Chapter Text
At home, I worked a bit on my cyberpunk-inspired text game and fleshed my, of course, lesbian main character out more.
Then, after making food, I had to think of her again. I pulled my phone out and looked at her profile picture on Signal.
It showed her with her big green eyes and light brown hair looking directly into the camera. In the picture, she had makeup freckles, and the sun shining from behind her through her hair gave her an almost mystical imagery.
I also couldn't help but notice the perfectly set focus on her shimmering freckles and her round silver glasses with a thin metal frame covering half her face, as well as her following the two-thirds rule.
She looked so confident in that picture, the trees behind her.
After a moment of staring, I closed the big picture view and returned to her chat.
I typed, "What u up 2?" and hit send before I could overthink it further.
When no read mark came, I threw my phone on the bed. Great, now I had to wait for her reaction.
But she gave me her contact for a reason? Didn't she?
After a few minutes of pondering, I turned my TV on and distracted myself with some YouTube.
Once I had finally pushed my thoughts aside and felt fully invested in the video, my phone vibrated, and I almost jumped up.
I scrambled to unlock both screens and indeed saw a new message from her.
"Not much, U?"
I thought for a moment and replied, "youtube," because it was the truth.
My phone vibrated again: "I should go to bed soon, wanna meet at the cafe tomorrow?"
Now my heart was beating as I typed, "Sure," and then added, "would love to."
Great, so no chance to fall asleep tonight.
The next morning, with a little less sleep than normal, I dressed in a white shirt and black jeans, but now I took the time to add a silver necklace and black lipstick.
When I arrived at the café, I saw her standing in line before the counter, and I stopped next to her. "Hi."
She looked to me and smiled. "Hi."
"You want a coffee? I'll pay," she added, and after a second of consideration, I said, "Yes."
"Black, please," I said, and after receiving our order, we looked around the café. She spotted our bench in the back again and nodded at it as she began to walk to it; I followed.
Today her hair was less disheveled than yesterday, and she wore an open black zip hoodie over a grey shirt. My eyes stopped at her fingernails I had made yesterday. "They look good on you," I said once I saw her notice my glance.
"Thanks," she said, and took a sip of her coffee before continuing, "I have something I want to show you later... I think. Haven't fully decided yet, need to push myself a bit. Now that I announced it, I guess I have to," she said with a nervous chuckle.
I could tell that she was nervous, so I just said, "I won't lie, now I am interested, but you know you can change your mind, right?"
She looked up from her coffee and directly at me for a moment. "Thanks, for real."
After sitting together and drinking our coffee, I slowly got up and asked her, "You coming? We probably shouldn't be late twice in a row."
She swung her handbag over her shoulder and brought our cups to the tray near the counter while I waited near the exit. Then we made our way to the bus, which was already waiting.
Unfortunately, we did not get a double seat today; all the rows were full, with only single places next to strangers left.
"I think I will just stand," she said, and I followed her to the doors and leaned against the plastic separator in front of them.
"Me too," I said.
When we finally arrived at our school, she stopped a few steps after exiting the bus and let the crowd pass by. I stopped next to her, and she asked me, "You want to spend the time before class at the back parking lot? Remember, I wanted to show you something."
I could have sworn she blushed a bit on the last part, and with my breath quickening, I nodded and went to the small steel bench where I had painted her nails.
She sat down next to me and set her handbag next to her as she pulled her backpack off and set it onto her lap.
She opened the zipper and, without letting me see what was inside, looked up at me. "Don't laugh."
"I promise," I said, eyes fixed on the backpack. I had no idea what she wanted to show me.
After a few seconds, she took a deep breath and reached inside. Then she pulled a black collar made out of leather out and held it in her hands on her lap.
It looked a bit like a dog collar, and before I could say anything, she continued, "I want to wear it, but I am scared of what the class will say... What do you think?"
I needed a moment to fully understand what she meant, then said, "It looks pretty and seems to mean a lot to you." When she didn't answer for a moment, I added, "It fits your style, I think..."
She smiled a tiny bit as she looked up at me. "Thanks, I am glad you like it," and after a moment, "I told you I am a bit kinky."
I chuckled. "I don't know what to say."
"That's okay," she said. "I don't think I want to wear it to class yet, but..."
I looked down at my own hands and painted nails. "But what?"
She straightened her back a bit. "But if you want to see it on me, you can help me put it on."
