Parallax chapter 2 - (6/28/2008)
As long as it's been, some of you may have forgotten about this. Rest assured, though, that I haven't!
Also, this is only the first part of chapter two. I would have waited until the whole thing was done, but I decided that you'd all waited long enough already as it was. ;) Enjoy!
Title: Parallax (part 2/?)
Author: That'd be me. *grins* Andrew, Obsidian, call me what you want. But only if it's nice. ;)
Rating: R. The girls are already more then earning that 'R' rating. *sniffs* I'm just so proud... ;)
Comments: Well, here's hoping my second crossover D.E.B.S. fic will be as good as my first one. ^_^ This is a continuation of the Christmas Wishes series of short 'She's The Man' stories I've written, but you don't really need to have read those to understand this. This is also going to be the first actual sequel to 'D.E.B.S.' that I've written, as opposed to an AU fic. (Well, I guess all fic, by its very nature, is AU, but you know what I mean. *winks*)
Yes, this is late. I'm very sorry about that. I'll do my best to make sure that all other updates don't take quite THAT long to get there.
Legal Disclaimer: I do not own 'D.E.B.S.', as I am most definitely NOT Angela Robinson. Likewise, I also do not own 'She's The Man', which belongs to... Well, it was written by Ewan Leslie, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, directed by Andy Fickman, based on the work of William Shakespeare, and distributed by Dreamworks. So whoever 'owns' it, it isn't me. ;)
Parallax, or more accurately motion parallax (Greek: pa?a??a?? (parallagé) = alteration) is the change of angular position of two stationary points relative to each other as seen by an observer, due to the motion of an observer. Simply put, it is the apparent shift of an object against a background due to a change in observer position.
August 21st, 2008
Los Angeles, California
It had been easier then Viola would have thought to get her parents to agree that Jameson was the school for her.
Of course, what little information she had presented a good picture of the school, and her parents, being who they were, had not inquired any deeper then that. As long as she got a good education at a prestigious university that was worth bragging about to their friends, they would be satisfied.
She supposed she should have been glad that her getting a good education evidently came first in their priorities.
Her friends had wondered if maybe she wasn't just jumping at the first thing that came along after Carolina's rejection - and she had to admit, that was an understandable concern - but reasoned that she had to go to school somewhere, so why not Jameson?
Olivia had just been thrilled that they were going to be in the same city, and immediately made Viola promise to call her the very minute she got settled in.
She and her parents had flown out once to take a tour of the campus, and somehow, she'd managed to leave knowing next to nothing more about the school then she had before.
It was rather baffling how they did that, really.
She was currently flying back for orientation, and to move into her dorm room. Assuming the flight landed on time, and it didn't take too long to find a cab, she'd make it with time to spare. She still felt like she was cutting it close, but at least this way she had less time to be nervous in.
Besides... She didn't know why, but she couldn't help but feel that she might have to get used to things moving quickly.
And she was nervous. She'd agonized over what to wear, before deciding that fuck it, they had chosen her, which meant they were going to get her as she was, not as they might have wanted her to be. She'd gone with a pair of jean shorts, white running shoes, and a red t-shirt. (Her one concession to her mother the debutante had been to wear a plain t-shirt, no graphics, words or logos.)
Olivia, seated next to her, was dressed much more conservatively, in a crisp white blouse, tan khaki pants, and black shoes. Olivia's orientation wasn't until the next day, but she was flying out early anyway to move into her own dorm, and - Viola suspected - make sure that her friend made it safely to her mystery school... and was still in one piece afterward.
About mid-way through the flight, Olivia had taken her hand and given it a reassuring squeeze. Viola smiled at her and squeezed back.
Nothing was said about the fact that neither of them let go for the rest of the flight.
Even after they'd landed and collected their carry-on luggage (though there hadn't been much, the list of what was allowed on the plane having grown distressingly small), Olivia kept hold of her hand, leading her through the maze of passengers and into the airport.
"Wow," Viola said, feeling like she should be speaking quietly, but unable to due to the noise surrounding them. "Hard to believe we're really, finally here." She recalled saying something similar to that at graduation, during which she'd occasionally had to fight down tears at the thought of how the gang was about to cease to exist as she knew it. Growing up sucked, she thought.
"I know," Olivia agreed, then abruptly yanked Viola off-course, leading her into the nearby women's bathroom.
"Um, Liv? Our luggage?" Couldn't she hold it for a few more minutes, at least? Or maybe just let Viola go down to the baggage retrieval area on her own?
"It can wait a minute," Olivia said, then wrapped her arms around Viola's neck and kissed her softly.
Viola froze. Oh, come on, already? She'd been expecting Olivia to make some kind of move on her, but not until they'd gotten settled into their respective dorms, at least.
"I don't know how much I'll be able to see you once classes start," Olivia whispered breathlessly against her lips, and Viola cursed herself for her weakness as her heartbeat sped up in response. "I really had to do this now."
"In an airport bathroom?" Viola asked, voice strained.
Olivia smiled. "Clichéd, I know, but I couldn't wait anymore, and this seemed like our best bet for privacy." She tugged a not-terribly-resistant Viola into one of the stalls and locked the door, then kissed her again, a slow, smoldering kiss that went a long way toward neutralizing Viola's objections.
