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“Ramona, you don’t get it, she’s like really fit, like really fit,” Oona whispers to Ramona in the middle of a lecture, the room has what feels like a million people in it but nobody is really paying much attention, occupied on their phones doing whatever it is they do.
Ramona follows Oona’s gaze to the girl sitting a few feet ahead of them, she’s pretty, she admits begrudgingly. The first thing she realizes is that the girl is tall. Like, taller than Ramona and she’s also just exactly the type of woman that Oona typically targets, the type that hadn’t ever looked at other women before, let alone considered dating them.
So, nothing like Ramona.
“Mhm,” she responds, “She’s not really my type, though.”
She looks over at Oona, tries to gauge her reaction, lets herself dream that maybe Oona cares enough to ask her what her type actually is, but she’s out of luck.
Oona feels her eyes on her though, turns to her quickly and winks before she returns her focus back on the girl of the week.
She learns her name later, Stacey Mallory, having two names is just being greedy and pretentious, she learns something about her love of walking (or was it biking? hiking?), she couldn’t be less interested.
“You fully stalked her Instagram, didn’t you?” She stares at Oona for a beat, laughing a little while trying to tamper down her obvious unwarranted jealousy, her best friend is allowed to do whatever she wants, doesn't mean she has to like it though.
“I did not!” Oona says and Ramona smiles and raises a brow at her, “Okay, maybe I did a little.”
Oona turns to her on the bed, tossing her phone aside and smiles at her, that charming, sly smile and all, the kind that has Ramona’s chest aching and her head pounding, “Do you have it in your heart to hang out with a vile, vicious stalker?”
She makes an act of pretending that she has to think about it, which Oona seems to take offense to and moves to poke her cheeks before Ramona brings her arms up to guard herself, “I guess I have no choice.”
“She really is hot,” Oona tells her again when they’re sprawled on Oona’s bed. They’re doing homework, or well, Ramona is doing homework and Oona is doodling on Ramona’s textbook.
She looks up and flicks Oona’s forehead as she tries not to think about the jealousy churning in her stomach, “Stop daydreaming, dumbass, you’re gonna fail this class if you don’t pay attention.”
Oona makes a show of falling over onto her back at that, as if Ramona actually hit her square in the face and took her out fully, closes her eyes and makes a faint eugh sound.
She lays there for a second pretending to be dead, cracking an eye open to see if Ramona is looking at her, giggles a little as she closes it again hastily when she sees the other girl staring at her with a smile on her face.
(“So, did you like my opossum impression?”
Oona asks her after she's already gotten up and they've returned to their previous positions, grinning from ear to ear, clearly proud of the live performance she had just given Ramona.
“Emmy worthy.”)
She should be used to it by now, Oona with a different girl on her arm each day, a different woman added to her past and another contact in her never-ending list of contacts.
It doesn't make it sting any less, regardless.
She wonders if there's something wrong with her, if Oona seems to just not consider her eligible for whatever reason, wonders if in another lifetime she could've at least been a one night stand.
She shakes her head at that thought, too pathetic even by her own standards.
Ramona needs to learn how to say no to her sister more often. She really does.
It's just that when the older girl looks at her with her hands folded together and her eyes twinkling in that specific Annie-like way and asks her if she can babysit some first-year for the day because Ellis finally asked her out and she said yes before even checking her schedule.
She figures she'll cut her some slack, she must've been pretty excited if she allowed herself to forget something. Doesn't mean she dreads it any less.
That's how she finds herself waiting on the sidewalk, Oona right next to her, mumbling something about how Annie should've just cancelled and how they could've been watching a movie and lazying around right now instead.
She’s about to refute and say that if they went to either of their places right now, they would've just fallen asleep when she feels a tap on her shoulder and turns around immediately, startled slightly, to find a girl smiling at her politely, “Ah, hey– Ramona, right?”
Right, she almost forgot what she was even waiting for because Oona was distracting her, go figure.
“Are you Andrea?” Oona asks in a tone that isn't impressed at all, if Ramona wasn't a rational and normal person she would've thought that Oona was annoyed that the girl was touching her.
