My Favorite Song (EN)

by Youlo182

Summary:

16 y old Carina DeLuca returns to Seattle after a summer in Sicily that has transformed her. More confident, with a new look courtesy of her cousin, she enters her junior year with a body and attitude that don't go unnoticed. But what troubles her most is not the way others look at her, but the way her lifelong friend Maya Bishop looks at her.
Friends for four years, Carina and Maya suddenly see each other in a new light. The summer has changed their bodies, but also the way they look at each other: every touch, every smile, every gesture becomes charged with a new tension. Between classes, confidences, and teenage awkwardness, the two girls struggle against the obvious attraction that draws them irresistibly to each other.

Their circle of friends continue to surround them, but Carina and Maya gradually find themselves in a bubble where friendship seems ready to transform into first love. Between the fear of rejection, budding desire, and troubling discoveries, they will have to face what it means to grow up... and to love for the first time.
This is a story of awakening, desire, and transformation, where the summer of their sixteenth year becomes the starting point for an intimate and irreversible upheaval.

Chapter 1: Sweet Sixteen (part 1)

C : Non avrei mai pensato che un'estate potesse cambiare la mia vita. Due mesi e mezzo: è bastato questo perché il mio mondo fosse completamente stravolto. Eppure, nella scala di una vita, due mesi e mezzo sembrano così insignificanti. Come si può cambiare così tanto in due mesi e mezzo? Eppure... è bastato questo... Un'estate...

[I never thought a summer could change my life. Two and a half months; that's all it took to turn my world upside down. Yet on the scale of a lifetime, two and a half months seems so paltry. How can you change so much in two and a half months? And yet... that's all it took... One Summer...]

Carina closed her eyes for a moment and went back three months to the beginning of the school year.

/Flashback/

Carina had looked at herself in the psyche of her bedroom. Today was her first day of Junior Year. She had just spent two and a half months at home in Sicily with her family.

With her parents and her brother, Andrea, they had left Sicily four years ago to move to Seattle, in the United States. And every summer, she and her brother returned for the vacations. But this year, something was different. This year Carina had just turned sixteen a month and a half ago, and more importantly, even she had noticed, this summer her body had changed.

She had tilted her head slightly, and swallowed before running her hands over her dress, down her thighs - which she had brought back from Catania - as if trying to lengthen it. She'd grown up this summer and had to buy new clothes, and this dress came right up to her mid-thighs. Her long legs were tanned, as was the rest of her body, and she wondered whether this outfit was suitable.

Yes, she thought she looked pretty in it, but she'd changed so much this summer that today, back in her room in Seattle, she wondered if her friends would recognize her. If they'd see that at deep down, even though her body had grown, her breasts had grown, her acne had disappeared, they'd see that she was still the same girl. The one they'd known for four years.

Carina had huffed and puffed to give herself courage. It had been two and a half months since she'd seen her friends, and she hadn't taken much time to check in with them. She had spent her summer with her cousin, Graziella, who had given her a partial makeover. Graziella was two years older than Carina and had always been her model. So when Graziella told Carina she was far too pretty for the baggy clothes she wore to hide her body, the brunette was tempted by an Italian-style makeover.

And that's how she was going to walk the halls of Garfield High School today. As an assertive Italian and no longer as a foreigner trying to blend in.

When she'd come down for breakfast, Andrea had stopped with his toast to drop his eyes on her.

- "Are you going to go to class like that?"

- "Why?!" she asked, not sure she understood in what sense he was saying that.

He'd raised his eyebrows in astonishment.

- "You realize all the guys are going to be checking you out?!"

- "Nonsense! These are the same people I've been going to class with for four years. Why do you want them to look at me differently."

- "Carina. I'm your brother and I'm twelve, but even I think you look beautiful in that outfit."

- "She's your sister, you'd better think she's pretty." Lucia said as she entered the kitchen.

She had turned her head towards Carina.

"Dio mio... your brother's right tesoro, you look sublime like this."

- "Don't you think it's inappropriate for school?" She asked her mother, before turning to her brother.

"And you, you've seen me all summer like this."

- "Yeah, but we were on vacation. Now I know all my friends are going to be drooling over my sister... It's weird. Even all the guys are going to be looking at you... It's so weird. I'd rather you were ugly."

- "Don't listen to your brother. You're gorgeous and that dress isn't « too much ». And if the others look at you because you're beautiful, well so much the better.... They'll be right, because you're gorgeous and that dress looks great on you."

- "Maybe I should change..." replied Carina, tugging at the bottom of her dress.

- "Carina. You're sixteen. You're beautiful, and yes boys are going to start looking at you. Don't make me believe that wasn't the case in Sicilia... all over the world boys like pretty girls.... Even if you don't want to tell your old mom."

The Italian had come to wrap her arms around her mother's body.

- "You're not old and I didn't have a boyfriend over the vacations if that's what you're implying."

- "You spent the whole summer with your cousin Graziella on the beaches of Sicilia, she gave you a complete makeover, probably took you to bars, and you want me to believe you didn't have a boyfriend?"

- "You'd be the first to know!"

- "I don't think you're going to tell me the day a boy grabs your attention... I just hope you'll be careful... use protection the day it happens.... If it hasn't already happened..."

- "Mammaaaaa! I've never made love!"

- "I eaaaaaaat!" gasped Andrea, miming regurgitation.

- "Well, I'm off to class because I haven't seen my friends in two and a half months and I've missed them."

Carina had retrieved her bag, but Lucia interrupted before she could leave the kitchen.

- "You haven't eaten anything this morning!"

- "I'm too sick to my stomach to eat anything..."

- "Carina, you're entering Junior Year and you look gorgeous. There's no reason why you should feel sick to your stomach..."

Lucia had squinted.

"Unless you're looking forward to seeing someone again?"

- "Apart from my friends? No. No one in particular."

Carina had stepped out and her smile had widened instantly. Her friends, Vic and Travis were waiting for her outside her house, bickering as always.

- "She's here!" Travis shouted.

- "My Gooood! Carina! This summer in Sicily has transformed you! You're gorgeous!" said Vic in turn.

The Italian had blushed.

- "Don't you get into it too!"

- "Who dared tell you you were sublime?" asked Vic, as if she felt sorry for Carina. Obviously this was ironic.

- "My mother and brother this morning ganged up on me."

- "Sorry... but with your new body, and your new look, I'm not going to pity you! Puberty hasn't spoiled us all this summer!" replied Vic.

- "Any Ayyyy! Are we going to class?" asked Carina.

They'd left for school and immediately found their new locker. As the Italian was putting her books away, the sound of one of the doors had strangely caught her, more so than the other times it had opened. She started to turn around and she immediately smiled when she saw the rest of her friends. Andy, Jack and... Maya.

She'd known them for four years. For four years they'd been friends, but today she'd seen one member of her group differently. It would seem that summer hadn't just been kind to her. Another of her friends had changed physically. Or rather, another of her girlfriends.

Carina had swallowed when she saw Maya. The sportswoman in their group. When she'd gone to Sicily two and a half months ago, Maya had braces, her dark-blond hair was always tied back and she was always in tracksuits. But here, Maya was in jeans and she wore a tank top with a light jacket over it, closed to below her chest. She seemed to have slimmed down, grown slightly - not as much as she had though; she no longer had her braces and her hair was loose, slightly wavy and her hair was much blonder. And another detail hadn't escaped Carina's notice: she wasn't the only one whose breasts had suddenly grown; or maybe she'd never noticed.

Her hands had become clammy, instantly, and she'd struggled to look away. Why was Maya moving towards her in slow motion?

However, the Italian wasn't the only one troubled.

/A few seconds earlier/

Maya had walked through the school gates laughing with Andy and Jack, her two best friends.

- "There they are!" gasped Andy as Vic, Travis and Carina stood by their locker.

The blonde had turned her face - as she was looking at Jack - and time had slowed. Instantly. Then she'd swallowed.

She knew she'd changed this summer. Her father had trained her so hard, so that she could become one of America's young hopefuls for the next Olympic Games in Los Angeles, that she'd become more refined. She'd obviously put on some muscle, and a few days ago, when she'd had her braces removed just before her birthday, she'd asked her parents if she could go to the hairdresser for her sixteenth birthday and get her head changed.

But clearly, she wasn't the only one who had changed in those two and a half months. Her eyes had fallen on a young woman, sublime, her complexion tanned, in a little white dress with floral details and she had felt her heart miss a beat, before realizing that this person was none other than her friend of the last four years, Carina.

Her eyes quickly went back to her friend. She huffed before swallowing, realizing that it wasn't « right » to look at someone you considered one of your best friends.

Her choice of clothing this morning had immediately seemed like a very bad option. She had felt hot flashes come over her.

/Instant présent/

Carina had watched Maya move - still - in slow motion. The blonde's hand had slowly come up to pinch the zipper pull of her jacket and pulled it down.

The Italian had breathed out, mouth open, and wondered why Maya was doing this. Why was she opening her jacket at such a slow pace that she could almost hear each tooth of her jacket's zipper pull disassociate from the other. She could hardly take her eyes off the zipper and looked around for a second before realizing. Maya was doing absolutely nothing. It was all in her head. She was the one seeing her move in slow motion. But why - when they'd known each other for four years, did she have to see Maya move like that?

- "Heyyyy!" snapped Andy, snapping Carina out of her trance.

The Italian had blinked before pulling herself together with difficulty. She had smiled and taken Andy in her arms to say hello.

"You're beautiful, Carina! God, I want to go to Sicily too! I need your secret!"

- "Hiiii, beautiful!" said Jack, coming over to take the brunette in his arms, lifting her off the ground and shaking her almost like a rag doll.

Only then did Carina notice that Jack, too, had grown muscular. However, even in the young man's arms, she hadn't been able to take her eyes off Maya, looking over her friend's shoulder.

Gibson had eventually shifted and they had then found themselves face to face.

- "Ciao..." the Italian said, her voice stuck in her throat.

She had then noticed that since she had laid eyes on Maya, no more sound had come out of her mouth, until her « ciao » which had seemed derailed.

- "Hi..." the blonde replied, feeling her hands grow clammy.

She'd never been the most tactile of the group, but it had been over two months since she'd seen Carina, and more importantly, she didn't know how to explain to herself her desire to touch her. As if to make sure she was really there. Not that she'd missed her or spent her summer thinking about her; but rather in the sense that she'd never found anyone as sublime as Carina at this very moment and she wanted to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

Maya had taken a step closer, opened her arms and wrapped them around the Italian's body, and Carina had let herself be drawn in, her eyebrows lifting, her heart missing a beat, and she had wrapped her arms around the blonde's body to embrace her in return.

Her heart had started to race and she'd wondered if Maya could feel it. One of her hands had slipped over the blonde's shoulder blade and she'd squeezed her tighter; then had taken a deep breath so the blonde wouldn't feel the fact that her breathing too was rapid, but her nose had caught Maya's scent and she'd closed her eyes. As if to « savor » her scent.

Since when did Maya smell so good? Since when had she wanted to smell Maya? And why did she want to slide her nose against Maya's hair or neck, to smell her more?

She had reopened her eyes. Why had she closed her eyes when she « smelled » Maya?!

Her arms had begun to release the blonde's body realizing they'd never exchanged such a long embrace.

"Did you... did you have a good vacation?" asked Maya in an almost inaudible voice, her eyes moving from Carina's gaze, to her lips.

- "I... uh yes... and... and you?"

Maya had opened her mouth, but no sound had come out. She had then cleared her throat.

- "...yes. T-thank you."

The buzzer had sounded, taking them out of their bubble, and they'd both looked up at the loudspeaker.

- "Well, are we going to class, or are you just going to stand there?" asked Dean, whom they hadn't even seen arrive with Ryan and Lucas.

They'd looked at each other before Maya looked away.

- "Y-yes, we, we're coming."

They had followed their group of friends, slightly behind, not even daring to speak.

C: Che cosa è appena successo? E perché ho voglia di guardare Maya? Siamo amiche da quattro anni, perché proprio oggi?

[What just happened? And why do I want to look at Maya? we've been friends for four years, why today?]

Their hands had inadvertently brushed against each other, and they'd both felt a slight electricity that almost made them jump.

M: It can't be... why do I still feel like our hands are brushing against each other? did she feel it too? and why do I want to turn my head to look at her again?

They had entered the classroom and there were two seats left. In a side-by-side row, one slightly behind the other. Carina hadn't asked Maya which seat she wanted. She immediately took the one that overlooked the other. She couldn't have given an explanation - she was a studious girl who always wanted to be close to the white board - but she knew why she had wanted to take that place. From here, she would be able to put her eyes on Maya and try to understand why she wanted to look at her, why she wanted to look at her so much.

The blonde sat slightly to one side and Carina's eyes fell on her again. On her profile. She had rested her elbow on the table and the tip of her pen had come between her lips as she detailed her facial features.

Why did Maya seem like a different woman from the one who was her friend and whom she hadn't seen for two and a half months?

It was the first hour of class, it was the day of the junior year and the cap of her pen had already got its first tooth mark.

C: Devo smetterla di guardarla così. È una mia amica. Perché non avevo mai notato quanto fosse perfetto il suo profilo? E la sua pelle sembra così morbida... E i suoi capelli... perché ho voglia di passarci le dita, perché ho voglia di vedere se sono setosi come sembrano?

[I've got to stop looking at her like that. She's my friend. How come I've never seen how perfect her profile is? And her skin looks so soft... And her hair... why do I want to run my fingers through it, why do I want to see if it's as silky as it looks?]

Maya had moistened her lips - in slow motion, according to Carina - and the Italian had swallowed before letting the cap of her pen run over her own lip, while letting out a breath that caught in the hole of the cap and made it hiss slightly.

- "Carina?" asked Madame Grey, their head teacher.

The brunette had turned red as she felt all eyes on her, Maya included. Carina stammered, but the blonde swallowed. The September 2nd Seattle sun streaming in through the classroom window was caressing the Italian's skin, making it even brighter, warmer.

Her gaze had fallen on Carina's body. On her cleavage and she had wondered if two months ago she already had such beautiful breasts. She had shaken her head slightly, realizing that her comment was out of place; but her eyes had immediately returned to her anatomy. Her gaze fell again, passing over the top of her belly, then her vision was disturbed by the desk and her eyes fell on her lower thighs. On her bare legs and she'd felt her throat go dry.

Why, today, did she want to slide her hand up her thigh? Why was she wondering if she could feel under her fingers that her skin was tanned, as if it would be warmer than her own thighs, which were white?

Carina in her embarrassment had swung one leg over the other to cross them, raising the toe of her wedge heel towards the ceiling, making her calf contract whose foot was still on the ground and Maya had felt her heart race.

Her gaze had returned to the Italian's bare legs and she'd swallowed as she felt her eyes seeking to look beneath her skirt. She had immediately blinked in a prolonged manner to try and refocus and forced herself to reopen her eyes at a level higher than her legs.

She'd watched the sun caress Carina's hair, a slight triangle of light passing down her neck and over the top of her chest, and she'd watched the beam on the Italian's skin, tracing her eyes along the light all the way up to her face. Up to her mouth and she had bitten her lower lip, watching the Italian's lips move.

Then she'd seen the Italian's face turn towards her and she'd immediately turned around in her chair, as if she'd been caught red-handed.

Carina had turned her gaze to Maya and wondered if it was her, or if the tension between them was different today. Different from the last four years.

The sun was beating against the classroom windows and the blonde had finally taken off her jacket. Carina - who had once again put her pen between her lips - had dropped it on her open notebook and watched the sun come down to highlight the muscles of Maya's arms and those of her shoulder blade - which she could see, despite her long blond hair, reflected more of the light of the star that was illuminating the earth, just as Maya was currently illuminating her heart and soul.

Maya's skin seemed so soft, colder than her own, and yet she thought that if she could run even the tip of her finger against it, sparks would undoubtedly fly. She wondered if Maya could feel it, as she would feel it. Just as she had felt it in the corridor. That discharge like a thunderbolt, like a « coup de foudre » in french for « love at first sight ». Was it possible to fall in love at first sight with someone you'd known for years?

She'd felt Vic's questioning gaze on her profile and she'd looked away from Maya.

She'd always been so focused on her classes. Concentrating more than the others because she wasn't a native and wanted to succeed in her studies, that she'd never wondered if she liked anyone. She'd even come to wonder whether in her sixteen years she'd ever wondered whether she liked boys or girls, and she realized that she'd never really set eyes on anyone else. At least, not until today. And maybe that's why she felt that sixteen years of not laying eyes on anyone was coming back to bite her even harder. It wasn't that she wanted to look at Maya because she found her pleasant to look at; it was that she couldn't take her eyes off her.

As it was the first hour of the day, the first day back at school, they'd had their timetables, and they knew in advance that they'd made the same course choices.

Each day they would start with an hour of English, Monday being more focused on American literature with Madame Grey. Monday was followed by advanced biology, math with algebra two, then American history before the lunch break, and they finished with chemistry and sports education for an hour and a half.

On Tuesday, after English class, they'd go on to math, then anatomy and physiology, then chemistry, before the lunch break. In the early afternoon, Carina would take Health Science/Medical Careers and Maya Advanced Sport, at her father's request. And they would both finish with history and Spanish.

On Wednesdays, after English, they would have advanced biology, then math, before the lunch break, they would have environmental science. After the chemistry break, Spanish, then they would finish with an hour of study.

Thursdays went as follows: English, anatomy and physiology, math, biology, the hour break, chemistry in the lab for an hour and a half, then American history in the last hour.

And finally, every Friday would start with English, then biology again, Spanish, chemistry, lunch break, then psychology for Carina and sports science for Maya, before meeting up in sports class to finish the week.

After their first class, they headed off to their second class of the morning. For the past four years, Maya and Carina had made a habit of sitting together in biology, as in many science classes.

Just before entering the room, Carina had looked at Maya.

- "Shall we... shall we sit together?"

- "Y-yes... like... like usual? except well... unless you don't want to..."

- "Yes!" she croaked a little too loudly, a little too eagerly, before clearing her throat and blushing.

"Please..."

Maya had smiled and Carina had felt her heart miss a beat. The blonde had removed her braces a few weeks ago and the Italian had then found she had the most beautiful smile she'd ever seen.

Her eyes had fallen on the blonde's mouth and she'd bitten her lip. Why did she have this sudden urge to taste her lips?

Maya's cheeks had flushed red and it was as if Carina had felt it as a connection. She'd immediately picked herself up and looked away.

"After you..." she gestured to the blonde to let her into the classroom.

Maya had passed by, her jacket in hand, and Carina hadn't been able to stop her eyes from darting down the blonde's body, down to her buttocks. She'd let out a breath, wondering why she couldn't stop detailing her friend's body like that, and above all, why she wanted to touch it so badly.

They took turns sitting down, Maya by the window and Carina by the center aisle. The Italian turned her head towards the blonde and once again watched the sun caress her skin. Maya had turned her head towards the Sicilian to look at her, and Carina had quickly turned back to the whiteboard.

The blonde had brought her hand close to the brunette's and, brushing against her arm, they had both felt another surge of electricity. They both had a small reaction.

- "Sorry..." said Maya in a barely audible voice and Carina had turned her head towards her.

"Are... are you okay?"

- "Y-yes... w-why?"

- "You... were looking at me... I don't know I was wondering if..." the blonde had swallowed.

- "If?" asked Carina.

The blonde had cleared her throat.

- "Nothing, I... I don't know."

The brunette had run her tongue over her lips and Maya had lowered her gaze to her mouth.

Miranda Bailey, the biology teacher had come into the room saying hello, and she'd cut them off.

Carina had focused her attention as best she could on the teacher, while Maya had concentrated on the Italian.

She was so close that she could smell her perfume, or at least had the sensation of being able to smell her skin. Maya had detailed Carina's profile from her forehead to her chin, passing by her slightly upturned nose and finally returning to her mouth.

The Italian had run her tongue over her lips and Maya had felt a gentle warmth against her heart, then down her belly. She had started to move her hand towards Carina's arm. She couldn't help it, she had to touch her skin, to caress it, to know if her skin was as warm and soft as it seemed, but fortunately, she'd been cut off before doing so.

The brunette had turned to her and their fingers had brushed against each other on the tiled desk, and they had immediately withdrawn their hands.

- "Excuse me!" blushed Carina.

Maya had stiffened in her chair and straightened up, facing the whiteboard.

She'd seen the board and seen that they must « already » be working together.

They both approached and Carina opened her book. She had read the exercise but Maya was far too close to her. Her eyes had left the book and she'd looked at the blonde's face, up close.

Obviously, so close to her, the blonde had inevitably felt her gaze on her. But she couldn't look at Carina.

- "You... you read... the enunciation?" the blonde asked before clearing her throat.

The Italian had raised her eyes from Maya's chest to her eyes.

- "Y-yes..."

The blonde had looked at one of Carina's eyes, then the other, and her eyes had then fallen on the Italian's lips, glaring at her. She had then returned her gaze to hers.

"How was... your... vacation?" the brunette asked, lost in Maya's eyes, which were a deeper blue than she remembered. Bluer and more beautiful than the sea at Syracuse.

- "Yeah I... well, you know, I... I've been... practicing a lot."

- "Y-yes... I..." her eyes had fallen on the blonde.

"I mean. Yes." She added, clearing her throat.

C: Si vede... [it shows...]

- "And... and you?" asked Maya.

- "I... I spent a lot of time at... at the beach... with... with my cousin..."

- "Yeah you... you're... you're tan..." replied the blonde.

- "Haven't you started yet?" asked Madame Bailey as they reached the level of their office.

- "Excuse us!" replied Carina, startled.

The teacher had left and the Italian had looked at the blonde.

"Is it weird between us?..."

- "No... we... we haven't seen each other for two and a half months... That's... It..."

- "Okay..."

Carina and Maya had brought their hands to the book at the same time and their fingers had brushed once more, and this time the Italian had immediately looked at Maya's lips, feeling that tension in her body at the brush of their fingers.

A slight smile had appeared on the blonde's lips and Carina had looked away with a smile, biting the inside of her lip.

And so began their first class of the day together.

After the American history class, the group had moved outside to eat. Carina had seen that Maya had already sat down at the table and had immediately come and stood opposite her. Obviously to get a better look at her.

She had begun to detail the blonde's body as she concentrated on her phone, typing, and wondered if she was writing to someone.

- "Carina, did you go to Sicily or did you go to a hospital to become hot?" asked Dean as he came to sit at the table.

He'd snapped the brunette out of her fixation on the blonde, and the moment Carina had turned her head to Dean, Maya had raised her gaze to her.

- "We agree! Carina has become hot?!" quipped Travis.

"And I'm gay!"

The brunette had felt Maya's gaze on her and felt her body heat up even more.

- "I went to Sicily. I just... changed my style..."

- "Well, it looks suuuper good on you!" quipped Vic before popping a morsel into her mouth.

- "really good..." whispered the blonde more to herself, but Carina had heard nonetheless. She had lowered her head and felt herself blushing more.

- "I don't mean to be mean, but in June you were flat-chested and had acne!" quipped Ryan in turn.

- "You guys are all jerks..." quipped Andy, rolling her eyes.

- "Well, the Sicilian sun made me grow, obviously... and it made my pimples disappear!"

- "What about the loves over there?" asked Jack.

Carina had raised her head and met Maya's gaze, which seemed to be waiting for an answer.

- "I don't..."

- "Don't make us think you didn't get hit on..." quipped Travis.

- "Then I wasn't going to say I hadn't been hit on.... But I didn't date anyone."

- "come oooooon, come on, aren't guys in Italy like super hot?" asked Vic.

- "I didn't say guys weren't.... « hot »... just that I hadn't dated anyone."

- "And... besides dating?" asked Andy, playing with her eyebrows.

"Because I haven't dated any guys either.... but I can tell you I enjoyed my summer with pfiouuuu... quite an agenda..."

- "No. Nobody." Carina replied before lowering her head and practically mumbling to herself.

"And... What about you?" she added as she lifted her head, looking at Maya first.

- "I've been dating with three girls!" quipped Jack.

"Dating... I mean..." He'd flashed a charming smile before lifting his chin proud as a rooster.

They'd all responded. All except Maya, and then the brunette had turned her head towards her.

- "Are you really expecting an answer from Bishop?" asked Lucas, laughing.

"She's spent more time training than all of us put together. We've practically seen as much of her as you have this summer!"

- "Then again... it has to be said that up until a week ago, she looked like that old cartoon, Braceface!" laughed Ryan, making the boys chuckle.

Maya had given him a dark look before raising her eyes to Carina, who was still staring at her.

- "You've got a really nice smile..." quipped Carina before immediately realizing she'd just complimented Maya on her looks.

She had lowered her head before biting into her plate and the blonde had looked at her, before feeling her cheeks warm.

After lunch and before sports, they had gone to chemistry class, and again they were sitting together. They had their chemistry glasses on, already working on an experiment, and Carina had found it hard to concentrate with Maya practically glued to her.

"You... you really didn't go out with anyone this summer?" the brunette asked, not daring to look at the blonde.

Maya had turned her gaze back to her before refocusing on the experiment at hand.

- "No... And... you?"

Carina had bitten her lip.

- "... No..."

- "Why?"

- "Why « no »?" asked Carina, surprised.

- "Yeah... you said you'd... been... hit on..."

Carina had removed her glasses and turned just her face to Maya.

- "It... it wasn't mutual..."

- "Oh yeah?"

- "Yeah..." the brunette replied, refocusing on their work in progress.

- "We've known each other for four years, and I don't even think I know what is... your style."

Carina had bitten her lip. She paused before turning her face slightly towards the American, without looking her in the eye.

- "I don't... know yours either..."

Maya had looked at Carina's profile, which was set slightly ahead of her, and bit her lip.

- "That's true..." she'd finally replied when she saw the brunette stop as if waiting for an answer.

Carina had turned her head and looked Maya in the eye.

"You'll be the first to know... when I've found the answer..." the blonde replied in an almost inaudible voice.

- "Yeah... uh... same..." replied Carina, lowering her gaze to Maya's lips.

- "You... you don't know?"

- "Pensavo di non saperlo..." [I thought I didn't know...]

