Gouda | Freedom

[Audrey Appleby]

They had been dating for a while, but Audrey felt the need to do something nice for Freedom. Sure, Audrey had girlfriends in the past, but none of them really stacked up to what Freedom was to Audrey. She never felt the need to do something special or nice or spontaneous with anyone else, but this was special. She planned it out for weeks, knowing it needed to go off without a hitch. And now? Now it was ready and she was ready to take Freedom to it.

And Freedom had no idea about it. Audrey was ready though. She was dressed relatively nice as she arrived at the Heracles cabin unannounced. She knocked on the door before she opened it and stuck her head in. Freedom was the only one who lived in the cabin anyway, so it wasn't like she was going to barge on some unsuspecting sibling. "Yo Free," she said as she looked at the girl and smirked. "You got a moment?"

[Freedom Blakely]

Another lazy day at the cabin and Free had nowhere to be. She supposed she would need to get out at some point, Audrey would probably be want to get a bite with her and that was reason enough, but for the time being Free was busy huddled over her desk working on some more sketches. She worked feverishly not really expecting to be interrupted so when the knock came at her cabin door she glanced up rather suddenly. Fortunately she didn't have to wonder who it was. Audrey was the only one who ever stopped by and sure enough the girl soon popped her head in.

"Hey babe." She said with a smile. Audrey was looking a little dressed up today and even though she definitely looked great it did make Free a little subconscious in her tank top and shorts. Did she forget their anniversary or something? She didn't think so but she would feel really bad if she did. Audrey wanted her though so she had to do something. "Yeah I'm free. You want to come in or do you need me outside?" What was this all about? She guessed there was only one way to find out and it involved one extremely cute girl.

[Audrey Appleby]

Audrey smirked a bit as she caught Free off-guard for a moment, but she couldn't help but admire the girl in her shorts and a tank top. No matter what she really wore, Audrey thought she looked sexy in everything, especially since she knew what was going on underneath those clothes. But that didn't matter at the moment. Her plan mattered right then and there and it was a matter of time before she got the ball rolling.

"Outside please," she said as she smiled at the girl. "I have something to show you in the forest. It's pretty cool if you ask me, but you really need to come see it for yourself." She hoped that this would go off without a hitch, but only time could tell honestly.

[Freedom Blakely]

Outside? What could Audrey possibly need her outside for? This was looking more and more like she had dropped the ball on something which she didnt really want to do with Audrey. She liked Aud, a lot. Like way more than she had anyone else she had been with before and she didnt want to mess this up like she usually did in her relationships. Still, she couldnt spend all day here if Audrey was expecting her. "Alright. Sure, Ill come along.

Free brushed a strand of her raven black hair out of her face as she got up. Her mind was racing through the possibilities of what this could be about but for the life her she couldnt think of anything she was missing. That left only one thing to do so she stepped outside with Audrey and let her hand snake around to take the hand of her girlfriend. "Since you're calling the shots you better lead the way." She gave the girl a smile and a gentle squeeze hoping that it showed a confidence she didnt feel at the moment.

[Audrey Appleby]

Audrey admired her girlfriend with a content smile on her lips as she watched her get up from her desk and walk over to the door. How could she be so lucky ending up with a girl like her? Hopefully, this little surprise would go off perfectly and that Free would enjoy it, even if it borderlined on cheesy.

Once Freedom was outside and grabbed her hand, Audrey gave hers a gentle squeeze back before she led the way towards the forest. “I hope you really like it,” Audrey said as she started feeling nervous. She shouldn't have been nervous. She was the leader of the Usurpers for crying out loud! She could handle a spontaneous date with her girlfriend. “Or I hope you find it cool. I find it cool.”

[Freedom Blakely]

Audrey seemed to be in a really good mood for some reason but a little nervous too. That made Free a little panicky and she didn’t do well when she was panicky. Still, she was holding things together at the moment. Aud didn’t know that much about her anxiety or anything like that so she couldn’t really blame the girl but she wished she knew more what this was about. She couldn’t get past the thought that she might really be in trouble here even though she couldn’t see why. Surprises were not a good thing in Free’s book.

