Chapter Text
“Noelle, this will be the biggest mistake of your life. You’re going to regret this,” the tinny voice came out from the end of her phone. Curt and to the point. Mum was the same about every topic it seemed.
“No, Mum. I’m not,” Noelle replied, trying and failing to keep the tremor out of her voice. She was terrified right now, but she wasn’t backing down. “I’m trying to be happy, and if you can’t see that, then I’m sorry!”
“And what do you think I’m trying to do? Make you miserable?” Yes! Noelle wanted to scream. “You’re throwing away you’re entire future on a whim!”
“I’ve been thinking about this for months!” Noelle yelled indignantly.
“And I’ve been planning this for years, don’t think you can use that argument on me,” she retorted instantly.
“I’m still doing biochemistry, Mum. It’s not like I’m throwing my degree away to become an alpaca farmer!” The thought may have crossed her mind though when she was having a particularly distraught moment.
Biochemistry had always meant to be a stepping stone towards medicine. The thing you did first so you could get into your ‘real’ degree later. Noelle had agreed initially because it had sounded interesting enough to not push back on. But the more she studied, the more she realised how much she’d rather do chemistry, and how little interest she had in the medical side of things.
“Doctors are in higher demand and get paid better. It is future proofing you to always have a job, Noelle.” She could hear the condescension in her voice. Like Noelle hadn’t thought of that. Like Noelle couldn’t possibly also consider things herself and make her own decisions. “Now, stop being so childish and put in your course selections like we agreed upon.”
Noelle felt her hand start to shake, she wanted to throw her phone at the wall, but it would only feel satisfying for a minute. Instead, she let her rage quiet to a simmer, allowing it to fuel her next words as she pushed all her confidence into them. “No Mum, I’m not doing it. I’m sticking with biochemistry.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line. An auditory pursing of the lips as Noelle waited for the subsequent smack-down. It arrived blissfully quickly. “I was afraid of having to pull this card, but it seems you won’t leave me with a choice. If you are choosing to not do medicine then I will no longer be financially supporting you through university. You forced my hand.”
Noelle wanted to spit in her face. She hadn’t forced anything!
But instead, surprisingly, she felt only confidence take over her words. It was going exactly how she thought it would go. That is to say, terribly. Overthinking every action and interaction you go through was a terrible burden… until the moment you were right.
Noelle let out an uneasy breath. “I know you are, Mum. That’s why I already have a job that can support me. I stopped needing your money a month ago.”
There was another silence. Noelle mentally pumped her fist. That had finally surprised her enough to knock her off her stride. Noelle suddenly wished this was in person just so she could see the look on her face. It nearly made it all worth it.
Noelle felt like throwing up.
The voice on the other line sounded uneasy. It was nothing like the Carol she was used to at this point. It was someone else, but she didn’t know who. “Noelle… think about this. I’m trying to consider your future.”
Noelle groaned. She groaned. Like some god damned teenager being angsty at her parents, she was trying to be mature about this Angel dammit, but it was just too hard. She was sick of this! “Don’t call me back,” she said. She could have had a grapefruit in her mouth and it would have tasted less bitter. She hung up the phone and threw it at one of her pillows where it landed with a whumph.
She cradled her face in her hands, with her elbows on her knees, taking a few shaky breaths in and out. Her stomach had been rolling all day in preparation for this, but now it felt like she was actually going to throw up.
Oh Angel, was she actually going to throw up from stress? She felt herself dry heave a little, but thankfully nothing actually rose up from her stomach. She could save herself that embarrassment at least.
“I told you this was a bad idea,” Catti said from her chair in the corner, still scrolling through her phone. She had been there the entire time just silently listening. Noelle just groaned into her hands. “Why did you bring me here, again?”
“You’re moral support,” Noelle insisted.
“Did I help?” she asked.
“No,” Noelle moaned, and buried her face in the pillow. She jumped when her phone started buzzing. Predictably, it was her Mum ignoring her instructions.
“Don’t answer it,” Catti stated. Noelle hesitated a moment, then pressed the hang up button.
The room was bathed in silence as the two of them stared at the phone.
It started buzzing again.
“Oh for Pete’s sake just turn it off. She’ll be calling all night.” That statement did little to help Noelle’s rising fear, but she followed her advice anyway and held down the power button until it shut off.
“Okay,” Noelle stated. Definitely freaking out only a small amount, unfortunately it was a snowball rolling down a cliff, getting bigger the more time passed. “I think this is the part where you start being moral support.”