She simply couldn't remember why she'd thought this was a bad idea as she kissed Olivia back, melting into her embrace, embers igniting into a fire that burned away any trace of restraint. It had always been like this, Olivia making her forget about pesky little things like her boyfriend, her surroundings, or her need for oxygen. She wouldn't have cared about anything as long as Olivia's lips kept doing that, and her hand kept creeping inside Viola's shorts, and- "Fuck, yes!"
That had probably been a bit louder then she'd planned, but so what? Nothing mattered beyond Olivia continuing to do what she was doing, and then Viola was really shouting, and if she'd actually heard the bathroom door open and shut, she wouldn't have cared about that, either.
She collapsed down to her knees, partly so she could recover from having her brain fried like that, and partly so she could set about unzipping and lowering Olivia's pants.
And then Olivia was shouting as Viola's mouth found a certain spot between her legs, the brunette's arms locked around her thighs to keep her upright. "Oh, God, Vi! Yes, just... Shit! Oh, my...!" She couldn't get a coherent sentence out, but no one really minded. She climaxed with a shout, and leaned against the door of the stall, spent.
They took a few more minutes to recover and straighten up. "Sorry," Olivia finally said. "I just... couldn't wait, anymore." Because she knew what Viola's goodbye to Duke had entailed, and... Well, she couldn't claim to be jealous, since she and Viola weren't actually dating, but...
She'd been jealous.
Really freaking jealous.
Even if she had had Viola first, before anyone else. Ever.
Viola, back on her feet, gave her a quick kiss. "Did I sound like I was objecting?" she asked rhetorically. She unlocked the door and exited the stall, Olivia right behind her.
Both froze, however, when the young blonde woman leaning against one of the sinks began applauding them. "God damn," she said with a wide grin, sounding impressed. "I was starting to wonder if I should call the police and report a murder for a minute there."
Viola, utterly mortified, didn't move. Or speak. Or breathe. Or blink.
Chuckling, the woman - little more then a girl, really - headed for the exit. "I really hope I see you two around again, sometime," she said before she left.
This, Viola decided, was not an especially auspicious start to her time in California.
**********************************************
When Jessica Carmichael was seven years old, she alphabetized, categorized, and cross-referenced her book collection for the first time.
When she was ten years old, she began arranging her sock drawer, and later her entire wardrobe, according to type, color and frequency of use.
By age twelve, her mother knew not to let any of the food groups touch on the plate when she was serving her daughter’s dinner.
Her friends would wonder why she tended to do such things, things that, to them, seemed absurd, and not a little bit over the top. She could only wonder why they didn't. Didn't they see how much sense it made?
Of course she would keep Douglas Adams next door to Jane Austen on her bookshelf as opposed to say... E.B White.
It seemed perfectly logical to have her white socks next to her light pink socks and to work her way along the drawer from there, in accordance to color, length and thread count. Didn't they see how much simpler that made things? How much time it saved?
And to Jessica, there was nothing weird at all about not wanting her peas socializing with her chicken at the dinner table. They were separate parts of the meal, after all.
Structure. Her entire life revolved around that word.
She hoped that Jameson University could deliver that. None of the other schools she'd considered inspired much confidence, but given how much more Jameson seemed like a private school...
Well, it looked promising. But promises weren't always kept.
She'd arrived at Collins dorm - named after a famous graduate of the school, supposedly, but she'd never heard of the woman - fairly early, to make sure she had more then enough time to get settled in. There was no sign of her roommate, which was just as well, because it meant she had ample opportunity to select the bed she preferred, and make minor changes to the layout of the furniture in the room so that it was right.
It seemed more like a small apartment then a dorm room. In fact, there was more then one room - aside from the bedroom, there was a bathroom (which relieved her, as she had NOT been looking forward to sharing a community bathroom - that would have been impossible to keep clean or orderly), a tiny living room and kitchenette, and a closet which was really too small to be used for much of anything beyond storage. It was all very... blue.
Even the furniture was blue. She supposed she shouldn't complain, as she knew most dorm rooms had nothing beyond wooden desks, a chair or two, and beds. They didn't come with couches, bookshelves, a plasma screen tv (!!!), plaid footstools (plaid? seriously?), a full-sized refrigerator/freezer combo, or a microwave. She could live with blue walls and ceilings.
After carefully unpacking and arranging her clothes exactly the way she liked them, stocking one of the bookshelves with the selection she'd taken from home (four books for each letter of the alphabet) and filling up the extra space with cds (arranged alphabetically, by genre and artist), and frowning as she collected an increasing number of small black objects that seemed to be tucked into every out of the way corner and crevice the suite had (they were dropped into a Ziploc sandwich bag to be disposed of later), she began making a list of what she would need to buy, in terms of food. That was something that she really ought to discuss with her roommate, she knew, once the other girl finally arrived, as it would only be polite to make sure they both had enough room in the fridge for both of their food.
She also cleaned. Although it was barely more then a touchup, really, as the school had already cleaned before she'd gotten there, and done a good job of it, too. That it took so little effort on her part to make the place spotless was something she chose to view as a good sign.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a commotion across the hall. This was as good a time to meet some of her new classmates as any, she decided, so she headed over to investigate.
