Our New Selves
Chapter 13
“Tell me about yourself. Your new self.” Villanelle asked as she finished off her second strawberry milkshake, long past finishing her food. Eve’s plate was still half full, so was her milkshake.
“Oh uh,” Eve was slightly taken aback by the question but she should’ve seen it coming, “What do you want to know?”
“Anything.” The blonde shrugged.
“Well, you know the basics. Boring professor.” The brunette looked down, picking at her food.
“You’re anything but boring, Eve.” Villanelle stated, all too honestly. She set down her milkshake and looked the brunette in the eye, Eve wasn’t sure she realized the consequences of what she just said. Can consequences be good?
“I… Thank you. I guess I just…” Eve wanted to say she wished she had done things differently in the past. Whether that be following her dream to MI6 or stopping Villanelle from leaving 8 years ago, well… she’s coming to the conclusion that it’s a mix of both. “I guess I know I can be happier.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know, I guess if…. if I could go back in time and change things… I would.” She furrowed her brow, looking out the window, “Not everything, obviously, but there are a few things…” She trailed off, distracted by the people outside, pulling their hoods up or rapidly trying to get their umbrella over their heads.
“I know what you mean,” The blonde suddenly said, it wasn’t all that sudden but Eve was pulled out of the trance she was in and looked back at the person she was sitting across from, “I think I am happy some days but there are times where I wish I could be someone different.”
Eve was slightly taken aback by the brutal honesty of her statement but she knew she just had to roll with it.
“Well, you seem pretty happy. Like from what I can tell from when we’ve been with each other- I mean been around each other, you know in social … settings.” Eve chuckled, amazed at her continuous awkwardness and deciding to embrace it, “I just mean, you seem happy but if you want to be someone else, who would you want to be?”
“I think I would like to be....” Villanelle smiled and looked around the diner, the light shined her face in a way that made her look so young and bright, the brunette couldn’t help but smile too, “Someone like Daria.”
“Daria? The waitress?” The blonde turned back to Eve, their eyes meeting as they smiled at each other.
“The owner, Eve. Did you not see the sign out front?” She did not, nerves. The sign said: Daria’s Diner. “I want to be so content with having something that helps other people so much, like this place.”
“But you have that. Your gym helps people.” Eve tried to reassure her, she’d never seen the blonde lack confidence.
“Hmm,” Villanelle shrugged and played with her food, “Maybe, sometimes I don’t know, I guess.” She mumbled. The brunette wanted to look around and see where Villanelle went, but she knew that the whole point of this lunch was to get to know each other, again. That meant insecurities, flaws, and all.
“When I first started really teaching,” Eve started, hopefully, to get the blonde’s attention, “Shortly after you left,” She swallowed, “I had no idea what I was doing. In the classroom, I was there thinking ‘what am I even accomplishing here?’ I truly believed the kids I was teaching were walking out of the lecture with less knowledge than they came in with. My point is, it may feel like you’re not doing anything and that you have no control, but I promise you,” The brunette reached her hand out and her fingertips touched the blonde’s, “You are, Villanelle.”
“Thank you.” The blonde basically whispered. That touch was all she could focus on.
So she quickly got out of the booth, as smooth as possible with her dress, and stood up straight. “Let’s go, I want to show you somewhere.” She set a few notes on the table and started to walk off.
Eve processed quickly and stood up too, following. It was still pouring rain but all she was thinking was ‘Where to?”