"Jan, pass the popcorn."
Janis lifted up the popcorn bowl, pretending to prepare to throw it across the room at Damian.
"Ack! Not what I meant!" Damian covered his face.
Janis sighed. "You never let me do anything fun."
"Your definition of fun is very different than ours," Cady pointed out from her spot on the couch.
The three friends were at Janis's house, having their weekly movie marathon. Damian was curled up in the big armchair, while Janis and Cady were sprawled out on the couch, Cady's legs in Janis's lap.
Damian turned his attention back to the TV, where two characters were passionately making out. "Ew, hetero," he made a face and tossed a popcorn kernel at the screen.
"Don't diss the straights, Damian," Janis said. "It's not their fault they're so boring."
"Hey, you don't know that they're straight," Cady added. "They could be bi."
"Caddy, that's adorable, but it's commercial television. Of course they're straight."
Cady sighed heavily. "Bisexuals are so underrepresented."
Damian pouted at her. "Your life is so hard."
"It really is!"
Damian glanced at Janis, an evil glint in his eye. "Maybe if you got a girlfriend your life would be better."
Cady rolled her eyes. "You're such a sap."
"I'm just saying-"
"Shut up, Damian," Janis hissed.
"There are plenty of perfectly-"
"Shut up, Damian!"
Damian held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. I gotta go to rehearsal, I'll see you bitches later."
He clambered out of his chair and gave them a wave before slipping out the door.
"It's Saturday, you asshole!" Janis called after him. "You're lying about rehearsal!"
"I'm a very dedicated thespian, you ho!" he shouted back as the door swung shut.
Janis glowered at the door, pretending not to notice Cady laughing at her.
The two girls sat in silence for about ten minutes before Janis finally broke the silence.
"Um. What Damian said, I, uh-"
"It's okay, Jan." Cady picked up a piece of popcorn and tossed it into her mouth. She swallowed and locked eyes with Janis. "I know how you feel about me."
"I- wha- how?" Janis spluttered.
Cady sighed. "Even if I hadn't already noticed, Damian has made it painfully obvious. You really shouldn't tell him anything."
"Yeah, I really shouldn't," Janis muttered. She glanced at Cady. "You're not, like, mad, or anything?"
Cady rolled her eyes. "Course not. That would be really bitchy of me." She raised an eyebrow. "Do you want to know if I feel the same way?"
Janis blinked. "I hadn't even considered that as a possibility. Do you?"
Cady looked at her for a long moment. "Okay, here's what's gonna happen. I'm not going to tell you if I'm into you or not until you ask me out."
"Um. Why?"
"Because," Cady said impatiently, as if Janis was being incredibly slow. "It'll be healthy for you to ask a girl out."
"Again, why?"
Cady sat up, kicking her legs off of Janis's lap and scooting closer to her. "Janis. Look. What Regina did to you in eighth grade, it was incredibly shitty, and I know that you have a lot of internalized homophobia because of it. So, I think that it would be good for you to ask me out, knowing that I won't see you as a predatory, or weird, or any of those things that Regina told you you were."
"So you're a therapist now?"
Cady grabbed Janis's shoulders and slid over so that she was straddling Janis's legs. "Just do it. It's not that hard."
Janis closed her eyes, trying not to think about how close Cady was. "I can't."
"Why not?"
"I just can't."
"Pleeeeease?" Cady brushed a lock of hair out of Janis's face.
"Okay, stop, you're doing that on purpose." Janis gently shoved Cady to one side. "Off, off."
Cady fell back onto the couch, but as she fell she grabbed the front of Janis's jacket, pulling her on top of her. Janis suddenly found her face inches away from Cady's.
"Ask me out," Cady whispered.
"This is ridiculous," Janis hissed, attempting to sit back up but instead losing her balance and tumbling to the floor, taking Cady with her.
"Janis. It's six words. Not rocket science."
"You're sitting on my arm."
"Good, that means you can't escape."
Janis sighed. "Fine. Will you go out with me?"
Cady clapped. "You did it!"
"I hate you."
"No you don't."
"Fuck, you're right. Can I please get up now?"
"Right, sorry." Cady wiggled off of Janis, who sat up and leaned heavily against the couch. "I'm proud of you," Cady said softly.
Janis rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. You know you still have to answer the question, right?"
"Oh!" Cady smiled and placed a hand on Janis's leg. "Yes, Janis, I will go out with you, because I like you very much in a very non-platonic way, and because you finally figured out how to ask me."
"You forced me to ask you, I didn't-"
"Janis? Stop talking."
"Right."
Cady laughed lightly and pressed her lips to Janis's. Janis wrapped her arms around Cady's waist and pulled her in, moaning softly as Cady wrapped a hand in her hair. They made out against the couch for several minutes before Janis pulled away, muttering a string of curses.
"What's wrong?" Cady twirled a lock of Janis's hair between her fingers.
"I just realized that I'm gonna have to tell Damian he was right."
Cady laughed. "Your life is so hard."
Janis pressed a kiss to Cady's lips, because that was totally something she could just do now. "It really, really is."