𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐱: 𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞

𝐊𝐈𝐓, 𝐊𝐈𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐘, 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐀, 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐍𝐄𝐘, and sam were all in the common room, doing their own things. sam was there because her roommate had her boyfriend in their room and she didn't want to be third wheeling. but her and kit were sitting on the floor together, whispering to one another whatever came to mind. kimberly was reading a book, bela was swiping right on a dating app, and whitney was just scrolling through her phone. the only person that was missing was leighton, the murray girl having a meeting with the president of the school because she had threw a tequila bottle at a statue the night before.

the silence that had fallen over the group was broken when bela had groaned from her spot on the couch. "vermont tinder is so weird. why are all the guys hiking? this is pointless anyway. nobody on here ever messages back."

"all right, hand it over. let's see what you're working with." whitney said, sitting up in the arm chair so she could reach for bela's phone. the malhotra girl gave the device to her, whitney going to her messages. she then let out a laugh. "bela, what the actual fuck? this is why no one's messaging you back. you don't even say hi. you start every conversation with the words 'shirtless pic' and a question mark."

"bela!" kit exclaimed, a small smile on her lips.

"look, i was a nuclear loser in high school, so excuse me. for once, i want to share a guy with sick, ripped, easy abs like. . . zac efron baywatch abs." bela informed.

"oh, efron should not be your ideal abs. there are way better." whitney told her as she handed bela her phone back. "gosling in crazy, stupid, love. michael b. in black panther. michael b. in creed."

"or like kit." sam chimed in, jutting a finger in kit's direction.

"i do have nice abs, don't i?" kit smiled, patting her stomach proudly.

"yes, you do. i've been trying to lick them since i met you." bela nodded, only earning a chuckle from the hayes girl. "i'm jealous that sam got to them before me."

"oh, you should be." sam teased, which earned her a playful glare from bela.

"you know who i bet has abs? beto o'rourke." kimberly voiced.

"who?" sam asked, turning to look at kit. the strawberry blonde simply shrugged.

"oh, i bet he does." bela agreed.

"you actually might be onto something with that one." whitney nodded.

the conversation was interrupted by the door opening, revealing an angry looking leighton. everyone shared a look with one another before they turned to look at the blonde again, patiently waiting for her to speak.

"this has been the worst morning of my life." leighton admitted.

"oh, my god. did they cancel your reservation at mar-a-lago?" whitney questioned.

"no, i have to volunteer." leighton informed, earning a really look from everyone.

"wait, i like volunteering." kimberly mumbled.

"yeah. also, what is that smell?" leighton asked, a small grimace on her face. kit released a breath of relief, glad that someone else was smelling it. she thought she was making things up. "okay, how do none of you smell that?"

"well, i thought someone was trying new perfume, and i didn't want to be rude." kimberly reasoned.

"i thought i was just making things up cause i'm tired." kit announced.

"no, you weren't making things up." sam told her.

"i think it's coming from -" leighton started, walking over to the mini fridge that was in the corner. she opened it, letting out whatever stench was being held captive in there, gagging.

"yep." whitney nodded.

"did one of you, like, shit in the fridge?" leighton asked, turning towards her suite mates.

"don't look at me. i don't live here." sam quickly said, putting her hands up in surrender.

"okay, listen, i think we all know whose fault this must be." whitney said, making everyone turn to look at bela.

"what, me?" the malhotra girl realized. "that's racist somehow. the smell's probably coming from leighton's weird, refrigerated cosmetics."

"i actually stopped putting them in there after i found cheeto dust in my eye cream." leighton defended.

"oh, and i guess you're insinuating that i was responsible for that too." bela said. "i was. that one was me. but i didn't make the fridge stink."

"all right. i have to go to practice, but we will figure out who's responsible for this later, and that person will be the one to clean it. agree?" whitney suggested as she got up from her spot, grabbing her bag as she did so.

"yep." kit nodded.

"aw, man! i really think the smell got into my hair." kimberly said, pulling her short strands of hair towards her nose.

❅ ✩ ⍣⃝ ✩ ❅

𝐊𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐍 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐂𝐇, sprawled out on her stomach. she was in the middle of a nap, taking the opportunity since she was in the suite by herself. it was a saturday and she didn't have anywhere to be. there were small snores leaving her mouth, her curls going in every direction. she jumped up when she heard her door slam open, the hayes girl turning around as she thought back to when she was back at home. she relaxed once she saw that it was only leighton, plopping down back on her bed to go back to sleep.

leighton furrowed her eyebrows slightly at the reaction, wondering why she had reacted like that in the first place. she left the door open since it was only the two of them in the suite. she sat down on the edge of kit's bed, gently placing her hand onto kit's shoulder. "kit, can you do me a favor?"

