Chapter Text
“Where are we going?” Alicia asks between kisses, pressed against her car that’s parked behind the Theta house.
“Where do you wanna go?” Leighton laughs, a hand wandering up under Alicia’s leather jacket because her flannel is tucked in too tight to pull free without being obvious, the other cupping her neck.
“How about my place?” she breathes into the kiss, fingers tangling in blonde hair.
“There’s a bed—” Leighton gasps, pressing her tongue into the kiss— “Which is all I need.” Pulling back from the kiss when she needs air, Leighton smiles, biting her lip. “Take me to yours?”
Alicia nods, knowing, somewhere deep that they should really stop doing this, but knowing that it’s already been a month and if they were going to, it would have happened a long time ago.
“Alright. Can you keep it in your pants until then?”
“Fuck you,” Leighton grumbles.
“Five minutes till we’re home,” Alicia teases, not missing Leighton’s blush.
***
Stumbling through the entryway, Alicia grins at Leighton’s eagerness — she’s always like this, so eager, so good — and she pins her against the wall next to her front door the second it swings shut.
“Fuck,” Leighton mumbles, kissing her back, and Alicia can’t help but think how easy all of this is. Leighton’s a good kisser, and it’s making her hot all over. Leighton’s handsy, and it’s making her wet—
Leighton’s phone starts to ring in her jacket.
“Dammit,” the woman complains, placing a hand gently on Alicia’s shoulder to pull away from the kiss, knees shaking when lips find her pulsepoint. “God,” she whispers, taking a breath before she hits answer on her phone, forgetting to look at the contact.
“Leighton! Where’d you go?” It’s Cory.
Shit.
“Cory!” she says loudly, head tipping back when Alicia trails lower to the neckline of her shirt to leave a mark at the sound of his name. “I wasn’t feeling great. You know how it is,” she tries to tell him, biting her lip around a whine when Alicia’s thigh fits between her two.
“You sound out of breath. Are you feeling sick? Do you need me to come over?”
“Nope!” Leighton’s voice kicks up an octave. “No! That’s sweet, really. But I’m okay. I’m just going to try to get my mind off of it.”
“You sure?”
Leighton groans internally. The poor guy sounds like he actually cares.
“Yep! Listen, I’m kind of in the shower right now so I’m all wet and really not in a position to talk about this anymore—” Alicia snorts, and Leighton glares at her playfully— “so could I call you in the morning? I’m going to try to stay offline and get some rest tonight.”
“Oh! Yeah, definitely,” Cory tells her brightly. “Feel better, Leight.”
“Thanks,” she says quickly before hanging up and tossing her phone blindly where she knows the couch is.
“Your boyfriend is sweet as always,” Alicia snarks, fingers ghosting under the hem of her top.
“He’s not my boyfriend, and you know it,” Leighton reminds for the thousandth time. “He’s my brother’s friend.”
“Who likes you,” Alicia replies as usual. “But it’s okay. He doesn’t… how did you put it? Make you all wet, does he?”
Leighton rolls her eyes to hide how the question makes her feel.
***
Groaning, Leighton rolls over and almost out of the bed she’s in, used to normally sleeping in the middle.
“Shit,” she grumbles, eye cracking open to look around, only to realize—
“Good morning to you too,” Alicia greets, sounding equally sleepy. “You sleep okay?”
Leighton hums in reply, turning over so that she can face the other woman. “I was very worn out.”
“For any reason in particular?” Alicia asks, not yet opening her eyes and smiling softly.
“Not that I can think of,” Leighton answers easily, gaze flickering over pretty features. “Maybe I need a refresher.”
“Is that so?” Soft brown eyes open to meet hers.
In reply, Leighton nods, rolling so that she’s on top of Alicia, pressing a quick kiss to the corner of her mouth before moving under the covers until her head is between her legs.
