&fic;

 

The Leavers Dance

by sugargroupie

R, 2310 words

Summary: somehow they always found their way back, picking up where they left off.

Disclaimer: This portrayal is entirely fictional.

Notes: This is a gift for rawiyaparand for Yuletide 2009, who requested Ciara/Rihanna/Alicia/Beyonce in any combination. I've taken a few liberties with dates and events. Many thanks to Shan for the quick beta; remaining mistake are mine.

.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .

2010

"Ciara?"

 

2008

Ok, that wasn't supposed to happen.

Ciara blinked hard as she watched Rihanna retreat down the hallway of her hotel suite. She blinked again when the other girl finally disappeared behind a door.

"Shit," she murmured, flinging herself against the back of the couch behind her. The plush cushion prevented any real damage and instead caused her to simply bounce a little.

What had just happened, and what did it mean? More importantly, Ciara thought, would she get a chance to do it again?

* *

Ciara wasn't sure how she'd ended up in this position.

No, that was a damn lie.

It'd started when she'd accepted Rihanna's invitation to hang out in her suite of rooms during one of their rare nights off from the tour. Truthfully, Ciara would've preferred putting in more rehearsal time. She'd already been running through a few pacing adjustments for her opening act in her own suite when she got the call (the amount of space she had bordered on obscene, and she's stayed in her fair share of five-star hotels).

Ciara liked staying busy and she loved to work, but more importantly, this tour was just the boost her career needed. She'd been away too long, and it was good to put her face out there again for new fans.

But, she couldn't just say no to Rihanna. (She's heard the whispers: no one says no to RiRi.) So, she showed up in the other girl's suite, bit her lip nervously and tried not to appear anymore awkward than necessary.

"I'm bored, but I don't feel like going out tonight," Rihanna said with a shrug. "You wanna hang here?"

She'd said it so matter-of-factly, as if Rihanna and Ciara were old friends who hung out on the regular. And, part of Ciara wanted to say yes, because she'd been that girl. In many ways she was still that girl, and touring got lonely, even when you were surrounded by fans and a crew twenty-deep.

Rihanna didn't give her a chance to answer, said, "I've got alcohol for days," around a grin, continuing on as if she'd never asked the question in the first place. Maybe she hadn't, Ciara thought. Maybe Rihanna took it as a given that Ciara would want to kick it with her in her big ass suite.

Rihanna's smile was wide and just a little bit off. Finally, Ciara sighed and thought, fuck it, and said yes.

*

With the exception of a few people in Rihanna's entourage in and out of her hotel room, Rihanna and Ciara were left alone. It was surprising to Ciara when it probably shouldn't have been, that they'd have a lot in common; or at the very least, found they had no shortage of topics to discuss. The alcohol loosened their tongues and made Ciara either incredibly brave or stupid.

Hard liquor made her especially silly and she said things without thinking. Luckily, Rihanna couldn't hold her liquor anymore than Ciara could.

"...I just want to eat him up!" she said, and Ciara booed and poured them a round of shots.

Then later: "I want to see his dick. I heard it's huge."

Ciara shook her head with a frown and licked her lips. "I danced with him at a club in Atlanta once. He was grinding but I didn't feel a thing," she said, bursting into laughter.

Rihanna sucked in a breath and giggled, "No! Don't ruin it for me!"

Her accent was thicker than usual. Ciara just grinned back at her.

"What?" Rihanna asked with a self-conscious smile. The shine of gloss on her lips was nearly gone, and what tinge of color remained was a faded red.

Ciara couldn't draw her eyes away from the smudge at the edge of her mouth.

She wanted to reach across the couch and rub the imperfection away. Instead, she clenched her hand in a tight fist and tucked it into her lap, busying her other hand with her drink.

"Can we get more food?" she finally asked, "I need something to soak up all this alcohol." She needed to distract herself from looking at Rihanna's mouth, because this wasn't supposed to happen. Ciara hadn't wanted to be here in the beginning, but after being around Rihanna for the last few hours she couldn't imagine passing the time any other way.