"yeah." kit grumbled, snuggling into her pillow.

"can you come with me to the women's center?" leighton questioned.

"why are you going to the women's center?" kit slurred, turning her head so that she could be facing leighton. she opened one eye, earning a smile from the murray girl.

"remember earlier, when i said that i had to volunteer?" leighton reminded, earning a sleepy nod from kit. "well, that's the place i have to volunteer at. i really don't want to go there alone. please, can you come with me? please, please, please?"

"when do you have to be there?" kit asked, opening both eyes so that she could see the the blonde more clearly.

"in, like, two hours." leighton answered, her small smile widening as she looked into kit's eyes.

"can i sleep a little while longer?"

"yeah." leighton nodded.

"can you stay with me?"

"yeah, of course."

with that, kit moved over towards the wall so that leighton could be able to lay down. leighton, who wouldn't usually lay down since she didn't want to wrinkle her outfit for the day, kicked her shoes off and laid right beside kit. she sucked in a breath as she got closer to kit, trying to ignore the butterflies that had started to flutter around in her stomach. she observed kit's face, thinking back to all those times where she stared at the girl and tried to connect her freckles to make constellations. her eyes then went down to kit's lips. she didn't understand how it's only been a few weeks, and she's already gained her feelings back for kit.

"you're staring, leight." kit mumbled, her voice groggy since she was half asleep.

leighton immediately looked away, her eyes going up to the ceiling as she turned her head. "yeah, sorry. sorry."

"it's cool." kit slurred, already starting to doze back off.

"why'd you want me to stay in here?" leighton questioned, her voice barely above a whisper.

"because you're stressing yourself the fuck out right now." kit grumbled. "i mean, you can't do anything else. if you don't go, you could possibly be expelled from essex. so i say suck it up, and volunteer at this place for however long you need to. if you want me to, i can go with you a few times until you get comfy."

"you'd do that for me?" leighton asked, turning her head to look at kit again.

"i'd do anything for you if i can sleep for a little while longer." kit answered, a smirk pulling at her lips as she opened her eyes. the smirk turned into a smile when leighton had chuckled, the blonde rolling her eyes.

"i hate you." leighton said.

"yeah, sure you do." kit breathed out. "but, instead of pouting about volunteering at the women center. . . how about you take a midday nap with me."

"but i'm not tired." leighton pointed out, her eyebrows raising slightly.

"it's either that, or you keep worrying about something that's out of your control." kit shrugged, turning onto her stomach.

leighton's breath got caught in her throat when she realized that her and kit had gotten closer. kit looked down at leighton's lips, her stomach fluttering slightly. kit cleared her throat, leighton pulling away slightly. the murray girl's eyes scattered across kit's face, slowly connecting the girl's freckles together. she had missed doing that, a small smile pulling at her lips. kit realized what she was doing, remembering when the blonde girl used to do that back in high school. she didn't say anything, closing her eyes so that she could go back to sleep.

"you know what, i'll take you up on that nap." leighton mumbled, turning onto her side.

"good idea." kit muttered, snuggling more into her pillow.

about thirty minutes later, whitney and sam walked into kit's room so that they could drag her with them to the gym. the both of them stopped once they had seen kit and leighton on the bed. leighton's back was pressed up against kit's front, the hayes girl having her arm draped over leighton. sam and whitney shared a confused look with one another before they looked back to the two girls on the bed.

"should we question that?" sam asked, looking at whitney with a raised eyebrow.

"maybe." whitney mumbled.

"they totally dated each other in high school." sam then said.

"what makes you think that?" whitney questioned.

"the tension between them. the way that kit acted towards leighton when college first started up. they weren't just friends. trust me." sam listed.

"yeah, that actually makes sense." whitney muttered, thinking back to when kit had basically hated lieghton. "a - are you okay? i know you and kit have some weird thing going on."

"oh, yeah. we're just fuck buddies." sam shrugged.

"oh." whitney said.

with that, sam shrugged once again before she walked past whitney. the soccer player quickly closed the door before she followed after sam, the both of them going to the gym.

