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She doesn't even know how it happened.
One minute she’s sitting, minding her own business, and the next she’s covered in cereal with cold milk dripping down her neck.
Dex whips around after the initial shock of getting breakfast dumped on her, to find Nursey, who’s looking so sheepishly down at Dex that she might have been surprised if she weren’t covered in soggy corn flakes.
“God, I’m really sorry Dex, hang on, let me go get a napkin,” Nursey starts to say, her curly hair bouncing around her face as she looks around the cafeteria.
People are staring at them. Dex can feel her face burning.
“No,” is all she says as she starts to stand up.
“What do you mean no, I just spilled my breakfast on you, let me help—“
“No. It’s fine,” Dex says carefully, willing her voice not to break. She starts to collect her things, and with as much dignity as she can with having pieces of wet cereal in her hair, exits the cafeteria.
She doesn’t wait for Nursey to call after her.
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Dex knows it was an accident. Nursey might be a real asshole sometimes, but she would never do something like that on purpose.
It doesn’t make it any less embarrassing, though.
After taking the time to walk back to her dorm, she decides she’s going to have to skip her morning class. Some of the bits of cereal have found their way under her bra, and she feels the milk drying on her neck. It’s gross.
Dex goes into the dorm’s bathroom, which thankfully is empty albeit a pile of lotions, and peels out of her clothes and steps into the shower. It takes her longer than expected, the cereal has clumped into her hair and she has to rake her hands through it in order to get it clean. Stupid Nursey, she thinks, but then feels bad. It wasn’t Nursey’s fault. She’s just clumsy, and doesn’t watch where she’s going most of the time because she's thinking about new poems to write. Dex can tell, she makes a lot of those faces when they're at the library together.
Wait a minute, since when did she stand up for Nursey?
Obviously, if some asshole on the ice were to fuck with her partner, she would be on that in a heartbeat. But. When did she start doing it in her own head?
She shakes it off, and goes back to getting the dried milk off her back.
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When she gets out of the shower, finally, she feels a lot better. Most of Nursey’s breakfast is out of her hair, but she thinks she may have gotten some in her ears. She’ll deal with it later.
She races back to her room, fighting the cold blast of the dormitory hallway. Her roommate is gone, so she won't have to worry about quietly changing as fast as she can. Not like she doesn't do it every day at practice, but teammates are different than roommates.
Dex slips through the doorway to her room and closes the door softly behind her while she leans against it. She takes a deep breath. Thinks about the people she can call to get her homework that she missed. Thinks about her dog, Dee Dee, back home. Thinks about hockey. Thinks about Nursey, and what she’s doing right now. Wait. What?
Just as she opens her eyes, she hears a soft knock coming from behind the door.
“Dex? Are you in there?” Well, hit her with a shovel. It’s Nursey.
“Um, yeah?” She answers tentatively, because she knows she can’t hide in her room forever.
“Can I come in?”
“Uhh,” Dex looks down and realizes she’s still in her towel.
Well, teammates are different than roommates, right?
She opens the door and finds herself face to face with a concerned Nursey, who immediately looks down at Dex’s lack of clothing.
“Oh. You’re not dressed,” Nursey says and yeah, duh, but Dex still feels her skin grow hot.
“Well I had to get your cereal out somehow, didn’t I?” she meant to say it as a joke, but it comes out defensive. Dex cringes, and Nursey’s features twist into something akin to guilt.
“Listen, I’m really sorry about that, I wasn’t watching where I was going, and—“
“Nursey, I know it was an accident,” Dex interrupts, and because she can’t stop herself, “chill.”
Nursey throws her a glare, but there’s a hint of mischief and a small smirk growing on her lips.
“Too bad you washed all that milk off, it did wonders hiding your blush,” Nursey says, and now she's really grinning, and how dare she.
“Whatever,” Dex mumbles, and she straightens her towel, the smugness she had earlier evaporated.
“Wait, no, don’t take it like that, it’s cute when you blush,” Nursey says quickly, reaching out her hand but not touching Dex, so it just ends up floating in mid air.
Dex really hates the Poindexter family genes right now, as she fights the blush spreading across her cheeks, but it’s no use.
“Yeah, it’s really cute,” Nursey says offhandedly, almost like she's agreeing with herself. She glances at the towel again, and then back up to Dex, and down at her mouth.
Okay, Dex can’t be imagining that.
Nursey opens her mouth like she’s going to say something, and Dex is done. Just absolutely finished. She leans in and uses her free hand to pull Nursey in by her neck and then they’re kissing. It doesn’t take long for Nursey to respond, bringing both her hands up to cup Dex’s face. A couple moments later and Dex can’t help it, she starts giggling into the kiss. Nursey pulls back, smiling, but her eyebrows knit together in confusion.
“What?”
“Do you,” Dex says through snickers, “Do you always spill cereal on girls you want to kiss?”
Nursey rolls her eyes, but it’s affectionate. “Oh, shut up,” she says, and pulls Dex back in.