Catti rolled her eyes. “There’s the gig on tonight. You need to get ready for that.”
Noelle’s eyes widened. “Wait that’s tonight? I was so busy thinking about the call all day, I hadn’t even thought about. I haven’t even practised or warmed up. Oh my Angel, I haven’t done my makeup! Catti, what’s the time?” Noelle asked desperately as she stood up and started rushing towards her bathroom.
She was stopped by a paw in front of her face. “Calm down. Listen to me,” she demanded. Noelle swallowed and did her best do what she said. Taking a deep breath in and out and hoping she would stop feeling so nauseous. “You have time. I was checking. You don’t need to practice. You sing it perfectly every time. What you need to do is the proper adult thing.”
Noelle gave her a confused look. “Which is?”
Catti grinned maliciously. “Get as drunk as you can and blow off as much steam as possible in a single night.”
She felt her ears stand up. “What? I can’t do that! That’s such a bad idea.”
“That’s my moral support. Take it or leave it.” Catti went back to tapping on her phone.
Noelle hesitated. This wasn’t just her being a priss or something, she knew how to handle her eggnog, but getting really drunk while she was super pissed at her Mum felt like a recipe for making a phone call she’d regret tomorrow, or maybe some much worse mistake she hadn’t even thought of.
On the other hand… “It would be really fun,” she admitted. “And I really want to stop thinking about it right now. Maybe alcohol is the answer.”
She was a first year university student after all, bad decisions around alcohol was almost the point.
“Cool,” Catti stated with as much enthusiasm as a corpse on a roller-coaster. “Let’s do your make-up then.”
An hour later and she was backstage at the half-bar-half-music-venue place known as Gith’s Alternative. The vibes were usually good and the music was loud, but not clubbing levels of loud, so people could actually talk while they drank.
Noelle was already a bottle of yoghurt Soju deep into the throes of misjudgement and was nowhere near slowing down. That stuff tasted way too good to just leave unfinished. It would just be rude!
She was sitting with Jockington in the little backstage room they had (mostly just a room with a mirror if you needed it and a place to put your bags) while Catti set up their equipment on the stage they were given. They’d be out in about five minutes doing final checks before they started, but Catti was always thorough.
Jockington played the drums – not a drum kit, a drum machine. Although he had tried a drum kit once by getting Catti to just bang him against it and see what happened. It was bad. – Catti played the bass guitar, and Noelle did vocals. Together they made a pretty convincing impersonation of a punk band that was actually cool. Although anyone who talked to Noelle afterwards pretty quickly figured out she wasn’t, which was fine.
She did a brief internal check on herself. The alcohol had helped in dazing her enough to stop thinking about her Mum. She had even managed to leave her phone off the entire time! It hadn’t helped her stomach much but at this point there was probably nothing she could do about that but live with it for the next week or two. Her anxiety could be really annoying like that.
She hadn’t even thought about the fact that she was about to go on-stage with all black clothing and black make-up and sing a song about how much she hated life. But really, she imagined it was gonna feel pretty good.
“Let’s get this Ball, bouncing!” Jockington announced, slithering over to the door. Had five minutes already passed? Her sense of time was starting to feel off. She stood up and the room teetered a little.
This could probably be helped by more Soju. She took another swig from her bottle, finishing it off before putting it down to head out.
They stepped out into the bright lights of the small stage. It was basically just a raised platform with some extra lights on it to make it stand out, the normal music the bar would play over the speakers was still playing as they walked up, but slowly started to fade out with the final song.
There was some scattered clapping as they took their places and a few whoops for the band. Noelle quickly took her place at the microphone to introduce them. She couldn’t quite remember what she was supposed to say but that was fine. “My name is Noelle Holiday, we are Dark Eyes and we’re here to make you think about death and feel sad and stuff!”
The audience cheered. Apparently, feeling sad was a real crowd pleaser. Catti and Jockington played the opening notes to the song as Noelle took up the mic. She only had four counts to start.
Excuse me, Mister.
But can you please turn down the lights?
I don’t really like all these people, man.
And this shirt just don’t feel right.
She started gesturing outwards as she sang, giving out rude faces to people in the audience like candy at Halloween. She was pissed, she was angry as hell, and she was ready to rock out until she passed out.
