ariana grande - goodnight n go

8:29pm

Wendy had just come home from a long shift at work, Irene hadn’t really seen her for the past couple of weeks.

“Hello stranger,”

Wendy sent Irene a blank stare before relaxing when Irene smiled at her.

“Sorry.. final assessments have just been piling up at work, I know I haven’t been home much.”

Irene walked up to Wendy, grabbing her hands.

“Are you eating?”

Alarmed by the sudden concern, the younger girl stuttered out an ‘of course.’

“Well.. I’m going out for dinner tonight, I didn’t know you’d becoming home early, do you want me to bring something back for you?”

Wendy attempted to hide her dropped expression, which proved to be successful. Slowly pulling her hands out of Irene’s, she stepped into the kitchen to grab a glass of water with Irene following behind.

“It’s okay, I had something to eat before I left for work.”

“Okay well.. let me know if you need anything, I’m sorry we couldn’t eat dinner together tonight.”

Wendy briefly met her gaze before swirling around the water in her glass. “It’s alright, Irene, really. I’m tired anyways so I’ll probably head to bed early.”

She looked up, not sure what she was wanting to see in Irene’s eyes.

There was an odd silence that she wasn’t comfortable with, Irene was looking too deeply. Before Wendy could break the silence, Irene had already beaten her to it.

“How do you always have the time in the morning to put on your eyeliner so well?”

Of course.. what else was I expecting.

“Gotta distract people from these eyebags!”

Irene let out a loud laugh, Wendy was always good at eliciting that from her

“I could never put on eyeliner that well.”

“Maybe I can help you one day,” Wendy set her glass in the sink before retreating to her room.

She left her door open, something she always did to let Irene know she was home. She heard the older girl shuffling around in the bathroom getting ready to go out for the night.

Wendy sat at her desk, not knowing what to do. She managed to finish most of her final projects for her company, but she wasn’t tired yet.

Glancing at her sketchbook, she hesitated before reaching for it. She hadn’t drawn since Irene moved in with her. Opening the first page, she saw her first drawing she did when Irene gave her the sketchbook.

It was a pair of intricately drawn eyes, drawn from memory.

Irene had suddenly appeared at her bedroom door and she quickly shut the book. The raven-haired girl stood there, waving an eyeliner pencil in her hand.

Wendy swallowed, not realizing Irene was serious about the eyeliner, but she quickly composed herself.

“Ahh.. so by one day I guess you meant today?” she tried to mask her nervous laughter.

Irene nodded her head and approached Wendy with a smile, her hair had already been done, and she looked beautiful already. She didn’t need eyeliner.

“Uhm.. I don’t know where you want me?”

“Just sit on the edge of the bed, I’ll sit in my chair.”

Wendy was beyond nervous, she had never done anyone’s make up before, and she didn’t expect her first person to be Irene.

Trying to stay relaxed, Irene sat cross-legged on the edge of the bed while Wendy adjusted her chair.

“I’m just going to rest my hand on your cheek, is that okay?”

“Geez Wendy you’re acting like we’re strangers! Just do whatever you need to do.”

At least one of them was warming the atmosphere around them.

Wendy struggled a bit as Irene was too far. “Uhh.. do you think you’d be able to come closer?”

“Here.”

Without warning, Irene seated herself on Wendy’s lap, much too close for the younger girl’s comfort.

“O- oh! Ahahaha!” Wendy’s laughter bounced off the walls of her room.

“I’ve seen girls do it like this before! It’s easier!”

“Yeah, true. Alright, uhh- okay I’ll start now.”

If Wendy wasn’t losing her mind before, she definitely was now.

Irene was gazing into her eyes, she could feel the tips of her ears warming up.

“C- could you close y- your eyes for me?”

“Oh right! Haha, sorry!”

With Irene’s eyes closed, Wendy was much more relaxed, but she got lost in how serene the girl looked. Her expression was so calm with her eyes closed.

