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As the Academy’s hall is filling itself with neon flickering lights and the smell of cigarettes that shouldn’t be smoked there, Raquel and Suarez make their way to their friends. They’re immediately greeted by two bottles of beers and laughter. The upper-year had already told them the First Year Party was going to be a blast, but now seeing the hall that would normally be filled with boxing equipment in a club-like setting was something else. They had waited all week for this night and they all could tell it was gonna be memorable.
“I’m so happy you’re here!”, Alicia mouths to Raquel. The two had grown close in the past year.
Tonight’s music was a mix of 80s songs and electronics. Seeing the entire first year screaming their lungs out to “Sweet Dreams” was totally worth coming here.
—
The first beats of Chromatics’ ‘Girls Wanna Have Fun’ filled the hall. It was a peculiar pick of song, because there were only four girls in the current year. While the guys of their friend group made some smug, grimacing faces, Alicia grabbed Raquel’s hand. She pulled her a little bit closer towards her and Raquel’s hands naturally found their way on Alicia’s hips. As the two start swinging to the electronic slow-beat, Alicia’s bold moves earn a glare from the guys.
Their movements sync up and they find a slow pace to match the music.
“Oooo”, their guy friends whistle at them.
Raquel looks Alicia in the eye and without thinking twice, she takes her hand and leads them to a place where the guys’ eyes can’t reach them.
“...and hide her away from the rest of the world", it sounds from the speakers.
This song was really not meant for the guys to be enjoyed like that.
Minds blurred with alcohol and excitement for summer, Raquel pulls Alicia closer again. Not even a split second later, Alicia drops her eyes to Raquel’s lips. Something clicks. It’s as if they’re intuitively drawn to one another and without even noticing, the two lean forward. Their lips collide. As the lyrics of the song make space for the instrumental bridge, their kiss finds its natural pace. Raquel feels Alicia’s soft, musky perfume clouding her mind, drawing her body towards the redhead currently pulling her in.
The last beat of the song drops immediately, and Raquel pulls away.
“So what if I showed up at your party?”
A familiar knot in Raquel’s stomach rises again at the memories from a few weeks ago now that she’s sitting in the car outside of the house of the redhead that has been avoiding her ever since. Of course Alicia didn’t invite her to her party tonight, but Raquel had to find a way to talk to her.
She’s trying to mentally prepare herself for what’s to come.
“The worst thing that I ever did, was what I did to you”
A sharp inhale. Raquel is leaning her shoulder against the brick wall. She takes another drag of her cigarette.
She has no clue what the fuck just happened, but before her thoughts get another chance to reminisce it again, she feels a hand on her shoulder.
Raquel turns around and is met with the smell of beer and a male voice.
“Toma”, Hortigosa hands her another drink.
She doesn’t need to think twice before accepting the drink, because she really fucking needs the alcoholic beverage to ease her rushing thoughts.
She really messed up at the First Year Party, Raquel thought to herself. She wishes she could blame it on the alcohol, the way she let herself be pulled in by Hortigosa.
The look of Alicia’s eyes watching Raquel kiss him clouds her mind and for a second she is about to turn the engine on again. There is no way she’s not gonna tell me to go fuck myself.
Raquel had tried multiple times to call Alicia after the party but the redhead had declined every way of contact.
“The only thing I wanna do is make it up to you”
Raquel scoffs at herself. Get it together . Taking a last deep breath, she gets out of the car and makes her way to the front porch. She can hear the loud music coming from the backyard.
The brunette rings the doorbell.
—
“I'm here on your doorstep
And I planned it out for weeks now but
It's finally sinking in
Right now is the last time
I can dream about what happens when you see my face again.”
—
The door opens.
Alicia’s face drops.
What the hell.
The redhead instinctively tries to close the door again, but she’s met with resistance from the other side. Raquel won’t let Alicia avoid this confrontation another time. They have to talk about this now.
Alicia turns around, but leaves the door open. Raquel takes this as her shot to try and get to her. She follows the redhead into the garden.
“Can’t you just stop for a second?”, Raquel blurts out.
Alicia turns in her heels, an annoyed expression plays out on her face.
“Can we talk?”
“About what? Your dumb choices in men?”, Alicia spits out and she chuckles bitterly.
Raquel wants to snap back at her but she really isn’t in the right position. She takes another breath and tries again.
“Listen Alicia, I’m sorry.”
“Well, congratulations, you finally got laid”. Alicia slips into full-bitch mode, it’s what’s most comfortable for her.
Raquel flinches at the comment.
“I didn’t even-, you know what, never mind”. Raquel throws her hands in the air and turns around. There’s no way she’s gonna let someone treat her like this. Not even Alicia.
As Raquel walks past her, Alicia sucks the inside of her bottom lip into the corner of her mouth. She scoffs at herself, already regretting the snarky comments. Joder, you pulled up your fucking wall again.
—
Raquel grabs the steering wheel in both anger and annoyance with herself. Who was she fooling? She knew perfectly what Alicia was like.
What did she expect? For Alicia to kiss her on the porch in front of all her stupid friends? She could have known better.
Lost in these thoughts, Raquel turns on the engine again.
As her foot is about to hit the gas pedal, the passenger door opens.
A familiar scent of fine musk already finds its way to her.
Raquel doesn’t even look at her. She just puts her foot down and drives. As she makes her way down the road, she feels Alicia’s gaze on her.
They both know Alicia isn’t the greatest talker, but right now Raquel isn’t either.
She can feel herself getting affected by the other woman’s staring but she doesn’t want to be the one to give in this easily.
Reflected rays of red light are approaching them as they reach the streetlight. The car slowly comes to a stop and suddenly time seems to slow down just as much.
From the corner of her eye, Raquel sees Alicia’s face now painted in a red shade - this is familiar - memories of the redhead dancing in the Academy hall’s neon lights flash before her eyes.
Raquel turns around.
She takes in the full sight of the redhead’s features, her eyes telling her more than words could ever say.
There’s the familiar stir in her stomach again.
That’s when she notices that Alicia’s gaze has now dropped to her lips.
The redhead opens her mouth, not even sure herself if it’s to say something or to-
Before they even notice what’s happening, they both find themselves being pulled towards each other. Raquel finding Alicia’s lips. Alicia finding Raquel’s. Their lips go back to the soft dance they were abruptly pulled away from last time. Raquel puts her hands on Alicia’s cheek while she pulls away (this time slowly, without the intention of running away) to look her in the eye and smiles at her.
“I missed you.”