She started banging her head as the song continued, and she lost herself in the music. It was messy, it was absolutely her worst live performance, but she was screaming every line like she meant it and the audience was responding. Her heart was racing so fast it could cause an attack. Who cared? She was going to enjoy this night for as much as it was worth.
They kept playing for the next hour or so, that’s how much they had agreed to do at least. Noelle had no idea how much people were actually into it, but they cheered after they finished each song and she was putting all her energy into every song, so it was good enough for her. Her throat hurt so much by the end of it, and her legs felt like they were on fire from all the jumping around she did, so she thanked everyone for being there and wobbled her way off the stage. There would be no encores here.
Feeling sweaty and gross, she quickly walked over to the bar to claim one of the free drinks she got for performing tonight. She grabbed a cider for herself and a beer for Jockington before heading back to the table they were sitting at. She collapsed onto a chair.
“That felt so good,” she said to the air.
“I think you owe me medical fees for how much that screaming hurt my ears.” Catti usually wore earplugs during performances so that was probably her way of saying it was good.
“It was, wicked Cool, Noelle. You should, do that More, often,” Jockington said from beside her. She smiled at him.
Her leg started shaking under the table. The adrenaline hadn’t left yet and her heart was still trying to escape her chest in three different directions. She felt electric, she felt like a million percent, she felt like she wanted to find the nearest bed and crash. Everything was working against her and she mostly just needed to move.
She was still trying to be a somewhat decent friend though, and that meant spending time with them and not going sprinting down the street on a whim.
Still, the adrenaline rush was going to her head and she felt giddiness bubble up within her chest. She took some large gulps from her cider before setting it down. “Can I… brag for a second? I’m getting good grades, I have good friends, I’ve got a good job! I even get to sing occasionally! I mean, I’ve got everything I want!”
As she gesticulated with her arms wildly, she found herself teetering dangerously close to the edge of her seat. She took a second to grab the table to steady herself. As she did, she just happened to look out into the crowd. A passing glance, nothing important, the equivalent of watching the streets roll by from the train window.
Except, the moment Noelle looked up, everything stopped. The train was at the station. Nothing was moving. She was exactly where she needed to be, looking at… someone.
Noelle didn’t know how to describe them. Well, okay, that technically wasn’t true, they were a kinda skinny, short human with messy brown hair that almost hid their eyes. They were wearing a long flowing black skirt and a loose top, and had some bracelets on. They also had two red eyes meeting hers. But that was the easy stuff…
Because they were also… beautiful in a way she couldn’t place. Noelle could easily admit to herself she was instantly attracted. Their eyes seemed to glow in the dark and Noelle desperately wanted them to keep looking at her, to take in every part of her body, to not be able to hide their desire because she was just that tempting.
The alcohol might have been making her desperate.
But she couldn’t understand why she so suddenly wanted to march across the dance floor and kiss them. She couldn’t even begin to understand why she felt like they were familiar. The adrenaline had gone to her head though, and she knew that whoever this mystery person was… she was going to capture them for herself.
The person looked away, and I mean, why wouldn’t they? They probably didn’t even know Noelle was there. She still took it as a slight though; how dare they try and ignore her when she looked this good!
“Except that,” Noelle said unconsciously. She was staring, but she didn’t have the presence to try and hide it.
Catti looked to where Noelle’s gaze went, trying to spot whatever (or whoever) she was looking at. “Except what?”
Noelle froze. She quickly shut her mouth and forced herself to look directly at Catti and nowhere else. She wasn’t sure what she was about to do, but if everything crashed and burned in front of her, she was gonna keep the resulting shock wave of embarrassment contained to just herself. “I’m gonna go get another drink,” she half-lied. If things worked, it wouldn’t be for her.
Catti gave her a flat stare. Noelle tried not to look suspicious. “And that’s my cue to leave.” Oh Angel, did she know?
Jockington rocked from side-to-side excitedly. She idly wondered if he even knew what was going on with those dark sunglasses on. “Where Catti goes, Jockington, follows!”
“We’ll take the gear with us,” Catti stated while grabbing her bag. She gave Noelle another hard look. “Blow off steam,” she repeated.
Noelle just nodded and gave her a grateful smile. Doing gigs was way easier when they had a van to cart everything around in, and someone willing to drive it too. Noelle didn’t want to think about what they’d do if Catti drank.
She took a deep breath and then turned away from them again. Looking for whoever that human she saw in the crowd was. She made a quick prayer to the Angel that they were still here, then headed off to where she last saw them.
