The moment Rio arrived at the office on a Friday—the supposedly best day of the week—but found the mood down, she had a feeling she knew what might have happened. Agatha.
She had never seen herself working in an office. She always imagined a future where she could be helping people out, and never associated it with sitting on a desk from nine to five.
After enrolling in the Product Design Major Program at Eastview University, she was hopeful she could achieve her main life goals: running away from the small town she had grown up in with her Aunt Lilia, Wesview, full of annoying and sad elderly people; and being able to use her artistic habilities to solve real problems.
But a month after she graduated, her aunt fell ill. Rio found herself packing up all her hopes along with her few belongings, and returning to the house where she was born and raised to help taking care for her.
It was great to run into Agatha—the woman who had been her front-door neighbor for long ten years until she moved to Eastview—in the same spot by the front door where she always stood when Rio used to arrive walking from high school under the sun, while Agatha got a ride from her mother. Evanora always refused to give Rio a ride, even though they lived next to each other.
They talked, and talked, and talked some more—Rio learned that Agatha had stayed in town, earned a degree in business administration from Westview Community College, and was now working as a COO at a local tech company. She also found out that Agatha lived by herself now and ever since Lilia got sick, she had been cooking dinner for two and bringing it over to her every other day.
She also hated the fact her stomach felt weird as Agatha talked to her like time has not passed at all.
Has she always been this pretty?
After a few weeks of stolen conversations in front of the house — either when Agatha came home from work, or when she brought dinner to Lilia, Agatha asked:
“Do you just wander around all day? Don’t you have a job?”
Rio laughed at the way she said it, as if she were simply calling her unemployed, rather than genuinely asking about her availability—because, as it turned out, a product design position had just opened at the company where Agatha worked.
Four months laters, Rio puts her belongings in her desk, asking her coworker Billy:
“What happened?”
“You tell me. Agatha is in a terrible mood, and apparently, is everyone’s problem,” Billy says, not even looking up from his computer, sounding really annoyed. Rio turns to Alice, as if asking what happened.
“He came into her office earlier to ask something and she was really mean to the poor guy,” Alice explains, laughing. She smirked, knowing damn well Rio doorbell-ditching Agatha yesterday is probably the reason why their boss is in a bad mood today. “You should talk to her. Who knows what happened to her?”
Rio shoots a suppressing look at Alice, hoping Billy doesn’t notice anything.
You know, Rio didn’t mean to ring Agatha’s doorbell and run away before she could answer. She also did definetly not mean to fall in love with her. She was just that much of a loser who couldn’t confess her feelings to her friend.
Four months ago.
“So, how’s the first week going?” Agatha asks as they step out of the car.
“It’s been great, really. I’ve never liked the idea of having more of a corporate job, but I’m liking it so far.”
“That’s good to hear.” Agatha nudges Rio’s arm playfully. “Dinner with Lilia still on?”
“Yes, of course. Text me when you’re done with your coo coo stuff and we can go home together.”
Agatha squints at her. “My what?”
“I mean, you are a COO,” Rio smirks.
“See you later, idiot.”
Agatha rolls her eyes, but Rio catches the amused smile before she turns away.
As Agatha walks ahead, Rio watches her for a second longer than she should, then shakes her head and follows to her desk.
It was her first week working at the job Agatha had offered her—something Rio would be eternally grateful for. The people were nice, the environment was pleasant—even though it was an office, her worst nightmare—and, of course, she had the privilege of spending 15 minutes alone in her car with Agatha every morning.
She closes her eyes and shakes her head, trying to push the thought away, but she turns red when she remembers she’s in public.
She sits down, and her inner chatter is interrupted by Billy.
“So… You guys live together?”
“What?”
“You and Agatha.”
“Why would you say that?”, Rio says sounding way more awkward than she intended.
“I mean, sorry, you guys arrived together every day since you started working with us, I just though—“
“OH! Oh,” Rio interrupts him. ”We… Hmm… We’re neighbors. We come together. To work.”
“Oh, that makes sense. You met like that?”
