Sabrina Cox (thelastgirl) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-01-31 09:56:00 |
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Entry tags: | #september 2017, mak, mak x sabrina, sabrina |
Who: Sabrina and Mak
When: Wednesday, Sept 27, afternoon
Where: Sabrina's place
Warnings: Some make outs take place
Status: Complete
Even though she felt exhausted down to her bones, Mak was thankful to go to school finally. The awful fog was gone, and she hoped desperately that it took its red-eyed shadow thing with it. It certainly hadn’t left her dreams yet, it had been the star of a few nightmares over the past couple of days, but that couldn’t last forever, right? It just couldn’t. At least it was harmless in her brain instead of being out in the world, that was one small comfort.
Everybody at school had seemed kind of dazed, and a few kids she knew were absent amidst murmured rumors that their parents had been hurt in all the violence from the day before. It was a sad, uncomfortable thing, and a couple of the teachers had cautioned them against making assumptions. Everything was still being sorted out. Mak did her best to focus on her work, even if she kind of felt like falling asleep in her open book.
With the last bell finally rung, Mak hurried to her locker, and then hurried to Sabrina’s locker to try and catch her before she left. She hadn’t been able to talk to Sabrina between classes or anything yet, and Mak ... well, she really wanted to. Not even about scary fucked up stuff, just in general. Being isolated for quite a few days had done a number on her head, and she just needed her friend.
Sabrina had given some serious consideration into ditching school all together today. She was exhausted from not sleeping well and feeling constantly on edge. But the thought of being home alone all day had driven her from her bed that morning and she had managed to suffer through school without any real incident. She figured it was probably time to get together with Mak and Hunter, and maybe Jade, to talk about what was going on, and how to fix it. She had been tempted to use the oujia board beneath her bed, but Sabrina had resisted so far, and frankly, she was kind of afraid to reach under her bed.
She was closing her locker and slinging her bag over her shoulder when she saw Mak coming down the hall toward her. Feeling a sense of relief that she wouldn't have to walk home alone - at least she assumed Mak would walk with her - Sabrina managed a small, tired smile. "Shit, you look as terrible as I feel. You're still hot, though, so don't worry. Want to grab a coffee or something?" Okay, so maybe the whole avoidance of home was still happening, but whatever. Homework could wait.
Being hot was pretty much the last thing Mak was concerned about, but the semi-compliment made her smile faintly anyway. She stepped in close to hug Sabrina in greeting, but kept it brief and one-armed. She still didn’t know exactly where they stood or if anything had changed or if it made a difference in public or any of that. Sabrina smelled really good though, that was a constant, at least. “Coffee would be amazing,” she answered with a sigh as she stepped back. Mak hooked her thumbs into the straps of her backpack and turned to start to walk with her toward the school exit. “How are you holding up?” she asked, glancing over. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in like ten years.”
Sabrina fell into step with Mak and brushed her bangs from her eyes before shrugging. "I'm fucking tired," she said. There was no need to lie to Mak. She knew what was going on. "I haven't been sleeping well, and I keep having freaky nightmares that feel, like, super real when I wake up. And, yeah, it feels like we were stuck inside forever." It had only been a few days, but still. Sabrina glanced at Mak as they pushed open the side doors and walked outside. "What about you, though? And Hunter? Have you seen him today?"
A few days when you were being haunted or whatever the fuck was happening felt like forever, so Mak was right on board with that. “The same, pretty much. Tired, nightmares, came to school just to like, be around people,” she answered. “Yeah, I saw him earlier, but we didn’t get to talk much. He looks about the same too. Have you talked to anybody else? Jackson, Lucy ...?” A couple of people had chimed in on the group text, and that was concerning enough, but they all hadn’t talked in depth about what was going on, and it was starting to feel like they should. There were too many similarities now, it all had to be connected.
Sabrina nodded along, because she could totally relate to all of that. She loved ditching school, but today felt like a good day to show up. "I haven't," Sabrina admitted. "I mean, some texts here and there but nothing super detailed about this stuff. Actually, Lucy's moving. Going to live with some aunt or cousin or whatever in Portland. I'll have to corner Jackson and Jade and see if we can figure out what's going on. I thought maybe we were all just freaked out and paranoid, but something's up. I was thinking about taking the Ouija board back to the store and asking the owner guy about it. Maybe he knows something, or like.. I don't know. There's got to be people who know about these things that won't think we're all dumb kids."
Mak felt a stab of guilt to hear that Lucy was moving. Maybe that was for the best and ultimately a good thing, but Mak hasn’t exactly been there for her after her brother had disappeared. She nibbled on her bottom lip as they walked and Sabrina talked, nodding a bit to the last things she said. “It’s definitely not us just being paranoid,” she murmured. “We all saw the shadow thing, right? That can’t just be in our heads.” Mak thought for a moment, then frowned a little. “I might know somebody ... Mr. Wainscott, at work, he seems to believe in this kind of shit. Or close to it. And he’s really smart, he reads all the time, maybe he knows something or somebody ... if you go back to that store, I wanna go with you.”
Sabrina arched a dark brow. "Wainscott... oh, you mean, the snooty librarian? Do you really think he'll take us seriously if we ask him about this?" Or if Mak asked him, since they worked together, he might be more open to Mak than if Sabrina tagged along. She wasn't going to turn away help, if someone out there could help. The only problem was, they had no idea what they were dealing with. Ugh, she really didn't want to talk about this now, even though she knew they needed to. It made her feel weird inside and restless, like she needed to just scratch the whole thing out from under her skin. It was a strange feeling. Sabrina didn't want it to get worse, but it wasn't like they had a lot of people they could talk to about it. They only had each other.
Mak had the impulse to defend Neil -- but he was pretty snooty to a lot of people. He just happened to like her. “I think he would, yeah,” she answered with a little shrug. After she’d caught him crying and feeling so weird over a romance novel, Mak felt like he at least owed it to her to listen. He seemed like he Believed in some things, so maybe ... it was a long shot, but she didn’t know who else to ask. “Hunter’s sister sometimes hangs out with the weird dude at the cemetery ... don’t you buy pot from him? Maybe he knows something about something.” A guy like that, a genuine gypsy who lived in a graveyard, that kind of person had to know something, right?
Sabrina was oddly distrustful of most adults for some reason and it was just natural for her to believe they'd all be skeptical of anything a bunch of scared teens would tell them. But maybe, at least in this town, there would be a few who would understand. Maybe some of them had dealt with weird shit too. Her eyes widened a bit when Mak mentioned Rost. How had she not thought of him? "Oh, right! Yeah, Rost would totally believe us, I bet. I'll go over to the cemetery this week and see if I can talk to him about it." And hey, buy more pot while she was there because damn, she needed some. "I mean... right now, it's just... scary stuff, right? No one has been hurt or anything. Maybe whatever is freaking us out is stuck on some other worldly plane and just tormenting us from... beyond." It sounded ridiculous, obviously, but Sabrina was willing to sound ridiculous if it made them feel better.
