Unexpected Romance

Chapter 3

Natasha:
The sun shining into the room wakes me up bright and early. I attempt to get up out of bed only to realize I can't. I'm laying on my side and I look over my shoulder to see Valerie's arm fully around my waist with her body pressed against me. What the hell? I don't know how long she's been on me for but I don't plan on staying like this.

"Val. Hey, Valerie," I whisper loudly in her direction.

She starts rubbing my stomach with the hand that's around my waist. Thank god, she's waking up.

"Val," I say again to hopefully wake her up faster.

Valerie:
I wake to the sound of Nat whispering my name. I slowly open my eyes to my body against hers and my top arm around her waist. As I come to realize what I'm doing, I quickly get up.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I have no idea why I was like that."

She just gets out of bed and heads to the bathroom. I feel so bad about it. What am I supposed to do in that situation? She takes a while in the bathroom and, normally, I would yell out some dumb shit about it but I have a feeling it's not the right time to do so. She comes back into the room to me sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Bathroom's all yours. Don't take too long, I want to get on with today."

I'm in no position to argue with this girl right now so I avoid eye contact by looking down and just say "Thanks" and head to the bathroom to get ready.

The mission we've been assigned to doesn't start for a few weeks so, luckily, we don't have to worry about any of that for now. Nat leads us to a small cafe a few stores down from the hotel. She's been super quiet since we woke up this morning, I still feel really bad.

Natasha:
I always expect too much from Valerie. Apparently hoping for a silent breakfast is too much to ask for.

"I'm sorry about this morning," I hear from Val just as I'm lifting my toast to my mouth.

I put down my food and look at her slightly irritated. I think I made my irritation towards her a little too obvious because she immediately stops looking at me and starts to slowly eat her food.

"It's fine."

"It doesn't feel fine. You basically ignored me the whole morning."

I really wanted to say "it's fine" for a second time and completely forget about this whole thing but knowing Val, I can't until I say something more.

"I really don't know what you want me to say, Valerie. You were wrapped around me. What do you expect me to say about it?" I accidentally snap at her.

She stares at me for a little while. Did I upset her or something?

Valerie:
Once again, I realize I'm staring at her. I tend to do that a lot, I don't know how to stop it. I quickly look away and finish my breakfast. She probably thinks I'm so weird. She gets up, pays for breakfast, and walks out of the cafe without saying another word.

Natasha:
Her staring at me doesn't seem to bother me as much as it used to. Actually, now that I think about it, Valerie doesn't bother me that much at all anymore, as much as I act as it does.

"So um. What do you have in mind for today?" Val asks me gently.

"Grocery shopping, we really need to since we'll be here for so long."

"Ohh, okay. Good plan. Where's the nearest store?"

I gesture to the other side of the street that we're standing on. "Just on the other side and down the street a little. Come on."

I wait for an opening in traffic and start crossing the busy street. I grab Val's wrist so she doesn't fall behind, especially on a street like this. We walk past some cute shops that I make a mental note of so I can remember to come back to check them out.

Valerie:
Natasha leads us into the market and grabs a shopping cart.

"So what should we get? What foods do you like?" She asks me.

"I dunno, maybe some bread, water, snacks of some sort?" What a dumb response on my part. I couldn't have thought of anything I like?

"Okay then. Why don't we just walk around and maybe something better will come to mind?" Nat suggests.

"Something better? What, my three ideas weren't good enough for ya?" I jokingly say with a smile.

She laughs and says, "Nope, not at all."

As we're walking around the market, we occasionally find some things we like and toss them in the cart. We don't fill the cart up too much because we do have to walk back to the hotel with everything.

Natasha:
Never in my life did I think Valerie could make me laugh. But there's a first to everything, right? I'm kind of starting to warm up to her. She's not too bad. Our walk back to the hotel is quite nice actually. I'm starting to enjoy our small talk. She has this way about her, talking to her is, in a way, comforting.

When we get back to our room, I immediately take a shower. Being in the city makes me feel so dirty. In the bathroom, I can hear Valerie turn on the TV. I can tell she's just flipping through the channels, not sticking to one. Cute. I chuckle thinking about it.

Valerie:
I'm watching TV in the bedroom when Natasha comes in with nothing but a towel. Holy shit. I do everything I can to not stare at her for once. She's actually really pretty. Something about her standing there in a towel with wet hair makes my heart race. I can feel myself blush a little so I quickly get up to take my shower.

Natasha:
There's no doubt in my mind that Val just blushed from looking me up and down. I get dressed and lay on the bed to continue whatever she was watching on TV.

"Hey, Nat, can you bring me a towel? Your rude-ass took the last one!" Val calls from the bathroom.

I roll my eyes at her comment but I get up to get her a towel anyway. I knock on the door.

"I have your towel, should I leave it out here or...?"

"No, the door's unlocked, can you just put it on the floor in front of the shower?"

I open the door to the bathroom and walk in to put the towel down. I walk back towards the door to leave and go to grab the doorknob. Something stopped me and I hesitate before opening the door and leaving.

Valerie:
It feels so good to be clean. I dry my hair just enough so it doesn't bother me when I'm trying to sleep and get dressed for bed. I come back to our room and get in bed next to Natasha.

"Enjoying the show?" I ask her with a slight laugh.

"I have no idea what's going on so no, I can't say that I am."

She gives me a smile with her reply, I don't see her smile very often, unfortunately. She has a nice smile, I wish she did it more often.

"Oh really? Because it looks like you're very invested in it."

She playfully shoves me in the arm. "Oh, shut up."

I can't help but smile. The conversation dies so I pick up the book I brought with me to read for a bit before heading to bed.