Chapter Text
“Jinx!” Ekko hissed through the curtains, “You cool in there?”
Jinx slid the massive headphones from her head and glanced back at him.
Eclectic beats pulsed from the earpieces as she quirked a brow at her oldest friend.
“I was,” she grumbled “…until you messed up my groove.”
“Sorry,” he cringed slightly, “But you’re on in two!”
Jinx rolled her eyes, kipped to her feet, and took a deep breath.
“Ekko, is she…” she began, then trailed off, mumbling.
“-the blonde?” Ekko groaned at her, “Don’t know, didn’t see her, just focus on your gig, man!”
Jinx flickered her trademark grin, hiding a faint hollow of disappointment.
“Lemme at ‘em, champ.”
Valoran City, 1979.
“Tonight, dudes and dames,” Ekko beamed his charming smile into the mic, “Funky Joe’s welcomes you to boogie down – or rock out, your call! – to the tunes of our own homegrown genius! This fox can spin a disc as hot as she plucks at the strings – your soul ain’t ready for her explosive talent, baby! Our Maestro of Mischief, our Princess of Pandemonium, our very own… JINX!”
Light flooded Jinx’s face. Her heart quickened with adrenaline, just like it did every time.
“Time to get excited…” she whispered to herself.
The curtain came up, and she swung into action, wicked grin plastered on her face, bounding with a theatrical bow and a swish of her twin braids onto the stage.
She cut quite the sight, all ripped circus pants and sleeveless, torn white tee with a leering monkey design splattered on it, studded straps flapping in her wake, her hair a dyed, spiked, feathered, buzzed conservative parent’s nightmare trailing into impossibly snakelike braids at the back, electric blue blending to hot pink at all her tips….
“Heeellloooooo grooveheads!” she howled as she bounded to her instrumentation – all just as scrappy and scrawled with graffiti as the rest of her.
Zapper – her microphone – Pow-Pow – her guitar – and Fishbones, her custom-built turntable.
“Welcome one, welcome all!” she roared with the enthusiasm of a top-hatted ringmaster, “Hope you’re not afraid of a little experimental jam tonight, cuz tonight you’re in my lab – and on my slab! Brace your butts n’ bones, cats and dolls!”
Her gaze swept the front seats, a small pang of disappointment fluttering in her chest.
She swallowed it down. No time! Biting her lip, eyes flared wide, Jinx smacked her boot down on a foot pedal, her stage effects – housed in her grinning, mechanical Chompers – blooming with smoke and blazing with colored light.
It didn’t matter that Funky Joe’s – once a speakeasy, then a blues joint, then a disco – was creaking in its old bones. It didn’t matter that the disco ball still hanging from the ceiling was covered in dust, or that half the squares on the battered, loved-to-death dancefloor wouldn’t light up anymore.
This place was hers.
Jinx’s tunes belted wildly about the space – veering between moods, genres, and eras – jagged punk riffs on Pow-Pow one moment – flashes of wickedly witty and sometimes just plain shocking lyrics hissed through Zapper with winking glee the next – and the scratch and beat and bass pulsing out eclectic mixes of jazzy vintage showtunes with sharp modern funk and the occasional circus music from Fishbones all the while…
The only thing her mishmash of genres and styles had in common was energy.
The venue’s walls shook with her sound, and Jinx’s veins sang with it. Music – music was everything – it didn’t matter how many times she got on this same stage under these same lights.
This was where Jinx felt really alive.
Shame she couldn’t… quite seem to get that feeling across to others.
Not anymore.
The dance floor was nearly empty. The sparse crowd hung back in their seats. A few faces stared up at Jinx with a mixture of amusement, confusion, and sometimes horror.
Not again…
Jinx’s manic energy wavered. Concealing a growl behind her wild grin, she pulled her eyes away from the audience and closed them, losing herself in the pulse of the beat.
I’ll just work harder…I’ll show them.
I’ll show them all…
She wasn’t far into her set when she felt something else; it was probably just her imagination, but she almost felt like the stage lights were suddenly brighter, warmer…
Jinx peeked up amid one of her disc-flips on Fishbones and risked a glance to the crowd…
Her heart jumped as shining blue eyes, alive with playful mischief, brushed hers. Right there, almost spotlit in the middle of Joe’s dance floor, there she was.
