party
“Blue or yellow?” Bela asked while holding up two obscenely short dresses for her roommates to see. The girls’ pregame playlist full of Bela’s Doja Cat, Kimberly’s Ed Sheeran (which was very commonly skipped by Kacey without asking), Leighton’s Beyoncé which remained in the playlist even though she no longer lived there, Kacey’s Kacey Musgraves, and Whitney’s Taylor Swift was blasting in the suite which Bela had to yell over to be sure the others heard her.
Whitney and Kimberly were in the middle of taking a shot when Bela asked and quickly looked up when they were done. “Blue!” Both shouted matter-of-factly.
Bela looked to Kacey who nodded in agreement from the couch before giving a “Yes!” And going back into her room to finish getting ready.
She put on the blue dress and sat at her desk, which was more of a vanity because when she did occasionally complete her assignments they were usually done in the common room of the suite or in one of the libraries on campus with her friends.
“Just come in!” Bela yelled out over the music and Kimberly walked into the room and sat on her bed. “We’ve been living together for two years and you’ve already seen it all, I don’t know why you still knock,” Bela said, turning around to look at Kimberly.
“I just want to be respectful,” She explained.
“So are you going to be on the prowl tonight?” Bela asked with a smirk while digging through the makeup messily sprawled across her desk.
Kimberly made a face at Bela's use of ‘prowl’ and answered. “No, I think after Eli I’m focusing more on school and myself rather than guys.”
“That is so boring of you, Kimberly.”
“I don’t think it’s boring, plenty of interesting people are single and happy.”
“Like who?”
Kimberly took a second to think and Bela continued with her makeup putting on some blue eyeshadow to match her dress. “Condoleezza Rice has been single for most of her life and she was Secretary of State. Very cool.”
“Not cool.” Bela said. “You can at least get some casual dick if you’re going to stay single.” Bela had moved on to her hair, curling it and making it stop just above her shoulders.
“I don’t think so. I need to stay focused.”
Bela shrugged, “whatever you say, but I think everyone needs some sex in their life.”
Kimberly sat and watched as Bela finished her hair and stood up. “Do I look hot or what?” Bela asked with a confident smile.
“Of course you do!” Kimberly said, “if you were single you would totally pick someone up tonight.” Bela gave a tight-lipped smile and they walked out of the bedroom.
“Who’s ready to party?” Bela asked enthusiastically. The girls cheered and continued their normal pregaming routine of drinking and talking about random things.
A few minutes passed and the door busted open and in walked Lila, “I made sangria bitches!” She yelled over the music earning another cheer from the girls. She handed each of them a Essex branded water bottle filled to the top with her homemade sangria. They each took a sip and looked at her in disgust.
“Lila, is this just juice and wine?” Whitney asked.
“Yes!” Lila said, taking a giant sip of her own.
Kacey put the lid back on her own and sat it on the table, “I think I’m going to stick to my drink,” and took a sip of her strawberry flavored White Claw.
“Bitch, you are boring,” Lila rolled her eyes.
“I kind of like it,” Kimberly smiled sheepishly.
Bela took a huge gulp of the drink, “It’s alcohol it doesn’t matter!”
“That’s what I like to hear!” Lila cheered and took another sip.
Whitney put her’s on the table and grabbed the solo cup she was drinking out of earlier and took a sip.
The 5 girls continued pregaming with casual conversation before Kimberly stopped them, “Wait where are we even going tonight?” She asked.
“Omega is throwing, I heard some guys in lit class talking about it,” Bela said.
“Wait, you have a lit class?” Whitney asked with a confused expression. She never heard Bela talk about a literature class, she had heard the girl complain about every subject under the sun and that was not one of them.
“No, I just sit in sometimes because the prof is hot.” Bela had a boyfriend, sure, but that didn’t stop her from noticing when other people were attractive. A hot professor was basically just a celebrity crush, unattainable but still fun to look at.
The girls laughed, “I hope Eli isn’t there, I really don’t want to see him,” Kimberly said.
“I hope Canaan isn’t there. Isaiah gets really weird around him,” Whitney explained, “He gets, like, jealous and tries to, like, assert dominance and it's weird.”
“Oh I love insecure men, jealousy sex is so good,” Lila said, “It’s like so aggressive and—”
“Okay!” Whitney cut her off before she could give too many details, everyone knew Lila could get way too into talking about sex.
“I invited Cooper,” Kacey smiled, “He’s super sweet. We even kissed the other day and he didn’t care that I was wearing my old woman costume.”