“This okay?” she asks, looking up, purposeful as she sweeps some hair out of her face and grins wide enough that Alicia can see her dimples, smiling when she sees just how floored the woman above her is. She presses kisses to soft inner thighs, fingers hooking in the elastic of Alicia’s boxers before she realizes she hasn’t gotten an answer. “Li?” she prompts.
Alicia starts out of whatever trance she was caught in, though Leighton can tell that it mostly had to do with seeing her like this. She takes note of the new information.
“Yes. Yes,” Alicia repeats twice, a little tongue tied. “Yes. This is okay.”
Leighton presses her lips together to stop the corners of her mouth from turning up. “Yeah?”
Rolling her eyes, Alicia helps Leighton pull down her boxers in reply. “Yeah.”
***
“Ham, eggs, and coffee.” Alicia points to the plate on the counter as Leighton gets out of the shower.
“You’re the best,” Leighton tells her emphatically, pressing a kiss to Alicia’s head easily as she heads over to the sink for a sip of water.
“I know.” Alicia grins, making a plate for herself before she sits down across from her.
For a moment, they just hold eye contact, that easy fire kicking up between them all over again, Leighton keeps it steady even as she reaches for her coffee. She likes looking at Alicia. Looking at Alicia is the easiest thing she’s ever done.
Then, the phone rings. Of course it does.
Whitney.
“One sec,” Leighton says softly, picking it up. “Hey, Whit. What’s up?”
“You’re at Alicia’s, aren’t you?”
Leighton freezes, looking at the woman across from her. Yes. She most certainly is. But— “Pfft. Why would you think that?”
“You’re a terrible liar.”
“Fine,” Leighton groans. “So what if I am?”
“Well—”
“Cory’s here,” Bela interjects, whisper-yelling.
“And he wants to know where you are,” Kimberly adds, sounding equally panicked.
“Is that her?” It’s Cory’s voice. “Can I talk to her?”
“No—!” Leighton tries at the same time as she hears her roommates all give varying degrees of affirmation.
“Leighton, where the fuck are you? I thought you were sick?”
“I am!” Leighton coughs loudly. “I definitely am. I’m just at the….” She looks around frantically, doing her best to ignore the way Alicia’s amused look makes her heart trip over itself. Finally, her eyes catch on a Price Chopper coupon on the fridge. “I’m at Price Chopper!” Her eyes flash with realization as she keeps talking, winking at Alicia. “They have really good deals on a lot of things I like eating.”
You’re gross, Alicia mouths, but she’s failing miserably at hiding her smile and blush at the compliment.
“What the fuck even is a Price Chopper?” Cory grumbles, enough that it sounds like an insult.
“It’s a market! They have good cake!” Leighton defends automatically, thinking back to the many conversations that she and Alicia have had about the best markets in New England.
“Whatever,” Cory answers, clearly peeved. “I don’t care what it is. I just know you’re acting weird.”
“I’m not acting in any way, Cory.” Suddenly, Leighton turns icy. She doesn’t like when people treat her like this — like she’s something that’s theirs when she isn’t. “And you know what? Maybe you should stop skulking around the freshman girls’ dorms at eight in the morning. How about that?”
“God, Leight,” Cory laughs incredulously. “I’m just trying to help you.”
“Well, I don’t need you to help me all the time,” Leighton snaps. “Alright? Treat me with some respect.”
“Alright,” he agrees. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“Good,” she tells him. “I’m going to go now, okay?”
“Okay,” he says, though it sounds forced. “Feel better.”
“Thanks.” Her voice is flat as she finally hangs up.
“Damn, your boyfriend sounds lovely,” Alicia teases, taking a bite of her breakfast.
“Again,” Leighton says through gritted teeth. “Not my boyfriend.”
“Woah, Leight, I was just kidding.” The woman reaches out to touch her hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“Why did you let me stay over anyway?” Leighton lashes out, and she can’t help it. It’s like she’s watching herself, aware of every action, but unable to do anything about it. She’s just so mad at Cory, at her brother for setting her up with him, at herself for not being able to just put them in their place and leave her alone. She knows what makes her happy, and it’s not a run-of-the-mill New York boy with the personality of an unsalted potato chip. “Why did you make me breakfast?”
