Inner Desires

9.

Although nothing seemed to change, the weeks after Kimberly asked Hanna out were quite intense. Hanna felt as though her head was constantly in the clouds. If her ability to constantly run away into the parallel world she lived in was already astonishing, it definitely increased during that time. She would often catch herself randomly fantasizing, looking forward to her next date with Kim.

The truth is, though, what they did was not too different from what they were used to. Both girls would go shopping, hang out at pubs or cafés or visit each other at home. The main difference was that now, apart from conversations, they shared cuddles, kisses and a lot of tenderness. Yet that was only when they were on their own. They had decided to keep it a secret and see how the relationship developed. So far, in spite of the lack of sex, they were both enjoying it a lot.

Neither of them had yet dared to take that step. Hanna enjoyed the platonic element; most of her relationships had consisted solely of sex, and it was nice for once to feel that there was much more than that, without feeling pressured or used. Their relationship had an innocent touch, which she found somehow sweet and felt that it would be sad to lose that magic. On the other hand, Kim was slowly growing impatient. As much as she enjoyed wrapping her arms around the brunette or holding her hand, she could hardly wait to have a more intimate contact with her. Even so, she would never say it aloud; partly because she didn't want Hanna to feel compelled, and partly because she was very nervous about it herself. In fact, she was just as frightened as her friend...

It was Sunday. The last day of the week was probably Terhi's favorite. She liked to relax after the week's hard work and the weekend parties. Maybe sit in the balcony with a good book, or just a hot tea in the best of company. On that very Sunday, she was leaning more towards the latter. She immediately thought of her dear friend Hanna to join her.

Actually, they hadn't seen each other that much in the past weeks, apart from a short walk after the Little Europe choir rehearsal and one of the visits to The Rainbow Garden with Zach and Kim. The Finn had been pretty busy with work; and for some reason, most of the times when she called Hanna had something else to do. She couldn't let their friendship grow cold – especially when she was so sure that the brunette was slowly getting ready to accept her inner desires. Therefore she thought that Sunday would be a good chance for the two of them to catch up.

The weather was nice, so she strolled (6) to Hanna's place. She already knew the way like the back of her hand; besides, she thought it could be a good way to exercise. The end of the summer was getting close. It was still warm, but not stiflingly hot anymore, and some leaves were already changing from green to a beautiful shade of brown, almost golden. And to make the atmosphere even more soothing, the streets were almost empty. She liked having enough space around herself.

"Oh... hey Terhi!" Johanna seemed very surprised to see her "What's up?"

"Hello! I was just walking around the area and thought I could come over and pay a visit to Hanna..."

The way Johanna's eyebrows raised made her feel even more puzzled.

"You've come looking for Hanna?" she repeated "Wasn't she with you?"

"What? No! Last time I saw her was on Thursday..."

"That's really odd" Johanna frowned "She told me two hours ago that she was going to your place to watch a movie..."

"I'm afraid you got it wrong."

"She said 'I'm going to see a movie at Terhi's'. What could I possibly misinterpret in there?"

"Are you sure she mentioned me?" the Finn wondered.

"Well, yes! I asked her what film it was, and we joked that knowing you, it'd probably be something very dramatic and complicated."