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"Oh, good, you're here. Let's keep each other distracted."
Euryale rolled her eyes as she took a sip of the orange soda - the wildest drink at the party -, tapping her foot along with the beat of the song.
The ginger girl next to her arched an eyebrow, eyeing her from head to toe. "I thought you were with Tyler. Did he ditch you already?"
"Saying that I was with him is a bit of a hyperbole. I was here before the party started, and then the boys arrived." She stuck her chin out in their direction. "Do you have any idea what they're doing?"
The boys were chanting something loudly while standing in a circle. Occasionally they would jump and then make fun of each other.
"Hum. Losing brain cells." Tabitha said, sipping her cup. Eury let out a rare laugh. "Don't you want to eat something?"
"Meh. I ate some snacks earlier. Did you come here with anyone?"
Tabby rolled her eyes, letting an annoyed huff. "No. The cheer girl gave me a lift and vanished."
Eury snorted a laugh. "Lily told me she was looking to snog a guy from the basketball team. Not surprised she ditched her own team."
Tabby blinked a bit harder, keeping her eyes narrowed. "I'm not a cheer . I do gymnastics."
"That's similar enough, yeah? I bet you could qualify if you tried out."
"I'm not a team player. So, miss 'I was here before the party started' can you show me the snacks?"
"Oh my god , you're insufferable. This way to the dining room." She gestured for Tabby to follow her, hiding a smile. "They put out some popcorn earlier, but I think they took it to the TV room. There's Doritos and cheese balls, though."
Tabby scanned the table and the room around, all the others seemed distracted in their own talks. She grabbed the entire bowl of cheese balls and turned back to Eury. "Do you think they'll notice?"
Eury laughed for the second time that evening, even surprising herself. "I bet they have more in the kitchen. There's, like, three athletes living here and two more unofficially."
"Good. Where do you wanna go?" Tabby asked, throwing a cheese ball into the air and caching with her mouth.
"This is only like, my second time in this house. Anywhere that doesn't have loud people and music, please . I already have to spend my entire week with these… dumbasses."
Tabby laughed high-pitchedly and grinned at Eury. "I know just the place. Follow me."
She had nothing better to do, so she did. "I thought you didn't know the house."
"I don't." The ginger guided her towards the entrance. "But no one stays in the front yard."
"I guess." Eury started to say, when they left through the front door and she realized Tabby was right, the music was relatively far and actually empty.
She looked around, there wasn't much decoration besides the flowers under the windows and the cobblestone pathway that led to the sidewalk. And the giant tree that blocked most of the view from the neighbor's house.
She frowned as Tabitha immediately walked towards it. "What are you do-" Eury began asking, but seeing the girl jumping up the branches she arched an eyebrow. "Are you serious?"
The girl looked over her shoulder, she was barely holding the plastic cup between her teeth. "Yu comi'?"
"I'm wearing a dress . I can't just... crawl up a tree, I just did my nails."
Tabby looked puzzled at her for a second, then lifted one finger and turned back to climbing. Eury did another eyeroll and crossed her arms. What a stupid idea.
She glanced at the house wondering what to do when something landed with a thud next to her. She looked back just in time to see Tabby lowering her arms.
"You left the things up there?"
"Yeah? Why would I bring it back down?"
Eury rolled her eyes. "Why wouldn't you, smartass? I'm not climbing that."
Tabby did a pout. "Awn, I came all the way down to help the princess." She looked down to the ground and back up. "What size do you wear?"
" What? " Eury hissed.
" Shoe size, Garjana."
"36. Why in the hell would you need to know this."
Tabby took off her sneakers, jumping on the grass with her bare feet. Eury arched an eyebrow.
"C'mon Cinderella. Or do you want to climb the tree in heels?"
Eury rolled her eyes. "Fuck you." And bent down to remove her strappy heeled sandals, stepping straight into Tabby's sneakers so as to not step on the dewy grass.
"You are aware that I've never climbed a tree in my life , right?"
"Don't worry." Tabby smiled, approaching her. "I'll help you."
She placed both hands on Eury's waist and lifted her.
Eury hid her flustered reaction with one of outrage. "I- What are you doing!?"
"Helping you up, dummy." Tabby grinned, placing the girl on the branch. "Now get up and hold."
"Don't call me a dummy." She looked at the branch, furrowing her brow. "And don't look up my skirt! "
The ginger snorted. "Didn't even think of that."
"Well, good ." Eury managed to pull herself up further into the tree, slipping a little and trembling a lot , not used to hoisting her full body weight. Tabby placed a hand on the small of her back to keep her stable, and if it weren't for that Eury certainly would have slipped off. She managed to sit at a branch further up, spotting the bowl of cheese puffs.
"Oh my God, I'm in a tree. What the fuck."
"First time?" Tabby sat casually and reached out for the bowl and drinks. "Want some?"
"Sure. Literally look at me , what makes you think I've ever climbed a tree before?" She shrieked, grabbing a handful of cheese balls.
"Me and my siblings usually go climbing things." Tabby threw a cheese ball in the air and caught it with her mouth. "Can't imagine never doing that."
"I bet my sister would like to climb shit or something. We don't get along." She made a face.