“I’m sure I’ll like it.” She said with a slightly forced smile. She might as well try and figure out what was going on while they walked though. “You made it right? Why wouldn’t I like it?” It was a shameless attempt to fish for information but it was all she could do to try and find some relief from those nagging concerns. “Do I get any hints?”

[Audrey Appleby]

Audrey mentally froze for a moment. She made it? What gave it away? Crap. Was her surprise going to be ruined after all that hard work that she put into it? In her mind, the set up was practically perfect, but the execution was what was driving Audrey. She wanted to see that look on Free's face once she showed the surprise to her and that would be ruined if Free knew what it was ahead of time.

She took a deep breath to calm down her own nerves as her pace quickened a bit. The faster they got to the spot in the forest, the less time there was to spoil the little surprise she had. "Who said anything about me making it?" she asked as she tried to remain cool about the subject. She took another deep breath once they hit the forest as she lead Freedom towards one of the abandoned bunkers. But for a hint? Audrey guessed she could give her one little hint. "Okay, fine, I made it, okay?" she said as she looked over and gave Audrey a nervous smile. "I made it and it's in one of these bunkers up ahead."

[Freedom Blakely]

So she had made it. That was at least something but it didn’t really make Free feel any better. What if they were supposed to be getting each other gifts? If that was the case she had completely missed the special occasion and she was practically screwed while Audrey had made her something really thoughtful. It was even waiting for them in a romantic spot like one of the abandoned bunkers and yet Free had nothing to show for herself at all.

She chewed her bottom lip nervously as they walked. She was getting a very bad feeling about this and her anxiety was threatening to get the best of her. She wanted to run and right now the only thing that was keeping her in place was the girl on the other end of her hand. Free felt numb and yet she kept on walking not really knowing what she was getting into. “You made it in one of these bunkers? That sounds pretty special…”

[Audrey Appleby]

Audrey’s mind was racing as she was walking quicker and tugging on Free’s hand slightly the closer they got to the bunker. She had to get to the surprise before she managed to spoil out for herself and Freedom. And the walk was almost dreadful, but they finally were there and Audrey was about to open the door to the bunker when she sensed something off with Freedom. She turned around and gave her a comforting smile as she gently squeezed her hand. “Hey, it's nothing dangerous, so it's nothing to be nervous about.” And then she finally opened the door.

The bunker was used for Usurper business, but Audrey cleared everything out just for this. The room was dimly lit with candles scattered everywhere and rose petals on the ground. In the middle of the room, there was a table set for two. “Surprise,” she said as she turned to her girlfriend to gage her reaction.

[Freedom Blakely]

Free's anxiety continued to build as they approached their destination. She didn't know what Audrey had done for her but it seemed like it was going to be pretty big and that made her feel awful. There she had been just sitting and drawing away when she should have been planning something sweet for her girlfriend. Now it was too late and as Aud told her not to be nervous it was all Free could do to force a smile to her face.

When the doors came open and she saw what was inside Free knew that she was sunk. It was absolutely beautiful with the rose petals and the dinner by candlelight. Aud had obviously spent hours setting this up and here she was in shorts and a tank top. There was no way she deserved any of this and she felt like scum of the earth right now that Audrey had gone through so much trouble for her. To make matters worse Audrey was looking at her now expecting to see happiness and excitement and all Free had for her was nervousness and anxiety.

Free sighed. She had better come clean on this now before it got too far and maybe she could save it. "This is great babe. I mean it's really sweet and I love it but...you didn't have to do all this for me." She did her best to give a smile that she hoped Audrey wouldn't smack right off her face. "Listen, I'm just going to be straight with you because you're my girl and I really do like you. I completely forgot about today. I know it's not our anniversary or anything like that but whatever the special occasion is I just want to let you know that I really am sorry that I forgot about it. We can still try to make it special if you want because this really is amazing but I promise I'll try not to let it happen again."

