Neighbors Chapter 5

It was rather slow at the bakery and I was getting bored quick. No customers were coming in and all the work was caught up. I had told the person running the cash register to take a break while I sat up front and watched the store. I rubbed my thumbs on the hem of my apron as I stood looking out of the window, watching people, hoping one of them would come in and give me something to do.

I saw Marceline walking at a quick pace. I was about to wave at her, hoping she would come in, when I saw her turn around quickly. She balled her hands up into fists and held them at her side.

"Stop following me, Ash," I heard her say quiet loudly.

A man with dyed, white hair cut into a mo hawk appeared in front of her, a smug look on his face. I didn't hear what he said, but when he was done speaking, Marceline gave him a very angry look and grit her teeth.

"Leave me alone you perverted fucking weirdo," Marceline yelled, spitting in his face.

The man shrugged his shoulders and walked away.

I walked to the front door of the bakery and called to Marceline just before she stormed away. After taking a few deep breaths she turned to me with a half smile, walking into the store.

"Who was that," I asked, taking my spot back behind the register.

"My ex, unfortunately," Marceline mumbled.

I didn't know how I should reply, so I made a concerned face, instead.

"So, you work here, huh," Marceline asked.

I observed her body language. She was clearly uncomfortable and worried that Ash might show up again when she left this building. I wondered what kind of person the man actually was and what he could have possibly said to make her feel so unsafe.

"Bonnie," Marceline called.

I jumped, realizing she had asked me a question and was waiting for an answer.

"Oh, yeah. I'm the co manager," I replied, looking away.

Marceline brushed some hair behind an ear and dropped her gaze to the floor.

"My shift ends pretty soon if you need someone to drive you home," I offered, suddenly feeling like I was being awkward.

"I'm done with my break, Bonnibel," the worker who was originally running the cash register said, standing behind me.

I nodded, stepping aside.

"Did you need something, miss," the cashier asked Marceline, who was still standing in front of the counter, looking dazed.

"I guess I'll have a strawberry milkshake and hang out around here until you leave," she replied, looking at me.

Marceline sat in the bakery quietly, occasionally playing with her phone as I did my work. I didn't have much to do, and I didn't want to seem annoyingly clingy while sober, too, so I busied myself with things in the back and paperwork in the office. When it was time to close shop, I supervised while everyone cleaned and put the baked goods and ingredients away for the next day, then watched as they left one by one. When Marceline and I were the only ones left inside, I sighed with relief.

"I swear, that was the longest two hours ever," I breathed as I sat down beside of her at the table in the corner she had chosen.

Marceline yawned.

"I thought I was gonna fall asleep," she said.

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah."

The drive in the car was silent, and I wondered if I should ask her about what was bothering her. I decided to wait until later, though, considering she was close to falling asleep. When we pulled up into the apartment building's parking lot, I nudged her to make sure she was awake. She smiled at me as we both got out of the car.

"Hey, Bonnie," Marceline asked as we got into the building.

"Hm," I chimed, beginning to feel a little sleepy, myself.

"I know this is gonna sound weird, but," she paused, looking down at her feet, "Ash is... Not a good person, and you still haven't had your locks changed yet have you?"

"Yes, but what do you mean," I asked her.

She exhaled deeply, looking a bit ashamed.

"Ash isn't above breaking into my apartment, especially since he knows where I live, now," Marceline admitted.

We reached my apartment door and without a second thought, I unlocked the door and stepped aside, allowing her to walk in.

"Thanks so much, Bon," she said, giving me a sweet smile, although her eyes were apologetic.

"I wouldn't know how to live with myself if I let a good friend get hurt by some creep," I said as I walked into the bathroom to wash my face and change into some pajamas. "Hey, do you need to borrow anything to sleep in?"

"Sure," Marceline replied.

I walked out of the bathroom once I was done a retrieved a T shirt and jersey shorts out of my bedroom. I handed them to Marceline and sat on my bed while she was in the bathroom. After she came out she joined me in my bedroom and stretched, then fell flat on my bed.

"Thanks for letting me stay here, again," she mumbled, covering her eyes with an arm.