Mak smiled a bit, glad that she’d had a valid suggestion. She’d only seen the groundskeeper from a distance, but she’d heard plenty of stories around school that he was a good dealer. Since Mak didn’t really buy her own drugs ever, she’d not had a reason to go down there and talk to him. Plus her mom would probably kill her if she found out -- she spent a lot of time warning Mak away from strange men, and that guy was definitely strange. But having company was a different story. Mak trusted that Sabrina knew what she was doing. She was tough and cool and a survivor, and maybe she wouldn’t mind Mak tagging along. “Yeah, maybe,” she said. “Maybe we just ... woke up a poltergeist or something. Hunter says things just keep falling around him, and that’s not like ... dangerous, at least. Can I come with you? To talk to Rost?”
Sabrina nodded. She had things falling too. And doors opening and closing. It was the noises that only she could hear that really bothered her though. Loud, thumping like someone, or something was running at her. A deafening swirling of sound, like a tornado was right on top of her bedroom when nothing was there at all. She hated that more than anything. "Yeah, sure. We'll make a fucking day of it. Go ask Mr. Antique Store owner about the creepy Ouija board, and then we'll hit up gypsy hobo cemetery caretaker about demons and ghosts and stuff. We can call that our first official date or something." She was being sarcastic, but not in a malicious way and she hoped that came across at least. It just sucked that they couldn't do something normal right now, like Sabrina wanted to. And she sort of felt responsible, since it was her Ouija board and everything.
Mak wasn’t sure why she didn’t seem to be getting it all as badly as Hunter and Sabrina. It made her feel a little guilty somehow, even though she knew it probably wasn’t her fault. It had been Sabrina’s board and they’d done it at Hunter’s house, that was all she could really think of. She had been hearing noises too, and some things in her room had moved seemingly on their own, and there had been the shadow-thing and the bad dreams ... but that had been the extent of it so far. It sucked and it was a relief at the same time. Mak gave a pained little smile at what Sabrina said, and reached over to lightly take her hand. “We’ve kinda got shitty timing, don’t we?” she murmured. “We’ll have a better first date than that, once we get all this ... fixed, somehow.” Because they had to fix it.
Sure, they would fix it. She had no idea how, or what would happen if they didn't, but... Sabrina took a deep breath and slipped her fingers through Mak's, not really caring if anyone saw or whatever. It was comforting and she wanted to do it, so it was what it was. "Can we talk about something else for a little bit?" she asked after a moment. "Talking about all of this stuff is making me feel crazy, especially since we can't do anything about it right now." Sabrina knew they probably ought to include Hunter on their talk with Rost and maybe Neil, and she hoped he would be up for it. Honestly, they probably should include everyone who had been at the house, but that was probably pushing it and Sabrina didn't want anyone getting overwhelmed.
“Sure, yeah,” Mak said with a bit of her own relief. It was stupid how into stuff like this she had always been, and then when it actually started happening to her, she didn’t want to dwell on it. Or maybe that was normal, who the hell knew. She tried to focus on how Sabrina’s hand felt in hers instead, and that they were going to get coffee together and that was nice, and they were holding hands out in public and it didn’t feel weird at all. Of course it wouldn’t feel weird to her, but Sabrina didn’t seem to feel weird either. Maybe having real shit to feel weird about put everything else into perspective. Something. Mak groped for a safe subject to chat about, but everything that kept coming to mind was related to badness somehow. “Have you heard about that new karaoke place?” she asked as it finally occurred to her.
Avoidance was something Sabrina excelled at. She rarely felt guilty about it either. Life was just easier when she could compartmentalize things that took her out of her comfort zone. Obviously she couldn't ignore this problem forever, but she was desperate for at least an hour or two of pretending like everything was normal again. Holding Mak's hand helped. It made Sabrina realize how much she missed physical contact with someone else. She yearned for a cigarette, but that would mean taking her hand away, so she decided to bite back on the craving for now. Mak's question prompted Sabrina to raise both brows in thought before nodding. "Yeah, I mean, sort of. I heard some people talking about it at work but I don't know much about it. I guess we'll have to go check it out, right?"
“Me and Hunter went the other day,” Mak said, an easier smile crossing her face. “He was really freaked out and didn’t want to stay home, so he pretty much dragged me there. But ohmygod Sabrina, it was amazing. Like I don’t even sing that great, but it was so much fun. We have to go!” Maybe it was weird, but she couldn’t help the enthusiasm that leaked into her voice. There had been something kind of magical about singing karaoke, like it just made everything bad slide away. It sounded like exactly something Sabrina needed. Mak squeezed her hand. “Maybe that can be our first real date. If you wanna. Have a date.”
For a second or two, Sabrina felt downright petulant that Mak and Hunter and gone to the karaoke bar and had fun without inviting her. She knew that wasn't entirely fair of her, since she went out with Jackson and stuff without Mak, but still. If she hadn't already been feeling cranky and on edge all day, it wouldn't even have been that big a deal. But she suddenly didn't want their first date to be anything Mak had already done and had fun doing with someone else. "Maybe," she murmured, the itch even stronger now for a cigarette. "But yeah, I wanna have a real date. We can figure it out."
Mak hadn’t even wanted to go to the damn karaoke bar in the first place, but Hunter had been adamant about getting away from the house, and he kept pestering her to go, but now Mak was so glad that she had. She knew Sabrina would love it too, once she went. Even if she didn’t sound too thrilled about it at the moment. Mak tried not to let that bug her -- they had a million reasons not to sound thrilled about anything. She gave Sabrina’s fingers a little squeeze to show that she did pick up on the vibe though. “Or we could just go to a movie or something,” she said, sounding casual about it. “I bet there’s some good horror coming out next month. Or -- hey! Do you work on Saturday? They’re doing An American Werewolf in London this week.”
Sabrina wasn't sure if she really wanted to watch a horror movie in the midst of all this stuff, but she felt like saying so would make her sound like a wimp, and Mak was at least trying to come up with stuff for them to do. Sabrina was aware that her indifference and pouting could get really obnoxious really fast so she smiled faintly and shook her head. "No, I don't work. We should go. Maybe hit up Moxie's before or after the movie or something. I think that would be fun, especially after all this stuff going on." Plus, if it was like a date-thing, that would be kind of cool. Sabrina was still all weird-feeling about dating at all, though she had a feeling it was just the label that put her off. "Do you want to do that?"
