#gi!

“You haven’t properly trained your ankles, love, you could hurt yourself,” Camden hoped a logical reason might help Angeria let go of her request, but it went in one ear and out the next.

When she glanced up from packing her bag, she was met with the biggest set of twinkling puppy-dog eyes and a matching pout looking into her soul. 

“Oh no, don’t pull that look with me Angie,” 

The redhead tried to stand her ground and not give into the whim, but damn was it hard for her to not to with how adorable Angeria looked. “Okay fine. But only for a minute and not a second more,”

Her pout grew into a larger than life grin, “Thanks baby, you’re amazing,”

Camden just shook her head with a smile and she pulled her extra pair of toe pads and her spare pair of shoes from her bag, helping Angeria with the correct prep for putting on the shoes.

Once Angie had the shoes tied tight, Camden led them to the middle of the room and in front of the mirrors.

After a quick warm up and practicing the pressure on each foot individually, Camden holds her waist from behind – the way the guys in ballet typically do – for stability, giving her a countdown for a plié as she pops into a full relevé. 

Seeing herself in the mirror, finally realizing her dreams of being on pointe, she squeaked with excitement, “Oh my goodness, I am literally on pointe right now,”

“You sure are, baby, is it exactly how you dreamed?”

“Well, it's a bit more painful, but it’s still fun,” 

They play around a bit longer than a minute, Camden teaching Angeria simple moves and doing some partner work like turns and a simple lift – most ending just short of the elegance it’s meant to have, but the couple keep wide grins regardless. 

“You sure know how to keep me on my toes.” Angeria teased with the goofiest grin as she stood on pointe by herself.

“Shut up, you dork,” Camden wrapped her arms around the brunette’s waist, lifting her feet from the ground and spinning her around.

“Oh, go on, you loved it,”  Angeria said once her feet touched the ground again, her head catching up to the sudden stop in motion.

“I love you,” Camden kissed her forehead, “That pun, however... Yeah, it was actually really cute, but it was also incredibly cheesy,”

“Baby, you were totally just staring at my ass,”

“I wasn’t staring at your ass! I mean, I was… but I was trying to be subtle.”

Lemon couldn’t hold back her laughter, the way that Priyanka thought she was being lowkey was too funny, “Girlie, you and the word ‘subtle’ don’t belong in the same sentence unless the word ‘isn’t’ is inbetween them,”

“Not true! I can be subtle,”

“I’d pay to see that,”

“Shut up!” Priyanka grabbed a plush dog toy that was nearby the chaise lounge she was sitting on and tossed it in Lemon’s direction in retaliation. The toy flew across the room, yet was nowhere near where it was aimed for. The brunette pouted before speaking up again, “Lem, am I really not subtle?”

“Pri, you have the subtlety of a bull in a china shop, my doll,” She watched as Priyanka hung her head in disappointment from her answer. Lemon cupped her chin, lifting it so they’re eyes can meet, “But that’s just one of the many things I love about you,”

The pout quickly faded into a smile after the sentiment. The blonde leaned forward, brushing her scrunched nose against Priyanka’s, hand lingering along the brunette’s jawline as she began walking away. 

She slips on a long satin skirt – the final piece of her costume – and tops it off with a dramatic feather boa that hangs from her arms, and with perfect timing as she is called to stage through the backstage speaker.

“You coming up to watch?” Lemon asked as the brunette held open the door for her. She asks the same question every time she goes to perform despite knowing what the answer will be, because Priyanka’s answer has never strayed from being affirmative.

“Of course,” The brunette responded as expected, “Maybe I can practice my subtlety while I do,” 

Crystal was taken aback, this change of attitude from the ginger came from seeming nowhere to them, “Stringing you along? We both knew going into this that it was all for show just to get my parents off my back and then behind closed doors we’re just regular Crystal and Gigi, just friends, that’s all it’s ever been,”

“But it hasn’t been though, has it?” 

Gigi agreed to pretend to be Crystal’s girlfriend for a series of family events to help get her family to leave her alone, giving permission to be a lie for Crystal to use when she goes to her parents house for occasional dinners, a lie for her to use when her grandmother calls to check up on her and asks how her ‘girlfriend’ is doing.

