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Riley bobbed her head to the beat of the music and tried to ignore the guy who thought ‘leave me alone’ meant she was just playing hard to get. Riley gave him her best imitation of her mom’s ‘I will burn you alive’ stare, but he was either too drunk or too dense to pick up on it. Frat guys like him were the reason she decided against pledging a sorority, even though the Gammas all loved her.
She looked around for an escape route, but nothing was jumping out at her. She wanted to just walk away like her mom had always told her, but she'd gotten separated from Maya and this was where they said to meet up.
“So, what’d’ya say? You gonna come?”
“Huh, what’s that?”
“My band! We gotta gig tomorrow night, and I’m telling you, you’re really gonna dig our sound. It’s like, completely unique, but still instantly recognizable. You’re really gonna dig it, I’m telling you.”
Actually, she was pretty sure she wouldn't, but she wasn't sure how to make that more clear than she already had. She wasn't used to dealing with drunken wannabe suitors. Most guys were smart enough to know a polite rejection when they heard it, and Riley had never progressed past the ‘let them down easy’ school of getting hit on.
She wished Maya hadn't gotten distracted and disappeared. Maya knew how to deal with guys like this. Maya would have had this guy run off in thirty seconds.
So, all she had to do was think like Maya. She could throw paint on him. But she didn't have any paint and he might think she was flirting. She could make fun of his name, except she was definitely sure he would think that was flirting. She could kick him in the balls, but he really hadn't done anything to deserve it. Being annoying was no justification for physical violence, no matter what her inner Maya might say.
“Tomorrow? Ooh, I can't do it. I've, uh, got a thing, and it's real important that I don't miss it.”
“Well, then we'll just have to make the most of tonight, won't we?”
Riley just chuckled nervously. “I guess…”
Then her saving grace appeared in a halo of light and a chorus of angels.
Actually, it was Katy Perry, but that's what it felt like.
“Peaches!”
Maya slid in between Riley and the guy who would just not take a hint, and Riley instinctively wrapped her arms around her friend and rested her chin on Maya’s shoulder. Maya’s hands immediately covered Riley’s, keeping her arms in place.
“You having fun without me, pumpkin?”
“Never.”
“Damn straight.” Maya looked at the frat boy like she just realized he was there. “Can I help you?”
“Well, I'm sure I can hook you up with one of my brothers.” Evidently he missed the sarcasm. “Then we can get back to our conversation.”
Maya shook her head. “Yeah, that's not necessary.”
“Huh?”
“It's not necessary. I don't need to meet any of your brothers, and Riley doesn't need to keep talking with you either.”
Frat boy rolled his eyes. “Pssssssh. I didn't see a date with either one of you, and trust me when I tell you that we'll show you two the best time you've ever had.”
Maya smirked. “Yeah, you’re not really picking up what I’m putting down, are you Billy Bob?”
“My name’s not Billy Bob.”
“Whatever you say, Jimbo. Call yourself whatever you want.”
“I want to be called Mark, because it’s my name!”
“Sure thing, Murphy. But like I was saying, we don’t need you or your friend to have a good time together, if you catch my drift.”
Riley did. She tightened her arms and pulled Maya in closer, close enough to whisper. “What are you thinking?” she hissed. “This is not going to help!”
Maya smiled and laughed. She rested her head on Riley’s right shoulder, and rolled her head to the left, nose buried in Riley’s hair and lips brushing her neck just below her earlobe. It probably looked like an intimate moment to an outsider, but Maya was just keeping up the act to whisper in Riley’s ear.
She squeezed Riley’s hands and swayed slightly. “Just follow my lead, Riles, it’ll be fine.”
Follow Maya’s lead? Well, it’s not like Maya had ever led her astray. It's not like following Maya had ever landed her in detention for a month. Or running from a crowd of angry hipsters. Or stuck halfway up a tree in Central Park. Or covered in liquid cheese in front of the entire school.