It was less obnoxious to Mak and more worrying, like maybe Sabrina didn’t actually want to go on a date after all. Or do whatever it was they were doing together or ... something. Had Mak pushed too hard for this? Did Sabrina just not want to say so because it might mess up their friendship? Did Mak just really suck as a semi-girlfriend? It was too easy to spiral into self-doubt, and she tried to pull herself away from those thoughts. Sabrina was just stressed, all of them were, and at least American Werewolf was cheesy and stupid and not actually scary. “Yeah, that sounds good,” she said, doing her best to keep that light tone and giving a small smile back. “Cool.”
Sabrina definitely wanted to go out with Mak, and it would be dumb to try and deny that to herself. But she also knew she was a fuck up, and straight up conversations about relationships made her feel uneasy and uncomfortable. It's not like she'd had any good ones, ever. Sabrina was far less worried about Mak sucking as a girlfriend than she was worried about herself sucking as a girlfriend. Because she was kind of already sucking and they weren't even officially going out yet. Right? Still, Sabrina felt a spark of happy when Mak agreed to the movie, even though she didn't really expect her to say no, since she was the one who suggested it. "I know I'm being weird," Sabrina murmured after a moment. "But everything feels weird lately. But I do wanna go out with you, like... on a date. It just kind of freaks me out a little, that's all. Which is all on me, believe me." Mak hadn't asked, but Sabrina felt the uncertain vibe between them and that sucked too.
Mak had expected the subject to change, for them to shift gears to something else while they walked to Joyland, so she was a little surprised by what Sabrina actually said. Most of the time when Mak felt weird about something, she was pretty sure she was the only one. She was just weird, and it leaked. And Sabrina didn’t seem to like to talk about stuff like this, not so explicitly. She took a second to come up with good enough words, her brow furrowed a tiny bit, feeling overly aware of how Sabrina’s hand felt in hers. “I kinda wanna ask why it freaks you out, but I know that’s not always an easy answer,” she murmured finally, looking over at Sabrina again with a wan smile. “And I know there’s enough stressful shit going on, so ... don’t worry about it. We’ll have fun, see how it all goes.” That probably wasn’t very satisfying, but she wasn’t sure what else to say.
It wasn't a difficult answer, just not one Sabrina was used to saying out loud. She didn't want pity or for Mak to try and reassure her or anything. That would just make it worse. And Sabrina felt shitty because it seemed like she was just dragging Mak along in this... whatever it was, and that wasn't fair either. No one liked to be left confused and unsure as to where they stood with someone else. Not when there were feelings involved and shit. "It freaks me out because I ruin everything I touch. Not literally, just... I don't want to lose you as a friend, and I know it's going to happen when I eventually do something to fuck this up." Sabrina shifted her bag on her shoulder with her free hand and grimaced. "And please don't try to tell me I won't, or whatever, because I have a shitty track record. I just don't want to be a shitty girlfriend and I'm afraid I will be."
Naturally, Mak’s first instinct was to do exactly that -- to reassure Sabrina that she wouldn’t fuck anything up and it would all be fine. But since she’d been explicitly told not to do that, she bit her tongue on the first things that bubbled up in her throat. She pressed her lips together, looking ahead of them as they walked and turning all that over in her mind. She didn’t know Sabrina’s track record for dating, but she did know that her own wasn’t the best, so who cared what was in the past? Sabrina wasn’t the girls she’d already tried to date, and vice versa. Everybody was different. “Okay, A ... you don’t know what’s going to happen, unless you’re totally psychic and just haven’t told me,” Mak said finally, giving Sabrina a vaguely playful look. She was taking it seriously, but really, did it have to all be so dramatic? “And B ... I’m scared too. Like, I haven’t dated much and both times ended not so great, so ... yeah, it’s scary. But you’re worth the risk, to me. I like you a lot, so ...” She trailed off and shrugged. “I wanna try.”
Sabrina knew perfectly well how dramatic it sounded. Probably overly so. If the roles had been reversed, Sabrina probably would have rolled her eyes and told Mak to stop overthinking shit. And maybe it was too difficult to explain what she meant and why she felt the way she did. Mak would probably think she was crazy or something. It was just easier to leave some things unsaid. "Okay," she murmured. Sabrina cleared her throat and forced a small smile, just so the whole afternoon wouldn't be ruined by her dumbassery. "So do you want to call Hunter and see if he wants to go with us to see Rost this weekend? Do you think he'd want to?" The cemetery could be creepy and not for anyone... the same could be said for Rost, although Sabrina didn't find him creepy at all, but she might have been one of the few who didn't.
That wasn’t much of an answer, was it? No assurance that Sabrina wanted to try too, no reciprocated ‘you’re worth it’ or anything along those lines. Just ‘okay’ and a fake-ass smile and a subject change. Mak felt a little crestfallen, but she tried not to show it. It didn’t work too well. Ugh, why did she always do that? Get all vulnerable on people who weren’t into it? It was just her lot in life to make the people she really liked uncomfortable, it seemed like. Miss Try Too Hard. Why was shit like this always so difficult? Mak told herself to focus and blinked a little as she processed Sabrina’s questions. “Uh ... yeah maybe,” she said, sounding uncertain. “I can ask him. He’s seemed like he really just wants to avoid everything, so he might not want to, but. I’ll ask.”
Sabrina wasn't oblivious to the look on Mak's face and she quickly tried to wrack her brain as to what she said, or didn't say, to upset her. Honestly, she hadn't been lying when she said she fucked things up. Even when she was trying to not fuck things up, she fucked things up. Sabrina was spectacularly good at it. Suddenly she wished they were still talking about creepy demon hauntings, because that was a little bit easier to deal with. Sighing, Sabrina stopped walking and tugged on Mak's hand to get her to stop too. "Look, I'm sorry. I like you too. I'm not good with... saying the right things or even doing the right things when I should. I'm always in my head and I can be pretty fucking selfish about it." Sabrina blew out a long breath before she gave Mak an apologetic look. "Can we just like... turn back time to like, when we kissed on the bridge and start over or something? I can do better."
