Just Pretending (Bubbline/Sugarless Gum)

Beginner's Butterflies

A/N Hello, hope you enjoy! Thank you all for your patience!

Later that day, as the sun started to set and the night was approaching, Bonnibel couldn't help but wonder when Marceline had become more of a source of comfort than one of irritation for her. At the beginning of the week, she thought she wanted to get the mission over as quickly as possible, but after they found out how much danger they seemed to be in, Bonnibel relished in the small comforting gestures Marceline had been offering her, and when Marceline rested on her lap after they spent the afternoon talking, she felt that persistent flutter in her stomach that's just gotten worse the past few days.

She wanted to blame it on the rather heavy kissing they shared only yesterday when she let her normally carefully held control drop in favor for her curiosity. Anyone with eyes could realize Marceline was perhaps more good-looking than the average person, but she feared it might be deeper than some sort of physical urge, because if it was just a physical urge then whatever, she'd had her curiosity sated and could get on with her life. But earlier, when Marceline held her hand and later fell asleep on her, Bonnibel couldn't help but feel how right it felt, like that was how things were supposed to be, a piece of knowledge that somehow seemed to be inevitable and incredibly disorienting. That was what worried her, and in the face of worry, what did she like to do? Throw herself into some work.

Which was what she was currently doing, now in the small library the resort offered, seeing if she could find what type of demons are affiliated with magic, as Marceline could only offer minimal information, understandably admitting that she never got very friendly with the meaner demons during her visits in the Nightosphere. She started skimming through the pages and stopped on a page that looked rather promising. Although, halfway through the page, she felt her hair stand up on the back of her neck and she froze, suddenly feeling like she wasn't alone anymore, despite hearing no one open the door. She quickly stood up and turned around, and gasped when she saw the back of someone disappear round a shelf. She ran after the person, rounding the same shelf the other did but found no one there. She glanced over at the library door and found it swinging closed, and mentally sighed, wondering if she was being spied on by a culprit or just some creep. Despite knowing whoever it was, was likely already long gone, she exited the library and looked through the few nearby hallways, and nearly ran into the janitor, who grumbled past her.

She shook her head and returned to the library, hoping her book was still open on the page it was when she left. She paused when she noticed someone in her seat reading the book she had just been perusing. She felt worry rise in her stomach, on edge, unsure who she could and couldn't trust at this resort, especially when she was reading something so obviously in search of answers. Before Bonnibel could question the woman sitting at the table, who she noticed to be the blue-skinned woman from the past group meetings, who was always accompanied by an equally blue girlfriend. The woman must've realized she was being stared at and looked up at her. "Sorry, were you reading this? I saw you get up from reading this earlier and I wanted to see what it was."

"Yeah," she started laughing nervously, hiding her fidgeting hands behind her back, "pretty interesting stuff in there!"

"Yeah," the woman said, glancing back down at the book. She seemed to be weighing something in her mind before she stood up and handed the book to Bonnibel.

"Thanks," Bonnibel said, taking the book and tucking it under her arm, thinking how strange of an interaction this was starting to feel.

The woman, turning to leave, suddenly stopped and stepped in close to her and murmured, "My girlfriend disappeared this morning, on page sixty-three is what I saw - or thought I saw standing at the edge of my bed this morning before she was gone not two hours later."