“Yes. We grew up together. I went away to Eastview for college, but came back now and we’re neighbours again.”
“Oh, that’s nice,” he says, turning to Alice. “Ali, it’s not a nepo-couple thing.”
“Excuse me?” Rio says.
“Me and Alice were betting that—“
"Billy, don’t say it like that," Alice cuts in, and Rio just stares dumbfounded at both of them. "Sorry, Rio, don’t get us wrong. It happens all the time. We were just wondering if that’s your situation with our big boss there. Turns out it’s just nepo-neighbors."
"So you were betting on me? Wait—what happens all the time?"
"Someone starts working here, and we realize it’s because they’re dating one of the big guys. We call it a nepo-couple. You know, because of nepotism. Nepotism is when—" Billy starts.
"I think she knows what nepotism is, Billy,” Alice cuts him.
"And… HR is okay with couples here? I mean, I had to fill out at least a hundred forms just from being Agatha’s childhood friend."
"Yeah, there are a lot of couples here. Your partner just can't be your direct leadership or make decisions regarding your job. Stuff like that. Like me and Billy couldn’t date Agatha because we are on Operations, but you could."
"Oh, good to know," Rio says, the though sneaking into her mind—so dating Agatha is technically allowed. Billy and Alice stare at her, confused.
"I mean, not like that, I just— Okay, whatever. Just—show me how to download that thing, okay?”
Three months ago.
“Hey, hot stuff,” Agatha says when she sees Rio in the company kitchen. She sits next to her, and Rio doesn’t even think twice about offering her her soda because she knows Agatha likes orange sodas.
“Hey.”
“I’m heading off later today, okay? Don’t wait on me for us to go home together,” Agatha grab the soda can and takes a sip, and Rio fake pouts. “Make your little nerdy friends do the work, then. Maybe I won’t have to stay extra hours!”
“Hey, don’t talk about them like that!” Rio jokes. “Are you feeling better to be working late, though?”
“Yes, thanks for those remedies. Need to get the name for that.”
“I literally gave you the name, Agatha,” Rio laughs.
“You know me,” Agatha grins. “My memory sucks, and I will never buy those remedies. I’ll just come to your house every time I have a headache,” she says with a playful smile, but Rio’s heart does something weird in her chest. She ignores it.
“Are you free tomorrow?” Rio asks, hoping to invite Agatha over for another movie night. They’ve had a few since she moved back, and it was... nice.
They are spending a lot of time together since Rio started working here and Rio is enjoying too much—something she doesn’t allow herself to think about.
If Rio gave space to all of her weird thoughts, she would combust.
“Why?” Agatha asks.
“Do not answer a question with another question, lady,” Rio says, mimicking their old teacher’s sharp tone from high school.
Agatha snorts but doesn’t hesitate. “Actually, I have a date.” She pushes the soda back toward Rio.
Rio lifts her eyebrows. Her stomach drops. What the hell—
“A date,” she echoes.
“A date,” Agatha confirms. “Her name’s Wanda.”
Agatha never mentioned if she liked girls, and Rio never really gave herself space to think about it. She is not surprised, thought.
So I have a chance?
No, idiot, she’s going on a date.
Rio just nods, pretending it doesn’t bother her. “Wanda’s a cool name.”
Agatha laughs, denying with her head. She grabs the can back from Rio’s hand, and gets up.
“And you’re a loser.”
The next night, Rio went by herself to the movies and watched some poorly written comedy she does not remember the name. She hates the fact that all she could think about was Agatha and her stupid date. Where had the woman took her? Would she laught at her jokes like she laughs at Rio’s? Would she invite her over for dinners and maybe even introduce her to Lilia? What if Lilia likes her?
When Rio arrives home, she is unlocking her front door when she feels a sudden sting on her leg. She looks down. A small rock now sits at her feet. Did someone just throw that at me?
She looks around, squinting into the night, checking if someone is there.
It must be that kid Tommy.
“Hey, cutie,” she hears and turns towards the voice. Of course Agatha threw a rock at her.
She looks too stunning, which makes Rio kind of dizzy.
