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“You really do need to stop staring at her, the poor girl probably feels creeped out and that’s why she’s-”
“Shh.”
“Don’t shush me you know it’s tr-”
“Shh!”
“It’s true, and it’s probably why she hasn’t talked to you. Whe-”
“SHH!!”
“Bitch if you don’t-”
“Shut up! You think I want her to hear how pathetic this is?!”
It really was a miracle that the two women hadn’t been spotted yet, much less heard over the quiet bustle of the library as Rose looked up over a blank laptop to look across the way, scribbling in a leather-bound black journal, was a beautiful woman with long, black hair, face-shaped to look like it was a sculpture of one of those greek myths. And right behind the blonde was Kiara, who couldn’t seem to keep her mouth shut for two seconds, let alone keep it down at least.
“Look, all I’m saying is you’ve been stalking this girl for weeks since she was moved to your geometry class, and you know nothing about her!”
Rose turned to look at her friend, an annoyed and irritated expression crossing her rounder, more tanned face as she pushed her bangs out of her eyes. “Okay, bullshit. I know a lot about her! She likes to read big fancy books that high school teachers make you read if you’re in the higher up classes, she doesn’t-”
“What’s her name?”
“...... Catherine?”
Kiara gave her a look of annoyance
“Jane?”
A huffing sigh as Rose tried again
“… Oh, I know! Beth!”
Kiara let out a groan, a hand going to her forehead, “Now see, this is the problem! You know next to nothing besides what you’ve “seen” whenever you watch her, but you obviously don’t pay attention either since again, you don’t know shit.”
“Says the one who probably doesn’t know her name either...” Rose grumbled, putting her arms over her chest, wincing a bit before putting them down, concern coming over Kiara’s features, about to say something before Rose waved her off, turning before saying, “I’ll find out her name eventually! It just takes time. She’s just so cool and mysterious and pretty and-”
“Hello there...”
“Fuck!” Rose slammed down the laptop and scrambled in her seat, looking up at the figure before her. It was her, it was the woman, that goddamn sexy beauty that plagued Rose’s every waking moment. With her long dark hair, pale skin, and deep pools of blue you could get lost in…
“... at me… Are you alright?”
“Huh? I- Oh yeah I’m fine! I’m cool as a cucumber.” Rose said, slicking her hair back with her hand, trying to look cool as Kiara buried her face in her hands, laughing quietly as her friend floundered to try and speak. Holy shit this was not how Rose wanted this to go. FuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuckFuuuuuuuuuuuck-!
A nervous smile crossed the taller woman’s face as she watched the scene, clearly confused. She tucked the notebook under her arm, extending it to meet the smaller woman. “I think you and I have geometry, right? You’re Rose Hammonds.”
Rose blinked, trying not to freak out as she shook the other woman’s hand, trying to think of something, anything- “Yeah, uh… hi. That- I’m Ro. Le-”
“And you can call me Kiara.”
The redhead piped up, giving the other woman a wave, the two seemingly sizing each other up with smiles as Rose pulled her hand away hesitantly.
“And a pleasure it is, Kiara. It’s good to know this one has good friends surrounding her or else I’d be worried for her safety.”
With that Kiara smirked, snapping Rose out of her trance and getting to her feet. “Oh I can handle myself well enough, beautiful. And I’d be more than happy to show you that and how I can handle you.”
That… that was when the silence kicked in. Even Kiara quit snickering after a bit. Shaking her head, the woman looked down at Rose, a cool air surrounding her as she put a finger under Rose’s chin, tilting her face up slightly and leaning into the blonde’s ear to whisper. “Let’s put that to the test then. Meet me in the courtyard at 9:30 tonight by the group of aspens. If you show up late then you better hope I don’t catch you sniffing around my heels, alright pretty girl?”
Rose just nodded mutely, a low chuckle coming from the taller woman’s throat before she straightened up, hands at her sides and book clasped in one of them. “The name’s River, by the way. River Lee-Jackson. She would know that if she paid better attention in class than staring at me and my cleavage half the time.” And with that, she turned and walked away, leaving the other two speechless as Rose turned back to look at her friend, both wide-eyed and open-mouthed at trying to process what had just happened.