A short while later, with a stack of pizza boxes sitting on the coffee table between them, they'd moved on to slightly safer topics and Ciara kept her distance. It was only when Rihanna had glanced at her with an eager look on her face that Ciara had stopped mid-chew and mumbled, "What?" feeling like she'd had her inappropriate thoughts put on blast, and now Rihanna was going to kick her out of her room and off the tour.

"I want to show you something," Rihanna said.

Ciara had no choice but to follow when Rihanna grabbed her hand and tugged her off the couch. She was being pulled across the room, her hand still clasped in Rihanna's firm grip, and the other girl wouldn't let go despite Ciara's half-hearted attempts to break free.

Both girls were a bit unsteady on their feet. In between giggles, Rihanna managed to dig out a long and slender shoebox from the pile of shopping bags on the floor. She uncovered a pair of suede Christian Louboutin boots with four-inch heels. "I'm wearing these in my show on Friday. Aren't they gorgeous?"

Rihanna's smile was wider than before, but this time Ciara found it beautiful. "Yeah, sure is," she sighed and quickly looked away.

*

They were listening to music, Rihanna stretched out on one end of the couch while Ciara occupied the other. Every so often Ciara's foot would brush against Rihanna's, or Rihanna's leg would somehow become propped against hers. It was distracting, but Ciara didn't want to move away completely.

Suddenly, Rihanna sat up, her voice a whisper when she finally spoke. "Ciara, come here."

Her movement was nearly silent as she scooted across the cushions. She knocked against Rihanna's knee and felt the other girl clasp her hand to pull her closer.

"This is not--" Ciara began, but Rihanna laid one finger over Ciara's mouth and said, "Shhhh." A moment later the tableside lamp clicked on and Ciara blinked against the sudden brightness in the room.

"I want to see your face. I…" Rihanna trailed off, and Ciara figured Rihanna would rather use actions over words. Then she kissed her, and Ciara didn't think beyond the moment of kissing her back.

*

As Rihanna excused herself, acting as if she hadn't just pushed her tongue down Ciara's throat, Ciara was back to her original thought: this wasn't supposed to happen.

They were supposed to hang out and have a few drinks, and talk about inane shit that was normally discussed when people were stuck on tour together. Making out wasn't supposed to be an option.

If Ciara were to believe the news, Rihanna was with someone else; specifically, a boy. She didn't mind hooking up for a night or two, but she at least wanted to know that it was a temporary thing. With Rihanna, she didn't know what was going on.

Rihanna returned a few minutes later and sat next to Ciara once more, pressing tightly against her until there was no space left between them.

Ciara broke the silence first. "What are we doing?" she asked softly.

"My first crush was a girl I went to school with." Rihanna stared straight ahead as she spoke. Ciara wondered if she'd answer the question. "I didn't realize it at the time. I just knew that I liked her and I liked being around her. I was too shy to kiss her when I had the chance." Rihanna turned her head to meet Ciara's eyes.

Oh, Ciara thought. She had her answer, then, and she knew what she wanted. Her touch was tentative when she reach out and brushed her fingers across the column of Rihanna's throat. She slid her hand up, grazing the other girl's cheek until her fingers thread through her hair; it was soft and straight and smelled freshly permed.

Rihanna leaned forward and Ciara met her halfway, covering her mouth with a slow kiss. She'd already licked away Rihanna's gloss, but she still tasted like mango. Ciara parted Rihanna's lips with her own and deepened the kiss.

Rihanna hummed in her mouth, wrapping an arm around her neck to pull Ciara closer.

*

Blunt fingernails dug into her hips, pastel blue leaving round shapes in her skin, and Ciara thrust her fingers deeper because Rihanna's reaction felt so damn good.

After kissing for what seemed like hours, Rihanna had threaded their fingers together and guided Ciara back to her bedroom. She'd stripped down to her bra and panties (yellow and blue polka dots) and helped Ciara do the same. Ciara had felt a chaste kiss brush her lips before she was pulled down on the bed, the cool air of the room fading as she slide skin against skin on top of Rihanna.