Be normal. You’re friends. Compliment her.
“Hey, Agatha. You look amazing. You’re… home early.”
“The date sucked,” Agatha sights. “She was annoying as hell.”
“I’m sorry about that.” Rio says, and she’s not sorry at all. Relief washes through her—but also… Anger?
How could Wanda—how could anyone—look at a woman like Agatha, in all of her glory, and yet be able to lose her?
Keep it together, Vidal.
“Don’t be.”
There’s something about the way Agatha says it—like she’s holding back a laugh, an amused smile threatening to appear on her face.
“I’m an awful person.” Agatha snorts.
Rio’s not sure what’s funny, but she starts laughing too.
I love her laugh. As friends.
“Why? What happened?”
“She kept talking about—God, she kept talking about her dead brother, and I hated it. And I know how wrong that is, so don’t lecture me, okay? I just—God, I couldn’t do it!”
Rio stops laughing, even though an amused smile it’s still on her face, and just stares incredulous at her neighbor.
Of course Agatha would laugh at a situation like this. And of course somehow she would make Rio laugh at that too.
“Not my type,” Agatha says, still laughing, and Rio shakes her head, admiring her. “She just killed the whole mood.”
Looking. Rio’s just looking at her.
The laughter fades, the moment stretching into something heavier.
Rio clears her throat. “So… what is Agatha Harkness’s type?”
Agatha smirks. “The nerdy, weird ones.”
Rio’s chest tightens and she blinks. What the hell is she supposed to do with that.
I fit into that.
But then reality crashes in.
She’s obviously not into me.
“Wanda’s not really a cool name anymore,” she jokes, brushing off the thought.
Agatha grins. “It’s not.” A pause.
And Rio has gotten really good at reading Agatha over the past few months—like when she wants to leave an office hangout and starts asking if Rio wants to go home. Or when she’s too tired to watch a movie but swears she won’t fall asleep—Rio knows she will.
But right now, there’s something different in Agatha’s expression. Something Rio can’t quite read.
She squints, trying to catch whatever it is.
Agatha just holds her gaze for a second longer than usual.
“Goodnight, Rio.”
As Rio watches her disappear inside, like she watches her go to her office every morning, her heart seems to pound a little too hard in her chest.
Two months ago.
“So, how was growing up with Agatha?” Alice asks, opening her beer and pouring some for herself and Rio.
Billy holds out his cup expectantly. Alice just shrugs. “Not today, Teen.”
“I’m turning twenty-one in two months,” he protests. “We are celebrating me.”
“And that’s two months away,” she replies.
Rio laughs, watching their interaction at the bar they’re celebrating Billy’s transition from intern to full-time.
When she came back to Westview, she was really afraid to not have friends. But then Agatha came back into her life, and these two stupid coworkers came with her. They’re the only nice people in the company. Maybe in the whole town.
“It was nice,” Rio says, taking a sip. “I was kind of always afraid of her before we actually became friends in high school. But after that, super cool.”
“I still am afraid of her.”
“I feel like everyone here is,” Rio snorts. “She can be mean.”
“Dude, everyone is afraid of her. She’s not mean to everyone but she’s definitely intimidating. She is badass. I would let her stomp on me,” Alice jokes, and Rio chokes on her drink.
How can she be talking about her- about Agatha like that?
“What? She is attractive. When you got in and everyone thought you guys were a couple, every single person was dying of jealousy.”
“I was. And I’m gay,” Billy jokes. “Okay, spit it out. Has something ever happened between you two?”
“Billy!” Alice elbows him.
“Sorry, okay? I just can’t keep that anymore. You have fucking hearts on your eyes when you look at her in the office. And when Alice said that, you almost drowned on your beer. So, are you two a thing?”
“I’m not in love with Agatha,” Rio regrets what she said right away. Alice smirks.
“Honey, we never said you were.”
When Rio gets home that night, she throws herself onto the couch, frustrated.
How the hell does she have hearts in her eyes when she looks at Agatha? And how are they so big and dumb that Billy and Alice noticed?
