Mouth going a little dry, Winter tells Karina, “What if I…liked you too?”

Now Karina really tenses up. “W-what?”

“I dunno. We’re practically dating already, aren’t we?” she laughs as she reaches out with her free hand to take a hold of Karina’s other arm. “Everyone says that we are.”

“I-I—wh—” Karina stutters, not at all sure how to reply her roommate. She feels her knees tremble with Winter actually holding both of her arms, pinning her in place to have this conversation. “Just how drunk are you?” Karina asks, wondering how much the girl had consumed while they were apart from one another at the party.

“I’m not,” Winter replies, truthfully sober. “I think I actually like you, Rina. Like more than friends.”

The older girl slowly shakes her head, completely skeptical of her roommate’s confession. “It’s not the same thing, Win.”

“How come?”

Karina takes a deep, overtly long breath, absolutely not ready to let Winter into her incredibly gay thoughts. “Trust me, I doubt you like me the way that I like you.”

The blonde her head to the side and pouts challengingly. “How would you know?”

“I just do.”

“Then why don’t we test it?”

Karina furrows her brows. “How?”

Before Karina can brace herself for it, Winter steps into her and completely eradicates the space between their bodies. With eyes fluttering shut, she leans up on her tippy toes and gently presses her thin lips against Karina’s plush ones.

It’s absolutely terrifying for Karina. If there were space behind her, she would’ve gay-panicked her way out of her roommate’s hold before their lips touched. But instead, she’s rooted in her spot, frozen stiff as the blonde kisses her. It’s brief, just a shy peck before Winter pulls away. But after the girl moves back far enough to quickly glance at Karina’s face, gauging a reaction, she then quickly presses their lips together again, barely giving Karina a chance to process what’s happening.

The older girl’s absolutely melting at the contact though. It’s soft, warm, and she can taste the lingering remnants of alcohol from the night on her roommate’s mouth. This isn’t some silly grade school peck, and Karina’s stomach spins somersaults at the way that Winter’s lips fit so perfectly against her own.

Before Karina even realizes it, her dumb hands have a life of their own and they slide their way up the younger girl’s sides before coming to stop along Winter’s neck. It’s a little bit easier to add pressure to their kiss, and Karina isn’t even sure where she finds the courage to do that and return her roommate’s affection.

When they do finally pull apart, Karina feels light-headed and wonders if she had forgotten to breathe this whole time. But it doesn’t matter because she catches a cute little smile spread from ear to ear on Winter’s face.

“I liked that,” Winter says, voice velvety soft.

Karina swallows hard and quickly her own lips, still tasting the ghosting feeling of the other girl’s mouth on hers. She wants to groan, but chokes it down before softly sighing. “Me too.”

“So,” Winter says, tilting her head to the side, nestling her cheek into the girl’s palm.

Karina mirrors the action and also her head to the side. “So?”

“So what now?”

What now indeed.

Are they lesbians now?

Just bicurious roommates?

Girlfriends?

Karina nervously presses her lips together as her thumbs gently trace over soft cheeks, brushing away a loose blonde strand from Winter’s entrancing eyes. But as hypnotizing as the girl’s blue stare is, Karina’s eyes fall lower and lands on slightly parted lips that have been stained with her lipstick.

“…Can I kiss you again?”

***

Karina wakes up Sunday morning way too early. When she cracks her eyes open, she notices that the light bleeding into the bedroom is still sunrise-pink, which is far too early for a college student to be awake—never mind the day after a party.

Oh god.

The party.

Karina suddenly finds herself thinking about Winter dancing on her lap and how that made her feel. Now wide awake, the girl turns to her side to see that Winter is still fast asleep in her own bed, on the other side of the room. She sighs and rubs her eyes, briefly wondering if last night had all been a dream. But as she stares at the back of her eyelids, the memory is suddenly far more vivid, like she can actually feel Winter’s lips against her own once more.

Karina’s definitely caught herself thinking about kissing her blonde roommate before, but never in a million years did she know how much she’d like it until last night.

Stomach suddenly filled with butterflies, she quickly opens her eyes again. She contemplates if she should try to force herself back to sleep, but she also knows that there’s no way she can now. All she can do is stare up at their white ceiling and think about how Winter had cornered her by the dresser and had kissed her stupid for a couple of minutes. However, Winter had also been the one who had pulled away eventually, flustered as she suggested that they should probably go get ready and turn in for the night.

Thinking about it now, Karina wonders if the younger girl had regretted kissing her. Though Winter had said she wasn’t, maybe she was really drunk and just made a poor, rash decision? Maybe Karina had gotten too carried away with…how much they had kissed? Maybe it was all truly a mistake.

Now definitely way, way too awake with her screaming thoughts, Karina sits up in bed, careful not to wake her roommate. Normally, she’d go grab her shower caddy and head to the bathroom, but she can’t stand the awkward thought of coming back after her shower and confront Winter this morning. Wanting to preserve the wonderful memory that she still has of last night’s kiss, for as long as she can, Karina gets out of bed, grabs her gym bag, and quietly slips out of their room this morning.

***

Winter wakes up—for what she considers—early for a weekend. It’s only 9:30am, so she’s surprised as she rolls over to find that the bed on the other side of the room is completely vacant. She glances around and notices that Karina’s sneakers are missing and so are her keys from the holder on the back of their door.

She left?

Winter had thought that maybe they could talk a bit more about…them this morning, but she frowns at her roommate’s absence. She checks her phone, but when there are no messages from the older girl, Winter decides that it’s probably just best to wait till she returns. They can’t avoid each other forever.

What’s second most important this morning though is food. Even though she’s still sleepy, the blonde still hauls herself out of bed and goes to brush her teeth before rushing down to cafeteria downstairs.

***

As Winter returns from the dining hall and steps off the elevator, she sees a familiar silhouette walking down the hallway towards their room. Karina’s body proportions and waist-length black hair are totally recognizable, even from so far away.

Excited to see her roommate, Winter quickly sprints up behind the girl before lunging forward and playfully tickling her sides. “Boo!”

Karina shouts, drops her gym bag, and jumps so hard that she actually bumps into the opposing wall. As soon as she sees her cackling blonde roommate beside her, she swats furiously at the tiny girl. “You little rascal!” she scolds as she pulls out her AirPods.

Winter keeps shrieking with laughter. “You jumped so far!”

After Karina picks her bag off the floor, she slaps her roommate in the arm once more for good measure. “You just shaved a year off of my life!”

The blonde only replies in a mischievous grin as the last of her chortles slowly die off. Walking a few paces ahead, she goes to unlock their room door for them. “You were up so early. Did you go to the gym?” Winter asks, noting her roommate’s workout bag and her damp, freshly showered hair.

Karina follows the other girl through the now open door before closing it behind them. “Yeah, I couldn’t go back to sleep.”

“Did you eat yet?” Winter asks, a little sad since the two normally share breakfast together on the weekends. “I think the cafeteria’s breakfast menu is gonna close soon.”

“It’s okay. I’ll just wait for lunch,” Karina says, having not noticed her hunger until Winter just mentioned the though