Violet Hands

Maggie startles awake from the couch in her small apartment. She’s still fully dressed in her dark blue skinny jeans, black scooped neck tank top with spaghetti straps, gold necklace, strappy black heels and earrings still on. She groans and winces, then rubs her eyes before looking around for her phone, which is ringing. She realizes it fell onto the floor next to the couch. She reaches once, misses, then gets it on her second try. Finally she answers, letting out a groggy “hello?”

“Maggie.” Her coworker, Helen, whispered into the phone. “Please tell me you’re not late again from partying all night...” Maggie jumped off the couch and quickly walked over to her bedroom to pull a work outfit from her closet. The bedroom was pretty tight, but was just enough for her and her cat. She only really had room in it for a full sized bed, her small vanity pushed up in the corner, and a small dresser for the clothes that couldn’t fit in the closet. She had dark-toned mandala tapestries hung on the left and front walls, the back wall had a small window and a few pictures of her and her friends. The window was recessed into the wall and had a small pet bed for her cat with one of his mouse toys in it.

“Shit, I’m so sorry Helen.” She said, embarrassed. “I know we have the meeting to go over the report, I’m getting dressed now and I’ll be running out the door to get there as soon as I can.” She stripped down to her underwear and quickly pulled on her dark brown work pants.

“Okay.” Helen said curtly.

“But, can you please get the presentation started off for me? I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

“Fine, just get here.” Helen responded before hanging up.

Maggie then hastily pulled over her white blouse and threw on a tan blazer to cover up her slim arms. Even though it was warm out, the office was always too cold for her. She hurries into the living room. Grabbing her backpack from the floor near the front door and slipping into her black flats, she looks over to the coffee table. There, she notices her laptop sitting on it next to a cup of paintbrushes. She was trying out painting as a new hobby, or more so a distraction from life, but wasn’t sure how much she liked it yet. She grabs the laptop and shoves it in her backpack, then hurries out the door.

—

Maggie walks quickly into the conference room halfway through the presentation. There were definitely a few raised eyebrows in the room and a death stare from Helen. Even with missing the first half of the presentation, she was able to jump right in on the next slide almost effortlessly. She could thank her photographic memory and good note taking for that.

After the presentation, her boss thanked her and dismissed the team, but asked her to come to his office later that afternoon. Helen followed Maggie out of the conference room.

“I can’t cover for you all the time.” Helen said quietly behind her. “Were you hanging out with Jasmin again? Honestly, I think she's not the best person to be hanging out with.”

A gentle sigh left Maggie’s lips as she continued over to her cubicle, which was next to Helen’s. “It was just a bad night. She had nothing to do with it.” She denied. Helen gave her a look, showing disbelief in her, but didn’t say anything else and went back to her own cubicle.

—

That afternoon, Maggie walked to the door of her boss’s office, which was open. Her boss was on the phone but once he saw her, he put his hand to the microphone end of the phone and gestured to her to come inside the office. “Come on in, I’ll just be a minute.”

She closed the door behind her and sat down in the chair facing him on the opposite side of his desk.

“Yes, that’s good, shouldn’t be a problem. Have him put it in my calendar, thanks.” He spoke into the phone before hanging up. “Maggie, thank you for coming in to see me.” He clicked a few things on his computer before turning to face Maggie, adjusting his posture slightly. “I have been noticing your recent tardiness. What’s been going on?”

Maggie wasn’t sure if he was genuinely concerned for her, or just biding his time while finding a better excuse to fire her. His tone gave no hints to either possibility. She really needed this job though, so she knew she would have to start kissing up and doing more work to get him off her case. “I’m really sorry about that,” She started. At first, she didn’t know exactly what she should say, because the honest answer was she was often spending too much time up late, drinking the night away with Jasmin. Jasmin just… helped her forget about all the bad stuff in her life. Even if she drank too much, she has this demeanor, she doesn’t care what other people think about her, doesn’t let stuff get to her, and knows how to make you smile. Maggie needed that in her life right now.