And how—how—was her first instinct to deny being in love with Agatha when that wasn’t even the question?
She is not in love with Agatha.
Is she?
To cope with all of that questioning, she does the most reasonable thing she could possibly do.
She opens WikiHow and types “how to tell if you’re in love”.
You think about them constantly.
Rio reflects on how she is constantly walking down the street and seeing things that remind her of Agatha. How their DMs on every social media is full because Rio sends her everything. How she is always hoping that Agatha will show up at her front door and offer dinner to her and Lilia, or invite her to something stupid. How she gets really sad when they don’t get to go to work or come home together.
Okay, first thing checks out.
You’re happy doing small, mundane things together.
An instant smile slips across Rio’s face. She thinks about their movie nights, their dinners, and all of the drives together to work. How Agatha always steals her orange soda.
That one also checks out.
You even appreciate their flaws.
She does not need to think twice on that one. The fact that most people at work hate Agatha because she’s stubborn, yet Rio isn’t bothered by it at all, speaks for itself.
As Rio keeps reading, she suddenly feels overwhelmed by how everything checks out, so she abruptly closes her laptop.
I’m in love with Agatha. Fuck.
“Are you okay? You seem off,” Agatha had asked as they step out of the car in the next morning.
Rio tried to lie her way out of it, saying she was just tired. Didn’t get much sleep because she was thinking about their new project on the company.
“Liar. You love thinking,” Agatha jokes, and Rio's brain only knew how to think I’m in love with you.
“You actually overdo it, and it kinds of annoy me,” Agatha added, looking worried. “You’re doing it now, and I can almost hear your head screaming. So, spit it out.”
I llike you more than you like me. I’m in love with you and it took me too long to be able to say it to myself.
“It’s nothing,” Rio had said.
She’s not sure Agatha believed her.
One month ago
“See you later,” Agatha says, heading to her office with a smile. Rio watch her go away for a while before going to her desk—something she started doing everyday.
Rio thinks the time she looks at Agatha adds up one second every day.
“How’s the telling Agatha how you feel quest going?” Alice asks when Rio sits on her desk next to her.
“It’s going,” Rio shrugs. “I’m going to tell her tonight.”
Rio told Alice she liked Agatha a few weeks after she realized it. “Fucking knew it,” Alice had said.
“I never allowed myself to really think about her like that, okay?” Rio had told her. “I’ve always had this what if i like her in the back of my mind but i really didn’t want to give it space. Because I knew… I knew that if I talked about it, if i thought about it, it would become real, and it frightens me, because I know she doesn’t feel the same.”
“What makes you think she doesn’t feel the same?” Alice answered to all of her blah blah blah.
Somehow, with this, her friend also convinced her that the best thing was to tell Agatha how she felt.
Rio had no idea how to do that, so this has been consuming her and every part of her browser tabs on how to tell your friend you like them for the past two months. Since she got the news that Lilia wasn’t sick anymore, Agatha was the only thing bothering her.
“You keep scheduling that to every night and you reschedule it every night,” Alice shoots back.
That was true, and it took her another long month to be able to try to tell her.
“We should watch Ferris Bueller’s day off,” Agatha suggests. They’re both on Rio’s couch, sitting too close to each other to Rio’s comfort. She shifts awkwardly, trying to move away slightly from Agatha.
“Again?” Agatha rolls her eyes.
“The Proposal.”
“Agatha, we’ve already seen that one too.” Agatha groans dramatically, rolling her eyes even harder. Rio can’t help but smile, looking at her.
“Don’t annoy me. You know I like knowing how it ends. It comforts me.” Agatha says back, and it’s Rio’s turn to roll her eyes.
“Oh, we should be friends with benefits,” Agatha says casually.
Rio heart drops and she looks at Agatha too fast.
“What.” Agatha raises an eyebrow and looks at her like she’s the insane one.
“We should watch Friends with Benefits. The movie. With Mila Kunis.”
“Oh. Okay!” Rio forces a laugh. “Always wanted to watch that one. Do you know what streaming has it?”
