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“God that wig. Ughh these makeup departments are killing me,” Sophie says out loud to no one. Currently, she’s sitting on her couch in a faded blue t-shirt and grey sweats watching Reasonable Doubt, a new legal drama she’s been meaning to check out.
And so far, it’s not making a good impression. “I mean seriously, I know some people who could help with that.”
Sophie never understood why shows hire diverse actors and then not know how to work with them or represent them correctly. You’d think a multi-billion-dollar industry would put more care into accurately depicting these fictional characters made to mimic reality. But surprise, surprise… they don’t.
Suddenly a thud from her balcony interrupts her musings. Quickly she looks in the direction of her balcony before pausing the show. She glances at her apple watch and sees it’s only 11 at night.
Annoyed at the interruption she says, “Now who the fuck did that? I really don’t have time for this.”
Normally, she would grab her gun or some sort of throwable object and slowly stalk across her floorboards until she reaches the balcony door and confronts the intruder. But tonight, she’s tired and wants nothing more than to relax. She’ll just have to risk getting kidnapped or murdered or whatever other torture method Gotham’s intruders rely on.
Besides she could probably kick their ass. Probably.
Instead, she sighs. Long and hard and sinks into the couch a bit deeper before tightening up and going to check the balcony.
God the balcony is soooo farrrrr. I swear it better not be a damn squirrel or-
When she draws near the door, she sees a short, thick, curvy shadow that she would recognize anywhere after so many missions together…
Ryan
She puts more energy into her movements as she opens the balcony door to greet the masked crusader carrying a duffle bag. “Hey, I thought you were patrolling tonight.”
Ryan gestures to her skintight bat suit. “I was. But it’s slow tonight,” she wines.
Smirking at her childish behavior she replies, “Isn’t that a good thing?”
She chuckles and says, “I mean… yea,” and rolls her eyes. “But I’m bored.”
She’s full-on smiling now. “And you thought bothering me was the next best thing?”
Something mischievous sparks in Ryan’s wide brown eyes. “Yea, actually there’s something I’ve been meaning to try with you if you’re up for it.” She flashes that gorgeous and bright smile in Sophie’s direction.
Sophie loves Ryan’s smile. Every time she shows those pearly whites Ryan’s entire energy lifts just a bit more. It fits her bright personality perfectly. Sophie thinks she’s gorgeous like this, but she refrains from saying so. They’re not there yet. What comes out instead is, “Well have you eaten, or do you want some food?”
Knowing Ryan’s busy schedule, she’s not surprised when she hears, “Yea, can we get some Crispy Joe’s?”
30 minutes later, Ryan is stripped of her Batwoman attire and lounges comfortably on Sophie’s couch with some black leggings, an oversized Tupac graphic tee, and her hair thrown into a messy bun. Sophie just ordered their food and now they sit comfortably on the couch not watching the show with the bad wigs, just chatting about everything and nothing.
“That’s not a good reason to hate the weather app, Ryan,” she says chuckling. No matter what happens Ryan always has her smiling like a fool at her childish antics.
“Of course, it is. Either it’s going to rain or not. They need to stop changing the forecast every 5 seconds and pick one.”
“But like, isn’t that how the weather app should work? Keep you updated on weather changes?”
“I don’t know but with the technology, we have nowadays you’d think they’d be better at this. They need to start branching out and trying new technologies or something. Because this is a legitimate issue-”
Suddenly, Sophie is reminded of what Ryan said earlier. “So, what was it that you wanted to show me?” she says interrupting her weekly weather app rant.
Ryan sports a roguish grin as she says, “Oh! I almost forgot. Hold on.” She literally jumps up from the couch in excitement and scrambles over to her duffle. She pulls out a smaller green bag, walks over to the balcony, and shouts over her shoulder, “Come out here and bring some blankets please.”
Sophie’s confused but also gay and whipped so, she listens and grabs some blankets, and makes her way to the balcony.
“God, I love your balcony,” Ryan says while digging through the green pouch.
Sophie scrunches her face in confusion. “Why? It’s just a normal balcony. It’s not even that big.” The balcony is roughly 6 feet in depth and 10 feet in length. It’s not huge but it’s average. Sophie added chairs and a table when she moved in, so it could fit a couple of people.
