Chapter Text
Isabella
"One night I was bored in bed and stalked you on the internet / It's feminine intuition 'cause I always had a vision of us standing like this"
⛧°. ⋆༺☾𖤓༻⋆. °⛧
Rain fell on the window as Isabella laid in bed, scrolling mindlessly on her phone. Same old TikTok, boring as ever. It was a random Monday, with summer's end approaching way faster than she cared to admit. She had fallen into a routine of rotting in bed, working, and sleeping all summer, which she wasn't exactly proud of, but it was what every teenage girl did these days. At least she wasn't out doing drugs.
Something was different about this summer. This was the summer that she had become confident in her sexuality. For years, she had repressed it, convinced herself that if she did not think too deeply about it, surely it would go away. This was what years of Catholic school upbringing had done to her. Scars on her body which she could not erase. While not physical scars, they were mental, and they would stay with her for a lifetime.
She had outgrown that way of thinking and truly grown into herself. For the first time in years, she felt safe with the fact that she liked women. Sure, she also likes men, but she felt confident with the label of bisexual. She had spent so long trying to put herself in a box and either be one or the other, until she realized she was content with both. It was truly, authentically her.
Still, she found herself yearning for someone to love. She was a hopeless romantic of course, growing up with her favorite movie being The Notebook. She had a high expectation of love, something she wasn’t sure could ever be fulfilled. It seemed like love was something so hard for her to achieve, especially considering her circumstances.
She longed for things to be different, knowing they never could be. That was the thing about Isabella. Against all impossible odds, she dared to hope. It was what some would call her tragic flaw.
She knew she wouldn’t be able to bring a girl home ever. Her parents would never allow it. They were deeply Catholic, and the religion forbade all types of same-sex relationships.
Yet, she hoped. She had so much love to give, and she liked to believe she was worthy of receiving that same love back, despite her circumstances. She knew she could love someone so well if they just let her.
⛧°. ⋆༺☾𖤓༻⋆. °⛧
Isabella continued her scrolling on TikTok. She was the type of girl who would like a video and scroll past it without even truly watching it. She has the attention span of a goldfish, and blamed TikTok for it. She continued to scroll, every video failing to capture her attention.
Until all of a sudden, she stopped. Her attention had been captured.
A girl’s face lit up the screen. She had gorgeous brown curls adorning her face in layers. The most beautiful bright blue eyes Isabella had ever seen radiating across the screen, with long lashes framing her eyes naturally. Freckles scattered all over her face and a smile so perfect it brought Isabella to a full stop.
She had truly never seen someone so beautiful.
She sat there for God knows how long, replaying the video as if it was going to disappear and this was her last chance to rest her eyes on someone so perfect. She did not know what she had done to the TikTok algorithm Gods to be deserving of receiving this absolute angel on her feed, but, God, was she grateful.
So, she did what the regular, totally normal teenage girl would do.
She stalked her.
But just in a normal way. She swiped onto her profile and watched the rest of her videos, mesmerized by her beauty. She was also extremely captivated by how similar they were.
They had similar personalities, music tastes, interests, all of it. Practically carbon copies of each other. However, there was something that captivated Isabella’s eye the most.
She liked girls.
This sent Isabella into a full frenzy.
She read her TikTok bio. It had her state where she lived and age.
Isabella threw her phone across the room when she saw that they were both the same as hers.
There was no way this was real. She had a shot at this. This could actually be something. However, the state in which they both live spans thousands of miles, and they could be multiple hours away from each other.
So, she enlisted the help of her best friend, Maddie. She FaceTimed her upright in bed with the biggest smile on her face.
“Guess whaaaaaaattt" said Isabella, not being able to contain her excitement.
“Oh God, what happened?" replied Maddie, knowing she was in deep.
“I may or may not have just found the cutest girl on TikTok who lives in the same state as us, is the same age as us, and has all the same interests as me!”
“No fucking way. How do you even do this?”
