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“Pran, c’mon,” Pat said, pushing up onto her hand and raising the upper half of her body from its reclined position.
They had been studying- Pat laying on her side on Pran’s bed, shoes kicked off and socked feet wiggling over the edge, still in her school uniform, shirt untucked and skirt bunching under her in a way that Pran couldn’t imagine was comfortable. Her head had rested in her hand as she read from her book open on the bed in front of her and that allowed Pran, from her position cross legged up near the headboard, to stare at her without being noticed.
How was she supposed to focus on chemistry when she could see Pat’s long dark hair cascading over her shoulder and onto Pran’s- Pran’s!- duvet. Some of the curl Pat had set into it that morning had fallen out a bit, but it still looked shiny and smooth and Pran wanted to run her fingers through the silky strands. When Pat had looked up suddenly and declared that she wanted to do Pran’s hair, she’d startled and tried to find her place in her textbook and mumbled something about ‘really having to finish this chapter before tomorrow.’
“C’mon, it’ll be fun! We both already understand bonds. I’ll do better than you on the test of course,” she smiled cheekily in Pran’s direction and Pran didn’t even correct her, “but you’ll be fine! Let me do your hair! I want to see it styled.” She clapped her hands together once and scooted to the edge of the bed, grabbing Pran’s arm and pulling her along.
Pran reluctantly went with her and allowed herself to be turned so that her back was to Pat, who stood and retrieved the hairbrush from the vanity Pran knew her mother wished she used more. She came back and tapped the brush against her bottom lip as she scrutinized Pran’s face. “Braids, I think. Two of them. It’ll frame your face and look so cute with your bangs. Maybe we can tie the ends with some ribbon.”
Pran didn’t have the heart to tell her she didn’t have two of the same ribbon, so she just sat still as Pat circled around her and sat again, much closer this time. The bed dipped when she did, and Pran fell toward her- but that was nothing new. She was always falling towards Pat. She was in her orbit, and what was an orbit after all, if not constant falling?
“You have nice hair, Pran,” Pat said, running the brush gently through it. It had been years since her mother had done her hair, and the feel of someone else’s fingers in it, untangling it, parting it, made her shiver. “It’s soft and thick. And it smells really good! What shampoo do you use?”
“I don’t know, it’s just a regular one. Coconut, I think.” She was trying not to squirm, but when Pat reached around and gripped her chin to tip her head back, Pran thought she might slide off the bed.
“Ah, I might have to try that then. I’d love to smell this good.” She leaned forward and buried her nose in Pran’s hair, inhaling deeply.
Pran contorted around and pushed at her shoulder, “Get off you weirdo! I’ll give you the shampoo if you stop being a freak about it.” She absolutely could not handle Pat’s face that close.
Pat laughed and realizing she couldn’t get a good angle, stood with one knee still on the bed, her body pressing up against Pran’s side, as she took three strands of hair and slowly wove them together, adding pieces as she went. When she got to the bottom of Pran’s shoulder length hair, she tied it with one of the hair ties from around her own wrist and climbed back up onto the bed to get to Pran’s other side. She kneeled on the bed, once again pressed into Pran, and began the same process.
Pran allowed herself to close her eyes and just enjoy the feel of her hands brushing against her scalp, her stomach pressed against her arm, her breath whispering against her cheek.
Once Pat was done, she sat back on her heels and laughed softly again. "You know, Pran, you're really pretty. I bet there are guys who’d really like you if you flirted back a little."
Her eyes flew open, all relaxation gone and a pit in her stomach. She didn’t know how to respond to that. She turned toward Pat and considered her. "And what would that look like, exactly?" Pat was staring at her and Pran felt a flicker of hope.
“Hmm, just do what I do?” She sounded unsure, as if trying to figure out what exactly she did when it just came so naturally to her. “Maybe bat your eyelashes at them? Put your hand on their arm, their leg even, if you’re feeling bold. Lean in close and compliment them? Boys love being complimented.” She laughed and rolled her eyes, looking at Pran, expecting her to get the joke. “But yeah, I can’t really see you doing those things,” she said, still grinning.
Pran wasn’t laughing. She was thinking about how close they were, about how they were on a bed. Together. She could do this, she could be brave. “Okay, well, maybe I just need some practice then. So, um, like this?”
She turned and faced Pat more fully on the bed and put her hand on her knee, gently sliding it up until the tips of her fingers skimmed under the hem of her skirt. She squeezed the nice thigh in her grip and leaned her body closer, braids swinging around her chin, until her mouth was against Pat’s ear. “You looked really hot up there during your presentation for science today.”
