Layla & Sarah | Saturday night

[x-mandelbrot.livejournal.com]

Layla and Sarah finally break down and give in to feelings they've both been trying to ignore.

Avoiding the various curious noses in the mansion with a plate of cookies that had only come out of the oven five minutes ago was sort of a challenge. Because too many people around here had super noses and her cookies smelled damned good if she did say so herself. Half of them had peanut butter chips in them, mostly because Layla couldn't resist, but they all had chocolate chips, as requested. Granted, Sarah was pretty much getting free cookies here because telling Life to back off was totally not going to work. But, well, it was Sarah. She basically owned the market on free cookies, didn't she?

Layla was pretty sure she was a little early for their nightly movie date. Not that it was a date. Not like a date date. It was just a phrase. It was their, um, nightly movie appointment. Anyway, she was pretty sure she was early but when she walked into the rec room Sarah was already on the couch. Layla couldn't help her small grin. Maybe it was because she knew that the night would end how it always ended, with one or both of them asleep on the other one. And that was...okay she wasn't sure what it was. It was sort of awesome and kinda awkward and a little confusing because dude, what were they doing with their like pseudo cuddling? But it was still sort of awesome and that kinda out weighed everything else. So, like she did every night, Layla pushed any and all concern about that and what it meant or could mean to the back of her mind and ignored it.

Leaning over the pretty brunette from behind, Layla's arms came down over Sarah's shoulders, plate clasped in her hands. "Delivery!"

Sarah's eyes went wide at the sight of the plate, her nose having picked up the scent of something delicious just a second or two ago, and then POW, cookies. Tilting her head up, she saw the provider of said cookies, and grinned widely at Layla. "Yay! Thank you ohmygosh!" She lifted her hands up to take the plate so Layla could move around and sit on the couch with her, and also so she could start tearing into the delicious treats.

It really had become a ritual of sorts for them: when they were both free, more often than not they'd spend their nights watching a movie, alternating what they would watch, and one of them would end up falling asleep on the other. Sometimes both of them would fall asleep even, and, unbeknownst to Layla, Sarah would often wonder what it all meant exactly. It was definitely a good thing, however, so no matter what other implications it all had Sarah was positive that she enjoyed it, and it seemed like the blonde girl did too, so she wasn't about to question things.

Eating one of the cookies, she let out a little whimper of joy at how delicious and fresh it was. The chocolate was still gooey and warm and perfect. "Oh man, Layla. Layla. These are amazing!"

"And so am I," the blonde adding in without the smallest trace of modesty. She snagged one of the cookies she knew had both chocolate and peanut butter chips in it and grinned. "It's my night, right? I haaaaave.... wait, where did I put them? If I was my movies where would I be?" she questioned while looking around. Then Layla was up, looking under the couch, crawling over to the TV and scouring the shelves of DVDs already there. "Aha! Anyway, I have Real Steel, 50/50 and Dirty Girl." She held the three up for Sarah to see. "And I promise Dirty Girl is not even vaguely pornographic. Um, I think. But it's not porn. Despite the name. Really."

"Uh-huh, I even said so on the journals so you know that it's true." She chuckled and nodded in response, it was in fact Layla's night to pick out whatever it was they were going to watch. Reaching out and taking another cookie while Layla looked around, she pointed towards the shelves of DVDs but unable to speak as her mouth was full of cookie goodness. She giggled at the mention of Dirty Girl. "Uh-huh, yeah, I bet. I'm ok with any of them, really, I don't think I've seen any of those." Sarah paused, finishing her cookie, then asking out of curiousity. "What, um, what is Dirty Girl about then, anyway?"

Layla shrugged. "Some chick who has a bad rep because she's like a slut or just full of innuendo or something who ditches school with her fat gay friend to go find her dad on some road trip basically. I think. Yeah, something like that. Milla Jovovich has a lot of blue eyeshadow. Because it's the 80's. It's supposed to be all coming of age-y. But the main chick is feisty so I approve."

Sarah considered the film as Layla described it to her. "Milla Jovovich... she's in all those Resident Evil movies, yeah?" While not a huge horror fan per se, she did enjoy watching those movies, so maybe she'd like this one too. It sounded like Layla approved of it at any rate, so that was good enough for her. "Sure, let's watch that one then, if you want to." Coming of age-y stuff was sort of in her milieu too, though normally in the romantic comedy / drama sense, so this might be somewhat of a win win movie.

"Dirty Girl, it is!" Layla popped the disc into the player, then jumped back onto the couch. She landed a bit closer to Sarah than she meant to and when she bounced upward she just knew one of those cookies near the edge of the plate was going to fall off, but a quickly placed hand was there to be it's net when it slipped from safety. "Movies are so much better than homework. And if anyone asks I'm still saying Amara told me not to work too hard!"

Seeing Layla launch herself onto the couch, Sarah held onto the plate tightly, not wanting to spill or waste any of the baked goodies. One did fall but luckily Layla was able to save it, only for it to be eaten, of course. "Oh yeah, they really are, that's a scientifically proven fact. I think." Thinking about that too much felt like homework though so she wasn't about to elaborate or dwell on it any further. "Haha, yes, that's a good excuse too, I think." She grinned at Layla and took another cookie for herself. "So, how was your day?"

"Oh, awesome. I totally tried to convince Ms Frost and Mr Guthrie that homework was counterproductive and how the same way you shouldn't overwork your muscles because you could injure them if you overworked your brain you could totally like end up not retaining anything because of the flood of information. It totally didn't work but I think Ms Frost gave me points for creativity when I started saying how there were old Indian traditions about it and how people in the Renaissance believed this and they were obviously way smart and shit because, hi, da Vinci, right?" Layla heaved a sigh, slumped into the couch and frowned. "Which just means she gave me a documentary to watch instead of chapters to read. But that's way better than Mr Guthrie...who basically like figuratively patted me on the head and said nice try and how he gave me points for trying but he always thinks giving me bonus points means offering me extra credit work. Because, dude, I totally want to do my homework so badly that I'm like fucking begging for more, right?" She was back to frowning, now batting big eyes at Sarah. "Why is he so mean to me? Obviously he hates me and I need to make him strudel so I can get him hooked and then like lord it over him like a dealer so he goes into withdrawal and then he'll want the strudel so bad that he won't remember to give me homework. This is a brilliant plan, right?"