I kept my eyes fixed on my hands as I felt my heart speed up even more. "I would like to."
She nodded and inched a bit closer to me. As I didn't move, she slowly reached out and laid the collar into my hands.
Then she grabbed her hair and held it up while tilting her head back a bit, exposing her throat.
With trembling hands, I opened the collar and brought it up to her neck. I carefully laid it around her throat, and before locking it snug, I asked, "Is it good? Not too tight?"
She nodded, and I pushed the metal pin through the leather to seal it in place.
After fitting the collar, I quickly retracted my hands, and she smiled at me.
"It feels a bit awkward; I have never worn it in front of anyone," she admitted.
"It looks good," I said, now looking more openly at her neck.
She smiled even more. "I am glad you like it; I almost didn't take it to school today."
I had to smile too. "I am glad you took it with you."
When the bell rang to call us to the first lesson, she almost jumped on the bench.
I stood up and asked, "Want me to take it off?"
She nodded and held her hair up again, this time turning her back to me. I opened the collar and took it from her neck, holding it in my hands for a moment.
"It is very pretty," I said before handing it back to her.
We went to class and sat down at two PCs next to each other in the last row. Miss Johnson was not there yet, so we had a moment of peace left.
We used the time to boot our PCs and get our software ready. When I turned to look at her, she was currently busy connecting a graphics tablet she had apparently brought with her to the desktop PC.
"You have your own drawing tablet?" I asked, which made her emerge with a bunch of cables in hand from under the desk. "XP-Pen Pro, I got it for my last birthday," she said with a smile, her hair falling messily over her glasses as she looked up.
"That's cool," I replied as Miss Johnson entered the room.
We were instructed to add a character to our top-down map and animate a walking cycle.
I tried to get the proportions right but had never worked with that perspective. While I was struggling with my assignment, the rest of the class seemed to do fine, and when I glanced over to her screen, I saw her already at the animation step with an almost perfect-looking character.
"The lines won't go where I want them to," I complained in a conspiratorial whisper while leaning over to her.
"I am almost done, want me to help you?" she asked, and I quickly nodded.
After she finished her design, she pushed her chair closer to mine. "It's important to move your hand before and after touching the pen down in one continuous motion. Can I?" she asked while extending her hand.
I gave her the pen, and she showed me a few fluent lines on the tablet.
"Now you!" she said with a smile and handed me the pen back.
I tried to concentrate, and her advice actually helped, even though I still felt my line was a bit more shaky than hers.
"Like that?" I asked, and she leaned even closer to take a look at the line. "Almost," she said and extended her hand towards mine. "Can I?" she asked, and I nodded.
Her touch was light when she laid her hand on mine, grabbing and moving it with little force. "Keep loose," she said, and I tried my best to do so.
"There you go, see?" she asked, and I nodded again.
After the lesson, we almost instinctively made our way to our bench in the back lot.
She sat down and did something on her phone while I walked a few steps to the side and pulled a cigarette out.
"Another boring math lesson, but then we can go," I said while she typed something on her phone.
After a few moments, she looked directly at me. "Did you really like it?"
I took a pull from my cig and asked, "What?"
"My collar," she said with a small smile while turning her head away.
"Can I ask what it means to you?" I said, and she turned quiet for a while.
"I read, but I also like to express myself more, in private, you know?" she finally said.
My hand clamped down on the cigarette and I took another pull. "You seemed happy when you wore it."
She took another second, then got up and said, "It feels real, if that makes sense."
I nodded.
"Can I say something weird?" she asked, and I nodded again.
"I often feel like I am playing a role, the collar may be one too... but at least no one pretends." She stood a moment in silence, then sat down again. "Never mind."
I pushed my cigarette out on the ashtray and sat down next to her. "I think I get it, partly at least." I looked down at my lap and then added, "I sometimes feel like I have to hide from the class."
I got up again. "You wanna go in before the bell startles us in a minute anyway?" She nodded and pushed her hair back before getting up.
Before the lesson started, I laid my college block on my table and wrote "Chat:" at the top.
I slid the paper over to her, and she smiled.
She handed it back with a message saying: "I didn't want to come to school yesterday, but I didn't want to leave you alone either."
I smiled and wrote, "We could have skipped together :P," before handing it back.
After class, we went to the bus together again, this time actually getting a double seat.
"You ever wanna come around?" I dared to ask, and after a moment of silence, she said, "Some day."
We hugged at the main station and split on our routes for the day.