new revelations 

The next morning was an abandoned affair in all honesty. To Clarabel, the previous day had just been a figment of her imagination and out of her brain that went, she had managed to convince herself that none of it was real.

In fact, she believed that she was so deranged that she didn't even doubt her own credibility. After all, an invisible beautiful woman who could pass through objects and a person only she could see was slightly off the bat even for herself.

She didn't think much about it at all as she walked into the bus, eyes on her phone looking at the schedule while walking in. She had a Starbuck's Caffe Vanilla Frappuccino in her hand as she took small sips navigating to her seat as an old muscle memory. 

Clarabel had her eyes on the screen and wasn't paying attention to anything until she heard someone talk to her. 

"Great morning, isn't it?" 

Her gaze fell on the familiar blonde woman and for a moment, she could not believe her eyes. She pulled out the earphones that she had plugged in and her mouth opened but words would not come out. 

After a few whole moments of just opening and closing her mouth like a fish with no words forming, she finally managed to stutter out, "Hi." 

But she would not stop staring at her and Heather gave an airy laugh, "What?"

She quickly shook her head no to indicate nothing and took the empty seat next to the pretty blue-eyed woman. She cleared her throat once and smiled, "I- I might have for a teensy- small moment where I doubted if everything of yesterday was, uh- really real?"

Heather looked her right in the eye for a solid moment while Clara sat with a bated breath, not knowing what her reaction would be. And then, she broke out in laughter and wheezed out, "God, you look so hilarious when you're anxious over- over something that silly!" 

"I-" she let out that breath, "Oh, thank God, for a moment I was genuinely worried about what your reaction would be to that-"

"It's completely understandable, Belle; can I call you Belle?" 

"Of course, you can," she smiled a soft one realising for the first time that Belle was the unique half of her name that no one ever used for her before Heather. And a tiny part of Clarabel's heart leaped with joy. 

Heather cleared her throat, "Yes, it's completely understandable that you could not believe all the events of yesterday, I believe that yesterday was hard to take in for any mortal, even you. And if I were you, to be completely frank, I would've thought I was absolutely nuts if I were in your shoes but you managed it fantastically well."

Clarabel laughed, "Yeah, for a tiny while, I did believe earlier this morning that I had made up all the events of yesterday and it was a fantasy I had convinced myself to believe in."

"Aw, you silly noggin," she smiled as she pressed her index finger to the tip of Clarabel's nose, "I am very much real, even though I'm considerably dead."

"Silly noggin?" she grinned. 

"Might still be stuck in the '50s a tiny bit," Heather replied. "And I'm sorry about the physical contact thing and all. It's just been- way too long since I had felt physical touch. It feels good to-"

"Hey, I understand," Clarabel smiled wide and waved the issue off. "Tell you what? You can have as much physical touch as you like. Even if you wanted to kiss me." 

And with that Clara had a huge goofy smile as she winked to Heather. And she flushed red as she looked with horror in her blue eyes at Clarabel and was frozen in spot for a few seconds. 

"What?" Clara chuckled when she didn't move from that position. A few seconds after she had realised from which century Heather came in and that homosexuality might have been a great issue liable to even jail time. And even if it wasn't, it might've been condemned or even scorned on and a thing of great disgust. 

She began apologizing, "Oh my God, I'm so sorry! I forgot the age you grew up in and all this must've been so new and I never meant to impose anything at all, you might not even like girls and-"

Heather placed a soft hand on Clarabel's frantic moving hands and told her gently, "Hey, it's alright. I'm not used to this nor do I bode for the other team but does not mean I condemn it at all. It's alright if you do, I just do not."

And just like that, Clara's daydreams of them being something went sinking in the stream of her mind and she bit on her lower lip. She understood Heather though, it must have been hard trying to understand all that and even if she could not have her as something more than a friend, she would take what she could and be the friend and companion Heather needed. 

So, pressing down all the things she wanted to say and the heartbreak inside, she nodded and she smiled. 

Just like the way she always did. 

"So, you into women?" Heather asked, her lips twitching into a soft smile and her gloved hands resting on her knees. 

Clarabel mirrored all her expressions, "I am into both."

"Oh," Heather's eyes widened a tiny bit. "Would you mind explaining how it works?"

Clarabel broke into a face-splitting smile, "But of course, madam! It's quite simple really. The same feelings you feel for any guy, it works with females just the same."

"Really?"

"Really."

Heather kept quiet for a moment, "How do you know though? When you like a girl as a friend or more than that?"

"How do you know the way if you like a guy as a friend or more?" Clarabel's response was simple. 

Heather though over that question for a while, trying to recall bits and fragments of her own life. She came through with a question after a minute of pondering, "You don't really know, then?"

"It's complicated to really differentiate between a friend and a crush sometimes," Clara replied. "But when you know, you just know, you know?"

Heather looked at Clarabel who stared right back at her and then, she nodded. She understood how that felt. Clara stared for a few seconds more before she tore her eyes away from those happy blue ones she was starting to get used to. 

Clarabel raised her cup of Starbuck's to her lipstick painted lips once more and felt Heather's gaze on her. She paused her movement to look at her from the corner of her eyes, "Want to have some?"

"No," she replied a bit too quickly. "It's just been so long since I last had anything to eat."

Clarabel lowered her Frappuccino and asked in astonishment, "You haven't eaten in thirty-five years?"

"Nooooo, not in thirty-five years!" she laughed, "I can eat but I don't really need food to survive."

Clarabel looked confused. 

Heather bit down on her lower lip, "So, well, since I don't need food; I give them to people who need it more than me."

"That's- that is really one of the kindest things I've ever heard anyone do, Heather," Clara could only whisper. "You're really kind."

"Nooooooo," she stretched the word out long. "It's not kindest if I'm giving someone the thing I don't need, is it?" 

Clara blinked for a moment and then she started, "No, you don't see it, do you? Food must've been the one thing of familiarity with your old world that you had grown up in. It's not just about filling your stomach, it's a string of not losing your sanity. But you gave that up, just because someone needed it more."

And Heather was caught speechless for a moment. 

She knew that if she thought more, she could have found some response to that but for once, she didn't want to. She had never found someone who thought so deep about a simple action to call it kindness, even after she had met William and Juniper. 

That was the moment Heather realised that she admired Clarabel. 

The bus screeched to a stop and Heather hurried once more, "That's my stop, keep missing it these days. I wish it were longer, really but I'll see you on the way back?" 

Heather came back to her senses as she nodded yes and gave that smile that was the proof of joy and that adorable wave as Clarabel got off the bus. 

And once, the bus had began moving on its course once more, Heather was left with her thoughts and that very new revelation that she had never encountered before, even with June. And she was clueless as to what she was going to do anymore. But she knew that she'd figure it out. Eventually. Like always.