It took a little longer than Holland would have liked, but she was there. She was in New York. She was no longer stuck in Alabama; and free from the small-town gossip of her hometown.
She knew it wouldn't be easy. She was twenty and getting the opportunity to live on her own was bound to have some obstacles and take some getting used to.
Luck was on Holland's side as she made it out of the airport. Her sister happened to live in New York; she moved there a year ago and even helped out with Holland's plane ticket.
Holland wasn't able to move into the college dorms until tomorrow. Tonight she would be staying with her sister. Seeing the woman again kinda made Holland nervous, over the past year Holland managed to change just about everything about herself.
Mentally and physically.
The biggest change wasn't the fact she let her hair return to its natural honey blonde flare, or even her whiter smile, nope. It was her mental health and her overall self-esteem.
Knowing she got a scholarship to one of her top five picked colleges had a positive effect to say the least. Knowing she could go to a city she only had dreamt about put just a bit of confidence into her step.
It was the fresh start to the life she always wanted. After all she didn't spend all her school years studying to mess it all up now. She'd take it a year at a time and she would become the doctor she so desperately wanted to be.
"Holland!"
She heard the familiar cheerful voice call out. To Holland's right, a woman dressed in a mint green top and black and white pants was running towards her.
Look wise the two couldn't be more opposite. Venus had soft shoulder length chocolate brown locks, flawless caramel skin, and cinnamon brown eye's that in the right lighting had a slight golden glow to them.
Holland had long honey blonde hair, stormy grey eyes, freckles laced her tan skin. Holland was about an inch taller with chubby curves she often hid under baggy clothes.
Venus pulled Holland into a tight hug as soon as she could. Holland happily hugged her back breathing in the comforting scent of pears.
"I'm so happy to see you, oh my gods. Mom said you were at the other side of the airport-so I had to rush over here when I saw you." Venus explained before helping Holland with the two bags she had.
"Wouldn't be the first time she lied about something," Holland said before she could catch herself. Luckily Venus hadn't heard her. She didn't like it when Holland mentioned the fact their mother cheated; how Holland clearly didn't share the same biological dad.
Holland never met her biological dad, not that she minded. Mark was the one who raised her as his own anyway. It just got to her sometimes that she was just some reminder of a drunken night.
"Okay, I thought you might be hungry so we can go get dinner after you settle down a little."
"Thanks again for picking me up," Holland managed out as they got into the car.
Holland wasn't sure how her sister was able to drive so well in one of the busiest cities Holland had ever seen but she did.
The autumn sun was fading away by the time they made it to Venus' apartment. Inside there were cool seafoam green walls scattered with unfinished art.
Venus was one of the best artists Holland ever seen, but she always was starting something new before giving up on the last project.
"Sorry it's kinda small, but most apartments here are I guess." Venus welcomed her inside.
"No, it's perfect," Holland replied, truthfully.
Holland took a seat on the couch and looked around at all the art. Venus's phone then rang. Holland let Venus have her privacy and got up to watch out the window for a moment. Holland still couldn't believe she was actually there.
It was something she thought about for so many years. Something she only dreamt about going and here she finally was.
"I just talked to one of my friends from work and they said about this awesome party, we should go," Venus spoke with the kind of enthusiasm Holland wasn't used to. She was almost tempted to say yes but didn't.
Holland didn't like parties at all, however, her sister had her own life. There would be other days they could hang out together after all this was just Holland's first day of being there. Though she knew Venus would not just leave her like that.
"Come on, we can get dinner first then go to the party for an hour tops?" Venus added.
Holland looked into her cinnamon-brown eyes and sighed in defeat, she just couldn't bring herself to say no to her sister. "Fine, but I want Chinese."
Venus smiled ear to ear before running over for a hug. "Deal! We can watch a movie and devour some food, then leave here at eight." Venus more or less said to herself.
Venus walked over to the side of the fridge and got some menus pushing them into Holland's hands.
"Pick what you want and I will order it. Oh, this is going to be so much fun," she grinned.
It was nice to see Venus was happy to see her again. While Holland was on the plane she couldn't help but go over all the things that could have gone wrong, yet nothing did. Most of the thoughts were outrageously stupid yet thoughts about zombies taking over the world as the plane landed seemed totally plausible.
Everything was going better than she expected-even if she had to go to a party.
Looking at the menus it took no more than three minutes to figure out what all she wanted for dinner. She might have gotten a bit of everything.
"Well, the sweet Asian lady is now concerned for my health, thanks," Venus laughed and flopped down on the seat next to her.
