Rising Shards

Stella collapsed face down on the couch when she got back to the apartment.

“You should probably get changed, if you stay there dressed like that, you’re going to fall asleep in your jeans.” Evy said.

“Truuuue,” Stella groaned. She peeled herself off the couch and quickly got changed into her sleepwear. When she got back, Evy was sitting on the couch watching TV. Stella made Evy scoot to the center of the couch and crawled on top of her until her tummy was on Evy’s knees.

“You beat?” Evy asked, lightly massaging Stella’s back.

“Mhmmm.” Stella said.

“Well, you made it through orientation,” Evy said. “Want to quit yet?”

“Nah,” Stella said. “Penteldtam’s a lot, but kind of a funny a lot? Plus, this library seems really interesting. Both the main one and the girls’ dorm one. So libraries I guess. Plus, I kind of got a thing for a teacher there.”

“Oh yeah?” Evy asked.

“Yeah, there’s this hot science teacher I’d really like to get to know more.” Stella said.

“Hmm, you maybe have a shot,” Evy said. “I meanwhile, have my eyes on a gorgeous librarian who just got a job there.”

“Ohhh, I think I know who you’re talking about,” Stella said. “I can get you in touch.”

“I think I’d like to get in touch with her right now.” Evy said, playfully squeezing Stella’s butt.

“Hey!” Stella giggled. “Don’t catch me off guard like that when you’re doing the nice soft back rub.”

“It’s your fault for having such a cute ass.” Evy said.

“Don’t say it like that!” Stella said, letting out the deep gut laugh that at this point only Evy could get out of her. Stella rolled over and looked up at Evy, lazily tracing her jawline as she reached up.

“I still can’t believe you guys went to a mat ball game.” Stella said.

“We maybe would have seen the whole thing if the food there wasn’t obscenely expensive.” Evy said.  “I think Zeta took all that well, all things considered. The us part, not the mat ball.”

“I’m surprised you told her.” Stella said.

“Are you?” Evy said. “And I didn’t really tell her. She…well, she had some help from Marne’s stupid hidmarble, but she figured it out and made me fess up. But she thought I was hiding a rare Cani tail disease from her.”

“Yeah, she does that. That damn 3WMB…” Stella said. “I’m glad she knows, though. My plan was just to wait it out for her to notice then fess up if I couldn’t work up the nerve to say it.”

“It wouldn’t take her long. But I didn’t want her to think my presence meant she had a terminal illness all the time.” Evy said. “So, overall, how’d I do?”

”You did so much better with her than...a lot of them.” Stella said. ”Like you know, exes and stuff...” She suddenly sat up and hugged Evy tightly.

“Hey…” Evy said as she noticed a slight shudder in Stella’s embrace. That shudder was joined by a slight whimper.

“This usually the point where they cut and run?” Evy guessed.

Stella nodded.

“Or they’re a huge jerk to Zeta or let out a bunch of other red flags all at once,” Stella said, her voice quivering but still filled with salt for her past potential partners. “One told her ‘I’m just trying to get into your sister’s pants, so stay the hell away from me.’”

“Wow,” Evy said. “You know, I could’ve said the same thing.”

“Shut up,” Stella smirked. She leaned back so she could look Evy in the eyes. After brushing Evy’s hair, Stella moved her hands to hold her head delicately. She kissed her, not as forcefully as the hug, it was something soft and sweet, like going from two strong magnets clinging to each other to mixing melted chocolate and peanut butter.

“I wanna treat you. Let’s go get ice cream or something.” Stella said.

“We got Ultra Taco today; do you want to go get food out twice?” Evy asked.

“Eh, good point.” Stella said.

“Now I know Zeta’s order too so if we need a fast food night, I know what to do,” Evy said. “One Deluxe Crunch Burrito Maximus, no tomato, two Cheesy Deluxe Bit Boxes, and a small thing of CinnaChunks. Oh, and a medium ColaBlu.”