“Yup,” the younger girl says, “and you must be Ramona, right? Annie told me you'd be here. Wow, you guys look nothing alike! You're really pretty though. So, where are we going?”
She's startled at the way the girl seems to be rambling at a speed of an estimated 3627 words per second and she manages to stutter out a brief, “Library?”
She glances at Oona first, who seems to be irritated for some reason, sends her an apologetic smile and whispers a quick ‘we’ll talk later?’ before she's being dragged to the library and honestly she doesn't even think the girl knows where the library is.
“Of course, babe. Good luck.”
(They've settled in the library, books thrown everywhere and Ramona peering into the younger girl's notebook, trying to discern how she ended up tutoring somebody in math of all things when she's the furthest thing from a mathematician.
“So, how long have you been dating?” The girl in front of her asks, eyes sparkling like she's about to uncover some crazy state secret.
This is the last time I’m babysitting one of Annie’s nosy overgrown children.
“We're not. She's my best friend, that's all,” she stutters and if you know Ramona you know she doesn't stutter.
“Right, and how long have you been in love with her?”)
Unfortunately for Ramona, her academic luck is about as good as her general luck in life which is, admittedly, not good at all if the past few years count for anything.
She's fully convinced she’s tanked her mid-term exam in entomology which ruins her mood completely. She stumbles grumply around the house, ignoring Connor’s attempts at talking to her and she grabs whatever pastries Annie seems to have stocked their kitchen with for the day.
She stuffs her mouth full of some donut slash croissant chimera hybrid and wonders about the ethics of it before she goes back to her room, launching herself into her bed face first and groaning.
She's about to groan herself into passing it when she hears a ding from her phone.
She considers the conversation done after that, lays her phone on the pillow next to her head, she's halfway through deluding herself that the exam doesn't even matter when she hears another ding from her phone.
Her eyes immediately shoot open, all despair leaving her body as she makes a mad dash towards the door. She opens it to find Oona staring at her phone in her hand, a paper grocery bag in her other hand.
“Oona? When did you get here? What are you even doing here?” she says as she moves to let the taller girl in, tries not to make her giddiness too obvious, god she's so easy her mother might as well have named her Tutorial.
Oona turns to her and grins, Ramona tries not to focus on the soft upturn of her lips too much and fails naturally, “A little birdie told me you needed some cheering up. Figured my services would be appreciated here.”
It takes her a moment for it to sink in that Oona, sweet darling Oona, had just made her way over to her house just because Ramona seemed a little down.
Ramona has stopped trying to convince herself that she's not completely and totally in love with this girl.
(“Girl, it's a little late to be in denial,” Annie tells her once again when she returns home that night, eyeing the remnants of Oona’s presence left in their kitchen in the form of a small blueberry muffin.
God, Ramona can't even bring herself to protest.)
It's an ordinary Saturday night and they're hanging out in Oona’s bedroom, Maple off to a friend's place.
Ramona’s got her legs resting over Oona’s own and she's scrolling on her phone when she gets the feeling that someone is staring at her.
She looks up to confirm her hypothesis and finds Oona’s eyes narrowed and focused on her face, she tries not to immediately notice the way her face warms up at the direct eye contact and the way she just knows that her ears are getting red.
“Do I have something on my face?” She responds, trying not to sound too flustered.
Oona grins, Ramona thinks she sees her gaze wander lower before it snaps back to her eyes, prepares to say something insanely corny and insanely Oona, “Just that beauty, maybe.”
Lord, she thinks she should just get a gun and shoot herself. It can't be that hard to get a gun license in this day and age.
(Connor really struggles to get her relationship with Oona, in fact it often feels like every time he tries to think about it his brain explodes and he's rendered more useless than usual for the rest of the day.
“It's just really strange, dude, like proper strange,” he says for what feels like the millionth time this past month, they're lounging on opposites sides of the couch, engaging in some good old fashioned non-verbal sibling bonding, “I mean, lowkey, sometimes I think that if the internet blew up and you couldn't talk to her for 30 minutes that you would legit die.”
