When Brea woke up it was already ten PM at night and as she came too she found herself in a small room, covered in blankets. She slowly lifted herself up and sighed. Her head still felt a little foggy but at least she wasn't as dizzy as she had been before.
'Ok well... that happened.'
Brea cringed as she thought back to the night's dramatic events.
"Hey there sleepyhead, how yer feeling?" Came a voice that made Brea jump a little and turn to look at the taller woman who was currently looking right back at her.
"Kinda out of it, but otherwise o-ok... I think?" she replied.
"Are you trying to convince me, or yourself?" Miranda asked, Brea bit her lip as she thought for a second, trying to clear her cloudy and slightly painful head. "Both." She concluded, and Miranda sighed as she walked closer towards her.
Brea jumped a little as the woman touched her forehead with the back of her hand.
"Here's hoping you won't get a cold, but you were out there for a while, maybe we should get you checked out at the local hospital." Brea frowned at this and shook her head, regretting it as soon as her dizziness returned.
"Woah there, take it easy sunshine." Miranda gently spoke as she put her hand on Brea's shoulder to help stabilise her. The ex- librarian huffed in annoyance. "I'm not sunshine and I'm also no a horse too...woah." She mimicked and Miranda couldn't hold back her laughter as she had to hold her stomach to try and stop. "Sorry" she put her hands up in surrender when Brea gave her a pout.
"Why are you always covered in... like, splotches of stuff?" Brea finally decided to ask her companion as she made herself more comfortable in the bed. Brea could have sworn that she saw Miranda blushing at her comment, and this made Brea's own cheeks flare up at the thought of her own forwardness.
Miranda took a hand to her neck, scratching it awkwardly before replying. "I..well...err, I... paint. Kind of a lot." She replied with a meagre shrug as she gestured around the cabin, and that's when Brea finally noticed it.
She must have been really out of it still to not have seen them before.
The little cabin on the boat was covered in paintings, some fresh and some still drying, but all of them absolutely beautiful. The ones Miranda probably thought were her best, had been formed, but Brea couldn't help but to think that they all deserved that honour. The women had talent, that much was for sure and Brea sucked in a breath when she realised that she had seen this art style somewhere before.
"Is the one in the bed and breakfast I'm staying at, your work too?" She asked and Miranda nodded, looking a mixture between proud and embarrassed.
"Its very beautiful, I couldn't help but to admire it when I came down for breakfast the other day." Miranda simply shrugged again and bashfully looked away. This time Brea was sure that she had seen red colour her cheeks.
Something that she made sure to take note of, and to wonder if perhaps, this women really did like her that much.
"Here, I've made you some soup... Might help ward off a cold." She said as she brought Brea over the steaming bowl. Brea was surprised, but incredibly thankful as she took it and tried some, humming in contentment when the taste of rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper and potatoes hit her mouth.
"This is amazing Miranda, thank you so much." Brea complemented as the two of them ate, Miranda just smiled and shrugged. Brea was noticing more and more that the woman seemed to do this shrugging thing a lot, but it was kind of cute that she did. She was starting to get the feeling that she might even be just as nervous as Brea was. But she was glad about that. If it had just been her, well that would have been extremely awkward for them both.
'No Brea! You're not allowed to think that she's cute, remember? No falling allowed. Period.'
Brea interrupted her train thought. But the truth was she that had already begun to fall for the artist, both figuratively and literally, the later twice now and it wasn't her fault that her saviour just so happened to be gorgeous, adorable and hot as all heck.
'Gosh Dang it.'
Somehow Brea was beginning to think that she might not be able to guarantee the whole 'no falling in love' thing anymore, not when Miranda was looking at her with those big green mesmerizing eyes, looking at her, smiling at her, saying something to her... wait, what was she saying again?'
Brea shook her head a little to try and clear herself from her misty-eyed haze, one of the strands of her hair falling near her eye as she did.
