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“Jesus, it's fucking freezing.”
Lilith tuts and glares at Mary. “ Language.”
Camila snorts much to Lilith's displeasure. It isn't a false statement, after all, the biting wind flows through the spider web cracks on the worn motel windows and teases their skin with an icy chill. Leave it to a motel, drenched in old Grandma's couch musk and the remnants of various couples fucking in other rooms, to not give a damn about the condition of its rooms.
“I'm not wrong though, baby girl,” Mary comments as she plops down on the tattered loveseat. She blows into her hands and rubs them together. “How the hell aren't you freezing your ass off?”
“I run hot.”
“You tend to run cold, Lilith, I can see you shaking from here,” Beatrice calls from her seat by the window. She turns her head to eye the way her fellow nun's legs constantly shift in discomfort. “Case in point.”
“We need to ask the important questions,” Camila says. Three pairs of eyes snap to the younger girl sitting on the discolored carpet (gross). “Ava hasn't woken up since we got here.”
“That's not a question.”
“ That's not a question ,” Mary mocks Lilith's deadpan response earning an irritated huff.
“I mean, how is she not freezing to death!” Camila reiterates.
Four sets of eyes slither to the only twin bed in the room, with navy blue sheets doing little to hide the suspicious stain on the box spring. Ava is splayed on her back and spread like a starfish while her mouth is parted, releasing quiet snores into the air; the expansion of her rib cage would pause, she would snort softly, and then her lungs deflate. It's a soothing rhythm, one that a particular nun is happy to hear though she would rather not admit it.
To be completely honest, the bed is the last place Ava should be sleeping. Not because the other girls want to sleep there, no, but because they don't know if the Halo would fix pink eye. Or a possible STD if Ava were to turn over.
Better not find out.
Lilith approaches the bed from near the bathroom door. She puts her hands on Ava, ready to toss her to the floor (because that's better than the sex infested bed), only to jerk away with a slight hiss.
“Fuck!” she curses.
Mary smirks. “Language!”
The baffled glare Lilith shoots her is totally worth it, but Beatrice looks worried. Seeing Lilith, much stronger and physically changed from her… brush with death, flinch away from Ava's body is startling. Worrying.
The wooden stool Beatrice is sat on creaks and groans as the nun shifts. Its three uneven legs wobble drunkenly as she stands and makes her way to the bed now, curious and cautious at the same time.
“Ava?” she whispers.
Ava grunts and throws her arm over her face. She is obviously displeased with the interruptions to her precious slumber.
Beatrice takes a chance and places her hand on Ava's thigh. She doesn't quickly pull away like Lilith before, but she doesn't not flinch. Wonder sparkles in Beatrice's eyes, fingers curl into the girl's thigh.
Ava is warm. Her thigh sears a calming burn into her palm. It's almost as if Ava had become a cast iron radiator, pumping out heat and surrounding her body to fight a war against the stone cold warriors of the wind.
Her hand moves then, without thought, pressed to the soft of Ava's stomach, exposed to the air because of the hike of her shirt. Fascinating. Even though the cold should have cooled her skin, Ava's heat remains strong.
Beatrice's fingertips trace, feather-light, over Ava's stomach. Her heart flutters at the cute disgruntled noise falling from Ava's parted mouth.
She was beautiful…
“Feeling her up while she's sleeping, Bea?” Mary's voice is teasing behind her. It snaps Beatrice out of her haze.
Beatrice snaps away from the bed in an instant, face blazing her flustered state like a neon sign. She stammers and crosses her arms to hide her embarrassment. Her shame.
How could she allow herself to be caught up like that? What if it were only her and Ava in the room? What then? Beatrice couldn't allow her hands to roam again or else- or else everyone would know and would question her. Her faith. Her loyalty. Her.
They would be disgusted if they knew, she knows it. She already changes in the bathroom to hide herself so they won't feel uncomfortable- it's inevitable. She already knows how girls react when told that you're… that you… They respond with falsely hidden discomfort, fake smiles, and jabs at your expense.
Then they tell and get you sent far away.
Beatrice shudders. She doesn't wish to be sent away. Compartmentalize. Put it all in a little box and shove it to the back of your mind. No one has to know. No one will know .
A hand settles on her back, thumb rubbing soothingly on the dip of her scapula. Beatrice nods once at Mary.
