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Chapter 12:
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The first thing Bella saw when she woke up was Alice's ass.
It was wrapped in pink panties and bathed in morning sunlight from the dorm-room window. Bella blinked on the pillow, watching. Alice was bent slightly, after stepping into her miniskirt, and now she was pulling the miniskirt up, hitching it into place on her hips before beginning to tuck in her blouse.
Bella said nothing.
But damn, what an ass.
Alice didn't notice Bella was awake until Bella rolled onto her back and pinched her eyes to rub the sleep from them. Alice turned around at the sound and slipped on her shoes, watching Bella. Bella didn't move, just laid there holding her eyes. Her roommate's pantie-clad behind had briefly provided a flutter of excitement but then she remembered what happened last night. Rosalie. Dumping her. Her heart glazed over at the memory.
Alice had her shoes on by now and she was fully dressed, prim and neat in the window light. She was still watching Bella and she was peeved at how Bella was ignoring her.
"So you're sleeping in here again?" she asked, an edge of demand in her voice.
Bella's eyelids pried open and she swung her legs over the side of the bed, sitting up and throwing aside the covers. She was still wearing her bra and panties from last night and Alice was taken aback at her bare legs and at the swell of her breasts in her pushup. Bella sighed and leaned on her knees, no energy to stand up.
"I didn't want to wake Jessica or Angela," she mumbled.
Alice frowned with her hands on her hips, blushing slightly from attraction, frustration, and a little bit of embarrassment. She had been awake for over an hour last night wondering if Bella was going to be her friend again and now she didn't' even want that. She saw Bella's discarded uniform on the floor and flapped her hand at it irritatedly.
"Well, don't leave your clothes there," she snapped. "I don't want your crap laying around my room."
"Fine."
"Fine."
"I said fine."
"Well, fine then!" Alice snapped at her, and then she spun on her heel, left the room, and slammed the door behind her.
Bella flinched in annoyance at the bang of the door and swept a hand through her dark hair to get it out of her face. Her eyes were red and she had a throbbing headache, almost as if she was hung over from how bad it felt when Rosalie had dumped her. She still couldn't fully believe it. She didn't even understand why. Maybe it was true that she liked Alice, but even if she did…
Bella shook her head. Her clothes were lying on the ground near her feet and reluctantly she bent to pick them up.
—
Later that day they had PE in the gym. It was final period. Bella had been in a sad mood all day and by now she was finally ready to talk about it. Her moping had caused her to get eliminated from the dodgeball game almost instantly and soon she was joined on the bench by Angela and Jessica, Angela courtesy of clumsy reflexes and Jessica due to an unlucky glance shot to her hip. Angela had been asking Bella all day if she was okay and finally Bella told them what happened, sitting there in her gymshorts with her knees together and her hands folded in her lap, shoulders slumped, vulnerable and child-like. Angela was devastated, almost as it if was her who had lost a relationship with the hottest girl in school.
"I can't believe it," she said, in truly sympathetic tones. "You and Rosalie were such a perfect couple. I'm so sorry, Bella."
Bella nodded sadly. "Me too," she said.
Jessica leaned forward a little. "Is it true though?" she said. "Do you still…?"
"Still what?"
"Have feelings for Alice?"
Bella frowned. She looked across the gym at where the dodgeball game was still in play. Alice wasn't smiling and even though she seemed sad and distracted she was still able to dance aside from incoming balls, catching them and hurling them back, going through her graceful motions like a mechanical ballerina. Bella looked at her for a moment, feeling that familiar kindle in her chest, and then she turned back to Jessica.
"It doesn't matter," she said. "She's not even interested in a real relationship."
Angela and Jessica shared a glance. Bella could tell they didn't really believe her and maybe she didn't even believe herself.
"You girls!" barked the coach, pointing at the trio sitting on the bench. "Back in the game, let's go!"
Bella sighed and the three of them rose.