Wow, I wouldn’t mind waking up to her everyday-

“Is everything okay?”

Wendy mentally slapped herself for even thinking like that. “Y- yeah!! Sorry I was just looking at the creases of your lid, gimme a sec.”

The younger girl naturally found her hand upon Irene’s waist, while her right hand begun applying the eyeliner.

Surprisingly, she was calm, but it felt like applying the eyeliner was taking eternity.

She finished the right eye within a couple of minutes, before moving the left eye. She blew gently on Irene’s eyelids before she instructed her to open her eyes.

Carefully analyzing her work, she didn’t realize how close she was to Irene’s face. Feeling content, she looked into Irene’s eyes, barely missing how her breath had been ghosting over her lips for the past 10 minutes.

She almost swore she could see Irene staring at her lips but brushed the thought off.

“Y- you’re all good!! Tell me if you like it!”

“Um.. Wendy?”

“Y- yeah?”

“Your hand.”

Wendy’s hand was no longer resting on Irene’s hip, but instead wrapped around. She must’ve done it subconsciously as she was applying the liner.

“OH! Oh my god I’m sorry!” She quickly retreated her hand the rub the nape of her neck.

“You’re so silly, its okay!” Irene hopped off of her lap to go look at the eyeliner and Wendy released a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding.

“I love it! I knew you’d be able to do it! You’re an artiste after all!”

Irene turned around and it was the first time she took a full look at her, she really did do a good job. She couldn’t stop looking at the older girl.

Wendy shyly smiled, rubbing her sweaty palms on her thighs.

“You do look amazing-“

Irene’s phone buzzed and her eyes lit up,

“Oh! He’s here!!” She walked back over to Wendy and kissed her on the cheek, “don’t wait up for me! Thanks again Wen, it looks amazing”

“Yeah! Of course!!” A little too enthusiastic? “Have fun, okay? Goodnight and go.”

She hadn’t moved until she heard the front door close.

Coming back to reality, she sighed.

Staring blankly, she processed her thoughts.

She wasn’t the one taking her out for dinner. She wasn’t the one who made her eyes light up. She wasn’t the one she looked at like she put the stars in the sky. She wasn’t the one she loved.

Her mind returned to her, realizing her line of vision was focused on her sketchbook.

Opening the sketchbook again to the pair of eyes she drew before, she added eyeliner and shaded the irises of the eyes. Glancing at the bottom of the page, she looked at the crossed-out dates, the dates of the revisions she made of the drawing.

Crossing out the last date, she signed the current date. Wendy closed the book and went to bed, disregarding her phone.

No, she wasn’t going to send the usual, “come back safely please.”

Instead, she shut off her lamp and laid in bed.

It’s not my place to care.

She’s in good hands.

Hands that aren’t mine.

11:21pm

“Seungwan” A gentle voice whined out to the short haired woman, briefly stirring her from her sleep.

“Hmm?” Wendy turned around on her bed, her eyes slowly opening to make out Irene’s silhouette in her doorway. She glanced at the time before looking back at Irene who was already walking towards her bed. She only called Wendy by her Korean name when she was drunk or all out of sorts.

“Seungwan, Wannie, Wendy, Wen-“ Irene started poking her sides, forcing her to wake up.

“Ah- what is it Ren?” She rubbed the slumber from her eyes, “are you drunk?”

“NO. That’s the last thing I’d be. Move over,” she lifted Wendy’s blanket.

“Uhm just what do you think you’re doing? No outside clothes in my bed.”

Wendy was fully awake now, but with the lights still off, she could barely see Irene’s features.

“Are you blind? I got home like an hour ago, I already washed up but I guess you slept through it grandma.” She shuffled her way into the bed, only then could Wendy smell her refreshing lavender scent. She had so many questions, but at the same time, she didn’t want to know the answer.

How was your date with the new guy? Why did you come home so quickly? Did something happen? Are you okay?