“What’s wrong with you, Rio? You’ve been so tense lately.”
She shifts on the couch, turning towards Rio, and takes the remote from her hand. Their fingers brush—just for a second—and it’s enough to make Rio shiver.
Yeah.
She’s so fucked.
“Nothing, I just— It’s nothing.”
“Are you sure?” Agatha insists, resting a hand on Rio’s leg in a way that’s meant to be reassuring. She can’t help but look straight at it. It drives her crazy.
I love you. Like. I like you. Fuck.
“You know you can tell me anything,” Agatha says, looking her deeply in the eyes. Rio avoids her eye contact and looks at the ground.
“I know, Agatha. Thank you.”
“Let’s watch the movie, hm? I’m going to make you some tea.”
Yesterday
Rio has the whole script in her head, remembering all of the tips and tricks she learned in that afternoon after searching “how to tell your best friend you love her” on WikiHow.
The search was nice, until she stumbled up on a tip saying to avoid using “the L word” to not scare your friend away and started laughing to herself.
Such a fucking loser.
Be honest, the website said.
She could do that. She was honest. Like, too much, even. Agatha said all the time how much it annoyed her.
Realize that rejection is a serious possibility.
That one frighten her. So she just closed her laptop with more strength that she intended to, took a deep breath and told herself to just stop being a coward and do it.
She didn’t do it right away- of course she didn’t. She spent at least twenty minutes trying to figure out what clothes she should use to go next door see her childhood-now-crush-friend that has seen her in all of her possible outfits after they started working together.
She put on a sweater that Agatha conviced her to try on when they were shopping.
“God, it looks so good in you,” Agatha said, and Rio’s whole face redened.
She bought it right awat.
She regret it as soon as she stepped outside, but tried to push all of her intrusive thoughts to the back of her mind. She could do this. She was determined to do it today. When did she got to Agatha’s front door? When did the bell ring? Fuck— wearing the sweater was a terrible idea, she looked like a goon and it’s June, for God’s sake, so hot and she is sweating and apparently rejection is a serious possibility—
Rio hears Agatha’s footsteps approaching from inside, and in a surge of adrenaline, she sprinted back to her house as fast as she could.
She is a such a loser.
When she finally gets inside, she can only hear Agatha screaming outsite.
“Tommy, I am going to murder you!”
Now
It’s their shift end, and Rio and her coworkers are packing their stuff to leave. The mood was shit today.
"Please, dome your lady," Billy says as they’re heading out.
"Don’t be rude, Teen!" Alice scolds him, and he rolls his eyes. "See you, Rio," Alice says as she spots Agatha walking toward them. Alice winks before leaving, and Rio rolls her eyes.
The drive home was quieter than usual. Usually, Rio would ramble about random things, and Agatha would complain about her day. Tonight, both of them were silent, and Agatha’s stress was practically radiating off of her.
“So… You’re a lot more stressed than usually," Rio says, trying to break the silence.
“Some kid on the street kept fucking doorbell ditching me yesterday,” Agatha says, and Rio gulps. “I bet it’s that Tommy asshole. You know, the little guy with the stupidly big head?”
“I don’t think you’re supposed to talk about a kid like that,” Rio mutters, half-laughing. Poor kid.
“Well, he annoyed the fuck out of me yesterday, and I have anger issues because of my mommy. Go tell him to say sorry to everyone on the office tomorrow.”
“I annoy you all the time and you don’t complain," Rio says, trying to lighten the mood with a joke.
“It’s different, honey.”
They pull into the driveway and Rio turns off the car, her hands trembling. She tries to gather all the courage she doesn’t have. This is the perfect opportunity.
Talk in the right moment, when you’re alone together, the dumb tutorial she looked into a hundred times had said.
They’re alone. And the moment feels right.
Her inner debate must have gone on too long, because it’s interrupted when Agatha tries to open the car door and fails. She mutters under her breath.
“You haven’t unlocked the car, dumbass. I’m mad and tired and I need a shower, could you—”
She keeps yanking at the handle like that’s going to change anything. It won’t. Because Rio hasn’t unlocked the car.
