It was a dark place in my life. I had absolutely nothing to do, nowhere to go, no job, no friends. I needed to get out of my house because my parents were fighting as usual. Yes I know what you're thinking. "Why don't you move out instead of complaining about how you hate living with your parents?" Well easier said than done. It is not exactly easy to just find a steady job and actually make enough money to afford my own place.

I decided to go out for the first time in a while. Since I was still only 18 years old, I couldn't go to a bar, and I couldn't even try to get a fake I.D. anyway, because they have scanners to check those nowadays. I sat on my bed, thinking of what I could possibly do by myself that would be fun. Of course staying in bed masturbating crossed my mind, but then I remembered my parents were home when I heard them screaming insults back and forth to each other.

I slammed my door shut, not that they would have heard it over their obnoxiously loud screaming, and stormed back over to my bed. Playing Super Mario, Call of Duty, and other video games also crossed my mind, but I was getting bored. I had already beaten and unlocked everything, so there was really no point.

I quickly took a shower and picked out a cute yellow sundress with a flower pattern, from my closet, along with my favorite pair of boots. I topped that off by fixing up my naturally curly, red hair, adding a small amount of makeup to my face, and a brown leather jacket that matched my boots. I actually felt attractive for the first time in quite a while, although pretty much anything is an upgrade from wearing old, faded out, dumpy t-shirts.

I walked over to my desk and threw a few things in a bag, including my camera, which went with me everywhere. I am not just talking about a random digital, point and shoot camera. I am talking about my favorite camera I own, my old Nikon camera, which I usually use to take black and white photographs, and develop them in the darkroom I built in my basement. I gabbed my money out of my draw, threw it in my bag, and walked out of the house, down the driveway, right past the kitchen window, without my parents even noticing me at all.

I walked around my neighborhood for a while, breathing in the crisp Autumn air. I wandered around aimlessly, searching high and low for things that would make interesting pictures. I was so caught up in taking pictures, that I didn't even notice I had walked so far. I had walked at least ten miles from my house.

I heard a lot of noise coming from a few blocks away, which sparked my interest. As I approached, I could hear kids screaming happily, loud arcade type sounds, and what sounded like carnival music in the background. As I got even closer, I was able to see that I was right; there was a carnival in town.

I figured I might as well go hang out there to keep myself busy for a while. I walked through the front gates, towards a cotton candy stand. I have a serious sweet tooth, and it had been forever since I have had some fluffy, sugary deliciousness.

As I walked away from the stand, I almost tripped over myself and fell. Not because I am clumsy, well that too I guess, but because of the flawless beauty sitting a few feet away from me. She sat there, at an empty game stand, her head propped up on one arm. The way the light was hitting her face was just so perfect. The sun reflected off of her flawless skin, and lit up her bright blue eyes, making them sparkle brighter than sapphire. Her long, curly, chocolate-brown hair with caramel highlights, shined so perfectly in the sunlight. I felt as if I was on the set of a magazine cover shoot.

I wanted to take a picture of her there, but I figured she might see me and think I was a stalker or a creep, which was the last thing I wanted to happen. I stood there glued to the spot, my eyes stuck on this girl that I didn't even know. I literally could not move from where I was standing, well at least until I was forced to. Out of the blue, a random kid came crashing right into me, spilling his large soda all over me, which of course, caught the attention of the girl. I was so mad at the kid, and was about to turn and yell after him, but then I realized the girl was walking over to me, and nearly threw up with nervousness.

I couldn't believe she was coming up to me. I still stood there, stuck, as she approached me.

"Hey, are you okay?" the girl asked me. Wow her voice was so sexy.

"Uh.. Y-Yeah! I'm okay... I'm used to stuff like this happening to me, that's just how my life works," I nervously stuttered. I kind of hoped it wasn't blatantly obvious that I was attracted to her.

"Aww, I usually have terrible luck too... Are you here by yourself?" she asked me.

"Yeah, unfortunately the no luck thing kind of comes with not having any friends," I replied sheepishly, looking down at my feet. I couldn't believe I just admitted that.

"Well, looks like we have another thing in common then. I'm here by myself cause all my friends are fake plastic bitches, and I figured maybe I would wander around town and find some new friends. By the way, my name is Nicole, nice to meet you," she replied, smiling, extending her arm for a hand shake.

"I'm Tessa."

I couldn't help but smile back. Her smile was so contagious. I almost forgot that I had soda all over me, which thank goodness none spilled on my camera, until Nicole suggested we should go find the bathroom and try to clean me up. We walked over to the bathroom, which had a ridiculous line, and decided there was no way we were waiting forever.

"Do you want to just come to my house to clean up? I live a few blocks away. You look about the same size as me, so you can borrow my clothes if you want to, so you don't have to go home wearing soda," Nicole said.

"Sure, as long as you aren't planning to kill me or anything," I replied, laughing.

"Yeah okay, cause I would tell you if I was, right," Nicole replied, jokingly.

We walked out of the carnival and were back on the street, away from kids with soda that could crash into me. Honestly, with my luck, that could happen twice in one day. Nicole's house was only a short walk from the carnival, only about five blocks. She lived in a nice apartment complex. It included a huge courtyard with a basketball court, an indoor/outdoor pool and jacuzzi as well as a laundry room and a fitness room. It was like walking into a five star hotel.

Nicole led me to the elevator and pressed 4 as we stepped in. It started slowly going up and then all of a sudden came jumping to a halt, and the lights going out, causing both of us to gasp very loudly in fear.

