Chapter Text
Clarissa’s shoes are glued to the floor. Literally glued to the floor. She stares at Leonora. Leonora stares at her. She seems just as surprised.
Clarissa huffs, pulling her feet out of the heels, and Leonora watches her nervously. “A bit childish,” Clarissa grumbles.
“Clarissa, just tell me what you want.” Leonora pleads, taking gentle hold of her hands. Clarissa stares at their entwined fingers and just—
“I want honesty from you.”
Leonora exhales, nodding quickly.
“I was behind every bad thing that happened to Dilwin since he arrived. I gave the kids an extra credit assignment to torment him.” Leonora admits in a rush.
A step in the right direction. An infuriating step, but a correct one.
“Something more, Leonora.” She prods. “Something more about… me.”
“Okay. I definitely could have done something about the cult thing sooner; I just didn’t feel like it.”
Clarissa groans, leaning forward to rest her forehead on Leonora’s shoulder. “I want you to be honest with yourself about how you feel about me.”
“I already told you how I feel about you… I’m certain I did. You are a valued colleague and friend.” A valued colleague and friend that she wants to kiss all the time? Clarissa admits defeat.
She leans back, takes a deep breath, and meets Leonora’s eyes. “I have feelings for you. Romantic feelings. I don’t want to just kiss you… I want to go on a date.”
Leonora’s mouth opens in surprise. “Oh.”
“Oh?”
“The gloss is working on both ends then.” Clarissa blinks. Did she mean—? She couldn’t possibly think… Was this real life?!
“I felt this way before the gloss, Leonora,” She clarifies. Leonora looks stricken.
“Are you okay?”
“What do you mean? I’m fine— I just happen to like you.”
“Why?”
Why indeed. Clarissa sighs. “I don’t know, Leonora, I just do. I have for a long time. And for me, it isn’t some horrible illness that I’m desperate to cure. It’s just how I feel.” She squares her shoulders. “I’m not ashamed.”
Leonora is still, her hands having gone lax, and Clarissa sighs, pulling away. “The kissing thing is over now, Leonora. I had fun— I know you did, too.” She cracks a half smile. “Now, can you please unglue my shoes from the floor?”
“… I never said…” Leonora is speaking no louder than a whisper.
“What did you say?”
“I never said it was horrible. I never said I wanted to cure it.”
“… You practically accused me of attempted murder. You told me I was making you sick. There isn’t a positive way to spin that.”
“But it wasn’t killing me. It just made me… happy. I’m not really accustomed to that, so perhaps I was mistaken in the way I explained.”
“Weren’t you looking for a cure?”
“I was researching,” Leonora says, leaning closer as she flicks her gaze down to Clarissa’s lips. “I wanted to know why. I think…”
“You think what?”
Leonora pauses, taking a steady breath. “Why won’t you kiss me again?” Leonora asks tenderly, leaning in close to brush their noses together. “Just so I can be sure.”
It should alarm her how much she wants to melt to Leonora’s demand. To give in and kiss her until there’s no tomorrow. But that would only prolong her hurt. Leonora is playing with her. Again. Making a joke out of her, but this time, she knows full and well what Clarissa feels for her.
“I told you already. The game is over.” Clarissa says, blinking softly. “I am no longer at your beck and call.”
“Clarissa—“
“Leonora.”
Lady Lesso licks her bottom lip. “Let’s go on a date.”
Clarissa scoffs. “Don’t do this.”
Leonora squints. “Do what?”
“Pretend. Lie to me so you can get what you want. I’m tired of being made a fool of.”
“I’m not lying or pretending. I want to— we can be more if—“
“If that’s what I want? If that’s what it takes for me to kiss you again?” Clarissa interjects, and Leonora falters. Bingo.
“You don’t actually—“
“I do. Even if we don’t kiss, I’d be— I’d like to go on a date with you.” Leonora stumbles through her words quickly. “Go on a date with me, Clarissa.”
Clarissa tugs on a stray blonde curl as she hesitates. She had indulged in the kisses, touches, and wonton affections. She had allowed Leonora’s every whim, but it’s over now. She shouldn’t even consider it.
“Clarissa. Dove.” Leonora exhales. “I don’t do crushes. I don’t— I don’t know how this is supposed to go. But I know that I’ll regret it forever if I can’t convince you to take this chance.”
Clarissa cocks her head to the side as she listens to her speech.
“Me pretending that this wasn’t a big deal, I know now that it must have hurt you. I was just too caught up in my own thoughts and feelings to consider it.” Leonora says, squeezing her hand intimately. “I’m sorry about that and about lying.”
“You think you have a crush on me?” Clarissa questions.
“I definitely have a crush on you.”
Oh. Clarissa’s getting flustered, isn’t she? She feels her face warm.
“And you don’t think it’s a bad thing? You don’t want it to go away?”
“No. I can live with it— I mean, I also want there to be more. I would like it if you… continued to reciprocate my feelings.”
Clarissa watches her, the blush on her face, the nervous biting of her lip, the bounce of her foot. Leonora doesn’t usually have tells. Leonora is usually unflappable.
“Would you come with me to a wedding?” Clarissa asks.
“Yes.”
“You don’t even know when it is.”
“I’ll clear my schedule.”
“You’ll have to be on your best behavior.”
“I will.”
“Donnie will be there.”
Leonora winces. “I can manage.”
“There’s an open bar.”
Leonora smiles, and she can see the relief in her eyes. “Excellent.”
“And when we return—“
Leonora interjects. “I’ll plan something. Another date. Just us.” Clarissa nods, unable to help the delighted smile spreading across her face.
“That sounds great.”
“I’ll make sure it is,” Leonora promises, and Clarissa feels relief. The promise of a date, then the promise of another. She would be the one regretting if she didn’t take Leonora up on it.
“Leonora, can you do something else for me?” She asks gently, and she receives eagerness in the woman’s response.
“Anything? What?”
“I want you to kiss me.” And now Leonora hesitates, uncertainty clouding her eyes.
“Clarissa, I don’t want you to think—“
‘I know.” She summons the box and opens it on the desk, letting Leonora catch sight of the dazzling products inside. “But this is for me just as much as it is for you. All of it has been.” Perhaps she should have been upfront from the start, but who knew if it would have worked out the same? Who knew if she and Leonora would end up going on a date if she had?
“There have to be at least forty of them,” Leonora says in wonder. And all of them are new. Limited additions that had yet to be released to the wider public.
“I haven’t tried any.” Yet. “I think perhaps we should experience them together.”
“Of course…” Leonora replies, still half distracted, glancing between Clarissa’s eyes and her lips.
Clarissa turns towards the box, picking out flavors randomly. “There’s so much to choose from! We have Coconut Comet, Shooting Starfruit, Moonbeam Mango, and Sapodilla Saturn. Oh! What about Luminous Lemonbursts? I think—“
“Clarissa. With or without lipgloss, we’re going to kiss within the next five seconds.” Leonora interrupts, picking one up at random. Wishing-star Watermelon.
“I guess there’s no need to waste time then.” Clarissa grins, leaning close, and Leonora applies the gloss to her lips with charmingly practiced movements.
“No. No, there isn’t.”