Rio feels sick. She feels her heart heavy in her chest, and her lungs with too much air—or no air at all? She can’t really tell right now.
Agatha seems to notice Rio’s anxiousness—and gives up on trying to open the door.
“Rio? What is it?”
Rio thought she’d been hiding her anxiety well. She was not.
Not that it would have mattered. Agatha would have noticed anyway.
“I need to tell you something.” Agatha frowns, looking worried.
“You’re scaring me. What happened, are you okay? Is Lilia okay?”
“It’s nothing—,” Rio starts, but Agatha shoots her a look that says yeah, right.
“I mean it’s something, but nothing bad happened. I’m okay, I just—I’ve been meaning to tell you something for a while,” the moment she says it, Agatha tenses too.
Great. She made Agatha nervous. That was not on the script.
“You’re really not calming me down with all of this talk,” Agatha says, irritated. ”You’re annoying me, actually.”
Rio forces herself to lookup from the steering panel, gripping the steering wheel so hard she only realizes now she was holding herself onto it. That was a terrible ideia.
She’s going to confess she likes Agatha, get completely rejected, ruin their friendship forever, and then—God help her—she’ll have to find another job and—
“I think I’m in love with you.”
Rio freezes.
Because the words she’s been thinking about for months, the ones that have played on a loop in her head every time she’s with Agatha—
Didn’t come out of her mouth.
“You’re what?” Rio can’t stop herself from saying, staring at Agatha.
It’s so weird to look at Agatha and find the other woman looking away, awkwardly. This is Rio’s job. But this isn’t the main weird thing about all of this situation now.
Agatha is in love with her?
“I’m sorry,” Agatha groans. “I know you’re moving away and I was waiting for you to tell me, and I wasn’t even going to say anything but thought it was better to say before you left and—”
“What are you talking about?” Rio interrupts.
She is soconfused.
“Lilia told me you’re moving back to Eastview since she got better.”
“I’m not moving,” Rio protests, and she makes a mental note to ask Lilia later what the hell.
“Wait, you’re not? Why the hell did Lilia tell me that?”
“I don’t have any idea,” Rio says, her voice faltering as she remembers where they are. Lilia is a problem for later.
Agatha is in love with her?
“Fuck, I shouldn’t have said that,” Agatha groans, closing her eyes in frustration, bringing her hands to her face.
“You… didn’t mean it?” Rio asks. Was Agatha just confused? Had she said that thinking Rio was going to leave, but Rio wasn’t going anywhere and things were going to be weird?
Was Agatha falling in love with Rio—just like Rio was falling for her—and she didn’t notice it?
“Can we forget it?” Agatha says, and closes her eyes again, as if it would make the situation go away.
“No. Did you mean it?”Rio says, her voice strong, staring directly at Agatha.
“I did, idiot! I’ve been trying to tell you for so long and I—”
“Agatha, I was going to tell you that I like you tonight,” Rio says, the words slipping out of her in a rush, a surge of adrenaline coursing through her. And relief.
So much relief.
“Were you?” Agatha says, her nervousness easing a little, a flicker of hope starting to light up her eyes.
“I was,” Rio says, a stupid smile breaking across her face, and a warmth spreading through her body like sunlight pouring into a dark room.
Agatha stares at her, dumbfounldy, like she does not know what to say. What to do. Rio doesnt know it too- to behonest.
Rio bursts out laughing nervously, and Agatha joins in, the tension in the air cracking like thunder before a storm. The laughter fills the space between them, awkward yet comforting.
"Like... you like, like me?" Agatha asks, her voice half teasing, half unsure.
"You call me a loser all the time, but yeah... I think you might be the one who’s actually the loser," Rio says with a grin, still laughing, the weight of everything still there, but slowly drifting away.
They keep looking at each other, the tension still in the air, but now… different. Softer, vulnerable, and thick with want.
“I want to kiss you,” Rio says quietly, as if anything she says can make her wake up and realize everything was just a dream. Agatha smiles softly.
“Took you long enough.”