Cory’s never made her breakfast.
“Because you’re my friend?” Alicia laughs, clearly a little confused.
Right. Leighton kicks herself. She forgot, honestly; she’s not used to having friends: people who care without condition. And Alicia really does care. She knows that, plus, she likes their other arrangement that started recently: a private — aside from amongst Leighton’s roommates ever since they got caught in a very compromising position that included Leighton on her knees in their tiny kitchenette and Alicia sitting on the counter — and consensual form of relief that’s just meant to fill that touch-starved loneliness that began to set in at the end of the first quarter.
Honestly, she doesn’t just like it. She loves it. It’s everything she’s been needing.
“Leight?” Alicia prompts. “We are friends, right?”
“Yeah!” Leighton rushes out quickly. “Yes. Of course we are.”
“Okay, good.” The woman nods. “I’m glad we’re friends,” she admits softly, looking to Leighton, who nods because she feels the same but also because she feels like she has to.
With salt in her throat, she agrees aloud, “I’m glad we’re friends too, ‘Li.”
***
We must be really good friends, Leighton laughs to herself while Alicia, hair a mess, fucks into her with two fingers against her bedroom door. She has no idea where Bela is, and she doesn’t care to find out right now.
“God, you feel good,” Alicia murmurs against her neck, and Leighton moans softly. When Alicia talks like that, it always does something to her, makes her so— “That makes you wet, doesn’t it?” the woman asks, curling her fingers back.
Leighton whines and blushes, tries to find some excuse but there’s no use. It does. Mutely, she nods, knees weakening when Alicia smiles against her neck, forehead falling to rest on the brunette’s shoulder.
“You like when I call you good?” Alicia teases, just for the fun of it, thumb circling her clit now. Leighton’s hips jump forward. “You like knowing how much I like it when you get all desperate for me?”
Leighton whimpers, widening her stance so that Alicia can have better access under her skirt.
“Answer me,” Alicia tells her, slowing down because she knows Leighton likes this too, likes when she can let go and be told how and when and where this happens without having to decide herself. “Can you answer me, baby?”
“Mhm,” Leighton manages, pressing her face into Alicia’s neck. “Please.”
“Please what?” Alicia taunts even as she picks up her pace again, sucking a mark into Leighton’s collarbone.
“Please fuck me,” she gasps, knees finally giving out. Luckily, Alicia has a firm grip on her hips, but she can’t find it in herself to really care about how embarrassed she normally would be at this whole situation. All she cares about is that Alicia’s inside of her, and she called her good, and she wants to hear it again. “Please. Please—“
“Good girl,” Alicia fulfills, and Leighton whines, heat rushing through her.
Her vision swims, and vaguely, she thinks that she’s never felt more beautiful or wanted than this. She’s never felt so needed as she does, so wet that she knows she’s dripping onto Alicia’s palm, grinding her hips into the touch of a woman she met just six weeks ago, holding back because some part of her clings to her usual hold on every situation.
She bites her lip, determined to stay quiet for the rest of tonight because it hits her how open she is, head tipped back against the door of her shared room, barely able to stand, because it hits her that nobody’s ever seen her like this—
“Don’t do that,” Alicia says softly, kissing her jaw. “I wanna hear you.”
Leighton doesn’t listen, valiantly keeping quiet until Alicia surges up to kiss her, wrist moving faster at the same time.
“Oh,” Leighton gasps into her mouth, so turned on that it aches, hips rolling off the door in time with Alicia’s movement. “Oh God.”
“So good,” Alicia whispers against her lips, pulling back just enough so that her gaze can find Leighton’s in search of that perfect blue she loves but only finding her pupils blown. “You really like this, don’t you?” Alicia laughs, hot and breathless. “You really like when I tell you that you’re such a good girl?”
Helpless, Leighton meets Alicia’s eyes, dark and searching in answer, and just like that, she comes.
