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“I think I love you.”
Lex froze.
What?
She looked down at her girlfriend Ether, who had her head in Lex’s lap and was staring up at her like she had strung up all the stars and the moon in the sky.
“What did you say?” Lex asked, half hoping she misheard her.
“I said, I love you.”
Nope, Lex did not mishear her. Shit.
“Eth, you’re drunk.” She said quietly. “You don’t mean that.” She went back to petting Eth’s silky hair again. That always seemed to calm her down. Lord knows she needed to calm down now; though she didn’t show it her heart was going 180 mph at those three little words, even if the sincerity was questionable.
Eth’s eyes went wide. “No no no no no but I do! I do though! I mean it!” She insisted. “I wrote my whole love confession out in my phone notes. Would you like to hear it?”
Lex raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? You wrote out a confession? On your phone?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I did. I made it a couple of weeks ago. Dunno when I was gonna say it. Now, apparently.” Eth gave Lex one of her signature dazzling white smiles, and Lex tried her best not to just melt right in her seat. Fuck, she was so gay for Ether Green.
“Where’s my phone? Does anyone know where my phone is? I need to confess my love to my pretty girlfriend!” Eth called out to the other party goers, louder than Lex wanted.
“Shut up babe.” Lex hissed. “And your phone’s in your back pocket.”
“My back pocket… Where’s my back pocket again?” Eth mumbled. “Oh! Oh yeah, it’s on my butt. Lexie, you wanna grab my phone for me? Then you can touch my butt.” She winked.
Lex groaned and ran a hand over her face. “Jesus, you’re so drunk.”
“Maybe baby.” Eth giggled, and Lex rolled her eyes.
“How much have you had to drink, anyways?” Lex curled a strand of Eth’s wave dark hair around her finger.
“I haven’t thrown up or anything, so who fucking cares.” Eth rolled over on her side and wiggled her butt. “Now take my phone and hand it to me.”
Lex snorted. “Right away, your highness.” She slipped Eth’s phone out of her back pocket (attempting not to stare at her ass but damn it was hard), rolled her onto her back, and handed her girlfriend her damn phone. “You could have just, ya know, gotten it yourself.”
“True. But I like laying in your lap. It’s comfy. You’re comfy. You’re so soft and I love laying with you.” Eth said matter-of-factly, seemingly not noticing the effect it had on the now red faced Lex. “Now where was it…” She scrolled through her phone muttering to herself.
“Eth, now is not the time…” Lex attempted to take Eth’s phone, but Eth swatted her hand away.
“Yes, yes it totally is the time. There is no better time to confess my love than at my cousin’s boyfriend’s party at who fucking knows o’clock after drinking an entire bottle of… something to get my courage up. You know the saying, ‘alcohol is liquid courage’. And it is!” Eth persisted.
“There were so many times where I was like oh my god should I say it? Should I say it? Then I didn’t. But I’m not gonna make that mistake aga- found it!” She suddenly sat up, nearly knocking heads with Lex. “Fuck that’s a lot of words. Too many. Can’t I just Sparknotes this shit and say it shorter?” She grumbled under her breath.
Lex blinked. “Wait, are you serious?”
“Yes! How many times do I have to say that?!” Eth plopped herself into Lex’s lap and rested her head on her collarbone. Lex could feel her hot breath on her neck and her soft curls spilling over her shoulder, smell her favourite cologne mixed with top shelf alcohol. Maybe it was the 2 beers she had drunk earlier that were making her horny, but hot damn did Lex want to fucking make out with Eth right here right now. She didn’t want to take advantage of her girlfriend though, so she held herself back (unless Eth made a move first. In that case, Lex would be so fucking down).
Eth cleared her throat way too loudly. “ Ahem. Everyone shut the fuck up this is an important moment. Anyways,” She started, “Lexie, I love so many things about you. I love your hair, your eyes, your smile, your laugh, how red you go when I compliment you, the way you look out for Hannah Banana and me- really I could keep going on and on because there’s a really big list of things I love about you. It sounds cheesy as fuck but I’ve never felt this way about anyone, ever. Fuck, this is way longer than I thought and who fucking knows when I’m gonna get the courage to tell you this, but I love you, Lex Foster. I really, really do.”
