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“But, Sabrina, that’s ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!” Chloé screamed into her phone. “You promised me!”
“I know, Chloé, and I’m really sorry. You know how my dad gets when there’s been more akumatized victims than usual. He doesn’t trust Ladybug and Chat Noir as much as he trusts the law, so uh…he refuses to let me leave the house after sunset.”
“But that’s so unfair!! You promised to watch the movie about Jagged Stone’s life featuring ultra special top secret never before seen footage of baby Jagged with a guitar with me.” Chloé did a little pout. “Am I supposed to watch it with my butler now?” She could practically feel him sneak out of the room to get his pyjamas so they can watch the movie together the way she would’ve with Sabrina. Curled up in her king bed, a little too close to each other, with pillows and blankets all around them. But it wasn’t the same. She wanted to watch it with Sabrina, not with Jan whatever. Who cuddles with their butler anyway?
“Wait, Chloé? I think I have an idea.” Sabrina sounded a little too nervous but it was probably because of Chloé’s sudden outburst. “What if you…came over? Instead of me coming to your place? That way my dad wouldn’t have to worry and he’ll probably even be happy that I have company.”
Chloé fell silent for a moment. Her reaction would’ve normally been something like “Ew, why would we hang out at whatever hole you live in if we can go to the best hotel in Paris?” But Sabrina was right. Plus, she wouldn’t really say that…not if there was no one else around. “Hm. I suppose that’s a good idea. I’ll be there in an hour.” She hesitated before hanging up. “And uh…dinner’s on me. I’ll get something from the Grand Paris restaurant.”
Around an hour later Chloé found herself pressing the doorbell with her chin, since her hands were busy with *insert fancy French dish* and the suitcase she brought. “Ugh, what took you so long?” she said when Sabrina opened the door a second later. “Here, take my stuff and let me in already.” Though people would expect this to be Chloé’s genuine reaction, it really wasn’t. Not anymore at least.
“Yes, sorry, Chloé, please come in.” Sabrina took all of the things that Chloé shoved into her arms with a smirk on her face and took a step back so she can come in. “It turned out my dad is working tonight, so we’ll mostly be alone. He said he’s going to check in on us before we go to bed though.”
Chloé was weirdly excited by that fact. She looked around – she had to admit that small apartments like this one had their own charm. She’d only been here once or twice before, but she kind of liked it. Chloé followed to Sabrina to her room so she can leave her suitcase there. Sabrina’s room was small and cute though Chloé would never admit that out loud. Everything was exactly where it belonged, sorted in alphabetical order. There were a couple pictures of the two of them on the desk and a single Queen Bee poster on the wall above Sabrina’s bed. Wait. Sabrina’s bed was a single bed.
“Where are we going to sleep?” Chloé heard herself ask.
“Right here, of course!” Sabrina suddenly blushed. “Oh, I mean, if you- if you don’t want to share the bed, that’s okay. I can sleep on the couch.” She gave a nervous smile.
Chloé’s heart sunk. No, no, no, no, no. No, she didn’t want that. But she couldn’t possibly admit what she really wanted. She should’ve kept her mouth shut.
“Ugh, sure, whatever, let’s eat before the food gets cold.” Chloé headed to the kitchen, while trying to calm herself. It was just Sabrina! Why was she so nervous all of a sudden? They’ve had sleepovers before and sure, the butler was there most of the time, but- oh god Chloé was going to spend the whole night alone with Sabrina!! She felt her cheeks go red. Sabrina was just her best friend, right? Of course she’d be excited, the whole blushing thing was probably just a side effect.
Chloé passed a few photos of baby Sabrina in the hallway, trying not to stop and gush about how cute she was. She had almost reached the kitchen when she saw a picture of Sabrina on her first day of school ever – a small ginger girl with glasses too big for her head, looking extremely cute in her fancy outfit.
“This is…adorable. Utterly adorable.” Chloé mumbled under her breath, hoping that Sabrina hadn’t heard her.
“Do you want to get the *fancy French dish* and eat on the couch so we can watch the movie at the same time?” Chloé finally managed to take her eyes off of seven-year-old Sabrina and look at current Sabrina who also looked a little red. Maybe it was a bit too warm in the little apartment.
“The *fancy French dish* is too fancy to be eaten on a couch, don’t you think, Sabrina? I think we still have enough time before it starts anyway. Also, can we open a window or something? Don’t you feel hot?”
Sabrina looked confused for a second, but then started laughing.
“Chloé, it’s the end of November. I was going to ask if you’re cold.”
“…oh. Okay, no, I’m good.” Chloé felt even hotter, but she decided not to comment on that.
They finally reached the kitchen, where Chloé unpacked the dinner the chef in the Grand Paris restaurant had prepared for the two of them. He even put a few candles to set the mood or whatever. During dinner both girls seemed to relax a bit (the candles did help in the end) and Chloé even felt a little chilly.
“Oh, it’s almost time for the movie!” Sabrina rushed out of the kitchen after putting the dishes away. Chloé tried to follow her, but Sabrina quickly disappeared in her room, then reemerged after a few seconds with two pillows and a blanket. “I figured you’d like it to be as if we’re at your apartment.” gUesS iF tHeY bLusHeD aGaiN. Yes. Yes, they did.