“That’s not why I like it.”
Sophie sits down on the lounge chair next to her still holding the blankets. “Then why do you like it?”
“Well for one, the view is pretty nice,” she says staring at Sophie. “But mostly because it’s very convenient for this.” Ryan presents a perfectly rolled joint.
“Ryan! Now what the hell!” Sophie starts laughing.
She wiggles her eyebrows and says, “So… you trynna smoke?” She smiles for good measure.
Sophie pauses but with one look at that perfect smile she replies, “… Sure, why not.”
“Exactly, there’s no reason not to. I thought I was going to have to peer pressure you.”
“Good luck with that. There’s no way your 5-foot ass can apply any pressure,” she says lowly.
Ryan turns to face her more. “That sounds like a challenge, Miss. Moore.”
And it definitely was but Sophie isn’t sure if now is the time. They do this often, edge the line of something more, something real. At first, the flirting was fun because Ryan didn’t hate her anymore but somewhere along the way it changed. She can’t exactly pinpoint it; she just woke up one day their flirting became more intense and a little too curious to be considered platonic. But, Sophie isn’t ready to break this invisible barrier, so she brings them back to safer territory. Weed. “Girl bye, hurry up and light it before the food gets here.”
She smacks her teeth. “Alright. Fine, wait… have you smoked before?”
Sophie doesn’t respond but, she smiles and turns her head.
“Uh uh! Don’t try and look the other way. Sophie Clarissa Moore-”
“Clarissa? What kind of middle name is that?” That sounds like some white people shit.
“-Have you smoked weed before?” Ryan stares at her while waiting for a response. But from her teasing grin, she already knows the answer.
“I mean… maybe when I was younger,” she replies coyly.
“Seriously?” She figured Mary would have smoked before but Sophie and Luke are wayyy too innocent looking.
“Yea, my friends got me into it. But I had to stop for the Crows. They randomly drug tested.”
“Couldn’t be me. Cause I definitely failed a few drug tests in my time. That Certo trick? Yea that’s a fucking lie.”
“Why am I not surprised bad girl Ryan smokes weed.”
“Soph you’ve literally arrested me. Stop asking stupid shit.”
They both bust out laughing.
“Okay, okay, okay. We need to stop fucking around. Can you get some water from the kitchen?” Ryan knows she’s gonna be coughing. But now that she thinks about it, she wants something sweet. “Actually some jui-”
“Um excuse me, why you tryna take all my groceries?”
“Cause I’m smoking you out for free. Do you know how expensive this is? Inflation is crazy nowadays,” she says gesturing to the medicinal herb.
“Fine.” She stands up. “But don’t expect this treatment all the time.”
“I hear you… now get the juice,” she demands. From Sophie’s furrowed brows she knows that request won’t fly. “Please,” she adds with a smile.
“Mhmm.” Sophie walks in and then hears a knock on the door. She walks over and see’s an older Indian man holding a plastic bag of food.
“Sophie Moore?” He huffs out impatiently.
She’s not sure why he’s got a stick up his ass today, but she refrains from airing him out. Seeing as she has a beautiful black woman sitting on her balcony about to smoke her out, she’s honestly just as impatient. “Yup, thank you.” She grabs the food and puts it on the counter.
"That’s why he ain’t getting a tip either.” She makes a mental note to give him a 1-star review as well on UberEATS.
She goes to her fridge and completely ignores the juice on the top shelf to grab two water bottles then she heads back out to the balcony. When she returns to the balcony she pauses at the view that greets her. Ryan sits in the lounge chair wrapped in her grey blanket with a rolling tray, a jar of weed, and an ashtray sitting on her table.
That isn’t what stopped her though. Ryan is rolling another joint and she looks damn good while doing it. She sits there licking the raw paper and sealing it with a kiss from her lips. Sophie tried to say something, but she’d rather watch the joint-rolling performance. It isn’t until Ryan is drying the joint with her clipper lighter that Sophie regains her senses.
“The food is here.” She sits down, wraps herself in a matching red blanket, and hands Ryan the water bottle. “Here.”
She stares at the bottle in her hand. “Um, I asked for juice.”
“And I’m giving yo ass water. Maybe it’ll help you grow.” And she sits the bottles on her table next to the rolling materials.
