DISCLAIMER: All characters and situations to belong to a bunch of different people and companies who are not me. Also I'm making no money off this.
SPOILERS: Er, post "For a Few Demons More" very generally.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
FEEDBACK: To procrastinatingsith[at]gmail.com
A is for Accident
By Jaina
"It was an accident, Turn it!" That...sounded pretty bad, even to my own ears.
"You tripped and accidentally fell on Skimmer's lips?" Ivy sounded beyond skeptical. She was pissed. And hurt. Damn it back to the Turn! I had just screwed this up again, just when I thought I might finally have a chance at making it right. "I can understand if you don't want to be with me, Rachel. If you don't feel that way or you're scared, but don't lie to me. You owe me more than that."
"It wasn't like that, Ivy," I said weakly.
"Then what was it like?" Ivy demanded.
I considered it and winced. What I had to say wasn't going to sound any better. "I don't care about Skimmer."
"And yet your tongue was down her throat," Ivy countered without missing a beat, her arched brows demanding some kind of explanation.
"Because I don't care about her!" I protested again, stomping my foot. Why couldn't Ivy just understand? It made perfect sense, Turn it!
"Rachel." Ivy pressed the heel of her hand against her forehead, a gesture that I knew meant her head was throbbing, and let out a long suffering sigh. "You're not making sense."
"I am too!"
Ivy let out a pained snort. "You sound like a three year old."
"Stop making fun of me."
"I'm not making fun of you," Ivy snapped. "I'm trying to figure how you accidentally made out with my friend when you've spent the last three years rubbing my nose in the fact that you're straight."
"Because I love you, you idiot!" My exasperated exclamation rendered the room silent. Oh Turn it, why had I said that? I hadn't meant to say. I had wanted to create the big, perfect, romantic moment, give Ivy an experience like she had never had before, and then she had blown it. By walking in on me and Skimmer making out.
"What did you just say?" Ivy asked in a low voice, the grey silk tones of her voice sounding predatory and threatening even as they wrapped around my body like a seductive caress.
"I said I love you," I whispered.
"As a friend," Ivy added, her hands clenching and releasing at her side the only indication of how she was struggling.
"No." I hesitated. That didn't sound right. "Well, yes. But-"
"Rachel?" Ivy waited for me to luck up, her eyes finding hers. "Shut up." And then she kissed me. What she made me feel was indescribable. What the Turn had I been waiting for? Oh, right.
Ivy's lips released mine and she leaned away from me tilting her head. I held my breath, wondering what she was about to say. Okay, so my kissing technique probably wasn't up to her standards, and my breath was probably way garlic-y from the leftover Chinese food I'd had for lunch, but it couldn't be that bad, could it? Not after we'd waited that long.
"Skimmer?"
"Oh. Oh, right." Coherent thought, I needed to form it. Which Ivy's proximity and the memory of Ivy's kiss still lingering on my lips weren't doing anything to help.
"I love you."
Ivy's breath hitched.
"I mean, I've known that for a while now," I said, wrapping my arms around myself. "I just wasn't sure..." I shook my head. "I didn't know if I could do the whole, you know, girl thing."
Ivy's eyes fell closed, her expression falling away, leaving her face blank and showing nothing. If I didn't hurry up, she wouldn't hear anything I was saying and I needed her to hear it. I grabbed her hand. "Listen. I knew I loved you but I didn't know if I would like it. I couldn't just walk up to you and kiss you and then say, no, sorry, doesn't work for me. I care about you too much to do that."
Ivy hesitated, then her eyes slid open looking suspiciously damp. "So you kissed Skimmer?"
I nodded. "Because I hate Skimmer."
Her head fell back against the wall with a thud. "You're an idiot," Ivy said in a no-nonsense tone of voice.
It stung, but given the events of the past few minutes I held onto the retort that was dying to fly off my tongue. I was still waiting, hoping for something else. Ivy hadn't given any indication of how she felt.
She sighed. "But you're my idiot." Her hand circled my wrist and she tugged, pulling me closer. I came willingly, leaning up against her, until we were touching down the line of our bodies. Our lips were just about to meet for a second time when she pulled back, her eyes narrowed. "But no more accidents involving you and Skimmer."
The End