The City | GirlxGirl

eighteen ➳

Surprised to find Blair still awake when she got home from her first shift at the bar, Jude jumped when she heard a voice call out from the living room. Tired, groggy-sounding like she had just woken up after falling asleep waiting, Blair began to ask-or rather, interrogate-Jude about her shift. The brunette smiled as she lowered herself onto the couch beside Blair, answering each of her questions, and realizing that they were so similar in terms of a greedy curiosity.

Jude was exhausted, but the bright lights shining from the various lamps that decorated the apartment fed her with adrenaline and energy, informing her that she wasn't yet ready to sleep, so she may as well stay up with Blair to feed her with the answers she wanted. And besides, Jude thought, Blair was being a good friend. She was asking questions, conveying that she cared. Jude couldn't pass up the opportunity.

"And how was working with Skylar?" Blair narrowed her eyes slightly. "Did she behave?"

Jude thought she had meant it as a joke, but she'd been serious.

"She was nice to you, right? Helpful? Did she answer any questions you had?" Blair continued.

"She was fine. She didn't talk to me much," said Jude.

Blair's lips curled upward, but her eyes didn't match the smile. "That's Skylar. She's not good at trusting people. Slow to warm up."

Something flashed within Blair's eyes. Jude knew there was more, and it was important. Important that Jude knew; important that Blair said it. But instead, the hazel-eyed girl squeezed Jude's knee, and told her she was heading to bed.

"I'll talk to you in the morning," she said.

Jude hoped that meant talking about Skylar, about her problem with trust, about her slowness to warm up, as she had said. She hoped that meant saying whatever was being held on Blair's tongue, but wasn't coming out.

She hoped that meant she'd understand Skylar better.

-

The apartment door opened. It had been pushed, slammed against the wall as it opened, knocking down one of the photo frames of Blair and a girl Jude didn't know.

Jude ran over the names of people who had a key to Blair's apartment.

Herself.

Blair.

Before she could complete the list, there was Skylar. Dark hair, dark eyes. All the lamps in the apartment had turned off. Skylar was a shadow, something Jude had to squint to fully see.

Perhaps Skylar didn't want to be seen.

Maybe she wanted to stay hidden.

Jude's pulse quickened. She felt a familiar feeling flood over her head. She was standing at the bottom of the ocean, seaweed tickling her toes. And she was watching waves, each larger than the previous one, wash over her, drenching her in water when she was already soaked.

She was drowning.

No, not drowning. Falling.

Falling for Skylar?

She didn't have time to answer the question, as Skylar lifted her hand, slowly, barely visible in the darkness, and flicked on the light switch. The room suddenly came to life, and Jude realized she was safe here. Safe with Skylar.

Except Skylar didn't look like herself. Other than her features, which Jude had already memorized, she wore a black dress shirt that fit her tall, slender body perfectly. Black jeans that hugged the curve of her hips and knees.