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The sound of the glass bottle sliding around and around on the stage floor reverberated around the auditorium, it funneled Kate into a dissociated state. Her eyes zoned in on the reflection of Emaline bouncing around in a near-kaleidoscope haze across the bottle’s surface. In the seconds it spent spinning, it almost appeared to Kate that Emaline was trapped in the bottle and dancing around. The light reflecting off the glass caught onto the red color waves of Emaline’s pants and lipstick and chronically flushed skin—sending shards of red around the room, around Kate.
The bottle finally stopped and Kate sucked in a sharp breath as she lifted her heavy-lidded eyes to whatever unwilling victim would be shoved into a closet with her. But part of her already knew, even before her eyes could fully pull away from the floor, which pair of snarky blue eyes were staring her down. She had been aware of their exact presence since she sat down—knew exactly where the host of said eyes resided in direct proximity to where she sat cross-legged.
“Ew!” Jessica scoffed from beside Emaline. “Doesn’t count,” she clarified with an outstretched arm, hand already poised on the bottle as she preps to spin it again.
Kate’s vision has gone out of focus from shock or anxiety or tears of joy, but she hears Emaline blow a light raspberry past her lips, faintly sees her hand clasp around Jessica’s wrist.
“Why not?” Emaline’s tone is accusing and calculated.
Jessica rattles off some shit about two girls kissing being gross. Kate‘s vision just barely fixes itself in time for her to see Emaline’s eyes roll, a sly smirk spread across her face as she licks her teeth.
God, everything this girl does manages to send shivers down Kate’s spine.
“Not any grosser then whatever sleazy joke you and Scott have planned for the next morning announcements,” Emaline chides, her hand snaking its way down to the neck of the bottle. “I mean, seriously, do you guys get off on knowing the whole school thinks you give him a handie under the news desk?” She delivers the line with a put-on malice that passes well and slides the bottle away from Jessica’s slack hand. The strawberry blonde’s mouth agape and eyes wide as Emaline stands up.
Emaline brushes her hands down and over her pants before giving Kate a once over, her eyes rake up the brunette’s body in a fashion that is too open to interpretation.
Kate’s breath hitches, she exhales shakily and tries her best to keep her head from spinning as Emaline speaks her next words.
“You coming or what, sweetie?” The pet name is spoken with a sickly sugar-sweet sarcasm.
Kate nods nonetheless, trying not to look too excited.
Emaline grins all toothy, steps past the circle. She brushes past Kate’s shoulder with her thigh as she walks toward the closet.
Kate gulps and looks around briefly, Luke is too drunk to really comprehend what’s happening—so at least there’s one less thing she has to worry about. The guys in the group are “ooo”ing while some of the girls whisper to each other.
“Let’s go!” Kate jumps at the sound of Emaline’s resounding voice calling out from behind her.
Kate stands up wearily and tries to keep her breaths even. She doesn’t know why she’s scared. Emaline is straight—borderline homophobic, and way too gorgeous to even look in Kate’s direction even if she did like girls.
Like girls.
Did Kate…like girls?
She liked the way Emaline gazed up at her under dark, mascara-coated lashes as she held the door open for Kate. She liked the way Emaline’s eyes didn’t leave Kate’s even as she stepped into the closet herself and closed the door behind her, one manicured hand resting on the handle so delicately.
Emaline leaned against the door, fiddled with the cuticles on her other hand as Kate tried and failed to understand what the older girl was playing at.
“Uh-I-“ Kate’s mouth went dry and she coughed as she choked over her own words.
Emaline laughed at the other girl’s awkwardness. She brought her one arm out from behind her back and used it to reach across the already-limited space between the two girls and brush a feather-light finger along Kate’s forehead and around her ear—tucking in a stray piece of hair that Kate only barely noticed had fallen in front of her face.
Again, shivers.
Emaline was still leaning against the door when she brought her arm back and down to her side.
“You know,” Emaline said with an expression that Kate couldn’t quite read, “you’re actually pretty.”
And even if it wasn’t the most sincere compliment, Kate couldn’t help the goofy smile that spread across her face or the way her cheeks heated up under the blonde’s contemplative stare.
“Th-thanks,” Kate replied. “Why, um, why did you bring me in here?” Kate meant for the question to be something that could fill the tension between them, but as she heard her own words she quickly remembered that questions usually prompted answers—answers she didn’t know if she was ready for.
Emaline looked around the closet as though she was thinking of what to say, nodding her head and tapping her combat boot against the floor every now and then.
Finally, she sighed and pried her back off the door. Taking a few steps closer, she sized Kate up.
“I don’t know,” she replied, gazing almost through Kate as she spoke. “I guess I thought I would punch you out or maybe even run out here screaming like a damsel talking about how you tried to stick your hand down my pants.”
Kate’s stomach dropped and she took as much of a step as she could away from the other girl. “Oh,” she swallowed. At this point her heart was racing for a myriad of reasons, and all she wanted was to get out. Except, that wasn’t all she wanted, because even when Emaline scared the fuck out of her, Kate relished in every second she was close to the girl. “Well, we probably only have like five minutes left,” Kate said, eyes on the door handle. “You better get to it, then.” Her eyes drifted up to Emaline’s, which were much softer now, their prior callousness gone.
Emaline hummed.
“A lot can happen in five minutes,” she stepped closer to Kate, so much so that she nearly had Kate pressed against the wall.
