Chapter Text
“Okay students, I will now group you in pairs because you will have to work together for the next project that I am going to assign”
Bryan, who was always in the front of the class, immediately raised his hand “Can we pick our partner?”
“Unfortunately, I will be pairing everyone randomly ” Mrs. Johnson announces, making everyone with a friend group groan annoyingly
“Now, now. We must learn to work with different people” sitting back to her chair and spinning the bingo cage filled with the name of the class. “Which leads me to our topic which is Types of Connections in Life” she revealed
“Your partners and your topics will be random, so everything will be fair” she assured—the students weren’t.
Spinning the cage until a ball dropped. Unexpectedly your name was called first.
“You will be working with,”
Nervously tapping your pen on the desk, internally praying that you get to work with someone you’re familiar with.
“Lynn Loud” she called out
You and Lynn have been in the same class at the same school since middle school, but not once did you interact with each other.
You have acknowledged each other’s presence in class, accidental eye contact and falling of pens a few times. But never a direct conversation with each other.
On the other hand, Lynn was out of her mind.
She knew this was bound to happen, but not in pairs, not when you two were alone, together.
“And your type of connection will be,” drawing a piece of paper from the fish bowl of topics.
“Social connections”
Lynn was fumbling with the buttons on her flannel in front of the for about 10 minutes now, as a result she just gave up. Instantly dropping her hands frustratingly “I can’t do this!”
“She’s gonna be here in a few minutes and I still can’t find that jersey” staring at the huge mess of clothes she just made on the floor, and of herself .
Lynn spent the whole afternoon looking for her lucky jersey “Lucy, can you hear me? I’m in major trouble here”
Lucy was just lying in her coffin the whole time Lynn was getting ready. “Your suffering gives me joy” she replied monotonously
“Can you atleast tell me what I should wear instead?” Digging through her drawer to pull out more clothes
Lucy, still relaxing on her coffin with her arms crossed over her chest, responded “We obviously have different tastes. How do you expect me to help you attract a girl, you’ve had a crush on since middle school, by way of clothing?”
Lucy is the only one in her 10 siblings who knows about her sexuality, it’s not that she’s hiding it from them its more like she wants to figure out some things before officially telling them
“Can you help me or not?” She stood up annoyed
Lucy rose from her coffin, lifting up her spine and turning her head to look at what she was wearing
“Unbotton the flannel, it looks like you’re trying to hard.
Immediately following her order, unbottoning it making the number 17 print on her jersey shirt visible.
Lucy went back to laying on her coffin, this time covering it up to avoid disruptions.
Lynn paired the jersey with a flannel, demin shorts and some high-top converse.
“Should I wear my hair down today?” Examining her ponytail that looks decent enough. Without a beat, the doorbell rang.
Up it is she thought
“I’ll get it!” Lynn shouted after slamming the door on her room and sprinting down the stairs.
Quickly checking her breath and hair after calmly opening the door.
“Hi” you greeted her with a smile
It took a while before Lynn could reply, keeping her eyes on you and holding a small grin.
“C-come in” she stuttered
Lynn never stutters, she always says everything with conviction.
Stepping inside and seeing some clutters left by her siblings in the living room.
“Sorry, big family so it’s never really completely clean around here” Lynn explained “We’ll be in the dining room” pointing to the right
“No, I understand.” Walking toward the direction to put down your things on their big family table. While your back was turned Lynn immediately rubbed the sweat of her hands on her shorts.
You noticed a display if all their family pictures—sports tournaments, graduations, and even them as babies.
“Wow, 10 siblings” you mentioned “Yup”
“I’m guessing this is you as a baby” you chuckled, pointing to a picture of a toddler in a funny face with sauce on her cheeks.
Smiling embarrassingly “Yeah, my fourth birthday party”
“Do you have any siblings?” Lynn asked.
Of course she knows you have siblings. You have an older brother and an older sister. For the sake of the conversation and her not wanting to come off as a stalker, she asked anyways.
“Yes actually, I have an older brother and sister. They’re off doing their own thing so we don’t really hang out that much” you explained
You and Lynn were quite different, she grew up with a big family, good at socializing, and an athlete. You on the other hand was never the athletic type, so you tend to channel all that in academics, and you grew up in a small house with less people to talk to.
