Chapter Text
“Bye, Dad!” Heather called out to her father as she closed the car door, waving her father goodbye as he drove off. She walked up the steps of the Undervale hotel’s entrance. She pushed open one of the large doors, walking in and carrying her overnight bag.
Esther and Heather had been planning to have a sleepover for the past two weeks now, and were finally getting it. Esther, while trying to hide it, was ecstatic that the day had finally arrived. Heather, too, but compared to her supernatural loving, ginger best friend, she wasn’t anywhere as excited.
The two girls had been almost attached at the hip after the rollyfluff incident that one day at school. They started to hang out whenever they could at school. Ben tagged along of course since he was also a loser and a target at Midwich. Heather had started to come over more after school just to hang out rather than anything project related. And with each hang out, the more obvious it became that there was something more between the two than they themselves realized.
As Heather walked into the haunted hotel’s lobby, she could quickly spot Esther walking down the flight of stairs right by the front desk.
“Heather! You’re here!” The short haired girl came down the stairs quickly, almost tripping after she missed a step. “You didn’t see that.”
The other darker haired girl giggled slightly at that. She always did find the way Esther tried to act all tough and as if she didn’t care as much as she actually did, sort of endearing. It was amusing to see Esther act sweet, even a bit bashful, and then switch up on herself and go all defensive and snappy. The duality of Esther Freeling.
“Yup…! So uh, should I drop my bag in your room?” Heather questioned, always so quick to make sure she was being polite. It was a quality of hers that Katherine loved that a friend of Esther’s had.
Esther nodded, walking up to her friend, “Yeah! I’ll tell you about what I wanna do while we take your bag up!”
- - -
About 30 minutes or so had passed between Heather and Esther just sitting on Esther’s bed and talking. Esther wanted to take Heather out on a small forest adventure, show her a cool spot she had found a few days earlier, find a neat bug or animal that Heather would go and ramble about, and come back in time for dinner. Esther knew that going on one of her usual, crazy adventures with her friend would be a bad decision, so what she had planned sounded much better.
That’s what the ginger imagined would happen, at least.
- - -
Esther and Heather were out in the forest, only having been out there 10 minutes. They had just left. The afternoon sun was warm against their skin, a light breeze keeping them just cool enough for comfort. Esther kept glancing at Heather, experiencing that strange, unexplainable, yet terribly familiar feeling she got whenever she saw Heather. The same feeling that caused her to get all defensive and acting all tough and like she didn’t care. She didn’t know how to process it.
Sometimes Esther would follow Heather's glances to wherever she was looking, whether it be at the springtime flowers of the forest that had bloomed again, or all the occasional baby animal. Sometimes the green coat adorned girl would have her looks be met by those deep brown eyes Heather possessed, and would have to look away, embarrassed.
There was a moment of silence between the two friends. There was tension. It wasn’t overwhelming, but it was certainly there, teaming up with the weird feeling in Esther’s chest and the, quote on quote, “random” butterflies in her stomach, crushing her.
The overwhelming feelings Esther was having was upsetting her. She never did like not being able to know what she was feeling so she could try and cover it up, look tough and mature. Thankfully, the witch wasn’t the only one feeling like this.
Heather knew what she was feeling, figured it out a little bit ago when talking to her older cousin about it. She was then told that she was gay as hell and had a big fat lesbian crush on her best friend. Great.
Heather then spoke up, not wanting the somewhat awkward tension to continue any longer.
“Where’s that place you wanted to take me out here? Is it a spot with a really good view, orrr…” Heather’s braces caught the light a few times as she spoke.
God, Esther thought, I don’t think she realizes how pretty and cute she is sometimes… What a nerd.
“Yeah, it’s got a really nice view, and it’s an old, run down gazebo. I fixed it up a bit and made it all pretty again cause I thought you might like it,” Esther explained, her face turning a bit blushy with the realization of what she said. Embarrassment and that awful combination of butterflies and that tightening in her chest flooding her. “Not that I care! I would’ve done it anyways…!”
What a dork, Heather thought, she’s adorable.
“That sounds nice. I’m sure I’ll like it!”