Chosen Family Pt. 05

Author's Note:

This is the fifth and final part. Thank you so much to everybody who has gone on this enormous, 137,000-word journey with me, and I really hope you enjoy the conclusion!

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Brittany

"There's so many people here," Ivy observed, her offhand tone betrayed by a nervously tapping foot.

Brittany glanced up from over the top of her book. The waiting room was filling up more than she'd expected, but they were mostly younger people, which was according to her plan. She'd picked this particular audition for Ivy because it seemed to occupy a middle ground for serious amateurs. People who could legitimately act and wanted to have some fun on stage, but weren't trying to make a career out of it. It was located near Amherst, one of the universities close to town, and part of her plan was that Ivy would stick out from amongst all the college age competition.

Brittany smiled to herself and turned the page. This book, Gideon The Ninth, was the most recent in Ivy's immense stack of literary suggestions for her, and it was really heating up. "I can't get enough of all of Gideon's quips. She's so sassy, it's great," she said, then raised the book just high enough to block Ivy glaring at her. She'd gone back and forth between extremes in the days leading up to now. Alternately thanking her for signing her up for this audition, taking the initiative she'd always been too nervous to... and then other times insisting she'd never forgive her for it.

She hadn't fully appreciated it before, but now Brittany thought she did. It wasn't just that Ivy was shy about her acting passion, like she was with her art. It was more that she liked having the dream. Like, as long as she didn't try to pursue acting, then she couldn't fail at it, and the dream of someday doing it could live on. But, if she tried and failed, it would mean she wasn't good enough, and the dream would die.

If she'd understood that weeks ago, she probably wouldn't have signed Ivy up. She thought she was just helping Ivy overcome a bit of nerves! Once she'd realized how much of her identity hung in the balance, she'd done her best taking responsibility by helping Ivy prepare. They'd watched what felt like a dozen versions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, gone over Titania's lines and her motivations in every scene, again and again until Brittany felt like she could get the part herself if she'd been auditioning.

And Ivy... well, everything had come together, and any doubt Brittany might have had was gone. Ivy didn't just sound like the Shakespearean queen of the fairies, she moved like a mystical creature and gave off an aura like royalty.

All Brittany had to do was keep Ivy calm and get her out on stage without having a panic attack. "It's also the way Tamsyn Muir describes things," she said, hoping to distract Ivy with book talk again. "I feel like I could stare at a blank page for a year and never imagine all these unique creative images she comes up with every few paragraphs."

Brittany heard Ivy sigh from the other side of her book shield. "What part are you on now?"

"Gideon and Harrowhark are trying to puzzle out what's happening in one of the labs."

"Oh, you've still got a ton to go."

Brittany repositioned the book to steal a glance at Ivy. Tense. Very tense, like the folding chair she was perched on was a roller coaster about to go over the drop. The door to the audition room opened and somebody came through, looking much less confident than he had when he'd gone in, Brittany thought. The next person was called, and Brittany could practically hear Ivy's mind reflexively counting through how many more people before her turn.

She thumbed through the pages all the way to the start, looking for one such line she'd quite enjoyed. Somewhere close to the opening... where... there! "Like, here," Brittany pointed at the page and passed the book across to Ivy. "Crux advanced on her like a glacier with an agenda," she quoted. "It's little things like that, that make me wish I could come up with stuff like that myself. Or this other one. I actually wrote this one down," Brittany went searching again, finding the spot more quickly and quoting, "... Teacher watched with the air of a man with front-row seats to back-alley dental surgery."

Ivy gave a little chuckle, which Brittany counted as a major victory. "She is really good at those."

"Right! Like, who the hell has ever imagined what a back-alley dental surgery would look like? But after you read it, you can totally picture Teacher's expression!"

They'd arrived far too early. The idea had been that Ivy would be more relaxed if she wasn't checking the clock every few seconds and worrying about traffic. Waiting while one hopeful at a time took their turn in the other room was worse. The vibe in the room didn't help at all. Everybody was tense. No conversation, everybody on their phones, and sidelong glances whenever Brittany's voice broke the silence. She eventually let the attempts at conversation lapse, and scooted her seat closer to Ivy so she could read alongside her.

