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I.
"Happy Birthday!" Jennifer trills as she wraps her arms around Needy's neck and kisses her cheek, leaving purple frosting smeared in her wake.
Needy doesn't mind that at all though.
She loves how Jennifer's embrace feels, how her hair smells like coconut and how being the center of the other girl's attention makes *her* feel. Always has ever since that first day in the sand box.
It's August, and the two of them are celebrating their birthday together, something they've done since their friendship formed. The birthdays being only three weeks apart made things more special, Jennifer said, meaning that they were definitely supposed to be friends.
Needy didn't know if she believed in that or not. Mostly she didn't give it any thought other than to be happy that she was the one who got to share this with Jennifer, though she had to admit it was interesting how they were both born under two different signs despite the proximity.
The party was held on different days every year, either the Friday or the weekend in the middle of each birthday, they always had their favorite cake - vanilla with chocolate filling - and purple frosting - their favorite color. They always got each other a purple colored gift.
It started as a coincidence the year they turned five, but for the past five years they both carried on with it.
Needy loves it, it's just one more thing only she and Jennifer share. She smiles and echoes the birthday greeting back to Jennifer as they trade purple gifts wrapped in shiny purple gift paper, thinking that she's not sure how true the zodiac predictions Jennifer reads are, but wishing on birthday candles seems to work.
Because Jennifer just kissed her, her wish came true.
She's always loved all of Jennifer, the good and the bad.
Sandbox love never dies, after all.
II.
"We need to learn how to kiss with tongue," Jennifer casually announces one late September afternoon when they're in the eighth grade, sitting on red, white and blue striped lawn chairs while Jennifer's mom talks - or rather yells - on the phone with her sister who lives two streets away, but from the volume of the conversation it's as though Jen's mom is trying to see if Jen's aunt could hear with no phone.
"What the heck?" Needy stares, she'd been lost in thought about whether or not she was ready to try contact lenses.
"Hello?" Jennifer knocks on the blonde's forehead not lightly. "We just turned thirteen last month! We'll be starting high school soon, we need to be prepared."
"Prepared?"
"For boys, duh? We'll need to be ready for kissing with tongue and sex."
At the mention of sex, Needy grimaces. She's definitely not ready for that. Kissing is more than okay though, if she's being totally honest with herself, considering how many hours she spends daydreaming about kissing Jennifer and Billy Joe Armstrong.
Sometimes both.
At once.
The image invades her brain again as Jennifer talks.
"Needy!" Jennifer's hand is suddenly waving in front of her face. "Jeez, what is your damage?"
Jennifer's introduced this phrase into her vocabulary ever since they watched Heathers at their last sleepover.
"I'm sorry, I'm tired," Needy shrugs.
"Well pay attention. I said we should practice first so when guys ask us to kiss them we don't end up looking or acting totally tragic. Especially you if this is how you react to just me talking about it!"
Just her. Needy scoffs internally. If only Jennifer knew.
"So what do you want us to do? Really go for it with the backs of our hands?" Needy snaps, tired of this topic and keen to go back to her daydream.
Jennifer eyerolls so hard the whites of her eyes are visible. "Cross out, Needy!" she scoffs herself before speaking again. "Obviously we practice on each other!"
Needy just stares again.
Jennifer doesn't wait for any other kind of response.
They can both hear her mom yelling down the cherry red receiver of the rotary phone she refuses to get rid of, telling her sister Janice about her date last night ("it went great, except he likes pineapple and seafood pizza but the sex was good enough that I can overlook his poor food choices".)
While Needy is wondering why anybody would do that to a perfectly good pizza, Jennifer says "Needy, just stop me if you don't feel good!" and before she can interject, Jennifer's kissing her again.
Really kissing her this time, not just a peck on the cheek, an actual kiss with tongue.
Needy knows Jennifer wants her to go along with it, and who is she to deny her best friend? And so what if she enjoys it a little more than she lets on.
Okay, a lot more.
After what seems like an eternity but in reality is only a couple of minutes, they break apart.
Jennifer is grinning.