“Ooh I bet he’s really good at roleplaying,” Lila began again, “I’ve never fucked a theater guy cause I think they’re all secretly gay, but I can totally see it.”
Kacey gave Lila a confused, disgusted, and interested look all in one. “So Bela,” She began, “did you invite Arvind?”
Bela who had been looking down at her phone texting with a smile, didn’t look up or respond, too engrossed in whatever conversation she was having. The attention turned to her without her realizing and Kimberly started waving her hands in Bela’s direction in an attempt to grab her attention.
“Wow, that’s impressive,” Whitney admired.
“She’s definitely sexting,” Lila said, “that’s the only thing that takes that much attention.”
“Bela!” Kimberly yelled, causing Bela to quickly look up.
“What?” Bela asked, with almost an annoyed expression on her face.
“Kacey asked if Arvind is coming tonight,” Kimberly repeated for the redhead.
“Oh, I don’t know, I’m sure he has some FAF thing,” Bela dismissed.
“What do you mean ‘I don’t know’? Are you not texting him right now?” Whitney asked, confused.
Bela rolled her eyes, “No I’m texting Taylor,” Bela explained as the other girls gave each other knowing looks.
Ever since the night where Taylor told Bela she had alcohol problems, Bela and the girl had been almost inseparable with Taylor following Bela around everywhere like a puppy. They texted non-stop and were almost always together. Whitney mentioned this in a call to Leighton, who just said “that sounds gay” and though none of the girls ever mentioned it to Bela, so far Leighton didn’t seem to be wrong. After Bela gave Taylor a key to their suite, Taylor was almost constantly there and spent the night at least once a week, sleeping in Bela’s bed where they often woke up touching each other in some way. Sure it was a little bit of a homo-erotic friendship, but plenty of girls did that so Bela never gave it a second thought. Even when she would blow off hanging out with her actual boyfriend to hang out with the British girl, she didn’t give it a second thought. Or when she was more excited to see Taylor than Arvind. Or the feeling she got in her chest when Taylor hugged her that one time. Or when she sees the heart next to Taylor’s name in her phone that Taylor added one night after stealing Bela’s phone. They were just becoming best friends after all.
“She said she’s not coming to Omega tonight.” Bela told the group with a slight look of disappointment in her eyes that was barely noticeable but definitely there. “Apparently there’s some off-campus queer get together thing that her friend invited her to.”
“Sounds… interesting,” Kacey said. “It’s so different here, where I’m from that party would’ve just been the old janitor from my school, these two kids that were in band, and the girl that walked around school with a tail.”
The group gave her a look making Kacey feel the need to explain herself further.
“I’m not homophobic or anything, there's just not a lot of gay people in South Carolina.”
“Okay well when do you guys want to head out?” Whitney asked to change the subject.
“The party started at 8 so probably like 9,” Bela said looking at the time on her phone. It was currently 8:43 so they had about fifteen minutes to kill.
“Did you guys know that I can do a cartwheel?” Lila asked, clearly already at least a little drunk.
“Oh I can too!” Kacey said, “I was a gymnast as a kid,” she explained proudly.
“I think everyone can do a cartwheel…” Whitney said, confused.
“I don’t think I’ve ever tried,” Kimberly said.
This conversation began fifteen minutes of everyone doing a shot and trying to do a cartwheel. Lila went first, proving that she actually could do an impressively good cartwheel, earning approval from Kacey. Bela went next, doing a cartwheel with an embarrassing form and kind of only doing half of it and flashing the other girls thanks to her dress only going about an inch below her butt. Kacey followed with a perfectly practiced cartwheel and a little finishing gesture at the end. Then Whitney went, her’s being far from perfect but getting the job done. Last was Kimberly.
“I don’t know guys, I really don’t want to get hurt.” She tried.
Lila sat her drink down on the table and stood up, “Bitch, I’ll spot you, don’t you trust me?”
Kimberly answered based on how much she had watched her drink that night. “Not really…”
“Come on!” Bela encouraged.
“Okay,” Kimberly reluctantly agreed and the group cheered loudly to hype her up. She attempted the cartwheel and Lila attempted to spot her, but as most would have expected, Kimberly and Lila ended up a pile of limbs on the floor.
“Guys I really don’t think I should’ve done that cartwheel” Kimberly said rubbing her head where she had landed.
“Drink away the pain!” Lila yelled, getting a laugh from the other girls.
