Ready? Not Really.. (Fem USUK) •IN EDITING•

Amelia

A/N:
TWENTY FUCKING VIEWS FROM FOUR THOUSAND
GAHHHH
WHAT EVEN
THANKS??????? IDK WHAT IM DOING RIGHT IM LITERALLY JUST THROWING UP GAY SHIT ONTO A WORD DOCUMENT BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP EVERY NIGHT????
THANKS THO
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Alice came into our room in a rush of cold air and with smeared makeup caked on her face. Even with the foundation, she looked exhausted. Dark circles made her look more raccoon than high school student, and I was really beginning to worry if Alice was getting enough sleep between practice.
"Hey, princess," I said. Alice glanced at me but didn't come up with a retort, instead half-closing-half-slamming the door behind her. "Christ, did it go that bad?"
"No," she said simply. I watched her in confusion. There wasn't any reason for her to already be so pissy when nothing even happened. Typical, though. Alice made her way to my bed where I was laying on my back. She sat down with a heavy grunt and copied my position. "Just tired." My heart raced at how close her face was. Traces of red lipstick were still on her lips. I would have gladly kissed it away.
"You need to, like, actually sleep. Not just take catnaps after classes."
"That's wasting daylight." She raised her eyebrows at me. "I have homework and-"
"I mean, I can always do your homework."
Alice looked startled before a frown settled on her face. "Not a chance. That's cheating." I opened my mouth to argue, but she shook her head. "Your handwriting doesn't look the least bit like mine. You don't even fill in the circles over your i's."
I rolled my eyes. "So I can't help you by doing your homework because you don't like how I dot letters?"
"No, Amelia. I won't let you do it because it's not fair to you." Alice nestled her head onto my shoulder. Suddenly, I was aware of how lame I must've looked in an oversized hoodie of some soccer team I've never heard of and with my hair sticking up from humidity. Thankfully, Alice was too tired to actually comment on it, and her eyes were half-closed despite just getting comfortable. Was it bad to wish misfortune on your crush just so she wouldn't notice your disgusting fashion choices? "I can do my own shit."
"Can I at least, like, do your laundry?" Alice snorted in disbelief. "...Or something?"
"If you put a goddamn red sock in with my whites-"
"So yes?" I sat up, causing Alice's head to bonk down onto my pillow. She looked fairly annoyed.
"Why exactly do you want to handle my underwear?"
My face heated up. I pushed my hair back in nervous habit and fell back onto the bed. "Okay, just let me be nice to you, you piece of shit. Like, open your heart to some friendly chore-doing."
"I can tell you love me by how you call me a piece of shit. Very endearing, I must say."
I eyed Alice out of the corner of my peripheral vision. She said I loved her, as pathetic as it was for me to get so anxious about her sarcastic declaration. Alice didn't look the least bit concerned about what she had said, instead just picking at her nails distractedly. God, she probably didn't even realise she said it. I felt angry at myself for nitpicking Alice's speech for some reassurance that my actions and advances on her were okay. Alice focused her gaze onto my face. "Doesn't Maddie do your laundry any- Jesus, Amelia. You look like you've seen a ghost."
Fuck, I was so obvious.
"You practically are a ghost since you're so pale," I retorted. Awesome job, me. You saved the day by insulting your crush when she was worried about you. God-freaking-damn it.
"Excuse me for not doing backflips in the sun all day like you," Alice sighed. She moved away from me enough that our legs weren't even touching. Fuck me.
"Sorry," I muttered weakly.
"Wash my crap and maybe I'll forgive you," Alice said. She smiled lazily up at me. "Or you can go get Maddie to do it. Whichever works."
"No way!" I sat up again, and Alice sighed in what sounded like frustration. "I'll learn how to wash clothes myself!"
"Good," she interrupted. "You are literally seventeen and can't wash your panties."
"I don't need anyone's help because I'm totally independent from everyone else!" I propped myself on my elbow. Alice's face contorted strangely at what I said, as if a sudden memory had flooded into her brain.
"Yes, you are," she said painfully.
I brushed off her shift in attitude. "And, ultimately, I'll help you because you're acting like an eighty year old man."
Alice rolled her eyes. "I don't know whether to be thankful you're helping me or offended at your perception of me."
"The first one is good," I said, leaning over her body. Alice smiled and pulled at my sweatshirt, lowering me on top of her so that our lips met. I was nervous, though. My heart pounded so strongly in my chest that I was convinced Alice could hear it. What if I was just like Fran to her? Another high school fling, that is. It pained me to think that way, but there wasn't any other explanation for kissing your friend without any love involved. And if she did actually feel how I did...
Why did she never say it?
Alice gripped the fabric around my neck tighter. "Kiss me back," she breathed against my face.
"Okay."
And I did.
~•~•~•~
So clothes.
Washing clothes.
Yeah.
A little tougher than I thought.
At least five girls were in and out of the laundry room before I could even figure out whether to use hot or cold water. I spent at least five minutes on my phone trying to confirm which temperature to use by clicking on numerous websites (I was somewhat offended when they all assumed I was a hopeless guy trying to figure out his girlfriend's washer machine. Girls can have trouble, too, y'know!). After that, I had to roam around the room to find detergent. Then I had to smell the detergents to see which one I thought Alice usually smelled like and-
Do you see the point? I just really fucking suck, alright? I'd be the worst girlfriend.
Finally I got all the shit figured out and started pulling clothes from Alice's hamper. If we ever actually started dating, there was no way in hell I was going to do the laundry.
But dating her would be nice.
Really nice.
I started smiling goofily and couldn't force the corners of my mouth to go down.
