16) things you said with no space between us
disclaimed
...
The party is still going strong around them, but all Riley hears is a dull roar and that small voice in the back of her head telling her that she's ruined everything. The crowd pushes them closer, close enough that Riley can see Maya's pupils dilate and can see, in agonizingly perfect detail, her bitten lip, her heaving chest.
Riley thinks she might be suffocating.
She one hundred percent should not have kissed Maya. She three hundred percent should not have said that she was in love with her. She one thousand percent shouldn't be this close to Maya now, not when just about all she wants to do is kiss her again or maybe die.
The crowd surges again, driving them even closer so that Riley has to feel every agonizing point of contact between them multiplied. Maya's still stunned, still staring at Riley with wide eyes. This might be the only time that Riley can remember when Maya didn't have something to say.
"I'm sorry," she shouts over the music. "I couldn't keep lying. But I get that you don't feel the same, so let's forget about this? I want—."
"Riley," Maya's suddenly in her space, even more so than before, leaning up on her tip toes to look Riley square in the eyes. No longer stunned, no longer speechless, Maya grins at her and then they're kissing and Riley kind of wants to cry? This is the best?
No one pays them much attention—people make out at parties all the time, and the lack of prying eyes allows some sense of privacy. Riley wraps her arms around Maya's waist, letting her lean into her even more, letting what minute space that remained between them melt away.
"I love you," Maya murmurs, pulling back just enough to be heard rather than felt. "I love you so much, Riley, god—."
The pleasant warmth in her chest has spread and now her fingertips are buzzing, dying to find a home tangled in Maya's hair. Riley feels like she's staring at the sun. Riley feels like everything is fallen into place, finally. She pulls Maya into another kiss, and then another.
Some kid bumps into them, sending them stumbling. Maya actually growls and the kid—some sophomore that Riley vaguely recognizes from passing periods at school goes running, eyes wide and face pale.
There's a break in the music finally, the crowd dispersing enough that the girls can slip into the study down the hall without bumping into someone every few steps. The partiers haven't made it quite this far into the house yet, so it's calm when Maya says, grinning, "So—I mean, I was planning on just swallowing my feelings forever, but I guess we're doing this?"
Riley answers with a kiss. God, she gets to kiss Maya now. She's not sure she's ever going to stop.
"We—," Maya starts in between kisses. "We should—should leave," she hums.
Riley nods, pulling away before leaning back in to kiss the tip of Maya's nose, just because she can. "Yeah," she agrees, enjoying the adorable scrunched up face that Maya makes as she pulls back again. "Let's get out of here."