SHE

THREE

The frisky air made goosebumps appear on my arms as I stood, waiting for Kevin's car to pull up to my house. He always picked me up for school, or so he was supposed to, however, considering he was 15 minutes late, he probably was still in bed, trying to sleep off yesterdays leftover alcohol.

"Love you too!" I heard Edens voice behind me.

Turning around, I saw her exiting the house, laughing to herself, before she laid her eyes on me, the smile nearly fading, yet still apparent.

"Morning, neighbor!" I shouted, the corners of my lips betraying me as I smiled.

She nodded with a little smile, disappearing in the garage, little after riding out on her matte black motorcycle. Was this real or was I still dreaming?

"Need a ride, Gold?" she asked, already handing me the spare helmet, as she stopped next to me. The fact that she didn't ask questions as to why I was just standing out here was appreciated.

"Gold? Since when are we on a surname basis?" I chuckled, putting the helmet on.

"Since you sneaked out while I was asleep last night," I couldn't see her lips, because of the helmet, but I was pretty sure she was smirking.

No, nothing happened last night. We just hung out, ate cookies and watched OITNB new episode. Somewhere near the end, she fell asleep on my lap and I knew it would be weird if I stayed here while she was asleep. So, naturally, I left.

"Didn't want your mom to get any ideas," I said, sitting on the motorcycle, putting my arms around her, ready to go.

"Normally, you don't spend hours making out with a person and then leave them alone the minute their eyes close," you could tell she wasn't that pleased with my actions, yet she still managed to keep her positive attitude.

"Making out" was not what I preferred to call it. We were just two friends hanging out - nothing more or less. Besides, it was mainly the wine playing the main role in this scenario, let' s be real.

I guess she realized she wouldn't be getting an answer from me as she started speeding down the street. The school wasn't far at all, pretty much a 10-minute drive, but with the speed, we had been driving, we reached it 4 minutes early.

I hopped off the bike, handing the helmet back to Eden, as I struggled to fix my hair that seemed to turn into a ball of electricity.

"Thanks, Harper," I smiled at her as she got off as well.

Should I wait for her? Or was I supposed to leave alone? I stood there uncomfortably. I was never like this.

"Want me to walk you to the locker?" she asked, laughing at my sudden awkwardness.

"Sure," I gave her another smile, trying hard to ignore the awkwardness.

We headed to the lockers and it turned out that ours were next to each other. How ironic.

"I suppose you had nothing to do with this?" I laughed, as we stopped.

"So.." she shook her head, laughing nervously, "Want me to drive you back after school?"

Considering I was quite mad and disappointed in Kevin at the minute, the offer sounded very inviting, besides we did live right next to each as well... But I had practice.

"I appreciate the offer, but I have cheer practice after school."

"I could wait so you don't have to walk home alone," she offered.

Even if she knew I would say yes, she still offered me a choice, which was something no one had done for me before. This was most likely the first of many things that drew me in at the beginning.

"That would be great," I nodded as we headed to the classes. Right before we could enter the class, she suddenly turned around, a step too close, leaning in.

Once again my heart went wild, which it did every single time she got this close. I knew we couldn't kiss, we were in the middle of school, yet I still couldn't help but move a little closer. My lips were left alone, as she went for my ear instead.

"You know I'd do so many things to you if we weren't in the middle of school," she whispered, sending shivers down my spine, as I proceeded to blame the ventilation system.

As if it was a casual joke, she turned, walking into the class. In an attempt to pull myself together, I put my arms around me and walked into the class, sitting next to her.

"Are you cold?" Eden smirked, shamelessly checking me out as I walked to her.

"Yeah, they overdo it sometimes with the ventilation," I said, feeling a tad bit grumpy for some reason.

"Right," she chuckled in response.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Nothing," she said, averting her eyes to the front of the class where Mr. Lake was starting the class.

Once again I tried my best to listen to the teacher, but I failed miserably, feeling Edens arm on my thigh. Her fingers drawing calming circles on my leg.

The whole class went by without me knowing what it was about. I didn't worry too much as I had studied this subject in the summer on my own, just because I had too much alone time and a 24/7 access to the library.

As I looked outside, counting the clouds, I felt her stare. Inhaling silently, I put on the signature smile and turned around to face Eden.

"Ready to go?" I asked, my voice sounding faker than usual. Perhaps it was just me that could tell because everyone was too used to it.

Eden nodded, gesturing for me to go first. We walked back to the lockers just as I spotted Kevin there. There wasn't anything to stress about, right? So I decided to introduce them.

I went to Kevin, receiving a kiss on the cheek from him. Somehow even a peck didn't feel right anymore.

"Kevin, this is Eden," I introduced them, "and Eden.."

"Damn, you're the new lesbian girl, right?" Kevin cut me off, high fiving her.

Suddenly I seriously questioned my choice in partner. Manners were never his thing I guess. Neither was intellect.

Eden smiled awkwardly, looking at me. I mouthed a silent "I'm sorry" to her, as she nodded.

"That would be me," she said.

"I heard you're flirting with my girl," Kevin said, smirking as he a hand around my shoulder. I tried to resist the urge to remove his hand.

"I was actually," she said, smirking back.

You could tell Kevin was quite thrown off by the way his face nearly turned into a frown, yet he managed to change his mind quite quickly.

"Do your thing. She's straight as one could be dating a guy like me," he joked, turning his head to me, "right, babe?"

Now, this was something new. Kevin might be a person that barely cares about anything but himself, also not very gifted in the intellect department, but he had never before treated me as his property. Because I wasn't, I was a person, Ruby King. He knew if my dad ever found out about this he would be as good as dead. But above it all, he was challenging her to flirt with me.

I ignored the comment, focusing on the floor instead.

"So you're allowing me to flirt with her?" Eden said, in disbelief, "you know, this whole consent thing should be coming from her not you, right?"

This made my eyes avert to hers. She gave me a silent question if I was alright. Which earned a small smile from me.

"I told you already. I know my girl and she is straight," Kevin replied, sounding as confident as one could be.

"Anyways," Kevin said, forcing a peck, "I need to go now."

Then he turned around and left, of course, not before bro-fisting Eden, earning a raised brow from her.

We took our stuff from the lockers, heading to the next class.

"So does he know you're not straight?" she said in a hushed tone, probably making sure no one would hear.

"What do you mean?" I furrowed my brows in confusion, "I am straight."

Edens smile faded, as her face went into a shocked expression. Why would this surprise her?

"Ruby, you're not straight," she said confidently.

I didn't see why we were even having this conversation.

"Last time I checked, it was my sexuality, not yours, Eden," I smiled to not make it sound rude. I quickly walked in the class, to avoid a further conversation on the matter.

I had only met Eden yesterday yet it was already hard to imagine my daily life without her there. She was different than anyone in this town, like a fresh breath of air in a polluted ass city. I could only hope it would last.