I Know Places

Failure to Launch

"Can't do what?"

Althea pauses for a moment, looking like she's second-guessing what she's about to say. Finally, "I can't like you."

Jade's heart somersaults and crashes back down at Althea's words.

"You like me?" Jade asks, dumbfounded.

"Does that matter? You have a boyfriend, you're straight, you're - " Althea continues, shaking her head sadly. "I can't do this. I can't torture myself like this. I have to go, Jade. Goodbye."

Althea makes a move to go out but Jade catches her wrist before she can open the curtains of the booth. "Althea, wait. You can't just say that and then leave."

"Jade," Althea says, her voice shaking a little. "Please. It was just... a stupid attraction, you know? Until it wasn't. And I can't do that. Not with you."

"If you can't do this - whatever this is - then why did you come here?" Jade asks, still not letting go of Althea. "You could have just stayed away."

"That's the problem, Jade. I can't stay away from you. Not for long."

Jade turns Althea around so they're facing each other. "Why do you want to stay away from me?"

"Because you're making this so hard. You know I promised myself I wouldn't go tonight?" Althea scoffs and lets out a self-deprecating laugh. "But... but I wanted to see you. I wanted to congratulate you in person. And I..."

"You what?"

A pause.

"I missed you." Althea comes closer. One of her hands cup the back of Jade's neck, while the other settles on her cheek. Althea's dark eyes bore into her, making Jade's skin prickle in the best way possible. She knows what's most probably coming, and she has never felt more excited, or terrified, in her whole life. "Tell me not to feel like this. Tell me not to miss you. Tell me to stay away."

Althea's palm is warm and soft on her cheeks, the electricity at the contact making the hairs on the back of Jade's neck stand up. Why does Althea make her feel like bursting into flames with just a touch? Jade licks her lips, her heart rate going up because of how close she is to Althea.

"You really think me telling you all of that will make all of your feelings go away? Besides, I can't do that, because... because I missed you too," Jade says, her voice just the barest of whispers. "You make me feel so much. And I don't know why or how, and I don't even know if it's right. But I don't want you to stay away."

"I don't wanna do this..." Althea says as she stares at Jade's lips. She leans in a little bit more, her forehead brushing with Jade's. Jade could barely remember how to breathe, much less speak.

"Liar," she manages to get out.

Althea nods. She's breathing heavily now, too. "You know me well," she says before closing the last millimeter of space between them.

x

Jade has never completed a rubik's cube before in her life. She would always complete two sides before messing everything up and she just... she gives up because she couldn't get it. Her Dihya Paul once told her that there was a pattern and that she should follow it, but she never really got around to it.

What she's feeling right now is probably how it feels to finish a rubik's cube. No matter how silly it sounds, maybe this is how a completed rubik's cube feels like and why is she even comparing herself to an inanimate object?

But still. This is it. The feel of everything being just... in place. Right. Everything fits, everything is right where it's supposed to be.

This is where she is supposed to be.