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The day hadn’t started great for her.
Kyla missed her alarm, thus not having time to shower and get her braids done. Her hair was way more likely to obey her if she handled it when it was recently dried. Right now, she had the worst bedhead. She considered simply tying her hair, but it was too long, all the frizz would show. She knew better than to expose herself to ridicule like that.
Hurriedly, she started doing her braids with mixed results. Why didn’t she cut her hair again? Oh right, her mom wanted her to be proud of her red curls instead of trying to hide them. Easy to say when her red mane was luscious and kept high up in a hair tie.
After braiding her hair as fast as she could, she ran to the bus stop with only a few minutes to spare. To her relief, her 3 friends were waiting as well. Before she could even get to greet them, however, a certain fatass beat her to it.
“Ha!” Erica pointed at her in a mocking tone. “You look like shit, Kyla!”
“Dude, leave her alone.” Sam gave the girl a reprimanding look before turning to her friend. “Hey, Kyla.”
“Hey.” Kyla greeted Sam with a shy smile. Kenny waved her hand at her.
“You forgot to braid like half of your hair!” Erica continued, unbothered. “What’s with those loose strands? Do you need big glasses like your cousin?” She laughed obnoxiously.
“Yeah, well, you forgot to cut down all that body fat of yours before coming.” Kyla spat back.
“Aye! What did you say about my hot body?!” Erica took strides towards Kyla, her stupid fat body jiggling with her movements.
Defiant, as Erica stood in front of her, Kyla repeated calmly. “I said you’re fucking fat.”
“You goddamn Jew!” Erica grabbed one of Kyla’s braids, ready to pull from it when Kyla shoved her. She was about to knee Erica when Sam and Kenny got in between them.
“Stop!” Sam exclaimed in frustration as she held back Kyla, and Kenny did the same with Erica. “Jesus fucking Christ!”
Kyla’s resistance fell apart when she heard the horn of the approaching bus. “Fine.” She pulled away as the bus opened its doors. She gave Erica one last glare before heading to the stairs. The girl was already playing victim, crocodile tears included, as Kenny gave her an uninterested pat.
Fucking jerk.
–
They all had been friends for as long as Kyla could remember and no, Erica and her had never gotten along, but lately it had gotten insufferable. Every other damn day, this fat bitch decided to test Kyla’s nerves and then cry whenever Kyla reacted to it.
If she had to point out when it started to happen, it was probably when puberty finally hit Erica. She had been whining forever about being the shortest one of the group when, one day, she came to school with a smile on her face.
When asked about it, she grinned and opened her hand. It was pubic hair. The absolute psycho saw she was growing hair in her privates and didn’t think of anything better than pluck some away to show them to her friends. Fucking idiot.
Soon enough, her breasts began growing, and her hips became more prominent. She was still fat and short, but Kyla couldn’t help being a little jealous of her, of the way her body was so blatantly feminine.
Meanwhile, Kyla was a tall, flat stick. She looked like a goddamn scarecrow. And she was starting to get pimples, too. And, of course, Erica was aware of how self-conscious Kyla was over her body and loved lording it over her and making fun of Kyla’s features.
Despite being overweight, Erica clearly gave a shit about her appearance, more than Kyla ever would. Her brown hair was always so silky and smooth, often decorating it with cute clips. Lately, she was even using lip gloss. Kyla could tell because of the way her lips shined when they berated each other in physical proximity.
Not that any of it mattered, because she was still a selfish asshole with a terrible personality. No matter how big her boobs were or how velvety her hair was or how amazing she smelled, she was still the same horrible person she always was! Just because someone could be momentarily deluded into thinking she was cute, that didn’t mean she was better than anyone! Not that Erica was cute, at all. She wasn’t. She was awful and it was obvious.
“Shit!” Kyla cursed upon looking at the class schedule.
“What?” Sam turned to her in concern.
“I forgot it was Friday…” She said, burying her head in her arms. “I didn’t bring my pants…” Her mom had gotten her a brand-new tracksuit last weekend, even. Good job, Kyla.
