This Love, This Hate (A Lesbian Romance)

TLTH Chapter 23

Dedicated to TheLastHorcrux8, who asked for an update!

This Love, This Hate

Chapter Twenty-Three

“Oh my God, my head.” Zoe groaned, rolling over and resting her arm on Raine’s delicate stomach.

“We had a lot of alcohol last night.” Missy commented from across the room. Zoe stretched and sat up to see her leaning back in a chair with a cigarette between her fingers in front of an open patio door in only her bikini, just as Zoe and Raine also were.

“You don’t say.” Zoe joked sarcastically, “Hey, why don’t we take a walk on the beach? There’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.”

“Oh um…alright. Nothing bad?” Missy asked uncertainly.

“Nothing bad.” Zoe affirmed with a crooked smile. She stood and scrawled a note to Raine before pulling on her shredded up short shorts on and following Missy out.

As they walked it was silent at first with Zoe choosing the right approach and Missy worrying over what it was Zoe might want to bring to the table. Eventually when Zoe had finished her cigarette, she cleared her throat and looked out at the sun over the ocean, “I’m sorry I didn’t give you a chance after your transformation.”

“I…is this a dream?” Missy gawked as she turned to blink at Zoe in surprise. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing; Zoe was apologizing to her? Was all it took really just a night of drinks and conversation neither of them remembered?

“No, I’m serious. If Raine trusts you’ve changed, I should too. Just don’t prove me wrong, okay?” Zoe elaborated.

“You’re really great for her.” Missy murmured with a grateful smile.

~

Jesse woke up and slowly opened his eyes, seeing a slender girl with long blonde hair lying next to him in bed with her back turned his way. At first he thought it was Zoe, but upon closer examination he swallowed hard and looked up at the ceiling; it was Malarie. He sat up and watched her sleeping form, at a complete loss for what to say to her when she awoke and what the hell happened last night. He’d lost everything after he and Malarie got into the hot tub together—obviously things had somehow escalated from there.

“Jesse…” Malarie breathed, rolling onto her back and looking up into his eyes, “Did we…? Oh, I bet we did…” She trailed off with a sleepy laugh.

“I’m relatively positive we did, love.” Jesse murmured distantly.

“Wait,” Malarie spoke up as she sat further up and turned to look at him, “Wait…did you…did you want that to happen? With me, I mean?”

Jesse waited a long moment to respond, knowing if we was honest now it would really hurt her, though it would hurt her much more later. Then there was Zoe, who his feeling truly lied with but at the same time could never be with in the way he wanted. As much as it sickened him to think so, Malarie was the closest to Zoe he would ever be able to get. “Of course I did. I’m sorry I had to be drunk to say so.”

“So we…what are we now?” Malarie asked hesitantly.

“We, my dear, are going to get breakfast. Decisions like this shouldn’t be made naked on an empty stomach.” Jesse decided with a chuckle.

“You are very right.” Malarie agreed happily.

~

Raine scratched her head and sat up, completely alone in a giant king sized bed in an unfamiliar room. She looked around in the room in utter confusion as the pieces of last night slowly came back to her. She didn’t remember hardly anything after trying her first cigarette and seeing Missy and Zoe not prepared to wring each other’s necks. She climbed out of bed and read Zoe’s note, doing her best to ignore the slight twinge of jealousy that it brought her.

“I guess I’m going to the beach, too.” Raine mumbled before heading out the patio door and walking along the beach towards the two of them. She saw Missy light a fresh cigarette off of Zoe’s already lit cherry and bit back even more envy at the gesture that was reserved for just her the night before. “Zoe!” Raine called since they were within earshot now. Zoe turned and waved casually at her as if her and Missy lighting each other’s cigarettes off their own and taking walks down the beach together was completely normal.

“Hey, pretty girl.” Zoe greeted, putting out her cigarette and hugging her tightly around the waist, lifting her into the air and spinning her in a circle before setting her back onto the sand. “Did you sleep alright?”

“I…yeah…” Raine trailed off, crossing her arms around her chest and looking into Zoe’s eyes. “What is this?”

“What is what?” Zoe echoed in slight confusion.

“This? You two…?” Raine elaborated as she looked from one to the other.

“I apologized and forgave her like you asked me to. What’s wrong?” Zoe explained.

“Nothing.” Raine hedged, looking out towards the sun and turning to slowly step into the ocean.

“Oh! Are we swimming now?” Missy chirped when she saw Zoe follow Raine deeper into the water.

“I…sure Missy, sure. Whatever.” Raine muttered, keeping her eyes on her legs and holding in her true feelings like she always did. A slow, steady series of waves began to come towards them and Raine looked out at the horizon longingly; why was everything so complicated? Why couldn’t she be like one of these waves, peaceful, steady, calm?