The Mess We Made

My Best Friend's Bed

By now Veronica was familiar with the way her best friend tasted. In the dark of night of the one bedroom apartment they shared, the outside world ceased to exist. Their world shrank to just their four walls, their own bubble for just a couple of hours. Veronica couldn't see Reina under her, but she could feel her, every dip and curve, hear her every gasp. Wet sounds filled the room.

Across from her was Veronica's empty bed, still made, because she insisted that they didn't use her bed when they did this. Reina practically lived with her boyfriend, so this was the most use Reina's bed got.

"You better not use my bed when you bring other girls home," Reina teased once.

Veronica had rolled her eyes. "I don't host," she said with finality. She had a complex about preserving the sanctity of her own home, which is why she also made it a rule that Reina couldn't bring Baltimore here and hook up here.

That wasn't the only reason why she didn't like Baltimore here, but it was the only reason Veronica was willing to admit.

Reina pulled Veronica's hair hard as her thighs squeezed her head in a vice grip. After a squeak she went boneless and Veronica trailed up Reina's body with wet marks. Reina flung her arm over her eyes as she caught her breath and Veronica let out an amused huff.

"Are you staying tonight or going out?" Veronica asked against Reina's collarbone. Reina idly ran her fingers through Veronica's short waves.

"I think Baltimore gets back from work at midnight. I have to ask." She rolled across Veronica to get her phone on the nightstand and laid on top of her naked body as she texted her boyfriend.

Veronica smacked Reina's arm and held a palm out. Without words Reina grabbed the vape pen on the table and took a hit. One hand still held her phone, but the other interlaced her fingers with Veronica's, leaving the pen in between their hands. Then Reina leaned over and pressed her lips against Veronica's and exhaled. Smoke blossomed between their mouths. Then Reina casually leaned back and went back to texting Baltimore.

Both of the girls were used to nights like this, but sometimes the sheer ridiculousness hits Veronica and she has to stare at the ceiling while she internalizes the fact that she doesn't see anything wrong with this picture. It really drove home how fucked up she was, how fucked up they both were. Lifelong best friend things, she guessed.

"Shower?" Reina asked, finally sitting up. The glow of her phone lit up her features, showing her mussed up hair and shiny skin.

"Together?"

Reina smirked and lightly slapped Veronica's stomach. "Sure but just a shower. Keep your hands to yourself."

"So you don't want me to shampoo your hair?" Veronica teased and Reina pouted.

"Of course I want you to shampoo my hair, you're taller than me, might as well. We just don't have time for a round two."

"Don't be so modest, that'd be more like round five. Besides you're the one who escalates those situations."

Reina abruptly stood up and padded towards the bathroom. She didn't reply and Veronica rolled her eyes. She knew that meant she accidentally hit a nerve. Reina never liked the insinuation that this was something she wanted, at least not desperately or constantly. They've been close friends their whole entire lives and have been basically friends with benefits for a year now, but to Reina having sex together was just a stress reliever, and it didn't count. But they didn't even have the excuse of being drunk anymore.

Earlier today Reina barged into their room while Veronica was studying and undressed herself, declaring that she had a stressful day and her boyfriend wasn't answering her texts. Then she just laid there, eying Veronica like she was prey.

Veronica's too gay to just let that slide.

Same goes for right then, hours after she initially gave in, she's too gay to just lie in bed sticky when the shower's running in the room over and there was an open invitation. So after a minute Veronica got up as well and opened the bathroom door. The fact that Reina didn't lock the door showed she wasn't too upset. Steam was already filling the room and Reina had her back towards Veronica, eyes closed with her head tilted back towards the shower head. Veronica slipped in the shower in front of her, hands gently on her waist.

"I'm pretty sure I said keep your hands to yourself." Reina's eyes were still closed, so she didn't see the little quirk of Veronica's lips. Veronica wordlessly guided Reina to turn and press her back against Veronica's chest. With their height difference Veronica's nose was pressed against damp hair. She grabbed the shampoo in front of them and began to massage Reina's head. A content sigh left Reina's lips.

The two didn't speak the entire shower, and Reina got her wish having a quick clean up. She wrapped herself up in two fluffy baby blue towels, one for her body and one for her long hair, while Veronica stood there dripping and finger combing her hair. Veronica preferred to air dry, especially if she wasn't in a rush. By the time she went back into the room, Reina was almost fully dressed.

"You left a mark on me." She complained, gesturing to the purpling mark on her upper thigh as she shimmied into her pants. Marks were against their unspoken rules.

"I didn't mean to. Maybe if you didn't press my head down so hard." It was a purposefully flippant tease that Veronica knew Reina wouldn't appreciate.

She was proven right when Reina ignored the comment and changed the subject. "We still studying together tomorrow?" she asked after flipping her hair up and shaking out the last water droplets.

"Oh yeah, I'm putting an all-nighter for this final. Remind me to reup on addy from Morgan before then. I have to wear something hot so I can get it for free."

Reina smirked again, "Not you fucking the drug girl for drugs."

"Better than you fucking the text man for texts." Veronica shot back.

Reina barked out a laugh and headed out the door with a middle finger up. "See you tomorrow then Vero."

With Reina gone the silence was actually loud. Veronica shook out her hair again and tried to shake the feeling off too. She grabbed her vape again and held the smoke in her lungs until the lightheadedness took over. When Veronica and Reina first started this, Veronica never thought twice about their hookups. She treated like any other hookup she had, treated it as less than ever, because she knew it didn't mean anything with Reina. Now Veronica ended their little stress relief sessions with more stress than when they started. She didn't know when or why things started to change, but right now she felt like her insides had been scooped out and left on the bed. Reina's bed.

Veronica stripped the sheets off of Reina's bed to throw in the washer. Another reason why it was better for them to only hook up on Reina's bed. The bare mattress would be empty tonight while Veronica could sleep peacefully on her own clean bed without waiting. She did the rest of her bedtime routine, taking a couple more hits from her vape until she was under her own blankets and her eyelids were heavy.

Veronica fell asleep like that, next to a naked mattress, vape in her hand, alone.