“Just ask Ms. Campbell if she can lend you some from the warehouse.” Sam suggested, respect in her voice. Campbell was also the coach of the volleyball team, which Sam was captain of.
“I guess…” Kyla said resignedly. Her eyes darted to Erica, who was busy strutting around in the classroom, surrounded by a crowd of people celebrating her antics. Kind of amazing, the way boys suddenly wanted to listen to her now that she had those stupid balloons on her chest. “So stupid.”
Sam followed her gaze. “Cartman? She’s just as annoying as she’s always been.”
Kyla couldn’t disagree more. She was worse.
–
Campbell ended up sending Kyla to the warehouse to get a pair of pants for herself. Just like she remembered, the place smelled of mold and old things. Not to mention it was kind of creepy too, with how empty it was. She grabbed a pair of gray sweatpants and rushed out. Later on, she realized it was a size too big for her. Oh, well.
To make things worse, it was exam day and Campbell was going to evaluate their performance at volley. In all honesty, Kyla preferred basketball or even soccer over volley. It was such an annoying sport, but her friends turned so fucking annoying over it too. Sam went bossy mode out of nowhere, talking to her teammates like they were below her. Erica whined every single time the ball fell on her, blaming anyone but herself if she missed a hit. Buttercup was so clumsy that it was more amazing when she managed to bounce the ball back than when she didn’t. Kenny was alright, she supposed, though she did have a tendency to avoid the ball, for reasons Kyla couldn’t understand.
When Campbell blew the whistle, Kyla couldn’t have been happier, even if their match ended up in a loss. With the corner of her eye, she saw Sam run to Courtney to yell at her about cheating, with Courtney staring back at her with indifference. She definitely did not cheat, it was Sam being a sore loser again. Kyla rolled her eyes and left to the locker rooms with Erica right in front of her. She was wearing sport leggings again. They made her ass look even bigger and generally jump more to the eye, why would she do that? Did she really want everyone staring at it?
“Stop looking at my ass, lesbo.” Erica nonchalantly dropped, as if reading her mind.
Some girls around them laughed and Kyla felt her cheeks heat up. “You wish.” She blurted, at the same time that Erica kicked the door of the locker room open.
Kyla went to her locker and opened it, as several of her classmates began undressing around her. She always wondered how could they be so confident to do that, to take off their clothes. Sure, they were all girls, so it shouldn’t be so weird, but for Kyla the idea of being seen bare was intimidating to say the least. She felt like an outsider in this ocean of protuberant chests, moisturized skins and luscious manes.
“Where are you going?” Erica asked, and Kyla didn’t need to look to know she was addressing her.
“To the toilet.” She asked, still giving Erica her back.
“So, why are you taking your clothes with you?” She snorted. “Do you need to hold onto them while you shit? Like a weird jewish thing?”
Irritated, Kyla turned to her. “Why do you fucking care?”
Predictably, Erica was down to her light pink underwear. It was way too cute for a monster like her. She put one hand on her fat hip, and Kyla couldn’t help noticing the way her skin bounced because of the movement. “Because it’s fucking weird that you always see us naked, but we never see you undress!” She squinted. “What are you hiding?”
“What?” Kyla grimaced with annoyance.
“I-It’s true, Kyla!” Buttercup intervened, standing next to Erica in her white sports bra and short panties. “It is kinda weird that you never get naked in front of us…” She twiddled her thumbs in nervousness.
“Buttercup,” Kyla gripped her clothes into her fist. “Everyone knows you ogle Erica every time she undresses!”
There were a few giggles of agreement as the blonde covered her mouth, her entire face turning red. Babbling something incomprehensible, she left, running and crying. Great, now Kyla felt bad. Ugh…
Erica rolled his eyes. “Good job, Kyla, you damn bully.”
“I’m the bully?!” Kyla screeched.
“Yeah?” Erica lifted her upper bottom lip in disgust. “You made it homophonic for no reason!”
“It’s homophobic!” Kyla corrected her and noticed the way everyone went to their business. Of course, it was just another argument for them. Just another day. Because they weren’t the ones dealing with Erica’s insufferable ass.
“Stop changing the subject!” Erica pointed at her with an accusatory finger. “You’re hiding something!”
