QueenCorp, part 3
Maeve flawlessly delivers shot after shot for a new photo spread in a public park, when out of the corner of her eye she sees a dark town car pull up at a restaurant nearby. It's utterly unremarkable save for the fact that she's bored out of her mind, but her heart skips a beat when Lena steps out, all leg and collarbone in a sharp but conservative business dress, hair swept up into a french twist.
"Can you, uh-- can I get a minute real quick?" she asks the DP, speeding off before she gets a response. She stops too close to Lena, who jumps when she suddenly appears out of nowhere. "Lena. Hi."
"Hi."
Gaze indiscernable behind her sunglasses, Lena regards Maeve without reaction. It's careful though-- proof that the reaction is there, but tucked out of sight.
"I didn't realize you were back in town," Maeve says, breathless. "If I'd known we'd be in the same place, I--"
"I would have found a different restaurant," Lena cuts in.
The words cut Maeve deep enough to knock the breath from her lungs, and Lena realizes the bite of her voice the moment she says them.
She softens.
"You know how I feel about cameras."
Maeve nods. "Yes, but there's--"
There's a flicker of motion through the tint of Lena's shades, and Maeve follows the shift of her gaze to find the cameras had followed her across the grass, hoping to catch something juicy.
"Dammit," Maeve curses, turning to Lena with apology in her heart. "Lena, I--"
"No," Lena says in a low voice that curls deep into Maeve's senses and grips her tight.
"Later, then. I'll come alone--"
"I don't think that's a good idea." Lena shuts her car door with a thud. "Excuse me-- I'm late for a meeting."
She brushes past Maeve in a bloom of authority and designer perfume-- a stark contrast from the week-old sweatpants and pizza rolls that flashes bright and vivid in Maeve's memory. She's changed. More than that Lena has flourished. Where Maeve has witnessed her own slow dwindle to a shell of who she used to be, Lena has grown to fill every inch her skin.
Gone is the reticence Lena used to have, that made her shrink away from the spotlight of authority.
Gone is the uncertainty that she deserved what she had.
Gone is the impotence that had once plagued Lena's desire to change the world.
In their place is confidence, power, and certitude, draped around Lena like a cloak.
She is the force of nature Maeve always wanted to be.
Lena is the warrior Maeve never became.
She watches Lena disappear into the restaurant before turning back to the crew with sour features.
"Ever hear of a thing called privacy?"
