Whispers and Silent Motion (GirlxGirl) (Lesbian)

Chapter 4

Valeriya spent many weeks at Toni's apartment, days beginning to blend together.

"What's the date?" She'd ask finally as Toni wandered through the living area.

 "Don't worry about it." She shot back, glancing at the young Russian. Toni's voice was cold and stern, having remained in that tone since Valeriya had taken residence. She never tried to hide her disdain for the girl. The room was quiet after that, Toni took this as a sign to leave, as she often did during moments such as these.

She didn't get a chance to go near the door, hearing a loud shuffle behind her followed by, "are you serious?!" Valeriya was to her feet now, sending a poisonous gaze to Toni.

"You killed my family, kiddnapped me, you're holding me here against my will and you haven't honored your damned 'proposal' like you said you would?! What am I here for? Why won't you just kill me already?! I'm no good here, you don't need me." She continued, taking a step forward. Valeriya took in a breath and watched Toni's reaction, gritting her teeth. The other didn't act out like she wanted to at all, she just stood there and looked at the ground in front of her.

 "You said you would teach me skills... You would give me a chance to do something with my life and you haven't done shit." Her anger boiled over at this point, trying all she could not to provoke Toni, but her frustration was too prominent to calm down.

 "Hey, it isn't like that..." The older woman retorted in a sigh, turning now to look at Valeriya.

"It's not? Then what?! You don't trust me enough to let me leave to the store on the corner. You only spoke to me when you need me to clean for you, I'm not your maid! I am here doing nothing while you're out fucking around!"

"What the hell are you, my wife?! Shut up! Just, shut up..." Toni brought her covered hands up to her face and rubbed there for a moment before stepping over to Valeriya, eliciting a gasp from her. She stepped back suddenly, expecting to get hurt or even killed. She often forgot that the woman in front of her took her in after killing her family in cold blood. Her thoughts distracted her, not noticing how close Toni was to her until the other grabbed her arm tightly; causing her to scream.

 Toni's other hand shot up and clapped over her mouth, "shut up! Shut the fuck up!"

She hissed, "I'm not going to hurt you, calm down! Okay... Are, are you calm...? I'm going to take my hand off your mouth now..." Toni slowly brought her hand down and Valeriya only stared at her, her heart racing.

"I didn't mean to scream... I was frightened." She pulled her arm out of Toni's grip and backed up until she was sitting on the couch.

"I'm sorry." Toni said simply as she looked at her captive, coming around to sit next to her.

"I'm not good at this stuff..." She continued, wringing her hands together to feel the leather gloves rub against eachother.

 "You weren't supposed to live, you know that. I didn't expect to have one of my targets living at my place, you know." Valeriya turned her head to look at her, folding her own hands neatly in her lap.

 "I hadn't expected this either, truly." The whole situation made her laugh now, as odd and demented as it was.

 "Maybe since we'll be living under the same roof for... Awhile, to say the least, we should learn more about eachother." Toni suggested timidly, breaking her tough facade momentarily to hopefully coax Valeriya into talking to her.

She hated to admit it, but Toni really did want to try and communicate with her new room mate. The risk of it was exciting to  her and it scared her all at once. She knew that if her boss caught onto what was going on, it would be her neck on the line. At this point, though, she didn't care. This could be her way out of the business for good, if Valeriya would prove to be a good replacement that is. She hoped and prayed to whatever was ruling those Heavens she heard so much about about, determined for this to work.

"Learn more about each other?" Valeriya spoke up, thinking it over. A silence stretched between the two for a long series of minutes before she began to speak again.

"Alright, deal. You first..." She tried, looking over to Toni, "tell me why you do what you do." Another stretch of silence. Toni broke it this time.

"I'm good at it." Was all she would reply with.

"You're good at it? That's all you can say? Do you... I don't know, do you ever think about what this does to people?" Valeriya asked in a bewildered tone.

"Sure, I used to. You can't be sensitive in a job like this, girl. It's dangerous to let your emotions get in the way. Anyway, enough of that. Your turn." Toni brought her arms up to cross over her chest, looking over at her counterpart.

"What's your favorite color?" She asked, smiling suddenly.

"Really, my favorite color?" Valeriya couldn't help but chuckle at her very typical question.

"What? Come on! Its a valid question." Toni defended, grinning wider.

"Yeah, yeah I guess..." Valeriya thought about it for a moment, harder than she probably should have.

"Mahogany red." She said simply.

 "Oh yeah? Pretty regal, don't you think?" Toni teased, easing on the other a little.

 "I've grown up in a regal family, or faux regal family, all my life... The color seems beautiful yet simple to me."

Toni nodded in agreement, "I see. Fair enough, I think." She commented, going quiet afterwards.

"Mhm... Anyway, your turn now. Is Toni short for anything?" Valeriya pressed, curious to know now that they seemed to break through some kind of barrier with eachother.

"Actually it is... It's uh..." Toni shook her head then, turning her face down in a bashful sense.

 "I don't really like it."

"Come on! If we're doing this you have to be honest with me." Valeriya continued to push, nudging Toni.

 "Okay, okay! It's Antonia." She huffed, glancing at the other.

 "That's... really rather beautiful. Spanish, right?" The young Russian's voice was sincere.

"Yeah, it's Spanish. How'd you know?"

"I used to study world cultures in college. When we were learning about the Spanish culture and traditions I heard that name a few times. It was more a guess..." She stated, smiling softly.

 "Well it was a good one. Uh... Ah, what did you major in when you were in college?" Toni retorted, turning to lay her back against the arm of the couch.

"Politics. Honestly, I hated it. I really wanted to study the arts but father used to say it was for the poor. He never approved of the poor, which always aggravated me. He grew up pampered and then pampered me growing up, as well as my mother. But I have seen others struggle, it's terrible and I want to help them. Father always said he wanted to help too but he just wanted the money. He always did... I knew he was a bad man, but I knew I couldn't say anything." Valeriya's hands clenched in her lap, sighing as she avoided looking at Toni.

 "I'm sorry, I shouldn't unload on you like that. Um... What's the matter with your hands?"

Toni was quiet for awhile after Valeriya spoke, partly because she wanted to know more about the other's life in that mansion, and partly because she didn't know how to answer the question about her hands.

 "It's in my blood." She said after several minutes then went silent again.

 "I don't really... Know what to say about it. I'm sorry, I think we should stop for tonight." Toni concluded, getting up from the couch.

"Is it really that bad?" Valeriya tried to ask again.

 "Yeah, it really is. Drop it for now, maybe I'll tell you another time."

Toni made her way across the small apartment and went into her room, closing and locking the door behind her. She went over to sit at the edge of her bed, bringing her palms up to her face and rubbing there gently.

"Don't get invested Toni... You can't afford an outside friendship right now. This is business..." She said to herself on repeat until she managed to lull herself into a dreamless sleep.