Christmas Lights

Chapter 6

Winter wouldn't stop touching her. Platonically.

It was frustrating, to say the least. For Karina, floodgates had opened. Conclusively knowing Winter was interested in her only goaded her on.

The past two weeks were a celibate dating experience, basically. Nothing ever came up about their conversation where they admitted their feelings to one another, but it didn't need to be said. And nothing ever happened – well, nothing, in terms of sex or even kissing, but it hung in the air. Like a suffocating blanket that looked a great deal like Winter in her little shorts and tank top, which is what she was wearing right now.

She didn't know how it was possible for someone to look edible, but Winter did and had no idea. Or maybe she did. She probably did; Winter was surprisingly devious.

Karina traced her eyes up Winter's body, in the least objectifying way she could (it was purely for science, to admire God's great creation, to gaze upon living art, etc.), and when she landed on Winter's face, she found Winter smirking back at her, eyebrows raised.

Well shit. She was caught.

Karina blushed and turned away. She shifted in her seat a little, not realizing she had worked herself up so much. She heard Winter laugh as she made her way back to her kitchen.

See? Winter was devious.

Karina loved it. She could just eat her alive.

Yeah, it was getting hard to ignore the physical compatibility that they shared. ('Physical compatibility' was Karina's clinical way of avoiding saying 'sexual tension'; it was in an effort to make her less, well, horny, when thinking about her relationship with Winter. It didn't work.)

And again, it didn't help that Winter wouldn't stop touching her. They'd hung out a few times – always in private, at one of their places (which felt a lot like sneaking around) and each time Winter always found a reason to touch her.

("Friends hold hands, right?"

"Sure."

"Friends cuddle?"

"Fine, cupcake."

"Friends spend the night?"

"Winter, you're going to kill me." That one was a joke. Karina was 80% sure of it.)

She didn't mind, per say. Karina wasn't an idiot. If a beautiful woman wanted to touch her, she was going to let her touch her.

But sometimes it was too much. Sometimes she had to stop herself from grabbing her and kissing her, and finally letting go of almost three months of sexual frustration. (No matter how many 'friends' Karina had, somehow none of them made her feel half as alive as Winter had with her damn hand-holding and cuddling.)

Speaking of those girls, as far as Karina concerned, they dropped off the face of the earth. Unfortunately that didn't deter them from contacting her, which led to some discomfort – on Karina's part – when her and Winter were together and her phone wouldn't stop lighting up from texts.

"You're popular, Rina." Winter reached over and grabbed Karina's phone from the side table next to her couch. She scrolled through the messages. "Twelve texts from five different girls. One of whom is named 'Brunette With The Hair Thing'. What an interesting name, Karina." Winter smiled sweetly.

Uh, excuse me? Ever hear of privacy?" Karina said, taking her phone back.

"And by 'Hair Thing', does that mean her hair did a weird style thing or did she have a weird fetish for hair?"

Karina rolled her eyes. She stopped herself from saying 'I can explain! These women mean nothing to me!' but it felt too much like a girlfriend thing to say.