#can1

“I should change my name to bakery ‘cause of all this cake I have” Lemon slurred as she jiggled her ass with her hands in the reflection of a storefront window.

  Priyanka was grateful that the store had been long closed and no one was inside to see her friend embarrass herself. Taking one of the blonde’s hands in her own, Priyanka tries to pull her along to get to the parking lot that Juice was waiting for them in.

  “C’mon Lem, I know you’re deflecting by making jokes about how hot you are,”

  Lemon let out a gasp that nearly echoed through the street, “It’s not a joke!” Playing up the dramatics, she makes a few sniffles, ”I’m a legit snack,”

  “Oh god, I am not drunk enough to deal with a drunk you,” Priyanka said exasperatedly, continuing to drag Lemon along until they reached the white Kia Soul parked right where Juice had said she would be.

  “Wild night Lem?” Juice asked as she helped her into the back seat.

  Lemon nodded as she belted herself in, “Juicey, I’m a snack right?” The blonde said with a pout.

  “Of course, my dear, the tastiest snack in all the world,” Juice indulges her, knowing the blonde won’t remember the conversation in the morning.

  Lemon laughs smugly, “Ha, see? I told you Pri, I’m a legit snack,”

  “Alright Lem, you were right, just like always,” The brunette sighs in response, fondly looking back at the blonde through the car mirror.

Lemon sighed, tired. They had been at it for ten minutes already.

“Think of your castle,” Priyanka said in a sing-songy voice. “The parties we could throw there!”

“Should’ve known this was all in your self-interest,” Lemon said with a smirk.

“I also want you to live happily ever after, or whatever,” Priyanka mumbled. “Come on, chop chop, your fairytale awaits.”

“Fine,” Lemon said, rolling up the sleeves of her dress. She kneeled in front of the fountain and got eye level with the frog. “Um, hi.”

The frog blinked at her.

“So my name is Lemon, and I’m going to kiss you now. If you don’t want that to happen, you should move.”

The frog blinked at her.

“Alright,” Lemon said, uncertain. “Here goes.”

Carefully, she kissed the sticky, cold head of the tiny frog. She pulled back, expectant, waiting with held breath for a sparkling transformation and…

Absolutely nothing happened.

Priyanka’s cackle scared away the birds around them.

“I can’t believe you fell for that!” she said, bent over in laughter and holding her stomach. “I didn’t think it’d work, my sisters did it to me but I was ten!”

“Oh, you little…”

Lemon grabbed Priyanka’s shoulders.

“Wha—”

Lemon cleaned her frog-kissing lips by leaving a quick succession of kisses all over Priyanka’s face, missing her lips by millimeters and making her blush.

“What are you— why—” Priyanka stumbled over her words and then stumbled over the fountain wall, falling head-first in the water.

The little frog jumped away from the splash and disappeared in the bushes.

“You scared away my future husband,” Lemon said.

“My mom’s gonna kill me,” said Priyanka, looking at her soaked dress.

Taking pity on her friend, Lemon offered her hand.

“Come on, let’s get you dry.”

“Alright,” said Priyanka, taking Lemon’s hand and immediately pulling her inside the fountain.

Lemon spluttered as she sat up and splashed Priyanka’s face.

“You’re such a jerk,” she said, giggling.

“Say, if someone were to ask Lemon out for, oh I don’t know. A movie this Friday,” Rita said as she set her lunch tray next to Kiara’s on the hard cement block their school called a yard table. “What do you think the response would be in that hypothetical case?”

Kiara smiled.

“Asking for a friend?”

“Of sorts.”

“Well, hate to be the bearer of bad news, but tell your friend that Lemon is taken. She’s dating Priyanka.”

“No she’s not,” Kyne piped up from the other side of the table, finally interested in the conversation.

“Uh, yeah she is. They’re super official, they’ve met each other’s parents and everything.”

“We’ve all met each other’s parents, stupid, we have sleepovers every month.”

“There’s another good point! Lemon and Pri have sleepovers basically every week.”

“Just ‘cause they’re best friends, like you and I.”

Kiara frowned and opened her mouth to reply, but Rita got there first.

“So am I– my friend, is my friend a lost cause?”

“Yes–” “No–” replied the other two at the same time.

“Kyne, you wouldn’t know chemistry if it hit you upside the head.”

“First of all, I’m in AP chemistry.” Kiara rolled her eyes and hid a smile. Half the time, she didn’t know if Kyne was being obtuse of the funniest person on Earth. “Second of all, you’re seeing things. Those two are basically sisters, all they do is quarrel.”

“Um, ever heard of a lover’s quarrel?”

“But not in a sexy way, more in a ‘I’m two seconds away from murdering you’ way.”

“Enemies to lovers, baby, that’s the way to go.”

“We shouldn’t have watched 10 things I hate about you. It melted your brain.”

They kept on arguing, Rita sulking next to them, until she shushed them both as the objects of their conversation joined the table.

Lemon plopped her tray on Kiara’s other side and sat down huffing.

"They're out of marble muffins."

She glared across the table, where Priyanka was sitting down with the biggest grin.

“Look at this gorgeous, gorgeous muffin, I was lucky enough to get the last one.” She twirled it in her hands. “Don’t know about you, but my lunch would feel so incomplete withou— ow!”

Priyanka bent down to clutch her shin. Opposite, Lemon smiled and started eating, the picture of innocence. “Okay, I deserved that.”

During the whole exchange, Kyne stared pointedly at Kiara, barely hiding her smirk.

Point for Kyne.

Kiara chose the high road and ignored her, though she kept a close eye on her friends, because she’d be damned if she just let Kyne win like that. Therefore, when lunch was almost over and Priyanka slid half the muffin to Lemon, who couldn’t hide her smile, Kiara saw it all. She smirked right back at Kyne.

Point for Kiara.

----------

“You have to give me that point.”

“What are we talking about, now?”

“You don’t see that?” Kiara whispered and nodded at the love seat in Priyanka’s living room. Their group had gathered for a movie night, but Lemon and Priyanka seemed to have other plans. They had been whispering in their crowded loveseat for the past half hour, tangled together and with no thought to spare for the movie in the background.

“So? There’s no room for all of us, we’re all sharing.”

Kyne was right, unfortunately. Jimbo, Scarlett and Illona kept pushing each other on the sofa, Juice and Tynomi had layered pillows and blankets on the floor to make a nest, and Kyne had claimed the small couch for herself and Kiara and refused to let anyone else on it.

Kiara was about to concede, but then Lemon, Miss Don’t Ever Touch Me, yawned and curled up on Priyanka’s chest, smiling when Priyanka started playing with her hair.

Kiara put her lips to Kyne’s ear.

“Point for me.”

Satisfied, Kiara cozied up to Kyne’s side, intent on stealing her body heat.

The peace lasted for all of four minutes.

“Ow!” Lemon complained from the floor as she glared up the love seat, where Priyanka was dissolving in giggles. “Why did you push me?”

Lemon grabbed Priyanka’s wrist and tried to pull her to the floor, but Priyanka started kicking and the two of them proceeded to wrestle like children, the rest of their group throwing popcorn and pillows at them.

Happy to see her two friends once again behaving like sisters, Kyne whispered to Kiara:

“Point for me.”

----------

“It’s definitive proof.”

“You and I have different definitions of ‘definitive’.”

“How is stealing someone’s hoodie anything other than romantic?”

Kyne rubbed the sleeve end of what was now her favorite shirt, which she had borrowed from Kiara some months ago. To distract from the flush she felt climbing up her cheeks, she argued.

“Do you have their wardrobes memorized? We don’t even know if it’s Priyanka’s hoodie.”

“Since when does Lemon dress like a skater? It looks huge on her.”

They stared at the counter where Lemon was ordering coffee for her and Priyanka, who was in the bathroom. With both drinks in hand, Lemon joined their table and raised an eyebrow at the weird silence.

“What?”

“Nothing. Nice hoodie,” Kiara said.

“Oh, thanks. It’s Priyanka’s.”  Lemon looked down at the hoodie and missed the way Kiara elbowed Kyne. “I needed to borrow it because I slept at her house.” Kiara grinned. “I used to have a whole drawer of clothes in her room—”

Kiara was near bursting with squeals.

“—but the idiot thought it’d be funny to pour glitter inside, so I had nothing to wear.”

Kiara deflated, Kyne straightened up.

“Oh, my God,” Kiara complained, but Lemon misinterpreted it.

“It’s okay, she apologized so much and she ran the whole drawer through the laundry. Plus, she was so sorry she got me this necklace,” Lemon smiled as she fished it from under her hoodie, a delicate chain with a cursive ‘L’ in gold.

Kyne slammed her palm on the table, Kiara threw up her hands, and Lemon stared at them in shock.

“I can’t take this anymore!” said Kiara.

“Are you two dating or not?”

“What? No!” Lemon spluttered, looking around to make sure Priyanka wasn’t around.

Kyne and Kiara looked at each other, then at the blush on Lemon’s face.

“Ohh,” they said in unison.

“You’re not dating—”

“—but you want to be. Right?”

“Fine, yes, but shut up. She can’t know.”

“Why?”

“‘Cause she’ll get weird! Imagine your best friend has a crush on you, and you don’t like her back. Sleepovers? Done. Sharing secrets? Over. I can’t lose that.”

Kiara patted Lemon’s hand in pity, but Kyne was more direct.

“If you think Priyanka’s not completely in love with you, then you’re an idiot. Which works, because she is also an idiot.”

“Aw, they’re perfect for each other,” said Kiara, making a heart shape with her hands. Lemon swatted it out of the air when she saw Priyanka heading for their table.

“What’s up?” said Priyanka as she dropped next to Lemon and grabbed her drink, slurping loudly through the straw. Both Kiara and Kyne wrinkled their noses, but Lemon was inmune and looked at Priyanka with just pure nauseating love. How Priyanka hadn’t noticed was a mystery.

“Nothing. We were actually on our way,” said Kiara, taking Kyne’s hand as she stood up. To her credit, Kyne followed smoothly.

“We offered to help Kiara’s mom with her spring cleaning.”

“And we needed the energy.” Kiara shook her drink.

Lemon and Priyanka shared a look, and smiled.

“Alright,” Priyanka said slyly.

“Have fun playing house— I mean, cleaning the house,” said Lemon.

Priyanka snorted.

Kyne narrowed her eyes at them, but Kiara pulled her towards the door before she could start anything.

They were halfway to the door when Kiara, casual as anything, turned around and said:

“Oh, by the way, Pri?”

Kiara saw the panic in Lemon’s eyes, and gave her a saccharine smile.

“Lemon wants to date you.”

Kiara barely caught the growing grin on Priyanka’s face before Kyne dragged her out of the coffee shop, both girls laughing as they ran away.