She sat back enough so she could see Pat’s face, feeling that tiny flicker in her chest again when she saw Pat frozen in place. She was pretty proud that she’d been able to have this effect on Pat. Maybe if she just leaned in again Pat would let her brush her lips-
And then Pat was pushing her hand off her thigh and chuckling a strained little chuckle and backing away from Pran, off the bed entirely. “Yeah. Uh, yeah. That was good. That would work, probably. Maybe something sexier than a science presentation, though,” she said, all the way across the room now, fixing her hair in the vanity mirror, not looking at Pran at all.
Shit. Pran shouldn’t have done that. How could she have been so stupid? She’d pushed and now she’d made Pat uncomfortable. It was obvious in the awkward way she was holding herself and looking around the room. Pat was never awkward, she was always so comfortable exactly where she was- it was one of the things Pran loved about her. And now Pat was staring dumbly around the room, trying to find something to say. Pran’s stomach was twisting- Pat could probably tell just how much she liked touching her and now she was looking for a good excuse to leave. She would go ahead and make this easier on both of them.
“Oh, um, do you have to head out?” She asked, dreading the answer. She couldn’t believe she’d ruined this so badly- she’d been doing so well hiding her feelings before this.
“Yeah, uh, actually, I do have to, um, go. I’ll see you around, Pran.” And then she was shoving her things in her bag and was out the window.
Fuck.
------
Pat hadn’t slept well at all last night. She dragged herself into class only a few minutes before it started and immediately stopped dead in her tracks. There she was: the reason Pat hadn’t slept at all.
Pran was leaning against her desk, talking to the new guy, Ink. Ink was nice, Pat liked him, too. He wasn’t as immature or gross as some of the other guys in their class, and he was Pran’s seatmate, so it made sense that she was smiling at him and nodding at what he was saying. She’d worn her hair in braids today, just like Pat had said she should, and damn, she looked cute. She hadn’t been able to french braid them like Pat had been able to, and the braids were a little uneven, and she didn’t have any ribbons, and her bangs were all askew, but she looked adorable.
Pat had laid awake all night thinking about her. Thinking about how good she smelled and about how nice her hand had felt on her thigh. Thinking about how, when she’d leaned forward, the wide boat neck of her striped shirt had fallen down and she’d been able to see the soft mounds of the tops of her boobs. Thinking about how good she was at flirting, how sincere her compliment had sounded, and how when she’d pulled away and looked up at Pat through her eyelashes, that had made something clench low in Pat’s belly.
And then the thoughts had shifted to Pran doing that to someone else- maybe one of the gross guys in their class. It would work on any of them for sure. Pran was so pretty and smart that if she showed any guy in their class even an ounce of attention, they’d be hers right away. And Pat had hated that thought. It was probably just their infamous rivalry rearing its ugly head again- Pat was supposed to be the one popular with boys- but she couldn’t let it go. She was happy for Pran, she wanted Pran to have nice things. Like Ink. Ink was a good choice for Pran, really, the best option in the whole class.
When Pat looked at them again, Pran had her hand on his arm, just above his elbow and was leaning towards him. Wow, she knew Pran was a quick study, but this was a little fast, don’t you think? Pat dropped heavily into her seat and tapped her foot, glaring at the clock, waiting for class to start. Wasn’t social time over yet?
She’d just have to catch up with Pran today after school. Pat was the only one who got to hang out with Pran outside of school, at least. She’d just drop by to, you know, check in and see how all of her tips worked. Yeah, that was a good idea.
-------
“Ah, Pat, I didn’t think you could come over today,” Pran said as Pat dropped into her room, surprised that Pat would be back this quickly after everything that had happened yesterday. But then she sat down in the vanity chair on the other side of the room and that made more sense. It was clear: there would be no more Bed Times.
“No!” Pat said hurriedly, running a hand through her long hair with what seemed like less of her usual composure. “I mean, no, I can stay until your parents come home today. I thought we could hang out. I don’t really want to study, though. I know! We can do a whole makeover for you. So you can definitely catch those boys. Like Ink.”
Pat’s smile was so big that all of her teeth were showing as she said this and her head was nodding a bit too fast, but Pran didn’t really know what she’d expected. Pat was trying to put as much distance, physically and otherwise, between them as she could. She was letting Pran know how she felt about being hit on yesterday, in the nicest way she could, trying not to embarrass Pran in the process. It was a kindness.
Looking down at her hands, Pran nodded again and shrugged. “Yeah, ok, sure. Whatever you want to do.”