Eth glanced up at Lex shyly, gauging her reaction. Lex was fucking flabbergasted. She gaped like a fish out of water unable to form coherent words. Since when was Eth such a wordsmith, holy shit. “I-I…” Say it! Say it back, goddammit! 4 words. ‘I love you too’. Easy breezy. “I lo-” She stopped. Will she even remember any of this in the morning? She’s not just a little tipsy, she’s fucking wasted. I don’t want to create any more regrets.
“Yeah.” Lex said plainly instead. She immediately regretted her words as Eth’s smile dropped.
“Yeah?”
Eth looked despondent, like a kid whose parents didn’t show up at their big ballet show. Lex’s heart squeezed.
“Yeah.” Lex repeated, this time with a comforting (at least she hoped it was comforting) smile. Tenderly she took Eth’s face in her hands and gently bumped their foreheads together. “That was quite a confession there.” She whispered. “I liked it.” They were so close their noses were almost touching, and Lex could count Eth’s long, mascara coated lashes.
God, please, just kiss me.
Lex got her wish.
The kiss was not soft or slow like she expected, but that didn’t make it any less passionate. Even when she was shitfaced Eth’s kisses were heavenly. They made her head spin like a rogue disco ball and her stomach flutter wildly and her heart kick into overdrive, but she wanted more, more, more. Eth dropped her phone unceremoniously in favour of wrapping her arms around her neck and dragging her fingers down Lex’s scalp. Lex couldn’t help but groan, which only motivated Eth to kiss her deeper, deeper, deeper. Lex’s hands dropped down from her cheeks to her waist, but her thick leather jacket stopped her from feeling her true curves. Dissatisfied, Lex slid her hands under Eth’s jacket, then her shirt, to grasp at her bare waist. Eth inhaled sharply, but did not break the kiss. She shifted so she was straddling Lex’s lap, pressed close against her, chest to chest, hips to hips.
“Hey uh guys, please don’t fuck on my couch.” The party’s host- Danny, or whatever the fuck his name was- cut in. “Beer stains are already hard enough to get out, I don’t want to clean… whatever out of the upholstery.”
Lex didn’t even look up; she just flipped him off silently.
Danny sighed. “Jesus Christ. 3rd door on the left upstairs is open. Just try not to make too much of a mess and lock the door, k?”
The middle finger turned into a thumbs up.
“Yeah, whatever. Have fun.” Danny grumbled and walked away.
“Well, you heard him.” Lex said with a grin as she pulled away from the kiss.
“Not really. What happened?” Eth mumbled dazedly. God she was adorable.
“Let’s go upstairs.” Lex helped Eth to her unsteady feet, luckily catching her before she promptly keeled over. “Woah there! You ok there?”
“Sorry. My head’s just,” Eth twirled her finger around in the air, “ya know. I haven’t gotten up in a while.”
“I get it. Don’t worry though, we’ll lie back down soon enough.” Lex winked and dragged Eth upstairs, stealing little playful kisses along the way.
As soon as Lex shut the bedroom door and locked it, Eth surged forward, pushing Lex backwards until her back hit the wall with a loud thump, and immediately going down to kiss and suck at her throat.
This startled Lex- usually she was the one who liked slamming her girlfriend against a wall and ravishing her, but tonight she was content with letting Eth do what she wished. Besides, having Eth take the lead this time would ease Lex’s conscience that she wasn’t taking advantage of or making Eth do things she didn’t want to do.
“I love you.” Eth murmured into the side of Lex’s neck.
Her heart stopped. “Wh-what?” Even though Eth had said it several times already, Lex still wasn’t used to it.
“I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you.” Eth repeated. She slowly unzipped Lex’s hoodie, and grabbed Lex’s hands so she could unzip her leather jacket. She shrugged her leather jacket off and threw Lex’s hoodie haphazardly on the floor, then went right back to planting kisses over Lex’s collarbone.
“Eth.” Lex gasped. “Fuck, Eth, hold on.” But Eth, too absorbed in her mission of exploring every bit of Lex’s neck and collarbone with her lips, simply thought she was moaning and continued on. “Ether, wait!”
That made Eth stop. Lex rarely used her full name. “What’s wrong?” She pulled back, her eyebrows furrowed and lipstick slightly smeared.
“Eth, are you sure you want to do this? I don’t want to force you or anything.”