When Ivy's name was finally called, it was a pretty sweet relief. For her, at least. Ivy herself gave a little jump, even though they'd known she was next. She stood hesitantly, like she was walking to her execution and trying to draw out the last seconds of life.

Brittany met her eyes and held them, firmly. "Who are you?"

Ivy shut her eyes for a second, took a little breath, then very softly said, "Titania..."

"Are you asking me or telling me?"

This time, a deeper breath. "Titania, queen of the fairies," she said, a good deal more firmly.

Brittany nodded, approvingly, and gave Ivy's shoulder a squeeze. "You got this!"

She would have loved to accompany her into the audition area, but apparently moral support had to wait with all the other hopefuls. Taking another look around the room, Brittany really thought she'd picked a good strategy for Ivy. So many of the women here were college age, probably chasing the two lead parts, Helena and Hermia. Even though she and Ivy weren't that much older, Ivy would still stand out. She was perfect for Titania. The role was so multi-faceted, strong and regal in some scenes, and comic in others. If anybody could jump seamlessly between that, it was Ivy.

She was perfect! Right. No doubt. None at all. Brittany gripped the sides of the book tight, forcing herself not to look at the door, or the clock, or anybody else, even though she was too distracted to actually read any of the words she was staring at.

When Ivy finally returned, she swept through the door in full queen mode. She strode directly up to Brittany, firmly took her by the hand, and without saying a word, practically pulled her out of her chair and out into the hallway.

Did that mean it had gone bad? Had she ruined Ivy's dreams forever? Brittany desperately wanted to know, but couldn't make herself ask.

As soon as they were alone, Ivy spun around. There was a spark in her eyes - a bright, lively passion that answered Brittany's questions immediately. It was good. Everything was good. She started to relax, but the tension leaving her body seemed to trigger Ivy to pounce. Before she knew what was happening, Ivy had backed her into a wall, wrapped one hand possessively around the back of her head, and was kissing her.

In a way, it was the most surprising thing that had ever happened to her in her life! In another way, she'd been expecting it for ages. Brittany closed her eyes and let herself get swallowed up in being kissed. Ivy tasted so passionate, like her excitement and joy was a distinct flavor on Brittany's tongue, and her smell pressing in from their closeness was just as wonderful. Ivy's hand brushed through her hair, the other tenderly caressing her neck, and Brittany thought she understood Ivy's emotion. How much of a release she was feeling - her hands and mouth felt like they were pressing little thank-yous into her.

When they finally came apart, it was like their entwining tongues had somehow transformed making out into a full on conversation without words. Ivy wanted her to know how much it meant that she believed in her, and Brittany felt every bit of that appreciation. She felt the same way about Ivy, and they both felt it back from each other, tossing the love between them again and again, making it resonate higher and louder with every pass. Ivy gave her a coy little smile, pecked another kiss over top of her lips, then said, "Let's go climbing."

-------------------

Rose

The end of the summer was always bittersweet. Rose's summer of private tutoring, where she saw each student for an hour or two once a week, was really no substitute for her classroom family. She missed having kids she saw every day and could really build relationships with, and she always looked forward to the school year starting up again even if it did mean giving up a lot of her scheduling freedom.

However, the administrative work before every school year was terrible. Getting lesson plans updated and logged and other things like that weren't the problem, Rose had been teaching for long enough that she had all that set and ready to go. No, the sad part was finding out how many more of her friends and colleagues had lost the will to put up with absurd parents and education budget cuts, and had left the field behind. That, and the invariably useless string of trainings all teachers were required to sit through. Those always made Rose slightly depressed. The most recent one had been about how to keep modern day kids off their smartphones and engaged in class, and the answer was so painfully obvious to Rose, she genuinely didn't understand how so many people didn't see it. Just treat the students like people! Build relationships with them, respect them for the individuals they are, and they'll love you back.

