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Katrin is both glad and regrets that she has told Maren about Anni. She’s glad, because in a way it felt good to talk about it and to finally admit to someone (and herself, really) that there is something happening. She regrets it at the same time, though, because now she’s being watched and observed by her friend whenever Anni is near.
And that she is, at the moment, because Maren and Katrin are sitting at a table at “Vereinsheim” to have some coffee (Maren’s idea – obviously. What was Katrin even thinking when she agreed to this?) and Anni is working near by.
“She’s looking at you. Again.”
“Maren, please,” Katrin says and rolls her eyes. When Maren only grins at her she adds: “I’m glad you find this so amusing.”
“More frustrating than amusing,” Maren shrugs, “You like her, she likes you—“
“Maren, not here!” Katrin snaps and then Anni is right beside them, a blank expression on her face.
“Can I get you two something else?”
//
“So Rosa turned you down, too?”
Sunny is grinning from ear to ear and Anni asks herself yet again why she’s even speaking to her. Ever.
“Fuck. You.”
Sunny lets out a dramatic sigh. “Well, Anni, I’ll have to turn you down, too. You know, there is Chris and—“
“You’re not even funny.”
“Oh, I think, I am”, Sunny grins.
“And I’m telling you you’re not,” Anni says and she gets up from the couch to get herself a beer from the fridge.
She’s exhausted. That double shift at “Vereinsheim” – the double shift she’d explicitly asked for, because she’d needed the distraction (and she definitely needs the money) – had been draining. And it certainly hadn’t helped that at some point Katrin and Maren had shown up. Katrin had mainly blanked her, Maren on the other hand had constantly watched her and now Anni can’t help but wonder if Katrin has told her. About that stupid selfie and Anni behaving like a complete fool around Katrin at all times.
Great.
“Look, I know it’s warm in here, but could you close that fridge door?”
“Uh… yeah. Sorry.”
God, she really needs to get over this. Quickly.
//
“Sorry, Katrin, but—just no.”
“Why not?”
Anni can’t deal with the nerve of that woman sometimes.
“Seriously?”
Katrin sighs. She brings up a hand to her face and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear in that way she does sometimes. Anni can’t help but follow the movement with her eyes and a sense of longing.
And this is the exact reason why she’s so not going to join Katrin to this business event in Neuruppin – an event with an overnight stay at a hotel, no less. Absolutely not. No way.
“It’s just one appointment,” Katrin says then, “And we’re—I mean, we’re good, aren’t we?”
Anni snorts at this and looks away. Which is why she spots Tuner who is watching their exchange from behind the bar as if it is the most entertaining thing he’s seen all day. At Anni’s death-glare he just grins.
She’s got the worst friends in the universe, Anni decides.
“Anni?”
She turns back at this and is now facing Katrin again.
“Please?” the other woman adds, “It’s really important and I need you there.”
Dear God, why. Anni can literally feel her resistance crumbling at this. She’s so fucking weak around that woman it’s downright pathetic.
“What about Mrs Ahrens?” she tries.
“I already asked her. She can’t make it.”
“So I’m your back-up plan, uh?”
Katrin rolls her eyes at this. “You’re the one who resigned,” she says, “If you hadn’t you would’ve been my first choice from the start.”
Anni swallows. Katrin is pretty good at this, she’ll have to give her that. She turns towards Tuner again who seriously has the audacity to still watch them.
“Actually,” Anni says, “I’m working the late shift tomorrow, so—“
“Oh, it’s no problem,” Tuner throws in, “I’ll cover your shift.”
Anni will kill him. Soon.
“Good,” Katrin says and grabs her handbag, ”That’s settled then.”
“Well, I’m glad I get a say in this, too,” Anni says and crosses her arms in front of her chest. Katrin looks at her then and—oh well. She’s lost that battle ages ago.
“Fine.”
“Excellent. We’ll start at 4pm.”
//
“Your boyfriend sucks.”
Lilly smiles widely. “He got you a date with Katrin. I don’t know what you’re complaining about.”
“It’s not… a date. It’s a surely deadly boring business dinner.”