“Should we start?” You asked her after feeling the uncomfortable silence getting to you
“Sure” she replied
Both of you were now sitting side by side “I did a few notes on our topic, but I can’t seem to find it”
You swept through the pages of your books trying to find the piece of paper.
Lynn however, was internally panicking.
Am I sitting too close? Should I be doing something with my hands? Can she notice that I’m getting a bit sweaty?
Taking a risk and giving a glace at your face that ended up with her staring.
Your hair was tucked to your ears, and the light coming from the window behind you gave your skin a small glow that benefited your complexion.
Without your notice, Lynn felt a weird feeling coming from her chest.
The peace was immediately over the front door opened and six of Lynn’s siblings entered the front door, the layered chattering makes it impossible to focus.
Sighing about your disturbed peace “Let’s go somewhere else” Lynn suggested
-
“Sorry about this, My sister Lucy knows all the quite spaces in this house and this is the only one that’s fits two people.” Lynn explained while both of you settled on Lucy's prayer mat in the attic
“It’s okay, I like how quiet it is” You smiled at her
Lynn fought to no smile and blush when you looked at her.
The prayer mat was quite small for the both of you so you sat with both of your legs straight and your back on some boxes.
Lynn hesitated to sit next to you, she did the same thing but only sat at the edge of the matt, making sure there was much more space between the two of you
“I can’t find some of my notes, but since this is a self-reflection thing I thought we could just chat” you suggested “I know you have a lot of things to put in, considering you have such a big family”
Lynn grew nervous. Chatting was easy for her but not with someone who she literally had a crush on for years now.
“Like, is your relationship with every single one in your family great?”
“Of course, there’s fighting and bickering that sometimes last for a long time. Me and Lucy once didn’t talk for like a week because we annoyed each other so much, I even moved to Lincoln’s room”
Wow, I just said all that. Lynn thought
“Does it ever get physical?” You asked concerningly
Lynn nodded “Definitely, not a day goes by without one sibling pinching one another, slapping, biting, hair pulling. And the occasional wedgies I give to my brother Lincoln” laughing at the recent memory she had
“I’m sure you and your siblings bicker too, any embarrassing memories you guys have?”
Looking away disappointingly “Unfortunately, we don’t“
This made Lynn stop laughing “Are you serious?”
You just shrugged your shoulders at her “I guess its just the age thing, when I was little they were just so focused on school and they were already out of the house when I was 10. So I guess I never got to really ‘grow up’ with them”
Lynn couldn’t imagine that, not having her siblings with her when she was growing up.
“Sorry, my story is kind of a bummer”
Lynn shook her head “No, of course not”
“You know what, lets talk about something else” Lynn suggested “Let’s make things more interesting”
“Okay” You agreed, turning your body towards her while your legs were now crisscrossed
“Two truths and a lie, just to break the ice”
“Okay” you accepted the challenge “Should I go first?”
“Sure,”
Taking a moment to think about something unbelievable “I accidentally drank toilet water as a kid, I broke my leg climbing a tree at summer camp, and I once threw up on a a ballet performance when I was 6”
Lynn took a moment to think “Somehow the toilet water seem made up”
“I have never broken a bone before” you announced
Lynn covered her mouth with her hands as a reaction
“I was a baby back then and my mom actually told me she found me in the bathroom with a teaspoon in my hand and I was drinking the toilet water like soup” you admitted
“And the ballet one, all of my puke got on the girl I was dancing with and not on me. I’m pretty sure she still hates me for that”
Lynn laughed at that “I’m sure I would if I was her”
“Okay my turn” Lynn was now also sitting crisscrossed
“I once cut the hair of one of my sister’s dolls and blamed it on someone, One of my exes once mistaken my sister for me, and last week I tried to chug a carton of milk only to realize it was expired”
You put your hands on your hips and thought hard “Uhmm, this is a hard one. But I’m gonna go with the second one, just because I think you and your sisters all look differently. It’s impossible to mix you guys up”
Lynn was impressed “Correct. Plus I’ve never actually been in a relationship before so,” shrugging her shoulders
“Really?” You asked
“Have you?” Lynn pondered
“Well, I once shared a juice box with Henry in middle school”
Lynn laughed while placing her palms on the floor “I remember I made him cry once in PE”
“Also, sharing juice boxes? That’s practically kissing in middle school” Lynn added
“No its not” you argued
“Oh it is”
“Have you ever kissed someone” you teased
“Well, no” Lynn answered nervously. Not really the type of thing you want to tell your crush
“Have you ever had a crush on anyone?” You grew curious .