Alice watched them trudge back onto the court, her eyes mostly on Bella. A new game was starting and soon they were all assigned to teams. Bella and Alice were on opposite sides and everyone noticed the way they kept glaring at each other.
Bella lasted a lot longer in this next game, mostly because Alice on the other team kept her alert. They felt like enemies or old rivals and every time Alice got the ball Bella was prepared to see it come shooting her way. But it never did. Alice almost completely ignored her for the whole game, aside from the glances or glares. She never once threw the ball even remotely close to Bella despite having several opportunities. Bella found this frustrating and she didn't realize that she was doing the exact same thing. Not once when she got the ball did she ever go for Alice.
The game continued until Bella was the absolute last player on her team and across the court stood both Alice and Jessica. It had been a competitive match up and the court was surrounded by girls who were cheering and yelling out plays. Jessica was the next eliminated and suddenly it was down to Bella and Alice.
They hesitated, each with a big rubber ball in their hands, breathing heavily and glaring at each other across the court like star-crossed lovers doomed to battle. The spectators began to call out.
"Come on, get her!"
"What are you waiting for!?"
"Throw it!"
They sustained their glare a moment more, panting heavily, and finally it was Bella who broke. She reared back and threw the ball. It whisked across the court and landed with a solid thud on Alice's chest.
A cheer went up from half the spectators, a groan from the other half. Alice hadn't even attempted to dodge. She just staggered back slightly, stunned that Bella actually threw it. Her eyes went wide and she screeched across the court:
"You bitch!"
Then she threw her own ball. Her aim was a touch more wrathful and Bella only had time to gasp before the ball smacked into her face.
"Oww!"
The spectators burst out laughing and the coach blew her whistle sharply.
"Alright, cool it!" she barked. "Cool it right now!"
The spectators began to calm down, most of them still grinning. Bella was rubbing her nose and glaring at Alice. Alice was pouting. The coach, meanwhile, was gesturing at the girls and pointing at the locker rooms.
"You girls hit the showers, and you two—"
She spun around to glare at Bella and Alice who were lingering on the court.
"—you two stay behind and pack all the equipment away, you got that?"
Bella was still rubbing her nose and Alice was still pouting. They both nodded, glaring at the coach and glaring sidewise at each other.
The rest of the class were filing away toward the showers, some of them smiling, glancing back at Bella and Alice. Bella and Alice trudged about, picking up the rubber balls and dumping them into the equipment bin. They moved in silence, pointedly ignoring each other, and soon they had all the balls gathered up. It had taken them a while and most of the girls were already done with their showers and they were filing out in their uniforms. Jessica and Angela went by, Angela sparing a Bella smile, and Bella nodded to them. Alice was wheeling the bin toward the closet where all the equipment was locked up. There was one last ball they'd forgotten, hidden where it had rolled under the far bench, and Bella jogged over to grab it before following Alice into the closet.
The closet was a small space, even smaller than a dorm, and there was a rich smell of rubber and basketballs. Alice pushed the bin against the rough block wall and Bella dumped the last ball in. There were stacks of gym mats along the other wall and racks of volleyballs and volleyball nets.
Bella and Alice still hadn't spoken a word. Bella's nose was stinging and she was bristling at how Alice had the gall to have done that. Alice glanced at her and turned to leave and that was enough to push Bella over the edge.
"That was pretty low," she said. "Hitting me in the face like that."
Alice spun around at the door. "Low? You're the one who eliminated me!"
"I was supposed to! That's the point of the game!"
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Bella."
Bella was infuriated. Her eyes flared incredulously and she almost stuttered. "You're impossible. You won't even apologize, will you? You won't apologize for anything. That's your problem, you don't even realize when you do something wrong!"
"Oh really," Alice returned haughtily, "and what did I do wrong?"
This time Bella did stammer.
"You… You… ARGH!"
She couldn't find words for her rage so she grabbed a dodgeball out of the bin at her side and threw it as hard as she could at Alice's face.
Her fury added to the ball's velocity but not so much to the ball's aim. Alice flinched away like a cat, her hip bumping the door closed, and the ball went ricocheting off the bricks until it came back and bounced off Bella's own head.