Maya had blinked before raising her eyebrows, and the Italian had seen in her eyes that she had shaken her. Her gaze had fallen on the blonde's lips and Carina had felt her face drawn to the American's.

A classmate had dropped a glass container and it had shattered on the floor, taking them out of their bubble. Carina had stepped back and cleared her throat.

C: Minchia... Ma che sta succedendo? Perché mi sento attratta dalle sue labbra? Perché ho voglia di baciarla? Perché ho voglia di accarezzarle il braccio? E perché non riesco a distogliere lo sguardo da lei? Siamo amiche da quattro anni... Non ho mai desiderato nessuno e ora, non appena mi guarda, vorrei che il suo sguardo non fosse l'unica cosa a « accarezzarmi ». E tutto questo... il primo giorno di scuola.

Non sono nemmeno sicura di aver capito di essere attratta dalle ragazze e... Ci conosciamo da tanto tempo... Allora perché proprio oggi?

[Minchia... But what's going on? Why do I feel drawn to her lips? Why do I want to kiss her? Why do I want to put my hand on her arm? and why can't I take my eyes off her. We've been friends for four years... I've never wanted anyone and now, as soon as she looks at me, I want her gaze not to be the only thing «caressing» me. And all this... on the first day of school.

I'm not even sure I knew I was attracted to girls and... And we've known each other a long time... so why today?]

Carina and Maya had turned sideways to look back, but both towards each other, and the Italian had been the first to look away from the broken glass. She had been watching Maya's face again.

C: Mèches, un apparecchio in meno e... sport... E non riesco più a distogliere lo sguardo... È così bella... Era già così bella?

[Some highlights in her hair, one less brace and... sport... And now I can't look away... She's so beautiful... Was she ever this beautiful?]

Her eyes had fallen into the blonde's décolletage and her thumb had caressed the side of her index finger, as if imagining herself running her thumb over the soft-looking skin protruding from her tank top.

C: E da quando guardo il seno delle ragazze? Se mi chiedesse cosa sto facendo... non saprei cosa risponderle... «Ti guardo perché voglio sapere se il tuo seno è morbido come sembra» non mi sembra una risposta adeguata...

E la sua mascella... perché trovo attraente la sua mascella? Chi è attratto da una mascella?

[And since when do I look at a girl's breasts? If she asks me what I do... I wouldn't know what to answer... «I'm checking you out because I want to know if your breasts are as soft as they look» doesn't seem like an appropriate answer...

And her jaw... why do I find her jaw attractive? Who's attracted to a jaw?]

Maya had laughed at another classmate's joke and turned to Carina, who was looking towards her ear. She immediately ran her hand down the back of her cheek.

- "Is there something on my face?"

- "No, you're perfect..." replied the Italian in a matter-of-fact tone, before turning red and turning towards the whiteboard; lowering her head to hide and Maya had had a huge, embarrassed smile.

- "You... you've changed this summer..." said Maya after a few seconds of looking at the Italian.

- "So have you." Carina replied without daring to look at her again, her chin in the palm of her hand and her elbow on the table, speaking almost without opening her mouth.

- "Do you think so?" the blonde asked after a few seconds of still staring at the Italian.

Still with her chin in her palm, the brunette had turned her head slightly and her eyes fell on Maya before returning to hers.

- "Yeah..." she nodded positively.

- "In... better?"

The Italian had bitten her lip before blushing and turning her face.

- "We... we should get back to it, the class is almost over."

Maya had looked at Carina and bitten the inside of her cheek.

M: Is it all in my head or... Is something going on?

No... I must be dreaming, Carina is far too beautiful... And today she's even more beautiful than before... What's more, she may like guys... but why does she keep looking at me? I don't think I've changed that much...

The Italian could feel the blonde's gaze on her and she had raised her hand, taking her chin to turn her face towards their experience. She'd made the gesture without really thinking and then let her fingers slowly leave Maya's face, almost caressing it, while her heart began to race.

She cleared her throat before swallowing.

When they'd left for gym class, Carina had had confirmation - in case she still had a doubt - that she liked Maya. She'd watched the blonde undress, and as if it wasn't enough to watch every layer of clothing leave her body, she'd seen her do it in slow motion.

She held the door to her dressing room, biting her lip, and what had probably finished her off was when Maya had taken off her tank top to stay in just her bra. It wasn't the first time Maya had undressed in front of her, but it was the first time she'd done it with that body, with her sculpted belly, and Carina had wanted to run her hand over her abs.

Her fist had clenched on the locker door and Maya had cleared her throat, seeing the Italian staring at her. Carina had panicked and, in her attempt to turn around, had caught the locker door in the head.

She put both hands on the door and hid her face behind it, so ashamed was she.

C: Minchia, non mi sono mai vergognato così tanto in vita mia, avrei dovuto filmarla, avrei dovuto chiederle se aveva bisogno di aiuto. Avrei dovuto passare le mani sul suo corpo... Non oserò mai più guardarla. Cosa mi è preso?!

Merda... Ed era così bella anche prima? Era... così ben fatta? Aaaamica, è tua amica. La tua amiiiiica Carina. Smettila di sbavare come un rottweiler ogni volta che la guardi!

[Minchia, I've never been so ashamed in my life, I had to film her, I had to ask her if she needed help. I had to run my hands over her body... I'll never dare look at her again. What was I thinking?!

Shit... And was she as beautiful before? Was she... just as fit? Friiiiiends, she's your friend. Your friend Carina. Stop drooling like a rottweiler every time you look at her!]

- "Sooo, are you getting dressed for sport?" asked Vic as he passed behind Carina.

- "Y-yeah..." she quipped, clearing her throat.

She'd hurried to change and Maya - who'd put on her shorts and another tank top - had watched Carina grab the bottom of her dress, crossing her arms and pulling it away from her anatomy.

M: Oh yeah... her cousin went and gave her a makeover, right down to the underwear... no more «Hanes » underwear... it suits her much better... On the other hand, I'm not sure it was all in my head... she was really looking at me... Unless she was watching, because I've been working out...

The girls had finally emerged from the changing room and Maya had grabbed Carina's elbow.

- "How's your face?"

- "My face?" the brunette asked without understanding.

- "The locker room door..."

The Italian had gone all red.

- "Y-yes, that's fine." She replied ashamed.

- "Are you sure?"

- "I... I wasn't checking you out!" Carina said quickly.

- "That... that's not what I asked you..." replied Maya slightly offended. But at least she had her answer.

She'd gone ahead and the brunette had cursed herself.

C: Arghhh... da quando sono così stupido? E poi cosa penso? Era più che evidente che la stavo guardando... Speravo davvero che mi credesse?

[Arghhh... how long have I been so stupid? And then what do I believe? It was more than obvious that I was looking at her... Did I really expect her to believe me?]

Carina had stopped. She had frowned as she watched Maya leave.

C: Ovviamente, il mio primo amore è una ragazza... e una delle mie migliori amiche... È uno scherzo.

[Obviously, the first crush of my life is a girl... and one of my best friends... It's a joke. It's a joke.]

The Italian had eventually joined her classmates for gym class, and had put herself at the opposite end of the spectrum from Maya in the group.

When warm-ups had begun, the students had gone group by group, and once again, the Italian had watched the blonde warm up, her muscular legs in her mini gym shorts. Her buttocks molded, her belly, her breasts, as Maya ran.

Carina had puffed out her cheeks and looked away, huffing. This new year was clearly not going to be easy.

The next day, the Italian had been relieved not to be next to Maya before the penultimate hour of class, for the chemistry lab, for science lab. It was going to be a slightly longer class than the one the day before.

She'd been relieved to see that today's exercise wasn't a pair assignment, as she'd clearly been avoiding Maya since the day before, talking to her only the minimum required. She'd been so ashamed to be caught looking at her, to take her locker room door by surprise and on top of that to deny it - when Maya hadn't even asked her if she'd checked her out - that she simply wanted to run away from the blonde for the rest of her life.

All week, Carina had tried to avoid Maya's gaze and the blonde had done the same, hearing the Italian say that she wasn't checking her out, even though she hadn't formulated it clearly, she had wondered about it; and for Carina to tell her, which had clearly implied that this was what she'd imagined, had put her to shame. Carina wanted to avoid her for the rest of the school year? Good, because so did she!

However, the following Tuesday, during the science lab class, they'd had to work together, and every time their fingers brushed, they both felt a diffuse warmth in their bodies.

They'd obviously had to work together the week before, but that had been rather complicated, as Carina always felt ashamed at having been caught looking at Maya. But this week, the blonde wanted things to go back to the way they'd been, at least a little more normal, in a world where Carina wasn't avoiding her. And where she wasn't running away from her either. After all, she hadn't asked Carina if she was checking her out, and since the answer was no anyway, there was no need for their relationship to be strange.

- "You didn't wear dresses before..." quipped Maya without looking at the brunette.

- "No..."

- "It looks great on you..."

- "Do you think so?"

- "Yeah... I like it..."

Carina had poured a pipette of solution into a beaker and bit her lip.

- "And... I like that you're wearing jeans now..."

- "You do?"

- "Yeah... looks good on you..."

Maya had turned her head towards Carina and the brunette had smiled slightly embarrassed.

- "I'll continue to wore them, then."

It was Wednesday. Maya and Carina had now been back at school for three and a half weeks; and for the past two weeks, the Italian had been a little less ashamed of having been caught looking at her friend's body, during the first sports class of their junior year.

They were in study hour and sitting next to each other. Carina had her hand flat on the table between her notebook and Maya's, and had been rereading the same sentence for over ten minutes. They were practically glued together, and the brunette couldn't concentrate on anything other than their proximity.

As for the blonde, she was tapping the end of her pen on her notebook and couldn't focus on her lessons either; her eyes were on Carina's hand, resting there, as if waiting for something.

Maya had finally let go of her pen and placed her hand next to the brunette's. The outside of her hand and her little finger had come to rest against Carina's and the Italian had just turned her gaze to their hand side by side, and she had felt her heart race a little more.

Her breathing had quickened and she'd moved her little finger slightly to caress the side of Maya's.

The blonde bit her lip and in turn moved her little finger against Carina's. She raised her hand slightly and ran her finger over the Italian girl's. Then the brunette moved her little finger under Maya's to caress her fingers in turn. Or at least her little finger and ring finger.

Andy turned to speak to them and Maya had the quickest reflex of her life. She immediately withdrew her hand and picked up her pen again.

- "By the way... My father's out of the house on Friday. Would you like to do something at home?"

Andy had looked at Maya, then Carina, and she'd seen that the brunette was all red.

"Something wrong?"

- "No!" Said the Sicilian, raising her gaze to her before speaking again.

"And, yes for Friday."

- "What about you, Bishop?"

- "Yeah, totally."

- "I could pick you up... If you want..." Carina said, finally daring to look at the blonde at the end of her sentence.

- "I'd like that." Maya replied.

Andy had squinted slightly and she had looked at them in turn. Then she'd finally turned around.

The Italian had taken Maya's pen, keeping her hand over her notebook, and the blonde had looked at her with a shocked expression. She had leaned forward slightly towards Carina.

"What do you think you're doing, DeLuca?"

The brunette had smiled, looked at Maya, as if to challenge her, and while looking at her she had brought the lead of the pen close to the paper and started to draw. The American pretended to be outraged and reached under the table to tickle Carina's waist. The Italian laughed, and in revenge drew a line down Maya's arm.

The blonde had opened her lips wide and she'd made eyes at Carina.

"You'll pay for this!"

- "You think I'm afraid of you Bishop?!"

Maya had quickly taken the pencil from Carina's hands and looked at her with menacing eyes.

"I'm not afraid of you!"

While looking at her, Maya had lowered the pencil to place the lead on Carina's arm.

"If we go to detention because of you..."

- "You started it..."

Maya had looked Carina in the eye, and moved her hand making a line across her skin.

The Italian had opened her lips, shocked, and had come to run the tip of her tongue against her molars, then lightly closed her teeth against them. Maya's eyes had moved down to her mouth; then Carina had felt her cheeks redden and had passed her hand over the blonde's eyes, so that she would stop looking at her.

The American had come to retrieve Carina's hand from over her eyes, and as their hands descended beneath the desk, the Italian had intertwined Maya's pinkie and ring fingers with her index and middle fingers.

The brunette bit her lip and finally turned around. She'd let go of Maya's hand and leaned back against the back of her chair, unable to wipe the smile off her face. She'd rested her hand on the desk between their notebooks, and Maya had frowned. She'd come and put her hand back next to the Italian's and stroked the back of her hand with her little finger. Then Carina bit her lip again.

The blonde finally stopped caressing. She picked up the pen again and placed it on the side of Carina's hand, level with the bone before her little finger, and drew a tiny picture.

She had drawn a smiley face with a huge smile.

Carina had looked at her hand and squinted, frowning as if to tell Maya that she didn't «understand» why a smiley face.

"You make me smile like that when I see you..."

Carina had taken the pen in turn. She had pretended to think, not paying attention to the fact that it was Maya's pen she was putting in her mouth. Then she had withdrawn the pencil from between her lips to bring it close to the blonde's hand. And in the same place, but on the American's right hand, she had drawn a little heart.

She then placed her hand flat on Maya's so that she couldn't see what she'd drawn.

The blonde then leaned forward.

"You know it's my hand, so I'll be able to, see it? I'm going to be able to know what it is..."

Carina had blushed but hadn't withdrawn her hand.

Maya had turned her body slightly and her knee had come against the Italian's.
Her foot had pivoted slightly, and she'd come to «caress» Carina's foot with her own. Or at least the tip of her shoe against the brunette's.

The Italian had slowly withdrawn her hand and she'd come to take the blonde's fingers in her fist, raising her phalanges slightly, to show her the little heart.

"Why a heart?" The blonde whispered, leaning forward slightly.

Carina, who was still holding Maya's fingertips, had placed her thumb against the side of the blonde's index finger. Then she raised her shoulders. As if to say «I don't know».

The Sicilian had then let go of Maya's hand and she had come against the table, leaning her elbows on it and her chin in the palms of her hands.

Maya had smiled and her fingers had come against the back of Carina's elbow and caressed her skin, giving her goose bumps.

The Italian had unfolded her fingers and come to bury her face in her hands.

C: Mi farà venire un infarto. Probabilmente non si rende conto che mi fa battere forte il cuore ogni volta che mi sfiora. E ogni volta che mi sorride... Ogni volta che mi guarda... Ogni volta che respira...

Accetterebbe se le chiedessi di... «uscire» con me? Come un... appuntamento? Siamo amici da... molto tempo, ma ho voglia di giocare con le sue dita, ho voglia di baciarla... Di tenerle la mano... Ho voglia di accarezzarle la pelle...

[She's going to give me a heart attack. She probably doesn't realize that she makes my heart race every time she brushes up against me. And every time she smiles at me... Every time she looks at me... As soon as she breathes...

Would she agree if I asked her to... «go out» with me? Like a... Date? We've been friends for... A long time but I want to play with her fingers, I want to kiss her... To hold her hand... I want to caress her skin...]

M: Why do I love it so much when she reacts like that? when she blushes, just because I brush my thumb against her... When she's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. I want too much to get closer... I want too much to lean in and kiss her shoulder...

We've been friends for a long time, but for the last three weeks, I can't think of anything but her. Only her smell, only the softness of her skin, only her beautiful face.

Carina had taken her face out of her hands and, with her chin still resting in her hands, had turned her head towards Maya.

- "What's wrong?" the blonde asked.

Carina had lowered one of her hands - dropping her chin and she had looked at Maya's hand on her arm.

The blonde had withdrawn her hand.

"Pardon me!" she made as if to tell her «I didn't realize it was a problem.»

The brunette had come to retrieve Maya's hand from under the desk and put it back on top, then she had come to caress the back of her hand again - at the level of the drawing she had made for her, under her little finger.

The blonde had bitten her lip and smiled in spite of herself, feeling her cheeks tingle with red.

The next day, after English class, they had worked as a group in anatomy and physiology. It wasn't a class where they sat together, but as they had to work in groups of four, they'd ended up with Andy and Vic.

Carina had moved her chair closer to Maya's, gluing their shoulders together, and opened her textbook on female anatomy.

"Are you interested in female anatomy?"

The Italian had bitten her lip.

- "Are you in any doubt?"

Maya's cheeks had immediately turned red. She hadn't expected this answer.

"May I remind you that I want to be an obstetrician?" added Carina and the blonde had felt ashamed, even more so. Ashamed that she'd thought she was saying this for her.

Then the Italian had come a little closer, and spoken a little more softly. So that only Maya could hear her.

"But I don't think anatomy «only» interests me professionally..."

- "Anatomy... in general?"

C: La tua... [Yours...]

- "Female anatomy..."

Maya had turned her head towards Carina and the Italian's eyes had fallen on her lips.

- "Really?"

- "You doubt it?" she asked, even lower, before raising her gaze to the blonde's.

- "Since school started I-"

- "Allooooo are you with us?" asked Vic.

Maya had turned her head to Vic and Carina had clenched her jaws before exhaling. She had grabbed the first page of her manual and closed it a little violently, startling Maya.

C: Da quando è iniziato l'anno scolastico? Da quando è iniziato l'anno scolastico ha notato che la guardavo? Da quando è iniziato l'anno scolastico mi vede in modo diverso? Da quando è iniziato l'anno scolastico c'è qualcosa di diverso tra noi?

[Since school started year what? Since school started, has she noticed me looking at her? Since school started, does she see me differently? Has anything changed between us since school started?]

M: If we keep going like this, we'll get caught before anything even happens between us. I don't even know if what I think is true. Did she notice that on the first day of school I had... «fell for» her and that she's trying to see if she likes me? Or does she have a crush on me too? What are the chances, the probabilities, that after knowing each other for four years, we're starting to like each other at the same time? She's the smart one, she's the one who could answer that question.

And what makes me think that such an intelligent woman would be interested in a rather average girl, who's mostly good at sports?

Carina had leaned her elbows on the desk, passing one arm in front of the other and the one behind - the more hidden of the two, had unfolded her hand and her index finger had come, secretly, to gently caress Maya's arm, as they tried to concentrate on the course.

The American had shifted her chair slightly and pressed herself up against Carina.

They had both been listening to Andy, then after a few minutes, the Italian had turned slightly; she had put one of her arms on the back of Maya's chair, and had come to rest against her body, her chest against her arm, and her other hand resting on the blonde's notebook.

Maya had leaned back slightly, and the brunette had reached out with her thumb to stroke her back over her T-shirt.

The American had finally turned her head towards the brunette and moved her hand slightly over her notebook, too, to bring her hand closer to the Sicilian's, and detailed the brunette's face. They were rarely this close, and Carina didn't seem to want to hide the fact that she was attracted to her. Not today, she didn't.

The Sicilian's other thumb had unfolded slightly, then brushed against Maya's hand on the course book, and the blonde had lowered her gaze to her lips.

The more she felt Carina's thumb on her hand, the closer her face came to that of the Italian. Finally, she'd pulled herself together. She'd taken the brunette's hand in hers - as if to ask her to stop, then turned away. She'd let go of the Sicilian's hand before coming to put her hand on her own thigh under the desk - wiping her sweaty palm on her leg, and she'd stuck herself in the back of her chair. She had felt Carina's hand - which was still on the backrest, running her fingers against her side and her thumb continuing to caress her slowly.

Maya knew that today she had two more classes where she'd be next to Carina, and she didn't know if she was hating or afraid. And if the brunette had finally been good in biology, in lab class - before the last class of the day, that hadn't really been the case.

Just as Maya had emptied a beaker into a flask that was heating up in the benzene burner, Carina had come to run her hand over her wrist. Then her thumb had caressed her skin as she brought the blonde's hand back to the table.

- "Tomorrow we... we're going to Andy's..."

- "Um-" Maya made, halfway between a throat clearing and a sound of validation.

- "But I..." Carina had bitten her lip.

"We could do something... Saturday?"

- "I think Saturday, Vic she... she's not available..." replied Maya, not sure what she was proposing.

- "No... I was talking about... you and... me... just... the two of us." She said before lowering her eyes, her index finger still resting against the American's wrist.

"I mean, if you agree..." she added hurriedly, not daring to look at her.

Maya's hand had turned slightly on the tiled table and Carina's fingers had slid against her palm.

- "Yeah... I'd like that..." replied Maya, looking at the brunette's fingers against the inside of her hand; before bending her phalanges to come and caress Carina's fingertips.

- "Really?" asked the brunette before finally daring to turn her face away from the blonde.

- "You doubt it?" replied the American, echoing Carina's words from the day before.

The Italian had quickly withdrawn her hand from Maya's as she sensed Professor Shepherd coming up behind her, but she hadn't been able to wipe the smile off her face the entire end of class.

On Friday, during the last hour of class, physical education, Carina had once again been unable to look away from Maya as she stripped down to her gym clothes. She really enjoyed watching the blonde undress before class, but she loved it even more afterwards, as the American's body was sweaty and glistening. Her muscles flexed under the recent effort and she looked even more sublime in her eyes. And obviously today it was harder than on other days to hide.

Maya must have sensed this because she'd dragged her feet a little and Vic and Andy had already gone to the shower cubicles.

The blonde had approached the brunette and removed her tank top, remaining in her sports bra and shorts in front of her.

"Tonight... what time are you picking me up?"

Carina had watched a drop of Maya's sweat slide from the top of her chest to disappear against the seam of her bra and bit her lip.

- "when you want..." the Sicilian replied as she looked at her, her head tilted back slightly.

The blonde had sat down and brought her fingers close to Carina's on the bench. She had slipped her index finger under the Italian's fingers and her thumb had come to caress the back of her phalanges.

- "What about tomorrow?"

Carina had bitten her lip.

- "We could... go to the restaurant... then to the movie theater?"

- "To the restaurant?"

- "Yeah well... something within our means... we can go to fast food.... If you can still eat some..."

Maya had lowered her gaze to her belly.

- "I think I've got a bit of a margin..." she replied with a smile.

- "You definitely have a margin..."

The blonde had blushed and Carina had looked down at her abs. They too were glistening. Maya had grabbed her tank top and sponged her belly.

- "Sorry, I'm sweating like crazy..."

The Sicilian had raised one of her eyebrows.

C: Non mi dà fastidio... anzi, per niente... Mi fa venire ancora più voglia di passarci le dita... è troppo sexy...

[It doesn't really bother me... not at all... I just want to run my fingers over it even more... it's too sexy...]

- "At six-thirty?" she finally says before huffing slightly, as if to save herself from leaning over there right now, and kissing Maya.

- "Perfect... Tonight too?"

- "Yeah... if that's okay with you."

- "Perfect."

C: Come te... perfetta... [Like you... perfect...]

That evening, as planned, Carina had come to pick up Maya. She had gotten out of the car, but the blonde had left the house before she reached the door.

- "Wow..." the American whispered as she saw Carina in an elegant, long-sleeved black dress.

The Italian had let her eyes drift down Maya's body. She wore a black shirt with fitted plaid pants, her hair pulled back in a ponytail.

- "I thought I preferred you with your hair loose, but..."

- "But?" asked Maya as she reached her level.

Carina had come to take Maya into her arms for a hug and had whispered.

- "But you're..."

They had stepped back and the blonde had plunged her gaze into the brunette's.

- "But I'm..."

- "Wow..." murmured the Italian.

They had walked to the car and, once seated, realized it was the first time they'd been alone. The first time since school started. Not alone at a desk in a classroom full of other students, not alone in study hall, or alone in the changing rooms while the others were in the showers. No, really alone, just them.

Carina had started off, both hands on the wheel, and Maya's eyes had fallen on her thighs, then on the bottom of her dress as it slid up her legs.

She'd moved her gaze back up her arms.

- "You've got long sleeves..."

For her part, Maya had her sleeves rolled up.

- "Indeed..." the brunette replied, frowning, not sure she understood.

- "It's just that..."

- "What?"

M: That I like to caress your arm and see that I give you goose bumps...

- "No, nothing..."

- "Did you always knew?" the brunette asked after several minutes of silence.

- "Knew, what?"

Carina bit her lip. The question had slipped from her mind out of the blue, and she hadn't imagined she'd have to say it out loud. Or even that the sentence itself would actually leave her lips aloud.

The Italian had rested her elbow on the windowsill and put her head in the palm of her hand, before taking a breath. She'd stopped at the red light and turned her head slightly towards Maya.

- "Nothing, I shouldn't have said that..."

There had been a few seconds, then when Carina had started up again, Maya had opened her lips hesitantly.

- "I think so... I wasn't really... surprised... I was more surprised by... «who»..."

- "I think we both were..."

- "Did you... knew?"

- "Not really... I guess I hadn't really asked myself..."

- "Really?!" asked the astonished blonde.

- "I was concentrating on my studies..."

- "And... not anymore?"

Carina had given Maya a sideways glance as if to say «it's your fault». Before looking back at the road again.

- "I didn't really have a choice..."

The blonde had bitten the inside of her cheek, to stop herself smiling, understanding «it's your fault».

Eventually, they'd arrived at Andy's and got out of the car. Walking down the driveway, Maya had caught two of Carina's fingers and ran her thumb against them, before releasing her hand.

The Italian had clenched her fist, stopping herself from taking the blonde's hand again, and they'd gone back to Andy's. They'd talked to their friends, then gone back to their apartment.

They talked with their friends, then went together to the kitchen for a drink.

Carina had handed Maya a bottle, then the blonde had deliberately put her hand on the Italian's and they'd stayed that way for a few seconds.

- "Do you want to come and sit down?"

- "Isn't it going to be too much to spend two evenings in a row with me?"

- "It's going to be too little..." replied Maya.

They'd taken their drinks and gone to settle on the sofa, glued together.

Carina had clenched her fist on the bottom of her dress and pulled at it.

"Excuse me!" said the embarrassed blonde.

The Italian had turned her head, frowning.

"Oh!!! Oh... That wasn't... not in relation to..."

The Italian had blushed.

- "No... I hadn't seen you..."

- "Was looking at your legs..." mused Maya to herself, raising her glass to her lips and coming to drink. Embarrassed.

- "I looked at your butt..." replied Carina, turning her head away.

"Those pants really suit you..." she whispered before taking a drink herself.

