Exes. (wlw)

1 - Pilot

Welcome to the introductory chapter! I like to write long chapters and will aim to update minimum once a week, but sometimes more!

This chapter will introduce you to all of the main characters and set up the rest of the story. Hope you love it :)

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Nia had the sort of look that turned heads at a party like this. Admittedly, she had stolen tonight's entire aesthetic from her for-you-page. She recently found herself enthralled by the beautiful earthy women with lined, glossy lips and stacked jewelry that seemed to pop up more and more often on her feed. She frequently stopped scrolling to study these women, so much so that she couldn't decipher whether she wanted them or wanted to be them-but tonight the latter urge had won. She needed to throw together a really good look when showing up at one of these queer events, especially now that there was always the possibility that her future girl would be attending. She was wearing a long, tight green skirt and a matching top that was almost lingerie-like. It was much more risqué than her everyday wardrobe, the type of thing she only felt comfortable wearing at a queer event. Her style felt a lot less bold these days, especially without Ren by her side.

Nia always felt untouchable when she was walking around with Renee. There was something about having a tall masc by her side that allowed her to feel both scandalous and protected wherever she went. Renee always liked her in revealing clothing; tight dresses and skimpy sets. She was always very confident in her "it don't matter, I can fight" attitude. These days, Nia had to scroll pretty far back in her camera roll to skip over the Ren memories, especially because the Ren memories were the last three years of her life. When she did she was always profoundly surprised by just how much her appearance had changed within their relationship. Sometimes she brushed it off and told herself that she was three years younger in those earlier pictures so she had simply grown up in her time with Ren. But deep down she knew that Ren had impacted the person she'd grown up into. Nia grew frustrated when she realized that she was thinking about Ren again on her night out.

She was new to these parties. She never used to go to events like this. The Toronto queer scene was tricky. It was not enough to just show up to an event because it was queer, or even for women-loving-women specifically. You had to follow the right queer groups to find your people, and Nia knew that her target demographic was women of colour. Tonight's event was thrown by a group named Sapphic Serendipity. One of Sapphic Serendipity's founders was a Ghanian stud that Nia had a massive crush on. As her eyes scanned the event she couldn't help trying to find her so that she could accidentally, not so accidentally arrange a little run in between them. But if Nia was being honest with herself she probably wouldn't have the balls to do that even if she had the chance.

The pool party was hosted on the patio of a fancy lounge. As Nia made it through security and into the event her eyes not so discreetly ran up and down a wide array of beautiful women. She hadn't seen this many queer women in one place in a while and she was experiencing it differently in the wake of her breakup. Nia felt one of those rare but beautiful moments of peace and clarity that sometimes washed over her. It felt like she was ready for this. She was free, and actually felt relieved by that revelation. She no longer felt tainted by all the messiness of Ren. She didn't feel broken. She didn't feel out of place. It was one of those rare moments of excitement where she remembered the prize she was and approached the world ahead of her bright eyed and ready to be completely present in her experience. Right now that meant finding her bearings at the event, so she headed in with a slightly shy smile on her face.

That was one of Nia's things. She didn't flirt, not directly. She was a little awkward at times and not very smooth. She found it much more effective to pretend to be shy while checking a girl out blatantly, enough to get their attention and hope that her appearance would speak for itself. Nia's goal was to decipher her target's interest without ever having to make a move. This tactic was not always effective, especially with women. A lot of other queer women were passive and shy and seemed to have the same idea. But Nia was pretty good at her craft. This trick wasn't rusty either. Sometimes when Ren would really upset her, she would dress up, go out and make herself feel better by doing exactly this. She would turn them down of course, she had a girlfriend, but enough encounters in one night could serve as exactly the confidence boost she needed when Ren had messed up.