A/N: This was going to be no more than 1000 words... It did not turn out to be no more than 1000 words. And I have also realised I like to write about the characters doing some serious soul-searching. This may or may not be a problem.
This chapter is Zoe/Bianca, post- St T's and is also considerably more cheerful than the previous. Headcanon alert: Zoe is a freelance artist and Bianca is a baker. Don't judge me. I can feel your judging eyes.
Zoe is looking across at her strangely, her expression somewhere between disbelief and amusement as she rests her chin in her hand and peers across at the Rude Girl sat opposite.
Bianca frowns back at her questioningly, her brow furrowing and fingers twitching restlessly around her cup of coffee.
"What?" She questions and Zoe leans back in her chair then looks up at the ceiling and mutters something along the lines of 'God help me, she's hopeless' before she looks back over to Bianca.
"How long have we known each other?" Zoe questions, resting her elbow back on the table between them and Bianca thinks a moment, glancing around at the café as she does.
"About... nine years. Met in first year at St T's," She says.
"And we were twelve and now we're twenty one," Zoe confirms with a nod and she pauses to take a sip of her drink; Black coffee with three sugars. She has a secret sweet tooth that Bianca had only learnt about when they stopped trying to kill each other. Come to think of it she's learnt a lot of things about Zoe since they stopped trying to kill each other.
"When did you start dating?" Zoe quips and Bianca blinks across at her.
"What's that got to do with-?"
"Bianca, just answer the question."
The Rude Girl thinks again, trying to remember her first girlfriend.
"Erm... third year? A Totty called... Sara, I think?" She says after a while.
"Actually it was in second year; a Chav called Georgia," Zoe returns.
"Oh yeah. We went out for like... two weeks..." Bianca confirms before frowning in bafflement. "Wait a second, how the fuck do ya' know that?" She adds and Zoe shrugs casually.
"It's St Trinian's. You hear of everything at least once," She reasons and Bianca concedes that that's actually a pretty good point.
"Alright then but why are you askin' me-?"
"When did I start dating?" Zoe cuts in and Bianca is pierced by her dark eyes and is surprised by how easily the answer comes to her.
"End o' third year. A Geek by the name o' Yasmin," She states and Zoe smirks. Something has apparently pleased her but before Bianca can ask why she looks so smug, the Emo speaks.
"When did we start fighting?" She asks.
"Proper? Start o' fourth year. You said my trackies were 'arson-worthy' and then ya' tried t' set 'em on fire," Bianca says and Zoe smiles.
"I did set them on fire. Not tried. Tried implies I failed," She states and she polishes off her drink. Bianca remembers her own and does the same.
"Why are ya' askin' all this?" She presses.
"It's all relevant," Zoe returns cryptically with a dismissive wave of her hand. "When did I stop dating?" She adds and Bianca falters. Her brow knits and she tries to think of anything beyond Yasmin, of any rumour she heard about the Emo after she and the Geek broke up.
She remembers the aftermath of the breakup quite clearly. She remembers the mess left behind and the affect it had on the frail unity between the Emos and Geeks and how it never was quite the same.
But she thinks and she thinks and she can't for the life of herself remember Zoe dating anybody else...
There wasn't anybody else.
"Fourth year."
Zoe smiles again. She smiles more nowadays and it isn't just a murderous, you're-gonna-die kind of smile but an actual real one.
Nice smiles look good on her.
"Yes," She agrees as her fingertip trails around the rim of her empty cup and Bianca's hands twitch restlessly again atop the table. She grabs one of Zoe's empty sugar packets and tears chunks of it off, just to keep herself busy as her mind whirs.
"The same year we started fighting."
"Yes," Zoe confirms and when Bianca glances up, the Emo is watching her hands curiously. They tremble slightly beneath her gaze and the Rude Girl's mouth goes dry.
"You stopped dating six years ago."
"Yes."
"... 'Cuz o' me?" Bianca murmurs and her hands go still as she waits and Zoe looks up at her.
