It's Not Love! 18+ (GirlxGirl)

Amandla

An hour passes sluggishly, I've done everything I need to do and more than half of the party's population has called me a visit. I sit in the chair, eyes threatening to fall as the bass of the music twangs my ears. The clothing of everyone blurs as I peep out through eyes that are determined to sleep, the partiers look like smudged dots of paint on a black background. One of the dots draws close to me, I pull myself back to the land of wake and watch disoriented as the figure falls with a sigh into the chair beside me. 

"Hi," they say, their head lolling against the back of the chair and coming to a rest collapsed on the side of their neck closest to me. 

"Hi," I yawn, straightening my posture then leaning over to rest my elbows on my knees. I yawn again, staring down at the floor that swims in the tears produced by the yawn. 

"I'm Amandla," Amandla says and reaches over with their hand outstretched. 

I look across at her and smile before taking her hand. "Alex."

"You need to do some dancing, it'll wake you up!"

I laugh. "I can't... injury."

Their eyebrows furrow in concern. "Bad?"

"Nar," I lie. 

She relaxes back into the chair, their eyes bore into mine and I look elsewhere to escape them. I'm not in the mood to flirt, it's past my 'new' bedtime and I want to crawl into bed. I scan the crowd outside for Taylor, her blonde hair peaks out from the pool, a volleyball clasped in her grip and grin on her face. It'll still be hours before we leave. I could go into the house and find a room, but I feel petrified at the thought of being alone where someone can grab me. I could also call Tony, although I don't have his number and trying to get it out of a drunk Taylor would take hours.

"How do you know Ella?" Amandla asks, I turn back to them and they haven't moved, she's been watching me the whole time. 

"At a party." Where she convinced me to trip on the acid I had just supplied her - a time before I moved into making and selling exclusively MDMA - and we made out for a bit. "You?"

They waves their hand around, how does one meet anyone kind of expression. 

"Did you..." I begin, trying to gauge the reason of their interaction with me, "did you want something?"

"Ah, no?" they say slowly, looking at me with intrigue. 

"Shit! Sorry, no, not like that," I backpedal, quickly releasing what it sounds like. "I mean I'm happy you're here, I meant... well... never mind."

She smiles and kicks a foot into my backpack. "I know who you are, you're very well known."

"Oh," I smile. I look back to where I saw Taylor, she's gone. I sigh and stand, pain tugs at my abdomen, the hour long walk stretches ahead menacingly. "I'm gonna head home now. It's nice to meet you, Amandla."

"Can I come with you?" they asks confidently.

The chutzpah to be so forward makes me smile and chuckle a little. I shrug. "Of course, we're walking though, is that ok?" 

They're a very relaxed person. Doesn't get excited, or nervous, the tone never changes. As we walk along the pavement beneath the glowing streetlights, cutting through residential streets to stay off main roads, we don't really talk much, but it's a comforting silence and just having them there keeps me awake and stops the gnawing anxiety from ripping me apart. I'm glad to have their company, I feel safety in numbers which is stupid because of know Michael and his people don't care if they hurt one person or two, but the fact that Amandla is a celebrity provides me with comfort that if something does happen it'll be investigated down to the last hair.