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"Doll-face, I missed ya. Where ya been all day?" Kinsey dotes brightly, strolling over with her hands stuffed in the deep pockets of her dad jeans. They are most likely her dad's jeans. The dark wash denim jeans are cuffed at the blonde's ankles since they are too big on her. Mr. Scott was a hefty man but he had some height on him.

"You call me that again and I won't hesitate to strangle you," Jade quips, standing at Kinsey's side, fighting the fit of butterflies that always fill her stomach in Kinsey's presence.

"I don't know... that kind of sounds like a fun night," Kinsey gently whispers beside Jade's ear. Kinsey bends over slightly to get close enough for Jade to hear. The brunette immediately loses feeling in her knees at the suggestion, imagining what that would look like.

Get your head out of the gutter, perv.

Kinsey smiles wholeheartedly, sending puckered lips in her girlfriend's direction. "You're kinda cute when you attempt to threaten me. You have such a way with words."

Kinsey makes the statement fully aware that they have an audience. She knows that she has to act as if she hadn't just turned on her girlfriend.

The blonde feigns a sarcastic dreamy expression at the brunette, fluttering her lashes excessively, smiling wide with a closed mouth.

Jade rolls her eyes and rises on the tips of her toes to grab the point of Kinsey's chin to plant a brisk peck on the plump, unsuspecting lips. The arrogance is wiped from Kinsey's face as the tenderness and taste of Jade's vanilla-glossed lips coat hers.

Kinsey forces her eyes open to snap herself out of the spell that Jade places her under every time they physically connect. Even after nearly three months of being together, Kinsey feels butterflies every fucking time Jade touches her.

Kinsey would tease Jade with some more inappropriate jokes, but the brunette's entourage is here, making Kinsey restrain herself. The blonde bites at the corner of her lip as a reminder to behave.

One of these days, it's going down.

"When do you think you'll be back on the field?" Alexander inquires as the group of four takes seats on the steel benches. Jade sits closely beside her girlfriend, resting her head on the blonde's shoulder while Alexander and Lucie sit directly behind the pair in the next row.

The pair of best friends could have been mistaken for a couple if Alexander hadn't shoved Lucia's head away with his large hands as the strawberry blonde tried to mimic Jade's position on her girlfriend.

Lucia huffs and pouts childishly at her best friend, crossing her arms over her chest. She sticks her tongue out at him before pulling her eyes away from him.

Alexander sighs, shaking his head with a geeky smile growing on his face at Lucia's embarrassment.

"I know I should feel bad, but part of me is sadistic. Ask Tony," Alexander adds, pursing his lips as memories of Antonio and their private moments fill his mind. He crosses one leg over the other as a silly smirk consumes his face.

"Ew," all three respond in unison. Kinsey holds even more disgust in her face, never expecting the day she would imagine her friend Antonio doing anything besides playing football or being an idiot, or both. An idiot playing football.

Following the moment of silence and repulsion, Kinsey proceeds to answer the question Alexander asked her before, "It's been two fucking weeks so I'm about ready to get back out there. Sitting here makes me feel useless."

The blonde squints as the blaring Sun catches her eyes. The consistent, but subtle winds work to weaken the Kingsman Bounty heat warming the blonde's pale skin.

"You're just mad that you can't yell at them right to their faces," Jade chimes in, observing the boys on the field practicing in peace.

"Yelling from far away is just so hard," Kinsey sarcastically whines, knitting her brows at the boys on the field looking absolutely clueless about what drill to run next.

Kinsey shakes her head, "Run a passing drill for Christ's sake!" The blonde hollers with cupped hands around her mouth to project her deep captain voice. The blonde sucks her teeth as the boys look at her with smiles and excitement at seeing their captain present. Some of them give her a nod of acceptance or a thumbs up.

Jade lifts her head from Kinsey's muscular shoulder to look at the blonde. Despite her joking manner, Jade senses tension in Kinsey's body, possibly anxiety about being off of the field for so long.

In private, the couple had discussed how the distance from the field has been taking a toll on Kinsey mentally. She feels lost and worried and Jade hates that she doesn't know how to mend it all.

"You should be back on the field any day now," Jade encourages, running her hand in circles on Kinsey's lower back.

"Yeah and that won't matter if I can't stop freaking out when I'm running, thinking I might hurt myself again." Kinsey's voice changes once she speaks to Jade, mellowing out but still maintaining its vigor.

Kinsey steers her gaze over her shoulder to Alexander seated behind her. "You think you could cop me some pot this week?"

Alexander sighs, glancing over at Jade with hesitance for a brief second before looking back at Kinsey. "Yeah, I'm sure I could get some at the party tonight. My boy Nathan'll be there."