He's right though, which it pains her to admit, she honestly sometimes feels like she legit might die. She thinks about it for a second, doesn't really think she's ever given it much thought, Oona’s presence was just the most natural thing in the world to her.
She looks over at him and nods, signaling him to continue talking, kinda feels like she will definitely regret it within the next 3 minutes if she knows anything about her brother.
“I don't know, man, like you just fully drop everything when it comes to her, like you actually respond to her like a trained service dog, dude. Like you literally start barking, du–”
He doesn't get to finish because Ramona is up like a lightning strike and smothering his face with one of Annie’s grey throw pillows that have that feather filling that makes her sneeze like a bitch.
She hears Connor mumble something along the lines of ‘they crucified jesus too’ before she continues her mission of suffocating him.)
Sully asks Oona about it once.
They're sitting under a tree on campus, waiting for Annie and Ramona to be done with their lectures so they could all go hang out together. They've been chatting about everything and anything, it's always easy between them, they've just had an in-depth discussion about whether or not Ariana Grande would let Oona hit if she asked politely.
He plucks the grass in front of him before he turns to her. “So, you and Ramona,” he says sneakily, it's clearly been at the tip of his tongue for a hot minute now. “Why the hell aren't you two dating yet?”
He almost expects Oona to be dramatic, to stop in her tracks, but he looks over to find her oddly calm and composed, “We just aren't.”
“Ugh, but why?”
She shrugs, “We just aren't like that, babes. Ramona doesn't feel that way towards me, she's my best friend.”
Sully throws her the worst poker face she's ever been at the receiving end of, he's convinced that Oona is not only stupid but also fucking stupid. He has to physically hold himself back from rolling his eyes back into his skull when she says, “That's your excuse?”
“It's just the truth, man.”
“You know what I think?” He says, exasperated, “I think you're both really full of shit and really scared.”
Oona has half the mind to laugh before she gets defensive, “Scared of what?”
Hook, line and sinker.
“I think you are afraid that if you try something and it doesn't work, then that's another person in your life gone,” he says and he's a hundred percent sure of it, “Your mother leaving still hurts, too, but I think you'd rather die than have Ramona leave.”
Oona doesn't really have anything to say to that, she bites her lip and a frown settles on her face as her mind goes fully blank.
She thinks everything in the world is more interesting than meeting Sully’s eye right now, she didn't really plan to be read to filth today.
And like clockwork, Ramona and Annie show up just in time, settling on the grass next to them. Ramona brushes a hand against Oona’s shoulder as she sits down next to her, leg brushing hers on the grass, tries not to focus too much at the way the touch seems to linger on her skin.
“Hey,” Oona says, she doesn't even try to stop the softness from seeping into her eyes as she says it.
Naturally, Oona is a woman of many coping mechanisms. None of which are healthy, mind you. So when she's forced to confront her own feelings she decides to confide in her favorite, and coincidentally most destructive one.
Her favorite one being; going out, getting piss drunk and going home with whatever girl catches her attention, and then complaining to Ramona about them the next day.
Except, Oona’s been able to do that less and less. They go from lasting a few days, to lasting one night, to only lasting a makeout session before Oona is out of there like a light.
The most recent one lasts about 4 hours, she's a girl from one of the classes Ramona and Oona share together and she's objectively pretty, pretty enough to entertain Oona for a little while, pretty enough to stay the night even.
Honestly, typically she would've already gone home with her by now, gotten her Instagram or her number, made out with her here and there before she moved on.
The girl’s alright, she's sweet and funny, not the way that Ramona is, but the way that most girls tend to be.
She's shorter than her, not quite the right height (the hell even is the right height?) and she's got really bright eyes, practically nothing like Ramona’s beautiful brown ones.
That's another thing she's been doing, comparing every girl she meets to Ramona. She doesn't even mean to do it, it happens almost subconsciously now, like she's being haunted by Ramona and she just can't help herself.
She wonders when it all started to revolve around Ramona for her.
“Hey, Oona, you good?” the girl says, she can barely remember her name.
