Daiane snorted as Embry remarked that she and her friends were not the best examples of academic honesty. “I got that much,” she commented, laughing. Dai was prepared to listen to the rest of what Bry had to say, but then to her dismay, Embry cut herself off. "Hey, you can’t just stop there!” She protested. “Only what?? The audience—me, in case you’ve forgotten—is very interested in the rest of that sentence and promises with her whole heart not to sell the information to the media.”
The slight colour that rose in Embry’s cheeks was not lost on Daiane, who was always ridiculously happy when she was the one who made one blush, instead of the blushee (as was usual). She laughed softly, just a chuckle really, trailing her hand down from Embry’s ear to her waist once again. “Up to me?” She echoed, her smile growing. “I’m gonna have to think about it,” she said, her smile quirking. “And then, after the thinking is complete, I’ll tell you your oh-so well deserved prize.”
Embry’s excitement on her behalf warmed her heart, and she couldn’t help the smile that grew on her lips. “I will, I will!” Pleased laughter spilled from her mouth. “We can go back to mine after this and I’ll take it out of my closet so you can see it. Maybe I’ll even model for you. A little special treatment,” she added with a grin. Daiane knew Embry knew what bothered her about Christmas, but to Daiane’s great relief, she didn’t call her out on it, only squeezed her hand. It wasn’t something she wanted to delve into further, and she was glad that Embry had recognized that, offering her comfort instead. Dai squeezed back, laying her head on Embry’s shoulder for a brief moment—an act that momentarily made walking a tad difficult, but one that Daiane did anyway, just to show her affection.
In the cafe, the conversation topic she’d been holding off on pushed itself to the forefront of her mind, her attempts at self-distraction failing. It wasn’t something she wanted to talk about—not today, not ever, really—but Embry deserved the full truth from her. It just sucked to know that she was about to stab a knife through the happy bubble they had made for themselves. “Okay, I… okay,” she breathed out, taking her warm cup between her palms. “So back in December, there was that Winter Carnival, right? I went to that, decided to check it out very last minute—I don’t know, I thought it might be interesting. Like that it might have some cool stuff to do or just—I wanted a distraction.” Her attention dropped to the cup she held, suddenly taking great interest in its patterns. "And I ran into Xavier, one of my friends, like immediately so I was getting that distraction. Good distraction. A slight smile graced her lips at his mention. “It’d been forever since I last talked to him, so you can imagine how happy I was to see him again. And then,” the smile fell, her mouth pinching downwards into a frown, “when we got into the line for the Ferris wheel, I… my ex, Hera, she, like, ended up beside me in the line? And so instead of going on the ride with Xay, I… went with her.” Daiane shook her head, frustration rising to the surface of her expression. “I don’t know how it happened, Xavier went on the ride ahead of me and so I was left with them. I didn’t expect it at all. I don’t know, it feels like every time I’m with Xavier, something comes up and interrupts us. Like I swear it has happened nearly every time—” She paused, catching herself as she realized how quickly she was going off topic. “Right, sorry.”
Daiane pushed her cup from hand to hand, tracking the slow movement instead of maintaining any eye contact with Embry. “So I, I get on the ride with Hera. And I’m talking, talking about something stupid, like ice cream or something—just something to fill the silence. I just want to get through it and talking distracts me. So I do that, just talk, but then they—” She cut herself off, exhaling. Dai stopped fidgeting with her cup to begin fiddling with the cuff of her sleeve. “When we were… dating… they—I would ramble on a lot and she would, she’d shut me up by… kissing me.” Her hands settled in her lap, brown eyes finally rising to meet Embry’s own. “And they—they did that. She kissed me.”
@Caticorn