Taking a long time to answer, so you just pushed further. “Oh my god, who is it?”
Moving more closer to her like she’s telling a secret.
Now that all your attention is on Lynn you cant help but notice how nervous she got. Her sudden silence made you curious
Lynn cleared her throat “Well, it-its just that. I never really told her yet”
“Oh, so she’s a she” you clarified “Do I know her?” Putting your chin on your hand
You were staring at Lynn so much that she completely forgot she said ‘her’. In her head she was now regretting that both of you are sitting face to face
Lynn’s hands were now fumbling with her flannel
“Umm–well–it's...it's a long story” Lynn tried so hard not to look you in the eye that it made you grow suspicious.
Sweaty hands, no eye contact, nervous demeanor. Lynn was showing signs all over the place, and you were no ignorant from it.
You leaned back, realizing the ball was in your court, you decided to play.
“Does this person make you nervous?” You asked almost in a whisper.
Lynn's hands and knees were only inches away from yours, so you quietly reached out your index finger and just softly rubbed it on the knuckles of her hand
Lynn felt like she couldn’t breathe. Your touch was soft but to her, her insides were being electrocuted.
Your eyes were on her but Lynn kept her gaze on your hand that was touching hers
For the very first time Lynn was speechless, she just simply didn’t trust herself enough to respond to whatever this was.
“Can she hold your hand?”
At this point your finger is already looped in hers and your thumb was rubbing her nail. After that question, you slowly start to spread your fingers between hers.
Lynn was savoring every moment, she couldn’t even look you in the eye. The slow sensation of both your hands intertwining made her skin burn
“Lynn,” you called out her name.
And when Lynn finally looked up and saw your reassuring smile, all reason flew through the window
“Can she kiss you?” You finally asked
Lynn’s head was all over the place, she even thought about if this was even real, if she was just dreaming.
“Yes” Lynn responded before she could even think
As you leaned closer to her Lynn’s head felt like it was about to explode, she could feel the thumping of her heart against her rib cage.
She doesn’t even know how to kiss a girl, now she’s doing this
You were so close that you can feel her nervously breath. And before you went in you gave her hand a squeeze to let her know
You gave one last look at her lips before going in. Gently pressing your lips on hers
Fireworks were going off in Lynn’s head, her body felt limp but at the same time tensed.
Your lips stayed on hers for a few seconds before you started to pull away slowly. Faces still close together, you examined Lynn’s face to look for any kind of reaction.
You grew nervous when you can’t seem to pick up a reaction from her. Lynn just kept her gaze on you, contemplating on what she should do next
She just couldn’t get enough of how your lips tasted like, cherries.
Lynn’s silence wasn’t really helping the situation, so you had to ask her “Was that not–“ Before you could finish your sentence, Lynn immediately grabbed your face and started to kiss you, now with more contempt.
Her hands settled on the sides of your face and her lips felt more softer than before, more relaxed.
Your hands reached up to hold onto her elbows and Lynn swears she felt butterflies on her stomach
It was longer than the first one, this was more deep. After a while, Lynn started moving her lips, and both of you became more eager as the kiss went longer. Before you could even respond your phone started ringing.
This startled both of you because the attic was completely quiet a sudden sound can really echo.
Immediately breaking off the kiss, both of your surprised faces earned a laugh from both of you. Giggling in embarrassment before picking up your phone. Lynn tried to stay quiet by cover her mouth to stop herself from laughing
“Mom. I know, I’m coming home now. Okay, bye”
You ended the phone call before cracking up again from what happened. “I guess we didn’t have that much work done”
“Yeah, sorry about that” Lynn apologized
You stared at her for a few seconds but you know that if it were longer you might end up kissing again “Same time again tomorrow?” You asked
Lynn’s face brightened up “Sure”
-
After seeing you out and closing the front door, Lynn ran up to her room and crashed down to her bed to break out into a blushing mess.
She never expected for that to happen.
A faint taste of your chapstick was still on her lips. Licking her lips while grinning like a fool, with memories of you still fresh in her mind
She stared down at the number 17 in her shirt “New lucky jersey” she announced