They were standing around the bar at the party waiting for their drinks. The party was crowded, slightly more than the average frat party on campus, making it difficult to see more than three people away from where they were standing, and in turn making Bela completely unaware of Taylor talking to a guy on the other side of the room.
“Music!” Taylor yelled at the guy. He had asked what her major was twice already and though the party was loud, he couldn’t hear her more so because he was wasted off his ass than the loudness of the party.
Taylor didn’t talk about her major much because it was very out of character for her or at least the character she projected of herself, but she was a music major. Her older sister, Abby, who is 5 years older than her practically raised her, and in doing so, music commonly made an appearance. She would sing her to sleep when she was little and as she grew older Taylor learned guitar, piano, drums, and all kinds of instruments with the help of her sister. Music was important to Taylor and she kept things that were important to her to herself.
Taylor took another sip of her drink, a virgin shirley temple, keeping it close to her chest and continuing to humor the guy. He had already told her that he was on the lacrosse team and made sure to mention to her that he was very good at it, which usually meant he wasn’t. As uninterested as she was, to her knowledge nobody she knew was at this party and she didn’t care to look like a loner standing alone in a corner so she kept talking to him.
As he kept on about whatever he was talking about, Taylor had stopped listening and began looking for different people to talk to. Bela was across the room, out of sight from Taylor, playing king’s cup with Lila and a few other guys who they had met through the game that had to have been invented by none other than the devil himself.
“No!” Bela whined as she lost the game and was forced to down a red solo cup filled with a mixture of cheap beer, shitty caramel flavored vodka, some kind of cherry flavored seltzer, whiskey, and worst of all, some frosting flavored coffee creamer from the fridge which knowing frat guys was most likely expired.
“Just hold your nose!” Kimberly instructed as Bela picked up the cup.
Bela did as she was told and held her nose, bringing the cup up to her mouth. She could almost taste it just from the drink being close to her mouth and gagged before downing the whole thing, causing her to quickly run to the bathroom. The group laughed and let her go, not too worried as things like this were normal for their parties.
A few people Taylor recognized walked into the party and she walked away from the guy, who’s name she had already forgotten and walked up to the girls. They lived in her building and were casual friends, not close but anyone you knew was enough at a party like this. They greeted each other in the halls and one of the girls whose name was Jessie was a stress baker and often made brownies in the dorm kitchen and would bring Taylor and her roommates some when she made too many. Not to mention that one time Taylor got too drunk before getting sober again and ended up locked out of her room and knocking on the door to their dorm. After staring at the four purple pieces of paper cut into stars taped onto the door that read Jessie L., Juliana F., Sofia R., and Allyson P. written in a silver metallic sharpie. The girls let her in and allowed to sleep on the couch while Allyson, who was arguably the sweetest person Taylor had met in college, watched her sleep due to her being worried Taylor was going to die in her sleep because of how drunk she was. Not one of Taylor’s best moments but considering they stayed friends with her afterwards she knew they were nice people.
She made casual conversation with the girls while watching as people dumped into the frat basement, mostly upperclassmen, and let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding as more and more people crowded the already tightly packed space.
Taylor looked around and finally saw Kimberly, Whitney, Lila, and Kacey. She stood on her tiptoes, silently cursing her parents for making her barely 5’3 and strained her neck to see if Bela was standing with them. She couldn’t see the dark-haired girl among the group which was weird, Bela was hardly ever seen at a party without them. Not wanting to seem like she cared, she stopped herself from going up to the group and asking where Bela was, but nevertheless her curiosity was piqued and the anxiety that she typically was able to keep at bay was as well. Was Bela okay? And if so, where was she? It’s not like she would miss out on a party for anything.
“What the fuck?” She snapped with her usual bite as some guy pushed past her forcing her to bump into the girl she was standing next to. It was a lot harder than it seemed to stay sober at a party where almost everyone was close to wasted.
“Taylor!” Chloe, Taylor’s (drunk) roommate shouted running up and giving Taylor a big hug. The sudden contact and screaming of her name startled the girl, who was already on edge, and caused her to spill her drink all over herself. “Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!”
“Chloe! What the hell?” Taylor replied without thinking, sounding meaner than intended but to be fair she was very pissed. She stormed off to the bathroom, setting her drink on a random table, and got impossibly more pissed when she got there and there was someone locked in the bathroom. She balled her hand into a fist and banged on the door. “Hurry the fuck up–” She yelled through the door, but was cut off by it opening. “Bela?”
“Taylor?” Bela stood confused, having not expected for Taylor to be at the party. “What are you doing here?” She asked, “and why do you smell like sprite?”
