The sun hung sickening high in the sky, humming along to the buzz of her alarm clock. Sadly, her mood could not match the bright morning or the birds chirping in the tall oak next to her window. She’d spent more than half of the night tossing and turning, the mere thought of what the party would bring had kept her up. Little scenarios ran rampant through her head on what could happen. Maybe her parents would actually call Sooyoung’s for once and they’d find out that the two girls were not actually having a sleepover accompanied by the newest season of their recent Netflix binge. Or maybe she’d pick Irene up, and on the way she’d get a flat tire. Perhaps the party would be canceled. Thinking rationally, none of these would happen. But, her mind refused to let her rest easy and as a result she’d woken up so far from the right side of the bed, she must’ve figuratively slept in the yard. 

     With a very ungraceful roll, her feet hit the cold wooden boards, finally standing. Swaying her arms into a stretch with a healthy yawn, she heard the pops of her joints screaming in protest. It was going to be a very long day. Prolonging her morning routine would only result in a tardy, and so with sleep weighing her down, she went about her usual. Ever since senior year had started, she’d set her alarm a generous thirty minutes before the final bell would ring. She hadn’t had a daily makeup routine since she was a young, fresh faced, sophomore. That was before the reality of high school had really set in. As it was now, her beauty regime consisted of brushing her teeth and making sure she smelled good. She figured as long as she had pants and a shirt on, she was fine. She tried not to think about the day during finals week that she’d actually forgotten to wear both shoes; it was a moment that would haunt her for many years to come. 

     Donning an almost clean pair of dark wash jeans, boots that thankfully added an inch to her height, and an oversized flannel she’d ‘borrowed’ from Sooyoung, she hurriedly grabed her keys and a granola bar. A breakfast for champions, or for half dead students, she wasn’t sure. A bite was missing from the bar as she turned the keys in the ignition. Five minutes till the final bell? She’d make it.

     Sooyoung had the gall to, loudly, make fun of her as soon as she’d crossed the threshold of their home room. Yes, she knew that she vaguely looked like zombie. Yes, she knew about the dark circles under her eyes that made her resemble a panda. Yes, she knew that she’d have to change before the party. All she wanted to do was lay her head down on the desk and catch another hour of sleep. Sooyoung was not merciful. 

     Seconds ticked by like minutes and minutes ticked by like hours. It was the third class of the day to be ‘rewarding’ the students with the same forty minutes of Frozen. None of the people that voted for said movie were her friends anymore, even Sooyoung and Yeri. Trying not to cringe at the way her chair scraped at the floor, she quietly asked the substitute teacher if she could go to the choir room to finish a project. The sub nodded and she couldn’t help but think that not even the teachers wanted to be present for the last week of school either. Her legs took her straight to the library; she’d get a better nap in the secluded space than the choir room. 

     She settled her bag on the floor behind one of the romance shelves in the back. High schoolers were too immature to even venture in this genre, so she knew she wouldn’t be found there napping. She pulled a jacket out of her backpack and made herself comfortable on the floor. Resting her eyes wouldn’t be too bad, right?

      Either she was dreaming of being on a tremulous boat, or someone was shaking her. She cracked a bleary eye open ready to fight the disturbance. She was vastly unprepared to see Irene’s face mere inches away from her own. 

 “Hey, how long have you been sleeping there? It’s almost sixth period.” 

     Wendy’s brain needed a solid five seconds to reboot. She must’ve slept through third and fourth period completely! She closed her eyes again, ready for the sweet embrace of death. That was perhaps too dramatic. But she had made a complete fool of herself in front of the goddess no less. A light chuckle sounded above her, she suddenly found the will to live again. Irene’s hand slipped into her’s and she was being hoisted up.

 “Come on, let’s get you to class.”

     Still slightly delirious from sleep she replied, “but ‘Rene, I’m so tired.” 

     The other girl seemed to be at a crossroads, “okay well then let’s just skip sixth and go home.”

      The words had flown out of Irene’s mouth so easily she was almost surprised. Her awake self would have declined, too afraid of breaking the rules. Good thing she had yet to fully wake up. 

     She slept in her own car as Irene carefully drove her car to the neighborhood. Normally she made no exceptions for friends driving her prized possession but then again driving tired was as bad as driving drunk and she would never put someone in danger. So she figured it was ok to leave her car in the almost trembling hands of her caring friend. 

     Her eyes were half open as she navigated to Netflix, Irene had insisted to stay and she didn’t want to leave the poor girl bored while she slept. Her mother had always taught her to be a good host. She also may have realized after a minute of blearily watching Irene fumble with her blue PS4 controller, that the other girl was less than aquatinted with the game system. She took care to ask what Irene wanted to watch in stead of letting the other girl scroll through her suggested. Her feed wasn’t exactly heteroual. After clicking on an episode of The Office, she tried not to giggle at how excited Irene was to watch it. Her head hit the pillow and in her exhaustion she didn’t even think twice about how the Bae Irene was in her bed. 

