1. Every Sign I Read is Wrong, Baby


    Date: 9/17/2015, Categories: Lesbian, Author: puddleduck, Rating: 3, Source: LushStories

    know. Doesn’t change anything.” “She thinks I’m seeing her ex. I’m not. Maybe she’s jealous.” “Sure she’s jealous. But not jealous of you.” And the a pause. “She’s jealous of him .” I was open mouthed. But good old Taylor saw the death throes of my argument and was in for the kill. “Look you stupid fucker. She’s pretty, if a bit fucking intense for me. You’re –” she paused and looked me up and down and said, “Well I’ve seen worse.” And she said: “You’re made for each other.” “But you’re mist-” I started to say. She jabbed her finger at me to interrupt me. I honestly thought she was going to poke my forehead. She was like: “The trouble with you is that you can’t read signals. There’s a massive green light in front of you, and you’ve stopped. Press the fucking accelerator.” * Taylor’s conversation wrestled in my tummy all afternoon. At lectures I passed you in the corridor – I don’t know if you noticed. You were looking down at your phone (were you pre-occupied or trying to look pre-occupied?). I was deliciously confused. Later, with my iPhone headphones on walking down the hill back to hall, snow started to fall in thin flakes. I still didn’t have an answer to why signs I’d supposedly missed could be seen by someone who didn’t even know me. I was thinking – did you look at me in a certain way in public? I was blind to it. But was there a code that Taylor could see? Today was the first time I’d had a conversation with her. She only knew you. And then I stopped. Seriously, how ...
    could Taylor know? I hadn't given a public performance when I read the sonnets. It was just you and me. How come she mentioned us cycling together? She wasn’t there. Just you and me. The only possible answer shrouded me like a cloak of goosebumps. You must have told her . I could feel the pulse of my heart all over my body as I started walking again and the snow fell heavier. My mind ran back to the conversation with Taylor, trying to recall details forensically, because every one of her words now had heightened significance. If Taylor only knew those things because you’d told her, then it followed that her words about you having a crush on me and being jealous must have come from you too. And if so, you really must want to speak to me again. I was just entering halls as my iPhone played Darlene Love’s Marshmallow World. All things considered, that felt right. I turned the volume up and skipped to my room. And there, another surprise. My door was slightly open. Not for the first time I'd forgotten to lock it. Someone had been in. The room looked different. Tidier. It was my desk that was different. My copy of Shakespeare’s Sonnets was sitting on its own on top of it. I went over to the desk, and absently plugged my iPhone into its speakers. It started playing. Then I saw it: a single, white Love Heart sweet sat on top of the book. I picked it up. Printed on it, in purple letters, were the words: ‘MAKE UP’. I felt butterflies. Even I knew that had to be from you. I can see the ...