Flowing blonde hair, bound back only by a wide white hairband, gleamed like liquid gold under the lights. Five-five, maybe five-six, in those tall go-go boots that never skipped a beat. The tiny sky-blue mini dress swished with every flick of her curvy hips. Long, toned legs darted and thrust with joyful abandon and effortless grace.
And there, just as Jinx expected, printed on the front of her dress, was a colorful, stylized ringed planet, as charmingly ‘retro’ as the rest of her.
Hey there, Space Girl, Jinx sang in her mind, adrenaline shooting instantly through her limbs, revitalizing the energy of her performance.
It didn’t matter anymore. It wouldn’t matter if not a single other soul was out of their seat. It wouldn’t matter to Jinx if there was no-one else here at all.
She was there, and that meant Jinx was going to give it her all.
“…huh,” Ekko mumbled around a mouthful of pizza.
“What’s huh?” Jinx gave him a sidelong glance as they huddled together at the bar after closing time.
“Just didn’t think that was your type,” he shrugged, “I mean, go-go boots and a mod dress? Girl dresses like she just stepped out of a fashion magazine from fifteen years ago…”
“Heh,” Jinx prodded at him, “Well you used to think you were my type, so it ain’t like you’re a real great judge on that topic.”
“Ow, look, that was uncalled for,” Ekko rolled his eyes and jostled her, “I’m just saying…”
Maybe it was. But nope, she was never not gonna needle her best friend about his ill-advised childhood crush. Even if it was still a little bit of a sore topic.
Dunno why I do this to him, she mused, a rare moment of introspection, Guess it’s just another way I push him away…
She eyed his profile, the familiar lines of his cheeks and brows, memorizing them while she had him right here.
…cuz I know he’s gonna go anyway.
“She’s been coming in every gig for the last four months, man, c’mon! Workin’ it on the floor like this joint was still a disco,” Jinx chuckled, “But she only comes in for my gigs. That’s gotta mean somethin’, Ekko.”
“Yeah, it means she’s got a few screws loose!” he pointed out, “Has she met you? She’s a stone fox, sure, but she’s like…Disco Barbarella, and you’re punk…experimental…industrial…um, you’re Jinx!”
“She digs me,” Jinx sniffed, “Why should I harsh on her threads? Maybe she’s doing it ironically…”
“Yeah, point stands, though. Has she met you?”
Jinx drooped, strings of cheese sagging from the slice paused halfway to her mouth.
“No,” she murmured.
Not for lack of trying on her part. But every time she dashed offstage, swapped out her sweaty clothes and bounded back into the club – every time she hung around the bar trying to look cool and make herself approachable – Space Girl was nowhere to be found.
Just vanished. Like she was a freaking ghost…
“…you…” Jinx swallowed, “Don’t think she’s a ghost, do you?”
Ekko blinked at her.
“Um, looks pretty solid to me,” he said, “Look, Jinx, if she’s not hanging around to chat, maybe she’s just here for the music, y’know?”
“I don’t believe that.”
“I’m just saying,” he sighed, resting a hand on her shoulder, “You’re putting a lot on this girl. I get it. It’s fun to imagine. But you don’t know anything about her. She might have a boyfriend. She might be married with ten kids-”
“Ugh, stop,” Jinx made a sour face, “You’re bummin’ me out, dude!”
“Or. She might be in some crazy hippie cult, or – um – a serial killer!” Ekko waved his hands, “You just don’t know if…”
But Jinx’s eyes had lit up, somehow excited.
“…why,” Ekko’s face fell, “Why does that not bother you and boyfriend does…”
“Gee, y’wanna think about that one a bit, boy genius?”
“Fine, I know, but I’m just saying…” he hesitated, fidgeting a little, “What if she’s just…not into girls?”
Jinx shook her head, “Yeah, well, maybe I don’t care! Maybe she just seems interested in me and I just want a friend! Maybe I just don’t wanna be alone here when you skinney outa here, have you thought about that, Mister College?”
