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Emily had decided that everyone needed a night out. They were deep in the throes of another university semester, gearing up for finals study. Her dorm setup was pretty unusual. On paper, it was just her and her best friend Penny. But in the actual fact it was her, Penny, her older sister Sera who was completing a masters and needed a place to crash and an ever-changing rotation of their friends (and her boyfriend, and his boyfriend) that crashed on her pullout couch. It was a full house always, buzzing with the noise of life being lived among friends.
Today, it was on the quieter side with no guests to speak of and the looming threat of deadlines bearing down on everyone like a deadly vise. So when the clock hit around six in the evening, the faces in front of laptops growing increasingly weary, Emily had made her decision.
"So, It's Friday night..."
The finality in her voice filled the quiet room completely, her intentions incredibly clear. Two sets of eyes immediately lock onto her in mild irritation at being disturbed where she sat cross-legged in front of the coffee table. Her sheepish smile in response is entirely performative.
Sera had looked up from where she was sat on the couch in her lounge-wear, immediately aware of how stiff her body had gotten from sitting for too long. She scowls.
"Yes it is, very astute Emily." Her voice is dripping with the scathing sarcasm of someone very much aware of the current date and time in relation to another one. "I have this paper due on Monday."
"Yesh…" Penny pipes up from her place taking up the small dining table with her laptop and stacks of engineering papers, straw in her mouth actively delivering her much needed caffeine, "I also have a lot due Monday, Emily."
Emily couldn't help but deflate a little at being immediately turned down by her very studious roommates… Until she remembered her secret tactic against these particular introverts that were all too often intent on staying home and stressing — Just start moving.
She picked herself up off the floor without another word as they silently watched, packed away her things and moved into her bedroom to get ready. If they shared a look of annoyance, Emily definitely wrote it off to her eyes playing tricks on her.
Emily had the perfect place in mind for tonight, something local and low-key but busy enough that she could help Penny and her sister let loose. While they were both a little older than her, she knew they enjoyed a good drink and some time on the dance floor… it was just the matter of getting them there which was like pulling teeth.
As she dug through her ample closet for an appropriate option, being sure to make as much noise as possible to effectively punctuate her intentions, she let her mind wander. Maybe she could finally get them to talk to some new people, make some friends… or even set them up with a date.
Emily wasn't too overly invested in the dating lives of her best friend and her older sister, but she was — what she would consider — righteously concerned. They needed to have some fun! A bar set well enough in the university's vicinity to attract interesting people was a perfect spot to find fun.
She settles on a silver mini-dress, cropped periwinkle cardigan and modest heels; weary from long evenings in too-hall heels, she has made a point to only wear things on the smaller side when walking is involved. Letting her hair down from her claw clip, her loose curls fall nicely over her shoulders.
Relieved that it seems like she won't have to do much to tame the length of it tonight, she runs her fingers through the tresses to smooth them out. Her phone is in her hand taking a mirror selfie and shooting it off to her boyfriend, Abel, before she thinks anything of it.
Taking the girls out for drinks, How do I look? 😇
It's read immediately. Cute. She waits for his reply, staring at his silly contact picture in her phone and rocking back and forth idly.
gosh, you look amazing baby! 💛💛💛
tell the girls i said hi. peter and i are out for dinner - we'll probably swing by tomorrow, kisses!
He finished up their short exchange by sending a hilariously candid photo of Peter with a face full of a pasta dish at one of the nicer restaurants in town. Abel had made a habit of taking his partners out to dinners as a show of his appreciation and it seems Peter had understood the mission directive just as Emily had — Get the good stuff in you!
She laughed out loud as she heart reacted to the image, and immediately saved it as Peter's contact photo in her phone. Dorks.
A knock at the door brought her out of her private moment. She opened it to see Sera, now dressed in a comfortable looking sleeveless grey pantsuit with her purse in hand. Her messy bun had graduated into a sleek ponytail, thick curls comfortably and beautifully styled down her back. Emily noticed that she had a small smear of silvery eyeshadow applied to her eyelids, something her sister rarely did.
Emily smiled as they made knowing eye contact, her secret trick, as always, had worked on her sister like a charm.
They worked in momentum, Sera was never that far behind her — and Penny was slowly catching up to the pace too. Emily couldn't help but giggle as she watched her lithe friend walk blindly between the bathroom and her bedroom with her pyjama shirt over her head, half-dressed.
"So," Sera started, her tone conveying that she had conceded defeat to the human need for a break, "Where are we going tonight then, my dear sister?"
Emily's giggle grew into a proper, tinkling laugh — revelling in the victory.
"You'll see. It's local, so we can walk. Once Penny's ready we'll get moving!" Emily broadcasts the end of the sentence down the hall, checking on her friend who she hadn't seen emerge from her bedroom yet.
Penny replies at an equal volume, "Just about ready Em! Just a second…" She trails off, obviously focused on some sort of lacing if Emily had to guess. When she dressed up, her best friend always picked something elaborately gothic. When they did get to go out together, they looked like perfectly complementary opposites and Emily loved it.
The sisters eventually made it to the door, Emily applying her favourite lipstick in the small mirror in the entryway while they waited for Penny.