"Yes... Because of you," She confirms and Bianca swallows hard.
"Six years?" She says quietly and Zoe's expression is unreadable, her eyes scanning Bianca's face.
"Yes."
"... You've waited six years t' tell me you've had feelings for me?" Bianca presses, leaning forward across the table and Zoe mimics her. The table is only small and they're close enough for Bianca to be able to smell the rose scented perfume that the Emo's wearing and the ever-present smell of paper and paints that clings to her clothes.
"Yes," The Emo whispers and Bianca can taste her breath on the tip of her tongue. Her hands tremble nervously.
"Do ya' realise... how fuckin' nuts that is?" She returns, her voice low and Zoe's eyes dart across her face again searchingly.
"I'd thought you'd notice."
"I'm an oblivious tit. O' course I ain't gonna notice! Ya' gotta slap me across the face with this shit before I'll see it."
"Sorry..." Zoe says apologetically, glancing away.
"Why the fuck are you sorry? I'm not the one who's-..." Bianca trails off and Zoe looks back to her cautiously. "... who's been waitin' for six fucking years... for an absolute idiot to notice..."
Zoe says nothing. She just gazes across at Bianca as the Rude Girl sits quietly for a while, her face betraying her bewilderment as she shakes her head in wonder.
"I don't understand... why you'd do that," She admits and Zoe's eyes lower.
"It's easy when you can't do anything else," She returns and Bianca rubs her face.
"Fuck... I can understand ya' not sayin' at St T's. At least a little bit what with the tribes an' all but what about three years ago when we left?" She questions. "Why not then?"
Zoe blinks at her.
"Because you didn't even like me," She states pointedly. "Bianca... you hated me," She continues quite seriously and the Rude Girl huffs.
"Bullshit. I never hated ya'," She states and the Emo gives her a flat look. "Nah, I'm bein' honest. I never for one second hated ya'. Ya' were jus' really good at pissin' me off but y'know, you were so fuckin' weird and loyal and smart and... weird that sometimes I'd get to thinkin' that if ya' weren't so fucking annoyin' then maybe you'd be... a really good mate."
Zoe runs a hand through her hair, still with those distinct red-orange streaks, as she pulls back slightly. It's a nervous quirk that Bianca's noticed. Zoe isn't often nervous but she has a number of things that give away when she is. It's kind of endearing really.
"... I weren't wrong," Bianca adds eventually and Zoe wraps her arms around herself. That's another one of them. She folds her arms in on herself as if trying to protect herself from a physical blow.
It makes her look so much smaller.
She closes her eyes.
"It's strange to think that I've spent nearly a third of my life wanting to be with you..."
She opens her eyes again, her brow furrowing.
"Wow. I am pathetic," She mutters.
"Yeah. Pinin' from afar and all that bullshit..." Bianca returns with a small and teasing smile.
"I've made this weird, haven't I?"
"It was always weird," Bianca points out and Zoe shrugs, conceding to that at least. It'd been uncomfortable the first time they met up, the second a tad less so and over time it'd become routine and the eventually it'd turned itself into something to look forward to.
But Bianca is watching Zoe's face now and every part of the Emo is screaming that she's teeming with anxiety, aching to get away even if most probably wouldn't be able to notice it.
Bianca knows her better now though. And despite the anxiety, Zoe stays.
"You're weird," Bianca says and the Emo nods. "But I reckon I'm kinda weird too."
Silence falls over them and before it can turn uncomfortable, Bianca's restless hands grasp onto one of Zoe's and so abruptly that the Emo jumps slightly, betraying her skittishness before she calms and attempts to re-assemble her expression into something besides muted shock. Bianca's hands turn Zoe's over and she can see the vague marks where the paint hasn't quite washed out fully, sitting most clearly in the creases of her palms and dotting her fingertips. Her skin is pale and smooth, a contrast to the Rude Girl's dark skin and coarse palms, hardening from kneading dough and handling hot pastries.
