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Taylor raps her knuckles against the Ashlyn's door, rocking back and forth on her feet. She hears someone approaching the door and fiddles with her backpack. The door swings open and Taylor immediately grins. Ashlyn smiles back at her and opens the door wider, inviting her inside.
Taylor steps inside and greets Mr and Mrs Banner, then turns back to Ash.
"Hey, you," she says fondly.
"Hey, Tay," Ash mumbles back. The two girls had started hanging out more often, just the two of them, and had quickly become friends.
Ashlyn leads the other girl to her room and closes the door behind her. Taylor flops down on the bed and sighs. Ashlyn plops down beside her.
"Tyler is so annoying lately!" Taylor groans. "He's always 'complaining'," she says, doing air quotes, "about Aiden. He's obsessed!" Taylor lifts her head and makes an apologetic face at Ashlyn. "Sorry, I know you like him."
"Tyler?" Ashlyn asks stupidly.
"No, silly, Aiden," Taylor says.
"Oh," the red head scoffs. "I don't like him!" She rolls her eyes.
"Oh, I thought you did. My bad," she laughs. Ashlyn doesn't like anyone. She shuts her thoughts up real quick and shakes her head. What was that? That feeling of hope? She blinks hard and sits up.
"Yeah. Actually, I..." Ashlyn looks at her hands, fidgeting. "Um, I like girls," She mumbles.
Taylor does a double take and her mouth falls open. Her mind reels, struggling to form a coherent though.
Not straight??? No crush??? Likes girls???
She tries as best as she can to calm her heart and closes her mouth.
"Um, sorry. You probably think i'm weird now-"
"No! I mean, no, I don't. I like girls, too," she says quietly.
"Oh," Ashlyn's freckled cheeks turn pink and Taylor can't stop staring, Ashlyn is just so...
She realizes shes staring when Ashlyn's green eyes flick up and meet hers. "Cool."
"Yeah. Cool."
Taylor stares at the ceiling, her heart racing. The atmosphere in the room had changed. She takes a breath and glances at Ashlyn. To her surprise, The other girl is staring back. Her eyes- still as water in the summer- flick down to Taylors lips. The two girls seem to gravitate toward each other, and before Taylor knows it, their lips are inches away. She can feel Ashlyn's breath, so close to her mouth, and sighs.
"Can I..." Ashlyn starts but doesn't get to finish. Taylor leans forward to close the gap and their lips meet.
It’s better than anything Taylor has ever experienced. It’s electric, it spreads warmth and an electric buzz through her body. She feels like she’s floating, or drowning, she’s honestly not sure. She never wants this to end, but after a bit Ashlyn pulls away with a small gasp.
Ashlyn presses their foreheads together and Taylor’s hand caresses the other girls jaw gently. She rubs her thumb across her cheek and lets out a breathy laugh. Ashlyn grins back at her and they stay like that for a few more seconds, their breaths on each others lips.
Eventually they have to separate, and Ashlyn’s hands come to grip Taylor’s waist. Ashlyn looks bashfully into her eyes from under her thick eyelashes.
Those beautiful green eyes.
They tease her, they really do, with the way they sparkle and beckon to her, urging her closer. They’re sometimes soft, like foggy sea glass. Other times sharp, like pine needles and the morning sun that filters through them. Taylor loves her eyes.
Taylor slides her hand away from Ashlyn’s jaw, and the other girl leans forward, missing he heat. Taylor slowly drags the tip of her finger along the bridge of Ashlyn’s nose, giggling when she scrunches it. She connects the freckles littering her face like constellations, leaning to kiss one on her cheekbone.
She drops her heads to Ashlyn’s shoulder and sighs happily. Ashlyn trails her hand across Taylor’s spine.
“I don’t like boys ,” she says gently. “I don’t like Aiden. I like you.”
Taylor’s chest aches with longing, aches with love. Everything they’ve been through, the phantoms, the other universe… and the scariest thing had been these feelings. But the other girl, forest green eyes, liked her back.
“I like you, too.”
Their lips meet again, chaste, for a fleeting two seconds.
”Oh, Ash,” Taylor lifts her chin to look in those eyes.
“I think I love you.”