But there was one part of the start-of-year blur of activity she always poured her heart and soul into. Forming class groups. The process of picking and choosing which students to put together into classes they'd be with for the entire first semester. So many other teachers approached the process with a simple objective: keep the bad apples as far away from them as possible. They ignored all the nuance of the student's social structures and lives. Who got along with whom, whose personalities would clash despite being good kids, and who could be great if they were put in a class with the right friends and given a chance.

Rose's mission was to advocate for all of them by making the best class arrangements possible. The good news was that she had enough seniority, and a long enough history of very positive results, to have been given dictatorial control over the process. The downside was how many dozens of hours it took to solve the puzzle for a school with a 280-person student body.

"You know you can just give yourself all the good kids, right?" Olivia said, watching over Rose's shoulder as she pored over a mess of Excel sheets and notes on her laptop.

"I am."

"No, you're not." Olivia pointed at the screen, where one of the classes she'd be teaching math was up. "You're giving yourself Jacob White and Kenny Wu. I know I remember those names from last year, they were always in trouble."

Rose smiled to herself. This was why she did this job. "Jacob gets in trouble because he thinks Drew and Chris are cool and he wanted to impress them. Separate him from those two and give him better role models, and he'll turn around."

"And Kenny? Not all kids are misunderstood geniuses, you know. Some kids just suck."

"You really wouldn't last 10 minutes in charge of a classroom," Rose laughed. "I think Kenny will take some effort, but I'm guessing that he'll do better in an environment where he doesn't feel pressured to be competitive." Rose could sense Olivia rolling her eyes without turning around, and she laughed again. "He just needs to relax a bit, and not be around people who set him off. That's why I've got him in with Delilah, Anne and Rodrigo, they're really chill and they're the sort he'll make friends with."

"You make those three sound like stoners."

"Liv! They're just kids!"

"Fine, Ritalin then, or Adderall or whatever they're pumping children full of these days."

"That..." Rose began, then trailed off. "That is a deeper rabbit hole than you probably want to dive into."

"You're wrong, I'm totally down for that," Olivia said, then gave up the pretext when Rose turned and gave her a look. "Fine, I'm trying to distract you. You've been obsessing with this project forever! When I dragged you out of the house, the point was to get you to take a break from all that. Not for you to just keep working from another place."

They were at the climbing gym, up on one of the balconies with a countertop area overlooking the main floor and rock walls. As lively as the gym got, it was actually pretty quiet here away from the action, and it made for comforting background ambiance. Something to look at while puzzling through things in her mind. "But I'm so close to finishing."

"You said that a week ago!"

"But--"

"Come climb with us! The great mystery of where to put Dain Aetos to make him less of a tool will still be here in two hours."

Rose glanced up from the screen at Olivia and raised an eyebrow. "Who's that?"

"Christ," Olivia laughed. "Nobody. I was trying to trick you. You really do know every kid in that school."

Rose got the point, but wanted to tease Olivia back for testing her anyway. "Of course I don't."

"Yes you--"

"There's 68 new students this year, including 14 coming into the older grades from other schools."

"Oh, great technicality, bitch. It just proves my point even more. You've still spent so much time sorting their names, you immediately knew Dain wasn't one of them."

"It's a pretty distinctive name! If you'd gone with John someone or Katie so-and-so, that might have thrown me off." An idea struck her. It was a distinctive name, and Olivia was terrible at names. She wouldn't have pulled something Scandinavian sounding out of the air. Unless... "Is that one of the characters from that dragon book of yours? The one you keep looking for updates on the TV adaptation of?"

Olivia immediately flushed. "NO!"

Rose met her eyes and they both laughed together. "Which one is he? The one who gets the girl?"

"No spoilers! Watch the show with me when it comes out!" Olivia reached out and gently closed Rose's laptop, pulling her away from working and into the break she was probably right about her needing. "And don't you dare ask Ivy either."