Eth gave a half grin. “Babe, if I didn’t want to do this, I wouldn’t have pushed you against the wall and attacked your neck like a shark snacking on a yummy human leg.” Lex rolled her eyes at the euphemism.
“Yeah, but you’re piss drunk. And I’m sorta sober. Ish. Definitely not as fucking wasted as you are.” She pointed out.
“Lexie,” Eth picked up one of Lex’s hands and pressed it to her lips in a strangely gentle kiss in comparison to the passionate, steamy things that they had just done. “Do you want to do this?”
“Yeah.” Lex licked her lips. “I really, really want to.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Eth shrugged.
“Nothing, I just- oh!” Eth picked Lex up bridal style and dropped her on the bed, then immediately crawled on top of her. Eth knew Lex secretly loved getting picked up. Or rather, she loved it when Eth showed off how strong she was. Her face when she saw Eth lift 20 lb weights? Priceless.
The only sounds in the room were their quiet gasps and moans, coupled with the slick noise of their lips sliding together and clothing shifting. Music blared downstairs, but neither heard it. They were in their own little world, where there was no one else but them.
“You” kiss “are so” kiss “damn” kiss “beautiful.” Eth murmured into Lex’s skin as she trailed kisses up her stomach.
“Jesus Christ, Eth.” Lex breathed, torn between looking away out of embarrassment and keeping her eyes trained on the beautiful vixen practically worshipping her body. A knot formed in Lex’s stomach, but she couldn’t quite identify what emotion to connect it with. Embarrassment? Worry? Happiness? Lust? She didn’t know, but at this moment, she couldn’t care to figure it out.
“Are you wearing a bra?” Eth whispered as she slid her hands under Lex’s shirt, ghosting her fingertips over her waist.
Lex shook her head. “No. You?”
“Why don’t you find out?” Eth sat back and raised her arms, allowing Lex to strip off her shirt, revealing a lacy black bra.
“Fuck, you’re hot.” Lex thought out loud, gazing up at her girlfriend with eyes dark with lust.
Eth laughed. “Right back atcha, babe.” As they kissed for what must have been the millionth time that night, Eth brushed her tongue along Lex’s lower lip in a silent question. Lex parted her lips, allowing Eth to slip inside and deepen the kiss. They had made out plenty of times, but this time felt different. More passionate. More, well, loving. And Lex fucking loved it. She loved how Eth kissed her like this would be their last kiss before the world ended, she loved how Eth held his closely as if wanting to just melt into her, she loved how only Eth could make her feel good about her body, she loved how right “I love you” sounded, even if they weren’t sober.
“I love you, Lex Foster.” Eth whispered as they seperated, and turned off the bedside lamp with a click.
Though Eth didn’t hear it from her position, Lex whispered back under her breath,
I love you too.
Eth woke up with a fucking awful headache.
She sat up and rubbed her head, which pounded like a booming bass boosted remix from a partially deaf DJ who didn’t know what volume control was in a shitty overcrowded club.
“Fuck…” She groaned. “What happened…?” She tried recalling what the hell happened last night. Then suddenly, it all hit her. Getting shitfaced, proclaiming her love to Lex with that shitty sappy ass confession, making out, and- she glanced at her naked girlfriend who was soundly asleep next to her- yeah, going that far.
“Fuck.” She repeated, and pressed her palms into her eyes. Not only does she have a hell of a hangover, but she also has to deal with the awkwardness that’ll come once Lex wakes up. Hopefully she won’t wake up anytime soon, so Eth has more time to figure out what the fuck to do.
Ether Green, you fucking idiot. You absolute goddamn dumbass. Confessing while drunk? Are you fucking serious? God fucking dammit. Am I really that stupid? I wish this was all just a nightmare, but it’s not. Or would it be a good dream? Fuck, I don’t know.
Plus Lex looked so damn beautiful when asleep. All the tension in her shoulders were gone and a small smile graced her face. She must be having a good dream. Eth wanted to run her hand over her soft cheek, brush away the little strand of hair in her closed eyes, maybe even cover her face with little kisses. But that’d wake her up for sure. So Eth restrained herself and contented in simply staring at her gorgeous girlfriend in silence. God, Eth was so in love with her.
Eth pushed herself up to rest on her elbows to get a better look, when the mattress creaked. She froze. Please don’t wake up please don’t wake up please down wake up. Lex didn’t stir, and Eth sighed a sigh of relief. Thank fuck.
