Archive of Our Own ^beta

Yara's POV

"Josh, how many more times do I have to tell you I can't do that?"

"Come on, it can't be that hard, just ask her if she wants to hang out later." Josh says, tapping her shoulder.

"It's easy to say, but it's too early for that, we texted three days ago and she said we could see each other next week." She says, sighing.

"Well, this is 'next week', it's Monday."

Yara rolls her eyes, "Oh man you're so persistent, but try to understand me Josh, I don't think she likes me that way. I'm confused, she's been very close with Mailin and-"

"Wait, you didn't hear?"

Yara looks at him in confusion, "What?"

Josh smiles and sits closer to her, "Mailin and Finn are together, they love each other, Zoe is a good friend, so you don't have to worry."

A small smile appears on Yara's face, "Oh really? Mailin and Finn? I didn't know. Anyway, she's also often with Kieu My."

"Yeah I don't think anyone expected that, but they're really cute together and they're happy, and please stop talking nonsense, Kieu My and Fatou are so in love and also Kieu My is Zoe's best friend."

Yara looks around and just nods.

"Yara, I hate watching you like that, I hate when you're sad, I want to help you."

"I know Josh and thank you, but this time no one can help me."

"But you can help yourself, stop being a coward and just text her, okay?"

Yara looks at him, "And what should I tell her?"
"Hey, how are you? Can I come to your spa later if that's okay with you?"

"Perfect." He smiles, "He takes her phone off the table and gives it to her, "Come on, do it."

She picks up the phone, rolling her eyes, "Okay, I'll try." She nervously types a message and then locks her phone, "Well, I did it."

"Great and relax now, everything will be fine." He hugged her.

"Thank you for everything Josh, I'm so happy to have you in my life."

Her phone vibrated which interrupted their hug. Yara stares blankly ahead.

"Look at it." Josh said.

She picks up her phone and opens the message, her hands trembling. A smile appears on her face and her cheeks are now flushed.

Josh takes the phone from her hand and reads the message aloud, "Hey! ❤️ Of course, come, I'm really looking forward to it! I promise you won't have headaches after that :)"

Yara sticks her head in the pillow and tries to hide her completely red cheeks.

"Come on, get your clothes ready, I'm going home now and stop hiding your face, I've already seen that you're redder than a ripe tomato."

Yara gets up embarrassed, "Okay, I have to hurry, I want to see her as soon as possible." She gave him a kiss on the cheek, "And thank you for being there for me, I love you."

"I love you too, see you tomorrow and I expect you to tell me all the details."

........

Zoe's POV

"Zoe calm down, you're going to ruin my nails."

"Kieu My I'm sorry, but my hands just don't stop shaking. She'll be here soon and I don't know how to act calmly."

Kieu My smiles, "That's normal, remember what I was like with Fatou?"

"Yeah, you almost fainted once, but this isn't the same, Yara doesn't like me that way."

"What? Did you see how she always looks at you?"

Zoe exhales, "I don't know, she's just nice and that's it."

Kieu My takes her hand, "Zoe, she was at the party with you the whole time, you didn't separate from each other that night."

Zoe covers her cheeks with her hands, "True, it was beautiful, but I don't know, I think she loves me as a friend."

"I don't think so. I saw the way you look at each other. Just try to talk to her normally," Kieu My says laughing, "and don't tell her she's bad at physics, don't ghost her and if you kiss her, don't run!"

Zoe laughs, "Q baby, no way, you're special. I don't know how you and Fatou are together at all."

"To be honest, I don't know either, I was lucky, love won and I'm the happiest person in the world."

"I'm so happy for you. If I'm lucky, then we'll go on a double date, right?"

"Of course baby, we'll be the two hottest couples." Kieu My said.

"Totally." Zoe smiles.

"Well, I guess I should go, your girl will be here soon."

Kieu My gets up from her chair and hugs Zoe, "Everything will be fine."

Suddenly footsteps are heard and they turn towards the door.

"Oh hey, Yara." Kieu My said.

"Hey." Yara says somehow disappointed and with a fake smile.

"Come in." Zoe said nervously.

"If I disturb you in something, I can go, I'll come another time, it's oka-"

"No, no, I'm leaving now, Fatou is waiting for me. Bye girls." Kieu My said and went outside.

They look at each other and Yara comes closer and takes off her jacket.

"You can hang your jacket here."

"Thank you."

"You can sit here and get ready for a great head massage."

Yara sits excitedly in a chair, "Should I tie my hair up?"

"No, no, just relax." Zoe smiled. She runs her fingers over Yara's hair, first carefully removing a small strand of hair from her face, lightly touching her cheek with her little finger.

She carefully massages her forehead and the area between her eyebrows, then runs her fingers over the top of her head and reaches her neck.
Zoe felt her twitch, "Is everything okay? Are my hands cold?"

"No, no, everything's fine, I'm a little, uhm, I'm ticklish."

"Ah okay, for a moment I thought I did something wrong." She says, continuing to massage her neck and she slowly shifts to her shoulders.

"Should I take my shirt off?" Yara asks stuttering.

Zoe paused, not knowing what to say. She knows that if Yara does that, she won't know how to act.
"Well, if you want to, but there's no need."

"Okay."

"Huh, thank God she didn't do it." Zoe thought to herself.

Zoe's fingers are still on Yara's shoulders, gently massaging her collarbones, "Her skin is so soft."