**********************************************
It took Viola a while to push the encounter with the strange girl out of her mind. It might have been easier, she supposed, if it hadn't come right on the heels of her cheating on her boyfriend like that... again.
She really needed to make a decision between Olivia and Duke, she knew. Unfortunately, no matter how many times she told herself that, it never brought her any closer to knowing what that decision should be.
She loved Duke. She knew that. She genuinely couldn't say that she felt the same about Olivia, though that was really because she had no idea how she felt about Olivia.
Duke's kisses never consumed her like that, though. Not that he'd ever tried kissing her in such a fashion. He could never seem to forget exactly where they were, or who was with them at the time. So how could he make her forget everything else? Maybe if he tried that...
Well, she had no idea. She'd promised to call him when she got all settled in, too. Morbidly, she wondered if maybe she shouldn't just call him and Olivia back-to-back, or maybe somehow both at once. That sounded like fun, didn't it?
It didn't take too long to get settled in, just transferring things from suitcases and boxes to drawers. Making the bed was also easy enough - she'd gotten plenty of practice at Illyria. Her belongings had made it there ahead of her in one piece, she was relieved to note, and they'd managed to do so intact and untouched. She spent the rest of the time until her roommate showed up marveling at her surroundings. She'd never heard of a college that set up such well-furnished dorms - her friends were going to be so jealous when she told them about it - and frankly, the tv was nicer then anything she had at home. That it seemed to be bolted to the wall came as no real surprise, though she did hope that it didn't break down anytime soon, as that was bound to make fixing it hard.
When she heard a key rattling in the lock, she quickly jumped up off the surprisingly comfortable couch and headed for the short hall that lead to the door. The entrance to the suite was positioned between the door to the bedroom and the wall where the closet was located, and it could be a bit of a tight squeeze for more then one person at a time, Viola suspected, especially if one of those people also had luggage, so she didn't rush up to meet her.
She did, however, put on the friendliest, most sincere smile she could muster, and said, "Hi, I'm Viola. Can I help you with anything?"
The brunette girl with the short, tussled hair standing there, struggling with two suitcases, was rather pretty (and Viola noted this purely in the interest of getting to know her new roomie), with tight fitting jeans and a white t-shirt advertising some band she'd never heard of. She stared at Viola for a long, unreadable moment, then seemed to shake herself back to her senses. "Susan. And yes, please." She grimaced. "These are starting to get heavy."
Viola took one of the suitcases - and was nearly yanked to the floor by its weight. "Jeez, what's in this, bricks?" she asked jokingly.
Susan's eyes narrowed, and in a clipped tone, she said, "No." That was it. No explanation given, no excuses made, nothing. Then she glared at Viola, as if wondering why she was still standing there, blocking the way.
Oh, yeah, this year's going to be tons of fun, Viola decided as she helped Susan bring her bags into the bedroom. "Hope you don't mind that I took the one near the window," she said as she dropped the suitcase near the other bed with some relief.
"And what if I did?" The question was asked challengingly, but not in a 'move your crap now or DIE!' sort of way.
"Then you should have gotten here first," she said with a shrug. "Hell, I flew in from the other side of the country and still got here early enough to have settled in already."
"What in the hell is that supposed to mean?" Susan asked heatedly. "You think just because I didn't get here insanely early that you're better then me?"
What was with this girl? "I never said-"
"Because you're not!" she continued, volume climbing. "I don't care what kind of boyfriends or trophies you've got, because I can promise you, they won't mean jackshit here!"
"What the hell is your problem?!" Viola shouted back. "I haven't done anything beyond say 'hi' and be as nice and welcoming as I can, and you're jumping down my throat! You could at least wait until I've actually done something first!"
There was a knock on the door.
"WHAT?!" they both yelled in unison.
The doorknob rattled a few times, then there was another, somehow more pointed series of knocks.
Oh, right. It automatically locked when you shut it. Viola supposed that was a good safety feature, but just then it was sort of inconvenient. Only sort of, though, because it gave her a good excuse to get away from the tension that had been building between her and Susan.
Based on past experiences, tension like that might well have lead either to a fistfight, or one of them trying to shove her tongue down the other's throat, and she really didn't need either of those possibilities just then.
Standing there was another, taller brunette, with long, silky hair that looked like it would be heaven to run her fingers through, tangling them up as she pressed the other girl against the door and-
She gave herself a mental slap. What's wrong with me today? she wondered, then decided that all of this could be blamed on Olivia and her whole "I couldn't wait anymore" thing. Her hormones were still in an uproar from that. "Yes?" she asked, striving for politeness. Maybe it would work better on this girl then her roommate.
"Is everything all right in here?" she asked, sounding concerned. "I could hear you across the hall."
Way to make a first impression, Hastings, Viola chastised herself, though it really hadn't been her fault. "We were just getting to know each other." Which was even sort of true.
The girl looked skeptical, but didn't push, for which Viola was grateful. "I'm Jessica, by the way."
"Cool. Can I call you Jess?" Jessica shrugged, evidently not caring much one way or another. "Well, my name's Viola, and the charming one behind me is Susan." She could feel the glare she was getting for that, but didn't care. She wasn't the one who'd started a fight (or tried to, anyway) that had been loud enough to have drawn attention from their neighbors. "You're across the hall from us?"