"Well, looks like the power went out, so I guess we're stuck here for a while." Nicole said, after a brief moment of silence between us.

"Great, is this the part where you kill me?" I teased.

"Yeah, as if I would kill someone as beautiful as you," Nicole replied, quietly, but loud enough that I heard her.

We both laughed, and I blushed, although I doubt Nicole could tell in the tiny bit of light that was illuminating the elevator. We both fell silent again for a few moments as thoughts and questions kept popping into my head.

"Was Nicole hitting on me? No there is no way. She is way to pretty for me. She can't like girls, can she? But my gay-dar tells me she does. She just has that something about her... No but she can't be can she? I wonder why she didn't press the emergency button... Does she want to be stuck here with me?" I thought to myself.

"I hope they find us here soon, it's a bit warm in here. I'm kind of getting thirsty, do you happen to have a drink?" Nicole asked, snapping me out of thought.

"No I don't, but I still have soda flavored clothing?" I joked.

Nicole laughed. "You are too cute, Tessa."

Again, we both fell silent. I couldn't help but wonder if she was having similar thoughts about me.

"So how come I have never met you before?" Nicole asked, breaking the seemingly never ending silence.

"I dunno. I could ask you the same question," I said, smiling. We could now see each other better with the light of our cell phones. Nicole smiled back at me. "Do you want to play two truths and a lie to pass some time?" I added.

"Sure," she replied, with a little more enthusiasm than intended.

"Okay, I'll go first. Umm... Okay. I really like photography. My favorite types of movies are animated ones. I like cheeseburgers." I said.

"Well, I saw you have a camera with you, so first one is true. And I am hoping the second one is true too because if the third one is false, then we already have three things in common if you are a vegetarian," Nicole replied.

"Yes, how did you know?" I asked.

"I don't know I guess I am good at guessing things," Nicole said smiling. "Okay, my turn. Lets see. I work at a pet store. I enjoy reading. And, um... I like girls."

I almost gasped out loud with excitement when she said that. Was I hearing things, or did she really just say that? I tried to stay cool and collected, but in reality, probably looked like a nervous wreck.

"Hmm... I would say that the first one is true, since you are a vegetarian, so that would make sense." I paused a second, thinking if I should say what I was about to say, although my brain wouldn't have been able to convince my mouth to say anything else. "Well if the third one is true, then we have another two things in common. I don't like reading, and I like girls, but I don't have a job. If I did, though, it would most likely be in a pet store."

Just then, the light flickered, and the elevator began to move again. We stood up, and the elevator reached the fourth floor. As the doors opened, we felt a burst of cool air from the hallway, causing both of us to sigh with relief. I followed Nicole down the hallway, until we came to a stop in front of apartment 4L. She turned the key and swung the door open. Her apartment was small, but very nice. The first room I saw when we walked in was her living room, with a simple, modern type look to it. She had a huge, flat screen t.v., a black, leather, two-seat couch, and a matching ottoman, topped with flowers in a vase, and a few magazines.

As I kicked off my shoes, and Nicole did the same, we were greeted by her little, white and gray kitten, whose name I later found out was Kurt.

"Oh my God! It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!" I exclaimed, figuring Nicole would know that movie quote, since she liked animated movies too.

Nicole laughed. "Wow. We really have way too much in common. This isn't even normal."

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After I showered to clean the sticky soda mess off of me, Nicole gave me clothes to change in to, which by the way were very short shorts and a tight fitting t-shirt, and put mine in the wash for me. We continued talking, as we waited for my laundry, getting to learn about each other. We pretty much agreed on everything, and only had a few differences, like movies one had seen and not the other, or that I watch football and Nicole doesn't, nothing major.

We had not realized how long we had been talking, and had completely forgotten about my clothes in the laundry room.

"Oh shit! The laundry!" Nicole exclaimed.

We quickly went downstairs to switch the clothes into the dryer, taking the stairs, so that we wouldn't get stuck in the elevator again. We switched them, then returned back upstairs to wait again as they dried.

We both sat back down on the couch again. Neither of us seemed to be able to think of what to say. "I'm thinking of a number between one and ten. Go." I said, desperate to start a conversation again.

"Seven?" Nicole asked.

My jaw dropped. "How did you..." I trailed off.

"I told you I'm good at guessing." Nicole replied.

"Oh, really? Then guess what I am thinking right now." I said, looking right at her, hoping it wasn't written all over my face that I really liked her, and wanted to kiss her, but then again, I kind of did want her to know that, since there was no way I would ever have enough courage to make the first move.

"Hmm..." Nicole said, studying my face. "Well, I see a bit of nervousness, maybe you still think I'm gonna kill you, but I think you know by now I wouldn't do that. I think that you are thinking of what you want to do, that I want you to do, but you want me to so that you don't have to make the first move."

"Which would be...?" I questioned, biting my lip.

"Kiss me."

Not even a second after she said it, our lips were already pressed together. I had never really kissed any girls before, besides a short truth or dare kiss I shared with my best friend in high school. I would have kissed her again, but she was straight, and it turned out I wasn't and she freaked out when I told her, which I look at as a good thing, since I ended up here with Nicole.

We kissed, softly at first, then we got more into it, neither of us wanting to pull away. We continued just kissing and cuddling on the couch for what seemed like forever, forgetting about the rest of the world. Just as our hands started wandering to naughty places, Nicole's house phone rang, causing us both to jump. Nicole reluctantly got up, and walked over to pick up the phone.

To Be Continued...