“Cut the bullshit!” Kyla yelled, starting to get seriously angry. “I just want privacy!”
“Oh, I know!” Erica exclaimed, triumphant. She walked towards Kyla and the latter was too confused to react. “It’s in your hat!”
“What the fuck are you talking abou- Hey, knock it off!” Kyla began retorting when she saw Erica get on her tiptoes to grab the green ushanka.
“So, it’s true!” Erica misinterpreted Kyla’s defensiveness. “Lemme see what’s under- Lemme-” She mumbled as she kept jumping to reach the hat. “Kyla, stop cheating!”
“I’m not!” Kyla tried to back away, only to hit a wall with her back. “Ahh!”
Erica, the mischievous prick, took advantage of the moment Kyla was distracted by the impact to snatch her hat away. “Got it!” She began inspecting the interior of the fabric.
“Give it back!” Kyla snarled, livid, but Erica ignored her, diving her nose into the hat. “Cartman!”
The girl stared at her and, upon realizing Kyla was mad, smirked. “Or what?” She began spinning the ushanka between her fingers. “You’ll kill me with your terrible hair?”
Kyla took a step forward, and they were at inches of distance. She could see the apprehension in Erica’s face, swiftly replaced by that stubborn facade of hers.
Abruptly, she stretched her arm to take her hat off Erica’s hands, but the fatass had surprising fast reflexes and moved her hands just in time to avoid Kyla’s. Kyla grabbed her by one shoulder to try to keep her in place while attempting to grab her ushanka, however, Erica bested her once again by passing the hat from one hand to another.
“God dammit, Cartman!” She yelled in frustration, it was embarrassing enough to have her hair exposed, but she also had to be humiliated?
Erica giggled in response, still avoiding Kyla’s hands. This only infuriated the latter further.
With a deafening scream, she tried to grab the hat with more strength, only to end tripping and falling on Erica. She knocked her head against a bench during her fall, leaving her momentarily disoriented.
There was some commotion around her, she wasn’t sure why, though, as she blinked, trying to see things again instead of a blinding light. After moments, she came to her senses again, noticing the crowd that had accumulated around. Why was she on the ground again? Oh, right, her hat…Why was the ground so soft, though? Instead of hard and cold, it was warm and…
She looked down.
Oh.
Erica laid beneath her, naked and wincing in pain. Her arms splayed out as she mumbled something, her head wobbling from side to side. The straps of her bra had fallen to her arms and the cups were crooked, the left one being a bit too high up and showing her under boob and the right one being too low and showing her…
Wait.
That was Kyla’s hand.
On Erica’s boob.
Her hand tightened, accidentally squeezing Erica’s boob.
“Myah…” She whimpered pathetically, lips glistening, and Kyla felt the blood leave her body. Myah? Myah?! What?!
“What happened?” Sam’s voice was heard in the distance.
“They were fighting and fell…” Clara explained.
Kyla was too overwhelmed to react. Her naked friend laid under her and everyone was watching the scene.
“Kyla…” Erica called her.
“Y-Yeah?” She replied nervously.
“Move…your fucking hand…” Erica lightly punched her wrist before closing her eyes.
“Shit, sorry!” Kyla moved her hand and grabbed the ushanka resting by the side of Erica’s leg.
“Alright, let’s get them up.” Sam ordered, and Kyla felt two pairs of hands get her up and sit her on the bench. Two other girls helped Erica as well. “Dude, are you okay?” Her best friend asked.
“That was really gay.” Courtney commented, amusement showing in her usually inexpressive voice for once.
“Shut the fuck up, Courtney.” Sam spat with annoyance.
“No.”
Kyla gazed at her right hand, unable to tell what she was feeling.
–
The rest of the day went in a daze for her, utterly baffled by the incident. She didn’t even want to think about it, but it kept repeating in her head. The way Erica looked, so vulnerable, so harmless, almost cute? No, no, she wasn’t cute. She was an ogre. She was the worst person to ever exist.
Kyla knew that and yet, the feeling in her hand kept haunting her. Like an amputated arm, the ghost of Erica’s breast in her hand was tormenting her. What the fuck. What the fuck! She didn’t even like girls! What the hell was going on?!