Layla tried to get straight to the menu and skip the trailers but it wouldn't let her. So she took the three second delay in speaking to change the topic. "You like black forest cake? I think I have like mastered it. I should have Herr Wuschelig double check it for me before I foist it on anyone else. But I'm thinking there needs to be more cake in our world. And black forest is like...dude. It's awesome. And we know I'm awesome. Therefore, awesome cake by awesome for awesome." She snagged a cookie while taking in a rare breath since she didn't particularly seem to need it half the time as she rambled on rapid fire as she tended to do. "You're the last awesome in there in case you're confused. Translation: 'for awesome' equals 'Sarah.' Not any Sarah, you Sarah. Anyway, you get the point. Cake? Yay or yay?" She grinned, knowing full well she left out the nay option and that Sarah may not have realized it in the litany of words.

Sarah listened as her friend spoke, trying to keep track of everything the blonde girl was saying at her customary breakneck pace. While she had gotten much better at doing just that through all the time they had spent together the last several months, sometimes it was still difficult to follow her friend's train of thought. "Strudel is never a bad idea, I don't think."

She'd managed to get that out in reply to Layla's first burst of speech but then she was going again. Sarah simply grinned and leaned back into the couch, her head turned to watch the other girl as she explained all about black forest cake. She may have begun to blush a little at being equated to being awesome, which she tried to cover up by raising a hand to brush her hair out of her face for a few seconds. "Oh, I... I'm not sure if I've actually had it before, now that I think about it. But I would love to try it, definitely! I bet it's awesome because, like you said, made by awesome, right?"

Layla shot forward where she sat and looked at Sarah as if she had just said something incomprehensible. "It's chocolate cake with like whipped cream and cherries. How have you never had this? This is like, totally wrong. Your parents have like failed at a super vital point in raising you. Which is to give you amazing cake!" Her hands flailed as she spoke, animated far beyond what any normal person would have been over the topic. "Okay, there will be cake. And you're being appropriated as a helper. Not because I really need a helper but because you obviously need to learn the joy of making orgasm-in-your-mouth cake and you don't get that if you only get the delivery. And then you can steal cherries while I make it. It's like a brilliant plan. You will be my master, uh, fetcher and measurer. Or something."

Blinking at her reaction, Sarah's eyes went wide at the hand flailing and the discovery of her parents' apparent failure to expose her to the goodness that was black forest cake. "Ok, I will help you then. And is it really that good? Wow." Her blush may have remained during the talk of orgasm-in-your-mouth cake, but thankfully her hand was still in front of her face, her fingers twirling and playing with her curls slightly. "Fetcher and measurer, huh? I could do that, I suppose. And the reward sounds worth the effort, if it's really as good as you say it is."

Layla stared at her, slowly blinked once, then stared some more. "What about chocolate, whipped cream and cherries did you miss? How is there any question about it's awesomeness? And have I ever steered you wrong? Cookies? Strudels? If you've got complaints you never said anything." She damn near stuck her tongue out at the brunette, too. Instead she flopped back into the couch and hit the button the play the movie now that the trailers were all done.

"I didn't miss them! Those are all good things too, I know. And I can fetch them too." She nodded, she could make herself useful, she was pretty sure. Not that Sarah was much of a baker or anything but she was fairly confident she'd be able to do that much at least. "I know, I know, you've steered me right a lot of times. With food, and leather clothes, and movies, and stuff." Sarah smiled and leaned back into the couch again now that Layla had flopped back, unconsciously inching a bit closer to her. "Ooh, it's about to start!"

Grabbing a pillow, Layla picked it up and swung it over in one smooth motion so it landed against Sarah, covering her from nose to chest. "Shhhh! No talking in the theater!" She gave her friend the most serious, stern look ever. Then erupted in giggling laughter and pulled the pillow away.

"Oomf!" That was the only sound Sarah could make when the pillow covered her up. She was going to pretend to be mad but it was hard not to laugh herself. It hadn't hurt, of course, being a pillow, and it was pretty funny. Reaching for a pillow of her own, Sarah was about to look for some payback. One or both of them may curl up and fall asleep on the other but at that moment it was on.

When Sarah grabbed a pillow of her own Layla went on alert. It was totally possible there could be a smack down here. Was it okay to beat the girl you liked senseless with a pillow if it was just a pillow? Wait...was Layla actually admitting she liked Sarah now? Duh, of course you like her, she's your friend, she told herself mentally but not even Layla was buying that. So she tried to ignore it and instead nodded to Sarah. "You think you can take me?"

"I don't think I can... I know I can!" She smirked at Layla, raising her pillow up over her head. "After all," Sarah broke out her best Yoda voice. "Do or do not, there is no try!" With that she brought the pillow down, not as hard as she could because they were just messing around and she didn't want to hurt Layla, even if it was just a pillow. It was intended to be just a little tap on the head, nothing too serious, as payback for the blonde's earlier attack.

Dropping her jaw, Layla sat there and stared at Sarah almost comically. Then she brought her pillow up and bounced it off the side of the brunette's head. "Didn't anyone ever tell you violence doesn't solve anything?"

"Ah!" She was overreacting to the return blow to her own head, of course, but that was part of the fun. Giggling like mad, she moved her pillow backwards to send a backhand swing Layla's way. "Nope, can't say that they did!" Pillows weren't really violent anyway, they were instruments of fun! And comfiness too, sometimes. Like when they were each other's pillows most nights, which crossed her mind and made her stop swinging for a second.

That pause from Sarah gave Layla a wide opening to get her square in the face with a pillow. "Ooooh, total lack of skills. Who's teaching you defense, chick?" Before Sarah could answer Layla got her in the shoulder and then in her side with more pillow hits.

Sarah blinked as she got hit in the face, squealing a bit at the impact. "Stop hitting meeeeee!" She wasn't really angry because, well, it didn't hurt at all since it was just a pillow. Still, to stop the blonde girl from hitting her she reached over and held onto her arms, trying to keep her from raising them and smacking her, which lead to her kind of hugging the other girl, standing in close to her.