"Your welcome," I said, falling down beside of her. "So, can I ask, what did Ash say to you outside of the bakery?"

Marceline grumbled.

"Well, first he squeezed my ass from behind out of nowhere. Then he whispered some horrible things to me."

"Oh," I gasped. "Wait, what the hell," I said, quickly sitting up.

"He thought I would go sleep with him, even though we broke up months ago because I caught him sleeping with another girl," Marceline told me, turning over on her stomach, hiding her face from me.

"Did you love him," I asked her.

"I thought so," Marceline said quietly. "But now that I think about it, I don't think I did."

I laid myself back down, thinking about my love life. I had a lot of crushes. I also dated a few dudes in my life. Now that I thought about it, I had never been in love. I wondered what that was like. I'd been in what I thought was love plenty of times, but I always realized later that it wasn't genuine. What was it to love someone with all of our being unconditionally? What was it like to be willing to give up everything just to see your lover happy? I had never known. I wished I could have that at least once in my life.

"Hello, Bonnie, are you in there," Marceline called.

I gasped, realizing I had gotten lost in thought again.

"I said do you wanna play a game? I'm not tired enough to go to sleep."

"Oh, okay," I said, feeling a bit embarrassed. I knew I did that a lot and it must have made me look like an airhead.

"Okay," Marceline said. She bit her lip, thinking. "How about two truths and one lie?"

"Sure," I nodded.

"Okay, you first," Marceline said, sitting up with her legs crossed, facing me.

I had to take a moment to think of what I would say before finally settling on something.

"Okay, I had a phase where everything I owned was Hello Kitty. I once dyed my hair purple, and I got A's all throughout school."

Marceline bit her lip again and looked up, thinking. I stared at her full, pink lips, waiting for an answer.

"There's no way you got A's on everything," she said.

"Actually, I did," I chimed. "I never dyed my hair purple, though. That color would look terrible on me."

"Wait, so you were once obsessed with Hello Kitty," Marceline snorted.

I felt my whole face turn red. I was beyond embarrassed about that.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I was obsessed with Gir from Invader Zim for a very long time," Marceline admitted.

I covered my mouth, trying not to laugh my guts out. But in truth, I remembered how cute and funny I thought that little robot was when I was younger. I just wanted to make her feel embarrassed, too.

"Okay, okay, my turn," Marceline said, trying to act like she wasn't just as red as a strawberry. She took a moment to think. "I've never been out of the state, I can dunk a ball in the basket like a boss, and I'm ambidextrous."

"You're not a jock," I guessed, taking this from the fact that most people who play sports usually don't dress like punk rockers.

"You're right. But that doesn't mean I don't have mad skill," Marceline said, smirking. "But I have been out of the state," she admitted. "I've traveled to do shows."

I rolled my eyes.

"I should have known," I mumbled.

"You're turn," Marceline said.

"Okay, I can speak fluent German, my eyesight is a little bad, and I hate spaghetti."

"All right," Marceline thought, "You gotta be really smart to be able to get A's your whole life," she stopped, looking at my eyes. "I don't think I've seen you with contacts, and I have no idea about the spaghetti. I'm gonna say you're lying about your eyes," she finally guessed.

I stood up and got into the top drawer of my dresser, pulling out a pair of red rimmed glasses. I put them on and sat back down beside of her on my bed. "Wrong again," I chimed.

Marceline held her mouth in a O shape, then quickly looked away. "Fine, let me guess, you actually love spaghetti?"

"Yep," I hummed. I took my glasses off and sat them down on the night stand.

"Okay," Marceline yawned. She laid down on her back and closed her eyes. "Wait, you really know German?"

"Ja, sehr flüssig," I said with perfect pronunciation.

"Oh, that's kinda cool," Marceline said. "Okay, my turn again. Um," she hummed, having to think for a moment. "I'm not that interesting," she claimed with an embarrassed laugh.

"Don't say that," I said.

"Okay, I don't have any siblings, My favorite color is red, and I've kissed another girl before, and liked it."

"Wait, have you kissed another girl," I repeated.

