Chloe
I woke up, opening my eyes to see my dorm room, empty of all my possessions. Last night Irene and I had packed all of my boxes into her car so we could leave in the morning without wasting any time.

I looked over to her, laying sleeping in my arms. We shared a bed pretty often in our lives, and for as long as I could remember, every time we did, I woke up having cornered her to one side of the bed and wrapped my arms around her or sprawled half my body across hers. My body ran hot and hers cold, and I loved the way her cool skin felt on mine, so it made sense I would end up gravitating towards her when we were sleeping together.

I thought back to the revelation she’d shared with me yesterday. I couldn’t believe she was a lesbian. I mean it wasn’t a big deal, shouldn’t be a big deal, and I wouldn’t treat her any differently for it, but it felt like a big deal all the same.

I didn’t know what she meant when she said she looked like a lesbian, I’d never seen one before, so I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to know how they dressed. I mean I guess I had seen Irene before, but with a sample size of one, I couldn’t draw any conclusions. I wondered if any of the friends I’d met at college were gay, it wasn’t like I’d ever seen anyone that looked like Irene, she was definitely one of a kind.

Oh well, I didn’t think anything would change because of it, it just meant that when I attended her wedding she’d be marrying another woman. Wow, that sounded kind of exciting. I giggled softly, trying not to wake Irene up. I always woke before she did, and I enjoyed these moments where I could study her face and take comfort in the feeling of her body against mine. But unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and this morning seemed like it was going to end sooner than most, on account of my neighbor making a racket.

I heard Irene stir, watching as she met my gaze with a red face.

“Hey, are you feeling okay?” I asked her, hoping she wasn’t getting sick right before our vacation. I leaned over and pressed my forehead to hers. Hmmm, she didn’t feel hot, but she looked really flushed. I cursed my lack of knowledge when it came to human biology. Sometimes I’d wished Irene were a plant; plants are so much easier to understand.

She rolled away from me, quickly falling off the edge of the bed that was right behind her with a crash, “Shit,” she hissed.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay?” I leaned over the edge of the bed to see her rubbing her elbow on the floor.

“Goddamn, you scared the shit out of me,” she shook her arm, standing up, “Yeah I’m fine, just bumped my arm a bit.”

We got dressed and went out together to the hallway, planning on going to the nearby diner for breakfast before getting on the road.

In the hallway, however, we ran into the neighbor making a racket in Lillian, one of my friends.

“Hey Lily” I yelled from behind her, watching as she cursed, dropping the chair she was trying to fit through her doorway.

“Hi, Chloe,” she turned to face us, “Oh my god, who are you?” Her eyes widened when she saw Irene. She went red in the face, tripping over herself to run over to us and greet Irene with a handshake.

Lillian talked with her for a minute, asking Irene questions about who she was and why she was here, if she was staying and if she had a phone number.

I watched confusedly, looking between them. Irene was acting pretty normal, a little aloof and cool, but that was normal for her. Lily, on the other hand, was a complete mess. I’d never seen her like this. What was going on today, was there a bug going around?

“Are you feeling alright?” I asked her, stepping between Lily and Irene. “Sorry, but if you’re sick I really don’t want us to catch it, we’re going on vacation together,” I said apologetically, wrapping one arm around Irene, feeling protective.

“Oohhh,” Lily looked between me and Irene, “I didn’t realize, my bad, I’ll get out of your hair.” She gave an embarrassed look and quickly went back to her room, shutting the door behind her.

‘Huh, she really was sick,’ I thought, ‘What a close call, I’ll have to remember to text later to check on her.’

I grabbed Irene by the hand and pulled her along in the direction we were heading earlier, Irene giving me a weird look the whole way to her car. I hoped she was feeling ok, I didn’t want anything to ruin this vacation, although I would stay behind with her and take care of her if she was sick.

We went to the diner together, sitting on the same side of the booth. I ordered the sweetest thing on the menu and fed a few bites of it to Irene, who ordered 50% more than she needed to, knowing I would eat a third of it.

I leaned on her shoulder in between bites of syrup-covered cinnamon roll French toast. Although things had been a little weird this morning, I was happy with how well we were getting along, I felt like we had to be getting closer given she’d just come out to me. Now I had to make sure nothing broke the status quo until our vacation was over, and I would have the best three weeks of my life.

Irene
This is where any other lesbian on the planet would make the false assumption that Chloe had figured out my feelings and was trying to claim me when Lily was hitting on me. While that seemed like the logical interpretation of what happened, I knew better. She had always been protective of me, that's just the way she was.

I sighed, eating my hash browns as I watched Chloe try to sneakily take pieces off my plate out of the corner of my eye. I had no motivation to try to have a second go at trying to clear the air and confess my feelings, and at this point I was almost ready to resign myself to pining after her for the rest of our lives. Was she even interested in romance or sex at all?

At this point I wasn’t sure it mattered, it wasn’t like I expected us to get together. I just wanted to get my feelings off my chest.

I wondered if there was another way I could communicate it, besides sitting her down for an awkward conversation.

She had always been touchy with me, and even after undoubtedly knowing my sexuality, she remained touchy with me. I was much more reserved, on the other hand, not that I didn’t want to be physically affectionate with her. I felt guilty enough enjoying being close to her, I didn’t need to make that worse.

On the other hand, was there even a reason to hold myself back anymore? She was always initiating contact with me: hugging, holding hands, cuddling. I was sure if I reciprocated she would be happy about it, and if she ended up asking if I had feelings for her after I was physically affectionate, then I could easily confirm, win-win.

Ugh, I knew I was doing anything I could to delay actually telling her, but I felt like I might have a good solution. If I asked her if it was ok, and she agreed, then there were no issues. And if we could continue on, being really touchy best friends, then that was a future I could be happy with.

I sighed again. I knew in my heart this was a terrible idea, I just hadn’t quite placed why yet. Fuck it, I guess I’ll find out.

I turned to her, “Hey cupcake, how would you feel if I was more touchy with you like you are with me? Would that be ok?”

She looked up at me, eyes wide. “Oh my gosh, that would be the best, I gave up on you touching me years ago, I mean you do touch me but not like that, you know what I mean, this vacation can’t get any better!” She bounced with energy, smiling.

I forced a smile back at her. Terrible choice of words aside, that was a positive response. What could go wrong?

I cupped my hand on her cheek, caressing it to feel her smooth skin and the slightest hint of fuzz, “How’s this?”

She closed her eyes, leaning into my hand, “That feels amazing,” she purred.

Oh god, I was getting wet. I pulled back, feeling a rush of mortification. Well, that answers why that idea was terrible.

She opened her eyes, “Too much still?” She placed a hand on my arm, and her voice lowered in tone, “Don’t worry, I’ll help you work up to touching me whenever you want to.”

Goddammit, how did she always do that? I forced myself to nod, wanting to escape this as soon as possible. I quickly finished my food and paid, hurrying us into the car so we could at least have the center console separating us.

I was going to die on this vacation, and it would be completely my own fault.