Hey guys!

Thanks so much to those who reviewed and let me know that you're out there reading, and digging this ship. I would not have continued otherwise! And on that note, sorry about the delay on this chap; real life got in the way for a while, you know how it goes. Hope you will enjoy this chap...there is one more coming, and then Rachel and Nina will be moving to happy-ever-after-land ;)

Cheers,

—JW

…...

Playing Pretend

Part 3

By JewWitch

…...

As soon as they got home, Nina made a beeline for the kitchen and opened a bottle of red wine to calm her frayed nerves. "Hey Rach, I'm opening that merlot from the office party. Want some?"

"Yeah, sure," Rachel called back, standing frozen in the living room and unsure what to do with herself. She still felt anxious and out of sorts, despite the fact that the officially stressful portion of the evening was over. Maybe a glass of wine would calm her nerves, and help her bury the let's pretend Nina is my girlfriend feelings back down to the pit of her stomach where they belonged. She put on the 80's station on Pandora, the one they always listened to when they were cleaning the apartment or folding laundry, hoping to re-establish some normalcy as quickly as possible; and then kicked off her uncomfortable high heels before dropping down onto the couch with a soft sigh.

"Here you go," Nina smiled, coming back from the kitchen with two glasses and dropping down on the couch beside Rachel, tucking her feet up under herself like a nervous child. "Pizza's on the way."

"Awesome," Rachel grinned weakly, taking a large gulp of wine just to have something to do. "So...I guess I'm gonna go upstairs and change into my PJ's."

"Oh. Yeah. Good idea," Nina nodded, standing up hastily and gulping down her own wine before setting the empty glass on the coffee table. "Me too." Rachel felt a pang of regret when she saw how stiff her roommate's smile was; because she knew it was her fault that things were suddenly so awkward and strained between them. Nina was only trying to help her out with a difficult family event, and now because of Rachel's meltdown and the way she'd yelled and blamed Nina for everything, her best friend didn't even know how to be around her anymore. But she couldn't think of anything more to say to make it right, so she just returned Nina's awkward smile and followed her up the stairs.

They went to their separate bedrooms and shed their fancy party clothes; Rachel changed into her favorite flannel pajamas, so soft that even her overdeveloped senses had nothing to object to once the fabric settled against her skin. When she came back downstairs, she found Nina already sitting on the couch and sipping her second glass of wine, in a pair of faded pink Victoria's Secret boxer shorts and a soft grey tank top. It was about the least impressive outfit she could possibly have chosen from her enormous closet full of lace nightgowns and lingerie; so why did it feel so intimate? Why did it make Rachel's heart race like a sweaty teenager on prom night?

"Hey, save some for me," she joked weakly to cover her nerves, as she sat beside the taller girl on the couch and held out her empty wine glass.

"Oh, going beyond your one-glass limit tonight?" Nina teased, but she filled Rachel's glass without argument. "Good thing I won't have to carry your ass home when you pass out."

"I'm not gonna pass out," Rachel huffed, rolling her eyes as her cheeks flushed pink with embarrassment. "I just get a little loopier than most people when I drink, so it's better to play it safe when I'm out in public. But we're home now, so who cares? It won't bother you if I get a little goofy, will it?"

"Not at all," Nina shook her head, a little bit of the playful smirk returning to her pale face as she gave her best friend a tiny wink. "You deserve the chance to get looped after the night you just had, Rach. I'm glad you feel safe enough to relax with me, even though I just torpedoed your relationship with your entire family. That's why I'm drinking, too. So...cheers." She held up her glass and smiled sardonically, taking another long gulp.

"Nina, stop. It wasn't your fault," Rachel sighed, setting her glass aside on the coffee table and scooting a little closer to the taller girl on the couch, giving her a long, hard stare. "I told you, if it was anyone's fault it was mine. I knew they'd freak, but I brought you anyway. If anything, you should be mad at me." Rachel stared down glumly into her wine glass, bracing herself for whatever anger her best friend wanted to throw her way after the horrible way she'd behaved tonight.

"Well I'm not mad at you," Nina shook her head.