“Kyla!” Sam snapped her out of her musing.
“Ah!!” She jolted from surprise. The classroom was mostly empty. She looked at the time. Oh, classes had finished already.
“Are you sure you’re okay? You’ve been out of it since you fell…”
“Yeah!” She nodded a bit too fast.
Sam appeared a bit skeptical, but didn’t insist. “I was telling you I can’t come over today…”
Come over? Oh, right! They were going to marathon movies today at Kyla’s. “Why?”
Sam averted her gaze, yet she couldn’t hold back the tiny smile that formed on her lips. “William asked me out.”
Well, that made sense. If there was a reason why Sam would cancel plans last minute, then the captain of their football team had to be involved.
“We’re going for some ice cream, and then we’ll watch the anniversary release of ‘Apocalypse Now’. It’s one of William’s favorites.”
“You don’t even like Vietnam movies.”
“No? They’re fine.” Sam tried to lie through her teeth, like Kyla hadn’t listened to her rant about war movies being a snooze fest.
“Right.”
Sam appeared to hesitate a little. “There’s, uh, something else.”
Kyla raised her eyebrow.
After a moment, Sam confessed. “Kenny is not going either.”
“What?”
“It’s a double date.” Sam explained. “William and me, Ben and Kenny.”
“Ben?” Kyla exclaimed, eyes the size of tennis balls.
“Yeah, he has a thing for Kenny…” Sam scratched her neck, feeling awkward. “William thought we could help them out.”
Help? Ben was one of the most popular guys in the school, and he changed girls as fast as he changed underwear. Not that Kenny had a problem with that. “Alright, I guess it’s cancelled, then.” She got up, irritated.
“Sorry!” Sam apologized as Kyla walked away. “Maybe next time-”
“I don’t wanna go out with Ben, Sam.” She told her friend before closing the door behind her.
Perhaps, this was a blessing in disguise, she thought as she walked down the corridor. After what happened today, the last thing she wanted was to spend any more time with Erica.
The accursed one was waiting by the entrance of their school, with her arms crossing. “The fuck was taking you guys so long? Where are Sam and Kenny?”
“It’s cancelled.” Kyla walked past her without a glance.
“Wh-What?” She heard Erica’s clumsy footsteps follow her.
“Sam and Kenny are having a double date with the jocks, so we’re moving it to next Friday or…whenever they feel like stop ditching us for boys, I guess.” Kyla tried to shrug the annoyance away.
“But…we planned this 2 weeks ago!” Erica was still walking behind her.
“I know.”
“No, I mean, why do we have to cancel it?!”
Kyla stopped in her heels. “...Because they’re half of our group?” She said as she turned around, belatedly remembering she was supposed to avoid Erica.
Luckily, the girl appeared as annoying as ever. “So? They’re the ones that ditched, not us.”
Not understanding her line of thought, Kyla narrowed her eyes. “What are you…”
“We set ourselves to watch these movies today, and nobody is gonna get in the way of my plans.” Erica glared at Kyla. “Not even you, Kyla.”
The girl opened her mouth before even speaking. “...What does that even mean?”
Erica shortened the distance between them by walking towards her. She stopped when she was standing right in front of Kyla. “I’m saying I’m watching the movies at your house, so help me, God.” When Kyla tried to protest, she raised her hand. “And if you try to kick me out, I’ll find a way to sneak back in.”
As much as she wanted to tell Erica off, Kyla currently found herself distracted by the proximity, her mind straying to what happened earlier. But Erica didn’t even seem to be bothered, as she left with an offended “Hmph!”
“Wh-Where are you going?” She eventually asked, turning to see Erica give hard stomps on the pavement.
“To your house, where else?!”
“What?!” She ran behind her friend. “I told you it’s cancelled!”
“No, it’s not!”
“Cartman!”
–
Kyla sat on the living room couch, her face resting on her hand with boredom. Unbelievably enough, Erica had stormed into her house, threatened to tell Sheila if Kyla did as much as tell her to go home, and was now doing her homemade popcorn in the kitchen. The smell of butter was making Kyla’s stomach growl. Erica’s popcorn was unfortunately fantastic, so maybe her presence was a small price to pay for that buttery goodness.