"Is that a good thing?"

"What?" Zoe asked in a shaky voice, "I said it out loud, didn't I?"

Yara smiles, "You mumbled, but I heard that."

"Okay, this is embarrassing, but yeah, that's a good thing." Zoe said, happy she's behind Yara because her face is completely red.

"Thank you, your hands are really soft and gentle."

"They are? I mean, yeah, thank you." She bites her lower lip, "Oh my God, I have to shut up." She tells herself.

She finally finished her massage and sat across from Yara, "So how was it?"

"It was great, it's like I'm in a new body," she laughs, "I don't think I'll ever have a headache again."

"I'm glad and whenever you want this again, you can always come here." Zoe says, looking into her eyes. "

"Thank you Zoe, nice of you." She says, without breaking eye contact.

It seems like their faces are getting closer to each other, "Uhm, I know it's late, but do you want to take a walk?" Zoe asked.

"Sure, let's go."

........

"Well you were right, this bubble tea is my favorite now." Yara said.

"I told you. Mango is definitely my favorite."

"You have a good taste, I like that."

"Well, you doubt it?"

"No, not at all." Yara says, laughing.

They're walking in silence now. There are no people on the street, just a dog passing by. Night lights and some lightning are the only lights now. Not a single star can be seen in the sky. The wind blows in their faces, it's cold, but at the same time a warm current passes through their bodies whenever their hands touch a little.

"By the way, did the janitor bother you again?"

"No, he didn't, thanks to you. I think he's afraid of you."

"As he should." Yara says, laughing.
"If he tries to do something bad to you again, he'll get fired."

"I like it, no one has ever been so protective of me."

"You better get used to it." Yara said and now they're both laughing.

Suddenly they felt raindrops falling on them. The thunder is getting louder and the lightning is all over the sky.
Now the rain has started to fall harder and they can barely see where they are going.

They didn’t think to bring an umbrella earlier which means their sweaters are now completely soaked in cold water.

"Oh shit. The rain is getting heavier."

"Yeah, let's go there under the roof." Zoe says, taking Yara's hand and they're now running towards some building.
"Oh finally, we can stay here for a while, I believe the rain will stop soon." Zoe said.

Yara nodded, "Okay."

They sit in a corner next to the wall, looking into the distance, although almost nothing can be seen from the fog and rain.

"Are you cold?" Zoe says, now looking at the brunette, "You're shivering."

"Just like you." Yara says, looking at her with wide eyes, then she sits even closer to her and rests her head on Zoe's shoulder and places her hand next to hers because she doesn't dare to take her hand, "It's warmer now, isn't it?"

Zoe wraps one arm around Yara's back and the other hand over hers, "It is."

They have been sitting embraced in pleasant silence for more than 15 minutes. The only sounds that can be heard are rain and their breathing. They are no longer cold, their bodies nailed together don't allow the cold to approach them.

Zoe feels a slight movement of Yara's head that pulls deeper into her neck and hears her mumbling.

"Did you say something?" Zoe asked.

"Do you like anyone?"

"What?"

"Do you uhm, do you like someone? Like more than a friend, someone you don't stop thinking about, like you're, you know, in love." Yara says, not raising her head.

"Well," Zoe exhales, "it's complicated. There's this one person who hasn't come out of my head in months." She says, in a soft voice.

"You're not together?"

"No, we're not together." She says, now in a slightly sad voice, "I don't know if that person feels the same and I never told them how I feel."

"I understand. You're afraid you're going to ruin your friendship if your feelings aren't mutual." Yara said.

"Exactly." Zoe leans her head against Yara's, "I've never felt this way before. I mean, I've been with Finn for a long time but I've never really been in love. I've always loved him as a friend. When we broke up I was very sad, but not because I suffered because of our breakup, but because I didn't want to lose my friend."

"So you have no feelings for him?"

"I don't feel anything, it's over." She hugged her tighter, "What about you? Do you have anyone?"

"Well, it's complicated too. I don't know if that person feels the same, and I don't know what to do. I don't have the courage to try anything."

"Have you ever dated anyone?"

"Once, it didn't last even two weeks, I wasn't in love with him and it just didn't work." Yara said.

"Maybe we'll find our soulmate someday. Something like Kieu My and Fatou."

Yara smiled, "Yes, I'm happy for them, they're completely in love."

"True love does exist."

"It really does." Yara replied, raising her head to Zoe.

Yara is staring at her with lidded eyes as her face leaned into hers, her lips are slightly parted and her eyes look longingly at her lips.

They are only inches apart now. Zoe can already feel her heart pounding in her chest.

Yara raised a hand to cup it around Zoe's cheek, she closed her eyes and leaned in to join their lips together.

They are mutually into the kiss and not long after, Zoe deepened it with more passion than she ever thought was possible.

All thoughts just flew out of their minds. Everything disappeared. Each other’s soft lips are all that matters to them now.

Once they finally parted for air, Yara wrapped her arms around Zoe's neck, "Just to be clear, that person is me?"

Zoe smiles, "It's you." She said and leaned in to hug her.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted this." Yara whispered.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted this either." Zoe says, stroking her hair, "Looks like the rain won't stop soon, my house is 10 minutes away, I have dry clothes for you and we can watch a movie. Do you want to stay the night?"

"I would love that." She raised her head and gave her a quick kiss, "Let's go."

They got up, running with their fingers intertwined towards Zoe's house.