Kinsey nods, turning her body back around. She glues her eyes to the field where the boys start on another drill. The blonde grips Jade's right thigh with her hand, the one closest to her since Jade is sitting on her left. Kinsey lifts the brunette's leg to rest atop hers. She proceeds to caress the thigh in comfort as she no longer expresses interest in more conversation.

Her rough hands run up and down Jade's exposed legs. The black jean shorts that Jade has on makes it easier for Kinsey to feel Jade's soft, tender skin. Jade had always complained about the gentle, barely visible streams of stretch marks running down her thighs. They were a by-product of her brief weight gain at the start of her depression in middle school. Kinsey constantly told Jade how much she didn't care.

Jade wearily watches Kinsey's expressions before sending a troubled gaze toward Alexander.

One of Alexander's favorite past times besides reading involves smoking weed now and then. Once Kinsey caught the scent on Alexander when he was speaking to Jade in the hallway one time, she inquired further about his plug. At first, Jade thought Kinsey was joking but the blonde offered forty dollars upfront for an eighth.

Since Kinsey's accident, the blonde has turned to the substance more often, since the anxiety feels too much to bear alone. Jade doesn't like it one bit but she can't deny its therapeutic effects. The thought of weed always brought her back to smoking with Zoé back in the day. The redhead introduced Jade to this "miracle" drug. Maybe that's why things didn't seem as traumatizing as they were. She could have been high for a lot of it.

"Well, speaking of the party tonight. Jade?" Lucia verbally nudges side-eyeing Jade with pleading eyes.

Absolutely not.

"There is no way I'm going to another party," Jade declares, squinting her eyes.

"I second that," Kinsey inputs, eyes never leaving the field.

"Come on. Those lame parties you went to are not fair judgments of parties. Sometimes people actually have good times at parties when they're not getting in fights with their ex-flings," Lucia jabs, puckering her bright red lips at the tea she just brought up.

Jade had told the strawberry blonde what happened at the last party but never told her not to say anything.

Kinsey's eye twitches at Lucia's words. "Tell Strawberry Shortcake to watch it."

Lucia rolls her eyes since it isn't the first time that Kinsey had called her out of her name. At least this one was tamer than the others.

"A party is no fun if you're not drinking and the last time I got drunk... well... I don't even remember much." Jade squints her brows as she tries at her memory to recall most of the night. Besides Kinsey's help, Jade couldn't remember much of the night when she was at her peak blackout drunk. Everything else felt like a fever dream.

"Jade, it's about time we go out and have a good time this year. It's almost winter break and we haven't done anything exciting together." Lucia pouts her lips at Jade.

Jade drops her head, feeling bad about that. Lucia has to be the most upbeat, optimistic person Jade's ever met in her life. The amount of parties and events that Jade has turned down from her best friend makes her feel terrible.

The brunette does want to be a regular junior high school student. She wants to make mistakes and have some good times with her best friends, especially since she's never had those before. After all that she's been through in the past couple of weeks, she deserves a win.

"Now, I second that. I'll keep all the nasty ass boys away from you with my gay repellent. Besides a pregnancy test, a gay dude can keep most 'straight' homophobes away."

Jade shakes her head at Alexander with a smile growing on her lips. The gears in Jade's brain start turning. Maybe this might be a good idea.

The brunette looks over at her girlfriend's sharp profile, watching the way Kinsey's jaw tightens. The blonde is most likely frustrated at the way the newbie on the team fumbles the ball again on his third run.

Maybe I shouldn't.

Kinsey feels Jade's gaze in her peripheral. She turns to look at Jade's eyes and notices that little twitch in her eyebrow and carefully watches the way her big brown eyes shuffle around, showing that the brunette is battling with herself.

"Just go." Kinsey nods, "Knowing you, you'll probably obsess over what you think you'll be missing out on." Kinsey pushes herself to grin genuinely even though she would rather have Jade all to herself tonight.

"Really?" Jade's eyes widen, "How about you?"

"Just because I'm injured doesn't mean you have to be glued to my hip, babe." Kinsey looks down at the way Jade's leg sits atop her own. The blonde chuckles at the way it appears that their hips are glued together at this very moment.

Jade smiles giddily, looking up into Kinsey's eyes.

"Yay!" Lucia shrieks, catching the attention of some of the boys on the field.

Alexander hurriedly covers his mouth as he laughs in secondhand embarrassment. He peers over at the boys on the field and spots Antonio grinning at him with that award-winning smile before returning to his position, shaking his head in playful shame.