"Oww," Bella said, putting a hand on her temple.
Alice rolled her eyes. There was only one window in the closet, a high little slit of glass in the far wall, and with the door closed it was very dim.
"Great one, Bella," she said, turning to open the door. "You throw like a—"
The door didn't open. It had a long bar latch, no knob, and the latch didn't move. Alice tried it again. The metal rattled but it didn't budge.
"Uh oh," she said.
Bella came over. "What?"
"It won't open."
"What?"
Bella nudged her aside and tried the door herself. She grabbed the long bar latch and shook it. The door didn't open. She blinked at the door in the dimness.
"Why won't it open?" she asked no one in particular.
"Err, gee," Alice said sarcastically, "maybe because it's locked?!"
"What, from the inside? It's a gym closet, not a refrigerator."
Alice was already beginning to panic. She shoved Bella aside and grabbed the bar latch roughly. It still didn't move. Alice looked at it up and down and then she pounded on it with a fist.
"Hey!" she called out. "Is anybody out there?!"
Bella winced at the loud voice in the enclosed space. Alice waited a second. No one answered. Alice pounded again. She kicked it with the point of her sneaker.
"Anybody?!"
Still nothing.
"Oh god," Alice said. "We're locked in."
She grabbed the bar latch with both hands and shook it frantically. She hit the door with her shoulder and hip.
"Somebody!" she screamed. "Anybody! Open the door, please!"
Bella sighed heavily. "There's no one there, Alice. Calm down."
"Calm down?!" Alice squealed, spinning on her. "We're locked in! We could starve in here!"
"Someone will come along eventually."
"No, they won't! It's last period! We could die in here!"
Bella gave her a weird look and wandered further into the dimness. The sun wasn't quite setting and the window was quite bright. She sighed again and turned back to Alice.
"We're not gonna die," she said. "There'll have to be another PE class by morning."
Alice's eyes went wide in the gloom. "Tomorrow morning?!" she screamed hysterically. "You mean we could be trapped in here all night?!"
Bella nodded. "Yeah."
"All night, all alone?!"
"Yeah."
"Just the two of us, just…"
Alice trailed off. A thought crossed her that seem to calm her.
"…just me and you?"
Now the thought crossed Bella. Her heart gave a weird thump as she realized that she was really going to be trapped in here with Alice, all night, just the two of them.
"Y-yeah," she stuttered, her voice breaking.
Alice didn't reply. The terror of being trapped in a dark closet all night was now replaced with the terror of being trapped in a dark closet all night with the girl she secretly liked but hated because she didn't like her back when she secretly wanted her to. They stood there at opposite ends of the closet, Alice biting her lip, Bella glancing at the walls. Bella cleared her throat and turned to examine the bricks more closely. As if contemplating to tunnel out. Then she went over and tried the door again. Alice shied back slightly. The door didn't budge. Bella sighed and let her hand fall.
"It's not gonna open," she said.
Alice panicked again. "Are we really stuck in here?"
"I don't know, look around," Bella told her, "see if there's a way out."
Alice pouted, a girl who didn't like to be told what to do, and drifted toward the window. It was pretty high up, a thin white rectangle in the brick wall. She put a knee on the stack of gym mats and reached with her hand for the light. Bella didn't know what she was reaching for. Alice was a small girl but not even her head would've fit through the window—if the window even opened.
Bella turned back to the door and bent a little to examine the bar latch. It seemed to only open from the outside, which was no great revelation. Bella shook the metal bar. She pushed a little. She tried to lift the bar to free the latch but it wouldn't move an inch.
"Wait, let me try something," Alice said from behind her.
Bella stepped back, frowning. Alice had taken a baseball bat off a rack and she was gripping it in both hands like a batter at the plate. She looked the door up and down, as if figuring the best away to attack it, and then she swung.
Thud.
The sound was dull and pitiful, swallowed up and muffled and not even echoing in that confined space. Bella raised an eyebrow.
