On the other side of the world,
Last year, Georgia and Sadie were finalizing their research paper in Georgia's place while getting drunk since her mom was away for another local hairstyling competition. Georgia hates it whenever her mom is gone for long since she has to be the one in charge of their hairstyling business. But not now, for she has Sadie.
After finalizing their research, they sit on the floor cross-legged as they play games while drinking. 
"Drink responsiiiiblyyyyyy!" Sadie shouts out as their bottle clanks together in the air before they start chugging. It's her first time drinking—Georgia is 19 while Sadie will be 18 next year, "But it's just one year left, so why not enjoy it?" Georgia told her. Besides, Sadie is excited about drinking anyway, so she can't control the peer pressure. "Just for this time, we can drink again next year." That is what they both agreed on. Sadie says 'drink responsibly' in replacement for cheers when they first drank the bottle. When Georgia asked why Sadie told her it's for people who might hear her know they are drinking responsibly. Georgia chuckled and thought it was cute.  
Georgia knows how easily Sadie gets drunk, which is surprising to her. While she is still fine after five bottles, Sadie is already down at two and is gulping down a third one. Besides the times when Georgia shows Sadie funny videos, this is the only time where she can see Sadie laugh frantically. Georgia watches as she gets mesmerized by Sadie's messy hair, light-brown skin, big nose, crooked teeth, and everything else. To her, every part of Sadie is perfect.
Right now, they are playing truth or dare, where it's Georgia's turn to ask, and Sadie still picks truth for the 20th time.
"Even when you're drunk, you still pick truth!"
"Well, just because I'm drunk doesn't mean I can change my whole personality. Once a risk-avoider, always a risk-avoider!" While Sadie laughs like there's no tomorrow, Georgia just chuckles, too stunned to speak--and it's all Sadie's fault.
Once the laughter dies down, Georgia rolls her eyes. "Fine, okay. Who is your crush in school?"
Sadie scoffs, "Pft, easy!" Please say that it's me, Georgia thought to herself. She presses her sweaty palms together and leans forward; the anticipation is getting to her. "No one."
"Really?" She sits back straight, her one brow up. "That's a joke, Sades."
"No, that's serious! I find a few attractive but never had a crush on them."
"Not even me?"
Georgia is genuine when she asks that question, but Sadie can't read her mind, so she laughs loud again, her drunken state making it hard for the laugh to stop. While Georgia blushed. I shouldn't have asked.
"Well, you're cute." Georgia's eyes lits up when Sadie stops laughing and says that. "Honestly, I almost liked you."
"Why almost?"
"Well… You're fun and sweet, but…Serious. Too serious. You remind me of my family, but you're kind of better."
"Is that…bad?"
"Not really." The corner of Sadie's lips tugs upward, but it's less than a smile and more of a straight face. "But romance-wise, you got no chance for me."
"Who will have a chance then?"
Sadie looks at Georgia with that dumb smile, like Georgia sometimes does whenever she looks at Sadie. Georgia's heart thumps like it wants to burst out. Fuck, that smile, Georgia thought while biting her lips to hold back a smile. It's making her go crazy and wanting to kiss her now. What are you doing to me, Sadie Ozoa? 
Sadie leans in, her face a few feet from Georgia. "Aaannyaaaa~" She whispered; her breath smelled like the vodka they've been drinking.
Georgia's face suddenly shifts to confusion. "What?"  
Sadie giggles. "Anya!"
"Anya, who?"
"Anya Moore, silly!" Sadie hiccups in a chuckle. 
Georgia furrows her eyebrows. "But she's…A pop star."
"I know~ I fall in love with a celebrity with songs that are not my taste and definitely out of my league, Georgia!" Her arms flail around with the empty bottle in her hand. "Ya know, I lowkey wish she's our classmate right now. Imagine how that would be amazing. Geez, I want her so bad. Did you know she's my super-totally-gay awakening?"
I did not ask, Georgia wished to say.
Sadie did not stop. "If she goes to our school and becomes our classmate, I might try to get to her. Maybe sing songs I wrote for her-"
"You know she's straight, and she will probably not like you, right?" Georgia cuts Sadie off. The way Georgia snaps and looks at her with a stern look caught Sadie off guard. Georgia only does this when she's pointing out someone's wrongs or saying truth bombs. But even so, she's barely like this to Sadie. "You should also know that she's a spoiled rich kid with high standards, and we'll never know: she might be a shittier person."
