She's Still My Affinity

It's Getting So Cold

And so, Fanny found herself in front of Catherine, like all those times years before, clouds covering her eyes into memories, mixed between the good and the bad ones.

She wasn't sure how she got here, but was sure of something... all roads, one way or another always leaded her to Catherine.

She imagined how in another time, she would open her eyes to the blonde, and everything would be better, but not this time, not right now.

The scars of such love stayed in Fanny as invariable as the seasons, as sacred as a cathedral demolished in the middle of a war.

Right before Catherine's eyes, she was breaking. Right before those big green eyes she was aching, and there was nowhere to hide.

She could almost see it, the dream she once dreamt, the one which became a nightmare as recurring as the hours are for a day to be.

"I should go and find–" Fanny started.

"You better come in."

Fanny looked at Catherine in surprise. She expected to see spite, or even contempt on the other woman's face, but Catherine was still wearing that same inscrutable frown.

"Oh, right" - Fanny joined Catherine at the front door, careful not to let her eyes linger too long on any part of the blonde's well-tailored ensemble. As Catherine stepped aside the front door, Fanny was almost certain she shifted her coiled frame so that their arms briefly touched – a light whisper of skin on skin. That so little contact could still set Fanny's whole body on fire only deepened her disappointment in herself; she was far too old to be reduced to a mess of hormones by the mere presence of another woman.

'but she isn't just another woman' she thought sadly.

Catherine stayed uncharacteristically silent, leading Fanny to the sitting room without a word. She directed Fanny to the couch, subsequently disappearing and returning with two glasses of wine.

"Vignoble d'Alsace, your favorite, isn't it?" - she said bowing her head and suggesting a shy smile.

Fanny didn't even try to hide her surprise. - "You remember?... still?"

Catherine took a seat across from Fanny in one of the wingback chairs, relaxing into her glass of red. - "Some things are not forgotten, some things are stronger than time itself."

Fanny accepted the Vignoble and took a grateful sip. She sat perched on the edge of the couch, back ramrod straight, trying to sink into the deep mahoganies and reds of studio's decor. But her nerves refused to settle; for every second that passed, she felt more like a stranger in this place in which she had agreed to spend most of her time for the next two months.

And now Catherine was saying such things, her blood began to boil, where was such a poetic behavior while they were together?

All those countless nights she spent waiting for Catherine appeared before her and she felt beaten for almost giving in into having a civilized conversation with this woman.

"I may was tricked to be here, but why are you? this early? and where the hell are the others?" Fanny almost spit the words.

Catherine's voice lacked its usual haughty timber, instead detached and unfamiliar. It made Fanny sit a bit straighter.

"I always arrive before everyone else, I enjoy knowing the environment in which I will work, you should know it"

"I should know? You gotta be kidding me! I shouldn't know anything about you; yes, we will work together, but that's all, you're a co-worker, nothing else, make no mistake Mrs. Deneuve."