"Looks like you're stuck here one more night," Amber said, looking out her window even though there wasn't much to see. "The roads should be cleared sometime tomorrow. They always get to this part of town last for anything." 

A little bit of light was finally breaking through the dreary clouds, though rain still fell heavily from the sky. 

"Kind of creepy looking," she noted. 

Krystal laughed from her spot on Amber's floor. She'd been lying down half the day already and didn't seem like she wanted to move. She had her phone poised over her face and a bag of popcorn Amber had found opened at her side. 

"What're you watching?" Amber asked, lying down beside her, plopping her head down on the same pillow. She'd already practiced her guitar playing and music theory as much as she could today with JungMo on the phone giving her instructions and notes. She'd practiced out with her mom so she didn't have to keep looking up to find Krystal staring at her. It had made her really self-conscious. Now her battery was dead and the power had gone down again while repair work went on around the city. 

Krystal lifted the screen out a bit more so Amber could see. 

"A friend of mine is acting in this drama. Oh shoot!" she smacked her forehead. "He gave me tickets ages ago for this play I was supposed to take you to but the date passed already." 

"You were supposed to take me to a play?" Amber asked curiously.

"Yeah. Your video popped up while we were having dinner and he thought your voice was pretty and that you might want to see a musical or something. I'm sorry. I forgot all about it." 

Amber pouted. "Eh, it's fine. I'm sure I would've been working or something anyway." 

Krystal went back to watching her drama. "Maybe I could take you to a movie or something instead." 

"A movie?" 

"Yeah?" 

"Hmm. I don't really have the spare money,"  Amber admitted reluctantly. 

Krystal was quiet for a minute, munching on popcorn, then said, "I could pay." 

"No. Why would you do that?" 

"As a thank you for letting me stay at your house for two days?" 

Amber pinched at the fabric of her pants for a second. "No." 

"Why not?" Krystal asked, turning her face toward her and resting her phone on her stomach. 

"I don't know." 

"It's just a movie. You never seem to have fun anyway. You're always working. When you die you're just going to be relieved you can rest." 

Amber laughed and rolled onto her stomach, folding her arms under her head. "Maybe you're right. The cheapest one though, okay?" 

Krystal rolled over too and put the phone down on the floor above the pillow. "Hmm, I can take you to a movie right now. What's a movie you've always wanted to see?" She asked, going to a rent and download movie website. 

"We don't even have good snacks," Amber complained. "And what if your phone dies halfway through." 

Krystal stretched a bit and pulled a portable battery out of her bag. 

Amber rolled her eyes. "Of course." 

Krystal laid her phone on the battery and asked Amber again to pick a movie.

"I don't know. I don't even know what's out."

"Well, there's older stuff on here too." She started scrolling up and down the page. "What sort of movies do you like?" 

"Umm, ones with happy endings and not too scary. What's with that smirk?" 

"Nothing." Krystal chuckled to herself. 

"Is the Pokemon first movie on there?" 

Krystal checked and found it buried among the kids' movies and couldn't help smiling again. 

"There's that weird smirk again. What are you thinking?" 

"Nothing," Krystal insisted. She pulled the bag of popcorn to sit in front of them so they could both nibble on it as the movie started. They were pressed elbow to elbow, their arms propped on the same pillow, light from the screen highlighting their faces. 

"You're a cheap date," Krystal said offhand, bumping her toes against Amber's ankle. 

Amber glanced at her from the side of her eye, wondering if she meant that like it sounded. Is this a date? No. Why would she want to date me?

"The less I charge, the more often I can be taken out." 

Those toes tapping against her ankle again. Kind of brushing against her foot. She pulled her lip between her teeth and shifted her foot away. 

"I could afford to take you out a lot then." 

She was saying it so casually. Was she joking around? Just being playful?

Amber didn't have much experience with dating or flirting, so she couldn't tell.

"This one is cute, what's its name?" Krystal asked, pointing at the screen. 

"Mew. It's very rare." 

Krystal's foot found hers again. "Nerd." 

Amber flicked her hair out of her eyes and looked at Krystal. Her expression was neutral, but she kept glancing down, then angling her eyes toward Amber before focusing on the movie again. She bumped Krystal's foot lightly back. Krystal smiled a little and trapped her foot under hers. 

Amber propped her hand up on her chin and nibbled on the tip of her finger as she and Krystal continued to wrestle each other's feet while pretending to be unaware of what they were doing. 

They ended up watching the rest of the movie with Amber's ankle trapped lightly between Krystal's feet. They stayed that way through the ending credits until the phone powered down due to inactivity. 

The darkness wrapped them up. Krystal lay her head down on the pillow and Amber did the same, tucking her hands underneath it. 

