Liberosis

A Moment Of Calm

Rachel opened her mouth, but she had nothing to offer. Her brain was still processing what just happened. Chloe showing up like that... it gave her tingles in a silly place. This was perfect, just feeling the wind in her hair and being next to someone who made her feel warm inside meant everything. "I'm so happy," she suddenly let out as some punk song played on the radio. Rachel didn't even think it through.

"Same." Chloe reached out for her hand and laid it on top of the gear lever. "Ever since I met you—" She glanced at Rachel and burst out laughing. "Oh, Lord, I'm gonna stop. You're so red!"

"Shut up!" Rachel squealed. "You're the one being all cheesy and shit!"

"Don't act like you don't love each second!" Chloe winked at her.

The blonde resisted the need to cover her face with a pillow to scream and took out her water bottle to take a sip. A gulp. The whole bottle.

"Damn, if I knew my girl was going to have gay panic when we started dating..."

"You had it before, so don't make fun of me!" Rachel punched her shoulder playfully, pulling away her hand from Chloe's. "Miss Nice Rachel We're Having!"

"You're never gonna let that one go."

"Uh-huh, it's too good. It's the epic start of my favorite love story!"

Chloe smiled, feeling Rachel's starting to loosen up.

Rachel tilted her head to the side with those sparkling cat eyes. "What's got you so lovey-dovey today?"

"First things first, Rachel Amber is my girlfriend!" Chloe yelled out the window and the blonde laughed. "Second, I really wanted to see you."

"Me too," Rachel sighed. "I'd been missing you all day. School hours are too long."

"Seriously!" Chloe agreed, letting go of the wheel for a second, amazed that she was understood. "That's why I avoided it all the time. Now, it avoids me."

"Hey," Rachel said softly, putting her hand on top of Chloe's, which was laying on the gear shift. "You're coming back, remember?"

"Can't believe I'm gonna say this, but I actually can't wait?" Chloe said. "I just wanna be with you all the time. I never had something to look forward to until I met you."

Rachel tried hard not to squeal, her cheeks hot instead. She took a deep breath in an attempt to recompose herself and squeezed Chloe's hand. Rachel suddenly smirked in her train of thought. "Well, I had something to look forward to for a while."

"And what is that?" Chloe took a moment to gaze at her before looking back at the road.

Rachel scoffed. "Seeing someone trip in soccer."

Chloe almost stopped the car. "You bitch!"

Her girlfriend held her giggles in and put her fingers up to her chin as if she were thinking. "I also looked forward to basketball. This tall chick kept snatching the ball from me and scored. It was annoyingly sexy."

"Oh, Lord..." Chloe trailed off, at this point just slowly going in circles around Rachel's block, thinking about all the sweaty times she'd been that close to Rachel, who unsurprisingly always had the ball. "I should've realized I was gay by then."

The blonde let out her laughter, remembering too. But then her face went dead-serious, almost intimidating Chloe a little. "That was so hot."

Chloe finally parked in front of the Amber's house and rushed forward to kiss her, one hand cupping her cheek and the other interlacing with Rachel's.