"The love triangle subplot of the dragon story is so compelling, it needs to stay spoiler free?"

"Um--well, no. If Ivy finds out I liked those books, she'll disown me."

"That bad, huh?"

"Think Twilight but with dragons, except not really, and with actual sex scenes."

"Oh, right, that totally paints a picture for me," Rose's sarcasm dripped through her laughter. "I thought society had come around to deciding it was too harsh on Twilight before, and it wasn't all that bad in retrospect."

"It's complicated. That's one you should ask Ivy about, she's got some interesting thoughts." Olivia packed Rose's closed laptop into her bag, then handed the bag up to her. "Now go get changed! You have to belay me."

Rose hurried off to the locker rooms, but lingered by the entrance, watching Olivia as she walked to where Alex was belaying Hazel. There was so much happiness and life in her movements, from the spring in her step to the pitch of her voice and the fullness of her smile. Rose's heart fluttered inside her chest. Olivia had been like this ever since their heart to heart, and it made Rose feel incredibly loved. For Olivia, simply being around her and able to show her feelings was enough to be that happy. How could Rose not feel like the luckiest person in the world?

On the surface, things were mostly the same. They did the same stuff, talked and teased each other like normal, climbed and worked out, cooked together and relaxed together on their couch as usual watching whatever they were bingeing that week. Basically everything was the same, and it mostly felt the same too, which made articulating in her own head why it felt so different very hard.

She and Olivia had always loved each other, and that hadn't changed. Being together still felt like... well, like them. No tension or awkwardness, no fights or forebodings of impending disaster. Her best friend loving her as more than a friend felt like the same Olivia, but more of her, in a very good way.

Rose had tried to analyze her own feelings in as scientific and unbiased a way as possible, but she still wasn't sure whether her responses meant she'd always had some more-than-a-friend feelings for Olivia, and she just hadn't realized it, or if the gap between best friends and romantic partners was much smaller than she'd imagined.

And maybe that was the core of it. She was different now, herself, than she'd been at the start of the summer. She wasn't afraid of losing Olivia. Not now, after Olivia had proven how far she'd go to keep them together. There were plenty of things she was afraid of, but that wasn't on the list. Which, in this case, wasn't just a figure of speech. She'd actually made a list. It helped to organize things.

Most of the list was taken up with things that were meaningful to her, but ultimately, wouldn't wreck her life one way or the other, like losing Olivia would.

At least, that's what she kept trying to tell herself, because it made logical sense. Like, whether she and Lydia would be able to repair a friendship, for example. Even at worst, if she and Lydia really never came to terms... it would suck, but life would go on. The sun would rise again, and all that stuff. Logically, she knew that. Emotionally...

Emotionally, Lydia was still painful to think about, and she could only do it in small doses with Olivia there with her. They were working on it, a little at a time, but sorting through her feelings was really hard.

Anyway, only two things on the list involved Olivia. One was a repeat of the breakdown of communication between them that had driven Olivia to feel like she needed to make herself miserable hiding her feelings for months, just to make Rose happy and maintain their friendship. However admirable of motivations, Rose really hoped they'd never end up in a spot like that again.

The other... well...

From across the gym, Rose made a conscious effort to stop looking at Olivia like she always had, as the best friend who noticed her smile, radiant even at this distance as she chatted with Alex. Instead, she tried to see her as a lover. To train herself to see Olivia as an attractive and sexual being, whose body she desired. The first part was easy. Olivia was, as a simple objective fact, a beautiful woman. The way her hair tucked around her ears when she had it tied out of the way for climbing, that framed her face in a...

Rose sighed, and reminded herself again to stop looking so respectfully.

She dropped her eyes to Olivia's chest, then quickly up to her lips, and back down again. Just like when Olivia had challenged her during their heart to heart, and like she'd been training herself to do every day since then, Rose tried to imagine kissing her. Their eyes meeting, an excited little giggle, them slowly coming closer together until their lips finally met, then separated, and things escalating as their tongues got involved and Olivia reached for her chest and Rose mirrored her, cupping her breasts and tweaking her nipples.