"Did you cry?" Krystal asked. 

"No." Amber sniffled and Krystal laughed. 

"You cried." 

"It's a good movie," Amber said defensively. "I can't believe you didn't cry. Your heart must be made out of a lump of coal." 

"It's actually diamond encrusted." She her toes on Amber's foot. "Your heart must be something squishy and sweet, like a gummy worm." 

Amber laughed. "Ew. Imagine that floating around in my chest cavity." 

Krystal kicked her lightly, their knees bumping, then resting together. "You're gross."

"Funny. You said I was awesome when I found you popcorn."

"Compliment the hand that feeds you, that's what our housekeeper always says. There was too much salt in my eggs the one time I forgot," Krystal said fondly. 

"You sound like you really like her." 

"Sometimes I think of her more than my mom. My mom is kind of this vague, feminine presence in my head. JungHwa is the one who always scolded me and talked to me about important things. My mom only cares if I wear the proper clothes, keep my hands soft, my face young, and marry the right person. She thinks that's what it means to be a successful woman; one who is taken care of." 

"That's not what you think?" Amber asked. 

"No. I mean, well, each person should find the thing that makes them happy. But why doesn't she understand that won't make me happy? It definitely didn't make my sister happy, but she doesn't care about that. She only cares that she married well, not that her husband doesn't make her laugh and that Jessica hardly ever smiles anymore." 

"So what's your definition of a successful woman?" Amber asked, squinting to see her face better in the moonlight streaming through her window. 

"Hmm," Krystal thought. "One that can take care of herself. She doesn't need anyone else. Not her father, not her husband. She's got her own business and can decide to marry who she wants or not marry at all." 

"Is that why you're working so hard to fail your math course?" 

"Hey?!" Krystal gasped with a shocked laugh. "I studied a little bit today." 

"And didn't improve at all." 

Amber giggled when Krystal rolled toward her and poked her forehead, her leg now trapped between Krystal's from the knee down. Krystal tapped her on the forehead. "I'll work harder. It's your job to make me smarter, you know?" 

"No. It's my job to operate the bookstore. It's your job to come in and annoy me when your grades drop." 

"You don't really mind though." 

It was meant to be a confident statement, but her voice wavered a bit at the end. Maybe we're both bad at flirting. That's what we're doing right? Should we really...let this happen? Amber wondered. They were such completely different people, but if they liked each other and had fun, what was the harm. She highly doubted Krystal had any plans beyond making out with her and experimenting with her a few times before moving on to her fancy life and whatever amazing job she was preparing for in the future. 

"No. I don't mind." 

Krystal smiled and moved slightly closer to her. There were mere inches between their faces. Her eyes shifted from Amber's lips, back up to her eyes again. 

Oh, Amber thought. 

She shifted her face forward a bit, but Krystal froze her when her eyes rose and she said innocently, "I...I've never...you know...I haven't ..." 

Hmm, she's probably never kissed a girl before.

Amber pulled her hand from beneath the pillow and caressed Krystal's cheek lightly, surprised when she felt a slight shiver from Krystal, lips parting slightly. 

"A kiss is just a kiss," Amber whispered, leaning in. She pressed their lips lightly together and moved away. Krystal's eyes were closed and she seemed to be focusing. Amber shook her head and kissed Krystal again, this time letting her lips linger before moving away again. 

Krystal her lips and opened her eyes. They looked sort of soft and curious. Amber nodded and Krystal moved forward, kissing her with a swift brush of the lips, then more firmly, kind of bumping their noses together and making them laugh. 

"Sorry." 

"It's okay," Amber said. 

They both leaned in at the same time to try again and started laughing. Amber, feeling light for the first time in a while, pressed her lips to Krystal's, swallowing her laughter. 

Krystal lay in Amber's room, smiling widely up at the ceiling. She would periodically wrap her arms around herself and release a smothered squeal. After they'd kissed a little longer, Embo had told her he was going to sleep with his mom since it felt awkward now that they'd made out. 

She giggled, her hand over . She couldn't believe she'd made out with someone. She'd never done that before. And his lips had tasted as good as she'd thought they would. She knew Sulli would be mad at her for not just diving in and sleeping with him, but Krystal didn't know if she was that kind of girl. She didn't have any idea of what kind of girl she was when she was having this big of a crush. This had never happened before. 

Living with your head full of romance novels, not that Krystal read romance novels, and literary love stories was no way to understand yourself when it started happening in real life. How should they act when they next saw each other? Should they kiss hello? Goodbye? Go on dates? Were they in a relationship now? 

"Oh my god!" Krystal gasped in distress. "No wonder I think all of those romance novel heroines are crazy. How do you even sort this stuff out?"