Holding Back (Lesbian Story)

Meeting the New Girl

Author's note:  So I said I wouldn't make anymore author's notes, but you're just going to have to humor me one more time.  As I'm writing this, I'm quickly coming to realize that this may seem slow, but I promise, it's just set up.  Once Leila meets Maya, hopefully the plot will pick up speed a tad bit.  Not too much though, because I hate rushed romance (declaring love and all that, not necessarily steamy make out sessions ;D )

That, my friends, is Maya -----> Over dere ----> Omnom P: ------>

Zack and Leila spent the rest of the weekend together. The evening after school was let out for the weekend, one and a half feet of snow fell on the ground to surprise many residents the next morning. Like any couple would do in winter, Zack and Leila frolicked around in the snow with their friends and staged a monumental snowball war.  Calling it a snowball fight would have been a severe understatement.  People were tackled left and right, snow was shoved mercilessly down under people's jackets, and hats and mittens were snatched and hidden from owners' views.  Leila was one of the major culprits in these mischievous acts, but not without the help of her best friend Carmen, the stereotypical bad-ass latina friend.  About an hour into the snowball war, Leila pulled her to the side of the giant field they were fighting in to talk to her about Zack.

"Hey Carmen?"  Leila asked, calling to her friend from a few feet away.  They were both hiding in some bushes around the outskirts of the field, and were waiting to pounce on their next victim.  

"Yeah chica?" Carmen asked.  From the tone of her voice, it was obvious she was engrossed in the war at hand--maybe even a little too much.  Leila figured that when Carmen was distracted would be the best time to tell her about her new intimacy with Zack...to lessen the blow of course.  Carmen, Leila and Zack had been best friends since third grade, and when Leila and Zack started going out, Carmen got a little freaky around them for a few months...she still acted weird around the two of them to this day.  Although Leila knew it would be weird to tell Carmen that she was 'doing the nasty' with Zack, Carmen was her best friend.  If Leila didn't tell her now, the consequences would be severer than Carmen acting weird.

"ZackandIslepttogetheramonthago."  Leila sighed in relief as she practically word-vomited up her confession.  Unfortunately, Carmen didn't understand a word she said.

"LEILA.  You didn't drink any coffee this morning, did you?" Carmen said, looking at her in an exasperated manner.  Leila meekly nodded at her guiltily.  She actually had had coffee that morning because she thought it would calm her down.  Carmen rolled her eyes,  "We've been over this.  You can't have coffee because it makes you incomprehensible when you talk.  Now, come again?"  She looked at Leila expectantly.

Leila sighed again and watched her words carefully, "It's not the coffee that is making me talk fast, I was just nervous because I wanted to tell you that Zack and I finally slept together around a month ago..."  She looked cautiously at Carmen through her bangs.  She wasn't generally this meek or scared, but when it came to Carmen and their friendship with Zack, her confidence became...hesitant.

Carmen stared at her for a full minute thinking and let Leila squirm under the suspense of what she was going to say next.  Then just as Leila was convinced Carmen would hate her and Zack forever, Carmen started cracking up.

"That was what you were afraid to tell me?? " Carmen was practically in tears at this point laughing.  "You couldn't possibly think that after all of those dropped plans that I would think otherwise, right?  I mean, seriously, the number of times you've asked for a rain check ...over the past month is a dead giveaway... that you two... have been going at it ...like rabbits!"  She kept laughing after every few words near the end of her speech and was practically rolling around on the ground by the time she was finished talking.  Seeing her best friend laughing so hard triggered Leila's laughter too, and soon enough they were both laughing their butts off on the ground like there was no tomorrow. 

After a few minutes of sheer giggling, they finally calmed down to a reasonable degree of normalcy.  Leila was the first to speak up.

"I'm so glad you don't mind Carmen, I thought for sure you would hate us both after I told you," Leila confessed.  She truly was relieved that she could keep both of her best friends around when she couldn't live without either of them.  

Carmen snorted.  "Did you think you needed my permission or something?  Just because I'm weirded out by my two best friends dating doesn't mean I'm going to hate them.  That's what people in movies do."  She laughed a little at the last sentence's irony.  A year ago, she had been in a pretty big Hollywood movie as a small character, and ever since she couldn't resist making hypocritical comments about the film industry.  For some reason, she thought it was hilarious. 

Leila smiled crookedly, and hugged her best friend.  Since she was facing the snowy field, she was the first to notice Zack sidling over to them from some foliage further away from the outskirts.  Leila whispered into Carmen's ear, feeling as if they were secret agents.  

"Don't look now, but an enemy is slowly approaching us at twelve o' clock."

"Oh don't worry," Carmen replied.  "I've had my peripherals on close watch the entire time."  She pulled away from Leila and winked, "Now let's kick his scrawny butt-and no, don't even deny it.  His butt is scrawny and you know it."  Leila went to protest, but Carmen pulled her quickly behind the foliage before she could muster a reply.  As Zack drew closer, they hastened to make as many snowballs as possible before ambushing his 'sneak arrival' and giving him what for.  

When he was just three yards away, the two girls jumped up out of the bushes screaming and started assailing him with snowballs and forced him to the ground in submission.  Convinced that they had 'whooped him good' they both sat on him to negotiate their prize.  

"Get off of me!" Zack cried while trying to wiggle out from underneath them.  His attempts were rather feeble, mainly because his face was planted in the snow.  

"Nope!" Carmen said nonchalantly.  "Not until you agree to take us out for coffee..." She cast a sideways glance at Leila. "...and hot chocolate for Leila.  Now agree before we let your face freeze off!"  She wriggled around a little bit to emphasize her point that they were the ones in control of the situation.

Feeling left out of the negotiations, Leila wriggled around too.  "Yeah! Now agree or no cuddling tonight!"  

Zack gave up fighting at her threat.  "Fine!  Hot chocolate and coffee for everyone!"  At his confession, Leila and Carmen high-fived in triumph and let him up.  He brushed off his clothes and looked at them expectantly.  "When do you want to go?"

Leila shivered as a cold breeze blew by, and Carmen spoke up.  "How about now? It looks like the snowball war is over and I wouldn't mind getting some nice warm coffee."

Leila nodded her head enthusiastically in agreement and the thre of them went to say good bye to their friends Paul, Steve, Kelly, Sarah, and Michele.  As it turned out, they wanted to grab some coffee too, and so the entire group went to the nearby Starbucks in separate cars. 

When they got into the cafe, they found a table near the back with a good view fo the register and sat down to wait for Zack to order their drinks.  While they chatted people came and went, and Leila watched all the familiar passer-byes from her area give their orders and leave.  

An hour or so went by of inside jokes and fooling around before everyone decided it was time to head home to warm up a little more.  Just as they were leaving, and as Leila reached for her jacket, a newcomer came in.

 The girl was around Leila's age, and was practically the definition of beauty.  Her chocolate brown eyes surveyed the room cautiously as she walked up the the register gracefully, and her long dark hair cascaded perfectly down her back like a waterfall as she pushed it out of her face.  Just looking at her, Leila felt out of place in her group, and she felt like she wouldn't feel satisfied until she met her and got to know her.

And she swore that as she left, the new girl checked her out too.