“Did she-?”
“Did I just-?”
“Holy shit you did.”
“She asked me out...”
“Yeah! Isn’t that great?!”
“I can’t believe I’m the one saying this,” the blonde let out a breathy laugh, fingers combing through her hair again, exhaling a bit more air before continuing, “...But I have no idea what I’m gonna wear.”
This sent Kiara over the moon as she tried to contain her laughter, but began to immediately pack her’s and Rose’s things. “I got it taken care of, you’ll be fine!”
A few hours later… and everything was not fine.
Rose ran screaming as she clutched her leather jacket close to her scarred and tatted chest, the only thing separating the leather and her skin being a ratty-old t-shirt she had yet to get mended. She looked a mess too, a couple of hair curlers on one half, a glued eyelash on her cheek, smeared lipstick, and streaked blush (blush? Wait- or was it powder? Wait- what if it was eye shadow? What even is powder?!) she hopped away on one shoe seemingly running away from Kiara, who had a hair straightener in one hand and a lacy pink dress on a hanger in the other. “Come on! You cannot wear that out tonight, you’ll look like a homeless person!”
“Technically, I am. But whatever! I like this outfit, it’s comfy!”
“It’s sad!”
“You’re sad.”
“Your face is sad!”
“Ouch, uncalled for.”
“Oh boo-hoo! Cry me a river.”
“I would, but then youre date would see you look like the hot mess she would see on Dateline. Now, put on the dress!”
“Fuck you!”
“You already did that!”
“Shut up and let me look like a sad, comfy hobo!”
“No! As your best friend I can’t let you do this to yourself. She could be the one!”
“Oh puh-lease! You’ve been watching too many rom-coms!”
“I’m lonely!-”
“Then go get laid!”
“- This is about your love life, not mine you idiot!”
“Whatever, but you can’t argue that you’re being more sad and pathetic than I am.”
“What’s more pathetic than stalking a girl you don’t even know?”
“I don’t know, what’re your plans on Saturday?”
A moment passed before Kiara pressed a hand to her mouth, hiding a snigger before the two just began to laugh loudly, coming back together for a moment, just laughing with an arm around the other before they looked at each other, Rose punched Kiara in the arm lightly.
“Okay, okay- Compromise. I won’t wear the dress-”
“Bu-”
“I’m not gonna wear the dress. But, I’ll let you put makeup on me and I’ll put on something nice that I wanna wear. Deal?”
Kiara let out a huff of air, shaking her head and pulling away, wagging a finger. “I’ll get to see you wear a dress one of these days. Whether by force or not… But deal.”
And with that, it was a whirlwind of slight cleaning and chaos and Rose was at the door, wearing a pair of black jeans and a white button-up and matching black tie, leather jacket tying up the look, her hair pushed back a bit with a smokey eye and deep red lipstick. Kiara definitely made sure to snap a few (or like- fifty) pics before Rose said enough and bolted out the door, making sure to grab a bouquet of roses on the way out, barely making it on time to find River standing right where she had said to meet. The aspen trees surrounding the woman, her hair tied into a messy ponytail and face bare of makeup, wearing a pair of black jeans, holes ripped in the knees and down the rest of the leg, ending at sturdy-looking black boots. She also wore a red button-up, a few buttons loose that made Rose gulp.
Fuck she looked like the sexy vampire of Rose’s dreams… except maybe with less leather and fishnets.
The two looked at each other, Rose with a slightly awkward smile before River gave a small bow, taking the bouquet of roses with a smile. “It’s fitting on how you give me these when we’re on a trial-run date… Granted I guess these are appropriate as far as culture goes if you don’t know. It’s very sweet of you, Rose.”
“I- uh… you’re welcome? I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.” Rose’s head was swimming
“Wait- we’re going to a graveyard?”
“Is that going to be a problem?”
“You gonna kill me?”
“...”
“It’s a valid question.”
“... Fair enough. But no, I’m not going to kill you unless you have an appetite for desturction.”