“That was cold, Kiki. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

“Oh, please, I did them a favor. Did you see Priyanka’s face? I’m freaking Cupid, bitch.”

“You were also wrong. They were not dating.”

“But they wanted to be. Doesn’t that count for something?”

“Those were not the terms we discussed.”

“Ugh, fine. You win.”

Kiara did a little flourish with her coffee cup and Kyne princess-waved to an invisible audience.

“You should have trusted my intuition,” said Kyne.

“Can you blame me for being skeptical of it? It took you forever to realize that I liked you back. I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t know that we are dating,” Kiara laughed and Kyne stared.

A beat.

There’s a different silence from the dead town quiet she’s accustomed to, somehow peaceful, just the world yawning and waking up. It has been a long time since she got up with the sun.

Across the street, Lemon waves.

While she crosses, Priyanka has ten full seconds to panic over kissing Lemon hello, like they’re dating, which they aren’t, or kissing her cheek like they’re platonic friends, which they also aren’t. She flips through her mental catalog of previous summer flings and ponders what the correct move is, if there even is one, and when did she get so out of practice? Before she can make a call, she’s shrouded in perfume and sunscreen.

“Hey, doll.” Lemon takes her chin and brings her face down to kiss her lips. Simple as that.

Priyanka’s eyes travel from her own surprise reflected on Lemon’s sunglasses, trail down over her smug expression and her bare shoulders, and land on the barely there scraps of fabric that make up Lemon’s bikini top. Her mouth dries and her mind wanders, but there’s pressing matters at hand.

“Why are you wearing that?”

Lemon huffs and pulls her sunglasses on top of her head.

“I feel like you’re not being grateful enough for how hot I look,” she says, striking a pose. “Wanna try again?”

Priyanka laughs and brings her in by the waist for another kiss.

“My bad, princess. Hi, you look very hot, also, why are you in a bikini? I told you to bring a one piece.” Although it’s hard to remember why now, with her thumbs stroking the skin of Lemon’s waist.

“I don’t have a one piece,” Lemon shrugs and starts walking towards the beach. “Plus, I’m not that white, and I have sunscreen,” she says, jostling the tote bag on her shoulder.

“It’s less about the sun and more about the fact that it is eight in the morning in October. You’re gonna freeze in that.”

“I won’t swim, then.”

“No, you have to!” Priyanka yells, horrified. “You have to swim, that’s the whole point of going. Also, you need to get your head underwater every now and then, or you could get a heatstroke.”

“So will I freeze or get a heatstroke? Pick a lane.”

“Could be both,” Priyanka says, grinning. “The beach is a magical place.”

“Ugh, why are we even going?” Lemon whines.

“Because it’s magical, Lemon. Keep up.”

“Hm, sorry, you look hot, it’s very distracting,” Lemons says, giving her a very obvious once-over.

Priyanka’s steps falter. She knows Lemon’s not trying to get a reaction out of her, she just throws compliments like they’re nothing and moves on, but they cling to Priyanka’s skin with varying effects. Right now, it makes her feel self-conscious. The air is dense and hot, and she’s been feeling sweat prickle at her skin since she left the house, so her shirt ended in her bag and now there’s just a tight blue swimsuit covering her stomach. On instinct, she goes to cross her arms over it, but Lemon takes her hand and doesn’t let go.

It’s fine, Priyanka thinks. You’re fine. The beach’s probably empty.

She’s proven right minutes later, when they look upon the vast expanse of sand, only broken by a small group of people far off. Priyanka takes her time to find a place close to the water but still high enough that they won’t need to move once the tide rises. They’re spoiled for choice, but once they find a spot, Lemon still throws down her bag like she’s staking her claim on that little patch of sand, forcefully enough to scare off the other four people on the whole beach.

“Fuck, should we have brought an umbrella?” Lemon asks, looking at the sun.

“Aha!” Priyanka exclaims, showing Lemon the circular flat bag on her shoulder, which she had to dig out of the closet and dust off the previous night.

“What’s that?”

“The future.” Priyanka unzips the bag and pulls out its content of folded fabric in black and green, and then throws it to the air. The thing unfolds with a loud thwap! and lands gracefully on the sand. Priyanka makes jazz hands at their newly formed little shelter. “Pop-up tent!”

“I appreciate the theatrics,” Lemon smiles with approval. They set their bags inside on the corners to weigh the tent down, and then Lemon crawls in.

“Take off your shoes, you savage,” Priyanka chastises her, following her inside. “You’re getting sand everywhere.”

“This is literally the beach,” Lemon protests, but she still helps her brush out the sand.

The cold breeze stops them from braving the water just yet, but they have the whole morning ahead. For now, Priyanka opens her backpack and spreads out a full picnic on the floor. She cracks open two water bottles as Lemon slices her way into a packet of cookies with her acrylic nail, and Priyanka is so hypnotized by the movement that she doesn’t notice she’s crushing the bottles until cold water spills on her lap and startles her out of the reverie. She dries herself off while Lemon laughs in the background.

Jerk.

They sit half outside the tent and bury their feet in the sand, not hot enough to burn them yet. With sleepy brains catching up to the day, they plan their morning in vague terms until their voices fizzle out, swallowed by the crashing waves. Priyanka follows their movement, entranced, munching on one cookie after the other until her hand reaches for a third one and finds the crinkle of an empty packet. She turns and finds Lemon with puffed cheeks and crumbs on her lips, looking like a deer in the headlights. She has the decency to say a meek “sorry” through a mouthful of cookies. Priyanka retaliates by grabbing the bunch of grapes she packed and declaring Lemon cannot have a single one. She just shrugs and takes a peach instead.

The sun rises lazily and warms their morning. Voices turn to whispers and silences stretch like honey, slow and mellow. Priyanka leans back on her elbows, head lolled to the side to look at Lemon. She sees her bite into the peach and watches as juice dribbles down her chin and neck, marking a path that Priyanka wants to trace with her tongue. She throws a napkin at Lemon’s face instead.

Eventually, the air inside the tent gets heady enough to make them want to leave it.

“We can go swimming now, if you think you can handle it.”

It’s presented as a challenge, and Lemon takes it as one. She gives Priyanka a hard stare and takes off her hoop earrings, then her dozens of bracelets and rings. Taking Priyanka’s hand, she leads them to the water and her confident stride only wavers where the sea meets the sand.

A wave reaches their feet and makes Lemon hiss. It is cold, even for Priyanka now that she’s lost the habit, but pride makes her bite her tongue. She takes a big step forward only to be stopped by the shoulder because Lemon won’t budge an inch and they’re still holding hands.

“Lem? You can’t swim in the sand, girl.”

“I’m coming, it’s just so cold.”

Lemon takes a deep breath and the tiniest step. Moving to stand in front of her, Priyanka takes both of her hands and pulls her in slowly.

“It gets easier. I promise.”

Lemon looks over Priyanka’s shoulder and gives her a small nod. She follows Priyanka’s lead, gritting her teeth the whole time. Step by step, they get up to their thighs in water before the first wave hits and splashes their stomachs.

“Motherfucker!” Lemon yelps and leaps forward, clutching to Priyanka’s warmth.

Priyanka does a poor job of hiding her laughter, and she feels Lemon smile against her collarbone and mouth a “fuck off” through chattering teeth. As much as she wants to wrap her arms around Lemon to fend off the cold, she knows they will never get over it until they go underwater. Gently, she pries Lemon off her chest and rubs her arms.

“Come on, I’ll have you swimming like a pro in no time. We have to go underwater, okay?”

Lemon nods resolutely and straightens her spine.

“Okay—” she flinches as another wave hits them. “Tell me what to do.”

“Lock your knees,” Priyanka instructs, pressing down on Lemons’ shoulders like she’s planting her in the sand. She stands by her side and digs her heels in, firm against the ocean trying to push them away. “Keep your eyes on the water. And when a wave starts to form, we dive under. Got it?”

“Got it.”

Lemon almost manages to hide the fear in her voice. She stands firm and furrows her brow with focus.

“No matter what, keep swimming forward and find me on the other side. Here comes one!”

Priyanka watches the massive wave rise in front of them. With held breath, they trudge through the water and dive under.

Water rushes past her ears. Every sound echoes and dissorients her before she can open her eyes and find the ground. She kicks with all her might and digs her nails in the sand to crawl forward. Bubbles surge up past her cheeks as the air leaves her. Another wave grazes the top of her head and pushes her back but she holds her ground, her lungs burn but she has to keep going, going, going, she closes her eyes and kicks wildly until she can’t take it anymore and has to swim up.

Priyanka breaks the surface with a triumphant jump, damp hair slapping against her back with the movement. Air floods her lungs and burns on the way down, but she looks back and sees she left the waves crashing behind. She made it, and around her there is only tranquil blue. This, however, means no Lemon to be found. Priyanka doesn’t get much time to worry before a flash of yellow surfaces in front of her, splashing water everywhere.

Lemon throws her arms around Priyanka’s neck and kisses her soundly, filling her mouth with the taste of salt water. When she pulls back, she’s grinning.

“Again, again!”

Once the adrenaline dies down, the cold makes itself known again, so they paddle around to warm up. Priyanka keeps a watchful eye on the shore to make sure they don’t float too far away. She recognized the lifeguard on duty and she knows that, if things go awry, there’s a better chance of a tsunami returning them to the shore than of the guy even noticing they are drowning.

“Hey, try to hear what I’m saying underwater,” Lemon says before sinking. Priyanka follows her and listens closely, then goes up and shakes the water off her face.

“You said ‘Gritty’ something. Gritty rhizomes?”

“Not even close.”

They try again, and this time Priyanka’s really sure of her answer.

“Ryan the shittiest psychic!”

“No!” Lemon laughs. “I said I am the prettiest princess.”

“Oh my God,” Priyanka rolls her eyes. “My turn.”

They go underwater, and Lemon comes up looking really offended.

“Did you just call me ugly?”

“Wow, you’re really good at this game.”

Lemon climbs over Priyanka and tries to dunk her head underwater.

“Ow, ow, okay, truce!” she splutters. “No roughhousing in the ocean!”

“Fine,” Lemon concedes, and settles instead for hanging from Priyanka’s back with her chin on her shoulder.

They swim around like that while Priyanka finds a spot where she can touch the ground, Lemon trailing behind from her neck like a wedding veil. Sometimes, Lemon kisses her skin, and the contrasting warmth makes Priyanka shiver. In the distance, scattered boats sail by and she tries to remember what the acronyms on their sides mean to answer Lemon’s questions.

It’s quiet again. White light crackles on the surface of the water, shimmering and blinding. Smooth waves roll beneath them and flip them on their backs. They float under the sun, feeling the ocean rise below them, lifting them up and setting them down gently. Above, the sky is a perfect blue.

