Heart's Desire

Chapter 10

I headed over to Odessa's house, the thoughts of last night still floating around in my head. Even the thoughts of me possibly having feelings for her. I mean, she was, out of everyone I know, the most genuine person. She doesn't treat me differently based on who I am. When I reached her house, I made my way up to the front and knocked on the door. It didn't take long until the door swung open, revealing a young boy and his younger sister. This must be Odessa's younger siblings.

"Is your sister here?"

"No," her brother said.

"Do you know where she went?"

Her sister leaned towards her brother and whispered something. They both giggled before playfully smacking each other.

"Mind them," a woman walked over to me, placing herself in front of the kids. "Odessa went out to where she trained with her father. Where you went last night."

"Ok. Thank you, Mrs. Stone," I said.

I turned to walk away, but her brother said something.

"Our sister has a pretty girlfriend."

I stopped in my tracks.

"Hush!" her mother said, closing the door.

I wanted to turn around, to say something, but I just kept on walking. Girlfriend? We've only known each other for a few days. If I was her girlfriend, it would take a lot longer than that. Who knows. Maybe her brother is confusing me for another woman. Finally reaching the place from last night, I found Odessa wasn't there. Her sandals were, but not her. Great. Where could she be. She never showed me what was further up from the creek. I walked along it, heading up stream. There had to be a larger area within the creek.

When I reached a bigger area, I found there was a waterfall. It wasn't big or anything, but it went into a deep pool. Sitting there, her back facing me, was Odessa. She was sunk down into the water, her head and arms were resting against the shore.

"So, you take me down to a part of the creek and don't tell me about this?" I asked.

She immediately shot up, water dripping down her muscular, well-defined back. Holy shit. I knew her abs were sculpted like they were from marble, but her back looked just as good as her abs. I found myself blushing, as my face grew warmer and warmer by the second. And her hair was down as well, to its natural length. Not like the night of the party.

"Whoa," I whispered.

"Y-Y/N?" Odessa asked.

Realization hit. I turned away, averting my eyes.

"I am so sorry, Odessa," I said.

I heard cloth being moved around before she stepped towards me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"You're good to look now," she said.

I turned and faced her, finding that there were still some droplets of water running down her arms. Not even thinking, my right hand glided up her left forearm, running up to her bicep. I squeezed the relaxed muscle, feeling how dense it was. She smirked as she raised her arm to flex. The muscle popped out even more, hardening. I swallowed hard, finding her more attractive now than I ever did. Shit.

"What brings you all the way out here?" she asked, lowering her arm.

I removed my hand from her arm, letting it find its natural place by my side. Where I wanted her.

"I just wanted to see where you were. And you didn't tell me about this place," I said.

"Waned to surprise you one day," she said. "You ruined it."

I put my hands up, backing away slightly, a smile crawling on both of our faces.

"Sorry. Let me just wipe the memory from my mind."

I didn't want to. Not after seeing her with that kind of a back.

"It's ok. I don't think I could forget this if I wanted to. It is a nice place," she glanced around the area once more.

"Why did you leave your sandals down stream?"

"I was training down there, but remembered my dad had shown me this place. He used to come here and rest and relax."

"In the same pool of water?"

She nodded, "Yeah."

"Odessa, if you ever want to relax, the palace has a place where you can."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"I couldn't ask for that."

"We also have a lot of space to train. So if you ever want to, you can train in the palace. I'd just have to meet you at the gates."

She smiled, "You'd really do that for me?"

"Of course. Anything for a friend."

That smile turned soft, something was hiding between it. As if she wanted to be more than friends.

"Your brother said something interesting to me," I said as we walked back to get her sandals.

"What did he say?"

"He said 'Our sister has a pretty girlfriend.'"

Some blush crawled onto her cheeks as she turned away from me.

"Mind him. He says literally anything that comes to mind."

"But it got me thinking."

"Yeah?"

"Do you see me that way?"

"In what way?"

"A potential girlfriend?"

More blush crawled onto her cheeks as she reached up to rub the back of her neck.

"I-I don't know. M-Maybe. I still want to get to know you and everything. I feel we need to do that first."

"But there is some attraction, right?"

"There's no doubting that," she said, turning to face me.

I stopped, stunned. She stopped and turned around.

"No hesitation," I chuckled nervously.

"Why would I hesitate? That's what I'm feeling towards you."

"I-I see."

"Can I ask you the same thing?"

"I-I can't tell if it's admiration or attraction. I think it's a mix of both. B-But there is definitely something there."

She nodded her head, "Alright."

"I-I don't mean to shoot you down, Odessa. Or give you high hopes."

"Hey, hey," she reached over and grabbed my hand. "It's alright. I understand."

Her hand. It was so warm. She had callouses all over her hand and there were some permanent skin damage on her knuckles. There were even scars littering the back of her hand and all the way up her arm. Was her entire body like that? Covered in scars and damaged skin tissue? I wanted to see all of it. All of her. Our eyes found one another and as I tried to find any sort of denial, any sort of falsehood, I realized it.

There was none.