Chapter Text
If Maya were given a choice of roommates, she’d still choose Carina. They’d been roommates for a little more than a year now. And since they’d got along well in the first year, they opted to stay together in the second as well. They’d have another year of college after this and if this year went well, they’d probably stay together then too.
The campus dorm was crowded, almost every student opted to stay on campus, it saved time and it was just more convenient than having to shuffle back home and back for classes. For Maya, it was an easy choice. She’d preferred to be away from home, mostly so she didn’t have to constantly answer her dad’s questions about her academics.
And being here in their dorm room meant that she got to see Carina more. Carina. Her big fat crush. No, Carina herself was not fat, her crush on her was. And she applauded herself for being so good at hiding it from Carina.
Why did she need to? Because Carina was into boys, or ‘men’ as she’d liked to say. But Maya would call them boys, none of the guys Carina hung out with could hold the title of a ‘man’. A man would know how to woo Carina. A man would know how to treat her like a queen. Maya would know how to treat her like a queen. But what use was it, when Maya was a woman? With male genitals of course. But she didn’t think Carina would be into her. Carina did say she was bisexual with a preference for men, but she hadn't mentioned any woman she'd been with.
Carina knew of Maya’s unique biology. She didn’t make a big deal about it. She treated Maya like she would treat any other female friend in her circle. But they were not in each other’s circles.
They took different classes, had different groups of friends and only went out together when both groups were free at the same time. The rest of the time, everyone kept to their lecture schedules and study schedules. The students occupied their time with extracurriculars, sports and every once in a while, dates, parties, and the occasional sleepovers, in the big dorm room that housed 10 people at a time.
The students had an understanding among themselves. They’d swap each other out, exchanging rooms under the admin’s nose whenever they needed the bigger dorm room for sleepovers and other celebrations. If not there, they’d take their parties out of campus on the weekends at nearby dance clubs or drinking holes.
And while Maya harboured a crush on Carina, Carina herself was a serial heartbreaker. Maya didn’t know why she did it, or how she did it, but she never lasted more than a few weeks into every relationship she tried, since Maya knew her. First, there was Chad, then Alex, then Alejandro, then Olay and Jake. But alas, none of these boys were ever brought back to Carina’s shared room with Maya. No sock was ever placed on the doorknob by Carina, and Maya was never asked to be scarce. Maya wondered if Carina took all her sexcapades to the boys’ rooms and whether those doors often saw a sock on the knob.
She applauded herself for the strength she had to be able to keep a straight mind about it all while knowing the girl she had a crush on was happily having her own adventures with others on the same campus.
To Maya, the biggest win was that at the end of the day, her crush - Carina - came back to their room, came back to their movie nights on Wednesdays and came back to her own bed despite Maya sometimes snoring loud enough across the room.
“It only happens when I drink too much and then fall asleep on my back,” Maya said in justification to Carina once.
“Don’t worry about it, it’s cute,” Carina had said. And it made Maya blush.
So Maya was happy with their arrangement. She had her eye candy, she had a friend in Carina. Her eye candy wasn’t really committing to anyone.
And she herself put a sock on the door whenever she was fucking a girl from campus in her room, so Carina didn’t have to walk in on that. Carina didn’t seem to have a problem with it. She would sometimes ask Maya how her dates were going but those conversations were short and clipped.
Just because she couldn’t have Carina, didn’t mean she couldn't look after herself, she thought. She dated some girls, some she only fucked, some she just generally liked spending time with. She liked the company.
But truly, she LOVED the company of just one woman - Carina. She wished she could tell her one day about this crush she had on her. She didn't think it was consequential. And so she preferred to keep it to herself. She didn’t want to disturb the way their dynamic was flowing. They were easy around each other, they were good friends who trusted one another and who could rely on each other and Maya didn’t want to ruin that or make things awkward.
So when, one day, Carina posed Maya with a question Maya never saw coming, she froze. Clearly, Carina didn’t mind making things awkward between them.
“Will you teach me how to have sex?” Carina asked nervously.
Maya gulped. It was everything she wanted. And everything she couldn't afford to do. All at once.