No Confessions

Ch3

"Blazes, Lucy! Your hands are frigid!" Mina cries, stepping closer to the fire. "Why am I letting you undress me? I can do so myself!"
"Hey, quit crying. I'm just about done." Lucy laughs, pulling Mina back towards her. Soft hands find Mina's hips, holding firmly but not painfully. "Devils, baby. Just be patient. Your petticoat was difficult enough, and you wore a light dress tonight!" Lucy grinned as she pulled the corset off her friend. A feeling of both warmth and coolness coming over her mid-area. "Better?" Lucy questions.
"Much." Mina replied. "Also, 'baby'? That's a new one." She teased a flustered Lucy. "What's wrong, Luce? Wherever did your wits go?"
"It–it's not a new nickname. I was calling you a baby. It is no term of endearment." Lucy huffed, arms crossed. She could feel the blush on her face and she hated it. Mina's raised eyebrow and expression only showed that she saw through Lucy's facade.
Mina chuckled at Lucy's expression. "Of course, dear Lucy." Mina turned to face her. Lucy had brought her hands to her face. 'To hide her embarrassment' thinks Mina. Truthfully, it's to hide her blush. "Oh, Lucy. Did I fluster you? Oh dear, you aren't one to fluster easily. I must be special." Lucy's hands only move as Mina's warm ones take hers. "Let me see you."
"Mina." Lucy breathes. Soft hands lowered the callused ones holding them. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I must ask you to stop."
Mina's expression dropped instantly. Taking her hands back, twisting them in front of her chest. "Lucy? What's the matter? Have I done something?" Her voice was full of concern and worry. It broke Lucy.
"You've done no wrong, Mina. I just fear if you continue this..." Lucy trailed off. Was she going to truly confess or simply play it off as a joke? They've had jokes such as this in the past.  Once, the two came from an evening of drinks before Mina and Jonathan's engagement party. The girls had played with the idea of Lucy being a man. 'Captain Westenra' they had called him.
"Ah, if you were that Captain Westenra indeed... I would become Mrs Westenra tomorrow." Looking back, she had said it with such glee. Mina had expected more laughter or a satisfied grin from her friend. But Lucy's face fell and her mouth opened with silent despair, her eyes seeming to moisten. Would Mina truely marry her if she were a man? Lucy dismissed it as the alcohol when Mina called on it, but the question never left her mind.
"If you continue like this, I fear I will fall in love with you; just as that Captain Westenra did, oh so long ago." Lucy smiled, eyebrow raising suggestively at Mina, urging her to remember.
"Mm, that Captain Westenra..." Mina trailed, playing along. "Oh how I wish I'd married them. They had charm, humor, kindness; what a person." A swooning tone seemed to coat her voice. As if Mina was actually in love with this man. With Lucy. What didn't help was the term 'person', not man and how Mina referred to the captain without showing gender. It pulled at Lucy's heart. Perhaps she shouldn't've brought him up again.
"Lucy!" Mina cried out. "Heavens! You're still in full dress! Turn around, I'll help you as your maid isn't here."
Lucy immediately protested. Mina undressing her? No, that would not do. "I can undress myself alone perfectly fine! I have no need for your assistance."
"Yes, of course." Mina hummed as she stepped closer. Putting her hands on Lucy's shoulders, she silently guided Lucy to turn around. "You are very stubborn. You know that right? I know you cannot undress alone, you always need a maid. Besides that, you wear the most extravagant dresses with a minimum of six layers, not counting your under-things. I've known you far too long for you to try and lie to me about this."
Lucy sighed, defeated. She may be stubborn, but Mina was just that small fraction worse. "Thank you, I suppose, Mina. But I can undress myself alone now. I'm nineteen now."
Mina simply hums and continues with all the clasps and little buttons in awkward places. Lucy always chooses the most complicated outfits for any day. A sign of her stubbornness. "Lucy, remind me, we are the same age, yes?"
"Yes."
"And who has the simpler clothing style?"
"You, Mina."
"And who wears the impossibly dressy outfits?"
It takes a moment for Lucy to respond. She has been bested and while she hates admitting defeat. Something she will only do for Mina. "I am." She breathes finally. "I am the person who wears the impossibly dressy outfits."
"Quite right." Mina exhaled, finishing with undoing Lucy's outerwear. "Must you wear so many layers? It's a wonder you aren't late for outings with all of..." She gestured her hands around. "This."
"Says the one who wore a corset!" Lucy retorted with a snicker. "Those are becoming a thing of old, Mina. Aside from that, they are terribly uncomfortable, not to mention restricting. They take forever to get on and off."
"They're not that uncomfortable. It's like a hug!" Mina laughs, hands coming up to defend herself as Lucy whipped around.
"If you want a hug, Mina. I'm right here! Stars and garters, do you not like my hugs?" Lucy cried with a fake hurt in her voice. "Mina, do you really hate my hugs that much that you'd rather a thing made of bone and wood to hug you?" Lucy was clearly joking, raising the back of her hand to her forehead in an exaggerated manner."I am distraught!"
Mina giggled at her friends' antics. "Lucy dear, of course not." She cooed, taking Lucy's hand down from her forehead, holding it weakly. "Do not be distraught. Now turn around again so I may get you out of this mess of fabric." Mina's tone changes, catching Lucy off guard, while once again gesturing to her friends' clothing.
"It is not a mess." Lucy mumbled. "Why are you so eager to have me undressed? And Charlotte called me Mary Ann." The remark made Mina chuckle and glance at Lucy in a way she couldn't quite set.
"It's only fair. I am here, in simply my undergarments, as you insisted I remove them to be comfortable. Yet you–you are here in the most uproarious dress I have ever seen." Mina states, taking a jab at Lucy's fashion sense. "Come, come. Let's get this off."