novelzi Ch 2.44: Carly
Ch 2.44: Carly
Ch 2.44: Carly
The group split up once they were inside the school itself, Tira going to report their mission and Flora breaking off to go change in her dorm room. “We should probably shower,” Elaina said as she looked down at herself. Her uniform definitely wasn’t in the worst shape it had ever been, but it had been two days since she’d last bathed, and she could definitely justify changing into her spare jacket and skirt as well. “And we need to put our bags down anyway.”
“You’re probably right,” Carline said as she continued walking.
Elaina was almost underwhelmed by the reception they were getting, or lack thereof. A couple people seemed to glance her way, probably at the dirt on her uniform, but she expected more, some acknowledgement that they’d fought a golem, avoided an assassin, beat five mythical creatures. Instead, she was just another student, one who most people probably didn’t even know had left the school.
“That wasn’t how these missions are supposed to go, is it?”
“No,” Carline said. “At the most, they probably expected use to find a handful of poachers without aspects...”
Things were different now though, whether people realized it yet or not. “Hopefully Tira can convince Alonse that these missions,” Elaina whispered. “I mean, students really shouldn’t be going on them. We got lucky, and we’re us.”
Carline’s hand moved to her neck, stroking her throat. “Yeah, I know.”
They didn’t speak the rest of the trip to their dorm room. Elaina let out a sigh of relied as she opened the door and shrugged her bag off onto the bed, smiling as she thought of the warm shower she was about to enjoy, what might happen after the shower if Carline was in the right mood.
But her excitement dissipated as she turned around and actually looked at Carline. She was stood just inside the doorway, arms shaking as as her legs were stuck to the ground. “Carline?”
At the sound Carline fell over, catching herself with her hands and knees as she began panting on the ground, tears welling up in her eyes as the contents of her bag spilled onto the floor.
“Carline!” Elaina shouted as she ran over, dropping to the ground next to her and lifting her head up. “What’s wrong?”
“I didn’t say you had to stop,” Carline said, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks.
“Okay,” Elaina said, grabbing Carline’s hand and resuming the motions. “Do you want to talk more?”
“Not really. I think I’m... mostly okay. Not like, okay okay, but...”
“I understand.” Elaina continued rubbing Carline’s hand and fingers, looking down at her friend as Carline closed her eyes, still breathing heavily. If Elaina had found her like this she’d assume Carline was asleep, but she could tell the difference with her in her arms, that Carline was just doing her best to stay relaxed, a task Elaina knew the difficulty of all too well. Despite the discomfort of sitting on their dorm room floor though, Elaina was willing to hold forever, maintain the embrace her best friend needed for as long as she needed to.
Best friend? The words felt strange in Elaina’s mind, words she hadn’t really thought of in a long time. She’d had friends as a kid, but that was back when everyone was your best friend, anyone you vaguely liked being around anyway. By the time people started having actual best friends, Elaina herself had been friendless, so she hadn’t ever really felt this way before.
“Hey, is it okay if I call you Carly?”
Carline opened her eyes, looking back up at Elaina with even more confusion in her eyes, even more blush on her face than when she’d stopped crying. “Huh?”
“Never mind,” Elaina said, feeling blood rush to her cheeks. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I said it, it just sort of came out...”
“No,” Carline said, pushing herself to her knees and wiping her face. “You don’t need to apologize. It’s fine; I like Carly.”
“Right.” Elaina really didn’t know why she’d asked. It was like rubbing Carline’s hand, just something her body had decided to do without consulting her brain with first, but she wasn’t exactly upset that either had happened. “Then... Do you still want to go on that walk, Carly?”
Carly smiled lightly, a bit of life jumping into her eyes. “I do. But I don’t think I want to shower first, actually. Let’s unpack first, but keep a spare uniform in your bag.”