Carina had then rested her arm on the armrest, her glass in her hand and the other resting on her thigh, then slightly pulled up the bottom of her dress.

Maya had watched her gesture but had quickly come to put her hand over hers to stop her.

- "We're not alone!"

- "If we'd been alone, would you have let me ride it higher?" The brunette asked, intertwining her fingers with Maya's on the back of her hand.

The blonde had looked into the Italian's eyes and they had quickly let go of each other's hands, remembering that they weren't alone.

When they'd moved on to the table, they'd sat down next to each other again, on the bench.
Carina had put her hand on the bench and Maya had put her hand right next to it; and very quickly, they had come to caress again with their little finger.

The Italian had finished her drink, and rather than refilling it, she had taken Maya's glass, and while looking at her sideways, brought it to her lips.

- "Please yourself."

The brunette had swallowed and smiled.

- "Do you mind?"

- "You know what they say..."

- "Maybe that's my purpose."

- "I'm not sure it should be..."

- "I'm even more interested in reading your mind now..." Carina replied, raising the glass to her lips again.

After dinner, they had moved back to the sofa, and this time they weren't alone.

- "There's plenty of room. You don't have to stick like that." Jack said.

Maya had felt like telling him to mind his own business, but instead she'd shifted slightly.

She'd put her hand on the sofa between them.

- "Better?"

- "I'm saying this for you..."

C: Ma a me andava bene stare attaccata a Maya... [But I was fine being stuck to Maya...]

Instead of answering, the brunette had also come to put her hand between them on the sofa seat, placed her palm on Maya's fingers, then closed her fingers over hers, caressing the blonde's little finger with her thumb.

They had continued their conversation with their friends and after about twenty minutes, Carina had seen Ryan look at her hand and frown slightly, probably wondering if she had placed her hand on Maya's.

Carina had cleared her throat. She'd removed her hand from the blonde's and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees.

Maya had lifted herself slightly before sitting back down and had approached the Italian almost imperceptibly. With her little finger, she sought out the hem of Carina's dress. She passed it underneath, caressing her thigh out of sight.

The blonde looked at the brunette and saw her bite her lip. Then her breathing became more intense. In fact, Carina was even tachycardic. It was the first time another person had caressed a part of her body, even if it was just two square centimeters of her thigh and just with a pinkie, it was unheard of. And it was being done by the person who'd been living in her dreams for four weeks soon.

Carina had finally brought one of her arms up, still resting on her knee, and had come to put her hand in front of her lips, her chin in her palm. And Maya had blushed. It was only the lightest caress of the smallest of her fingers, and yet Carina seemed entranced.

The brunette had finally leaned forward and grabbed her glass from the coffee table, before sitting back down and taking a big gulp.

- "Were you really thirsty?" Maya asked, leaning forward slightly so that only she could hear.

Carina had turned her head towards her and looked at her in «you're abusing...» mode.

"Can I drink from your glass?"

- "Are you sure?"

- "I know it's not really possible, but I'd love to read your mind right now."

- "I'd tell you to read my eyes... But..." She had looked away. Unable to look at Maya because she had so much desire for her, then she'd handed her her glass.

Tonight, they were staying at Andy's and, as usual, Vic slept with Carina and Maya with Andy. They hadn't wanted to arouse suspicion about something that didn't yet exist, or perhaps only existed in their heads, so they hadn't said they wanted to sleep together.

They had, however, managed to pass each other, alone, in the corridor, when one had come out of the bathroom and the other was about to go in.

"Good night..." Carina whispered, sliding her hand down the blonde's forearm.

- "Good night Carina." Maya replied when the brunette's hand had reached her fingers.

A noise had sounded behind them and they had let go of each other's hands. Maya had gone to Andy's room and Carina to the bathroom, but before she could get in, she'd turned around and seen Maya in a pair of gray boxer shorts and a slightly short t-shirt, also gray. She had bitten her lip before entering the bathroom.

When she'd come out and crawled into bed with Vic in the guest room, she'd picked up her phone.

Carina: Very nice pajamas...
Carina: good night bella.

Maya: I'd like to see you in pajamas too...

Carina: I can't take a photo of you, I think Vic would question me...

Maya: You can always use my imagination...

Carina bit her lip, blushing.

C: Mi sta corteggiando tramite messaggi?! [She's flirting with me through messages?!]

As she had favored her internal dialogue over answering, she had again seen three small dots appear on the bottom of the screen.

Maya: Well, you don't have to!

Carina: I was just wondering whether I should tell the truth or...

Maya: Or what I wanted to read?

Carina: What do you want to read?

Maya: ...

Carina: ...

Maya: ...

Carina: ... ?

Maya: ...

Carina: I don't sleep naked... If that's what it is...

The American had turned red.

Maya: No! No, it wasn't that. I don't want to imagine that!

Carina: aoutch... Okay...
Carina: Good night.

Maya: No, sorry, that came out wrong. I don't want to imagine you sleeping naked with Vic.

Carina: And...
Carina : Without Vic?

Maya : How are your pajamas?

Carina: I knew I was going to sleep with Vic, so I just have a pair of old basketball shorts and a T-shirt that's too big.

Maya: And if you'd known you were going to sleep with...
Maya: Someone else?

Carina: Andy?

Maya: Or me...

Carina had bitten her lip.

- "Who are you writing to at this hour?!" Vic asked.

- "To nobody!"

- "And that «nobody» is hot?" She asked, leaning on her elbow.

C: hot non è nemmeno abbastanza potente ... [Hot isn't even powerful enough ...]

- "Sleep!"

- "You too! Or I'll take your phone!"

- "I just say good night and turn it off..."

- "So... There's definitely a hottie behind that «person»..."

- "I promise, if it becomes... Something. You'll know..."

- "Okay. But I just have one question."

- "Yes?"

- "Hot?"

- "That word is a million miles from the truth... It's not even strong enough..."

- "Go ahead. Answer ... Because your phone won't stop vibrating."

Maya: Did you fall asleep?
Maya: Unless I'm misunderstanding our exchanges.
Maya: It's stressing me out, you haven't fallen asleep yet... Leaving me like this...
Maya: I feel stupid...

Carina: Sorry, I've been interrogated... To find out who I was writing to...
Carina: You understand our exchanges very well.
Carina: I'm going to have trouble falling asleep, knowing you're in the next room.
Carina: You're far from stupid...
Carina: You're a lot of things to me, except stupid.
Carina: And I'm going to leave you... Even if I don't want to, because I can feel Vic watching me.

Carina thought for a few seconds and then added a final message.

Carina: If we ever sleep together... You can wear those same pajamas... And I'll wear whatever you want...

Maya had smiled widely, hesitating to be «frank».

Maya: Don't tell me that...

Carina: Whatever you like.
Carina: Good night bella...♡

Maya: Good night Carina...♡
Maya: (I know it also means «pretty».... And it suits you very well... Very, very well indeed...)

Carina had bitten her lip and closed her eyes, resting the phone on her heart.

They'd both had trouble falling asleep, and waking up the next morning had been hard. But in reality, they were both excited to finally be on Saturday. Simply because that very evening, they were going out together. Carina hadn't used the term «first date», but that's what this moment had meant to both of them.

The Italian ended up walking the blonde home before heading back to her place.

Maya had had to train today and Carina had revised a little. She'd found it extremely difficult to concentrate in class since the start of the school year, because all she could think about was Maya. And even today, it had been very difficult for the two of them to focus on anything other than each other.

When it was time to get ready, she hesitated for a long moment in front of her wardrobe.

Maya seemed to like her in the dress; but at the same time, it was getting a little cooler, as they were a week away from the end of September.

C: È un appuntamento? Avrei dovuto dirle chiaramente che era quello che volevo? Ma avrebbe detto di sì, se glielo avessi detto? Posso sempre vestirmi come se fosse un appuntamento...

[Is this a date? Should I have told her that's what I wanted? But would she have said yes, if I'd told her? I can always dress like it's a date...]

The Italian had finished getting ready and had driven to Maya's house.

She'd wanted to pick the blonde up at her front door, but Maya had asked if she could send her a message when she got to her house, so she did.

The American met her at the car and the brunette smiled widely. She hadn't had the «pleasure» of fetching her to the door, but she'd got out of the car anyway.

Carina had been waiting in front of the car and when Maya had reached her level, she had taken her in her arms.

- "Not as good as your pajamas, but..." The brunette whispered.

- "And it's not worth my mind's pajamas but..."

They'd stepped back and the Italian had squinted.

- "What was it like?"

- "Maybe I'll answer you someday..."

Carina had put her hand on the handle of the car door and opened it.

- "I really hope you'll tell me..." She said before closing the door.

She'd circled the car and driven before parking near a small restaurant, Carmelo's Tacos.

They were seated and Carina asked Maya what she wanted to drink. They'd ended up ordering and the Italian had smiled when she'd heard Maya ask for all the onions to be removed from her dishes, even though she normally ate them.

"Do you have something against onions?" The brunette asked with a smile.

Maya had blushed.

- "Er... no. I don't... I don't... I don't feel like it..."

M: If this is a date... I don't really feel like eating onions...

As they waited for their food, Carina slid her hand across the table, then came to grasp the third phalanx of Maya's middle finger with her fingers. Her other hand supporting her cheek, her elbow on the table. She looked at the blonde, exactly as she'd looked at her in the locker room.

- "How was training?"

- "We didn't get much sleep ... But it's been okay."

- "Oh! You... You should have told me if you didn't want us to go out tonight. You must be tired!"

- "I... I really wanted to go out tonight... Well, no. I really wanted to go out with you tonight."

Carina had bitten her lip and the blonde had moved her hand forward a little more on the table to come and close her fingers on the brunette's too.

- "Do you think... I could come and watch you train or... Even at one of your races... Sometime?"

- "Would you... Interested?" Asked the surprised blonde.

- "Yeah... I... There's a lot of stuff I'm interested in..."

- "A lot of stuff?"

- "About you..."

- "Oh..." Maya replied, looking away.

- "Did you have a doubt?"

- "That's always nice to hear..."

- "Afterwards, if you don't want me to come..."

- "yes... I'd like to. I mean, I'd love to..."

The waitress had finally brought their plates and they had dined, practically avoiding speaking.

- "That's... It's strange, isn't it?"

- "what?"

- "us..."

- "You think it's strange that it's just the two of us going out?" Maya asked, sadness in her voice.

- "No. Sorry, I'm expressing myself badly... I feel like we're... Stuck... We've known each other for a long time and I feel like we're embarrassed..."

- "I'm not embarrassed to be with you... It's just that... I'm happy and at the same time, I don't know how to act because this is the first time I've eaten... «one-on-one»... And then... We're friends, but..."

- "It's not like before?"

- "Yes, that's it... But I wouldn't want to be anywhere else... And... With anyone else..."

- "Me neither, Maya..."

Carina's phone had rung and she'd lifted her gaze to the blonde.

- "I set an alarm for us to go to the cinema, so we wouldn't miss the movie."

They had gotten up and gone to the cashier. Maya had taken out her wallet and Carina had put her hand on hers.

"I asked you out... I'm inviting you... Unless... Unless you don't want to..."

- "yes... Totally!" Maya replied with a huge grin, making the brunette smile.

M: So it is a date...

C: Allora è davvero un appuntamento... Penso che sia una conferma. Non ha detto di sì così, senza essere sicura che fosse quello di cui stavo parlando...

Ho un vero appuntamento con Maya...

[So it is a date... I think it's a confirmation. She didn't just say yes, without being sure that's what I was talking about...
I have a real date with Maya...]

Carina had paid and then they had gone to the car, their hands brushing against each other. The Italian had shivered and the blonde had immediately taken off her jacket and put it on the Sicilian's shoulders.

- "You're cold!"

- "No... No, I'm not."

- "Yes, you are, you just shivered."

Carina had stopped a few yards from the car.

- "Maya it's not the temperature... It's because your hand keeps brushing against mine..."

- "Oh..." Replied the blonde, blushing.

- "But... I don't mind keeping your jacket... It... It smells like you..."

The American bit her lip and took Carina's little finger with her index finger to finish the walk to the car.

The Italian had driven to the multiplex and once there, they'd headed for the ticket booths.

- "Can I pay for our seats?"

- "No, you can't... If you'd like... Invite me... You'll have to do it... yourself. But today... I'm inviting you..."

- "I'd be embarrassed..."

- "It would bother me if we each paid for our own place... Or that you pay for both of us, when it took me more than two weeks to propose that we see each other alone..."

- "Okay, okay, okay..."

They had finally moved into the cinema. Carina had turned her gaze to Maya, who was watching the trailers, and the blonde had ended up smiling.

"Stop looking at me..." Maya whispered.

- "Stop making me want to look at you..."

- "I'm literally doing nothing..."

- "Well, you're doing it beautifully..."

The light faded in the cinema room and Maya had finally placed her hand on the armrest between them. In turn, the Italian had come to put her hand on the armrest and after a few more minutes Carina had slid her hand to brush Maya's and had come to move her little finger against the blonde's.

The American had moved her hand completely and intertwined her fingers with those of Carina. Both their hearts had started to race and they could both feel that the other had a sweaty hand too.

Carina had finally removed their joined hands from the armrest and had come to place them on her bare thigh. Since she was in a dress, Maya's heart had missed a beat.

The blonde had finally relaxed her fingers and the tips of her phalanges had passed against Carina's thigh before coming to close on her skin and the American had been able to feel the brunette melt into her seat, or at least sink slightly.

They'd opted for a movie that lasted three hours, and sometimes Carina would turn her face away from the screen, to look at Maya instead. She did this especially when the blonde came over - probably without paying attention, caressing her thumb with her own, as they hadn't let go of each other's hand.

She wondered how she was supposed to get her heart to stop racing, because right now it felt like it hadn't stopped since Maya had taken her hand. Or maybe even since she'd picked her up.

On the way out of the cinema, Carina had put on Maya's jacket again, and the blonde had then taken her ring and little fingers from her index and middle fingers.

They walked back to the car and Carina again held the door for Maya.

When it was her turn to get behind the wheel and start driving towards the blonde's house, Maya had done something that could have caused them an accident, if the Italian hadn't been so focused in the car.

She had slipped her hand onto her thigh, without any ulterior motive, and the Italian had gone into extrasystole. Her heart had then started to race, and her hands had clenched on the steering wheel.

- "I've had a... A wonderful evening Carina..." She'd withdrawn her hand, as if she'd put it on her thigh, just to signal that she was going to talk to her.

- "I wish I could have done more... It was just a restaurant and a movie theater..."

- "I wanted to spend time only with you..."

- "And I wanted to spend time only with you... I just didn't know how to ask you..."

- "But you had more courage than me..."

Eventually they had arrived in front of Maya's house and Carina had stopped the car.

"I know I probably shouldn't tell you... But I don't really want to go home now... But I have to. I told my parents I'd be home at midnight... And it's already nearly midnight..."

- "I'd love to stay with you..."

- "Do you think that one day..." Carina began, before stopping herself.

- "That one day... What?"

- "Nothing... It's a strange request and probably... Inappropriate."

- "Tell me, Carina..."

- "No... Stop it, I'm too ashamed to have... Thought of it..."

- "If you like, I'll tell you something I'd like...and you tell me what it is.... ?"

- "Hummm... Okay."

- "I'd like it if... If one day we could see about sleeping together... I mean... Together, together. Not like when we have a party at Andy's or Vic's... Where we each sleep in our own room... Separate."

Carina had bitten her lip.

"And... You?"

- "My sentence... It was ... «do you think one day you could come and sleep at my place, or vice versa».... And I was thinking about... Just us..."

- "Yeah... I'd like that... I'd like... Really, really like that to be honest..."

They'd finally gotten out of the car and their hands had naturally joined.

Carina had walked Maya to the door and, once they were on the porch, the Italian had turned around.

Her hand turned slightly, still holding the blonde's, and she ran her thumb over the back of her hand.

Finally, she'd stepped forward, timidly, and her face had come close to Maya's. She'd deviated and placed her hand on Maya's shoulder. She had deviated and placed her lips on her cheek. She'd felt like kissing her on the mouth but hadn't dared.

- "Good night... Maya..." She'd whispered this against her cheek.

She'd pulled back and the blonde had exhaled slightly.

- "Good night... Carina..."

The Italian had started to back away, until their hands were no longer touching, then she'd turned around. She was about to descend the steps, but Maya had caught her hand.

"Wait... Carina" said the blonde, stopping her to turn around.

Maya had approached the Italian, still holding her hand.

"Was it really on the cheek that you wanted to kiss me?"

- "No..."

- "Then... Why did you deflect from my lips?"

Carina had bitten her lip.

- "I... I've never kissed anyone..."

- "And you don't want me to be... The first?"

- "Yes... Three weeks ago I'd never thought of kissing anyone... And for the last three weeks... I've had only one thought..."

- "So why?"

- "I'm afraid I suck... Or that maybe you didn't mean to..."

Maya had moved forward a little more, narrowing the space between them, all the while looking Carina in the eye. Eventually, she'd lowered her gaze to her lips and made the gap nonexistent.

They had both closed their eyes, and their lips, slightly forward, somewhat half-open, had slowly collided. They stayed that way for a few seconds, before pulling back.

With their hearts racing, they had both opened their eyes again and smiled at each other.

"How... How did it go?" Carina asked in a barely audible voice.

- "I have no point of comparison... But I liked it a lot..."

- "What do you mean, no point of comparison?"

- "It was my first kiss too..."

- "Really?" The Italian asked, tilting her head slightly.

Maya had slowly nodded.

- "Yes..."

- "And... Do you think... That we could do it again?"

- "Yeah... Totally..."

While they were still holding one hand, Carina had raised the other, laid her fingertips on the blonde's jaw, then leaned forward slightly, her lips parted again.

Maya's upper lip had found its way between Carina's and the Italian had let hers «caress» Maya's, while feeling the blonde's lower lip slide under hers.

Their hands had let go and Carina's had slid down the blonde's back to hold her against her. Their lips had parted, but the Italian had returned again, this time sliding her upper lip between Maya's, and Carina had felt the blonde's hand tighten on her side, then the other on her elbow.

They kissed for a few seconds. Lips practically sealed.

Then Maya had felt Carina shiver.

"Are you cold?" She asked, pulling back from her lips.

- "No... I just really like kissing you..."

The blonde had smiled a huge smile, then slid her hand from Carina's side to the small of her back and came to kiss her again, sticking her to her body.

They'd finally pulled back.

"I'd love to stay here and kiss you all night... But I've got to go..."

- "If I walk you to your car, could I kiss you goodnight?"

- "But then... I'd feel like walking you to the door and... I'd steal a kiss... And I'm the one who invited you tonight... So it's up to me to have the honor of walking you to the door..."

- "Would you agree to go out with me again? Perhaps... Next Saturday?"

- "With pleasure."

Carina had come close to place her lips on Maya's for a smack and then taken her leave.

She got back into the car. She had turned her head towards Maya to see her enter the house, and when the door closed, Carina had let out a cry of joy as she tapped the steering wheel. Immediately she saw light coming from her right, and turning her head, she saw Maya standing in the doorway.

C: Non può avermi sentito da lì! Non ho gridato così forte! O sì? [She couldn't have heard me from there! I didn't shout «so» loudly?! ... Yes?]

Carina had slowly brought her hand up and made an embarrassed gesture to Maya.

M: I was dreaming? Did she scream? I thought she was in trouble, or being attacked... But... No...

Maya had blushed before biting her lip with a smile. She waved back, then closed the door.

M: She didn't «scream» because we finally kissed, did she? No... There must have been a spider...

She leaned against the front door and hid her face in the jacket Carina had given her back.

M: Or else... It's because we kissed...

She'd pressed the fabric to her lips to keep herself from screaming back, and after an internal «yesssss», she'd stuck her head back against the door.

Eventually she'd gone upstairs and changed into her pajamas, waiting patiently for Carina's message to say she'd made it home.

The message had arrived a few minutes after she'd left Maya's house.

Carina: I'm home safe and sound, bella.
Carina: Thanks again for coming with me tonight...

Maya: Thanks for asking me out tonight...

Carina: Why «...»?

Maya: I don't know... You put «...» first.

Carina: I meant «because I've been waiting for this for three weeks».

Maya: And for me it was «thank you for having more courage than me, because I was too scared of getting a rake».

Carina: Do you really think I would have said no?

Maya: I wouldn't have liked it if you'd said "?«yes, as friends».

Carina: I'm not sure I've been looking at you «as a friend» since school started.
Carina: Or that two friends, looking for each other, are holding hands «on the sly» ...
Carina: ... Or want to kiss their friend...

Maya: Can I ask you a question?

Carina: Yes.

Maya: I don't want to sound presumptuous, but...
Maya: Was there a spider in your car, or ...

Carina: Or ...

Maya: Were you happy with your evening?

Carina: I don't mean to sound ungrateful. Yes, I was very happy with my evening, but it was mainly for the end of the evening...

Maya: Oh yes, I understand you were happy to finally be rid of me.

Carina: You're doing it on purpose.
Carina: so I'd say it.
Carina: But I'm not ashamed to say it (even if I was ashamed you'd open the door again).
Carina: No, I cried out in joy because I kissed you.

Maya: Because I kissed you...

Carina: It's the same thing. I was happy we kissed.

Maya: I was very happy we kissed...
Maya: very
Maya: very
Maya: very

Carina: Very?

Maya: really very ♡

Carina: there's two of us... ♡

Maya and Carina had talked to each other part of the night, then most of their Sunday. And when they weren't talking, they were thinking about each other.

And on Sunday evening, after dinner, they had each gone back up to their rooms.

Carina: I've got a question...

Maya: Again?

Carina: You don't have to answer...

Maya: No, sorry. It's just that since last night... Well, we've never talked so much together. I didn't know there were still things «to ask». But I'll answer anything you want.

Carina: Was it really your very first kiss?

Maya: That I remember? Yes. After that, when I was under eight, I may have kissed someone in kindergarten or elementary school, but yes.

Carina: Not even on «Truth or Dare» or «Seven Minutes in Heaven» or any other game ?

Maya: No.
Maya: And I have to admit that sometimes I used to get a bit frustrated, like «why doesn't anyone ever challenge me to kiss someone», «no one will ever kiss me».
Maya: But now I'm very happy to have «saved» my first kiss for someone I really like.

Carina: Well... I really wanted to kiss you...
Carina: And I still want to.

Maya: And you?

Carina: Probably like you. I may have had a kiss when I was very young, but I've never had a kiss in a game or a kiss with someone else because I wanted to.

Maya: I'm glad I was your first kiss. Even if you had to wait sixteen years to get it.

Carina: I'm glad my first kiss was with someone who makes me as nervous as you do. And who pleases me the way you do... And who I wanted to kiss just as much.

Maya: Isn't that a strange feeling? Or I don't know, it's because it's the first time it's happened to me.

Carina: Of?
Carina: To want to kiss someone you've been friends with for a long time before this?

Maya: Yes, that too. I never imagined I could be friends with someone and then suddenly want... More.
Maya: But I was talking about that irresistible urge to want to kiss someone. It's strange to want so much something you don't know.
Maya: I know we're not the first two people to feel that way. Because if we did, the Earth would have been lifeless a long time ago, but it's not strange to feel like kissing someone (for me, to the point of thinking about it day and night for weeks on end).

Carina : Yes. I think so too. But I think that's how it works. It's attraction. It's desire. But what's really «strange» is to have seen you on the first day of school and to have wanted to become instantly closer to you, even though we've been friends for four years...
Carina: And if that's not clear enough. Of wanting to taste your lips.

Maya: I admit it. We were already close, but...

Carina: Not so close that I wanted to be alone with you and kiss you... For hours.
Carina: Not to the point where I want to hold your hand. Not to the point where I want to caress your skin.

Maya: All that and so much more.

Carina: «So much more»?

Maya: Well, I think it's time for me to go to bed.

Carina: Maya!

Maya: Yes?

Carina: Answer me.

Maya: Me.

Carina: You're no fun.
Carina: What more do you want?

Maya: ...

Carina: ?

Maya: We're not here yet.

Carina: «Not yet» ...

Maya: Stop analyzing everything!

Carina: What are you thinking?

Maya: You...
Maya: Like for a month now.

Carina: But with «much more».

Maya: Carina...

Carina: Would you like me to be the first?

Maya: The first...
Maya: What?

Carina: To sleep in your sheets.

Maya: Andy's already slept in my sheets.

Carina: Naked...

Maya: It's a good thing you're not facing me...

Carina: Why?

Maya: I'm all red.

Carina: So naked...

Maya: But not yet... Because we've just exchanged our first kiss. Our first kiss, which was also the first of our respective lives.

Carina: If it makes you feel any better... I'd like to see you naked too.

Maya: I had my doubts... The look on your face in the locker room...

Carina: It's your fault. You don't have to get so... Sublime in two and a half months.

Maya: It's the pot calling the kettle black. You've gone from a young woman trying to fit into the American look... To Italian goddess in one summer.
Maya: But otherwise... First kiss... First time... But potentially not just that...

Carina: You're speaking in code, Maya Bishop...

Maya: It's a bit early yet... But...

Carina: You're going to kill me with your suspense.

Maya: We're not there yet, but maybe... You'll be my first girlfriend... If at some point we want more... But no pressure. It's just like that.

Carina: You know what I like best about having my first crush on one of my best friends?

Maya: No, what?

Carina: I love thinking that the person I like is a friend and that it's not just physical... I mean, I don't know how to say it... But, yes, well, okay, I've realized that I like you because physically... You're beautiful, but I also know that I already like you as a friend. So that makes me like you twice as much.
Carina: All that to say that if we both feel like it after getting closer, more than as friends, yes, I'd love to be your first girlfriend...
Carina: But like you said. It's still a bit early...

Maya: There's nothing to say... You know how to make a girl smile...

Carina: I want to make you smile.

Maya: Mission accomplished.
Maya: And in case it's not clear, your death is the last thing in the world I want.
Maya: No, it isn't. I'd like you to live forever.

Carina: I can't believe we've been friends for four years and we've just spent a whole day and practically a night talking to each other... That I've discovered other aspects of your personality and now... I don't understand how I was blind before... Because I like you even more than I did last night.