She thinks of Ramona’s fingers intertwined with hers, thinks of her head resting on her shoulder as they laze around under Ramona’s covers, thinks of how Ramona’s smile turns quiet and happy as Oona threads her fingers through her hair, just the way she likes it.
She can't do it. She just wants Ramona, yet the sudden realization scares her more than anything. She doesn't push the girl away, doesn't rush to get home and call Ramona, she settles for a stiff, “Yeah, all good.”
They’re out on a summer night, at some random club in Toronto, they’d struggled to get Ramona to agree and come with them but she did seem to be enjoying herself.
She tries not to stick to Oona’s side like a leech, but she can’t help herself, finding comfort in Oona’s arm resting on the small of her back. The other girl is aware that this is a bit out of Ramona’s comfort zone, she’s really appreciative that she joined though, she is.
They’re already a few drinks in each when Oona excuses herself to the restroom, taps Ramona’s arm to let her know before she leaves. Ramona nods, whispers something about calling her if she needs her and takes a seat in the corner as she waits, eyes focused on their friends embarrassing themselves on the dance floor – she thinks she sees Connor doing the worm on the floor and she wonders how sanitary that could possibly be.
An entirely unattractive and unpleasant man decides to capitalize on his audacity and takes the seat right next to her, seemingly having waited for Oona to be out of sight to shoot his shot. His eyes keep darting over to Ramona’s face, she can feel them wandering down her body and feels herself shiver and the concept of it.
She has half the mind to turn to him and tell him to fuck off before she feels a familiar presence behind her, the taller girl wrapping her arms around Ramona’s shoulders and resting her head on top of hers.
She looks over at the guy next to her and tightens her grip ever so slightly, just enough for a wave of comfort to wash over Ramona. Oona sees the way the guy leers at her, at the familiar contact between the two girls, “Do you mind? We were having a moment there.”
Ramona genuinely laughs at that, she hadn’t even spoken to the dude, but she can sense that Oona doesn’t find it funny at all. The girl seems personally offended that the dude had the audacity to even walk near Ramona let alone sit next to her and act like there’s any moment to be had.
“I think I’m good, dude,” Ramona says, hoping that it’s enough to get the guy off their case, unfortunately it’s easier to get through to a brick wall than to a straight man.
“Come on, baby, don’t be like that,” he says, his sleazy grin is starting to piss her off more and more, “You’re hot, has anybody told you that before?”
“Yep,” she says, irritated and tired of this shtick.
She feels he’s about to respond and is two seconds away from getting up and just telling Oona that they should move elsewhere, when she hears Oona say above her, “She’s not fuckin’ interested, dude. Give it a rest.” She smirks at his surprise, like he’s not used to rejection, which she doesn’t believe at all considering he’s fucking ugly. “If anyone’s gonna tell her she’s hot it’ll be me, bye.”
Next thing she knows she’s being pulled away and all she can think of is Oona’s arm around her shoulders, the man already nothing but an unpleasant memory.
Ironically, it's a Friday night when the illusion finally shatters.
A year ago she probably wouldn't have believed that she'd be spending her night inside, hanging out in Ramona’s bed, instead of doing whatever or whoever in whatever club has taken her attention this week.
They're just lounging around when it happens, when Ramona’s hand brushes Oona’s slightly and Oona decides that the only way to respond to that is to bracket Ramona, legs on each side of her hips and tickle her.
It ends with Oona basically straddling Ramona, her curls gently falling in front of her and brushing against Ramona's face.
If Ramona were to think back on it, she could probably pinpoint the exact millisecond that Oona starts to retract, starts to fold in and prepares to run away.
She tries to mediate at first, tries to lure Oona back in gently, reaching her hands upwards and trying to rest them on Oona’s face.
It has the opposite effect, Oona snaps back and gets off Ramona entirely. She's on the floor next to Ramona's bed in record speed.
“What are you running from, Oona?”
Oona stops and stares at her for a second, arms standing stiffly on the sides of her body, hands clenched into fists and her knuckles turning white from the force of her hold.
Oona doesn't answer her, instead she spins on her heel and is out of the house before Ramona can even process what happened and go after her.
