Chapter Text
Kara finished her last set of ab curls on the hanging bar, sweat dripping down her skin, hair curling and sticking to her temples. She dropped down to the ground, catching her breath, feeling the burn in her muscles. She took turns between catching her breath and sipping her water.
She wiped the sweat on her brow with a towel, took out her phone, and took a goofy selfie, sending it to her sister. She captioned it, Summer shredding, bring it on!
Alex responded with a text, Loser . And then, No more thirst traps this summer!
Pot - kettle . Kara replied.
“Hey, I thought you were showered already.”
Kara glanced up from her phone to see her roommate Lori enter the apartment. Lori was dressed in an expensive athleisure set even though she was only out running errands. She got her nails done and her hair blown out. She carried a Prada handbag over one arm and a smoothie in the other. She had bright blue-green eyes and dark, now shiny, hair.
They had been roommates for the past year in the two-bedroom apartment. It was sizeable with updated appliances. Lori paid for practically all of it with her modest trust fund. She was a young protege at the university, nearly done with her double bachelor’s degree despite being nineteen years old. Kara was a couple years older but scheduled to graduate in the same semester. They met the previous year through their mutual friend, Lucy, the one who knew everyone around National City University’s campus.
“The game’s not for another hour.” Kara glanced at the time on her phone.
“But Nia is driving us and she is so slow .”
Kara chuckled, knowing that was true. She wiped her chest with the sweat towel again. “I’m actually riding with Imra.”
Lori paused and set down her things. She rose her brows. “Imra.”
“Mmhm.” Kara headed for the hallway bathroom.
Lori sighed dramatically. “I’m not gunna tell you again how stupid it is to be hanging out with your ex-girlfriend. Again.”
“Good.” Kara called over her shoulder. “Cuz I don’t wanna hear it.”
Kara finished up in the shower and pulled on a tight vintage NCU t-shirt and cutoff jean shorts. She fastened her necklaces while shoving a protein bar into her mouth. She went back out into the kitchen and ransacked the fridge. She glanced over her shoulder at her roommate. “You didn’t bring me a smoothie?”
Lori glanced at her half empty cup. Then she held out the remnants to the blonde.
Kara grinned and took it. “Ooh, dragonfruit.”
“You’re like a racoon.” Lori commented as she looked at her phone. “Or a vulture.”
“And you’re wasteful so it’s actually a match made in heaven.”
Lori sighed and slid off of the barstool. “I’m coming back during halftime.”
Kara paused. “What? Why? You can’t possibly be doing more homework. It’s a Friday night.”
“I have to study, the midterm is graded on a curve.” the dark-haired girl responded. “And did you forget my parents are coming to visit tomorrow morning?”
Kara had in fact forgotten. “Early?”
“Yes. We’re meeting them and Conrad for breakfast.” she referenced her thirteen-year-old brother. “I told them you were coming. You said you were free.”
“Yeah, because I’d be sleeping, Lori.” Kara held out her hands in exasperation. “And if I’m lucky, it won’t be alone.”
Lori chewed her bottom lip, eyes wide. She moved in front of her roommate. “Please, Kara. Please be there, please.”
Kara paused. This wasn’t like her confident, snarky roommate. “Why?”
Lori’s white teeth worried the reddened flesh some more, a nervous habit. “It’s important.”
“Did something happen?”
“Just please trust me. Be there?”
“Uh…yeah, okay, I’ll try my best.”
Lori let out a sigh of relief. “It’s at nine. Seriously be there, Kara.”
“Okay, nine, got it.”
“Great. I owe you.”
“It’s fine.” Kara waved it off, still curious.
“No, really, I owe you.” Lori shook the blonde’s shoulder. Then she scurried toward the hallway. “I’ll change quick. See you there?”
“Yep.”
Kara sat between Lori and Imra during the basketball game. They all cheered loudly in the students’ section. The crowd was awash in the blue and silver of the University.
Lori eyed the tall beautiful girl on Kara’s other side with disdain. Imra was not unlike Lori herself, with stunning bright eyes and dark hair, olive skin, but she was a few years older and had broken up with Kara several months ago. And another few months before that, Kara had broken up with Imra. It created a rather annoying living situation for the other roommate, in Lori’s opinion. She’d had to hear them argue, deal with Kara’s mood swings, and hear them having loud makeup sex through the walls.
