Head in the Clouds

Chapter 8: The Surprise

"Whew!" Yelled Paul.

Deidre rolled her eyes at the drunken display Paul insisted on putting on every time he got his hand on some Foe. With his cheeks red and his lips pressed against the glass, Paul downed his sixth pint of Foe, and the effects were hard to miss.

"Hey, Lisa!" He called to the scantily clad waitress. She came over to the table with a welcoming smile.

"What can I get you, boys?" She asked rather sweetly.

"Okay, I'll try not to get offended by that," murmured Deidre, who was very obviously not a boy and very obviously at the table.

"Five more pints of Foe!" He ordered loudly. It was hard not to notice the way Paul ogled her like she was a piece of meat. Deidre began to wonder if that made her uncomfortable.

"Sure thing," she agreed.

As the gorgeous waitress walked away, Deidre couldn't help but notice the way the men at her table looked at her. Henry, Paul, and Andrew couldn't seem to pry their eyes away from her exposed chest or focus on anything other than how short her skirt was. Even Clyde's eyes seemed to linger on her for a bit too long for Deidre's liking.

As she finished off her first pint of Foe, she found herself staring at the waitress too- for a different reason than the guys though. She began to wonder if she had that kind of appeal when it came to guys. I mean- she knew that the whole muscular strong lady aesthetic wasn't too appealing to most guys, but she hoped this wasn't the overall consensus.

Could she wear a dress so short so confidently? Could she expose her chest like that and have the same appeal? Probably not. Her clothes mostly consisted of fighting gear, loose pants, and boring shirts, and even if she showed more chest it wouldn't do much since her's was pretty small. Had she completely lost any way of being attractive? Did her muscles and behavior make her too manly?

"Maybe you've had enough," Henry warned Paul.

"Maybe you have a stick up your ass," Paul replied trying to bat the last drop of Foe from the glass.

The waitress re-emerged with five pints of Foe balanced on a tray. Deidre started noticing more and more differences between her and the attractive woman. For starters, the woman had rather smooth, rather pale skin, while Deidre had rather dark skin with the occasional scar or wound. The waitress had this beautiful strawberry blonde hair that fell at her thin waist. Deidre had her giant black hair covered with a scarf that day.

"Oh, you're an angel," mused Paul. Deidre couldn't help but agree, "What's your name, Sweetheart?"

"Ava," she responded in her high pitched voice.

"Well, Ava," he drew out her name, "How about you join us?"

"Join the King's Royal Guard and the prince?" She asked as though it was the silliest thing she ever heard, "My shift ends in about an hour, so sure!"

Ava went about her work as normal, but Deidre couldn't go about her night as normal. The accusations she placed against herself and her femininity were too intrusive. She rarely thought about how her strength affected the way guys viewed her, but it was now all she could think about. She didn't necessarily care to have Paul's attention- in fact, she didn't want attention from any fighter at all, but she had to wonder if a one would ever find her beautiful.

"What is it?" Clyde interrupted her thought.

She came back to earth upon hearing Clyde's voice, and immediately felt stupid for lending though to anything that stupid. Why did it matter if no one ever found her attractive? She didn't need to be loved, or have a family, or settle down. She could just run around with Clyde for the rest of her life. That's something, right?