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Laura Lee was quite honestly pretty neutral on parties.
She didn’t feel that strongly either way for them, really. She liked parties with solely the Yellowjackets, when things weren’t as crowded and busy as they are right now— Laura Lee had only been idly sipping her Sprite outside for the past hour or so, occasionally talking with some of her teammates. And that was all well and good, but when she was alone with so many people around her and forced to reckon with it, that wasn’t. It felt isolating in a way that was hard to explain. So, while she was pretty neutral about parties in general, she was leaning towards feeling not-so-great about Jackie’s huge pre-Nationals party. It just felt like… too much, essentially.
“Hi, Laura Lee,” A silky voice says from behind her before she can continue ruminating- a voice belonging to none other than Lottie Matthews, of course. Her words are already a bit slurred, and when Laura Lee turns around, she can see why— the girl has clearly had more than a little to drink, especially with her stumbling towards Laura Lee on the outskirts of Jackie’s massive lawn. All that said, however, the dark flush of Lottie’s cheeks and the lopsided grin on her face just make her look prettier. Darn it.
“Hi, Lottie,” she says shyly, as Lottie dramatically falls onto her with a laugh, grabbing her arms and nuzzling her head into her chest. Which- okay— thankfully her head is against Laura Lee’s sternum, not lower, but still. The fact that Lottie is so close is enough for Laura Lee to flush light pink, something she hopes the dark of the night hides. “Are you- are you alright?”
Lottie only gazes adoringly up at Laura Lee, her pupils blown wide. “Now I am,” she says, before straightening herself up to her full height, hands clasped on Laura Lee’s shoulders like a lifeline. The taller girl looks beyond ethereal, her brown eyes twinkling in the moonlight and her hair as gorgeous as ever. It gives her a real moment to drink Lottie in, and she’s stunning— her outfit, too, all different shades of pink with her beautiful legs on display. Not that Laura Lee stared stupidly at Lottie’s legs during practices and occasionally in the locker room. Not that she wanted to feel the muscle of her calves and thighs, and maybe even drift a little higher than that, but—
“Laura Lee,” Lottie lilts, still in her half-drunken stupor. “You know how pretty you are, right? Like, you’re fucking gorgeous. Seriously.”
The light dusting of pink on Laura Lee’s cheeks grow darker, but before she can think to respond, Lottie is leaning in. There’s no way. But she is? Is she going to— wait a minute.
In the next two seconds, with her cheeks on fire, Laura Lee flees. She just up and runs, barely registering what the heck is going on, and yanks open the first glass door she finds before shutting it melodramatically. She’s thankfully entered into a throng of people and is able to not be noticed fairly well, until she hears a familiar raspy voice. “You good, Double L?”
The voice is of course coming from Natalie in the corner of the room, hanging with two of her guy friends. She’s perched on a chair, her two guy friends hanging by like bodyguards. Laura Lee’s eyes lock on her, and Natalie beckons her over, which she can’t really refuse, beginning to shuffle over awkwardly. Even though the girl could be abrasive at times, Laura Lee knew that she had a heart of gold. It was easy to tell if you observed her enough, like Laura Lee did with all of the Yellowjackets.
“Um, I’m okay. Just a little winded. Thanks, Nat.” This answer makes Natalie squint at Laura Lee, seemingly able to know that this was not the truth. She raises a bushy eyebrow.
“Y’sure? ‘Cause dude, you flew into here like a bat outta hell. It’s a little concerning, coming from you.” One of Natalie’s friends- Rich, Laura Lee thinks— passes her what is clearly her beer, and she takes a hearty swig.
Laura Lee sighs, and looks very seriously at Natalie. She was a trustworthy person if nothing else, and she’s aware that Natalie would keep it to herself if Laura Lee said anything. So, she might as well.
“Nat,” She starts, hesitant. Natalie puts her beer down and fixes her with a curious look. “What are you supposed to do if you kind of…” Laura Lee looks down, fiddling with the sleeve of her jacket. “…if you kind of… freak out someone you like?”
Laura Lee looks up to Natalie at that, and her eyes glint with mischief, grinning one of those shark smiles she’s prone to. “Damn. You got a crush, Double L?” Laura Lee tries to ignore the blush on her face and nods, and Natalie cackles. She adjusts her legs over the side of the armchair she’s sitting on, and her two friends look at each other, and then back to Natalie.
“Nat, we were probably gonna go outside soon and do—“ The taller one who Laura Lee can’t remember the name of is saying, but Natalie waves him off before he can finish his sentence.
“Yeah, I’ll meet you jackasses outside. But right now, we gotta deal with girl business,” she says with a snicker. The two boys look slightly uncomfortable at that, but give their goodbyes as Natalie salutes them and they disappear.
“So,” Natalie starts, slouching further in the armchair, grabbing for her beer again. “How’d you freak this someone out, LL?” She takes a lazy swig of it again, holding it on top of her lap.
Laura Lee huffs, but forces herself to look at Natalie. “I was kind of… taken by surprise? And then this someone tried to kiss me, but… I, uh, ran away?” She averts her eyes sheepishly, feeling rather embarrassed about the whole thing, but Nat just snorts.
