HOOOLYYYY SHITTTT - Tumblr Posts

SOMEBODY PUT ME DOWN

3 for gretchen/karen?

3. A kiss on the forehead

There are many things Gretchen would not recommend about being in love with your best friend.

For one thing, it's exhausting—it's not like a normal crush on someone you kinda know, someone you see around the halls and maybe in a couple classes. No, Gretchen spends time with Karen every day, sometimes all day, on the weekends.

Luckily, Karen is either oblivious to or doesn't mind Gretchen constantly sneaking looks at her, almost against her will, like her eyes are magnetized. Everything that Karen does is cute, which means that Gretchen is perpetually flustered. She's pretty sure she bombed a math test because she couldn't focus on studying when Karen was doing that cute thing where her tongue peeks out of the corner of her mouth while she concentrates.

Another—perhaps larger—problem is that Karen is naturally affectionate. She's handsy. It's no big deal to her to casually hold hands, or pounce on Gretchen with a hug, or press a kiss to the top of Gretchen's head. It makes Gretchen's heart rate increase with such frequency that it might be pathological at this point.

Most maddening of all, Karen is like this with everyone. And, okay, maybe she is more affectionate with Gretchen and maybe she tells Gretchen that she's beautiful or hot a lot more than she does with, say, Cady, but there is simply no way of knowing if it means something. Anything.

And it is driving Gretchen insane.

It's another such afternoon spent in Gretchen's bedroom making TikToks and impulse-buying clothes on Poshmark that Gretchen finds herself seated in her desk chair while Karen does Gretchen's eyeshadow—a particularly unique form of torture that involves their faces being close together for an extended period of time. At least Gretchen has to keep her eyes closed, so she doesn't have to battle against the urge to stare at Karen's lips.

"Okay, and... done!" Karen says with a final sweep of the brush. She sets aside the palette, and Gretchen opens her eyes and turns to look in the mirror. Her eyes look wide and bright, subtly shimmering with pink shadow.

"Looks great," Gretchen says. She turns back to Karen, who is still seated in front of her on the edge of Gretchen's bed.

Karen grins and gently rests her hands on Gretchen's cheeks. Before Gretchen can process this, Karen leans in, her face getting closer and closer, until she's close enough for Gretchen to feel her breath on her face and—

Kisses Gretchen on the forehead.

The next few seconds tick by slowly while Gretchen wills her heart to stop beating so hard. She really thought Karen was going to—

"Is something wrong?" Karen asks, frowning. "You're all..." She tenses her face and shoulders exaggeratedly.

"Oh, yeah," Gretchen says shakily. She forces a little laugh. "This is going to sound crazy, but I thought you were going to kiss me."

"I did," Karen says, now looking confused. She taps the spot on Gretchen's forehead where he lips had been with one finger. "Right here."

"I meant, um," Gretchen says, "on the lips?" It comes out like a question.

"Oh!" Karen brightens. "I can do that, too."

Gretchen is sure her eyes are comically wide. "What?"

"I don't know why we haven't," Karen muses, looking thoughtful. "This is the longest I've dated someone without kissing them."

Everything in Gretchen's brain screeches to a halt. "Karen, we... Do you think we're dating?"

"Well, yeah," Karen says. "You called me your girlfriend, so..."

Gretchen mentally searches her mind for when she apparently said this.

"Remember when we saw that lady outside your house, and you said I'm going to the mall with my girlfriend?" Karen recalls.

Gretchen does remember this. About a month ago, her neighbor had been walking her dog as they were getting in Gretchen's car and stopped to chat. Is that how Karen had interpreted that?

"Oh, I meant.... Like, my friend who's a girl. People say that sometimes," Gretchen says, and Karen's face falls.

"Oh," Karen says. She looks down at her lap. It physically hurts Gretchen to look at.

Then the confusion dissipates, and it clicks in Gretchen's brain. Karen thought they were dating. Karen offered to kiss her. Karen... likes her? Feels the same way?

"But..." Gretchen says tentatively, touching Karen's hand. "Do you want to be dating?"

"Of course I do," Karen says, like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "I mean, I've been dating you for a month, even if you weren't dating me."

Gretchen can't help but laugh. A giddy, happy laugh. A relieved laugh.

"Karen, I've liked you for so long," Gretchen whispers—it is still, technically, her biggest secret. "I would love for you to be my girlfriend."

Karen looks up, her entire face brightening, and she grins.

"Oh my god, yay!" she says, bouncing a little where she sits. "Should I kiss you now?"

She asks it so casually, as if it hasn't been all Gretchen has been fantasizing about for as long as she can remember. It's all Gretchen can do to nod.

So Karen leans in again, and this time, her lips meet Gretchen's.