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Information on it usual schedule was something Teddy quickly took on board. At least she didn't seem to find any issue in working extended hours; that passion fot their jobs was something clearly shared.
"You weren't home." Teddy replied with ease. Though she knew little of what else Natalie got up to, she was sure this place was a decent shot to take. Palms pressed flat against her back, drawing up slowly to her shoulder blades. It brought her just a little bit closer.
"Worst case scenario, I heard this campus is a great place to meet Amazonian goddesses." She added, nodding her head to the humoured thought.
That was a new kind of expression for Teddy to receive. She'd never seen an ounce of a withdrawn nature from this woman, yet there it was, the beginning of a shier nature peering from somewhere amidst that smile. It was easy to forget in moments like this that these interactions were supposed to be casual. Delving into any deeper feelings was strictly - usually - off limits.
But she believed her; she'd hear about it next time such a feeling took hold. Happy with the thought as it was, she decided not to say anything on the matter. It all depended on whether she actually would. On a brighter note, it seemed timing was absolutely on her side.
"Lucky me." She declared, "Though, I wasn't even sure you'd be here. Wouldn't this be considered working late for you?"
Hands welcomed her without the slightest delay, sliding beneath the material of her jacket and drawing her in in the most inviting way. She barely got a chance to make a move when familiar lips graced her own with a deserving kiss. Time spent apart was now more obvious than ever. Enthralling as that connection was, it left her practically numb for a few spare seconds before she was smart enough to move again.
Her hands left her pockets finally, moving to wrap around her waist instinctively. It took seconds before she managed to open her eyes to look at her again. The mentality she'd tried to carry when first walking in here seemed so irrelevant now. "You should've told me sooner." She admitted. Chances were, she wouldn't have let so much time slip away had she heard little words like that.
On some level, Teddy knew she couldn't be much of a surprise for very long. Not when she saw the particular company Natalie had brought with her to her training classes. The animals she surrounded herself with would likely alert her before her eyes could even catch the lawyer at the end of the room.
Because eventually, she looked right at her without any kind of search. It forced a small smile onto Teddy's face; a little greeting when she couldn't give much else. Was that the same kind of surprise that lit up her own features when she walked into the office?
She herself took short steps to greet the large part Natalie had taken to cross the distance between them. Her hands stayed steady in the pockets of her jacket; this was her ground, now. A first move couldn't be hers to make. She let it all filter through her eyes, instead; she hadn't seen her in days, and that sense of longing must have showed.
"What else would bring me all the way here?" Teddy asked her.
Afternoons free were a rare occurrence for someone who liked to work an intense amount of overtime. Though Teddy had every intention of always ensuring her business was being run correctly, she wasn't about to deny the opportunity for a little spare time when it presented itself.
Straight from work and still looking as flawless as she had when she left her own home that morning, Teddy made her way to the school she'd never visited before. Finding her way to the necessary building was all about asking the right questions, and it didn't take long to get where she needed to be. She eased her way into the training room as quietly as she could, careful not to intrude so blatantly on the situation at hand.
She didn't need to be in earshot to catch the conversation; her eyes worked wonders to gather the jist of what was said as they steadily focused on one mouth in particular, and facial expressions added the extra layer needed to the partial pick up. From her own experience, she knew what it felt like to have a trainer who obviously didn't take the time to provide grace to a growing student. Witnessing the difference - and everything she should have been afforded - was such a stark cry from what her own experience had been.
When it seemed to be drawing to a close, Teddy didn't breach any great divide between them. She had no intention of breaking up the dwindling interaction that was going on; it was far better to simply watch her in her obvious element.
If nothing else, it was nice to see Olivia start to understand the lack of a great difference between gender. It felt like breaking down a big issue to find the crux of it all; trying to determine what it was she wanted out of a person, regardless of their gender. That was good. If she accepted it, it was a huge step to take.
Reaching out, she took hold of her hand as it moved across the material of her scarf. Fingers curled around it, offering a little squeeze for good measure.
"One of the things I love most about women is the equal exchange. There's no predisposed idea of who has power and who doesn't. It's mutual." She held her own gender in incredibly high regard, and knew to some extent that her past relationships all followed a kind of pattern. She felt the corner of her mouth pull for the threat of a small smile that wasn't quite ready to come to fruition; "I don’t want to be the boss in my relationship; I want a partnership."
Despite how she had been pushed - light as it was - to speak on a subject she hadn't initially wanted to, she wasn't willing to offer the same pressure. It had been kind enough for Natalie to accept what Teddy had been saying about Olivia at all, and for her, that was enough. A single question was all she wanted to give.
And while eye contact was everything for Teddy, in the end, a small kiss was the real answer she got. It wasn't heavy; it was composed to the complete lack of composure just displayed in that conversation. When they broke apart, she didn't go far. Arms shifted to wrap around her and press herself against her completely, pulling herself into an embrace.
The entire situation carried a great sense of irony; how Teddy refused to accept the compliment thrown at her, but she expected her own to be so well received. The small shake of her head had Teddy exhaling in the threat of a laugh. She knew she wouldn't accept those words the second they left her mouth. At least there was some kind of understanding if she could accept that Teddy saw her in such a way. Given recent information, she was sure she wasn't the only one making such a speculation.