"We're both really good at that!" she exclaims, Needy's heart soaring, daring to hope that Jennifer will say something along the lines of how they should always do it together and not worry about finding other people to kiss.
"We're gonna get so many boyfriends!"
Needy's heart shatters while she fakes a smile that pulls at the sides of her mouth and hurts.
III.
Ten days after they start High School, there's a party at Lara Grady's house. They have to go, Jennifer tells - doesn't ask - Needy, Lara is rich and popular, being fresh meat in High School is hard enough, but neither of them wanna be on the "diss list" that Lara has.
Needy doesn't really want to go to the party. She doesn't like Lara, she likes Lara's rich parents who look at you like you're something under a microscope even less, but she loves Jennifer, so that's really the end of that.
A few boring hours and warm frothy beers in red solo cups are worth it to feel the bear hug and excited kiss on the cheek that comes from Jennifer when Needy assents.
IV.
It's the penultimate year of high school.
Another September night, another party at someone's house Needy doesn't wanna go to, but does anyway because Jennifer told her they ere going. This time it's Austin Butler, football hero.
"Does she ever even ask you?" Needy's boyfriend, Chip, had complained after she told him where they were going that night.
"You're going to your cousin's house for the weekend, it's not like we had plans," Needy feels defensive, resents the idea that she can't or won't think for herself.
"Whatever," Chip had shrugged, clearly not interested in talking about his girlfriend's best friend any longer.
So, now they're at Austin's house, playing a game of Spin the Bottle because of course they are.
And the beer bottle lands on her and Jen because of course it does.
"Woo yeah let's see you tongue each other!" Austin snickers and high fives a couple of his teammates.
Jennifer just rolls her eyes and crawls forward to Needy.
Needy doesn't think, she just reacts. Doesn't think about Chip, or Austin's gross comments, she just kisses the girl she's loved since they were in the sand box together.
And she does it damn well, she knows that.
"One day I'll kiss her first, damn it!" Needy swears to herself when they break apart, even though she knows she'd be too scared to do that.
V.
They're on Needy's bed, Jennifer is wearing Needy's Evil Dead shirt.
Jen brings up playing doctor and just kisses her again.
As usual, Needy can't deny it. They haven't kissed since Austin Butler's party last year, surrounded by the high testosterone levels of football players and the sounds of beer pong being played in the background.
This time is different.
Feels different.
Is different as it turns out, following the revelation Jennifer drops on her after Needy finally puts her foot down and demands to know what exactly is happening.
After they've fought and Jennifer has jumped out of her freakin' window! Needy's mind is left reeling. She needs to process and fast.
She has a lot of decisions to make.
Now.
VI.
They sit shoulder to shoulder in the car, neither of them speak but every so often they look at each other and share a glance that says a thousand words only they understand, just one more secret whispered that only they can hear.
Jennifer's hair flies around her face, so black it looks like blue ink under the moonlight. The same moonlight that lit up their shadows as they lengthened down Jennifer's walk while the two girls slipped out into the night under the cover of darkness,not planning on coming back.
Now their connection is even stronger. Since Jennifer bit Needy at her request, rendering the blonde more than willing and able to participate in and enjoy the spoils of their upcoming hunt.
Low Shoulder, that's what they're driving towards.
Beyond that, the horizon and an uncertain future.
As they come to a stop at a red light, she grins at her oldest friend and leans over, for the first time in her life, kissing Jennifer first.
The lights have turned green and gone back to red again by the time they break the kiss.
Jennifer just smiles in that way of hers, as the lights turn gold.
"I've been waiting years for that," she says softly in a voice that is all the old her, not this new creature that shares her human form.
"Me too," Needy whispers as Jennifer hits the gas and she takes the other girl's free hand in her own.
Succubus or not, Jennifer doesn't pull away from the gentle gesture.
They continue on in a comfortable silence, Needy watching rural Minnesota fly by through the car windows
Needy's never been happier.
She's always loved all of Jennifer, the good and the bad.
The new circumstances don't alter those feelings, just amplify them.
Sandbox love never dies, after all.