Cheer-Stained: One Week In Westbridge

13: Freakin' Around The Christmas Tree

Okay, class, show of hands; how many of you saw that one coming? Yeah, well, as I've said before... forest for the trees and all that. Guess I should have known, though.

Unwarranted, all those old, superficial feelings came back - that she was a freak, and too persistent, and always doing too much or going too far. It was all so weird! God knows I love the girl, but this was WAY overboard. What was it supposed to mean? Did it mean anything? Intelligently, I knew she had saved my life and I was grateful, and maybe this would have been less of a deal if somebody bothered to tell me back when it happened, but now... now it struck me as inexcusably strange. I felt dirty, like something had been robbed from my body by fate and I could never get it back. Something like my virginity.

We were mostly quiet the rest of the way back from Seven-Eleven; Roxie tried to talk to me once or twice, but when I didn't respond she stayed quiet, opting to pat me on the shoulder instead. Eventually, we got back to the house, stashed our "presents", and went to sleep. Sort of.

As I lay awake in that house, glancing over at Sabrina's snoring face (it looked weird all squished against the pillow like that), now all I could think about was her fondling me, trying to keep me warm. That's when it hit me; in that psychedelic dream I had, when I felt all warm and Sabrina was there... that must have been when she was doing it. Hypothermia-induced trance or not, how could I forget something like that?! I wouldn't again, I assure you.

I rolled over to stare at the wall, but that didn't help; instead of sugarplums, I saw visions of her stripping off all my clothes and hers, groping all over me, trying to save my life with the power of- just thinking of the word "friction" sent a fresh chill down my spine. She was my friend, you say? Okay, I know true blue buddies are supposed to be able to do stuff like this for each other, but - EW! No offense to all you lesbos out there, but for me personally, it brought on the gag reflex.

Well, okay now, let's take a step back. It definitely would have been different if I were awake for the whole ordeal; knowing she was going to smoosh against me and knowing why, I could have more easily made my peace with it and braced for impact. But it was more than a little late to board that boat at the docks, and now I was desperately swimming after it.

Or maybe it was more like a ghost; a ghost that would haunt me for a long, long time.

~ o ~

The next morning broke with fresh sunlight streaming through the window. I stretched, I yawned, I felt great. When I rolled over and saw Sabrina brushing out her hair, I watched her happily for a few blissful moments... before the weight of last night's revelation came crashing back down on me.

"Merry Christmas, sunshine," Sabrina bubbled. "Roxie's holed up in the bathroom."

"Mmmh." I peeled myself out of the bed, Morgan's flashy jammies causing my eyes pain as I struggled to stay upright. Meanwhile, Sabrina flopped down on the bed next to me.

"Ready for some hardcore gift-exchanging?"

Almost instinctively, I jumped up from the bed; she was too close. "Uh, sure - right after I follow Roxie into the bathroom. That is, I mean, I have to go."

I glanced over nervously to see her looking at me with no small amount of concern. "Are you alright, Libby?" Then she smiled knowingly. "Did you have one of those horrible Christmas-themed nightmares or something?"

"Uhh... yeah," I lied quickly - oh, like I could tell her what kind of dreams I really had. "Fruitcake was chasing me, and... and it just wasn't pretty. I'll be fine eventually, I'm sure."

"Well, if you say so," she sighed, getting up and moving toward the door. "But if you start crying when we get to dessert, I'm referring you to my shrink from last summer."