She comes because she can’t help it, because of how Alicia is looking at her, like she deserves this, like she deserves to be wanted. She comes with a whimper, because they’ve been at it since they stumbled through the door — slightly tipsy and very handsy — and she’s sensitive but it feels so good, and it’s hard to remember how to even breathe. She moans, arches, when Alicia smirks against her neck, leaving another mark just below the line of her shirt. Her eyes roll back at the slight sting, and she doesn’t think she’s ever been this wet.
It’s something about Alicia, something that makes the woman who’s holding her up against the door the most beautiful woman on Earth while also making her feel so unbelievably gorgeous in a way she’s never known before. It’s something that makes her think that this is how it always should have felt — want — and she doesn’t want to let it go any time soon. The realization is scary and wonderful and freeing all at once, just like Alicia is.
Leighton smiles lazily at the thought, head lolling back against the door. Her body trembles, so relaxed she’s aware of every inch of her own self and the space she’s taking up. Breathless, she lets Alicia guide her to the bed and pull her out pajamas. It’s a new gesture, but Leighton’s too fucked out to talk about it and it’s clear Alicia’s just doing her best. She passes a cloth over Leighton’s inner thighs, murmuring how pretty she is the entire time, helps her get changed, and settles into bed next to her when she’s all done, grabbing a t-shirt for herself from the drawer.
“G’night, Leight,” she whispers, pressing a kiss to her shoulder, only to find that the blonde is already fast asleep.
***
“Morning,” Bela sings when Alicia and Leighton emerge from the room, bleary eyed and a little too close to have not spent the night cuddling.
“We got you breakfast.” Whitney points to the little table near the window, trying super hard not to smile.
“Thanks,” Alicia says first, voice rough from sleep, and Leighton eyes her as she goes to grab a muffin.
When she’s not looking, Whitney makes kissy faces and fans herself while Kimberly turns away to hide her laughter. Leighton flips them off easily.
“Sorry we locked you out of your room last night, Bela,” Alicia speaks again around a bite.
“Oh, you didn’t!” Bela answers brightly. “I just saw you two sleeping, and I didn’t want to bother, so I slept next to Kimberly.”
“She’s a kicker,” Kimberly complains, accusatory. “I’m going to have bruises.”
“It’s not my fault you’re a blanket hog,” Bela retorts.
“Ladies, ladies,” Whitney cuts in. “Can we not argue in front of our guest?”
Quickly, the two girls stand at attention. Alicia’s lips twitch.
“Don’t worry. I should get going anyway,” she tells them. “I just need to—” she gestures to how she’s only wearing boxers and one of Leighton’s sleep shirts— “y’know, become me again.”
“Or you could stay,” Kimberly offers, shrinking when her scariest roommate glares daggers at her from where she’s standing behind Alicia. “Or… you could not.”
“Wow, babe, at least act like you don’t want me to go,” Alicia teases softly, knocking shoulders with Leighton.
Babe? Bela, Kimberly, and Whitney all mouth at once.
Leighton ignores them. “It’s not that,” she says gently, gentler than her roommates have ever heard her speak to anyone. “It’s just that it’s eight forty-three, and your shift starts at nine on Saturdays, doesn’t it?”
Alicia’s eyes widen as she pulls out her phone to confirm that she’ll be running across campus to make it before Ginger tries to stage a coup to become shift manager. “Leighton Murray, I love you,” she declares, absently kissing her cheek before she dashes back into the room they slept in, half of a muffin in her mouth as she gathers her clothes and tries to change, falling several times while trying to put her pants on.
Leighton watches fondly for a moment before Bela whistles. “Wow, she loooooves you?”
“Shut up. We’re friends.” Leighton rounds on her, only to find herself faced with her two other roommates looking equally as skeptical as the comedy major. “What?”
“Friends don’t look at friends that way, Leight,” Whitney tells her matter-of-factly.
A staring contest takes place for barely a moment before Alicia rushes out, her right shoe half falling off and hair parted to the right in the way that makes Leighton forget to breathe. She gestures to the navy quarter zip that’s much too big for her and definitely doesn’t belong to her as she grabs another muffin.