"Seriously, Alice?"
Alice lowered the bat petulantly. "Well, I don't see you helping."
Bella blew out a breath and tried the door one last time. She gave the bar latch a halfhearted jostle and let her hand fall limply. She sighed.
"It's no use," she said. "We're stuck."
"Well, what are we gonna do?"
"I don't know," Bella muttered, nudging past Alice to sit down. The floor was raw concrete and it was cold under her legs and through her gymshorts.
Alice looked at her and back at the door. "Are we really stuck?"
"What do you think?"
Alice's shoulders slumped. Then she sighed and sat down, not quite close to Bella. She was sitting cross-legged and her hands were dangling in her lap. "This sucks," she said.
"Tell me about it," Bella muttered. "Of all the people to be stuck in here with it had to be you."
Alice looked up woundedly. "What's wrong with me?"
"Oh, I'm sorry," Bella said with mock innocence, "didn't you realize I hate you now?"
Alice looked down at her lap again. "No, you made that really clear."
Bella snorted and looked away. Her eyes landed on the window. The sun was beginning to go down and it was starting to get a little darker in the room. It was gonna suck sleeping in here, and what about the bathroom? They didn't even have anything to—
Sniff.
Bella looked back at Alice and she was surprised to see her almost crying. She was staring down at her hands in her lap, sniffing quietly, and she looked very small there on the concrete, like a little mouse. Bella frowned at her.
"What's wrong with you?"
"You just told me you hate me," Alice said quietly, wiping her eyes with her hands. "What am I supposed to be, happy?"
"Great," Bella snorted. "Now you're crying. You're the one who's hurt. That's typical."
Alice finally looked up. Her eyes were red and shiny in the dimness. "At least I was never mean to you," she said.
"No, you just broke my nose with a dodgeball," Bella sneered.
Alice sniffed and looked away petulantly. "It didn't break."
Bella snorted and shook her head. She was sitting with her back to the wall and she had one knee drawn up. Alice wiped her eyes again and looked at Bella. She was sitting under the window and her dark hair was tied in a ponytail for gym. Alice's eyes fluttered over her legs and fluttered over her face and her chest went tighter and tighter until she took a deep breath.
"Fine," she said. "I'm sorry, alright? I never meant to hurt you."
Bella glanced at her and then rubbed her nose. "It's alright," she said. "It doesn't hurt."
"Not that," Alice said quietly. "I mean everything else. I never meant to hurt you. Or Angela. Or Jessica. But you're right. I don't even know what I did wrong. Not really. All I know is that…I'm sorry."
Bella felt something weird happen in her chest. Some weight lifting. She was still frowning but not because she was angry. "I'm sorry too," she said.
Alice seemed to be embarrassed that she had apologized and she was looking at her lap sullenly. "About what?"
"About being mean," Bella said. She hesitated and then she blew out a breath and gestured limply with a hand. "It's just…you hurt me, Alice."
Alice looked up cautiously. "How?"
Bella knew she didn't really understand but she also knew this might be her one chance to explain. So she took a few seconds to form words in her head and then went on as best she could. "I thought we were friends," she said. "Or more than friends, I don't know. And then you just hooked up with Leah. Like I was nothing. That hurt me, you know?"
"You stole Rosalie first."
"That's different," Bella objected. "I actually liked Rosalie. I wasn't just using her to make you jealous."
Now Alice was getting upset again. "Well if you liked Rosalie so much, why even care what I was doing? Why should it matter if I was hooking up with Leah?"
Bella didn't answer. She didn't have one. The sun outside was on the way down and a rosy tint came over the window. They could barely see each other's faces. Alice waited for a reply and when none came she snorted and shook her head.
"Well, it doesn't matter now," she said, looking off at the walls as if there was something interesting there. "Leah dumped me and you're gonna live happily ever after with Rosalie. Good for you."
That hurt, more than Alice could know. Bella looked at her sadly. "Rosalie dumped me."