"Yes. I don't suppose either of you know where my roommate is?" She obviously didn't expect any answer other then a straight 'no', which was good, because that was all they had to give her.
"I don't think so. Susan?" She turned around to look at her roommate, and almost wished she hadn't. It only lasted for a second before it shifted to vague disdain, but was sure she'd caught Susan looking at her the same way Olivia sometimes did before she pounced on her.
"I saw plenty of girls on my way in, but I didn't exactly stop to talk to them," Susan said in an even tone, which was a definite improvement from before.
"Miss Moore will be along shortly," a new voice informed them, and Jessica stepped quickly inside as she turned to face the new speaker. The newcomer was about Susan's height, though looked a few years older, with short honey-blonde hair that had a sort of wavy curl to it. She was also dressed up like a Catholic schoolgirl with a tie, which prompted a trio of synchronized raised eyebrows. "Jessica Carmichael? Susan Jolley? Viola Hastings?" Each one nodded in turn. "My name's Julia Lake, and I'm going to be your R.A. this year. I'll be down at the end of the hall if you need anything. If I'm not in, write a note and slip it under my door. I can get you my email address later. Anyway, the reason I came by was to tell you about the assembly that's going to be held before orientation starts."
"It didn't say anything about an assembly in any of the information I got," Jessica said, frowning.
"It barely said anything about anything in any of the information I got," Viola countered.
Julia smiled. "Which is why I'm making sure that you know about it. It starts in an hour, in Donovan Hall. There'll be signs up, so you can't miss it. You'll have more information then you know what to do with by the time it's over." She consulted a clipboard that Viola hadn't noticed, and checked a few things off. "Any questions?"
"Why are you dressed up like you plan on trying out for the 'Naughty Schoolgirl' page of some kind of fetish calendar?" Susan asked, eying her warily.
A grin. "Well, I hope you mean that in a good way, since you'll be seeing a lot more of it. It's the school uniform."
"Uniform?" Viola almost moaned. Hadn't Illyria's uniforms been bad enough? She had to wear... that? Jessica's and Susan's reactions - "That's the uniform?" and "That had better be some kind of hazing joke," respectively - weren't nearly as quiet.
Julia laughed. "Oh, trust me, after the assembly, the uniforms will be the last thing you worry about."
"Well, that sounds ominous," a cheerful voice announced from down the hall.
Julia turned and acknowledged the new arrival. "Miss Moore, I'm glad you could make it. I was starting to worry that your appointment would keep you even later then we'd been told."
"Sorry if I made you worry," she said, and Viola couldn't help but think that the voice sounded familiar, somehow. She peeked out the door... and froze.
"Oh, God," she moaned, hurriedly ducking back inside. Maybe if she hoped really hard, that wouldn't be who she thought it was?
There was the sound of suitcases being set down on the hall floor, then a rather light blonde head poked itself into the room, and she gave a very familiar grin. "Vi!" she exclaimed, bustling in and giving Viola a big hug.
And all the wishful thinking in the world wouldn't change the fact that this was, indeed, the girl from the airport bathroom.
"I was hoping to see you again, but this is even sooner then I'd thought! How's Liv, anyway?"
If she didn't wipe that grin off her face, Viola might give into temptation to slap it off. "She's fine, as far as I know," she said stiffly, her posture screaming 'let go and get off'.
"You two know each other?" Jessica asked, surprised.
"We met at the airport," Viola said, hoping that would be good enough.
"My name's Cynthia, by the way," she said, ostensibly to Jessica. That set off another round of introductions, with Viola surreptitiously slipping her whole name in there, as if she thought Cynthia had known and forgotten it.
"Think you might want to climb off my roommate, now?" Susan asked, and Viola could have kissed her for it.
"Aww, but I like it here," Cynthia pouted, arms wrapped firmly around Viola's neck.
"You still have to unpack and get settled in before the assembly," Jessica reminded her, noting Viola's subtle sigh of relief when Cynthia finally let her go. She took an equally subtle step backward, and Susan drifted over to her side, as if staking a claim.
"We'll see you guys later!" Cynthia chirped with a grin, all but bouncing out of the room and over to her own suite. Jessica and Julia exchanged a look, then the former followed her roommate, shutting their door behind her.
Viola watched her go with mixed feelings, barely noticing when Julia excused herself, saying she had other students to check on, though she did promise to make sure she was at the assembly.
Once the door was closed, Julia shook her head and sighed, a smile tugging at her lips. How exactly, she wondered, had she wound up in the lesbian spy version of Grey's Anatomy?
Okay, this chapter isn't exactly finished, yet, but after such a long wait, I decided it would be better to split it into two parts rather then make you wait even longer for the whole thing. Hopefully, I should have the rest of it out shortly. In the meantime, I thought I'd introduce you to the freshmen DEBS (and their RA)
Amanda Bynes as Viola Hastings (Probably the most unnecessary picture here, but I didn't want her to be left out.)
Laura Ramsey as Olivia Lennox (See above, but not quite as unnecessary.)