“I was just joking, calm down,” Mary assures her with a slight smile, but the crinkle by her eye only conveys worry. “Besides, I'm sure she wouldn't mind.”
Beatrice nearly balks at the statement. Ava absolutely would mind , thank you very much, who wouldn't take offense to being touched in their sleep!?
Lilith's eyes nearly roll out of her head as she watches Beatrice struggle with her thoughts. How could someone so smart be so dumb? If Lilith were anyone else, she would think those two were dating with how often they glanced at each other without the other one knowing, cuddled up to one another, chatted together like no one else was in the room, held hands, kissed each other's cheek (that one was all Ava, but the idea's still there), etc, etc, etc.
They were obvious. Too obvious. It was starting to give her a headache.
Wait a minute. What the hell are they-?
“What are you doing!?” Lilith hisses.
Mary and Camila freeze. Mary is halfway under Ava's body, thighs hugging the girl's sides as Ava's head falls back on Mary's solar plexus in a way that looks highly uncomfortable. Camila splays on her stomach between Ava's legs, arms trapping the girl around her waist, and she buries her cheek into Ava's stomach. Neither of them are ashamed.
“What, jealous you didn't think of it first?” Camila smirks.
Lilith scoffs, arms crossed. “ No , I have no reason to be jealous of anything.” Her eyes observe the worrying creak of the bed. Unfortunately, it doesn't fall.
“C'mon, Lily Bear.” Mary pats the open space on her left, grin obnoxiously wide and resembling the Cheshire cat. “Come cuddle with us.”
“I don't cuddle .”
“Not even a snuggle?”
“No!”
Beatrice remains silent at the exchange. Her bottom lip draws in between her teeth, kneading the flesh carefully.
With how tactile Ava is, she surely wouldn't mind if Beatrice were to- if they were to cuddle , as Mary so eloquently put it, to get through the night. Right? Right. Ava would not mind. No. No way. She would be over the moon at the touch. Right? Right. Right. Yes.
“All I'm saying is- Beatrice, are you fucking kidding me!? ”
Beatrice tucks herself into the right side of the twin bed, arm wrapped over Camila and clinging to Ava's side. The Warrior Nun jerks at the contact, nose wrinkling, before she settles back into relaxation. Mary catches Beatrice with her arm around the younger girl's back.
Lilith doesn't look impressed at all by her team's antics.
“Lilith, come to bed.”
“Yeah, Lilith,” Camila says, “come to bed.”
Lilith's face creases in discomfort. “I hate this.”
“You love us!” Mary teases her.
“Debatable.”
“Lilith.”
“No.”
Beatrice doesn't hide her bark of laughter as Mary snatches Lilith by the wrist and yanks her into the bed. The wooden frame groans in protest with the additional weight but ultimately settles.
Lilith fights against Mary's hand and then Camila who pulls her right arm over the bend in her legs to keep her immobile on the bed. Lilith flushed red in embarrassment, and Beatrice hasn't stopped laughing once. She hasn't laughed this hard in a long time.
“Beatrice- Stop laughing and help me get out!”
Mary counters, “Baby girl, if you wanted out you would've done that fancy teleporting magic you've got. Don't lie to yourself.”
“Fuck you!”
“Language!”
The growl Lilith erupts with is enough to seal the fact that- yes, she absolutely could teleport away if she wanted to. To avoid any further teasing about her being a “cuddle bug” or whatever, Lilith quiets down and begrudgingly settles into Ava's other side.
It's a miracle the girl hasn't woken up. How is she still sleeping through all of this?
“Wait. Who's turning the light off?”
Good point.
///
To say Ava is confused when she wakes up in the morning would be an understatement.
It was hot, first of all, but not like stuck in a sauna hot. It was more like stuck in a clown car for twelve hours with twenty people hot. Can't even roll down the windows hot.
Ava blinks her eyes open and yawns. She's smacked in the face as soon as the noise comes out, and she grunts in confusion.
Morning light shines through the paper thin curtains. The rays of light were fuzzy and soft as they filled the room and bathed over Ava in a comfortable haze. The ceiling fan and the light was off, but it didn't conceal the pile of bodies on her.
Ava blinks a couple more times to make sure she's not going crazy.
“Hello?” Ava slowly says to the four people soaking up her space. The hand loosely settled on her face slides down and covers her mouth.