Imra was polite and charming as she smiled and accepted popcorn from Kara’s fingertips. She smiled her perfect smile at the blonde. And Kara wasn’t shy about trailing her eyes over Imra’s slender figure and curves. She had put their fickle past in the back of her mind, especially after a few more stadium beers.
“C’mon, Alex!” Kara cheered loudly for her sister.
The redhead intercepted a pass and dribbled down the court. She wove through the other team’s defense as she looked for an open shot or passing opportunity. She juked out of the way of reaching hands, squared up, and shot from behind the three-point line. The ball sank in.
Kara cheered and jumped up and down. She jostled her roommate who rolled her eyes. But Lori couldn’t help the grin that came to her lips. She joined Kara’s enthusiasm as they chanted along with the pep band.
“Here, cheers, cheers!” Kara cheersed her drink to the others’. She winked at Imra as she sipped.
Lori glanced at the scoreboard. The game was close but it was almost halftime. She looked at her Rolex wristwatch with a sigh.
“No, c’mon, stay out!” Kara caught her arm.
Nia was in the row in front of them and turned around. “What? Lori, you’re not leaving already are you?”
Imra leaned around Kara to the girl as well. “You can’t. It’s a weekend!”
Lori refrained from rolling her eyes at her. She sighed and made the mistake of meeting Kara’s baby blue stare.
“Please?” Kara begged with wide eyes.
“You can’t look at me like that!” Lori scoffed.
Kara tugged at her arm again. “You’ll have time to study on Sunday, after your family leaves. And we’ll get plenty of coffee tomorrow, we’ll both make it to your breakfast, it’ll be fine.”
“I can’t tonight, maybe we can go out tomorrow night.” Lori countered. “Didn’t Alph Sig say they were having something?”
“Yeah, the forty and a friend thing.” Kara replied.
“You’re going to that?” Nia made a face.
Imra was also giving her a look. “Sounds quite…lovely.”
Lori glanced over at her roommate. “Yeah, well Kara and I put money on us. We’re surprisingly good at it, me having toxic rich parents and Kara being…well, Kara.”
“Drinking contests or eating contests, I’m your girl.” the blonde concurred.
“Anyway, we’ll go out then, I’m heading home.” Lori mentioned.
“The afterparty won’t even be that crazy, just stay out.” Kara pled again.
“No way.” Lori pulled away from her. “The afterparty always almost kills someone. If I go, my mother will doubly kill me. And then she’ll resurrect me so that my dad can kill me again.”
“Since when do you care about them?” Kara arched a brow. She had noticed her roommate had been better-behaved as of late. She’d said no to more parties and was studying harder. “You’re like, the youngest, smartest deans list student at this place.”
Lori pocketed her phone and adjusted her designer purse over her shoulder. “I gotta go.” she began pushing past them. “See you tomorrow.” she reminded Kara.
The afterparty was more akin to what Lori had predicted. The apartment block was full of the drunk celebrations of the students and other fans. Kara wasn’t even sure whose house it was, Lucy knew someone who knew someone.
Alex joined her sister briefly. She wanted to celebrate of course, but she also had to remain dry for the rest of the basketball season. She also gave Kara her signature big sister expression once she caught a glimpse of Imra clinging to Kara’s side.
Kara distracted her by grabbing Alex’s hand and making her be her partner at beer pong. They won three games in a row before Alex wanted to quit and call it a night. Kara made the crowded room chant Alex’s name as she left.
Several drinks in, Kara sent a series of drunk pictures and videos to Lori who didn’t reply. She danced with her friends to the semi-talented DJ. She and Nia caught Lucy making out with one of the TA’s and Nia secretly snapped a few photos.
Just before midnight, someone shut off the music and turned on the lights. Much to everyone’s protest, the party was being shut down, per the landlord’s instruction.
“We could go to Bev’s?” Lucy suggested.
“I don’t want to go there.” Imra complained. “We should go to a club.”
Kara scrunched her face. “I don’t wanna go to a club. I’m in a t-shirt.”
Nia glanced to Imra. “Bev’s it is.”
Imra rolled her eyes, but she took Kara’s arm anyway, running a hand over her firm bicep.
That’s how Kara found herself arriving at the bar just after midnight. Beverly’s was one of the larger establishments just outside of town with pride flags hanging in the windows and two different bars inside. The music was always decent and they had a wide variety of drinks from beer to rail vodka to expensive tequila to gin martinis. Something for everyone, was what the coaster’s read. It wasn't too overrun with college students since it was a fifteen minute drive away.
