Her black rose

Are you even listening?

"Char, that was entirely incomprehensible." Mia called back to Charlotte, who'd been mindlessly scrolling through her phone when she heard a bumble of noises that were probably meant to have been a sentence or two. She made her way to the bathroom of their hotel room where she saw Charlotte brushing her teeth, catching her just in time to see her about to speak again. A gentle hand caught the brunettes wrist, pulling her toothbrush away from her mouth with a somewhat cocky look etched onto her features. "Sweetheart, I grew up with only one parent and even she taught me not to talk with my mouth full." Charlotte's eyes narrowed on Mia, the look making Mia smirk. "Lose the toothbrush and then we'll talk." Charlotte spat the toothpaste remnants into the sink, pulling her wrist from Mia's clutch and turning back to her.

"First of all, can you not play the one parent card on me please? I never know how I'm meant to react." Mia pouted with a satisfied look, urging Charlotte to continue. "Secondly, what I was trying to say was that I was almost done in here if you wanted to start getting yourself ready for bed, too." Charlotte turned back to the mirror, finishing the last of her night time skin care routine as Mia stood behind her. Without thinking, Mia placed a hand on Charlotte's hip to balance herself as she reached around her to grab her own toothbrush. It was a mindless gesture, but one that made Charlotte's stomach flutter as she looked at the hand on her hip via the mirror. Just as quickly as Mia had placed her hand there, it was gone as she stood back straight and grabbed the toothpaste. As Charlotte looked back at her own reflection in the mirror, she caught two things: the frown on her face from the now-missing contact, and Mia watching her with worried eyes.

The gesture had been such a mindless and fleeting action that Mia hadn't properly clocked where her hand had previously been placed. It felt almost like a comfortable habit; it felt right - so much so that she'd barely recognised what she'd done. But for Charlotte, it was more than that. Granted, it was another tick on the side of her attraction to Mia, but the way such a blasé touch from the redhead had left Charlotte already wanting more made her slightly nervous. These feelings to this extent? This was new and anxious territory for her. 

"You're frowning." Mia spoke, still watching Charlotte in the mirror as she began brushing her own teeth. Two words. That's all it took for that frown to become a smile. And it was a genuine smile, too. "I'm glad that the one parent of yours was also able to teach you how to recognise facial expressions." It was a far cheekier response from Charlotte than she'd normally quip back with, and it took Mia by surprise. "Oi," Mia about to speak was cut off by Char's raised brows as she turned to face her properly. "Isn't your mouth now full? Lose the toothbrush and then we'll talk."

Mia was taken aback completely, scoffing as she went. In the space of merely ten seconds, Charlotte had managed to be cheeky AND use her own words against her. It hadn't happened before, but Mia felt completely on the backfoot with Charlotte...and she actually liked it. She hoped that this side to Charlotte would come out a lot in the next week, and if she was honest with herself, way beyond the week, too.

Meanwhile, Charlotte had left Mia in the bathroom and crawled into bed, purposely picking the side that Mia had previously been laying on. It already smelt like Mia and there was a comfort in that, although Charlotte was nowhere near the point of admitting that to anyone. In fact, she was barely even comfortable with admitting to herself just how safe Mia made her feel. She nuzzled her face into the pillow for a moment, breathing in the faint scent of the redhead with a small smile.

"I don't know what you think you're doing, but I am pretty sure I'd already claimed that spot as my own." Charlotte shrugged, feigning innocence as she looked over to Mia who'd returned from the bathroom. "Char, seriously." Oh, but Mia definitely wasn't being serious. "Move." A silly grin had laid claim to Charlotte's lips as she shook her head, showing no sign of moving whatsoever. "Mia, we're both grown ups. Just take the other side. I'm not about to fight with you like two toddlers fighting over a toy." An overexaggerated sigh came from Mia, who rolled her eyes and far too dramatically threw herself down onto the opposite side of the bed. It earned a laugh from Charlotte who found herself in awe of this side of Mia; the side of Mia that she wasn't sure anyone else right now got to see. It made her warm inside, a sense of fuzziness that shadowed over the frowning of five minutes previous. 