Alice's face whipped back. "What?"
"She dumped me," Bella repeated. "Last night."
Alice's mouth fell open a little and she froze completely still, as if she wasn't quite sure what her proper reaction should be. "Oh," she said. "I'm sorry. What happened?"
Bella just shook her head. She couldn't tell Alice the real truth. That Rosalie couldn't keep seeing her while Bella had feelings for Alice—which she didn't. She just sighed heavily and shook her head again. "Nothing," she said. "She just doesn't like me anymore."
"Just like that?"
Bella nodded. She had her arm propped up in her knee and she looked up at the window briefly before heaving another sigh. "Yeah," she said. "She was never in my league, anyway. I'm not pretty enough for a girl like her."
"Yes, you are," Alice insisted immediately, swept up in the budding reconciliation. "You're beautiful."
A small blush came over Bella's face. She looked at Alice, not sure if she should smile. "Do you really think so?"
"Totally," Alice said, nodding vigorously. "You really are."
Bella chuckled once and looked down. "Thanks."
They were both smiling now and not looking at each other. They were looking at their hands, their knees. Sometimes their eyes would flicker up in the dimness and land on the other girl's face before flickering away, fleeting as butterflies. The closet seemed incredibly small all the sudden. The small space between them crackled with tension and after a minute or two their eyes met. Alice panicked and said the first thing that came to her mind.
"This floor's kind of hard, isn't it?"
Bella seemed surprised but she agreed. Alice had lifted her butt slightly off the cold floor and she was rubbing away the soreness with her hand. Bella glanced, gulped, and looked around at the gym equipment.
"We should put some of these gym mats down," she suggested.
Alice nodded and hopped to her feet. "Good idea."
The mats were just thin rectangles of foam in synthetic coverings. The gymnastics team used them to practice on. There was a whole stack of them against the wall. Bella and Alice dragged some of them down and made a small bed on the concrete, piling the mats three deep for extra comfiness.
When they sat down again they didn't sit apart. Alice waited for Bella to sit first and then she sat down very close. It could've been passed off as coincidence but they both knew it wasn't. They were blushing again and they were sitting on the mats with their backs against the wall. The window was in the opposite wall and they're was just enough light to see each other's faces. Their eyes caught a couple times as they got comfortable again and it was Alice who spoke.
"Does this mean we're friends again?" she asked.
That weird feeling happened in Bella's chest again and she nodded. "I guess so."
Alice smiled in relief and took Bella's hand. The hand was in Bella's lap and the touch sent a blaze of tingles all across her body. Alice lifted her smile to Bella's face and caressed Bella's hand tenderly.
"Good," she said. "I missed you."
Bell was taken aback by the touch and her voice came out in almost a whisper. "I missed you too."
Alice's smile widened and she ran her eyes up and down Bella's body. She released Bella's hand and touched Bella's thigh instead. Bella almost flinched at the touch. Alice looked at her eyes for permission and then she looked down at her legs and caressed her knee, her calf. Her fingers danced across Bella's sensitive skin and Bella had to swallow a lump in her throat. Alice had wriggled closer and their faces were only inches apart.
"We shouldn't do this," she whispered.
Alice flickered her eyes at Bella's lips. "Why not?"
Bella knew there was a reason but her mind was blank. Alice didn't give her very long to think about it, anyway. She closed the distance between their faces and pressed her lips flush to Bella's mouth.
Even just that briefest touch of lips on lips was enough to snap them out of any hesitation. Their eyes had fallen closed and within seconds the kiss was deepened. Alice threw a leg over Bella's and gripped her waist, letting her hand come under Bella's t-shirt. Bella cupped Alice's neck and pulled her deeper into the kiss, requesting her tongue with a flick of her own and moaning as she received it into her mouth.
Alice reacted to the moan aggressively, pushing her tongue in deeper while her hand crept up Bella's shirt. Bella moaned again, loudly, as Alice's hand seized one of her tits and squeezed it out of its bra cup. They were squirming on the gym mats, looking for a better position. Bella had reached into Alice's shorts to grope her ass, causing Alice to arch into her. Their tongues were tangled in a fever of longing and repression until the kiss broke suddenly.