Her eyes darted to the screen, where the movie had been paused at the very beginning. It’s not like she felt bad for Sam and Kenny, it was their fault for missing it after all, she just wasn’t great with…
“Alright!” Erica’s voice was heard behind her and, before long, she came into Kyla’s field of vision with a big bowl of popcorn and placed it on the table. When Kyla tried to reach for it, she slapped her hand away. “No eating until the movie starts!”
Kyla slapped Erica’s head instead. “It’s my goddamn popcorn!”
“Say no to domestic violence, Kyla!” The fatty groaned as she served herself coke.
“Shut up.” Kyla said as she pressed play on the movie. It worked on silencing Erica, well, besides the noises of her munching on popcorn.
That is, until the dialogue began.
“What the fuck?!” Erica exclaimed with indignation. “It’s in Spanish?!”
“The Rec franchise is from Spain, so yes, it’s in the language otherwise known as Spanish.” Kyla replied with irritation.
“And you couldn’t download a dubbed version?! Reading subtitles is fucking lame!” Erica whined with her mouth full.
Kyla had to hide her smirk. She did scour every corner of the internet to find the movie in its original language, since every other pirating website insisted on offering the dubbed version. The idea of Erica bitching about it was never endlessly funny to her, but there was something even more important.
“Watching films in their original language is better.” She declared solemnly.
“Like hell it is!” Erica continued. “I’m gonna miss everything ‘cause I’ll be too busy reading the fucking subtitles!”
Pausing the movie, Kyla turned to her. “Look, you’re the one that insisted on watching the movie, so if you’re gonna start bitching, then we can just watch another day.” She paused. “With Sam and Kenny.”
Her fat friend frowned at her, grumbling like an animal. “Fine, then! Play the stupid movie!” She emphasized her anger by kicking the table.
Rolling her eyes, Kyla resumed Rec. This was not going to be a good time.
–
Did she think Erica would be the biggest one of her problems this evening? She was wrong.
Less than 20 minutes later, the movie had already turned scary (and pretty bloody, too). Kyla could deal with the violence, but she wasn’t great with jump scares and this movie was freaking her the fuck out. God, if Sam was here, she could at least huddle against her or something. But no, she had to be with this fucking fat ass that kept chuckling for whatever reason. What the hell was wrong with her?!
“The noise he made when he fell was so funny.” She commented, over a guy who fell several stories down and now lied in a pool of his own blood.
Kyla was too freaked out to even reply. It was already getting dark out, cursed South Park winters. She gripped the couch armrest, gritting her teeth.
“Of course this dumb slut is going upstairs.” She kept on. “Blonde people have stupid genes, I swear to god.”
“What would you do?” Kyla asked, annoyed by her smart ass attitude.
“I’d try to get out, obviously!”
“They can’t, remember? They’re locked.”
“I’d dig a hole in the ground and dig until there’s a way out.”
“That’s not even-” A brown-haired woman stormed out of a room screaming in the movie, and Kyla visibly jolted.
“Oh my fucking god.” Erica smirked and Kyla felt a knot in her throat. “Don’t tell me you’re scared.”
“N-No?” Kyla weakly refused, but it was too late. Erica was already scooting closer, a mischievous grin in her expression.
“You are scared!” She was irritatingly elated.
“No, I’m not!”
“Yes, you are!” Erica insisted, poking at Kyla’s sides with her stupid fat fingers. “Scaredy Kyla!”
“Stop it!” Kyla tried to move away from her reach to no avail. “Don’t touch me!”
“Nya, nya, nya, nya, nya, nya!” Erica continued, waving her fingers in Kyla’s face. “Kyla is a pussy!”
“Shut-” There was a scream coming from the screen and Kyla instinctively sought for protection. Before she knew it, her head was buried in something soft. Wait a minute, since when was the couch this nice?
Slowly, she opened her eyes, noticing the material against her face was red. What’s more, she was holding onto a big, fat arm, too.
Oh, oh no.
