Sparkling Cosmos {A Torchwood Story Two} [COMPLETED]

21. Funky Little Lesbians

Evelina's POV

It's Christmas Day. My third Christmas on Earth. And I'm alone.

So I decide not to be. I call up Tosh, she agrees to a night at the pub, and we meet up in Gwdihw. It's the pub in the city centre just below the bridge behind Adam Street, you know the one. It's brightly painted and has a rounded wall. At least, that's how I described it to Tosh; she just said it looks like a Home.

"Piffle!" I declare again when she repeats it in the actual pub. "I think it looks fun - and it's in the perfect spot in town for people like us who don't wanna go out clubbing or hear any of that racket!"
"Mm," my friend says in reply, a cute smile on her face cuz she knows it's no use arguing with me as I'm petty as hell, and we clink pint glasses.

I down half of mine in five seconds, and Tosh exclaims, "Jeez, Lina! Don't you remember the last time you drunk like that? Amber told me she had to push your head out the window of the cab while you were throwing up!"
I wipe my lips with the back of my hand and grin. "I'm starting to think Time Lords haven't got very big livers. Maybe the second heart took part of it over."
She giggles. "You already sound sloshed," she says, and I laugh back.
"Good. I need a night to just get drunk and chat total shit. I need to vent! And you know who we should chat shit and vent about?"

We smile at each other and say simultaneously, "Owen Harper!"

"I wanna start: I find it intensely annoying whenever he critisizes my taste for the colour red," I say, and Tosh busts into a laugh.
"He actually hates the colour? That's so dumb," she comments, and warmth spreads through me. Not just the alcohol - it's nice to talk shit about the bastard.
"Now your go."
She thinks, taking a sip of her Warsteiner. "Ooh! You know that thing he does whenever he sits down? He like, hitches up his trousers a tiny bit then clears his throat as he sits, like he's a fucking old man? That's hilarious!"
"Yes!" I reply, laughing. "I never noticed that before!"

"Oh my God, and the way he just talks about his one night stands at work? Disgusting!" Tosh adds with an arc of her hand to emphasize her distaste. I laugh with her, drinking more of my pint and signalling to the waiter for another.
"I know, right? It's worse when ya live with them," I chuckle - then my voice gets smaller. "Apart from, yanno, Suzie and Gwen."

My coworker scrunches up her delicate oval face, her mouth turning into a straight line. "Sorry Evy. I didn't think."
"Nah, it's okay." I wave away her guilt, instead chucking her under the chin. "I started us talking about him. Guess we can't let him go." I empty the glass and start on the next one the waiter set down, and through my peripheral I see Toshiko fumbling on her words.

"What is it?" I ask after I lick my lips and put the glass down.
Her fingers fidget a while, til she says earnestly, "I think I'm slowly getting over him. Slowly. I've been going on dates, and they've been going well, though there's never really been second ones. I've taken down the card he gave me and the photo of us two - they're in my memory box now. It's just hard whenever I see him and-"
"And you still work with him," I say in understanding, placing my hand over hers. She nods, and looks so hopeless that I chuck her under the chin again. "Hey, look. There's plenty of other coworkers you can lust over. Like me, for instance. Wouldn't I just look great naked?"

I play it up for laughs, and thankfully she does, her face flattening out to return to her regular radiance again. Then it goes away again. "Evelina... I think I wanna know more about you and Owen."
I frown. "Why? It's just friends."
She gives me a look, and honestly, who am I kidding? "I think, if you tell me everything, I'll accept that we're just not meant to be and he's done too much shit for me to even be thinking about him. You know?"

I consider it. I do kind of understand, though won't I just be hurting her feelings? I've tried hard to keep mine and Owen's private life together away from her since I found out she liked him, but it's been hard. I hate keeping stuff from my friends. But, I mean, if she wants to know...

So I tell her everything. And I mean everything. Barring obviously describing the actual sex we used to have, I tell Toshiko about his protection over Amber and I, how we sleep together in the innocent and dirty sense of the word, how adorably nervous for me he was when I turned into a Time Lord, how we were united in our ordinary little processes and rituals at a home that at some point I hadn't noticed turned into ours.

And then I apologize to her.
"I'm sorry, Tosh. By the time I even realised I liked him, and something had happened between us, you told me you liked him too. And it felt like such a betrayal to you. But I couldn't help myself. I don't know how to fully explain it to someone who's never been in the same situation, but..." I look her directly in her brown eyes; "to come from a place where you're physically used so much, never liking any kind of touch ever - when I started feeling things for him, it... it made me realise that I could have the kind of physical relationship that didn't come with exploitation, that was two-sided, that I wanted. It was the first time I could remember wanting someone like that, after everything that happened to me."

My voice gets smaller and smaller, as does the distance between Toshiko and I. We lean into each other until we're nose to nose - and then lip to lip.
Our kiss draws long and sweet, dreamy like the perfect kiss should be. Her lips are soft and taste like the raspberry lip balm she put on a few minutes earlier. Neither of us open our mouths, our tongues kept firmly in our own; we both know that this is nothing more than comfort.

Doesn't mean it still isn't good.

After a few moments, she breaks away first, her lips slowly detaching from mine with a soft pop. I lean away from her, regarding her reaction to our embrace, and she sucks in her lips, thinking over it all.
I can't resist: "Still wanting the taste of me?" I say cheekily, and she immediately pulls her lips out of her mouth to part them and poke her tongue out at me.
"Shut up. You're not that great a kisser."
I fake-scoff at her. "Denial! I'll have you know I'm a greater kisser than even Captain Jack Harkness."
"Wait, when did you kiss Jack?" Tosh asks, all thoughts from our friendly kiss gone as she leans back in inquisitively.
I lean in the same way. "He was sad and I was there. Story of my life, eh?"

She shakes her head as she leans back again, downing the rest of her drink. "God, we're sad, aren't we? I mean, here we are at half two on Christmas night, moaning about our coworkers, single and lonely. This is what Torchwood does to you."
I nod in agreement. "Our entire team should be on the NHS for anti-depressants."
Tosh laughs again, but nods. "I wouldn't mind some of that."

I start drinking again while Toshiko gets a text and reads it through. As I set down the now-empty glass, she rolls her eyes and pockets her mobile again.
"Guess who?"
"Jack," I say decisively, and she nods.
"He wants us to check out the Ritz dance hall next week, Tuesday. That fucking sucks, cuz I'm meant to be going to my grandfather's birthday."
"Shit, really?" I say, eyes wide. "Well, go! I'll cover for you! Your granddad's been around for yonks; he won't be around for much longer, you have to see him now. And isn't 88 a big number in Japan? You have to go!"

"Okay, okay, I'll tell him you're going instead," she agrees, taking out her phone again. "I hope you can keep to that promise, cuz I wanna dress up real nice."
"No worries; no problems in this old conker," I say drunkenly, tapping on my chest for emphasis - but even as I say it, I can feel the beginnings of the pattern of four and Rift energy waking up again.