cigarettes [Leighton Murray]

poetry event

"what's up?" rue asked when she walked out of her room taking her glasses off, when she saw kayla and abby looking at her

"you tell us what's up" kayla started "you miss the party to go to a 'important band thing' when you were just with leighton" rue's mind blanked 

"what leighton?" she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, after a sip she sat down on the couch with kayla and abby's eyes still on her 

"don't even try denying it, we saw you with her last night, all smiling and shit" abby said 

"did you stalk me?" 

"no, we came out of the party early. there were a couple weirdos looking at everyone's boobs and dicks" kayla informed 

"ugh" rue made a disgusted expression 

"don't try to change the topic now, you were with leighton, was she the woman you were asking about?" abby asked the important question 

"no ew." rue lied through her teeth "i was off to my band thing and i bumped into her, that's it" 

"bumped into her? are you serious?" abby added "you were talking to her, hell even i don't get more than a 'hi' when we see each other on campus" 

"enough of that, i literally hate her so much. because of her stupidty i now have 100 hours of volunteering at the women's centre" rue expressed "i have to be there tonight 5-10" she groaned 

"well okay then" abby got up with giving kayla a look before they both walked in their room "do you think she likes leighton?" abby assked kayla in a hushed voice

"well maybe" kayla looked at rue "maybe she doesn't hate leighton, but hated the fact that she likes her" 

rue sat on the couch as she looked at her left hand, which held leighton's a few hours ago. she smiled to herself, a weird sensation in her stomach when she rememberd the touch and the feeling it had. she shrugged the feeling off and decided to study to make up for the hours she was gonna miss at the women's centre

rue sat with lindsay at the back, when the poetry thing was about to begin, she couldn't care less about the event, she just wanted to see lindsay. the two girls were indulged in a friendly conversation when leighton arrived sat beside rue. 

"about time you showed up, murray" rue said in a low voice as the poetries began. rue sipped on her wine slowly 

"yeah, well, i wasn't trying to be here" she took out her phone and started filming the people on stage, after a few performances rue sighed 

"stop filming people without their consent" rue took leighton's phone out of her hand 

"yeah whatever" she said taking big sips of the alcohol in her hand when alicia approached the two 

"are you seriously getting drunk at an event you have to attend because you were caught getting drunk?" alicia asked making rue's eyebrows furrow 

"wait i need a minute to process that sentence" she put her hand up "yeah go on" leighton and alicia both sighed while lindsay who was listening in the entire conversation smiled, findng rue 'funny' 

"yup" leighton agreed and tried to get back to drinking when alicia snatched the glass and put it away 

"ridiculous" she muttered, leighton wasted no time in taking the glass placed in rue's hand and ignoring alicia completely 

"c'mon" rue grunted, lindsay offered to get another glass for her but rue smiled denying the offer "it's okay really, i am not an alcoholic unlike..." she glanced leighton's way 

"awakening my ovaries" the person on the stage sang while strumming the guitar, rue held back a chuckle 

"i'll be right back" she managed to whisper to lindsay before walking outside as she burst out laughing, unaware of a certain blonde who followed her actions 

"what the fuck was that?" leighton said as rue and her giggled 

"her ovaries got awakened, apparently" rue jokes making leighton laugh, rue deeply took a breath in. she saw the way leighton laughed, with her lips, eyes. the way the moon shone on her face

when the laughter died, leighton looked at rue staring at her. she noticed rue's cloudy gray eyes, or how rue was just one inch taller than her, rue's dark, wavy hair-

"so that's it?" alicia raced to themhands in air "i am not signing off on any of your hours tonight" 

"bro- we deserve double the hours for staying through that shitshow" rue defended her and leighton 

"why? you just drank wine and flirted with lindsay, and you just ate very noisy snacks" alicia reprimanded "you both just wasted three hours of your lives, zero down, one hundres to go" she gave them both a look before walking off 

"why does she think she ate with that?" rue muttered to herself 

after the event ended, rue, leighton and alicia were cleaning the place up when lindsay knocked at the door. the three looked at each other before alicia made her way over to the door 

"so you and lindsay, huh?" leighton asked holding an empty glass in her hand 

"yeah, nothing serious... yet" rue chucked "she's a nice girl but-" 

"she wants you" alicia came back and spoke to rue 

"wha- oh" rue realised before walking back to the door "hey, it's late. what are you doing here?" 

"jut wanted to come and check how the work's going for you" 

"cool" rue chuckled "we're just starting so it's gonna take a while" 

"okay, well, can i get your number?" 

"ah" rue started saying something but then decided against it "sure, give me your phone" rue smiled at the girl