Penny had stepped out not too far behind them. She looked gorgeous, wearing a modest — but still daring for her — black maxi dress with a corset waist, expertly tightened on her own, with a matching shawl. The extra time had been spent applying her makeup it seemed, eyeshadow heavy in deep autumn colours matched with a burgundy lipstick. Her hair was styled straight with a small curl to her bangs.
Penny smiled at them both a little bashfully as they both immediately launched into a barrage of compliments at seeing her so dressed up. Emily caught the steady but growing blush that crept onto her best friend's cheeks as they hyped up her outfit and was now certain about her earlier musings...
Tonight, she was going to find these girls some dates.
The walk to the bar was a brisk but fun start to the night.
The cool air of the autumn evening was just setting in and Emily was happy to have her cute cardigan to cover her until they were in the warm interior of the bar. She watched Penny draw her shawl in closer and closer, and Sera walk completely unbothered in her sleeveless ensemble. It was a weird time of year and all three of them were weird people.
Their conversations had long become naturally winding things, incorporating work and class stories alongside plenty of family anecdotes between Sera and Emily. So there was plenty of entertainment on the short walk.
Tonight, the sisters realised that a saying they thought was universal was absolutely something their parents had just made up and Penny regaled them with the story of someone's practical assignment in one of her engineering classes that went absolutely haywire last week.
They spoke animatedly and with complete comfort with each other as they walked the short distance. It wasn't long before they found themselves tacked onto the end of the reasonable line into the bar that Emily had chosen for the night.
The three women huddled together as they waited, the temperature dropping further as the sun disappeared down behind the skyscrapers of the city around them. Emily had her eyes forward, watching the line for any chance of a cut, only looking back when she felt her companions jostle a bit as someone pushed through the line behind them. However, by the time she had turned back, whatever had happened had settled and both Sera and Penny seemed to be intently looking in opposite directions.
None-the-wiser to the absolutely mortifying moment that had just happened behind her as they finally approached the doors, Emily led their little group into the bar with a pleased smile.
Sera was going to go crazy. She'd been eight hours deep into writing her term paper before Emily's antics took over and derailed her evening plans. Honestly, she needed the break, but it was going to take a while to settle before she could blink and not see the ghostly image of her reference page that was burned into the back of her retinas at this point.
In spite of that, by the time their short walk was over, Sera had resolved to try her best to enjoy the evening.
The turmoil of it all wasn't helped by the fact that their roommate, a friend to her but most importantly her sister Emily's best friend, was the most gorgeous woman in the world. Penny was beautiful, wickedly intelligent and oddly wise when it came to understanding people's problems — all of that then enhanced by her shy, awkward nature. It endeared Sera something dangerous.
Sera found the lithe woman effortlessly attractive, even in her usual at-home outfits of band t-shirts bearing names of steampunk-ish bands she hadn't heard of and pyjama pants. So tonight, when they'd both given in to Emily's prodding and Penny had walked out all made-up? She had been absolutely floored.
Sera knew she had to hold herself back from indulging in those feelings though, which obviously only made them worse. Penny was Emily's best friend, and the two had been friends for longer than Sera had been living with them. It wouldn't be right for Sera to pursue her first.
Even though Penny was technically closer in age to Sera, her friendship with Emily was obviously very important to her and Sera didn't want to risk her currently stable relationships with both women for the sake of indulging stray desires — especially desires that she could quietly try to will away instead of embarrassing herself. It could all go away easy enough if she just ignored it.
Tonight had already begun tested her resolve though… Her eyes hopelessly wandered as Penny absolutely relished in her compliments, blushing a deep crimson that definitely did not run down her neck and over her chest. Sera had been admiring the cut of the dress when she noticed that, nothing more.
The fact that she noticed that Penny had quietly tracked the path of her gaze and somehow blushed even deeper did nothing to quiet Sera's racing thoughts.
They'd had moments like that... stolen glances that provided the fuel for Sera's most heated thoughts. The kind that pushed her to daydream about the shy engineering student confessing to her in any number of absurdly romantic ways.
Amongst them were other less reserved thoughts of course, especially as they spent more time together and their personalities meshed together almost seamlessly. It was only natural, and Sera had long since resigned to bottling up those natural feelings and throwing them overboard before they felt too real.
She selfishly hoped for reciprocation and at the same time a part of her hoped she was just imagining the ways Penny might be saying yes. It was cyclical and irrational and it flustered Sera until she was exhausted by her own childishness. Crushes were really not her forte.
So, for Emily's sake, (as well as the sake of not accidentally making her living arrangement spectacularly awkward) she held herself back from getting much closer to Penny than their current casual friendship-roommates situation… but deep in her heart she knew that tentative balance wouldn't last much longer.
It also didn't help that Emily seemed convinced — not out of anything malicious, just in that naive, uniquely Emily way — that Sera needed to be more open to partying, hooking up, that kind of thing. She had called it part of the 'university experience', Sera begged to differ. They were only a handful of years apart in age, but Sera had figured out her and Emily had very different relationships with well, relationships, quite early on into sharing a dorm in ways that were separate from their age difference.
