(no subject)

[signed_sabrina]

Sabrina parts ways with her familiar not far from Rosie's apartment building, both of them in the understanding that the next conversation is for the two girls alone. The evening is muggier than she'd like, and she's not entirely certain whether they ought to go for a walk, or whether they should stay here. Or-- she's just not sure how to proceed here.

It had been so much easier when talking to Nick, somehow.

After a moment or two of hesitating in front of the door, staring at the button that will ring the appropriate buzzer, hands firmly in the pocket of her sundress, Sabrina blows out a huff of air. She's being ridiculous. It was a success, after all, and she can't doubt Rosie's friendship, their closeness.

She hits the button decisively, waiting for the door to release.

It's going to be alright.

Comments

[forthsofar]

"Goodness, Sabrina," Rosie says, looking down at her. Pressed as close as they are, she can't help but feel the faint tremor that goes through Sabrina, and it--along with the thought of what that would be like, to be out in the open, under the stars--nearly sparks an answering one of her own.

She has to talk to her about this, and soon. To Nick and Charlie too, maybe. But not quite yet.

When Sabrina's hand twines itself out of her hair, for a moment she thinks maybe whatever this has become since she opened the door to her apartment has passed; that there'll be a distance again, something still close and still intimate, certainly, but veiled in friendship. And then there's the light press of Sabrina's fingertips against her neck, and somewhere at the back of her mind Rosie knows it's only just begun.

"I," she starts, though it comes out more like a sigh than a word. She swallows, and tries again. "I want that too. Whatever firsts there are, whatever ones remain, I want them with someone who cares about me. Who really does, not someone...pretending. Not someone who makes a fool of me." Despite the increasing thud of her heartbeat, when Rosie smiles, it's easy and bright. "And I know I'll have that now."

[signed_sabrina]

Sabrina knows she needs to pull back, to remind herself that she's waiting-- she's just not very good at waiting, now when she wants something. And she knows now that this is something she wants, to feel the thud of Rosie's heartbeat get faster under the touch of her fingers, or maybe her lips.

She leans forward to rest her forehead on Rosie's shoulder.

"I think," she says quietly, "that there might be some firsts for us too." Her stomach nearly turns over. "Down the road, if-- if you wanted."

[forthsofar]

Her eyes go a split-second wide and startled, not at the thought itself but the way it so accurately echoes her own. In a way, the most surprising thing is how unsurprising it is, how natural it already feels to be considering this new alteration in the way they are together.

She never expected this--any of this--that day she came barreling into Sabrina's room at the Home, having heard Salem's meow. But oh, how glad she is to have it now.

"I do," she says, her voice almost as quiet as Sabrina's. The sight of her white-blonde hair against the fabric of her blouse looks so right, so perfect, that it makes Rosie's breath catch just faintly. "If that's...we'll need to talk to Nick and Charlie, or maybe I will, maybe you already have, about how it ought to...fit. How we should be together, as part of all the rest of it." She doesn't know if any of that makes sense, is nearly certain they could be doing much better things than this jumble of half-formed thoughts and practical planning, but something about it grounds her all the same.

Rosie looks down again, quiet for a moment. "But I know I want them. Whatever firsts there are, down the road. If we can have them, I--I want them."

[signed_sabrina]

Sabrina's not sure she can lift her head without kissing Rosie, so she keeps her forehead safely where it is, even as she smiles against Rosie's arm. There's a promise here, she thinks. "I already have, some," she admits softly. "Charlie more than Nick. I didn't want to throw Nick for too much of a loop when I was already telling him that he should be with you, too. Nick, though-- I have no doubts he'll like any way we fit together. With ourselves. With him." She can already imagine the look in his eyes.

"And Charlie, as long as he and I stay firm, as long as he's not losing time with me, he understands and is okay." She lets out a shaky laugh. "But I think we need to wait for you and Nick to settle. Which means I'd better untangle before I do anything we're waiting on doing."

[forthsofar]

"You should," she says, trying her best not to show how much effort it takes to agree to that. She shifts a bit, letting Sabrina have some space. "And Nick and I need to have our time, you're right. We need to find out how we are together, before..." Rosie blushes, a faint pink along her cheeks. "Well, before the two of us do."

She nods at the rest of it, though the thought of Nick liking the idea of her and Sabrina together--other combinations, if we find that works, she hears him say again--makes her head spin, just a little. "I'll talk to them both too," she says. "Charlie, especially. He's my best friend, and I'd never want any of this to hurt him, just like I already knew I didn't want to get in the way of you and Nick, how you are together."

There's a surging wave of love that fills her then, for all of them; something that makes her chest briefly tight. Gently, carefully, Rosie puts an arm around Sabrina, squeezing her once before letting go.