Under The Nautical Star (Lesbian, GxG)

Nine

Should I send Teegan another text? Did she get the five I already sent?

Putting my phone down, I nervously bounce my knee as I force myself to wait in the driver's seat. The numbers on the house I'm parked at matches the address she sent me. Right? I should check again.

I scroll up the conversation on my phone. Yeah, it's the right address. What's taking Teegan so long?

A moment passes with no sign of her. 

Fuck it, she's got all my texts. She's the one making sure we're on the same page for transportation. There's no point in me freaking out over a small thing when I finished the last of school with hard-as-fuck finals, and I deserve all the free time to relax.

So I do. Leaning to the side, I adjust the back of the seat until it's way back. My phone's settled in one of the cup holders, and I'm laying back with my eyes closed and ears open.

Ahhhh, what a modern luxury. Taking advantage of some much needed rest instead of sacrificing it for good grades.

Three bangs occur on the other side of the car, scaring me so bad I shriek. Immediately after, I jerk my head toward the source of the noise. Teegan, in a less Christmas-y outift than last time, laughs before quickly covering it up. She instead sends me a grin as I unlock the door for her.

"Sorry for making you wait," she starts off. The door closed, she adjusts a black plastic bag between the used men's hiking boots on her feet. "Did some last-minute shit I didn't realize would turn into last-fifteen-minute shit."

"You're good," I tell her, as I slowly get us on our way to Mick's house. By now, she should be greeting her first guests. 

We're both silent during the drive. I don't mind it as much because of how short the distance is. Teegan, on the other hand, I don't know what's up with her. She'll be peering into the bag as if it'll disappear if she didn't. She'll rest her head on the window, watching the rain go down. The one time she said anything was to ask if she could turn on the radio. And then she'd get fidgety with the stations.

I point it out when we get to the house. Killing the engine behind two other cars in front of me, I turn to Teegan.

"Are you okay?" I ask, keeping my voice softer than usual. "Are parties not your thing? Like, we can go back and do something else if --"

"I'm fine with parties," she says, distracted. "Just have a lot on my mind."

Before I say anything else, she grabs her bag and gets out of the car. Shrugging it off, I grab my own things and lock the car before we knock on the door.

Mick opens the door in her basketball jersey and some pair of jeans I don't recognize. "You're finally here!"

"Yep!" I grin through her hugging before I jab her with the square package I brought. "Ya might wanna keep this in your room until the next time I'm here."

My friend's mouth turns into a small 'o' as she takes in the present. With a tight thank-you hug, she invites us to the party taking place in the kitchen and the living room.

"Make sure to take your shoes off before stepping any further," Mick calls out. She heads to her room to drop off her gift.

Before I think twice I take Teegan by the hand and lead her to the center of the party, our loud stomping on the wood softening by the socks. Surprisingly, she doesn't protest. Probably because of how nervous she is. She's calmed down a lot more when we came in, but I still see minute signs of her twitching.

Three people I recognize from two of my classes sit in a circle arguing over a rule in the game they're playing. Jon is trying to pull a bag of Doritos from Donray, who at the same time is holding onto a beer bottle like he was going to hit his opponent. Alice, in her emo glory, is quietly enjoying whatever song's playing from her phone.