"Fine. But this is your ten minute warning. Ten minutes, and then you're setting up to sleep on the chair for the night." The words were spoke with such conviction from Mia that they were almost believable. "Wait, I'm sleeping on the...Mia, you're joking, aren't you?" Stoic as ever, Mia responded. "Absolutely not, sweetheart. If I were you, I'd make the most of the bed for the next ten minutes. Looks like you're in for an uncomfortable night." Char shut her eyes as tightly as possible, wrapping herself up in the duvet further. "Good luck with getting me to move. I'm already asleep." There came no response from Mia, instead all Charlotte could feel was the other getting up from the bed. She opened one eye to spy what was going on and spotted Mia sat on the chair in the corner of the room, staring at Charlotte with narrow eyes. It made Charlotte get out of bed immediately with a defeated look. "Mia, really? I thought you were jo..." "Ha!" Mia interrupted Charlotte as she stood from the chair, cocky as ever. "I knew I'd be able to get you to move." And with that, Mia moved back to the bed -- to the side that Charlotte didn't want, as Char watched in disbelief. "All of that for nothing? Does anyone else know that you behave like a child behind closed doors?" 

Mia smirked. "No, and they're not going to find out, are they?" Funny, Charlotte thought, as she reminisced over the time Mia had stuck up for her at the nursery and then proceeded to tell her not to tell anyone. She really was caught up on her image, Charlotte mused. "Are you coming to bed or not?" Mia's own words roused something in her. She couldn't name it, and she wasn't sure she even recognised the feeling, but saying those words to Charlotte - although in the most innocent way - felt right. Gosh, Mia knew she was falling for her, with very little choice as to whether she wanted to or not (but, oh, she did want to). 

The pair laid under the covers on their sides, facing each other with soft smiles. There was space between them, Mia purposely keeping to her own side. The last thing she wanted was for Charlotte to think that the sole purpose of inviting her was to try and get in her pants. "Thank you, Mia. For bringing me here. For inviting me. I know we've not been here for twenty four hours yet but...I'm already having a wonderful time." The sincerity behind her words hit Mia hard. Charlotte deserved the world, and Mia? Oh, as every moment with her went by, she found herself wanting to be the person to give that to her. Even if Charlotte ended up not choosing Mia to be that person, she'd give her what she could why she allowed her to do so. "You're welcome, sweetheart. I just want you to have fun. That's all."

As Charlotte spoke back, Mia was suddenly mesmerised by the way her mouth moved as words fell from her lips, her gaze unambiguously stuck on her lips. She could hear Charlotte, but hadn't registered anything that had been said to her until she heard her name. "Mia? Are you even listening?" The words of the brunette were shy. Of course she'd noticed the way Mia was staring at her lips, in turn flipping on the butterfly switch in her tummy. "Hm? Oh, erm...no." It was an honest response from Mia, but also one which wasn't perhaps entirely coherent as her gaze still didn't falter from Charlotte's lips. She brought her thumb to her own mouth, wetting the pad of it before reaching out to Charlotte. There was a small hesitation in her ministrations, pausing her hand for half a beat as her eyes flickered back up to Charlotte's before back to her lips. Finally, she pressed her thumb against Char's bottom lip, skating it across gently several times over. She focused on one spot in particular for a second longer, her thumb circling the same place with a rhythm of intent. The motion was enough for Charlotte's body to let her down again, her lips parting almost involuntarily, her breath catching, and her eyes falling gently shut as a small shiver danced down her spine. She had convinced herself that, unlike earlier, this was the moment Mia would kiss her.

However, no sooner had those thoughts appeared, Mia's thumb was gone. Her eyes reopened to find Mia looking at her in a way that she wasn't sure anyone had ever looked at her. Twice today had she been left disappointed in not kissing Mia. Twice today did she miss Mia's touch once it had left. But countless times today had she spotted Mia looking at her with something that she wouldn't dare - or perhaps couldn't - name. It was enough to accompany that feeling of disappointment with hope. Hope that this wasn't all in Charlotte's head. That the attraction definitely was mutual. Hope that sometime soon, they'd both be brave enough to properly reach for what they wanted.

Charlotte's thoughts again were broken by an uncharacteristically small voice from Mia. She was grateful of it, really, glad to have the grounding back to reality before her thoughts let her dream too big. "You had toothpaste on your lip." Char's response was equally as small. Shy, and tired both at once. But not wanting to stop casting her eyes over Mia's face. 

"Toothpaste...silly me."