Natalie Portman as Susan Jolley
Cheyenne Kimball as Cynthia Moore
Summer Glau as Jessica Carmichael
Mena Suvari as Julia Lake
Once again, I'm very sorry for the delay. Thank you for your patience. :)
Also, this is only the first part of chapter two. I would have waited until the whole thing was done, but I decided that you'd all waited long enough already as it was. ;) Enjoy!
Title: Parallax (part 2/?)
Author: That'd be me. *grins* Andrew, Obsidian, call me what you want. But only if it's nice. ;)
Rating: R. The girls are already more then earning that 'R' rating. *sniffs* I'm just so proud... ;)
Comments: Well, here's hoping my second crossover D.E.B.S. fic will be as good as my first one. ^_^ This is a continuation of the Christmas Wishes series of short 'She's The Man' stories I've written, but you don't really need to have read those to understand this. This is also going to be the first actual sequel to 'D.E.B.S.' that I've written, as opposed to an AU fic. (Well, I guess all fic, by its very nature, is AU, but you know what I mean. *winks*)
Yes, this is late. I'm very sorry about that. I'll do my best to make sure that all other updates don't take quite THAT long to get there.
Legal Disclaimer: I do not own 'D.E.B.S.', as I am most definitely NOT Angela Robinson. Likewise, I also do not own 'She's The Man', which belongs to... Well, it was written by Ewan Leslie, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, directed by Andy Fickman, based on the work of William Shakespeare, and distributed by Dreamworks. So whoever 'owns' it, it isn't me. ;)
Parallax, or more accurately motion parallax (Greek: pa?a??a?? (parallagé) = alteration) is the change of angular position of two stationary points relative to each other as seen by an observer, due to the motion of an observer. Simply put, it is the apparent shift of an object against a background due to a change in observer position.
August 21st, 2008
Los Angeles, California
It had been easier then Viola would have thought to get her parents to agree that Jameson was the school for her.
Of course, what little information she had presented a good picture of the school, and her parents, being who they were, had not inquired any deeper then that. As long as she got a good education at a prestigious university that was worth bragging about to their friends, they would be satisfied.
She supposed she should have been glad that her getting a good education evidently came first in their priorities.
Her friends had wondered if maybe she wasn't just jumping at the first thing that came along after Carolina's rejection - and she had to admit, that was an understandable concern - but reasoned that she had to go to school somewhere, so why not Jameson?
Olivia had just been thrilled that they were going to be in the same city, and immediately made Viola promise to call her the very minute she got settled in.
She and her parents had flown out once to take a tour of the campus, and somehow, she'd managed to leave knowing next to nothing more about the school then she had before.
It was rather baffling how they did that, really.
She was currently flying back for orientation, and to move into her dorm room. Assuming the flight landed on time, and it didn't take too long to find a cab, she'd make it with time to spare. She still felt like she was cutting it close, but at least this way she had less time to be nervous in.
Besides... She didn't know why, but she couldn't help but feel that she might have to get used to things moving quickly.
And she was nervous. She'd agonized over what to wear, before deciding that fuck it, they had chosen her, which meant they were going to get her as she was, not as they might have wanted her to be. She'd gone with a pair of jean shorts, white running shoes, and a red t-shirt. (Her one concession to her mother the debutante had been to wear a plain t-shirt, no graphics, words or logos.)
Olivia, seated next to her, was dressed much more conservatively, in a crisp white blouse, tan khaki pants, and black shoes. Olivia's orientation wasn't until the next day, but she was flying out early anyway to move into her own dorm, and - Viola suspected - make sure that her friend made it safely to her mystery school... and was still in one piece afterward.
About mid-way through the flight, Olivia had taken her hand and given it a reassuring squeeze. Viola smiled at her and squeezed back.
Nothing was said about the fact that neither of them let go for the rest of the flight.
Even after they'd landed and collected their carry-on luggage (though there hadn't been much, the list of what was allowed on the plane having grown distressingly small), Olivia kept hold of her hand, leading her through the maze of passengers and into the airport.
"Wow," Viola said, feeling like she should be speaking quietly, but unable to due to the noise surrounding them. "Hard to believe we're really, finally here." She recalled saying something similar to that at graduation, during which she'd occasionally had to fight down tears at the thought of how the gang was about to cease to exist as she knew it. Growing up sucked, she thought.
"I know," Olivia agreed, then abruptly yanked Viola off-course, leading her into the nearby women's bathroom.
"Um, Liv? Our luggage?" Couldn't she hold it for a few more minutes, at least? Or maybe just let Viola go down to the baggage retrieval area on her own?
"It can wait a minute," Olivia said, then wrapped her arms around Viola's neck and kissed her softly.
Viola froze. Oh, come on, already? She'd been expecting Olivia to make some kind of move on her, but not until they'd gotten settled into their respective dorms, at least.
"I don't know how much I'll be able to see you once classes start," Olivia whispered breathlessly against her lips, and Viola cursed herself for her weakness as her heartbeat sped up in response. "I really had to do this now."
"In an airport bathroom?" Viola asked, voice strained.
Olivia smiled. "Clichéd, I know, but I couldn't wait anymore, and this seemed like our best bet for privacy." She tugged a not-terribly-resistant Viola into one of the stalls and locked the door, then kissed her again, a slow, smoldering kiss that went a long way toward neutralizing Viola's objections.