"Woah, slow down, Georgia!" Sadie chuckled awkwardly. "That is soooo many hate dumps on one person. Calm!" Thanks for ruining my thoughts and dreams of being with Anya, by the way. Sadie thought, but with a slippery mouth, Georgia heard them.
    "I'm just trying to snap you into reality. You already have this huge dream of becoming a rockstar, and now you wanna marry Anya Moore?"
"Well...Sounds a little more than that to me. I mean, it sounds like you're a lion that wanna devour the pop star."
Georgia rolled her eyes. If only I could. "Just… Don't dream that big. Go low. Date anyone else but a famous person." Date me, please. But the thing is: Sadie does not know that Georgia is not straight.
"Can't a bitch dream?"
 "Not too much. I mean, it's not like you're gonna meet her anyway."
"Mhmm…I lowkey want her to take my first kiss, TBH." Sadie said before putting the orifice of the bottle in between her mouth, forgetting that it was empty
Meanwhile, Georgia can feel her bitterness creep in. She's getting a bit dizzy, and her face is all red. All that's in her head is the possibility that her friend-slash-love is with THE Anya Moore. How Sadie will look at Anya, how she will sing her love songs, Anya holding Sadie by the waist, and then leaning forward into a kiss…
No...That won't happen…
Georgia starts to become furious at the thought, to the point she can't control it anymore. 
Before she can stop herself, she latches onto her—somehow already—drunk friend. As their lips touch, Georgia's fingers trail lightly from her face, down to her neck, between her breast, and until she grips her waist.
Her lips are soft, and so is her body. Georgia's not sure if Sadie's done this before, but she doesn't wanna know. At least she knows how she feels like. So Soft…
"Hey, G!" 
Georgia snaps back to her kitchen, which is not as big as Austin's but not as small as Sadie's. She looks from her half-eaten meal up to Sadie, who has already eaten her food opposite her. She sits close to the table, which makes her look huge between the cupboards over the countertop and the fridge beside an oven below the stove behind her. Georgia's sitting on a dark brown wooden chair in front of a round table opposite her. She can feel how cold the tiled floor is beneath her soles. She forgot to wear slippers again.
Georgia can't look straight at Sadie. She looks down with her face flushed. She's been trying to forget that night because what she did was wrong—she kissed Sadie without asking her and touched her without consent. But at the same time...It feels like a Taylor Swift song. That moment, for Georgia, is both enchanting and haunting.
Georgia thinks—or hopes—that Sadie does not remember what happened that night. But she did. It's just that Sadie is not saying anything and thinks it's just a stupid hallucination, one of alcohol's side effects. Because she will never believe that her friend will ever touch her without her consent.
Sadie forgot what happened, or at least she suppressed it so much that she thought she had forgotten about it. Meanwhile, Georgia is thinking about it while fighting the thought off. It's just her waist, nothing more. I did not go down, so it's not bad. 
"Hey, Georgia!" Sadie shouts louder, which makes Georgia stop thinking of everything. "What's going on with you?" Sadie continues.
"I'm good." She put her fake smile out. "I'm just worried about you."
"I'm already here!" She opens her palms at shoulder length like she's presenting herself. "What else are you worried about?"
"What is this plan about? Georgia starts eating, putting a spoonful of corned beef with rice in my mouth every time she finishes speaking.
"We plan to get away from here for a bit until the situation slowly dies down." 
"It will not die down because it's Anya Moore! You know how crazy her mom is!"
"Well, typical strict parent! I guess she's like the super frantic moms who panic when their child is missing from their fight for an hour except her child is missing for six."
"If it wasn't for Anya being clumsy, you wouldn't be in this situation where you have to escape."
"First of all, I need a little adventure and thrill in my life. Second, It's not entirely Anya's fault anyway. You like Kpop, so you should've known about the saseangs. Fans can be crazy. She told me about it while we were camping. We talk about other things besides that, though. She's...pretty okay to hang out with. Maybe quite fun. She's a petty good lad, I must say." Sadie wants to take a bite of another food, not because she's hungry but because she wants to hide her emotion and shut herself up. She shouldn't tell her friend how Anya Moore's smile makes her smile, how cute she is when she chuckles at her jokes, how her eyes reflect the moon, and how her hand feels soft even when she's gripping Sadie back up after she tried jumping off a cliff.