———

     She woke with a start. Moans filled up the room but they were coming for her television and she couldn’t any rated scenes in The Office. Irene was startlingly quite besides her still attentively following the screen. She turned to look at a rather intimate chapel scene in Orange Is The New Black an episode that she’d already seen. 

“You watch this show? How did you even know how to switch series?”

    Irene jumped, shaking the bed a little. “Oh you’re awake! I was just trying to find Coco and this was in your ‘continue watching,’ it looked interesting but I had no idea it was like this.” 

     Wendy’s face felt hot and she could hear the moans rising in intensity and, god, she could tell they were close to finishing. And at the most inopportune she asked, “do you like the show so far?” 

     Considering her words carefully, Irene replied, “it’s not bad but I kinda wish Chapman wasn’t such a .”

     Wendy guffawed at that. “She doesn’t get better.” 

     They shared a genuine smile. Her phone lit up besides her and her eyebrows raised at the time. “Shoot, it’s already seven. I must’ve been out for a long time. The party is soon do you want me to walk you home so you can get ready?”

      Irene pouted, entirely too cute. “I can’t leave now! The show.” 

      Wendy laughed feeling unbelievably light, “you can watch it anywhere with Netflix.”

 “But I don’t have Netflix at my house! How am I supposed to not know what happens?” 

  “You can have my Netflix password.” Hell, Irene could ask her for anything and she’d be okay with it. 

     Irene floundered, playing the part of adorable easily. “But your bed is more comfortable. And we’re about the same size right, can’t I just borrow some of your clothes?”

     Wendy found herself agreeing easily, more than happy to watch a few more episodes before getting ready for the big end of the year party. Besides it seemed like more fun watching lesbians run around than getting ready to be in a cramped space with people she barely knew. It helped that the only person she wanted to impress was right there next to her. And it would be better to make a good impression now before and alcohol touched her lips. Sooyoung never let her get out of having at least one drink and she was still a lightweight. 

      Irene stalked down the hall, boots thumping across the hardwood floors of the Son abode. Her knuckles gently wrapped on the door. At Wendy’s acknowledgment behind the barrier, she turned the knob. Wendy stood dressed in black denim, a neatly pressed flannel hung over slim shoulder and the white cropped shirt beneath showed of deceptively toned abs. In fact she was kind of shocked. The Wendy at school often dressed in oversized, comfortable clothing and this new provocative look would take some time to get used to. The eyeliner had brought a deliciously dangerous glint to the normally sweet eyes and the red of her lips looked positively sublime. 

     Wendy found herself in a similar position, absolutely reveling in the look Irene was giving her. Many people did the same when they saw her in ‘party’ attire but none of those reactions had pleaded her this much. Irene looked just as radiant, though she doubted the other girl knew. Irene had donned a simple black dress, the same one she had worn to a recital but instead of looking like an awkward girl in it, she looked like a ravishing woman. Damn, Irene looked like she could buy her. 

———

     The bass reverberated in her chest. Half drunk high schoolers bumped into each other, some dancing and others belligerently bumbling about. Irene clung to her arm and she tried to not beam at the fact. They looked the part of a power couple, at least in her mind. To everyone else they looked like close friends, but even that was quite far from the truth. She pushed passed the thought by trudging forward, cutting through the mindless mob. All she had to do was make sure that Sooyoung knew that she at least showed up. And she found her a few minutes later in the kitchen talking animatedly to a brunette. Regrettably, she made her presence known to a now obviously intoxicated Joy. 

      Sana Minatozaki was an a attractive girl. But for as charming as she was, she could barely focus on the conversation with Irene’s hands constantly squeezing her bicep. Sana was a nice girl, a little too flirtatious for her her tastes, but there wasn’t anything that she could do now with Sooyoung flouncing around the kitchen like some half baked bartender. And now she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Under normal circumstances she wouldn’t be too opposed to a night of fun with Sana but her newfound companion made her oddly self conscious and grossly well behaved. If she wasn’t going to get any tonight, to put it crudely, the she might as well drink whatever Sooyoung had shoved in her hand earlier. 

     For every one drink Irene had, she downed four. So that meant that Irene with one drink for the whole night was astoundingly more sober than her. Sana had scampered off some time before looking oddly terrified at something to her left, two drinks ago. Irene had dragged her out to the dance impromptu dance floor about one drink ago. And now with liquid fire in her veins she was dancing against Irene’s front with rhythm she didn’t know she had. She couldn’t regret her decision to stay out of Sana’s tempting web when she could feel the searing heat of Irene’s hands over the bare skin of her waist. And fingers trailing over the ridges of her abs. 

     She could enjoy this, nothing more. Nothing less.