“You remembered that already?” Stella asked. Her lip trembled. “You really remember it?”

Stella suddenly let out a wail and started fully crying.

“Whoa, hey,” Evy said. “Are you crying over your baby sister’s regular Ultra Taco order?”

“No, I’m crying that you care enough to remember it,” Stella said. She sniffed. “Can I just say that you doing this well taking care of her is immensely attractive to me? Can I say that out loud?”

“I’m not going to stop you, Stel.” Evy said.

“It means the world to me, baby.” Stella said.

Once Stella had cried out her post-long day, post-very pleased with how Evy had done feelings, and her post-Zeta finding out about-her-new relationship catharsis, The two moved positions so they sat shoulder to shoulder. “What do you want tonight? Anything, really.”

“I just want to be here with you. That makes me happy.” Evy said.

“You got it.” Stella said, interlacing her hand with Evy’s. “I’m beat from today, so that’s perfect. Tomorrow I’ll have more energy.”

“Me too.”

“So tomorrow I’ll give you another big reward,” Stella said.

“Considering how much we do it, do we need to map it out like that?” Evy asked.

“Well, it gives me something to look forward to.” Stella said. “You gotta have things to look forward to, after all.”

“I’ll give you your own big reward tomorrow then.” Evy said. “So you have something else to look forward to.”

The two were almost asleep, hand in hand, leaning against each other as some random show playing on their TV acted as background noise.

“Mutual big rewards will be given.” Stella said before yawning.

Lillia noticed it before Oka did, the morning after the rehearsal. As Oka was getting ready, Lillia dropped it on her.

“Zeta gave you a hickey.” Lillia said flatly.

“Grrk!” Oka said, freezing mid-motion as she tied her tie. She unbuttoned her shirt slightly to check in the mirror. Sure enough, there was a small red mark Zeta had left just below her collarbone; the spot where Zeta had pounced on her and wouldn’t let up with her bites and the like. She’d never seen that side of Zeta before. Probably no one had, unless she actually showed Jeans that, but that wasn’t likely. Oka beamed thinking about it.  “Wow…”

“Also, it’s not a school day, so you don’t need to wear the uniform.” Lillia said.

“Oh yeah…” Oka said.

It was a point of pride for Oka to get her first hickey from Zeta. She almost didn’t want to cover it up at all—to march around proudly and show the whole world that her girlfriend had marked her that way. Alright that sounds a little weird, like she owns me or something. But I like the idea that I’m hers and she’s mine.

On the way to breakfast, Oka caught Zeta leaving her room.

“Hey!” Oka said.

“Good morning!” Zeta said, then yawned. Her hair was a bit messy, which was incredibly cute. Normally, Zeta had an intricate brushing routine, but on Sundays she tended to skip it or lazily tie her hair up, which was also incredibly cute. Come to think of it, is there any hairstyle that wouldn’t look cute on her? I’ll have to see more to verify…

Before they reached the cafeteria, Oka stopped Zeta in an empty hallway.

“Hey, so,” Oka looked around to make sure no one was nearby. “C’mere.”

Oka pulled her shirt collar down slightly, grinning as Zeta saw her handiwork. Zeta winced.

“Oh, oops! I didn’t think…sorry!” Zeta said.

“No no no!” Oka said. “Don’t feel bad! I like it!”

“Oh,” Zeta said. “Are you sure?”

Oka nodded. “I really like it.”

The two laughed nervously, but their quiet moment was interrupted by a stampede of girls from their dorm rushing to breakfast.

“Well, we should probably get going so we can eat,” Zeta said.

“Yeah, we don’t wanna…run out of food.” Oka said.

Oka was tempted to ask straight up if she could bring Zeta somewhere private to return the favor but could only manage to let out excited giggles.

“Wanna hold hands on the way to breakfast?” Zeta asked.

Oka hoped the burst of even more excited giggles, like bubbles from someone letting out air underwater, conveyed that yes, she very much wanted to hold Zeta’s hand on the way to breakfast.