Taylor avoided the first question, not too keen on admitting that parties with people who weren’t Bela were a lot less fun than parties with her. “Someone made me spill my drink on myself,” She explained and gave an eye roll while looking down at her soaked tank top. It was cheetah print with black lace lining the neck and a little bow in the middle, perfectly matched to her baggy jeans and brown adidas.
“Come on, let me help,” Bela offered, noticing there was something off with Taylor. It was a little thing, but she hadn’t insulted Bela yet and so she knew something was wrong.
Bela guided her into the bathroom with a hand on the small of her back earning a sharp inhale from Taylor. The bathroom had random drops of water all over the floor and smelled like booze and puke, not just from Bela, and thankfully had a navy blue hand towel hung next to the sink. Bela grabbed the towel, got on the floor on her knees in front of Taylor, and carefully began drying the wet spot on her top. Taylor stood stiff and uncomfortable, unwelcoming to the touch, not because she didn’t like it but because she liked it too much and that was something she didn’t want to think about. Bela was straight and had a boyfriend. Unavailable in more ways than one and that did nothing other than suck. “Are you okay?” Bela asked.
“I’m fine.” Taylor said carefully watching Bela press the towel to her shirt. “Just annoyed.”
“At what?” Bela asked and looked up at the shorter girl.
“Well my shirt is all wet,” She rolled her eyes, “is it not obvious?”
Bela gave a soft laugh, “Sure but we both know that’s not it,” she said, talking softly and carefully to make sure Taylor didn’t shut down. Anytime the conversation got slightly emotional, Taylor would tap out and either leave or change the subject. “You’re being all tense and weird and, like, distracted.”
Taylor knew Bela was right, but she wasn’t about to admit it. Her eyes continued to dart around the room trying her best not to look at Bela and trying even harder not to pay attention to how soft and warm her hand was sitting on her stomach under the spill on her shirt, keeping the cold fabric from touching her. “I said I’m fine.”
“Okay, Taylor, whatever you say,” Bela retorted with a small smile. She knew Taylor was lying but she wouldn’t be able to get her to admit it, so she resigned to helping her dry her shirt and being there just in case.
They stayed silent until Bela finished, the shirt was still slightly damp but it was the most Bela could do with the towel and there was no longer a visible stain. “All done!” Bela smiled, standing up.
“Thanks,” Taylor responded quietly, turning to look at herself in the mirror.
There was a beat of silence that Bela quickly broke, “I never noticed you had a belly button piercing,” Bela said. “I like it, I kind of want one,” Bela smiled and pinched the skin above her belly button through her dress.
“I had to get it done twice,” Taylor explained, sounding like she was half in her own world and half in Bela’s, still examining herself in the mirror and not looking at the other girl. “The first time I got it done I was thirteen and a girl did it for me in the school bathroom. It rejected and I had to put scar cream on it for 2 years before I could get it redone.” Finally Taylor turned to look at Bela.
“Hm,” Bela hummed and opened the door giving Taylor a smile, “You ready to get back out there?”
“Yep,” Taylor put on a performative smile and followed Bela out of the bathroom and to the group.
“She’s back!” Lila yelled as Bela walked up with Taylor following behind. “And she brought Tinkerbell with her!” The group giggled at the nickname.
“Tinkerbell?” Taylor asked with the unrelenting snark in her voice. Most of the time she didn’t even mean for it to be there.
“It’s perfect!” Bela laughed. “You’re little and blonde and have bangs, you should totally be Tinkerbell for Halloween!”
“Yes! We can all be the Tinkerbell fairies!” Kimberly said excitedly.
“Okay,” Lila began pointing at each of the girls, assigning them their fairies. “The black one with the sunflower dress,” she said pointing at Whitney who nodded in approval, “The pink one,” she pointed at Kacey who gave a proud smile, “The one with the acorn head,” she assigned to Kimberly who gave a look of offense, “I don’t remember the other ones but that’s us,” She finished giving Bela a high five.
“Hey!” Isaiah yelled towards the group, he stood next to a similarly tall brunette guy. “We need competition for pong, are you guys down?”
“Hell yes!” Whitney replied excitedly, never one to turn down a competition. “Who’s gonna be my partner, we can all take turns but officially who’s my partner?” She asked.
“I gotchu bitch!” Lila yelled excitedly as they all made their way to the table.
