No Confessions

Ch16

"Mina?"
Mina was awoken by Lucy's hand on her eyes. Something she often did if Mina was crying in her sleep. It was a very common occurrence. Mina often had nightmares that caused her to uncontrollably cry, even when she's asleep.
"Lucy? Hey, was I—did I do it again?" Lucy nodded. "Sorry." Mina was always apologizing whenever it happened. She never understood why, but she had some strangely weird urge to apologize everytime. Lucy always assured her that there was no reason to apologize but it never seemed to stay in Mina's head.
"Mina," Lucy started.
"Yes, yes, I know. I don't need to apologize; I still wish to, you just tell me not to." Mina mumbled, sitting herself up. Lucy rose with her. "What time is it?"
Lucy sat up and leaned forward. Her eyes squinted in the darkness and her nose scrunching in concentration made Mina smile silently. "Two? Maybe fifteen and two. It's so difficult to tell without light."
Mina nodded. "I assume you wish to resume your rest?"
"Only if you feel fine enough to. If not, I'll stay up with you." Lucy returned. Mina acknowledged Lucy's statement with another nod. She didn't feel well enough to return to sleep so she sat up further and stared into the darkness; letting her thoughts take her wherever they pleased.
"May I ask," Lucy's usually soft voice, coated with a rasp from sleep, came from Mina's side. "What were you dreaming about? I'm afraid to say you were sleep talking."
Mina shifted to face Lucy's silhouette. "I—I can't remember." A lie.
Mina had dreamed that she and Jonathan had gotten into a fight over where Mina's heart lied. She argued that it lay with her, no one else. Jonathan argued that her heart lied with Lucy. That was the reason she broke up with him. When Jonathan started listing off his reasons, Mina had started crying in her dream. Mina had pleaded with Jonathan to be quiet. He did not. Mina was in tears as Jonathan went on, scoldingMina for loving another, let alone a woman. Let alone Lucy.
Mina wasn't asking him to stop because he was speaking nonsense. Mina was asking him to stop as she became aware it was a dream, and she knew it was all her own mind. It meant that Jonathan's reasons in her dreams were most likely her true feelings in the waking world.
Lucy had entered the dream at some point. Mina remembered distinctly that Lucy was holding a bouquet of yellow flowers. Daffodils. She had dropped them upon seeing Mina crying and Jonathan all but hounding down on her. Lucy ran to her friend's side, glaring at Jonathan as she came to embrace Mina. Feeling Lucy's arms around her, Mina sank to the floor and began to cry into the blond's shoulder, hiding her face in her hair.
Something in Mina grew when Lucy was holding her crying figure. Lucy was whispering comfort and assurance to Mina, and Mina's voice flooded  from her. She confessed her feelings, the true reason she broke up with Jonathan, her rules and how she was betraying them as she told her this. Lucy simply held her closer and told her she loved her. Nothing in the world could've prepared Mina for her bodies reaction to those three simple words
Then Lucy's hand was laid on her eyes, taking her from her dream.
"What did you hear me say?" Mina asked tentatively. She wondered how much she had said and how much she unconsciously told Lucy.
Lucy hummed in thought. "Something about Jonathan, wondering who you love and who has your heart, the word 'stop' a lot." Lucy pointed out, looking at Mina. Her eyes asked her to continue. "Daffodils were mentioned, I was mentioned; quite a lot actually. What was I doing in your dream? Can you remember?" Lucy's mind got caught on the daffodils. In her studies of victorian flower language and symbolism, a study she knew Mina was well educated in, daffodils symbolize both or either broken love or unrequited. Mina's dreams often held flowers with an even deeper and confusing meaning than the dream itself. Daffodils could symbolize her broken love between her and Jonathan, but her mind wandered further. Perhaps the unrequited love came into play, and Mina did have her heart set on another man.
Or woman.
"I—I got into a fight with Jonathan." Mina admitted. "I might as well tell you everything. It's not anything worth hiding."
"I'm not pressuring you to say anything you do not wish to, Mina." Lucy answered.
"Jonathan was mad at me for breaking up with him. He wanted to know the reason my love for him dwindled. He assumed there was another who had my heart." Mina mumbled. She decided to leave out who exactly had her heart. "You had come in, with a bouquet of daffodils, and saw me crying. You, being you, came to my side to comfort me...then you—your hand was on my eyes."
"Ah." Lucy smiled in surrender. "My bad. Nothing else?" Mina shook her head, lying. "Mina, do you love him?"
The question came from nothing. It was simple and naive curiosity on Lucy's part. It broke a long minute of silence and scared Mina, who let out a squeak as the question left Lucy. "Do you?"
"No." Mina answered flatly. "The only one who has my love is you, my dear Lucy." She added with a giggle. Plausible deniability was a wonderful thing. The two girls could 'flirt' as much as they wanted and neither would know each other's true intentions or meanings behind their words.
Lucy smiled, a blush hidden in the darkness came over her. "I seem to be the only person who is worthy enough to have Miss Mina Murray's heart. I shall protect it with my life." Lucy joked, nudging her friend.
"I don't doubt for a second you won't." Mina added, feeding into the two girls quiet laughter. It was only two in the morning after all.