"I," Cordelia says, the moment they entered the room. "Missed… you… so… much." With each word, she kissed Misty all over the face, peppering the other girl with kisses.

Misty giggled, and it was the most beautiful thing Cordelia had heard for weeks. "I missed you too, Dee."

"Did you get to see your sister?" Cordelia asked, pulling back and looking into Misty's face. "How was she?"

"Yes, I did, and she's good, but right now I don't wanna talk about that. All I wanna do right now is kiss you," Misty said.

"I'm okay with that," Cordelia whispered, closing the distance between them.

She had missed this, so much… it had only been two weeks, and yet she had somehow forgotten how soft Misty's lips were. Misty bit Cordelia's lower lip, ever so gently, and Cordelia let out a soft moan before she could stop it. Her hands crept under Misty's shirt, untucking it from the ugly school skirt. She ran her hands softly up Misty's spine. Misty shivered, and began kissing her way down Cordelia's neck.

Heat pooled down there, and Cordelia let out a long, shaky breath. She pushed Misty against the wall, not caring about the dust, and her lips met Misty's again. She wanted to kiss Misty forever. Misty began to undo the top buttons of her blouse, agonisingly slowly. Cordelia grabbed her hands. "Let me," she whispered. Soon, Misty's shirt was on the floor… and then her skirt… which were quickly joined by Cordelia's own clothes.

If heaven was a real place, Cordelia knew that Misty was from there.

0o0o

"You were at the library for a while," Zoe said, when Cordelia got back.

Cordelia prayed that she wasn't blushing, because then Zoe would know and Cordelia would be teased. She quickly thought of a believable excuse. "Yeah, I was catching up with Myrtle. She's got some new books in, she was telling me about them…"

Zoe tilted her head and widened her eyes, as if she had just thought of something. "You know, it's funny. I went around to Misty's room and Madison said that she was in the library too. You didn't happen to see her there, did you?"

"Yeah, I did see her actually," Cordelia said, sweating. She certainly had seen Misty… around. Maybe not technically at the library, but she had seen her, so it wasn't technically a lie. She only wished she could have had longer… in the library, of course. For research purposes. Because she just loved books so much. That was all!

"Yeah?" Zoe asked innocently. "Was she very interested in the new books too?"

"Well, yes. She does like to read…"

"Mm-hmm. She does. She sure does."

Cordelia knew her face was flaming red, and she furiously avoided meeting Zoe's eyes. "Yes. She really does."

"You missed a button," Zoe pointed out, grinning.

Cordelia groaned and flopped onto her bed, hiding her face, which she was sure resembled a tomato. "I hate you," she said, throwing her spare pillow at Zoe.

Zoe caught it, and threw it back. "Sure you do." Cordelia made some strange, embarrassed noise in the back of her throat, and Zoe started to laugh. "I really am happy for you, you know. Misty too. You make each other happy."

She smiled into her pillow. "Yeah, we do."

She was so grateful to have a friend like Zoe. She and Misty had briefly talked about telling their other friends about them – she wasn't sure if they would be okay with it or not. She didn't want to lose any of them, and was reluctant to tell them. Misty assured her that Nan, at least, would be fine with it – that she knew, to some extent, Misty's feelings for Cordelia, but Misty hadn't told her anything beyond that. "Zoe," Cordelia said suddenly. She hadn't even thought of asking Zoe's opinion about it until now.

"Yeah?" said the other girl, looking up from her book.

"What do you think… how do you think the others would react? If they found out?"

"About you and Misty?" Zoe asked, putting a bookmark in and setting her book on her bedside table, looking at Cordelia intently. "Are you thinking of telling them?"

"Yeah. We've talked about it, and since we'll be leaving soon… I want them to know why. Misty wants them to as well."

Zoe sighed. "You're really going to go?"

"Well, yeah," said Cordelia, smiling sadly. If she and Misty could safely stay here, they would in a heartbeat – neither of them really wanted to leave their friends, or their families, or their studies. But they also wanted each other – and to have that, they had to be far away from this horrible place. "It's just not safe for us to be together here… and then there's my mother, if she finds out she'll… honestly, I think she'll kill me. Actually kill me dead. I'm not joking."

"I understand why you have to go," Zoe said. "I'll just miss you both, that's all."

"We'll miss you too, Zoe, how could we not?"

Zoe smiled at her sadly. "To answer your question, I think they'll be okay. I mean, they're not judgemental people. And they're not prejudiced either. Maybe it'll take them time to understand, but I really doubt they'd hate you for it or anything."

"Hmm," Cordelia said thoughtfully.

"Anyway, they know why Misty's here. And they didn't care. I really don't think it will matter to them that you guys are together."