Tabby chuckled. "So I've heard." She rubbed her eyes. "She's a couple years younger, right?"
"Yeah. She's just annoying. And not in that, like, 'kid sister' way, she's… like… 'rebel without a cause' annoying. Ugh." Eury rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. "Anyway. You said you do gymnastics or something?"
"Yup." Tabby replied, lounging on the tree. "I'm on the school team. My brother was as well." She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. "Any sports you like?"
"Uh, no . Sports are not for me. I prefer watching."
"Don't say that. Exercise is fun."
“Not for me.”
Tabby glanced at her. "So what do you do in your pastime then?"
"Well, this-" She gestured to her own face. "Doesn't maintain itself. And I also, uh… I like to read." Eury admitted, quieter.
The ginger grinned. "So Miss Popular has a sprinkle of nerdy." She chuckled.
"Ugh, I knew I'd regret saying that to you. Forget about it." Eury tossed her hair back, making a curtain between the two of them.
"No no no! I'm interested ." She poked Eury's hip. "What do you read about, princess?"
Eury looked at her through her hair, wary. "I… like to learn languages. I'm reading through Phantom of the Opera in the original French right now."
" Oui oui." Tabitha twisted, sitting up. "That's cool. What other languages do you know?"
"I learned Greek when I was young, and I'm getting pretty good at Spanish. Actually I'm good at Spanish, the dialects just trip me up sometimes. After French I might pick up German, or maybe something with a different writing system." She paused when she realized she was rambling. "It's… It's cool." She glanced to gauge Tabby's reaction. To her surprise, the ginger girl had sparkling eyes.
"Well. I could help you with Japanese. I know a bit." She offered. "I'm not keen on languages, but they are fascinating. I love museums."
"Huh. Yeah, a lot of studying a language is learning the culture, so, you know. Museums are interesting." She feigned disinterest. She didn't expect this jock she randomly grabbed at the party to actually provide interesting conversation. Whether her previous experiences with jocks or her own lack of confidence in showing off her academic prowess were to blame, she wasn't sure. But Tabby was the first actually interesting person she'd met in ages.
"My family owns one of them. If you wanna, we can go there tomorrow. I can take you to the storage room." Tabby tilted her head. "Ya know, where we keep the secret things."
"The secret things…" Eury smiled with the corner of her mouth, putting her hair behind her ear. "That sounds like fun, actually. After school?"
"Sure thing."
The more they talked, the more relaxed Eury got. The high-strung part of her was freaking - who the hell just hangs out on a tree talking nerdy shit to a girl they barely knew! She even laughed. But hours and days could have passed in that tree and she wouldn't have noticed.
Until, well…
"Uh, is there someone in that tree?" A voice called up from below. "Pretty much everyone's leaving, so…"
Shit, that was Sasha. At least it wasn't Tyler - or, god forbid, his dad . The much nicer right hand man to the team captain, the one Eury was actually eyeing for the spring fling. Tyler simply wasn't her type.
…She preferred nice jocks over the angry ones, huh?
Eury felt a hand around her waist, as Tabby hissed. " Yes, Sasha. And you just ruined the moment."
The moment ? Well, she wasn't gonna argue with that. Eury… still wasn't really sure if she liked girls, but this seemed like a very good moment to try it out.
"We'll come down soon, you can go."
"Eury? Uh, do you need help?"
"No." Both girls answered simultaneously.
"Uh, okay." And they heard the sound of sneakers on grass getting quieter and quieter. The sound of drunk teenagers in the house had quieted down, now that Eury paid attention to it.
"The moment?" She turned back to Tabby, hyperaware of the hand on her waist.
"I thought we were having our nerdy moment." She whispered with a mischievous grin. "Do you want it to be a little more?"
"Why else would you be so close?" Eury whispered, making a point to look at Tabby's lips.
"Who knows?" She replied, leaning closer, brushing her lips against Eury's.
Oh. Yeah. Eury grabbed Tabby by the shirt and pulled her in. They kissed for a few seconds, then pulled back, looking at each other's eyes, thick tension in the air.
"I can't believe I just kissed someone in a tree." Eury whispered, more to herself than to Tabby.
"Have you ever kissed in a museum?" Tabby winked. "I'd love to be your first."
"You are a first, dumbass. First girl."
Her dual colored eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her fingers, but Eury saw the smirk. "Mrr. Didn't know that ."
"It's news to me, too. Now help me down before I flash half the goddamn school."
When they came back down and Tabby said goodbye by way of a wink, Eury entered the house to search for her purse. Sasha already had the small, glittery clutch in his hands.
"So, the gymnast, huh?" He asked, with a smirk.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." She took the clutch from his hands, checking the inside for her belongings.
"Come on, you don't have to pretend. It's chill." He paused, seemingly thinking something over. "Nevermind. Do you want a ride home?"
"My mom's coming to get me. What's that face for?"
"Uh, nothing. Just… Yeah, good luck with Tabby, I guess." He awkwardly shuffled away, which was kind of funny for a guy his size. Huh.
Her phone buzzed. She looked down, assuming it was her mom.
tabbythecat:
Got your # with lith
See ya tomorrow, Princess 😽
Good luck with Tabby . Eury smiled. She might need it after all.