Gold Skies

Eleven

LENA'S POV

    I'd made us breakfast and now we were talking about our likes and dislikes. It seemed a little silly coming from Stef, but it was actually pretty natural. It felt natural.

    "Here's a question for you," Stef said, taking a puff from her cigarette and rubbing my leg at the same time. We were really close together and I was basically sitting on her lap.

    "Shoot," I said.

    Stef ran her fingers through my hair gently. "What's your favorite thing in the world?"

    I sighed, thinking. It was a difficult question. "My favorite thing to do?"

    "Yeah. Sure," she said, puffing her cigarette one more time.

    "Well. This is really, uh, cheesy? But I enjoy watching the sunset." I said. I always went to the beach alone to watch the sunset. It was my alone time. I don't know why I shared that with Stef so soon.

    She kissed my forehead lightly. "Who do you go  with?"

    "By myself," I said.

    "Oh. I see. What does one have to do to earn the privilege of sharing this moment with you?" Stef asked. I liked that.

    I smiled and looked at her. "You know, it's kind of my own thing. I've never uh, brought anyone with me. But who knows? Maybe someday. You're gonna have to work real hard for that, though."

    She laughed. "Aren't you a piece of work," she asked, moving my body to the side and putting her cigarette in the ashtray.

    I smiled. Stef looked at me and kissed my cheek softly. She was so sweet at times it was hard to think of her as a fuck girl. Did she treat every other girl the same?

    I suddenly felt my phone buzz and I checked my texts for the first time that day. I had 6 texts and two missed calls from Joey.

    "Shit," I said, getting up from her couch. "Joey needs me."

    "That bored of me already?" Stef asked, getting up from the couch with me. Then she put her arms around me from behind and started kissing my neck gently.

    I texted Joey back - he'd texted me saying he needed me and I had no idea why, but if texting wasn't enough, I needed to get my ass home.

    "What?" I asked Stef, confused by what she said.

    She laughed into my neck and I felt - I don't know what I felt. "I know this trick. You're bored of me so you tell me someone's texting you, someone needs you or whatever, and then you leave me. Done that before."

    I got away from her touch quite quickly. "I am not you. I really have to go."

    "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" She asked laughing.

    I sighed. "It means I'm not playing games. I don't have time for games. And I really have to go." I grabbed my purse and headed to her door.

    As I was leaving, she grabbed my wrist and kissed me roughly on the lips. I felt dizzy at the sensation, as well as distracted from my original plan - leaving. I pulled away from her, breathless.

    "Just so you have a reason to come back," she winked at me.

    I kissed her again. "Gotta go, Stef."

    "I'll drive you," she offered.

    I wanted to say no - I meant to say no -, but my car wasn't here and, well, Joey needed me, so I didn't wanna just sit there waiting for an Uber. That could take a while.

    "Let's go, then," I demanded. She grabbed her car keys and we left her place. As we got into the car, I put my seatbelt and called Joey.

    He didn't answer the phone.

    Shit, what had happened?

    "Hey, what's up? What's gotten you like this, huh, sweets?" Stef asked, looking at me worriedly.

    "Joey's not answering the phone. Shit. I shouldn't have- I should've-" I said, completely frustrated at everything that was going through my mind at the time.

    Stef turned off the rap music that was playing and grabbed my hand with her free hand. "Whoa, whoa, don't put this on you. Okay? I bet it's nothing. And even if it is- it's not your fault, alright?" She said, grabbing my hand and kissing it as she drove to my place.

    I sighed.

    As she approached my destiny, she stopped the car. "Here we are."

    I kissed her cheek gently. "Thank you. I mean it."

    "If you need anything just ah, let me know, k? And let me know how it goes in there too," she said.

    Kay. That deserved a kiss. So I kissed her on the lips and bit on her bottom lip. She moaned into the kiss. "Fuck," she said.

    I left her car and headed into our place. I looked for Joey and immediately found him on my bed, crying.

    "Hey, hey, what's up?" I asked, lying down next to him and hugging him.

    "Travis is a fucking asshole," he murmured. "Told mom and dad I'd failed the last exam and now I'm completely fucked up."

    I sighed. Joey received a scholarship and, for this reason, it wasn't easy on him whenever he got bad grades. He was working on improving them, but his brother knew about it and ended up telling his parents. "I'm so sorry, Joe."

    "Yeah. Now what? I have no fucking clue what to do. I'm just gonna quit Business school. That's it. It's been decided."

    I laughed at the conclusion. "You and your dramatic self. You're not quitting Business school. Alright? Especially not after getting one C among so many A's. We're gonna up your game."

    "How exactly? I have a real possibility of losing my scholarship, Lena!" He cried some more.

    "Every Friday. You and I are studying together. I mean it. It's our commitment, okay? I could use some study time with my best friend too, you know?"

    He calmed down a bit. "You'd do that?"

    I nodded. "Of course I would! Come on. I will. We're on."

    Joey hugged me and I hugged him back. "Thank you thank you thank you-"

    I laughed. "Stop with the thank you's, alright? It's nothing. I'm doing myself a favor by helping you because, well, if you leave uni then what's in it for me here, you know?"

    He smiled and I felt better. Crisis averted. Thankgod. Joey and I decided to get some cake and make a schedule. Every Friday, we'd study. That was non negotiable. Then, I grabbed my phone and decided to text Stef.

    "What's your favorite thing to do?" I sent.

    "Whattt?" She replied.

    "I didn't have a chance to ask you back, so."

    "Well, unlike you, I'm not selfish so you're involved in my favorite activity." She texted back and I already bit my lip, anxious for what she was going to say next.

    "What's that?"

    "I enjoy the art of kissing. And, well, kissing you is my favorite."

AN: thoughts, anyone?