sansa marveled and darted off to change.
"I don't know," Margaery muttered under her breath, "... the moon landing?"
"Shut up!"
"Never!"
"I know you won't!"
"Ha Ha! But you do love me!"
"That, I do," Brienne laughed and looked her friend over. Margaery's long wavy hair reached down until it reached the small of her back just above her waist, her ice-blue eyes were able to look right into anyone's soul and her smile was so inviting most nights when they did go out, Margaery would soon have a following of a decent amount of men that would order drinks for her and her entire group. While Sansa mostly giggled when a new drink appeared in front of her, Brienne mostly frowned. Had it not been for her beautiful and charming friend, she had no doubt no man would have even remotely looked into her direction. They never even looked twice. Brienne didn't mind that they didn't. After all, she was boring and nothing to look at, really. People hadn't started calling her 'Brienne the Beauty' because of the appealing way she looked but rather for the exact opposite reason. Very few had bothered to stay long enough to get to know her a little better, none of them had been men. Two of them had been Sansa and Margaery and she'd be forever grateful for their friendship and loyalty.
"Let's make a deal..." Margaery said just as Sansa came back, wearing ridiculously pink pajamas and a fluffy pink hairband that clashed epically with her red hair. With a wiggle, Sansa squeezed in between Brienne and the arm rest and curled her long legs up underneath her.
"What deal?" Brienne asked, cautiously.
"You will go out with us at least twice a month.." Margaery suggested, earning a protest and a eye-roll from Brienne, "... but if you don't, we get to set you up for online dating!"
"Absolutely not," Brienne insisted, "I don't do online dating!"
"Why not, it's fun!" Sansa said, "there's even sites you don't even put a picture. It's not like those cheap apps which are just asking for the sluttiest picture you have in order for horny and lazy men to just swipe right and to bother you with their perverse bullshit!"
"Speaking of experience, I see?" Brienne teased her friend and Sansa stuck her tongue out at her friend.
"Ah well," Sansa sighed, throwing up both of her hands, "what can I say? A girl gets lonely sometimes. But the swipe-fight-to-match apps aren't really my thing, a lot of very cheap stuff is going on on those. Blergh!"
"Well, Margaery grinned, "if you do manage to go out with us twice a month at least, there's not gonna be any online dating. There's gonna be drinking, though ..."
"Now, isn't that just great..." Brienne grinned.
"Well, let's see if you avoid finding someone on the internet," Margaery grinned back at her, her expression playful and micheavous.
"I'll give you two months, tops, then we're gonna be back here, setting up that profile because you were slacking ..."
"I bet I can make it to three!" Brienne regretted the words before she had finished the sentence.
"Deal!" Margeary and Sansa squealed.
Oh boy.
Of course, Brienne failed.