"Really?" Rachel asked dubiously, one eyebrow going up in awkward disbelief.

"Of course not, Rach." Nina reached out and put a hand on Rachel's knee; and the Iranian girl felt a surge of something warm and fluttery vibrate through her entire body. It started at the point where Nina's hand rested against her leg, and bounced around her insides like live electricity, from the tips of her toes to the roots of her hair, and settling down insistently between her legs. She was so unprepared for the overpowering sensations, she reacted out of shock—not to mention, embarrassment—and jumped at least a foot in the air, scrambling back against the arm of the couch as she heard Nina's wine glass shatter on the floor.

"Jesus! What the hell, Rachel?" Nina yelped, jumping to her feet and glancing around the room on autopilot, as if searching for some non-existent threat that had made the younger girl jump out of her skin for no obvious reason. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah...fine...sorry," Rachel sighed, closing her eyes tight and rubbing the bridge of her nose, utterly mortified at what a spazz she was. Normally she had better control over her amplified senses; but as soon as she started to get turned on it all went right out the window. It was mortifying. And it was the reason she didn't date. She couldn't be this way around Nina, she just couldn't. Nina was the one person who made her feel like she wasn't a freak.

"Just...a little sensory overload, I guess. Sorry I freaked you out. Oh, dammit, and your wine...here, I'll clean it up." Rachel jumped to her feet and headed to the kitchen for some paper towels, feeling her face flush crimson.

"No, it's okay, I can..." Nina started to follow her towards the kitchen, but just then the doorbell buzzed, stopping them both in their tracks again. "Uh, right, pizza. I'll go get the door. You get to clean up the wine."

"Right," Rachel nodded gratefully, practically sprinting the rest of the way to the kitchen, where she stood over the sink splashing cold water on her face for several long moments. "Get it together, Rachel," she whispered angrily to herself, taking a few slow, deep breaths. "You're acting like a complete psycho. This is just a crush, and crushes go away. If you don't want to lose your best friend, you need to calm the fuck down and start acting normal." With a nod of resolve, Rachel grabbed the roll of paper towels and went back to the living room, mopping up the red wine and broken glass from the hardwood floor while Nina set out the pizza and turned on the TV. They nibbled on their pizza without talking, both pretending to watch the rerun of Saturday Night Live as they sat side-by-side on the couch, close but carefully not touching. Rachel gulped down another glass of wine.

"Feeling better, drunky drunkerson?" Nina finally asked, with a tentative smile as she watched her roommate finish off her second glass of wine.

"I am not drunk. I'm just relaxed," Rachel smiled back, nudging the taller girl lightly between her ribs. "Which is a good thing for you. I think you've tolerated all the spazzy-high-strung-Rachel I can reasonably inflict on you for one night. Don'tcha think?"

"I like spazzy-high-strung-Rachel," Nina shook her head with a shy grin, pouring out the last of the wine between their two glasses. "But I have to admit, I am also very curious to see what three-glasses-of-wine Rachel is like, too. I really just want you to feel comfortable, however that works for you. I know it's not something you've gotten a lot of in your life."

"Yeah," Rachel sighed in commiseration, leaning her head back against the couch cushions with a slightly woozy smile. It was hard to get comfortable, when the world was so much brighter and louder and rougher to her than it was to everyone else. And she'd spent so long trying to cover up her discomfort and her difference from everyone around her, it was near impossible to turn the impulse off now, and remind herself that she didn't have to do that anymore. Certainly, not here, in her cozy loft, with her roommate who understood exactly how it felt to be an alpha, and feel like a freak. "Well, I'm pretty comfortable right now."

"Good," Nina smiled, curling up against the couch cushions and reaching out to play absently with a lock of Rachel's shiny dark hair. "'Cause, for a little while tonight I was scared you were never gonna be able to feel comfortable around me again. I don't wanna lose you, Rach. You're my best friend." Rachel stared in silence for a moment, eyebrows raised at the wholly unexpected admission.