She had no problem with Emily's way of doing things, it just fascinated her as someone who was almost the absolute opposite. Sera loved her sister, and appreciated that she was at least usually the one making sure everyone was safe. It gave her a sense of pride deep in her chest, that Emily was out there doing good even when her big sister wasn't watching over her shoulder.
So, outings like this were less of her finally giving in to Emily's attempts to induce her into a life of partying and more like a detached but curious observer dipping her toes in to see what all the fuss was about.
Penny coming along with them just made that a little bit easier. Sera was also happy to have any chance to talk to her on more neutral ground, two introverts who were completely out of their element might (hopefully) be able to have more fun together than alone after all.
Especially when one of those introverts was trying to get more of a read on the others feelings and was absolutely clueless on how to do that in a normal way. At home, stress had been driving them stir crazy in their own minds, desperate for any moment of connection — and that connection just couldn't spark without breaking from their current miserable routine.
Increasingly it felt like every moment Sera and Penny had alone together without Emily felt like they were two magnets slowly trapping each other in their respective polarities; she knew it wouldn't take much more than a push from either side to get them to snap together.
The rational part of Sera's brain, the part not eating itself with aimless anxiety about trying to repress all of her more intense emotions, hoped Penny was as interested in giving into that push as she was.
The push started before they even got into the venue, quite literally.
Emily was distracted, watching the line in front of them slowly trickle into the bar and someone behind them must have tripped or shoved people around enough to jostle the tightly packed line.
One second Sera was in control, standing a polite distance away from her companions and then she had suddenly been catching Penny by the waist, feeling the warmth of her beautiful friend as she fell against her chest.
Emily hadn't clocked the movement, fully focused on the line. In that brief moment before they had before it would be socially inappropriate to still be pressed together Sera was completely dazed looking down at Penny's embarrassed face where it sat atop her chest, her hand on her corseted waist.
Penny was a tall woman, but Sera was taller... so she was very much not used to having to look up, her eyes shining with a grateful glimmer at being saved that Sera felt like she hallucinated as soon as she blinked and the shorter woman finally broke their semi-panicked eye contact. Sera felt her cheeks flush against her will, the warmth unmistakable in the cool air.
"You ok?" Is all she can muster in her surprise, coming out as barely a whisper.
"Y-Yeah." Penny nods a little too enthusiastically.
Her chin bounces lightly against Sera's chest and the shorter woman realises the intimacy of it a little too late. The little chirp of deepening embarrassment she lets out hits Sera's nerves like electricity.
The moment was over as quickly as it began, the line stabilises and Sera quickly (but reluctantly) removes her hands from around Penny's waist before intently fixing her gaze into the middle distance away from her companions — she was supposed to be pushing this silly crush down, ignoring it. 'Failing spectacularly' wouldn't be a strong enough judgement. She steadies her breathing, willing her racing heart to calm despite the butterflies in her stomach.
Emily ushered them forward with her polite and ever-present smile — straight into the noisiest room Sera had been in in a long time.
It was going to be a long night.
Thankfully, they had arrived at the perfect time — early enough in the evening to find comfortable seats but just in time for the live entertainment to pick up. Unfortunately, the band that seemed to be up for the night before the DJ sets was having to compete with the jeering of a small horde of young men intent on yelling at a sports game playing on one of the small TVs by the bar, as well as the loud knocks and clatters of pool games occurring on the opposite side of the room. It was, for all intents and purposes, the satisfying chaos of a Friday night. It sent a shiver down Sera's spine.
The seating they settled on was a little booth that was tucked into a dim corner. They had full view and access to the whole place, but could just as easily have a private conversations amongst themselves as well. Sera was quite pleased by the way it sheltered them from the noise, and was happy to sit and settle into the space for a short while before making any designs on the dance floor. Her hackles lowered, just a bit.
Emily, however, was immediately in her element as she shucked off her cardigan and dumped it, along with her purse next to her sister and quickly made her way to the bar. That left Penny and Sera alone together in the booth for a moment, stunned into silence as they adjusted to the space like two fish out of water.
Thankfully, the silence didn't last long. Their eyes met with an odd intensity.
"So sorry about what happened in the line, Sera," Penny began, a flush creeping up her face again as she recounted the awkwardness of the moment, "People really need to watch where they're going, right?"
Sera offered Penny a genuine smile at her friend's fluster, "There's no need to apologise Pen — They really do, it's quite rude… to be shoving beautiful, well-dressed women around like that..."
She lets her eyes flick down to Penny's dress, it was even more gorgeous now in the low, ambient glow of the bar's lighting. The small beads that sat on the neckline picking up and throwing the colours across Penny's exposed decolletage. The compliment lands as she intended and Penny stutters a little before continuing.
"Ah — Thank you, Sera. You look wonderful tonight too I—"
Before she can fully return the compliment Emily interrupts them as she returns to the booth with a tray full of drinks. Sera doesn't miss, however, the way that Penny's eyes flick down to the deep V of the neckline of her pantsuit in a similar way hers had before she turns her attention to Emily. Noted.
Emily begins off-loading the drinks onto the table, naming them with the flair of a sports announcer.
"A pint of the shittiest beer money can buy, A cocktail the bartender told me would taste 'angelic' and has at least three ingredients competing for being the highest proof on their shelf, and a gin and tonic in a tall glass with a straw."
