Wren ran a hand through her hair for the millionth time that night. She was slightly anxious with this party.
It's not like she's never been to a party, it's just that it was her first party as a graduate student and she needed to leave a good impression.
Courtney finally got out from the bathroom and smiled eagerly at Wren.
"Ready?" she asked, and Courtney nodded, grabbing her hand and leading her outside their room, the Hall, and into a car.
The owner of the car was a guy that looked few years older than them.
"This is Jake," Courtney said, "he studies in the East campus"
"The East Campus is so much fun than City Campus," he said, grinning and looking at Courtney's cleavage unabashedly.
Wren fought the urge to roll her eyes and plastered a smile on her face before asking excitedly, "Where are we going?"
"To a party at my place," Jake said. "Later we can go to Muggsy's"
"Right," she said, excited in spite of having no idea where the fuck she might end up in.
The night was surprisingly nice, Wren realised as she downed her third tequila shot. It was a fun party, and she managed to get happily drunk without making a fool of herself.
She danced, and snogged two or three guys before settling in a couch on a part of the house she hasn't been before, near a couple of gay dudes who were sucking their faces off.
Her mind drifted to Snow and Baz and for a brief moment she missed Cath. But then she took a sip from her plastic cup (what the hell she was drinking? Mojito? Margarita? She couldn't tell) and looked around; her eyes soon locked with chocolate brown ones and she sucked in a breath.
The chocolate brown eyes were accompanied by tanned skin, dark, expressive eyebrows and plump lips that were coloured red.
The lips quirked up briefly before the eyes turned back to face an excited blond man.
Wren took another sip and looked more properly. The woman she was locking eyes with had long, black hair that was braided over one shoulder. She was wearing a Star Wars T-shirt and large jeans.
She was....
"Ugh, what a dyke," Courtney muttered and Wren didn't need to turn around to know that she was sneering. "The guy is cute, though"
"I didn't see you coming," Wren said, finally turning to look at Courtney, who was now sitting by her side right where the gay couple was snogging moments before.
"Neither did Jake," Courtney said, wrinkling her nose in disgust.
Wren felt a sudden nausea and took another sip from her drink.
Courtney started to talk about something or another and Wren sighed, taking another gulp of the drink before turning her whole attention to her so-called friend.
Alejandra (or Jandra, as she liked to be called) was the name of the woman with the braided hair, Wren found out after some weeks.
She was really nice, and, boy, did she like to party! The woman was in almost every party Wren went to.
They talked sometimes and eventually became friends. Well, party friends, at least.
Wren felt something weird in her stomach every time she met Jandra. It was a fluttering sensation that spread throughout her body and made her throat go dry and her heart beat faster.
She didn't know what to do about it, so she did nothing. And she thought things were better that way.
Obviously, she was wrong.
Muggsy's was a nice bar that got really crowded on band nights. Wren liked it, especially because she always met Jandra during those nights.
They chatted over pints all night, and Wren felt alive.
This night, Courtney wasn't here yet, so Wren sent her a quick message before immersing herself in conversation with Jandra once again.
There were also some of their friends there, mostly male, and — even though she did hook up with one or two in the past few weeks — Wren didn't want to give them any of her attention.
And then the twin incident happened and Jandra punched a bloody guy because he was being a sexist jerk and Wren was baffled and speechless for some seconds until she came back to her senses and scolded that bloody woman for putting herself in danger unnecessarily.
Jandra, still holding her hands in tight fists beside her, was trembling with anger and couldn't look directly into Wren's face, so, after some warning words, Wren shut up and only stared at her.
Cath and Levi said their goodbyes and Wren couldn't stop staring at Jandra, her heart pounding heavily in her ribcages as she felt gratitude and anger and longing.
Courtney finally showed up and Wren quickly dismissed her to the bar.
Courtney looked suspicious and slightly disgusted, but said nothing as she entered the bar.
"I like you," Jandra said, voice clipped, and finally turned to face Wren. Her face was showing her defiance, even if her eyes gleamed slightly with insecurity.
Wren sucked in a breath.
"I am..." She didn't know what to say. "I don't... I..."
She closed her eyes, praying silently that someone could make that decision for her, whatever that decision was.
She felt Jandra approaching and held her breath, not daring to move.
Calloused fingers caressed her cheek before a thumb traced her lower lip and pressed slightly. The fingers soon left her face and, before she could protest against the loss of the warm contact, plump lips were pressed against hers.
Soon a tongue was swiping her lower lip, and hot breath was caressing her lips. She gasped, then, and that warm tongue was soon entering her mouth. She felt blood rushing in her ears, and her stomach… Aleister Crowley, what was going on down there?
Jandra’s kiss mirrored herself, it was hot and passionate, but had an underlying sweetness that made Wren’s knees tremble, her heart beat faster and her confused thoughts fade away. Jandra tasted like the weiss beer she was drinking minutes ago, and she smelled like grass and farms and basil.
Wren was grasping Jandra’s shirt as she drowned in another kiss. Jandra was holding her by the waist, her bodies flush together and a part of Wren’s mind acknowledged that it was not that weird to be kissed by a girl.
“You smell like basil,” Wren said breathlessly after Jandra drew back, panting and with lust-clouded eyes.
To her surprise, Jandra barked out a laugh and raised an amused eyebrow before asking, “like that guy from your gay wizards book?”
Wren giggled, blushing, and shook her head.
“No, like basil, the herb,”
“I know,” Jandra said, smirking fondly.
Jandra looked at Wren curiously for long, unnerving, seconds, before leaning in deliberately slowly and grazing her lips over Wren’s.
“Sleep at mine’s tonight,” she said, making hot puffs of breath skim over Wren’s lips.
Wren inhaled deeply, looking at Jandra’s pleading eyes and trying to make sense in the haze of her thoughts. She bit her lip, and decided that if anything should happen that she regretted her decision later, she could always blame it on the alcohol.