Mak stopped when Sabrina tugged on her, her expression a little pained as she looked around at her. She felt flushed and dumb, and like now she’d somehow cornered Sabrina into saying that she liked her, which she really didn’t want. Slapping a giant Do Over onto it all sounded kind of nice, though there were additional reasons that Mak wished they could turn back time. “You don’t have to apologize,” she said quietly, casting a glance around them. They definitely looked like a couple now, holding hands and having a Serious Discussion on the sidewalk or whatever. “It’s not ... I don’t care about the ’right’ things, you know? Whatever the hell that means. Just true things. I fuck things up too, and I really don’t want ...” She stopped and sighed, reaching up with her free hand to fluff her hair a bit in a nervous gesture. “Just be honest with me, please, is all I ask. Don’t say you like me if you don’t, don’t go along with anything you don’t wanna do, don’t tell me stuff you think I wanna hear. I’m always second-guessing and I can’t stop. ‘Cause I really thought me and my last girlfriend had something good, you know? But then all of the sudden she’s dumping me and I don’t know where it went wrong and I felt really fucking stupid for thinking everything was okay, so I just get ... dumb, about stuff. Sorry.” That had been a ramble and a half, and Mak wanted to smack herself. She waved a hand like she could wipe all the words out of the air. “Okay. Anyway. Starting over.”
Sabrina did her best to take in everything Mak was saying and not interrupt. She totally understood where the other girl was coming from and Sabrina certainly didn't want to be another bad memory for her later. On the other hand, it was kind of a relief that maybe she wasn't the only one with insecurity issues. It sort of made Sabrina want to kiss Mak right there. "Well, your ex-girlfriend was a dumbass," Sabrina said simply, though she was aware of how unhelpful that was in the grand scheme of things. She arched a brow and gave Mak a small smile. "And have you ever known me to say or do anything I didn't want to say or do? I do like you and I'm sorry I'm super insecure and annoying... don't protest that, 'cause it's true. But I want to try and be better, for you, okay? And I am sorry if I made things confusing between us."
It may have been unhelpful, but it made Mak huff a small laugh anyway. That had been a rough time for her, feeling like she’d lost faith in her ability to properly understand or read how anyone felt about her. She’d gotten a little better, but starting a new Thing with someone had called up a lot of those old issues. Sabrina seemed to be struggling a bit too, and that was an odd kind of comfort. Mak bit her tongue on saying that people in relationships did or said stuff they didn’t want to all the time, because that was beside the point, probably mostly her own paranoia, and Sabrina was right that she was stubborn by nature. She gave her a soft smile back instead, then let go of her hand and stepped in closer to hug her. That felt better than words. “It’s okay,” she murmured. “Sorry I’m super insecure and annoying too.”
"Let's just be super insecure and annoying together," Sabrina said, hugging Mak back. The physical affection was nice and comforting, reminding Sabrina yet again how often she went without it. "Or you know, work on being less insecure and annoying together. Whichever." If they had some kind of common ground and understanding, then maybe things wouldn't be so difficult. Nothing in Point Pleasant could ever be easy, could it? But maybe she and Mak could have something nice that wouldn't be ruined by whatever, or whoever. Sighing softly, Sabrina pulled back to smile a bit, her arms still around Mak. "Let's get some coffee and like, talk about normal, teenage shit for awhile. Like, how much school sucks and movies and crap. I don't know. Just... I want to have some fun."
That second one sounded like a healthier thing to do, and something about even the flippant suggestion made Mak want to cry a little. Like maybe they were stronger and better off together. It was a nicer scenario to think about than both of their issues dragging them further down and fucking up whatever was between them. Mak was a natural optimist about most things, so that was what she tried to dwell on. She returned Sabrina’s smile with a touch of sheepishness that faded after a moment. Still being held felt really nice, and she kind of hoped they could go somewhere more private after coffee. “Same here,” she said. “So yes. Fuck everything but normal teenage bullshit for the rest of the day.” She could sound pretty confident about it now, and Mak gave in to the impulse to lean in and kiss Sabrina’s cheek before she let her go and started walking again. “School sucks so hard.”
Sabrina smiled, almost shyly, at the kiss on her cheek, which was kind of weird given they had kissed already. But it felt nicer somehow, now that she was able to get some stuff off her chest and Mak wasn't running away yet. "Normal teenage bullshit. Um, yes, school totally sucks. Homework, ew." Sabrina fell into step beside Mak, feeling better than she had when they left earlier. It might not last, not with creepy shit happening, but it was a nice distraction anyway. Sabrina smiled and took Mak's hand again. "Speaking of homework and crap, how's your tutoring stuff going? Because I might need your help with biology things and I don't want to have to go through a teacher. I was kind of hoping I could just flirt and bat my eyelashes and you'd be willing."
Mak liked that smile on Sabrina, it was much more real than the earlier ones, and god, she was just too pretty for words. She got a happy little flutter in her chest when Sabrina took her hand again, and Mak squeezed it gently, laughing a bit at her words. “Besides me having to personally listen to Jules Cooper complain and be snide for an hour every week? It’s going okay,” she said, amused. Smirking a bit, mak gave Sabrina a sidelong glance. “I think I could make room in my super busy schedule, but I might have to see some examples of this flirty eyelash-batting first.” Honestly, she couldn’t imagine Sabrina acting that way, except to mock those kinds of girls, and it would probably be hilarious.
Sabrina wrinkled her nose at the mention of Jules Cooper. She did not envy Mak having to tutor Jules at all. Sure, the girl had a pretty cool house, but that whole party had been super tainted by creepy shit. Plus, Sabrina just disliked Jules Cooper, immensely. "I know I need help with biology, but it makes me super happy to know Jules Cooper is dumb enough to need a tutor herself." Being pretty and having a big house wasn't everything, apparently. "Give me a bit to practice batting my eyelashes, okay? I need to make sure it doesn't look like I'm having a stroke or whatever." No, she was not good at the flirty thing but she would definitely try it if it made Mak laugh.
“Oh! You should totally learn Morse code? And I will too, and then we can like, talk about people with eyelash-bats,” Mak said, the joke tumbling out of her mouth before she even thought through to the end of it. She laughed a little at herself and rolled her eyes to show she was just being stupid. “No but yeah, it’s kind of hilarious, I can tell how much she hates being stuck there with me, being taught by some nerd or whatever. So you’ll be much more fun to tutor. Stroke-flirting and all.” She tossed a grin over at Sabrina, fighting off the urge to swing their hands. She felt a lot better now, obviously.
"Morse code? Is that the one with all the beeps?" Sabrina asked. "Screw the eyelash bats! We'll just beep at each other in front of people and make them super paranoid. That sounds like a lot more fun." She was just being stupid too, but being stupid felt pretty nice right now. "And dude, whatever, Jules should be thankful you're tutoring her. If it were me, I'd be teaching her the wrong way to do everything so she'd fail." Mak was much nicer than Sabrina and that was a fact. "But fuck, let's do this stroke flirting thing. I bet we start a trend with it. Everyone'll be doing it."