Not one to give up without a fight, Layla immediately started to squirm. "Help! Help! I'm being held hostage!" she called while trying to get out of the brunette's grasp. It wasn't particularly graceful. It was so astoundingly not graceful, in fact, that she managed to trip over her own foot - or was that Sarah's foot? - and go crashing to the floor, taking Sarah with her thanks to the sudden pull of gravity. Layla landed sort of mostly on her side and she was dazed enough that she stopped squirming momentarily. "Ow."

Continuing to laugh, Sarah refused to let her go, partly for fear of retribution from the other girl, and was about to reply to her when they both fell to the floor. "Ack!" Sarah landed next to Layla, her legs tangled up with the other girl's, resting on her back. She turned her head and looked over in Layla's direction, who was laying close by her. "You ok?" There was no real pain on her end, mainly just embarrassment from having fallen down.

Sarah still hadn't let go of Layla, something the blonde was acutely aware of. She shifted a leg and found it was tangled between the brunette's. It still, foot dropping in a way that sort of hooked the leg further around one of the other girl's unintentionally. Not that Layla was exactly complaining but she was really, really aware of how she was pretty much half laying on top of the shorter girl. And it would've been so fucking easy to just lean in and... No, no! Bad Layla! No cookie for you. Distract, distract, distract!

She didn't pull away, but her eyes diverted a little, staring at Sarah's neck instead of her eyes or her mouth as she answered. "Yeah, I'm okay. I'm gonna be like half purple tomorrow though. Layla of the pale and bruising!" And of the totally wanting to kiss Sarah. And oh she was so fucked here. So fucked.

Looking up at Layla, Sarah realized how close the other girl was too, and how she was looming over her. It wasn't a bad thing, not at all, and since there was no more hitting with pillows or wrestling there was no need to move, right? She figured if Layla wanted to move then she'd move, so it was totally ok just to lay there like that on the floor.

Not sure what to say, she just swallowed and looked up, frowning a little when the blonde mentioned bruising. "Oh no, I'm sorry. I hope you don't bruise, it doesn't look like you got hit anywhere..." As she said that she was looking straight up at her face, not thinking that maybe she'd banged a shin or something like that. Her face looked just fine to Sarah, and she tentatively reached up, brushing aside some of her blonde locks to touch her cheek carefully in case that's what she meant. That didn't seem to be bruised either, but it felt very warm to the touch, not to mention soft.

It was entirely possible Layla had forgotten how to breathe when Sarah's fingertips connected with her cheek. The blonde was frozen, utterly still as if the smallest movement might scare Sarah off, which was just about the last thing Layla wanted to accomplish right now. To be honest, she wasn't even aware of the small tilt of her head so she could lean into that touch. Oh she was so fucked. So very, very very fucked. Breathe, breathe, breathing is good. And, um, talking might help, too, you total fucking idiot. "No, just, uh, impact. you know, hitting the floor," Layla managed to half-whisper in response.

With Sarah's hand raised Layla had a free hand. And she knew exactly what she wanted to do with it but no. No. That would lead back to that kissing thing she wanted to do and no. Bad plan. Baaaaad plan. But her hand did raise while she was thinking about how she should not let it trail along Sarah's jaw and tilt her chin up just a little and....no. Bad plan. She caught herself and detoured her hand to a nearby pillow that was laying on the floor nearby. Pulling it over, she wiggled her other arm out from under herself, slid her hand under Sarah's head and raised it just enough to slip the pillow underneath. Layla's smile was small and almost shy when she said, "Looks more comfortable that way," as if she needed to explain why she'd done it.

While her hand was raised, Sarah tucked some of Layla's blonde hair behind her ear, not wanting to linger on the other girl's cheek too long lest she find it weird or something. She did brush her fingertips long that warm cheek as she moved however, enjoying the softness of her skin. "Ahh, yeah, the floor." What the heck was she saying? She wasn't quite sure but she felt like she should be saying something, and the floor, well, it was there and all. Brilliant conversation there, Sarah, she told herself.

Eyes darting to the side as Layla reached over for something, Sarah lifted her head along with the efforts of the other girl's hand when she slid the pillow underneath. "Oh, thanks, that is more comfy, mmmhmm." She smiled back up at Layla, not sure what else she should be doing at this point. Lowering her hand from the other girl's hair, she moved her arm down, her hand moving down Layla's shoulders and brushing against her side as it made its way back down to her own side.

"So, um." It was a little awkward, laying there like that, even if it was comfortable, and she didn't know if she should say or do anything. "Hi." She was still smiling up at Layla, not sure what to do with her hands again now, which were at her own side. Cautiously, she moved them up until they were barely touching Layla, because this was just some kind of hug, right? A horizontal one, not vertical. Something like that, maybe? It was more than a little confusing.

A small, fond and somewhat amused smile graced Layla's lips. "Hi." The word came out quietly, nearly a whisper. She was propped up on an elbow above Sarah, hands very slowly pulling down and away from her now that the pillow was in place. They slowed and stilled near Sarah's shoulders, hesitant to pull away entirely. Especially with the light touch of Sarah's hands at Layla's hips. "You know," Layla started in that same soft tone, "we're totally not watching the movie." There wasn't an ounce of complaint in her words. She sort of liked the sweet torture of laying here like this with Sarah more than the prospect of the movie anyway.

Layla didn't seem to be in a hurry to go anywhere, and they were just laying there hanging out, so neither was she. They sat together on the couch, sometimes fell asleep on one another or together, so this was just another thing like that, wasn't it? Nothing wrong with it, at least if there was Sarah didn't feel like it was wrong. Quite the contrary, it was nice, though she wasn't exactly sure why. No, that wasn't entirely true, because she knew doing this with someone else would be a little awkward or weird, but not with Layla. Huh. Shaking her head back and forth a little to say no, she was still smiling and looking up at the blonde girl. Her hands remained on Layla's hips, holding her a little less tentatively now. "Do you, um." Searching for words, she paused before continuing. "Do you want to watch the movie?" Because that'd mean moving and neither of them seemed too anxious to move just then.

"Not really." The words were out of her mouth before she had time to think about them. Once she realized what she'd said the blonde blushed. At first her cheeks turned a pale pink but the color deepened to a darker shade quickly. "I mean, uh..." And then there was awkward. Epic awkward. "I like the floor." Wow, that was lame. "Y'know, change of, um, scenery. I...really like the scenery." The last was said in a tone that dropped down lower, betraying the guilty admission that it was. She sort of half hoped Sarah would get the point she was really clumsily making and half prayed to any god that might be paying attention that she didn't get it.