Ciara braced her free hand above Rihanna's shoulder, her fingers clenching the sheets as she set a steady rhythm. Rihanna loosened her grip on her hips and brought her hands up to cup Ciara's face and pulled her down for a kiss. It was wet and perfect, and Ciara bit Rihanna's bottom lip as she fucked her with two fingers.

Rihanna broke the kiss first and Ciara slid her lips down Rihanna's neck, stopping at her small breasts to suck on her nipples. Rihanna sighed and cupped the back of Ciara's neck, catching the fall of her hair with her fingers. As Ciara kissed a path down Rihanna's belly she pulled her fingers free from between Rihanna's thighs and replaced them with her mouth.

Rihanna came with a low moan that stuttered her breath. When they woke sometime later, Ciara caught the faint bruises on Rihanna's thighs, left by her hands as she'd held Rihanna's legs apart.

 

2010

Ciara had performed at the Atlanta Music Festival on Friday night, which left her free for the rest of the weekend to enjoy the other acts. Alicia Keys was on stage now, and from her place backstage she had an unobstructed view of Alicia's performance. It wasn't often that Ciara had the opportunity to watch a live performance of one of her favorite singers, and she didn't want to miss anything.

When Alicia played the familiar harmony of her next song, Ciara's attention switched immediately to the opposite end of the stage where Beyonce made her appearance to the huge crowd before them.

She couldn't take her eyes off of them, couldn't drag her attention away from how they performed together or how they looked at one another.

She'd almost had that, once.

The music business was incestuous in that almost everyone was connected to everyone else in some way. It seemed like nobody's business was their own. There were no rumors, just unconfirmed facts. Months after the tour, after it had happened, some vicious lies and benign half-truths had spread about her and Rihanna. Ciara wondered if the same were true for Alicia and Beyonce.

She felt like a voyeur as she stood there, watching them sing to each other.

She was so preoccupied with them, in fact, that she wasn't entirely aware of who or what was going on around her. It took a moment to realize her name was being called, and as Ciara turned, her mouth fell open in surprise. "Rihanna. How are you?"

Rihanna quirked her lips and said, "Good, good. Glad to be here, you know?"

Ciara had thought about this moment for over a year, but she hadn't expected it to be so public. Because they were backstage they were afforded a small amount of privacy, but with so many people walking around it wasn't the best place for the conversation they needed to have.

Rihanna's voice was soft, sounding much closer in proximity than Ciara realized when she murmured, "I love this song."

Ciara nodded but bit her lip in silence, not trusting her words right now.

"So," Rihanna said quietly, "I have something to show you. You can come by my hotel room later, if you want. We can talk…"

Ciara froze. The unexpected just kept happening. When the tour had ended, they'd both decided to make a clean break, no harm and no foul. They couldn't be lovers or fuck buddies or whatever they were to each other, but they couldn't be friends either.

And now, Rihanna was suggesting that they pick up where they left off. Sure, she'd used the word talk, but talking had always carried a different meaning between them. 'We're just talking' had meant Ciara was too busy eating Rihanna out; or, 'Can I talk to you?' was Rihanna's way of saying, 'It's been a while, I want to finger you.'

Ciara sighed. Rihanna had always had the ability to make her fucked up and horny with just a look. Some things never changed. "No thanks," she finally answered, softening her rejection with a half smile.

Rihanna nodded, looking a little deflated, but she stepped back and turned to leave. The words following gave her pause.

"My room is bigger," Ciara said with a grin, "and you can come by tomorrow after your set."

Rihanna's answer was an immediate yes.

After Rihanna left with Ciara's hotel information locked into her phone, Ciara turned her attention back to Alicia, alone with her piano and Beyonce out of sight.

She and Rihanna weren't supposed to happen but they had, far too many times to count. There was leaving in between, but somehow they always found their way back, picking up where they left off.

*

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