“Hey, don’t flip your lid,” Ekko raised his hands, “What’s gotten into you? You were chill with me goin’ when I told you…”
Jinx fell silent.
“Oh,” he said, with a frown, “Oh, damn. Look, Jinx, it’s not like we planned it–”
“Yeah, you and my sister peacin’ outa here at the same time?” Jinx shook her head, “Vi, movin’ in with the Fuzz-”
“Caitlyn,” Ekko gave a deadpan mumble, “Her name’s Caitlyn…”
“Yeah, Miss Piggy, whatever, and you skittyin’ off to Squaretown to learn, what, how to be some big shot science whiz?”
“You could come with me,” Ekko offered, big earnest eyes, for the hundredth time, “It’s not too late to apply, look, you’re a goddamn genius, it’s cuckoo to stay here, you could do anything with yourself…you just haven’t found your guiding star…”
“Sorry,” Jinx growled, “Getting my brain scrambled and workin’ for The Man ain’t my jam. I just wanna keep makin’ noise, man! Why can’t you get with that?”
She snatched up a couple of slices of pizza, which Ekko didn’t have the heart to accuse her of bogarting, and shrugged on her spiky, badge-festooned jacket.
“This got too heavy,” she said, “I’m’a split.”
“Jinx, c’mon-”
But she was already gone.
Jinx felt the weight of tension in her shoulders like coiled up wire. Damn, why did Ekko have to be such a bummer? It’s not like she’d ever fit in at that fancy college. She was a mess, man, her brain was all over the shop, she rubbed everybody wrong…
She only felt like she was anything when she was performing or painting her graffiti…used to be what gave him joy, too…why couldn’t he figure that out?
It was the only time Jinx felt funky, punky and cool, and not like a bad omen.
Out on the steps, Jinx stopped and sighed.
There, by the door, her eyes fell on the faded promo poster, still stuck there, half-plastered over by other, fresher ones.
Vi on the drums, Vander on lead guitar, Ekko on bass, and little Powder on keys…just dumb kids, back then, not so long ago. Smiling at each other, grooving together, like it was always gonna be like that…
Like it was gonna last.
Jinx sighed and pulled her eyes away.
The last few of the customers were loitering outside in the car park; but they didn’t even look at her. She used to be met with cheers, accolades, flirtatious passes, people asking for her autograph, but recently…more and more…nobody seemed to care.
They didn’t dance or cheer at her gigs. They showed up and just stared at things, almost like they were angry at her. Then, they just shuffled away, all grey and hollowed out…
What the hell was wrong with this town?
“Harsh vibes, man,” said a low, mellow voice near her. She turned to find old Sam smoking on the corner of the steps, his eyes on the nearly silent car park, “Don’t let it get you down. Just harsh vibes.”
The old man, a blues guitarist who’d been with the club for decades, shook his head. Jinx gave a little twitch of a smile and slung herself down next to him.
“Ah, you’re too nice to a bratty lil’ punkass like me, Sam,” said Jinx, “Your music’s got the real soul…me,” she shook her head, “I just do whatever is in my head…and my head’s a real freaky place. No wonder nobody likes it.”
“Don’t you worry that head, kid,” said Sam, “Place ain’t what it used to be, and that ain’t your fault. Harsh vibes all round, these days. What you do…it’s real music too. It’s a fresh sound, and it’s yours. You’re just ahead of the curve, kid. Don’t let nobody tell you otherwise, you hear?”
Jinx drooped, playing with her long braids.
“Yeah, I guess, man, I guess…”
Sam gave a sad, leathery smile and pulled out his guitar, strumming a few chords, mellow at first, then rich and vibrant, alive with feeling.
Jinx stopped fidgeting, falling into the sound.
“Music’s not just skill, or talent, or vibe, little cat…” he rumbled as his fingers spilled their gold from the strings, “It comes from you. Whoever you are, wherever you came from, good music’s about that story, your story…”
He squinted at Jinx over the guitar.
“Don’t let anybody harsh your groove.”
Headlights slid across them as a familiar car pulled up.