It was just one of those foldable plastic tables with various paint splatters and a couple puddles of spilled beer on top but it did the job. They all gathered around the table, Isaiah and the guy, who introduced himself as Charlie, stood on one side of the table with Whitney and Lila on the other. Kimberly, Kacey, Bela, and Taylor stood off to the side with Taylor leaning against a support beam and her arms crossed. Bela watched her closely but discreetly making sure she was alright.
“I wanna try!” Bela announced after a few shots were made, she confidently walked up to the table and grabbed one of the orange plastic balls. Taylor watched intently, definitely not expecting for Bela to perfectly throw the ball into the cup at the front of the triangle and down the drink. Bela cheered and smiled giving a glance to Taylor who smiled and laughed while biting down on her lip to keep from smiling too hard. Bela was cute when she was excited. She had to stop thinking things like this. “Come on!” Bela yelled over the music putting her hand up and gesturing to get Taylor over to her.
“That’s okay, I’m good,” Taylor smiled.
“Boo! Come on,” Bela pressured.
Taylor rolled her eyes keeping the smile, but ultimately pushed herself off of the beam and walked over to Bela. “I’m not good at stuff like this, you know,” She told her.
“It’s fine!” Bela smiled, “I’ll help you.” Before Taylor could protest, Bela pushed herself against the blonde’s back and grabbed one of the little balls. Taylor let out a soft gasp and panicked internally. Bela put the ball in Taylor’s hand and grabbed a hold of her wrist, resting her head on Taylor’s shoulder. “Just aim and throw” She whispered in her ear. In reality she was talking at a normal volume but due to how loud the room was it sounded like a whisper.
Whitney shot a wide-eyed look to Kacey and Kimberly who mirrored back the same expression. Bela was touchy with her friends, sure, but she never ended up in this intimate of a position with any of them.
“I have no aim, Bela,” Taylor replied back, that same snark evident in her voice though not as present as usual.
“I’ll guide you.” Bela smiled. She pulled back Taylor’s arm and the ball flew across the table, bouncing off the rim of one cup and into another.
Taylor gasped and smiled quickly, turning around to face Bela. “I did it!”
“You did!” Bela smiled and went to grab the cup and drink the shitty beer from it knowing that Taylor couldn’t, but before she could do so, Taylor pulled her into a very unexpected hug. Bela happily reciprocated, enjoying the feeling way too much.
Taylor’s skin was soft and she could feel her smile on her shoulder. Why was making Taylor smile like that such a good feeling? And most of all why did she have to remind herself of Arvind’s existence to keep from kissing her? Bela learned her lesson after cheating on Eric, so in that moment she silently decided that she was going to go to lunch with Arvind tomorrow.
The hug lasted a second longer than a normal one would between friends and as soon as Taylor realized she took a step back. She bit her lip, unable to resist smiling and giggled. “That was fun.” She thanked the universe for making parties be something that happened in the dark as she felt her cheeks heat up.
“Yeah, that’s why everyone plays!” Bela laughed.
Kacey and Kimberly both took a turn, neither one making their shots, and the girls stood to the side and cheered as Whitney and Lila finished and won the game.
A little bit after the game, the girls decided it was time to go. It was a little past midnight and the cool people were leaving and the people that were still there were getting a little too drunk.
The girls stumbled out of the house and began their trek back to the dorms, Bela and Taylor walking a few feet behind the others.
Taylor walked with her arms crossed and twitched a few times from the cold. Her breath was visible in the air as she exhaled and cursed herself for deciding to wear a tank top. She might as well be cold-blooded and the fact that it was freezing outside didn’t help. “Here,” Bela said, she took off her jacket and held it out for Taylor. “I can tell you’re cold.”
“I’m okay,” Taylor dismissed. As much as she wanted to take the jacket, she was just giving herself false hope. She’s straight. Taylor reminded herself. She’s just being nice.
“You’re shivering,” Bela urged. “You’re little, your body doesn’t hold heat like everyone else’s.” She smiled.
“I’m not little, I’m one inch below average. I don't know why everyone keeps saying that.” Taylor rolled her eyes.
“Just take the jacket, Tinkerbell.” Bela ordered. “My dress has sleeves, you’re not going to look soft or anything. You’re allowed to be cold and still be cool.”
Taylor gave Bela a glare and took the jacket from her, putting it on and melting into the remaining body heat left in it. The jacket radiated Bela’s perfume and Taylor felt her cheeks heat up once more.
They continued their walk to the dorm in silence. Saying bye to Lila as they passed by her room, and stood in the hallway with Kacey and Whitney as Kimberly had gone inside to make sure Lila made it into her bed alive.