Priyanka stares at the sun until her vision is all white spots. She could doze off. Lemon drifted out of her sight. It feels like she is the only person on Earth.

“Otters hold hands when they sleep.”

The words bubble up so quietly, Lemon may not even hear her. She is mostly talking to the sky.

“Hm?” Lemon’s voice is so far, so far, she may be across the Atlantic.

“When they sleep in the water, otters hold hands.” Her chest struggles to rise and fall with the words. It’s so tiring to speak. “So they don’t drift apart.”

Light is filtering through her closed eyelids, making them burn.

Across the Atlantic, Lemon reaches over and grazes her arm.

“Do you want to hold hands? So we don’t drift?”

Priyanka doesn’t answer.

Lemon takes her hand.

__________________________________________________________________

Before noon, once the sun gets too high and too strong, Priyanka says they have to get out. Lemon protests, but Priyanka sees the red blooming on her cheeks and knows sunburn is not far off. She starts walking to shore, dragging a floating Lemon behind her by the wrist.

Getting out is an ordeal. The ocean is hell bent on keeping them, and although Priyanka is used to it, she sees Lemon panic every time the water recedes from the shore and pulls them back in. Still, she doesn’t complain. She grits her teeth and swims against the current under Priyanka’s guidance. It takes them time and muscle and when they finally get out, they flop down on the sand, tired and relieved. Priyanka feels rocks digging into her stomach, but she can’t be bothered to move. Lemon is smiling at her, with drops of water trailing down her chin and her nose, and sunlight painting her blonde hair until it blends with the sand.

They don’t speak, just try to catch their breath as the sun dries them. The sea still reaches for them, getting up to their knees before going back in. Priyanka feels heavy like lead, and would probably sink in the sand if Lemon didn’t say she was hungry.

As they towel off their hair, Priyanka lists all the restaurants around them. They end up getting food to go from the nearest bar right there on the beach, paired with tall plastic glasses of juice that Priyanka buries halfway in the sand by their tent.

“Think of the beach as a giant cup holder.”

They finish their food over spread out magazines, flipping through the articles and doing every stupid quizz.

(Are you a commitment-phobe? Does your BFF secretly hate you? What is the right summer haircut for you?)

Lemon paints her lips with peach flavored chapstick. Priyanka’s eyes wander away from her magazine and suddenly her mouth is so dry.

“Can I borrow that?”

Lemon hands her the chapstick, Priyanka applies it and wiggles her eyebrows.

“It’s like we’re kissing.”

Lemon rolls her eyes but still straddles Priyanka, lays her down in the sand and kisses her slow and deep. Priyanka feels heat flow up from her stomach all the way to her head, like water, it feels like it’s gonna drown her and she lets it.

Once dry, Priyanka’s hair is a mass of waves that Lemon can’t stop complimenting and threading her fingers through, teasing it from side to side, fascinated. Priyanka keeps her hands firmly on Lemon’s waist and holds the impulse to push her away.

The air gets a little heavy, but never to the point of real summer middays. In a very muted, distant way, Priyanka wonders if Lemon will come back next summer and get the real beach-town experience. Everything’s more lively with more people milling around, and Lemon would fit right in with the crowd of pretty, young people, there for a good time and gone before you notice.

“So,” Priyanka says, slurping the last of her drink. “Why did you come to a beach in October?”

“Oh, my mom was swamped with work all summer. She practically runs her company now that her boss is retiring, so she couldn’t get away until now. It’s not ideal, but we take these yearly vacations very seriously.” She tears open a pack of Twizzlers. “Except Janice, apparently, ‘cause she’s too grown and in love to come join us,” she says petulantly, ripping the Twizzler in half with her teeth.

“The sister that bailed on you?” Priyanka says, taking the bag for herself.

“The bitch herself. She's going into year two of the honeymoon phase and shows no sign of getting any less gross, and I’m the one who has to deal with the consequences.”

“Aww, Lemon, are you jealous?” Priyanka teases, poking Lemon’s stomach.

“Pff, no,” Lemon says, squirming away. “I’m not jealous of Jaqueline, with her stupid museum curator title and her stupid fundraisers and her stupid outfits taken straight from the sixties—” She sees Priyanka’s raised eyebrow. “I’m not jealous, okay? I just think I was in Jan’s life first and I deserve at least as much attention!”

Priyanka laughs at her childishness, but still wraps her arm around Lemon’s shoulders.

“I’ll pay attention to you.”

Watching the rise and fall of the waves, both girls enter a silent trance. The tide has been rising steadily since they got there, and Priyanka realizes she miscalculated their spot, so they will have to move back the tent if they don’t want it to get wet. The mistake bruises her pride a little. She hasn’t been to the beach in too long.

She turns to inform Lemon of this when the girl’s phone chimes. Priyanka is polite and looks away, taking back her arm so Lemon can text comfortably. Without much expectation, Priyanka checks her own phone and sees no messages. She does, however, notice the time, and knows she needs to run home if she wants to shower before work.

“—organization!” Juice stated as she capped the blue marker, looking over the neat calendar she had drawn on her whiteboard.

On the couch, Priyanka looked amused and somewhat curious. Lemon looked bleary, since she’d been woken up from what she called her “weed nap” and was still trying to focus on the present moment.

“Where did you get a whiteboard?” asked Lemon, blinking in confusion.

“It may or may not belong to the school and I may or may not need your help to sneak it back right after this. Alright!” Juice clapped her hands. “So it’s been weeks of back and forth and I feel like we’re finally at a good point where we all know what we want. We all like each other, we all want to date each other. Right? Right?” She pointed the marker at each girl in turn. They both nodded. “Now we could let things develop organically, but I think it will be more fun if we all follow a very strict schedule!”

With this, she faced the whiteboard towards her… maybe girlfriends? Titles were yet to be discussed. It was item three at the meeting.

“I wrote down our work schedules and weekly activities from Mondays to Sundays. I’m pink, Pri is blue, and Lemon is obviously—”

“Yellow!” Lemon said happily.

“Green, actually, yellow doesn’t show up on the board. Sorry, Lem.”

Lemon pouted and Priyanka patted her knee.

“As you can see, we don’t have much free time that overlaps, with Pri and I working mornings at our school and Lemon busy in the evenings. But!” Juice spinned to face them. Both girls startled back. “It is possible. We could set mandatory, weekly hangouts. Pri and I already get together on Fridays to plan our classes for the following week. Lem and I game often, we could make it a fixed thing. And you two have been going on coffee dates since you met, so that’s covered. And we could have a date night all together! That way no one feels excluded.”

As she listed her ideas, Juice made little notes on the whiteboard, so focused she didn’t hear the other two get up from the couch.

“Juice,” said Lemon calmly beside her.

“Mhm?” Juice kept writing, until Priyanka’s hand steadied her wrist.

“Come to the couch,” said Priyanka, pulling Juice with her. Lemon sat on Juice’s other side, and both girls stared at her so intently that she thought, This is it. They’re dumping me before we even begin.

She should have seen this coming. From the second they met at Juice’s birthday party, Lemon and Priyanka had something special. Juice thought it was a matter of time until they started dating and she got two heartbreaks for the price of one. It would mean the end of Priyanka’s bold flirting at school, hidden from the other teachers, of Lemon’s fluttering eyelashes and smiles, of everything that made Juice feel so incredibly special.

But, surprisingly, neither girl had disappeared. They got together often, sure, but they also made plans to be with Juice alone, and it slowly bled into hanging out all together, all the time. Then one movie night at Juice’s place, the air a little charged with something unnamed, fleeting glances and electric touches, there was a first kiss and a flash of heartbreak. But then there was another first kiss, and a third one, and then there were three very happy, slightly confused girls. Only one thing was sure: they liked each other a lot. They wanted to try.

And now Juice had gone and screwed it up plastering her little moment of panic on a whiteboard. Which she may or may not have stolen.

Lemon spoke up first.

“Love the color-coded schedule, doll,” she said. Now that response, Juice was not expecting. “I’m a Virgo, so it’s right up my alley.”

“And your spreadsheets saved my ass last semester, so clearly you know what you’re doing,” Priyanka added. “But you’ve gone a little, um…”

“Crazy around the eyes.”

Priyanka reached over Juice to pinch Lemon’s thigh.

“What? It’s true!” Lemon gestured at Juice’s general demeanor. Her leg was bouncing, her eyes were wide and she kept capping and uncapping the marker in her death grip.

“I’m sorry,” Juice said, rubbing her hands up and down her thighs to calm down. “I guess I’m nervous.”

“We kind of noticed when you texted us ‘Urgent meeting’ in all caps.”

“Nice touch with the group chat, though, that’s gonna be useful.”

“Yeah. For our mandatory date nights,” Priyanka teased, bumping Juice with her shoulder.

Juice smiled and sighed.

“But why are you nervous? It’s just us.”

“It’s not— it’s not just you, for me. We’re friends, and I like you both so much, and I feel like so much could go wrong…”

The nerves were coming back up. So much was undefined and she needed some limits, some solid ground to stand on, but how could she ask for it in words when she couldn’t even pinpoint what she needed in her head?

“All right, give me that.”

Priyanka grabbed the marker and stood in front of the whiteboard, frowning as she examined it.

“If I move my sewing lessons to Mondays, I’ll have all Saturday free. Lemon, do you think you can go to the gym on Fridays instead?”

In reply, Lemon patted Juice’s hand and stood up to get the green marker, then made that adjustment on the board.

“There. Saturdays are for group dates.”

Priyanka gave a small cheer.

It took a moment for Juice to catch up to the shift in mood. They had gone from concerned (bordering on pity, she believed) to problem-solving mode, which was much more their speed. Lemon and Priyanka were doers, and it balanced out Juice’s overthinking ways. It was part of why she liked them so much.

“Still want to go on those dates with me?” she asked, looking at both girls.

“Yes! I can’t speak for Lemon, but this whole thing,” Priyanka gestured at the whiteboard, “is super endearing. And kind of a turn on.”

“Oh, completely,” Lemon said. “Bring that marker to the bedroom.”

“Alright, alright, I get it,” Juice said, blushing from their teasing. “So it’s fixed, then?”

“I didn’t think there was anything to fix, really,” said Lemon, sitting on the couch again, closer to Juice.

“Did you?” Priyanka sat on her other side, taking her hand to play with it. “Baby, are you feeling excluded? ‘Cause let me tell you, Lemon won’t shut the fuck up about you. Ever.”

“And Priyanka gets so stupid when you call her. Well, stupider.”

Reeling from the pet name and the confessions, Juice felt a little love drunk, and the familiar warmth from having both girls with her bloomed in her chest.

“I get stupid, too. About both of you.”

“Duh,” said Lemon, flipping her hair.