The Italian had sent this message while biting her lip. It was a delicate action for her every time she wanted to take a step forward towards Maya, because there was this invisible barrier of friends, but who are now really just friends.

Maya: I was ugly. That was the reason.

Maya herself had laughed at her message.

Carina: You weren't ugly.
Carina: In that case. So was I.

Maya: I never thought you were ugly and you know it. I've already said you were beautiful. I even said it last year at that party at Vic's.

Carina: Well, you've never been ugly. It's just that you look like a flower that's just bloomed. You already smelled good. You were already beautiful, but then you opened up and... You dazzled me.
Carina: My God, do you see what you're making me do?! I've just compared you to a blooming flower!
Carina: I'm ashamed of myself.

Maya: You're a caterpillar. You came in all shy... Then you became a chrysalis, hiding under baggy clothes... Then you came back from Italy as a butterfly...
Maya: The most beautiful butterfly I've ever seen.
Maya: Are you less ashamed now that I've dared to compare you to a butterfly?

Carina: Yes. Thank you.

Maya: At your service...

Carina: Wow... I just had an image in my head...

Maya: Of you as a butterfly?

Carina: Stupida!
Carina: No... Of you at my service...

Maya: Now this conversation's getting more interesting...
Maya: You can't just leave me with this...

Carina: If you're at my service... That means I can call on you... Whenever I want...

Maya: Go on, go on, I'm listening (well okay, I'm reading)

Carina: I've never felt like kissing before... And now I really want to kiss you... All the time... All the time... If you're «at my service»... Does that mean I can request your lips whenever I want?

Maya: My body and my lips are self-service for you...

Carina had blushed and hidden her face. Maya was bold and it made her melt a little more, sitting there on the bed in her teenage bedroom.

Carina: Sometimes I try to tell myself «that's Maya, she's your friend» (because you make me blush and I feel stupid for reacting like that...), but being friends with you isn't what I want... Not anymore...

Maya: I think that after knowing the taste of your lips, we can't really say we're friends... As Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello would say... «But friends don't know the way you taste, la la la...»

Carina: Do you know that since last night, I've been holding back from asking you if I could come and see you, even for two minutes, just because I still want to kiss you?...

Maya: You should have. I would have said yes... I'm in a hurry to get my car too...

Carina: You could have come running...

Maya: I'd have been all sweaty.

Carina: I must confess I love watching you in gym class... It's like porn for chaste lesbian virgins...

Maya had burst out laughing.

Maya: What's a porn for chaste lesbian virgins ?

Carina: You know... A very sexy view but the version without the sex, for those under eighteen.
Carina: A fantasy...

Maya: You're not the only one blushing behind your phone...

Carina: When you run, your cheeks are slightly red. Your hair sticks to the back of your neck. Your muscles stick out. Your jaw tightens. You sweat a little, but not in a disgusting way...

Maya: You've really detailed me.

Carina: I'm not really diligent in gym class... It's all because of you...

Maya: You're obviously assiduous in checking me out.

Carina: Be less... Then maybe I'll be able to look away.

Maya: Less... What?
Maya: PS: I like knowing you're looking at me.

Carina: I don't know if I can say this... But...

Maya: You can say anything.

Carina: ... Less sexy...

The blonde had blushed.

Maya: You really think I'm sexy?

Carina: You've no idea.
Carina: And now I won't dare look you in the eye.

Maya: Yes, you must... I love looking into your eyes too much. You have beautiful eyes.

Carina: Stop it, that's not true. You have blue eyes. They're beautiful. I have brown eyes.

Maya: So what? I think they're beautiful. And what's more, I love the softness in your eyes... I love that. You make me completely melt...
Maya: And I haven't forgotten about that «sexy» thing.
Maya: So you think I'm sexy and I think you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.
Maya: It's not that you're not sexy, but when I saw you in your little floral dress at the start of the school year, my heart started pounding because you were just so sublime. You're sexy but in your little dresses, I can't say that out loud. You're far too perfect for me to use the word sexy.

Carina: Do you think I'm disrespecting you by saying I think you're sexy?

Maya: No. That's not what I mean. I like that you think that about me. It's just that you're probably an Italian goddess, even if you don't know it, you must have lost yourself on earth and forgotten your past in the clouds. And I feel that calling you sexy doesn't do you justice.

Carina: I think you're gorgeous too, if that wasn't clear. But when you're in gym class. When you're in your tank top, your shorts, sweating... I confess my thoughts aren't telling me you're gorgeous...

Maya: What do they tell you?

Carina: I can't answer that...

Maya: Why not?

Carina: Because they're thoughts. And I'm going to sound stupid because I'm talking about something I don't know...

Maya: Is it sexual?

Carina: It's totally sexual.
Carina: But it's like, in my head. Because I know I'm not ready. But I admit that sometimes when I watch a movie, I imagine it's been you and me for a few weeks...

Maya: Fifty Shades of Grey?

Carina: Don't push it!
Carina: Well, without the stuff that's a bit too... Hard.
Carina: What are you putting words in my mouth for? I'm shocked by your behavior, Miss Bishop!

Maya: You're having erotic thoughts and it's «my» behavior that shocks you?

Carina: Well, excuse me for having a crush on a girl who could be on cereal boxes, posters or even sexy calendars in a few years.

Maya: Would you be this frank face to face?
Maya: Just curious.

Carina: I think when we're face to face... My eyes speak for my lips...

Maya: If it makes you feel any better... I also have thoughts forbidden to under eighteens when I think of you...
Maya: It's the first gym class of the year again, and you're taking off your dress the same way... Then, all of a sudden, everyone around us disappears. We're no longer in the locker room, there's no longer Vic, or Andy, or our other classmates... It's just you and me and... Your dress on the floor...

Carina: And you in your sports bra and shorts...
Carina: And... And then?

Maya: And then... You're only sixteen and it's forbidden for anyone under eighteen...

Carina: You're only sixteen too...

Maya: And I have my eyes closed when this scene plays out...

Carina: In your mind...

Maya: Oops...

Carina: I'm not ready, because until three weeks ago I'd never wanted to kiss anyone else, but I'm not going to wait to be eighteen... Especially at this rate...

Maya: I prefer it to come naturally... I don't need anyone trying to reproduce a fantasy that's probably taken from a film or a sequence that's been scripted and whose characters aren't on their first try.
Maya: I want to be a klutz, I want to do things badly and have you guide me, I want to discover you, I want us to discover each other. I don't want perfection or a moment worthy of a porno, I want a real first time, with the girl who makes my knees tremble when she kisses me, the one who gives me the shivers when she brushes against me, the one who makes me smile even without meaning to, the one who's been haunting my thoughts for weeks, the one for whom my heart forgets to beat for a split second when she looks at me, or starts to race when her body is close to mine...
Maya: And before that, I want to spend hours kissing you. I want to learn with you how to kiss like a pro. I want us to kiss until kissing isn't «enough» anymore. I want to savor first base, discover second, enjoy third and be rewarded with fourth. I want you to be all my firsts....

Carina: And I want you to be all mine.... And for now... You've already ticked off several boxes in my notebook...

Maya: I want to tick them all.
Maya: And I want to tick them several times...

Once again, they had spent most of the night talking, and Carina - who had always been a groundhog - couldn't understand how having a crush on someone could boost her to the point where she'd rather talk to that person than sleep.

Even the next morning, as they got ready, they had already started their conversation for the day.

Carina had arrived at school with Vic and Travis and when she'd entered the corridor, she'd seen her, waiting against her locker.

Maya.

Immediately her teeth had sunk into her lip and the world around her had disappeared.

The blonde had immediately raised her head. As if it were obvious that Carina was there, their eyes met.

Carina had arrived with her friends at the blonde's level, along with Dean, Andy and Jack, who were already present. The Italian had said hello to everyone, without taking her eyes off Maya, and had then come over to her.

She'd approached her and let her hand come up, take Maya's forearm and slide against her skin, down to her fingers.

- "Ciao..." She said, dropping her eyes to the blonde's lips.

- "Hi."

The Italian had leaned forward and her lips had rested on Maya's cheek, close to her mouth.

Then she'd exhaled lightly against her skin, lips parted.

"I want to kiss you..." The blonde whispered, as the brunette's face hid hers from their friends.

- "Anch'io..." Carina replied before backing away.

They'd finally gone to class, and by the second hour of the day, they were sitting together for biology.

They kept brushing against each other, hands, knees, Maya had even pretended to have forgotten her book, to sit closer to Carina.

- "You're even more beautiful if that's possible..." The blonde had whispered, as the teacher had turned to the blackboard.

- "Stop flirting with me in class..."

- "You're even more beautiful when you're focused... It's very teenage movie the jock with a secret crush on the class nerd..."

- "And the opposite is even more cliché..."

- "I dreamt about you last night..." Carina had blushed but hadn't answered.

"You're imperturbable..."

- "No, I'm not. I seem to be imperturbable..."

- "Do you want to know what I dreamt?"

- "That I was helping you understand biology class, because you won't have listened to anything?"

- "It was more anatomy and physiology oriented..."

Carina had bitten her lip and Maya had come to run her index finger over her bicep, discreetly.

- "Maya..."

- "I want to kiss you..."

The Italian had turned her head towards the blonde and looked into her eyes. Then her lips and then her eyes again.

"You communicate very well with your gaze..."

The brunette had looked again at Maya's lips.

- "How am I supposed to refocus on the class... Turn my head, when your face is so close to mine?"

- "If you find... You'll tell me..."

- "You're too beautiful..." Carina murmured, lowering her gaze to Maya's lips again.

- "I shouldn't kiss you in front of the whole class, in the middle of bio class, should I?"

- "I'm dying to..." Replied the brunette as she felt her face move closer and closer to the blonde's.

- "Maya, Carina, let's stop the chatter, please!" Miranda Bailey said.

They straightened up apologetically. They had tried not to arouse suspicion. For gym class, Maya had come to change next to Carina and the Italian had felt like cursing her, even though she was enjoying the view.

- "You've got a short memory I see..."

- "Why?" Maya asked with a smile.

- "I know we've talked about a lot of things... But I didn't think telling you that I found you sexy in your sportswear would be one you'd forget..."

- "I didn't forget..."

- "So, it's on purpose that you stick to me to get undressed?"

- "Yes... I wouldn't want you to have to strain your eyes... Or someone catching you staring at me from across the dressing room."

- "I feel like I'm in a strip club and it's my birthday..."

- "I'm not sure in strip clubs you can touch..."

- "Because there... Can I?"

- "I didn't think that from everything we've talked about.... The fact that my body is self-service for you, is what you'd forget..."

- "In this locker room... In front of everyone?" Carina asked, raising an eyebrow.

- "Well... Maybe not with so many spectators..."

The blonde had looked at the brunette. At least her eyes had fallen on her body.

"Maybe you should dress up too..."

- "You're distracting me too much..."

The locker room had begun to empty and Andy had turned to Maya and Carina.

- "What the hell are you doing?"

- "I'm tired... I'm so slow today..." Carina replied.

- "I'm going if you don't mind. I already got yelled at by Coach Ross last week I don't feel like doing it again..." Fit Vic.

- "Go ahead, we'll catch up" replied Maya.

They'd been the last two to leave the locker room and when one of their classmates had walked through the door, Carina had grabbed Maya's hand and pulled her towards her, making her turn around. She slid her hand down her cheek and came up to kiss her on the lips.

Then she'd smiled against her mouth.

- "It's all I've been thinking about since Saturday..."

Maya had smiled in return and she'd brought her lips close again, to kiss her once more.

All week, they'd flirted, brushing past each other in class. Sometimes stealing kisses, like in the locker room. All week they'd sent each other messages, sometimes even while they were at school, so as not to show that they were talking to each other.

On Friday evenings, they'd gone out with friends to Round One, Bowling and Arcade. It was a place where young people could really have fun, with bowling, arcade games, karaoke booths, pool tables and even a small dance floor. The place was dimmed with midnight blue and pink lights, and it made them feel like adults. Except, of course, for the part where they couldn't order alcohol.

They'd started the evening with several rounds of bowling, and since the atmosphere on Friday - and Saturday night - meant that the music was loud, Maya and Carina had to come and talk into each other's ears every time when they wanted to communicate.

- "By the way... I think I'm going to miss your dresses as it starts to get cold. But seeing you in jeans and a tank top is very nice too..."

- "Tomorrow... I'll put on a dress if you like... I just didn't feel much like bending over for bowling in a dress... There are some things I don't want everyone to see..."

- "What about me?"

- "But that I'd like you to see..."

- "I don't think I'd like others... To see what I'd like to see..."

Maya had placed her hand on the bench between them and had caressed Carina's fingers already there.

"By the way... I haven't had a chance to tell you yet that I really like the view when you bowl..."

- "And I like the one I get when you bowl even more..."

- "Chaste porn?"

- "Definitely, with your arm muscles sticking out... And your ass..."

- "What about my ass?"

- "I think it's time you knew you had a really nice ass."

- "come on ! Really ?!"

- "Very, very nice ass..."

When the umpteenth game of bowling had ended and they'd headed for the pool tables, Carina had excused herself from the group to go to the bathroom. Her head cocked to one side and she looked at Maya as if to say, «Would you like to come with me?»

The blonde had immediately understood.

- "Wait... Me too."

They'd set off in the direction of the toilets, but hadn't reached them. Once in the dark corridor, where only a few plays of light from the main room came to die, the Italian had turned as she felt the blonde grab her fingers.

Carina had - despite the half-light - dropped her gaze to Maya's lips and pulled slightly on her hand, backing away towards the corridor wall. When her back had hit the cold surface, the blonde's eyes opened wide to manage to see her despite the lack of light, Carina had slipped her index finger into the belt loop of Maya's jeans and pulled her further towards her. Her face had moved closer to meet her lips a little «faster» and she'd finally felt Maya's mouth against hers.

Not in a stolen kiss at the bend of a corridor or in a changing room, afraid of being surprised. No, a slow kiss. Maya's lips felt as soft as a marshmallow against hers, and tasted even more exquisite. And for the first time. The first time since their first kiss, the first time in their lives, when their lips had parted only to meet again, Carina had opened hers a little more.

The blonde had been surprised for a second as she felt the Italian's mouth literally caress her skin, all the way to her lips, in a kiss as gentle as it was sensual. But she'd realized it was time to take their kissing to the next level. After all, they weren't twelve anymore. They could still kiss with a little less shyness and show a little more desire.

For a week now, they'd been secretly exchanging smacks and kisses with a little more lip. But this was a whole new level.

Maya had glued herself to the Italian's body, pulling her back completely against the wall. And when their lips had parted, she too had come to part her lips further, tilting her head slightly to the side, then her hand had slid down Carina's cheek to return the kiss.

Now they weren't just exchanging lips. They were also exchanging breaths, exchanging a little more desire.

The kiss lasted a few seconds longer. As if they'd forgotten the place, as if they'd forgotten their friends. As if they'd forgotten everything else, except the desire to exchange more intense kisses. As if they'd forgotten everything else, except their desire to kiss.

Then, reluctantly, as they heard some youngsters shouting the song in progress from the dance floor, they had backed away, though remaining quite close.

- "Oh my God, your body's speaking my language..." Carina whispered against Maya's lips, convinced she'd said it in her head. {Girls, girls, girls - Fletcher}

- "Am I dreaming or did you just quote Fletcher?" the blonde asked, smiling against her lips.

- "Uh... Wasn't that in my head?" replied the Italian, embarrassed.

- "You can quote Fletcher... And you've never wondered if you're queer?"

- "I like her songs..." She said with an embarrassed smile.

- "Your put your finger through the loop of my jeans..." Did the song inspire you?..." {Girls, girls, girls - Fletcher}

- "It's possible that I wanted to kiss you a little more.... That as we were already kissing and as she says, the image was cinematic..." {«I knew right then, right there it was so cinematic«}.

She had brought her face closer to caress her lips. She didn't kiss her, just moved up and down to brush against them.

"I felt like to..."

- "to?"

- "To show you that I wanted to kiss you... More... More than like shy schoolgirls... More like the way she kisses Shannon in the Wasted Youth clip... Or other kisses in her clips. Or like movie kisses... But with real desire behind it..."

- "Hence your Wasted Youth example... Because they were together... This is in no way... «cinema»..."

Carina had just managed to move her face affirmatively.

"I like it very much... And I want to kiss you again... Like this... Your lips are so soft... And... I love the way they taste..."

- "You'll probably make my heart explode... Or melt it... You know about that?"

Maya had smiled and once again slid her hand down Carina's cheek to come and kiss her again in that new way. And this time, the Italian's hand had let go of the buckle of the blonde's jeans and slid down her back, as she'd felt Maya direct the kiss.

When their lips had parted again, Carina had smiled.

"You're a super-fast learner..."

- "What do you mean?"

- "I don't have a point of comparison, but I really like the way you kiss... You do it divinely well..."

Maya had smiled a huge smile.

- "Above all, I think we make a very good team... It takes two to kiss, and your lips are infinitely soft... I like kissing you very, very much, even more than that..."

- "And God knows I'd like to go on... But if we don't go back... They'll send the SWAT after us..."

- "I'm really looking forward to tomorrow..."

- "Me too, you have no idea..."

They held hands and walked that way until they saw their friends. Only then had they let go.

- "We thought you got lost!" Ryan said.

- "It was crowded." Carina replied.

- "You know, girls' toilets aren't guys' urinals. There's always a line." Maya added.

- "The guys started a game without us. Would you like to go dancing?" Andy asked.

The Italian had turned her head towards Maya. As if she needed her approval. When in reality, she just wanted her to say yes, so they could dance together.

- "Yeah, totally," Maya replied.

The four of them went out onto the dance floor and started dancing. Then Maya stopped. She'd grabbed her best friend's arm to talk into her ear, before disappearing.

- "Where's she going?" Carina asked, leaning toward Andy, a little jealous that she hadn't told her.

- "She told me she was going drinking."

- "Oh... Okay."

Maya had reappeared a minute later and as naturally as possible she'd grabbed Carina's hand. It wasn't the first time they'd danced together. The girls all often danced together without ulterior motives. So she could dance with Andy, or Vic without looking suspicious. She had just tonight, right now, chosen Carina, and it wasn't something that would arouse suspicion.

She'd glued herself to the Italian, as was a sensual song, and Andy had then grabbed Vic's hand in a theatrical gesture.

- "Carina's hot, so Maya prefers to dance with her!" Andy had shouted over the music.

The Italian had smiled and the blonde had laughed.

- "Don't be jealous. I'll save you a dance!"

Carina's hand had slid down Maya's back to rest above her waist and the blonde had immediately turned her face towards her.

"Or not..." She whispered, feeling the brunette's body press against her.

The song had ended, but another had begun and immediately Carina had pulled her face back to look Maya in the eye. She'd blushed before bringing her lips to her ear.

- "You didn't do that, did you?"

- "I don't know what you're talking about..." Maya replied, brushing her lips against her ear.

The Italian had moved one of her hands up the nape of the blonde's neck, under her loose hair, and brought her lips to her ear again, her other hand still on the small of her back:

- "Midnight when I saw you
I was about to leave
You were in the corner
Hanging like a masterpiece
You're dancing with all your best friends
Or maybe you could spend the song with me

Had a tight T-shirt
I could see what's underneath
Talking over speakers
You're leaning close to me
You tuck my hair behind my ear
I put my finger through the loop of your jeans

I knew right then, right there it was so cinematic
Because it started to rain
And I said, «Oh my God, your body's speaking my language»
I told my mom it's not a phase 'cause

I kissed a girl and I liked it
Sipped her like an Old Fashioned (ah-ah-ah)
I kissed a girl and she liked it
It's better than I imagined
Ooh, she took my heart and my number
Don't think I'll recover
'Til she's in my covers coming over tonight
I kissed a girl and I liked it
Yeah, I really, really liked it

Girls, I got girls, only girls
Going wild in my mind
In my mind ..."

The Italian had sung the words into the blonde's ear, and as the two of them danced, she felt Maya's cheek grow hotter and hotter against hers.

And just as she was about to stop the torture there. For it was torture to sing those words to Maya, knowing she couldn't kiss her, here, in front of everyone, as she wanted; she'd felt the blonde move her hand up the middle of her back and move a little more sensually against her body, sticking her lips to her ear in turn.

- "Wanna hold this moment
The way you're holding me
Swimming in your ocean
You move like poetry
She struck me hard like lightning
And I don't think I'll ever come back (and I don't think I'll ever come back)

I knew right then, right there it was super dramatic
Because it started to rain
And she said, «Oh my God, your body's speaking my language»
Go tell your mom it's not a phase 'cause

I kissed a girl and I liked it
Sipped her like an Old Fashioned
I kissed a girl and she liked it
It's better than I imagined
The way she took my heart and my number
Don't think I'll recover
'Til she's in my covers coming over tonight
I kissed a girl and I liked it
Yeah, I really, really liked it..."

Carina had pulled Maya back, pretending they were just moving because of the dance steps they had. She had moved her head back slightly, caressing Maya's cheek with her lips, and when she reached the level of her mouth she had parted her lips and caressed Maya's with her own. In a short, but very sweet and explicit kiss. When she'd pulled back to look at the blonde, she'd smiled hugely.

"Weren't you afraid someone would see us?"

- "I felt more like kissing you again..."

- "Besides... I don't know if we'll be able to keep it to ourselves much longer..."

- "Andy doesn't know? I know she's your best friend..."

- "No."

- "Why not? Because you're not sure?"

- "No because she's both our friends and it would be strange to talk about you behind your back to one of our friends.... Besides... It's probably weird to do... But I'd rather talk about you... To you. You're my friend, at least you were my friend before anything else and I rather like being able to be transparent with you."

- "So, everything you don't dare to tell me. Resides solely in your head?"

- "Because you're talking to someone else about us?"

- "Your first name covers the pages of my diary..."

- "You wrote about me in a diary?"

- "Possibly..."

- "Would you let me read it?"

- "As the name suggests... It's intimate..."

- "And I want us to be intimate.... So it's not really «intimate» anymore."

- "What I write in it ... Yes..."

- "Give me an example of something you've written in it."

- "Maya..."

- "Please..." The blonde said with her most beautiful look.

Carina had brought her lips close to Maya's ear. Her hand had rested on her upper chest, her fingers straddling her collarbone. The other hand on the small of her back.

- "Today was back to school. Two and a half months without seeing my friends, and even though we talked from time to time, I didn't expect what was coming next..."

- "Don't stop! I want to know..." Said Maya as she slipped her arms around Carina's back to hold her close.

- "I never really wondered what I was. Yes I listen to queer music, but hey, I listen to straight music too, it doesn't mean anything. Just like I watch all kinds of movies..."

- "Carina... Please..."

- "But... I think I know. Today... I know. It's not even «I think». And the weirdest thing about this is that it's not someone new in my life. This is someone I consider to be one of my best friends. It's someone I've known for four years.

And today... When I saw her... Everything changed. Time stopped and my heart began to beat wildly. And she was moving towards me in slow motion.

Yes, you heard me right. I did say «she». And yes, I told you she was a friend..."

Carina had moved one of her hands and let her fingers run down Maya's arm.

"I got chills all day every time she looked at me... And I'm not even talking about when she brushed against me...

And the coup de grace was when she got dressed for gym class. Why didn't I «see» her before?

And why can't I stop thinking about her? Why do I want to know what her lips taste like? And why do I want our hands to always be in contact? Why did I look at her breasts, and her belly, and her buttocks?

Why did I like looking at her so much? And why every time she moves, every time she talks, I see her in slow motion? And why do I want to bring my face close to hers as soon as my eyes land on her lips? Why do I get heatstroke as soon as she looks at me?

Why do I think she has the most beautiful eyes in the world? And the best smell?

Why haven't I seen all this before?

What if... What if it's not mutual?"

Maya's heart was racing and she'd finally felt Carina's hand leave her wrist.

- "It's mutual..." Replied the blonde, who could no longer hear the music, no longer the screams, no longer the laughter, but could only hear Carina and her movements. Even the simple fact of her moving an arm, she could hear it.

- "Three weeks ago, I'd never asked myself what «I was» because for me there's no difference in loving men, women, or anyone else. Because to me, love is love, and it's beautiful no matter what. And that's probably why I can listen to anything, watch anything, read anything...

But... That day. When I saw you in the hallway. I knew it was you. Maybe one day I'll have this attraction for someone else. A woman, a man, a trans person... Whatever. I don't care about labels. All I know is that for the past three weeks, I can't think of anything else but you.

And I don't care if you're a girl, because I think you're incredibly beautiful. I think your body and face are perfect. Everything about you makes my heart skip a beat. And knowing you before just makes me like you more. There's no «maybe I'm wrong about her because she just wants to get me into her bed», because I've known you for four years. I know what you're like.

And maybe you want to get me into you bed..."

She'd smiled, blushing, before biting her lip and tugging on Maya's top at her belly.

"And I want to put you in mine too.... But I know that when you «flirt» with me you're being yourself, you're not playing a game... And all that..." She made, running her second hand past Maya's body to say «all you».

"Your mind, your personality, your physique... All that makes you the person I like. And who I really like. I know I won't wake up tomorrow and find out something awful about you... Because I know when you're hiding something, I know when you're lying... And that you can't surprise me in a bad way.

I already know that you can be a hard-head. That you like to win... And you especially don't like to lose. I know you don't like to dance... And I know why you came to dance... I know you Maya... And what I know is that I'm falling into a bottomless pit for one of my best friends... And that it's the best feeling in the world...

You're one of my favorite people on Earth... And the more the seconds go by... The more I adore you..."

- "You also know that I suck at literature... Or expression..."

- "I don't need a big speech...

You went and put on a song for me. You held my hand last Saturday to ask if it was really your cheek I wanted to kiss. You caressed my arm first. You said first that you wanted me to be... Your first in so many ways..."

Her hand had settled on the blonde's hip.

"I don't mind being the one to talk... And for you to be the one to act... I don't need a declaration... All your attentions already show me that we're on the same wavelength..."

- "I really want to kis-"

- "Hey, are you coming to play? The guys have finished their game." Vic asked.

Carina bit her lip. She really wanted Maya to finish that sentence.