“Ah,” said Sam, finishing the last chord and packing up his instrument, “There’s my old lady. Got a fine supper and a finer woman waitin’ for me. You gonna be all right from here?”
“Yeah, Sam, thanks,” said Jinx, “Good talk, man. Gimme some skin?”
The old man smiled and slapped her palm, bumped their knuckles, and fumbled creakily to his feet.
Jinx watched him go and blew out a sigh.
With Vi moved away, Ekko off to college, and Mylo and Claggor barely visiting from their jobs in town, it was just her and her dads running the old club now. And since Silco got his promotion, things hadn’t been so copacetic there, either…
Jinx stood up, skin prickling at the cold, and slung Pow-Pow’s case closer to her body, fumbling with the cardboard takeout box full of rapidly cooling pizza…
Sam was right. It wasn’t the same.
Maybe it never would be again.
Her place was only a couple of blocks from the club.
This part of town, poor part of town, but it was rapidly gentrifying, big corpos buying it up and knocking it down to turn into apartments, offices and malls.
Jinx walked, stumbling toward the familiar street corner, two turns and a straight walk to home-
“He’s right, you know,” said a voice.
Jinx’s back stiffened.
The night was chilly, but that voice trickled down her spine like she’d just gotten in a shower and turned on the warm tap.
Nah, that’s not…it’s not gonna be…
Jinx turned and her jaw dropped.
Space Girl leaned against the big slippery slide of the little old park on the corner, hands thrust into a silvery looking jacket over her mod dress, with a coy, knowing smile on her peach pink lips, and bright eyes studying Jinx up and down.
Jinx just stared at her. She was so vibrant, even in the dim streetlighting, she seemed to splash color and warmth into her surroundings.
“You’ve got the real groove, baby,” Space Girl said, smile twinkling as she pushed off her lazy lean and strolled closer, something of her dancing rhythm even in her most casual steps, “Take it from me, your gigs are a gas!”
“I-um-ah-groovy?-uh-thanks-” Jinx bumbled her way through something resembling a sentence.
“No sweat!” said Space Girl.
“I, mean, um,” Jinx breathed out, “Thanks for comin’ to all my gigs. Guess I figured you uh – must like my music – see you a lot, dancin’ right up front. Do you…really mean you like it? Even if it’s definitely not, uh, disco?”
The blonde gave that mysterious smirk again as she bounced a bit closer.
“I mean it! Takes all kinds of jams to make the universe go ‘round. Wouldn’t be here if I didn’t dig your vibes. Lot of stars in the sky out there, but there’s something about you…”
She was close, closer, enough that Jinx could see a little glitter on her cheeks, the gleam of her glossy lips, the soft curls of her hair.
“Hmmm…keeps me coming back for more,” she winked, “So don’t let anyone get you uptight, dreamboat. Your talent, your music? Outta this world.”
Jinx was flushed to her ears, but something about it just didn’t quite sit right.
“Uh, holy mackerel. You’re blowin’ me away here, Space Girl,” Jinx laughed, sounding completely unhinged to her own ears, cringing inside.
But Space Girl just smiled even brighter, and maybe a little softer. She tipped her head to one shoulder and studied Jinx from head to toe.
“Thanks, I mean,” Jinx coughed, “I mean thanks.”
It’s her. It’s finally her. But why…
“…gotta ask, though, since you’re talking to me,” Jinx licked her dry lips, “Why tonight?”
The blonde girl shrugged, slipped closer, and settled into a stroll next to Jinx.
“I mean, not that I’m complaining,” Jinx fell into step with her, not even quite sure where they were going.
The gravel crunched beneath her go-go boots and Jinx’s battered sneakers. Jinx kept looking at the ground, waiting for some kind of answer, until movement pulled her eyes back up to her companion.
Space Girl flipped her hair over one shoulder and squinted a brilliant blue at her.
“Hmmm, that is a question, isn’t it?”
Jinx caught a whiff of her hair’s scent on the cold night breeze – she’d had vague half-stoned dreams of burying her face in that hair and breathing in butter and popcorn – but actual Space Girl smelled even better, buttercups and daffodils and every other fresh yellow flowery thing Jinx might catch on a clean breeze.