"Oh. I mean, that's ok too." As much as she loved watching movies with Layla, the key part of that sentence was 'with Layla' and here she was with Layla, so. "The floor is good too, yeah, I agree." Sarah was quick to concur, nodding her head a little. "It's good to change the scenery, yes, and I... I really like it too." Her own voice had dropped to nothing more than a whisper now, a small smile on her own face as she realized what she was saying herself. Maybe Layla didn't mean it that way, that she enjoyed looking at her, and goodness knew she was too afraid to ask, but she was quite content to stay put for the time being. "I mean, eventually we'll have to go to bed, but not now. I mean later we will. In your bed, that is - you in your bed, me in my bed. Because we don't sleep together." Oh no, it was going off the rails now!

By now Layla was chewing on her lip in an effort to keep herself from saying anything stupid. Which was impressive because she was awesome at saying stupid stuff. What she was also awesome at was like blushing with her entire body because she could swear her neck and chest had to be turning pink, too, when Sarah was all with the enjoying scenery thing. Like, she totally didn't mean it the way Layla meant it probably. Right? Probably. She was probably just saying it because Layla had and it sounded weird so she would just like agree or whatever. But that didn't stop Layla from sort of hoping that maybe she meant it the way Layla had.

"Yeah, um. Bed. Right. Eventually. I mean, bed can wait, right? Or we could like camp out here and not watch movies all night." Oh shit. Did she say that aloud? Barrel on, maybe she won't notice. "We could make a fort or something. Or like, in one of our suites. Mine has less people in it and, you know, more space and stuff. Since we're, uh, not watching movies anyway."

Thankfully Layla hadn't jumped off of her after Sarah's awkward words, which was a huge relief. She was blushing as well by now, though maybe part of that warmth was because Layla was on top of her, something to do with pressure or constricting blood flow, yeah. That was probably it. Her hands, still on Layla's hips, felt a little sweaty too, though she wasn't sure why. She tightened her grip, less her hands fell, though she wasn't quite sure why she didn't just let them fall.

"Oh yeah, we can totally wait for bed. I mean, who needs sleep, right? We can just stay up all night without sleep, yup." That might not have necessarily come out how she meant it so she just nodded at the idea of a fort. "Yeah yeah, a fort or something. Somewhere private where we can, you know. Not watch movies." Since they'd decided not to watch movies.

Private? Like private private? That tighter grip on her hips totally did not escape Layla's notice. She was trying so. hard. to keep her hands sort of still. To not let them wander or like, she didn't know...do something they weren't supposed to? But eventually she did let one hand slip down, away from Sarah's shoulder, until it laid gently on the brunette's hip. And somehow that position totally wasn't any better than the shoulder. The shoulder was safer. Like way safer. Because it would've been so easy, so easy, to just pull Sarah a little closer and... No. None of that. Of course by trying not to do that she had to put her focus somewhere else. Like the hair under her other hand. And her fingers very softly combed through it. Bad Layla, bad.

"We can appropriate my suite's common room. Or my room. 'Cause, you know, no one else in there. We could like appropriate the mattress for a wall...or something." And then I can have a fucking world of figuring out how to not kiss you. Why was the wall so far away when she clearly needed to bash her head against it?

As Layla's hand moved down to her hip, Sarah looked away from the other girl's face long enough to see that, yes, that was exactly what had happened. She looked back up at the blonde girl, smiling at her. And then Layla's fingers were brushing gently through her hair, which felt very nice, holy crap. It was impossible for her to catch herself from emitting a happy little sigh at that, though once she heard herself she got her emotions back in check.

"Ok, let's do that. We can totally use the mattress, yeah, as some kinda... something." And now she was thinking about laying on the mattress with Layla and oh my gosh. She couldn't help but wonder but... what would Layla think of that? She had a hand on her hip, and in her hair, but then again that was only after Sarah herself had put her hands on Layla's hips. Was that just a reaction or something else? She started thinking about how they got there in the first place, who did what to who, but it was hard to concentrate while she was looking up at that face. "I like that idea a lot. So we, um." They should move but who would move first? Her hands didn't move away from Layla even though she could've sworn her brain had told them to do so.

"Should go do that?" Layla's hand slid from Sarah's hip to reach around to her back. Getting up wasn't the issue. The issue was not wanting to let go of Sarah. Taking a deep breath, Layla pulled her knees up before she could talk herself out of what she was gonna do. As she rocked back to sit up on her knees the hand at the brunette's lower back pulled her up too. Layla's other hand had slid around Sarah's shoulders as she had moved, making it easier to pull the girl up with her without ever letting her get further away.

"Mmmhmm." She was glad that Layla had made the first move in adjusting themselves so they could get up, and she moved upward a bit as the other girl's hands went to her back and helped her sit up. With Layla's help, she did just that, sitting up, and as Sarah moved upward her hands slid up higher around the blonde girl. They were both sitting up now but just as close as they'd been when laying down. Which was a good thing because, well, she liked being this close to Layla. It wasn't something she could put into words, and neither of them were saying all that much since they fell to the floor, so maybe, just maybe, the other girl was thinking the same thing, that she liked being close.

So... it was all very confusing but Sarah decided to do something about it. Her hands were already around Layla, and Layla's around her shoulder, so she just leaned in and hugged the other girl, gently. There was nothing wrong with hugging, right?

Hugging. Okay, Layla could handle hugging. You know, aside from how she was totally concentrating on the fact that Sarah was pressed up against her. Yeah, no totally fine, right? She hugged the other girl back, heart somewhere in her throat, and just barely managed to not kiss her when they pulled away from one another. Obviously some distance was needed here if Layla wasn't gonna go crazy so she got up on her feet, hands sliding out from around Sarah to find her hands. The blond half-smirked and half-smiled when she braced herself and tugged on Sarah's hands. "C'mon you. We have fort building to do." And then she pulled Sarah up to her feet. "You're on cookie duty," she added, nodded to Sarah's abandoned plate of cookies.

