Shenanigans: Quarantine Edition

“So this is my house.”

Clara’s mouth started to drop open and then she gritted her teeth firmly together.  No.  None of that.  She’d told Luisa she wouldn’t.  In fact, she’d had to before Luisa’d even let her into her car.

(“Okay, but my house is huge, and everyone I bring over stands there all fish-mouthed—”

“Fish-mouthed?” Clara asked, one eyebrow raising.  “What’s that?”

“Oh, you know, like this.”  Luisa’s mouth dropped open and her eyes bugged out all big and wide.  She moved her mouth up and down a few times, mimicking the way fish breathed in the water, and then dropped the act all at once, winking at Clara with a huge grin.  “You won’t do anything like that, right?”

Clara laughed at her.  Then she shifted her right backpack strap where it dug into her shoulder.  “Yeah, course.  Can we just go?”  She didn’t glance over her shoulder because she wasn’t running away from anyone, but she’d been looking at Luisa’s mouth a little too long there, and she could feel herself all smiles, and that wasn’t attractive Clara, it really wasn’t.

Besides, she was really eager to get into Lu’s car and see what kind of music they’d listen to.

…and definitely not thinking about other things that could happen in cars.  Nope.  Not at all.

“Fine,” Luisa said, and she pounded one fist on the top of her purple pt cruiser as she unlocked the doors.  “Get in!”

The seats were spotless.  And leather.  And under the scent of French fries and Clara thought she smelled cheeseburgers but there was no way she did because Luisa didn’t eat cheeseburgers, the car still smelled new.  She shoved her backpack down at her feet.  “How long have you had this thing?”

Luisa shrugged.  “A couple months.  Good behavior for not bringing people over to the house.”

“Like me?” Clara asked, raising one eyebrow again.

“Nah, you’re my girlfriend.”  Luisa grinned.  “I’m not breaking any rules with you.”)

Of course, Luisa had not impressed on her the absolute size of her house.  No.  Not a house.  Mansion.  This was a freaking mansion.

Clara looked over to Luisa and saw the other girl staring at her, watching for any sign of shock.  “No fish mouth,” she said, trying to make sure she focused on Luisa instead of the mansion looming in front of her.  “Unless you have a pool.  And then I’m kind of obligated.  I do a really cute fish impression.”

“Awwwwww.”  Luisa tapped the steering wheel.  “Man, you should have told me that!  We could have gone swimming instead!  I’m sure you look absolutely killer in a swimsuit.”

Clara blinked a couple of times and looked away from the other girl, her cheeks flushing a bright red, because if she looked at Luisa any longer right now, she would spend way too much time imagining her in a swimsuit.  Not that looking away from her particularly helped with that.  She could already see her—

“You’ve probably got a cute bikini,” Clara said, stumbling over her own tongue.  “Like in the song.”

“The song?”

Clara glanced over to see Luisa’s head tilted to one side, her hair brushing across one shoulder.  She’d worn it half up today, which kept it out of her face, but it was just—

There was one strand that had pulled out of the top and kept dangling right by her ear, and Clara just wanted to reach across and tuck it back for her.  But she couldn’t do that.  Girls didn’t do that with their friends.  They did that with their girlfriends, maybe, which meant maybe she could do that if they needed to, you know, convince Luisa’s dad that they really were dating, if he showed up, and he might not even show up, so she shouldn’t even think about it as a possible thing they do at all.  Absolutely not.  Nope.

“You know.”  Clara gulped and forced herself to grin.  “She had an itty bitty, teeny weeny—”

“—yellow polka dot bikini!” Luisa said at once, finishing it for her.  “Right!”  She leaned back against her leather seat and gave Clara a smug look.  “Well, if you really must know—”

Clara couldn’t help but lean forward the slightest bit.  “Yeah?”

Luisa shrugged.  “You’ll have to come back with yours.  Show you mine if you show me yours kind of thing.”  She sighed.  “I miss pool parties.”  Then she gave Clara a quick onceover.  “Yours is probably blue.  For your eyes.  Right?”

“Maybe.”

Clara actually wasn’t a fan of swimsuits in general.  Not after Johnny Neanderthal.  They’d had a swimming pool at her old school, and she’d chosen to take that for her obligatory post-gym gym class.  He hadn’t been in her class, but he’d been in one of the other gym classes at the same time, running around the track the floor above them, and he would look down and stare at her.  She hadn’t felt ashamed or anything.  She loved her body!  She just didn’t like the way he looked at her.

So when Elena had given her money and dropped her off at the mall and told her she could get whatever suit she wanted just as long as she had one for when they went to the beach that summer, she’d gotten….

