Chapter Text
"Alright sweetie, that's iteverything. Let's go grab a hot chocolate before your dad and I have to go*
"Alright, mum, thanks so much. I can't believe I'm finally here! I'm so excited!"
Kaitlyn was indeed excited to be here, partly because she wanted to experience new things, was keen to she what learning about subjects you actually cared about was like, but most of all to experience and learn about one thing above all others: herself.
You see, Kaitlyn was gay. She knew this. Had known it since puberty, had felt nothing in her first kiss with a boy and everything when she'd repeated that experience with an equally nervous girl. Had spent high school ashamed as she tried to ignore her feelings for friends, keeping her eyes down in the changing rooms lest she gawk at the bodies around her and feel like she were betraying her schoolmates or, worse, giving herself away.
But mum and dad, they did not know. Neither did hardly anyone back home. She'd had a couple of hidden, casual girlfriends, kissed and held hands with girls enough to know that was what she wanted. But her school in Austin wasn't very... forward thinking in that area. She had told almost none of her friends, knowing many of them held prejudices against "that kind of thing". And certainly she had never told her parents. From Taiwan, and her dad especially holding traditional values dear and actively pushing her to date family friends and open about his wish for a son-in-law and a future grandchild or two, she knew from his other views that what he wanted was not a lesbian daughter. She wanted to give him what he wanted, had fought and pressed hard and tried to rationalise her feelings, her identity, for so long. But she had come to realise that she couldn't give it to him. She owed it to herself to be herself.
She wasn't ready to let them know that, though. So she had spent the last year stuck in Limbo, caught between lying to herself and disappointing her parents, the people that meant the world to her, unable to truly take either path.
This was a fresh start. Away from eyes that knew her, and in a place that would be less against... how she felt, she could finally explore that side of herself without fear, and once she really KNEW what that was, who she was, she would have the words to tell her parents.
That thought terrified her, and dragged her back to the present.
She finished a pastry and hot beverage with her mum and dad before they kissed her goodbye, wished her good luck and set off for their journey back to Texas. She would miss them, and waved them off with tears in her eyes. They had been everything to her, and as their only child she everything to them and she loved them very much. That's why she was so scared of disappointing them, but why she had to find the courage to risk it.
This is it. I can tell my roommates I'm a lesbian from the off, make new friends and finally work out what this part of me means. There's nothing to hold me back now. Nothing is going to stop me now I'm here.
She spent the next couple of hours rearranging and decorating what she had been allocated as her room. She looked around the whole suite. It was a pretty decent size, but then it would be holding 3 girls and 3 boys. New friends, she hoped.
Nobody else turned up for a while. It looked like 4 of her 5 roommates had already settled in, but one didn't have any stuff here yet.
Then, she heard the door open, and an exclamation of how big the flat was.
Kaitlyn squealed with excitement.
"Ah! new roomie You're finally here... And covered in coffee?"
The girl who had just entered was dressed in pretty chic clothes, but they looked drenched in light brown liquid. The newcomer quipped back quickly though, in a slightly husky voice and New England accent. A local girl then. Kaitlyn looked up as she joked: "well, haven't you heard it's the hottest trend right now?"
Witty. And, as she took in the face of the young woman before her, she realised pretty as well. Verrrry pretty, with shoulder length dark hair, tan skin, plump lips and deep brown eyes which revealed her Asian origin like Kait's own. An unconscious flick of the eyes downwards confirmed that she had the body to match, slim but with... assets, and poise. Kaitlyn felt her face warm up as she replied.
"Well, it's definitely a look you are pulling off. You are like, super pretty."
That was an appropriate greeting, right? She was super pretty. Almost worryingly attractive for her roommate, and frankly exactly her type. Roommate was not a good place to be looking for a date though. That would get messy.
Pretty girl didn't help things with her retort.
"Thanks! You're super hot!" Said without an iota of irony, with a smile on her face. Kaitlyn knew she was blushing now. She definitely liked this girl. But she shouldn't. And, just like that, she found a barrier to coming out - she was really worried about making things weird. Right now it might seem that she was shy and friendly, but if she came out as gay it would be obvious that she was into this person and that could get awkward, even if, and it was unlikely when you looked at the numbers, the other girl even liked girls- even if she was okay with girls who liked girls!
Crap.
But, the compliment was nice, from such a pretty person, so she couldn't help but smile and flirt, very very gently.
She showed her new roommate/crush, who it turned out was called Amelie, Amelie Moreau, to her room, chatted about who else they might share the suite with, and then made a pretty bold reference to dating roommates.
What are you doing, Kaitlyn, that's a bad idea! Just be friends...
And got back a slightly flirty "I'll bear that in mind..."
I don't know what to make of that... Is she interested or am I just wishing she is?
Things weren't helped as they headed to Freshers' Fair, in itself fine except for the presence of the bitch, Becca, who had thrown coffee on Kait's new bestie. Kaitlyn took an immediate disliking to her but classy Amelie took the high road on meeting her again with refined dignity that frankly just made her hotter.
Then they arrived at the slip and slide, and her determination to ignore this crush and make this a platonic friendship took a huge hit when she saw Amelie in her bikini, taut abs and sexy curves on show and very distracting.
Finally, Kaitlyn not signing up to clubs this semester, wanting to focus on studying and her identity, they headed home. Trying to get a read on Amelie, she pointed out a hot guy or two, getting a non-committal reply.
Back at the apartment, they quickly met the other roommates- openly gay, confident sounding Zack (she wished she could share his courage), shy artsy Abbie and geeky Tyler. And finally, chiselled pretty boy Chris.
She noticed a bit of chemistry between Amelie and Chris, who had met earlier that day and started Becca's attack on Amelie (out of jealousy, it seemed). When Amelie didn't deny some interest, she made her decision.
I can't have Amelie, she already feels like a great friend and if she likes Chris, she's probably straight. But I can help her and help myself get over her and be able to come out if I get them together.
And she knew the best way to do that. Booze. And Truth or Dare. Or in this case, Truth or Truth, her trademarked secret sharing alternative. This was going to happen. Tonight.