“I’m gonna walk Taylor to her room, you guys go ahead.” Bela announced.
The three other girls looked at each other with knowing smiles and Taylor looked down at her feet, not wanting to protest being with Bela for a few minutes longer.
“Bye, Taylor,” Kimberly said as the group began walking the other way.
“See you tomorrow I’m sure,” Whitney smiled, acknowledging that Taylor managed her way into their suite at least once a day.
“Bye,” Taylor said, looking up at Bela as they turned to walk towards the younger girl’s dorm.
They walked quietly, both too nervous to say anything, until they got to the door. Taylor leaned against the wall and Bela stood across from her. They stood in silence, Bela looking at Taylor and Taylor staring at the ground. “Did you have fun?” Bela finally asked.
Taylor looked up and made eye contact and Bela, not for the first time, noticed how blue her eyes were. “I did, thank you.” She gave Bela a soft smile.
They stood quietly for a few more seconds. “Can I ask you something?” Bela asked softly, breaking the silence. Taylor gave her a small nod and she continued, “Why do you try so hard to be, like, tough, all the time?”
Taylor’s small smile disappeared at the seriousness of the question. It was one she had never been asked before and one that she often avoided giving any thought to. “It’s not an act—I’m naturally intimidating. It’s a gift." She gave Bela a smile, feeling like she gracefully avoided the deepness of the topic.
“I’m serious, Taylor,” Bela intrigued, “You know it’s okay to let your guard down sometimes, right?” Bela put a hand on the shorter girl’s, right above her wrist, knowing that if she didn’t, Taylor would’ve tried to leave, not wanting to open up.
“Because I don’t want people trying to walk all over me, Bela. And let’s be real, I’d rather be the hammer than the nail.” Taylor explained, the snark returning to her voice. Bela, knowing that she didn’t mean it, gave her arm a squeeze. "I don’t know… Being tough all the time is just easier than, like, letting people see when I’m not." Taylor finished.
“I’m not going to walk all over you. Neither is Kimberly, or Whitney, or Kacey, or Lila. We’re your friends.” Bela explained with a softness in her voice that she reserved for Taylor alone. “Plus,” Bela added, attempting to keep the mood light after noticing the girl look down at the ground. “Have you considered that being tough and letting people in is kind of a power move? Like, two-for-one badassery?" She smiled, and earned one back from Taylor. "But seriously, you don’t have to be tough with me. I mean, I’m basically a human marshmallow—soft and non-threatening. At least for you for some reason. No hammer needed." Bela finished, dropping her hand back to her side.
Taylor, in Taylor fashion, bit her lip through her smile. "A power move? Oh yeah, because being emotionally vulnerable is exactly what I’m missing from my brand." She gave a soft laugh to show that she wasn’t completely brushing the other girl off. "But fine, I’ll try to go easy on you... for now.” Taylor wasn’t fully capable of letting her guard down, but she couldn’t deny her appreciation for Bela’s reassurance. "Don’t get used to it, though. I have a reputation to uphold.”
Bela gave a sarcastic eye roll, not dropping her smile. “Okay, Tinkerbell.” Taylor brought her hands up to her chest and began playing with the sleeves on Bela’s jacket. “Keep the jacket. It’s a little long, but it looks cute on you. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Bela,” Taylor gave her one last smile before retreating to her room. She tiptoed through the common room, careful not to wake whoever was sleeping on the couch.
She shut the door to her room quietly and leaned back against the door. And though she’d never admit it, she pulled the jacket up to her nose, getting one last smell of Bela before getting ready for bed. “It looks cute on you.” She repeated what Bela said in her head. Maybe she wasn’t so straight after all.
Bela stood outside the door for a moment after Taylor went to her room, replaying their conversation in her head. She walked away slowly, pulling her phone out from where it was tucked into her bra under her arm and pulled up Arvind’s contact. “hey can we go to lunch tmr? i want to talk” she typed out. She took a deep breath and pressed the send button. Arvind was a good guy, but it took a lot for Bela to control what she did around Taylor and he didn’t deserve the pain it would cause if even one time, Bela lost control.
She finally made it back to her room after what felt like a three mile walk and got into bed. She managed to change into a t-shirt and shorts, but wasn’t even going to attempt to take off her makeup.
Kacey sat up in the bed across the room. “Are we going to talk about what’s going on with you and Taylor?” She asked, giving Bela a sheepish smile.
“Not until tomorrow afternoon.” Bela responded with an unusual firmness in her voice and fell backwards onto her pillow with one thing on her mind.