Well, Clara liked it and she looked good in it and she wasn’t going to be wearing it to the beach with Elena anyway.  If she did, she’d probably wear a shirt over it.  But if Luisa invited her over, she couldn’t just wear a shirt.  And, you know, maybe she wouldn’t mind, with Luisa around.  If it was just the two of them, that’d be okay.  Maybe.

“Come on, Clara,” Luisa said with a little laugh.  “You’re starting to drool.”

“No, I’m not!”  Clara wiped the back of her hand along her lips anyway, just in case, and there was nothing there.  Absolutely nothing!  She narrowed her eyes and glared at Luisa, but she’d already gotten out of the car and didn’t see it at all.  Waste of a good glare, obviously.

Of course, as Clara followed Luisa into the mansion, the wonder of it didn’t drop in the slightest bit.  The ceilings were easily three stories tall, and there was a huge chandelier, and there was so much glass that it was surprising no one had tried to break one of the back windows – and there was the pool.  Clara froze inside of the house, just turning around and staring at everything.  It was almost like being a princess in a fairytale – no, not quite, because a princess would be used to everything, but maybe how Sleeping Beauty must have felt the first time the fairies took her to the castle, or would have felt if she hadn’t been so hung up over thinking she was being forced to marry a prince she’d never met instead of the Philip guy she’d just met in the woods the day before.  Which had seemed dumb to Clara – like, she’d just met the guy!  So why should it matter?  But also the idea of being forced to marry some man she’d never met sent shivers down her spine, and if she’d been Sleeping Beauty, she’d probably imagine that stranger with Johnny Neanderthal’s face.

She wished he’d been all pimply and gangly.  Maybe the other girls would have understood if he had been.

“Hey, c’mon.”  Luisa took her hand in hers and interlaced her fingers, and Clara felt her heart start up again in her chest with a painful, heavy thud.  “My room’s upstairs.”

“Your…your room?” Clara asked, swallowing once.  “Why don’t we just curl up on one of the couches down here and watch something?”

“Because you’re supposed to be my girlfriend, silly.”  Luisa met her eyes and cocked her head to one side.  “Haven’t you ever had a girlfriend before?”  Before Clara could say anything else, she continued, waving her other hand, “Or a boyfriend.  I’m not judgy.  Whatever it is you like.”

“Girls,” Clara spat out before Luisa could continue further.  “I like girls.  And I haven’t ever had a girlfriend before.  Or a boyfriend.”

Luisa’s grin grew mischievous then.  “So you’ve never been kissed, then, right?”

Clara bit her lower lip and looked away.  “I don’t want to talk about that,” she said, because she didn’t.  It wasn’t important.  Or it was, but she didn’t want to talk about it.  Not with Luisa.  Who she knew was probably a great kisser and wouldn’t want to know that Clara wasn’t one either.  It didn’t matter.  “So, um, why are we going to your room?”

Luisa sighed and gazed upwards.  “First, we’re going to my room because my obnoxious little brother is going to get here any minute now and we want to be safely out of the way before he shows up and starts pestering you with a whole bunch of questions you really don’t want to answer.”  She gave Clara’s hand a little squeeze where she still held it.  “Second, we’re going to my room because that’s what you do when you Netflix and chill.  We both sit on my bed and pull up my laptop and turn something on.”

“Oh.”  Clara nodded once in understanding.  “Okay.”

Suddenly, there was a loud sound of something pounding the floor in the background, and Luisa gave a harsh tug on Clara’s hand.  “C’mon!  We’ve got to go!  Now!”

And before Clara could say anything else, Luisa was dragging her from the main room up the stairs and down a few hallways – Clara would get so lost here if she had to find Luisa’s room by herself – and then they stopped in front of a door with No Boys Allowed! on a white piece of paper pasted to the door.

She didn’t know people really did that.

Of course people really did that.

Clara took a deep breath.  “So this…this is your room?”

“Yeah,” Luisa said, and she swallowed a deep breath.  Then she smiled, opened the door, and pushed Clara inside before shutting the door behind them and locking it.  She turned to face Clara and lifted a finger to her lips.  “Shhhhhh.”

It was dark.  Really dark.  And it was taking Clara’s eyes a while to adjust.  But she could be quiet.  She was good at being quiet.  That’s why she’d been liked at her old school, after all.  For knowing when to be quiet.

“Just tell me when,” Clara said, her eyes meeting what she hoped were Luisa’s, and she settled in to wait.

“Shhhhh!” Luisa repeated, pressing one hand over Clara’s mouth.

Clara’s eyes widened, but she didn’t say anything.  Mostly she thought about how warm Luisa’s hand felt against her mouth.  Except she wasn’t thinking about that.  That was weird.  And she was very gay and that was still very weird.

If they were really dating, she could kiss her palm.

Okay, time to stop thinking and to chill until Luisa says otherwise.