Landslide: Before (Book 1) (GirlxGirl / lesbian/ LGBTQ)

Chapter Twenty-Three

"Your donuts are in the back," I gestured behind her as I turned out of her neighborhood. Violet quickly maneuvered her body to snag the bag off the back seat and buckle herself into the passenger seat once again. I chuckled at the happy chomping I heard beside me.

"A girl after my own heart," She said through a mouth full of jelly donut. I felt my heart rate quicken, a blush settled on my face leaving me warm and uncomfortable. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Violet smirking at me, but remained silent. A few more turns later, we pulled into the parking lot of our high school. We were a solid twenty minutes minutes early, per usual, but Violet enjoyed having a few minutes to prepare for the day. She was relaxed into the seat beside me cradling the warm coffee in her hands. I couldn't imagine a better morning than the ones I have spent with Violet at my side. She was a hard nut to crack, but it was worth it in the end. She made the mornings brighter. I actually looked forward to going to school because I know I would get to see her, there was no doubt anymore. She made a promise to try to remain open with me, to not run anymore, and so far she has kept that promise.

A wide smile appeared on my face that the thought of all the time we have spent together. I never wanted to leave her side, and I wasn't sure if she felt the same way. But there were lingering looks and shy smiles and the twinkle in her eyes whenever I said her name; there was hope.

"Are you ready to go?" Violet said between sucking the jelly of her finger tips. Internally, I groaned. She was going to be the death of me.

"Um, yeah, I'm ready," I stuttered and shut the car off. We walked together toward the courtyard before she started to move toward her friends on the soccer team. I watched as she walked away from me, a dull ache spreading through my chest. There was a huge part of me that was constantly afraid she wasn't going to come back whenever she left me. Not like before when she was avoiding me, but when she has to move again. I felt a nagging pain in my chest, like a knife piercing my body, whenever I thought about how I may never see her again at a drop of a hat. She would be gone and I wondered if I would get a warning...would I even know?

I hadn't realized I was still rooted in the same spot until I saw Violet jogging back over to me. She came to a stop in front of me with a sheepish smile. Before I could react, I felt soft lips press to my cheek hesitantly. She pulled back quickly, a red tinge slowly spread across her freckled face. "What--"

"Thank you for the breakfast," She rushed out, her voice uncharacteristically shaky. "I'll see you later?"

"Uh...um," I sputtered. "Y-yes, if you still want a ride home, that is."

She nodded, "Definitely. Bye, Em." A short wave and a flicker of red and she was gone again.

"Always full of surprises," I whispered shaking my head. I turned away from her receding figure and headed toward my homeroom before the first bell.

***

I struggled through my morning classes - Statistics, French, and American Literature were not my strong suit - lunch block finally came around. But even the knowledge that I would be with my friends soon did not stop the bad mood that had managed to climb into my mind and turn everything sour.

I sat in my seat in my other English class, Global Literature, listening to my teacher, Ms. Knight, go on about the themes in the dystopian novel we were reading. I wrote down notes on what she was saying, but none of it was sticking in my head. My body was on autopilot. I could hear every word Ms. Knight was saying, but it honestly went in one ear and out the other.

Across the room I could hear a group of girls chatting loudly even though our teacher was talking. I rolled my eyes as I got increasingly annoyed by their disrespect for our teacher. One of them laughed loudly, disrupting Ms. Knight from her train of thought, but she was too nice to yell at them. I could see the annoyance on her face, and I was about to take matters into my own hands, my tolerance threshold getting lower and lower as time went on. Just as I was about to say something to them, the second lunch bell rang. I bolted out of my seat before Ms. Knight could dismiss us. I needed to be around people who weren't going to drive me crazy.