Zoe has artist's hands.
"What are you doing?"
"Thinkin'," Bianca replies simply.
"You're right. You are weird."
The Rude Girl grins as she trails a fingernail along Zoe's thumb. Her grin softens as she moves onto the rest of Zoe's fingers, her own tracing their edges and Bianca doesn't comment on how Zoe's hand twitches beneath her touch.
Bianca is a person who remembers things best by feel. She can tell different people from their hands alone because it's something that she's always done. Her dad has big hands, strong and rough from labour but gentle when holding her own. They always reminded her of a grizzly bear's paws.
She knows Taylor's because she grasped both of them when she telling Taylor to fuck the rules and go and tell Andrea how she felt. She knows Andrea's because she held one, squeezed it tightly and reassuringly when Taylor got hurt badly a year or so back and had to be taken to hospital.
Bianca knows everybody by their hands. Annabelle, Kelly, Polly, Lucy, Chelsea, the Twins, Celia, Anoushka, anybody and everybody.
But Zoe's are special. She knows Zoe's best because she's never held hers properly. She's never had an excuse to and so all she's got is brief brushes of skin against her own. All she's had are tiny moments and each one she stores away carefully for fear of losing it.
In all the years of knowing Zoe, she's never held her hand.
Especially not like she is now.
Bianca's hands like to be doing things, always doing something and they itch when Zoe's around. They tingle to touch the pale and foreign skin.
And they're calm now as they trace the curves in the crooks of her slender fingers.
Her hands feel like the art they make. Smooth and perfect as is sculpted and-... and fitting so nicely in her own...
Zoe remains silent as the Rude Girl entwines their fingers, her thumb trailing over the Emo's softly and slowly, stroking circles.
"You're tellin' me these things now..." Bianca murmurs. "Why?" She asks.
"... I suppose..." Zoe pauses, her gaze upon their fingers. "There's only so long you can be quiet for and... I don't know."
"Then don't be quiet... talk to me."
Zoe hesitates for a moment.
"I still want to go out with you... and I think that maybe, we could be... really good together..." She says and cautiously, she looks up. "... So, what do you think?"
"I think..." Bianca murmurs as she leans forward then she gestures Zoe closer with her free hand. The Rude Girl smells paint and roses and her heart quivers. "... ya' should've said years ago," She adds softly and Zoe's eyes widen slightly.
Bianca closes the gap between them a moment later and presses her lips to the Emo's. Zoe tenses, her fingers clenching around Bianca's as the surprise hits her but it only takes her a few seconds to begin to relax beneath cautious lips.
When the Rude Girl pulls away, Zoe breathes out shakily against her lips.
"You scared the shit out of me," She murmurs.
"What did ya' think I was gonna do?" Bianca replies teasingly.
"I don't know! Just... not that," Zoe retorts with a glare.
Bianca smiles at her then kisses the crease forming on her brow and it melts away beneath the touch. Their lips brush and Zoe returns the smile.
"Hey, goth girl..."
"Yeah, chav?"
"I like ya'. You're beautiful and we should date... Whatcha think?" Bianca asks bluntly and Zoe rolls her eyes but her smile only grows.
"Yeah... Yeah, you oblivious chav, we should date," She agrees and Bianca grins at her then grasps her hand more securely then rises and pulls Zoe to her feet and away from their table.
"C'mon then, let's go do shit together."
"You are soo fucking romantic it's unbelievable."
And it's only mostly sarcasm because Bianca also does her level best not to let Zoe's hand go for the rest of the day.
A/N: Heheh... I am so corny it hurts... Please don't sue for any corn-related injuries that you may have sustained during the reading of this fic. And also, do review if it tickles your fancy because I'm starting to think this fandom is semi-dead and that saddens me. Let us all be glad that a new film is on it's way... at some point. Perhaps that will inject some life back into this lovely little fandom.