“ Shhhh …” Camila groans. Her face presses into the soft of Ava's stomach, in the space between her ribs. “Less talking, more sleeping.” The hand slips away and curls around Lilith.
Ava's eyes dart from Camila to Lilith on her left, both girls half asleep and on the brink of going back under. She can't see Mary at all, but the rise and fall of breathing against her back assures Ava that Mary is propped up behind her. Which leaves…
“Hi.”
Beatrice.
Ava glances to the right and smiles. Beatrice looks like she's been awake for a while, watching the organized chaos go on without saying or doing anything. Not that Ava could blame her; she couldn't get a word out without being hushed.
“Hi,” Ava nearly whispers back. She smiles.
“What's the smile for?” Beatrice teases.
Oh, nothing. Ava wants to say. You're just beautiful.
Beautiful hair- tousled with sleep yet still unbelievably attractive to witness. The golden morning sun bathes behind her and props her up angelically. She looks heavenly.
Shit. Is that blasphemy? Or whatever it is? Ava didn't want to get in trouble for her silent worship of Beatrice's morning appearance. Well, they wouldn't have to know. Right? Yes. Yeah, yep, nope. No need for them to know. Just play it cool, slow and steady. Be the tortoise. Take it slow.
“You're pretty.”
Beatrice nearly sits up in surprise, but Mary's arm keeps her still. Her eyes bug out of her head.
Shit shit shit! Why did I say that!? What the hell happened to slow and steady, Ava? Be the tortoise, Ava? Here you are racing like the fucking rabbit-hare-thing!
“Pretty… hot!” That's not any better, Ava! You're flirting with a God damn nun for Christ's sake! “I mean! Whoa! Wow! Wow, yeah, it's um pretty hot in here. The heat's pretty… hot.” What the fuck are you talking about, Ava? Shut the fuck up! “Not to say you aren't hot- I mean, you are but you aren't. Wait, that sounds bad, let me try again-”
“Ava.” Beatrice's eyes twinkle in amusement. In the time Ava's worked herself up, Beatrice has calmed herself down. “I know what you mean.”
“You- You do?” Thank fuck.
“Yes. See, it was cold last night and we couldn't help but notice your increased body temperature, so I… we decided to…” Beatrice's eyes trail over Ava's face, slow and steady, bottom lip worried between her teeth. Ava shamelessly watches her mouth until she speaks again. “ Cuddle , in a sense. To keep warm.”
“Oh.”
“Yes. That's why it's hot now. And these three wish not to be up. Lilith smacked me in the face with a pillow when I tried to get up and disturbed the pile.”
Ava glances at Lilith and notices the pillow laying over her own chest clutched in the older nun's fist. She snickers.
“Who knew Lilith would be a cuddle bug?” Ava chuckles.
Beatrice follows her laughter with her own chuckle, and fuck - who knew a laugh could sound so hot? In fact, Beatrice's posh, prim, and proper British accent is heavy with lack of use and sleep. A rasp curled up the end of her words, hooking into Ava's ears to make sure it was all she could focus on.
Ava tests her arms and legs and is immediately shushed and lazily poked in order to stop moving. Her incredulous stare is caught by Beatrice who shrugs.
It's nice, being surrounded by people who don't want to hurt or kill you, but Ava really has to pee. Like now. Don't think about waterfalls, don't think about waterfalls.
“Thirty more minutes…” Mary grumbles into the crown of Ava's head, as if reading her thoughts.
Welp.
“This is what I get for having a portable heater in my back.”
Beatrice grins. She reaches her hand out and grabs Ava's hand (fuck, Ava hopes she doesn't notice how sweaty her palm is), squeezing it tight.
“At least you have the humidity to admit the Halo's faults.”
Was- Was that a weather joke?
“I didn't know you could make puns that could blow me away .”
“Yes, well, I suppose they're simply a breeze to make.”
“Yeah, I tried to tell some jokes about temperature one time, but no one could handle the heat .”
“That's awful.”
“Yeah.”
“I love it.”
“I don't,” Lilith grumbles. “Tell one more pun and I'll teleport you both into the sun.”
“OK, OK, sheesh, calm down.” Ava warily eyes the pillow on her chest and then Lilith's closed-eye expression.
It's silent for a whole five seconds.
Ava's smile is impish, curling up towards her ears as mischief dances in her eyes. Oh no.
“Guess this means I'm… pretty hot, right?”
Ava's face is bashed with a pillow.