“Eth?” Lex shifted in the sheets, making little annoyed noises from waking up, and yawned.
Shit I jinxed it.
“Morning babe.” Eth greeted, trying to act normal. “Or whatever time it is.”
Lex rolled over to look at Eth. “Hi.” She smiled drowsily. Adorable.
“Hi.” Eth echoed, internally screaming.
“How long have you been up?” Lex yawned again, her nose scrunching up cutely.
“Only a minute or two. My head hurts like a motherfucker though, so that sucks. I sorta wanna go back to sleep.” Eth flopped back down on the pillow.
“Yeah, well that’s what you get for drinking an entire bottle of some random strong alcohol. Hangovers can be a bitch.” Lex teased. “I should probably get you some water. If you wanna stay in bed that’s fine, I’ll go to the kitchen and come back.”
Eth shook her head. “No, no, I should probably get up. I can’t lay here forever.” She forced herself to stand up, then immediately teetered backwards and fell back on the bed with a thump. “Ow. Maybe not.”
“C’mon lazybones.” Lex got out of bed, only wobbling a bit, and went over to prop Eth up. Eth noticed she was walking a little funny. She smirked. That’s because of me.
The girls got dressed then headed down to the kitchen, with Eth leaning heavily on Lex. It seemed everyone had already left, so it was probably late morning to early afternoon. Neither had looked at a clock since they woke up.
“Oh, by the way Lexie,” Eth murmured with a grin, “I suggest you look in a mirror sometime.
“What? Why?” Lex let go of Eth and ducked out of the kitchen to check a hallway mirror. She promptly made a noise similar to a cat being strangled by a hawk mixed with an out loud keyboard smash.
“Ether!” She growled, storming back into the kitchen. “What the hell? There’s more red on my neck than there is visible skin!” She pointed at her lipstick covered neck. “I thought you usually wore transfer proof lipstick!”
Eth snorted. “Usually yeah. But not last night. And personally I think red is a great colour on you.” She hid her smile behind her cup of water.
“You…” Lex took a deep breath to calm herself down. “Yeah well, you’ve got dark circles under your eyes from your eyeliner and mascara!”
“Oh no. Whatever shall I do.” Eth drawled. She wet a paper towel in the sink, then rubbed off her smeared under eyes. While it didn’t get rid of everything, it certainly made it better. “You can try wiping off the lipstick marks with a towel, but it’ll still look like you have a hella bad sunburn. I think there’s some makeup wipes in my car, so you can use those.” She suggested.
“Whatever.” Lex grumbled.
A long whistle came from behind them. “Wow, you slept in for a long ass time!” Danny stood in the kitchen doorway, sipping on a Monster. “Do you even know what time it is?”
“Nope. We’ll be out of your hair soon though.” Eth finished her cup of water. “Do you have any pain killers?”
“Yeah, they’re in the bathroom.” Danny said. “I’ll go get em so you don’t steal anything.” Eth and Lex rolled their eyes.
“Is Hannah still at the trailer, or did you have someone babysit her?” Eth asked casually.
“No, she’s at the trailer. She’ll be fine though.”
The room fell silent. It was tense, awkward, but not maliciously. They were both thinking the same thing, but neither wanted to vocalise it.
Lex took a deep breath. “Hey Eth, how much of last night do you remember?”
It took everything in Eth not to flinch; this was the moment she had been dreading since she had woken up. “Most things.” She mumbled, looking down at the floor.
“I see.”
Small droplets of water hit the inside of the sink with a soft clink. It sounded deafening in the noiseless room. The faucet hadn’t been fully turned off, but neither wanted to move and break the uneasy quiet.
“Are you mad?”
“What? No.”
“Really?”
“Why would I be?”
“Because I said all that… shit to you.”
Lex leaned on the counter and rested her chin in her palm with a gentle smile. “I think that shit was pretty sweet, though. I liked it.”
Eth’s face went as red as her lipstick. “R-really?”
“Yeah. And I know it wasn’t just drunken ramblings. You really meant it. Even if you were drunk as fuck it still came from here,” Lex tapped her chest, “right?”
Eth returned her smile. “Of course.” Should I say it? Fuck it, might as well. “Lexie, do you lo–”
“Got your Tylenol!” Danny butt in, cutting her off. “Sorry it took so long. I thought it was in the bathroom down the hall but it was actually in the upstairs bathroom. My b.” He stared at the blushing girls. “...Did I interrupt something?”