The music had picked up again, louder than before, and Noelle felt a little unsteady on her feet, but that wasn’t going to stop her. She had a new mission in life, and she was nothing if not determined.
They weren’t in the immediate vicinity. That was fine. Just a small setback. Unfortunately, her boost of confidence had lost fuel about halfway between her and her destination which meant her usual anxieties were starting to sneak in.
What was she even doing? Was she going to walk up to a stranger and demand that they kiss her? She couldn’t do that, no matter how badly she wanted to. She had never done anything like this before. Wait, was she being a creep? She hoped she wasn’t sweating too much. Oh my god, what if she totally stank right now? She had no idea how she even looked after everything with the concert; was her makeup terrible? The outfit probably looked so out of place on someone like her.
Noelle was so busy worrying, she managed to barrel directly into someone’s back, causing her to spill the remains of her drink on them. “Oh my gosh, I am so sorry.”
Noelle’s worst fears came true as the person turned around, she had just spilled her drink on the red-eyed human. They didn’t say anything for a moment, looking slightly up at her with a piercing gaze that Noelle didn’t know what to do about. They just seemed to… stare at her. She definitely didn’t have the mental capacity to process their expression. Luckily, her mouth began to speak before she could think, “I was trying to find someone, so I wasn’t looking where I was going at all, faha. I hope I didn’t ruin your shirt, it’s really nice by the way.”
Again they said nothing, still looking her directly in the eye. Noelle was at war because part of her was doing victory laps that they were even giving her the time of day, and the other half was panicking because she was clearly freaking them out. She kept talking. “I’m Noelle by the way, can I buy you a drink to make up for it?”
One half of her cheered, the other half started throwing popcorn and booing and calling her a creep.
The human finally blinked, seeming to realise they hadn’t said anything yet. “It’s fine,” they mumbled in a deadpan voice. Noelle had no idea how to read their tone.
The cheer-squad shut up, but she could still double down! If she was gonna lose, she was gonna lose hard. “Really, I feel bad. Please?” she asked, hoping she didn’t sound desperate.
Another pause. Another scrutinising look that made Noelle’s stomach do a little flip. Then they shrugged. “Sure.”
The crowd went wild.
The two of them headed for the bar. Noelle surreptitiously wiped her hands on her pants. “So what’s your name?”
“Kris,” they responded. There went the final lead on this person being ‘familiar’, she had never known a Kris.
“That’s a nice name. I’m Noelle.”
They snickered. “You said that already.”
Noelle hid her pain behind a smile. She was blowing it, hard! She had definitely lost any cool points the performance had earned her. “Faha, well. I already blew the first impression so I thought I should try for a second one instead.”
Kris raised an eyebrow. “And how’s that one going?”
Noelle noticed the bartender sliding up to them (it was a kind of slug-monster). “Way better once you tell me what you want to drink?”
“Smooth,” they said while smirking, they seemed to say it genuinely though. They ordered a vodka redbull. Noelle tried not to cringe as they took a swig. Unfortunately, Kris noticed. “Not a fan?”
She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. “I just don’t get how you could stand the flavour. Red bull tastes terrible.”
They took another sip. “I have a refined palette,” they stated, looking slightly amused. “What about you?”
“Um… what about me?” she asked.
They gestured with their glass to her. “What do you drink?”
“A lot of things I guess, faha. I usually go for sweet drinks when I can, but I also like fireball.” She didn’t quite want to admit how much she disliked the taste of alcohol, but she could pretend for a night.
“Cinnamon, of course,” they muttered. They said it a little too loudly though so Noelle had heard. What did they mean by that? She didn’t look particularly Christmas-y right now, although she was a reindeer so people tended to associate that with her anyway. She was too busy thinking about the comment to notice Kris order a drink and a shot of fireball to appear in front of her.
She looked to Kris and noticed them putting their card away. “I thought I was supposed to be buying you a drink?” she asked.
Kris shrugged. “I don’t really care about this shirt that much, so it felt unfair,” they explained. They looked away, suddenly embarrassed. “And I guess… I want to talk to you more.”
Noelle’s ears shot up and she felt heat rise to her cheeks. There was no way all her fumbling had actually worked. “O-oh!” She quickly picked up her shot and downed it. It burned on the way down her throat, but the taste was nice and it gave her enough courage to keep her voice. “I’d like that,” she choked out. She gave them what she hoped was a genuine smile.
“Did you still need to find that person?” Kris asked.
“Huh?” Noelle replied smartly.