[Audrey Appleby]

Completely forgot about today? Audrey didn't know what the heck Free was talking about. She looked confused for a moment as she knitted her eyebrows together and rattled her brain. Was today something special for the two of them? As far as Audrey could tell, no, it wasn't. This wasn't the reaction she was looking for at all. What the Hades was happening?

But then it clicked. Audrey furiously shook her head as she reached up to place her hands on Freedom's shoulders. "No no no," she said quickly trying to quiet the girl's ramblings. "I wasn't expecting anything out of you. Nothing at all. You didn't forget about anything, okay? I just got this idea in my head and I wanted to surprise you with it. Am I not allowed to spoil my girlfriend every once in a while?" She smiled a bit sheepishly at her girlfriend as she squeezed her shoulders slightly before letting go. "I've never felt this way before with anyone I've dated and I just wanted to show how... special you are to me, Free. You don't have to worry about returning the favor or whatever. Just enjoy it, please?"

[Freedom Blakely]

Free would have said more. She wasn'’t used to apologizing especially for this kind of thing but she felt really bad for all this. Audrey had other ideas though and as she grab Free's shoulders and interrupted her apology she shut up and listened. "You mean I didn't miss some big date or something?" She said once Audrey had finished. It was a legitimate question because Free wasn't used to other people doing things for her. Even in her past relationships good things never came without strings attached and yet her girlfriend had wanted to do something special for her and she hadn't expected anything in return.

"Aud I..." She didn't know what to say. Was this what love felt like? If so then she was so lucky that Audrey thought so much of her and damn it she did love this girl. "I mean I just didn't expect that you would do all this...for me?" A grin began to form on her face as she took another look around the room. "It's perfect. All of it." She said and then added as her eyes settled back to the other girl. "You're perfect." The grin didn't go away as she looked at her amazing girlfriend. "No one has ever done anything like this for me before. I love it."

[Audrey Appleby]

“You didn't miss anything,” said calmly as she watched her girlfriend. She didn't want to probe or anything, but Audrey got the feeling that Freedom was never treated to spontaneous outings like this one. And that made Audrey mad. Free was a beautiful, intelligent, and funny girl and Audrey wanted to give her the world. But now that she realized Free’s exes didn't view her the same way…

But she tried to push that thought out of her head as Freedom finally gave her the reaction she was expecting at the beginning. Audrey smiled widely before she giggled slightly. “It's all for you,” she said before she nodded her head towards the table. “You want to eat? I made your favorite.”

[Freedom Blakely]

Free couldn't believe it. This was a lot. A whole, whole lot. How much time had Audrey spent getting ready for this? Truth be told Free was pretty impressed. Who know she had such and industrious girlfriend? Such an amazing girlfriend... "You cooked for me too?" Freedom shook her head unbelievingly and made her way to the table still looking around and trying to take everything in. Everything from the petals to the setting to the delicious smells of the food had her riding on cloud nine and she couldn't remember a time when she had been happier.

"How long did it take you to get all this ready? I mean you must have been planning this for days." Free took a seat at the table as she waited for Audrey to join her. She hadn't stopped smiling since she found out what was really going on here and she didn't think she would stop anytime soon. It was unusual for her but she liked it. "I still can't believe it. You're really pretty amazing. Did you know that?"

[Audrey Appleby]

Audrey hasn't exactly cooked for Freedom, but she wasn't going to shoot that down, especially with how happy she was looking at the moment. But she still nodded her head as she took a step towards the table, but she kept her eyes on Freedom. A small smile crept onto her lips as she watched her take it all in. This was exactly the reaction she was looking for in the first place.

“You might think I'm crazy if I told you,” Audrey said as she finally made her way to the table and sat down across from Freedom. She chuckled a bit as she shook her head. “I try to be,” she said with a smirk as she reached over to dish food onto Freedom's plate.