She'd turned around after a quick glance at Maya and when she'd started to move forward - following Vic across the dance floor, towards the pool tables - the Italian had felt the blonde take her hand and intertwine their fingers.

When they had stopped at the table, as Dean and Jack had gone to ask for a second one, so that they could make two groups, they had let go of each other's hands.

Travis had started to talk to Carina, and she had then approached him and Andy had taken the opportunity to come and talk to Maya.

- "You and Carina okay?"

- "Yeah, why? Why do you want it not to be okay?"

- "I don't know she seemed to be giving you a speech and I wondered if things were okay between you."

- "Yeah everything's fine. Even... Good."

- "Sure? I love her but as your best friend, I'd take your part. Even if you steal her boyfriend!"

- "No risk of that. But yes, I promise we're fine. We were just talking. We've been talking a lot since school started... More than before."

- "You're going to replace me, aren't you? She's going to be your best friend?!"

- "Carina is... A really good friend. One of my best friends with Vic. But you, you're my best friend, number one. We've known each other forever."

- "Promise?"

- "Promise... But I really like Carina. That's all."

- "I really like Carina too! Although I'm not sure the fact that she's become hot helps my business with guys ..."

Maya had smiled and tapped her best friend on the shoulder.

- "I don't think you have to worry about that ... I'm sure if you tell Carina you like a guy, she'll let you off the hook..."

- "Oh, so that's it? You've had your eye on the same person and she's... Backed out?"

- "No. No guy stuff. We just talk... About anything and everything. Often."

- "Yeah..." Andy replied, squinting.

- "What?!" Maya asked, blushing and laughing.

- "You're not the talkative type and there..."

- "And now... What?"

The blonde had looked up at Carina and seen that she was looking at her too. She'd smiled at her and the Italian had blushed, averting her gaze to Travis.

- "Oh! Oh...." Andy said in surprise.

- "Oh... What?" Maya asked, looking at her slightly embarrassed. As if she wanted to drown the fish.

- "Oh... With Carina you... Talking... A lot..." She'd leaned in and whispered.

"Are you trying to hook up?!"

Maya had nudged her with her forearm before laughing.

- "Andy!!!"

- "Oh my god. Stop it. I've seen the real thing. You..." She began ecstatically, before slumping her shoulders and taking on a different voice, as if she were talking to a puppy or a baby, and pouting.

"You've fallen for each other... Oh that's so sweet!!!"

- "Shh!"

- "Who knows? Why don't I know about this? How long has this been going on? What's happened so far? I want to know everything!"

- "I just told Carina five minutes ago that I hadn't told you, and now you want to make up for four weeks in four questions?!" She asked embarrassed.

- "Oh. My. God. Four, fouuuuuur weeks?!" Said she, opening her lips and eyes wide.

"Four weeks and no one has caught you?!"

- "I promise I'll tell you, but not at a time when she's staring at us.... And I want to tell her that you understood before too..."

- "Oh my god... That's so adorable. Who knew you were such a marshmallow when it came to love..." She quipped.

"Wait a minute... But Carina's a lesbian?!" she asked, as if she'd had a revelation.

"Wait, but you're a lesbian?!" She added, grabbing Maya's arm and turning her towards her.

- "For one thing, ouch... And two... Right now I'm mostly Carina DeLuca and she's Maya Bishop.... I don't think either of us is a hundred percent sure that we only like girls, but what I do know is that this is the first time I've fallen for someone like this and I know that for her it's the same..."

Andy had melted on the spot before recovering. Having a revelation.

- "But... What if one day you split up?! Will you still be friends? Will we all still be part of the same gang?! And will -"

Maya had put her hands on her best friend's shoulders.

- "Calm down! Don't break us up until we're really together, please!

Besides... Right now I can't think of anything except that I want to be with her all the time. That I want to kiss her and hold her hand and look at her with a stupid look on my face..."

- "ooohh... That's so sweet!"

- "Now you can... Calm down and act normal? For now we want to keep this to ourselves before we see if... This... Works."

- "So you haven't..."

- "No! Stop! No! If we had... I would have told you. Well I might not have said with whom, but I would have told you I'd done it anyway!"

- "And... Of the blow?"

Maya had turned her head toward Carina.

- "We just kissed... Several times... But I promise I'll tell you everything... I just... I just... I just want to..."

- "You want to go see her, don't you?"

Maya had winced.

- "I'm crazy about her..."

- "I can tell! I wonder how I didn't see it before. You look like two teenage girls when you look at each other..."

- "At the same time, we're not in retired house yet..."

- "You're funny. You're very funny!

Come on... Go see her, she looks like a junkie on withdrawal. I've got your back!" winked Andy.

Maya had raised her eyes in the air, her cheeks red as if to say «nonsense», then left to see Carina. The Italian had immediately turned back to her.

- "The «secret» won't have lasted long..."

- "It's because of you..." Maya replied nonchalantly.

- "What?!" Carina asked outraged.

"What have I done?!"

- "The way you blushed and lowered your head, like a teenager in front of her crush..." Maya replied to tease her.

- "at the same time... I'm still a teenager for a while... And you're my crush..."

- "I hope to be a little more than that..."

- "It's more than a crush..."

- "You know... For me too..."

- "She knows what?"

- "Not much... Just that it started a month ago and we kissed. I don't know what you wanted me to say..."

- "Anything you want. Except what I wrote about you in my diary."

- "That's private. That's between you and me... I know it's normally... Between you and your diary... But... I promise I won't talk about it..."

- "I know you came with Andy... But now that she does know... do you think I could walk you home? I suspect she wants to know «everything»... But I really, really, really want to kiss you..."

- "Between talking about you and kissing you... My choice is quickly made. Even though I think talking about you is something I'm going to love... Really love doing..."

- "I don't know how I didn't fall for you before..."

- "What about me... Will you team with me for the pool table?"

- "I don't think I can be very professional if I get into it with you.... Because I really really want to take you into a corner and show you how much I want to be alone with you..."

- "Would you rather play with Lucas or Dean?"

- "We're an odd number. I'll sit on a stool and watch you play... And by you... I mean just you."

- "No, play. Don't worry at worst I don't play. But it bothers me that you're depriving yourself."

- "You're a sweetheart. But I assure you I'm fine with it."

- "I'd like to play only with you..."

- "You're always talking about pool table or..."

- "I wouldn't talk about «playing» with your body... So yes, I was talking about pool table..."

- "We can come back sometime... Both of us and I'll pretend I don't know how to play, just so you'll stick to me and show me how it's done..."

- "You still really thought I was talking about sex... Or kissing..."

- "Right now we're talking about balls and tail. So yes even if I had to choose I wouldn't prefer you to play with «balls and a tail»..." Carina replied before laughing at her joke, then adding, as if she hadn't said enough:

"I see you more in the kitty business... Playing with a little pussycat, for example..."

- "I'm totally outraged!" Maya said, turning red.

- "I'm sorry, it was too tempting... My attraction to you makes me say things I'd never have even thought of before."

- "It's going to be my fault too..."

- "If it makes you feel any better... I'm shocking myself with what I've just dared to say..."

- "Well, shall we play?" Ryan asked.

- "What are we going to do as a team... Since there are nine of us..." Lucas said.

- "I'm not playing. I'm going to watch you."

- "Are you sure?" Travis asked.

- "Yeah. I don't really feel like it. I'd really rather watch you."

They'd started playing, and Carina found it hard to look away from Maya, especially when she had to lean in front of her to play.

Lucas and Maya, who were teamed up against Dean and Jack, had beaten them pretty quickly. At the other table, the game was dragging on. The winners of each table had to play each other and the losers had to play each other.

Maya had approached Carina and picked up the glass in her hand before drinking from it.

"Make yourself at home..."

- "I feel like reading your mind."

- "All you have to do is ask me."

- "Did you enjoy the game?"

The brunette had taken the glass from the blonde's hands and set it down beside her on the table. Then she'd slid her hands over Maya's hips and pulled her close between her thighs.

- "I really enjoyed the view..."

The blonde had slid her hands up the brunette's thighs.

- "You're playing a dangerous game..."

- "The lack of your lips is getting the better of me..." Carina replied, coming to speak in her ear.

The Italian had placed her lips under Maya's ear.

And the blonde had immediately turned around, but the brunette had caught her by the hips.

"It's okay... You're allowed to stay between my legs, aren't you? We're not doing anything wrong. Worst case... If anyone asks for anything... I'm tired and you're my «carrier»..."

The blonde had turned her head.

- "I can stay here. It's just that if I stay facing you. We're not going to be a secret very long..."

Maya had settled properly back into Carina's arms and pressed her body against the brunette's. The Sicilian had rested her chin on the blonde's shoulder and held her by the hips.

She had whispered loud enough for Maya to hear:

- "I kissed a girl and I liked it
Sipped her like an Old Fashioned
I kissed a girl and she liked it
It's better than I imagined
The way she took my heart and my number
Don't think I'll recover... "

The blonde had slid her hand up one of Carina's thighs and on the other side she'd rested her elbow.

"If I'd had a dress..."

- "I probably wouldn't have slid my hand down your thigh like that..."

- "I hope you will have slid it..."

- "Carina, do you realize you're about to crack me up?"

- "I'm sorry... I'll stop... But I can't wait to get out of here..."

Maya had ended up teaming up again with Lucas to play the round against Travis and Vic.

After the pool game, the boys had wanted to stay at the arcade games and Carina had yawned, pretending to be tired.

- "I forbid you to leave!" Vic said.

- "I'm sorry. I'm really tired."

- "Do you mind taking me home?" Maya asked.

- "No, Maya! Don't you go too!"

- "Sorry, Vic. Tomorrow I have to train."

- "You guys are so lame!"

- "I love you too!" Replied the Italian.

They had left Round One after saying goodbye to their friends. They had walked to Carina's car and when the bowling alley entrance had been quite a distance away, Maya had slipped her hand into the Italian's.

The brunette stopped immediately. She ran her hand down Maya's back and up her body to capture her lips.

The blonde withdrew her hand from her back, leaving only Carina's, and slid her fingers against the nape of her neck. Then the other side against the brunette's side, and she tightened her grip.

The Italian brought her second hand up and placed it on Maya's jaw.

They'd kissed for a few minutes like that in front of the bowling alley before the blonde pulled back slightly.

- "We shouldn't be standing in front of the bowling alley."

- "You're right."

They'd gone back to the car and Carina had opened the door for Maya, asking for a kiss before letting her through.

During the drive, they'd talked about what Andy might or might not know and once outside Maya's house, who hadn't been paying attention to the road, too focused on Carina's face, the blonde had turned her head towards the house.

- "Oh..."

- "Shouldn't I have? Did I misunderstand something?"

- "I thought we were both going somewhere... Not that I was going to go home and think about you all evening."

Carina had bitten her lip and without taking her eyes off Maya, she'd shifted back into Drive mode and let go of the brake pedal slowly.

She'd driven to Kerry Park and parked in the virtually deserted lot.

She'd turned off the ignition and turned to Maya.

- "should we get out or... ?"

- "You know what I'd like?" Maya asked as she turned in the passenger seat and removed her seatbelt.

- "I've got a little idea..."

- "I'm not sure..."

Carina's eyes had fallen on Maya's lips.

"I'd love you to teach me Italian..."

- "Are you serious? That's what you're thinking about on a Friday night past eleven pm ?"

- "Yes... How do you say... «I feel like kissing you»?"

The Italian had smiled a huge smile.

- "Is that what you want to learn to say in Italian?"

- "I don't care if I can order in a restaurant.... I want to be able to talk with you and have the others not understand..."

- "voglio biaciarti."

- "Voglio biaciarti..." Maya whispered, looking at the Sicilian's lips.

- "Class over?" Asked the brunette, bringing her lips close to the blonde's.

- "Voglio biaciarti..."

Carina had slid her hand down Maya's cheek, her fingers had come to her ear to get a better grip and she had moved forward a little more, «pulling» her face towards her.

She had moistened her lips to the point of collision and just before it took place, the blonde had smiled as she felt a breath leave Carina's lips to come against her mouth.

She had then parted her lips just in time and they had begun a sensual kiss, very sensual.

The blonde slid one of her hands over the back of Carina's biceps and held her against her.

They kissed like they were bowling. With the same sensuality, the same movement of their lips. The same amplitude of opening. They weren't kissing like before tonight, those light pressures where their mouths simply rested on each other.

No, now it was slow, their lips gently opening, seeking each other out, taking each other in, caressing each other with studied slowness. One slid over the other, closed and then disappeared again, like a sensual, fluid dance for two. They embraced with their mouths, tasting each other without devouring each other - not yet, prolonging each contact to come back again.

Their breaths mingled, warm and slow despite the tumult in their chests. Their lips rubbed and shaped each other, as if they were finally learning to speak the same language. Each kiss carried the promise of the next, like a succession of waves that never stopped widening, deepening this nascent bond, forgetting the rest of the world around them.

After several minutes, Carina broke the kiss, pressing her forehead to Maya's.

- "I've never loved anything so much, or more, than kissing you..."

- "Nothing...?"

- "No activities, I'd rather kiss you than bowl, or learn new things, or go to the beach, ... Kissing you is my new favorite activity..."

- "That makes two of us then..."

- "But you like running... It gives you a certain adrenalin"

The blonde had taken the brunette's hand and placed it over her heart. Or at least on her upper chest, for her heart was drumming throughout her being.

- "You're worse than an adrenaline shot. You're pure adrenaline. Your lips are like a drug. I don't feel like... No, it's not even a desire... I can't live without it..."

Carina had slowly slid her hand from Maya's cheek to her neck, then against her throat and her fingers had come to clasp against the collar of her top. She had pulled her slightly towards herself, while tilting her head, and had come to kiss her again.

Maya's hand had slid to Carina's lower back and she'd pressed lightly on her phalanges to bring her closer. The Italian had raised herself slightly in her seat to follow the movement and had released a light breath - almost a moan - more pronounced than the others, against the lips of the blonde and fortunately while Maya was sitting, because she had felt herself melting in her seat. In a fraction of a second, her heart had raced even faster. Her legs had turned to cotton and her body had released a warmth she'd never known before.

Carina had felt Maya's face come closer to hers, sticking completely, and she had felt the blonde's lips open wide to seek hers.

Her hand had immediately let go of the collar and slipped into Maya's hair as her legs had begun to tremble and despite herself, she'd released that little breath again. It wasn't a «moan» of orgasm. It was a «I could kiss you all night» moan.

All the Italian wanted to do was get out of her seat and sit astride Maya to get a better grip on her body. But she didn't dare. They'd only been kissing like this since tonight, and she told herself she'd probably seen too many films in her life to imagine that. To imagine that people did this in real life.

But what she didn't know was that the hand on the small of her back also wanted to come and rest on her hip, to bring her a little closer to her, and for her to step over the handbrake, so that this body could come and sit on hers. She wanted to bring her closer to her, just like at the bowling alley.

In that car that evening, they had spent almost two hours kissing, occasionally taking micro-pauses to talk or catch their breath. Unfortunately, as all good things must come to an end, Carina had ended up taking Maya home, with the promise that their second date would probably go the same way.

On Saturday morning, the blonde hadn't really had the luxury of sleeping in. She'd left at the crack of dawn to train with her father. Carina, on the other hand, was downstairs at ten-thirty with stars in her eyes.

- "To what do we owe this good mood?" Lucia asked as Carina went down to the kitchen and grabbed her mother's shoulders, who was from behind making coffee, to kiss her on the cheek.

- "I'm always in a good mood!"

Lucia had turned to look at her daughter, who had grabbed a peach and bitten into it, a blissful smile on her lips; the juice from it running down her chin.

- "No... You're not «just» in a good mood..." Lucia said suspiciously, as if searching, wondering what was different.

"You're glowing! That's it! You're glowing!"

Carina had blushed and bitten into her peach again, before wiping her chin with the back of her arm as she chewed.

"Who's the source of that smile?"

- "Why does it have to be a person? Maybe I'm just in a good mood!" Carina replied, trying to sound like a jaded young girl.

- "For one, I know my daughter, and two, I know women in general. I work with women, I'm around them all day - often very amorous women - and optionally... I'm one. And that tesoro, that's a smile that says you're addicted to someone..."

- "I'm not addicted to anyone!" Carina bit into her peach, cheeks flushed, trying to hide.

- "Even you're not convinced... You know, mothers see these things. And between you and me, I'm relieved to see you're taking a bit of an interest in your love life. Not that I want you to tell me tomorrow that you're pregnant, but to know that there's something else that makes you vibrate besides your studies. Because studying isn't life. And above all, you're young, you've got to enjoy yourself."

C : È vero, mi fa vibrare... È il termine giusto... [That's for sure, she makes me vibrate... That's the term...]

"But if you don't want to tell me who this person is. I don't mind. From the smile on your face. It won't stay a secret for long."

- "You know. I'm not trying to hide things from you..." Carina said, leaning against the cabinet behind her, her hand holding the end of her peach on the cabinet.

- "I know, tesoro. It's new, it's just the beginning. It's only natural you'd want to keep it to yourself."

- "And for now... Nothing's official..."

- "You deserve to be in love tesoro, you'll see it's the best feeling in the world."

Lucia approached her daughter and placed a kiss on her cheek.

"And Maya is a very pretty young girl and very well educated..." She then whispered before stepping back and immediately turning around, a smile on her lips.

- "Cosà?!" The shocked Italian asked.

- "I like her. That's all I'm saying."

- "But why do you think it's Maya? And besides, Maya is a girl!"

- "And? Because she's a girl she doesn't have the «right» to make my daughter happy?"

Lucia had picked up her cup of coffee before approaching her daughter again.

"Look... I'm your mother and I'll always love you. It doesn't matter if you like a girl or a boy.

As soon as you're with your phone in your hand, it's on your conversation. Whenever you talk about her, your face lights up since school started. I know she's your classmate in several science classes, because it's been that way for years, but tesoro, you're always talking about Maya... Of your classes, yes, but as soon as you say her name, you pause, as if you've forgotten the end of your sentence, just because you've said her name, then you smile, and only then continue your story. It only lasts a second, and your father and brother would never notice. But what about me? I'm your mother and I'm a woman, I know the signs...

And once again. I like Maya a lot. She's well-behaved, she's nice and she's become really pretty this summer.

Besides... I know you weren't out with friends last Saturday... And that you're not going out with any of your friends tonight..."

- "But you don't care that I want to go out with a girl?"

- "All I want is for you to be happy. And from the red she's putting on your cheeks, just thinking about her. I think she's succeeded..."

- "You know. We're not dating."

- "But you'd like to?"

- "Would like isn't even strong enough..." Whispered the brunette.

- "Are you two on the same wavelength?"

- "Yeah..." She replied, blushing.

- "And you have..."

- "No! No, no, no! We just... We just... I mean, we just kissed." After a second of panic she had finished her sentence on red cheeks.

- "Well, I guess you don't need a lecture on the importance of protecting yourself now..."

- "Mammaaaa!" Carina said, her cheeks red with shame.

- "Afterwards, if you want, we can still talk about it."

- "No thanks!!!"

Lucia had laughed.

- "Is she your first girlfriend? I mean, will she be your first girlfriend?"

- "Yes... And it was also my first kiss..."

- "So you like girls?"

- "I like... Maya... I don't think I've ever really thought about it... But according to Maya, the fact that I listen «so much» to Fletcher, she's a queer singer, means I should have known better. But I don't know if I only like girls."

- "What about Maya?"

- "What about her? Is she a lesbian?"

Lucia had laughed at her daughter's embarrassed look.

- "Has she ever had a girlfriend?"

- "No, I'd be her first girlfriend, too. And I was her first kiss.... But I think she, she knows she likes girls. She doesn't think she likes boys, but like she says, we're only sixteen, that can change."

- "And tonight, what are you doing?"

- "I don't know... Tonight Maya's inviting me. I invited her last week."

- "You had your first date last week and you're the one who «organized» it?" Lucia asked in surprise.

- "Yes... You know... It's not like we can each wait for the other to make the first move... We're two girls so it's not even «progressive», there's literally no guy who can't be gallant in this..."

Carina had smiled before biting her lip. Her eyes lost in vagueness.

"I mean..." She began after several seconds.

"I held the door for her, opened the car door for her a few times and... We held hands... even... Even in the restaurant, on the table... And when I walked her home, I kissed her on the cheek... Because you don't steal a first kiss... But she caught me before I left the stoop and asked me if that's what I really wanted... To kiss her on the cheek... And I said no..."

- "And then you exchanged your first kiss..." Finished Lucia smiling, seeing her daughter still swept up in the moment.

Carina bit her lip once more before adding in a low voice, her eyes lost in the void.

- "I don't know what it's like to kiss a boy... But Maya's skin is so soft... Whether it's when my hand caresses her cheek or when my lips slide over her skin... I know of no sensation better than that..."

- "You'll know another one soon enough!"

Carina had opened her eyes as she lifted her face to her mother.

- "Mammaaaaa!"

- "Cosà?! It's the truth. You're sixteen. I don't think you'll be content with «just» kissing for very long..."

- "Madonna..." Carina said, hiding her face in her hands.

- "Cosà? I guess if her face is soft, so is the rest..."

- "Mammaaaaa! Can we please stop this conversation?! I don't want to imagine myself with you if the body of the girl I like is... Soft..."

C: Minchia... Deve essere troppo morbido... E lei è così muscolosa... E bianca... Deve sembrare marmo... Marmo duro, morbido... Ma per niente freddo...

[Minchia... It must be too soft... And she's so muscular... And white... She must look like marble... Hard, soft marble... But in no way icy...]

"And I'd like to... Avoid thinking about... this. I'd rather... To find out when... When... When..."

- "When the time is right?" Lucia asked with a smile.

- "Yes..." Carina sighed.

- "I'll stop bothering you."

Carina had taken on a slightly blasé air.

- "Still, I didn't want to talk about it... And you got me to say it..."

- "I'm sorry tesoro... But you can't imagine how happy it makes a mother to see her daughter as happy as she makes you... I wanted you to understand that it was okay. You have the right to love whoever you want."

Lucia had taken a sip of coffee and Carina had looked embarrassed.

- "Do you think..."

She'd started rubbing one of her bare feet over the other, looking at the floor.

"Do you think Maya could... I mean, that she could come... Sleep... here... I mean, with... me... In... In... In my room?"
She had raised her gaze slightly at the last part of her sentence, without raising her head for all that. And Lucia had tried to hide her smile.

- "You want your girlfriend to come sleep over?"

- "She's not my girlfriend..."

- "Not yet, she isn't «yet». You're playing with words Carina..."

- "Okay, never mind I didn't say anything."

- "I didn't even answer."

- "Anyway, it's not even like we're making love together. I'm not ready and neither is she. But leave it, I understand, Andrea wouldn't be allowed to bring a girl home either-"

- "Have you finished, Calimero? I didn't even answer."

Carina had raised her gaze to her mother.

"Maya can come and sleep. As long as your dad doesn't know she's your girlfriend. I've got your back. But when you decide to tell him. We'll both have to agree. Not every parent agrees to their daughter sleeping with their lover at sixteen. And yes, I'm talking about the s-e-x. Because even if you're not there yet. It's going to happen at some point. And Carina it's going to happen a lot faster than you think.

And if it does happen, whether it's tonight or a week or a month from now, I'd rather it be in a safe, clean environment than you doing it anywhere. Whether it's your first time or your tenth."

- "Basically... Am I allowed to have sex with Maya in my room?" Carina asked not sure she understood.

- "Basically... That's right... But then again. It's also «simple» because she's a girl. I don't think I'd let a boy come sleep in your room."

- "You think it «doesn't matter» because she's a girl?" The Italian asked her mother, not sure how to take that sentence.

- "Tesoro... That's not what I'm saying. I see that Maya makes you all things and that's as valid as a man and a woman. It's just... Easier, at least for me, to let your girlfriend, or future girlfriend, come sleep over, even though I know at some point you'll take the next step, than to imagine me having a boy come over all night. Even though the «activity» will probably be the same."

- "So you're more comfortable with the idea of me being queer, than straight?!" Carina asked, frowning. Not sure she understood.

Lucia had laughed.

- "Let's put it this way."

- "You're probably the only straight mother in the world who'd rather see her daughter queer..."

- "Who's telling you I'm straight?" Lucia asked before laughing at her daughter's outraged look.

"I am. I'm straight. Don't make that face."

Carina had paused.

- "So I can invite Maya to sleep over next Saturday?"

- "So you can invite Maya to sleep over next Saturday."

The Italian had smiled a huge smile and come to hug her mother.

- "Grazie mamma!"

She had then stepped back.

"You know. We're not going to do anything about..."

- "I'm not pushing you to consume tesoro. But you'll see that spending a whole night with the person who makes your heart beat isn't as «simple», as you seem to think."

- "We're going to sleep. It's just that... I mean... I'd like to... To sleep in... In her arms... She just... She smells so good..." Carina said, lowering her head and blushing.

- "Can I ask you a question?"

- "Hmm?" Carina asked, looking up at her mother and stopping dead in her tracks, dreaming of Maya's arms all night long.

- "Is it recent that you like her?"

- "Pretty much... I don't know on the first day of school she... She came into the hallway and... And it was as if I'd had..."

- "Love at first sight?"

- "That's exactly it... As if... I was seeing her for the first time... I stammered, my palms sweaty, I still can't explain it to myself because we've literally been friends for four years, but.... But that morning, everything changed..."

- "What about her?"

- "I know she always said I was pretty. But liking myself like «that» was new for her too..."

- "You're two plants that grew and let nature take its course, to let your beauty bloom this summer and it opened your eyes..."

- "You're making metaphors as lame as Maya and I..." Carina laughed, her cheeks slightly red.

"But... That's for sure... This summer, I don't know what's happened here... If the sun has been out more, or if the water has had better nutrients... But... In my eyes, she's become the most beautiful woman in the world. And I can't look at her without feeling my heart pounding in my chest. Without feeling my cheeks turn red and my hands get sweaty. She's... She has the most beautiful eyes in the world...

They're... They're so blue and big... It's like... Like the Ionian Sea... Except now... I want to drown in it..."

- "Does she know you feel all this?"