Sera reached for the beer as Emily set it down on the table, Penny for the gin and tonic. The experimental cocktail was left for the daring woman who ordered it. Familiar with the tastes of their small group and obviously wanting to help them get started, Emily had paid for the first round and started with a modest selection.
Sera smiled at her sister's consideration for their notorious status as extremely picky lightweights.
"And… Water and lemonade for the table. Voila!"
Emily took a dramatic bow, theatrically gesturing with the now empty tray.
"It has been an honour being your waitress ladies, I'm going to go dance! Let me know when you wanna eat so I can come steal some — Or if you want to dance I'll come mind the table!" she shouted emphatically as she moved away like the dance floor was pulling her in, her cocktail threatening to spill over the rim of the glass as she spun around and left her companions properly alone in their booth.
Sera and Penny both laughed affectionately as Emily's boisterous performance concluded, both women all too familiar with the whims of their shared connection. They sat in silence for a moment, now comfortable rather than awkwardly tense, sipping at their drinks and settling into their seats.
They'd sat across from each other in the booth but the noise in the bar was steadily growing, even in their quieter corner. So, after a failed attempt at starting their conversation back up they shuffled closer together deeper into the booth till they were sat side by side.
Despite trying to maintain a healthy distance, Sera couldn't help but take active notice the growing warmth of Penny's body next to her as she leaned in to talk. She could smell her perfume. It tempted her to lean closer.
"As I was saying before…" Penny picks up again, "You look amazing tonight Sera, I think we both clean up well." She scoffs a little laugh that's obviously directed at how often they see each other in their weeknight worst.
A pause, the more she sips at her drink the more the flush seems to be staying put on her face. The straw seeming to aid in the swift delivery of her gin and tonic straight to where it counts.
"When I went face first into your pretty pantsuit the fabric felt lovely."
Sera notices the way the small lisp the woman has in her everyday speech was steadily becoming more pronounced as she drank and relaxed, the "s" sounds getting longer where they get caught behind her teeth. It was deeply adorable.
"Haha… Well I'm glad, this cost me a fortune." Sera nods her head as she tries to match Penny's joking tone, puffing out her chest slightly with false bravado, "Business casual — for all those big fancy meetings you do when you start a masters course, you see."
Penny laughs a little too hard at her attempt at humour.
Sera catches herself staring at the details of her friend's face way too closely, watching how the smooth skin at the corners of her eyes wrinkles when she smiles. How her nose crinkles up when she laughs her unique laugh. The butterflies in her stomach flittered back up, settling into a dryness at the back of her throat that she was quick to try and fix with a large gulp of her beer — Which immediately backfired, as she quickly felt the alcohol hit her system harder.
She was warm where they were tucked into the booth. Warmer now from Penny's proximity and her deepening anxiety as she was trying and failing to keep her composure, and the alcohol was just magnifying it, making it all worse.
Sera blinks hard, trying to centre herself. She knew they were both considerable lightweights, to the blessing of both of their wallets but also to her chagrin as she felt the edges of her usual awkwardness blurring into that kind of happy light buzz that makes you act on your more impulsive thoughts as she polishes off her pint. A blessing and a curse indeed.
Penny watches her back, obviously also feeling that same buzz taking over. Her usual intelligent smile relaxing into something lazier, softer. Happy with who she's spending the night with? Sera hopes so as she slides a little closer, their legs touching and twining together under the table. Penny doesn't pull away.
She catches Penny's eyes again, this time she can't mistake the reality of that glimmer. It reads as almost pleading, a barely masked want… Sera needs to know if she's reading it properly before she potentially deludes herself any further.
"So, Miss Penny, Can I ask you a… personal question?" Sera poses, slow and casual in a way she hopes masks the way her heart rate is picking up as the gorgeous woman next to her leans closer still. The warmth of Penny's breath as it hits her shoulder sends a sharp shock through her system.
"Why yes, Miss Sera, you may." Penny's voice is low, projected just for Sera's ears to hear. She held up her empty glass to mask their private exchange from anyone who might pass with a delicate arm.
Sera gulps, mouth suddenly dry again in response to the intense eye contact. Penny smiles at her, nodding her head in engaged encouragement. The distance between them was so negligible now...
"Do you… think Emily would be mad if I—"
Penny closes the distance in a heartbeat and kisses her.
Any protest or worry about what her sister might think dies immediately in Sera's throat as the taste of Penny overwhelms her senses and she kisses back, mind for the first time this evening clear of any reservations. The kiss is clumsy, heated by pent up desire and absolutely perfect.
Penny tastes like the citrus sweet of the gin and her pomegranate lip gloss and everything in Sera's mind immediately knows that there's absolutely no going back from this.
Every impulse she'd thought she'd successfully dismissed came back to her in a rush. For someone wound so tight, it felt ridiculously freeing to throw her caution to the wind.
She'd accept her sister getting mad at her for angling for her best friend, would ruin the delicate balance of her and Penny's friendship a million times over if it meant she could keep tasting her, could feel her slender but strong hand kneading at her thigh forever.
Just as she lets her lips part for Penny's tongue, the heat of the kiss deepening, they hear Emily's voice cut over the crowd as she tries to navigate her way back to their table.