❅ ✩ ⍣⃝ ✩ ❅

𝐊𝐈𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐎𝐍 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐄𝐃 into the women's center, walking right into a conversation that kit wasn't really paying attention to. she looked around, taking in how cozy and welcoming it had felt as soon as they walked in. she then looked over at leighton, who had a look of dread on her face. kit couldn't help but chuckle under her breath at the murray girl, knowing that she was dreading having to spend a lot of her time here. but kit meant what she had said earlier in her room, she'd come with leighton a few times if she needed to.

"hey. i'm leighton." the blonde introduced, raising her hand up. this gained everyone's attention, seemingly interrupting whatever they were talking about. "i got caught underage drinking. that's why i have to work here."

"i'm ginger. she, her, hers." a girl with short hair and a brown cardigan introduced, immediately making kit smile.

that then led to everyone in the room introducing themselves, along with their preferred pronouns. kit couldn't help but feel even more welcomed here, even if she hadn't introduced herself just yet. alicia, looked at kit, noticing that the freckled girl hadn't spoken yet. kit noticed her staring, her eyebrows raising.

"kit. she, her, hers." kit said, nodding her head. alicia smirked at that.

alicia then looked at leighton with an expectant look, the blonde girl catching on. "oh, right. sure. um. well, i'm she. obviously."

kit let out a huff as she dropped her head, leighton looking at her with furrowed eyebrows. kit could tell that leighton's time at the women's center is going to be such a huge learning experience for the girl.

"cool." alicia let out as she got up from her seat, walking over to leighton and kit. "i oversee all the volunteers."

"oh, great. should we talk scheduling?" leighton asked as her, kit, and alicia walked over to get a little more privacy. "um, i was thinking that i would work mornings from 9:30 to 10:15-ish, and then, you know, round that up to an hour for timesheet purposes."

"yeah, that's not how this works." alicia shut down. "um, i'll tell you when we need help, and that's when you'll be here. like tomorrow from 5:00 to 10:00. you'll be helping with our feminist poetry group. although, i was told that i was only getting one volunteer."

"oh, uh, i just came to make sure that she came. kinda like a chaperone." kit explained. "i'll probably have to make her come tomorrow."

"as tempting as that sounds, i'm kind of busy on fridays." leighton said, making kit look at her with furrowed eyebrows.

"shit, i didn't realize that. maybe we should just shut down the whole place till you're free." alicia commented, sarcasm dripping from her tone.

leighton tilted her head, obviously not appreciating alicia's tone. kit, on the other hand, was finding this entertaining. "okay. i am from new york, so i can tell that you're being sarcastic."

"hey, this is, uh, getting a little tense. i'm gonna hit the safe space bell." ginger chimed in before doing what she said she was gonna do.

"uh, what's the safe space bell?" kit questioned, noticing the confusion on leighton's face.

"it's a bell that we hit when we think it'd be to have a safe space." ginger explained.

"uh, isn't this already a safe space?" leighton asked, to which ginger hit the bell again. "okay. i'm just sayin that maybe we've gotten a little bit too sensitive as a society if even a safe space isn't -" ding! "oh, my god!"

"it's all good, ginger." alicia assured, an amused smile on her face. "what we do here, whether it seems stupid to you or not, really does help people. so we're not looking for your feedback at the moment, okay? oh, and don't say your pronouns are obvious. that makes you suck. suggesting that you don't have to use your pronouns when other people do makes you sound like a really dumb, cis bitch." ding! "i heard it, ginger! welcome to the women's center, leighton. see you at poetry night."

kit turned to look at leighton, seeing that her jaw was clenched. assuming that alicia didn't need leighton right in that moment, kit grabbed leighton's hand and dragged her out of the building. as soon as they were far enough away from the women's center, leighton let out a loud -- and i mean, loud groan. kit narrowed her eyes as she waited for leighton to finish her tantrum, waving awkwardly at people who walked by.

"i can not volunteer there." leighton said, a little breathless from her temper tantrum.

"come on, leight. it's not that mad." kit tried, turning around to look at the women's center.

"it's not that bad?" leighton repeated. "did you not hear how she talked to me? and - and what's with that stupid safe space bell? it's already a safe space?"

"i think it's just used when there's clearly some tension in the air." kit said, furrowing her eyebrows at the concept of a safe space bell. "maybe we should have one for the suit. we do argue a lot."

"no. there's no way i'm doing this stupid community service. i'm gonna talk to president lacey to try and work something out." leighton said, turning on her heel to walk back to main part of campus.