Alice was pulling off Bella's top. Bella lifted her arms and Alice threw the shirt aside. Bella reconnected the kiss but only for an instant before breaking it again to get rid of Alice's own top. They were kneeling on the gym mats and fumbling with their bras. Finally they got them off and Alice practically launched herself at Bella, mashing their bare chests together as she pushed her tongue into her mouth.
"Mmm," Alice moaned. "I missed you so much."
Bella broke the kiss and looked at her, both of them panting, kneeling there on the gym mats. She swallowed and licked her lips, looking the other girl over. She put her hands on Alice's shoulders and bought them down over her chest, stroking them around the shapes of her small and perfect breasts, and she bought them to rest at the waistband of Alice's shorts.
"I missed you too," she said, and jerked down her shorts.
Alice gave a little squeal of excitement but it was cut off as Bella forced their lips together once more. Alice moaned and squirmed as Bella's hand went between her legs and rubbed against the front of her panties and then Bella spun her around and forced her onto the gym mat. The kiss had broken and Alice was panting. She had her legs open and Bella was tugging off her panties.
"Oh god," she breathed. "What are you—Ah!"
Bella stuffed two fingers inside her, causing Alice's body to give a little jolt. She was already wet and Bella grinned at how that sticky warmness squeezed tightly on her fingers.
"Oh god," Alice moaned. "Oh god."
"I bet you missed this, didn't you?"
Bella shoved the fingers deeper. Alice squirmed and pushed her hips upwards, her thighs completely spread. She looked at Bella, grinning, and gave Bella's fingers a squeeze.
"Keep going," she urged. "Keep going."
Bella kept going, pumping the fingers in and out. She let Alice enjoy that for a little bit and she used her other hand to spread Alice's folds a little wider before leaning down to lick her clit. Alice made a sound of ecstasy, squirming on the gym mat, and Bella was sucking on her clit.
"Oh god," she panted. "Oh god, oh god—Ahh!"
Alice came, her body arching off the mats and her little fists clenched between her breasts. Bella could see a gloss of sweat over her naked skin and she smiled at how beautiful it was. She left her fingers inside Alice for a few seconds before Alice closed her legs and rolled onto her side, panting heavily.
Bella grinned and stroked her spent little body while she caught her breath, caressing her smooth hip and tiny butt. "God, I missed your ass," she said, and then she leaned and placed a kiss on it.
Alice giggled as Bella kept kissing it. Finally Bella rolled Alice onto her back and forced her thighs open once more, applying her mouth directly to Alice's wet pussy and tonguing her into another swift orgasm. Alice came for a second time and laughed as Bella licked up the last of her arousal.
"Oh god," she breathed. "Now I remember why I missed you. Come here."
Alice pulled Bella into a kiss and rolled her onto her back. Bella was dripping by now and her shorts and panties came away sticky with her arousal. Alice giggled and tossed them aside. She was kneeling at Bella entrance and teasing it with her fingers, brushing her fingertips lightly against Bella's begging folds, and then she pushed them in.
Bella hissed in a breath and squeezed down on them eagerly. Alice giggled at the warmness and started to pump them in and out, using the thumb of her other hand to stroke the nub of Bella clit. The globes of Bella's breasts were wobbling on her chest from her movements.
"Did you miss this?" Alice asked, giving a little thrust of her fingers on that last word.
Bella groaned and bucked her hips. "Just keep going," she said, clenching down on those tiny fingers. "Don't stop."
Alice giggled again and leaned down to suck one of Bella's tits, flicking her tongue at the nipple before taking it into her mouth. She sucked on both of them, one after the other, and then she moved her mouth to Bella's face, kissing her chin and her cheeks and finally her mouth. Bella submitted to the kiss in a lusty haze and soon she was coming. Alice's fingers were buried deep inside her and she was pumping them and jiggling them around like a vibrator, poking at all her hidden places. The orgasm swept over her like a wave and she groaned into Alice's mouth as her back arched off the gym mats and her vagina gripped down on Alice's fingers.