"I have actually," she admitted, looking away from me. "I dated her for almost a year."

"I thought you dated Ash," I said, wondering if I had heard her wrong.

"I did," she admitted.

It took longer than it should have, but it clicked.

"Oh, you're bisexual," I realized.

Suddenly my face felt hot and I wanted to leave the room. I fought those urges, knowing she might think I was disgusted by her sexuality. I wasn't, honestly. I was more worried about what she might have thought about my behavior that night I had too much to drink. Had she thought I was flirting? Wait, if she did, why didn't she say anything? Was I being too pushy, was I invading her space? I thought back to how I'd seen guys act when girls flirt with them. Then I thought, did she let me act like that thinking it was flirting, and she was flirting back? Did she think I had a crush on her?

Wait a minute. Why was I so embarrassed? Of course Marceline was one of the prettiest girls I've met. I could compare her singing voice to that of angels and I often caught myself thinking about her when she was gone and admiring her when she was near. Hold on, that actually does sound like a crush. Oh my Glob, Pepe knows me better than I know myself! How did I never notice? I did have a crush on Shoko. I actually do like girls. I was just now realizing this and I had never felt so stupid.

"Bonnie," Marceline called me.

Her tone was full of worry and I knew what she must have been thinking that I was grossed out or something. Either that, or she knew, and I needed to say something quick before this got too awkward for either of us to handle.

"Oh, my phone," I lied.

I jumped up and went into the living room. I took my phone out of my purse and picked it up. I looked to make sure she hadn't followed me. I saw down on the couch, hugging my knees tightly to my chest.

How in the world did I never notice my attraction to the same sex? Now that I've realized it, what do I do? How do things like this work? Is it the same as with boys? But wait, who would be the man in the relationship and who would be the woman? I realized that was a dumb question. I supposed a relationship with another girl would be just like a relationship with a guy. Gendering anything was dumb in this day and age.

But what am I going to do now that I have finally realized that I have a huge crush on her? Do I flirt more? Or should I not assume that she likes me that way and give up? We're such good friends, so maybe I shouldn't mess that up. But she was in my room, on my bed.

I took a few calming, deep breaths. I was acting so childish. I'm an adult with a college degree and I was acting like a middle schooler. Maybe I should play this off like I don't feel anything of that sort towards her and it'll go away eventually. But how would I do that, I wondered.

"Bonnie, I'm gonna go home," Marceline said.

I jumped, wondering how long she had been there.

"Wait, why," i asked.

"I uh," she didn't finish her statement, but she looked like someone had just stolen her favorite musical instrument and stomped it into a million pieces.

I took another breath, calming my heart rate down, finally.

"I'm bisexual, too," My heart jumped when I admitted it out loud for the first time, "and I remembered that night I stayed at your place. I got really embarrassed because I assumed you were straight. I was afraid you had the wrong idea." I was lying through my teeth and I hoped she didn't see right through me. It was easier this way, though.

Marceline's eyes lit up again.

"Oh, I thought... Never mind," she decided not to say what she was really thinking, which I assumed was that she thought I might have been against her sexuality.

I looked at the clock, which was showing midnight.

"Wow, its late," I commented.

"You're going to sleep already," Marceline asked, sounding disappointed.

"When do you normally go to sleep?"

Marceline scratched the back of her neck.

"Five or six in the morning," she admitted.

"We can't all be nocturnal creatures of the night," I laughed. "Do you want to sleep in my bed? I don't mind crashing on my couch."

"Do you have a cot or a sleeping bag?"

"No," I replied.

"Well I honestly don't think its a good idea for us to sleep in separate rooms, considering the circumstances," Marceline suggested with a smirk. She raised an eyebrow when she stared at me, waiting for an answer, and my body temperature rose.

"I guess you're right," I said, laughing nervously.

I walked into my bedroom again with Marceline trailing behind me. I stretched my arms our, trying to convince myself that my thoughts were not impure, and yawned. I laid down on my bed and got under the blankets. I realized I was more tired than I thought, considering how good it felt to finally rest my entire body for the first time since I clocked into work today. Marceline joined me, yawning herself to tears.

