July 18, 2019 London/San Diego
For the last two weeks, Florence and I keep hanging out a lot, almost every day. Sometimes on set, sometimes she invited me to explore London with her and she showed me some nice places. I adore every second of it, but it only increases my crush on the older girl.
And it's not a good thing because she's like 5 years older than me and I'm still only seventeen. I'm not fooling myself and try to think about having any chance with a girl like her, so I'm just trying to enjoy being her friend. It is how it is, I can't help it.
But today is a fun day because we're flying back to US for Comic-Con and tomorrow, I'll finally see my best friend after three long weeks.
"You have everything?" My mom asks me for feels like the hundredth time.
I'm packing some things, we're staying there for four nights after all and I need to look presentable with so many people around for the Comic-Con. And maybe I want to impress Florence a bit. Can you blame me, though? Maybe there is a sick chance that Florence will fall in love with me and we'll be together in so distant future.
"Yes, mom. I answered your question like five times already" I mumble kinda annoyed by now and roll my eyes when she gives me a pointed look. She's such a mom sometimes.
"Oh, shush! C'mon, we need to hurry up" She rushes me and I sigh, but zip my bag before I follow her to the car.
The car starts instantly when we sit comfortably inside the vehicle and we're on our way to the airport. Marvel has theirs panel on Sunday, so we have a few days to enjoy our time together on sunny beach in San Diego.
We rush to the airport, being almost late. I might shower a bit too long this morning, but I needed to look good. We're flying with the whole cast, after all. Everyone is there already, so we are the last one.
The gate to our plane opens almost immediately when we end greeting the cast, so I don't have time to talk with the blonde. Which is sad, but I already made some plans inside my head for this.
Everyone takes the seats and I sit next to mom, Flo and Rachel in front of us and the rest are sitting near us. And when the plane lifts into the air, I turn to my mom and ask her if Flo can change the seats with her. She gives me a curious look with a slight smirk, but agrees, so I ask Flo if she wants to sit with me and she nods eagerly with an adorable smile. I know she didn't mind sitting with Rachel, but I think she feels more comfortable around me, which is cool with me totally.
"Hello to you" Flo breathes out as she plops down on my left.
"Hi, Flossie" I whisper to her sweetly, trying not be hearable by my mom in front.
She literally hears everything and I don't want to give her any reason to teasing me later. She thinks that I'm adorable with my small crush on Flo, but she really doesn't understand how serious it is.
"We have a few hours to spare, what do you wanna do?" She asks, wiggling in her seat, so she can get more comfortable, but it's annoying because I can't focus on anything else than her.
"Stop with this moving, geez" I mutter out, putting my hand on her knee to stop her. She stops abruptly, but what I didn't expect that she'd put her hand on mine and intertwine ours fingers together.
She does it like it's her second habit and I froze at the gesture. I notice how touchy Florence is because for the last two weeks she really kept touching me somehow. Mostly it was just holding hands or keeping her hand on my back when we were walking somewhere. But she was doing it only when we weren't around the people we know, like her co-stars. I guess, she doesn't care now.
"Sorry, love" She apologizes sincerely with a soft smile and I blush at the nickname. I think it's only the third time when she calls me differently than Issie, Bella or Isa. "So, I was thinking about watching a movie?" She asks nonchalantly and I move my eyes from looking at our hands to her face, but she's looking at the small TV in the back of the seat in front of her, searching for a movie. At least it gives me some time to shake out from my gay panic.
"Y-Yeah" I clear my throat awkwardly, ignoring the heat that goes through my body when she looks at me briefly with an excited look. "Movie sounds good" I stutter out with a small nod.
"Great! I chose already, Beautiful Boy. I want to see Timothée's work more, is that okay?" She checks in with me, but I'd not be able to say no when she looks at me with puppy eyes, waiting for my response.
"Sure" I agree with her idea and she smiles brightly.
"Cool" She squeezes my hand and turns on the movie, holding one earbud, but when I try to grab it, she slaps my hand away and ignores my confusion expression. "Gimme your ear" She commands and even if I'm puzzled, I turn my head and showing my ear for the blonde.
