Their parents – Karina cringes at the wording – their parents are still on a trip. The cruise ended a week ago, but they stumbled upon this picturesque little town in Europe and they are staying for however long it's needed to eat croissants and wander narrow paved streets.
Her father doesn't call her. Winter informs her of this after a short talk with her mother. It mostly consisted of Winter's occasional grunts and Karina's silent questioning as to why Winter is having this talk when Karina's trying to watch a documentary. She was also wondering why Winter was pretending to read next to her while she was watching the documentary. Maybe she should move the TV to her room. No, that wouldn't be fair, the living room is a neutral territory. She doesn't have the monopoly on it. Not anymore.
They haven't mentioned the kiss. Well. Verbally. Winter is everywhere, and she's stopped believing in the concept of pants, too.
She's very, very confusing. Karina catches her glances, dark and heavy. She can't tell if Winter wants to punch her or kiss her. Maybe, to Winter, those are one and the same. Karina's certain of one thing: after that unfortunate night their dynamic has shifted, and she has no idea where they stand now. She liked it a lot more when they were resentful, unwilling step-siblings. Now, the control is slipping away from her and Winter is much better at handling the situation than she is. Then again, Winter's the one to have put them in this situation.
A fabulous lie, Karina thinks, and pushes the memory of her own lips moving against Winter's to the back of her mind.
She's downstairs doing her homework when Winter starts to cry out and moan, coupled with another set of distinctively female sounds. A girl today. That's refreshing. The girl isn't as vocal about her pleasure as Winter. None of Winter's lovers are as far as Karina can tell from her unwilling observations.
The sounds she make are loud enough to penetrate the heavy oak door of her father's study. Karina grits her teeth and goes to turn up the volume, only to discover it's already on maximum. And yes, she doesn't hear Winter as clearly anymore, but now the music doesn't let her concentrate and the music doesn't erase the knowledge that Winter is getting her brains fucked out.
This is ridiculous.
She doesn't even think as she shoots to her feet and marches up the stairs. She really should have. The door to Winter's room is wide open, and she's treated to a lovely sight of Winter riding the unknown brunette.
(Does Winter even know her name? Sometimes, they don't know Winter's.)
Winter's hair is tangled up in her own fingers and her hips are moving with abandon. Karina tries, she really, really does, but her gaze still falls to the place where their hips are joined, and she quickly learns Winter doesn't mind toys in her bed. This is so not what she needs right now.
It all happens within a short space of time. No more than a second, really. Karina's gaze snaps up to meet Winter, and Winter, oh. She doesn't show even a tiny sign of stopping.
Instead, she looks Karina square in the eye, and her shapely thighs move with renewed vigor. Her pupils are wide, wider than they were when she caught Karina's lips with her own, wider than when she gripped the edge of the kitchen island, breathing harsh and cheeks rosy. It's clear as day that Winter's trying to get a rise out of her, though Karina has yet to find the reason. Maybe, this is the reason. The hot flash of something in her belly as she watches her step-sister ride some lowlife to a fake orgasm.
Winter's lips stretch in a tiny smirk, and Karina snaps out of it, scowl back on her face.
"Winter." The girl beneath Winter jumps up in surprise, gripping pale hips and prompting Winter to release another long moan. The movement must have driven the toy deeper inside her, and Karina isn't about to think of that right now. She snarls. "Shut the fuck up."
She slams Winter's door, and dark brown eyes are the last thing she sees, dark and hooded.
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Two similar encounters later Karina decides she needs to take the edge off as well. Winter's got her wound too tight with her confusing mind games and midterms are just around the corner. She needs her head clear and void of distractions.
When she asks Wang Mei if she'd like to have dinner with her, the girl looks like she's lost her mind, but still agrees with a shy smile on her face. She was in Karina's history class and has been giving Karina curious glances since last spring.
This semester they don't have any classes together, so Karina figures she's perfect for her. She's sweet, cute and might be open to having fun without attachments and responsibilities. At least Karina hopes so. She isn't very well-versed in the art of one-night stands, but she doesn't have the time or the mental energy to go hunting for willing victims at parties like Winter does.
She's pretty sure one-night stands don't have dinner and don't go inside for a Disney movie and popcorn, but somehow that's exactly what Mei and her end up doing. To be fair, Karina's coy 'would you like to watch a movie' had been a very clear – in her opinion – hint, but Mei saw the stack of DVD's and practically squealed. And well, Karina's not about to say no to that face. The night is still young and the house is blissfully free of Winter, at least, she hopes so. She shot her a quick message on the way home asking her to go do something somewhere else because she's having a guest over.
The decision that's definitely in the top five of the worst decisions she's made in her life.
Karina knows she's not stupid. She likes to think she's a bright person. She also likes to think she understands people to some extent. But that extent is clearly not enough with Winter.
The dawning realization that she's basically invited Winter to torment her for an entire evening settles in when Winter plops down next to Mei and her on the couch, eyes alight and hair still damp from the shower. Karina was just about to lean in and capture Mei's waiting, shy mouth with her own, but the movement jarred her away from the girl, and it's by some miracle Mei and her didn't bump foreheads in the process.
"Oh, Little Mermaid! My favorite. Good choice," Winter happily announces, grabbing a handful of popcorn and putting it in her mouth one by one. Of course, since it's Winter, she can't just eat popcorn like a normal person. She has to coax pieces from her hand with her tongue. A tongue that then licks pink lips to catch the lingering trace of salted caramel left behind. Karina's own recipe. Winter clearly likes it, if the appreciative moan she lets out at the taste is any indication.
Karina barely stops herself from growling. "You hate Disney movies," she points out.
Mei is merely blinking at them, a polite, confused smile of a person not in on a joke frozen on her face.
Winter does hate Disney movies. She distinctly remembers Winter scowling at her DVD's and saying, and she quotes, 'ugh I hate those.'
The blonde fakes an offended expression however. "What? No I don't! I love this one." She grins. "It's better down where it's wetter." And gives Karina a slow, smug wink.
She doesn't know how winks can be smug, but Winter certainly possesses the knowledge and the ability to make them so.
Karina seethes.
"Winter." She ignores the widening of Winter's eyes at that. "Would you mind going to your room, please?" It's rude, she knows, but she doesn't have time to be coy about it. She just wants Winter gone.
Winter appears offended once again. If it weren't for her eyes, mocking and bright, Karina would've believed her. "Are you telling me to get lost? Seriously? It's my house too. I'm about to become your little sister in six months. Don't you think we should learn to share?"
Karina really, really wants to slap her. Both for being annoying and for the twisted implications in her suggestive tone. She's about to – grab her, punch her, kiss her, she doesn't fucking know – move, but Mei grips her hand that's still resting on her thigh, shyly moving it away and simultaneously telling Karina to calm down. "Maybe I should go?" She suggests quietly.
"You don't have to," Karina tells her, and it's true. Winter ruined their night: she knows that even if she takes Mei to her room now, the mood would still be gone, at least for her. The least she can do is let the girl finish the movie.
"Okay," Mei says with an easy smile, and settles back into the couch, eyes trained on the screen. Karina blinks. She won't lie, she definitely expected something more than this... complacency. Perhaps, she read her wrong, too.
She resists the urge to slap the back of Winter's head when she hears her mutter 'how sweet' sarcastically under her breath.