You Spin Me Round
Eve couldn't bear it. She had to see Villanelle one last time, so she turned around. Just in time, she spun to find cat-like eyes standing there looking back at her.
"Fuck it."
It wasn't going to be the last time. Eve sprinted towards Villanelle, catching up and pointing her index finger at the young woman's face.
"You know what? You're not going to walk away, not now. Everything that happened brought us together, but somehow it still kept us apart, and that's just...unfair."
Eve took Villanelle's hands and gazed straight into the blonde’s eyes.
"I'm trying to be honest," Eve took a deep breath. "I don't know what I'm doing, but I know I don't want to waste any more time away from you. The Twelve are going after both of us anyway, so why not be together?”
"Eve, I'm..."
"We can try that, right?”
“Yes," said Villanelle softly. "I knew that you couldn't stay away from my beautiful face."
"Shut up or I'm going to change my mind," Eve said, pushing her playfully.
Villanelle intertwined her fingers and leaned in for a kiss, which was cut short when Eve immediately turned her head, offering her cheek instead. The blonde then gave her a questioning glance, and Eve blushed.
"Okay, well, I'm going to take us to my apartment, and we can stay there until we have a solid plan," the brunette said as she started walking.
"No," Villanelle said nonchalantly.
"I'm sorry, what?”
"Eve, I refuse to set a foot in your apartment again." Eve wasn't particularly surprised, but she forced an expression that would keep Villanelle going. "I'm not kidding. When I broke into your house, I heard rats. RATS, EVE!”
“So what do you suggest then, drama queen?”
“Just follow me, Cinderella, you're no longer stuck with your tiny rat buddies.”
. . .
The pair walked hand in hand in comfortable silence for almost an hour before Villanelle stopped in front of the building. It was a tree-story semi-detached house, with red brick walls and a little front yard. Quite bland, nothing like Villanelle, thought Eve.
The thought faded instantly when she walked inside. Light yellow walls decorated with trendy runway patterns and vintage movie posters. A round coffee table with Vogue magazines spread all around stood in the living room, between a massive TV and a blue sofa. The shelves were filled with travel books and trinkets from all around the globe. The kitchen was pristine, white walls with dark green cabinets and, sitting on top of a table, three little potted cacti.
As elegant as the house was, it was also very empty; as far as Eve could tell Villanelle had no framed photos of herself, no pets, no nothing.
"What do you think? "Villanelle asked shyly. "It's not Barcelona or anything like it, but it's actually my favorite hiding place. No one knows about its existence, not The Twelve, not even Konstantin, just me...and, well, you know, too.”
"V, this is fantastic. It's really you and I just lov…” Eve's stomach rumbled loudly, her cheeks turning red instantly.
“Eve! Why didn’t you tell me you were hungry?” the older woman tried to answer, but Villanelle interrupted. “No, shush. Go take a shower upstairs, I’ll make us dinner. Go to my closet and borrow any clothes you like.”
Eve had no chance to respond before she was pushed in the direction of the stairs. When she got to the room, a chuckle escaped her mouth; Villanelle's bathroom would of course be pink.
Eve unclothed herself, flipped on the hot water and let it soak her body. The day had been tiring, she saw a man getting shot in the head, figured out how her friend really died and now she’s hiding with the girl she liked. The woman let out a little laugh at that. She felt like a schoolgirl on a date with her crush, except her ‘date’ was actually ‘hiding from an organization that wants you killed’ and her ‘crush’ was ‘a former assassin who used to work for said organization’. Oh well, to each their own.
. . .
Villanelle was humming along to a new wave hit of the 80's when Eve eventually got down. The blonde had changed into an oversized band t-shirt and some denim shorts, whilst the other woman was wearing a hoodie and sweatpants.
“Never took you for a New Order fan,” said Eve sitting down in one of the two chairs.
"I'm not, they’re just on my cooking playlist," Villanelle stated, turning her attention to Eve. "Will you shut off the music please? I’ll set the table for us.”
As the older woman went to shut the playlist off she let out a laugh.“ ‘Post Apocalyptic Disco Synthetic Tour’? Is that what you named your cooking playlist? Why are there just 80's songs?”
Villanelle finished setting up the table and sat down before replying. "If there was an apocalypse, and you were in an abandoned city, and for whatever reason the only source of light was neon signs, these would be the perfect songs to play in the background. They're very nice, but if you hear them playing softly anywhere, they can be very creepy.” She took a huge bite out of her spaghetti carbonara and continued with her mouth full, "And they're not all songs from the 80's, I've put some The Weeknd in there."
Eve smiled. She could hear Villanelle talk about anything for hours, like how she murdered a wealthy old man or the nonsense world she had come up with for a playlist. They were chasing each other just months ago, now they’re eating dinner together and, for some reason, it feels perfect. Life is fucking crazy, she thought.
“Eve?” Villanelle snapped her out of her head.
“I’m sorry, you were saying?”
“I was saying that you can take my bed for tonight, I’ll sleep down here on the couch. I have a spare room, but it’s full of shit. It’s my shit room. I don’t want you sleeping in my shit room or the couch.”
"What?! V, no." Eve responded almost instantly. "We can share that enormous bed of yours. I'm not going to let you sleep on the sofa like an abandoned dog and that’s final.”
They kept eating in silence until Villanelle spoke with a shy smile on her face.
“I like it, you know.” Eve looked up from her plate, a confused look in her eyes. “The nickname you gave me. V. I liked it.”
. . .
After dinner, the pair headed upstairs to the master bedroom. Eve made herself comfortable on the king-sized bed, while Villanelle went to the bathroom to take a quick shower and work on her nightly routine. A couple minutes passed and Eve got bored, so she decided to have a look at the blonde's nightstand.
Nothing too special on top of it, just a few hair pins, a box of mints and a gold necklace with a 'O' pendant. As Eve opened the first drawer, she discovered a variety of postcards from multiple locations and a novel, Blindness or 'Ensaio Sobre a Cegueira’, as written on the back cover. She set down the book and opened the second drawer. Eve couldn't see the contents of the box, so she put her hand in there and grabbed something. As Eve realized what she was holding, it was too late. She heard Villanelle's voice before she could do anything.
“Eve, why are you holding my vibrator?”
“I..I’m..” Eve couldn't get a word out, so she decided to just put the toy where she found it, as if nothing had happened. She laid down on her back, staring at the ceiling, blushing.
Villanelle laughed as she moved to turn off the lights and finally crawled into her bed next to Eve.
"You know, we should play with that cool, fun toy you seemed to be so familiar with," said Villanelle with a nasty grin.
Eve turned to face Villanelle. It was dark, the blonde couldn't see it clearly, but she knew that the other woman was throwing an annoyed look at her.
“I’m joking, Eve!”
A deadly silence lingered on the room after that. The two women were both trying to look at each other through the darkness, one comforted by the presence of the other.
“Thank you for turning”, Eve whispered
"It was my idea to turn around and never look back, but I just said it because I love you. I love you enough to let you have a normal life without me ruining everything for you. Of course, I never wanted you to leave, but I've changed since Rome. I'm not going to force you into doing anything. That said, I’m the one who would like to thank you for turning”
Eve scooted closer to Villanelle, kissing her lips. It was soft and slow, full of passion. It was nothing like she had ever experienced before, not with Niko or anyone else. Villanelle felt the same way, it was like they were made for each other.
The kiss ended and Eve rested her head on the crook of Villanelle’s neck. “We should sleep”, she said, closing her eyes.
“Yeah, we should”, Villanelle answered, putting an arm around the other woman.
“Goodnight, darling Eve”