She shifted in her seat, not making eye contact. “Life recently has been… difficult for me… but I am going to be better.” She continued, then looked up at him. “I know you are expecting the finalized report for the HM project today. That is my first priority. However, I don’t think I’ll be able to finish the notes for Monday’s meeting by the end of today. I can work on them over the weekend, if that would be okay?”

Her boss was quiet for a moment, all too long for Maggie’s anxiety. “I know how hard you work for this department. You impressed me when you interviewed here. And I also know life can be challenging at times. Plenty of times, I would know.” He chuckled. Maggie was quiet, nerves still on high. “Just, please let me know when you’re struggling, and we can work something out. And yes, you can work on the notes over the weekend.”

Maggie smiled now, relief rushing over her. “Thank you so much, I really appreciate it.”

Her boss returned the smile. “Just remember, my door’s always open.”

Maggie nodded and stood up to leave, promptly heading to her desk, putting her headphone on and focused on finishing the report. She didn’t want to let someone else down again.

—

It was late Saturday afternoon. She had her work laptop with her on the couch in her living room. She typed up her notes, taking a sip from the cup of iced coffee she made earlier. She studied the notes carefully, now feeling satisfied with the content. She attached them to the meeting invite for Monday, re-read the invitation and checked that she had all the required attendees included. She saved it and scheduled the updated meeting invitation to be sent first thing Monday morning. Looking over at the clock hanging on the wall in front of her, she noticed it was 4:07 PM. She realized she was getting hungry now.

As she looked through the kitchen for something to make, she got a text notification. She pulled her phone from her pocket and saw a text from Jasmin.

Meet at The Lounge tonight? The DJ we like is gonna be there.

She smiled. Even though it was a regular thing for them to do on the weekend, it still made her face light up every time she was invited. She couldn’t help it, though she definitely would deny it to anyone else. Jasmin has a boyfriend. A boyfriend who could be so much better, honestly. She mentioned it a few times to Jasmin, but she would always shrug and say “he doesn’t hurt me, and I get to live a comfortable life. I don’t need much else.” She also didn’t talk much about past relationships, but Maggie could tell something happened to her before. Maggie thought she deserved a lot better. So instead of pushing the subject, she just enjoyed the alone time she got with Jasmin. Time where she could forget about everything else. Whenever she was with her, she felt alive. She typed back.

Definitely. Can’t wait :)

—

Late that night, Maggie is standing next to Jasmin, arm in arm, laughing over some stupid thing she read online. They are waiting in line for the club. Maggie is wearing a tight black short dress with off-the-shoulder sleeves. Jasmin told her it was her best dress. Meanwhile, Jasmin had a deep-V red dress with spaghetti straps, knee length, with gradient to a darker red going towards the bottom of the dress. She had dark red lipstick on to match the outfit, and perfectly done smokey eye shadow. Maggie only did a simple lip gloss and eyeliner. She never really felt crazy about doing her own makeup. Jasmin had a whole ensemble of makeup products, plenty of top rated brands, and a healthy skin care routine. Maggie loved how she always smelled like roses.

After a few moments, they are at the front of the line. The bouncer checks their IDs and waits for the next group of people to exit. Not long after, a group comes out, with one girl staggering behind and clearly drunk. One of the other girls in her group comes back to put an arm around her and help steady her. The bouncer then waves Maggie and Jasmin to head inside. Jasmin takes Maggie's hand to lead her inside, as she often did. Maggie was thankful to the dim street lights for hiding her blush.

As they enter, they are flooded with dance music. It’s mainly 2010’s club mixes, with some 00’s and 90’s remixes sprinkled into the playlist. The crowd on the dance floor is packed, but they don’t mind. Their first stop is at the bar on the other side of the dance floor. Jasmin continues to pull Maggie along by her hand, and once they get to the bar she squeezes into an open space and flags down a bartender quicker than Maggie expected. While waiting for the drinks, she looks back at Maggie and winks. Maggie sticks her tongue out at her playfully. She can see her mouth “careful where you put that tongue”. Shivers run down her back as she thinks of the sexual undertones of the teasing comment. Finally, Jasmin gets their two drinks and hands one over to Maggie, a vodka tonic.