Alexander feels a blush consume his face as he takes in Antonio's figure. The football player squats and bends over the imaginary line of scrimmage, allowing Alexander to indulge in the eye candy.

"We're gonna get lit tonight!" Alexander announces, wrapping an arm around Lucia's shoulders before pulling her into his body.

"Oh, so now you want to touch me." Lucia harshly rolls her bright emerald eyes.

"Oh shut it, miss Strawberry Shortcake. I swear if a drag Queen doesn't have that name coined already, then that's your new nickname babes."

Lucia scoffs," Yeah, it's about time I dye this mess. I refuse to be ridiculed for this hair color anymore. Jadeypoo, wanna come over and help me before the party tonight? Miss Lucia Felix needs to reinvent herself." Lucia shimmies her shoulders at the announcement with excitement oozing from every part of her.

"Trust me, that's been long overdue," Alexander adds, rolling his eyes with a playful grimace on his face.

Lucia delivers Alexander a solid pinkie, intending for him to catch its underlying meaning.

Alexander rolls his eyes and smiles endearingly at the smaller female. "Love you too, sweetie." He sends an air kiss in her direction.

"Sure Lucia, I'll help you reinvent yourself," Jade agrees, chuckling lightly at her best friends.

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Jade's Uber ride slowly comes to a stop on a sketchy street. The lights that litter the street alternate between fully functioning or having the lamp shattered and hanging over lifelessly. The few lights that work, illuminate the dimness of the street that seems to be holding on for dear life.

The brunette peers out of the window hesitantly, taking in the street of apartment complexes that appear to be struggling to appear family-friendly. The sign at the front of the particular complex that reads "Summit Pines" is missing one of the letter m's. The shape of the missing letter is still engraved in the concrete slab holding the name of the establishment.

The Uber driver waits patiently for the girl to make a move. "Is everything alright, hon?" The woman's endearing smile warms up the car enough to get Jade to snap out of her confused, frozen gaze.

"Y-Yeah." The brunette takes another look around at her surroundings. She picks up her phone to dial Lucia.

Lucia picks up the phone at the first ring, as expected with her typical, enthusiastic nature.

"Hey girlie, you here?"

"Um... yeah, I think so."

"I'll step out right now and get you."

"Okay," Jade squeaks, hesitant to step out of the car, hoping Lucia didn't give her the wrong address.

"You can hang in here until your friend comes out," the Uber driver assures, sending a warm tight-lipped smile through the rearview mirror. Her brown eyes glisten with the glare of the sunlight radiating through the windows.

"Thanks." Jade sheepishly smiles at the older woman possibly in her late thirties. Jade can't stop herself from staring at the array of artistic tattoos running down her right arm. The colors and various shapes of the seemingly random tattoos catch Jade's interest.

Maybe it's time for a tat?

"Are you going to stay in there all day?"

Lucia's high-pitched voice breaks through the barrier between the outside world and the window of the four-door sedan. Jade flinches at the voice but finds composure quickly. Her eyes narrow at Lucia through the slightly tinted windows.

She then looks up front at the rearview mirror, "Thanks. Sorry for wasting your time."

"That's no problem. Rather be safe than sorry, hon." The woman sends a final grin at Jade's way with a nod.

Jade steps out of the car with her backpack straps clutching her shoulders. She feels much safer with Lucia at her side as they walk towards the staircase of the apartment complex.

Jade will admit to herself that she hadn't expected Lucia to live in a rundown area like this when she told her that she had moved recently. Lucia's last apartment had been in a nicer neighborhood with gated security. This environment serves as a culture shock for the brunette who had always been sheltered in her upper-class lifestyle.

Jade had always assumed people around her had money since she'd only interacted with people either in her community or through her mother's connections.

"Welcome to my very humble abode!" Lucia announces as she pushes open the front door to apartment 4B. The door handle jiggles a bit out of place as she releases the silver knob.

The home is truly quaint but not messy. It possesses a sense of comfort. The furniture gives 70s retro vibes with the funky, unique nature of the pieces. The deep dark greens, browns, and yellows are stylistically placed throughout the small apartment.

This had to be Lucia's work.

"Wow, you really are a talented motherfucker," Jade utters, eyes widening, taking in the creative space. "Your parents let you do all this shit?"

"My mom knew I could pull it off so she let me take the reigns when we moved in here. I found lots of this stuff while thrifting."

"That must be nice. My mom only just started letting me move the coffee table in the living room to do my homework on the floor," Jade scoffs at the absurdity.

"Yikes," Lucia chuckles, walking across the living area over to the short hallway with two white doors, one on the left and one on the right.

Jade nods, smiling at the ridiculousness of her own life. She follows Lucia expecting to be led straight to her bedroom.

