Lucy Harper

WELCOME TO COOLSVILLE, THE BEST LITTLE SMALL TOWN IN OHIO.

…except for right now, but that’s not really LUCY HARPER’S fault, is it? Known as the BEAUTY around town, SHE/HER is just your friendly neighborhood ROMANCE COLUMN WRITER. Sure they can be BITCHY and PRIVATE, but they can also be  WITTY  and RESILIENT just like any other 24 year old. That doesn’t mean they have anything to do with our string of recent chilling events, though… right?

~

It’s selfish, Cameron’s thinks, to be hurt by being shunned by Lucy after everything. She knows that’s the case. What Lucy’s experiencing is probably ten times to mental turmoil that Cam is. She is in an accepting presence at all times. People know she’s a Lesbian, and she takes the small town comments on the chin, and leans into the safety net she knows she has. It’s a luxury that she sometimes forgets she has. But, it doesn’t stop the tightness from forming in her chest as her shoulder rests against Lucy’s, warmth radiating off of her— maybe from embarrassment, maybe not. 

But, then again, Lucy’s admitting to ignoring her, or at least that’s what it feels like when she gives a half hearted acknowledgement of the fact that they had not spoken once since that night. Granted, Dani’s disappearance was a far more pressing matter than Cam’s love life, or lack there of, but the unanswered texts burn a hole in Cameron’s phone every time she scrolls a little too far. 

“Yeah. Yeah, it’s been rough. Danny’s really torn up about it, obviously. So, I’ve just been trying to be… you know, be there as much as I can. It’s kept me pretty busy, too.” 

It’s not a complete lie. She hadn’t had much time to think about Lucy or what happened between them between making sure Danny stayed afloat, and joining this little band of would-be investigators. But, it’s not like she hadn’t stayed awake a little too late at night, replaying old conversations in her head, trying to piece together if it was something she had done to cause all of this trouble. 

“It’s great that you’re helping with this whole Dani investigation thing. We can use brains like yours for sure.”

- - - 

If they weren’t stuck on this ride right now, Lucy probably wouldn’t have spoken to Cameron at all today. It feels awful to admit, but she placates herself by the fact it isn’t outloud, and that she is in fact talking to Cam right now. Sometimes it helps to lie to herself, tell herself shes not quite as evil as she is.

Its harder though, with Cam describing how she’s been through the ringer lately. Theorethically, Lucy knows that she knew this. Danny was Cam’s best friend, a fact everyone knew even before they knew Cam as well as Lucy did. Or used to, at least. 

“Its good that Danny has you. I fear he would be.. well, worse off.” Anyone with eyes could see how his sisters disappearance was deeply affecting the man. “But.. it is a little unfair that you have to deal with all of that. It keeping you busy and all.” 

What she really wanted to ask was if Cam was okay, but it felt like she shouldn’t. Like she wasn’t allowed to. After all, it was Lucy’s own fault they weren’t speaking lately, and being able to worry about Cam- she’d forfieted that right when she did that. 

“I couldn’t not help.” Well, she could, but she wasn’t that cruel. “But-- I’m sure if you didn’t have my brains you’d all be fine. Jasper could do any writing you need- in theory.” 

~

The Tunnel of Love was a stupid fucking plan to begin with. All she wanted to do was get five minutes of peace and quiet in a dark tunnel, alone, where prying eyes of the rest of the town weren’t meeting her at every turn. Plus, she could toss little bits of paper at couples who were getting just a little too comfortable on their romance ride. 

What she did not anticipate was the fact that the well meaning attendant couldn’t wrap their head around the idea that Cameron really didn’t want to ride with anyone. And, she wanted to go alone. And, that feeling almost doubled as she was ushered into a boat next to Lucy Harper. Lucy Harper who she had not interacted with one on one since… well, since the last time they were one on one. And the circumstances of that were very different. 

Now, Cameron wasn’t one to judge anyone on their coming out journey, but she had never anticipated being that lesbian who slept with the closeted girl who then seemed to be physically incapable of looking her in the eye. At least, that seemed to be the case during the initial mystery gang meeting. Cam had half the thought to explain the entire situation to Danny to save them both the painful awkwardness of having to work together. She just couldn’t out Lucy like that, though. Best friend or not, it wasn’t fair to Lucy. So, awkward lacking eye contact would have to suffice. 

But, now, she’s shoved in a little cart with her, shoulder to shoulder, and Cameron really didn’t know how to navigate this experience. So much for peace and quiet. 

“Seems like it,” She says, halfheartedly gesturing to the small space they now both occupied as she ride jolted to life, preventing Cam from making some great excuse to escape this. “How have you been? I feel like we haven’t really talked since… well, you know.” Small talk was good. Small talk made things feel less tense.

- - - 

Lucy hates for a moment that despite the fact that she was pretending Cameron didn’t exist, (After all, if Cameron didn’t exist, then what happened with Cameron didn’t exist, and she wasnt..) theres a little jolt of electricity that comes from their shoulders bumping together. The good kind, but it still makes her shoulders stiffen, her posture going rigid. 

How have you been? A simple question, but there was no simple way to answer it truthfully. On the one hand, she was drowning in a sea of things that she now wanted to experience, or was lost in the fact she had now experienced. On the other hand, she was constantly tormented by the fact someone would find out exactly what she’s spent so much of her life hiding. 

She’d woken a few nights in a cold sweat, nightmares of what her father would say about her.. he would call it a deviancy, she thinks. Which is an awful way to put it, but she can’t bring herself to label that as wrong. Regardless, she does need to come up with some answer to Cameron, or this will be the most awkward ride of her life. 

“We haven’t spoken since that, yeah.” A simple statement of the truth- that she’d actively avoided Cameron. “I am.. alright. Just been busy. With everything- missing girl and all. Kind of keeps me up at night.” Well, she’d managed to half lie, that was good enough, “How.. how are you?” 

Even after years and years of going, Lucy could admit that the Fourth of July festival would forever have a kind of romantic charm to it. The lights, the loud murmur of people, occasionally interupted by someone squealing in delight. It felt warm, even in this dark age of Coolsville where teenage girls went missing and no one really cared enough.  Lucy had had enough of people watching for a moment, Val had disappeared a while ago to find Tommy (And when had that become a thing?), and she was bored. What better thing was there to do than try out the tunnel of love? 

It was needed. So she could do her work properly. 

She waited in line, which was actually pretty lengthy, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Cam was there, but definitely and most certainly, not making eye contact. They hadn’t seen each other alone since.. 

Whatever. She was not thinking about it. Just as she was sure it was clear, sitting in her seat, and finally being able to look up from the floor, the attendant was telling her something about being paired up with a stranger, and Lucy was looking up, and.. 

Cameron. Shit. 

“Hey. Uh..” Lucy greeted, “Looks like we’re paired up. For the ride.”