Jinx’s heartrate ticked up like she was scratching a vinyl out on Fishbones.
“Fine, mystery girl,” Jinx grinned at her, “You come into my club, night after night, gig after gig, dance right up the front making sure I can see you gettin’ down with the beat…and then you just peace out, every time, before I can talk to you. Believe me, I’ve tried!”
Space Girl giggled, a bright tinkling laugh that was just a little off key, just a little flawed and weird, in a way that made Jinx’s tummy tickle good.
“So I do!” said Space Girl, “Guess that’s me.”
“So you do,” said Jinx, squinting at her, “So what gives, Space Girl?”
“Oh?” A blonde brow quirked, “…Space Girl, huh?”
Jinx fumbled with her tongue a little and pointed at the print on her dress.
“First night you came in it was a turtleneck with a rocket ship…” she mumbled, almost sounding like an excuse, flushing more and more as she realized how much she was revealing about how much she remembered of each of Space Girl’s outfits, “…then you wore those big earrings with moons on them…”
“Jeepers,” said the object of her attentions, with a sunny grin, “I’m a bit predictable, aren’t I?”
“You didn’t answer my question!” Jinx scowled, “What’s the scoop, Miss Mysterious?”
The blonde kept walking a little further, her long legs and bouncy strut forcing Jinx to scramble to keep up with her, lugging Pow-Pow on her shoulder.
Space Girl’s beaming smile twitched a little, and Jinx wondered if she’d said something wrong.
Oh no, no no, I’ve ticked her off…I’ve wrecked it, no, no…damnit!
But the blonde’s gaze up into the starry sky above them was more contemplative and sad than anything else, and Jinx couldn’t figure out why.
“It’s been a blast, Groovy Gal,” she said, “Guess I just wanted to finally meet you. Just in case it all doesn’t jive and I have to bail.”
She drew that sly little smile back to Jinx. A real butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-her-mouth kinda smile, but the twinkle in her eyes was pure mischief.
“Maybe,” she whispered, leaning a little closer to Jinx, until Jinx could feel warm from the brush of her fingers along her arm, “I just wanted to get a good look at you up close. Figure out if you are who I think you might be…just…feel your vibes. Dig it?”
“Diggin’,” Jinx swallowed, “Diggin’ yours too, Space Girl.”
Pink lips parted, blue eyes crinkled, and peach cheeks dimpled.
Her smile was luminous.
“…you’re just going to keep calling me that, aren’t you?”
“Seems like you’re gonna let me,” Jinx murmured, mesmerized by her eyes.
“Hmm, I might. It’s cute. I like it.”
“But you do have a name.”
“Maybe I do,” Space girl tapped a fingertip to her lips, “Should I make you work for it?”
She winked and slipped away, humming as she tapped her boots down the street, toward Jinx’s place, as if she already knew where she was going.
Jinx fought with her own tongue.
“…Jinx!”
Space Girl paused and looked back over her shoulder.
“That’s my name,” Jinx said, “I mean you knew that, it’s on the flyers, and they announce it before my show. But … you weren’t usin’ it so, thought maybe you were waiting for me to…tell you…or something…god, I sound stupid…see, I’m jinxed, living up to it…”
Space Girl stared at her for a moment, then burst into wheezy giggles and spun in a circle, hands in the pockets of her jacket.
“Lux!” she sang back.
Jinx stared.
“My name,” said the bright girl, “It’s Lux. But you can keep calling me Space Girl if that’s your jam.”
Jinx’s smile spread, ear to ear. She’d been told she smiled like a maniac, but right now, she had no way to stop it. The girl was infectious.
“Lux,” she said, tasting it, “Lucky, Luxie-Lux.”
Lux. Course a girl who lit up every room like a disco ball would have a name like “Lux”!
Jinx laughed, a firework pop of joy.
“…It’s perfect, Space Girl,” Jinx spun around, spreading her arms, shouting it at the sky, “Lux!”