Actually, wait, no, following Maya had led to all of those places!
“This is not a good idea, peaches.”
Maya laughed again and rubbed Riley’s cheek. “It's a great idea, honey.”
“Wait a second, you're saying you two are lesbians?” Mark slurred.
“Hey, look who's caught up with the rest of the class,” Maya cheered. “I knew you could do it, Mordechai.”
“Lesbians?”
Maya smirked. “We're not really fans of labels. Let's just say we're really good friends.”
Mark glanced back and forth between the two of them like he was watching a tennis match. Riley was getting ready to snap her fingers in front of his face to crack him out of it when he laughed like he just got the joke. “Ooooooooh, no, no, no, no,” he cackled. “I know what’s going on here, it’s all good. You’re the friend that’s supposed to come over and save her from random guys, but it’s okay, you don’t need to pretend to be lesbians to get rid of me. It’s not like I’m not a creeper. Unless you want me to be.”
“I think we’ll pass,” Maya chuckled. “And we’re not pretending.”
“Yeah, we’re definitely together,” Riley agreed shakily. Lying had never been her strong suit. “We have sex all the time!”
Maya shot her her patented ‘What the hell are you talking about?’ look, and Riley responded with her ‘I don't know, you started it’ grimace. It was an exchange that happened at least once a week.
“Oh yeah?” Mark challenged. “Prove it.”
Riley’s heart jumped into her throat. “I am not going to-”
“Fine!”
“Peaches!”
“He just wants to see us kiss, pumpkin.” Maya glared at Mark. “And then he's going to leave us alone for the rest of the night, isn't that right, MacFeegle?”
Mark jerked in surprise, apparently he'd zoned out watching them. “Huh? Oh, yeah, sure.”
Just a kiss? She could do that. College girls made out with each other all the time, right? According to TV, at least. It didn't have to mean anything. Besides, she had kissed Maya in the past. Just never on the lips. It had always been a friendly kiss on the cheek or the top of the head.
Still, she could do it. She'd been in plays, she knew how to act and do a stage kiss. She'd just have to fake it.
Maya turned in her arms, and Riley adjusted her hands so they fell on Maya’s hips. Maya’s hands rubbed circles at the small of Riley’s back, and some of her nerves disappeared. Maya always knew how to calm her down.
“Ready?” Maya asked quietly, barely heard over the music.
Riley just nodded. She didn't quite trust her voice at the moment.
Maya moved in and Riley closed her eyes. All her best kisses in the past had been with her eyes closed, and if she didn't see it coming, she wouldn't be able to chicken out at the last moment.
The first kiss was light, barely there, soft enough that Riley thought she might have imagined it. Maya must have been nervous too, but that disappeared with the second, and third, and fourth, and holy crap this was awesome!
Even knowing what was happening, Maya’s lips had caught her by surprise. Not their presence, but their feel. Riley’d never felt anything so soft, so perfect. And despite the fact that Riley knew Maya had been drinking beer all night, she still tasted like peaches.
Peaches tasted like peaches. Riley smiled into the kiss.
And god, if Riley knew it was going to be this good, she would have kissed Maya ages ago. It was amazing, and unlike anything else she’d ever experienced.
Kissing Farkle had caused sparks, and kissing Lucas had been like sticking a live wire on her tongue, but kissing Maya was like frenching a lightning bolt and going back for seconds. Her whole body was electrified, her nerves were singing, and there could have been a choir of angels descended from heaven chanting in the background, but if there was, Riley didn’t notice it. All her attention was on Maya’s perfect lips.
Maya pulled back, and Riley chased her, capturing her lips once more. She pulled on Maya’s hips, she wanted to be closer, she needed it!
“Honey-”
Riley cut her off with another kiss.
“Pump-”
One more taste of her lips.
“RILEY!”