Maggie immediately takes a big sip. Jasmin surveys the crowd for a moment before taking a big sip of her own drink. She turns back to Maggie and holds up her drink as they clink glasses, both chugging back another big sip, laughing, then finishing out their drink. Maggie takes the glasses back to the bar and orders them two shots. They swig those back too, and are now ready to jump onto the dance floor.

Once they find a spot near the middle of the dance floor, they start dancing, hands in the air and hip swaying. One of the naughtier songs comes on and many couples on the floor start grinding into each other, Maggie and Jasmin also joining in. Jasmin pushes her behind into Maggie and a low moan escapes Maggie’s lips, the alcohol and the bubbling feelings about Jasmin getting to her all too much in the moment. She’s thankful the music is loud enough that Jasmin couldn’t hear it.

The song transitions into a latin dance track, and Jasmin turns herself around to face Maggie now and they both shake their hips to the beat. Maggie doesn’t think of herself as much of a good dancer, but she does it anyway because it’s fun, even more so when Jasmin is with her. She thinks Jasmin has much better moves. With Jasmin’s Latina roots, it seems to come naturally.

They continue to dance the night away, and before long the club is closing down for the night. As the last song comes to an end, the dance floor clears out. The floor is sticky from spilled drinks, some discarded beer and hard seltzer cans sprawled along the way.

“Can we go to your place? I don’t really want to go home yet.” Jasmin asks.

Maggie nods and leads her outside as they wait for an Uber. It only takes ten minutes for one to arrive. After verifying the license plate matched the one listed on the app, they both slid into the back seat. The driver briefly greets them and then stays quiet the rest of the ride. The radio is playing soft jazz music at a low volume, it’s actually quite soothing to Maggie. Jasmin spends the time in the car scrolling through Instagram on her phone.

They arrive outside Maggie’s apartment. They thank the driver and step out onto the sidewalk in front of her apartment building. Maggie takes Jasmin’s hand and starts to head up the stairs, but feels Jasmin start to trip. She tightens her grip, her head quickly turning towards her direction but it was only a slight stumble and Jasmin giggles. They continue up the steps and Maggie inserts her key into the front door. They continue up the stairs to her unit. After getting inside her apartment and closing the door, Maggie starts to kick off her heels. Jasmin is right behind her and puts a hand on Maggie’s shoulder as she takes off her own heels. Feeling the relief on her feet, Jasmin flops down onto the couch and giggles more. “Should we open up some wine?” Jasmin asks, eyes half open as she starts to get comfortable.

“Uh… maybe we shouldn’t have any more. I think we’ve had enough for one night.” Maggie started, taking a seat on the couch next to Jasmin and offering her a blanket, which she refused. “You know, especially after you went back to the bar for more shots and downed them both because you forgot the other one was for me.”

Jasmin rolled her eyes but smiled. “Yeah, my bad. So what, now you’re punishing me?”

“Oh, this is barely anything. I can show you real punishment, if you’re asking for it…” Maggie said, teasingly. The alcohol still in her system was making her more bold.

Jasmin made a fake astonished look. “Well damn.” She giggles, then sees the cup of paintbrushes on the table. “Oh, you’re painting?”

Maggie shrugs. “Eh, I don’t know. I have no idea what I’m doing. I don’t think I’m any good.”

“Well, I don’t think anyone is good right away. You should keep at it! You know what? Let’s make something together!” Jasmin suggests, smiling wide.

“Oh, uh, are you sure?” Maggie didn’t want to embarrass herself.

“Uh, yeah! It can be bad, horrible even, it’ll be fun either way.” Jasmin adds, now standing up from the couch. “Come on, grab us some shit to draw on, please!”

