"You prepared dinner."
Mireille descended the few steps from their bedroom clad in a loose linen shirt and pants. Kirika didn't fail to notice that the older woman wore nothing else under the thin shirt, and shuddered ever so slightly.
"I thought you would miss all your old favorites."
Mireille smiled in genuine delight. Coarse bread dipped in olive oil and vinegar, an Italian pasta, and a Sicilian wine lay on the table. To heighten the effect, Kirika had killed the lights and lit a single candle.
They ate in enjoyable silence, Mireille uttering an appreciative sigh every now and then. They continued drinking after dinner was over, though Mireille noted that she was consuming far more of the bottle than Kirika was. In her pleasantly tipsy state, she regaled Kirika with a few stories from her travels, the younger woman listening attentively to each word.
She had no idea how long she had gone on that night, for the next thing she knew, it was morning and Kirika had apparently tucked her into bed. She padded down to the kitchen, found last night's implements put away, and a note on the table saying, "I've just gone to my studio and will be back in the afternoon. If you're hungry, there's coffee in the percolator and juice and breakfast in the fridge."
Mireille smiled. Knowing the younger woman, she would likely get absorbed enough by her painting to forget lunch entirely. It was exactly the chance she needed to return Kirika's favor.
~~~~~
Kirika didn't know how long the knocking had gone on before she finally realized that she had a visitor. She had spent the entire morning sketching one sleeping Mireille after another - after having spent the entire night vacillating between art and desire. She had sat by Mireille as the blonde had slept, simultaneously entranced and tormented by the older woman's sheer loveliness. She couldn't count the number of times she had knelt above the blonde, the artist in her content to merely watch, while the lover in her had trembled in its eagerness to touch and smell and taste...
In the end, it was not art that won so much as fear, and she had left the apartment with a firm resolve to avoid such temptations until she understood better what it was that Mireille felt for her now that she had returned.
When it finally dawned on her that someone was hammering on the door of her studio, she quickly covered her canvass and padded to the doorway. It wasn't unusual for her to receive calls from her classmates during the weekend, though she had hoped to be spared such intrusions today. She opened the door - and was taken aback by the sight of a mischievously grinning Mireille.
"Figured I'd sleep in today, huh? Well, I thought you could probably use some food. The stereotype of the starving artist's no longer in vogue these days."
Kirika could only nod, the unanticipated pleasure of Mireille bringing her lunch rendering her momentarily speechless. When Mireille started for her covered canvass though, she hurriedly intervened.
"You can't look at it yet, Mireyu..." She paused. "It's not done yet."
Mireille looked at her, puzzled, then shrugged with a laugh. "It's only been a year, and already you've got an artist's airs."
Kirika blushed. "I'm sorry, Mireyu..."
"I was just teasing, Kirika," Mireille smiled at her. "Come on, let's set your table for lunch. I've brought Japanese."
Kirika nodded and opened a cupboard for plates and utensils. When she opened her fridge, she realized that she had absolutely nothing left to drink in her studio.
"I'm sorry, Mireyu, but is it okay if you go ahead and set the table while I go out and buy us something to drink? It won't take me longer than 20 minutes. If you get bored, you can look at the canvasses stacked in that corner over there..." With a hint of shyness, Kirika added, "They're some of the works I've finished."
"I can go and buy the drinks, Kirika. I should have thought of them anyway." Mireille shook her head in faint annoyance at herself.
Kirika shook her head vehemently. "No, no, it's really my fault for not stocking my fridge. Besides," she smiled as an idea dawned, "it might be good to get some sake to go with lunch."
Mireille laughed. "First an artist's airs, and now an artist's vices!" She rolled her eyes at the look on Kirika's face. "I was just teasing. Now go, shoo, no need to rush. I'll be fine."
With that, Kirika left the studio, a small smile on her lips and a light spring to her step. She suddenly couldn't wait for lunch.
~~~~~
Renée walked up the steps to Kirika's studio, humming a nameless tune and smiling all the while. It was a risk going to the studio yet again without checking if Kirika was in, but she was determined to give the Japanese woman a genuine surprise. In any case, the chances of Kirika being at the studio that day were considerably higher, if only because the younger woman hadn't mentioned any plans for Sunday.
Renée rapped on the door sharply and called out. "Kirika, ma cher..."
Only it wasn't Kirika who answered the door, but a stunningly beautiful blonde with the most aristocratic air Renée had ever encountered. The way the woman was casually dressed and the way she stood territorially at the door of Kirika's studio implied that the blonde was far from a mere acquaintance. The two women appraised each other silently.
"Pardonnez-moi," Renée finally smiled at the blonde, though it lacked her usual warmth. "I'm looking for Kirika. Is she in?"
The blonde smiled back at her just as frostily. "She just left."
"I see...And you are...?"
"Kirika's flatmate."
Renée couldn't be too sure, but she felt that there was just the slightest emphasis on the word "mate". She digested the information for a moment. "Ah...Kirika hadn't mentioned you." Then extending her hand, she introduced herself. "I'm Renée Deschamps by the way, Kirika's art professor."
The blonde took her hand. "Enchanté. I'm Mireille Bouquet."
"Is Kirika going to be back soon?"
The blonde hesitated before replying. "Yes, she should be." Then tilting her head slightly, as if listening to some inner voice, she added, "In fact, I think she's here."
Renée turned around, and sure enough, there was Kirika making her way down the hallway. The Frenchwoman frowned slightly. The blonde couldn't have seen Kirika's arrival from where she stood in the doorway. But then Kirika spotted her and Renée forgot the source of her bewilderment.
"Renée!" Kirika smiled at her with a somewhat puzzled air. "What are you doing here?"
"That's not a terribly warm reception to give a good friend," Renée answered with mock petulance, "especially when she's managed to get tickets to the season's most sold-out show!" She was grinning by the time she finished her sentence and was enormously gratified by Kirika's unabashedly delighted response.
"You did? Renée, you're amazing! It's been sold out for months!"
Renée couldn't help feeling a frisson of smug satisfaction. "It was worth the trouble just seeing you smile like that, chéri. I'll pick you up for dinner before the show on Friday then." And for the benefit of the blonde woman at the doorway, she added, "It'll be a good chance to wear that little black dress I got you for your birthday - the one with the bateau neckline. I've been dying to see you in it."
Then after kissing the Japanese woman goodbye, Renée waved airily at Mireille and jogged triumphantly down the steps of Kirika's studio building. The blonde she had met at the doorway was going to prove a formidable adversary, but Renée wasn't one to back down from a challenge. Especially when it was clear that she had won the first round.