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“Oh ew.” Sasha grumbled, swiping at the greenish-yellow goo.
It covered her shoulders, hair, headpiece, and to her disgust had found its way into her boots. She dumped the massive fur wad that was her cape into a barrel of water that she desperately needed to replace and growled at the goop when it refused to come off.
“Oh, come on! Stupid olm with memory issues-”
“Sash?”
She felt herself jump, dropping the cloak into the liquid with a splash, droplets flying up ridiculous amounts to douse her face. Her face lit up with embarrassment; who was in her quarters at this time of night anyways?
“Gah! What?!” She snapped, spinning around to find herself face to face with Anne.
Oh
“Woah!” Anne replied, flustered. She began to back away, approaching the door with a guilty expression. “Sorry, if you’re busy I can go, Grimes just told me I could come in and-”
“No no! I’m sorry for snapping at you.” Sasha replied quickly, brushing a sodden piece of hair from her face.
“Oh. Okie dokie. I just thought I’d check on you. You’ve been awfully quiet since the mission.” Anne asked, resting her hand on Sasha’s shoulder.
Sasha looked down at Anne, smiling slightly as she felt her spirits lift just looking at her.
“I didn’t realize that.” She said, turning back to her bucket and continuing to scrub.
“I mean, you weren’t at dinner..”
“I missed dinner?” Sasha inquired.
“Yeah. I actually brought you a roll.” Anne said, brightening as she pulled out a squashed paper bag with a rock like lump of bread in it. She tossed it in Sashas direction where she easily caught it and examined it briefly. After a quick look over, Sasha grinned broadly, grabbing it and stuffed it into her mouth. She made a small noise of happiness before giving Anne another smile, gesturing for her to come over.
“Thanks bae!” She said, giving Anne an awkward side hug with her wet hands.
“No problemo dude!” She said, squeezing back tightly. “What are you doing?” She asked, looking into the barrel.
Sasha sighed, losing some of her fervency as she grabbed a mirror from the box by the barrel.
“The mission today was disgusting. I still have olm snot all over my cloak.” She griped, eyeing herself before setting the mirror down.
Anne laughed, the noise like tinkling bells as she plucked something from Sasha's hair and dropped it in a little basket, one that resembled a crude trash can which sat by Sasha's feet.
“Not just on your cape.” Anne teased, continuing to pull chunks from Sasha's hair as the blonde got slowly more still.
“Ugh, this is so gross.” Sasha whined, pulling something off her elbow and looking Anne up and down.
Anne laughed, pushing Sasha playfully and grinning as she spoke.
“Big bad Sashy is scared of a little goo.” She said sarcastically, weaving her hands into Sasha’s hair and trying to scrape off more of the mucus.
“Shut up,” Sasha groaned. “It’s boogers and ear mush from an ancient olm, and it’s all over me.” She said,
Anne giggled again, and Sasha could feel the warm air from her breath on her shoulders. With her prying, another clump came loose in Anne’s fingers, and thudded into the bin.
“Yuck.” Anne said, looking at her slimy fingers.
“I knowwww. How did you get cleaned off anyways?” Sasha asked, curious at how Anne’s chocolate curls were smooth and gunk free. Even though there were still her signature branches and leaves that seemed permanently attached.
“Ha, me and Sprig went over to this lake and swam around for a bit.” She replied lightly.
Sasha couldn’t really concentrate with Anne’s gentle hands in her hair but she made some sort of incoherent curious noise. She couldn’t pull much of the substance off her head like Anne, due to still being in the barrel of water up to her elbows. Still, Sasha tried to be as helpful as she could.
“It’s just stuck to you.” Anne said finally, after the two had stood in relatively comfortable silence for a few moments.
“Oh joy.” Sasha replied sarcastically.
It went in like that for a few minutes, occasionally with faux insults traded between them. Anne’s hands were soft, and they smelled nice.
“There. That’s the last of it.” Anne said, exhaling lightly.
They were so close, Sasha could feel Anne’s breath on her nose, and she felt her heart start to race. Color spilled into Anne’s cheeks, but Sasha didn’t notice. She was too busy looking deep into Anne’s eyes, the clear blue a shade deeper than Sasha remembered, trying to ignore the luminescent mushrooms that cast an angelic warmth on her mahogany skin.
“Thanks.” Sasha breathed back.
Anne hadn’t moved away yet, and her hands were still partially wound in Sasha’s hair. Something had changed, and where their skin touched there was a burning warmth. Sasha wanted to lean in and close the distance. Anne didn’t seem eager to leave either, but Sasha found all the smooth words she could have said trapped in her throat. They stared at each other in silence, before Anne inhaled shakily again, and then stepped away.
Sasha felt her heart fall, but reminded herself that her and Anne were just friends. Obviously, because Anne could never like her in that way. No matter how badly she wished she did. Anne gave one more small smile before saying;
“Well. It is getting late, so I probably should get back to the Planter’s.”
She had the tiniest glimmer of disappointment in her eyes, stepping away again, awkwardly moving to the door.
“Oh yeah. Sorry for keeping you up and wasting your time helping my squeamish self.” Sasha responded, her smile now the slightest bit forced.
“Really, no prob Sash. And… spending time with you could never be a waste.” Anne said.
Sasha felt her stomach flip, and she watched as Anne moved to the door, and slipped out with nothing more than a mild breeze following her exit. She almost wanted to scream, frustration and regret clouding her better judgement. Come on, coward. She berated herself. Of course it was in this situation she couldn’t grow a pair. Come on Sasha. You’ve led an army. How hard can it be to kiss your best friend? She thought, and before she was crossing the floor of her room and slipping out the door after Anne.