Maggie shakes her head but smiles and obliges. She also stands up and goes over to her bedroom to find the bag of supplies and brings it to the living room. Jamin takes it and sits back down, pulling out two little easels, two small canvases, and some paints. As she lays out the material on the coffee table, Maggie grabs the bag and pulls out the tray to put the paints in.

They decide to just paint whatever comes to mind, then trade easels and add to each other’s.

“Wait, is this a hand?” Jasmin asks, her eyes narrowed as she tilts the easel slightly.

“Uh, yeah, well… I sometimes get fascinated with hands. And also… I really like your hands, so… that’s where my inspiration came from.” Maggie confesses.

Jasmin smiles softly, looking from Maggie back to the canvas. “Hm..” Jasmin places the easel on the table, then takes the container of violet paint and grabs a large paintbrush with her free hand, with Maggie watching her curiously. Jasmin dips the paintbrush deep into the container and paints her entire palm violet.

“What are you doing?” Maggie laughs. “It’s going to take us forever to clean that off of you.”

Jasmin shrugs in response. “It’ll be fine.” She then presses her painted palm against the canvas, making somewhat of a heart shape together with the hand Maggie painted. “Okay, I really like this.”

Maggie looks over and is actually impressed at the simple cuteness of it. “Okay, yeah, I actually like it a lot too. But, before that finishes drying on your hand, I’ll help you get cleaned off. This isn’t kid’s paint, you know.”

“Alright, alright, get me cleaned up Miss Maggie.” Jasmin teases, getting an eye roll and a smile from Maggie. They clean up her hand together at the kitchen sink.

“That was fun, but now I wanna chill with a show, and snack on some chocolates before I have to leave.” Jasmin says.

Maggie nods and grabs the remote for the TV. They decide on watching an episode of Love is Blind. After a while, Jasmin starts to feel tired and sends a text to her boyfriend asking to get picked up. There was enough time before he’d arrive that they would be able to finish out the episode. Towards the end of it, one of the newly engaged guys goes to put a hand on his fiance’s hip and pulls her in for a kiss while the sun sets behind them on the balcony of their luxury hotel room. Maggie hears Jasmin scoff at this and turns to look over at her.

“That move has never worked on me before.” Jasmin says, shrugging now as she pops one last chocolate in her mouth. She stands and heads toward the door, grabbing her jacket from the hook on the wall near the door. “I’m too ticklish and it just feels weird, I guess.”

“Oh?” Maggie questions, following her over to the door. “Maybe you just never had someone do it the right way.” As she watches Jasmin putting on her jacket, she admires her legs and her eyes drift up to her ass, then to her hips. She grows an overwhelming urge within her, and she gives in to it. She gently places her hand on Jasmin’s hip, just like the guy did in the show, and Jasmin gasps. Maggie turns Jasmin around to face her, repositioning her hand on her hip, gently gripping. Her other hand wanders up to Jasmin’s chin, grasping it, her eyes gazing at her lips, then up to her eyes. Jasmin appears stunned but intrigued, not resisting, just staring back, briefly glancing down at Maggie’s lips.

“Not bad,” Jasmin simply says, almost a whisper.

She’s not disgusted, or afraid, Maggie thinks to herself. I… I can’t resist this anymore.

Maggie gives in to temptation once more and kisses Jasmin on the lips passionately. Jasmin returns the kiss, and Maggie deepens it, lightly moaning into her mouth and gently grasping at Jasmin’s hair. Jasmin relaxes into Maggie’s touch, and Maggie pulls away from the kiss only to lay kisses down Jasmin’s neck. Then, the sound of a phone notification startles them and they both jump. It’s Jasmin’s phone, which had fallen out of her hand when they were in the middle of making out.

“Shit,” Jasmin curses, and shakes her head briefly. “I… I’m sorry I got carried away.”

“Uh… it’s fine. We both drank a little too much…” Maggie said, even though she knew it was really all her fault. But she couldn’t deny how good it made her feel, despite also feeling guilty.