She chucks the covers off of herself and sits on the floor, Oona’s leftover warmth mocking her.
She turns her phone off, decides that she's better off not being contacted by anybody for a while. Better off thinking that Oona can't contact her than facing the fact that she won't contact her regardless.
She avoids mentioning it to her siblings, though they've both noticed something was wrong, they'd have to be idiots to not notice Oona's absence.
Ramona tells herself she's giving Oona space and ignores the nagging, annoying, voice in her head telling her she's ruined it all.
The first time Oona realizes she's in love with Ramona, they’re only about 16 and 17 years old respectively. They'd just gotten back from one of Maple’s plays, their friends either hanging out or sleeping in different rooms around the house while Oona claimed her spot in Ramona’s bed.
She’s not sure how long she stares at Ramona for, it could be hours, it could be days, she doesn't really care, instead she lets a lazy smile take over her face.
“I can feel your eyes on me,” Ramona mumbles, voice heavy with sleep, buried in her place under her covers.
Oona doesn't blush at that, doesn't get shy or flustered, she just accepts it for what it is, an observation. She whispers, “I didn't wanna wake you up.”
“Mhm, thank you…” Ramona stretches slightly, adjusts her head to rest on Oona’s shoulder, the sleep makes her say things she would never have the courage to utter normally. “You're just… so comfortable.”
“Just sleep a little longer,” Oona says, softnesses taking over her features, it feels good to see Ramona so unguarded and relaxed. She feels like she hasn't seen her not stressed in a hot minute. “It's okay, I’ll wake you up later.”
The answer seemingly satisfies Ramona as she burrows her face further in the space where Oona’s neck meets her shoulder, humming in content as Oona rubs soft circles on her back.
It doesn't take long for Annie to hear what had happened between them, she'd come home late that day, Ramona could faintly hear Ellis at the door.
She hoped that Annie wouldn't react to her not greeting her and would simply assume that she was sleeping. She tried her hardest to melt into her bed and hide behind the security of her comforter.
To no avail though, as always, Annie seemed to have been born with a 6th sense dedicated to Ramona, even if they technically didn't share any blood. She snuck into Ramona’s room slowly, opening the door so carefully you would think that the room held a vicious beast and not a hundred and fifty something centimeters of pure Ramona.
Ramona could feel her sister hovering over her, she could feel the pitying gaze before she could even see it, there was no point hiding it, she reached behind herself and lifted the cover up just enough to invite Annie under with her.
She needed her sister's wisdom right now, more than anything.
“Annie?” She mumbled, slowly turning around so she could look at her. She doesn't even care that her eyes are clearly swollen and she looks like she hasn't slept in 50 days and 50 nights.
Annie seems to understand immediately, though she doesn't pry either, doesn't try to get her to tell her everything now, she just holds her and kisses her head.
After it has all settled a little bit and Ramona lets herself speak she tells Annie everything, except at some point the little huddle she has with Annie starts to include Connor, too.
All three of them sitting on Ramona’s bed now with her sandwiched between them, she tells them about Oona and about the past few months.
Tells them about her feelings, about Oona’s feelings, she doesn't leave anything out and by the end of it she is exhausted.
“Honestly, Oona, what the hell are you doing?” Maple says exasperatedly, worry painting her features.
She's had to sit here and watch her sister mope around and do fuck-all for the past few days so forgive her if she's a bit harsh in her approach.
“I fucked up, Maple. I should've said something.”
“Dude, I don't care,” Maple shakes her head disapprovingly, her sister could genuinely be so dense sometimes, “I mean, I care. I care that Ramona is hurt too, but more than anything I care about you, ‘cause you're my sister and all. Which is why I have to ask. What are you doing?”
They both stay silent for a second and Oona half hopes that her sister will give up and just leave her alone, though it becomes abundantly clear with each second that passes that she has no plans to.
Oona sighs at that, admitting defeat, “What if she doesn't want to see me?”
Thank God her reflexes are relatively quick cause she turns her head just in time to dodge the book Maple has thrown her way, “You said you were afraid of losing her, but aren't you literally letting her slip away right now?”
