Bernie was still trying to get her face to stop feeling like it was hot enough to cook her dinner on when she noticed the person who had strolled up to her booth while she wasn’t paying attention. Bernie squeaked and flinched, but the familiar shade of orange she glimpsed was enough to keep her from ducking under the table.
“O-oh! Hello Leonie. I-I haven’t seen you around the beach. Did you just get here? I thought everyone appeared at once...”
Seeing her friend was such a surprise (why did she feel such an intense burst of relief at seeing Leonie, she wondered? It’s not like she hadn’t seen her at the Academy, and it wasn’t like there had been anything particularly stressful about their last time seeing each other...) that for a brief, euphoric second, Bernie forgot exactly where she was standing.
And then she shifted, and her hip bumped the counter of the booth and oh she had forgotten about what she had signed up for.
“O-oh...I guess you want, um...” Bernadetta pointed down at the booth counter. “And I guess you want it from...” She pointed at herself next, and the progress she had made in settling the heat in her cheeks was ruined.
B-but it was okay. Bernie could do this, right? She’d managed a few so far, and nothing bad had happened yet! M-maybe it really wasn’t so bad?
“Okay. S-sure! I can, um...” Oh, she had to go on her toes to reach, that definitely wasn’t helping. Bernadetta’s heart had been racing from the start, but it was different from the usual pace it sprinted. It only got faster as Bernie kissed Leonie’s lips, but Bernie thought she could live with this kind of racing.
She let out an airy laugh as she pulled away, a sheepish smile on her face. “Oh...I didn’t scream that time. I-I think I’m getting better at these?” The smile quickly dropped as her eyes flicked back to Leonie. “U-unless I was really bad? You’d tell me if it was bad, right? I’m sorry! I-I can maybe do a do-over if it was bad? I-I’ll try my best!”