“You said you were looking for someone,” they explained slowly. Noelle couldn’t tell if they were concerned or making fun of her. “Did you still want to do that?”
Oh right, the lie she had made up a second ago. Stupid! “Oh, right! No, it’s fine haha! I’m sure they’re fine!”
Kris just nodded and started to head off.
They walked towards a different table with a booth. Noelle nearly fell at one point and put her hand on Kris’ shoulder to catch herself. She quickly apologised and snatched her hand away, embarrassed. Gosh she was acting like a teenager! And no nineteen didn’t count as teenage, she was supposed to be an adult.
Noelle had never done this, never acted like this. How was it that Kris could so easily undo her carefully constructed image without even needing to do anything. They were just standing there and Noelle was falling over herself trying to woo them!
But as they sat down, Noelle glanced over. Kris had this look in their eye; a thought that went far deeper than this bar or even this night. They were suddenly so far away that she had no idea what they could possibly be thinking or how to reach them. Noelle instantly knew that was what drew her in. There was a mystery behind Kris’ eyes that she desperately wanted to solve. Some puzzle that if she pushed up against in just the right way, would suddenly click into place and let her see all that depth for herself. She wanted it so badly she felt herself nearly leaning into them.
It helped they were hot.
“I saw you singing,” Kris said suddenly. Noelle shook herself out of her thoughts and back to reality. Then flushed as she realised what they were referring to. “It was good.”
“Thanks. It probably wasn’t my best performance.” She grinned sheepishly. “I may be a little drunk.”
“I couldn’t tell,” Kris lied. Noelle giggled. “It… seemed pretty intense.”
Noelle sighed and slumped back. This was the last thing she needed when trying to hook up with someone, a vibe killer. But now that her mind was on it she couldn’t avoid the topic. “Yeah I’m… a little mad at my Mum right now, faha.” She looked up at the ceiling, trying not to think too hard. “I kind of want to wring her neck.”
Kris nodded in semi-understanding. “Well if it makes you feel better… you sang really well.”
Noelle flushed again, thoughts of necks and mums out of her mind. “Thank you,” she said demurely. It was hard to tell if they meant what they said or not, they spoke in this sort of deadpan that made everything sound equal-parts genuine and fake. Noelle decided to take it at face value and worry about being wrong later. “What brought you to the Alternative tonight?”
Kris shrugged. “Decent music. Expensive drinks. Just wanted to get out for a bit and not think too much about anything.”
“And is it working? Are you not thinking too much?” Noelle asked not-so-innocently. Kris said nothing, instead finishing the last of their drink. Their eyes avoided hers. She felt a headache coming on and the tiredness was starting to get to her, but it only convinced her to act bolder. “Cause I think you’re thinking about me,” she said, trying to put some husk into her voice.
Noelle heard their breath hitch. Their eyes flickered to hers and away again. Noelle felt herself smiling; it was satisfying being right. She scooted a little closer in the booth, cornering them. “You can just admit it, yaknow.”
Kris licked their lips. “I was actually just thinking about how I left the oven on.”
Oh, okay. They were clearly just playing hard to get, but Noelle could return their serve. She nodded in mock-understanding. “Ah, of course. So does that mean you need to race back and turn it off?” she asked.
Kris looked to her from their spot, sitting stock still. They let the moment hang between them as they both looked at each other. “Nah, the apartment can burn down,” they said, not leaving her gaze.
Noelle smiled again, this time a genuine almost-giddy smile that probably made her look crazy. She focused on talking. “Do you go to the university? Or are you a local?”
“University. I’m trying to do a computing degree. It kind of sucks though.” Noelle tilted her head, silently asking for them to elaborate. “Everyone there is in it for money. Most lecturers have no idea how to teach and just want to do their research, but get forced to run courses. And there are about three people in the entire degree that aren’t men.”
Noelle winced. That did sound like it wasn’t the best. “So why do you do it?”
“Computers are cool. It’s problem-solving as a job. And there’s less to read,” they flashed her a toothy grin and Noelle was able to catch their eyes again.
She unconsciously scooted a little closer. Feeling herself be ever-drawn in by those eyes. She was still a respectful distance! Just… less respectful than before. Kris hadn’t mentioned it if they noticed.
They talked like this for a while. Noelle explained how she was studying biochemistry and what it was like. She spent time complaining about her roommate even though she hadn’t really meant to. She had managed to voice complaints she didn’t even know she was holding in. She even chatted a bit about her family and her Dad.