Alice watched the whole thing pass over Bella's face in the last of the light. The sun was down outside, the window dimming, and she could barely see that Bella's eyes were closed. Alice fondled her entrance a little bit more, just playing with it, and then she caressed the rest of Bella's body and placed one more kiss on Bella's lips.
Bella eyes fluttered open. "We shouldn't have done that," she breathed.
Alice was exhausted but happy. "Why not?"
Bella swallowed. She was even more exhausted and she still couldn't think of why they shouldn't have done it. "I don't know," she said. "We just shouldn't have."
"I think it'll be okay, silly."
"I hope so."
Alice smiled and tilted her head. "Do you like me?"
A surprised chuckle came out of Bella. She gave Alice an odd look. "Yes," she said. "Why?"
"Because I really like you, Bella," Alice said, cupping Bella's cheek and looking into Bella's eyes. "I don't understand much, but I understand that. I've never liked anyone as much as I like you. Seriously."
Bella smiled sleepily. She gave Alice a kiss and sat up, looking about the dim little closet. Their clothes were in a discarded heap but she didn't reach for them. She just sighed.
"We still shouldn't have done it," she said.
"Sorry. Is it my fault?"
"No," Bella chuckled, "it's just…we just shouldn't move so fast, that's all."
Alice nodded. She didn't get it but she figured it was best to nod. "I guess you're right," she said. Then she giggled and wrapped her arms around Bella's naked body, hugging her close. "But it was fun though, right?"
Bella felt Alice's naked warmth brushing against her and she had to laugh. It was almost completely dark by now. Alice's hands were stroking her back and now Alice's lips were on her neck, kissing the skin there and moaning desirably. Bella shook her head and chuckled again.
"Oh fine," she said. "We're gonna be stuck in here all night, anyway."
Then she rolled the other girl onto her back and pressed their lips together.
—
It wasn't until the next morning when Jessica and Angela noticed that Bella and Alice had disappeared. They hadn't returned in the night and in the morning before class they did a quick search of the dorms, the showers. They remembered the last time they saw them was in the gym so they decided to go check there.
It was still a few minutes before class and the gym was empty. They checked under the stands quickly and then went to check the equipment closet.
"We'll check here quickly," Angela said, "and then we'll check the library."
"Yeah, but I thought they hated each other," Jess said, "why would they—"
Angela pulled open the closet door.
They froze.
Bella and Alice were tangled there on the floor, completely naked with nothing covering them but a few volleyball nets they had been using as blankets, crisscrossed under the black mesh like things caught in a web, or two girls trapped in the net of fate. Angela and Jessica's mouths dropped open. Bella and Alice blinked at the sudden light in the doorway.
"Jeez, it's about time someone came looking for us," Alice said. "We've been stuck in here all night!"
Bella only blushed. Alice was in her arms and she looked guilty, as if she'd been caught in a moment of weakness. Jessica raised her eyebrows and Angela gave them a hopeful smile.
"Does this mean you're friends again?" she asked.
Bella and Alice looked at each other for a moment. They giggled.
"Look," Bella said to Angela, "could you guys come back in ten minutes? We'll be out in a minute."
Angela and Jessica were already nodding and backing out, only now realizing they were intruding. Angela was about to close the door again until Alice called out.
"And leave the door unlocked!"
Angela opened it again to nod quickly and then she pulled it almost closed and left them there in the dark. Jessica gave her a look and together they started off across the gym, in silence save for the squeak of their sneakers on the polished floor.
"Well," Angela said. "It's nice to see them make up."
Jessica chuckled and shrugged. "At least I get my bed back."
—
AN: The basic idea for this chapter—Bella and Alice trapped in a confined space—was suggested by a few reviewers, so thanks for that. ;)