Work Text:
“Sorry I’m late!” Priyanka yelled out, barging into Lemon’s house without knocking. She threw her coat at the coatrack and watched as it fell to the floor immediately. She sent it a dissatisfied look and muttered, "traitor" under her breath, as she stepped out of her boots, but left it where it’d landed on the ground. If it didn’t want to hang by the other coats, she wasn’t going to be the one forcing it to do so.
She skipped every second step of the staircase on her way towards Lemon’s room, breathing in the clean, citrussy scent that’d filled Lemon’s house for as long as she could remember.
She'd barely set foot Lemon’s room when the other girl shot her a look from where she sat cross legged on her bed. “How kind of you to join us, Priyanka,” she ribbed, using a tone that only Lemon could get away with using on her. Gus sprang down from where he'd rested on Lemon's lap, hurrying towards Priyanka with a happy bark.
Priyanka rolled her eyes, much too used to Lemon’s antics for it to have any effect on her, and crouched down to rub Gus' belly. He grumbled, clearly satisfied. “My parents had work friends over and wanted to show off their overachieving daughter, so it actually is very kind of me to join you, thank you very much.”
“Oh, do you have a sister I don’t know about? Overachiever doesn't sound like anyone I know, that's for sure.”
“Shut up, Lemondra,” Priyanka said with a fond smile as she got back up from her crouch and made grabby hands for her. Lemon wiggled out of her bed and into her arms, both of them staying in the embrace a bit longer than necessary.
Priyanka let go of Lemon when Gus started jumping up her legs, clearly unsatisfied with not being the sole center of attention. She crouched again down to give him a good scratch behind the ears and was this time rewarded with wet kisses. She wasn’t usually much of an animal person, but Gus had a special place in her heart despite that. He was also the only dog she’d ever let that close to her face.
Lemon crawled back into her bed and scooted all the way to the right to make space for Priyanka, as Gus left her room with a wagging tail. It was a tight fit with both of them in Lemon’s single bed, but Priyanka didn’t mind. She’d never admit it, but she prefered when they had their movie nights at Lemon’s because it gave her an excuse to sit so tightly pressed up against the other girl that she could feel it when she tensed up, or laughed, or leaned slightly forward while holding her breath, her eyes glued to the screen.
“What are we watching today?” Priyanka asked, leaning her head closer to Lemon’s to get a better look at the laptop perched on her lap.
“Clueless,” Lemon said, typing in the title in the search bar.
“Again?”
“It’s been almost two months, Pri.”
“Maybe, but we’ve watched that movie at least 70 times.”
“It’s not my fault it’s the best movie ever made.”
“It’s not the best movie ever made, we both know this.”
Lemon scoffed and sent her an affronted look, as if what Priyanka had said was a personal insult. “Girl, your favorite movie is Hannah Montana, you don’t get to say anything.”
Priyanka gasped. “Listen Hannah Montana the Movie is a cinematic -”
“It is not a cinematic masterpiece.”
“It is actual art, Lemon. The range that-”
“We’re not having this discussion again. Pass me the snacks.”
“Not until you hear me out, I have a lot of great points.”
“I know, I’ve watched your powerpoint presentation twice. The snacks.”
“Yes, I know, but,” Priyanka said and grabbed the bowl of popcorn on Lemon’s nightstand, “I don’t think you actually listened. If you had, you’d know why I’m right. I mean the scene where Miley -”
“Oh my god,” Lemon said, as she grabbed a fistful of popcorn and shoved them into Priyanka’s mouth. Priyanka immediately spit them out in the direction of Lemon’s face, so she grabbed another fistful to shove into her mouth, keeping her hand over her mouth to prevent her spitting them out again.
Priyanka shoved against Lemon with her shoulder and knit her eyebrows together, moving the popcorn bowl from her lap and holding it in an outstretched arm as far away from her as she could.
“You’re mean. No popcorn for you,” she said, her words sounding mushy and her lips moving against Lemon’s hand.
“But Pri, we’re supposed to share them!” Lemon said in the whiny voice she used when they made fun of rich girls in reality shows.
“We can share these,” Priyanka said, spitting the half-chewed popcorn in her mouth into Lemon’s hand.
“Ew!” Lemon exclaimed, retracting her hand and wiping it off on Priyanka’s flannel shirt.
“Ew yourself,” Priyanka said, swallowing the few popcorn still left in her mouth.
They bickered for another half hour, until Lemon cut Priyanka off mid-rant by pressing play on the movie and turning the volume up as high as it could get. Priyanka didn’t pay much attention to the movie, instead focusing on the way Lemon’s thigh felt pressed against her own, and how bright her laughter was, and how beautiful she looked. Lemon caught her staring as Cher caught the bouquet, but she didn’t say anything, just grabbed her hand and sent her a smile, then focused her gaze back on the movie, leaving Priyanka with a fluttering stomach and a racing heart.
Maybe, Priyanka thought. Maybe soon she would feel brave.