The lights were soft but low. There were plenty of standing tables as well as booths lining the walls. There was a small dancefloor off to one side with an elevated surface. It was a lot quieter than the last rowdy house party.
Lucy immediately knew a few people already there, she pulled away to give them hugs and do a shot with them. Nia went over to the nearer bar to put in their drink orders.
Imra trailed a hand over Kara’s arm and up to her cheek. “I’m glad you called.” she murmured, moving closer.
Kara didn’t respond to that right away. She knew she shouldn’t have called Imra. But the pretty brunette had posted a sensual bikini pic on her story, letting Kara know she was in town. Kara let her eyes drift over the face before her. She pushed all other thoughts out of her mind, it was easy to do after the drinks she’d had.
Imra stood on her tip toes and connected their lips. Kara tasted the sticky lip gloss there and felt Imra’s hands snake around her waist.
Nia cleared their throat to interrupt. She had returned with a few beers in hand. Her fake I.D. had worked swimmingly.
Imra sighed at the interruption. She glanced down at the drinks. “I’m going to get myself a vodka tonic, I need to rehydrate.” she pulled away from Kara to head back to the bar.
“She does know that’s not how that works right?” Nia glanced after her, handing Kara a bottle.
Kara shrugged and pressed her lips to the beer.
“Then what happens after this?” Nia questioned. “You argue with her some more, she texts you every day for weeks, and then you argue again? What’s the point?”
“Look, Nia, it’s been a hard week.” Kara shook her head.
“And hanging out with Imra’s going to make it better?”
“You sound like Alex.”
“Maybe she’s making some sense.”
Kara pressed the bottle to her lips again. “Whatever.”
Nia took her arm. “C’mon, just find someone else you like. You don’t need to an ex, you can pull anyone here. Remember last weekend? Two redheads from the bowling team. Not one, but two .”
Kara managed a small grin. “That was…”
“Yeah.” Nia chuckled.
Kara let out an exhale. She ran a hand through her long blonde hair. “I just need…a distraction. Imra is good at that. And I don’t have to worry about her stealing my shirts or my wallet.”
“I guess that’s a good point.” Nia shrugged.
Kara leaned her elbow against the tall cocktail table as Nia chatted to the person beside them. Kara let her gaze wander through the familiar space. There were a couple faces she recognized from NCU, but other than that it was all strangers of varying ages. She scanned the people sitting at the other bar across the space. It was less crowded since there were barstools. There were a few finance bros discussing something over glasses of wine. There were a few women in long dresses looking like they’d come from a wedding reception somewhere nearby. There was also an older couple that seemed to watch the dancefloor with nostalgic smiles.
The finance bros moved away from the bar to reveal another woman sitting on the very last seat. Kara’s lips parted and her beer halted part way lifted in her hand.
The woman was the most beautiful person she’d ever seen in real life, Kara was sure. She was beautiful in a subtle, natural way. Her hair was a dark shade of raven black. Her brows were matching and sharp. Just as angular as the rest of her face with a jawline that could cut glass. Her eyes were more green than blue, reminding Kara of emeralds or jade. The woman’s lips were painted a soft red as they sipped from a glass of scotch.
She wore a formfitting maroon wrap dress that showed off every generous curve of her perfect figure. It was low over her breasts and her raven hair curtained it from view like a shield. Kara had the sudden urge to feel it, to see if it was as silky as it looked in the low light.
Lucy had brought her friends over to their area, they were all greeting each other and chatting. One of them knew Kara from the class and the other knew Lori from student council. Kara nodded and smiled along with them. But she kept the woman in her peripheral, barely refraining from outright gawking at her.
Imra’s hand over Kara’s brought her back to the present conversation. Imra was complaining of a headache and wanted to leave.
“Uh…one more drink.” Kara told her.
“You promise?” Imra looked up at her.
Kara nodded. “Yeah.”
Lucy wedged her way in between them and nudged the blonde with her shoulder. “Where were you Wednesday? I texted you like a hundred times.”
“It’s been a busy week.” Kara shrugged and took a sip.
“I can’t believe Lori didn’t come.” Lucy harumphed. “Think she’d come out if we told her Dustin was here?”
“That wouldn’t help. Dustin hit on her when she was seventeen.” Kara muttered.