“Bye, Maggie.” Jasmin said, now walking out the door. Maggie watched her walk to the steps, then closed the door and went over to her kitchen window that had a view above the front door of the building. She could see Jasmin’s boyfriend, Leo standing outside his car, facing the building and waiting for Jasmin. After a moment, Jasmin was walking towards him. She looks behind her and up to Maggie’s apartment, where Maggie continues to watch. Leo also now looks up, waving at Maggie with a smile on his face. Maggie gives a quick smile and a curt wave back, then looks back at Jasmin, who was expressionless. She gets in his car and he closes the door for her and walks around to the driver’s seat. He sits for a moment typing on his phone, then starts to pull away. Maggie gets a notification on her phone.

She pulls out her phone to see a text from Leo.

Thanks for looking out for Jasmin.

She walks out of the kitchen and then over to her bedroom, removing her clothes and pulling on a comfy T-shirt to sleep in. She leaves her phone on her bed and goes into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She hears another notification go off. Once she’s done brushing, she goes back into the bedroom, and on her phone she sees a text from Jasmin.

Are we still good?

She starts to type out “stay with me” but deletes it and instead responds

of course, don’t worry about it :)

—

The following Wednesday, Maggie is at work. She’s finishing up writing a contract for one of their new clients. Her headphones are on, helping her focus on her work. The noises of the office, including workplace chatter, always annoyed her. She’s startled by a tap on her shoulder. It’s Helen.

“Hi Helen. What’s up?” Maggie asks as she takes off her headphones.

“Hey Maggie. How’s your day going?” Helen responds. Maggie knows Helen as not usually one for small talk unless she needs a favor or she’s talking to upper management. So she knew what was coming.

“Fine, thanks. Can I help you with something?”

Helen leaned against the wall of the cubicle. “Actually, yes. Do you remember hearing about the conference happening on Friday?”

Maggie nodded. “Uh, yeah, sounds familiar. What about it?”

“Well, my father has to get an X-ray for his knee and I’m the only one who can give him a ride. I’ll need you to cover for me.”

“That’s really soon, I don’t know if I’d be able to…” Maggie started to reply, but was interrupted by Helen.

“You owe me from last time, remember?” Helen remarked, one eyebrow raised.

Maggie sighed, but she knew she should just do it. Helen did help her out a lot, possibly more than Maggie deserved. Going to the conference would be rough, as she remembered that Jasmin invited her out to her boyfriend’s boat. They’d be joined by some friends and party for most of the weekend. Doing both that weekend was a lot of socialization, but she figured she could manage it. “Yeah, I remember. Alright, I’ll be there. What’s the dress code?”

“Business formal. I’ll text you all of the details.” Helen responded. “Really appreciate it!” She then left Maggie’s cubicle to head towards their boss’s office.

Later that day, Maggie got a text from Jasmin. It was pictures of three different swimsuits, a red bikini set, a violet halter top bikini set, and a black one piece with an open cross section diagonally across the middle. Jasmin was asking her which she should choose. Maggie responds.

Definitely the violet one.

—

Maggie is standing in the hotel lobby where several other people from her company are conversing after the conference had finished, probably schmoozing up interested clients that have a lot of money. She felt relieved it was over, and thinks she did decent, which should make Helen and her boss happy. A few potential new clients showed interest in the company and she was also able to share her business card with a few other individuals for networking opportunities. She had her laptop out, typing up a document listing the client information she was provided and a summary of potential projects so she could share it with Helen. As she shut the lid of the laptop, across the table from her was a woman with sleek black shoulder length hair, clear framed glasses and a shit-eating grin on her face.

“Veronica?!” Maggie spoke, astonished.

“Miss me?” Veronica said, flicking her hair off to the side. “Can’t believe I managed to catch you here, which means you must still be working for them,” she continues, pointing her head toward the table across the lobby where one of her company executives was laughing with some other people.

Veronica was her ex. She was manipulative and mean. But Maggie didn’t get to see that side of her until later in their relationship. She slowly broke Maggie down, making her not realize it was abuse until it was almost too late. After a lot of therapy, Maggie started to realize she developed a pattern of dating people that were inappropriate for her, most likely due to some childhood trauma. She still has a long way to go.