"Holy shit," I heard a familiar voice say from the door of the room. I looked up and saw Maddie leaning against the doorframe, a grin on her face. "Alice texted me that you were here. But... This is a new sight."
"You're hilarious." I threw a few socks into the washer machine, picking them up only with my nails and handling them like radioactive substances. To be totally honest, they kinda were.
"No, seriously, this is amazing. I need to record this." Maddie pulled out her phone and held it in front of her face as she presumably started taking a video of me. "Mom is going to start sobbing. Oh, geez, and Dad.. He might call a doctor."
"You're an idiot."
Maddie eventually got bored with her joke and stowed her phone back into her pocket before going over to my side of the room. "Why exactly are you venturing out where you've never gone before?"
"Alice," I grumbled.
"As I figured." She hopped onto the top of a washer next to mine that wasn't being used. Maddie crossed her ankles and raised her eyebrows as I picked up a few shirts. "Ah, you know darks and lights are separate?"
I frowned. "What?"
Maddie snorted and covered her face. "The, um, dark shirts and the light shirts are not mixed," she explained slowly and painfully. "Darks plus whites equal no-no. We don't want that."
"You're a fucking asshole," I snapped. I took out all the light shirts anyways. "Did you actually come down here just to tease me?"
She swung her legs and shrugged. "Well, Gil is in detention, Alice is taking a nap, and I don't feel like going to tutorials for science so..." Maddie nodded. "Yep. I did."
Fantastic.
My twin actually decided to walk all the way out of the dormitory to go and make fun of me.
"I feel very loved," I sighed. I picked up some bundle of fabric and separated one piece of clothing from another. "Really, thank you so much." After a moment I realised it was a pile of underwear. "Invite the paparazzi why don't you?" I frowned and peeled away a strip that I assumed was just a loose string from the others, and Jesus Christ, Alice has a black fucking thong. My face turned red almost immediately at the thought of her wearing that under her clothes. What did a thong even cover?
"Oooh," Maddie said.
"Don't start." I tossed the butt floss into the washer. "And never speak of it."
"But if you two were dating," Maddie began.
"Stop it."
"Imagine it, though-"
"Maddie."
"Seriously-"
"Madeline."
"Okay, okay," she laughed. "I'll stop."
I glared at her and practically threw the rest of the darks in the washer at lightning speed. "I hate you. Go to your dumbass tutoring."
"Who do we hate?" Alice called from the door. Oh, fuck, no.
"Me." Maddie smiled at her friend as she lumbered over to where we were talking. "Hey, sleeping beauty."
Alice's eyelids were dropping shut, and she swayed in place when she stood still. Red lines streaked across her face and arms like little paths across her skin. She yawned into her hand with a long groan. "I'm hardly a sleeping beauty." Hell, she was still gorgeous even when she looked like shit. "I wanted to make sure my stuff isn't going to be shrunk down to doll clothing."
"You both have so little faith in me," I complained. Alice smiled slightly and wandered over to me.
"For a start, you somehow get your sister to do your laundry for seven years." She laid her head on my shoulder and played with the fingers of my right hand. "And second, you have three detergent bottles sitting open in a row."
"Shit," I mumbled, reaching over and putting the caps on each one. It was significantly harder to do with only one hand, but totally worth the extra trouble. Anything to keep Alice by my side a little longer. "Go back to sleep." I tugged her hand.
"You're going to ruin my closet," she argued.
"You need to fucking rest for more than six seconds." People were starting to watch us, surprised. I would be too. It was weird that I let Alice anywhere near me after insulting her behind her back for so long. It made me feel both more protective of her under the stares and more awkward because I wasn't used to it at all. "Ally, please go lay down."
She followed my eyes to a cluster of girls looking at us with narrowed eyes and eyebrows drawn together. Alice immediately deflated and backed away from me. "Yeah, whatever." I realised I must've looked shallow to her for trying to push her back to our room after worrying about stupid people judging us. I didn't give a damn if anyone knew I loved Alice. Anything to end the crap I had started against her do long ago.
"Hey, Alice," I called after her. "Wait." She froze in place and whipped around to glare at me. Hesitantly, I approached her until we were only a few inches apart. Alice had to tilt her head back to see my eyes. Her hands were in fists at her sides, knuckles white from how tightly she clenched her fingers. I must've managed to piss her off pretty badly.
"Just wash my goddamn clothes," she whispered, taking a step away from me. "I'll get away from you so that your stupid reputation is fine if that's what you-"
I closed the gap between us and grabbed her hips. Alice only had a split second to gasp before I kissed her on the lips, pushing her against a wall. Her hands opened up and she rested them on my shoulders.
I broke away only after a few moments, but it was more than enough time to prove my point: I was okay with being seen with her, platonically or romantically. "I don't care about that," I said softly. "Just go take a nap and rest."
"Alright," she mumbled. "Yeah." Alice took my face and kissed me again, as if maybe for reassurance of what I had done. "Okay, cool," she stuttered out. "Thanks for, um, yeah." She turned away and rushed out of the room, her hands shoved into her pockets and her shoulders hunched over in embarrassment. Her bright red ears were the last thing I saw before she disappeared out of sight.
"That was a thing," Maddie said. Her eyes were wide in shock. "I wasn't at all prepared for that."
"Well, y'know." I rubbed the back of my neck.
"Sure."
I glanced back at where the group of girls had been. They had vanished during the whole thing and not a single one had stayed behind. I thought back to their faces, and my stomach hurt when I realised I recognised one of them. A cheerleader.
"Fuck," I sighed, kicking the washing machine closed.
"Yeah," Maddie agreed distractedly, staring up at the ceiling tiles as if they were suddenly different than they had been two minutes before.
If my confusion wasn't bad enough, now I had created talk for myself.
Great.