“Really?” Pat asked with what sounded like genuine delight. “Fun!” She stood up and went over to the dresser, rummaging around in the top left drawer. “I’ve been thinking about this forever. You said your mom got you that push up bra for your birthday last month right? You should put it on. Aha!” Victorious, she pulled out the lacy light blue monstrosity Pran’s mom had promised would make her ‘girls’ look ‘glorious,’ and held it over her head, waving it in Pran’s direction. “Here, change!”
Pran looked towards the door that they always kept locked when Pat was over even if Pran’s parents weren’t home. Pran insisted because what if they came home and they just didn’t hear them or something? Where exactly was she supposed to change? “Where exactly am I supposed to change, Pat?” She was going for cool exasperation but felt mostly terror, and was pretty sure the question came out somewhere in the middle.
“Eh, just over there is fine,” Pat waved at the corner near the closet, “I’ll turn around.”
Pran was glad Pat was sticking around, still trying to be her friend after what Pran had done to her earlier, so she didn’t want to say no, exactly, but she also did not want to do this. She hated that stupid bra. “Ugh, fine, don’t look.” She snatched the bra out of Pat’s hand and stomped over to the corner, looking over her shoulder at Pat. Who was still watching her. “Pat!”
Pat rolled her eyes and then very deliberately made a show of turning around, looking back at her with raised eyebrows as if to say ‘See! I’m doing it!’
Turning back, Pran peeled off her soft striped shirt, letting it fall to the floor. She itched to fold it nicely, but she was just going to put it back on and she wanted to spend the least amount of time shirtless as possible. She unclasped her usual bra, a sensible tan color, and threaded her arms through the blue one, reaching back to clasp it. It was stiff from disuse, and the hook was different than her usual style and she couldn’t get it. “I hate this thing,” she muttered under her breath as she struggled with it.
And suddenly, there were hands over hers, connecting the hooks easily and smoothing over the back of the bra. She twirled, arms bent in front of her, trying to cover as much skin as possible. “Pat! What are you doing?”
“It’s fine! It’s nothing I haven’t seen before, right?”
“It is, though! It’s- they’re mine- well, I mean, you haven’t seen mine before!” She was pretty sure her face was on fire and she would combust at any moment. She hoped she would.
“It’s fine,” she said again, and Pran really wished she’d stop saying that. “Come here.” Pat reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her over to the vanity mirror and then planting her hands on her waist to spin her to face it. Pat reached up and ran her fingers under the right strap, tightening it, before moving to the left one to untwist it. She fought the urge to shiver as the knuckles brushed lightly across her skin. “Alright now, Pran, here’s the secret. You have to scoop and lift.”
“What.” It wasn’t a question.
“Scoop and lift,” she said, gesturing at her own chest and making a scooping motion with her hand.
“For fuck’s sake. Do not look while I do this.”
Pat gave her a salute and turned around again while Pran reached into the cups of the bra to scoop and lift.
“Done yet?”
“Yeah, I’m done. Can you hand me my shirt?”
“Wait, I wanna see.” And Pat was turning back around before Pran could stop her, pressing up against her back, hands on her waist again, chin hooked over her shoulder, looking at her in the mirror. “Damn, Pran, your tits look great in this. Ink will love it.”
Pran snorted at that. “Yeah, he’s never going to be seeing it.”
“Oh? How come? It looked like things were going so well today. My tips looked like they were working so well for you.” Her words sounded supportive, but there was something off in her tone, and Pran could've sworn there was a twist of her lips before her face smoothed back down into an inquisitive look.
Pran’s breath caught in her throat as her eyes caught Pat’s in the mirror, flicking up to meet hers from where they’d been, looking down at her chest. She didn’t understand what Pat was doing, what she wanted from her. She couldn’t tell what Pat was thinking.
Maybe Pat had figured out that she’d asked Ink if she could practice her flirting on him. He was nice and she’d wanted to show Pat that she wasn’t going to be weird about her crush, but when Pat had come into class that morning, her plan didn’t seem to work. Pat was obviously still weirded out from the night before and hadn’t even said anything to her. But now she was here, in her room again, touching her and complimenting her tits- shit! her tits were still out!
She quickly stepped away and went to put her shirt back on. When she turned, Pat was pouting at her but she didn’t say anything about it.
“Here, I brought some makeup and jewelry for you, too. Come sit.”
Pran let herself be pushed into the vanity chair and felt the gentle swipes of first some foundation. Pat hummed. “Your skin is a bit lighter than mine, so you’re going to need a different shade. But that’s ok, your skin is so smooth that you don’t really need it.” Pat bent to rummage through her case and pulled out an eye shadow pallet.