Really it was just her talking for an hour or something about her entire life. Kris was an attentive listener the entire time, taking in every detail and even asking follow-up questions. She had meant to be finding out more about Kris, but all she had done was yap about herself.
That isn’t to say she didn’t get anything out of Kris. She had asked a bit more about their family (okay) and their living situation (they were living off-campus with a friend of theirs), and their weird taste in drinks (apparently it bled into their taste in everything else).
And slowly… over time… Noelle had let the distance between them become a little disrespectful. Kris hadn’t made any move away.
Noelle was speaking about another random topic (something about food?) and leant forward as she spoke. There was a rush to her head and a wave of dizziness overcame her. Before she could even process it, there were hands on both her shoulders steadying her. Kris’ bare arm ran over her back as they carefully tried to keep her upright. There was a look of concern on their face. There was another rush to her head, but this time it wasn’t dizziness.
“This feels really nice,” she mumbled absentmindedly.
“Do you need water?” they asked. Trying to study her features for signs she was about to pass out.
“I need you to keep holding me,” Noelle whispered. From the way Kris stiffened they had definitely heard. She was glad.
Kris guided her to lean back against the booth and took their hands away, Noelle wanted to whine but just settled for huffing. “I’m going to get you some water.” Noelle nodded, and they were gone, disappearing into the crowd.
Noelle shuffled in place a little trying to get comfortable. Her thoughts weren’t the most coherent right now, but she knew she was making a fool of herself again, that glass of water sounded so good right now, and that she really wanted to kiss Kris.
They were back a second later, pushing a glass of water into her hands, she gratefully drank it, realising just how thirsty she was. This place was way too warm. She had enough sense to not take her shirt off though.
Instead she looked to where Kris was sitting, anxiously waiting to see if she was alright. It was so sweet it made Noelle’s heart swell. She scooted far closer to them, legs touching together. They looked at her in surprise.
“You’re really cute,” she said with far too little shame. Kris ducked their head, much to Noelle’s annoyance. She wanted to see how they reacted. Carefully, trying not to make Kris uncomfortable. She reached out a hand and rested it on their cheek, she kept it there for a second to see what they did. When they just stayed still, Noelle tugged to get them to face her.
They did. Their cheeks were burning red and they weren’t able to hold Noelle’s gaze for more than a second. Noelle couldn’t keep from staring at them. Taking in every little detail as they let her cradle their face. Her thumb started to stroke softly against their cheek. They let out a small sound from the back of their throat, maybe a whimper.
They just seemed so… fragile all of a sudden. The confidence and smirks from before being replaced by this complete lack of certainty in anything happening. It was a heady feeling knowing she had that effect on them. The sense of power and control in the moment sent a rush of blood straight to her head and… elsewhere.
Noelle couldn’t hold herself back anymore. Gently, ever-so-slowly – seeing if at any point Kris would back off – she pulled the two of them closer. Kris’ eyes fluttered.
Their lips met and a breath instantly escaped Noelle as she relaxed into it. Her shoulders slumped as she enjoyed the soft feeling of Kris’ lips on hers. Her confidence only gave her a few seconds of being forward before she felt herself start to falter, reluctantly she pulled away.
Then Kris pushed against her far more forcefully, hungrily taking her lips for their own. She felt a little sound escape her at the action. Her eyes fluttered close as she lost herself in the sensations. Her hand cradling Kris’ face snaked its way into their hair and she felt two arms wrap around her neck. She couldn’t help but smile in satisfaction.
Her senses overwhelmed her. Kris smelt like apples. After a quick swipe of her tongue, she confirmed that they tasted like mint. The music drowned out any conversation around her, but through it should could hear the small noises of appreciation Kris was making, which just incited her to push into them even more. The feeling of their hands down her sides confirmed they were enjoying it.
Noelle swiped her tongue even deeper, taking a second to run it along the inside of their mouth, appreciating the flavour. Her exploration was cut far-too-short when Kris suddenly pushed her away, breathing hard.
A look of concern grew on her as she noticed how scared Kris seemed all of a sudden. Their hands seemed to clench her shoulders, hard. “What’s wrong?” she asked. Had she gone too far? She had tried to be careful, but it was hard to hold herself back even now.
Kris swallowed. Blinking rapidly. “I… I already have a girlfriend.”
Noelle sobered instantly. Her stomach dropped.
“Oh.”