“How could you not, when you get all this?” Priyanka joked and moved her hands up and down her body.

“Lucky us,” Lemon deadpanned.

“So now that’s all sorted, can we kiss? Or do I have to make an appointment on the calendar?”

“Pri,” Juice pleaded as she leaned back on Lemon’s chest. “Don’t make fun of me!”

“No, sorry,” said Lemon, then hugged Juice’s waist. “You did something dumb, so now we get to tease you until one of us does something dumber.”

“I give it two days,” said Priyanka, as she laid back on Juice’s lap and looked at them upside down.

Juice grinned and leaned down, giving her a kiss.

“Are you still giving me the cold shoulder?” Priyanka asked, a mix of frustration and exhaustion in her voice. There was also an underlying hint of anxiety, but that was something she could address later, as much later as possible.

Lemon turned to look at her with a deadpan expression. She didn’t utter a word, instead, she blinked and looked back at her phone, scrolling in tension-filled silence.

The taller woman sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Lem, I told you I haven’t been avoiding you. Mark’s project got delayed so he’s home all the time. He was gonna start getting suspicious if I kept spending the night with you.”

“He keeping you occupied with that mediocre dick?” The cold harshness in her voice was, at least to Priyanka, even worse than the silence.

“Lem, don’t do this,” she pleaded softly. “You know I’d much rather be giving you my fake dick than taking his real one. But it’s just gonna be a little difficult for us to have our usual rendezvous until his project starts back up,” she explained, then quietly strummed her fingers against the bar. “I’ll make up an excuse and come over tonight… if you still want me to, I mean.”

Despite her best efforts, Lemon cracked a slight smile. “Yeah, I still do. I’m not gonna punish my pussy just because I’m still pissed at you.”

Priyanka put her arms up in surrender. “Hey, I’ll take what I can get.”

Lemon swallowed a laugh as she hopped down from the barstool. “I’ll be back after my shift, there better not be any sudden plan changes,” she warned before going upstairs to spend the time before her shift in the common room.

“You seem to be in better spirits,” Jan observed as she noticed Lemon come in. She sat down on the couch with the mug of coffee she’d just poured. “I take it Pri was finally able to pencil you in for a booty call?”

“Ugh, don’t say it like that, it makes me sound desperate,” she rolled her eyes. “Her stupid, ugly, smelly boyfriend is still around.

Jan quirked her brow. “Have you ever been in the same room as him?”

“No, but I don’t need to be to know I’m right.”

“You know I worry that you two are gonna end up in over your heads if you aren’t already,” she warned in a calm, gentle tone. She’d had a front-row seat to a fair amount of Lemon and Priyanka’s intimate trysts being Lemon’s roommate and from day one, she’d had the sinking feeling things would end badly. But there was only so much arguing one could do with someone like Lemon.

And unsurprisingly, Lemon scoffed. “Look, I know what we’ve been doing is amoral, but when you think about it, it’s not even our fault. It’s society’s fault for making Pri feel like she has some guy when I’m literally right here.”

“So you do wanna date her?”

Her face reddened, which she tried to offset by rolling her eyes. “That’s not what I meant.”

——

Denali fixed herself up in the quick-change dressing room. It was her last main stage dance for the night and she had just enough momentum built up to go out with a bang. She looked up when she saw Gigi walk in via the reflection in the mirror. “What’s with the smug grin?”

“I think you have a special visitor in the audience.” When they noticed the confusion in the dancer’s expression, Gigi followed up with, “Rosé asked me if you were up next and sat herself front and center when I said that you were.”

“Oh!” her voice went up in pitch and volume. She cleared her throat and instead focused on fixing her platinum blonde wig. “I mean… oh, cool. I’m sure she’ll enjoy the show.”

Gigi tilted their head to the side. “Is that how I sounded all this time? Fuck,” they shook their head. “Oh, by the way, I’ve decided to go by they/them off the clock, I’ve been letting the rest of the girls know too. It’s like, I’ve been feeling like I’m just dressing up like a girl on stage, you know how it is.”

Denali nodded as she got up. “Whatever makes you feel the most yourself, babe,” she told her with a smile, then took a deep breath as she sauntered onto the stage to the slow, seductive beat of the music. She focused on maintaining the confidence she always brought to her performances and not letting the fact that Rosé was right in her field of vision throw her off.

Rosé watched intently, and while her gaze tended to linger on Denali’s body, she would look up at her face often enough for something to click. She finally realized she recognized the dancer from her work as a cam girl. The realization made her blush but didn’t deter her in the slightest.

After Denali had finished her number, she beckoned Rosé over. She leaned down and whispered, “go upstairs, I’ll meet you there in five,” before backing off to collect her tips as if nothing had happened.

Naturally, Rosé made her way upstairs as quickly as her legs would take her and waited eagerly for Denali to join her. “You know,” she started when she saw her, “I figured out where I know you from.”

“You got me,” she replied and slowly pulled off her wig and wig cap in one go, so her black hair cascaded down her back. “I’m Hannah Montana.”

Rosé blinked, then snorted with laughter. “You’re so fucking stupid,” her tone was fond as she shook her head. “I guess it makes sense. Taking this on as a second job.”

“I’m a people person, being in front of a camera just doesn’t do it for me. Money’s decent, but still. I’ve been considering bringing that stage name over here.”

“Oh you’re not gonna make poor Heidi try and announce ‘Aurora Borealis,” she playfully chastised. Then there was a beat of silence. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked. “Did you think I’d have a problem with it or something?”

“No,” she shrugged. “It was more fun making you work for it.”

She cocked her brow. “Oh, you’re a little brat, aren’t you?”

“I feel like there’s not much use in trying to argue that, so.” Denali leaned against the wall, looking up at Rosé and fluttering her lashes with coy flirtation. “You gonna do something about it or not?”

Rosé tilted her head and bit her lip, moving closer to Denali until she had both arms bracketing her against the wall. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Was that your endgame the whole time? Give me this whole run around until I was frustrated enough to fuck you as hard as your bratty ass wants?”

“I mean… yes, obviously.”

“Not in the common room, we eat and cry in here.” Jan’s voice pulled Rosé and Denali from their moment, but she shrugged when they glared at her. “What? Just fuck in the spa room like the rest of us,” she told them as she grabbed a cup o’ noodles from one of the drawers that Jackie kept stocked for the girls, and left a couple of dollars from her bra in its place.

Rosé rolled her eyes. “Bitch, I will fuck her in front of you, don’t test me.”

Jan scoffed as she started eating her noodles. “Do it, I dare you.”

“I am begging you not to,” another voice chimed in, the three women turned to see Lemon come up the stairs. While of course, she had no issue with hooking up in various parts of the building, Rosé is her cousin and that was simply a line she refused to cross. She did not care how badly Rosé wanted to fuck Denali – and yes, she knew.

“I cannot believe you’re cockblocking me right now,” she huffed, glancing back at Denali and mouthing ‘sorry’.

But Denali was unphased by the entire exchange. “Girl, just take me home. I’m still gonna put out.”

“Oh,” Rosé blinked, “alright then.”

——

Even though it had barely been a week since Lemon and Priyanka had last hooked up, it felt like ages for them. The second they were inside Lemon’s apartment, clothes were coming off and being tossed any which way as they stumbled into the bedroom, naked by the time their bodies hit the bed.

Priyanka rifled through Lemon’s closet until she came back with the strap-on, fastening it around her waist. She smirked when she turned around and realized Lemon was waiting for her on all fours. “Damn, I should hold out on you more often,” she teased.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Lemon hissed as if there was the slightest chance Priyanka would pass up time with her if given the option.

She chuckled as she positioned herself behind her. “There’s my bratty little Lem,” she cooed, holding her waist with one hand while the other guided the length of the silicone toy into her. She waited for a beat after she bottomed out, making sure Lemon was comfortable before she began thrusting steadily.

Lemon started moaning out the second it started. Her hands fisted into the comforter on her bed, her head hanging forward. Whenever she wanted more or wanted it harder, she would push her hips against Priyanka to urge her on.

And Priyanka knew what each movement meant. “You’re so fucking needy, aren’t you? So desperate to get pounded out,” she grunted. Her hand moved from Lemon’s waist to grab her hair, pulling it back while her free hand moved between her legs, rubbing her clit in time with her thrusts.

“Fuck, baby, just like that, please,” it was only when Lemon was in the heat of the moment, and close to an orgasm, that she would use words like ‘baby’ or ‘please’ unless she was trying to get her way with something. But luckily for her, Priyanka obliged without comment, and she let out a sharp, pleasured cry as she came moments later.

“That’s my good girl,” Priyanka praised, pressing a kiss to her shoulder as she eased out of her, cleaning up and putting the dildo and harness away, then got under the covers. “Come, you owe me cuddles.”

Lemon ducked her head away to hide how big her smile was, then cuddled up to Priyanka, resting her head on her chest. “Not to be like, corny or whatever, but I missed you,” she mumbled, hiding her face in the crook of her neck, lest she accidentally make eye contact.

Priyanka grinned, shaking her head. “I missed you too, weirdo,” she said and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. She gazed down at her, feeling warmth and affection for a fleeting moment, before angst and melancholy built up from the pit of her stomach, coming out in a sad sigh.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I…” she chewed on her lip and looked away. “Yeah, it’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

——

Rosé hummed to herself as she got into the shower, letting the hot water wake her up from the deep sleep the night before. And perhaps she needed it more than she realized, as she was startled when she suddenly noticed she was no longer alone. “I thought you were still asleep.”

Denali shrugged. “I was. But then I woke up and you weren’t there, and I got bored.”

She chuckled softly, wrapping her arms around the smaller woman’s waist. “Well, good morning, then,” she pressed a kiss to her forehead. “You sleep alright?”

“More than alright. Pretty sure I passed out somewhere after the fourth orgasm,” she chuckled softly, trailing light kisses along her jaw.

Rosé smirked. “No wonder you’re so clingy, they always wanna stick around after they get fucked well,” she teased, her hands moving from Denali’s back to squeeze her ass. “That why you’re in here? Woke up craving more?”

“God, you’re so fucking cocky,” Denali huffed, though she had no honest way of denying that. “But… yeah, very much so.”

“That’s what I thought,” she chuckled before sinking to her knees and nudging Denali’s thighs apart. She gripped each of her thighs, keeping them far enough apart for her to trace her tongue along her folds, then swirled it around her clit.

Denali gasped out softly, resting her head against the wall. “Fuck…” she exhaled, her eyes fluttering shut, moaning at the sensation of Rosé’s tongue on her clit and her fingers easing their way into her.

Rosé continued to lick and suck on her clit as she steadily curled and thrust two fingers into Denali, her free hand moving to her waist, gripping it to keep her steady and hold her in place.