She shouldn't tell her friend that she tried to kill herself, and Anya Moore, the pop star, saved her from committing suicide.
Georgia can see how Sadie tries to hide her face with her hair. Is she happy? Is she sad? Sometimes it's difficult for Georgia to get into Sadie's head, and she wishes she could let her in.
"Sadie." Georgia caught her friend's attention. "What is it?"
"It's nothing, really."
"Why can't you tell me?"
No reply. Sadie looks down again.
"Is this about Anya Moore?"
Yes, friend. Sadie said in her head. It's about me still processing that you got THE Anya Moore on your couch which is now sleeping with her mouth wide open, which I can see from here, and I never thought I could be more in love than I was.
Sadie is not showing many emotions from the outside, just looking to the side. 
Georgia grits her teeth. "What did she do to you?"
"Huh?" Sadie looks back at her friend.
"Tell me what Anya Moore did to you! Did she say something about you?"
"No! She's really nice-"
"Did she pay you to do crimes for her-"
"Hey! Calm down!" Sadie can see that Georgia looks so furious. She's only like this when losing a game or defending Sadie from the people who hurt her. But Sadie is confused as to why she is mad at Anya Moore. "I don't know what you are on about Anya, but she's a great person, okay? She's nice to me."
"If she's a great person, how come she did not tell her mom to stop her from putting you in jail?"
"She has no idea her mom will blame me for her disappearance. She just found out about it-"
"Then she should be tweeting about it now! If she really cares, she should be defending you! Did you see how many people are giving you death threats?!"
"You don't understand!" Sadie had to stand up. "She's also dealing with difficult things right now."
"Oh shit! Yeah, right!" Georgia pretends to be shocked, with a hint of sarcasm in her tone. "She will be counting her money!"
"Georgia! Seriously, what's wrong with you?"
"No, what's wrong with you? You're defending someone you barely met!"
"You don't know what happened, G."
"Then what is it?" Georgia stood up and walked to Sadie, standing in front of each other." Tell me, Di."
Sadie's words are drifting away. From where she's standing, she can see Anya Moving around the couch, her eyes still closed. Sadie barely notices that she's grinning on one side of her lips. 
Georgia looks down, feeling kinda pissed. "What did you even see in her that I don't have?"
"What?" Sadie's gaze shifts back to her friend.
"I-I mean, why are you siding with her and not me?"
"Georgia, I am not picking sides! I-" 
"Why can't you at least tell me what happened between you two?"
Silence. When Georgia looks up, Sadie is already looking away. Georgia starts overthinking. Did they kiss? Did they...Do more? No way. That's Anya Moore. She's...Straight...
"Sadie," Georgia said softly. "Why can't you look at me?" Usually, Georgia would cup Sadie's face and make her look Georgia in the eye. She tries to read them every time but fails to do so. But this time, she didn't want to look at them, afraid that if she could finally read Sadie's eyes, she would see Anya's name.
"Sorry. I just can't tell them to you now." Sadie then looks up, staring into Georgia's eyes. Georgia tries to guess. Sadness? Pain? She's not sure what, but she is not sure whether she wanna know either.
Georgia nods. "Okay." Then she looks away. Anywhere but looking a Sadie. 
"Nothing wrong happened. That's all I can say to you for now." Sadie sighs. "I...I like to run away from here, okay? I chose this too. My life is shit, so many things have happened to me, and I want to take a break from it. Anya may partially be why I am in trouble, but she is also my escape from this. She...She made a great plan and-" She reaches for Georgia's palms. This made Georgia look at Sadie and appreciate her beauty as she smiled softly. "I know you're worried. But I'll be fine. I'll chat with you about things, okay?"
"What about your family?"
Sadie then looks away. "It's better if they don't know."
"They're worried."
"They don't have to."
"Are you sure? They still care for you, you know?"
You don't know anything, Georgia. Sadie thought. "Yeah, I know." But she's not sure if she really does. Sometimes, a family gives off the wrong signals. 
Georgia sighs and smiles sadly as she stares at their hands still connected. "I can't believe you're already breaking up with me without meeting your family." Georgia always jokes about being Sadie's sweet and loving girlfriend who would fight for her. Sadie usually finds this annoying, but instead, it made her chuckle.
"You fucker!" Sadie said. Now, this is the Georgia she recognizes--a silly and diabetically sweet person.