- "Yes..." Carina sighed, embarrassed to be talking about Maya like this, in front of her mother, but at the same time feeling the relief of talking about her like this.

"And... And I think it's all mutual... Even if I don't have beautiful blue eyes..."

- "You have beautiful eyes, mia figlia."

- "That's what she says..."

- "Well, what about tonight? What are you going to wear?"

- "Probably a dress. I know she thinks I look pretty in a dress and it's best to enjoy it while it's not super cold yet, because when it gets too cold, I told her I'd opt for jeans..."

Lucia had smiled.

- "Do you want to go shopping?"

Carina had felt her cheeks turn red.

- "You... Do you want to buy me an outfit for my second date with Maya?"

- "It's important a second date. Besides, it's the second date of your life... That's even more important!"

Carina had smiled before taking on a slightly sad look.

- "I know that... That this is the first time I've felt this way... And that it's stupid to think that. Because everyone thinks that the first time and it never happens... Or maybe it's zero, comma, zero, zero, zero, one percent... But it's like... As if I had the feeling that it was forever... I want it to be forever. I can't imagine ever feeling that way about anyone else... And I know, it's stupid because everyone says that. And I know first love is often «the most» everything... But I also think that in a way... You always love your first love - even if I don't have any experience... And I don't know if I'm already in love with Maya... But... I have this feeling that I'll always love her...

I don't understand how this feeling in the pit of my stomach can disappear..."

- "We can't predict the future... But all I hope is that you never suffer."

- "Papà isn't your first love, is he?"

- "No, he isn't. And you're right, I'd always have an extrasystole thinking about my first love, but now it's not painful, it's.... It's a memory I'll always cherish... But it was indeed hard when it was over..."

- "Do you think there are people who stay with their first love ... Forever?"

- "I hope so... And if it doesn't exist yet, I hope you'll be the first."

Carina had finally gone to get ready, and she and her mother had made a mother-daughter day of it. Then Lucia had even helped Carina curl her hair a little more for her date with Maya.

The blonde had managed to borrow her mother's car and had picked up Carina this evening. As Vincenzo wasn't there, the Italian hadn't suggested that she meet her directly at the car, so Maya had come down. The brunette had just agreed with her mother that she shouldn't come and spy on them.

Maya rang the bell and Carina quickly opened the door.

The blonde's eyebrows rose and she swallowed.
Carina had a very «schoolgirl» look, but the rather sexy version.

She wore a plaid skirt in your shade of gray-beige and a white blouse. Obviously looking like a private schoolgirl wasn't on purpose, but it was the vision Maya had had.

- "Uh..." Her gaze had fallen slowly on the Italian, before rising all at once to meet her eyes:

"Hi!"

Carina had smiled a huge smile.

- "Ciao..."

- "You..." Maya began, raising her eyebrows. She'd puffed out her cheeks and exhaled slowly, dropping her eyes on the Italian again.

Carina had taken two steps closer and placed her hand on Maya's upper chest, just below her collarbone. And she'd been able to feel her heart beating wildly.

- "You're too beautiful dressed like that..." The Italian whispered, looking at Maya's lips.

Maya who was wearing a light gray shirt and matching pants.

"You look very queer you know..." She then said, her cheeks flushed.

- "You think so?" Asked the blonde, in a voice that struggled to leave her lips.

"Because well... You don't have too much experience in this field..." She tried to joke. Disturbed by the Italian's proximity.

- "You make me very queer in any case..."

- "Voglio biaciarti..." Maya whispered.

Carina had slowly brought her lips to hers and Maya had recoiled, given that they were still in the doorway of the Italian's home. However, Carina had slipped her hand up to pinch the collar of Maya's shirt between her index and middle fingers and pulled her slightly towards her to kiss her.

Maya's hand had come to her hip and the kiss had been relatively chaste.

"Your parents aren't here?" The blonde then asked against her lips.

- "Just my mother..."

- "And you're not afraid she'll surprise us?"

- "She's in the kitchen... And then..." Carina had bitten her lip, embarrassed.

"Maybe she knows we have a date tonight..."

- "W-what?!" Maya asked shocked and embarrassed.

- "It's your fault..." Carina replied in a seductive little voice as she watched her index finger trace arabesques against Maya's collarbone.

- "W-why?!"

- "Because of you... I..." She had looked at Maya, plunging her intense gaze into hers, making her even more nervous.

"I smiled stupidly... And... I'm happy... And my mother understood right away..."

She'd looked at her finger again, and she wasn't sure if Maya realized that she'd slipped her hands around her waist to keep her even closer to her.

"And... It seems all I do is talk about you and blush..."

She'd raised her gaze to hers again, but this time as if embarrassed, but it was only a game, for she was just flirting with Maya.

Her finger had stopped her movements and at the same time as her lips had approached Maya's a little more frankly, she had slipped her hand down her neck and come to kiss her a little more frankly. Just like the kisses the night before in the car.

"I really like the taste of your lips..."

She then whispered against Maya's mouth.

- "And I'm crazy about the taste of yours..."

Carina had smiled and moved her mouth closer to Maya's, but without kissing her this time.

- "Shall we go?"

- "Yeah..."

They'd stepped back and the Italian had «shouted» to her mother from the doorway that she was leaving.

They'd gone as far as the car and Carina had immediately - on leaving the house - taken Maya's hand.

The blonde had opened the door for her, exactly as she herself had done a week ago, and when they'd both settled in, Maya had driven downtown.

- "Where are we going?"

- "You'll see..."

- "You're not being nice to me..."

- "It's a date and you literally have more than five minutes to wait!"

Carina had put her head back against the headrest in a theatrical gesture.

- "I'm not the patient type..."

- "You're a comedienne Carina DeLuca..." Maya laughed.

She had finally parked the car and asked the brunette to let her open the door.

She walked around the car and immediately held out her hand to intertwine their fingers.

They had walked together, hand in hand, and Carina had stopped.

- "Don't tell me we're going to eat... Here."

- "Yes, we are. You... Don't you like it?"

- "Maya we're teenagers... We don't work and ... And you want to take me to a real restaurant when I took you to a... Equivalent of... Mexican fast food?"

- "I think I can afford a real restaurant for the girl I like, don't you?"

- "On one condition..." Carina whispered back.

- "Anything you want..."

The Italian had tugged on the blonde's hand to come against her, face-on, and had come to brush her lips against hers.

- "Come and sleep at my place next Saturday... After... Our third date, which I hope you'll accept..." She had whispered this before coming to kiss her.

Maya had slid her second hand against Carina's hip and the brunette had smiled against her lips.

"I love it too much when you put your hand on my hip like that..."

The blonde had tightened her fingers and she'd pulled Carina a little more against her body to come and kiss her again.

"Is that a... Yes ?"

- "Are you sure your parents will be okay with this?"

- "I already asked my mom..."

- "And she told you yes, despite knowing we're on a date?"

- "Sì..." Carina replied with a smile.

- "I can't confirm it a hundred percent because I'll have to ask mine.... But... I'd love to come... Sleep with you..."

- "Sleep..." Carina repeated, smiling.

- "Or come and kiss you all night..."

- "Yeah... More like this..."

- "Are we going to eat? Because if not, there's a way I can stand here all night and kiss you..."

They'd ended up at the Pink Door, Maya's chosen restaurant, and once they'd settled in and opened the menu, the Italian had looked up at Maya.

- "I'm only going to eat a green salad!"

- "Stop it, it's really cool. Get whatever you want. You know when I run outside school, I earn money when I finish first. It's cool, really. Take what you want."

Carina had raised an eyebrow over her menu as she looked at Maya.

- "Does that include you?"

- "I was already included, I thought it was clear..."

- "Allora... Tù..."

- "And to eat?" The blonde asked, biting her lip.

- "Exactly that... Your lips..."

- "Stop flirting and choose, or I'll order you the worst thing I see on the menu."

Carina had smiled.

- "You know that if you take the worst thing on the menu for me, I'll force myself to eat it, and then it'll be up to you to «go with it», because I plan to spend a lot of time kissing you to thank you for this «delicious» meal?"

- "I might as well order you something really good..."

Carina had smiled, blushing, before lowering her eyes to the menu again.

- "Bene..."

After ordering and receiving their drinks - for Maya had insisted they each take one, the blonde had taken the brunette's hand.

- "I don't have any plans after the restaurant... Basically I wanted us to go to the cinema and take in the longest, most boring movie, to make out in front of..."

- "No need to pay for it... We can do it in your car... Like yesterday..."

- "That's what I figured... But..." She hesitated.

- "But?"

- "Do you think we could get into the back seat? Yesterday I couldn't get a good seat..."

Carina had smiled a huge smile.

"What?"

- "I felt like straddling the handbrake and sitting on you..."

- "Stop it!" Maya shouted.

"We're being so stupid... I wanted too much to pull you towards me for the exact same reason..."

- "In the future... We really should manage to communicate better... After all, when we talk by message, we manage to be super frank..."

- "When you're in front of me, I find it rather difficult to express myself... I'd rather have my lips on yours."

- "And believe me. You do it divinely well..."

- "Is it normal that I practically want to skip dinner and just be with you?"

- "I hope you do... And that you'll always want to be only with me, rather than eating... or anything else..."

- "I don't see how that could change..."

They had finally received their food and as they ate, Carina had lifted her head. Her fork suspended in the air.

- "By the way... Last Saturday you had the onions removed from your dish for some reason... Particular?"

- "hummm..." Maya began, blushing.

"It's possible that I thought we might kiss... And I didn't really want you to keep that taste in mind for our first kiss..."

- "I definitely don't have the taste of what you ate in my head..." Carina replied, blushing in turn.

- "I've got a question too..." Maya said, squinting.

- "Yes?"

- "Why did you quote Fletcher at the bowling alley?"

- "The song «Girls, girls, girls» was running on a loop in my head as we kissed.... I really wanted it to be as perfect as her first kiss.... Or at least how she described it in that song..."

Maya had leaned forward and placed her hand on the brunette's on the table.

- "Do you know that ours was even more perfect? Because... You weren't some girl I'd flashed on one night just before I kissed her... You were the girl I'd wanted to kiss for twenty-seven days... And who I've wanted to kiss even more since I finally tasted her lips...

And who's making me nervous right now, looking at me with those eyes... With that look... The one that says she wants to do it again, right here, right now..."

- "I think my eyes are a little too expressive when it comes to you..."

- "I like that..."

- "And our first kiss was more than perfect... And bowling... If there's a stronger word than «perfect» then that was it..."

They had finished eating, then Maya had waited for the waitress to remove their plates.

- "Was it good?"

- "Very good. It's very good Italian. My family and I come here too. It's hard to find a place where the Italian is good here. I mean, in the States... But you've chosen very well."

- "Would you like some dessert?"

Carina's eyes had fallen on Maya's lips.

"Another dessert." The blonde clarified.

- "Honestly, I'm not hungry anymore... And I don't feel like «overeating» and then feeling nauseous... So I'd finally do what I've been itching to do since I woke up this morning...

But at last... You can have dessert. I can wait until you've finished your meal before... To taste your lips again..."

- "I'm not hungry anymore either, but... But I think we could get something to go... I've been researching what the specialities of Sicily are and it seems there's something... Un... Canno...la?"

- "Cannolo." Carina replied, clenching her jaws slightly so as not to show that a battle was raging between Palermo and Catania.

- "I was suuuuure I was going to be wrong... They say that in the other town, don't they?"

The Italian had smiled.

- "That's right..."

- "Anyway. It looks super good... And I've seen they make it... Do you think we could get one to go... And share for later?"

- "With pleasure..." Carina replied with a smile, her cheeks slightly flushed.

- "What?" Maya asked with a huge smile.

- "It's nothing... It's just that... You want us to share a dessert and I think it's super cute..."

- "For one thing, you're the one who's super cute... And two... It's a date... What did you expect..."

- "That you'd be less... Perfect because every time I think it's not possible to fall for you more... You prove me wrong..."

- "I don't want to be «less» perfect in your eyes. Even though I don't think I am at all."

- "You are... To me. You are..."

Eventually, they had left the restaurant and reached Maya's car hand in hand.

Once again, the blonde had opened the brunette's car door and the latter had leaned forward to come and kiss her.

"Grazie mille... It was... Really good..."

- "I hope the sequel will... Pleasing to you..."

- "I think I'll like it... More..."

Maya had handed Carina the Cannolo box and closed the door once she was seated, only to walk around the car and get behind the steering wheel.

She'd driven to a corner a little further down the Seattle coast than where they'd been the day before.

She had parked and turned to Carina.

- "Won't it be weird if we get out and go around back?"

- "Are you afraid it'll make a Grease scene, when Kenickie and Rizzo are in the car?!" Carina laughed.

- "It kind of does..."

- "I don't plan on losing my virginity in a car. Especially since it's your mom's car, not even yours. And I'm not planning on having sex in the middle of nowhere either..."

- "M-m-me neither!" Maya said, turning red.

- "Bene. Because I really want to get behind you and kiss you."

- "Me too..."

Maya had climbed out through the driver's door, while Carina had merely climbed in behind from the passenger seat, so the blonde had stared at her, opening her lips in shock.

- "Cosà?!"

- "It's a real cliché, the sportswoman with the nerd..."

- "You're smart, Maya. Let's just say I'm smarter!"

- "And prettier. And sexier-"

- "And definitely tanner!" Carina laughed.

- "Heyyyyy!" Maya replied, coming to sit in the back.

- "That doesn't stop me from wanting to see you in as few clothes as possible and thinking you're the sexiest person on this planet..."

Carina replied, clenching her fist on Maya's shirt and bringing it up to her lips to kiss her.

The blonde relented before whispering against her lips, smiling.

- "Because you fancy seeing me in as few clothes as possible?"

- "Sì..." Carina replied, feeling her cheeks tingle.

"Besides... My mother told me it was inevitable..."

- "what?"

- "Because I told her we weren't ready to... Go... Further... When, well when I asked her if you could come.... And she told me I shouldn't think that, because I'd be ready much sooner than I thought... I mean... That we'll be..."

- "Oh..."

- "And I know she's right..."

- "Why?"

- "Because every time we kiss... I inevitably think about the fact that... I want you and me... Do it... The more we kiss, the more I want you to be the first... And I don't think we should rush into anything... But I know that one day the desire will be greater than the fear of doing it wrong..."

- "And I don't want us to rush and have sex because that's what's expected of two teenagers.... I want to... I want to kiss you... For hours... And I want us all to discover together... Not just jump into each other's sheets without thinking about it... I so want it to be perfect between us..." Said Maya spoke against Carina's lips. Seeking her out without ever giving her satisfaction.

- "You see... That's all the more reason why I want it to be you..."

- "What, because even though I want to, I know I'm not ready?"

- "No, because you're talking about taking our time. Discovering ourselves, knowing what we want... You don't just want to get me into bed at any cost and move on... I feel respected... And I feel beautiful in your arms..."

- "You're beautiful Carina... Inside and out... And... I don't... I mean, I don't want to do my first time just out of... Desire... I also want to do it out of... Love. I know it sounds cliché... But... That's why... That's why I want it to be you... Because I'm already starting to have feelings for you... I absolutely don't want to sleep with you and move on..."

Carina's second hand had come up against Maya's cheek and while pulling on her second hand which was still holding her shirt, the Italian had come up to kiss the blonde on the lips.

They began kissing, as they had the day before. After a few minutes, Maya slipped her hand onto Carina's hip and this time she didn't hesitate. She pulled back on her grip and the Italian let herself be carried away, following the blonde's movements. Carina had finally come closer, she had passed one of her legs over Maya's to come and sit astride her, and the blonde's hands had gone behind her back to press her against her body.

The kiss became more sensual, and after a few minutes of kissing, the Italian broke the embrace of their lips. One of her hands was still at the nape of Maya's neck and the other had come against her collar, then her lips had come to her neck.

She'd started kissing Maya slowly, opening her lips wide to let them slide against the American's skin, and the blonde had moved her hands against Carina's back to hug her a little tighter.

It was the first time one of them had kissed the other on the neck.

The Italian had slid her fingers against Maya's collar, undoing a button on her shirt, and pulled it down to kiss her a little lower. Above her collarbone.

She kissed her for several minutes, then moved up under her ear. Maya then took a deep breath, realizing that she had a very sensitive spot, just below her ear. Her phalanges had clamped down on the Italian's body and Carina's hand had fallen down Maya's body, to clasp against her side, before her lips passed against the blonde's jaw, and finally came back against her lips.

The Italian had smiled against Maya's mouth and whispered.

- "I told my mother that..."

- "That... What?"

- "That I loved kissing you because you have super soft skin..."

- "You told your mother that?" Asked the blonde, surprised.

- "I think I was too concentrated... Or lost... Thinking about you... And it slipped my mind..."

- "How could such a thing... «slipped your mind»?" Maya asked with a smile.

Carina had brought her hand up and came to caress the blonde's cheek, then her jaw and neck, all the while watching her fingers do it.

- "It's so nice... Your skin is so soft... So soft..." She'd brought her mouth close to Maya's, but she hadn't kissed her.

She'd deflected against her cheek.

"So... Sweet..."

Her fingers had tugged lightly against Maya's shirt and her lips had moved lower, then down her neck.

"So soft..."

She'd slid her bottom lip against Maya's skin, down to her ear.

"I don't understand how anyone can find it pleasurable to kiss a guy who stings..."

- "There are some who must... Love..."

- "I'm definitely not one of them..." Carina replied before kissing her under the ear.

Maya had moved her hands, letting go of the Italian's back, and slid her fingers down Carina's cheeks to come and kiss her on the lips.

She'd leaned forward slightly, making the Italian straighten up, and she'd kissed her sensually, caressing her lips, and even a little more around her mouth, paying attention to how her lips drove her crazy, as she drove her crazy.

They'd spent a good part of the evening that way, kissing in the back seat of the Bishops' car.

Once again, they'd spent their Sunday writing to each other, and on Monday when Carina had arrived for class, she hadn't seen Maya at the locker.

She'd frowned and as she'd made her way to her locker, she'd felt a hand grab her arm and pull her in.

She'd let herself be carried away and felt her back pressed against the wall of an empty classroom, then Maya's lips on hers.

"Buongiorno..." The Italian whispered, smiling against Maya's mouth.

- "Hi..."

- "do you often drag girls into empty classrooms to kiss them?"

- "No... This is the first time... But I really wanted to do it..."

- "But... Do it again when you want..." Carina said against Maya's lips. Then she added:

"Well... Well, with me. No other girls!"

The blonde had smiled and returned to kiss Carina.

- "I only want to kiss you..."

They'd kissed again, then Carina had caressed her cheek.

- "I'd like to stay here all day... But we have American literature..."

They'd ended up going to class, and at lunch break Vic had come to settle down spiritedly next to Andy, right across from Maya and Carina.

- "Friday night, girls' night. You're staying over and it's non-negotiable."

- "I'm not sure I could sleep over two nights in a row." Maya replied without paying attention.

The Italian had kneed her under the table, Andy had made eyes at her and Vic had frowned.

- "What do you mean two nights in a row?!"

- "Uh... I've... Well one... A race on Sunday morning and... So I have to sleep in... In Portland."

- "Yeah, well, that's okay. You sleep somewhere else to run. It's not like it's a night out with friends."

- "And we can come?" Lucas asked.

Vic had turned to Lucas and Carina to Maya. She'd slid her hand up her thigh under the table.

- "If you'd like... We'll see next week about you coming..." she whispered.

The blonde had lowered her gaze to the brunette's lips.

- "No..." The American frowned.

"I've been looking forward to this ever since you invited me on Saturday... I don't feel like waiting another week... Especially since I went to tell my father we had a bio exercise I didn't understand and you kindly offered to help me, as we had a test on it on Monday..."

- "Hummm you make plans to come and see me..." Carina smiled.

- "I'll see what my dad says. But if worst comes to worst, I'll come to Vic's for the evening and leave afterwards..."

They'd been flirting all week, and as Maya had been exemplary all week in her training, her father had agreed to her sleeping at Vic's on Friday night and at Carina's the next day.

They had arrived together at Vic's and the Italian had stopped before arriving at her friend's to say a proper «hello» to Maya. She knew she wouldn't be able to kiss her all evening.

They'd started by going to Vic's room, where she'd insisted they have facials and hair treatments. Then, when her back had been turned, Carina had leaned towards the blonde.

- "I hadn't envisaged you'd see me with a mask for impurities before we got down to business.... It's not very sexy..."

- "You look lovely in that green mask..." Maya laughed.

- "So do you She Hulk..." she replied with a smile.

Carina had approached her lips, but Vic had turned away, so she stepped back.

After some facials, they'd ordered pizza, and sitting on the floor of her room, Vic had launched herself.

- "Sooo! I've got to tell you something..."

- "You look pretty serious to me." Andy replied.

- "I think there's... There's something going on between Lucas and me... And I know what you're going to say. We've been friends for a long time. We're all friends and that's not going to change. But we... We started... Flirting together a couple of weeks ago and... I think I really like him."

Maya had given Carina a sidelong glance and on the carpet she'd felt her hand come against hers, then the brunette's index finger run against her fingers.

- "And... Is it serious?" Maya asked.

- "I think so, yeah. I like him, I think he's handsome and... I don't know if it's our bickering that makes me like him so much or what. But it adds a little something...

Would you mind if... If we were dating? If something happened between us? I mean, it can change the dynamic of a group..."

Carina had turned her face to Maya to look at her oh-so-perfect profile.

- "If you love him... I mean, or if you like him. If you really like him... We shouldn't have a say. It's your story. As long as... As long as you don't ask us to choose between you if it doesn't work out...

But I... It's my opinion... I don't think I'd ask your permission if it happened to me and... I don't mean that in a bad way... But you can't control it..." Carina said.

- "I agree with Carina." Said Andy.

"I did go out with Ryan and I didn't ask permission... Or your opinion... I honestly think you're free to date Luc'."

- "And... What about you, Maya?"

- "Carina's right... I mean, the girls are right. We don't control who we... I mean, who makes our heart beat... I mean, I don't think so." She replied before taking a lighter tone:

"And Luc' isn't the ugliest of our buddies..." She laughed.

"How's Travis taking it?"

- "He's okay. He just told me I'd better not give up on him because he's my best friend. And that best friends come before guys!"

- "But that's cool with us. You can jump on Lucas's neck no problem!" Said Andy before turning to Maya and Carina.

"And I think it works for all four of us, don't you? If we like someone, even in the group, we can... Tell each other and if another of us is interested too, we talk about it and if no one else is interested... Then... Let's go for it; deal?"

- "Deal!" The three young women replied.

- "And... Is Lucas okay? Doesn't anyone have a crush on him?" Vic asked.

- "Not me!" Carina replied.

- "Me neither..." Maya added.

- "And I prefer brown hair guys."

- "Any of the guys in the group make you crush?" Vic then asked.

- "No, no guy..." Carina replied, moving her hand behind Maya's arm and running her thumb over the inside of her wrist.

- "Me neither... No guys."

- "Sometimes I think I should give Ryan another chance.... And he... Well, he's being Ryan..." Andy laughed.

It hadn't taken long for the pizzas to arrive, and when they'd gotten up to go and get them Carina had grabbed Maya's wrist to stop her. She had come up to her and kissed her.

- "It's torture to be so close to you and not touch you..."

- "Are you standing next to me for the movie?"

- "It wasn't even conceivable that I'd get away from you..."

They'd joined Andy and Vic and they'd plopped down on the couch, pizza boxes open on the coffee table, and Vic had put on Fifty Shades of Grey.

- "Oh Noooooo, Vic!" Maya shouted.

- "You've got to look at it! It's a shame you've never seen it!"

- "I eat I don't need to see naked people. Plus it's about sex and I'm still a virgin!"

- "Well maybe it'll finally make you want to take action!"

Carina had smiled and leaned over to speak discreetly to Maya.

- "Good straight sex... Frankly I don't understand why you're not into it..."

Maya had blushed before turning her head towards Carina.

- "It's true that I love looking at guys..." she whispered.

- "The actress gets naked..."

- "It's not the brunette I want to see naked... Though."

- "You know... I haven't forgotten that I told you I'd sleep with you... In the outfit of your choice... You have until tomorrow night to think about it..."

Carina's eyes had fallen on Maya's lips and she'd returned the favor.

- "If not, we can put on After!" Said Vic, bringing them out of their bubble.

- "Uh, you're not conning me! I know there are four movies!"

- "So... Fifty Shades of Grey!"

Vic had asked Alexa to turn out the lights and they'd all taken a slice of pizza, before settling into the back of the sofa. The Italian leaned towards the blonde.

- "There are some very erotic scenes... It's not a film I ever imagined myself watching with the woman I like..."

- "Because it... I mean, you like... This?" Asked the blonde, coming to press her mouth to the brunette's ear.

- "No, it doesn't turn me on... But for the last month... When I see certain scenes... I see people other than the actors... I imagine if it was you and me instead of them...

And it's uncontrollable... It's just my brain... But right now... You're standing next to me..."

- "Shhh! You're not going to talk for the whole movie!" Vic said.

Maya had leaned forward and grabbed the box of one of the pizzas to put it on her thighs. She took the one Carina had chosen and the Italian smiled.

She discreetly leaned to the side and quietly kissed Maya's cheek.

They had eaten while watching the film and Maya couldn't stop rolling her eyes.

- "They're not super good actors though..."

- "Shh!" Vic and Andy shouted.

- "Seriously! They've got no chemistry!"

- "Don't talk about what you don't know!" Said Vic.

- "You can't tell me they look believable... I'm not saying they're bad in every movie.... But like... Right now, it just doesn't feel right..."

- "You're a killjoy!" Vic replied.

After the pizza, Carina had retrieved a plaid from the sofa and draped it over her and Maya, then taken the blonde's hand underneath.

Then she'd bent down slightly and rested her temple on Maya's shoulder. And strangely enough, watching a film that didn't interest her was much more bearable for the American.

Carina had brought her other hand under the plaid and had drawn arabesques on the back of Maya's hand that she was holding.

After the first «erotic» scene between Christian and Ana, Vic had leaned towards Maya.

"It's okay, you see-" she'd stopped and looked at Carina leaning on Maya's shoulder.

"You don't have any chemistry either!" she teased.