She whimpered and moaned, dragging her fingers through Rosé’s wet hair, her hips starting to rock despite her grip. It wasn’t long after that that she felt a familiar tightness building in her stomach. “Fuck, Rosie, I’m close,” she warned, and not a minute after that, her body arched forward as she came.

Once she was certain Denali was done, Rosé eased out of her and stood back upright, pressing a kiss to her lips. “Now, do you mind if I actually take a shower? I have to get ready for work.”

“Okay, okay,” Denali put her hands up in surrender as she stepped out of the shower. “You think your roommate heard us last night? Or just now?”

Rosé shrugged as she washed her hair. “Probably not, Mik sleeps like a rock. The bitch would sleep through a nuclear holocaust.”

“Fair enough, not that I mind an audience, after all,” she hummed. “Well, I’ll get out of your hair,” she laughed at her own joke then kissed her cheek. “I’ll see you around.” She dried off and redressed before leaving for her apartment. Everything had gone well so far, she thought, the sex was fantastic and they didn’t need to complicate it with anything else.

——

Lemon had just finished her set when she noticed something out of the ordinary. After grabbing her robe from the quick-change room, she made her way over to the bar. “What’re you doing back there, Jaida? Is Jackie cross-training the strippers now?”

“I bartended in college,” Jaida explained. “Pri couldn’t come in, said she had an important dinner to go to, and based on how it sounded, I think it’s with her boyfriend.”

“Gross,” Lemon muttered. “Gimme a melon ball and a lemon drop.”

Jaida arched her brow but made the shots for her nonetheless. “You a little cranky without your girlfriend here, huh?”

“She’s not my girlfriend!” she huffed, downing the shots one after the other. “And I don’t care who the fuck she has dinner with. I’m just annoyed because she was supposed to give me a ride home. Since, you know, Jan spends more time at Nicky’s than anywhere else.”

“I’ll give you a ride,” she offered with a shrug. “Something tells me you’re not gonna wanna be alone tonight.”

Lemon smiled weakly. “Thanks, I appreciate it.” She was quiet for a few beats with her downcast gaze on the bar, until she finally looked back up at Jaida and asked, “can I get another lemon drop?”

And, as it turned out, Lemon would need the adult supervision. Once her shift ended, she had gotten much more drunk and needed to be hauled into her apartment and tucked into bed, where she passed out almost instantly.

Jaida had stayed awake and watched Lemon for a little while, feeling almost a maternal instinct when it came to Lemon. But eventually, she retired to Jan’s room for the night, figuring she wouldn’t mind, given the circumstances, and slept through the night. She woke up the next morning to a knock on the door and pushed herself out of bed. “Oh, hey Pri, how was your dinner?”

Priyanka furrowed her brows. “Why are you in Lemon’s apartment?” she asked, her stomach tightening in a knot as she followed up with, “did you guys hook up?”

“Nah, she was too wasted to even try,” she shook her head as she ushered her inside, the two of them sitting down on the couch. “What’s going on? You look like you saw a ghost or something.”

Priyanka exhaled deeply. “No, um… actually, I’m kinda glad I can practice on someone else, because I’m terrified of telling Lemon,” she looked down, fumbling with the hem of her shirt, shifting uncomfortably, unable to find a satisfactory way to sit and instead just slumped forward and sighed. “Mark proposed. And I panicked and said yes.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a ring, morosely sliding it onto her finger.

“Oh shit,” Jaida blinked in surprise, her eyes widening when she saw the ring. She pressed her lips into a fine line. “Listen, this might not be the ‘right’ advice, but I don’t think you should tell Lemon yet. You can say whatever you want about whatever your relationship is, but it don’t take a rocket scientist to know it’s more than just sex. She’s not gonna take it well, you need to really think this out.”

She swallowed thickly and nodded, taking the ring off and putting it back in her pocket, then scratched at her hands as if she were fighting the urge to wash them. “You’re right,” she nodded, eyes focused squarely on the floor. “I can’t tell her yet.”

-1-

At the age of five, there wasn’t anything that Priyanka loved more than chocolate chip cookies.

No, but, any joke aside. It was a serious matter for her. Her mother didn’t buy that many sugary cereals, colorful candy, chocolates, or sweets in general but once in a while, she would buy a bag of cookies for her to take to kindergarten and share them with her classmates. Needless to say she never actually shared them. Young as she was, she was smart enough to fractionate the bag and make it last a few more days.

To achieve this, she planned and skimmed, and even had a secret hiding place where she could eat them without anyone or anything to bother her. It was the only moment of the day where she disappeared for a couple of minutes. On a regular day, she would be playing hide and seek or skipping the rope with the other kids but since she had four siblings at home, playtime was the only moment she had for herself and her chocolate chip cookies.

She had discovered a little nook next to the teacher’s lounge; it was almost entirely covered by a large leafy bush. For months, she had done a wonderful job sneaking out and coming back to the group before her teachers even noticed her absence. It was perfect and it worked for her convenience.

That was until one faithful day…

Priyanka was about to take the first triumphal bite of her cookie -the tastiest one that always felt a little like victory- when she heard a faint sob nearby. She stopped mid-bite to check who had discovered her secret when she noticed it was one of the girls from the classroom next to hers. She had seen her a couple of times but never spoke or played with her before, until that moment.

The little girl was sitting in the stairs’ steps, dangerously near the entrance -which was forbidden territory for any children- the bush covered much from that angle and it was obvious she didn’t want anyone to see her crying as well.

“Hey…” Priyanka approached softly.

The little girl lifted her head, her face was puffy and her eyes reddened after all that crying. She was still very pretty with her blonde pigtails and Hello Kitty hairpins, it reminded Priyanka those dolls with giant eyes and plastic hair.

“Why are you crying?” Priyanka asked innocently.

The girl hadn’t noticed her presence until that moment and she sobbed a little more, unable to speak.

“Do you want me to call your teacher?”

She shook her head in a negative gesture.

“I-I…” She struggled to find the words. “I-Ilona… she s-said my… she said my name was dumb.” The tears kept rolling down her face. “And s-she didn’t let the other girls p-play with me.”

Ilona. Priyanka did know Ilona, their mothers were friends and she knew the girl could be a meanie sometimes but nothing she couldn’t handle.

Priyanka kneeled next to her. “She’s just being mean.”

“But no one wants to play with me now!” The girl bawled her eyes out. Loudly.

“Wait! Wait! Don’t cry… don’t cry.” For some reason, she couldn’t stand the image of that girl shedding a tear. The idea popped in her head. “I’ll give you a cookie if you stop crying right now.”

The girl stared at her with a big pout on her mouth and her eyes glistening with shiny tears.

Priyanka extended her tiny hand and offered one of the cookies she so dearly adored, -for her, those cookies made her happy thus it would help the other girl to stop feeling sad, right?- the other girl hesitated for a moment before grabbing it, no one could say no to a chocolate chip cookie and that was a well-known fact.

She murmured something similar to a «thank you» and munched in silence. Priyanka sat next to her and had a cookie for herself.

“What’s your name anyway?”

“I’m Lucy… but my mom and my dad call me Lemon.” She said shyly. There were cookie crumbs over her mouth. “Because I like yellow… a lot.” She pointed at her -indeed- canary yellow ruffled dress and matching shoes.

“I see… I’m Priyanka.”

“Nice to meet you, Priyanka.”

Lemon shook her hand in a gesture that felt business-like. This got the other girl giggling before sharing another cookie with her newest friend.

“What were you doing here? The teacher said we don’t have to come this way.”

Priyanka’s eyes widened.

“I-… can you keep a secret?”

Lemon nodded, very severe about it.

“I didn’t want to share my cookies with the other kids of my classroom.”

Lemon gasped audibly.

“But you shared them with me!”

“You were crying.”

The blonde’s bottom lip trembled. “T-Thank you.”

“It’s okay… I tell you what, I’ll play with you.”

“You don’t have to…” She said shyly again.

“But I want to… come with me.” She put the bag of cookies back into her Rainbow Dash lunch box and extended her single hand towards the blonde.

Lemon didn’t hesitate this time and held it firmly.

Priyanka, being the natural chatterbox she was, of course, managed to make friends everywhere but for Lemon -who had always being withdrawn with strangers- the ease she had was something brand new.

“What do you want to play first?” Priyanka asked, still holding her hand.

“Hopscotch!” The enthusiast in her voice was contagious. It was difficult to believe it was the same girl that was crying just a few minutes ago.

“I’m the champion of hopscotch around.” Priyanka said proudly.

“You were.” Lemon giggled.

“Hey!” But Priyanka was smiling as well.

After that day, their friendship was set in stone. Priyanka and Lemon, Lemon and Priyanka: never one without the other.

-8-

“Ouch!” Scarlett yelled as soon as Priyanka pinched her arm. “What was that for?”

“You’re friends with Lemon on Facebook? What the fuck?”

“Ah, yeah…” She rubbed her arm. “She befriended me a while ago.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? We live together.”

“I didn’t believe you’d mind and I thought she would add you too. I don’t know, I probably was high as fuck.” Scarlett sipped her Frappuccino.

“You, Kiara, and my mother back-stabbed me. I can’t believe it.”

“If it’s any consolation, she only posts pictures with her friends and when she’s at the dance studio… also, she spends an unhealthy amount of time rambling about The Sims.”

Seemed about right.

“I’m more worried about the pictures I appear as «tagged» on your page.”

“Yeah, you’re like a hot mess there.”

Priyanka and Scarlett went for a beverage that afternoon after stopping by the mechanical workshop to check on Priyanka’s car –it was still uncertain and the mechanic had ordered a few pieces that were supposed to arrive later that week- luckily her parents had lent her the family car for the afternoon.

Priyanka had ordered a strawberry smoothie but almost forgot about it. Her thoughts were somewhere else.

“Priyanka, are you there?” Scarlett called her.

“Yeah, sorry…”

“Girl, you’re like… gone.”

“What do you mean?”

“Uhm…”

Scarlett sat with her arms crossed and a smirk on her face. She had cut her hair recently and the tips of her blonde bob were perfectly symmetric, it was almost in discordance with her rock-star-punk-grunge aesthetic of ripped fishnets, piercings, and leather jackets but Priyanka knew her better, she was just a softie who had cried with The Little Mermaid.

Goddammit. Don’t you see the subtext of female liberation, Priyanka? She had said with tears in her eyes.

“Nothing… only that you’ve been distracted lately. How weird is it that this behavior coincides with the return of certain someone to your life? Odd, isn’t it?”

“Cut the sarcasm… I know what you’re implying. Lemon helped me out the other day only because that’s what any person would’ve done.”

“No, you’re overestimating human kindness. Trust me, spending your entire afternoon with someone to help them with their… how did she call it?”