“Alright, Moore just say you’re broke and can’t buy some minute maid.”
“I know YOU did not just call ME broke?” Sophie leans back dramatically in mock offense.
She puts her hands up in a gesture of innocence even when she’s anything but. “Well, I’m not NOT saying you’re broke.”
“Fuck you, Ryan,” she says laughing.
“Why is it fuck me? I’m just trying to hang out with my friend, the queen of unemployment herself and now you’re verbally attacking me.”
“For someone who wanted to smoke you’re sure taking a long time to light it.”
“Okay, I hear you damn.”
Ryan picks up the lighter and brings it to the end of the joint to burn the excess paper off. Once the hemp excess is gone, she brings the joint up to her plump lips, lights it, and inhales as the red ring burns bright in the night sky. She pulls the joint away and exhales a plume of smoke. She clears her throat a little then holds the joint out to Sophie looking at her expectantly.
Sophie goes to grab it and says, “Why am I nervous right now?”
“I don’t know. But every time I’m about to smoke I get butterflies in my stomach too. But you’ll be fine, I’m here.”
Sophie stares into Ryan’s eyes and gets lost in the assurance that rests in her gaze. She was going to smoke regardless of her nerves, but the declaration of Ryan’s words made her feel more empowered to do this. “Okay.” She grabs the joint, brings it to her lips, and pulls. Smoke fills her mouth and then she pulls the joint away and breathes out a billowy thick cloud.
Immediately Ryan shouts out, “Oh, fuck no.”
“What?” Sophie says alarmed. She’s wondering if something went wrong.
“You didn’t even inhale don’t waste my shit.”
“I didn’t? I felt the smoke though.” At least she thought she did. Granted she hasn’t done this in years but it’s like riding a bike. Right?
“Yea, but the cloud you breathed out was too thick. It should more translucent than that hold on.” Ryan grabs the joint and ashes it in the ashtray. She turns to Sophie to direct her on the art of smoking weed.
“Okay so you gotta like put your mouth like this.” Ryan forms her mouth in the shape of a small O. “Then you have two choices, you can suck the smoke in your mouth, inhale, and then exhale. Or you could just inhale and exhale.”
“The second one sounds easier.”
“Alright, so you need to suck and inhale at the same time. Does that make sense?”
“Like this?” She sucks in.
“No. It’s basically breathing in. Make sure the air gets into your lungs like this.” Ryan breathes in lightly, waits for a beat, and then exhales her breath. She repeats this a few times and gestures for Sophie to do the same.
Sophie mimics her breathwork a few times before Ryan says, “Do you feel the breath in your lungs?”
“Yea, I think I do.”
“Okay then let’s try again.” Ryan picks up the joint and turns to Sophie. “Open.”
Sophie puts her mouth on the joint while Ryan puts up her right hand to block the wind and her left-hand holds up the lighter.
“Inhale when I light this.” She flicks the lighter until the flame touches the burnt end of the joint and speaks softly. “Inhale,” and Sophie breathes in. She stares into Ryan’s eyes as she sucks in. She can feel the smoke filling her mouth and going down her throat. It’s different this time. Her throat feels more open, and she can feel smoke in her lungs.
It felt like nothing for the first few seconds, but then she began to feel a harsh burn in the back of her throat. Her eyes widen as she pulls back suddenly, roughly exhales, and coughs as puffs of smoke expel from her chest. A hazy cloud of smoke surrounds her while she’s choking on spit, smoke, and regret.
Beside her Ryan is stuck staring at her, smiling slightly as she reaches over to grab her water bottle and hand it to her.
“Damn that shit hurt,” Sophie says, still coughing. Her throat feels warm and scratchy causing her voice to crack a bit. She clears her throat and takes huge swallows of water hoping it’ll relieve the pain.
“Yea… yea it does.” Ryan takes a pull from the joint and seamlessly does a ghost trick letting the smoke trickle out in a tiny, thick, yellow-tinted cloud before quickly sucking it inside her mouth, then exhaling the remaining smoke.
Still struggling to breathe, Sophie sits with tears in her eyes, coughing lightly, and drinking water religiously to make the pain go away. “How the hell are you not coughing?”
“I do this too often to cough on the first pull.”
Sophie just coughs harder in response.
“Damn girl, you good?”