“No, Earth Girl…” her companion pondered, pursing her pretty lips and wiggling her brows, “Lux and Jinx. Now, that’s perfect, baby.”
Jinx’s heart went thunka and then dunka.
Jinx took coltish steps toward Lux, awkwardly gripping the pizza under her arm.
“Who are you?”
Lux’s smile dialed down a little, from blazing to just radiant. She had that wistful look again.
“Just a girl,” she said, “Who doesn’t have a place to be tonight.”
She raised a hand and reached slim fingertips to brush along Jinx’s jaw; Jinx shivered at the touch, staring at her fingers like a startled cat.
But she didn’t shrink away.
“How about you?” Lux asked her.
“M’going home,” Jinx mumbled, resisting the urge to lean into the warm of the stranger’s fingers, “My pad’s near here…”
Lux’s eyes fell into hers, as if she was reading her, spinning her soul like a vinyl and soaking in its tune.
“Got space for a Space Girl on your launchpad, Jinx?” came her satiny voice, from a curl of cupid’s bow lips.
Jinx swallowed.
“…Are you asking to hang with me?”
“Yes.”
“…all night?”
Lux’s lips twitched. She hadn’t blinked. The fingers of her other hand toyed with Jinx’s own.
Fidgeted, a little. It was the only thing about Lux that wasn’t projecting unstoppable confidence.
“All night,” said Lux.
“Do you,” Jinx licked her lips, “Want some pizza?”
Lux giggled, took the box out of Jinx’s hands, and slid the guitar case off her shoulder. Gently, she lay both aside at the base of the street lamp, while Jinx watched her in bewilderment.
“Later,” Lux said, taking both of Jinx’s hands in her own, “Right now, I want to dance with you.’
Jinx stared at her, “Here?”
“Mhm.”
“But we don’t have music…”
“Baby,” Lux laughed at her, that bubbly, raucous laugh, “Don’t you look at me with those big eyes and tell me that there’s no music.”
She started to hum, tugging Jinx closer, her hips swaying and her legs darting into a rhythm on the sidewalk.
“Music’s in you, cat,” said Lux, “Just like it’s in me. Even when it’s quiet, we’re still shining bright!”
Jinx’s heart swelled up in her chest, watching Lux’s moves, the sinuous curve and energetic bob of her body as she started dancing, right there and then in the street.
She’s crazy…! …but I’m crazy too.
A wicked grin flashed across Jinx’s lips.
“You’re on, Starshine.”
Jinx let her eyes wander down and up, bit her lip, and strutted ahead to meet her in the streetlights, head bobbing to the rhythm of Lux’s moves.
Then she stepped a leg out, the straps on her tatty pants snapping, falling into step with the bright girl.
Jinx swore she could hear it in her head – swore she could feel the pulse of the beat in the cold night air – felt she could see the glitter of the disco ball in the corners of her eyes …
And I used to hate disco…
But there was only the silent night, the dark streets, the dim streetlamp, and the stars. And Jinx’s eyes were too busy looking at Lux.
The flutter of her doll-like lashes, the swish of her little mod dress, the flick of her golden hair. The smile on her sweet strawberry lips, parted just a little to flash white teeth as she breathed with the dance.
And the summer-sky eyes that never left Jinx’s own.
The cracked old pavement rang with their steps. Back and forth, twist and swish, switching between styles and modes, sometimes clumsy, sometimes slick, but always in answer to the music only Jinx and Lux could hear.
Sometimes she was thrashing to a punk rock anthem raging in her head, and Lux would laugh and scrunch her nose in the cutest little ‘angry’ face and thrash with her. Sometimes, Lux would jam out her best disco moves and Jinx, against all odds, would snap in time to match her.
And the more they danced, the more something started to align. The more Jinx fell into that smile.
The more everything felt right.
Their steps slowed, just under the pale glow of the lone streetlamp, the shadow of her guitar case spreading over her feet. Lux was suddenly right there, in her face, laughing with her, and her fingers were toying with the ends of Jinx’s long, dyed-blue braids.