She simply couldn't remember why she'd thought this was a bad idea as she kissed Olivia back, melting into her embrace, embers igniting into a fire that burned away any trace of restraint. It had always been like this, Olivia making her forget about pesky little things like her boyfriend, her surroundings, or her need for oxygen. She wouldn't have cared about anything as long as Olivia's lips kept doing that, and her hand kept creeping inside Viola's shorts, and- "Fuck, yes!"
That had probably been a bit louder then she'd planned, but so what? Nothing mattered beyond Olivia continuing to do what she was doing, and then Viola was really shouting, and if she'd actually heard the bathroom door open and shut, she wouldn't have cared about that, either.
She collapsed down to her knees, partly so she could recover from having her brain fried like that, and partly so she could set about unzipping and lowering Olivia's pants.
And then Olivia was shouting as Viola's mouth found a certain spot between her legs, the brunette's arms locked around her thighs to keep her upright. "Oh, God, Vi! Yes, just... Shit! Oh, my...!" She couldn't get a coherent sentence out, but no one really minded. She climaxed with a shout, and leaned against the door of the stall, spent.
They took a few more minutes to recover and straighten up. "Sorry," Olivia finally said. "I just... couldn't wait, anymore." Because she knew what Viola's goodbye to Duke had entailed, and... Well, she couldn't claim to be jealous, since she and Viola weren't actually dating, but...
She'd been jealous.
Really freaking jealous.
Even if she had had Viola first, before anyone else. Ever.
Viola, back on her feet, gave her a quick kiss. "Did I sound like I was objecting?" she asked rhetorically. She unlocked the door and exited the stall, Olivia right behind her.
Both froze, however, when the young blonde woman leaning against one of the sinks began applauding them. "God damn," she said with a wide grin, sounding impressed. "I was starting to wonder if I should call the police and report a murder for a minute there."
Viola, utterly mortified, didn't move. Or speak. Or breathe. Or blink.
Chuckling, the woman - little more then a girl, really - headed for the exit. "I really hope I see you two around again, sometime," she said before she left.
This, Viola decided, was not an especially auspicious start to her time in California.
**********************************************
When Jessica Carmichael was seven years old, she alphabetized, categorized, and cross-referenced her book collection for the first time.
When she was ten years old, she began arranging her sock drawer, and later her entire wardrobe, according to type, color and frequency of use.
By age twelve, her mother knew not to let any of the food groups touch on the plate when she was serving her daughter’s dinner.
Her friends would wonder why she tended to do such things, things that, to them, seemed absurd, and not a little bit over the top. She could only wonder why they didn't. Didn't they see how much sense it made?
Of course she would keep Douglas Adams next door to Jane Austen on her bookshelf as opposed to say... E.B White.
It seemed perfectly logical to have her white socks next to her light pink socks and to work her way along the drawer from there, in accordance to color, length and thread count. Didn't they see how much simpler that made things? How much time it saved?
And to Jessica, there was nothing weird at all about not wanting her peas socializing with her chicken at the dinner table. They were separate parts of the meal, after all.
Structure. Her entire life revolved around that word.
She hoped that Jameson University could deliver that. None of the other schools she'd considered inspired much confidence, but given how much more Jameson seemed like a private school...
Well, it looked promising. But promises weren't always kept.
She'd arrived at Collins dorm - named after a famous graduate of the school, supposedly, but she'd never heard of the woman - fairly early, to make sure she had more then enough time to get settled in. There was no sign of her roommate, which was just as well, because it meant she had ample opportunity to select the bed she preferred, and make minor changes to the layout of the furniture in the room so that it was right.
It seemed more like a small apartment then a dorm room. In fact, there was more then one room - aside from the bedroom, there was a bathroom (which relieved her, as she had NOT been looking forward to sharing a community bathroom - that would have been impossible to keep clean or orderly), a tiny living room and kitchenette, and a closet which was really too small to be used for much of anything beyond storage. It was all very... blue.
Even the furniture was blue. She supposed she shouldn't complain, as she knew most dorm rooms had nothing beyond wooden desks, a chair or two, and beds. They didn't come with couches, bookshelves, a plasma screen tv (!!!), plaid footstools (plaid? seriously?), a full-sized refrigerator/freezer combo, or a microwave. She could live with blue walls and ceilings.
After carefully unpacking and arranging her clothes exactly the way she liked them, stocking one of the bookshelves with the selection she'd taken from home (four books for each letter of the alphabet) and filling up the extra space with cds (arranged alphabetically, by genre and artist), and frowning as she collected an increasing number of small black objects that seemed to be tucked into every out of the way corner and crevice the suite had (they were dropped into a Ziploc sandwich bag to be disposed of later), she began making a list of what she would need to buy, in terms of food. That was something that she really ought to discuss with her roommate, she knew, once the other girl finally arrived, as it would only be polite to make sure they both had enough room in the fridge for both of their food.
She also cleaned. Although it was barely more then a touchup, really, as the school had already cleaned before she'd gotten there, and done a good job of it, too. That it took so little effort on her part to make the place spotless was something she chose to view as a good sign.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a commotion across the hall. This was as good a time to meet some of her new classmates as any, she decided, so she headed over to investigate.
