#every time i wanna know how many followers i have on this silly lil sideblog i sit there like a RUBE counting out the follower list myself

[chompe-diem]

also i wish my follower counter was accurate for sideblogs/this blog ]: all the spam bots from a bit ago that i was getting r blocked but they stay as ghosts infecting my follower count 😔

[artificialqueens]

Just Tonight (#5) Shalaska - Babe

AN: Alrighty, here’s chapter 5 and after some consideration, I’m gonna end this at chapter 12. So we’re almost halfway there and I’ve planned exactly what’s going to happen. Also I’ve made a lil sideblog @aqbabe where I might post stuff so follow me idk.  As always, thank you for the beautiful feedback xoxo

“Truth or dare? What are we, 12?” Jinkx muttered as Sharon poked her tongue out at her best friend. The redhead looked down at her phone at gasped at the time, not exactly sure where it went.

“It’s getting kinda late,” she said as she stood up, Ivy jumping up with her. “It was lovely to finally meet you, Alaska. Kinda nice to meet the girl that Sharon doesn’t shut up about.” Ivy agreed with a giggle as Sharon’s pale cheeks started turning red.

“Fuck off, the both of you,” the rocker replied as the girls quickly left the apartment. Alaska waved as they left, happy to finally have Sharon all to herself.

“What can we do now?” Sharon asked, drawing out her words slightly.

“I have an idea,” Alaska replied cheekily, crashing their lips together. Sharon smirked into the kiss as she pushed the other girl back onto the couch.

“I like your ideas.”

—————————–

The next day, Alaska sat at Sharon’s dining table, typing furiously into her laptop while Sharon absentmindedly strummed her guitar. Before Alaska had arrived last night, Sharon and Jinkx had talked about writing more music instead of playing just covers, something that stressed her out a tad. It wasn’t that she didn’t think that she was creative, but she was really good at playing other people’s music. Call her unoriginal, but it was the truth in her eyes.

“Why is song writing so hard?” Sharon cursed, Alaska looking up from her assignment at the sound of the other’s voice. “It’s as if everything’s already been done before.”

“I mean, you wrote that other song and that wasn’t hard, was it?” Alaska questioned, another question popping into her mind as she shut the laptop and moved to sit next to Sharon on the couch. “What exactly was that song about?”

“What, Just Tonight? Firstly, I was really high at the time. Secondly, I was thinking about all the hook-ups in my life when it’s just been all about sex or drugs or no commitment. I wrote it because if I wondered if someone actually knew who I really am, would they stay or would they leave? Or would I stay now knowing that I had handed over my vulnerability. I spent a lot of time blaming people for leaving but it was really my fault, and that’s kinda what the song’s about. Now that’s I’ve been in that situation, I’m not going to leave, I promise.” She placed the guitar to the side as she pulled Alaska onto her lap, kissing her forehead tenderly.

“You know, it’s kinda our song,” Alaska mused, a content smile on her face. After all, it was the song that sucked her in not once, but twice. It had some serious power over her but the blonde wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Kinda messed up song to be ours, if you think about it,” Sharon replied with a small shrug. “A song that’s about falling in love over hedonistic pleasures and then leaving to save yourself. I don’t want to be saved if it means leaving you.” Her lips met Alaska’s briefly, the older girl pulling away as an idea popped into her head. “How about I teach you to play?”

Alaska crinkled up her nose in reply, a giggle escaping her lips. “I’ve tried before, I might just stick to piano.”

“C’mon, it’ll be fun!” Sharon insisted as she picked up a capo (which Alaska likened to a large hairclip) and her discarded guitar. “I’ll teach you something easy, three chords and I’ll strum. Jinkx and I worked on this last night, it just needs lyrics.” Alaska sighed and sat fully on Sharon’s lap as the other girl placed the guitar in her hands. She gently positioned Alaska’s fingers into the right shapes, explaining the names as she went.

“Okay, so hold the G chord for two lots of eight, then the Dm for one and the Cmaj7 for one,” Sharon explained patiently as she wrapped her arm around tighter to reach the strings. When she started strumming, music filled the room and Alaska’s eyes lit up, a part of her wanting to squeal in accomplishment but feeling connected to the music.

“Do you have lyrics for this?” Alaska asked after a while, turning to face Sharon. The blonde shook her head sadly.

“Unfortunately, Jinkx and I have been working on it,” Sharon sighed, but Alaska leapt off of her lap and grabbed her laptop excitedly.

“I have a poem that I think would go well with the music, but it’s kinda mushy and personal, so get ready for that,” Alaska rambled, making Sharon giggle.

“Anything you write is probably amazing, Princess,” she smirked, listening stoically when Alaska started reciting the lyrics, she instantly knew it was about her parents’ divorce and how that affected the younger girl, but the way that it continued showed that it was also about Sharon, and how meeting her was a game changer for Alaska. It was lovely to think that silly old her could change someone as extraordinary as Alaska, make her open to love again, but it made her fall for the other girl just a little more. When Alaska was done, Sharon clapped and they spent the next hour fitting the poem into Sharon’s music, arguing over wording but finding a compromise at every turn.

