Mornings
Alex was the first to awaken that morning, as those small slits of early morning light slowly crawled across her face. For a time she found herself content to just watch the slight, chestnut-haired girl beside her, smiling at the other girl's peaceful, unconscious motions. Smiling. Perhaps she hadn't quite noticed it until now, but being around Marissa seemed to provoke that reaction more often than not, noting how thoroughly unconcerned the other girl seemed with anything not directly relating to that specific moment in time. Gone was the pervasive tension she had witnessed the night of Marissa's awkward, and, ultimately, disastrous attempt at bonding with Lindsey, the night that...
Alex shook herself from her reverie. Every nerve of her body and every receptor in her brain cried out to her to stay in bed and curl up next to the girl beside her, to absorb the warmth and presence of the beautiful sleeping figure. Finally summing up a truly heroic amount of willpower, the blonde girl eventually managed to get her feet on the ground and groggily walk over to the shower, but not before leaning over the slim brunette girl and placing a single chaste kiss on those gorgeous lips.
Marissa awoke to the faint sound of running water, somewhat relieved that she had the opportunity to gather her thoughts while Alex was in the shower. There is a halcyon haze to the morning, those few beautiful moments intersecting dream and consciousness. It's something not many people took the time to appreciate nowadays. Marissa did. As she shook off the last remnants of the night, Marissa languidly turned her attention to the clock opposite the bed, noting that it was nearly noon, prompting a bemused sigh from the girl, who was probably at that very moment missing what was sure to be a rousing treatise on the finer points of Aztec society. Not that this would have ordinarily bothered her much, but given the circumstances it seemed even more insignificant than usual. She had many years ahead of her to ponder the past; it was the present she needed to figure out now.
For longer than she cared to remember Marissa had been so confused, not just of her relationship with Alex, but of everything, to the point that she scarcely knew what role she would unwillingly be stepping into with each coming week. She felt ignored, isolated, like a bit-player in her own life, a comical parody of herself, marginalized by the very people she should have felt closest to. Growing up in a place like Newport Beach, it was easy to become detached and cynical, and Marissa played her hand well, acting the part of the disaffected, pretty rich girl to a T. It was a styptic. The bleeding stops, but the wound remains, raw and just waiting to be split open at the slightest disturbance. Inside she was as fragile as the land she lived on, but a facade with no entrance would fool anyone... except for Alex.
With Alex, the excuses, the apologies, the artificial smiles that had so carelessly slipped past her lips as of late completely vanished, replaced by that dizzy but content serenity so well known by all struck by young love. Love. Marissa wasn't quite certain that she cared to ponder the implications of that word at that very moment, but she was rather assured of one thing: there was no better person to explore them with than Alex.
Short, I know. Further chapters will be longer. No guarantees apropos the speed with which said chapters will arrive, but they'll get there...