Mak laughed heartily at the mental image of the two of them beeping at each other in the hallway and the kind of stares they would get. It was so much easier not to give a shit what other people thought when you were with someone who also didn’t care. She’d always admired that about Sabrina. “It can be beeps or taps or blinks or whatever, you just gotta know the code,” she said, grinning and snickering still. “But hell yeah, we’ll be trend-setters.” She wasn’t sure what stroke-flirting would actually look like, but they would figure it out. “Just ... get really slurry and tongue-tied? I do that around you anyway, so it won’t be too hard.”
"No one's gonna know Morse code. Except us. Me because I'll learn it and you, because you're smart and know what Morse code is. It'd be fun." Sabrina really didn't care what people thought of her. Well, okay, sometimes she did, depending on the person, but usually, so what. No one really knew her anyway, so whatever they thought about her was likely wrong and she didn't have the patience or desire to right them. Sabrina chuckled softly and looked at Mak. They were getting close to Joyland and she was glad she was in a better mood to enjoy coffee rather than mope into it. "You don't get slurry with me. Unless I'm just fluent in Mak speak and I understand everything you say. I don't know."
“Tongue tied, at least,” Mak told her, feeling a little blushy again as she looked over. It probably wasn’t as bad as she thought, if Sabrina hadn’t noticed what a huge dork she was when it came to talking to girls she liked. Namely Sabrina. “But you totally could be fluent and just not know it. Maybe it’s a girl thing? ‘Cause sometimes I swear Hunter doesn’t have any idea what I’m saying.” They reached Joyland, and Mak pulled the door open for Sabrina to go through first, like a true butch girlfriend. Mak was feeling better too, apparently this whole ‘act normal’ thing had been totally needed for the both of them. It was cathartic just to bullshit around and see Sabrina smile.
"Nah." Sabrina never saw Mak as being tongue tied, but maybe she was just oblivious to it. That happened a lot. In her mind, they had always been friends, at least up to recently, and Mak was Mak. Adorable, smart and way too good for someone like Sabrina. It just didn't seem like Mak had figured that last part out yet, which was just fine with Sabrina at the moment. "Sometimes I have no idea what Hunter is saying, so maybe it's just a people thing," she said with a small grin. Sabrina walked into the coffee shop and decided to get something sugary and sweet that would make her stomach hurt later. "What do you want?" Sabrina asked, nodding at the menu board. "I'll get our drinks." It was the least she could do for being a total train wreck lately.
It was sweet of her to offer, so Mak didn’t protest, just hummed as she looked at the board and tried to pick quickly. “Vanilla latte with caramel,” she decided, flashing Sabrina another smile. “I’ll grab us a seat.” The place wasn’t crowded, so it wasn’t like that would be a hardship, but a few other teenagers were filtering in from school, and Mak liked sitting near the windows. Especially now that the sun was back out. She let go of Sabrina’s hand to go claim one of the small tables, ducking out from her bag strap and hanging it on the back of the chair before she settled in. Maybe she should’ve suggested they get something to go and gone back to her house, but this would do for now.
Sabrina only had to wait for a minute or two before she was able to order their drinks. She paid and took Mak's vanilla latte and her own dark chocolate mocha over to the table where Mak sat. She handed the other girl her drink before slipping into the chair across from her. It was difficult not to want to sink back into their earlier conversation about the weird shit going on, but Sabrina was determined to think about something else. Anything else. "What're you doing tonight?" she asked, enjoying the warmth from the coffee cup as she wrapped her hands around it. "Do you have to be home early because it's a school night?"
“Thank you, ohmygod,” Mak murmured as she accepted the drink from Sabrina. It felt good against her cool fingers and she breathed it in before she took a testing sip. Still too hot, but that smell was incredibly soothing all on its own. The question gave her a tiny flutter in her stomach, and it was nice to feel. Like at least that part of her was still normal. More or less. “No plans,” she answered, giving Sabrina a little smile. “Nah, just regular curfew time of ten.” Mak shrugged a shoulder; that might have counted as early to some teens, but her mother continually insisted that it was reasonable, so Mak guessed it was. When she turned eighteen though, it might be a different story. “Why, what are you doing?” Mak quirked a brow and couldn’t help but look a teensy bit suggestive.
Sabrina shrugged. "I don't want to go home," she admitted with a small smile. "I'm a fucking scaredy cat." At least Mak's parents would be home. Sabrina had no idea if her dad would be home or at the bar, but more often than not, it was the latter. "Want to do something? We could just hang out, or... do a movie or something?" She didn't want to intrude on Mak's evening or anything, but Sabrina had a feeling once they said goodbye she was going to sink back into whatever funk she'd been in all weekend. "Or fuck, we could go back to my place and smoke?"
Mak was torn. She definitely wanted to spend more time with Sabrina, that was a given, but there were pros and cons to each location option. Her parents -- her mother, at least -- would definitely be home, if not already than soon. But they were pretty good at giving Mak privacy when she had friends over. Sabrina’s place might be empty, which was awesome, but then it might not be later, and she really wasn’t comfortable with Sabrina’s dad. But they could smoke pot there. So privacy to do whatever they wanted versus a feeling of safety ... though not many places felt really safe anymore. “I don’t mind taking you home with me, if you want. We just can’t smoke there, so ... maybe we can go watch a movie at your place?” she suggested, her tone making it clear that it was just a suggestion. Mak’s home life was pretty good, she knew she had that luxury.
Sabrina honestly didn't mind what they did, as long as they just got to hang out for awhile. She knew that she didn't have a lot of friends who liked hanging out at her place. Her dad could be a dick when he was home, especially if he'd been drinking. "We can go to my place," Sabrina said with a nod. She had a television in her room, at least. If her dad came home, he wasn't likely to bother them. Out of sight, out of mind. And Sabrina was out of sight a lot. "I won't keep you too far past dark, though, promise." She could even walk Mak home if Mak's mom couldn't come by and pick her up. "I've got popcorn and junk food too. Not the best dinner, or whatever, but we can order a pizza if you want?" It felt like she had to bribe Mak to want to hang out, which was really ridiculous and not at all true, but Sabrina was used to inciting her friends to hang out by promising them weed and food.
Mak knew that she could get a ride home if she needed one, so that wasn’t too much of an issue. Considering everything that had been going on the past few days -- and that was just the stuff Mrs. Richberg knew about -- she knew her mom wouldn’t want her out walking after dark. But Mak wasn’t going to cut the time short just because of that. Not when she would be alone with Sabrina. She grinned a little at the offer of pizza, already thinking she would offer to pay for it. At least half. She had some cash on her. “Sure,” she said. “Though I’m totally not gonna turn my nose up at popcorn and junk either.” Mak took a sip from her drink, then raised a brow at Sabrina again. “Wanna maybe ... head that way soon?” she asked. Their cups were to-go anyway, and while she loved being out in public together, she loved being alone with Sabrina even more.
