“I mean, maybe. Sometimes. You might have been in my line of sight once or twice while I was showing my school spirit for our football team.” There was no getting out of this one.
The grin on Caitlin’s face said that she knew Gemma was full of crap. Caitlin moved to sit against her headboard, legs crossed, spreading her textbook, notebook, and study guide out on the purple comforter.
“So, what finals do you have tomorrow?” Gemma asked, her mind going a million miles per hour as she debated where to sit. It looked like her only options were the floor or...
“You can…” Caitlin patted the spot next to her. “Spanish, of course, so let’s just start there together. Then I gotta study for history. Which other one do you have?”
Gemma hesitantly made her way toward the bed with her backpack, taking a seat so close to the edge that if she breathed the wrong way, she’d almost certainly fall off.
“Geometry.”
They stayed like that for hours, trading questions in the second language they had to master before tomorrow.
Once they were burnt out on Spanish, they moved on to prepare for their independent exams.
Gemma could hardly focus, rereading the same equation over and over without retaining any of the information. Shechanced a peek next to her, finding that Caitlin didn’t seem to be having the same trouble concentrating as she was.
We’re just friends. We’re just friends.
“I didn’t invite him.” Caitlin’s voice interrupted Gemma’s thoughts.
“What?” She turned toward Caitlin, whose face was still hidden by the textbook in her hands.
“Troy,” Caitlin explained as if it were obvious. “I didn’t ask him to study with us tonight.”
“Oh. How come? You know I don’t mind when he’s here.” A weak lie. Gemma was trying to play it cool, but something about this confession was throwing her off balance.
Gemma didn’t exactly enjoy having to watch Troy hold Caitlin’s hand or lean in and press his lips to hers, but remaining friends with Caitlin meant that she had to tolerate the boyfriend.
Caitlin still hadn’t looked up, her eyes steadily fixed on the page, although Gemma was pretty sure she wasn’t actually reading.
Gemma reached out to steady Caitlin’s hand, which had begun bouncing her pen against the hard binding. Slowly, Caitlin’s eyes rose to meet Gemma’s and stayed there. Gemma swore she saw a glint flick through the clear blue as Caitlin’s eyes softened.
“I wanted it to just be the two of us,” Caitlin said so gently that Gemma almost didn’t hear the words.
The butterflies that Gemma had caged deep within her core burst free, fluttering out like tiny birds testing flight for the very first time.
“Wh—” Gemma swallowed her words as Caitlin’s soft lips connected with hers.
The taste of cherry lip balm lingered on Gemma’s mouth even after the brief kiss had ended. She opened her eyes slowly, fighting for breath. Her heart was racing, wild and unsteady,from finally sharing a kiss with the girl she’d been quietly falling for all year.
Gemma searched Caitlin’s face for any hint of regret, but all she found was Caitlin staring back at her with a look that joined the two of them as one. It was a look that caused an explosion big enough to upend Gemma’s life and steal a piece of her forever. Gemma would never forget that look.
Suddenly, Caitlin’s mouth was back on hers. Onlythis time, Gemma cupped Caitlin’s cheeks and used the tip of her tongue to trace a line along Caitlin’s lower lip, coaxing a shiver from Caitlin before their tongues intertwined.
Their lips moved together in a slow, gentle rhythm, and Gemma felt her pulse rushing in her ears. The kiss was unlike anything she’d ever felt before. It was soft, electric, and impossibly real. She didn’t have much to compare it to—her first kiss had happened during middle school at a sleepover upon a dare. But this was different.Thiswas her first real kiss. And it belonged to Cailtin.
A soft sigh escaped Caitlin’s lips as Gemma pulled away. Their eyes met in silent understanding, each searching the other’s face for any sign of remorse. Gemma saw the ache of her own desperation mirrored in Caitlin’s expression.
Caitlin crawled into Gemma’s lap, wrapping her arms around Gemma’s neck and tangling her fingers in Gemma’s long locks.
“I like it when you leave your hair in its natural waves. It’s beautiful.”
Gemma smiled, sliding her hands around Caitlin’s waist, pulling her in even closer. Their lips connected again, but this time, it felt feverish.
Before Gemma could fully register what was happening, Caitlin’s lips brushed the curve of her neck. Goosebumps broke out across Gemma’s skin as their mouths met again. Tender andsearching, Gemma’s hands slipped under the hem of Caitlin’s T-shirt, drawn to the warmth of her bare skin.
Caitlin let out a quiet sound that Gemma felt echo between them. The world could’ve been ending, and they never would have noticed. In that moment, only the two of them existed, entangled in something vast and wordless.