She sips her water, pauses, and says, “Yes.”
“Good.” She takes another pull before passing it back to Sophie. “Here, but this time don’t inhale as much, stop before it gets too painful.”
Sophie follows her direction and blows out the smoke coughing lightly this time. She quickly sips some water.
“See how that was better? Don’t do more than you can handle.” Ryan takes a few pulls. She turns to Sophie to hand it back to her.
Sophie puts up her hand and objects, “Nah I’m good.”
“Aw, are you sure?”
“Yea my throat hurts too much.”
“So… you want more but it hurts?”
She nods in response.
Ryan stares out at the city view with a pensive look on her face. She suddenly turns back to Sophie before saying, “Let me try something. Follow my lead.” Ryan picks up the J and inhales deeply. She rests the lit joint in the ashtray, quickly turns to Sophie, and grabs her chin. Sophie opens her mouth to speak but Ryan leans in and blows smoke into her mouth. It takes Sophie a second to catch onto what is happening because Ryan’s fingers gripping her chin are a little distracting. She catches on and sucks in while staring into Ryan’s eyes.
The smoke is gone now but, they’re still face to face. Reluctantly, Sophie pulls back and blows the smoke away.
“Does that feel good?”
Sophie snaps her head in Ryan’s direction so quickly she almost broke something. “What?”
“Your throat? It doesn’t hurt as much that way, right?”
“Oh-” she wasn’t thinking that at all. “-yea that’s better,” she replies honestly. It felt the same as when she smoked from the joint. Just without the painful, fiery, inferno being lit in her chest.
“Good.” Ryan turns to the night sky and gazes at the stars while her body slowly numbs in response to the plant. Her heart rate picks up, her eyes gloss over, and she falls deeper and deeper into her high.
The world is blurring and becoming crisper at the same time. The sensations of the cold wind, loud cars, city, and nightlife all mesh into one big sensory load. But it’s not too much, it’s just enough to bring both to a state of bliss and peace. Ryan stares thoughtfully into the dark sky thinking of all the constellations that guide her journey and her destiny. She thinks about Mama Cora, she thinks about what happens when people eventually go to the sky, and she thinks about how freeing it would be to fly like the birds. She just thinks and stares and doesn’t move.
Beside her, Sophie is in a similar state. The edges of her world are blurring except for the black girl resting in her gaze. Ryan sits there so contentedly and relaxed wrapped in her fluffy gray blanket. She looks soft and unguarded here. Sophie traces her side profile with her eyes seeing all the beauty marks. Looking from her dark glassy eyes, down to the curve of her wide nose, and full lips. Watching her bouncy curls imperfectly frame her perfect face.
The THC flooding her brain makes her mindset shift. Life is brighter, it’s more fun, and it holds more potential. They hold so much potential, and she wonders why she won’t cross this invisible barrier. She’s sure Ryan is interested, and she definitely is interested. And now that she thinks about it, life is pretty dull without her. I mean she goes through her normal routine and there’s nothing particularly distressing about her life, but there isn’t anything exciting either. Maybe it’s time to tap into that potential.
“Ryan, can you light it again?”
At first, she doesn’t move. Sophie goes to speak again but then Ryan turns her head in her direction as her eyes come back into focus and says, “What?”
“The joint.” Sophie points to the ashtray. “Can you light it again? It went out.”
“Oh, yea sorry, the high is kicking in right now,” and she starts giggling as she reaches for the joint and lighter. She picks both up to bring them to her lips and re-lights the joint. She takes a few pulls and then looks at Sophie. “You want to hit this?”
Hell, yes, I do.
“Yea,” and she reaches forward and grabs it bringing it to her lips and taking a deep pull, only stopping when her throat begins to burn. She turns to Ryan and grabs her chin, looks down to her lips, and leans in.
She breathes the smoke into Ryan’s mouth and then presses her lips against hers. Their lips don’t move, but that’s because there’s still smoke being transferred. So, Ryan pulls back, eyes wide with shock, and breathes out the smoke. She looks back at Sophie with hooded questioning eyes, before slowly leaning back in and pressing their lips together once more.
It starts off slow with a sweet peck, but then their mouths open wider, and they suck harder and push forward more and more.
With smoke filling the air of the night sky around them, they kiss.