unison.
withawhispxr:
The feeling of immediate danger had passed. But she still didn’t feel right. Something had shifted in the air between them, and it wasn’t the usual breathless longing — except, no, they didn’t really have that, either. She … She liked Eva, yes, but it wasn’t like they were characters in some melodramatic soap opera where they couldn’t be together, and had to be content with longing glances. This was the 21st century, Eva was definitely, openly into girls, if they wanted to pursue something, nothing was stopping them. Well, nothing but Joanne’s complete lack of self-esteem and social grace. So why did it feel like something awful was hanging over their heads, like a waiting noose.
It feels almost like I’ve met you before, but that’s impossible. “It’s not, though!” Joanne felt her cheeks flush warm, and she shook her head. “I mean—it is, but I feel the same way. Like I’ve seen you … in places we’ve never even been together. I’ve been driving myself just about crazy trying to understand it. What I’m trying to say is …” Impulsively, she reached out and brought Eva’s hand about halfway up to her face, before realizing what a ridiculously intimate gesture it would be to brush her lips across the other woman’s knuckles like she was imagining. Sheepishly, she dropped Eva’s hand. “I’m listening,” she said, and even that echoed strangely in her mind. I’ll hear it.
The second Joanne’s fingers brushed hers Eva felt different. For just a second she felt like someone else entirely. She couldn’t place who or where they were from, but something about the gesture felt so familiar. It reminded her that she had something pressing to tell Joanne, but Eva couldn’t imagine what exactly. These moments seemed to happen all the time between her and Joanne. Eva typically brushed them off as nothing, but it was exactly what they were presently discussing. Joanne had to have done something like that to her before, but Joanne hadn’t, or at least this Joanne hadn’t. Eva took a sharp intake of breath and ran a hand through her hair. The other didn’t let go of Joanne’s hand. She didn’t pull it closer, but she liked the gentle feeling of it.
It had to be insane to be thinking that she had met someone that she had never met. But if it was insane, then she would be alone in thinking it. Joanne agreed with her on it. Eva found that she couldn’t look at Joanne as she spoke. Instead, she stared at a painting of an oddly familiar landscape. “This is crazy, but what if, let’s say, you and I have somehow, I don’t even know what you call it, what if we have been reincarnated from a past life? Like, we met in one past life, died, reincarnated as Joanne and Eva, and met again? And that’s why it always feels like I know you.” Even as she was explaining it Eva realized it didn’t make a whole lot of sense. She had never heard of anything like that happening to anyone. She turned back to Joanne and studied her. “I know it’s crazy, but...” She didn’t finish the sentence. They both knew how it would end. They both knew that, at least right at that moment, having lived a past life was the only thing that made any sense.