"if he didn't take the bribe money the first time, he's not gonna do it this time!" kit called after leighton, but she was ignored.

that made the curly haired girl groan, following after leighton to try and convince her. but it didn't work, so the walk back to the main part of campus was filled with kit cracking jokes to try and calm leighton down.

❅ ✩ ⍣⃝ ✩ ❅

𝐊𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐀𝐓 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐂𝐇, scrolling on her phone while she waited for kimberly to finish getting dressed. they both had a shift at sips and had decided to leave together. it was a morning shift, so kit wasn't exactly in a good mood, but she needed and wanted money, so she sucked it up. bela was sat next to her, a mug full of coffee in her hand. whitney and leighton were getting dressed in their rooms. they had the door to the suite open to try and air it out, the smell from the mini fridge still being there.

a knock on the door is what gained everyone's attention. frude was standing in the doorway. "girls, i have a delicate matter. there have been some complaints about a. . . stench coming from your room. but there's no need to be embarrassed. this happens to one suite every year."

"what does?" kimberly asked before it dawned on her. "oh, my god. we're the smelly suite."

"no, that we better not include me." whitney quickly appeared, having on some jogging gear on. kit couldn't help but think about how hot she looked.

"i'm afraid it does, whit." kit mumbled, the taller girl looking at her.

"okay, who complained?" leighton questioned, having came out of her and bela's room.

"sorry, leighton. all complaints are anonymous. i cannot name names." frude apologized.

"i can. it was me." travis admitted, peaking his head from around the corner. he then stepped into the doorway, standing behind frude. "it smells like a tooth abscess in here. it's so bad that nobody showed up to my murder-mystery party last night."

"yeah, travis. i'm sure that's related." leighton commented, nodding her head with a small knowing smirk on her lips.

"well, thank you, frude, for bringing this to our attention. we're gonna chat about it as a group, and we'll get it all fixed." whitney said, walking towards frude.

"okey dokey." frude smiled, holding up a two thumbs up.

"yes." whitney nodded as she started to push frude and travis out of the way so she could close the door.

"that's a good enough resolution for you?" travis questioned.

"we're throwing that fucking fridge out, now!" whitney exclaimed as soon as she shut the door, making her way over to the mini fridge.

"no, that was my high school graduation gift." kimberly quickly informed, running over towards whitney.

"that is the saddest sentence i have ever hear." leighton chimed in.

"how is that the saddest sentence you've ever heard?" kit asked, turning to look up at the blonde.

"look, i don't care. i will not have a reputation as a smelly suite girl. the fridge has to go." whitney concluded.

"we can just clean it. and since we don't know who created the smell -" kimberly suggested.

"it was bela." whitney, leighton, and kit all said in unison.

"offensive! offensive conjecture!" bela defended, which only made kit smile.

"why don't we all clean it out tonight?" kimberly offered. "it could be like a fun group bonding experience."

"i genuinely wish i could, i have a women's center thing." leighton turned down.

"yeah, i can't either. i'm gonna get piped by a guy with abs tonight." bela said as she got up from the couch.

"piped?" kimberly repeated.

"yeah, piped. railer. torn up. slit-slammed." bela listed.

"slit-slammed? bela, jesus christ!" leighton scolded.

"i've never heard that one before. i'm adding it to my list." kit announced as she opened her notes app on her phone, hitting the note names sex phrases. "thanks, bela."

"glad i could help, you goddess." bela said, sending a wink towards the hayes girl.

"uh, i'm sorry, kim. i'd help clean the fridge with you, but sam wants me to come to her room, later. we will be having. . . a five course meal." kit explained, earning grimaces from everyone except bela.

"hell yeah, you are!" bela yelled as she held her hand out for kit to high-five.

"you two are disgusting." leighton muttered, watching as kit slapped her hand against bela's.

"oh, you love it, leight. if you didn't, you would've been cursing us out by now." kit defended, having a knowing smirk on her lips as she looked at the murray girl.

leighton rolled her eyes, turning around and walking back to her room so that she could hide the smile that was trying to make it's way onto her face.

daij speaks!
heyyyyyy guyssss. it's been a few months since i've touched this book. BUT WE'RE BACK BABY. i'm gonna try to update ticking time bomb and love bug soon because i finally got my hbomax back after not having it for months. also, as a reminder, this book is based off of the song different by joshua bassett. so if u have heard it yet, i would recommend listening to it just so u can know how this story is gonna go.

but i hope u guys enjoyed 🫶🏼