“Close your eyes.”
And Pran did. She felt the tip of Pat's finger smudging a color across her eyelids and then heard the click of the pallet closing. She felt the eyeliner pencil across both lids. Pat’s breath ghosted across her closed eyes. “Open. Look up.”
When she did, Pat’s face was centimeters from hers, brows furrowed in concentration, tongue sticking out of the side of her mouth. She put her middle finger on the skin below Pran’s eye to pull it down as she swiped the liner across her bottom lid, repeating it on the other eye. It felt nice, having Pat’s attention and hands on her.
Pat stood back, smiled, and dug through her makeup bag again, pulling out some wire contraption. She reared back as Pat brought it closer to her right eye and Pat paused.
“Actually, you’re right. Your eyelashes already naturally curl up so prettily. You don’t need this.” She tossed it back into her bag and pulled out mascara, running it over her top and bottom lashes efficiently. The blush was similarly easy, brushing on with just a slight tickle over each cheek.
The first lipstick Pat presented her with was bright red. Pran looked at in horror. “Pat. I cannot pull that off.”
She shrugged and pulled out a much more reasonable pink shade. “I don’t agree, I think you’d look incredible in it, but whatever you want. Open.” She took Pran’s chin in her hand and ran the lipstick over her top, and then bottom lip with a steady, gentle pressure. She thought about Pat using this lipstick on her own lips, swiping it confidently across them before snapping her mirror shut and flinging a joking comment at a boy who’d been watching her do it. Pat pulled the lipstick back and capped it, but didn’t move her face away, still just leaning over her and staring at her lips.
“What? Does it look bad? It’s probably too much, isn’t it?” Pran started to turn toward the mirror, but Pat stopped her with a hand on her jaw.
“No, I like it. Don’t look yet, I’m not done.” She got out a box and opened it, revealing a pretty necklace and earrings with matching dangling stones. Pulling out the necklace, she leaned forward around Pran to clasp it behind her neck, almost like a hug.
Pran wished it was a hug.
When she straightened, Pat followed the chain with her fingertips, down over her collarbones and to where the pendant hung, tapping it twice. “It really draws the eye,” she said approvingly, reaching for the earrings.
Pran let her fumble them into her earlobes, heart pounding. She didn’t get what was going on here. What was Pat doing? Was she still trying to help Pran attract the guys in her class? But Pat kept complimenting her as if she liked it, so maybe she was the one who-
“Ok, look!” Pat said, turning the chair to face the mirror. “See, look at how pretty you look! Ink will love it.”
Ah, well at least that answered that. She was startled by how she looked in the mirror. Her eyes, with their dark shadow and winged liner, looked more pronounced and captivating. All of her features stood out more than they usually did and Pran understood that it probably looked nice, but she didn’t feel like herself. She felt like a painting. Unreal. She broke eye contact with her reflection. “It’s nice.”
“‘I think so too. Here, I’ll let you borrow all the stuff I used. You should wear it to school tomorrow. I think-”
The sound of the front door opening had them both looking at Pran’s locked door in a panic. Pat nodded and packed up the rest of her stuff, turning back to smile at her at the window. “Wear it tomorrow, Pran! I want to see everyone’s reaction.”
Pran nodded and watched her go before turning to sweep everything left behind into one of the drawers.
----
Pat, once again, could not sleep. She kept thinking about the look on Pran’s face when she’d had the makeup on. She’d looked beautiful, of course, but she hadn’t looked happy about it for some reason. The playful glint that was normally in her eyes had been absent. Pat didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable. In the morning, she’d get ready fast and head to school with some makeup remover so she could help Pran remove it if she didn’t like it.
Decision made, she felt a little better, and she turned on her side to finally close her eyes. But now she was assaulted with images of Pran in her pretty blue bra. It had looked so nice against her brown skin. She could still feel the way her doughy waist had felt in her hands. She wanted to squeeze. This line of thought didn’t help her get to sleep any faster.
*
But when Pat got to school the next day, Pran wasn’t there yet. Pran was always there before Pat. Pat wasn’t even sure what time Pran normally got to school because no matter when Pat showed up, Pran was already there.
She hung around the open door of their classroom until just before class started, and then with one last look down the empty hallway, she went in to her seat.
Pran came in about thirty seconds later, dropping a quick wai to the teacher in apology as she rushed to her seat. Pat could tell she was wearing her hair in braids again, but from her seat behind her, she couldn’t see if Pran was wearing any makeup. She couldn’t look for the glint in her eyes.