"So what does Holl's want to watch?"
Holland looked through the movie collection which looked like someone had robbed blockbuster, that is if they were still around.
She picked through them and by the time she settled on a movie Venus was bringing over the food.
The lights in the apartment were something Holland would have seen on Tumblr under one of the many aesthetic hashtags she followed. There were a pair of colorful lights swirled with a pair of clear lights. It was like something they did back home around Christmas time.
They could never decide if they wanted to have the classic clear lights or the fun colorful ones, so they mixed them and got the best of both.
"What time do you have to be at the dorms tomorrow?" Venus questioned, mouth full of fried rice.
Holland held back a laugh. Her sister always seemed like a classy person so when she got to see Venus do stuff like talk with her mouth full of food it was like a foreign concept.
"It doesn't matter as long as I'm there by check-in that night. Though I would like to get there early, I don't want to be one of those people who rush around because they are late."
"Don't worry, you'll do fine. You have the co-ed dorms right?" Venus smirked.
"Wow, I know where your mind goes, but yes. The whole third floor is co-ed at least that's what it said online."
She winked which did nothing to help Holland's anxiety. She was nervous about the co-ed dorms, to begin with.
What if she got a boy and he is a total asshole?
What if she got a girl and she is a total asshole?
What if she got a non-binary person and they are a total asshole?
Holland shook the thoughts away and finished up her food. Holland was very anxious about tomorrow mainly because there was so much she was guessing on.
Sure, she was a twenty-year-old but that did not mean she knew what she was doing. She just learned how to log into her bank account from her phone last week and that was with her little cousin's help.
"So why do you want to go to this party so badly?" Holland questioned.
She helped Venus clean up the mess of food they managed to get everywhere on the table it seemed.
"Promise you won't make fun of me?"
Holland faked a dramatic offended gasp. "Me? Make fun of you? Never," she laughed out.
"Asshat," Venus hit her with one of the couch pillows before turning more serious.
"Well there is this person I kinda like and they are going to be there, plus a few friends are going and I thought it could be fun," she added to cover up that fact she liked someone.
"Aww, you got a crush!" Holland beamed.
Venus walked off to the only room-other than the bathroom-and came out a few minutes later in a yellowish-green crop top, ripped dark-washed jeans, and simple black heeled boots.
"Well, whoever they are might just drool at you right then and there. Or maybe just take you off to a distant land and-" Venus cut her off.
"Get dressed, we're leaving. No more talk about my relationships."
Holland wanted to argue with her very, very much but forced herself to change into a pink hoodie and then brushed out her blonde hair with her fingers.
She knew it would piss Venus off that she was just wearing a hoodie, jeans, and converse but that was just a bonus to Holland's warmth and comfort.
"Not a word, or I'll bring up your prom night in front of your friends," Holland spoke before Venus could comment on the outfit.
Venus sighed but didn't say anything about her attire.
The walk to the party was kinda nice. Holland got to see the city in a new light, that being said-it scared the shit out of her.
She was clinging to her sister's hand like a kid afraid of losing a parent in a busy store. Except this was not a store and she was an adult.
"Jeez, loosen up a bit. You're cutting off the circulation in my hand," Venus laughed.
Holland loosened her grip, only when they walked up to the house. The house was the perfect image of the frat houses she saw in movies and TV programs.
It was a basic brick house with a porch full of drunk people, loud music, and the orange slime dripping from the steps was most likely vomit.
"Classy," Holland muttered.
The inside was no better, in fact, it was worse. Venus ended up ditching Holland for a while. She flirted with some poor person with nearly glowing yellow hair.
"Guess it's me, myself, and I, who will party it up tonight," Holland muttered to herself.
She thought back to all the knowledge she knew about parties, which only consisted of cliché teen movies most of which were in the early 2000s.
Holland walked to the kitchen knowing that was where they kept the drinks. She would be needing something to not overthink. She was a lightweight so she just kept it simple and took a beer.
Did she like beer?
No.
But she chugged the bottle anyway and grabbed another. She wasn't sure what song was playing but just the sound of it made her want to vomit in the artist's face.
Pushing her way through random people she lost sight of her sister. Taking a deep breath and trying not to panic about the fact she was on her own.
Holland moved to the window and watched the people in the front yard. It was more of a sidewalk than a yard but she figured it was the same thing in New York. Either way, she people watched outside ignoring her own anxiety.
After downing her second beer Holland felt a bit less anxious, she wasn't drunk, however, she knew her limits.