Layla hugged her back, so she knew that all was well. Sarah was extremely relieved that the other girl hadn't recoiled from the contact, and after several heartbeats they moved apart, getting to their feet. She smiled as Layla helped her up, gladly squeezing her hands before standing up. "Ok, we do, that fort's not gonna build itself, is it? Unless you have some kind of magical mattresses that transform into forts on their own or something." Which was just weird so she stopped talking, still holding onto the other girl's hands. Sarah looked over at the plate of cookies as Layla mentioned them, then chuckled. "Right, cookies, gotcha." Which would mean letting go so... she waited another second or two, squeezing Layla's hands for a second before letting go to get the plate. That meant walking away from Layla too, for the first time since they fell to the floor, but they'd be heading to her room soon enough so it was ok.

* * * * *

You could find almost anything in the mansion. That's why Layla was pulling on a long piece of twine to raise up the sheet that was draped over it. She tied the end of it to her closet's doorknob and admired their work. The mattress from the spare bed was propped against a wall with a sheet tucked behind it and stretching out to tuck into a dresser drawer. After they had relocated the dresser, of course. A piece of twine had been tacked into the walls above that sheet so other sheets could hang off of it to make the other walls. In order to make an easy entrance they had tied a second piece of twine onto that one and attached it to the doorknob. It also let them hang a sheet to cover that last bit of gap.

Inside the fort Layla's own mattress lay on the floor. It was piled with just about every blanket and pillow the two girls had between them, going so far as to ferry stuff from Sarah's bed to add to the pile. The ceiling of the fort was low enough that Layla could see Sarah over it's roof on the other side of the room. "TADA! I feel like I should like pilfer candles. But like, tea light things that have covers so we don't burn the roof down. Or a night light! Seems more appropriate."

Sarah was quite proud of their little fort. They had put a lot of effort into it, and it was leagues ahead of anything her and Jessie had built as kids. The whole time while they'd been building it she'd been thinking back to what had happened in the tv room, what they'd been doing, and more importantly why. Well, she knew why, because it had been enjoyable, she figured, but was that because she had feelings for Layla, feelings more than friendship? And even if she did, were they reciprocated? It was all pretty confusing but the distraction of building the fort had helped to ease all that heavy thinking. Now, though, the fort was done, so back to thinking things over it was.

"Yeah, a night light would be better, don't want to burn the place down or anything, heh. Plus it'd probably get too warm then." Like it had been warm earlier maybe? Ack. "But, uh, it's comfy though, I think we did an awesome job!" Sarah looked around the fort, taking in their work, jumping up and down a bit on the mattress. "So, now we... don't watch movies, right?" That came out without her really thinking about it, but someone had to say it so it might as well have been her.

Repressing a smile when Sarah brought up not watching movies was practically impossible so Layla didn't even try. "No. Well, close. But first!" She pointed up at the ceiling like she had a great idea. "First there needs to be night light scouring and acquiring. And I thiiiiiink I know where to find one. So you, uh, break in the fort and I will be back. Right? Right!" A second later she was out the door, closing it behind her with Sarah inside. 'Cause, damn, Layla needed to totally have her head on straight before she got in the fort with Sarah. Building the fort had gone a long way to dissipating the tension - tension? was it tension? whatever it was... - between them. And Layla had to sort of brace herself for the possible reprisal of, well, close proximity and whatever might come with that. So she ran away. With a purpose but still, she ran off to find a night light and may have gone down to the first floor since she was pretty sure there was something plugged into a bathroom or hallway or something down there. And it would give her more time to try to figure out how to like exist and shit.

Sarah blinked as Layla fled the room. She had opened her mouth and gotten "O-" out before it had closed, pausing before adding "...k." That was a little weird. Hopefully it wasn't a bad thing because, well, that'd be bad. She really loved hanging out with Layla and she didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that. Hopefully the hug hadn't been crossing a line of some sort, had it? No, she didn't think so, the other girl had returned it easily enough. Looking around, the fort was pretty dark, so it did make sense that they'd need some light. She was just going to get that, that was all, it was nothing. Yeah. Sarah told her self that a few more times in an attempt to full buy it and made herself comfortable in the fort. She had already taken her shoes off so she wouldn't hurt the mattress, and now she went over to one of the corners of the fort, sitting down cross legged and wiggling around a bit to get comfy. That seemed like a good spot, but then she realized she was up against one of the walls and where would Layla sit? No, they'd need more room if they were going to... whatever it was they did before. So she scooted over more to the middle of the fort, then got settled in there while waiting for Layla to return.

She wasn't really gone that long, but she was breathing a little heavily when she returned. Apparently halfway down the hall Layla had decided she didn't actually wanna be gone that long so she had jogged around and run down and back up the stairs on her journey. Because she was totally slick like that. Layla at least had the presence of mind to walk the last bit to her suite so she'd, you know, not be like panting when she got back to her room. That'd be awkward.

"I come bearing light!" she announced, and messed with the light switch so the lights flashed on and off. A moment later her head poked into the fort and Layla grinned. After crawling through the fort - and, in fact, over Sarah - to plug in the night light she had pilfered, she left the fort again. "Prepare for awesomeness!" And then she turned out the real lights. "Okay, not like awesome awesomeness but there was an effect. Or like something. Okay, just don't question these things." Layla was back in the fort, crawling over the mattress toward Sarah. Aaaaand she hadn't thought about this part. The what does she do and where does she go now part. Damn.

Looking up at their sheet ceiling while sitting on her knees next to Sarah, Layla frowned. "We should've looked for star sheets so we could have a starry sky. Maybe we can like draw constellations on this one. But, um, it'd be like sharpie dots and that's not really the same, huh?"

Looking up as the door opened and Layla announced the arrival of light, Sarah grinned. She raised her hands and clapped a little bit even for her. "Woo! Yay for light!" Moving to allow Layla to crawl over her, she brushed back some of her own hair and watched her plug in the light and then leave again. "Ok, I'm ready for awesomeness!" She giggled as Layla went on and then oooh'd at the nightlight as it became the only light source. Then she was back inside and they were both wondering about the what to do part now.

"Well, yeah, we could. Or we could just imagine them, maybe? Like... hmm." Sarah laid down on her back, looking up at the sheet. "Like right there, that looks like the Big Dipper! Kinda." It was just a wrinkle in the sheet that didn't really look like much of anything but they could always pretend, couldn't they? "And over there, that's... another one, I don't know it's name." She looked over at Layla expectantly, patting the spot beside her.