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It took Viola a while to push the encounter with the strange girl out of her mind. It might have been easier, she supposed, if it hadn't come right on the heels of her cheating on her boyfriend like that... again.
She really needed to make a decision between Olivia and Duke, she knew. Unfortunately, no matter how many times she told herself that, it never brought her any closer to knowing what that decision should be.
She loved Duke. She knew that. She genuinely couldn't say that she felt the same about Olivia, though that was really because she had no idea how she felt about Olivia.
Duke's kisses never consumed her like that, though. Not that he'd ever tried kissing her in such a fashion. He could never seem to forget exactly where they were, or who was with them at the time. So how could he make her forget everything else? Maybe if he tried that...
Well, she had no idea. She'd promised to call him when she got all settled in, too. Morbidly, she wondered if maybe she shouldn't just call him and Olivia back-to-back, or maybe somehow both at once. That sounded like fun, didn't it?
It didn't take too long to get settled in, just transferring things from suitcases and boxes to drawers. Making the bed was also easy enough - she'd gotten plenty of practice at Illyria. Her belongings had made it there ahead of her in one piece, she was relieved to note, and they'd managed to do so intact and untouched. She spent the rest of the time until her roommate showed up marveling at her surroundings. She'd never heard of a college that set up such well-furnished dorms - her friends were going to be so jealous when she told them about it - and frankly, the tv was nicer then anything she had at home. That it seemed to be bolted to the wall came as no real surprise, though she did hope that it didn't break down anytime soon, as that was bound to make fixing it hard.
When she heard a key rattling in the lock, she quickly jumped up off the surprisingly comfortable couch and headed for the short hall that lead to the door. The entrance to the suite was positioned between the door to the bedroom and the wall where the closet was located, and it could be a bit of a tight squeeze for more then one person at a time, Viola suspected, especially if one of those people also had luggage, so she didn't rush up to meet her.
She did, however, put on the friendliest, most sincere smile she could muster, and said, "Hi, I'm Viola. Can I help you with anything?"
The brunette girl with the short, tussled hair standing there, struggling with two suitcases, was rather pretty (and Viola noted this purely in the interest of getting to know her new roomie), with tight fitting jeans and a white t-shirt advertising some band she'd never heard of. She stared at Viola for a long, unreadable moment, then seemed to shake herself back to her senses. "Susan. And yes, please." She grimaced. "These are starting to get heavy."
Viola took one of the suitcases - and was nearly yanked to the floor by its weight. "Jeez, what's in this, bricks?" she asked jokingly.
Susan's eyes narrowed, and in a clipped tone, she said, "No." That was it. No explanation given, no excuses made, nothing. Then she glared at Viola, as if wondering why she was still standing there, blocking the way.
Oh, yeah, this year's going to be tons of fun, Viola decided as she helped Susan bring her bags into the bedroom. "Hope you don't mind that I took the one near the window," she said as she dropped the suitcase near the other bed with some relief.
"And what if I did?" The question was asked challengingly, but not in a 'move your crap now or DIE!' sort of way.
"Then you should have gotten here first," she said with a shrug. "Hell, I flew in from the other side of the country and still got here early enough to have settled in already."
"What in the hell is that supposed to mean?" Susan asked heatedly. "You think just because I didn't get here insanely early that you're better then me?"
What was with this girl? "I never said-"
"Because you're not!" she continued, volume climbing. "I don't care what kind of boyfriends or trophies you've got, because I can promise you, they won't mean jackshit here!"
"What the hell is your problem?!" Viola shouted back. "I haven't done anything beyond say 'hi' and be as nice and welcoming as I can, and you're jumping down my throat! You could at least wait until I've actually done something first!"
There was a knock on the door.
"WHAT?!" they both yelled in unison.
The doorknob rattled a few times, then there was another, somehow more pointed series of knocks.
Oh, right. It automatically locked when you shut it. Viola supposed that was a good safety feature, but just then it was sort of inconvenient. Only sort of, though, because it gave her a good excuse to get away from the tension that had been building between her and Susan.
Based on past experiences, tension like that might well have lead either to a fistfight, or one of them trying to shove her tongue down the other's throat, and she really didn't need either of those possibilities just then.
Standing there was another, taller brunette, with long, silky hair that looked like it would be heaven to run her fingers through, tangling them up as she pressed the other girl against the door and-
She gave herself a mental slap. What's wrong with me today? she wondered, then decided that all of this could be blamed on Olivia and her whole "I couldn't wait anymore" thing. Her hormones were still in an uproar from that. "Yes?" she asked, striving for politeness. Maybe it would work better on this girl then her roommate.
"Is everything all right in here?" she asked, sounding concerned. "I could hear you across the hall."
Way to make a first impression, Hastings, Viola chastised herself, though it really hadn't been her fault. "We were just getting to know each other." Which was even sort of true.
The girl looked skeptical, but didn't push, for which Viola was grateful. "I'm Jessica, by the way."
"Cool. Can I call you Jess?" Jessica shrugged, evidently not caring much one way or another. "Well, my name's Viola, and the charming one behind me is Susan." She could feel the glare she was getting for that, but didn't care. She wasn't the one who'd started a fight (or tried to, anyway) that had been loud enough to have drawn attention from their neighbors. "You're across the hall from us?"
