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Carson was tired. She was fucking sick and tired of watching Greta come into their apartment sad and crying after being dumped or hurt by yet another girl who was not deserving of her.
Could she tell her that? Of course not. Greta was her best friend and roommate. It was her responsibility to make Greta’s favorite spiked tea, to rub her hair as she cried into a pillow, to play all of her favorite movies cuddled up on the couch for 3 days, and help her delete and cut all pictures and photos that existed with the recent idiot.
And there had been plenty of idiots.
There was Tiffany who dumped Greta because she wouldn’t move in with her. They had been dating for 3 months and didn’t even know each other’s middle names.
There was Amber who felt Greta should be more “athletic”. Then when Greta turned out to be a better softball hitter than Amber, she accused her of tricking her and trying to upstage her.
There was Dylan who had a *sniffs* drug problem who was mad that Greta wouldn’t hold on to a mysterious white bag for her when they were stopped by the police for speeding.
And of course, how could she forget Debra who wanted Greta to move across the country to be her housewife, even though she hadn’t held a steady job and didn’t have one waiting for her on the other side of the country .
Every time Carson thought about the carousel of bitches who had tried to stab at Greta’s confidence, self-worth, and sense of safety, she wanted to punch a wall or stab a pillow.
She instead settled for going to the gym. Sweating out her frustration seemed like the healthiest way she could think of to keep from saying what she wanted to say to Greta.
What she really wanted to say. What she knew she couldn’t say.
Because they were friends. They were roommates. They couldn’t be anything more. Right?
Carson woke up from her daydreaming to see Greta enter their living room. Before she could fully take in her beautiful face, she heard the sigh that revealed, it had happened again.
“Stella?” she asked.
Greta nodded, tears welling up in her eyes. Carson walked over to the couch and put a pillow in her lap, waiting for Greta to come and lay her head on it. Sure enough, Greta let her body fall across the couch, her head hitting the pillow and Carson there with waiting fingers to rub her hair as she cried.
“What happened this time?” Carson asked.
Greta looked up at Carson strangely, like something was wrong. Well something was wrong, clearly Stella had broken up with Greta, but it felt like something more.
“What’s wrong?” Carson asked, a little alarmed.
“Is my breakup boring you or annoying you?” Greta asked, a sharpness to her voice that Carson was not expecting.
“No,” Carson said, trying to cover up the frustration and annoyance that Greta had picked up on. She knew that Greta knew her better than anyone else in the world, but this once she was hoping that the red head wouldn’t notice.
Greta placed her head back on the pillow, allowing Carson to breathe out a sigh of relief and go back to comforting her friend.
When Greta started speaking, now through the tears that were freely falling down her face into the pillow, she explained that Stella had accused her of cheating because she hadn’t answered her phone that morning. Of course, it wasn’t true. Greta was just at work and had a bunch of meetings that required her attention.
Not 2 minutes after making the accusation, some girl found Stella and kissed her on the lips. Greta realized that Stella was not mad that Greta might be cheating, but had in fact been cheating herself. What is worse is that the other girl clearly didn’t know who Greta was as she introduced herself as Stella’s girlfriend. They’d been together for 6 months, longer than Greta had even known Stella.
After a lot of screaming, yelling and fake apologies, Greta had grabbed a rideshare home.
Carson listened the best she could. But her hand that wasn’t rubbing Greta’s hair was balled into such a tight fist that Carson’s nails were starting to dig into her palm.
She knew she couldn’t say anything, but what she wanted to do was kick Stella’s ass and shake Greta into realizing that the person she needed was her. She could treat her better than all of those girls. Every single one.
*
A few months later, Greta was dating a new girl, Riley. She seemed to be nice and Greta seemed pretty happy with her.
Was Carson jealous? A little. But she was happy for them. She was.
All she ever wanted was for Greta to be happy. And if that meant being happy with someone else then so be it.
And then it happened.
Greta came home with tears in her eyes, ready to be comforted.
But something was different. Carson was different. She just couldn’t do it anymore. She had seen Greta come in and out of this apartment with so many women. She had to turn her headphones to the highest volume so many times, trying to avoid hearing Greta with whoever the new girl of the week was. She had to watch “But I’m A Cheerleader” so many times that she could quote it by heart. She couldn’t go through this again.
She either had to tell her or she had to move out.
Greta started to move to the couch and was almost there before she realized that Carson had not moved towards the couch.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Greta asked.
“I can’t do this anymore.” Carson said matter-of-factly.
“What do you mean you can’t do ‘this’ anymore? What does that even mean?”
“I mean, I can’t watch you cry your eyes out over another bitch who does not appreciate you for who you are and who makes you cry,” Carson didn’t realize that she had started walking to Greta.
“Well I am sorry that my breakup is an inconvenience for you. I’ll try to schedule the next one better!”
Carson was standing directly in front of Greta at this point.
“I don’t want you to have another break up. I want you to stop dating all of these crazy bitches and see what is right in front of your face.”
Greta was looking at Carson like she had lost her mind. So many emotions were going through her that she couldn’t figure out which one would win out. Anger. Confusion. Frustration. Lust?
“And what is in front of my face? I only see you…”
Carson didn’t let Greta finish her statement.
“It’s me. I am the perfect person for you. I am the one who loves you. The one who comforts you. The one who knows your favorite movie. Your favorite tea. The way you arrange your pillows on your bed based on your mood. Your favorite chocolate snack. Your favorite time of day. And how much you have an insane fear of frogs...”
“It is not insane! Frogs are weird. But what are you saying Carson? I have to date. I don’t want to be alone.”
“Date me! Love me! Let me make you my girl!” Carson said with all the passion she could express.
Greta stepped back to consider Carson’s declaration. She sat on the couch, looking at Carson as if for the first time. The brunette stayed planted to the spot she was in when Greta stepped away, nervously looking at Greta, hoping against hope.
“You want me to be your girl?” Greta asked, almost unbelievingly. “Why?”
“Are you kidding me?” Carson asked, finally moving to sit by Greta. “Because you are the most beautiful woman I have ever had the privilege of knowing. Because you are funny.” Greta smiled at that compliment. “You are awesome. You are so kind. I see how you are with Esti and Fran.”
“They are easy to love. Jess and Lupe are doing such a great job with them.”
“True, but they also couldn’t keep a babysitter for those two before you volunteered to watch them. Those two hellions worship the ground you walk on.”
Greta laughed at Carson calling Esti and Fran hellions.
“You notice everything. Well…almost everything. You seemed to have missed my big crush on you,” Carson said.
“Not really. I just thought it was jittery chemistry from living together or being friends. I don’t know. I didn’t think you actually wanted me. Just maybe thought I was pretty or something.”
Carson leaned in, hoping Greta would meet her in the middle. She wasn’t disappointed. It was a quick kiss, but that was enough to send electricity through her and make her feel calmer.
“You are pretty. But I want you to be mine.”
“Really?”
“Really. Really.”
Greta scrunched her nose and smiled at Carson with a twinkle in her eye.
“Ok.”
“Ok?”
“Yes. Let’s do it.”
Carson had the biggest grin on her face as she yelped “Woohoo!!!!!” as loud as she could. Greta laughed at her before pulling her new girlfriend in for a kiss.
“Just so you know, I think you are pretty perfect too. Thank you for asking me to be yours,” she said before giving Carson a quick peck.
Carson said, “Thank you for saying yes, finally,” before giving Greta a deep, sensual kiss, expressing all of the love, passion, and desire she had for her best friend, roommate, and now, girlfriend.