curiosity

Five

a few days later they were all out at the outlets. emerson and juniper walked together while archi and oliver walked ahead talking about the next level of their new video game. juniper looked up at emerson and smiled softly.

"how did you know you liked girls?" emerson almost choked on her own spit. the question was not something she wasn't excepting to hear from juniper.

"what?" she asked, looking down at june.

"how did you know you were a lesbian?" she asked again casually.

"uhm, well, i guess from when i kissed a boy and threw up afterwards." juniper giggled.

"why do you ask?" emerson asked while looking down at the dark haired girl.

"just wondering." she hummed and dropped the subject. as the day went on emerson thought more and more about why juniper would ask that and the only thing she could come up with was that maybe she was questioning herself. oliver and juniper left to go to a restaurant the other two didn't really like, which left them looking for what to get for lunch together.

"why would she ask that?" emerson's asked archi, who only shrugged while scrolling through restaurants.

"maybe she was just wondering." emerson scoffed.

"in the years that she's known me she's never been curious until now?" the red head shrugged with an annoyed sigh.

"i don't know, maybe... i'm just saying don't get your hopes up." emerson knew he was probably right, but she wasn't going to admit it.
~~~
after two weeks of not hanging with the group emerson heard a knock at the door. she stood from the comfort of her bed and opened the door, smiling at the sight of juniper.

"hi." she cooed, welcoming the brunette in. but the happiness wasn't reciprocated. instead june seemed upset and confused.

"i think i just made the biggest mistake of my life." she said hurriedly, collapsing into emerson's chest.

"what happened?" she asked, softly running her fingers through the dark hair.

"i broke up with ollie last week." emerson's hand stopped after hearing this, pulling the girl from her chest.

"what, why?"

flash back
juniper had been thinking about her almost drunkenly kissing her best friend, and she wasn't disgusted by it. she wondered what would have happened if emerson didn't stop her.

she wonder what it would be like to kiss a girl. and this was what was eating her up inside. she couldn't believe this is what she was thinking about while being with oliver, and she had to tell him.

"ollie." she said while walking through the house, looking for her boyfriend.

"yes princess?" he cooed, spinning his chair around to face her. she flashed a sympathetic smile and walked to sit on his lap, feeling his hands pretty much attach to her thighs.

"i need to tell you something, and i know you might be mad at me but i can't stop thinking about it." his eyebrows furrowed and he squeezed her thighs softly.

"what, what's wrong?" she glued her eyes to her lap, too embarrassed to look at him.

"i think i want to know what it's like to be with girls." she muttered. he smiled warmly and hugged her while rubbing her back.

"that's okay, and i'm not mad.. thank you for telling me." she let out a sigh of relief, hugging onto him tighter.

"i'm sorry." she muttered, then feeling him tugging at her shirt to make her sit up.

"you don't have to apologize for that, i understand." he rubbed her cheeks with his thumb. she smiled and leaned into his hold a little more, pressing a kiss to his palm.

"i still love you.. always will." he cooed and leaned forwards to kiss her forehead.

"i love you." he let her lay back on his chest before his phone dinged.

"jason's group is going to get dinner tonight, you wanna come?" she shook her head softly.

"no thank you." he hummed and rested his arms over her back.

end of flashback
"what made you wonder that." emerson asked, hugging onto juniper tighter while rocking.

"well, i don't know.. i just dont know how to know if i like girls." emerson had thousands of ideas to help the girl figure out if she liked women, but she kept them to herself to not make it weird between them.

"well, do you think women are physically or sexually attractive." juniper shrugged.

"i don't know." she muttered into emerson's chest.

"would you kiss a girl?" she nodded, feeling her face get hot. emerson smiled and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, leading juniper to the couch.

"so, back to my question the other day.. how'd you know you like girls?" emerson's shrugged.

"i could never see myself with men, and i get uncomfortable dating them or getting intimate with them." juniper sighed.

"but i'm not uncomfortable with oliver?"

"well then you might not be a lesbian.. you could be bisexual, meaning you like men and women." june rested her face in her hands.

"god this is all so confusing." she grumbled.

"yeah, it took me awhile to come to terms with me liking women, i was always told it wasn't allowed or it wasn't normal so i thought i wasn't normal... but i'm no different than any body else." juniper just rested her forehead against the others shoulders.

"you don't even have to label yourself if you don't want to, i didn't for awhile... just whatever makes yourself comfortable.. and you don't have to be one sexuality today, you should explore different things before having a definite answer." june sat up from emerson chest and stared into her green eyes for awhile, resting her hand on emerson's thighs.

"can i, maybe.. kiss you?" she asked nervously, glancing down to her lap. emerson cupped junipers face with one hand and let the other lay on her lap.

"if you want to." emerson said. juniper went red as the other made her look up. a soft nod was all emerson needed before leaning forwards to meet the girls lips. juniper gasped softly at how emerson kissed her, how carefully she touched her. emerson hand rested down on junipers thighs as she held her face closer. juniper was first to pull away, taking deep breaths while staring into emersons eyes.

"can i kiss you again?" june asked while lifting onto her knees, scooting closer to emerson.

"please do." emerson muttered softly while leaning back in.