"Thanks, Zoe," Cordelia said. It felt as though there was a huge weight off her chest – she didn't truly believe that the rest of their friends would react badly, but there had been doubt. There was always doubt. And given how terribly everyone else in her life had treated her when she had been outed… she just didn't want to lose everyone all over again.

"Anytime," Zoe said. She yawned, and closed her book. "I think I'll go to bed. I'm tired, it was a long trip today."

"Oh, I meant to ask, how was Kyle?" She had wanted to talk to Zoe about it before, but hadn't had the chance, because when she arrived back at school, all the others had been in their room. And then it was dinnertime and then she and Misty had sneaked off to their classroom.

"Good," Zoe said, looking down at her hands. Her hair fell in her face and she tucked it behind her ears, not looking up at Cordelia.

Cordelia raised her eyebrows. "Really? That's all I'm getting? Good?"

Zoe blushed. "Well, it was, I don't know what else you want me to say."

"Did you… visit the library?" Cordelia asked, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.

Zoe laughed. "Maybe. Maybe not. Now shut up, I'm going to sleep. Turn the lights out soon, will you?" The other girl climbed under the covers, and punched her pillow a few times before flopping down.

"Yeah, just let me get changed." Cordelia pulled off her dirty clothes and deposited them in the laundry basket, pulling on her flannel pyjamas – it was getting cold, and she frowned. If she and Misty were to escape through the woods, they would have to rug up so they didn't freeze to death.

She stretched, and her back clicked. "I'll be back," she said, grabbing her toiletries bag.

"Kay," Zoe murmured, already half asleep.

Cordelia pulled on her robe, clicked the light off, and headed to the bathroom at the end of the hall. It wasn't lights out yet, so there were still girls awake and in the bathrooms, but it was nearly time so most of them were hurrying back to their rooms. Shit, thought Cordelia. She would have to hurry if she wanted to avoid matron… she didn't really feel like getting detention on her very first day back.

She pushed open the bathroom door. Teresa, a girl in the grade below her was standing at the sink, brushing her teeth, and there was someone in one of the stalls – apart from that, the bathroom was empty. One of the lights flickered – Cordelia would have been freaked out if she had been alone.

"Wow, it's creepy in here when it's empty," Teresa said. She spat and rinsed her toothbrush.

"Tell me about it," Cordelia said.

"Goodnight," Teresa said, heading out.

"Night." She didn't really know Teresa, but she was one of those people who was a little bit friends with everyone. Most of the students at the school were generally nice – it was just that the few exceptions really made up for the rest of the student population. Madison, for example. Cordelia was still mildly surprised that she hadn't ended up dead at the bottom of the stairs.

A toilet flushed, and the door creaked loudly as it opened, prompting Cordelia to look behind her in the mirror. Misty was leaning against the door, smiling at her. She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "Hi."

"Hey," Cordelia said, feeling a stupid smile working its way onto her face. She always got like this after she and Misty had… visited the library. Without fail. It was somewhat embarrassing, and the first few times she had been certain that everyone would know what she had been doing, just from the goofy grin she couldn't keep off her face. Misty always teased her about it.

"An empty bathroom… two friends, brushin' their teeth…" Misty took a step forwards. She wiggled her eyebrows again, and Cordelia let out a snort of laughter at how suggestive Misty was being.

"You're ridiculous."

Misty giggled. "Aw, don't be a prude."

"Really? You're going to call me a prude?" Cordelia said, raising her eyebrows. "I don't think prudes would do… this!" She grabbed Misty by the waist and whirled her around, pushing her back against the sink.

"Oh," Misty said. She leaned forward and pressed her lips against Cordelia's, before leaning back and tilting her head, frowning. "I dunnno. I still ain't convinced."

Cordelia played along. "Well, that's a shame. Is there anything I can do to convince you?"

"Hmm…" Misty said, pretending to think. Cordelia kissed the underside of her jaw, ever so gently grazing Misty's soft skin with her teeth. Misty's breath hitched. "I can think of a few things," she said breathlessly.

The bathroom door opened, letting out its usual wailing creak, and they jumped apart. Misty quickly turned on the tap, and Cordelia leaned casually against the sink, pretending that she and Misty were just two friends, catching up after the break. Which, technically, they were.

Matron strolled in, and Cordelia thanked whatever god was up there for the horrendously squeaky bathroom door. "Come on girls, you really need to hurry it up. It's almost lights out."

"Yes, matron," Cordelia said. "Night, Misty," she said, fighting to keep her tone of voice light and even.

Misty smiled at her in the mirror, her eyes shining and her cheeks pink. "Night, Cordelia."

"An empty bathroom… two friends, brushin' their teeth…"

this line was inspired by two bros who aren't gay chillin in a hot tub

This was unashamedly a filler chapter. but soon will come the great escape *gasp*

Chapter title from 'You make Loving Fun' by Fleetwood Mac.