She stands up and moves towards the bathroom, she looks over at Oona once again before she goes though.
“Honestly though, don't you think you should see her again, anyway? I think you owe her that much.”
Neither of them really date.
Well, Ramona doesn’t really meet people at all and Oona just doesn’t do relationships.
Oona mentions it to her once, wonders if the reason people don’t ask her out more is because they find her intimidating. Maybe they don’t think she’ll answer them. Ramona doesn’t dare to mention the fact that it’s probably because it’s an open secret that she’s in love with Oona and can barely remember the last time she’d thought of anybody else.
The day was pretty good in her opinion, she can’t say that she would’ve expected herself to be this relaxed.
She’s always had a fun time hanging out with her siblings even if Connor can be slightly unbearable sometimes, he’s fine when it matters. After that disaster with Oona she needed to let her brain rest a little, if it had happened before she definitely would’ve just retreated into herself and not left her room in like a month, which is healthy.
They hang out around the house and watch a horror movie in the living room, she’s never really been a big fan of them and she figures she’ll end up just complaining about how unrealistic it is and how horrible the main guy is, but she ends up thoroughly entertained because Annie seems to scream at every single scene, even the ones where nothing is even happening. Connor is surprisingly quite passionate about film, she notes mentally and makes sure to remember that for when the twins’ birthday comes around.
The hangout ends with Ramona swearing that she’ll be fine as the other two leave for their respective plans, Connor with some girl he met on Hinge of all places and keeps trying to convince them that this is the one for sure, and Annie on a date with Ellis, she tries not to feel at least slightly jealous and bitter.
She opts to go out on a walk, figures that the cold air would feel good on her face right about now, she tosses her phone on the bed and decides that she needs to be detached for a little while.
(If she spends the whole walk thinking about Oona and reaching out to her when she gets back, nobody really needs to know. She honestly needs to get a grip.)
She doesn't expect Oona to be standing by her front door when she gets back home.
She freezes for a second when she notices her there, stares at her in confusion, “Oona, what? What are you doing here?” She can't help but notice that Oona’s got some insane bags under her eyes and she looks like she hasn't slept in weeks.
“Oona, how long have you been standing out here? Just– Come on inside.” She scolds, she supposed she could be more mad, she could just tell her to go back home and that she doesn't wanna talk to her, but Oona looks like a kicked puppy and something in Ramona’s chest aches.
They walk inside, Oona following behind her quietly. She still hasn't said a word.
Ramona sets her keys down on the counter and as she does she notices that Oona’s eyes look glassy. She turns to her in a panic, about to ask what's up when the other girl finally speaks.
“Mona, I’m sorry,” she says and Ramona can see her lip quiver before she continues, “I was being a dick and I acted like a selfish idiot because I just got like– really afraid and I shouldn't have just left like that, I should have said something.”
She gazes over at Ramona for a second, as if she’s checking if she’s still there in front of her, “I should never have hurt you like that. I don't know what I was thinking, I guess– I wasn't really thinking at all,” she chokes on her words a little, “Please, Ramona. You're the most important thing in my life and I can't lose you.”
She enunciates every single word and makes sure to hold eye contact with Ramona, no matter how much it hurts. She wants Ramona to know that everything she says is genuine, wants her to feel the intensity of her own feelings, the intensity of everything they've refused to say until now.
She looks at Ramona and half wonders if the other girl has anything to say, if she's gonna jump and interrupt her anytime soon, but she decides to just soldier on and keep talking before the adrenaline wears off.
“And, fuck, all those other girls, Ramona– They're nothing compared to you. I look at them and I flirt with them and it's easy, but it's meaningless. None of them are you, Mona and I’ve become so so aware of you. And yes– I’ve been with a lot of them, I admit it, but, God, Ramona.”
She's honestly breathing somewhat heavily now, panicking slightly at Ramona’s persistent silence, “I never wanted any of them, not like–”
Ramona stares at her intensely, brows furrowed and lips pursed, she seemed to have gotten closer to her as Oona was rambling, within an arms reach now. She waits for Oona to finish what she was saying, thinking she might just combust if she doesn't say it now.
