“Why thank you,” Cleo responded happily to the compliment, tapping her nose once more. “I’m quite partial to it myself, as well. Though, if we’re complimenting noses, yours is very cute as well,” she pointed out. Cleo glanced around herself for a moment. “I’m a fan of it at least,” she shrugged. She rolled her eyes affectionately at the other girl. “I’m telling you. Keep Monday open and I will happily make the arrangements,” she told the other, still holding on to her secret for now. “I might give you another hint though.”

Alaska’s hand went to her nose when Cleo complimented it, the girl cheeks reddening more than they already had. “Thank you..” she smiled sheepishly, one fingertip running up her nose like she was inspecting it, the girl becoming slightly cross-eyed before she dropped her head, realizing she probably looked stupid. “Monday is open!” She assured the girl, nodding eagerly, “I even told Alexa I can’t work that day, so the days is yours-- well it’s already yours, because it’s your birthday, but.. you know what I mean.” Her eyes kind of popped open a bit more when she said she’d offer her another secret, possibly, Alaska nearly bouncing where she sat. “Yes, you should. I’m loving this mystery.”

Cleo giggled softly at the other’s behavior. “The nose didn’t tip you off?” she questioned, tapping her nose softly. “You clearly have not done your research on Cleo Miller Fun Facts.” She leaned back slightly, feeling much more relaxed than she would have expected, this being the first real conversation she’d had aloud in a while. “It’s good to see your face,” she responded honestly. “Oh, as you can tell, I’m living the good life,” she gestured around to her relatively rustic surroundings. “I’m actually really loving it. I should bring you out here one day.” 

Alaska couldn’t help but laugh at Cleo’s comment, her head shaking. “I’m not trying to seem like a stan! You have a fantastic nose, but I’m not really good at telling a jewish nose from a not jewish nose, because I’m not jewish...” Alaska couldn’t help but grin when Cleo said it was good to see her face, not caring if it was just because Cleo hadn’t spoken to anyone in a cool second. “I think that life looks marvelous. You should definitely bring me, maybe for your birthday, better start by telling me where you are.” She grinned cheekily, mainly just curious for the mystery of it all. 

Cleo couldn’t help the grin that came over her face at both the sight of Alaska, and the other girl’s clear excitement to see her. It took her a moment to notice that Alaska was drunk, but the realization made her giggle softly. “Hey, lady,” she responded back happily. “I don’t celebrate Christmas, but it can be Hanukkah for me.” 

Alaska’s brows furrowed slightly at Cleo’s words, before instead they raised high in surprise, and then furrowed again as she leaned in towards the computer screen and sort-of-whispered: “Are you jewish? I had no idea...” She couldn’t help but laugh at herself, the girl leaning her cheek against her hand as she looked at Cleo’s face. “Man it’s so good to see your face. How is your secret destination???”

( @alaskasgrace ) One of the largest drawbacks to the sheer amount of time Cleo spent alone these days was how restless she could get sometimes. She was surprisingly good at filling her long hours with things to do, but sometimes they ran out. Having Alaska to talk to had made things a lot easier recently, and she was just going to email the other girl back when she saw the little notification next to Alaska’s contact letting her know the other was currently online as well. She wasn’t sure what took over her exactly but suddenly she was hitting the video chat button and the line was ringing as her own face appeared on her monitor from her webcam view. She didn’t bother to attempt to hide the cabin surroundings of her background from view like she had in her video, knowing well enough that Alaska wouldn’t recognize the backdrop, and trusting that she wouldn’t share Cleo’s surroundings with anyone who would.