The blonde had raised her eyebrow. The arm Carina was leaning on had come out from under the plaid. She slid her hand up the Italian's back and pulled her closer. The brunette had raised her face to the American's and Maya had lowered her gaze to her lips.

"Yeah... Pfff" Vic added, settling back on the sofa.

Carina's hand had slipped between Maya's thighs - to rest on her leg - as they no longer had their fingers intertwined and they'd had an irrepressible urge to kiss, but Andy had interrupted them, probably intentionally.

- "Anyone want popcorn?"

- "Definitely!" Said Vic.

- "Yeah..." Carina replied.

Maya had cleared her throat and turned her face to the television.

- "Hold on! I'll pause it!" Vic added.

She had also gotten up and gone to the bathroom. The Sicilian's second hand had come to Maya's jaw and she'd turned her face towards her, then come to kiss her.

- "I assure you we have chemistry..." Carina whispered against her lips.

- "I know..." Maya replied, bringing her mouth close again.

"Three films in total... It's going to be torture..." She added after the kiss.

- "And you haven't seen the worst part..."

- "Don't tell me he's going to take her to that torture chamber..."

- "Still, I'm not going to spoil the movie for you..." Carina smiled.

- "And... In your mind... How did we do in that chamber?"

- "Better... Than them..."

- "Don't imagine me whipping you with a martinet... That's my only request..."

- "Because using an anal plug yes?" Asked the Italian with a smirk.

- "God... I'm going to puke... Don't tell me we're seeing this ..."

Carina had laughed.

- "No, I'm kidding."

Maya had placed her lips on the tip of the Italian's nose before straightening up, hearing Vic return.

- "Do you want a cushion?" Vic asked Carina.

- "No, it's okay... That is, unless Maya's sick of it."

- "It's fine by me."

Vic had squinted.

- "Okay..."

They'd gone through the first, then the second, then the third, and Maya had even ended up getting caught up in the story. At least in the «action» part, not in the «erotic» part.

After the last film, the four of them had stretched, before bursting out laughing at doing so at the same time.
They put away the glasses, the pizza boxes and the rest of the popcorn and left everything in the kitchen. Vic's parents had returned during the third film and gone straight to bed.

While Vic and Carina were talking, Maya had looked at Andy, tilting her head to one side.

- "ehhhmm Vic, do you mind if we swap, and for once we sleep together and Maya and Carina together."

- "Any particular reason?" She asked suspiciously.

- "Maya's starting to snore and Carina's a dead sleeper..."

The blonde had been giving her best friend the stink eye.

- "Yeah if Car' doesn't mind."

- "No worries!"

They'd set off in the direction of the stairs for upstairs and Maya had grabbed her best friend's arm.

- "I snore?! Didn't you find anything else? Do I have to remind you that I'd like to go out with Carina and that saying I snore like a tractor doesn't really make me look good?!"

- "It's okay, rooohh.... At least it worked..."

- "Great and now Carina's going to think she'll never be able to sleep next to me..."

- "At the same time... Sleeping... Isn't that really the point?!..."

- "Stop it! We're not going to..."

- "It's up to you... But you've got a free hand for tonight..." Andy replied, playing with her eyebrows, and Maya had nudged her with her elbow.

- "Well, are you coming up?" Vic asked from the top of the stairs.

They had gone up and Carina was already in the bathroom. She had gone to the bedroom and Maya to the bathroom.
They were in the guest room and Maya had closed the door behind her, after they had all said good night to each other.

Carina was sitting on the bed.

- "Which side do you want?"

- "Whichever you like."

- "We're not going back to being... Weird, are we?" Carina asked.

- "No. It's just... Sleeping with the girl I like is... Impressive..."

The Italian had risen from the bed and removed her shorts to remain in just her boxers and t-shirt.

"Carina!" the blonde shouted in a whisper.

- "Bah ... What?"

- "Bah you, there, in your boxers!"

- "I'm keeping my t-shirt..."

- "Well, I hope so!"

- "Thank you..."

- "No, but... But... You know why I say that..."

Maya had bitten her lip and in fourth gear she too had removed her shorts.

- "Hmmm is that supposed to put me off? And make me put my pajama bottoms back on?"

- "Bedtime!" Maya replied, pointing to the top of the bed, and Carina had smiled as she climbed back onto the mattress and slipped under the sheets.

Maya had come to lie next to Carina and turned off the light. Then the Italian had turned to face her in bed.

The blonde had turned to the brunette in turn.

- "Hi..." The brunette whispered, pinching Maya's t-shirt at her belly and pulling her towards her.

- "Ciao..."

- "Parli italiano?"

- "Sì... Voglio biaciarti..." The blonde whispered.

The Sicilian woman had pulled her a little closer and Maya had let herself go. She'd brought her lips close and before they could touch, Maya had pulled back.

"By the way! I don't snore!"

Carina had smiled.

- "I know you don't... And even if you did snore. I don't care... I'm sure if you snored, you'd have the cutest snore in the world.... Besides, it's normal for a fighter jet to make noise..."

Maya had smiled and closed the gap between their lips.

Carina parted her lips and came to kiss Maya. The kiss had lasted several minutes, and then the brunette had moved a little closer to the blonde in bed. She had slipped her hand through Maya's hair to clench her fist against the back of her head, and their legs had entwined under the blanket.

Maya's hand had slid down Carina's back and she'd held it against her.

After a good half-hour of kissing like this, Carina had broken the kiss. Her heart was racing, and Maya's too.

"I want to... To try... Something..."

- "What?"

- "I... I want to try the... The French kiss..."

- "W-with the... With the tongue?"

- "Yeah... I know it doesn't make any sense... But I... I don't know how to explain it... But I feel like caressing your tongue with mine..."

- "With pleasure..."

- "I... I'm afraid I suck..."

- "I have no point of comparison... And I don't think I'm going to be very good either... But if it's with you... I want to learn..."

Carina's hand had slid up the back of Maya's neck and she'd pulled her close to kiss her. She had come to place her lips for a part they knew well, then after a few lip movements, Maya had felt Carina's face rise slightly above hers, then this time she had felt the brunette's tongue caress hers very lightly.

The blonde had raised her head a little more so that their faces were more interlocked, and in turn she had slid her tongue against hers.

Carina's fist had once again tightened in Maya's hair and her tongue had met the blonde's to caress her.

The Italian had pressed her body a little more against Maya's, now urging her to lie on her back and without even asking if it was okay, she'd come and passed a leg on either side of her hips and half-lay on top of her.

She'd slid her hand in the nape of Maya's neck and again slid her tongue against hers. She'd felt the blonde's hands roam her back, one of them coming to the nape of her neck, then Maya contracting her abs to rise slightly and intensify the kiss in her turn.

The exchange had lasted several long minutes, and then Carina had pulled her face back to speak against Maya's lips.

- "Wow..."

- "Do you like being on top or am I wrong?"

- "Excuse me... I think I was really motivated by last night... And tasting your mouth, like that,... It made me want to get back on top of you... But I wouldn't mind the other way around..."

- "Carina... You're... Bloody naked..."

- "So are you, you know..."

- "It's super hard because I want to caress your body, I want to caress your back, I want to caress your thighs and you're really very undressed..."

- "Maya... You can do it if you want." Carina replied, coming to take one of the blonde's hands and sliding it up her thigh.

"It's not making love if you caress my body... And if I caress yours... It's just... Second base..."

- "But are we ready to go there?" Maya asked almost inaudibly.

- "Ready, I don't know... But do I want to?... Yes..." With her hand that had rested the blonde's fingers that her thigh, Carina had slipped under Maya's t-shirt and she had come to caress her belly with her fingertips while looking into her eyes.

"Minchia... You're really very sexy..."

- "I had a doubt you liked my belly when I saw you back at school checking me out..."

- "Stop it! I was so ashamed. I looked like a guy... I was drooling over your physique..."

- "Carina..." Maya replied, smiling and bringing her lips to hers, contracting her belly under the Sicilian's hands to come against her lips.

"You always look at me like that... Even just now in sports you looked at me like you did on the first day... But with you... I like that look..."

Carina's hand had slid a little further down her abs, flat, to get a good feel of them all, and Maya had tightened her phalanges on the Italian's thigh on one side, and the other at the nape of her neck to come and kiss her again.

After several minutes, Carina's hand had slid down Maya's side under her T-shirt and she had slowly lowered herself to lie against her body. Or rather, on her body. Maya's hand had left the Italian's thigh and slid down her back, also under her T-shirt.

They'd spent over two hours, after their official bedtime, kissing in Vic's guest room. They'd kissed until, in the middle of a kiss, Carina yawned against Maya's lips.

The blonde had immediately smiled.

"Do you want to go to sleep?"

- "No I don't want us to sleep!"

- "Maybe you don't, but your body does..."

- "I don't care what it wants! I'm with you, the girl who's been cracking me up for over a month. Kissing in bed in the middle of the night. At what point would my body rather go to sleep than kiss you?!"

- "We can continue tomorrow night..."

- "That wasn't an option. We'll continue tomorrow night!"

- "It might also be nice to sleep in each other's arms..."

- "Do you want us to stop kissing?" Carina asked, pouting.

- "No, believe me. Far from it... But... We've got plenty of time and... The girl I like has had her body tired from standing over mine for two hours ... And I'd love to take her in my arms and feel her fall asleep against my heart..."

Carina had narrowed the gap between their lips to kiss Maya one last time before dropping to her side.

She had slipped her face into the blonde's neck and her hand a little higher up under her shirt, to feel her heart beating, though without touching her chest.

She then pulled one of her legs up over Maya's and placed a final kiss on the blonde's neck, after feeling Maya wrap her arms around her and apply gentle pressure.

Carina was the first to fall asleep, lulled by Maya's heartbeat. Even though they were still rapid, they matched hers perfectly.

When the Italian had woken up the next morning, her smile had immediately widened and the blonde had been able to feel it against her shoulder. Carina had felt the blonde's hand move up her back.

- "It wasn't a dream..." the Italian whispered.

- "If it is... I don't want to wake up anymore..."

Carina had tilted her face back and her lips had come to kiss Maya's neck.

"Okay, this is definitely not a dream..." Had whispered the blonde, more to herself, before turning the Italian over on the mattress and coming over her to kiss her.

Carina had slid her hand against the back of the American's head to return the kiss, then lifted her head, pulling Maya's back and then broke the kiss by resting her head on the pillow.

- "How long were you awake?"

- "No idea... I was so... Well."

- "Did you always look this good when you woke up?"

- "No. I think sleeping with you in my arms had something to do with it..."

Maya had tilted her head to one side as she looked at Carina, and then slowly lowered it to come and kiss her neck. The Italian's eyes had slowly closed and her hand had slipped through the blonde's hair to come and clench her fist on the top of her head, while holding a thick lock.

- "Minchia... It's too nice..." Carina moaned in a whisper.

One of Maya's hands had been worn by this moan. Her fingers had tightened on the Italian's hip, then her fingers had moved up under Carina's t-shirt, against her side.

The fabric was pulled up, too, and the brunette immediately slid her other hand up Maya's back, also pulling up her shirt as she went, and when the blonde pressed against the brunette, they could feel their naked bellies brushing against each other.

Quite naturally, like a choreography, Carina had moved her leg up onto Maya's hip and her head had leaned back.

"Maya..." the brunette breathed, before the blonde pressed her lower body to hers.

Their naked skin had come into further contact. That of their thighs, but also that of their stomachs and Maya had immediately drawn back, lowering her gaze between them, before raising it to plunge it into the Italian's.

Her hand had slowly left the underside of Carina's T-shirt and she'd pulled it back down, pinning it with her thumb, her fingers still caressing her skin.

- "If Vic comes into the room..." Maya said in a voice a little too deep.

- "Tonight and tomorrow morning, no one will have any reason to enter my room..." Carina replied in a voice that showed her confusion too.

As they stared at each other, the Italian's hand had begun to caress the back of the blonde who was still above her, holding on by the strength of her muscles. Carina had swallowed. She found Maya's body so sexy. But she didn't want to tell her again. She felt she was constantly saying it, and she didn't want Maya to think that was why she wanted her. For that reason only.

They'd stayed like that for a few long seconds, then the blonde cleared her throat.

- "Are you ready for our third date?"

- "You still won't tell me what it is?"

- "No... It's a surprise... And you still won't tell me what you have planned for tonight?"

The Italian had smiled.

- "Fifty Shades of Grey..." She mocked Maya.

- "If you make me watch it, the sex scenes won't just stay in your imagination. Because I promise you, I'll do everything in my power not to see this movie again anytime soon, and if that means... Using my charms on you..."

- "Use your charms on me?" Carina asked before biting her lip.

- "You probably don't realize it... But you..." She'd wanted to say it, but her cheeks had tingled red.

- "I... ?"

- "I wouldn't say it's... «moaning» but sometimes you release breaths that are very... Sexy... Very... Suggestive... And you even... Say my name like that..." She hesitated, before resuming more confidently.

"So yeah... I think... I think I've got assets that can... Well, charm you..."

- "And you'd use these assets to... Avoid a movie?"

- "I'd be able to..."

- "I wasn't planning on watching this movie, but you're changing my mind..."

- "Because you want me to... «use... My... Charms» ?"

- "Honestly... The more time I spend with you, the more I understand what my mother told me... I don't know if I'm ready, but I definitely want you... And it's a bit unreal for me because until a month ago I'd never had a desire for anyone and now... All I do is think about you... Of what could happen between us... And..."

Carina's hand previously in Maya's hair had come to caress her cheek.

"And when I'm with you... I don't feel like... «thinking»..."

She'd lifted her face and come to kiss Maya sensually, very sensually.

She'd kissed her for very long seconds before leaving her lips.

"But I want everything you told me... I want us to be in love and I want us to be ready, not just because we want to... But because it's time..."

The American had slipped her hand previously under the brunette's shirt, on Carina's cheek, she had slowly lowered herself; then she had come to resume their kiss in a way that was just as sensual as the Italian's, but less sexual, than her kisses on the Sicilian's neck.

Luckily for them, they had heard Vic's bedroom door open and Maya had immediately climbed down from on top of Carina. They'd heard the toilet door open, so they retrieved their pyjama bottoms and pulled them over their legs.

They'd gone home in the late morning and were due to meet again at four o'clock.

Maya had come to collect Carina. They had agreed that Maya would manage their afternoon program and Carina their evening one. Her parents were working, her brother was at a friend's, which meant they had the house to themselves.

Maya had gone outside of the car to ring the bell, and when Carina opened the door, she immediately went over and kissed her. Carina let herself in, but quickly cut her off.

"My brother's downstairs..." She whispered against the American's lips.

- "Excuse me!"

- "Don't you dare... I love your lips more than anything... But we should just make do with this for now..."

- "For now," Maya repeated before biting her lip.

She then stepped back and looked at Carina.

"Even in jeans, you're too beautiful..."

- "A date where I don't have to «look good»... It's suspicious..."

- "You're always beautiful..." Maya replied.

They'd finally left for Lake Union.

- "Uh..."

- "Not so long ago you told me you'd love to have a «10 Things I Hate About You» date.... So... Here we go..."

- "You mean to tell me you've scheduled me for the same two activities as in the movie?! Because I told you I loved it?!"

- "Yeah..." Maya replied, seeing the tender look on Carina's face.

"Well, without the next scene where they get into each other's heads..."

- "You shouldn't be so perfect..."

- "I'm not..."

- "Sì..."

They had gone to Lake Union, and the weather was still fine on that October twelfth. They'd rented a pedalo and settled in.

- "Well... What are we talking about? Because I know where you were last year..."

- "We don't have to have the same conversation..."

- "Oh okay..." Maya teased.

"Tell me about Sicily."

- "What do you want to know?"

- "Everything... Do you miss it?"

- "At first I missed it. A lot... But then I met a great bunch of friends!" She said, referring to them.

"And... Before this summer... I don't know. Before this summer I missed it... And I thought I'd probably apply to Catania or Italy for after high school... I don't know about being with my cousin, with friends I used to have, the sun, the sea, the looks... I have to admit, it made my heart ache..."

Maya also felt a twinge of sadness. So Carina really missed Sicily. And she spoke of it with that sad, lost look, as if she regretted having come back. Then her gaze had returned to Maya's.

"And... Back in school when I saw you... It was as if... As if Sicily was that place you regret leaving when the vacations are over... And that when you set foot «back home», you're not so sad to be back... Because it's your home... And vacations are nice, but home is... Your reality..."

Maya's heart had begun to race.

"When I saw you... I didn't want to leave... And it was probably the strangest feeling of my life... Because before that Monday, I felt like I was living between two continents. That when I was here, I missed there, and when I was there, I missed the people I had here... And when I saw you that day... It was as if... I understood where my home was... Where I really wanted to be..."

- "I have all this power?" Maya asked in an almost inaudible voice.

- "I'm afraid so..."

- "Afraid?" Asked the blonde, not sure she understood.

- "I spent half my summer wondering if I really wanted to stay in Seattle after high school and the other half trying to figure out how to tell my parents.... And then... And when I saw you... I told myself I couldn't leave here, because it would mean leaving without a part of me...

It's scary to think that someone has this power over us... To make us change our minds with a look, a smile... And... And... I, well, I've known you for a long time and overnight I see you differently, it's... It's probably one of the most unreal things in my life..."

- "Anyway... I hope I never make you want to run away from Seattle..." Maya replied, coming to entwine her fingers with Carina's.

- "I don't think I'd ever have the strength..."

The American had raised their joined hands and she had come to kiss the back of Carina's.

- "And... Um-" she'd cleared her throat.

"It's... Beautiful?"

- "It is beautiful. These are older buildings than anything you'll find in the States.... And it's practically always sunny..."

- "And the food's better?"

Carina had smiled.

- "That... It's not really complicated..." laughed the Italian.

- "And you... Would you take me there one day?"

The brunette had immediately stopped her laughter and looked at Maya with tenderness.

- "Of course I would... Nothing would please me more than for you to accompany me there."

Maya had blushed as she lowered her head before pulling herself together.

- "What do you miss the most? If you had to choose just one thing?"

- "It's impossible to choose. My family and especially my cousin. The food. The sun. The beach... The sea... Because the sea and the beach are much better there... Let's say the food."

- "In and of itself. Apart from your family here, nothing equals Sicily."

Carina had smiled slightly and exhaled.

- "And yet, if I had to go back there.... Your absence would be more painful than missing a plate of arancini, than a ray of sunshine in December, than the warmth of the Ionian Sea between my toes.... To this day I can't see myself going back without your absence being insurmountable..."

- "I don't want to experience this... pain... Or for you to know it..."

Maya had taken a deep breath.

"What's your favorite city? I know you're from Catania-"

- "I'm from Belpasso. At the foot of Mount Etna, but indeed it's not far from Catania.

I love Catania, but if you want a really beautiful city, I'd say Taormina or Syracuse, especially the island of Ortigia... And further south, San Lorenzo beach, where I could spend hours watching your body sunbathing in a ridiculously small bikini..."

- "Or maybe... We could climb to the top of Mount Etna!"

- "Obviously... I've fallen for a sporty one..." Carina rolled her eyes, making Maya laugh.

- "Can we... Do both? We can climb Etna and... The next day... Can we go to the beach?... And you could put sunscreen on me every hour so I don't end up like a crayfish..."

Carina had smiled a huge smile and bit her lip.

- "And... If there aren't too many tourists... I mean, beachgoers... We could... We could make love in the water..."

Maya's cheeks had turned red and Carina had lowered her head, blushing in turn. The blonde really was too adorable.

- "Yeah... Totally..."

- "Any other suggestions?"

- "I think on the beach it's not ideal, you end up with sand up to your butt..."

- "And what do you say... On a bed with white sheets, the window wide open to the sun rising over the sea... Or setting, I don't care, I'm not that picky... And both of us sitting up, sitting on each other's thighs... The sun reflecting off the slightly choppy sea, but... Also off my tanned skin and... In your blonde hair..."

- "You... You have a truly cinematic imagination..." Maya replied troubled, before huffing slightly.

- "Can you imagine the scene?" Carina asked in a soft voice, as if she were still whispering her dream to Maya.

- "Hmm" she replied, shaking her head.

"Yeah..."

- "I'm stuffed with imagination and that's not the only «image» I have in my head when I think of you..."

Carina had bitten her lip and smiled when she saw Maya tugging at her collar.

"Are you hot?"

- "Yeah... The pedalo... All that, all that..." Maya said.

- "Um... Of course, the pedalo..." Carina replied with a smile.

After their pedal-boat session, they'd gone right next to Union Lake to Gas Works Park for «balloon paintball».

- "You know, before the movie, this place didn't exist. And then some time later, they built it because people liked the idea." Said Maya.

- "I love it."

- "The sets aren't exactly like in the film, but that's okay."

They waited for the protectors on their waists and Carina had moved behind Maya to whisper in her ear.

- "You know we're going to have to... Take a shower..."

- "Together?!" Maya asked, shocked as she turned around.

Carina had laughed with flushed cheeks.

- "I wasn't necessarily thinking of together... I mean... No what I was thinking and what I was saying are two different things. So I wasn't talking about together, but..."

- "Each to her own..."

- "It's like you don't want to see me naked."

- "Then you've got it all wrong!" Maya said with a little too much enthusiasm.

- "Okay..." Carina replied with a huge smile.

"Don't worry. I want to see you naked too. But... I think we can agree that it's a bit... Early..."

- "Sometimes... I..." Maya began hesitantly.

"I regret that our changing rooms are... Closed... In some high schools, everyone showers together... I confess I've sometimes regretted..."

- "Since the beginning of the year or..."

- "Yes. Because of you. Not... A... Another girl."

- "As much as I may regret... For one thing I'd probably still be stuck on homecoming day, because if I remind you I didn't dare look at you for a week after checking you out in your underwear.... And two... I don't think I'd appreciate other girls seeing you... Even if I was sure they were all straight..."

- "I hadn't thought about the other girls..."

- "Why not? Because when I'm in the locker room, you only see me and not the others?!" Carina asked, teasing her.

- "Exactly..." Maya replied in all her sincerity.

And once again, the Italian felt her heart melt, but before she could answer, the paintball lady had called them in for their protective gear.

They put on their white overalls, then plastic goggles, before each grabbing a bag of paint and heading off in opposite directions.

"I hope you don't mind Carina..." Maya said loudly, walking like she was a sniper.

"It's nothing against you... Really..."

She had walked around a structure, but Carina wasn't behind it.

"I really like you... So... This part... Mustn't change anything between us..."

She had hidden behind some kind of door.

"But... You know me... I like to win!"

She had opened the door in one swoop and Carina had sent a ball of paint into her face and it had burst, painting her yellow.

The Italian had exploded with laughter.

- "Very pretty bella ..." said the brunette, starting to run.

Maya had always thought she was the fastest, but at ball paintball, her leg speed hadn't been very effective and Carina must in a previous life have been a dodgeball pro, as she was much less covered in paint than Maya.

"Mayaaaaa... I'm out of ball... I surrender..." Said the Italian as she stepped out from behind a huge paintbrush-like structure.

- "Am I supposed to believe you?"

- "If I'm lying... You can give me a token and say I've lost..."

Maya had stepped out from behind a huge can of paint.

- "Show me your hands..." The blonde squinted.

Carina had put her hands in the air and approached the blonde. Her glasses were gone.

Reaching her level, Carina had slid her hand over the blonde's cheek, ran her thumb over her lips to remove some of the paint and smiled at her before bringing her face close to hers and she had come to kiss her. She had slid her tongue against hers, then intensified the kiss, her hand had slid to the nape of Maya's neck and she had removed her hood.

Her second hand had come up in turn and Carina had burst a final balloon of paint on Maya's hair, before bursting into laughter against her lips.

"Carinaaaa! You'll pay for that!"

The Italian had bitten her lip and brought her face close to the blonde.

- "Whatever you want...

I really don't have a ball in my bag anymore. You can check..."

She'd come to kiss Maya again.

"That was really fun..." She then whispered against her lips.

"How much more balloon do you have?"

- "Er..."

- "Wait... You don't have any more?"

- "No... I think I'm really bad at dodgeball..."

- "You're so sweet!" Carina said with a touch of tenderness.

- "I'm mostly full of paint."

- "I'd be happy to remove every one of those paint stains..." Said the brunette, coming to speak against Maya's ear.

- "I think you should at least do that..."

They had left Paintball and returned to Carina's house. They had passed through the door, the Italian still laughing at the beating she had given Maya.

The blonde had slid her hands over the Sicilian's hips and pulled her close.

"How much longer are you going to make fun of me?"

Carina had turned in the American's arms.

- "Hi there..." The Italian whispered, bringing her lips to hers.

- "Hi..."

The Italian had raised one of her hands and slid it down Maya's lower back, under her top, then ran the tip of her index finger against the blonde's lower spine, before then running her thumb over it.

"You... You're so beautiful..."

- "So are you... Even covered in paint..." Replied the brunette, smiling slightly.

- "No... Carina... You're really... Really beautiful. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen... literally. I know I'm not in your league..."

- "That's probably the stupidest thing I've ever heard..." replied the brunette, sliding her thumb against the American's jaw.

- "«I think she's out of my league, and I'm out of my mind»..." {Joyride - Fletcher}

- "You're wrong..." she whispered back.

The brunette had brought her lips close to the blonde's and Maya had whispered against her mouth.

- "Can I go to the shower?"

- "Do you need help?"

- "It's possible..."

Carina had slid her hand higher up Maya's back and lifted her t-shirt.

"Tin-tin-tin... Carina DeLuca..."

- "It's mean of you to tell me «it's possible» and then refuse to undress you.... If only a little... May I remind you that I see you in the locker room?"

- "I said «it's possible» not «yes»....

And you see enough of me in the locker room..."

- "But in the locker room, I can't touch you because we're not alone..."

- "All the more reason... Right now... We're more than alone... I even think we should establish a safety parameter..."

- "A perimeter, right?"

- "I'm the native... And I'm the one losing my vocabulary... I think it only shows one thing... DeLuca..." Maya said, putting her hand on Carina's belly - over her clothes - and pushing her back.

"You're way too close to me..."

- "I thought I liked you..." Carina grinned.