"You don't wanna lose me?" She actually laughed, a tipsy, incredulous laugh that loosened her tense muscles with an almost electric rush of energy through her body. "That's crazy, Nina. You...you can't lose me. Ever. Don't you know that? I'm the one who could lose you. That's why I should've just said no to tonight, in the first place. I should've known I couldn't handle it."

"What do you mean?" Nina frowned, raising an eyebrow.

"Seriously?" Rachel laughed out loud, a tipsy smile spreading across her face as she shook her head in disbelief.

"Rachel, what?" The taller girl huffed impatiently, annoyed at being so clueless as to what was making her roommate look at her with such an incredulous expression of disbelief.

"Oh...fuck it," Rachel muttered under her breath, just drunk enough to stop thinking about all the million reasons why this was a bad idea, and reach for her best friend's face with both hands. Nina didn't resist; she just sat there in silent shock as warm hands stroked her cheekbones and slipped into her hair. It felt so good, her eyes automatically fluttered shut, increasing her awareness of her other senses; and a moment later, she felt the smaller girl's warm breath on her face.

"Rach...are you sure you wanna..."

"Shut up," Rachel whispered. Then she climbed right into Nina's lap, and pressed their lips together for a soft, undemanding, but utterly heart-pounding kiss.

For a second, Nina's mind went blank with shock; then the delicious feeling of Rachel's soft skin wrapped around her, warm lips and sweet wine on her breath, overpowered rational thought, and she wrapped her arms tight around the younger girl, kissing her back hungrily. Rachel made a small, soft sound of pleasure in the back of her throat, and Nina held her tighter, slipping her hands under the shorter girl's pajama top and trailing her nails lightly across the small of her back. Rachel sobbed breathlessly into Nina's mouth, her small hands tightening almost painfully in the taller girl's long hair, kissing her harder, sucking her tongue, rubbing up against the length of her long, lean body like a cat.

It seemed like a lifetime of bliss; but really it was only about thirty seconds before Rachel wrenched her lips away, pressing her flushed face against Nina's cool throat as an alpha-powered, super-intense orgasm ripped through her body, making her rock her hips hard against Nina's with an animal moan of pleasure that lasted almost as long as their very brief, but very heated makeout session had. Nina just tried to hold on, keeping her arms locked around Rachel's shaking body to keep her from falling off the couch, babbling sweet words of love and reassurance as the synesthetic girl trembled helplessly in her arms.

"Wow," Nina sighed softly when Rachel finally went limp against her, panting shallowly against the taller girl's collarbone. "That was...intense." She grazed her fingertips lightly up and down the younger girl's trembling back, not wanting to do anything to overstimulate her heightened senses again so soon; but at the same time, needing to do something to show the other girl some tenderness and affection after the intimacy they'd just shared. It was a fine line to walk, but Nina wasn't too worried—they had the rest of their lives to figure out how their alpha abilities would work together, after all. She pressed a gentle kiss to the top of Rachel's dark head.

"I'm sorry," Rachel whispered when she got her breath back, scrambling awkwardly out of Nina's arms and falling off the couch in a heap, scooting backwards blindly until she bumped up against the back of the coffee table, and burying her head against her knees as she burst into tears.

"Rach, it's okay," Nina cooed softly, even as her stomach knotted up in agony at the sight of her best friend's tears and misery. Was it really that awful for her? It sure hadn't seemed that way about thirty seconds ago...but then why was she sobbing on the floor like this? Nina tentatively stood up and crossed to where the dark-skinned girl was curled up with her head hidden against her knees, crying uncontrollably and choking out unnecessary apologies between every breath.

"Rachel, honey, please don't cry...please, I'm so sorry, whatever I did. I'll never do it again, I swear. Did I hurt you? Please, baby, what is it?" Nina knelt down beside her best friend and tentatively put a hand on her shoulder, terrified to cause her pain in the middle of a sensory overload attack, but equally terrified to do nothing and watch the person she loved most in the world suffer needlessly.

"You d-didn't...*snfl*...n-not your fault," Rachel choked out, finally raising her head enough so that Nina could see the tears spilling from her dark eyes, the dull pink flush in her light bronze skin. But she was still crying too hard to speak in full sentences, so Nina just sat beside her and rubbed a thumb lightly over her trembling shoulder, cooing it's okay, shh, it's okay in a quiet, soothing voice until Rachel's breathing finally began to calm down, and her tears slowed to sniffles and hiccups.