It had been weeks since they shared a bed together. Honestly, since work picked up with Wendy, she didn’t notice how much she fell out of routine with Irene. But she reasoned that it was for the better.

“Yeah yeah, whatever, unnie,” She replied with a teasing smirk, knowing how much Irene hated being called unnie.

After some grumbling and a light slap from Irene, Wendy turned around in an effort to find sleep again.

“Wen..”

“Mm?” There was now a slight exhaustion to her voice, probably onset by a multitude of things.

“Can we cuddle? I miss warming up to you.”

The request wasn’t odd at all as this was something they were accustomed too.

“Demanding tonight, aren’t we? You sure you’re not drunk?” Wendy brought back her teasing tone as she turned around, pulling the restless girl into her arms.

No reply.

Something was off, and suddenly, she didn’t want to sleep anymore. She pondered on her words before pulling away slightly, far enough that she could see the soft yet distinct features of Irene’s face, but stayed close enough so the girl remained encased in her arms.

She was met with studious eyes, before words could spill from , she felt the cold touch of Irene’s finger upon her lips.

“It’s been a while since we’ve both been home like this.”

Wendy removed her arm from Irene’s side and took the small hand from her lips. She brought warmth into Irene’s hand as she wrapped the small fist in hers, gently thumbing over her knuckles.

“…Yeah.” She released a dejected sigh.

They both laid there, absorbing each other’s presence.

Irene tangibly traced the features of Wendy’s face as Wendy traced Irene’s with her eyes, memorizing the dips and contours of her face. She made a mental note to emphasize the mole near Irene’s eyebrow in her sketch.

Wendy pushed aside Irene’s fallen fringe behind her ear and found her hand to rest against the side of her face. She’d never get over the older girl’s visuals.

Irene continued her tracing as she slowly descended her index finger along the bridge of Wendy’s nose, to which Wendy scrunched up her face. They smiled at each other’s playful nature as Wendy brought her hand back around Irene’s waist.

Although it had been a while, their intimacy was nothing out of the ordinary. They read and understood each other like no one else, from having full conversations with their stares, to comforting each other with the simplest touch.

To anyone else, it was complex. You could say it was like trying to walk through your friend’s house with the lights off, only to find yourself running into obstacles and having to blindly navigate your way through a different way.

But they were in the same home. They knew how many steps to take in the dark before they would have to take one back. They knew every single light switch, and when a light went out, they’d fix it together. They knew that the warmest place of the house was at the center of the home. They knew, and they always would because they always came home to each other.

Retracing the slope of Wendy’s nose, Irene broke the comfortable silence.

“We were supposed to watch a movie after dinner. You know he tried to kiss me? On the first date.” Her finger dropped off the tip of Wendy’s nose before it landed just above her lip. Irene’s spur-of-the-moment dates were never the topic of conversation between them.

“..who even does that?” she continued as she felt Wendy tighten her grip around her waist. Irene’s gaze remained steady on her lips as her finger ghosted over her upper lip.

“Like, at least let me warm up to you first.”

With that, Irene applied a light pressure to Wendy’s bottom lip, parting it slightly.

Wendy’s stare remained hard on Irene’s eyes, desperately trying to calculate her actions.

“I was so annoyed, I just..” Irene drew closer, her gaze briefly flickering to meet Wendy’s before they dropped back to her lips, “wanted to say goodnight,” her warm breath made it past her parted lips as Wendy’s eyes fluttered shut, painfully waiting for Irene to finish whatever she was saying,

“..and go home to you, Seungwan” Irene whispered before their lips finally met.

fin.

it's beens almost 2 years.. sorry, heh. I've been really busy with school, but I found this in buried in my drafts while cleaning out my laptop and decided to procrastinate my homework by finishing this. It originally had an angst ending.. yeah.. you're welcome lool. I hope you've all been well, looking forward to the new year with our girls 💗💛💙💚💜

-a.r