She instantly puts the earbud to my ear, brushing her fingers against my cheek and I swear, my heart stops for a minute. She never touched my face, so it's a new feeling having her soft fingers on my skin there.
I clear my throat awkwardly, but Flo doesn't even see my bigger gay panic than I had a few minutes earlier and watches the beginning of the movie without any problem. I turn my head slowly to the TV and try to watch it, but it's hard with our hands still linked together and with a lingering feeling of the blonde's fingers on my cheek.
Easy to say, I have a giant problem with focusing on the freaking movie or the next few movies that we watch through the entire flight. Flo releases my hand only twice when we both need to go to the bathroom, but when we return, she instantly grabs my hand back and puts another movie.
We arrive to San Diego after a couple of long hours and drive to the hotel in three cars. It's afternoon here, but my body feels like it's almost nighttime for me, but thankfully I had some naps on the plane, so I still have so energy in me.
"We have an entire floor reserved just for us" Rachel informs everyone as we leave the elevator on the correct floor in the hotel. She hands everyone the key to their room and leads us further in the corridor.
"Bella, you have room with Mia" My mom tells me and I hum in acknowledge.
"I figured, thanks" I smile politely with a nod, but I keep looking forward and miss the look Florence's giving me, but my mom apparently sees it.
"Are you good, Flo?" She asks the blonde worriedly. Flo snaps her head in my and mom's direction. I furrow my eyebrows at the interaction, only because I don't know why she asked about it so suddenly.
"Yep, don't worry" She replies, clearly faking a smile. I can see already the small differences between her real and the fake smile. "This one is mine, so I see you later for dinner?" Flo asks, putting her bag next to the door and slowly opening the door to her room, but keeps her eyes only on Rachel.
"Yeah, see you then, Flo" Rachel confirms and walks away with my mom and others to their own rooms, leaving me and Flo alone because we have the rooms next to each other. The blonde looks away at the door immediately after Rachel's reply and missing that I stay with her. I shift awkwardly in my place, trying to find the courage to speak up.
"Flossie..." I whisper a bit louder and she snaps her head backwards to me with a confused face.
"Why are you still here?" She questions and I won't lie, her tone hurts my feeling a lot. We were fine during the whole flight, but now she suddenly goes back to being rude to me.
"Em, I wanted to ask something, but it's not good time apparently, so I'll just go" I mutter out uncomfortably and turn to the direction of my own door.
"Wait!" She exclaims and catches my wrist to stop me. Her touch is gentle, but I need to take a deep breath before I turn back to look at her again, fighting hard with the urge to cry at her behavior. "I'm sorry, didn't mean to be rude, Issie. I'm just tired after the flight, but I shouldn't take it out on you when you're only sweet to me" She apologizes with honest and releases my wrist, making a comfortable space between us. I take my hand back and shove my both hands inside my pants, so I save myself from playing with my fingers anxiously.
"It's alright, go rest, Flo" I smile reassuringly, forcing it a bit.
"No, no" She shakes her head quickly, not giving me chance to walk away from her. "Please ask me what you wanted" She pleads and I can see she really wants to hear me, so I inhale shakily through my nose before I open my mouth.
"I'm going to the beach after I put my stuff in my room and I wanted to ask you if you want to come, but if you're too tired I understand, you don't have to go with me" I rush out the words, embarrassingly quick just because I want to be over with it and go back to my room to calm down. I take a breath at the end, lacking the air from my rambling and Flo laughs softly at me. I can feel my face flushes because of her, but her laugh is nice and sweet, so I don't take it personally.
"I'd love to go with you, just give me like twenty minutes for a quick refreshing?" She says and I nod happily, not being rejected.
"Of course" I agree quickly with a grin, not being able to hide my excitement. "Come to my room after you get ready, alright?"
"Yeah" She nods in agreement and I smile brightly before I walk away to my room.
Edited: October 19, 2022