"I got called in early for my part time job today. I'm pretty tired, too," she said.

My heart was beating so loudly that I felt the thumping in my ears. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep, so I tried to think of another way to distract myself.

"I'm gonna go and make sure I locked the door," I said.

I walked back into my living room. The door was locked and shut tight. I grabbed a glass of water, downed it quickly, the leaned against the counter. I tried to focus on slowing my heart down. After attempting it for about five minutes, it finally slowed to human pace. When I went back into my bedroom I found that Marceline was already asleep. I was relieved, actually. She was unconscious and I wouldn't have to worry about whether or not she noticed how I acted when she did certain things. I wouldn't have to worry about her wanting to talk to me about anything of my bisexuality. I had only just realized it, and she might figure out that something was up. I wouldn't bother her, even though I would be incredibly restless. I had to at least try to sleep.

I turned off the lights and Marceline rolled over closest to the wall. I laid down as close to the edge as possible, not wanting to accidentally spoon her in my sleep. I had known for a long time that I was bad for wrapping my arms around anything that was laying beside of me unconsiously while I slept.

As I lay there, facing away from my bed mate, my mind began to wander, thinking about her again. I started to wonder what it would be like to kiss her, then mentally slapped myself. I told myself that I shouldn't be thinking like that. She probably doesn't even like me that way. But my mind refused to get off the subject and played out scenarios about how I could possibly confess to her. I thought about leaving a note on her door, how I would look serenading her with a song, or even just doing it through text. But those were all dumb ideas, I thought.

Maybe it would be best to pretend like this crush wasn't there. It would certainly be easier. Besides, why would I want to test my friendship with her? Being her friend is better than her avoiding me for the rest of our lives because I made a fool of myself. I was sure that if I kept pretending long enough, it would eventually go away. It was worth a shot.

I don't know when I fell asleep. But when I did, I of course had a dream that only made things worse. It was a really dumb dream. I had recently watched that Twilight movie out of curiosity. I thought it was terrible. But I suppose after knowing that Marceline used to love the whole vampire theme, my brain put the two together.

"I know what you are," I said in an over dramatic tone.

"Say it, out loud,"Marceline demanded, her eyes glowing red.

Just as I was about to quote the next line, the sky turned pink and the trees became gummy worms.

"So kawaii," I said, my voice suddenly sounding like a stereotype of an anime school girl.

Marceline's eyes changed in to uncharacteristically large anime eyes.

"Ehhh," she exclaimed in a similar stereotypical voice.

I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her figure.

"Kiss me, Bonnie," she whispered.

"Bonnie, what are you doing," she asked as I touched my lips to the skin of her neck. "Bonnie! Bonnie! Bonnie," she called.

I opened my eyes and found that I had wrapped my arms around Marceline in my sleep, somehow. My face was buried in her neck and it turned out that a certain part of my dream was actually happening in real life. I was frozen with embarrassment.

"Bonnie," Marceline said again.

I jumped up off the bed, too flustered to talk. I wanted to run into the bathroom and bang my head into the wall until I forgot what I had just done.

"Where you dreaming," Marceline asked me.

"Yes," I whispered passed a lump in my throat. I felt tears filling in my ducts and tried to hold them back.

"Are you normally like that when you sleep?"

"Mhm," I nodded. It was only partially true. I had never sleep kissed someone when I shared a bed with them.

Marceline burst out with laughter and I couldn't hold the tears in any longer. I covered my mouth, trying not to make any sounds as a few tears fell. I was just about to leave the room and find a good hiding place before she stood up and grabbed me by the wrist.

"I'm sorry I laughed," she apologized, wiping a tear from her eye. "It just took me by surprise. I woke up to you moaning and kissing me and I didn't know what was going on. But it was a dream, I get it. No harm done."

Hearing that she was okay with it made me feel a little better. But it didn't cure my utter embarrassment.

"I've gotta go get ready," Marceline said, getting out of bed. "I've got a little gig in the next town over today. Call me if your lock isn't changed today and I'll come over again tonight." She went to the bathroom to change out of my clothes and left.