“I never say this on a first date but holy shit I love you.”
“... Well that answers that question. Should I even ask your favorite album?”
“We don’t have all night.”
“Also fair. Come on.”
The taller woman offered her arm, which Rose took as they made their way through the long rows of graves filled with names lost by time. As they walked and talked, River stopped for a moment to put the bouquet of flowers on an empty grave, kneeling in front of it and murmuring under her breath, leaving Rose to stand there a bit awkwardly, tracing her foot into the dirt, looking at River when she stood back up.
“You know them?”
“Not personally, but they didn’t have any flowers and didn’t want to be rude… No one should be forgotten after death.”
A bit of silence passed, heavy aas the words that the taller woman had spoke. Rose le t them sink into her brain. The way she had said them… It almost felt like River knew the feeling, or maybe Rose could sense the fear and sadness in the other woman’s voice. After a moment, the blonde offered a hand on River’s arm to offer a bit of consolation. “Hey-”
She didn’t have time to finish when River pulled Rose into a deep kiss, completely caught off guard but after a couple of seconds, the two fell into a rhythm, lips molding together and Rose’s eyes fluttering closed.
The kiss made Rose’s head swim. It was like a fine, rich red wine that drowned out every other thought that tried to fire through the blonde’s sense’s, hands burying now into those raven locks and tugged slightly as tongues flicked and explored each other, wind eerily quiet as if the bodies around them silenced it with the pure power what this was, whatever it was.
It seemed too soon when they broke apart breathing heavily as they looked at each other, Rose with a bit of surprise and shocked at how that had just happened, took a seat on the ground and made sure it wasn’t somebody’s grave. Wouldn’t want to disturb the dead by sitting on them.
“Where the hell have you been my entire life?” Rose gasped, earning a small laugh from River and she shook her head.
“Somewhere I don’t think you’d heard of before.”
“Fair, I don’t get out much. But for the record it’s not in the woods sacrificing virgins or something, right?”
River gave her a confused look, joining her on the ground. “Why would I need to sacrifice virgins? It also seems counterproductive since also by societies standards I also am one.”
This time Rose gave her a confused look, “How the hell are you so hot and intellectual and still a virgin?”
“Now we get to an interesting question besides asking the usual. Perfection.” She pulled her hair over her shoulder, combing through it a few times.
“I appreciate the compliment of what you think of me, and I know you don’t mean this, but I don’t define my worth by sleeping with someone. I don’t really have a physical attraction to people-”
“Soooo… This is a pity date and you don’t think I’m hot?”
A sigh. More silence as River shook her head. “No, this isn’t a “pity date”, and I do think you’re attractive. I just don’t have sex.”
“Wait- But like, what about masturbating?”
“Are you always this forward on first dates?”
“Are you?”
“... Touche.”
A couple more smiles before Rose lit a cigarette, offering one to River and she waved a hand, pulling out one and just started twirling in her fingers.
“I do think people are attractive, objectively. At least I think that’s the right word. But I do think people are hot in a sense and I can see a life with them, just not with a lot or no sex.”
Rose listened, looking up at the moon. “Soooo, you’re ace then.”
River looked back at Rose, confused as Rose gave a half-hearted shrug. “At least, it sounds like it. Don’t quote me on that shit.”
“... Good to know. I didn’t think there was a term for it, I’ll keep that in mind.”
The quiet settled over them once more as the smoke swirled into the sky, the waning moon illuminating them even as they made their way back to the dorms. They stopped a little bit away from the entrance, looking at each other, idly chatting a bit about music before everything got quiet again, Rose fiddling with the zipper at the end. “Sooo, I don’t wanna offer you inside or it’ll be awkward, but then I wanna ask before you go… How’d I do?”
River took the rose from Rose’s lapel, sniffing it a bit before kissing the shorter woman on the forehead and pulling away with a smile. “I’ll be seeing you in geometry, if you ever need a place to study I’ll make you tea.”
And she walked away. She fucking walked away, leaving Rose to press herself against the door, hands in her pockets as she looked up at the outside light.
“Fuck why is she so hot?”