That started six months ago.

Gigi was cool with staging photos to keep up the act, she was cool having to keep explaining to her friends that they were ‘just friends’. She was cool with it all until her heart got too attached to the false dream she’d been living.

That was four months ago.

Then their fake relationship blurred the lines of friendship, they blurred that line until there weren't any remnants of it to be found.

That was two months ago.

“What are you talking about?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about Crystal!” The way Crystal was looking at Gigi like she was out of line pulled all the repressed anger right out of her, “You know just as damn well as I do that the little ‘façade’ we put on doesn’t drop the second we’re in our privacy away from your family. You know about the things we’ve done that go well past the line of friendship we used to have,”

“Friends can sleep together Gigi, it's the ‘benefits’ part of ‘friends with benefits’,”

“I never agreed to be friends with benefits, Crys, and you know that. You treat me like your girlfriend but you can’t call it what it is, when it comes to that you keep me at arms length. Every time I ask what we are, you deflect or give some half-assed bullshit excuse, it’s… It’s like you have no regard for my feelings at all anymore,”

There was a glimmering hope that Gigi’s heart held onto as they lived the fantasies she’d dreamed of for years, a hope that made pretending for outsiders seem easy. Because she had the hope that if it kept going long enough, Crystal would change her mind, that she would want to stop the pretending and make it real.

But time kept ticking and Crystal’s mind never changed. At least, not the way Gigi wanted it to. Sometimes it felt like she knew about Gigi’s true feelings for her, teasing her with it and leading her on. And the longer the ginger felt lead on, the more the anger built up.

“I’ve always asked you if you were still cool and comfortable every time I needed you and you’ve never said ‘no’. How am I supposed to know something’s wrong if you don’t tell me?”

“Because you used to always know! The old Crystal could tell when something was up within seconds,” Gigi yelled.

Crystal stepped back, she had never heard Gigi this loud and angry.

The ginger took a breath after her outburst, pushing the tears she felt back, “You’ve changed Crys, I– I don’t even know who you are anymore.”

“Geege–”

“And the worst part is, that despite it all, I’m still in love with you. I still hold out hope that you’ll come back around and want me the way I’ve wanted you for years. I just can’t keep holding on to the strings you’ve got me hanging from, but I can’t find it in me to let go. My heart won’t let me leave even though staying is breaking it,”

Tears stream down Gigi’s face as her breaths stutter, and Crystal starts to realize the impact her actions have had on the other girl. This was the person who sacrificed so much time and energy to help her, and she was breaking her – she broke her.

“I.. I think I’m going to stay with Jan and Jackie for a couple days, it’s probably best if we had some time apart after, y’know, all this, and do some thinking,” Gigi suggested, never once looking Crystal in the eyes, earning nothing more than a solemn nod in agreement. 

When they end up in the driveway of Jan and Jackie’s house, Jaida is confused, but follows her friend anyway when she tells her to. The blonde walks in hurried, stopping at the light switch. Jaida steps in behind, closing the door behind herself when she hears a soft countdown and the lights coming on.

“Surprise!” All her friends said in unison. Jan, Jackie, Heidi, Crystal, Gigi, and most importantly, her girlfriend, Nicky, front and center of them all. “Happy birthday Jaida!”

Jaida’s reaction was priceless, the wide mouth smile she covered for just a moment before she threw her hands to her sides and let out the happiest squeal.

Everyone scurries around the furniture they were hiding behind to swarm the brunette in a group hug, “Y’all! Oh my god, thank you,”

“It was all Nicky’s idea,” Crystal admitted as they began to part away.

“Now let’s get this party started!” Heidi cheered, running to press play on the speaker and letting the music start filling the room. 

As everyone else starts to spread out, either dancing or bringing more food out to the table set up in the back of the room, Nicky walks up to Jaida, pressing a kiss to her cheek and resting her hands on her waist, “Happy birthday, mon amour,”

Looking into Nicky’s loving eyes, the brunette felt a weight lift, “You remembered,” She whispered, her tone relieved.

“Of course I did,” Nicky tucked deep brown locks behind Jaida’s ear, “You didn’t really think I'd forget, did you?”

