A snippet. Happens the day before the previous chapter.
"He's brung me another stick."
Rachel held out the old family photo from Sean's album and pulled a face. She perched on the edge of the desk while Janet examined it and made cute noises. Poor Jan, being stuck in a cupboard all day, being sidelined by that twat. She stretched her legs out close to her friend, wanting, but not wanting to ask for, something to cheer her up; suspecting too that Janet could do with a bit of excitement in her day.
Janet chuckled over the resemblance between Rachel and her mum, but smiled sympathetically when Rachel groaned about Sean and his meddling ways. It was nice to be sought out, nice to have company and a bit of a laugh, to actually use more than two brain cells at a time. Yesterday had been bad but today she had been bored witless from the get go. Rachel was a breath of fresh air, a jolt of electricity. Janet could feel the tension coming off her. She placed the photo on the desk beside where Rachel sat, letting the edge of her hand rest against Rachel's leg. Go.
Rachel leaned over, placed a kiss on the top of Janet's head, breathed in the smell of her hair, then Janet tilted her head back and they rested their forehead's together.
'Door's open' breathed Janet, brushing her lips against Rachel's.
'I know.' Rachel's eyebrow twitched against Janet's. She shifted her head slightly in place to brush their lips together more.
Janet wasn't sure what the reason was. Were they simply becoming more reckless? Was it some kind of perverse subliminal desire to get caught? It didn't make sense. Maybe it was boredom. Or frustration. Or maybe it was partly that they were only letting themselves do this when they knew that people were around so that they could not let it get out of hand. Even if they wanted to, they couldn't take it further. Like how Rachel wouldn't come round to hers anymore unless she knew that someone else was going to be in. And did they want to? Janet wasn't sure anymore. She changed her mind with every mood. Certainly, there had been an edge there, ever since that night when Rachel was hammered and they had both recognised a desire far deeper than they had realised before. In themselves and in each other. Janet didn't need to read Rachel's mind to know that their feelings on that one were exactly the same.
But this, whatever the reasons, this was not wise.
'If we start,' she managed to turn her head to avoid Rachel's lips and breathed the words into her ear instead, 'we won't stop.'
On second thoughts, judging by the shiver that went through the dark haired woman leaning over her, maybe that wasn't the most sensible way of halting proceedings. And Rachel's shiver wakened an answering thrill in Janet. Stop it. Behave yourself. She held herself very still, knowing already how she would respond if Rachel did give in to temptation.
'Mmmm,' Rachel hummed it against Janet's cheek, just a little bit of revenge for the breath in the ear. But she sat back. Swallowed hard and managed to raise an eyebrow, almost as if she was in control. They smiled at each other, allowing the tension to drain gently away.
A door creaked to a close down the corridor. The one from the stairs, Janet identified it automatically. She had been listening to the world come and go around her for a day and a half and she was good at details. Footsteps. Men's. Shoes, not boots.
Andy stuck his head round the door.
The temperature dropped.