Ah, fuck.
Her cheeks burning, she slowly pulled away from the ‘couch’, feeling Erica’s stare on her. “I’m…sorry…” She mumbled, unable to meet her gaze.
There was a shift in weight, and Kyla braced herself for the most belittling insult in her entire life. “Uh-uhm, o…kay…” Erica mumbled before returning to her side of the couch.
Thrown aback by the reaction, Kyla peered at her friend, spotting a faint taint blush in her cheeks. What…the fuck.
For the rest of the movie, Kyla couldn’t stop thinking about it. How cozy Erica was to the touch. She smelled so good too, even in that brief moment, Kyla could catch a whiff of some strawberry and vanilla perfume. Flashes of the locker room incident also sprinkled in her mind, rendering her unable to pay attention to the flick.
On the bright side, the jump scares didn’t really affect her anymore. Erica also made snarky remarks during some of the scariest moments and, if Kyla didn’t know better, she’d think the girl was trying to make her feel better.
But it was Erica, after all, so of course it wasn’t that.
“Uh, Kyla?” She heard Erica calling her.
“Yeah?” Kyla turned towards the voice.
“I was asking if you were gonna play the next one.” Erica said.
Kyla looked at the screen. The credits were already rolling. Well, that was fast. “Uh…”
“Unless you wanna watch something else.” Erica nonchalantly suggested, her eyes on the wall. “I mean, it really wasn’t that good, so I don’t particularly care…”
The other blinked, wondering if she had misheard. Was Erica trying to give her a way out? Impossible.
“Sure.” Kyla accepted, just as nonchalant, not willing to be tricked.
“Okay.” Erica was still avoiding her gaze. “Just pick whatever from Netflix. I’ll go get more popcorn.” She added, getting up from the couch.
Kyla couldn’t believe she was witnessing Erica Cartman be considerate, but she wasn’t about to question her luck, so she quickly opened the streaming service and began searching. Maybe Erica was secretly freaked out?
–
When Erica returned, carrying another full bowl of popcorn, she didn’t even ask what Kyla had picked. Instead, she put the bowl well in the middle of the table, rather than strategically placing it close to her. Then, she unbuttoned her red sweater, revealing a black tank top underneath. Kyla’s eyes were drawn to her chest because of the way they bounced with the movement. Just as quickly, she looked away, embarrassment internally spreading all over.
To distract herself, she pressed play on the generic romcom she had chosen as their next marathon feature. As a bunch of actor names she had never heard of before began appearing on her TV, she hoped this movie would be funny enough to ease out of the awkward atmosphere between them.
As she absent-mindedly stretched out her arm to get a handful of popcorn, her hand bumped against something soft. When she glanced, she saw Erica had reached out for the popcorn at the same time as her, resulting in Kyla's hand currently being on top of Erica’s, at the edge of the bowl.
Panicking, she pulled away, stuttering a “My bad…” as her heart suddenly began pounding inside her. What kind of fucking…cliché?
“‘s okay…” Erica drawled, also pulling her hand away. “You can go first.” She offered in an almost robotic tone. If Kyla wasn’t feeling so self-conscious, she would’ve at least been sarcastic about it. The local fatty letting others eat first? Sounded like the beginning of the apocalypse.
However, in her current state, Kyla could only weakly shake her head. Any hunger she had, had disappeared the moment their fingers grazed each other.
She couldn’t believe it. Why was everything about Erica so soft? Her boobs, okay, that was to be expected (Kyla’s definitely weren’t anywhere near as soft though) but her shoulder? Her hand? Was it because of all the fat in her body? Did it turn her into a sentient stress ball?
No, it wasn’t only that. Her hand just now, the sheer texture of it was way different from Kyla’s hands. Like dough, she thought, as she watched Erica’s wander inside the bowl. Or maybe silk?
Agh, what was happening to her? She was almost starting to believe Erica wasn’t that bad. Well, at least when she was quiet like this. Yeah, that was it. It’s because Erica was showing what someone could call sympathy. It was that. It’s not because she couldn’t stop thinking of-
Erica giggled at the movie, and Kyla had to do a double take at the noise. What was that? What happened to her raucous laughter? What was that cute little chuckle?
