Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Votra
A mass of emotions whorled in Votra as she escorted Candy into the thankfully empty restroom. Candy leaned against the counter top lined with sinks, pulling paper towels from the dispenser. Her thighs were an angry red, still plastered with sauce.
“Here, sit,” Votra said, ushering her to take a seat on the counter top. She took the paper towels from Candy’s hand and wet them in cold water, placing them against the irritated skin. “Are you alright?” she asked cautiously, though she knew the answer.
“Never better,” Candy hissed, blowing a labored breath past her lips. “Fuck, this hurts.”
Votra fought back the urge to pull Candy into her arms and instead focused her energy on plastering damp towels on Candy’s thighs. The sensitive skin was beginning to bubble, which Votra had never seen before but was immediately alarmed by. “It looks bad,” she said. “What can I get for you?”
“Nothing.” Candy’s lower lip wobbled, and she sniffled as she looked down at her poor thighs. She took in a sharp breath, dabbing at her lash line with the crook of her finger. “Sorry. I just need a second to get all this sauce off me before we go sit back down.”
“It is alright, take your time,” Votra said. “Are you sure you are alright?”
“Yeah.” Candy’s voice was weak and wholly unconvincing.
She cleared her throat, pulling some of the wet towels off her leg.
It didn’t look much better than it had a second ago, but at least she wasn’t coated in sauce anymore.
She rubbed at a spot of sauce that stained the hem of her shorts, hissing through her teeth as the rough paper towel brushed against one of the young blisters forming.
And then, she burst into tears. Votra didn’t stop herself from pulling Candy to her, holding her trembling form against her as she cried.
Anger seared through her. Votra wasn’t great in social situations by any means—if this had happened to her, she wouldn’t have said a word.
She honestly wouldn’t have even expected her meal for free.
But seeing Candy cry made her want to cause a scene. She stroked Candy’s hair gently, her other arm pulling her flush against her chest. “I will clean you up and then we will go, okay?” she murmured into Candy’s sweet-smelling hair.
“No,” Candy sobbed into Votra’s shirt. “I know I said I wanted to leave, but I don’t wanna ruin our lunch. We can stay out. I just need a second.”
The anger flickering inside Votra blossomed through her chest. “Candy, you are not ruining our lunch,” she said. “What happened is not your fault. You do know that, correct?”
“But now I’m freaking out about it and you have to stay in here with me and your food is getting cold.” Candy’s words came out in a flurry of tears and hiccups.
This felt like more than just misplaced guilt. Votra smoothed her hand over Candy’s head. “If it makes you feel any better, my dish is meant to be eaten cold.”
Candy gave a little wet laugh and pulled back from Votra, her eyes as red as her cheeks. Her dark makeup smeared around her eyes. “I’m sorry. I just don’t handle pain all that well.”
“You have nothing to apologize for.” Votra begrudgingly untangled herself from Candy. “I am going to ask for some ointment for your legs. I will be right back.”
She returned to the dining room, and their server darted to Votra’s side immediately. “Is she alright? I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to—”
“Do you have any burn ointment?” Votra asked, her tone clipped.
“Yes, of course!” He scurried away and returned with it in record speed, thrusting a giant handful of silver sachets into Votra’s hands. “We have some more food coming out for her as well.”
Suddenly, the last thing Votra wanted was to be in this restaurant anymore. “Please pack it up to go,” she said in as level of a tone as she could manage.
“I understand. I’m so, so sorry, I really am,” he said, bowing his head profusely before leaving her again.
Candy had stopped crying by the time Votra returned. She didn’t speak, settling with just leaning into Votra as she applied the ointment to Candy’s legs. This was not an appropriate time to ogle them, Votra told herself.
“That feels a lot better,” Candy murmured, pulling away from Votra to admire her handiwork. “Wow, my legs look like shit.”
“They kind of do,” Votra joked. Candy giggled, which only made Votra feel marginally better about this whole thing. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah. I’m really sorry that I kind of freaked out just now.
” Candy leaned back against the mirror behind her.
“And thank you for being so patient with all of that.” Candy’s eyes watered again and she sniffled, rubbing at them with the heels of her palms. “God, I’m sorry. I’m being so dumb right now.”
Votra’s heart bottomed out into her stomach. “Why are you doing that?”
“Doing what?”