Jaida's gaze went to the floor as she jutted out her bottom lip into a pout, avoiding answering the question verbally.

"Baby, I wouldn't dare forget my favorite person's special day. I've been planning this for ages because I know how important your birthday is to you,"

The brunette surged forward, her arms around Nicky’s shoulders, "I love you so much,"

"I love you too, cher–"

Poking a manicured nail to the blonde's chest, Jaida cut her off, "But don't you ever pretend to forget again or I will divorce you on the spot," 

"We'd have to married first for that to happen,"

"Don't threaten me with a good time baby,"

"Oh yeah?" Nicky raised an eyebrow with a playful smirk as she pulled Jaida in by her waist for a passionate kiss. 

They get so caught up in having their lips locked that they briefly forget they're out in the open for all their friends to see – until a loud chant bursts their bubble.

"Get a room!"

"Heidi no!" Jackie yanks the karaoke microphone she was using as an amplifier, "Don't give them ideas,"

Jaida let out one of her signature cackles while Nicky just rolled her eyes for having her moment with her girlfriend ruined.

“Priyanka!” Lemon bursted in a hushed tone, “Just shut up and listen.” 

The brunette takes the assertive message and stops talking, turning to anxiously picking at her nails as distraction for the fear she feels. She watches Lemon try to hear outside the supply closet they locked themselves in into the hallway, checking if the coast is clear.

They were the only ones to run in this direction, the others ran the opposite, spreading out in hopes of survival. They hadn’t heard any screams so maybe they managed to escape. At least that’s what they hoped.

“I think we’re okay, it’s been quiet for a while so we should be fine to leave, the exit isn’t far,” Lemon reached to turn the doorknob but was stopped by a quick hand grabbing her wrist.

She looks up at Priyanka’s face, terrified eyes staring back at her, “Don’t go, please. Let’s just stay here, we– we can call the police, wait it out ‘til help comes,”

Behind her pleading was a confession, an admission of feelings disguised behind a desperate attempt at protection. Priyanka knew that in this situation, there was no true way to protect anyone – no matter how much she wanted to keep everyone, keep Lemon safe.

Her best friend was too precious to lose, not here, not to a murder, not ever. At least in this tiny supply closet, Priyanka felt she had a sense of control, Lemon was in her sight and there was no way to lose her. 

But her words fell on deaf ears.

“We’re just as much at risk in here as we are out there, if not more because there’s nowhere to hide in here if that psycho was to somehow get in,” Lemon tries to reason, doing nothing to ease the fear in Priyanka’s body, “Like I said, it’s been quiet, so as long as we’re fast, we can get out without a hitch,”

Priyanka steps back, controlling her breaths as she watches the blonde twist the doorknob and push the door open. Lemon peers her head out, looking left, looking right, and finding nothing, so she begins to creep down the hall towards the building's side exit.

Priyanka hesitates leaving, stiff with fright, but the fear of being too far away pushed her to follow. The brunette tiptoes with her back to the exit, looking into the main space where they ran from when the attack happened.

When she does turn around to face the exit and Lemon, she is faced with terror when she sees the masked killer round the corner they were heading towards.

The blonde glanced over her shoulder to confirm her friend’s presence behind her, distracting her from realizing the danger until it was too late.

She was too slow, before she could turn to run, a sharp pain shot through her stomach as her skin was pierced by the killer’s knife, shoved deep and pulled back through just as fast like it was easy work.

“Lemon!”

She dropped to her knees in seconds, clutching her gushing wound in weak attempts to stop the blood. In her now blurry vision, Lemon takes what she is certain is her last look at the brunette, “Pri, go!” Her screaming plea rough and raspy as she collapses on the floor, still holding her stomach.

“Lemon, no, I can’t just–”

“Go!” 

Everything inside Priyanka’s soul was urging her to rush to Lemon’s side, scoop her up and run to safety but with the masked freak standing over the blonde’s weak body, she knew she stood no chance against them.

She had to go, leave her best friend behind, leave her hurt and bleeding, leave her alone, leave her to die.

Her heart was dead set on staying, determined to stand her ground against the killer, but with two strides of their boots her body overrode her heart’s desires and sent her sprinting through the arcade with tears in her eyes.