Still Water

God Save the Queen

A/N: I do not own or have any claim to Netflix, Altered Carbon, or its characters. I will never own or have a claim to any of those things, and it makes me very sad. At least I can pine after them from the comfort of my own home (wink, wink). 

Twenty minutes later Astrid was pulling a disheveled Virginia through her front door.

"This better be important because if it's not, I'm going to throttle you and return to my romp in the sheets." The blonde informed her, throwing herself down on one of the sofas in the living room.

"Trust me, Vee, it is. You've got to keep quiet, though. She's still upstairs," Astrid begged for compliance.

"What?" Her friend hissed, leaping up from the sofa, "You have a person in your house?" The brunette clamped a firm hand over the taller girl's mouth as she grew paranoid.

"Look, it's a long story. Sit your ass down and keep your mouth shut, or you'll literally ruin my life," Astrid insisted before joining her friend in her reclaimed spot and furiously tugging at the strands of her hair. "I met this girl at Gene's when I first got to town, scared her a little, abused her shopping basket, and then ran off. We met again last night and I scared her again, but before that, we had a nice talk. I thought we could be friends, but then there was hand-holding—she also ran away afterward. All of a sudden, she was in my bookshop this morning. I was pissed about how we left things, so I gave her my number. We met at the beach before coming back here. One of us is wasted and the other feels like she's about to die. I'll let you guess which one of us is which," the brunette blabbered, in desperate need of breath when she finished. A pair of hands reached out to steady her. Raising her eyes, she met Virginia's concerned expression.

"Astrid, are you high?" The blonde asked with the utmost seriousness. Astrid had never been one do to drugs or drink with abandon. She was worried about her friend's state of wellbeing.

"Do I look high to you?" The smaller girl shouted, momentarily forgetting about her houseguest at her friend's implications.

"You don't want me to answer that, Hon," Virginia spoke truthfully. Her voice was gentle but warned Astrid that she was beginning to freak her friend out.

"There's more, Vee. Ollie-Oliver L-Langley and this other girl, they thought that she might like me," the teen swallowed. "I mean, in more than a platonic way. I thought they had to have been wrong, you know? Then she asked me to touch her last night, and now I'm not so sure anymore, Vee. Elicia does things to me, makes me feel things that I've never felt before, gives me urges to do things that I've never wanted to do. It's like I'm not in control of my own body! I feel like I'm going to pass out," Astrid gasped. 

Tears now stained her face as she felt the full force of the shock from the night's events. Luckily for the brunette, her best friend had a feeling she knew what was going on with the teen, even if the teen didn't know it herself. She also knew that Astrid was in no shape to deal with it right then.

"The way I see it, Champ, you've got two options," Astrid's new fairy godmother informed her. "Either you suck it up or you get wasted and hope you wake up with no memory of tonight. Now, I'm not condoning underage drinking, but I do know for a fact that Jennifer Pierce has excellent taste in spirits. You've gotta pick your poison, Astrid," the blonde prompted as the smaller and fragile-looking girl listened with care.

"God, save me." Astrid wailed in a hushed voice.

"No, God save the queen. You, my friend, are actually in quite a fascinating situation. I take it you won't be getting shitfaced tonight," Virginia confirmed. The brunette vigorously shook her head no and let herself melt into the couch supporting her frame. "Bummer," she commented, "How about we consume copious amounts of mint chocolate chip ice cream and watch Altered Carbon instead?" Astrid lit up at the mention of her favorite television show—it wasn't like she had watched it over seven times.