“Belittling the way you feel. You just had food spilled on you that was so hot, you have actual burns.” Votra folded her arms over her chest. “You know that you are allowed to have feelings, right?”
Candy’s lips trembled, and she dipped her head to stare into her lap. “Oh, trust me, I do have feelings. And they’re always really big and then I cry and I make it everyone else’s problem.”
“Who told you that?” There was a protective edge to her voice that she tried to tuck away, but to no avail.
“My ex.” Candy laughed humorlessly. “I’ve always been like this.
I never just feel a little bummed or a little excited or a little scared.
Everything feels huge and Ross hated that.
The first time I got to see him shoot a scene for a movie, I cried like a baby.
I was so proud of him. And he… pretended like he didn’t know me.
He told his coworkers that he didn’t know how I got on set. ”
Votra felt like she couldn’t draw in a deep enough breath. Ross should consider himself lucky he didn’t live in Kratos, because he would be in for a hell of a time if he did.
“Perhaps this is rude to ask… but why did you stay with him?”
Candy nibbled her lower lip. “Y’know, everyone asked me the same thing.
I dunno… I guess I hoped he would change.
I always wanna assume the best in people, even if they show me over and over again that they suck.
” She sniffed. “I was trying so hard to make him likeable in my head that I let him make me think I was the unlikeable one.”
“I hope you understand now how untrue that is,” Votra said quietly, brushing a smudge of eyeliner from Candy’s cheek. “You are the most genuine person I have ever met. I wish that I could be like you.”
Candy pulled Votra in by her forearms, letting her stand between her legs. “I like you the way you are, though. I like the Votra that goes on tangents about things she loves. And the Votra that’s open about how she feels. You’re a really genuine person, too, when you let yourself be.”
Votra froze under Candy’s touch. She tried not to let herself hone in on the fact that Candy thought she went off on tangents.
She knew she talked too much. She thought she’d mastered the art of speaking just enough, not enough to take up too much space but enough to be likeable.
Enough that she wouldn’t be branded as antisocial, but not so much that she was considered self-absorbed.
Maybe she hadn’t quite mastered it yet.
“I’m saying that I like you, Votra. Don’t overthink it.” She placed a hand on Votra’s shoulder to support herself as she slid off the counter top, wincing as she did. “Okay. I can do this. Should we go eat?”
Wait, what? Votra blinked at Candy, still processing exactly what had happened. “Oh, um, I told them to pack it up to go. I thought you might want to sit somewhere more comfortable,” she stammered.
Candy liked her? Maybe she was imagining that. Maybe there was no meaning behind her words beyond the fact that she didn’t mind hearing Votra infodump.
“You read my mind,” Candy grinned, looping her arm around Votra’s.
Before they left the bathroom, Votra stopped her. “You have so much makeup all over your face,” she laughed, brushing her thumb across a smudge of eyeliner on Candy’s cheek. “There you go.”
“Thanks.” Candy paused. “For everything.”
Votra drew in a deep breath. “I understand what you are going through. I… also dated someone who was a bit of a closed door. She was not as controlling as Ross, but she did think that emotions only complicated things. And I am still learning how untrue that is.”
Candy’s eyes on Votra went soft. “We can unlearn it together,” she said. She rose on her tiptoes and pressed a feather light kiss to Votra’s cheek. “Come on. I’m hungry.”
They returned to their table just as the server was delivering two boxes of food. “Your check has been taken care of,” he said, more to Votra than to Candy. That was rude. Votra opened her mouth to say exactly that, but Candy cut her off.
“Thank you so much!” she said, collecting their food into her hands. “We appreciate that a lot.” Votra still wasn’t exactly won over, but something told her Candy wouldn’t want any more attention on her.
“We are so sorry, again,” the server said, his eyes on Votra again, and Votra didn’t keep quiet this time.
“Could you please apologize to my….” Her what? Colleague? Employee? Her brain tossed the word partner into the mix before immediately throwing it out.
But the server didn’t think much of it. “Of course. I am so sorry, miss,” he said, directly to Candy this time. “I hope that you will give us another try one day.”
We will not, Votra wanted to say, but Candy interjected. “We will! Thank you!” Votra ushered her out of the restaurant before she could make friends with the server that had gotten them into this situation in the first place.
“Aww. Poor guy. I hope he doesn’t get in trouble,” Candy said as they stepped into the cool afternoon air. Votra felt quite the opposite.