Rising Shards

“Mrrgh….” I grumbled as I sorted through the snacks I’d gotten for myself and Lillia.

“Still grumbling?”

“Yeah…” I pouted.  “I just. Need Zeta! Where the frick is she?”

“At the eye doctor, correct?” Lillia said. “She’ll likely be getting her eyes dilated if it’s a normal appointment, so she may not be back today.”

“That sucks!” I said. “But I do think she could rock the glasses look. You wouldn’t be mad if there was someone else with glasses in the main quartet, would you?”

“Why would I remotely care that someone else has glasses?” Lillia asked.

Kalei passed by Lillia and I’s spot in one of the little hangout nooks around campus and immediately laser focused on the food.

“Oooh, gonna share?” Kalei asked, taking an empty seat by us.

Lillia and I glanced at each other. I nodded, understanding what Lillia’s specific glare meant in this case.

“Kalei, you are not typically here for the talks Lillia and I have,” I said. “The things discussed may potentially be upsetting to you.”

“What, like you make fun of me?” Kalei asked.

“No, not that!” I said. “We talk about our crushes.”

“So…no different than what you normally talk about?” Kalei asked.

“Big different!” I said.

“Horrible grammar.” Lillia said. “But Oka’s correct. We talk about our crushes in much more detail than we do in settings outside of these sessions when it’s only the two of us.”

“Ohhh, like you get all mushy gushy about how hot you find em?” Kalei said.

“Exactly.” Lillia said.

“So if you wanna just grab a snack and avoid hearing us get all mushy gushy, we won’t be mad.” I said. “Especially after…you know. It won’t feel bad to hear us gushing, will it?” I was worried Kalei would get upset by hearing our crush talk after she’d just went through a heartbreak and a half.

“I dunno,” Kalei said. She shrugged. “Appreciate you asking though.”

“Alright, well if it does, and you gotta bail, we won’t be upset.” I said.

“I’m mostly just curious now,” Kalei said. “I’m guessing it’s gonna be like our sleepover chats.”

“Somewhat, yes.” Lillia said.

“And I’d rather have a Lotsa Choco Cookie Bar right now in this comfy chair than get up.” Kalei said. So she joined in on our crush chat.

When Kalei wasn’t turning the snark up a few dials to cope with her crush Nikki dating someone else, she seemed a bit vulnerable. A bit more reserved and quieter than the Kalei I was used to, with her hands clasped in her lap, like she was subconsciously trying to look smaller to avoid detection. It made me wanna be there for her as she went through it. I hoped sharing junk food and talking about girls helped at least a little bit.

I mostly whined about how much I missed Zeta to start, not liking when I was in need of Zeta time and she was elsewhere. Despite having some chats before, I think the way Lillia talked about Ko still caught Kalei off guard, partially because she wasn’t used to anyone talking about her friend Ko in a “I am deeply attracted to her” sort of way, and partially because she wasn’t fully used to Lillia saying stuff like “I am deeply attracted to her.”

“I didn’t realize until I got to know Ko better how attractive I found strength and athleticism.” Lillia said.

“Huh…” Kalei said. “I guess that makes sense. I’m maybe opening a can of worms that’s gonna eat up the whole conversation, but what about Zeta makes you all hot and bothered, Oka?”

“Her butt,” I said.

“Wow.” Kalei said, eyebrows raised.

“Well! You asked!” I said. “Come on, I’ve made it very clear how I feel there.”

“What with all the staring, yeah.” Kalei said.

“It’s not just that…aspect of her, though. She’s got a cute smile, her hair is so pretty, I watch her tail constantly! I like her shoulders a lot too, and her collarbones, and…”

“You really have the hots for Zeta.” Kalei said. “I knew that, but. It’s interesting, I guess.”

“What is?” I asked.

“Don’t pout,” Kalei said. “I just think it’s kinda cool that you’re probably the first person who’s ever gotten this thirsty for her, she probably can’t even comprehend it.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Because she’s a ginormous dork.” Kalei said. “I mean that in a nice way.”

“You can’t just say ‘I mean that in a nice way’ when you say something rude to make it better.” I said.

“You could tell by my tone,” Kalei said.

“I guess.” I said. “Frick, how long does an eye doctor appointment take? Mrrgh…”

“Please don’t ever get a divorce.” Kalei said.

“We’re not even married!” I said. “…yet.” I sighed longingly.

We had a nice chat. Kalei even talked about her budding preferences in girls as Lillia and I carefully avoided bringing up Nikki.

I got so giddy when Zeta got back later in the day, hugging her tightly for a good while. She still had flat plastic sunglasses on, and said her eyes were still taking time to get back to normal. Even though they weren’t normal glasses, I observed carefully how she’d look with glasses, even if she said she passed the vision test, maybe someday she could have glasses and we could see if my prediction was correct that she’d rock the look.

Kalei put her hands on Zeta’s shoulders once we’d stopped hugging. “Zates. You cannot screw this up.”

“Huh?” Zeta asked, her expression such that question marks would be appearing in front of her if she was in a cartoon. “Screw what up?”

* * *

The next day was a brutally long class. I invited Zeta over to my room afterwards to watch shows together, but we both decided our shows could wait once we were alone together, as making out was much more important.

“I missed you so much yesterday…” I said, relishing how nice it felt to kiss her.

“I missed you too!” Zeta said.

We were both blushing, giggling, messes.

“So…what next?” I asked. “We can keep going, of course, but, um. If you have any suggestions. The floor is yours!”

“I’m game for whatever!” Zeta said.

“Alright, because I maybe have an idea…” I said.

“What, er, what behaviors would you like to…um…” Zeta trailed off.

“Maybe…this?” I slowly undid Zeta’s tie. I had her collar on the mind after the chat the day before.

Zeta laughed nervously. I grinned as I loosely wrapped her tie around my shoulders like it was a towel. 

“I…wow.” Zeta said.

We were operating on instinct, our hearts pounding as we reached forward, unbuttoning the tops of our shirts. We took turns trailing kisses down the newly exposed skin. I got to work, trying to leave a hickey just above Zeta’s right collarbone. The energy was electric, both of us were feeling so happy and ready to enjoy this moment together, and—

The door opened. Zeta yelped as Kalei, Lillia, and Marmalade marched into the room.

“Told you they’d be here.” Kalei said.

I quickly put my arm around Zeta, both of us blushing intensely.

“And I told you we’d be interrupting.” Lillia said.

“Though I guess why would I need to take credit for guessing Zeta and Oka would be in Oka’s room? That’s not very impressive. I was right, though.” Kalei said. She’d walked in on us enough times that finding us like this didn’t seem to faze her.

“Are you arguing with yourself?” Marmalade asked. “That…seems counterproductive in a lot of ways.”

“Maybe,” Kalei shrugged.

“Apologies for the interruption,” Lillia said. “We were planning a movie night, and Kalei wanted you two to join us. But I didn’t want to ruin your alone time, so I firmly objected, but was overruled.”

Zeta stammered something, a nervous response that almost constituted words. I translated for her.

“We’d be down! Just um, give us a few?” I said.

Zeta nodded. 

We shared a knowing “Let’s pick this up later, Kalei will annoy us into going if we say no now” look. I kept Zeta’s tie around my shoulders all day, almost like a trophy of sorts.