Georgia loves this—when she makes Sadie laugh. Her happiness will always be hers as well. 
Sadie then hugs her, which Georgia hugs back tightly. "I'll miss you, G."
"I am already missing you." 
"Pft yeah right, dumbass!"
Both of them stayed there for a while. Sadie can't believe she's going on an adventure in a few hours, while Georgia can't believe that Sadie will leave her later. Sadie doesn't feel like letting go for a while, but Georgia doesn't feel like letting go at all. So both of them stayed there. Georgia shut her eyes, hoping it was just a dream, or at least Sadie would tell her that she would ditch Anya and run away with her instead.
They pull back from each other, with Sadie giving Georgia a soft smile, the one she always delivers, and while Georgia does not get what the smile means, she gives one back—only because Sadie's smile commands her to, and she wants to be happy when someone she loves is happy.
Minutes later, Sadie yawned, stretching her arms. "Oh, I need to sleep!" She said halfway through her yawn.
"You can sleep on my bed."
Sadie's arms drop to her side, and cocks her head, looking at her friend with her huge eyes and furrowed eyebrows. "Really? Not on the couch?"
"Why would I let you sleep on the couch?"
"Because I am your friend? While Anya Moore is the pop star?" Sadie extends her arms, pointing in the direction where Anya is sleeping.
"For me, she's just a stranger." Georgia places her hand on Sadie's shoulder and rubs them with her thumb. "My friend deserves to be treated better. Just because she is a pop star doesn't mean I must treat her like a queen! Pfft!"
Sadie then chuckles. "Well, I gotta go then. I can't hold back my sleep anymore."
They leave the kitchen, passing by the arch that separates it from the salon-slash-living room.
As they stop by the stairs, Sadie adds, "Also, I might lock the door; I don't want you to see me sleep. You might take pictures of me." 
Georgia giggles. Oh, she hopes she can do that.
"You know," Sadie continues as she puts her foot on the first step. "When I said that I needed rest, this is what I meant. You really are someone I can go to take a rest." She and Georgia laugh. 
Sadie said her last thank you before going upstairs to Georgia's room.
Georgia sighs while smiling. All she sees, as she watches Sadie walk up, is Georgia coming up with her, her hand on Sadie's waist, and Sadie would giggle like the way she does when she's drunk or watching funny duck videos, then she would pin her to the wall and kiss her on the lips. Then, both of them would smile. But right now, she's only smiling on her own as Sadie disappears into her room.
Georgia can't stress enough how much she is in love with Sadie, but Sadie is in love with Anya. 
Anya fucking Moore.
What is in Anya Moore that is not in Georgia Benitez? A dark brown hair she usually covers with blonde wigs? Her fake eyes? Silly lyrics? A made-up identity? Does she need to change herself for Sadie to like her back? But there is something more essential to know: Why is Sadie not telling Georgia what happened? How bad—or good—was it that it's better off hidden? It's normal for Sadie to hide a few things from her, but Georgia feels off about what happened last night. 
How Sadie acts whenever it's brought up to the table feels weird for Georgia. She was smirking but then pressed her lips together like she was holding it back. She gets nervous about it as well. 
Why is Sadie not saying anything? Why is she hiding things from me? What happened that night? Did Anya do something?
Georgia twitches her head in Anya's direction, where the latter is moving around the sofa, still asleep.
She's thinking of turning her in. She got the contact number saved. Anya will be home safely—like the privileged ass she is. She will make up a story about Anya stumbling here alone and falling asleep. After so, she can get the cash reward of around ten thousand dollars, then help Sadie run away with her together. Sadie will be safe in Georgia's eyes. Besides, her mom is okay with Sadie around if Sadie doesn't want to face her parents just yet. Letting her go with a stranger might bring her more danger than safety. I will do anything to protect you, my dear, sad Dasie.
Georgia did not do it even if that seemed like a good idea. Sadie might hurt me. And that is something that she doesn't want to risk.
She now turns her whole body to look at Anya clearly. Georgia's already feeling rage, like a fire lit in her eyes when she stares at Anya. Her hands on both of her sides curl up into a fist. She can see why her friend likes her—even in sleep, she looks beautiful—But pushes the thoughts away before she pushes her out of her house.
On the other hand, if Sadie can't tell her what happened, Anya should say to her about it. It may not be her place to know, but Georgia just has to.