“No!” Both said at once, looked at each other, then looked at the floor.
“...Oookay. Well uh, after you take the Tylenol you should probably go.” Danny said slowly. “Unless you want to help me clean up the mess some of the assholes left here. Some bastard drank an entire bottle of my dad’s favourite top shelf liquor. He’ll be pissed.” Eth and Lex exchanged glances, but didn’t say anything.
“Um, we’re good. Sorry about your dad’s liquor.” Lex shook her head. “Eth, I’ll drive you, k?”
Eth nodded. “Alright.” She quickly knocked back 2 pills, then put the bottle back down on the counter. “Thanks… um, Daniel?”
“Danny.”
“Danny. Thanks. Because of this,” She raised the glass of water and pills, “I won’t bully you for fucking my cousin. For now.” Eth gave him a half smile.
“Wow, I’m honoured.” Danny drawled. “Thank goodness I don’t have to fear for my life constantly anymore.” Eth scoffed at that.
“Funny.” She checked the time on her phone. “Shit, it’s later than I thought. C’mon Lexie. We should go.” She took Lex’s hand and squeezed one, two, three times.
“Ok.” Lex smooched Eth’s cheek, delighting in how she turned an even darker shade of read.
“Hey, usually I’m the one who does that.” Ethan grumbled in embarrassment.
“I thought I’d switch it up a little. Also I don’t want more lipstick on me.” Lex teased, playfully hipbumping her.
“Yeah Lex, your neck is like, really red. It looks like it got dunked in red paint.” Danny added unhelpfully. The girls ignored him.
After a casual wave goodbye; they walked hand and hand back to Eth’s car (with Eth still leaning on Lex, though less dramatically than before). They sat in silence for a moment, not sure what to say.
Should I ask her again? Eth looked down at her lap. No, no… Now’s not the time for that. If she even loves me back, that is. Her gaze flitted to Lex. Maybe she does love me too. I mean, she liked my stupid lovey dovey bullshit. Supposedly. Or maybe she was just saying that to make me feel better? Fuck, now is not the time to overthink this shit. Save that for later.
“Sooooo, wanna go to McDonald’s?” Lex finally said. “I think I have a $10 in my wallet.”
Eth broke out in a grin. “Fuck yeah. I’m always up for Mickey D’s.” She reached into the backseat and pulled out a pack of makeup wipes. “Might want to wipe the lipstick off your neck first, unless you wanna give the cashier a heart attack.”
Lex snorted. “Fair enough.” She cleaned her neck with the wipe, and although it was still quite pink it didn’t look nearly as bad as before. “This good?”
“Almost.” Eth grabbed another makeup wipe and leaned in to rub it on a particularly stubborn lipstick stain right over her pulse. “There. Perfect.”
Neither realised how close they were until they looked up and locked eyes. “...You’re perfect.” Eth tacked on, without thinking.
“What?”
“What?”
“Did you say something?”
“Um, no. You must have been, uh, imagining things.”
“Oh ok.”
A beat.
“So are we getting that McDonald’s or not, Lexie? I’m starving.”
“You sure love food, huh?” Lex snickered.
“I sure fucking love McDonald’s. Not just any food.” Eth specified. “Though food in general is good too. I don’t care if it’s ‘unladylike’, catch me eating cheetos using chopsticks using melted chocolate as dipping sauce and washing it down with Monster at 3 in the morning.”
“That was fucking horrifying to watch. I can’t believe you Facetimed me that early just to force me to watch you eat various terrible food combinations that never have and never will make sense.” Lex turned the keys in the car engine.
“I thought it was gonna help calm you down. ASMR and all that jazz.” Eth quipped. “And you could have just hung up if it was that bad.”
“No, I had to make sure you wouldn’t choke to death and die. Both from shitty food and your own stupidity.” Lex deadpanned. “‘Calm me down’, bull shit you fucking knew that’d freak me out–” Eth cut off her rant with a quick kiss.
“Alright, now we’re even.” Eth grinned her signature brilliant grin. “So shut up and drive already.”
Lex mumbled something incoherent, but her embarrassment was more cute than anything. She eventually collected herself and sped off to the nearest McD’s, with Eth staring her lovely girlfriend all the way there.