"We can go whenever you want to," Sabrina said. She wasn't on any kind of timeline. She just hadn't wanted to go home, but if Mak was coming with her, it wouldn't be too bad. Hopefully whatever entity was haunting them would leave them alone for a couple of hours. Suddenly Sabrina was feeling rather optimistic about visiting Rost. He was kind of kooky and new age-y, right? Maybe he knew what to do to get rid of whatever it was. She'd much rather ask him than some other adult who might think they're crazy. "Want to go now?" Sabrina didn't mind hanging around, but Joyland could get noisy and full of obnoxious people they went to school with, so she was totally fine with ditching out.
“Honestly? Yes,” Mak admitted with a little laugh. Knowing that Sabrina wanted to go to -- or was at least open to the idea -- made it a little less embarrassing to admit. She didn’t know why that was embarrassing, but it was. Something something girl’s libidos weren’t supposed to exist something something. Didn’t they have enough dumb bullshit to contend with without the patriarchy invading her brain too? Yes, yes they did. Mak made sure the lid on her cup was secure, then stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder again.
Amused, Sabrina nodded and moved to stand, despite having just sat down. "Okay." At least she didn't live far. That was one benefit to living in a small town, she supposed. She could get almost everywhere on foot if she had enough patience. Maybe eventually she would have a car. She had been doing pretty good with her savings, but she still had a ways to go. When they finally got to Sabrina's apartment building, she used her key to let them inside. The apartment was quiet, but smelled of cigarette smoke, which meant her dad had probably been home briefly then left again. Probably to the bar. Sabrina tried the lights and breathed a soft sigh of relief when they came on. She led Mak down the narrow hall to her bedroom and pushed open the door, tossing her school bag onto the chair beside her dresser. "Pizza?" she asked. "Or popcorn. Or both?"
Mak had been to Sabrina’s apartment quite a few times over the years they’d been friends, even if they didn’t hang out there a lot. It was small and had a bad vibe to it in a certain sense, but there were parts of it that she liked. Namely Sabrina’s room, because it felt the most like her. Mak walked in and set her own bag down next to Sabrina’s, toe-ing out of her sneakers to leave them nearby. She fished her wallet out of her back pocket, along with her phone, and started to dial up the pizza place. “Pizza. What do you want on it? I’ve got it,” she said, shooting a look at Sabrina that said she better not argue. Mak went to plop down on the edge of Sabrina’s bed.
Pizza cost a lot more than two coffees, but Sabrina decided not to argue. "I like pepperoni and sausage," Sabrina said, sitting down on her bed next to Mak so she could lean over and pull off her own shoes. She was acutely aware of the Ouija board beneath her bed, but was determined not to give it anymore thought. "I know we've got coffees but I have soda too." Normal stuff. Normal stuff was good. Pizza, soda, a movie. Smoking some weed. That sounded better than anything else. Sabrina stood and walked over to tug open her desk drawer so she could dig the small, brown paper bag out. At least they would be nice and hungry before the pizza actually got there, right?
Mak wasn’t exactly rolling in dough, but she did get a bit of money from her job at the library, and her parents had insisted on getting her a student bank account so she could learn about properly handling money. It had been kind of a thrill to pay for things with a debit card at first, but the shine had more or less worn off. She could afford to buy herself and her semi-girlfriend a pizza though. Mak ordered their pizza and some cheese sticks to boot, then hung up and flashed Sabrina a smile. She could smell the pot from where she was, and that only served to improve her mood even more. “So does he charge you a lot? The Rost guy, for the weed.”
Sabrina kept her bedroom door open just so they could hear the delivery guy at the front door when he arrived. She sat down at her desk to get a bowl ready for them both and grinned. "Nah, not really. He's pretty cool, actually. Not shady or a jackass like some of the guys I used to buy from. He's always got the good stuff too, which is awesome." Sabrina flashed a smile at Mak. "If you ever want to buy your own, you can just tell him I sent you. I bug him enough that I think he knows my name by now. Sometimes I want to ask him who else he sells to in town, just so I know which adults are getting high when their kids go to bed. Or like, which one of our teachers lights up. I doubt he'd tell me though."
She liked to smoke it when it was around, but Mak was wary of buying her own, for some reason. She didn’t judge the people who did, she was just too much of a chickenshit about getting caught, probably. Her parents still thought she was a Good Girl, and she wasn’t quite ready to disabuse them of that notion yet. “Maybe after I meet him,” she said, smiling back. “You should totally ask though. Worst he can say is no, right? And ohmygod, some of our teachers have to be potheads, I dunno how they can stand all those idiots all day long otherwise.” Mak scooted back and got more comfortable on Sabrina’s bed, her back against the headboard and her legs stretched out. She was so ready to be high and cuddly.
"I can't imagine any of them as potheads, though!" Sabrina said, wracking her brain of the Chamberlain faculty. Most of them were put together and sharp. Though that didn't mean they didn't go home and smoke a joint at the end of the day. It was just weird to think about. "I might ask him. But he might be bound by like, dealer, buyer confidentiality, right? That's gotta be a thing. Unless the cops show up and start demanding names, then you've gotta save your ass and spill." She grinned and picked up the bowl and her lighter. Sabrina got onto the bed and walked on her knees to sit down next to Mak, her own back up against the wall. She got comfortable and then got the bowl lit, taking a couple puffs on it before offering it to Mak. Sabrina thought she probably should have opened her window, but eh. In a second. "I guess it's weird for me to think about our teachers as, like, people."
“Uh, if he’s any kinda good drug dealer, I would hope he keeps his mouth shut,” Mak said with a laugh. Like she knew. But it just seemed like common sense that you should be able to trust your dealer not to go tell everyone who came asking that you bought from him. She felt a notch warmer and happier with Sabrina sitting so close, and Mak shifted over a tiny bit so their arms were touching. She accepted the pipe and the lighter, nodding a little. “It’s totally weird. But I bet a lot of them do it.” She took a hit and held onto it for a few seconds before she coughed it out, then got another puff before she offered it back to Sabrina. “Like can you imagine Ms. Gaines high? I bet she’s a giggler.”
Mak was probably right. There was no way Sabrina and a handful of teenagers were Rost's only customers in this town. What else was there to do but get high anyway? Play with Ouija boards, sure, but she was so not thinking about that. Sabrina grinned when Mak coughed, but she didn't tease her about it. She considered Ms. Gaines getting high as she took another hit, her eyes squinty as she imagined the pretty blonde teacher lighting up a joint. "Honestly, Ms. Gaines isn't super like, bubbly in class. She's kind of a hard ass sometimes. Which... probably means she's a total giggler when she's high. She's got to let loose sometimes! She probably smokes all the time now that she's not married to a police officer anymore. Unless he got high too, which would be hella funny, if you ask me."