Her skin blazed, warm and flushed with exertion, the heat rolling off her, this close. Jinx breathed her, that sunny scent again, a little spice of sweat in there from the dancing, but even that managed to smell fresh and bright, like cut grass under summer sunlight…
Lux’s eyes were huge, filling Jinx’s field of vision.
“Hey, Lux, I…”
Lux looked up at the sky, and suddenly reached out to catch Jinx’s hand in her own. Warm, warm fingers tugged her closer, shoulder to shoulder, that fragrant hair spilling over Jinx’s arm.
“Look,” Lux beamed, pointing at the heavens spread above them.
A trail of shooting stars sliced across the darkness.
“Make a wish, Jinx!”
Jinx stared up at them, fighting with her tongue, but she couldn’t keep her eyes on the sky. Not with the sky-lit pools of Lux’s eyes reflecting starlight, right beside her.
“Can’t,” Jinx breathed, “Mine already came true…”
Lux’s eyes lowered to Jinx’s mouth and her lashes fluttered.
Jinx trailed off, stunned. Lux licked her lips and bubbled that little laugh again, only softer, sweeter, a little hesitant.
“You gonna kiss me, Earth Girl?” she whispered.
Jinx opened her mouth to say something stupid but found herself tipping forward instead.
Lux gave a little murmured gasp and tilted her chin up. Then there was a warm rush of her breath into Jinx’s open mouth and a press of cool strawberry flesh, and Jinx fell into paradise.
“Mm…” Lux hummed into the warm wet space suddenly blooming between their joined mouths. Lux’s lips parted into the kiss, her body leaned into Jinx, pressing into her jacket and the thin shirt under it. Her hands were on Jinx’s shoulders, first, then her collar, then Lux flung her arms around Jinx’s neck and cupped the back of her head to pull her in.
Jinx’s brain blanked out. Everything was warm, up and down her whole body, a lightness spreading as if she were being lifted off her feet and floating into the air. Jinx’s eyes had closed, all of her senses lost in the girl in her arms.
She moaned into Lux’s mouth, buried herself in the kiss and nuzzled her like a cat. She was so soft – she tasted so good, honey-sweet and warm and perfect – Jinx couldn’t even dream of stopping.
I’m kissing her…I’m kissing Space Girl…
If it was a dream, just a stupid romantic dream, Jinx didn’t want to wake up.
Lux’s twining, teasing tongue finally slid away from hers, and Jinx felt – nah, she must have imagined – her battered old shoes touching down to the street again. Lux’s long lashes rose over those beautiful blue eyes.
“Wow,” she breathed.
She smiled, giggled breathlessly, and kissed Jinx again, softer, her face moving in tender little circles to tease every part of Jinx’s mouth. The first kiss had been wild, passionate, a little clumsy, but the tenderness of this one didn’t just hit Jinx somewhere warm below her belly…
It lit up somewhere warm, high up in her heart.
Lux reluctantly released Jinx’s lips with a soft pop and a shivering breath.
“…hey,” Lux purred into her parted lips, “How far is your place, again?”
Jinx’s voice came low and husky, surprising herself that she could talk at all.
“…oh, Space Girl, wow, movin’ at light speed, huh…”
Lux giggled again, and her brows crinkled ever so slightly. She bunched her fingers in Jinx’s jacket and pulled in close to her, burrowing into her warmth as if she didn’t want to let go…
As though, if she did, Jinx would float away from her forever.
“I haven’t been back in town in a long time,” Lux sighed, “And I don’t know how long I can stay...”
A bittersweet stab went through Jinx’s chest.
Not…not her too!?
Lux shook her head, rubbing her face into Jinx’s shoulder, breathing the scent of her sweat and leather.
“I wanna take a chance,” Lux murmured, turning her face so she wouldn’t be muffled, her eyes huge and glistening in the dark, “On you. On this. We might not get another one. Dig it…?”
“You don’t know anything about me,” Jinx found herself protesting, “I-I could be in a cult, I could be a serial killer-”
“Was always more of a toast and marmalade girl myself,” Lux quipped, nuzzling her, “But if you’re in a cult, where do I sign up?”
“You’re one crazy cat, Space Girl.”
