Page 24

Story: Pretty Poison

“Yes!” She got up and hugged Jaz. “Thank you so much for everything!”

“You're welcome. I hope we don't have to do this again.”

“Me too…” Whispered out our visitor.

“Do you want to have dinner here?” Sidney asked, being friendly. “We have enough food.”

Veronica denied, thanked her and took her things. Sidney said goodbye to her, entering our living room and placing the bag he brought with food on our coffee table.

The brunette stopped in front of me. “Thank you, Kendra!” Her voice was determined, but with no emotion.

“You're welcome.”

She reached out her hand to me and I just shook it, not expecting anything else from her. After that, she just waved to my roommates and left. As I closed the door, I allowed myself to snort softly.

“It's not possible that all your hatred still lasts.” Sid argued while taking things out of the packaging, distributing them across the table. “Come on, we're in college, we're going to spend two years on the same team, training every day...”

“I call it Karma.”

“Well,Karma is my boyfriend…” Jaz replied, reciting Taylor Swift and teasing me, but instead of giving a smart answer, I could only feel my cheeks getting a little red. I wouldn't talk to them about my sexuality, I didn't feel the need to, but for a moment, a small second, the image of Veronica kissing me came into my mind.

I wanted to throw up.

“Okay, or maybe karma is just a bitch.” I finally declared, sitting down on the floor to eat with them.

2 YEARS AGO

Delilah finished gluing glitter on my skin, telling me to keep my eyes closed.

“The final sequence is making me worry.” I admitted and heard her delicate laugh filling the small bathroom in which we were finishing getting ready.

“Don't worry too much, Ken. Everything will be fine!” My best friend assured me, even though she had no say in it.

“I'm not sure... Did you see those idiots' performance yesterday?” We were on the second day of competitions, in the finals, and I knew that the competition was, once again, between our team, Royal Prep, and the Pirates team from the public school.

“I saw them, they did well, but you know… We are better!” I sighed, trying to believe my friend's words. “Open your eyes!” She asked, Delilah.

And I obeyed.

Her satisfied smile was more beautiful than the trophy we were willing to win. Her fingers, still a little dirty with glitter, touched my cheek and then my lips.

“Your blue eyes match our uniform, you know?!” She asked me rhetorically.

I laughed weakly.

“Only you can calm me down at this moment.” I whispered , feeling my cheeks heating up a little under her touch.

“Yeah, I know...” And then her mouth was on mine, like she always did. It was delicate, gentle, and made me feel like I was on cloud nine, where nothing could reach us or hurt us. Nothing could even disappoint us.

Delilah had been my friend since we were twelve, when her father, the pastor of the church we attended, moved to the city with his family. At first, we were just friends, but it didn't take long for me to understand my sexuality and she helped me, especially when she suggested we practice kissing.

At sixteen, her kisses still made me feel a lot of things, but those were our secrets. Each kiss was a secret, it was something just ours. I was sure that if her father knew, he would use the word depraved to refer to both of us, so we kept everything to ourselves.

That's why Delilah had even found a boyfriend two months ago. He was a bit of a pain in the ass, but harmless. He was the good boy that the pastor wanted around her so badly, while I wasthe rich best friend who stayed close even though I was a little spoiled.

My hands went down to her waist, pulling her against me, but she soon pushed us away.

“Are you calmer?”