It was kind of funny to imagine different teachers smoking pot. One of the fatter ones crossed Mak’s mind and she snickered as she thought about how he must get the munchies all the time. Now she was going to have trouble walking down the halls and not grinning, wondering what each one of them would be like stoned. “Damn right she’s a giggler,” Mak said with a grin. “Wasn’t she married to like ... the super big one? With the beard?” It was probably a good thing that Mak wasn’t super familiar with the cops in town -- except Hunter’s dad, of course -- but it was too small of a place not to know what most of them looked like. “I bet he’s a giggler too,” she added with another little laugh.
Sabrina exhaled and handed Mak the pipe again. Like Mak, Sabrina knew she was going to be in every class tomorrow wondering which of her teachers got high and what they were like when they did. At least it would give her something to think about! "Yeah, Officer Gaines," Sabrina said. She knew the cops in town, only because there weren't all that many of them, and they were always everywhere. Officer Gaines had been one to drop her dad off a couple times when he'd been drunk and disorderly somewhere. "He's the big one with the beard, and Officer Solomon is the sexy as fuck one. And Sheriff Barrett is Hunter's dad so it's kind of gross to think of him as hot, but he's hot too, for being a dad. So like, Gaines is a giggler, I bet Solomon gets horny and Hunter's dad doesn't smoke pot because it's illegal and a no no."
Mak had started to take a hit and had to stop to laugh at Sabrina’s run down of the Point Pleasant police force. She knew Officer Solomon, because he was the only black cop, and that seemed important for her to know. It was a pretty white town in general, so all the people of color stuck out to Mak. Role models. And she guessed he was objectively good looking for a man, but still ... a man. She wrinkled her nose at Sabrina teasingly. “Ohmygod, stop, you’re gonna make me jealous,” she said, giggling. She took a drag from the pipe, holding the acrid smoke in her lungs for a beat before she exhaled upward. No coughing this time, yay! “At least like ... I know you’re not racist. Maybe instead of giggling, Gaines just gets real hungry and that’s why he’s so big.” It didn’t make any sense, but it was funny to her right then, and that was all that mattered.
"No need to be jealous," Sabrina said, giggling herself. "It's totally fine to admire someone's good looks! It's not like I'm gonna blow Officer Solomon in the cop car. He's just hot!" If they ever made Cops of Point Pleasant calendars for charity, Sabrina would totally buy one. Or five. She snickered softly. "You should know I'm not racist by being into you, not for thinking Officer Solomon is sexy, but yeah, I get what you're saying. And Gaines probably doesn't eat junk though, he gets high and eats like meat. Red meat and potatoes and man food." She let her voice get low and growly. "Then he drinks seventeen protein shakes and runs twelve miles." Sabrina didn't know why it was so funny to think about, but it was. "I bet when he and Ms. Gaines were married, they'd get high and he'd bench press her."
“Well yeah, that’s what I mean, like ... two not-racist points for you,” Mak said with more snickering. Was the pot kicking in already? Damn, that Rost guy did have some good stuff. The rest of what Sabrina said was hilarious, and Mak cracked up imagining it all. Whenever she pondered her sexuality, she always thought that was one thing she might kind of miss out on -- being with someone way bigger and stronger than her. On one hand it seemed safer not to be with someone like that, but on the other ... it seemed kind of nice. “Man food,” she repeated in the same growly voice, then dissolved into giggles again. She took another hit off the pipe and handed it back. “I wonder why they broke up. Do you think he was like, cheating on her?”
Sabrina nearly choked on her giggle at the sound of Mak's man voice. She really had no preference as to how big or small her boyfriends, or girlfriends, were. Sabrina liked to think she was safe no matter what, though obviously that wasn't entirely true. Duh. She took the pipe but waited a moment before taking another hit off of it. "I don't know. I heard Sophia Tyler talking about it last year before the end of school, 'cause her mom goes to the same hair place that Ms. Gaines's sister goes to, and like, Sophie's mom said Ms. Gaines was the one who filed for divorce and like, Officer Gaines was really upset by it. So like, maybe she cheated on him? Or he cheated on her and she didn't forgive him. Or... they just... fell out of love, I guess." There were plenty of reasons for people to get divorced, but people liked the most scandalous ones for obvious reasons. "She's so pretty, though, and even though he's not like as hot as Officer Solomon, he's cute too. I don't think they hate each other though."
Mak had to laugh some more at that chain of information. From Ms. Gaines to her sister to her sister’s hairdresser to Sophia’s mom and then to Sophia, to be spread around the high school, like any of them should care. Point Pleasant was such a small town. It was pretty hilarious. “That’s good though, that they don’t hate each other,” she said once she’d stopped giggling. Mak stretched her legs out a bit further and pressed in closer to Sabrina. God, she smelled nice. And her bed was comfy. And Mak couldn’t help but think a little bit about what-all she got up to in that bed. “Hope they both end up like, happier. I like Ms. Gaines.” She didn’t know her ex-husband really, but Mak wished everyone happiness in general. Most people, anyway. Feeling warm and buzzy now, she snuck her hand over to toy a little with the edge of Sabrina’s skirt.
"Me too," Sabrina said. She liked Ms. Gaines and hoped they were happier, even though she didn't know either of them super well. She just knew how much divorce sucked and what it could do to two people who were previously happy. Her parents were all but unrecognizable to Sabrina now. She took another hit from the weed and then offered it back to Mak, grinning a bit when she spotted Mak's hand at her skirt. Sabrina was starting to feel warm and buzzy herself and she rested her head on Mak's shoulder as she wiggled her toes. "Do you think the pizza will be here soon?" She didn't really care, but it would be kind of cool to know how much time they had to make out before someone interrupted them by knocking on her door.
Mak had been spared from going through parental divorce so far, and she had a feeling that it would stay that way. It made her lucky, she supposed, but Mak had never seen the sense in two people staying together if they made each other miserable either. She had the fleeting thought about asking Sabrina about her parents’ divorce, but that probably wasn’t a great topic, and Sabrina’s head was suddenly on her shoulder and that was all that mattered. “I dunno,” she said through her instant grin. Mak took the weed back for one more hit -- okay, two -- then offered it back. She felt good enough, and there was still some THC to sink in. “They said like, thirty minutes ... how long has it been?” She tittered a bit.