“You’re outta sight, Earth Girl,” Lux purred at her, “Take me home?”
Jinx tried to speak, but all that came out was a soft, incredulous laugh.
She took Lux by the hand.
Jinx discovered that it was actually possible to fall up a flight of stairs.
They were trying to be quiet, trying, but it was a little hard to coordinate when your lips were locked to the blonde angel in the little blue dress, when her hands were sliding under your jangling punk jacket, peeling it from your bare shoulders, when she pushed and burrowed so hard into your thrashing tongue that you smacked into the stairwell wall and, somewhere along the line, one of her go-go boots got kicked off and tumbled down the stairs…
And there was all the giggling to contend with, in between the breathy moans and sucking, hungry kisses, and then –
The door to her dads’ room clicked.
Jinx froze, clapping one hand over Lux’s mouth.
The floorboards creaked.
She saw Vander’s hulking form move to the bottom of the stairwell, peering down at Jinx’s discarded jacket, crumpled at the bottom of the steps…
Alongside the white go-go boot.
Jinx’s heart thundered, Lux’s eyes were wide…
Vander didn’t look up the stairs, but both heard his little intake of surprise – then his hearty, rumbling laughter.
“Finally,” he muttered under his breath.
He picked up the jacket, shook his head, and hung it neatly on the hook behind the door, then propped the boot up on the shoe rack underneath it, next to where they'd left Pow-Pow.
His door clicked.
Lux glanced at Jinx, Jinx back at Lux, and both giggled.
Lux swatted Jinx’s hand away from her mouth, slung her arms around Jinx’s neck, and kissed her again.
They tumbled into Jinx’s mess of a room, and the thought that she should be mortified to bring this goddess into her pigsty flickered only briefly before she was pressed against the wall, in between all her band posters, propped up on the desk…
Lux broke from her lips, breathlessly smiling into her face, her cheeks blazing.
“Jinx…” she whispered, “You cool…with this? W-with me?”
Jinx stared at her for a moment. You’re asking now??
But Lux was fidgeting again. Under all her sunny swagger, was she…nervous, too?
“Luxie,” she murmured back, with a shake of her wild, feathered bangs, “This…this doesn’t happen to me…you’re a dream come true…keep waitin’ for it all to go wrong…”
A little flicker of sadness crossed Lux’s eyes. They softened, and she cupped Jinx’s cheek again, shaking her own head.
“It won’t, baby. Tonight’s yours and mine. Stars are smiling just for us.”
“Kiss me again,” Jinx smiled at her, “Before it does?”
Lux laughed, her eyes lighting up, and ducked her head, sighing into Jinx’s opening lips.
She took Jinx’s mouth, again and again, with sweet blossoming kisses and the eager, clumsy, tender dance of her tongue.
Jinx sank into her, fingers buried in shiny golden hair and all the soft curves of her body, folded into Jinx’s thin angles. Her tongue teased Lux’s clean, even teeth. She probed the honeyed depths of her mouth. She drank in the other girl’s taste, her breath, her warmth…
Jinx was crawling on her belly in the desert, and Lux was a fresh spring stream. Jinx was huddled in a blizzard, and Lux was a warm, warm fire. Jinx was drowning, and Lux was air.
When she pulled away again, suddenly, Jinx nearly fell over chasing her, her lips feeling cold and incomplete without Lux’s connected to them.
Lux looked at her with a wide-eyed, hesitant look.
Fear and confusion thrilled through Jinx, that she was about to stop, that she’d done something wrong.
But Lux’s eyes and lips glistened with want in the dim light of Jinx’s room.
She impulsively reached down, and, with trembling fingers, pulled her dress up over her head, away from fields of smooth, healthy skin, soft as moonlight…
“Oh,” said Jinx.
Her eyes became saucers. Her cheeks burst into flames at the vision before her.
“Take me to the moon, groovy girl?” Lux whispered.
Jinx sucked in her breath. Fumbling, she pulled her shirt over her own head.
Shyly, Lux leaned in, and brushed her silky lips over Jinx’s throat, collarbone, shoulder…
The moon turned out to be only second base.
They made it well past Saturn.