"Yeh still with me love?" The painter asked and Brea blushed. "Yes, sorry. Uhhh... what was it you where saying again?" Miranda chuckled and smiled a little more as she gently went to move her hair back behind her ear, Brea jumped but allowed the gentle touch. "It's ok, I was checking you out too." She said with a shrug as she leant back with a confident smile, and if Brea's cheeks weren't already burning up a furnace, she was quite certain that the house the furnace was in had just decided to burn completely down.
Brea looked down and played with her now empty soup bowl. Eventually Miranda broke the silence with a sigh and a playful smile. "Your, rather shy aren't you?" She asked and now it was Brea's turn to shrug. "Sorry?" She asked and Miranda scoffed and waved a hand in a dismissive fashion. "No need to apologize, It's cute...you're very cute." Brea huffed and though she didn't realise it herself, she all but pouted at the painter "I am nothing of the sort." She stated adamantly. Miranda rose a brow and tilted her head. "Really, then what are you?" She asked, and Brea looked a little defeated at the question.
"I don't think I even know the answer to that anymore." Miranda lost her smile at that and after there was silence for a few seconds, again she sighed.
"Well, I find you cute, rather sweet and a bit of a spontaneous adventurer."
Miranda laughed a little as she said it and than looked Brea deeply in the eyes.
"And believe me, I like that very much."
Brea blushed even more at this and drew in a deep breath to gather her courage before she replied.
"Well.... I find you, mysterious....interesting and..." she trailed off, losing her courage but Miranda insisted by asking "And?" Brea sighed and looked, all be-it a little shyly, up at the artist.
"Your stunning." It was Miranda's turn to go red at this, and after chuckling and being a little bit flustered for a moment as she pushed her hair behind her ear, she replied, "your not so bad yourself." After that she busied herself by retrieving their empty soup bowls. Brea held her breath when she came closer to her to pick them up and Miranda just chuckled and winked before she walked away, Brea could have sworn that the women knew exactly the kind of effect she was having on her emotions....not to mention her cheeks.
Brea was so lost in her own world of fluster after that their flirtatious little chat, that she hadn't noticed when the artist had walked into the tiny closet and had come back up to Brea.
She was trying to hand her some clothes when she cleared her throat, making Brea jump a little in her seat and look up at her.
"Ah, they may be a little big on you, but you can borrow em, I figured it had to be better than the sopping stuff you've got on at the moment."
Brea gave a little thank you as she took them and hurried, all be it with a slight limp, into the tiny bathroom the cabin was only just able to hold.
When she came out, wearing Miranda's massively oversized green sweater, Miranda couldn't help but to cue. "If that's not the most adorable sight I've ever seen, than I'll be a fish in a bucket." The painter said with a smirk and Brea blushed, yet again, whilst mumbling something along the lines of..."I'm nowhere near cute, and neither of us are fish."
The two women continued their banter that night, the hospital forgotten as Brea had insisted that she was ok. As their conversation drew on Brea became less and less shy, and Miranda was her usual flirty self, but she also began revealing more about herself when she had asked and Brea certainly hadn't minded that.
Miranda wanted to go on like this for the entire night. There was just something about Brea, something that made her see her as different from those she had previously liked before.
Miranda was very gay, and she had been with many girls before as well, but nothing usually ended up lasting.
Although she had never considered herself to be in love before, and had only ever really entertained flings in her past, she had to admit that she might be in danger of the four letter word entering her system as long as she continued to pursue this ridiculously adorable woman.
She knew though that this was the very reason she simply had to stop. After all, she would likely only hurt the girl with her own fear of true commitment, and Brea didn't deserve that. But maybe, just maybe this time, Amiens da wouldn't run. Maybe Brea would be the one to truly make her break down the walls she had been building for far too long.
And maybe Miranda was falling far to fast and steep, maybe she just needed to slow down.
But as Brea stated around at her paintings in awe, she knew that was going to be a lot harder than she had at first thought.