Noticing the attention, Erica smiled at her, and Kyla could’ve sworn she was about to go into cardiac arrest. Or, at least, she hoped so. Because the other choice was much more scary.
As two generic characters fell in love, Kyla kept stealing glances at her so-called rival, paying more attention to her reactions than the actual movie. She was waiting for the moment Erica would turn horrendous again, turning everything back to normal. It was fucking appalling not to be disgusted by the mere sight of her.
Unfortunately, the more Kyla looked, the more things she noticed about Erica. Her upturned nose had an almost 180º bridge. Her voluminous eyelashes fluttering every time she was amused. Her bottom lip was way fuller than the top one and her incisors were a bit bigger than the rest of her teeth, which were all surprisingly aligned. Her cheeks turning pink from laughter.
“She’s just like you.” Erica suddenly said.
As she returned to earth, Kyla asked, “What do you mean?”
“The protagonist. She has small freckles that only appear in the sun.” Erica stated flatly. “And only under the eyes.” Upon noticing the surprise in Kyla’s expression, she smirked. “You think I wouldn’t notice after all the times we’ve fought?”
In any other context, the observation would’ve enraged Kyla, as she would’ve known Erica was going to use this information against her in the future. At the moment, though, she was simply impressed. It was true, Kyla had freckles from sun exposure, which is why now her mom made her put on protector cream. When it was sunny, she’d often use concealer to hide them. She hated those stupid brown dots on her face. And Erica had known all along and decided not to give her shit about it?
“Nobody knows about that…” Kyla said, not even stopping to think whether that statement could become a source of regret later. She was kind of glad somebody, besides her family, knew her secret.
“They’re not looking hard enough.” Erica declared before clearing her throat. “‘s pretty obvious, I mean.”
Kyla let out a soft chuckle. “To you, maybe.” It occurred to her that only she knew how soft Erica’s boobs were, and immediately grew flustered by the fact. God damn it, Kyla.
At some point during the story, Erica had let her hand rest in the couch space between them. It was tempting to move a little closer and grab it. Was she doing this on purpose, or was Kyla beginning to lose her mind? Hard to tell.
She stood up abruptly. “I’m gonna get a blanket.” Seeing Erica’s bare arms was making her feel cold, even though she herself was still wearing her trustworthy orange jacket. Speaking of which, how the hell did she manage to have them so smooth? There wasn’t a single pimple in sight.
Erica kept munching popcorn in response, and Kyla almost felt fondness over the indifferent gesture before remembering it was Erica who she was thinking of.
“The hell’s wrong with me?” She mumbled as she went upstairs.
The moment she entered her room, she let out a heavy exhale, her back resting on the wall. She was used to Erica exhausting her, but not like this. This here was dangerous.
Checking her phone, she saw a text from Sam that read ‘I’m sorry’ with a sad emoji. She contemplated telling her best friend about what was going on, but changed her mind. Nothing happened, she was just a little confused.
“Get it together.” She said to herself and walked to her drawer to retrieve her blanket. It was embroidered with plants and animals, a gift from her mothers. While still folded, she brought it downstairs, careful of where she stepped. This blanket was so damn big, it blocked most of her downwards view.
She could feel Erica’s stare on her as she stretched the blanket all over her, but didn’t want to return it. God, since when did she feel so awkward around Erica.
“Can I cover myself too?” Erica eventually asked. It briefly occurred to Kyla to tell her to use her own sweater. She was feeling kind, though, so she nodded and slid closer to her to share the blanket.
Erica also moved closer, and Kyla tried to be normal about it, even though her heart was acting fucking stupid. Each of them pulled from one side of the blanket, and they kept watching the movie.
Or, well, Erica did. Kyla was too busy freaking out over the fact that their hands were potentially close to each other under the blanket. And the way the blanket shook from Erica’s laughter. Also, she was pretty sure Erica’s leg grazed hers just now.
“Oh, shit!” Erica exclaimed.
“What?”
“I forgot my cup in the kitchen…” Her eyes went from the blanket to Kyla. “Can I use yours?”