“I’m not allowed to guess who it is, am I?” She asks. Laura Lee shakes her head. Natalie rolls her eyes fondly, scoffing. “Okay, figures, even though I could probably guess. Well, dude, there’s really only one thing to do— you have to find this someone, and figure shit out. All you can do, really.” She takes another swig of her beer. “This beer isn’t completely shit, y’want a sip?” Natalie holds the bottle out to Laura Lee, who inspects it warily. “Liquid courage, y’know.” She winks, and really, she is kind of onto something. It’s not like Laura Lee didn’t drink, period— she just preferred to be sober. But she could really use the courage, quite honestly.
She nods, gently taking the bottle from Natalie, and takes a small sip. It’s bad, of course, but Natalie is right— it’s not complete shit. Laura Lee gags nonetheless, handing it back to the other girl who barks out a laugh and takes it back.
“Hey, you can do this, Double L,” Natalie says, before giving Laura Lee a hearty pat on the back. It takes a bit of wind out of her, but it’s a nice gesture nonetheless. “Go get ‘em, tiger.” She spins Laura Lee around, and pushes her back into the throng of people. “And don’t pussy out!” is the last thing she hears from Natalie, followed by a familiar cackle. Natalie truly was a sweetheart, even if she rarely showed it. There probably wouldn’t be a lot of other people willing to give Laura Lee advice and share their beer with her. Following her grunge guru’s instructions, she walks through the sea of people and pries the sliding door open, going back outside.
And, cheese and rice, guess who is seemingly waiting for her right freaking there. The Yellowjackets’ own 5’10”, ridiculously gorgeous center back, her sweet brown eyes catching right onto Laura Lee. And, darn it, Lottie is walking towards her.
“Laura Lee, I’m so sorry, dude, seriously,” she starts, clearly guilty as all heck. The blonde feels like a deer in headlights, however, and before she realizes it, she’s backing away from Lottie, who is still walking towards her. “We can, like, forget all about this, I promise. I was just kinda half-drunk earlier, and I almost never get drunk, so like—“ She forces a laugh, rubbing her neck awkwardly. Lottie blinks. “Um, where are you going?”
Laura Lee hadn’t realized, but she’s kinda speed walking away from Lottie right now. Not on purpose, but still— but the other girl picks up the pace and starts to speed walk to her. “Can we talk about this? Please?”
Laura Lee opens her mouth, then closes it, aware of how her face is burning right now and how she can’t really run from this. But she still is, somehow? And before she knows it, she turns away from Lottie and dashes off like Coach just told them the last person who finishes running suicides will have to clean the locker room.
“Laura Lee!” Lottie shouts after her, but she’s barely thinking. She’s just running across the grass, ignoring any familiar faces and slipping in Jackie’s house through the back. Laura Lee scrambles to find a bathroom, eventually finding the one next to the laundry room and scampers into it, shutting the door and hyperventilating against it.
Unfortunately, after about two minutes, there’s a gentle rapping on the door. “I’m really sorry, y’know,” Lottie’s soft voice sounds from the other side of it. “I didn’t mean to… freak you out. I was just… intoxicated. We can forget all about it.”
Laura Lee inhales, still against the bathroom door, Natalie’s words reverberating in her head. You have to find this someone, and figure shit out. As much as she would love to run all the way home and never look at Lottie again, that just isn’t feasible. She needs to figure sh- well, stuff— she needs to figure stuff out with her. Laura Lee exhales, turns around, and opens the door.
There Lottie Matthews is, soft and sensitive as she always is. She’s picking idly at her cuticles, her cheeks a little flushed and just looking tenderly at Laura Lee. She’s suddenly very thankful for the sip of beer, because it feels like it gave her the strength to even look at Lottie without keeling over from how freaking pretty she was. “Can I come in?” Lottie says, and Laura Lee sighs, and nods. She moves to let the taller girl in, and shuts the door behind them. She turns back around to Lottie, trying to muster up the courage to look at her.
Somehow, Laura Lee manages to make eye contact with her sweet brown eyes. Lottie’s lips are in a slight pout, and they look so soft, she feels lightheaded. The smell of her woodsy perfume- something like pine and vanilla, maybe— just makes the butterflies in her stomach go absolutely haywire. Miraculously, she’s able to speak.
“I’m sorry I ran from you, Lottie,” Laura Lee breathes out, fiddling with her cross as she always did when she was especially anxious. “It didn’t mean…” She swallows hard. “It didn’t mean I didn’t want to.” Laura Lee looks up at Lottie, whose eyes are clearly spellbound. It makes her cheeks grow hotter, but then again, so does Lottie’s presence period.
“Um- so- you want to?” Lottie quickly shakes her head, back to her quiet, anxious self. “I mean, you’d like to?”
Laura Lee only nods, drawing closer to her. “I would. I just… the idea of your lips on mine made me feel… well.” Gosh, her cheeks are searing, it feels like she could cook an egg on them.
Lottie only tilts her head adorably, a bit confused. “It made you feel what?”