“What can I say? The TikTok algorithm felt like playing Cupid today. Now what should I do?” The desperation is clear in Isabella’s voice.
“Well, I think the first reasonable step would be to follow her, see where it goes from there. Maybe leave a comment on one of her videos too.”
“Easier said than done!”
“You’ll never know what happens unless you try! She could be your soulmate unless you let her slip away!”
“Maddie, slow down a bit! I don’t even know if she has a girlfriend! Look at her, she most definitely does.”
“Just try. What’s the worst that could happen?”
Isabella sighs and accepts her advice. She hangs up the phone and lingers on this girl’s TikTok profile. Isabella reads her name displaying at the top of the profile.
Kara.
Kara. Kara. Kara. Isabella smiled. Was it normal to feel this way for someone she didn’t even know? It seemed irrational, but somehow so right. It felt like the stars had conspired for them to meet at this very moment.
She remembered her best friend’s advice, and saw the big red FOLLOW button lingering on her profile. Her finger hovered it, terrified for what might occur next. Anything could happen.
She was not about to chicken out now, so slowly but surely, her finger pressed down on the button, it changed to FOLLOWING. She then threw her phone across the room.
⛧°. ⋆༺☾𖤓༻⋆. °⛧
Isabella had no idea how much time had passed; she was terrified to even glance at her phone again. She filled her night with meaningless tasks, until she realized her fate was unavoidable.
She had to check her phone again.
She crept over to where it was laying on the floor, face down. She did not want to get her hopes up, so she set herself up for disappointment.
She told herself on the count of 3 she would flip it over. If there was no new notifications, that was okay. She could easily move on with her life.
Slowly but surely, she counted to 3.
1.
2.
3.
She flipped her phone over quickly, wanting to rip off the disappointment like a band-aid. Her jaw dropped.
TIKTOK - 5 MINUTES AGO
ONE FOLLOW REQUEST FROM KARA
It felt like Isabella’s room was spinning around her. She felt like her eyes were deceiving her. Surely enough, she clicked on the notification, and there was the follow request in the app.
This left Isabella feeling with a certain kind of boldness. She did some investigative work, (for her own good and safety!) and found out that Kara actually lived in the city bordering hers, which was about 45 minutes north of where Isabella lived. Sure, there was some distance, but Isabella dedicated to making it work. After all, this was an insane coincidence, and she was determined to do something with the luck that the universe had put into Isabella’s hands.
Her newfound confidence inspired her to do something she had never done before. With anyone.
Isabella was usually a very quiet and reserved person, having her consistent group of friends for basically all her life. She truly did not branch out often, and while she knew she should, she was content with her life. Everything was good. School. Friends. Family. All of it was perfect, exactly how she liked it. She was her family’s Golden Girl, living up to every expectation placed so delicately upon her shoulders. As a first generation American, she was determined to make her part of her parents' journey worth it. So, she worked hard, and pushed herself to the brink.
Sometimes, you have no idea what one minor action will do to you and the reputation you’ve built until it's far too late. That was what happened in Isabella’s case, but she doesn’t know it yet.
Isabella’s finger hovered over the MESSAGE button, and she finally had the urge to click on it.
Her fingers trembled as they typed out a message.
hi! ur video came up on my fyp and i think we would get along super well!! we have a lot of things in common! & ur really pretty :)<3
Isabella sighed as she realized how corny and desperate this sounded. She sent it before she had time to even think about regretting it, and flipped her phone immediately upside down. She paced around her house not daring to look at her phone, letting the hours pass. She didn’t expect much, truly. A follow was more than enough. Maybe, she was reading too much into it. A follow back was simply a cordial response. Maybe, she was just being polite and doing what any nice person would do.
Her best friend’s voice rung in the back of her head.
“You’ll never know what happens unless you try!”
That was what gave her the courage to go back onto her phone and open her DMs.
hi!! omg i was just stalking u bc ur so pretty!!! we should def get to know each other :) my number is ###-###-#### <3
Isabella’s face went pale. There was no going back now.