“Sure.” Kyla replied before thinking and handed Erica her cup. It’s not like they hadn’t shared cups before, so it wasn’t a big deal. They knew each other since they were toddlers.
However, when she watched Erica bring the cup to her lips, she couldn’t help but swallow in nervousness. Wait, that’s right, that was her cup. She drank coke from that plastic cup earlier. Her mouth touched that cup. And now Erica’s lips were touching the exact same, red-colored spot. It was like…
Like a…
“No!” She screamed as the most vivid image of Erica and her kissing materialized in her mind.
“Jesus Christ!” Erica jumped. “You almost made me drop the soda all over! The hell’s the matter with you?!”
“It’s just weird, okay!” Kyla finally confessed. “I’m not used to this!”
“Used to what?!”
“This.” She pointed at her friend and then herself. “Whatever this is.”
Something in Erica’s expression changed. “Sorry, your girlfriend isn’t here, I guess.” She mumbled.
“It’s not about that!” Kyla spoke without thinking.
“Then?”
“Are we-” Kyla clenched her first. “Are we seriously not gonna talk about what happened earlier?!” She wasn’t sure why she said that. Did she want to talk about it? Did she?
“What the fuck are you talking about?!” Erica genuinely appeared perplexed.
“In the…locker room…” Kyla felt her heart in her throat just from mentioning it.
“What about it?”
Kyla glared at her in disbelief. “I touched your boob?!”
“That was an accident!” Erica raised her arms. “Wait, is that why you’ve been a weirdo the whole day?”
“Yeah, how am I supposed to forget about it?!” Kyla shouted and immediately regretted it when Erica’s eyes went wide. Oh, no. She said too much. Fuck.
“Are you…” Erica closed the gap between them and Kyla had to fight the instinct to pull away, because the urge to stay was even stronger. “Are you feeling guilty about it?”
Kyla’s voice almost failed her. “Wha…What?”
Her friend shrugged, unaffected. “I’m just saying, if you feel like we’re uneven or something, I can just touch your boob back, and we’ll be done with it.”
Before she could respond, Kyla saw in slow motion Erica’s hands draw closer to her, to her torso. To her chest. She almost sat there, frozen, until she noticed Erica’s expression, like it wasn’t a big deal. As if potentially groping her childhood friend was nothing to her.
At once, time recovered its normal speed, and she pushed Erica away with all her might. “Don’t touch me!”
“Motherfuck…” Erica bounced like a spring on the couch. She glared at Kyla. “I was trying to help your neurotic ass!”
“Why are you so relaxed about this?!” Kyla stood up. “Is feeling your friends up normal to you?!”
Erica stood up as well. “Are you calling me gay?!”
“Maybe I am!”
The fat ass shoved her angrily. “You’re the gay one! Thinking about my tits all day! Gay ass!”
Livid, Kyla grabbed her by her sweater’s neckline. “What did you call me?!” She growled, in proximity to Erica’s face.
Erica smirked, knowing she had hit the bullseye. Against Kyla’s lips, she whispered. “Dyke.”
Partly enraged, partly glad she finally had an excuse to throw down, Kyla threw herself at Erica, and they rolled on the floor. There were punches being delivered, slaps being served, insults being muttered, hair pulls making appearances, pinches sneaking in, bites forcing their way in, you name it. Everything was fair in love and war. And this was war.
Kyla couldn’t deny it. She was enjoying it. It was a great way to blow off some of the frustration she had felt all day. And Erica was really so damn soft. What’s even better, Kyla didn’t have to feel guilty about touching her like this because they were fighting. It was perfect. She was giving Erica her due and also getting a deserved thrill out of it.
After they exhausted themselves, they broke apart and weakly sat back up on the couch. Pants and huffs filled the air as they recovered their breaths. Without saying anything, they continued watching the movie that was reaching its final stretch.
When Erica’s hand grazed hers, she didn’t pull away. Instead, she let her shin lean against Erica’s.
As a silly grin spread on her face, Kyla thought that maybe it was a good thing after all that Sam and Kenny couldn’t make it.
And maybe, just maybe, they should do this more often.