The Nettle Tea Chronicles

Zoe

The awkward laugh that spilled from Zoe's lips unbidden was embarrassing. She was so sure she sounded like a dying animal, but the strange mix of giddiness and relief that flooded her all at once was simply too much for her.

While Zoe's mind was busy reeling, she was at least a little relieved that Cass wasn't put off by the laugh, or getting the wrong idea. She was still sitting there - still holding Zoe's hand, no less - with a cutely tilted head and a bright smile.

And then when Zoe's awkward laughter caused her to snort, Cassandra giggled as well. After everything else, the sound lifted Zoe right out of the hole she had dug herself into.

"So, is that a yes, then?" Cass asked through her laughter.

"Yeah. Yeah it is." Zoe said, taking long, deep breaths to regain control of herself.

"So, Zoe." Cass continued, the tone of her voice making Zoe sit up straighter despite the warm smile, "I would like to date you. What does that look like to you?"

Zoe's laughter was suddenly forgotten as the seriousness in Cass' voice made Zoe sober quickly. She had literally just told Cass that she had planned on taking herself out of the dating pool for a while, hadn't she? But before she went and embarrassed herself again, she asked, "What do you mean?" for clarification.

"Exactly what I asked. I like you. I would like to date you. But you also just said that you were planning to remain single for a while, and I don't want to push you into anything you might not be ready for." Cass smiled again, but it looked so much more cautious this time and the change hit Zoe like a train.

Zoe licked her lips before pushing forward with what she had originally come to Cassandra's house to say. Even after Cass had confirmed her feelings, it was still hard for her to take that step and put things into words.

"Cass, I won't lie to you. Had you asked me a few weeks ago, I don't know what I would've said." She paused, shook her head. "No, that's not true. I would've said no. I'm pretty sure."

Cass' expression was slipping between disappointment and hesitant rays of hope. Zoe even felt the grip of her hand loosen, but Zoe held firm.

"Over the last…what, two weeks? Going out for lunch and dinner and shopping with you is probably the most I've enjoyed leaving my house in months. I spent the entire day at my parents' house denying that you were my secret girlfriend, saying over and over and over again that you were just a friend from work." She snickered. "Hell, a few weeks ago that would've been true. I may have had a little crush, but that was it. And I would never have admitted it."

"And then my sister pulled me outside for a talk after dinner, and I saw the messages from everyone in the Clan. And from you." With her free hand, she pulled out her phone and used the fingerprint recognition to open it, then slid it across the table.

Zoe had always hated cluttered home screens, so she had basically no apps on her home page except for the few at the very bottom - which left her background clear of anything to get in the way. She immediately felt her cheeks heat up, positive that she was blushing.

"I just wanted you to know." Zoe said, covering her face in mild embarrassment. "I had walked out of the conversation with my sister ready to consider whether or not I should consider telling you I like you. That stupid picture is the reason I came over here tonight. Fully intending to tell you that I liked you. Probably."

Cass was grinning at the image of herself with the two chicken buckets that was set as Zoe's wallpaper. "Well. I honestly never would've guessed that the secret key to your heart was buckets of fried chicken." Cass snarked.

Zoe all but collapsed onto the table, her face landing on her free forearm. She angled to the side so she could speak unmuffled, but was distinctly not looking at Cass. "That stupid grin of yours is a deadly weapon."

Cass shrugged. "I'm glad I have good aim?"

"Fucking critical hits…" Zoe muttered. She caught Cass putting the phone down out of the corner of her eye, and she watched as Cass made a gun shape with her fingers, miming taking a shot.

"Pchew - Headshot." She said, mimicking the announcer from a particular first person shooter.

Zoe angled her head so they could lock gazes for a moment before they both laughed at their own collective stupidity.

"I think I'd like to be your girlfriend," Zoe said eventually, "if you'll have me."

Cass beamed at her, flashing one of the most warm smiles Zoe had ever seen on her face. "Of course I will."

Cass squeezed her hand again, and Zoe took to grazing her thumb gently over Cass's hand. The moment was sweet, and Zoe wanted nothing more than to just bask in the easy glow for a while before thinking about it any further. For the moment, things worked out - Cass liked her, she liked Cass, they were together, the rest of her worries be damned.

The gentle smile that had found its way onto Zoe's face stuck as she held Cass' hand and idly scanned the room. She hadn't ever actually been in Cass' house before, despite seeing the background of her bedroom on the rare occasion they video chatted.

The kitchen was nice though. And really, it's not like Cass lived all that far from her. Zoe figured she might find herself spending a lot of time here soon. Or at her place, maybe. They were probably about the same level when it came to comfort and niceness.

Her eyes landed on the bucket of chicken that was still sitting in front of her, and she suddenly didn't think she was hungry anymore.

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"So, what now?" Cass asked, pulling her out of her wandering thoughts.

"Dunno. Wanna give me the grand tour?" Zoe shrugged.

"We can do that. Just give me two minutes to clean up in here."

"Of course. Need help?"

"Nope." Cass said. Zoe's hand suddenly felt unreasonably cold as Cass got up to quickly clean everything off. Zoe decided she was right - Cass really did not need help. It took seconds. She dumped all of the chicken into one bucket which went straight into a clean and orderly fridge. The paper plates they had used, as well as the now empty soda cans, went into labeled bins. Then a white towel appeared in Cass' hand under the sink faucet, was run under water for a moment, then swiped quickly over the table.

