Work Text:
Jackie's first act as team captain was to invite all the girls from the team to a sleepover at her house. As it was last minute, not all of them were able to go, but one of those who attended was Lottie Matthews.
That was the first time Lottie had been to Jackie's house, that made sense, the only thing that really connected them was the soccer team.
Lottie was pretty sure if it hadn't been for the team she would never have exchanged more than two words with Jackie or most of the girls she hung out with these days. Her relationship with the rest of the team was more one of camaraderie than friendship really. And yet it was as close to actual friendship as she'd ever been, and her life had gotten a lot better than it had been before she'd changed schools and joined the team, here she was known as an athlete, one of the best players in the team, whose only peculiarity was having a rich dad. Here she wasn't the insane girl who had to take medication just to function normally in the world.
Another one of the players who went to the sleepover that night was Laura Lee. And Lottie would very much like that not to be the case.
In the last few months Lottie had become hyper aware of Laura in a way she wasn't with any of the other girls from the team. And she didn't understand why, of all the girls on the team Laura Lee was probably the one she had the least in common with. And she couldn't help but roll her eyes every time the other girl insisted they pray before a game or made some religious comment in situations that had nothing to do with religion. Lottie had met many other girls who were like that in her previous school and in general these were some of the most annoying girls she had ever dealt with. And there was no reason to believe that Laura Lee would be any different.
And yet every time they were in the same room, Lottie found herself following her with her eyes, and paying attention to everything she said.
It had started to happen even when they were playing on the field, in the last game she had lost the ball to a girl on the opposing team for getting distracted by looking at Laura Lee and she couldn't help but feel a certain resentment towards Laura because of that.
.
.
.
The sleepover starts with the whole team watching a movie, but when the movie ends Jackie brings a bottle of wine.
Jackie serves the glasses where they had earlier drank juice, but when she was going to put wine in Laura Lee's glass she says:
"No thank you. I think I shouldn't."
"Don't you drink every Sunday at mass?" Lottie asks.
"It's different, it's part of the sacrament. It's not about getting drunk."
"Whatever." Lottie says and stops looking at her.
After the wine runs out all the girls sit in a circle on the floor and use the bottle to play Truth or Dare.
When Natalie spins the bottle, it ends up on Lottie.
"So truth or dare?" Natalie asks.
"Dare." Lotie says.
"Okay, I dare you to take your shirt off and go to Jackie's parents' room and back."
Lottie can see that Natalie is waiting for her to protest or ask to switch to Truth. She decides not to give her the satisfaction and takes off her shirt. And when she does Laura Lee she looks away looking a little embarrassed like she's never seen a girl in a bra before, and for some reason that really annoys Lottie.
Lottie does the dare while the rest of the girls watch from the end of the hall laughing. All the girls except Laura.
She comes back, puts her shirt back on and the group again sits on the floor, and now it's Lottie's turn to spin the bottle. And just as she had hoped the bottle would happen to Laura.
"Alright Laura Lee, truth or dare?"
"Truth."
“When you masturbate what do you think about?”
Laura's eyes widen and her cheeks turn red. While the other girls laugh.
"I don't like that kind of question!"
"Then you shouldn't have chosen truth." Lottie says and laughs.
“Can I change to dare?”
“Okay…let's think of a nice dare for you. Oh I know, I dare you to kiss me.”
She was waiting for Laura to protest and ask to switch again, or play dumb and kiss her on the cheek or something.
Instead she leans forward and kisses her quickly and softly on the lips. And she closes her eyes as she does it.
“Okay my turn.” Laura says and spins the bottle without looking her in the eye.
And she still doesn't look at her for the rest of the night.
.
.
.
Lottie can't sleep well, half her thoughts being taken up with guilt. She knows she sometimes acts like a bitch, as most girls do from time to time, but she can't help but think she's gone a little too far this time. The other half of her thoughts are taken up with finally knowing why the hell she is always paying attention to Laura Lee, that became clear from the moment her lips touched hers.
Just before dawn she hears one of the girls getting up. She opens her eyes and sees Laura heading towards the kitchen.
She gets up and goes after her.
For a moment she just watches Laura getting a glass of water and starting to drink. An extremely common and routine act, but it grabs her attention by the simple fact of the person doing it.
Laura Lee looks a little surprised to see her at the kitchen door, but then says:
"Good morning. Did you come to drink water too?"
"Hi. No. I came to apologize, I acted like an asshole to you last night and you didn't deserve it. I wouldn't have dared you to kiss me if I thought you would."
"Of course, because Laura Lee would never kiss anyone, right?"
"No, I just thought you would never kiss another girl."
"Well you thought wrong, I know you guys think of me as just that religious girl, and I understand why, my faith is an important part of my life, but it isn't all I am you know?"
"I know now. You are a lot braver than I thought you were.”
"Thanks...it was my first you know?"
"Kiss with a girl? Yeah, I figured that was the case."
"Not just with a girl."
"Shit. So I was your first kiss?"
"Yeah"
"I'm sorry."
"You don't need to apologize, it wasn't bad. Or was it?"
"Don't worry, it wasn't bad."
Laura Lee looks a little embarrassed, but she also smiles as Lottie looks at her.
And Lottie wants to keep looking.