p class="MsoNormal"Alex's back rested against the grill of her balcony, the city's skyline greeting her. The sun had set and the city glowed yellow with lights. A mug rested in between her palms, keeping her warm against the chilly air that was on a continuous sway. It was gentle and soothing; she felt at peace. After a long time she felt like she had found her place in this big world. She still thought about Maggie from time to time, but with a fondness. The journey that Maggie had sparked seemed to finally come to an end. She felt satisfied knowing and accepting who she is and where she belonged. In a way it had started to go beyond that, she didn't care about putting a name to it. The sense of freedom and satisfaction she felt to leave it at just queer or rather just a human to human interaction, felt better labelling. She tried it none the less; but always left her feeling unsatisfied. It was actually someone she met at the bar who made her realise that she doesn't need labels, it's the person that matters and not the gender./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"The ball of 8, the last of its kind made a clean roll into the pocket and she heard a low clap from behind her. She turned around to find someone in short hair and a long dress of sorts. It looked like Indian clothing, she didn't know what it was called but none the less... they looked beautiful in it. Ze extended zirs hand, introductions were exchanged and a bet was placed. The loser will buy the other person a drink. Alex felt confident, she knew the game, she was good at it, she felt good; until she saw ze play. No doubt it was enough to shake her confidence a tiny bit but soon she gathered herself. It was close, the pool that was once isolated was now surrounded by a light audience. More bets were placed amongst them; some in favour of Alex and some in favour of zir/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;". /em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Soon enough, Alex found herself walking over to the bar with slumped shoulders and ordering a beer for zir and a glass of 30ml scotch for herself. "It was a good game."Ze said before setting down the bottle. Alex couldn't help but agree, it was close./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" /em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"More drinks were ordered and more stories were shared. The night at the bar turned into multiple nights of pool, bets, drinks, dinners, take outs and movie nights. All through this, ze was introduced to Kara who instantly loved zir, but yet couldn't help but be protective of Alex. Even if ze was introduced just as a friend, she could see the tell tale signs of Alex beginning to have feelings that went beyond friendship, rather hear them too with the way Alex's heart raced at just the mere mention of zir. No doubt it was an innocent friendship at the beginning, but over the next couple of months it had started to feel much more than that. They took it slow, none of them ready to confess. /em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" /em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Two boxes of Chinese take outs rested next to the sofa as the two of them were cuddled up on the other end of it. They talked and exchanged thoughts and stories before finally falling into a comfortable silence. "Stay the night." Alex said and ze agreed. /em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" /em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"It was during midnight when Alex's senses had started to stir and an ache rose in her back from the not-so-sleep-friendly couch. That's when she noticed zir standing in the balcony, facing the silence of the city which usually buzzed with people, traffic, cell phones ringing around, couples making out, kids laughing and crying, someone yelling, someone honking, someone making out, someone crying, someone falling in love and someone falling apart; in short: it was a package. But right now, in the middle of the night it was nothing but peaceful. It was then that ze finally broke down and confessed, ze had to. Alex only chuckled and kissed zir. She couldn't believe that after everything zir was scared of losing her. /em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" /em/p
p class="MsoNormal"She looked up as she felt something bump into her shoulder, she just smiled and scooter forward to let Adilah settle behind her before letting herself just settle against zir chest./p