"Uh, it feels like hours, but it probably hasn't been that long," Sabrina said. She lifted her head from Mak's shoulder just long enough to slip the pipe between her lips again. She took one last pull from it before rolling away from Mak to set the pipe down on her nightstand. Then she shifted back, feeling light and totally not worried at all about creepy demon spirits. Because Mak was on her bed, looking cute and a little high now and they were alone. "So if we're going on, like, a real date or whatever, does that mean we have to wait until after the movie to make out? Or could we totally kiss now if we wanted to."
Sabrina leaning to put the pipe away was kind of a really nice view, but it was just as good as her coming back in close and looking at Mak again. The question made her eyebrows lift and a fresh flush come into her cheeks, but her smile was delighted. “Um, I’m pretty sure since we’ve already kissed, the whole no-makeouts-before-the-first-date tradition is kinda blown, so ... my vote is kiss now,” she answered. Now if only she could stop grinning like a dumbass long enough to do so. “I mean, if you wanna kiss now, of course.” That part came out softer but still amused, because duh, why else would she ask? Mak leaned in a little closer, her eyes on Sabrina’s face. She could’ve just gone for it, she guessed, but meeting halfway seemed better somehow.
Sabrina had wondered if that first kiss even counted as a kiss kiss, but she supposed it didn't matter now. They had been friends long enough that Sabrina didn't even think their first 'date' would feel weird or different. They would just be holding hands through it, or whatever right? Right now, they were alone and her bed and everything was kind of buzzy and light, and there was no freaky stuff happening, so why not? Sabrina closed the rest of the short distance between them, pressing her lips to Mak's.
Mak had had a crush on Sabrina for about a million years, but things sure felt different to her now. Besides all the dumb angst that made her fret sometimes -- both of them, apparently, which was kind of a relief -- there was so much more warmth and stomach-fluttering and that weird thing her heart kept doing at times like these. Sabrina’s lips were soft and supple, and all of the bemusement drained out of Mak, replaced but something that felt more like it glowed. Like they both glowed. She had the high thought that maybe if they glowed bright enough they could dissolve the darkness that seemed to be hanging around them lately. She brought one hand up to lightly cup the side of Sabrina’s neck, moving their mouths together in a caress as her heart picked up speed and her lower belly started feeling all tickly.
It was so nice to be kissed. Yes, they had done it before, but the circumstances had felt sort of different and uncertain. And Mak was a good kisser, which only made the experience that much better. This is the kind of stuff they should be able to do, like normal teenagers, and not teenagers being haunted by some creepy dark thing. She definitely felt pleasant tingles running through her body and to Sabrina, that was always sign of a really good kiss. Her hand fell somewhere on Mak's knee before she parted her lips to deepen the kiss a little, but not wanting to push too far or make things uncomfortable. Mak tasted like vanilla caramel and pot and Sabrina would have sighed with contentment if her mouth wasn't otherwise occupied.
Maybe it was her long-standing crush on Sabrina that colored her perception or something, but Mak was pretty sure these were the best kisses of her life. Granted, she’d had a pretty short life so far, but still. It all felt so soft and delicate but so hot at the same time. Sabrina tasted like a dream, and Mak wasn’t at all shy about kissing her deeper. She wasn’t super experienced sexually, but kissing was one of her favorite things in the world, and she’d been wanting to do this for a long time. Mak gently stroked her tongue against Sabrina’s, her hand moving back to toy with her hair. The hand on her knee felt warm and made Mak wish that she wore skirts too.
Sabrina couldn't even say she was sexually experienced, despite what some people might think of her. A lot of people at school seemed to think fishnet tights somehow equated to being a slut, but she had only a handful, if that, sexual encounters. A couple were okay, and the rest were just blah. Not everyone she had kissed had triggered these kind of pleasurable butterflies in her stomach and she loved how quickly her body warmed to Mak's closeness. It was so easy to just sink into the kiss and relax, leaning in closer to Mak as their tongues stoked a deeper kind of fire in Sabrina's belly. She brought her hand up from Mak's knee to the back of the other girl's neck, holding her lightly as their kisses grew more intense.
This wasn’t the first time Mak had been super turned on during a makeout session, but she didn’t think it had ever happened this fast or this intensely. Her body was already started to feel overheated and like her skin was getting more sensitive. She was more aware of her clothes being too there and in the way, and she got little tingles wherever Sabrina touched her. Mak slipped her arm downward to wrap around Sabrina’s waist, pulling her in closer. Not that there was much space between them now anyway, but it still felt like too much. Mak let out a tiny hum into the kiss, giving Sabrina’s bottom lip a soft suck before she kissed her deeply again.
Sabrina didn't think much of how quickly kissing Mak turned her on. She considered it a good sign, actually, because she'd had some kisses in the past that did absolutely nothing for her at all. Honestly, she liked how Mak pulled her closer, and how she touched her hair. Sabrina felt like she had to have complete control in almost every situation and that grew to be exhausting sometimes, so it was nice to just let go and be vulnerable with someone else. Her body was starting to ache, especially between her legs, but Sabrina didn't want to pull away just yet. She was too caught up in how Mak tasted, and how her tongue felt in her mouth and how hot her body was getting. Everything felt so good, and Sabrina lowered her hand to grip at Mak's shirt, a soft, involuntary moan forming in her throat as she pressed in closer.
That sent a pleasurable jolt straight between Mak’s legs. Stewing in her own soup of teenage hormones was one thing, hearing and feeling the evidence that she was turning someone else on was intoxicating. It excited her to the point that she had no idea what to do next. Keep kissing was definitely on the list, but ... what else would be okay? Was there a Too Far line? They hadn’t even been on a real date yet, but Mak was dying to touch Sabrina more, to explore her and make her feel good and make more of those sounds. There was still an incoming pizza too, fuck. Mak gave a faint whimper in answer, pushing into the kiss more as she let her hand wander downward a bit to Sabrina’s hip. It stayed there for only a couple of heartbeats before she slid it around to caress the other girl’s ass through her skirt.
Sabrina wasn't really thinking much of the finish line here. She didn't see anything wrong with kissing Mak, or feeling good about it, or wanting Mak to feel good about it too. Maybe they weren't ready for More, but right now that didn't seem to matter much. She just assumed they would know when to stop when it was time to stop. Or the pizza would stop them, anyway. Or maybe their lips would just go numb and they would have to stop. The idea was kind of a funny one, but not funny enough to make Sabrina stop. Especially when Mak's hand was there. The problem became when Sabrina realized she needed to breathe a little and maybe that ache between her legs was becoming more pronounced and painful, but in a really good way. She kept hold of Mak's shirt and reluctantly broke off their kiss before resting her forehead against Mak's and smiling a bit lazily. "Sorry," she breathed. "My lungs were starting to burn..."