Chapter Text
Sierra felt a brief flicker of satisfaction as she flung her backpack at her cluttered desk and collapsed onto her bed. If Kaylee wasn't already home, she probably would've screamed into her pillow, too.
"Sierra just got home and I promised we'd go to the dining hall together," Kaylee lied, clumsily ending her weekly call home.
Now she felt worse. Mrs. Pham was sweet and probably deserved better than to have Sierra's film student angst ruin a perfectly good phone call with her daughter.
"Sorry," Sierra muttered, voice still muffled by the pillow.
She heard her roommate's feet hit the ground and cross the three steps separating their tiny, twin sized beds. The familiar smell of Kaylee's shampoo washed over her and she scooted over so Kaylee could somewhat comfortably perch on the edge of the mattress.
"Tough day?"
"This set is is a living nightmare"
"Is it that Noah guy?"
"Nolan," Sierra corrected reflexively, "and yeah. He's the absolute fucking worst. A tyrant, even."
Kaylee stroked her back and Sierra tried not to think too hard about it.
"I know you probably already ate, but I still have some candy from that care package my mom sent us. We could watch a movie or something?"
Sierra rolled around and propped herself up on her elbows.
"You're actually perfect at this whole best friend thing, you know that?"
"I know," Kaylee tossed her hair and flashed an exaggerated smile. "Where in the world would you be without me?"
Sierra rolled her eyes and grinned, shaking her head in mock annoyance. Kaylee seemed to glow a little as she hopped off the bed and dug out a KitKat for them to share. She waved it enticingly in Sierra's direction.
"I will let you have half of this delicious KitKat if you're the one who has to push the beds together this time."
Sierra pretended to ponder the offer, but they both knew she was more than happy to spare Kaylee from having to move heavy stuff around their room. The dorms were claustrophobic, but they had decided that moving the furniture around helped alleviate that.
On movie nights they pushed their bed frames together so they could both see the TV without having to crowd onto one bed the size of a postage stamp. Nevermind the fact that they usually ended up huddled together anyway.
***
Sierra had to escape.
Somehow, over the course of whatever romcom Kaylee had picked, she had wound up propped against the cold, concrete walls of the dorm, with Kaylee's head on her shoulder. They'd sat like this hundreds of times in the bed of her truck, but something about being in bed filled her with a nervous energy she'd never felt around Kaylee... or at least hadn't for years.
She slowly shifted, gently laying Kaylee down before toeing her shoes on. She just needed to go for a walk. And maybe cut down on her coffee intake. Everything would be fine, she just needed to breathe.
Campus was dead, too late on a Wednesday night for her to actually go anywhere but the vending machines outside of Goldenrod Library. She took her time pondering which soda she wanted before struggling to feed her cash into the machine and punching in her choice.
Sierra cracked the soda open and took a long swallow before heading back to the dorms.
Apparently, she wasn't the only restless soul at UNNK. Leaning against the brick wall of the library was a girl Sierra vaguely recognized from somewhere on campus. She was pretty, in the kind of way that made her face a little less blurry in the rush between places on campus. She had a nose piercing, which Sierra had always found hot, and was smoking a cigarette.
"Isn't it a little late for something that sugary?"
"Well, I'd say I needed a smoke break but I'm trying to quit." Sierra had no idea what compelled her to say that. She had smoked exactly once in high school and felt so guilty about it she left the party early and cried to her mom about it.
"Well that's a real shame," the other girl said, grinding the lit end of her cigarette into the wall next to her. "There's nothing quite like splitting a cig with a beautiful stranger."
Sierra pretended to think over this girl's offer as the two slowly stepped into one another's space. She tipped her head and traced her outline with her eyes. Beautiful stranger, indeed.
"I guess I can make an exception. Today's been a shitshow."
"Tell me about it, I feel like I haven't been able to catch a break for weeks," the stranger paused and let her eyes wander over Sierra's body in return. "I have a feeling my luck is about to change."
This should've been exciting. This girl was the closest thing Sierra had to a campus crush. Kaylee would be ecstatic in the morning.
But that was the problem, wasn't it. The Kaylee of it all. Kaylee, who had walked to and from the bus with her since Kindergarten. Kaylee, who was always ready to make her smile or was willing to just listen. Kaylee, who smelled good and snored a little when she slept.
Sierra felt something hot course through her chest. She didn't have the right word for it, but it felt sharp. For a split second she was irrationally angry at her best friend.
Fuck it.
***
Sierra never learned the other girl's name. That conversation was lost somewhere between the moment she leaned forward to accept the cigarette offered to her and the feeling of another tongue behind her teeth. Sierra had never kissed someone who tasted so gritty, but the lingering taste of smoke and nicotine felt appropriately daring.
Sierra was the first to pull away, feeling the hot, warm breath along her neck as lips lazily traced her throat. She could feel herself teetering on the brink of something and she didn't exactly know if she wanted it.
"Thanks for the cigarette," she said, putting space between mouths as the other girl tried to kiss her again. "Maybe I'll see you next time I can't sleep?"
The other girl smirked at that implication.
"Next time bring your own lighter," she said lightly before walking off into the night.