“We’ve got no chorus, half a bridge and no outro,” Alaska sighed as she brought over two cups of coffee from the kitchen. Placing one gingerly on the coffee table for Sharon, she sipped at hers slowly as the cogs in Sharon’s mind kept turning.

“For the outro, I like the line you said about believing, it leaves the song on a positive note,” Sharon replied wistfully as Alaska put down her coffee and pencilled in the line. “As for the bridge, we’ve kinda left it by saying that they’re a realist who wants to believe again. Maybe the other person is exactly the same and might leave. Maybe the protagonist wants the other person to leave them proof that what they’re feeling and experiencing is all real.” Alaska spent five minutes rewording Sharon’s idea and fitting it in with the structure, leaving them with only one more thing to do.

“Now, the chorus,” Alaska said, but all that Sharon could do was cheekily grin. “What?”

“You’ve already done that part,” she replied as she looked at the original poem on the laptop. “Look how you’ve written a sentence between every verse of poem to link it together. That should be the chorus. Repeat the line four times and we’re done.”

Alaska looked down at the line. You are the only exception. At first, it didn’t fit to her, but now, it was perfect.

———————–

Sharon and Alaska had played through the song a couple times to make sure it was perfect when there was a sharp knock at the door. Neither of them was expecting anyone but Sharon still stood up and answered the door, despite her still being in her pyjamas at 2 in the afternoon.

“Dee!” she exclaimed happily as Alaska looked over her shoulder at the girl. She had bright yellow hair and the same shade of eyebrows and her makeup was bright and colourful. Her clothing was quite fashionable and it suddenly made Alaska feel underdressed in the flannel that she borrowed from Sharon. “Where the hell were you last night?”

“I’m so sorry, my darling,” Dee replied, her voice not sounding sorry to Alaska but that was beside the point. “Rox and I had date night and you know how she gets when I blow it off.” From where she was sitting, she caught a brief eye roll from Sharon as she stood up from the couch. “Shaz, who’s this?”

“Dee, this is Alaska,” Sharon introduced, getting excited every time she could introduce Alaska to one of her friends. They shook hands awkwardly. “Alaska, this is Detox, but we all call her Dee.”

“Is your name actually Detox?” Alaska blurted out, causing the yellow haired girl to laugh.

“Of course not, but I hate my real name so everyone around here calls me Dee. You must be the elusive Alaska that Sharon doesn’t shut up about.” Alaska looked to Sharon who shrugged.

“I can’t help it, you fascinate me,” the older girl replied as her arm snaked around Alaska’s waist. Their lips met passionately for a moment until she heard Dee clear her throat next to them.

“Anyways, I thought I’d stop around quickly and check to see what I missed in band meeting last night, but by the looks of it, not much,” Detox winked, causing Alaska to blush. Sharon, however, answered calmly, not fazed by the insinuation.

“You didn’t miss much, except Jinkx and I wrote a new song and Alaska helped with the lyrics, you wanna hear it?” Dee nodded as she perched on the couch, Alaska noting that the colours looked out of place in Sharon’s mostly black apartment. Alaska sang as Sharon played. The girls couldn’t help but make eye contact during the song, especially since a lot of Alaska’s lyrics were directed at Sharon. When it was over, Dee raised an eyebrow, her words breaking Alaska and Sharon out of their spell.

“Well, that sure was something.”

————————–

“I’m so confused, Adore,” Alaska confessed as she recounted to her friend the details of what had happened over the past two days. The dorm room was completely theirs for the night, something that she needed after leaving Sharon and having to go to work. She was tired, but so many pieces of the puzzle didn’t fit in her mind. “Sharon is so amazing. She says the right things and means them, she knows exactly where to touch me, she knows everything about me, the sex is amazing and we made the most amazing song today. Why am I still so afraid?”

“You’re afraid of it because your parents’ marriage didn’t work out and you don’t want to be hurt by love. A lot of kids our age face it. You just need to separate your memories and feelings from the ones we’ve been taught. From the sounds of it, you’re crazy about Sharon and she seems to be feeling the same way. Just admit it to yourself – you love her, and then tell her. Don’t be trapped in this spiral.”

Alaska’s mind turned for a while, knowing that Alaska was completely right. Things might end badly but how would she know if she never tried? In that moment, she decided that she was going to tell Sharon she loved her the next chance she got.

“Are you high or something? Because your advice is really on point tonight,” Alaska remarked, looking over at her friend who was in bed, reading a book. Adore never read, something that shocked the blonde greatly.

“Nah, but I am super tired, let’s sleep.”

“Alright, goodnight.”

Alaska didn’t sleep for a long time, instead Adore’s words played over and over in her head until she could memorise them and say them backwards. Another phrase played over in her mind, one that she didn’t think she’d ever say but she was completely and fully ready to say them out loud.

I love you Sharon.