“Veronica,” She started, much calmer in her tone now. “I’m really not interested. And I was actually about to leave, so goodbye.” Maggie gathered her things and started to walk away.

“Fine. Good luck trying to make yourself happy, Maggie.”

Maggie stopped, clenching her fist. She then turned around and looked her right in the eyes, stepping closer to her. “I had to do a hell of a lot of healing after what you put me through.” She said, quiet and low. “You’re like a leach, sucking off all the good from the people you convince to be your friend, your lover. I don’t ever want to see you again, I don’t even think about you anymore. Grow up, and get the help you need.” With that, she defiantly turned around and walked away for good this time. It was a lie she didn’t think about her, but she needed to say it, maybe hoping it would push her further away. It felt good, she thought, to finally say some of the words she wasn’t strong enough to say back then. She felt free again, at least for a little while.

—

Maggie pulls up to the parking lot near the dock in her car. Once she’s parked and turns the car off, she pulls down the visor to look in the mirror. From her small crossbody purse, she grabs the lip gloss and applies it to her lips. Feeling satisfied enough with her look, she exits the car. She has a white sheer cover up dress over her swimsuit. It was a green halter neck swimsuit, a simple one she liked. She walks down the parking lot and out onto the dock. She recognizes the boat and sees Leo first. He nods at her, then turns back to the other guys he was chatting with. After stepping onto the boat, she goes to the opposite end where she finds Jasmin leaning over the railing, wine cooler in hand. Maggie leans against the railing as well, facing Jasmin. For a moment, Jasmin stayed there looking out onto the lake, seeming deep in thought. She then notices Maggie and smiles up at her.

“Hey hot stuff,” Jasmin says to her before taking a sip from her wine cooler.

“Hey gorgeous.” Maggie greets back, a small smile appearing on her lips.

“I’ve loved this lake since I was little.”

Maggie nods. “It’s really nice here. Thanks for inviting me again.”

Jasmin looks over her shoulder, making sure Leo is out of earshot. “It’s more fun with you. Now, what are you drinking?”

Maggie gives her a big smile. “Hmm, I’ll just have whatever you’re having.”

“Good choice. Follow me.” Jasmin leads her back towards the other end of the boat so they can go down the stairs into the cabin. There’s a cooler behind the stairs, where two of Jasmin and Leo’s friends were grabbing their own drinks. They both briefly greeted them and moved out of the way so Maggie and Jasmin could get to the cooler. Maggie looks over and notices a bedroom, the only other room in the cabin besides a small bathroom.

Maggie takes the wine cooler Jasmin hands her. “I didn’t even realize this had enough room for a whole bedroom down here.”

Jasmin shrugs. “It’s kinda cramped in there, but convenient for getting away for an afternoon or an evening.” She heads up the stairs to the deck, Maggie following behind. They return to the front of the boat and Leo announces they are about to take sail. He gets in the driver's seat and his buddies settle into the seats near him, cracking open some beers and turning the music up. Jasmin is standing at the front railing, with Maggie in the seat facing the front railing. She admires Jasmin's body, while her hair blows in the wind.

Later, they arrive at the sandbar and find a spot to park the boat, then everyone gets out to start up a volleyball game in the shallow water. They all seem to enjoy themselves, and two of the guys take a couple of tumbles, play fighting with each other and are clearly pretty drunk. At one point, a couple from another boat come over and ask if they can join. Maggie and Jasmin volunteer themselves to tag out to let the couple play, so Maggie and Jasmin head back up to the boat to watch. Jasmin has another wine cooler, and then pulls out her phone to take a selfie with Maggie, sticking her tongue out for the picture. Not long after, the sun is starting to set and they all decide to get back to the dock.

The guys mention there’s an after party at one of their places. The boat arrives back at the dock, Leo backing the boat into its spot. He gets the boat tied up with the help of Jasmin and one of the more sober guys. As Jasmin finishes tying off, Leo approaches her. “Hey babe, do you want to join me and the rest of the group at Jake’s?”