Maya pulled out of Riley’s grip and backed up. Her face was flushed, her eyes were smoky, and she was panting breathlessly. Riley found herself taking a step forward without thinking about it.
“You felt that too, right, peaches?” She had to have felt it. Riley couldn’t feel like she did if it was only one sided.
Maya’s eyes flashed with heat. “Oh, honey,” she husked out, throaty and sexy and everything about those two words made Riley want to spend the rest of the night making Maya talk like that.
That was all it took for Riley’s restraint to break. She took two steps forward, grabbed Maya’s face in her hands, and kissed her best friend with everything she had. One of Maya’s hands wrapped around Riley’s waist and ventured downwards while the other slid up her neck and tangled in her hair.
The pair stumbled back a few steps and Maya ended up with her back to the wall. Riley followed Maya’s lead and moved one hand to the back of her head, messing up her hair. Maya spent forever getting it ready for this party, but Riley was pretty sure Maya would forgive her this time.
And if not, Riley already had some ideas about how she could make it up to her friend.
Riley’s other hand started to journey south, slowly, painfully slowly. Her hand brushed Maya’s ear ever so slightly, felt her shiver, slid down to her shoulder, felt Maya’s muscles move as she squeezed her hand over and over again. Down past her breast, okay, not past it, not right away, maybe she lingered, maybe she was blown away by yet another example of perfection in a single human being, and then she moved on. She felt Maya tense as the backs of her fingers ghosted over her stomach, and Riley quickly moved on when she remembered how much Maya hated being tickled. Her hand drifted around to Maya’s back, but the wall stopped her advance before she could get to the good part.
The good part? Like every inch of Maya’s skin wasn’t the good part, Riley thought. Her questing hand traveled further south, rubbing Maya’s thigh.
Riley’s lungs gave out first, and she reluctantly pulled her lips back and rested her forehead against Maya’s. A soft whine of protest, one so small she’d deny it was ever made at all, escaped Maya’s throat. Riley grinned, even as she tried to catch her breath. She wanted to hear that noise again, and vowed to make it happen.
“Holy…” Mark swore. “Yeah, I believe you. You two definitely aren’t faking it.”
Mark was still there? The party was still happening? A hundred years or more hadn’t passed while she was exploring her best friend’s mouth with her tongue?
Riley struggled to find her voice. “Nope,” she said finally. “Definitely not faking it.”
“Told you we didn’t need you to have fun,” Maya quipped without taking her eyes off Riley.
“So, you, uh, you looking for somebody to, uh…”
“Walk on, Mikhael,” Maya snapped, her patience for drunk frat boys apparently gone. That was okay with Riley, especially since it looked like all of Maya’s attention was on her.
Having Maya’s full attention had always made her feel warm inside, but now it set a fire burning. “Peaches, that was…”
“Awesome, right?” Maya bit her lip like she was nervous, and Riley couldn’t help but think it was sexy.
“The best.” Riley stopped resisting and kissed Maya again. They weren’t out of breath when they pulled apart once more, but it was a close thing.
“Did you know?” Riley asked.
“Know what?”
“Did you know how good it was going to be?”
Maya shook her head. “It was the only thing I could think of. I figured we’d kiss once or twice, send numbnuts packing, and laugh about it back at the dorm. I never would have guessed… that.”
“Yeah, that.”
“Riles, what are you thinking? Is this… okay?”
“Peaches, we’ve loved each other forever, now we’re just adding the physical.”
“The physical part makes things messy, though.” Maya sounded pessimistic, but Riley noticed she didn’t even try to pull away.
“Maybe, and we should definitely talk about this, and our feelings, and everything, and I’m all for that, but right now all I want to do is kiss you again.”
Maya smirked, and god, was there a single facial expression that wouldn’t make her want to kiss that mouth? “Well, Future Maya might hate me, but Present Maya wants more kissing.”
“And I’d hate to disappoint Present Maya.”
“Then get over here and kiss me.”
She did.