The strawberry blonde grips the knob of the second white door on her left. She pauses to peer back at Jade expectantly.

"My mom wanted to meet you since I told her you were coming by tonight."

Jade nods agreeably, "Oh, yeah. I'd love to meet the mother of the most chaotic person I've ever met in my life."

"Aw, don't make me blush," Lucia dramatically sings, fanning herself with her free hand.

Jade rolls her eyes. She wonders what Lucia's mother looks like. What if Lucia's a carbon copy of her? Jade hadn't met Lucia's parents before which makes her slightly nervous at this moment.

Lucia proceeds to slowly turn the knob. She walks in as the rusty hinges on the door squeak unapologetically. Jade follows with gentle steps.

"Hey mama, Jade's here!" Her enthusiastic tone rings through the silence of the apartment.

Jade's body halts immediately as her eyes take in the sight before her.

"Ooh, how exciting! Hi, Ms. Jade!" the woman exclaims with her textured, gruff voice booming throughout the room.

Jade fights to jerk her sight away from the silver and green oxygen canister sitting beside the hospital bed. Snap out of it, it's time to greet Lucia's mother.

"Hello, it's so nice to meet you, Ms. Felix." Jade waves politely, sending the woman a huge grin.

"Aw, I go by Ms. Sanders now. It's nice to meet you. Lucia speaks of you a lot. Only great things of course." Ms. Sanders winks, adding to her charisma.

"I'd hope so," Jade responds with a smile, accepting the fact that Lucia's mother has a condition, whatever it may be.

Jade's only experience with seeing someone in this condition has only been through a television show. The show was called The L Word where one of the main characters, Bette Porter, had to care for her father who was suffering from terminal cancer at home.

Jade hopes that Lucia's mother isn't in such a terminal condition.

Following initial greetings with Lucia's mother, Jade finally understands where Lucia gets her energy. The woman is hilarious and so full of life. Her energy is unmatched and her thoughts are everywhere which makes her all the more endearing. As soon as the conversation begins, it doesn't look like it will ever end.

Their thirty-minute introduction was filled with laughter and lightheartedness despite the grim setting displayed around them.

Ms. Sanders' paler skin stole from her vibrant persona. The visibly gaunt woman fights to maintain her personhood by pushing through the obvious exhaustion. With every couple of words, the woman has to take a breather into the clear rubber mask hanging around her neck. She apologizes several times, but Jade refuses to let her do so. The oxygen mask hanging below her chin, allows her to smile beamingly at the girls. She holds so much admiration and love in her eyes. Jade had always appreciated mothers who could possess that look since she used to never see that within her own.

"Unpopular opinion, but... I'd rather have... a sugar glider as a pet... than a rat," Ms. Sanders claims, taking breaks to catch her breath in between words.

Jade nods immediately, "I completely agree. Who would choose a rat?" Jade questions, squinting her brows genuinely.

Ms. Sanders delivers a playful side-eye to her daughter standing by the door. Lucia catches the look and sighs with a smile developing on her face.

Jade loudly whispers, "Don't worry, I'll change her mind." The brunette winks at Ms. Sanders and the two exchange light chuckles.

"The way y'all are getting along scares me," Lucia vocalizes jokingly. "But yeah, ma we need to get started on my hair soon or we won't be done in time for the party," Lucia reminds, checking the time on her phone.

"Oh, right. Alright, I'll quit... boring you with my banter. Have fun with that little project... and Lucia, don't forget to let me know... when you are headed out." The typical sternness of a mother comes out in Ms. Sanders' tone as she reminds her daughter.

"Yes, mama dukes. We shall be on our way then," Lucia acts as though she is tipping a nonexistent hat on her head as her way of saying bye.

Jade smiles wholeheartedly as she turns her back to exit the door after announcing her farewell to Ms. Sanders.

Lucia follows suit and shuts the door. Janine Sanders returns her attention to the re-run of The Office playing on the television.

Lucia opens the door directly across the narrow hallway to reveal a room that appears to be another bedroom. The strawberry blonde walks in without saying a word. Jade follows obediently, unsure of what to say as they ignore the fact that Lucia never mentioned that her mother was sick.

You didn't tell me your mom was sick?

"I'm sorry," Jade nearly whispers, with her eyes focused on the beige carpet taking up the entire floor in the room.

"Don't worry about it. It's chronic... we've been dealing with it for years now," Lucia assures, closing the door after Jade walks in. A restrained smile spreads momentarily across Lucia's face as her head hangs low and rises quickly to face Jade again.