“Actually, I think I'll hang back with Maggie. She’ll drop me off later.”

Leo nods. “Mkay, if you wish. Love you,” He says, pulling her in for a kiss. Maggie watches as he kisses her, then watches him walk off the boat with the group.

“Let’s stay here for a while and watch the sunset. It's one of my favorite parts.” Jasmin says to Maggie, once again pulling her to the front of the boat. They lean over the railing and watch the sun set. Maggie looks over at Jasmin, noticing the way she looks somewhat sad as she looks out over the water. “Even though I love this place, it’s just not the same.”

Maggie gets closer to her, putting an arm on Jasmin’s shoulder. The always cool and collected Jasmin starts to falter, Maggie wonders. “What changed?”

Jasmin looks down, sighing. “It’s not the same without my brother.”

Maggie’s brows furrow. “I didn’t know you had a brother, what… happened?”

Jasmin is quiet for a moment, then turns towards Maggie. “He died. Last year. I… I didn’t help him. It’s my fault.”

“What do you mean?”

Jasmin sniffled, fighting off tears. “He ran away from home. I was supposed to get him, he called me, begging me to come get him. I didn’t answer my phone because he called using someone else’s phone. He ran away without his phone and… and I didn’t know the phone number. He felt so alone, he just… he…” She couldn’t hold back the tear anymore and just sobbed into Maggie’s shoulder.

“It’s not your fault.” Maggie softly whispered to her, kissing her hair as she sobbed. “It’s not your fault,” She repeated.

As her sobs slowed, she took a deep breath. “I just want to forget. Forget the call I got from the police, from my useless parents. The blame. All of it.” Jasmin looked deep into Maggie’s eyes now “Help me forget.”

“What?” Maggie asked, looking into her eyes for some kind of answer.

“Please,” Jasmin begged, before pulling Maggie’s lips down to hers.

Maggie starts to kiss back, but stops herself. “I don’t think we should do this,” She says quietly. She desperately wants to take away Jasmin’s pain, but knows it wasn’t right to do it this way.

“Please, Maggie, just for tonight….” Jasmin pleads in a whisper, her face so close to Maggie’s. “I need you.” She then pulls her in for a deep kiss.

Maggie gives in to her own desire and fully kisses her back, her hands starting to carefully explore Jasmin’s body. She pauses and pulls away from the kiss again. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Take me.” Jasmin commands, now grabbing Maggie’s hand and taking her down to the cabin. She presses Maggie up against the door, fiercely making out with her. Maggie moans into Jasmin’s mouth, now pulling her legs up and Jasmin wraps her legs around her. They deepen the kiss, then pull away briefly for Maggie to pull open the door to the bedroom.

—

Leo parks his car in the parking lot to the dock, then texts his buddy, Jake.

Just parked. I’ll text back when I have your keys.

He gets out of the car and starts to head to the boat. He looks out onto the boat and sees no sign of Jasmin or Maggie. He decides they probably already left. He goes to the back of the boat, looking over several of the seats trying to find Jake’s keys. It starts to become apparent they aren’t up here.

He starts walking towards the stairs down to the cabin. On the shelving inside the cabin opposite of the bedroom, he spots Jake’s keys. He pockets them, then pulls out his phone from his other pocket. He starts to type to Jake when he hears noise from the bedroom. He turns around, spotting Maggie’s purse on the floor next to the door to the bedroom. He pauses, waiting for another noise. A moment later, he hears the sound of a moan, and is certain it is Jasmin. His brows furrow, as his confusion grows. He takes a step over to the bedroom door and opens it.

He sees Jasmin on top of Maggie, with Jasmin topless. They both look over, eyes wide, shocked and mortified. Leo is speechless for a long moment.

“Leo…” Jasmin starts, pulling herself to the end of the bed.

“Jasmine. What. The fuck. Is going on?!” Leo says through gritted teeth, jaw clenched.