"Our table's just this way!"
The bar was now bustling, and it seems Emily had found some friends. Some deeply animal part of Sera's brain screams in visceral annoyance at prospect of the interruption, far from her usual reactions to her sister's arrival, as she savours the last few moments of the kiss.
Thankfully, the volume Emily operates at means that Sera and Penny could disentangle before they had explaining to do. The little rush of electricity that passes between them as they settle back into what they hope are natural looking positions is unmistakable.
The small satisfied smile that seems stuck on Penny's face as she licks her lips makes Sera's heart jump. She wanted more too.
Emily breaks through the wall of people that seem to have crowded the outside of the booths in a clumsy bluster of limbs.
"Oh my god you guys, It's so crazy out there!"
She grips the table something fierce, obviously having a few more drinks since she had left them. Sera smiles despite herself, she loves seeing Emily fully in her element — even if it came at a bit of a personal cost in this current moment.
"Em! Hey wait up!"
A friend of hers that Sera doesn't know also breaks through the human wall with a shout.
A shorter woman, probably around Emily's height and age, notable by the shocks of white that run through her wavy brown hair. She's wearing a similarly cute party dress to Emily. Sera can clock her sister's influence on the woman instantly, her more severe features softening instantly as soon as Emily turned back to her with a smile.
"I'm just checking in with my sister and then we can sit for a bit Vaggi!" Emily responded, too loud for the secluded corner she was now in.
The woman, who was apparently named Vaggi, absolutely read and understood the 'just-interrupted' energy between Sera and Penny straight away and shot them an apologetic look. Sera was more and more interested in this woman, who seemed to know her sister particularly well despite never having come by their home, by the second.
Emily turned back to Sera and Penny who were now a little confused on top of being antsy to return to their previous activities. The bubbly girl, still in the throes of the party atmosphere, seemed oblivious to the tension.
"Do you guys wanna go dance for a bit? Get started on your second round of drinks… I kinda told Vaggi and her girlfriend we had somewhere to chill for a bit and I don't want to crowd you in…"
Emily was well and truly buzzed, bordering on dangerously tipsy and Sera was happy to let her have a moment of quiet with her lady friend... and Vaggi's lady friend. Sera was starting to see a pattern in her sister's preferences. She pushed the carafe of water towards Emily intently.
"We'd love to dance Emily, it was getting a little stuffy in here anyway. Please drink some water. We'll catch up later."
They slide out of the booth a little too fast, not intent on sticking around to hear if Vaggi deigned to question the tension. Sera noticed a gorgeous, tall blonde woman in a long red dress join the girls at the table as they left. She sighed again privately to herself — her sister certainly had a type.
Penny took the lead as they left the booth, hand snaking around Sera's wrist and manoeuvring them through the press of bodies out onto the dance floor. The DJ sets had started, and the mood in the bar had adjusted accordingly — Sera could tell that no one would notice them here.
Once they were a comfortable distance away, Penny turned to Sera and pressed herself up close. That glimmer was there in Penny's eyes again as Sera let her hands come up around her corseted waist with intent this time, supporting her as they started moving to the beat of the music.
"Perhaps there'll be less… ahem… intrusions here," Penny projects into the small space between them, loud enough to be heard if Sera leans in as close as she can. The casual intimacy of it just after their kiss sets Sera's nerves on fire, her instincts screaming at her to hold Penny closer amidst the chaos of the dance floor. They're swaying side to side in a unified rhythm now as they talk, all focus on each other.
"Ah... Let's hope so." Is all that Sera can muster before her throat dries up again, her nerves catching up with this frankly crazy turn of events and crumbling away anything that was left of her composure.
In the flare of her anxiety she flexes her hands, readjusting her palms awkward and heavy. They slide and grip at Penny's hips and the shorter woman lets out another little squeak that is barely audible above the din of the dance floor, but Sera hears it.
They make eye contact again and Sera raises an amused eyebrow, smile genuine and suggestive for her companion's eyes only.
Penny leans up and pecks a kiss over that smile, snickering out the little laugh that Sera has only heard over her scheming on board game night. The memory surfaced unbidden, but laced with enough affection to make Sera's chest ache — she was well and truly screwed.
Sera's mind went then to all the little moments during their time together that her eyes had lingered, wandered over the beautiful woman who was now firmly in her arms swaying with her on the dance floor… It really felt freeing to be able to admit, without question, that they had grown into the deep and proper attraction she was feeling right now.
It was even more freeing knowing that it was reciprocated to some degree, the quick glances and quiet awkwardness finally confirmed to be a shared anxious romantic quirk rather than some fundamental misunderstanding.
Her anxiety had been wrong and now it was retreating like a wounded animal, leaving her with an uncharacteristic giddy satisfaction that sat funny, but not unwelcome, in her chest. Sera let herself feel for the first time in a very long time and it had paid off.
Sera closes the distance for another kiss. This one is different, bolstered by her mental walls breaking away and the anonymity of the crowd. She tastes her again, the gin flavour weaker now but still adding to the taste of Penny's lip gloss. The heat grows to a boiling point between them and they push deeper, kiss messier. Sera feels Penny's lipstick transferring to her face and it just spurs her on.