"Here," Nina murmured, grabbing a box of tissues off the coffee table and passing them to the sniffling girl.

"Thadks," Rachel whispered miserably, snatching a tissue and gently dabbing at her wet eyes and nose. "I'm...*snfl*...I'm so sorry, Nina. I drank too much, I never should've...kissed you like that. I understand if you...if you want me to move out now." She stared down determinedly at her feet, unable to make eye contact as her insides writhed in hot, prickly shame. This was why she didn't drink; this was why she never got past a first date, ever. She couldn't let go and give into her feelings like everyone else could...not without embarrassing herself horribly.

"Rachel. I don't want you to move out," Nina said slowly and deliberately, reaching out and tucking a few locks of dark hair back behind the younger girl's ear, so she could at least see her friend's face. "And I'm certainly not mad at you...frankly, I still have no idea what you're trying to apologize for." She gently slipped two fingers under Rachel's chin, encouraging (but not forcing) her head up, so they could finally look each other in the eye. Two sets of dark eyes locked together, and Nina felt a pang of regret stabbing her right in the heart when she saw the shame and confusion in her best friend's teary eyes. They stared at each other in awkward silence for a moment.

"I mean...if you need to forget it ever happened...I can try to do that," Nina finally broke the silence, biting her lip to hold back the tears that sprung hot and unbidden, burning the back of her eyes. "But...but only if that's what you really want, okay? I never thought this could really happen, but now that it did, I'm not just gonna give up and walk away like it was nothing. It wasn't nothing, Rachel...at least, not for me."

"Are you kidding?" Rachel whispered, her dark eyes wide with disbelief as she shook her head incredulously. "You...want me? You could have anyone, Nina."

"If that was true, sweetie, I would've had you a long time ago," Nina joked weakly, a shy smile breaking across her face as she finally managed to break through Rachel's shell of misery, and make her laugh for a moment. "But I understand if it's too weird for you, if you want to move out. I never would've brought it up in a million years, but...well, Mr. Merlot kind of did that for us, huh?"

"You really want to be with me?" Rachel asked again, fresh tears streaming down her face even though she was smiling now. "This cannot be happening, I must be asleep...I'm dreaming, that's all...ow!" She squealed and jumped a foot in the air when Nina pinched her arm, a huge grin plastered to her face.

"You're not dreaming, you're just an idiot," the taller girl sighed, shaking her head. "I know you have a lot of hangups about dating with your super-senses...but that's just why you should really give dating alphas a try, anyway. Why should you be embarrassed about how easy it is for you to get off? How intense every sensation is for you? That's part of what makes you so amazing and special, Rach. I'd spend all day figuring out just the right way to make you feel good...if you'd let me."

"But...but you never..." Rachel shook her head in bewilderment, trying to wrap her brain around this new information that was obviously too much to take in all at once.

"I never came on to you, because I was afraid to freak you out," Nina supplied gently, tugging lightly on the end of a dark lock of Rachel's hair. "I figured there was no way...no way you felt the same, and I know how scary the whole idea of dating is for you, anyway. I just figured I'd rather have you as a friend than not have you at all."

"Then...then you're the idiot!" Rachel exclaimed indignantly, smacking the taller girl on the shoulder, a little harder than she meant to. "All this time, I felt so guilty for having a crush on you! I tried so hard to get rid of it, I made myself crazy trying not to have those feelings, and now you're telling me it was all for nothing?" She was crying openly again; slowly, so as not to overwhelm her delicate senses, Nina leaned in and brushed a few tears from her face.

"I'm sorry," the taller girl murmured earnestly. They stared at each other silently for a moment; then a sly, half-smile curled the corner of Rachel's lip, and she wrapped both arms around Nina's elegant neck.

"It's okay, dummy," she sighed, leaning in and pressing a soft, alpha-powered kiss to Nina's lips. And this time, there was no reason to be embarrassed.

…...

Coming next: epilogue! :)