A few minutes later they were tucked in on the actually-reasonably-sized couch but that didn’t stop them from cuddling like they always did. “It’s cold.” Thought to herself Chloé. “That’s a reasonable reason to cuddle with your best friend!!”
Soon the movie started and the exactly fifteen minutes later the girls realized they had already seen most of the footage included. It turned out that this was another one of Bob Roth’s shady schemes to get as much money as possible with minimal effort. The short clip of baby Jagged with a guitar was cleverly put almost at the end of the movie, so Chloé and Sabrina had to suffer through the whole thing if they wanted to see it.
During one of the commercial breaks Sabrina got up to get popcorn and Chloé realized how empty the couch felt without her, so she decided it’s time to use the bathroom. Chloé used her short trip there as an excuse to stare at the photos of baby Sabrina in the hallway some more. When she got back, she found Sabrina already back on the couch with a bowl of popcorn in her hands.
“Wait, stay there.” Chloé stopped next to the couch. “Now open your mouth.”
“Uh…” Chloé began saying, but decided she didn’t want to ask and just opened her mouth. She flinched when Sabrina threw popcorn at her, probably aiming for her mouth but missing terribly, so Chloé ended up with a handful of popcorn in her hair.
“Sabrina!! What was that about?” She tried getting the popcorn out of her hair, but somehow made the situation worse. Sabrina was visibly amused but probably knew that she might get yelled at if she didn’t help her best friend.
“Wait, come here.” Soft chuckle. “Chloé, come here, let me help.” Sabrina grabbed Chloé’s hand and she pulled her back on the couch. Of course, Chloé tripped and flopped on top of Sabrina, who fell on her back. They both (gasp) blushed.
“Sabrina, please, I don’t want to have semi-permanent oil stains in my hair.” Chloé’s fear of a bad hair day was stronger than the flutter of butterfly wings in her stomach.
“Yes, I’m sorry.” Sabrina quickly sat back up, Chloé still laying on top of her and holding her hand. Realizing that, she let go and tried to get up as well, but all she managed to do was put her face even closer to Sabrina’s before falling back on top of her. She felt her best friend carefully remove the hair tie and let golden hair fall on her shoulders. Sabrina pulled all of the popcorn from her hair before looking Chloé in the eye again.
“That…should be everything.” They just laid there staring at each other for a few seconds before Chloé became too flustered, so her gaze fell down to Sabrina’s lips. Even though she felt as if even the neighbors could hear her heartbeat, something in her stopped her from moving or looking away. In fact, she wanted to move even closer and stay there until-
“Sabrina? It’s me, I just wanted to see if you two are doing alright.” Chloé felt her blood freeze and she could tell by the sudden panic on Sabrina’s face that she felt pretty much the same. They both frantically tried to get away from each other as quickly as possible, which resulted in Chloé falling on the floor just as Sabrina’s dad entered the room.
“Hello, Chloé! What are you doing on the floor? Oh, you guys made popcorn.” His attention was drawn to the mostly untouched bowl of popcorn on the couch and nothing mattered anymore.
“Hey, dad, you’re just in time for, uh…baby Jagged with a guitar?” Sabrina looked so flustered she couldn’t even look at her own father. Chloé finally managed to get up from the floor and she sat back on the couch to finally watch the short clip of a three-year-old boy playing an electric guitar with Sabrina and her dad, who quickly took care of the popcorn.
“Well, girls, I’m glad you’re having fun! I should get back to work now but feel free to call if there’s something or someone bothering you. And don’t forget to lock the door!” He left as quickly as he had appeared and Sabrina and Chloé were all alone again.
“It’s getting pretty late, you’re probably tired. Let me make the bed for you.” For some reason Sabrina evaded Chloé’s look as she got up and left the room. Since she couldn’t bear the thought of awkwardly watching Sabrina make her bed, Chloé decided it would be a good idea to brush her teeth. After she was done, she went to Sabrina’s room just as she was about to leave.
“Oh, Chloé.” Sabrina seemed nervous again. “It’s all done. I’ll be in the living room if you need me.”
“Okay, uh…thanks? Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
Chloé closed the door behind her and dramatically slid down against it until she sat on the floor. That was the weirdest sleepover they’ve ever had. It’s true they haven’t had one in a while but…did this even count as a sleepover? What was the point if they weren’t even sharing a room or preferably a bed? Chloé sighed and slowly got up, only to realize that she wasn’t tired at all anymore but she went to bed, given the lack of a better option.
After what felt like an hour but in reality was only twenty minutes of tossing, turning and feeling too hot or too cold, Chloé gave up and decided to make another short trip to the bathroom. Just as she was leaving Sabrina’s room Chloé almost clashed with Sabrina herself, who looked like she was about to knock on the door.
“Hi, Chloé…can’t sleep either?”
“No, not really.” They both stood in the doorway, probably thinking about the same thing, but too scared to say it out loud.
“Hm.”
“Hm.” Chloé took a deep breath and finally mustered the courage to ask. “Would you like trying to share the bed after all?”
Sabrina gave her a faint smile. “Sounds good.”