You can totally play this off all casual and shit, Miller, Layla told herself and laid down next to Sarah. Their shoulders met, a faint warmth more than a real sensation of contact. Their arms between them laid next to each other, lightly touching from shoulder to elbow and the sides of their hands. Layla's fingers twitched a little to just sort of reach over but she resisted. She shifted, squinting up at Sarah's imaginary constellation, until her leg just barely brushed up next to and then laid still touching the other girl's leg.

It was not lost on Layla that she was here, laying next to someone wanting more contact when she was usually Personal Bubble Girl. It wasn't lost on her that she basically wanted Sarah in her bubble and everyone else to stay out of it. "Maybe that's Orion. You know, that sorta looks like this belt," she said, pointing at another wrinkle with the hand laying on her empty side. Maybe it was a shadow and not a wrinkle.

Turning her head as Layla laid down next to her, Sarah smiled and then pointed up at the second faux constellation again. "Ahhh, ok, I see what you mean. That could be his belt, maybe." She paused and thought for a second. "Wait, is Orion a guy or a girl?" It didn't go unnoticed that their legs were now touching, which was more than ok with her. "There's no stars for like a beard, or for long hair, so I dunno." She pointed up at the spot again but with her other hand, the one closest to Layla, she rested it on her leg, with part of it tentatively touching the other girl. Part of her wanted to go back to the way they were arranged before but, well, how could you just ask that? 'hey, please get on top of me again?' No, that wouldn't do at all.

"Orion's a guy. He's a hunter. Supposed to have a bow and arrow. I think he only gets like one star for his head, though." She reached up again, trying to trace the bow where she thought it was supposed to go, which probably wasn't anywhere near the right spot. This time it had been the hand closer to Sarah that had moved specifically so when it came down it could brush against Sarah's. One finger even lingered a little, tempted to hook onto one of Sarah's fingers but unsure if she wanted to be so...bold. Wow, how lame was she that holding a finger counted as bold?

"Ahh, ok, gotcha." She squinted at the wrinkle again, thinking hard to try and pick it out for a second before she realized that, well, they were just looking at a blanket. It was something else to think about than the girl beside her though, which immediately came back to the forefront when their fingers touched. Finger holding was a minor thing in the larger sense of things, but to them specifically it was kind of huge. She kept her hand where it was, touching Layla's, pushing against the other girl's hand a little. She turned her head and looked over at her, not sure what exactly she should say but wanting to look at her. The light was dim, being a nightlight and all, and she admired the way it bounced off of her blonde hair, brightening parts of it while other parts were darker. "Your hair looks nice like that, with the light, you know?"

The push back was what caused Layla to decide 'fuck it, why not?' So her pinkie stretched out and hooked around the first finger it came across. Layla totally pretended nothing had happened. Well, as best she could. On the bright side the night light wouldn't give away her blushing like normal light would have. And, wait, what was Sarah saying about her hair? Layla turned to look at her, mostly to give her a really confused look. Only once she had turned her head enough she realized how close they were. Again. In an instant she was literally biting back the urge to scoot a little closer somehow. Lower lip trapped between her teeth, she worried at it for a moment looking somewhere between embarrassed and shy. "Um, thanks. I mean, uh. I dunno. I don't really, um, think of my hair. I guess. Do I look angelic?" The last was a joke and Layla gave herself massive points for pulling off the right tone to make it obvious.

When she felt Layla's pinkie wrapping around one of her own Sarah smiled a little wider, which may or may not have been visible in the low light. She wasn't going to comment on it however and just went on like it was normal. "You're welcome. It's just, you know, a nice effect. Not that I don't like the way your hair looks when it's brighter or anything, it's just the whole layers or whatever you call them. Different shades, like, like this-" She reached out with her far hand - she wasn't going to let go of Layla's finger - and pointed at part of Layla's hair, touching it lightly. "This part looks lighter than this part-" She pointed to a darker part of her hair, that was closer to her neck. "It's just kinda cool, you know. Pretty." She was looking straight in Layla's eyes as she spoke, her voice almost a whisper again like it had been back in the rec room.

Layla was back to chewing on her lip. It was the near touches. Or maybe the way Sarah was looking at her. She almost wanted to flinch or drop her eyes, but she didn't. Maybe it was because Layla had such a weakness for Sarah's eyes. "Your eyes almost look black. Except," she reached across, brushing the back of a finger down along the curve from the end of her eyebrow. "Except this side. But it's like, warm like chocolate and fades darker." Layla blushed a little and her eyes dropped. "I'm not sure that makes sense if you can't see it."

Sarah watched Layla as she moved her hand toward her, finger reached out and lightly touching her. It was pretty warm in here - her cheeks were flush if she wasn't mistaken, though it was probably hard to see in the dark - but as Layla's finger made contact a shiver ran through her body. She blinked but didn't look away, still keeping her eyes on the other girl's face even as she touched her. "Mmm, I can't see it but I'll take your word on it. It feels warm, well, my cheeks are. I bet yours are too, like before." Swallowing the lump that had somehow gotten in her throat, she dared to gently touch Layla's cheek with the back of her hand to see if it was in fact warm. It was definitely soft, that much was for sure.

Her finger trailed down Sarah's cheek to her chin. "Little warm, yeah." Her voice was quiet again, finally coming down to match Sarah's. There was no doubt in Layla's mind that her cheeks were warm. Maybe even beyond just warm. And she knew why. Was that why Sarah's cheek was warm? Layla's eyes flashed down to the other girl's cheeks from her eyes but it wasn't really bright enough to tell. Light hit the brunette's cheek bones but it was little more than a glowing highlight.

Pulling Sarah's clasped finger along, Layla's arm shifted so she could prop herself up on her elbow and look down at Sarah. She was still trying to figure out if the brunette was blushing too. "So're mine warm? Think I got a fever?" she teased, free hand falling to Sarah's hip in a close mirror of where it had been back in the rec room earlier. Her touch was light, only fingertips. In the dim light it was somehow easier, less nerve wrecking. She watched the glow where the light caught in Sarah's eyes and her fingertips skated up and down along the outside of the brunette's hip absently. Truthfully, Layla didn't even quite realize she was doing it.