"Yes. I don't suppose either of you know where my roommate is?" She obviously didn't expect any answer other then a straight 'no', which was good, because that was all they had to give her.
"I don't think so. Susan?" She turned around to look at her roommate, and almost wished she hadn't. It only lasted for a second before it shifted to vague disdain, but was sure she'd caught Susan looking at her the same way Olivia sometimes did before she pounced on her.
"I saw plenty of girls on my way in, but I didn't exactly stop to talk to them," Susan said in an even tone, which was a definite improvement from before.
"Miss Moore will be along shortly," a new voice informed them, and Jessica stepped quickly inside as she turned to face the new speaker. The newcomer was about Susan's height, though looked a few years older, with short honey-blonde hair that had a sort of wavy curl to it. She was also dressed up like a Catholic schoolgirl with a tie, which prompted a trio of synchronized raised eyebrows. "Jessica Carmichael? Susan Jolley? Viola Hastings?" Each one nodded in turn. "My name's Julia Lake, and I'm going to be your R.A. this year. I'll be down at the end of the hall if you need anything. If I'm not in, write a note and slip it under my door. I can get you my email address later. Anyway, the reason I came by was to tell you about the assembly that's going to be held before orientation starts."
"It didn't say anything about an assembly in any of the information I got," Jessica said, frowning.
"It barely said anything about anything in any of the information I got," Viola countered.
Julia smiled. "Which is why I'm making sure that you know about it. It starts in an hour, in Donovan Hall. There'll be signs up, so you can't miss it. You'll have more information then you know what to do with by the time it's over." She consulted a clipboard that Viola hadn't noticed, and checked a few things off. "Any questions?"
"Why are you dressed up like you plan on trying out for the 'Naughty Schoolgirl' page of some kind of fetish calendar?" Susan asked, eying her warily.
A grin. "Well, I hope you mean that in a good way, since you'll be seeing a lot more of it. It's the school uniform."
"Uniform?" Viola almost moaned. Hadn't Illyria's uniforms been bad enough? She had to wear... that? Jessica's and Susan's reactions - "That's the uniform?" and "That had better be some kind of hazing joke," respectively - weren't nearly as quiet.
Julia laughed. "Oh, trust me, after the assembly, the uniforms will be the last thing you worry about."
"Well, that sounds ominous," a cheerful voice announced from down the hall.
Julia turned and acknowledged the new arrival. "Miss Moore, I'm glad you could make it. I was starting to worry that your appointment would keep you even later then we'd been told."
"Sorry if I made you worry," she said, and Viola couldn't help but think that the voice sounded familiar, somehow. She peeked out the door... and froze.
"Oh, God," she moaned, hurriedly ducking back inside. Maybe if she hoped really hard, that wouldn't be who she thought it was?
There was the sound of suitcases being set down on the hall floor, then a rather light blonde head poked itself into the room, and she gave a very familiar grin. "Vi!" she exclaimed, bustling in and giving Viola a big hug.
And all the wishful thinking in the world wouldn't change the fact that this was, indeed, the girl from the airport bathroom.
"I was hoping to see you again, but this is even sooner then I'd thought! How's Liv, anyway?"
If she didn't wipe that grin off her face, Viola might give into temptation to slap it off. "She's fine, as far as I know," she said stiffly, her posture screaming 'let go and get off'.
"You two know each other?" Jessica asked, surprised.
"We met at the airport," Viola said, hoping that would be good enough.
"My name's Cynthia, by the way," she said, ostensibly to Jessica. That set off another round of introductions, with Viola surreptitiously slipping her whole name in there, as if she thought Cynthia had known and forgotten it.
"Think you might want to climb off my roommate, now?" Susan asked, and Viola could have kissed her for it.
"Aww, but I like it here," Cynthia pouted, arms wrapped firmly around Viola's neck.
"You still have to unpack and get settled in before the assembly," Jessica reminded her, noting Viola's subtle sigh of relief when Cynthia finally let her go. She took an equally subtle step backward, and Susan drifted over to her side, as if staking a claim.
"We'll see you guys later!" Cynthia chirped with a grin, all but bouncing out of the room and over to her own suite. Jessica and Julia exchanged a look, then the former followed her roommate, shutting their door behind her.
Viola watched her go with mixed feelings, barely noticing when Julia excused herself, saying she had other students to check on, though she did promise to make sure she was at the assembly.
Once the door was closed, Julia shook her head and sighed, a smile tugging at her lips. How exactly, she wondered, had she wound up in the lesbian spy version of Grey's Anatomy?
Okay, this chapter isn't exactly finished, yet, but after such a long wait, I decided it would be better to split it into two parts rather then make you wait even longer for the whole thing. Hopefully, I should have the rest of it out shortly. In the meantime, I thought I'd introduce you to the freshmen DEBS (and their RA)
Amanda Bynes as Viola Hastings (Probably the most unnecessary picture here, but I didn't want her to be left out.)
Laura Ramsey as Olivia Lennox (See above, but not quite as unnecessary.)
Natalie Portman as Susan Jolley
Cheyenne Kimball as Cynthia Moore
Summer Glau as Jessica Carmichael
Mena Suvari as Julia Lake
Once again, I'm very sorry for the delay. Thank you for your patience. :)