With a flourish, Cass tossed the wet rag over her shoulder and into the sink when she was satisfied, and turned triumphantly back to Zoe.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

Cass held out a hand for Zoe to take so she could lead them around, and Zoe took it happily. She wouldn't have admitted it, but she was happy to be holding hands again. And while she noted how strange it felt to be so giddy about it, she just chalked it up to her recent lack of romance. Of course after literally zero romance in her life for two-ish years she would be affected easily.

Zoe nodded along as Cassandra led her around the space she rented. It was essentially the second and third floors of a deep but thin building that she shared with another renter or the owner - she didn't say. But the first floor and basement was sectioned off from where she lived, and was similarly a complete apartment.

When Zoe had entered through the 'main' door, she had ascended up a flight of stairs outside to a raised stoop that led to the second floor of the building, which was Cassandra's first floor. Upon entry, there was a hallway that led past a small living room on the right, which held an old, beat up couch, a coffee table, and a small TV. Beyond that, there was the kitchen and a small place to eat, as well as a tiny little bathroom that consisted of just a toilet and a very old looking sink.

From the kitchen, there was a stairway that led up to the second floor of Cassandra's apartment, but the third and top floor of the building. At the top of the stairs was a small room that probably was considered just a bonus room, being too small to really account for much. That room led to two doors; on the right was the main bathroom with a much more modern looking toilet, sink, and insert bath, while the left door led to Cassandra's bedroom.

Zoe chuckled and pointed to Cass' room when they were headed that direction toward the end of the tour. "I recognize that one."

"I suppose you would, wouldn't you?" Cass chuckled. "And the wall you can see from here is even the view you usually get, too."

Zoe had realized that at first, but Cass was right. Zoe felt it was a little weird, but Cassandra had set up her room so that her computer was directly to the left of the door in the corner, facing the back wall. Her bed was shoved into the back right corner of the room, with the back left corner taken up with a bookcase and a nicer shelving unit that housed various figures from games and other media that Cass liked.

"You know, in retrospect, I probably should've been able to guess that you like women." Zoe pointed to the shelves, which held a fair number of scantily clad female character figures. "I think I just dismissed it as normal."

Cass shrugged as she pulled Zoe toward her room. "I think it kinda is normal. Or, at least, boob-y figures are super common. So! You've kinda seen it before, but this is my room. And, obviously, where I spend the lion's share of my time."

"Oh, you don't use the living room with the tiny TV downstairs?" Zoe snarked as she looked around, able to take in the room from a totally different angle than what she was used to. Cassandra had her bed set up to be able to watch her PC as a television, and a really nice, big monitor set up for that purpose. She had a second monitor beside the large one, but it wasn't nearly as big - it still wasn't small though. Honestly, she thought the room was really nice.

"I'm honestly not even sure I've ever turned on that TV. I brought it because I had it, but…well, hey, maybe if you start visiting regularly I'll have a reason to upgrade it and use that couch."

"That could be fun." Zoe smiled, as she looked over the rest of the room. She glanced at the books that Cass had, seeing which ones she recognized at a glance, then the cleanly made bed. She had expected it would be a mess, with Cass having been home all day, but the room was still pretty well kept and clean.

Except for the messy pile of discarded clothing on the floor at the foot of the bed. It looked like it had been dumped there quickly, especially with the way the pajama bottoms had clearly been left on the floor after Cass had stepped out of them, as if they had pooled around her ankles. Similarly discarded on top of the bottoms was an old tee shirt and panties.

Zoe giggled at the messy pile of clothing on the floor of the otherwise immaculate room, and Cass stopped in the middle of her waxing poetic over what kind of TV to get for the downstairs living room. "What're you giggling about?"

Zoe pointed to the pile of clothing, which Cass immediately jumped to snatch up and deposit into the laundry basket in the small closet she had. "I'm sorry I just showed up. Didn't give you enough warning to clean up, I guess?"

Cass looked mildly embarrassed, her face turning a light shade of pink, but she didn't seem that bothered by it. "No, it's okay. Honestly, I'm glad you came over. Really, really glad."

"Me too." Zoe said, stepping closer to bump into Cass playfully. "So. What were you doing before you took a shower and I descended upon you?"

Cass pointed to her PC and knocked the mouse to wake it up, showing the credits of a movie on the screen. "Watching old movies."

"Is that where you got the Flashdance picture idea from?"

"Nope, that was just…random inspiration I guess?"

"Well. It's late, I feel like I ate too much, I don't feel like driving back home yet, and I love this movie series. Wanna watch the next one?"

Cass seemed to give her question consideration for all of a second before she nodded. "Sure. Let me go grab two water bottles from the fridge in case we get thirsty so we don't need to get up. Sounds like popcorn is a no go?"

"Eh, there's always room for popcorn." Zoe said. "If you've got it, bring it."

Cass nodded. "Right. Then make yourself at home," she said as she left the bedroom to head down to her kitchen. Zoe took a moment to mentally acknowledge how much having her apartment split on two small floors must have sucked.

Zoe considered sitting on Cass' computer chair, but the whole room's set up with the movie really screamed that she should sit on the bed. It was even a queen sized bed, so even if they wanted to remain solidly seated apart, it wouldn't be a problem. Though Zoe suspected that was pretty unlikely. Maybe even hoped it was unlikely.

She sat nicely on top of the bedding, trying her best to not disturb the nicely tucked sheets while she slid into a solid position to watch the movie while waiting for Cass to return.

Zoe found herself quietly reminding herself that she really should be sure to leave after the movie was over. The last thing she needed was to sleep over on the literal first night she visited, but she couldn't help but worry that she might already be doomed. As it was, she couldn't wipe the smile from her face, and she was already worried it made her look deranged.