"Just a bit." Sarah moved her hand against Layla's cheek again, turning her hand so her thumb was now brushing against the girl's soft, warm flesh. "I don't know if it's a fever but whatever it is I think that I've got it too, or it feels like... I feel it too." It was her turn to bite her lip now, and she looked away for a second or two before looking back up at the blonde girl, now in the pretty much the same position they had been in the rec room earlier. Only now they were in Layla's room, in their own little fort, their own little world.

And then Layla's hand was on her hip again like before. Sarah took a deep breath and moved her hand, the one that had Layla's pinkie wrapped around one of her fingers, moving apart from it just for as long as it took for her to intertwine her fingers with the other girl's fingers, her other hand still on the blonde's face but moving to her ear, brushing back some more of her hair, darker there where the light was blocked a little.

Even if Layla was trying to convince herself that Sarah totally didn't mean that thing about feeling it too the fingers lacing through her own made a pretty strong case against that argument. Damn. Just...damn. Her hand on Sarah's hip paused, stilling as she tried to figure out what to do. What did she risk if she was wrong? She risked the person she hung out with the most totally disappearing on her and being way weird around her all the time. Which, okay, that would suck. Actually that would suck a lot. But... But how much would it suck to just like wonder? To not be sure? To like convince herself it's one thing when maybe...maybe it wasn't.

Layla's head tilted into Sarah's hand. She was obviously considering something. Her hand shifted on Sarah's hip, palm flattening against the curve of Sarah's body there. Then Layla muttered a very, very quiet, "Fuck it," and leaned down. There was a moment of hesitation, of being strangled with panic because she hadn't ever done this before. With anyone. And then she forced herself to do it anyway, to close that last little bit of space until her lips pressed against Sarah's. Sink or swim, right?

There was a lot to risk in taking the chance, it was true, and that had run through Sarah's mind as well. Not being able to hang out with Layla, that would be devastating, and if they'd always be awkward around each other after it'd never go away. That would be almost unbearable, to be sure. What they stood to gain, however, if there really was something there that they both felt... that was something that was worth the risk. At least she sure hoped it was. Layla's reaction confirmed that it was the right move, as she moved toward her hand, making Sarah smile.

When Layla leaned in even further a million thoughts ran through Sarah's mind. How did one kiss anyway? She'd never kissed anyone before, shouldn't she be practicing on the back of her hand or something first? How was her breath, ohmygosh, what did she have to eat for supper again? Hopefully it wasn't that bad, or still lingering on her breath. Were you supposed to breathe before kissing, or could you somehow do it while you were, or how did you position your mouth, and- and then Layla's lips were touching hers. All those thoughts disappeared as her eyes closed, pressing back slightly with her own lips. She had no idea what she was doing, she was flying blind, but that was definitely the right word, flying, because wow. She sighed a little, squeezing Layla's hand.

Her hand squeezed Sarah's back, trying to be really gentle because her stomach was like doing flips and it would've been way too easy to squeeze too much in some vain effort to assert control over her stupid acrobatic stomach. Was it bad that her brain was like trying to translate what her stomach was doing to stuff Herr Wuschelig had taught her on the trapeze? Oh jesus, she just had to like calm down. Calm down. Breathe. Wait, breathing meant like stopping kissing, didn't it? Maybe it didn't. Layla tilted her head a little more and pulled in a deep breath. Okay, that seemed to work. Awesome. The kiss began to break slowly but was reclaimed just as gently and slowly, the kiss becoming something of a series of nearly but never quite entirely broken kisses.

And the whole time all Layla could think in the forefront of her mind was, Holy shit, I'm kissing Sarah. I'm kissing Sarah. Don't fuck it up. Don't fuck it up.

Layla did not try to be adventurous. She didn't try to take it too far or deep or intense or whatever other words people used in crappy romance novels and shit. The kisses were soft and simple and light, but they made everything inside her sort of tense and light up and get fuzzy and flippy and...it was amazing. When their lips finally broke apart Layla whispered, "I wanted to do that...for like a really long time," with her eyes still mostly closed. When had she closed them? She didn't even remember doing that.

Holding Layla's hand had been the best decision she'd made in a long, long time, not only because, well, they were actually kissing now in part because of that, but also because otherwise she wouldn't really know what to do with that hand. Heck, Sarah wasn't even sure she knew what to do with her other hand, which was still holding onto the side of Layla's head. It felt like she should be doing something with it, didn't they touch each other's faces while kissing in the movies? She wasn't sure so she just let instinct take over and her fingertips brushed down, trailing down the side of Layla's neck as they kissed.

She wasn't about to be adventurous either, and even if she'd wanted to push the envelope she had no idea how to do something like that anyway. No, these kisses, just basic lips on lips, pressing together, they were more than enough for her. Her mind raced, wondering what all of this mean. Did this mean she liked girls now? Well, that wasn't really a total shock to her, but she'd never really thought in depth about whether she liked liked girls before. What about guys? All of those thoughts were suddenly more important now and would have to be answered sooner rather than later, but at that precise moment she could let them slide. She sighed contentedly and pressed against Layla's lips again, not sure how long a first kiss or series of kisses should be but not really caring if they'd gone over such a limit if one did in fact exist.

There was zero resistance on Layla's part. Not talking was good. Actually, not talking was probably better. No more talking. Talking be damned. Returning Sarah's renewed kiss was a way better option. Like a way, way better option. Eventually they'd probably have to stop. For, um, maybe for breathing. Or like if someone's arm went to sleep. Or their lips went numb. Ohmigod, could lips go numb from kissing too much? How much kissing would that take? Could Layla like try to attain that? Like a goal or a victory or something. How many people kissed enough that they lost feeling in their lips?

Layla shifted, turning more until her leg hooked around one of Sarah's and now they were exactly back to how they'd been in the rec room with Layla half laying atop Sarah but keeping herself braced on her elbow. Because, well, Sarah was pretty tiny and Layla didn't wanna crush her even if like half her height was awkward ostrich legs or something. And why was she thinking about her ostrich legs when she was kissing Sarah? Why was her brain totally like malfunctioning? No, she had to focus. She wasn't gonna like get sore from being twisted weirdly anymore so like the important thing was kissing Sarah.

God, like the most important thing in. the. world. was kissing Sarah. All other things were totally not important. At all. Ever again. Period.