The design of the room swallows Jade in, feeling like a completely different vibe from the rest of the home. The tranquil beige and sage green coordination of the room makes the brunette feel as though she has stepped into a vintage chic furniture store.

Jade's natural inquisitiveness is suppressed by her fear of saying the wrong thing.

Since she's socially awkward and has never been in a situation like this, she worries that she'll say something fucked up. Her rule of thumb has always been to not say anything at all if she isn't sure that it'd be socially acceptable, and that's why people like Kinsey assumed the brunette was mute the first time they met.

"You can ask questions if you'd like. I won't bite." Lucia smiles widely at her best friend with the makeup she wore for school still lighting up her face. The sparkling copper eye shadow lining up with her winged eyeliner makes her eyes appear friendlier, but intense at the same time.

Jade's eyes connect with Lucia's, "H-How come you didn't tell me?"

Lucia releases a labored sigh, allowing her forced smile to fade.

"I've never found the right time to mention that my mom suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease while we talked about our latest hookups in the cafeteria."

Jade pauses, "That's fair. I guess I haven't spent enough time asking you about your life." Jade sighs, looking at Lucia with squinted, shame-filled eyes, "You know that's so fucked of me."

"This is your issue, Jade. You make problems for yourself. You can't beat yourself up about this crap. Yes, my life is complicated but everyone else's is too. I'd much rather focus on the good than the complicated and miserable." Lucia steps forward, placing her hand on Jade's shoulder.

"You are bred from a different cloth, Luc." Jade's eyes widen at how fucking mature Lucia actually sounds.

Lucia removes her hand from Jade's shoulder to point her thumb at the door behind her. "Blame that woman over there. I learned all this mushy-gushy optimism from her."

The girls chuckle.

"So, when did it start?"

"I guess all of that smoking caught up to her. She started suffering from symptoms maybe around six years ago when she was still with my dad. We knew something was wrong when she was having trouble breathing over a simple walk down the street."

"Oh, wow."

Wonder if she has daddy issues too? We'll save that trauma bonding for another day.

"Yeah, it was hard at first to see her stuck in that bed all day but my mom is a champ. She can be positive even when she has a disease that is tearing up her lungs."

Jade can no longer find words. Instead, she steps forward, pulling Lucia into a tight embrace. The strawberry blonde holds onto Jade as the warmth feels familiar. It feels like the way her mother used to hug her before she was bedridden.

Jade's arms wrap around Lucia's shoulders tightly. This is one of the rare times that Jade has initiated physical affection with anyone besides Kinsey. It feels weird to her, but it also feels right.

Jade and Lucia's friendship started because the two girls were lonely in their own way. They were looking for ways to fit in with society. To Jade, she needed one companion to make her feel like less of a social outcast. To Lucia, she needed another friend to add to her list of hundreds to make her feel less alone.

The girls' friendship had never reached a level like this before. On the rare occasions that family would be mentioned, Jade or Lucia would change the subject to joke around about whatever. In some weird, twisted way their relationship was each other's escape from reality.

Jade didn't know how to have deep relationships with people. She hadn't known how to dig deep and let people in until she got to know Kinsey, involuntarily.

Lucia didn't feel it necessary to let people in. She felt it wasn't necessary to bring down the mood with serious topics since that helped her cope as well. She felt so alone with all the friends she had because she never connected with any one of them on an authentic level.

The girls were similar in their different ways and that seems to be the reason their seemingly surface-level relationship has persisted into something greater. Lucia had been there every step of the way through Jade's journey in discovering her sexuality and her feelings for Kinsey.

"This is feeling kind of gay and I'm not sure if I'm willing to explore that part of myself again," Lucia says, shattering the sentimental moment into pieces.

Jade chuckles," Don't act like you've never tasted the fucking rainbow before."

"Mhm, rainbow?" Lucia's eyes widen as she has an epiphany. She points a finger in the air in her excitement.

Jade steps back, observing Lucia skeptically.

"Slim Jadey, I know how I wanna dye my hair!" Lucia squeals, jumping up and down, clapping her hands together like a seal.

"Oh hell no," Jade sighs, realizing all the work they're gonna have to put into this shit before the party tonight.

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I'm back again. I'm finding a groove here lmaooo. Honestly, I'm just posting whenever I feel like it, it's more fun that way 😈
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What do you think about Kinsey's struggle with anxiety about playing again?

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We're you surprised by Lucia's mom? What are your thoughts on the evolution of Jade and Lucia's relationship since the start of the story?

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Trust me, we're almost at the home stretch. It's time for some drama...

See y'all next chapter. Don't forget to be a baddie no matter what. Please vote, comment, and give me a follow if you feel compelled to. Bye, loves! ❤️