“Not like how I want you.”
Ramona shifts her gaze away slightly at that, she refuses to look at Oona. She's within an arm’s reach, but Oona doesn't reach out yet. Not yet.
She's about to beg Ramona to say something when she realizes she's gearing up to say something.
“I could barely sleep this past week, Oona. I kept thinking about how I’d fucked up and ruined everything because I just couldn't let things be. And, I don't– I don't blame you for running, but I wish you had just talked to me instead,” she states, running the back of her hand over her eyes, wiping at something there, “I wish you'd just come to me.”
She confesses, “And I don't– I don't want you to feel like I fucking own you or something, I don't want that. I just, I know I have a lot of baggage and it's not fair to you… and to push my feelings onto you on top of all of that, too– It just wasn't fair.”
She bites the inside of her lips, thinning them in a straight line and she finally looks back at Oona.
“Baby,” Oona says, reaches out a hand to finally touch her, she cups her face and brushes the pads of her thumbs across Ramona’s cheeks. She wants to wrap Ramona up in her arms and hold her forever.
She also tries her hardest not to react to the way Ramona gasps softly at the pet name, but she can't help the shy smile that comes to her lips.
Ramona holds onto Oona’s arms, she's soft, sincere and perfect. Oona thinks her heart is about to jump out of her chest from how quickly it's beating. She holds perfectly still as Ramona talks, afraid that any movement might break them and ruin the moment.
She lets her arms lower and tightens them around Ramona’s waist, pulls her in towards her and nods, “You’re my best fucking friend, Oona. I mean, I have other friends, but you're not– You're more than that. I swear, like, sometimes it feels like you're in my soul.”
“I love you,” Oona interrupts, “I’m in love with you, Ramona.”
The house is relatively cold and the AC is blowing hard, but Oona feels like they're both on fire.
And then, a beat passes, and Ramona surges forward, crosses the scant space between. She gets on the tips of her toes and rests her forehead against Oona’s.
Oona can feel the both of them trembling, finally grappling with the fact that this is real. That they're finally here.
Ramona’s next words hit her like a gust of wind, but it's the press of Ramona’s lips against hers that steals the breath from her, "You're so stupid."
Her hands slide down to Ramona’s shoulders and run down all over her back until they settle down and wrap tightly around Irene’s waist as she pulls her into her arms; makes Ramona feel small, smaller than usual, and tucks Ramona’s face under her chin.
Ramona feels entirely too content in her position, she sighs softly, words tickling Oona’s neck as she whispers, “I love you too.”
Admittedly, not much changes between them after that.
They still do everything like they always did, since they were always together before anyway.
Except, nowadays, the difference is that Oona gets to call Ramona her girlfriend publicly, gets to intertwine their hands and steal kisses from her whenever she wants.
They're laying on Ramona’s bed together, weeks later, watching some show on Ramona’s laptop – or they were, considering the fact that the laptop is nowhere to be seen right now and Ramona is lying half on top of Oona – when Oona mumbles into Ramona’s hair exasperatedly.
“I’m mad that I could've been doing this this whole time,” and Ramona couldn't agree more.
(They still have their arguments occasionally, though it's never anything serious. More along the lines of misunderstandings and stress than actual fights.
“So, you guys are definitely getting married first, right?” Annie says one day when they're all hanging out, she looks over at Oona and Ramona; Ramona in Oona’s lap, head resting on her shoulder.
Oona laughs at that loudly, ignoring the way Ramona slaps her shoulder to calm down, the movement disturbing her peace, “Oh, for sure.”
Sully quips, “Oona already acts like they're married anyway. She's got Ramona saved as ‘wifey’ on her phone and the other night she kept telling all the girls who were hitting on her that she's got a fiance.”
“Oh, man, you guys are turning green from jealousy over there,” Oona dismisses and goes back to rubbing soft circles in Ramona’s back.
“I’m gonna be sick,” Maple says, “like I’m seriously gonna vomit at you.”
Connor sits up straight, a light bulb popping above his head as he points his finger like he's about to scream ‘eureka!’, “Whatever happened with Stacey Mallory?”