intricate design ✓

24.

Kiss Me

FIVE DAYS had passed since the death of Logan Fell and Florence had found herself spending an awful lot of time with Katherine in that short timespan. In fact, she hadn't even spoken to anyone that wasn't aware the vampire was in Mystic Falls, which only left her Italy and Ryan.

The latter, having gained Florence's trust once again after he confided in her with his father's untimely death, was informed of the existence of the Petrova doppelgänger after he walked in on the two sharing a bottle of blood. At the time, he had expressed his disgust for them having done so in such a public setting, but was soon reminded that he had waltzed into Florence's room without warning.

From those events came December seventh: the day of mutual destruction.

Florence and Katherine were sitting on the former's bed, the latter's hand on her knee as she read aloud from the book in her hand. The blonde's passion when reading didn't go unnoticed by the older woman, who wore a grin whenever she heard her emphasize a word that was italicized.

"Here lies—" she cut herself off, staring off in a daze as the letters in front of her began to change. They morphed into menacing words, crawling up her spine and slowly entering her mind. She blinked a couple times, believing that her eyes were failing her, but to no avail. Then she tried again; "Here—here lies—"

   Florence Gioia Allen.

Katherine raised her head from her lap with a frown, gently taking the book from her hands before she asked, "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I don't know," she muttered, shutting her eyes tightly. "I just . . . it's happening again. I know you said that I could've possibly been a witch, but I don't think that's true. I've been having dreams recently and I didn't want to tell you until they became serious but—"

"This is serious, Flore!" she exclaimed, completely pushing herself from her lying position so that she was sitting across from her.

"I didn't realize that until now, okay!" she responded, pressing her fingers to the bridge of her nose.

Katherine reached over to place her hand over hers, which brought her attention to their close proximity. She took a deep breath and lowered her voice, hand not moving from hers, "I'm sorry; I just don't wanna see you get hurt."

Florence snorted. "Sounds awfully familiar, doesn't it? —but it's okay. After all this time, I've started to see this as a sign. Maybe I wasn't meant to be a human after all, y'know? I could never have handled all this as one—maybe being a vampire was, like, written in the stars for me."

"Written in the stars?" Katherine teased, earning her a playful slap on the arm. "I didn't know you were into astronomy."

"I am," she confirmed, raising a finger afterward with her eyes narrowed; "don't make fun of me, okay?"

Katherine chuckled, fascination in her gaze as she looked at the girl that sat across from her. Once again, she found herself analyzing every part of her face—from the lone freckle on the side of her face down to the most minuscule wrinkle that settled on her skin when she smiled.

"I could never."

Now it was Florence's turn to chuckle as she played with the girl's fingers.

"You're too good for me, Katherine."

The woman furrowed her brows. "Never got that one before. Does that usually work for you?"

Florence scoffed. "I'm not hitting on you."

"Right," she dragged out, a knowing look in her eyes, "'cause you didn't feel anything that day in the bath—"

"Can we not talk about that?" asked she, practically begging as her face began to redden.

"Are you blushing, Miss Allen?" Katherine mused, lowering her head so she could get a better look at her.

"No," she responded, pressing her hands to her cheeks.

"Y'know," she began, slyly moving to place her hand on her knee, "if I didn't know any better, I'd start to think that you're the one going soft here—not me."

Florence gave her a tight smile.

"It's still you."

Katherine rolled her eyes.

"At least it's only for you—you don't see me throwing myself at the Salvatore brothers. Namely, Damon."

A smile came over her features as she stared at Katherine, humor laced in her voice, "Are you jealous?"

"That'd be assuming there's anything for me to be jealous of," she smartly replied. However, seconds later, the confidence from her tone faltered and she interjected, "Is there?"

Florence made a face. "Hell no. Damon's an ass; I would never go for someone like him. Anyway, there's someone else I've had my eye on lately."

   "Oh, really?" Katherine teased. "Does it happen to be a vampire with killer looks?"

   "You're not that special," she said with a roll of her eyes.

   "Then how'd you know I wasn't talking about Damon?"

   "I—" she cut herself off, narrowing her eyes at the vampire. "Don't flip this on me."

   "Fine."

   Silence enveloped the two, so quiet that it made the atmosphere between them full of tension. Slowly, it began to suffocate the two, dragging them into an abyss where conversation was void and all they could think of was what could have been, and not what was.

"We just made this awkward, didn't we?" Florence spoke up after a handful of seconds, a frown settling on her skin. "I don't know how to get back to how we used to be . . . before what happened."

Katherine mulled over her words for a but before a light smirk covered her face. She hid it immediately and shrugged, plastering on a mask of indifference.

"We can kiss."

Florence's eyes widened and the redness of her cheeks returned. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me," she replied, the look on her face never faltering. "It doesn't have to be awkward if we kiss. Think about it."

Florence shook her head with a humorless laugh, believing her words to be teasing and not at all serious.

"You're crazy."

"Maybe—for you."

"Katherine. . ."

"Come on, Flore!" she pushed. "We may as well just kiss and get it over with. I've never kissed a girl before, y'know."

Florence sent her a scolding look, which only earned her a suggestive gesture from the girl where she leaned closer to her, the same evil in her eyes that she had seen once before. Perhaps it was fright that directed her next words, but the interruption that came after them was enough to steal them from the tip of her tongue.

"Katherine, I swear—"