Liv and Emma

Liv laid her head on the pillow and stared at the plastic glow in the dark stars on her ceiling and awaited the verdict as she tossed her phone to Emma. She hated the room, with its pale pink paint inking the walls. She had begged her parents to paint it a teal blue but they’d refused, saying “you’ll just change your mind when you’re in high school again.” They didn’t seem to understand that she was practically an adult now and no amount of tapestries was enough to erase the pink that came through.

In an attempt to shed her youth from the rest of the room, she had ripped off the frilly bedspread and replaced it with a deep navy one with tiny white flowers. She was making her way around replacing the room but had accepted that the plastic stars could stay. Too much effort to get them down anyway.

The mild queasiness pooled deep in her stomach and her muscles hadn’t seemed to accept that the first day of eighth grade was over. It still feels like last night, where Emma and Liv conducted their pre-first day of school ritual and watched a rom-com from the early 2000’s while live texting their reactions to each other. Afterward, they facetimed for two hours and 36 minutes, laying out their skirts, not matching but coordinated of course. They laid out their earrings, gold studs for Emma and little dangly rubies for Liv. They planned to sleep in their sock curls, spritz their body sprays in the morning and meet at Liv’s locker. They only hung up when Emma got a facetime call from Paul, her first bonafide boyfriend. But now it was Liv’s turn to be the center of attention and discuss her own potential boyfriend.

“Wait Jake, From third period English?” Emma crunched on some popcorn, sprawled on Liv’s bed zooming into the photo on Liv’s brand new iphone. She looked frazzled from the day, wisps of her strawberry blonde hair falling loose of the crown braid, a split second decision when her sock curls didn’t turn out quite as planned.

Liv wrangled the phone from Emma’s death grip “He’s cute I swear, just let me find a better pic”

“I have class with him I know what he looks like” Emma gave Liv a pointed stare

“Well then you’re not really seeing him.” Liv tried hard not to sound wistful or defensive.

“Oh I’m seeing the Nike Air Forces paired with the neon orange basketball shorts”

“I’m sorry, would you rather he dress like Paul?”

“Five inch inseam is not too short! The Lululemon girl said everyone was wearing them!”

“It’s too short for comfort, or maybe the closet is just too dark for comfort”

“This is coming from the girl who wanted to kiss Jess just to get it over with”

“EMMA WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT” Liv smacked her with the pillow

Emma snickered “Okay okay im sorry. Was it atleast good though?”

“I mean it was fine I guess. I don’t even know why I did it.”

“Well would you do it again?” Emma looked at her hands and pressed down at her fake nails even though they were firmly in place.

“With Jess?”

“No with Anyone” They looked at each other and Liv found that Emma was in a remote and inaccessible part of the world, her mind in the Antarctic wasteland of teenagedom.

Liv shrugged and buried her face in the pillow just to pop up with a smirk concealing her uneasiness. Emma wasn’t the only one who could ask the hard questions.

“Why weirdo, do you want to kiss me”

Emma’s face blanched but she wasn’t one to back down from a dare. Liv knew that, it was why she was her best friend. Who else was going to spit on Taylor Dunn’s lunch tray when she found out that Taylor told everyone Emma liked Levi Bates in the fifth grade, effectively earning an in house suspension for “mind your own business, bitch”, and well, the spitting of course.

“Sure, why not find out what all the hype was about.”

Liv’s nausea bubbled up to her throat. This was Emma! Liv threw her head down on the pillow, shutting her eyes. So much for temporary boldness.

“Ha ha very funny what will paul say”

“He doesn’t have to know”

When liv cracked an eye open, Emma was looming above her with hands on either sides of her head on the pillow. It would be quick, painless, and Liv for once, wouldn’t be the pussy.

Feigning nonchalance she whispered “fine”

Emma lowered herself, laying next to her, not touching anywhere, acutely aware of what she was about to do. When their lips met, Liv could taste the frozen strawberry lemonade they’d both sucked down earlier, sporting twin brain freezes at the time. She felt her lips mechanically parting and closing in rhythm with Emma’s, who had deftly slipped her tongue inside Liv’s mouth. The kiss was deep but brief and they both simultaneously pulled away at the same time. If the kiss with Jess had proven to Liv that making out was overrated, the kiss with Emma had cemented it.

Emma lay back down next to Liv and covered her face with a pillow. Through the muffled pillow Liv heard Emma laugh “That was my first kiss”

Liv propped herself up with her elbow now to look over at Emma “What about Paul, I thought you guys had kissed multiple times”

“No I lied! I’ve been too scared”

Liv laughed and Emma removed the pillow from her face, red and flushed.

“It’s fine, now you know it's nothing!”

“It was nothing huh”

“How nothing?” Liv asked with a touch of concern in her voice, was she that bad of a kisser?

“Well, not nothing nothing, you were great, I just don’t think making out is for me. If I didn’t like it with you, I’m sure as shit not gonna like it with Paul.”

“Dude welcome to my world. I’m kissless in seattle”

“I’m devil wears kissing”

“I’m how to lose a kiss in 10 days”

“I’M THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN” they both exclaimed at the same time, doubling over with laughter. Eighth grade was going to be tough. But at least Emma had Liv and Liv had Emma.