As she stumbled through the words she chose, Teddy knew she couldn't piece anything together from that. Two words was hardly enough to get an accurate picture. "What was that?" She had to ask, but she wasn't quite willing to push the issue.
Being worthy of kindness sounded so minor, but the weight behind it was very real. She wasn't surprised to hear Natalie speak in such a way; she was the personification of everything so good as it was. Of course she wouldn't accept anything remotely self-deprecating, even if she hadn't admitted to seeing herself in any kind of way.
She kept her eyes focused despite the closeness between them. A hand at the back of her neck provided a great kind of comfort she hadn't known she needed. Hands tracked down to her shoulders, fingers curling into the fabric of that sweatshirt that looked so good one! her. "You are perfect." And even if she couldn't believe it, Teddy sounded as if there wasn't a truer way to describe her.
Prior rules and personal regulations fell apart so easily it was almost troublesome. For all the kinds of people Teddy knew how to handle, Natalie was certainly an anomaly worth breaking rules for. Shielding someone from something they didn't want saviour from was pointless; it was putting new walls up around herself, not working the prior sets.
And in the end, she felt reassurance, but not in the way she expected. Of course, she knew Natalie would be nice to her. She'd never been anything less.
When Teddy opened her eyes, she allowed curiosity to get the better of her. She wanted to look, because she wanted to be her own version of attentive. And so her eyes searched for every particle of reason and understanding that could appear on her face. That gift was God given, and she couldn't waste it if she wanted to get the best out of generous words like that.
She pulled herself in closer then, breaking the minimal, soft distance between them to keep herself close.
"You're too kind." And though it was an easy statement, she actually meant it.
Arguing with Natalie was proving to be incredibly one sided. It was like for every set of words she offered, she received something physical in return. And it was almost unfair how well it worked; considering all the thought she put into her answers, it seemed as if second nature could catch the trainer's motives instead. She was so good at this.
Patting against her chest lightly, Teddy couldn't help but smile a little. "I know." She replied quietly. But she wasn't the kind of friend who would agree with her frustrations, which was exactly what she sought on the other end of the phone line. Eyes closed, because looking now was cheating, and she didn't want an unfair advantage.
"It's just so different." She admitted. Now that she thought about it, she realised that that mustn't have been obvious to Natalie at all. She really had no idea what happened at all. "We don't stay together. We don't- We haven't-" Pausing sharply, she eased the phone from her hand and settled it at the counter behind her. Now free, she pressed them to either side of her face.
"I've never seen my self as an unapproachable person - in whatever capacity - but that's exactly how it feels."
A small kiss against her cheek practically had her melting into the hands that provided such comfort. It was far too easy for her to break away at the facade Teddy had tried her best to offer. Too much time with anyone was bound to do that.
She opened her eyes again finally to see a heavy set pouring back at her. She pressed her lips together in the silence, feeling the surge of regret for ever mentioning it.
"I didn't tell you how things ended the night I came here to talk to you because that's not the sort of things we should talk about, is it?" She never liked the idea of mixing the two, and this was the complete opposite of that notion. Even threatening the idea of a discussion felt so out of the ordinary.
She shook her head, settling the idea before it could ever really break. "It's disrespectful to you. I wouldn't dream of doing that do you." Especially when she was almost positive Natalie would give her advice.
Tapping away at her phone, Teddy posed deep concentration in whatever was going on on the screen. It was harder to focus on as seconds passed and Natalie was clearly on her level again. It was worse when hands wrapped themselves around her, keeping her close despite how she had absolutely no intention of answering that question.
When she looked up, her jaw slackened, intent not to show tension where she didn't like to carry it. She raised her eyebrows in a quick twitch, questioning the question without actually saying a word.
Gripping her phone in one hand, she rested the other against her chest, not at all ready or willing to push her away. "Don't do that." She said, keeping a lighter tone with the woman who hadn't done a thing to hurt her; "Don't you sympathise with me over this."
To someone else, Teddy might have called out the absurdity of a comment like that. But not in such company. Internal thoughts were completely reserved for the ears of the only person she could really mouth off too by any capacity, and she was probably still asleep at this hour.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of it, and Teddy knew it was her fault for stringing the conversation topic along as she had. Sure, she tried to jump past it, but she should have known better. A dry laugh passed her lips as she reeled her phone back into view.
"Well, that's more than I've heard from her in the last few weeks." She said offhandedly, starting in on a new message on the device in her hands.
On some level, it all made sense. These were two women completely new to dating women, but their takes on it were so different. While they shared an obvious denominator, Teddy knew only one of them would have been comfortable in that conversation. Any conversation between the two, really.
Out of reach now, and so she leaned against the counter with her hip as she listened. Train of thought hadn't seemed so focused for Natalie, which wasn't a bad thing. Her attention was on the subject as a whole, not a small set of words. She herself looked at nothing in particular, until she was called out.
"Nothing." Teddy interjected quickly, snapping out of her frozen daze to look for her eyes again. It would have been smarter to leave it at that, but she couldn't. Control slipped for something get greater.
"I'm not surprise she said that about you." She added finally, glancing away and out again as she tried a smile for her; "You're stunning."