“I’m borrowing this. That okay?” she asks.
Leighton nods mutely, transfixed by the image of Alicia in her clothes, sleeves falling far past her hands and hem tucked into her wrinkled slacks from last night. It shouldn’t look good on her, but it does. Of course it does.
“Thanks,” the woman thanks her quickly, waving. “I’ve gotta go now. We still on for dinner later?”
“Ooh, can we come?” Kimberly asks, grinning, before Leighton can answer.
“Of course!” Alicia replies over her shoulder, heading for the door, biting her lip around a laugh when Leighton kicks her roommate none too subtly after she fully processes the question and answer.
“Play nice, Leight,” she reminds, waggling her fingers in one last goodbye before she finally heads out the door.
For a moment, the four roommates are silent until Bela breaks the silence.
“So… she’s hot. Can we all say good job, Leighton?”
“She’s just a friend!”
“Good job, Leight!”
“Yeah, damn. Good job, dude.”
***
Dinner goes… better than Leighton thought it would. Whitney brings Canaan who always serves to lighten the mood, and the food is good. Alicia also keeps her hand on her thigh the entire night, which has nothing to do with how much she enjoys the meal.
There’s an easy air about the table, and somehow, they end up out in the courtyard below the freshman dorms afterward on the grass, lounging on a blanket that Kimberly brought, ever prepared.
In their little circle, they talk about nothing and everything, Whitney lying on Canaan’s chest, Bela and Kimberly cuddling together, the latter’s anorak spread across their legs to stay warm, Alicia and Leighton pretending like they’re not holding hands.
They talk about what they want, about their favorite movies — everyone’s very surprised to find out that Canaan’s is Love Actually — and anything else they can think of until Kimberly almost falls asleep on Bela and everyone calls it a night. Canaan and Whtiney go off to say a quiet goodnight while Bela and Kimberly head up to turn on the heater, wanting to allow the others privacy especially when they hear Leighton offer to walk Alicia back to hers.
“You don’t have to do that,” Alicia says softly, watching Leighton’s roommates head upstairs. “Your friends are ready to go to bed.”
“I want to,” Leighton tells her. “And you know me when I want something.”
Laughing and shaking her head, Alicia finally nods in agreement.
“And they say chivalry is dead,” she jokes.
***
“So this is why you wanted to walk me,” Alicia gasps, kissing Leighton back outside her apartment.
“I’ve been wanting to do that all night,” the blonde admits into her mouth, cupping her face.
“I’ve been wanting you to,” Alicia agrees, licking into her mouth and threading her fingers through Leighton’s hair for a moment before she pulls back, breathless. “And now that you’ve gotten that out of your system, can I go into my apartment?”
“What, no invite?” Leighton jokes, but it’s obvious she doesn’t really mean it. Not this time. They both have obligations they can’t neglect tomorrow.
“So presumptuous,” Alicia teases. “Did you learn nothing at the Women’s Center?”
“Not this again.” Leighton groans, playing along, trying valiantly not to smile. “Of course I learned many things,” she agrees, putting up her fingers to fake count. “One, there’s a feminist poetry group that can talk about anything and get snaps. Two, there’s such thing as a body-cam broach, and three, it’s possible for me to become friends with little weirdos like you.”
“Wow, thanks,” Alicia deadpans. “I love when people call me a little weirdo.”
“Well then, you’re welcome,” Leighton jokes, corners of her lips turning up. “Alright—” she jerks her thumb toward the staircase— “I should probably get going.”
“Okay, tall normal person,” Alicia teases.
Leighton glares at her playfully. “I feel like there’s a compliment in there somewhere, so I’ll take it.”
“Insufferable,” Alicia mumbles to herself.
“You love it,” Leighton sings in reply, tucking her hands into her pockets. “Goodnight, Alicia,” she adds softly.
“Goodnight, Leight. Text me when you get home?”
“Of course.”