“So, I was wondering,” Anna started, breaking Brooke from her slowly spiraling thoughts.
“What were you wondering?” Brooke asked when Anna never continued. Her heart raced at all the things it might be.
Anna stopped what she was doing and turned so that she was facing Brooke as opposed to watching her reflection.“Can I do your hair tonight?” She smiled with a small, hopeful smile.
Brooke felt a frown crease in between her eyebrows.“Well, I guess that depends.”
“On?”
“On, what you want to do with it.” Brooke had a few tried and true hairstyles. She didn’t know how she would feel with something new, and on top of that, she didn’t want to be self conscious about her hair and simultaneously self conscious about whatever her mother might decide to dig into at the wedding. The thought of it made her a little uneasy.
It was as if Anna could sense her hesitation down to the root of its cause.“If you don’t like it, we can always take it down. I was just thinking it would look really pretty if you let me braid it. It’s just a thought.”
Brooke occasionally braided her own hair. She also trusted Anna and Anna’s opinion. She nodded.“Yeah, we can try it. Like you said, we can always just take it down.”
Anna wiggled around on the counter with excitement.“Awesome. You’re going to look so hot. I already know it.”
Brooke blushed at that. She was getting used to the thought of Anna finding her attractive, but she still had not mastered the art of receiving a compliment, especially not one like that, and not from Anna.“What um… what do I need to do?”
Anna bit her bottom lip as she spun back around on the counter top. Her eyebrow lifted in a slight challenge. She made a twirling motion with her pointer finger, indicating that Brooke needed to spin around. Brooke complied with the gesture. She felt the now familiar feeling of Anna’s fingers brushing through her hair.“You’re too tall like this,” Anna said, softly. She put the slightest bit of pressure on the tops of Brooke's shoulders.“Come on, Honey-B, on your knees for me.”
Brooke was thankful that Anna couldn’t see her face with that. She could hear the teasing lilt to Anna’s voice as the words had fallen from her lips. Anna knew what she was doing, but Brooke was figuring out how to play this game right back. And while it was new and still a bit shaky, she wanted to learn and she wanted to test the waters of what it might be. She took a deep breath, conjuring every ounce of confidence she definitely did not possess.“Yes, Chef,” she murmured, her voice sounding foreign to her own ears. She lowered herself to her knees slowly and scooted back, as close to the counter as she could get.
Her response had its desired effect though. Anna’s hand gripped tighter in Brooke's hair, tugging ever so slightly. Brooke swallowed. Her heart pounded. If they kept this up there was a good chance they’d miss the wedding. Anna must have had the same thought, because Brooke heard Anna clear her throat and then the grip in Brooke's hair was replaced with the smooth bristles of an actual brush. Brooke's heart slammed against her ribcage. She could do this. Tonight, after the wedding, she could tell Anna how she felt. She finally felt confident that Anna truly felt the same. She would confess her feelings and then let herself give in to the mounting tension between them.
Chapter Twenty-One:
Brooke was adjusting to getting ready with a girl—more importantly—with Anna. She did like her hairstyle though. From the front, it looked quite similar to how it looked when she pulled it back into a low bun. Anna was kind enough to leave a few strands loose to help frame Brooke's face, apparently that was quite a good look for Brooke. She had only just recently started doing it intentionally, they often just fell free. The back of her hair, though, was done in an intricate french braid that Brooke really liked the look of. It was a much more mature version of how she usually pulled her hair back. After Anna had finished and taken a few photos, Brooke had spun around to thank her.
She beamed happily up at Anna from her knees and instantly the mood changed. A heat sizzled between them that had nothing to do with temperature and everything to do with the position they found themselves in. Anna’s fingers danced from the loose strands of hair down Brooke's jaw until her pointer finger hooked under Brooke's chin. She tilted Brooke's face up ever so slightly, commanding Brooke's full attention. She would have had it regardless, but the subtle physicality of the moment took the air from Brooke's lungs.
“What do you think?” Anna whispered, her question was not at all related to Brooke's hair. Her eyes punctuated this fact by focusing on Brooke's lips.
“I like it,” Brooke whispered back, her answer also had nothing to do with her hair.
Anna’s eyes darkened.“It looks really good,” her voice was a rumble. Her thumb traced the edges of Brooke's bottom lip.
“Thank you.” Brooke didn’t even recognize her own voice. Her hands slid up the back of Anna’s calves, letting her fingers dig in through the fabric of her joggers.
They should stop. Before it even begins, Brooke should put distance between them. The wedding venue was an hour and a half away. They needed to be on their way in less than an hour. That was not nearly enough time for anything that was flashing through Brooke's mind. Tonight. They would have the flat to themselves tonight. This could wait.
“We should get dressed,” Anna whispered. Her hand fell away from Brooke's face and she backed up on the counter, blinking a few times as she moved.
If that had happened yesterday, Brooke might have felt rejected, but now she noticed the blush that had crept up Anna’s neck, the way that Anna’s hands almost shook as they fluttered to her own lap, the way her eyes were too dark and her voice was still too rough and too deep. Brooke wasn’t being rejected, Anna was thinking all the same things that she was. And all of Brooke’s thoughts could be summed up to: she’s waited this long to have this moment with Anna, she didn’t want it to be rushed. She nodded in agreement and rocked back on her heels to stand up.“You’re right. Thank you for doing my hair, Darling. I do like it.”
Anna’s smile was soft and sweet.“Me too.”
They fell back into their morning routine for getting dressed. Anna took the bathroom and Brooke got dressed as fast as humanly possible in the bedroom. She was tying the laces of her cap-toe oxfords when Anna knocked on the door. Brooke stood and took a deep breath. She knew that Anna was going to look phenomenal. She was hoping that she would look the same. She tugged at the bottom of her waistcoat and rolled her shoulders back.“You may enter.” She could hear the nerves in her own voice.
Indigo. The color of Anna’s dress was indigo, hovering right between both of their favorites, and so deep and rich in the texture of her dress that it was absolutely perfect. Brooke had a limited knowledge of dress cuts and necklines, but for some reason, she knew that Anna’s was a Queen Anne’s. More importantly, she knew that she wished that she had stayed seated for Anna’s entrance. The bodice was perfectly fitted and the cut up the side of the dress made Brooke's jaw drop like a cartoon.
Fortunately, by the time Brooke's eyes found Anna’s she could tell that she wasn’t alone. Anna blinked a few times as a smile spread across her face. She genuinely lit up every room she entered. Brooke felt her pulse quicken as Anna stepped closer.
“You look exquisite,” Brooke said, when she finally remembered how words worked.
A blush spread across Anna’s chest.“You look…” Anna’s eyes drifted back down Brooke’s body. She licked her lips as her eyes slowly worked their way back up. She lifted an eyebrow before she spoke.“We need to find reasons to get you into tuxes more often.”
Brooke let out a nervous chuckle.“Yeah?”