There was definitely no room for talking, and no breath for doing so even if they wanted, since each and every bit of air Sarah managed to get into her lungs was expended in keeping her lips pressed against Layla's. Her hand moved again, to the back of the other girl's head, fingers intertwined in the blonde's hair much like the fingers of their hands were still woven together. And then Layla moved and had her leg around one of Sarah's, just like before. Why hadn't they kissed back then? It seemed like such an obvious thing now, like they should've been doing this ages ago.

After another few kisses Sarah reluctantly pulled back, not because she wanted to stop but because she needed to catch her breath. As she pulled away she realized that her heart was racing, when did that start? Probably with the kissing but she hadn't realized it until just then. Her lips pulled up into a smile, her hand still behind Layla's head and playing with her hair. "Oh, Layla. Wow." That was all she could come up with at that moment, sorry.

Lip caught by her teeth once more, Layla smiled sheepishly. "That's a good wow, right? Not like a 'Wow, I must be trippin' on Megan's dust' kind of wow, right?" It was hard to hide the hopeful note in her vote. She'd been so good at trying to hide it before. But, well...kissing. And hand holding, and all hidden away together and alone and on top of each other and all...yeah. It totally destroyed her ability to even attempt to be nonchalant about this. Nonchalance went out the window, fell to the ground and shattered all over the place. Nonchalance was a mess.

"Oh yeah, definitely, yes." She nodded emphatically just in case it wasn't clear that this was a Good Thing. Just in case she wasn't sure, Sarah leaned up and quickly pecked Layla on the nose, grinning as she laid her head back down. "No tripping at all, nuh-uh. I mean, not on pixie dust or anything bad, just on... you know. Feelings." As in a natural high over what had just transpired; the rush of blood to the head; the pitter patter of her heart threatening to burst free of her chest, the nervous tingling in her extremities. Speaking of which, she loosened her grip on Layla's hand, not to pull away but just for fear she'd leave a permanent mark or some such indentation on the other girl's hand. "Good feelings." She couldn't deny how she felt about Layla now, then. Those feelings had always been there, waiting to get out, and now they would wait no longer.

The blonde's nose wrinkled up as an instinctive reaction to the kiss, but it came with a smile. "Good. Good that's...good. I mean. I'm glad. You know, that it's good feelings." Hello, awkward! It was funny how Layla could feel sort of stupidly happy and be this awkward about it. "So, you're uh...trippin' on feelings? Are you gonna start staring at like floating pink hearts and sparkly flowers or something now?" Layla grinned just a little bit, some of her sheepish shyness fading.

She laughed at the reaction, glad there was a smile along with it however. "Yeah, me too." Sarah stopped for a second, wondering if Layla felt the same. Which was silly of her because, well, they'd just made out for awhile there, if she hadn't been feeling the same way then that wouldn't have happened, but still. "You have them too, right? The good feelings, I mean." They were right back to Awkwardville again, Population 2. "Hah, nope. Well. Valentine's Day is coming up, so maybe everyone will be soon enough."

Layla blinked. Valentine's Day. Oh, shit. Was she gonna have to think up something awesome and sweet and like...um, schmoopy? They weren't exactly, um, a thing. Were they a thing? They were, uh...friends? Who kissed? Who really liked to kiss? Oh shit, were they gonna have to do this whole figuring things out thing so Layla would know if she had to go do something really sappy for her? And why did Layla automatically assume it was her responsibility to plan this stuff? "I, well, yeah. I mean, unless I just like hallucinated all that and you didn't. 'Cause, um, I thought it was sorta obvious. That I do. Have feelings, I mean." Layla wrinkled her nose. "I mean, for you." Oh...so awkward. If she wasn't bodily attached to Sarah she totally would have wanted the floor to open up and swallow her right there.

There was a lot to figure out for sure, and some of those same questions were going through Sarah's head. How was this going to change their friendship? Or was it a relationship now? It had definitely changed, that much was obvious, though Sarah didn't have the foggiest as to what to do now or where to go next. "Oh yeah, that was, um. Enthusiastic." She grinned, blushing at the thought of them kissing just moments ago. She looked down at their hands still together, then back up at Layla. Yeah, it was definitely mutual then. "Like I do for you. So, yeah." Well, that was settled, but as for what happened next? No idea.

Layla wasn't sure what to say anymore. She sort of just wanted to kiss Sarah again because kissing was sorta, in a way, more effective than talking. Since Sarah was apparently unsure about how much Layla felt and things... A very bare brush of lips against Sarah's followed and Layla had that same shy look on her face again when she pulled back. "Are you-are you still gonna stay tonight?" The blonde grabbed her lip with her teeth once more, trying to ignore that hopeful tone she had and how it made her think of a puppy not wanting to get kicked. God, why couldn't she just like act normal or something?

Actions did speak louder than words, and Layla's soft kiss left Sarah with her eyes still closed even after the blonde girl had pulled away and asked her a question. Slowly opening her eyes, Sarah just smiled and nodded her head. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that I will. If it's ok, that is." She knew that it'd be ok with Layla of course but what about the teachers, or her suitemate, or Sarah's for that matter? Would they notice she was gone? Probably not just for one night, it wasn't like she was running away or anything. She was still in the building, just not in her own bedroom. It was in Layla's bedroom, which she didn't share, so it'd be ok.

She wasn't gonna leave. That meant she probably wasn't gonna like freak out and run away and change her mind or something. And damn was that a relief. "Why would I ask if it wasn't okay?" Sarah had the weirdest ideas sometimes. But Layla made her stance pretty damn clear when she straightened her arm out so she could drop down to lay on her side. Her leg moved to stretch completely across Sarah and it along with Layla's hand on the other girl's hip pulled her in closer until her side met Layla's stomach, their clasped hands pulled up and out of the way to rest on the pillow above Sarah's head. Layla didn't move her leg or her hand, simply dropped her head to rest on her arm and looked at Sarah with a tiny smile on her face. "I want you to stay."

No matter what other questions that were going to come after that - and there would be a lot, for sure - there was no question that she had feelings for Layla, and she definitely wanted to stay with her. Sarah did her best to wall up those questions for now, let them hold their ground for at least one night. "Good, because I want to stay. So I will." With that she leaned in, cuddling close into Layla, and just simply enjoyed being with her for the moment without worrying about any of the larger implications of the same. That night they had each other and they had the fort, and that was all they needed.