“Jalopy.”

“I mean, accurate.” Priyanka stuck her tongue out. “What I’m saying is that’s a big gesture and you should take it as a white flag from her.”

“When you’re right, you’re right.”

“So… what are you going to do now?” Scarlett inquired.

“I have no idea… You’re the second person who said something like that. Denali thought she was provoking me the other night in the club –she’s out of her mind- but she also said that I should make the next move.”

“I agree.”

“But what if I make a fool of myself in the process?”

“That wouldn’t be a novelty.”

“Fuck you.”

Scarlett lighted up a cigarette.

Right at that moment, Boa walked out of the café with an Iced Americano in her hand, she spotted both girls sitting outside and approached them.

“Hey, you two! I was going to text you later today.” She greeted both of them.

“Hey, girl.” Scarlett waved.

“Hi, Boa! Nice to see you.” Priyanka hugged her.

“So listen, some of the girls –myself included- are planning a little day at that lake that’s like half an hour from here and since the more the merrier, maybe you’d want to join us.”

“Sounds cool. Do you have a date in mind?”

“We set Thursday but if any of you guys can’t we could change it.”

“No, I think Thursday is fine for all of us. Priyanka?”

Priyanka had her thoughts floating like a cloud.

“When you say «some of the girls»… you mean?”

“Tynomi, Kyne, me…” She began listing.

“Boa we’re looking for a name started with «L», five letters, common yellow fruit used often in the kitchen.” Priyanka elbowed Scarlett.

“Oh! Yeah… We’re trying to convince Lemon to go too. She wasn’t into the whole nature thing but…” She cleared her throat. “If we convinced some more people maybe she’d change her mind.”

“Great so we’ll be there.” Scarlett wrapped her arm around Priyanka. “Text me the details later.”

“Sure, see you on Thursday!”

“Bye…” Priyanka smiled and when the girl walked away, she immediately turned to Scarlett. “What was that?”

“«Thank you, Scarlett, you’re such a good friend» you’re very welcome, Priyanka.” She put out her cigarette. “I did what it had to be done.”

“I see… but what if Lemon doesn’t show up?”

“She will be there and even if she doesn’t we could still have a nice day on the lake or whatever. Jeez, do I need to give you a pep talk whenever we plan something?”

“We’ll need a car, I can’t borrow my parent’s car all week and you came here by bus. Can Juice drive us there?”

“Yeah about that… Juice broke up with me.”

Priyanka frowned. “I thought you guys weren’t dating.”

“We weren’t, that’s why she gave me an ultimatum.”

“And what did you tell her?”

“I said I’d think about it.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“She agrees with you, obviously.” Scarlett leaned back on the chair. “However, I never wanted to break her heart with promises I wasn’t sure I was going to fulfill. I never promised her more than what I gave and it worked for some time.”

“Until it didn’t…”

It wasn’t shocking for Priyanka, she had always known that Juice wanted more but Scarlett –being the stubborn she was- never was going to admit she felt the same way, instead, she acted reluctant whenever the idea of having a serious relationship was brought.

“Scarlett, are you sure this is what you want?”

“Listen, what’s the point of starting a relationship with someone who doesn’t live in the same city.”

“She lives literally half an hour from Toronto.”

“Besides, I don’t want to give my freedom away… I don’t see myself ready to be in a relationship and you can’t say anything, you haven’t dated anyone for more than three days.” Scarlett pointed.

“Well, you got me there but this isn’t about me… don’t you see it? You’re about to lose something real and why? Because you’re scared of admitting you want it too.”

Scarlett looked down. “She deserves better than me…” She whispered.

“You idiot, she doesn’t want better, she wants you and you alone.”

“I feel like you’re insulting me somewhere there but…”

“Scarlett, focus.”

“You’re right, okay? I’m scared, I don’t want to hurt her and I’m terrified I might be too stupid to make a mistake or something… and now I don’t know what to do, I’m not a romantic person, I know nothing about big gestures…”

“Maybe roses? Carriage rides? Singing songs under the starry sky?”

“Gross…” She paused. “maybe roses though.”

“You did set the bar very low so…”

“Oh, shut up.”

“C’mon, I’ll drop you at her house.”

After taking Scarlett back to Juice’s house for what hopefully meant there would be a reconciliation between them –Priyanka had her fingers crossed- in the meantime, she stopped by her brother’s house. She had promised one of her nieces she’d take her to rent some DVDs they would watch after dinner.

It took less than five minutes to lose her at the video store.

“Mel? Mel?!” She started looking around. “Where did you go?”

Priyanka heard her voice coming from one parallel aisle.

“You’re very pretty.”

“Aw, thank you…you’re very pretty too.”

Priyanka also recognized that voice.

“Are you lost?”

She felt undoubtedly relieved when she found her niece chatting with Lemon who had kneeled on the floor to be at the same height.

“What’s your name?” Lemon asked the little girl.

“I’m Melanie.”

“Nice to meet you, Melanie. I’m Lemon, like the fruit.”

“Nice to meet you… Miss Lemon.”

“Did you come here with your mom? With your dad?”

She shook her head. “With my auntie.”

“Ah, I see… What do you say if we look for your auntie?”

“She’s right there.” She pointed at Priyanka behind her.

Lemon turned around and met the brunette’s eyes.

“Oh. It’s you, auntie… I should’ve guessed.”

“The resemblance is uncanny, isn’t it?” Priyanka smiled proudly.

Lemon was wearing a yellow and white striped long dress with buttons in the front, white sneakers, and had her hair tied in a French braid.

“You really convinced your brother to name his daughter like two-fifths of the Spice Girls, didn’t you?”

Priyanka rushed and covered her niece’s ears. “Shhhh… He doesn’t know that yet. It took me seven of the nine months of my sister-in-law’s pregnancy to plant the idea… neither Ginger nor Emma were working, so it was down to Melanie or Victoria.”

Lemon chuckled.

The brunette released the little girl from her grip. “Mel, go pick the movie you like but stay close where I can see you, alright?”

The little girl nodded and skipped with joy toward the kids’ movie section.

Priyanka looked at Lemon. “What are you doing here?”

“Getting my nails done, obviously.” She had a DVD box in her hands.

Priyanka rolled her eyes. “Knowing you, it must be… let me see, either Legally Blonde, Clueless, something with Meg Ryan on it, or… Drop Dead Gorgeous.”

She showed the title on the box. It was Drop Dead Gorgeous, a movie Lemon worshiped for her love for beauty pageants and bizarre humor.

“Rita has never watched it, can you believe it?”

“And you’re looking for new ways to traumatize her.”

“That might be my mission on Earth all along, spread the words of wisdom that come from this film.” She tapped the box with her acrylic nails.

Priyanka peeped over her shoulder to check on her niece who was still deciding between two Disney movies.

“So… are you going to the lake thing Boa’s planning?” The brunette asked as casually as she could.

Lemon shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not that into nature and being eaten by bugs…”

“Oh, so she’s a city girl now.”

“Listen, I spent a good ten years of my life going camping with my dad and hating every second of it. I thought it was finally over when I moved.”

“The girls and I are going… and I’m sure we’re taking some type of booze with us, snacks, a campfire… It will be fun.”

Lemon tilted her head. “I didn’t know you wanted me to go.”

Priyanka felt the heat on her cheeks. “Boa said the more the merrier… plus my car is still at the workshop and Scarlett might have screwed up her relationship with the one person that has a car among us.”

“So you need a ride… that’s it?”

“Yeah… and it’ll be fun being all together again.”

“Sure… okay. I’ll tell Rita and we’ll be there.”

“Really?”

She nodded.

At that moment, Priyanka’s niece returned with a DVD of Brave in her hand.

“Are you dating my auntie Pri?” She asked unscrupulous and unfiltered like any six-year-old.

Priyanka’s mouth dropped to the floor.

“Mel! You can’t ask people… That’s not… You don’t get to…”

“But daddy said that you like girls and that if you were going to date someone it would be a girl… and she’s a girl.”

Logic.

Lemon covered her mouth with her hand, she was blushing underneath.

“Mel just because I’m talking to a girl it doesn’t mean that I’m dating her.”

“But she’s pretty… she’s prettier than you.”

“Oh, I like her.” Lemon giggled.

“Hey! You little brat, who’s the one renting movies with you.”

Traitors.

“Why aren’t you dating her, auntie Pri?” Priyanka covered the girl’s mouth.

She was asking the real questions.

“Okay, I think it’s time to go home. Brave, huh? Good choice.” She looked at Lemon. “See you on Thursday…?”

The blonde smiled. “I’ll pick you up.”

“Okay, great.”

“Goodbye, Priyanka. Bye, Mel.” She waved at them.

The girl barely had the chance to wave back since her aunt dragged her to the line of the checkout counter. She stared at Priyanka with her wide brown eyes.

“What is it?”

“You like her.” Mel said with a mischievous look on her face.

“Shhh… keep it low…” She looked around to check Lemon wasn’t around. “You can’t just say those things, Mel. Exposing people’s feelings isn’t right.”

“So you like her.”

“Jeez, calm down Regina George.”

“Who’s Regina Gorge?”

“It doesn’t matter… The thing is… Lemon and I are… friends? Just that, okay? We’ve known each other since we were your age and I don’t think she likes me that way.”

“Have you asked her?” Her niece inquired.

“Well, no…”

“Why not?”

“Because…” She was scared of the potential answer to that question. “It’s complicated… growing up is complicated.”

“I don’t want to grow up never.” She whined.

“Me neither.”

Priyanka took the DVD to register it and pay for it.

Brave, sure.

On Thursday morning, Priyanka received a call from Scarlett, she explained that things with Juice were smooth sailing and that –since they had left the problems aside- she was going to pick her at home. In the car, there were Juice, Scarlett, Kiara, Denali, and Priyanka whereas Lemon and Rita had relocated in a different car.

The day started on the wrong foot since that change in scheduling but Priyanka had the hope it could only get better from there. She had a full breakfast with her parents and then prepared her things in a backpack, including sunscreen, snacks, a towel, and things only her mom could remember to include –and that she yelled from downstairs to make sure Priyanka would remember.

Priyanka brushed her hair and tied it into a ponytail, then she put her turquoise bikini on –she liked how the color looked against her skin-, grabbed a pair of denim shorts with embroidered flowers and a white cotton tank top. She found a pair of aviator sunglasses on the drawer of her room that were definitely her sister’s –emphasis on the «were»- and with a pair of flip-flops, she was ready.

Boa had said that it was allowed to swim on the lake where the water was shallow and that there was a lifeguard just in case. The weather was in their favor, the day was all warm and sunny even when it started with a couple of clouds, it had cleared up since then. Her mother reminded her to take a light jacket with her because it could get colder during the evening.

