BRINK (gxg)

2

It was quite a story, the first time Elle and Reese met. It was in high school, the period when sapphic feelings tend to bloom.

It happened on a Monday. Elle, having missed the first week of classes due to cancelled and moved flights, was already roughly 25 minutes late to her first class.

Upon finding her room for her Literature class, she peeked through the door, and checked whether the teacher was looking (he wasn't), and searched for the closest seat to the door (it was on the other end of the room, beside a girl in a grey hoodie). She successfully snuck in as silently as she could, and slid in the only free seat.

The tables back then were the type you had to share with another person. They were old and wooden, with a hole underneath for books. Hence, Elle was rather uncomfortably close to her seat mate.

She turned to the person to her right to introduce herself, but, as naturally happens to the baby gays upon the sight of a painfully stunning woman, she froze. They were sat by the window, so the golden light from the sun just made Elle's view more difficult to bear. She didn't know side profiles could look that good. She felt every muscle in her body tense, and her heart began to race.

Her seat mate, who she would later learn was named Reese, turned to look at her. Reese smiled politely in a sweet, silent greeting, and continued writing. Elle found it hard to breathe after such a sight.

With nervous hands, she pulled out a notebook from her black messenger bag, and decided to take notes to distract herself. She could feel Reese's presence. The feeling was almost tangible and it made every cell in her body shake.

Then, as though the universe was conspiring against her, she realized she forgot to bring a pen. To her first day in school. She was unlucky like that.

"Hey," she whispered after practicing the line in her head at least 7 times. "Can I borrow a pen?"

Without saying a word, Reese handed to Elle the pen she was using, and pulled a ridiculously small pen from her bag.

"Oh. Thanks, dude," Elle said, upon taking the noticeably warm pen. Reese nodded.

"Next week, we will begin using the laboratories," said the teacher, "so you will have to familiarize yourself with the equipment..." He then began enumerating different equipment and explained their purposes.

Elle diligently took down notes, occasionally subtly glancing at Reese's notebook to check if she spelled the words right. Elle was more of a math girl, after all.

"Are you new?" Reese asked when the teacher was erasing his illegible writings on the board.

Elle was too attracted to her voice to understand what was asked. "Sorry?" she asked nervously.

"You're new?" This time, Reese turned towards her, allowing Elle the privilege of seeing her face in full, and incredibly close.

Elle shook her head, and looked down. She found herself unable to hold eye contact with Reese. Some women were stunning like that: they make you feel as though looking too long, too close, is too much for your mortal eyes to bear, that with a glance you could quite literally feel your eyes turn away by themselves. "Cancelled flights. So I just missed the first week," she replied shyly.

"I haven't seen you around before."

She kept her eyes on her notebook. "I—I skipped a grade level. So, not new to the school. Just new to the batch."

"Ah, a genius, then."

Elle smiled and shook her head. "No, no. Just good at test taking."

"Humble, too. That's nice," she said. "I'm Reese. Reese Tracy."

Elle stole a glance. "I'm Elle. Sultana."

"Elle," Reese said, and it really hit differently, when she said it. It was unfamiliar and Elle wanted to hear it a few hundred more times. "Short for anything?"

Elle smiled. "Guess."

Reese paused and looked up, as though in deep thought. Elle watched her, and was immediately infatuated. There was something about snow-coloured eyes on dark skin that was incredibly attractive. And when hit by the sun just right, it was a whole different level of breathtaking. More so, for young sapphic hearts.

"Elephant?" Reese asked, as though it were a genuine answer.

Elle burst into laughter, causing a few heads to turn towards them. "Yup," she said with a grin, going with Reese's humor and completely ignoring the confused stares. "Damn. How'd you know?"

Reese shrugged with a dimpled smile, and Elle's heart almost burst. "Maybe you're not the only genius in this boring Chem class."

Then it hit Elle. "Wait," she said, a frown forming on her face. She looked up at the teacher, who was writing about chemistry on the board, then down at her notes, filled with laboratory equipment. "This is isn't Literature."

Reese looked at her with a confused, amused smile. "No, no it's not. This is Chemistry."

Elle buried her face in her hands.

"You're in the wrong class, aren't you?" Reese asked, a grin evident in her voice.

Then the bell rang.

"You're fun. I like you already," Reese said. And Elle felt that maybe she wasn't so unlucky after all.