Jasmin pulls her shirt up off the floor and puts it on. “I just… got confused, and had too much to drink.” She looks off into nothing, not looking at Leo nor Maggie. Maggie stays silent. She wants to just tell him off, tell Jasmin she’s in love with her, tell her to leave him, but she can’t tell if Jasmin even feels the same way.

Leo shakes his head. “You both being drunk is no excuse. Maggie, get the fuck out of my boat.”

“It’s not even your fucking boat, you entitled prick.” Jasmin says defiantly.

Leo storms up to the bed and pulls Jasmin up by her shoulders. “You fucking bitch!”

Maggie instantly pushes herself between them. “Let her go!”

Leo shoves his elbow up, knocking one of Maggie’s hands off of them. She uses the opportunity to throw a punch at the side of his face, hard, and he falls back, groaning. Jasmin lets out a yell as she falls back onto the bed. Maggie keeps herself between Jasmin and Leo and watches him as he stands up, wiping blood from his nose.

Jasmin watches as the other two start yelling at each other, all of it muffled to her as memories flood back into her mind of her parents yelling at each other after her brother’s death. She presses her legs up to her chest, burying her head into her knees and softly weeping.

Meanwhile, the yelling in the room continues. “For fucks sake, do you even love her?” Maggie asks, her words bitter. “She deserves so much more.”

“You think you can give her that? Don’t you think at this point she would have already left me for you?”

“Stop…” The words leave Jasmin’s lips softly. Neither of the other two hear her.

“Oh fuck you!” Maggie scoffs at Leo. “She’s scared of you! She’s dying inside because of her brother, did you even know?”

“Stop.” Jasmin repeats, still weak, her throat dry.

“Of course I knew. I’m the one who picked her up when her parents locked her out. I was there! Me! Who did she call? Me, not you!”

“STOP!!!” Jasmin screams. Leo and Maggie turn to face her and see her tear-filled eyes.

“Jasmin… I… I’m so sorry.” Maggie says, softly now.

“Leave. Now.” Leo says to Maggie, then turns back to Jasmin as he goes up to her on the bed and gently puts a hand on her hand. Maggie grabs her purse up off the ground, then looks back at Jasmin one more time. She looks up for a moment. Maggie can’t read the expression on her face. “Whatever this is, between you… it ends now.” Leo continues, without even looking at Maggie.

Heartbroken, confused, and angry, Maggie walks out and up to the top of the boat, then onto the dock. She hurriedly makes her way over to her car and shoves herself inside it, throwing her purse into the passenger seat. Without hesitation, she starts the car and drives off in a hurry.

—

Maggie walks up the steps to her apartment. Once inside, she slams the door behind her, letting her purse fall from her hand onto the floor. She falls back against the wall, pressing her back to it and puts her head in her hands. As she starts to cry, she slides down the wall until she’s on the floor. Images of Jasmin’s face, especially her smile, play in Maggie’s mind. She sobs loudly.

How could I fuck this up so bad? She thought to herself. Had to open my fucking mouth, had to push it too far. Kept trying to hold onto what I knew would never happen…

After a long while, she finally peels herself up off the floor. She takes off her coverup and bikini suit. Her feet slowly pace over to the bathroom, her hands turn on the shower, pushing it as hot as it will go. She steps into it, steam quickly building inside the bathroom. In her bedroom, steam can be seen leaking out from the bathroom. Her phone buzzes from an incoming text message.

Maggie stands under the shower water for what feels like an eternity. Finally, she turns off the shower, letting herself drip dry for a while. She towels off and makes her way into the bedroom. She looks at her phone to see the text message, it was from Jasmin. Maggie sighs deeply, and decides to ignore it and turns off her phone. She lays back into the bed and stares up at the ceiling, her eyes then drifting down to the wall opposite of the bed. The painting of two hands she made with Jasmin hangs there. As the digital clock by her bed shows 3:26 AM, she closes her eyes and drifts off to sleep.