Priyanka was about to argue with her when she heard the sound of the horn outside. She put the jacket on her backpack and said goodbye to her mom before opening the entrance door.

To her surprise, there was an egg yolk car parked in front of her house.

Lemon rolled down her window. “Get in loser, we’re going to a lake… for some reason.”

She had a pair of heart-shaped pink sunglasses resting on top of her head and a lollipop on her hand.

“What is this?”

“I told you I was going to pick you up.” She unlocked the passenger’s door.

Priyanka got in the car and buckled up. Her entire body was tingling.

“I thought you were sharing a car with the other girls.”

“Don’t change the plans I’ve already set, I’m a Virgo.”

“Don’t you have a bumper sticker with that written on it?”

“I’m glad someone has finally seen it.”

Priyanka threw her backpack on the backseat and noticed how empty it was.

“Wait, what about Rita? Wasn’t she coming with you?”

Lemon got the car moving.

“No, I pushed her down the stairs yesterday.” She said, dead serious. “I’m just kidding; I went to pick some things from Tynomi’s place, Kiara and she were speaking in French and got along well so she decided to go with them. Because of that, I have the trunk full with two coolers and their bags so –for their own good- I hope they gave me the right address.”

Just then it hit Priyanka it was just the two of them for the next half hour.

Lemon looked lovely with a yellow poplin puff-sleeve crop top with little lemons embroidered around the neckline and a pair of navy paper bag shorts. The strips of a bright yellow swimsuit could be seen underneath her clothes and she was driving with sneakers because driving with flip-flops is hell but overall the look screamed summer in the Italian Riviera with a glass of limoncello.

And well, Priyanka was gay and thirsty.

“Did you hear what I said?” Lemon asked raising an eyebrow when they stopped in a red traffic light.

“Something about music…?” It was a wild guess and she would be lying if she said her fingers weren’t crossed.

“Yes, can you put something on the radio?”

Priyanka scanned the CDs on the glove compartment and finally decided for the always great Good Girl Gone Bad –just because she wanted Shut Up and Drive to play while Lemon was driving- and because it had some iconic bops.

“Are you certain about the route we’re taking?” The brunette asked.

“What do you mean?” Lemon clicked her tongue. “I know how to follow directions. I also have a map… I’m a strong independent woman who needs no instruction on how to get to a stupid lake in the middle of nowhere-”

“Hello, my friend and I are lost; do you know which is the best way to get to the lake?” Priyanka had to pat herself on the back for that level of fake kindness, she even batted her lashes.

Lemon, on the driver’s seat, kept grumbling something in a low voice.

“Yeah, you’re almost there, it’s five minutes from here… you have to take the next entry to the left and then continue straight forward. You’ll be there in the blink of an eye.”

“Thanks, good man. We appreciate it.” She waved at the man at the gas station. Then she turned to Lemon. “You see? It wasn’t that difficult.”

“We were almost there.”

“Yes, except for the fact that we’ve been driving around in circles for the past fifteen minutes. I told you it was the right entry.”

Lemon huffed and puffed like a child.

Priyanka attempted to skip one of the songs but the blonde interfered by pushing her hand aside. Priyanka crossed her arms on her chest and pretended to be offended.

Just like the man had said, in no time they spotted the lake entrance.

Lemon sighed of relief while Priyanka cheered.

“Yay! We made it!”

Once they got closer, they agreed it was all worthy. The beautiful scenery of the lake with crystalline blue water framed by the rows of mountains covered in green and leafy pine trees left them in awe.

A figure waved at them –probably one of the girls- they were gathered in a small semicircle that resembled a beach with dirt and gravel next to a wooden port. There were other people around, families, some kids playing in the water, swimmers, boats, and canoes.

Lemon parked the car in an empty spot among others, some of the girls helped them with the coolers and the bags that were on the truck.

“Good night, ladies.” Scarlett mocked.

“You two finally made it.” Boa grabbed one of the coolers with the other girl’s help.

Priyanka was about to say something about their delay in the same joking tone but she caught a glimpse of Lemon, she was serious, noticeably embarrassed by the situation. So instead, she cackled and played it down.

“Yeah, can you believe I told her the wrong entry on the highway? Lemon almost killed me we were spinning around for like fifteen minutes, right?” She looked at the blonde and subtly winked.

“Ah, yeah…” Lemon’s eyes were big just like a deer caught in headlights, the tips of her ears turned red just like her cheeks. “But we’re here… so… it doesn’t matter.”

“Priyanka you dumbass, we’ve come this way before.” Scarlett nagged her.

“Oh, shut up… I forgot.” She picked her backpack and threw it over her shoulder. Lemon hadn’t moved. “Hey, let’s go. We have all day ahead.”

The blonde nodded and locked the car before following them to the port.

The view was even more breathtaking up close as the sunlight shone onto the waters of the lake, it also glinted on the gold rims of Priyanka’s glasses and bathed her completely in a warm sensation.

They were received with cheers –especially since they have the food on the coolers and it was almost noon-, she saw Kiara applying some suntan oil and chatting with Rita and Starzy over a small wooden harbor, as soon as Scarlett and Boa arrived with the cooler, the blonde started an argument with Ilona over the best way to ensemble a tent –and repeatedly called each other “sis”-, Kyne, Tynomi and Juice ignored them and started setting a grill.

“You didn’t have to lie to cover my blunder.” Lemon whispered.

“I know.” Priyanka stretched her arms. “I figured you’ve suffered enough for one morning. If you’re feeling generous you can get me a drink or something in return.”

Lemon scoffed. “Get it yourself.” She started walking to where Rita, Starzy, and Kiara were but before she was further in distance, she turned around. “Thank you, though.”

Priyanka smiled at her and then went to help the other girls with the food. They entrusted her washing the vegetables at some gazebo nearby with a little kitchen and a sink. Tynomi helped her peeling and cutting once she was done and then they prepared the skewers. Scarlett’s pyromania was helpful to light the fire, although the flame that rose in the air caused quite a fuss.

Right when Priyanka put the last skewer on the trade for Tynomi to take it to the grill, a paper cup with pink lemonade and ice appeared in front of her, Lemon held it steadily.

“Oh, hey there.” Priyanka took a sip, it was sweet and it had something that kicked in. “Thank goodness this has alcohol on it.”

“It’s vodka, careful with the empty stomach, though.”

“Signature cocktail?”

Lemon shrugged. “I guess it falls into the category of colorful and sugary.”

“I don’t know if it’s because it’s hot as fuck but this is actually delicious.”

“Of course it’s delicious, I made it.”

“That’s obvious; you can taste the modesty on it.” Lemon made a childish grimace. “Have you jumped in the water yet?”

“I just soaked my feet for a little.”

“And?”

“Cold like a penguin’s butt.”

“You’re exaggerating.”

Lemon took the cup back and drank a sip, her lip gloss stained the material. She kept biting her bottom lip as if she wanted to say something but she sneaked out to help Boa with something when Priyanka wasn’t looking.

In that part of the lake it was allowed to camp and there were several tents set around the land, there were also a couple of forest rangers roaming around –probably attracted by the fake fire alarm- but the girls had been clever enough to keep the bottles saved in the coolers.  They all ate vegetable skewers and hamburgers sitting in a big circle and drank beer and cranberry vodka in paper cups.

Someone had brought a radio and they all sang Stars Are Blind when it played. After having lunch they stayed there reminiscing and telling stories from school. They were all laughing and cracking jokes it took Priyanka by surprise when the story of her seven minutes in heaven was brought.

“More like seven minutes in hell.” She gagged.

She re-told the story for those who hadn’t heard it and then realized that Lemon was among those people. The blonde hadn’t said a word since she started her narration, in fact, she paid attention to every word that came out of her mouth. She didn’t laugh when Priyanka tried to minimize she kissed a guy she didn’t want to kiss or when she tried to use the humor as a shield as she had done before.

“What an asshole.” She said when the brunette finished the story. She was angry and it showed. She was so mad she had sobered up.

“Yeah… but on the bright side… that helped me realize things. It was enlightening, I dare to say… even when that closet was dark as fuck.”

“Still… I hope he chokes or something.” Lemon was fuming.

Later on, Ilona exposed Scarlett who had claimed to be in detention many times in high school when she was just in the library, studying. Even when she tried to argue, Priyanka caught her friend sitting right next to Juice as she tenderly held her and stroked her hand with her thumb. She assumed things were alright with them now and couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous of what they had.

Vodka, it’s me… I have seen what you did for others…

Lemon told a story about one time she got lost in the subway with their friends and they almost ended in Staten Island –Priyanka refrained from commenting on the fact that Lemon wasn’t good at following indications, indeed- and Denali, the only non-Canadian of their panel discussion mentioned it had happened to her as well.

“I’ll be in New York for a competition in a few months.”

“You should come to visit me.” Lemon smiled brightly.

“That would be fun… Priyanka could come as well.” She stared at the brunette who gaped at her in surprise. “And tell me, do you have any single friend?”

“I’ve got some… yeah. I could make some arrangements.”

“I’d love that.”

“Slut-Nali.”

“Proudly.”

Later during the afternoon, some of the girls were brave enough to try to dive in the shallow waters of the lake, Priyanka among them, and, she regretted the moment her body made contact with the glistening surface but once her body was fully immersed it was like a shot of adrenaline in her body.

She surely looked like she had seen a ghost when she emerged because Lemon laughed loudly at her. The blonde was cozily sunbathing on the shoreline at an unsafe distance for someone mocking the swimmers.

Priyanka moved her arms toward her.

“Don’t you dare… Priyanka, I swear to God if you even try-”

The cold droplets touched her skin before she could finish that sentence.

The blonde squirmed and squealed.

“Bitch…” She shook the water off her body.

“Who’s laughing now?” She moved like a fish in the water.

“You won’t be laughing when you need your towel to get out.” Lemon waved it like a flag.

“Listen, you…” Priyanka started walking out of the water, the other girl was already running.

It was way colder out of the water and it took the brunette a minute to get used to, get her flip flops, and chase after Lemon who still had her towel on her hands. She hid behind Rita and stuck her tongue out, the girl caught in the middle raised her hands in a sign of rendition. They were like a couple of kids. Priyanka was about to say something when Scarlett and Juice came near them.

“Hey, we rented a boat over there and we were wondering if you would like to come with us.” Juice grinned.

“I pass, I’m not going on a boat ride with these two.” Rita pointed at them, Lemon was still looking over her shoulder.

“Pri, Lemon? What about you?”

“Sure… it would be fun, as soon as this bitch gives me my towel back.” Priyanka cast an accusing glance at the blonde.

Lemon threw the towel directly to her face.

“What’s so thrilling about a boat ride?” She asked while Priyanka wrapped herself in the towel.