“It made me feel like my heart was going to beat out of my chest, Lottie,” Laura Lee exhales. “In the best way.” Her fingers tuck a curl behind Lottie’s ear, and the taller girl’s breath catches.
“Me… uh, me too,” Lottie says shakily. She hesitantly moves closer, and closer, until she connects their lips.
Lottie is so warm, and she tastes so darn good— her lips are as soft as Laura Lee would expect, and her gentle moans are something beyond words. Well, there are words to describe it, actually, but they’re not very Christlike.
Laura Lee’s hands find her way into Lottie’s beautiful hair, and she pulls the other girl further against her. She had always thought the taller girl’s hair was intensely attractive, and she loved doing braids or pigtails or whatever Lottie wanted done with her gorgeous princess hair before games. Laura Lee just loved running her fingers through it, delighting in how thick and shiny it was. Goodness gracious, she liked Lottie a lot. So, so much. It was kind of overwhelming.
They have to break the kiss for air, sadly, and then Laura Lee’s mouth somehow finds its way down Lottie’s neck. The most delicious whines are coming out of her, and one of her gorgeous hands is secured in Laura Lee’s blonde locks. Lottie’s mouth finds hers again, and her tongue is licking into Laura Lee’s hotly. Cheese and rice, for her first kiss, it was already such a paralyzing experience. How would she be able to handle more kisses in the future? Especially if they were from Lottie, stunning and breathtaking as she was?
Then, footprints sound getting closer to the bathroom— and the two of them freeze. Laura Lee can hear somewhat familiar groans approaching the bathroom, and she and Lottie share a terrified look. Without thinking further, the two of them clamor anxiously into the bathtub, pulling the curtain shut and standing as still as possible.
Just a split second after that, a very drunk Shauna throws open the bathroom door and makes her way to the toilet. She yanks the toilet open, and vomits into it. Lottie is the slightest bit giggly at this, and Laura Lee has to cover her mouth in an attempt to be quiet and avoid having to deal with a drunk and angry Shauna. It only partially seems to work, sadly.
“Jackie,” Shauna half-heartedly shouts out. “There are people fucking in your shower.” Laura Lee doesn’t hear the response, but the muffled shout in reply sounds dismissive. The brunette groans, and Laura Lee can imagine her rolling her eyes, and Shauna resumes puking.
Lottie looks at her, half-enthused and half-terrified. How are we going to get out? She mouths, and Laura Lee makes a face and shrugs. Wait it out? The blonde mouths back, and Lottie only nods diligently.
“Stupid fucking boob dress,” Shauna mumbles. Lottie puts a hand over her mouth, barely giggling silently. Laura Lee looks at her with wide eyes, and Lottie just rolls her eyes affectionately. How cute could one girl be, seriously?
Shauna scoffs, and the toilet unceremoniously flushes. The water turns on, as she continues mumbling to herself. “Fucking Jackie. Fuckin’ fakakta shit, trying to set me up with Randy. Fuck!” She slams the ceramic of the sink, and huffs again. Just like that, the water is turned off, and she leaves, not even turning off the light or closing the door behind her.
Both Lottie and Laura Lee exhale a huge sigh of relief, and they can’t help but erupt into giggles about it. “Dude, that was terrifying,” Lottie says, her grin stretching wide. “I thought Shauna was going to yank open the curtain and taxidermy us.”
A smile spreads over Laura Lee’s face, too. She can’t help it— it’s contagious. “But she didn’t, thankfully. I’d call that-“ Lottie’s eyes glitter, half in mischief and half in something else— “—a true miracle.”
The two can’t help but erupt into real laughter at that, and Laura Lee’s heart soars. She can’t recall the last time she had unabashed fun like this, just able to be herself with someone. It truly was a miracle.
But to be fair, Lottie was a miracle all by herself.
☆★☆
“Van, you owe me $10, dude,” Nat says, grinning like a shark at the ginger. They were putzing around in the airport together before their flight, Van picking through fruit snacks Taissa had given her before Tai had gone off with Akilah to get something substantial before they left. She looks up with a suspicious eyebrow, disbelieving.
“What? No way I do,” Van replies, and Nat shakes her head.
“Lottie made the first move,” Nat lilts, and Van’s head snaps up.
“What? You’re kidding. She’s almost six feet of pure anxiety, there’s no fuckin’ way,” Van laments. “I need proof, Scatorccio.”
Nat shrugs, and nudges Van to look at Lottie and Laura Lee on the other side of the gate, with the taller girl just having gotten back from getting them both Auntie Anne’s. It’s hard to deny— Lottie is looking at Laura Lee with incredible lovesickness. They’re even sharing a lemonade. Ew.
Van rolls her eyes, and shoulder bumps Nat. “Fuckin’ hell, man. I never win these stupid damn bets.” She looks at Nat. “I’ll deal you $10 when we get to Seattle, alright?”
Nat gives her a salute. “You got it, Palmer.” She relaxes back in the shitty airport chair, hands behind her head and smirking like she just got away with robbing a bank. Which, technically, she did— robbing the International Bank of Van, that is.
“As long as you know I’m always right.”
☆★☆