“Jesus.” Lucy’s eyes widened.
“The downside of going to college as a protege.” the blonde shrugged.
“Well there aren’t many, downsides that is.” Lucy remarked. “Did you see her dad was on the cover of Time Magazine again?”
“I did not.” Kara felt a little bad at that. Although Lori hadn’t brought it up either. “I’ll ask about it this weekend.”
“Then tell me everything!” Lucy insisted eagerly. “Thank god you befriended the weird rich kid. Now we get the inside scoop.”
“She’s not that weird.” Kara defended. “She’s becoming a lot like you, you know.”
“I meant weird in a good way.” Lucy patted her back.
Kara had first met Lori in a tutoring session where the younger girl had ended up tutoring. Lori wasn’t exactly cut out for the job with the very little patience she had. It was clear she hadn’t wanted the job but the Lucy had asked for a favor on Kara's behalf. Thankfully, Kara found it funny and kind of endearing. The aloof girl appeared to be a fish out of water with all the frat parties, sports games, and dorm life. So Kara invited her to a few parties, defended her from a few creepy guys, and introduced her to some friends.
Lena had only been to the bar once before on a business trip to the city with her mother a few years back. She remembered liking the space, it was more secluded than the normal busy bars and yet it wasn’t as aloof and snobbish as the places she usually spent her time in. It was a bar likely no one would know her.
She immediately ordered a glass of the most expensive scotch. She enjoyed the sharp bite of the liquid down her throat. She let the bitterness settle there in her stomach. She chatted with the bartender for a minute or two, found out that he was originally from Metropolis as well. Then the tatted woman beside her tried her hand, offering to buy her a drink. Lena was slightly intrigued until the woman shared that several of her tattoos were the names of her exes.
At the bottom of her first drink, Lena checked the dainty gold watch on her wrist. It was nearly one and Lena was about to call it a night, a rather unsuccessful, boring one.
Then the sound of a loud bright laugh caught her ear and she turned. There, standing at one of the tables, was a stunning blonde woman in illegally short shorts. Her legs appeared endless, tanned, and strong. Her amber hair cascaded down her back as her head tipped back with the musical laughter that tumbled from her lips. Her smile was infectious on the hearth-shaped face and rosy cheeks.
There was a twinkle in the cerulean blue eyes that Lena saw even from her distance. The young woman was at a table with a few others, large hand wrapped firmly around the neck of a glass bottle. She slouched her strong frame casually, smoothly, all lithe and flowing.
The blue eyes turned to catch hers. Lena was suddenly caught staring. She quickly glanced away, back at her near-empty glass. She bit back her grin. She looked to the bartender and signaled for another.
A man slid into the stool beside her. He was tall and blonde with a confident smile. “Hey, there’s no way you’re here alone.”
“I’m not interested.” she stated as she accepted her refilled drink.
“I’ll have what she’s having.” the man told the bartender.
“No, you won’t.” Lena mentioned, giving the bartender a quick shake of her head.
The man beside her feigned offense. “Oh c’mon, why not? I’m a nice guy, I swear.”
Lena sipped her drink, turning away from him.
“I just came over here to tell you that you look amazing.” he voiced.
The bartender leaned over the bar. “Hey, man, she’s not interested.”
The man rose his hands in surrender. Then he stalked off.
Lena gave the bartender a nod of acknowledgement. He nodded in return and then went to serve the next customer.
“What a tool.”
Lena froze and turned to her right. In place of the last man was the gorgeous blonde she’d been staring at from across the room. She had a hint of a smirk on her pink bowtie lips. Her cerulean eyes were even more intriguing up close. And her t-shirt was so goddamned perfect on her.
“I just came to close out my friend’s tab.” Kara mentioned and leaned against the bar.
“You don’t wanna stay for one more?” Lena arched a perfect dark brow.
Kara glanced back to her. “You wanna have a drink…with me?”
Lena gave a nonchalant shrug. “I saw you staring at me.”
Kara blushed slightly. “Half the bar was staring at you.”
“But I saw you.”
Kara felt her throat go dry at the low timbre voice. She allowed her gaze to travel over the pristinely beautiful face before her. She looked like she should’ve been carved from marble, a statue brought to life. And those eyes…they were brighter than anything else in the bar.
The bartender went over to her again and leaned over to say something to Kara.
Lena stopped him with a hand without taking her eyes off the blonde. “Put her on my tab.”