Chapter Text
In hindsight, the best place to smoke on the island is probably not the forest right behind the cabins.
But, MK hasn’t ever smoked weed before, and she actually would rather compete in the show ten-thousand more times than admit that to Julia. So, she keeps her mouth shut and settles with her back against a tree facing the back of the boys cabin.
Julia and MK were in the starting phase of an… alliance. If that’s what you want to call it. MK would never say it out loud (she has, actually, many times in the confessional), but Julia was pretty cute- alongside being totally fucking evil. She also was really touchy, and MK found that she didn’t totally and completely hate it.
So, as much as she didn’t want to admit it, she had a little bit of a weak spot for Julia.
Julia invited her for a ‘midnight walk’, and of course, one thing led to another and-
“Thank god, Scary Girl is gone… She’d probably follow us out here to kill us if she were here,” Julia says, sparking up the joint she told MK she’d stashed in her makeup supply.
“I honestly think her trying to be normal might’ve been even scarier to me,” MK jokes.
Julia laughs. “I know, right?”
MK watches Julia smoke the joint and takes note of the way her chest rises and falls while she inhales, how she holds it with ease. When she passes it to MK after a few seconds, she can see the shine of lip gloss left on the filter from Julia.
MK tries to be normal. MK takes the joint, does not think about how she can almost figure out what flavour her lip gloss is.
This backfires, because she does think about what flavour it could be, and once she’s between strawberry and cherry, the smoke hits her lungs.
Julia giggles and takes the joint from her hands, all the while MK is hunched over coughing up a lung. While she’s coughing, though, she can feel Julia’s free hand rubbing her back almost comfortingly.
“Have you smoked before?” Julia asks, but instead of her usual judging tone, she seems genuinely curious.
MK coughs once, three times more, and then stands back up against the tree, catching her breath. “If I said no, would you believe me?”
“Not after that,” she says, taking another hit. “What else haven’t you done?”
MK raises an eyebrow. “What kind of question is that? You mean, like drugs? Well-”
“Sorry for trying to make conversation,” Julia scoffs, interrupting her. “I just meant in general, I mean, outside this whole game show.”
“Uhh…” MK thinks, looking up at the moon through the trees.
MK, truthfully, hadn’t done that much at all. She coasted in school with A’s and B’s, did enough extracurriculars to get her parents off her back, only had to switch school districts once after being labelled the resident klepto. Her parents had enough money to buy anyone off for whatever shit she did anyways.
Ontario was big enough that she got away with it all, without even having to do anything. She was easy to miss, hard to spot, all that jazz.
She hadn’t done drugs.
She hadn’t gone out with anyone.
She hadn’t-
“-kissed anyone.”
Julia stills. “... Really?”
MK’s eyes fall to Julia’s face, and it’s strange, but MK can only describe her expression as shy .
“Uh, yeah. Have you?”
“Yeah, but I didn’t like it that much,” Julia starts, “but-”
“But…?” MK tries to joke, but Julia takes a sharp breath and takes another hit.
Julia drops the joint to the dirt and stomps out the bud.
“I’ve never kissed a girl,” Julia whispers in the night.
MK hums, and she takes a good look at Julia.
She’s close enough where MK can feel her body heat, but far away enough that she wants to pull her in closer. She’s also close enough where MK can see the faint freckles that she covers up with makeup during filming, the way her eye colour is almost greyish in the light, her highlights in her hair starting to grow out.
She thinks about the way Julia gravitates to her, how they share a bunk, Julia being her own personal alarm clock, her being Julia’s personal confessional.
Julia’s eyebrows furrow. “What are you thinking?”
MK looks at her lips. “I think I can fix that for the both of us.”
MK moves forward and seals the deal, taking the one chance she can get to kiss the pretty girl before she realizes this isn’t what she wants.
Her lips hit Julia’s, and the world around them goes silent.
Instead of pulling away, Julia leans in, one hand moving to wrap around MK’s waist and the other cupping her face.
MK melts. She grabs hold of Julia’s belt loops and pulls her closer to her, and Julia lets out a little yelp- which makes MK melt even more. Julia keeps moving in towards MK, and MK just lets her take and take and take her.
Julia runs her hands through MK’s hair, her beanie falling onto the ground. MK can’t even find herself to care, she’s currently living in what she would now consider literal bliss.
If every kiss was like this, MK could not fathom why Julia didn’t like it.
A branch snaps.
A voice comes from behind MK. “Julia?”
Julia throws a hand over MK’s mouth and peeks around the tree MK is pushed up against. She’s just happy it’s Zee and not somebody who might find it suspicious that Julia would be in the woods alone.
“Leave ?” Julia says, raising an eyebrow.
“What are you doin-” and Zee takes one big sniff and stops in his tracks.
“Ohhh, my bad, dude. Didn’t know this was your sesh spot, all good,” Zee says, throwing up a peace sign, turning around and heading back towards the cabins.
MK can faintly make out Julia’s face turning red and her eyes starting to well up with tears. MK immediately tenses, before she feels Julia’s hand move from her mouth to the back of her head, pulling her in, body to body, as Julia silently laughs against her. She can feel the rumble of Julia’s laughter in her chest and all she smells is her cherry lip gloss, their faces inches away from each other.
She looks… carefree.
It’s different and MK doesn’t know to put it into words (for once), so she doesn’t.
Julia’s muted laughter turns into giggles once Zee is out of sight.
“I always knew he smoked,” Julia wheezes, smiling at her.
“Doesn’t take a genius to figure that out, but it’s crazy Chris lets him get away with it.”
“He knows?”
“How could you not? His luggage reeks.”