“Well, what is your problem then?”
Anni is just about to let Lilly know when the front door to their shared apartment opens and a grinning Sunny comes in. From the look on her face Anni can tell right away that she’s heard the news, too, already.
“You and Katrin are going on a roadtrip together?” Sunny quips, “That is so exciting!”
Anni hates her friends.
All of them.
//
The car drive goes surprisingly well. It’s a quiet one, but it’s a comfortable silence. Katrin is sitting beside her and is mainly reading through papers or working on her iPad. Music is playing softly from the speakers and in a way this reminds Anni of their trip to Sweden. When things were still… well. Less complicated.
It does get a little more complicated again when they meet in the hotel lobby later to go to the dinner party together. Anni has been waiting for Katrin for a few minutes already, scrolling through her phone to pass the time, when the other woman eventually steps out of the elevator. Anni looks up from her phone and right away knows that she is fucked.
Katrin looks absolutely stunning. Not that she doesn’t usually, but— oh shit. That tight black dress is too damn much for Anni to take.
“Can we go?” Katrin is standing right in front of her now and raises a questioning eyebrow at her.
“Wha—oh. Yeah. Sure.”
Holy shit, get it together!
//
Anni is about three seconds away from exploding. They’re sitting at a table with several business clients, the most important one (according to Katrin), is sitting directly opposite them. And he’s a goddamn asshole.
“Let’s be honest,” he says then and takes another sip from his beer, ”If the mainstream media wasn’t pushing this so hard homosexuality wouldn’t be such a big problem these days.”
Okay. That’s it.
“Actually--,” Anni begins, but just when she’s about to tell him exactly what she thinks of him there is a hand on her thigh beneath the table, squeezing it slightly as if to tell her to be quiet. She obeys right away. Mainly, because the only thought in her head right now is that Katrin is touching her.
“Yeah?” the asshole says, giving Anni a challenging look.
She says nothing. She just can’t right now.
“I think,” Katrin says, her voice calm and collected, “That we should all be glad that we live in a free country where everyone can live their life to the fullest. That’s also good for business, isn’t it?”
The asshole – it’s his name now, Anni decides – doesn’t look convinced, but then he shrugs, reaches for his beer again and apparently the topic is closed for him.
Anni is still tense, though. Not because of him, but because Katrin’s hand is still on her leg, her thumb drawing small circles on the outside of her thigh. She turns around to look at Katrin questioningly, but the other woman just smiles at her, gives her thigh one last squeeze and eventually pulls her hand away.
//
“Thank you so much for joining me,” Katrin says as they slowly walk through the hallway and towards their hotel rooms.
“No problem,” Anni says.
“And sorry about Mr Schneider, he—“
“Is an asshole.”
“Yes,” Katrin agrees, smiling, “But unfortunately he’s important for KFI.”
“Yeah, I know,” Anni says. They’re at their floor now, in front of their rooms. “And I’m sorry for almost losing my cool there.”
“Well, you didn’t.”
I kind of did, Anni thinks. But not because of him.
Katrin doesn’t make a move to reach for her hotel room card or to say ‘Goodnight’ or to just do or say anything at all – she just looks at Anni. Challenging? Confused? In anticipation of… what?
If it was anyone else Anni would break that tension by making a move, by kissing them, pushing them against the hotel room door, but—with Katrin. She just feels so out of her depth it’s almost funny.
“Well,” Katrin starts, her voice sounds slightly rough so she clears her throat, “Thanks again for coming with me,” she smiles at Anni. “We should probably—“ and she pauses and nods her head towards her hotel room door.
For a fleeting second Anni thinks she’s inviting her in, but—of course not, Jesus Christ.
“Um.. yeah,” Anni says, “Goodnight, Katrin.” She fumbles for her hotel room card, eventually pulls it from the inside pocket of her jacket. And drops it.
God, she is hopeless.
She quickly kneels down to pick it up and when she’s standing again it seems like the other woman has stepped slightly closer.
“Goodnight,” Katrin says, smiling, and then she leans in, presses a small kiss to the corner of Anni’s mouth and then she’s gone.
//