Kate was a few inches taller than Emaline, so it would make sense that while her eyes frantically zig-zagged across the room she happened to look down and because Emaline was so close Kate happened to glance at her boobs.
It was only natural, okay? Emaline was wearing a low cut tank top and a push-up bra, anyone would have accidentally found themselves stealing a quick glance at her chest. And yeah, maybe Kate “glanced” a little too long for it to be considered that, maybe she scanned her eyes across Emaline’s breasts and noticed how full they were—how her cleavage spilled out of the top. Kate tried to shake her head free of any obscene thoughts and glanced back up at Emaline, hoping she hadn’t noticed Kate’s gawking.
But it was too late, and Emaline’s cocky smile as she prodded the inside of her cheek with her tongue told Kate all she needed to know about just how noticeable her perving had been.
Emaline grabbed ahold of Kate’s hips and pushed her backwards so that she was now right up against the wall. Kate exhaled sharply and forced down a whimper at the sudden contact.
With each hand still fashioned on either side of the brunette’s waist, Emaline leaned in close to Kate so that their chests were flush against each other. Kate felt the blonde’s breath ghost over her skin as Emaline’s mouth hovered over Kate’s ear.
“Do you wanna touch them?” Emaline whispered, her soft lips grazing the skin of Kate’s ear on certain syllables.
Kate gasped slightly and felt Emaline’s body shake with silent laughter.
“Don’t worry, I’ll let you do it yourself this time,” Emaline cooed, her voice going soft.
Kate clasped her eyes shut and tried once again to make sense of what was happening around her, none of this felt real. It reminded her of a dream, or the fantasies she conjures up when she looks at Playboy. Her lower stomach tightened and jolted with excitement.
Suddenly, Kate could feel lips pressing against her pulse point and making their way down and around the rest of her neck. She opened her eyes to see Emaline’s face buried into her neck, mouthing at it.
The room spun around Kate and her blood rushed the way it did when she would look at magazines and let her own fingers roam.
Emaline’s mouth had left a trail of wetness on Kate’s neck when it made it up to just beside her mouth, she kissed the corner of Kate’s lips and gazed darkly into brown eyes.
“Touch me, Kate,” it wasn’t an order, and later, Kate would say it sounded a bit like a plea, but hearing Emaline say her name like that ? All carnal and suggestive like Kate was the one person out of everyone on this planet who had her all hot and bothered? She would do just about anything if it meant Emaline kept Kate’s name on her tongue, if it meant she could make Emaline feel like this.
Kate swallowed down her nerves the best she could and slowly lifted her arm to Emaline’s side, when her hand made contact with Emaline’s waist, the other girl hummed contently and craned her head up once more.
Kate didn’t have much experience with kissing, but Emaline somehow made it easy. She moved her mouth perfectly in sync with Kate’s, her cherry-flavored lipstick mixing with Kate’s mint chapstick as their tongues swiped across the other one’s lips. Emaline licked into Kate’s mouth, earning a quiet mewl out of the taller girl.
Kate could feel Emaline smile against her mouth and she slid her hand up slightly so that it now rested just below the blonde’s breast. She ran her thumb along the underwire of Emaline’s bra.
The older girl reciprocated the action by rolling her hips against Kate’s, using the grip she still had on the other girl’s waist as leverage. Kate moaned into Emaline’s mouth once more and squeezed above where her hand had been resting, using that same thumb to circle the nipple that was just barely visible through white cotton.
Emaline’s head shot back, “fuck, Kate,” she moaned out as she rolled her hips again.
Kate was about to dive her head down and kiss or lick or bite or all of the above at Emaline’s exposed neck when the sound of the door handle turning sent Emaline reeling back, shoving Kate in the process.
“Times up,” Oliver said as he opened up the door.
Thankfully the closet was out of view from where the circle was, so they couldn’t see Kate and Emaline’s heaving chests, their flushed faces, Emaline’s red lipstick smeared off and onto Kate’s mouth and neck.
Oliver took in the sight before him, his eyes traveling back and forth between the two girls before settling on Emaline.
“Thou hast deceived me, harlot,” he seethed and turned around in one big motion, his trench coat trailing behind him in dramatic flair.
Emaline’s eyes went wide and glossy as she chased after her boyfriend, her pleading voice echoing down the hallway until the doors to the backstage exit could be heard slamming shut.
Kate caught her breath and used the sleeve of her flannel to wipe what she could of Emaline’s makeup off of her. She stepped out of the closet and stared down at the sleeve, at the red-tint that was now splotched across it like a bad tie-dye job.
She felt hot and trapped, like she needed to make a quick exit, an Irish goodbye. She quickly peaked past the curtains at the group and exhaled a sigh of relief when everyone appeared to have forgotten about her and Emaline and Oliver and seemed to have moved on to their own respective conversations and bullshit to pass the time. Even Luke was borderline passed out on McQuaid’s shoulder.
Kate snatched her backpack and made a hasty exit out the same door Oliver and Emaline had used, but the couple was long gone by the time she had made it outside.
Kate stared at the lipstick-stained right sleeve of her flannel the entire walk home, Wonderwall playing through her headphones as she smiled faintly at the memory of manicured fingers digging into her skin, petal-soft lips running along her neck, and Emaline’s voice coaxing Kate—begging Kate—to touch her.
Yep , Kate thought, definitely a lesbian .