Natalia Queen was in full meltdown mode.
Cassie had seen her freak out before—over a mission going wrong, over Oliver doing something stupid (which, to be fair, happened a lot), over losing an archery bet to Roy—but this?
This was new.
Because Nat wasn’t pacing back and forth in their shared hotel room after a mission gone bad. She wasn’t ranting about a villain.
She was ranting about Stella Wayne.
"This is a crisis," Nat declared, throwing her hands up. "An actual crisis."
Cassie, lounging on the bed with a bag of chips, raised an eyebrow. "What happened?"
"She happened!" Nat exclaimed, pointing aggressively at the air. "Stella happened!"
Cassie popped a chip into her mouth. "Gonna need a little more detail than that, babe."
Nat groaned, dragging her hands down her face before dramatically collapsing onto the bed beside Cassie. "I like her."
Cassie blinked. "Yeah, no shit."
"No, you don’t get it—I like like her!" Nat shot up, looking frantic. "Like, I think about her all the time. I wanna spar with her just to be close to her, and I definitely spend too much time staring at her hands—"
Cassie choked on her chips. "Her hands?"
"Have you seen them?!" Nat exclaimed. "She’s got that whole graceful-but-deadly thing going on, and it’s—unfair!"
Cassie wheezed. "Oh my God."
"And don’t even get me started on her stupid hair," Nat continued, throwing her hands up again. "She did that thing where she tucked it behind her ear today, and I almost— I don’t know! Died?! Exploded?! I just stood there like an idiot!"
Cassie, now fully invested in this chaos, nodded along. "Go on."
"And her voice, Cass! It’s all low and dry, and when she calls me ‘Queen’ in that stupid sarcastic way—" Nat let out a strangled sound. "I think I have a problem."
Cassie smirked. "Yeah, the problem is you’re in love with her."
Nat froze.
Cassie grinned. "Ohhhh. You are."
"I—" Nat opened and closed her mouth, clearly short-circuiting. "No. Shut up."
"You’re so in love with her," Cassie teased, poking Nat’s forehead. "And you’re freaking out because you just realized it."
Nat groaned, flopping back onto the bed. "This is the worst day of my life."
Cassie laughed, shaking her head. "So when are you gonna ask her out?"
"I need to lie down forever," Nat mumbled into the pillow. "Don’t talk to me."
Cassie just grinned.