The Only Exception

[Alice Hobbs]

"No," Alice whispered, slowly shaking her head. "I wish the same thing, though I think our skin would grow wrinkly and ugly before your power chases us away," she added smirking against Zoe's skin. A faint chuckle escaped Alice's lips then and she nuzzled against Zoe's cheek. She enjoyed this too. A lot more than she had ever thought she would. Despite Zoe's power taking its toll eventually, Alice wanted to sit here like this for as long as they could. It had to end eventually, they both knew it, but for now, Alice was going to enjoy every second of it.

Closing her eyes as she felt Zoe's hand against her skin, Alice's body relaxed against Zoe's. She moved her head to rest it upon her shoulder again and let out a content sigh. "Guess my power isn't so bad after all..." It was probably the first time that Alice was actually, one hundred percent happy about her ability. Sure, she had been thankful for it before, after meeting Zoe, but it was in this moment that it finally dawned over her just how thankful she really was.

She wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world right now -- except maybe power negation. That way, the two of them wouldn't have needed to worry about it at all.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

The same thing: another little shock of pleasure shooting through Zoe, just as she felt the breath from her girlfriend teasing her skin. This felt so good, so right, just cuddled up like this, with no expectation. Zoe just kept her eyes closed, though she smiled at the thought that the water would beat out her power. With Alice, that was a possibility.

"Your power is lovely," she insisted again, running her hands along Alice's again. Alice's power made this possible, made it so Zoe could touch, could relax without drugs or worry or anything along those lines. It made this moment, and that made Alice's power the loveliest one in the world. Truly it couldn't get much worse. Though...

Zoe opened her eyes, looking over her shoulder. "There is," she said, pausing for a moment, "a... a preventative, you know," she thought she'd mentioned it before, but figured she should now, that the time was right. "They developed it. It's, um, a syringe, like for allergies. It prevents my power from affecting someone for a... while," she shifted, again running her fingers along Alice's. "Just... I just... I thought you should know," she flushed, looking back at Alice again, though she made no motion to move.

[Alice Hobbs]

Looking up as Zoe spoke, Alice tilted her head curiously to the side. A cure? Well, that was cool. She didn't understand why Zoe brought it up though, because Alice's power seemed to work just fine. Unless of course, Zoe was thinking about the kind of touching that required more time than her power could offer them. Quirking her brow, Alice took note of the way Zoe flushed at the mention. She studied her face for a moment, before finally nodding.

"That's pretty wonderful, Zoe," she smiled. "Though, if there's something you're hinting at, you should just go ahead of saying it. I'm not a mind reader," she said, although she was fairly certain what Zoe was talking about. She could have been wrong of course, and even though they were both teenagers, Zoe was clearly the more sexual of the two -- not that Alice minded, of course, she had just figured that Zoe needed more time to get comfortable with things like that.

Maybe that was partly why she wanted Zoe to actually say it, instead of making any judgments based on some potentially misleading thoughts.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Nodding, more joy, and then Alice doing what she always did; insisting that Zoe push herself just a little more forward. Zoe squirmed slightly. Did she... she did, she loved Alice and she was sick of waiting for some fantasy fake, perfect moment. That waiting had cost her her last relationship and---and she should be telling Alice this.

"I know," she said, swallowing, "and... it's, it's sort of like what I was talking about earlier. I--my last girlfriend," she paused, biting her lip, feeling like this was just an awful time to bring it up. But this was Alice: she had to be honest with her. "She was very... physical and... and I ended up initiating everything with her because... because I was desperate to keep her and---and I want things to be different with us. You know how I feel," she turned to look into Alice's eyes, "and---and I do--I want us both to be ready. It's... you know that for me, it would mean a lot. I--I---you know that I'm... affectionate," she flushed, "I think I just... I always want to---I don't know," she looked away, taking a deep breath, feeling quite flustered and like she simultaneously wanted to bury herself more into Alice and also pull as far, far away as she could possibly manage.

[Alice Hobbs]

Trying to make sense of what Zoe was talking about --- or rather, stuttering about, Alice quirked her brow. "So wait," she began, holding up her hand. "I'm confused. Do you want to get physical because you want to keep me interested, or do you want to because you want to? From the way you make it sound, it sounds as if you're unsure if it's something you want, as opposed to what's expected of you." Shifting a little, so Alice could get a better look at Zoe. "And I don't mean that in a way that "oh no, Zoe, you're totally wrong." I'm just curious, because it's not always that easy to make sense of what you're saying," she added with a warm smile.

Albeit not being nearly as affectionate as Zoe, Alice clearly was a lot more comfortable with the subject than what Zoe was. "Though, I also feel like something like this should come naturally, as opposed to being planned. So, just in case, how about either of us keep that syringe-cure thing with us, in our purse or something, and if it happens, it happens." She didn't want Zoe to feel pressured into doing anything. Especially not something like this.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Well, Zoe was confused, so she wasn't entirely sure how to untangle the mess of words and emotions. She moved slightly though, at least so she could face her girlfriend a little more easily. Did she want to? Zoe did; she at least knew that answer. She also didn't see it the way Alice was worried about for a change.

Zoe nodded. "Right, I've, um, well, I keep the, ah, antidote all the time, so I can just carry the preventative too," she fidgeted. "I, um," she flushed, "I also sort of... got myself checked out and..." she looked away, "and I really do... sometime. Not planned, like you said, and it's not... well, I do want to keep your interested but, well, you're... you know I... that you're sexy and..." she let out a breath, trying not to look as exasperated as she felt. She closed her eyes, steadied herself, opened them.

"I'm... when the moment comes, I'm... ready for it," she said, licking her lip, nodding. "So, um," she squirmed slightly, "that's not... now, so could we just... go back to the cuddling? I really like that too..."

[Alice Hobbs]

Lifting her hand, Alice brushed away a few strands of Zoe's hair before smiling again. "You got yourself checked out," she repeated, unable to keep the smirk off of her face. "You do realize you only have to-- no, nevermind," she laughed, shaking her head. God, could this girl possibly become more adorable? "I'll keep that in mind then," she winked. At least Alice now knew that the green signal was there, and if the situation ever came to that, she didn't have to worry about Zoe not being ready. This though, hardly seemed like the place for their first time around.

Despite how incredibly hot it would have been, Alice wanted them to have more privacy to explore things, to get to know each other and each other's limits.

A public pool was hardly the place for that.

Wrapping her arms around Zoe's waist again, Alice nodded. "I like it too," she whispered against Zoe's ear and pulled the Brit close. Placing a soft, yet tender kiss against Zoe's lips, Alice smiled against them.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

The repetition of the words just made Zoe flush a little darker. As if admitting it hadn't been hard enough, let alone going through it. She was half curious as to what Alice was going to add, but she also was fairly certain she didn't want to know either. Thankfully, Alice was soon smiling and winking after, which had Zoe smiling herself. It was also definitely a good thing that they weren't about to try it here: Zoe likely would have fainted from the sheer shock of the suggestion, let alone attempting to go through the action. Ready or not, she was still Zoe.

Much better to go back to cuddling. Zoe felt the arms around her waist and she sank back into her girlfriend. She moved and gently kissed Alice back, smiling herself. This, this was what she'd always wanted: someone who cared about her and understood her limits and was just perfectly happy being snuggled up against her. Zoe rested herself against Alice, feeling all the tension just seeping out of her, drained by the bubbling waters and the girl who held her.

"You're doing an excellent job as a girlfriend, you know," she said, smiling and looking into Alice's eyes. Zoe simply couldn't recall ever feeling so safe, so relaxed, so... happy.