It's pure sensation, a claiming kiss with its pace set to the music around them. They only pull apart to breathe when they physically can't last any longer, both panting.
"Do you think we could…" Penny starts, pupils visibly blown with desire even in the low light.
Sera finishes her sentence in the same breath.
"Find somewhere private? I think I saw something on the way over here…"
This time she holds Penny's hand firmly and guides her partly back the way they came, down the small corridor that leads to the bathrooms. Sera had been content with perhaps taking up a stall, but something else presents itself in the moment — a supply closet just a bit further down and tucked into an alcove, door left conveniently ajar. The improvisation feels oddly scandalous, and that thought only draws her to the choice more.
Sera nods in the direction of the door silently to Penny, who looks a little confused until she realises Sera's intentions and offers an enthusiastic nod.
With one final glance up and down the quiet hallway, the two women slip inside the supply closet — the door clicking firmly shut behind them.
To call the closet small would be an understatement. For two women on the taller side, this space was tiny, but for the purposes of maximising contact? It was perfect. They had been close together when they were sat in the booth, closer even when they embraced on the dance floor… this was contact like neither woman had experienced in a long time, maybe ever.
There was enough room breathe and to stand without slouching, but any movement required coordinated effort between them. Penny raised her arms up to settle on Sera's shoulders, looking up at her face with a thoughtful expression that was completely unreadable in the small space that was only lit by a small emergency light.
Sera sighed and then startled, finding her voice all too loud for the space. They were completely alone, worked up, past the point of no return and finally — completely alone. Perhaps it was time to let some of those thoughts she tried so hard to suppress out to air if reality had caught up with them.
"When you look at me like that… what are you thinking, pretty girl?" Sera states plainly, dropping her voice to an intimate hush. The pet name slips out without effort, dripping pure and genuine affection.
From their proximity, Sera hears the flush take over Penny once again more than she sees it. The other woman's heart is racing and her breaths are sharp. Although the both of them are running on a bit of liquid courage, the air between them is surprisingly sober, honest. It's safe.
"I'm… thinking about how gorgeous you are Sera. Simply put. You're like an angel — a smart, beautiful angel." Penny's voice is also hushed, she drags out the "s" sound at the start of Sera's name like she's praying it.
Sera chuckles, now bashful herself.
"You're adorable Pen. Beautiful and intelligent and funny and I've… been thinking about how this could possibly go for a while. However, I didn't think it'd end up with us tucked into a supply closet at a bar hiding from my sister." Her tone full of raw levity, "Every part of this isn't really something that I could have predicted, though, I'm... happy." The ramble feels like letting a weight off her chest.
Penny joins her in the moment of soft chuckles and smiles, resting her head on Sera's chest and listening to her heartbeat.
"Happy..." She rolls the word around her in her mouth, "It feels nice to hear you say you've been thinking of me like this. I'm happy too..." The sound of her voice is muffled slightly, but the genuine wistfulness in Penny's tone tugs at Sera's heartstrings.
"I'm always thinking of you!… Even in ways I probably shouldn't be…" Sera's tone veers into something more tentative, testing the waters again — the confessional ramble stopping up as she realises the mood in the small room absolutely shifts as she says that.
Penny perks up as she registers the shift, resting her chin again on Sera's chest and looking up at her — eyes squinted in what is undeniably pleased and curious suspicion.
"Now what could you possibly mean by that Miss Sera?"
Penny presses herself against the taller woman as she poses her question, making no attempt to hide the way she grinds against her thigh. Sera whimpers at the contact before she can catch herself, suddenly keenly aware about how much her body wants.
That primal part of her mind that had been slowly waking up over the course of the evening was unfurling itself over her mind like a thick blanket of desire, smothering out everything else and orienting every sense towards pleasure. It was a thrill unlike any she'd felt before.
Penny loops her hands behind Sera's neck and pulls her down into another kiss, this time with roaming hands that slip their way past the deep V neckline of Sera's pantsuit and explore underneath with confident ease. Sera's skin is warm to the touch, Penny's hands are almost unnaturally cold.
Sera expects the cold hands to bother her more than they do, but if anything the way her nerves light up directly where her lover's hands touch her skin makes it feel so much more real. The differences between their bodies grounding, attracting, rather than repulsing — two magnets finally close enough to snap together.
Sera lets herself vocalise in the rush, happily offering light moans and gasps as Penny explores her skin. The feeling of those beautiful lithe hands unhooking her bra is like nothing she'd felt in a long time… Sera had experience yes, but it was rare and with committed partners in beds, rather than friend-crushes in bar closets.
Her tastes in the past had also leaned much more vanilla, Sera never being the type to be open about these sorts of wants had just kind of gone with the flow, never exploring much. Even now, the rational part of her knew she also wanted Penny in plenty of other completely mundane ways, however, this little taste of danger, the risk — however material it actually was — was absolutely intoxicating. It made something click.
Finally grounded enough to make moves of her own, Sera broke from their kiss and trailed down Penny's neck. She knew to avoid the visible areas as she nipped marks into the pale flesh, but she also knew Penny favoured higher-necked shirts… So she spent a good moment laving over Penny's jugular vein with her tongue and teeth, settling a deep claiming mark over it.
