CW-The following text contains strong language.
A girl in a high ponytail dragged her feet across the crunchy snow. She was debating in her head whether to turn around or keep going. She knew what she was doing was wrong. Yet her feet kept moving her forward.
It didn’t take her long to reach her destination. Uncertain how to proceed, she let out a silent sigh, forming a fleeting mist in front of her face. She stood still, staring at a two-story house on the quiet street.
Suddenly, a light on the ground floor turned on. Someone started pulling back the heavy red curtains, revealing the interior through the two floor-to-ceiling windows.
The girl instantly crouched behind a car parked in the driveway, feeling as if her heart was going to explode inside her chest.
A girl with strawberry blonde hair took centre-stage in the room, speaking to someone on the phone. She was twisting strands of her long hair between her fingers.
The hiding girl could not take her eyes off her. She knew she should leave, that she should never have come, but she didn’t move. She wanted to see.
The blonde girl finished the call, dropping her phone on the couch. She walked to an old cabinet pushed against a wall and flipped through some record covers on the shelf above. She pulled out a vinyl and placed it on the turntable, gently releasing the stylus.
Only muted sounds reached the peeking girl. She was frozen in the moment, captivated by the way the light-haired girl moved her body to the distant sounds.
The dancing girl was twirling around, as if synchrony with the spinning record. A sudden shattering sound stopped her — she gazed at the pieces of a glass she had just knocked over form the coffee table.
At that moment the hiding girl noticed approaching headlights on the quiet street. Panicking, she jumped up and started running as fast as she could, feeling the adrenaline spreading through her veins.
It was only when she had reached her car that she looked back, but she didn't see anyone. Gasping for air, she rested her hands on her knees. Finally, she reached into her pocket to take out the car key.
“No, no, no,” she muttered to herself. She started patting down every pocket on her and looked around erratically. “Fuck!” She checked the area around the car, under it, over it, around it again. Nothing.
She took a deep breath and started moving in the direction she had just escaped from. She kept her eyes on the ground, desperately trying to find what she was looking for. With every step further she could feel the pounding in her chest grow louder.
She kept tracing back the steps imprinted in the snow, leading her all the way back to the house. For a moment, she forgot about the reason she was here. Instead, she looked at the warm-blonde girl standing above the record player, turning around a vinyl. And then she noticed her.
Before the girl in a ponytail could think of anything, she hid behind the car again. Her breath became irregular when she realised there was no trace of the blonde girl in the living room. And that’s when she heard someone open the front door.
“I know you’re hiding behind the car,” a dulcet voice said.
It took the hiding girl a few moments before gathering the courage to slowly stand up. She thought of running but lost that train of thought.
The blonde girl had her arms crossed over her chest. She was wearing shorts, exposing her flawless skin.
“I’m… looking for my keys,” the caught girl explained in a breathy tone, trying to hide her eyes. She could feel her body tremble. “I didn’t…”
The blonde girl was gently furrowing her brow.
“I’m sorry. I’ll...”
“You look familiar,” the blonde girl interrupted, eyeing the intruder from head to toe.
The girl in a ponytail shook her head lightly. “I should go.”
“Don’t you want your keys?”
A hint of confusion washed over the caught girl’s face.
The blonde girl flashed her perfect teeth. “I know you were looking.”
The girl in a ponytail could feel her cheeks warm up. “I…”
“Do you want to come in?” the blonde girl asked, casually pointing at the partially open front door. “It’s pretty cold out here.”
“I really should go.”
“Should you?” The blonde girl smirked and turned around to walk back to the house.
The caught girl did not know what to do. She took a step but hesitated. “Can I have my keys back?” she asked.
The blonde girl kept walking, leaving the door behind her ajar.
The girl in a ponytail tucked a piece of her curtain bangs behind her ear. She felt stuck. She could see the blonde girl return to the living room as if nothing had happened. She took a deep breath and walked to the door, observing the golden glow escaping from its glass, before finally entering the house.
She closed the door behind her quietly and followed the sound of music directing her to the living room.
The blonde girl tossed aside her phone. “Changed your mind?” she asked.
“I need my keys,” the girl in a ponytail insisted.
The blonde girl giggled.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Why are you stalking me?” The blonde girl got up from the couch.
“I didn’t mean to.” The girl in a high ponytail tried to hide her gaze.
“Really?” The blonde girl walked right in front of the other girl, piercing her with her icy blue eyes.
The caught girl glimpsed at the blonde girl’s pillowy lips, noticing their soft pink glossiness. She felt a burning sensation in her chest and took a step back to create some distance between them. The hauntingly familiar scent of the light-haired girl’s sweet perfume was suffocating her.
But the blonde girl kept stepping closer, until the other girl was backed into the wall. The girl in a ponytail could not stop escape her. So she took in every detail — the subtle glow of her plump skin, shimmery gold and reddish tones reflecting from her long silky hair, her pearly white smile… She was perfect, from up close she could really tell. She knew she could never compare.
And that’s when the blue-eyed girl pressed her soft lips against hers, shattering the last piece of doubt the girl in a ponytail was trying to hold on to. It was her.