Forty five minutes later, their teacher was passing out their chem test from the day before and Pat saw the little wiggle Pran did when she’d done well on a test. She turned around to look at Pat and smugly pointed at the ‘100’ on the top of her page, but Pat couldn’t look at anything but her.
She’d taken what Pat had done the night before and dialed it back drastically. She had a delicate necklace with a small pendant around her neck and small stud earrings in each ear. Her big brown eyes were outlined neatly with eyeliner and just a small amount of light shadow. Her lips were glossy and tinted pink, but it was obviously from a lip gloss rather than the lipstick Pat had left. Pat could tell that the proud flush just above her cute dimples was completely natural. She wondered what else would make her Pran blush.
Oh.
She looked incredible.
Pran was clearly expecting some kind of response, so she smiled weakly back and when the teacher placed her paper with a ‘99’ at the top, she tilted it toward her so Pran could gloat.
The glint- it was back.
Pat wanted to keep it there. And she wanted it directed towards her.
The rest of the lesson was a wash. Pat couldn’t think straight. Every time Pran muttered something to Ink or looked toward the person across the aisle from her, Pat wanted her attention on Pat, instead. She made wisecrack after wisecrack, until the teacher was fuming and ready to send her out of the classroom. It was worth it though, when Pran would turn around and roll her eyes or give her a murderous look. Anything was fine as long as Pran was looking at her.
It backfired though, because when it was time for lunch, the teacher made her stay back and help clean the board before she could go eat. When she finally got to the picnic tables, there were four guys standing in a circle around Pran. They’re all chatting, but Pran had her polite, strained smile pasted on her face. She said something and all of them laughed like it was the funniest thing they’d ever heard. Pran tilted her head to the side, confused.
She needed rescuing, Pat decided, marching up and barging into the circle. She flung an arm around Pran’s shoulders and faced the guys. “Back up you jackals. You’re like a pack of rabid dogs. Am I going to have to beat you off with a stick?” She swung them both around and marched them back toward the quiet breezeway between buildings, chuckling. She startled when Pran stopped and shrugged out from under her arm.
“What are you doing?” Pran asked, rage simmering underneath her expression.
“What? I figured we could go eat in the classroom.”
“No. I mean what are you doing?” She gestured wildly in the direction they’d just come from. “What was that? I was doing what you wanted!” She got up in Pat’s face and accentuated each word with a poke so hard to her chest that it backed Pat up. “You. Told. Me. To. Flirt. With. Them.”
“Yeah, but I could see you looked uncomfortable. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.” She could hear the whine in her voice and wasn’t sure how to stop it. She’d been wrong. Actual anger from Pran was not what she wanted directed at her, only irritation and fond fake anger.
“I don’t get you, Pat. You keep trying to push me into the path of all the stupid guys in our class. I don’t want to wear makeup every day, it took me so long I was late this morning. I don’t want to wear this dumb bra, it’s itchy. But I did it! You said I should, and I did, but I don’t want to flirt with any of the guys in our class.” She was pressing Pat into the wall now, chest heaving.
“So then why’d you do it? Why’d you get all dressed up? Who, um. Who do you want to flirt with Pran?”
Pran blinked, just realizing what she’d accidentally admitted, and started to back up. Pat caught her wrist and spun them so that Pran was now the one pushed against the wall.
“Do you want to flirt with me?” Pat’s almost afraid of the answer, not realizing until she asked it how badly she wants Pran to say yes.
“No,” she said definitively, stubbornly, but she was looking just past Pat’s head, not directly at her eyes.
“Okay then, can I flirt with you?”
Pat put her hand on Pran’s waist again, finally able to squeeze just like she’d been thinking about last night. It felt even better than she had imagined. She leaned in, echoing how Pran had flirted so successfully a couple of days ago, and whispered into Pran’s ear. “You look so hot when you gloat about beating me on a chemistry test.”
She pulled back to gauge Pran’s reaction and got to see her eyes flutter open and try to refocus. They were staring at Pat’s lips, so she bit her bottom one between her teeth and Pran’s gaze flew to hers. There was so much heat there, but she tried to answer cooly.
“A chemistry test? Is that the best you could do?” But her voice was all breathy, and Pat was right, she could make her blush about other things, and she was still looking at Pat’s lips.
Pat shrugged. “What can I say? I want to bond.”
Then Pran was rolling her eyes and groaning and grabbing her by the back of the neck and pulling her in to crush their lips together and Pat was pretty proud of herself. She knew she was an excellent flirt. And an even better teacher, apparently.