She felt the shorter woman's pulse flutter between her teeth and it sent a shock straight between her legs.
Penny let out a whimper that sounded almost like a cry and it made Sera's blood rush harder somehow. She knew she had a possessive side, but feeling it as physical actions and reactions rather than just thoughts was something entirely new. It felt way too good.
Her new lover's hands faltered and rested on Sera's shoulders underneath her clothes as she continued her onslaught further down.
Despite the chaos in her blood, Sera's mind had cleared as she finally had the chance to touch what her eyes had been desperate for since she first saw Penny in this dress tonight.
Sera's hands were soft, calloused only in the unique ways that someone with a talent for multiple musical instruments can be. They traced the neckline of the dress, feeling the texture of the beads and the fine fabric. It showed minimal cleavage if viewed from most angles… except from slightly above — the slight rigidity of the fabric letting anyone a little taller than Penny get a beautiful view.
Not many people were taller than Penny. Sera was. Her hands and mouth wandered over the delicate skin, offering featherlight kisses and gentle touches that spoke of worship after the rush of the claiming bite.
Sera, in this moment, was nothing but a patient woman finally getting what she wanted and savouring it; she couldn't help that the feeling could also quite easily be framed as the satisfaction of an endurance predator finally having outlasted its prey, now taking it's time to enjoy the meal after the long hunt. The thrill was all the same.
Penny leaned into her lovers touch hard, betraying her touch-starved nature in a way that can only be endearing in the heat of the moment. It makes Sera really want to sit her down and worship her, head to toe — make sure she never has to go without again. Perhaps next time, for now her needs were calling her more and more by the second and her vision was growing hazy with desire.
Sera's hands fell to the corseted waist of Penny's dress. It hugged her figure in a way that drew all your attention to it and gave her an incredible silhouette, Sera was obsessed with it. But right now, It was quite suddenly in the way. She fumbled for the laces in the dark, resting her head on Penny's shoulder in concentration. They wouldn't budge.
Quickly realising the problem, Penny laughs, small and self-effacing.
"Here, love." She mumbles affectionately, her hands coming up to meet Sera's behind her and pulling at the knot at the perfect angle for it to completely undo.
"I've quite perfected my self-ties," she continues, letting the double entendre settle in the air for a moment as she helps Sera peel away the complicated fastenings of her dress. The top half of the beautiful dress, now structurally unsound, rests loose and hangs around Penny's hips, artistically lewd.
Sera's eyes widen, desperate to pick up every detail in the dark of the closet.
Penny brings a hand up to cover her face.
"I—I'm sorry if I'm not..." she trails off, a million sentences trying to communicate her insecurity overwhelming her mind at once.
Underneath Sera found that Penny wore a plain black strapless bra, nothing particularly fancy. But the sight took her breath away anyway, her lover truly was lithe all over — slight and pale in that way that spoke of not getting enough sun. There was even a tattoo on a snake on her sternum that she hadn't realised Penny had, barely visible where it dipped underneath her bra.
"Shhh..."
Sera's hands were running over the bra and removing it quicker than she realised, desperate to see.
Penny's hand still covered her face as Sera revealed more of her to the room, nervous of somehow failing to meet an unspoken standard even now.
"Every inch of you is beautiful, Penny. I could never be disappointing with any of... this," she punctuated her point by scooping up the shorter woman's smaller breasts in each hand and kneading softly.
Penny keens, immediately breathless.
"You're just as perfect as I dreamed you'd be..." Sera ends her sentence by pressing another kiss into Penny's open mouth.
Now that her hands have found their target, they don't let up, coaxing every noise they can out of Penny with the relentless kneading at the soft flesh.
Sera honestly would have been content to stay like this, hands and mouth with their full attention on Penny, pressing her lightly against the shelving. The possessiveness running hot in her blood was satisfied with every bite, every press of her nails into what she so desperately wanted, no needed, to claim as hers. The gentler side satisfied by their comfortable, affirming conversation.
But as Penny settled into the rhythm Sera had set, her beautiful cool hands started moving again.
For someone so shy, she moved now with purposeful precision. Long since freed from the confines of her bra, Sera's ample chest was Penny's first port of call. Sera would call their cup size difference cute, but the hunger that Penny managed to convey in the way she tried to grab as much as she could in her slender palms was intense.
Sera knew what it meant to want, to crave things — had gotten very good at craving things she assumed she could never have — she wasn't however, as well versed with the feeling of being wanted. Right now, Penny wanted her, and her whole body was reacting in ways she'd never experienced. She pushed herself into her lover's feverish groping and lost herself in it.
Even in the dim light, she could see Penny was both pleased and incredibly focused — intent on committing every curve to memory. Sera lent a hand where she could, rucking the sleeves of her pantsuit down off of her shoulders to give Penny full unfettered access to whatever she desired.
It was the right move. Confidence steadily being built by every show of enthusiasm from Sera, Penny was becoming a menace. The only warning she gives before she leans in to take one of Sera's dark, warm nipples into her mouth is a greedy smirk Sera almost misses as she loses herself in the electric sensation.
