what soft means
903 Words
The week rolled by like a slow dream—one neither of them wanted to wake up from.
Lily was back in school, and everything between them felt... lighter. There was still hesitation in how they moved, still glances to make sure no one was watching too closely, but now there was something else too—comfort. A quiet understanding that whatever they were building, it was theirs.
At lunch, Ava took Lily’s hand beneath the table. No words. No eye contact. Just warmth. And Lily squeezed her hand back, a silent I’m here.
Their routines synced like they'd been in each other’s orbit long before either of them realized. They waited for each other after class, shared snacks between classes, and scribbled notes in margins that said things like “You smiled at me and now I can’t breathe.”
One Thursday afternoon, Ava invited Lily over again.
“Just for a bit,” she said, brushing hair behind her ear. “My dad’s not home. We’ll have the house to ourselves.”
Lily raised an eyebrow. “That sounds dangerously tempting.”
Ava smirked. “Don’t flatter yourself. I’m just desperate for someone to taste-test my terrible microwave cooking.”
They laughed all the way to Ava’s place, shoes kicking through fallen leaves. Ava’s neighborhood was quiet, the kind where everyone stayed inside and only came out for groceries or gossip. Her house, small and square, smelled faintly of old wood and lavender spray. There were barely any photos on the walls. The silence in her home had a pulse.
In her room, the bed was unmade, and sketches littered the desk.
Lily sat at the edge of the bed and looked around. “So this is where the genius creates?”
Ava rolled her eyes. “It’s just a room. Not a cathedral.”
“But it’s yours,” Lily said softly. “It smells like you.”
Ava paused by the door, something shifting in her chest. Lily said things like that without thinking—but they always landed hard. Always cracked something open.
She came over and flopped beside her, their arms brushing. “Do you want to stay for dinner?”
Lily turned to her. “Is that code for ‘come meet my father’?”
“No,” Ava said quickly. “God, no. I wouldn’t do that to you. He’s barely around anyway. And when he is, he’s more ghost than man.”
Lily didn’t press, but she reached for Ava’s hand.
They sat there for a long time, no TV, no music. Just stillness. Their fingers intertwined.
“Sometimes I wish I could bottle this,” Lily whispered. “The way it feels right now.”
Ava turned her head. “What does it feel like?”
Lily thought for a second. “Like soft. Like the kind of silence that doesn’t hurt. Like... home.”
Ava exhaled slowly. “That’s what I want. That’s what soft means to me too.”
Lily smiled. “Then promise we’ll never be hard with each other. No yelling. No pretending. Just this.”
“I promise.”
Ava leaned in, heart pounding. And this time, Lily met her halfway.
It wasn’t a movie kiss. There were no fireworks or background music. Just lips meeting lips. Slow. Gentle. Real.
Lily pulled back first. Her eyes glistened.
“I was so scared of this,” she whispered.
“I still am,” Ava admitted.
“But it’s worth it, right?”
“Yeah,” Ava said. “You’re worth it.”
---
They didn’t sleep together that night. They didn’t even stay past dinner. Lily went home with flushed cheeks and a heart that wouldn’t slow down.
But something had changed.
The next morning, everyone else at school was talking about football scores and failed chemistry tests. Meanwhile, Ava and Lily moved through the hall like they carried a secret made of light.
Their fingers brushed as they passed notes in class.
Ava: “I can still feel your lips.”
Lily: “That’s because I cursed you. You’re mine now.”
They giggled behind textbooks and pretended not to exist in a world that didn’t always understand girls like them.
After school, they walked home slower than usual. Every step stretched, every word felt like it mattered more. The sun dripped gold across the sky, lighting Ava’s hair like fire.
“You’re staring again,” Ava said.
Lily shrugged. “I like what I see.”
Ava rolled her eyes but didn’t hide her smile.
As they reached Lily’s gate, she turned suddenly. “Hey, Ava?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t disappear on me.”
Ava’s smile faltered just a little. “I won’t. Even if I get scared, even if the world stares—I won’t.”
They stood there, hearts between them, until Lily leaned forward and kissed her again. Quick, like a secret. Then she ran inside, cheeks burning.
Ava touched her lips and whispered, “You wreck me.”
And somehow, that felt exactly right.
That night, Lily wrote in her diary:
She kissed me today. Twice. And I don’t feel wrong. I don’t feel broken. I feel like something inside me has started to bloom. Maybe this is what soft love looks like.
---
And in her sketchbook, Ava wrote three words beside Lily’s newest drawing:
“My beginning. Always.”
- Writer