“You said the same about coming here today and yet you’re having a good time, right?” Lemon shrugged. “C’mon, I’m not going to push you in the water or something.”

“Now I know for a fact that you’ll try to push me into the water.”

“Are you possibly scared?” She taunted.

“I’m not scared of a boat if that’s what you’re saying.”

“It’s settled then, we’ll meet you in five minutes over the pier where the boats are moored.” Scarlett grabbed Juice’s hand and they walked away.

Priyanka put her shorts and sunglasses on; she grabbed her bag and hung it over her shoulder. She checked on Lemon when she was done putting clothes on too.

“Ready?”

The blonde hesitated for a moment. “I guess.”

“Listen, there’s really nothing to be scared of, we’ll get life jackets and everything.”

“That’s not- Never mind.” She shook her head and grabbed her things. “Let’s go.”

Juice and Scarlett were already waiting for them with their life jackets on, they explained to the girls how to put them on.

“You two get in the boat and we’ll untie the knots and push it in the water.” Scarlett indicated.

The boat was made of wood and painted in white with matching paddles, the name Perseverance was written in blue on one of the sides.

Lemon sat first and she helped Priyanka to get in.

“Did you know it’s bad luck to change a boat’s name?” She told Priyanka. “It’s said they always sink if you do.”

“We should double-check this isn’t repainted or something underneath, right?”

“Why? Are you scared?” Lemon mocked.

Priyanka elbowed her.

Juice was done with the knot and she jumped in the water to help Scarlett.

“Okay, one, two… three.” They pushed the boat that swayed a little with the waves before stabilizing.

“Have fun you two!” Juice waved at them.

“Wait…” It took Priyanka a moment before understanding what was going on. “Hey!”

“Oh my God…”

The girls behind were cackling as the boat was carried further by the water stream.

“I think we’ve been set up.”

“There might be a chance, yeah.”

Scarlett mouthed a soft «Sorry» but Priyanka knew she wasn’t regretting anything. This had to be planned beforehand and she had a vague idea what the point was. She stared at Lemon who had picked up one of the paddles and was examining it.

“Do you think we can go back?”

“I doubt that we can row against this current.” She declared after taking a look at how the water kept taking them away from the coast. “Our best chance is to let it drag us down to calmer waters where we can paddle from to the closest coast.”

“You really learned a few scout things when you were camping with your dad, didn’t you?”

“Aren’t you glad I did?” She smirked.

Certainly, Priyanka was glad because at least one of them had a clue of what to do and how to get them out of that situation but, at the same time, it meant that they were going to be stuck for a while in that boat.

As they started moving away from the coast, the silhouettes of his friends became blurry and they were surrounded by the vast scenery of the mountains and the woods. The sun was lukewarm and the little waves rocked the boat like a cradle, it was soothing.

Priyanka laid on the floorboards and looked at the clouds crossing the sky. Lemon watched the water around the boat to eventually join the brunette.

“This is nice,” Priyanka whispered. “I think it’s the longest we’ve been without arguing or bitching.”

Lemon chuckled. Priyanka looked at her and could see every detail of her face, the curve of her lips the little mole over them, the tip of her nose, the length of her lashes, the color of her eyes…

Suddenly she felt shy.

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that I can be an annoying bitch sometimes but you’re the one person that’s always there for me…” Lemon murmured.

Priyanka’s cheeks turned red. “What?”

“That’s the first line of the last e-mail I wrote for you after we… drifted apart.”

“I never received it.”

“I never sent it.” She fidgeted nervously. “I don’t know if it would have made any difference, you seemed pretty determined to me.”

So they were going to talk about it. It was the conversation neither of them had brought up for the longest time but it was there, lingering in the air like a dark cloud of unsolved problems.

“I needed to put some distance between us…” Priyanka felt the unavoidable knot on her throat like whenever someone touched the subject. “I wasn’t being honest with you… I was scared. You had these plans that didn’t include me in your future, I felt like I was being left out while my plans always included you.”

“Priyanka, I had to move forward to survive… Yes, I met new people, I made new friends and I set new goals but you were never out of the picture. It was difficult for me because I don’t know, you were always the one that everyone liked instantly and you made friends in a heartbeat without even trying it. Your friends were our friends because of that but when I was on my own… I feel like I’m more an acquired taste, people tend to like me better when they know me but until then…”

She sighed.

“I had these problems that seemed small in proportion and I didn’t want to become a burden for you, being so far away from each other. I just wanted to share the good parts. You were the only thing in my life that felt like a constant and then… you were gone.”

She looked at Lemon in the eyes. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I’ve ever apologized for that. And just for the record, small problems, big problems… I should’ve been there for you no matter what. Back in the day, I don’t know… it’s not an excuse but I felt like it was easier to push you away and that you got to live a life without me at some point.”

“Why?” Lemon frowned.

“I don’t know.” Priyanka lied. “I didn’t want to be a burden either.”

“I’m sorry, too. I didn’t know what to expect when I saw you here but, these last couple of days I realized how much I had missed you. I wrote that in the e-mail too, I wish I had sent it.”

Priyanka’s heart skipped a beat.

“Me too.” The brunette spoke clearly. “I’m freaking proud of you and everything you’ve achieved… What I’ve heard because I didn’t befriend your New York friends on Facebook to find out.”

“They were my friends too. I didn’t add them only to stalk you or something like that. And, for what it’s worth, I think you’re doing amazing too… aside from that car of yours.”

“Laugh all you want but I bought that car to go visit you in New York someday.”

Lemon sat straight on the boat. “You were going to drive all the way there in that to visit me? That counts as risking your life, you know?”

“Well… yeah… that was the idea. I wanted to see you.” Priyanka sat down as well.

“Pri…”

“And you only came back for your dad’s wedding… why did you come back now? After so long?”

“My dad’s wedding was… an event. It would’ve been fun to have you there though, there was so much booze.”

“They can always renew their vows.”

Lemon laughed. “Well, and as I told you before, my mom was going on a cruise ship so I wanted to visit everyone here. The fact that it coincided with your visit was mind-blowing for me too.”

“Were you mad?”

“Yes, I was fuming.”

They both started laughing at loud.

“I’m not going to lie I did want to start a fight that day in the dining… and later on the club… and on the cereal aisle…”

Priyanka threw water from the lake at the girl’s face.

“Hey! Don’t!” Lemon shook her head. “I think it got on my eyes wait…”

“Oh no, sorry… I didn’t mean to…”

Priyanka got closer but at that moment the other girl counterattacked with some more water.

“Bitch…”

“You deserved it.” She cleaned some drops. “But I think it really got on my eyes, can you hand me my bag.”

Priyanka’s face was still wet but she did as she asked.

“Shit, my contact lenses are falling.” She looked through her bag until she found the container.

“Do you need help with that?”

“No, just a second…” She removed both contact lenses and saved them back. “Better.”

“I’m over here.” Priyanka mocked.

“Fine… I can’t see beyond my hand.”

“I know that.”

“Could you get me my glasses? They are there, somewhere…”

“Yeah, let me…”

Lemon’s bag had lip gloss, sunscreen, candy… transparent frame glasses.

“Here.” She put them in her hand.

“Don’t make fun of me.” She mumbled. “I never wear these in public…”

“Lemon, I’ve known you for ages I do remember how you look like with glasses on.”

Priyanka took them back and opened the temples before placing them gently on the blonde’s face. She adjusted the nose pads above her nose and removed some hairs out of her face.

“There,” She looked proud of her work. “See, nothing less than stunning.”

Lemon had a beaming smile on her face, she’d never look bad with or without glasses on.

She didn’t realize how close they were until Lemon batted her lashes. She could’ve kissed her right there but instead, she just moved away with her pulse running wild and her face feeling hot and no sunshine to blame for it.

The blonde extended her little finger as a white flag. “Are we good?”

Priyanka sighed with relief. “Best friends forever.” She sealed the pinky promise.

However, the word «friends» tasted bitter on her tongue.

“That’s right.” She was still holding their fingers together. “Priyanka and Lemon, Lemon and Priyanka.”

“You won’t happen to have something to eat in that bag of yours, will you?”

“I think I packed some Oreos this morning.”

“You’re my hero.”

It was almost sunset by the time they got back to the coast and they still had to border the lake to get back where the other girls were. Nonetheless, the setting of the sun was a spectacle they watched in awe as the daytime ended with the sun’s departure.

It was starting to get cold and Priyanka was the only one who had brought a jacket so she lent it to Lemon –it looked a bit oversized but she still looked good on it.

They walked for a little before meeting the rest of the group, luckily the place was fully enlightened and they had made sure they hadn’t gone too far to lose sight of the camping area. The other girls welcomed them back with a big cheer, some of them were already setting a little fire to toast marshmallows and sing songs with a guitar.

“I’m going to the bathroom.” Lemon headed to the public toilet while Priyanka joined the circle around the bonfire.

“So…” Denali sat next to her right away. “How did that go?”

“You knew.” Priyanka crossed her arms on her chest. “I can’t believe it, y’all helped to orchestrate this stunt.”

“…maybe. But it was for a good cause.”

“Which one?”

“Getting you a girlfriend.”

Priyanka rolled her eyes.

“I swear…”

“What happened over there?” Scarlett, Kiara, and Juice surrounded her like a group of teenagers.

“She doesn’t want to spill the details.”

“That’s because nothing happened and you should mind your own business.”

“What do you mean nothing happened? You two were there for like two hours.”

“We did talk about why we first fought and other things but it’s nothing close to what you think so you should drop it. I’m being serious right now.” She cleared her throat. “Lemon and I are friends… that’s it. Don’t try to push it further because it’s not going to happen.”

It was clear at that point that fixing their friendship was more important than risking her feelings; maybe she could tell Lemon one day and they could laugh about it just like they had done earlier but, at that moment, things were very recent and fragile to drop any more information into the mix. Priyanka wanted to have her on her life and she wasn’t going to lose her best friend over some unrequited love she had.

If she had dealt with it most of her life, she surely could do it again.

The girls protested but they sat back in their places. Lemon joined them shortly after, she sat next to Priyanka, the sleeves of her jacket looked like sweater paws on her.

“Hey, do you mind going back with the girls? I was talking to Rita and she’s kind of tired so I’m going home with her.”

“Oh, sure. No problem. Is she alright?”

“Yeah, just tired and maybe sunburn. I don’t want to drive when it’s too late either.”

“Alright. Are you still coming to dinner with my family? My mom said she’ll be waiting for you.”

“Saturday, right? I’ll be there.” She smiled. “I’m really glad we got to talk today, Pri.”

“Me too.”

She hugged her Lemon before she left; the blonde then greeted everyone else.

Priyanka watched in silence as the yellow car left the park.