- "That makes two of us. You didn't let me win, even though you know I'm a sore loser..."

- "You should have told me I had to let you win. I would have."

- "Really?!" Maya asked, frowning slightly.

- "Yeah... I'd rather you... To a win..."

The blonde had approached the brunette, a smile on her lips, instead of kissing her she had grabbed the bottom of her t-shirt and pulled it off in front of Carina.

She'd turned to leave in the direction of the bathroom, grabbing her bag as she went, and she'd turned before disappearing down the corridor, throwing her t-shirt in the Italian's face.

"Maya this really isn't fair..."

- "Life isn't fair..."

The blonde had gone to the shower and when she came out, Carina was in the kitchen she had approached her, taken her hand and led her to a stool. She sat down and handed a slightly wet towel to the Italian.

"I couldn't get it all off," she said, sliding her hands over Carina's hips.

The brunette had lowered her eyes to Maya's cleavage. On her plunging neckline, which was nothing more than a white tank top. Her head had then tilted to the side and she'd seen that the blonde was in mini shorts.

- "Are you planning to kill me tonight?"

- "No. Why?"

- "If I had a calendar like the guys have.... That's exactly what would be in it..."

- "what, this set? It's an old thing..."

- "Not the set... No... But the full view of you in that outfit..."

- "it's just a tank top and shorts..."

- "It's not just a tank top... It's a tank top in which you're lower than me... It's a tank top that's low-cut... It's a tank top in which you haven't put any underwear on... It's a tank top that's slightly transparent... It's not «just» a tank top..."

Maya had moved her hands up slightly from the Italian's hips, to her skin.

- "Can you take off all the paint you put on me?"

The brunette had slid one of her hands down Maya's neck and had come to remove paint from the other side. Then under her ear. She removed all the paint, taking her time, one hand still on her neck.

Once the paint was off, Carina dropped her eyes to Maya's chest and pulled the towel down, as if she had paint on. The blonde had removed one of her hands from the Italian's hip, grabbed one side of the towel, then removed it from the brunette's hands.

Carina's hand had fallen to Maya's upper chest. She had raised her eyes into the ocean blue and, full of audacity, had slid her index finger over the curve of the blonde's breast, down to the fabric. She could literally feel the blonde's heart beating beneath her finger and her breathing intensifying.

The American's gaze had fallen to Carina's lips, then back up again.
The brunette's index finger had descended a little lower still and slid between Maya's breasts, then she'd pulled back on her grip. Slowly so as not to undress the blonde, but she hadn't been able to keep her eyes from moving down to Maya's breasts all the same. She had immediately raised her gaze to the blonde's lips, just before their mouths collided.

Their lips had opened wide and their tongues had come to caress each other sensually, while Carina's hand had moved up Maya's chest, down the side of one of her breasts and her fingers had tightened on her side.

The American's two hands had moved up under Carina's top and had also tightened against her sides. Then the brunette's other hand came to the nape of the blonde's neck and they intensified the kiss a little more.

Carina had finally pulled back.

- "I'm going to take a shower too..."

- "Do you want me to do anything while I wait for you?"

- "No."

- "Can I wait for you in your room?"

Carina had smiled and brought her mouth close to her ear.

- "Do you want to wait for me in the bathroom?"

- "If you want me to liquefy..."

- "Never..."

Carina had gone to the bathroom and Maya to the Italian girl's room. She'd been looking at the photos Carina had hung in her room from her summer. Pictures of her in a bathing suit, notably with her cousin.

- "She's beautiful..." Said a voice behind her after several minutes.

- "who?"

- "My cousin."

- "It wasn't really her I was looking at..."

Carina had come to Maya's back and slid her hands against her belly.

- "And what were you looking at?"

- "You... And your bathing suit..."

- "If you like... I'll send you one of me alone..."

- "With pleasure..." Maya replied, sliding her hand over Carina's on her belly.

"Do I want to see your outfit or not?"

- "I've kept it sober. You're safe."

Maya had turned around and indeed Carina's tank top came up a little higher than hers and her shorts were a tad longer.

"See... I'm nicer than you..."

- "It takes at least one more reasonable than the other..."

- "It's true that I'm hyper reasonable... My hands were very reasonable earlier..."

Carina had brought her lips close to the blonde's.

"Do you want to go and eat?"

- "I'm starving..."

They had returned to the kitchen and the dish was ready to be taken out of the oven.

The Italian had opened the door and Maya had closed her eyes, sniffing the smell.

- "It smells so good..."

- "It's lasagne."

- "Your mother really is an amazing cook! I can't wait to eat. It's always good."

- "Well, let's hope you enjoy it, because if you don't, I'm going to take it really, really badly."

Maya had tilted her head.

- "Did you cook for me?"

- "It probably won't be as good as my mother's, but I learned to cook this summer with my grandmother..."

- "Really?" Maya asked with a smile.

- "She was desperate to teach Graziella and me how to cook... You see... So that we'd find boyfriends and they'd want to marry us, because according to her... If we cook well, the men stay..."

- "Your grandmother will be very disappointed..." Maya said, sliding her hand up Carina's back.

- "Afterwards... If I can seduce a girl and keep her... I wouldn't have missed everything..."

- "I don't think you've missed anything... And I haven't even tasted this dish yet..."

Carina had finished serving two plates and they had moved to the dining room table to begin their dinner.

"I promise, I'm not looking to make it up to you... And I'm not looking to hit on you, but Carina, this is really super good! Really!"

- "You can still hit on me, I wouldn't mind..." Carina replied.

"But thank you..."

The blonde spent the meal asking the Italian more questions. In particular, she had asked her what she had learned to cook.

The Sicilian refused to let Maya help her clear away. She had taken everything into the kitchen and just as she had put the plates in the dishwasher, the blonde came up behind her, sliding her hands over her hips to stick to her body. Carina had bitten her lip and closed her eyes for a moment. Didn't Maya realize that such a harmless gesture was driving her completely crazy?

The brunette had straightened up fully and the blonde had come to speak in her ear.

- "Your grandmother really did a great job..."

Carina had laughed.

- "Why do you want to marry me already?!"

- "I'll be lucky if my future wife is as beautiful as you..."

- "I don't know if I should take it well that you're already considering marrying someone other than me..."

- "Would you rather I talked about you?"

- "Well okay, that would be a bit creepy.... But still, I'd rather..."

Maya had come to rest her lips on the brunette's bare shoulder and Carina had closed her eyes, biting her lip again.

- "You know I can see you in the reflection of the window?" the blonde asked, smiling against her skin.

Carina had immediately blushed; damn that window.

The American had held her by the hips and turned her in her arms.

"Now what? We go to your room?"

- "We haven't even had dessert..."

- "I'd love a dessert like last Saturday..."

The Italian had smiled, feigning incomprehension.

- "A cannolo?"

Maya had smirked.

She'd moved closer, as if she were going to whisper in Carina's ear, but instead she'd deposited her lips beneath her ear.

The brunette had closed her eyes, releasing a breath, and her arms had gone around Maya's shoulders.

She had kissed her skin until Carina slid one of her hands against her neck, then her neck, then up to her jaw, to pull her face back and kiss her on the lips.

Their arms embraced and Maya moved forward, pushing Carina back against the worktop. The Italian had slid her hand down Maya's cheek again and she'd tilted her head back to break the kiss.

"You've really got to stop doing that..." she made with difficulty, feeling the blonde's lips come against her throat.

- "Doing what?" asked Maya, straightening up and looking into her eyes.

- "Pinning me against every surface in existence…"

- "I'm doing this?!" asked the falsely outraged blonde.

- "Against the wall at the bowling alley, against the wall of one... or even several classrooms, in the high school corridors, against lockers... And here against the counter..."

- "You like to climb on me... And I like to pin you... to each their own..."

- "When you put it like that..."

- "Well... Are you done interrupting me? Can I pick up where I left off?"

- "Oh, sorry Mrs. Bishop for disturbing you..."

- "It's mademoiselle... We'll wait a few more years for the wedding..."

- "I hope I'll be invited..."

- "Or maybe you'll be the organizer..."

- "I'm not planning on being a wedding planner..."

- "And I'm not planning to pay you to plan your own wedding..."

Carina had blushed and pushed Maya's shoulder to get out of her embrace as if to reply «nonsense».

Maya had grinned hugely and grabbed her hand to make her turn around.

"What... Wouldn't you like to marry one of your best friends?" she quipped with a teasing smile on her lips.

- "If I'm going to get married... It'll be for love..."

- "Oh, so I just have to make you fall in love with me..." replied Maya with her best smile, playing with her eyebrows.

Carina had raised her eyes to the ceiling, laughing. Yet she already knew she was falling in love with Maya.

The Italian had withdrawn her hand from the blonde's and moved off in the direction of the table.

The American had propped her elbows on the central island behind her, and watched Carina take the rest from the table.

"What's next?"

The Italian had turned around, wanting to either come out with something very daring, or else make a joke, but she'd seen Maya, her tank top pulled up over her belly, running her fingers against her abs. She'd watched her middle finger run against her skin and imagined herself as that finger, just as she had the night before when she'd touched her body.

Her face had tilted to the side and she'd exhaled heavily. Maya had smiled then. Getting Carina completely hooked on her didn't seem like a very difficult task.

The blonde had cleared her throat and the Italian had raised her gaze to hers.

- "Fifty Shades of Grey!"

Maya had laughed.

- "What... Shall we do it? You want to go that far tonight?" she asked, smiling to tease her.

Carina's joke had fallen flat, as she'd gotten her facts mixed up.

- "No! I, I meant we're going to watch it!" she replied flushed.

- "Hummmm... okay!" replied Maya, raising her shoulders as if to say «why not!»

- "What?!" asked Carina her voice derailing.

- "Yeah, I don't mind. Besides, I know you love watching movies and imagining yourself in the heroine's shoes..."

- "But, but it's just the two of us..."

- "I don't really need an audience to do what they do in the film..." replied the blonde as if she were truly indifferent.

- "Wait..." made Carina hesitate, a little confused, even embarrassed.

"You're... I mean, are you kidding me? you... you don't really want to see this movie."

Maya had laughed.

- "No indeed. I don't really... And... what else do you have planned?"

- "I was thinking we could have made some old horror movies..."

- "But as the name suggests... You hate it..."

- "It's just a way for me to squeeze into your arms..."

- "And... How about a lesbian movie?"

- "You really want to see me fantasize, sitting next to me..."

- "If you do what you do when you look at me..." replied Maya with a smirk.

- "What do I do when I look at you?"

The American had taken on a hypnotized look, tilted her head slightly, bit her lip and let her eyes travel down Carina's body before taking a deep breath and exhaling as if she were eating the best dessert of her life.

"Stop it! I'm not making that face!"

- "Oooooh yes you are! and your face is the best part!"

- "I kind of hate you right now, you know?!" she quipped, cheeks red with shame.

- "No, you don't hate me..." the American replied as she pushed herself off the island and approached Carina, sliding her hands against her hips.

- "No... I really don't... "Carina whispered, hypnotized by Maya's proximity.

- "So... a good old horror movie?" asked Maya, bringing her hand up and tucking Carina's lock of hair behind her ear.

C: «You tuck my hair behind my ear.»

The Italian had swallowed and it was as if the blonde had heard her thoughts, she had smiled and felt the brunette's hand come against her hip.

"There's no belt loop..." the blonde whispered, smiling slightly referring to Fletcher's song.

Carina had blushed before looking away and Maya had slid her hand against her jaw, coming up to her chin and turned her head to look at her.

"You're so beautiful..."

The blonde had moved closer and caressed the Italian's lips with her own.

She'd smiled and hadn't even kissed her, just moved her face in front of hers, to tease her, denying her her lips.

The brunette had slipped her second hand into the nape of Maya's neck and held it there to come and kiss her, but the blonde had had another idea in mind. She'd smiled and whispered the lyrics to Cherry by Fletcher & Hayley Kiyoko.

"Your hands and you're pulling my jeans
And your voice real low when you talking to me
You're saying something
And I'm thinking one thing

Your lips when you bite 'em like this
And I'm blushing real hard got me moving my hips
You're across from me
And it's hard to breathe

You're such a dream
I'm dying to see
Oh, if it's real, if it's sweet, if you taste just like a

Cherry
Hello, nice to meet you, my name's Cari
We should rendez-vous sometime mon chéri
I want you on top of me like cherry (Like cherry)
Uh-uh, cherry
Uh-uh"

The Italian had smiled and put both her arms around Maya's shoulders, the blonde hugging her waist and she'd continued to sing, while the brunette had started to sway left and right to dance with her to the song.

"Don't do this to me
That look in your eyes
Your body's got me
Out of my mind
Girl, I'm taking over
Grab your things, we're gone to paradise, paradise

You're such a dream
I'm dying to see
Oh, if it's real, if it's sweet, if you taste just like a

Cherry

Hello, nice to meet you, my name's Hayley (Hey Hayley)
We should rendez-vous sometime mon chéri (My darling)
I want you on top of me like cherry (Like cherry, cherry)
Uh-uh, cherry (Cherry)
Uh-uh

Your lips when you bite 'em
Blushing real hard got me moving my
Come over my cherry
You're saying something
I'm thinking one thing
You're saying something
I'm thinking one thing"

Carina had smiled a huge smile and even before Maya had continued singing, she had brought one of her two hands - which were on the blonde's upper back, against the nape of the American's neck and had come to kiss her, smiling against her lips.

They had kissed and then Carina had bitten her lip.

"That song really suits you... You like being on top of me... And... Everything else..." Maya whispered.

- "Hummm I think Fletcher makes really good songs..."

- "If it were only her songs..."

Carina had removed her hands from her body and she'd looked at her shocked.

- "I'm in your arms, and normal, you're telling me you find another girl hot?!" Asked the Sicilian outraged, but a little amused all the same.

- "She's a celebrity! That doesn't count!"

- "Says the girl who's training for the Olympics and will therefore be a celebrity too..."

- "But even if I think she's hot... I don't like her... She's not the one who makes my heart skip a beat. You know, Fletcher isn't real life. She dates people from her world... I wouldn't even want to date her, I mean if she was my age, because even though I think she's pretty great, you... You're perfect... And before... Before you, I'd never fallen for anyone..." Replied the blonde, reaching out to grab the brunette's arm.

"You're the first choice... Any other girl on earth would be second..."

Her hand had run up Carina's arm, from her elbow to her hand, and she'd placed the brunette's fingers behind her back, sliding her other hand down her cheek.

She'd moved her fingers up to her ear and came to kiss her. Her lips had parted and she'd slid her tongue against the Italian's, to make their exchange more sensual.

Both Carina's hands had gone around Maya's neck and one of them had slipped into the blonde's hair to intensify the kiss, her body against hers had been raised slightly - as she was taller than the American - and she had felt Maya's hands embrace her a little tighter, sliding her hands very much south of her waist.

And then something happened that made Maya melt. Carina had opened her lips wide, felt the blonde's tongue caress her lower lip and a breath of pleasure had left the Italian's mouth, to come crashing against the American's tongue.

One of the blonde's hands reached under the fabric of the Sicilian's tank top and caressed the small of her back.

"Damn..." Maya had whispered against her lips, again feeling Carina's breath come into her mouth.

The Italian had left Maya's lips and rested her forehead against hers.

- "Okay, yeah, Fletcher's hot..."

The blonde had smiled against her lips.

- "Should I be jealous?"

- "I've been listening to her music for a long time and yet before I saw you back in school... I never said girls were my thing.... Yeah, she was already pretty... Like a lot of girls... But you're the only one who makes my hands sweat..."

Her fingers had slid against the American's jaw.

"And you make my heart race too..."

- "We're on the same wavelength then..."

- "Are you done singing to me, or do you want to give me a concert?"

- "It's strange... Because I've got the feeling it was you who started it..."

- "I didn't sing..."

- "Oh, and yet I sensed from your body language that you'd seen yourself in the middle of a Girls, Girls, Girls music video..." replied Maya, smiling, proud of herself.

- "Have you always been this boring?" The Sicilian asked, squinting.

The blonde had smiled a huge smile.

- "I crack you up too much..." she replied, playing with her eyebrows.

Carina had looked up and ran her hand over the American's face.

- "Well then, are you sure? No dessert right away?"

- "Sure, we can eat it later?"

- "Anything you want..."

- "Don't tell me that..."

- "Anything you want..." repeated Carina with a suggestive look.

"Besides... You didn't tell me what pajamas you wanted to see me in..."

Maya had smiled, her cheeks flushed.

- "Can we... see this over the course of the evening?"

- "We can..."

The brunette had taken the blonde's hand and led her to her room.

- "Shall... Don't we watch in the living room?"

- "We can watch sitting on my bed?"

- "Yeah..." the blonde replied, taking a deep breath.

- "What are you afraid of?...we've been in a bed together before..."

- "there was people not far away..."

- "Remember we're going to sleep together?"

- "Yeah... But I imagined I'd have time to get used to the idea..."

- "You've known for a week..."

- "I know, but knowing it and being alone with you, in your house, literally alone.... I figured we'd sit on the couch and maybe even... flirt and in my head I'd be able to tell myself over and over that it was there, that we'd sleep together..."

- "It was you ten minutes ago who wanted to go to my room..." Said the Italian in a sensual voice.

- "Yeah... But you make it real..."

Carina had approached Maya, slipped her hand over the blonde's waist, then brought her lips close to her ear.

- "Do you really want to go into the living room?" she whispered against her ear.

She'd slid her lips against her neck, but without kissing her, just, her lips caressing her skin, brushing against it. She'd released a slow breath against Maya's neck, giving her goosebumps, and moved back up to her ear.

"Allora?" she added in a deep voice.

- "N-n-no..."

- "Perfetto..."

Carina had let go of Maya's hip and had come to take her hand, heading in the direction of her bedroom. She had approached the bed and stretched out her hand towards the mattress.

"Prego..."

The blonde had settled herself and the brunette had climbed onto the bed too, swung one of her legs over the blonde's - instead of around the bed - and over her body to settle on the other side.

Maya's eyes had fallen on Carina's breasts when she'd gone over and she'd swallowed.

"Maybe you wanted me to take off my tank top to sleep?"

- "I... We're not going to... well not sleep... Everything... Right now..."

Carina had smiled sideways and pulled her leg off the other hip of the blonde's body to settle next to her.

She'd grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, then pressed the button by the bed to turn off the light.

She'd been looking for an old horror movie, a Halloween, Un Chainsaw Massacre, Scream, or I Know What You Did Last Summer.

The Italian had started a film and she had reclined slightly in the bed, in a semi-sitting position. The blonde had lowered her gaze to the brunette, and from where she was, she had a bird's-eye view of the Sicilian's cleavage.

She had swallowed and struggled to look away from her body. She had turned red and raised her head when Carina had tilted her head back to look at her. The Italian had grinned widely and blushed, but not for the same reason.

Maya had cleared her throat, as if to say «stop looking at me» and the brunette had smiled again before putting her face back in the direction of the TV screen.

After a few minutes, the blonde had also lowered herself to Carina's level. She placed herself lightly on her side and continued to watch TV.

When the film had been on for more than half an hour, Maya looked away from the screen again. Carina was so close to her. She had moved her gaze up her body, then stared at the Italian. Her lips, her nose, her eyes.

M: She's so beautiful... it's not even that she's beautiful... She's perfect... Sublime, every part of her face - of her body - blends perfectly with the others... She's the most beautiful woman in the world... even if «beautiful» seems derisory...

Maya had raised herself slightly on her elbow, her other hand had come to rest under Carina's chin and she had lifted her face slightly, her lips had approached hers and she had come to place a kiss on it. She continued kissing her sensuously for a few seconds, then her fingers left the brunette's chin, moved to the Italian's hip and came to lie on top of her.

One of Carina's hands had slipped into Maya's hair and the other had slid against her hip, then under the blonde's tank top, against the small of her back.

The American had slid her hand that wasn't on the brunette's hip against her neck, her index finger and thumb had come to frame the Sicilian's ear and she'd felt the Italian take a deep breath.

- "Excuse me... am I crushing you?" asked Maya against Carina's lips.

- "No..." replied the brunette as she lifted her head from the pillow to come and kiss her again and her hand had slid down Maya's back to keep her against her.

They kissed for more than twenty minutes, Maya lying on top of Carina. Then the brunette's hand had slid against the blonde's cheek - leaving her hair - passing against the nape of her neck and her fingers had then slid against Maya's jaw. And the blonde knew exactly what that meant. They hadn't been kissing for years, but there were a few gestures she'd already learned to decipher.

She had pulled her face back, understanding that Carina wanted to talk. They had both opened their eyes and the Italian's hand had slid a little further down her jaw, her thumb had passed over Maya's lips, and then her eyes had passed over the features of the blonde's face. The brunette's gaze was as if hypnotized.

"Sei così bella, sono completamente pazzo di te... potrei passare tutta la notte a baciarti..." [You're so beautiful, I'm completely crazy about you... I could spend my night kissing you...]

Maya had swallowed, she didn't speak Italian, she didn't understand Italian, but the brunette's suave, lilting voice had sent a soft, pleasant warmth throughout her body.

Carina's gaze had lifted into Maya's. Her hand had slid up Maya's neck. Her hand had slid down the American's neck, then her second hand had slid from her lower back, emerged from under her tank top, slid against her side, then against the side of her chest and her fingers had slid against the top of Maya's neck, then her index finger had come to wrap around a lock of the blonde's hair.

"I've got a question..." whispered Carina in a barely audible voice.

- "Yes?"

- "Will... Will you be my girlfriend? Officially..."

Maya had smiled a huge smile.

- "Yes!" the blonde replied, coming over to kiss her on the lips.

"Of course I will!"

The Sicilian had smiled against Maya's lips and her hand had slid against the back of her head, into the blond hair and she had lifted her head to come and kiss her again.

They'd spent nearly two hours kissing, and then the blonde had pulled her face back, smiling.

- "Cosa fidanzata?"

- "Fidan-what?"

- "Fidanzata..." replied the Italian.

- "What does that mean?" asked the blonde with a huge smile.

- "What do you think it means?"

- "Fi... zandata... like «pretty girl»?"

Carina had laughed.

- "No..."

- "What does that mean?" the blonde asked, coming to bring her mouth close to the Italian and caressing it with the tip of her lips.

- "Girlfriend..."

Maya had smiled a huge smile.

- "Girlfriend... it suits you great as a new name..."

- "So... yes fidanzata?"

- "Is it too late for that dessert?"

- "No..." she grinned.

After a few seconds Carina had laughed slightly.

- "What?"

- "You realize you have to get off on me to get to the kitchen.... Or at least for me to go to the kitchen..."

- "Get me off your body..." the blonde replied with a smile.

Carina had smiled, lifted her head to come and kiss the blonde, then as they kissed, she had taken all her strength and flipped her onto the mattress to come and stand over her and she had smiled. The outraged American had opened her lips wide in front of the Italian's and she'd come to tickle her.

- "Mayaaaa! ha ha ha, Mayaaa stop!"

The Sicilian hadn't been able to stop herself from laughing out loud and the blonde had finally stopped herself, her fingers against her sides.

- "You have the most beautiful laugh in the world..."

Carina had smiled and bent down to kiss her again.

- "Hai il corpo più bello del mondo..." [You have the most beautiful body in the world...]

- "You know I don't speak Italian?"

- "At the same time... Italian lessons seem to have stopped at «I want to kiss you»..."

- "Will you teach me Fizantada?"

Carina had grinned hugely and laughed lightly.

- "I'll teach you other words if you stop butchering that word.... Fidanzata..."

- "Yeah... Because I'd really like to understand my girlfriend and talk to my girlfriend in her mother tongue..."

The Italian - completely flummoxed - had risen from her body and placed her lips on the blonde's breastbone. She then got out of bed.

"Do I have to come with you?"

- "You can..." replied the brunette with her back to Maya, just turning her head towards her and she'd smiled when she saw the blonde's eyes very much south of her waist.

Carina had left the room and after reaching the kitchen, she'd heard Maya coming up behind her, trying not to make a sound.

"You think I can't feel your presence in the same room as me?"

The blonde had smiled a huge smile.

- "I wasn't trying to be quiet..."

- "Yeah..."

The Italian had gone to the refrigerator and brought out a dish with a tiramisu. She'd gone to retrieve two spoons and had been the first to dip hers in, but instead of bringing it up to her lips, she'd brought it up to Maya's mouth.

The blonde had taken the first spoonful and her eyes had closed.

- "Hummmm, it's super good!"

Carina had grinned widely.

- "Is it? Do you like it?"

- "I'm this close..." she began, making «a little» with her fingers: "to proposing to you..."

The Italian had laughed.

- "Stupida!"

- "Stupida... Stupid... thank you..."

- "At least..." Carina had dipped her spoon into the tiramisu, brought the utensil close to her lips: "you're learning..." she added before plunging the spoon into her mouth.

The blonde had moved her spoon closer to the dish, but the Italian had pulled the dessert towards her. She plunged her spoon in and brought it to her girlfriend's mouth.

- "Oh..." smiled Maya, "Okay..."

She had taken the spoonful of tiramisu between her lips and smiled. After swallowing, she'd run her hand against the Italian's hip.

"So... You're giving me the peck?"

- "Do you mind?" the brunette asked, coming to cling to her body and tackling her to the central island.

- "No, I don't mind. I love it, girlfriend..."

Carina grinned widely and took a spoonful for herself.

After a few spoonfuls for one or the other, the Italian had picked up a larger spoon and she had taken on an evil air. She had brought the spoon close to Maya's lips, but instead of letting the set between her lips, she had spread the cream on her lips and chin, laughing at her girlfriend's outraged expression.

She had put the spoon back down - as the blonde tried to bring her head close to hers to wipe against her face, both her hands behind the Italian's back, and so the latter had slid both her hands against Maya's cheeks - to hold her head in place - and she had brought her lips close. Her tongue licked Maya's chin, then her lips. Then her mouth had closed on the corner of one side of the American's, and Maya had closed her eyes. One of her hands went up Carina's back and she pressed her against her body to let her «clean» her face, then come and kiss her again, a passionate kiss exchanged in this kitchen, her lower back pressed against the cabinet.