Penny's mouth is relentless. She knows exactly how to work her tongue over Sera's nipples to make her keen. Her coordination of it along with her hands feels like it's calculated to drive Sera as crazy as possible, each movement setting her nerves on fire. Penny quickly has her face pressed so deep into Sera's ample cleavage that she doesn't know how to the shorter woman is managing to breathe.
It doesn't surprise Sera then when the subtle buck of Penny's hips presses her hardness properly against her thigh, the shorter woman intent on her goal. She grinds herself properly against Sera's thigh, and Sera suddenly wishes they weren't so confined. Her mouth waters dreaming about that hardness, what her lover looks like under that dress.
Penny's hands squeeze hard where they roam over Sera's hips, finding every sensitive button to push. Driving it further, she sucks hard again on Sera's nipple, tongue flat and intent on satisfying them both. Sera's body and mind are so overwhelmed by affection and pleasure that she's lost to the world, even if just for a moment. Her eyes roll back as she lets out the most feral noise she's ever heard out of anyone, let alone herself.
Sera has long since lost proper awareness of her volume, but she can distantly tell that that was absolutely not quiet. Her addled mind brings a hand in front of her mouth to hopefully quiet herself down. All she succeeds in is learning how hard she can bite.
The sharpness of the pain just adds to the white hot burning at her core, rapidly reaching her peak in a way that she never has before.
The small space has been warmed by both of their bodies, and the friction between them quickly sends both of them over the edge within moments of each other. Sera goes first with another unrestrained moan, her hand's gripping firmly at Penny's slender hips as she bucks her last.
It's intimate and messy and they both immediately collapse further into each other, the tangled mess of their limbs that they are resting hard against the shelves around them.
They spend what feels both like a brief moment and an eternity stood their, legs shaking, in each others arms. The sweet words they share are forgotten to them both as soon as they leave the air between them, the endless praise and satisfaction finally overwhelming their addled minds.
A buzz from both of their phones alerts them to the time, and the fact that Emily was now ready to leave and looking for them on the dance floor.
They quickly redress, Penny humouring Sera and letting her redo the ties on her corset for her. Sera thinks she did alright but it's absolutely not the same tie as before, the evidence of their fooling around evident to anyone who paid enough attention. Penny thankfully has a handkerchief that takes care of her immediate mess, but they both are now in quite desperate need of a shower.
As Penny is fixing her hair, Sera moves to finally reconnect their little bubble with the outside world. She presses down on the handle — and it doesn't budge.
Emily had had exactly the kind of night she needed.
Drinks, dancing and an excellent extended make out session pressed between the gorgeously handsy couple that were her friends Vaggi and Charlie. Unfortunately though, the unexpected meeting meant she had lost track of Penny and Sera after they rushed away. She had set out with a plan to help them have fun and she'd barely seen them all night! Her wing-woman credibility would definitely be taking a hit after tonight, she was certain.
So, the happy couple having left for the evening, Emily shoots the house group chat a message, hoping at least one of them had enough phone battery to respond — or if they had left to go do whatever the nerd version of a bar crawl was they could at least update her on their current location.
Ladies! Just checking in and saying that it is midnight thirty!
I'm ready to go if you are party animals! 🥳💜
A few minutes passed with not even a read receipt. Those two introverts were always on their phone at places like this... were they really still dancing? Emily knew the nerdy bar crawl thing had a snowflake's chance in hell of actually happening so she was quick to follow up on her dancing assumption.
Don't make me come find you in there!
After another few minutes the messages were read. It felt like the response was taking forever though... the typing bubble swimming slightly as the evening of drinking caught up to her where she sat. The text she got almost made her spit up the water she had been slowly sipping in an effort to sober up.
Emily. Please promise not to react before we can explain. Penny and I are currently trapped in a supply closet in the bar together. It's just down the hall from the bathrooms, if you could please come and see if you could get the door open I would be in your debt. - Sera.
Her sister and her best friend. Trapped. Together. In a supply closet?
Emily feels like her head has been spun on wrong because the implications of all of those words together is something that she hadn't even considered as a possibility. She doesn't even have time to feel mad or confused or anything before she is absolutely overtaken by the wickedly nosy curiosity that colours her need to find out everything she's missed.
Emily locates the offending supply closet easily enough.
It seems to her the lock on the outside had just been left at an awkward half-way angle that meant that it had slipped shut when they had closed the door behind them. It was nothing a well placed bobby pin and plastic card couldn't fix, Emily had gotten into and out of way worse.
The scene she was greeted too as she cracked the door was nothing short of scandalous. Her sister and her best friend were haphazardly dressed and leaning into each other like the other would disappear if they let go. They looked like they had been all over each other even up to the last second before Emily had started fiddling with the lock.
Emily smiled at them knowingly, any potential negative reaction well and truly dissolving as she spots the pleased, relaxed smiles they both wear in each other's close company. It somehow felt right, even if they definitely had some explaining to do once they were home.
Both of them squint in the light now spilling into their hideaway, and finally make eye contact with Emily wearing the guiltiest expressions she'd ever seen on either of them. They really do worry too much.
"Well hello, lovebirds!" Emily laughs, "It seems I might not have completely failed at my wing-woman duties after all!"