Just then Holland felt someone poke her. At first, she thought it was Venus, however, when she looked up she locked eyes with a green-haired girl.
And damn she was hot.
Wait did she just call another girl hot-it's true.
The girl had emerald green hair with messy dark brown roots that barely fell onto her shoulders. Her pale olive skin had light freckles on which only made her look even more adorable.
Holland looked into her dark brown eyes long enough to make the girl smirk. Holland was sure she looked like a complete idiot.
To her surprise, the girl offered out her hand.
"Wait, what?!" Holland questioned.
Holland might have been a bit louder than she normally was but she was excited an attractive girl wanted to dance or take her off to her castle because with a face like that this chick must have been a queen.
Holland gladly took her hand and let the green-haired queen pull her up. With their hands laced together, she led Holland upstairs.
Looking back Holland should have been more concerned about going upstairs with someone she had no idea who they were. The pretty girl could have been an ax murderer or something, but Holland's mind was on something else.
All Holland's brain was able to focus on was how good the other woman's hand felt in her own.
It was a perfect fit.
She was perfect.
After walking in on a threesome-Holland really did not need to see-they found a room that was unoccupied.
"Uh, you're not going to kill me now that you got me away from the witnesses, right?" Holland questioned.
The green-haired girl smiled and shook her head no.
Holland let out a sigh and sat back onto a fluffy chair. "Good cause you had me worried there for a sec," she stated.
The woman didn't say anything and Holland didn't really notice all that much. Holland did notice how she was walking over to her. The green-haired girl straddled Holland's lap.
Instantly Holland's cheeks turned crimson. She was very much grateful for the darkness of the room because she really did not need to embarrass herself even more.
The girl looked at Holland's lips then back at her for permission.
Holland nodded without thinking.
She didn't have many coherent thoughts at the moment. When a pretty girl sat on her lap and stared at her mouth what was she supposed to say? Holland Waldrop did not do things that way. She made out with pretty strangers even if-she didn't know she liked women until five minutes ago. She was finding it difficult to care.
The green-haired queen's lips were soft as she leaned in and kissed the blonde. Holland suppressed her shock and closed her eyes instead as she kissed back.
As much as Holland wanted to think she was graceful she nearly lost it when the girl bit on her lower lip. Once again Holland gave into the green-haired queen.
Her tongue invaded Holland's mouth and the blonde had to say she wasn't mad about it, the girl tasted like candy and kinda smelled like it too-not that she smelled her-okay Holland smelled her.
She smelled like sweets with a bit of smoke but more like the little candies, Holland remembered she would get from old people at her church.
Not that the green-haired girl was old, she looked like the same age as Holland but then again people around that age could be anywhere between fifteen to eighty-five.
The thought made her pause and pull back. "You're over eighteen, right?"
She nodded and Holland leaned back into her touch and their lips met again. Picking up where they left off.
The girl put her hands under Holland's hoodie, touching the tender skin on her stomach. Holland didn't know why she was sensitive there, however, she was and the girl's touch did nothing to help that.
Holland then tugged on the other's shirt. She had no idea where the confidence came from when the green-haired girl put her arms up, letting Holland pull off the article of clothing.
Holland blush when she noticed she was staring at the black bra that left little to the imagination. "Wow," Holland muttered.
The girl laughed softly before pressing another kiss to Holland's lips. Her hands made their way back up Holland's shirt as she couldn't help but touch every bit of the soft skin.
Both of them were lost in each other as the door creaked open slowly and someone cleared their throat.
Holland looked over horrified and her sister. Venus on the other hand was smirking the whole time and Holland could tell she was a bit drunk. Unfortunately probably not enough to forget the moment.
The girl on Holland's lap casually got up and put her shirt back on. She didn't seem too embarrassed about Venus walking in on them.
If anything the girl looked annoyed she didn't get to go farther. Okay, Holland was kinda glad her sister interrupted them. She had no idea how to have sex with a woman-or anyone for that matter.
Before Holland could do anything her sister was pulling her arm and dragging her out of the house. Holland wasn't looking forward to the awkward walk back to Venus' apartment.
"Not a word," Holland muttered. "You came here for a crush."
Venus burst out laughing and Holland knew it was going to be a long walk back.
A/N: Thanks for reading, voting, commenting, or whatever; if you're a silent reader that's good too. I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter!! I know even after editing this many times there will still be mistakes so apologizes for those ahead of time. And a lovely welcome back to anyone re-reading this, you are awesome!
- Dustin