Rose nodded to herself in satisfaction. She'd been able to get further into the fantasy over time before her reflexive "it's Liv, this is crazy!" kicked in, and now she could reliably make it as far as thinking about groping her without triggering it! Progress! Maybe it was finally time to take this training to the next level.

She turned into the locker room, analyzing and cataloging her emotions as she went. Olivia hadn't put any pressure on her at all to do anything physical, but she wasn't hiding her attraction to Rose anymore, and it was obvious what she wanted. Rose fished in her bag for her climbing shoes and harness, trying not to feel guilty again for how oblivious she'd been all summer. As Olivia had repeatedly told her, she'd done everything in her power to deceive her. It had been her choice, and her responsibility, not Rose's. Still, Rose felt like she should have known better.

She was getting close. She wanted it too. Just... part of Rose wasn't sure if she wanted it because she wanted to make her best friend's dreams come true, or if she actually honestly wanted it for herself yet. Maybe she needed more time. If Olivia thought Rose was having sex with her just out of pity or to do her a favor, she'd be justifiably really angry.

Mental training part two would start tonight, Rose decided, then laughed out loud, drawing a few looks. What a way to put it. Who would have thought that she'd end up in a spot in life where she'd be thinking about masturbating to fantasies of her best friend, and calling it "mental training"?

-------------------

Brittany

"I didn't get to see her audition, but you should have seen her when she got out!" Brittany said, and Ivy tried to protest from beside Brittany, but she cut her off. "It's true, you were in the zone!" Brittany spared a few seconds from belaying Hazel to turn to Olivia and Rose. "Ask her how well she did."

She quickly returned her attention back up to Hazel's climbing form and belaying her, but she could picture Rose's expression from her voice. It was the barely contained excitement one, and it made Brittany smile, knowing Ivy's news would probably push her over the edge. "Ivy! Tell us, how well did you do?"

Ivy muttered something about Brittany being worse than a proud parent preening over their kid's report card, before admitting. "I got the part."

"To the shock of fucking nobody!" Olivia exclaimed. "Seriously, dude, good job!"

"But," Rose's voice was hesitant now, "I thought you said before that they wouldn't make their choices and let you know for a few days."

"That's--um--that's usually how it works," Ivy said, the blush she always seemed to get while admitting how awesome she was creeping into her voice.

"But..." Brittany prompted her.

"But they called me on the drive over here after the last Titania was done. I got it."

"Ivy!" Rose squealed, followed immediately by a rushing sound beside Brittany and a grunt from Ivy. She turned to see them both on the mat, Rose's hug apparently having been so enthusiastic it was essentially a tackle.

"Thanks, Rose," Ivy gasped from beneath her friend, then groaned as Alex jumped onto the pile.

Olivia chuckled, and bent to contribute a congratulatory pat to Ivy's shoulder before leaving her to Rose and Alex's smothering to stand next to Brittany. "You remember, way back when, when you were all worried about fitting in?" she asked, quietly.

"What do you mean, way back when? That was only, like, a few months ago!"

"Whatever, bitch. Point is, now you're so integrated, you're literally pushing us to achieve our dreams."

"Way to get dramatic on me," Brittany teased, just because it was Olivia, but she still enjoyed the praise.

"Hush, you. The point is, I said we were the lucky ones to have you around, not the other way around, and you didn't believe me, and now I get to rub the I-told-you-so in your face."

"But--"

"I TOLD YOU SO!"

Brittany grinned and let her have it. It was supposed to be Ivy's time in the spotlight, but maybe she had earned a little for herself. "Fine," she said. "But I'm only going along because, you know, reading through the same set of lines dozens of times while Ivy rehearses is a lot of fucking work."

She thought about mentioning the kiss. Casually, offhand, like it was no big deal. See how Olivia reacted to that! She hesitated, and finally let the moment pass. Better to let Ivy's acting be the centerpiece and not overshadow it.

Watching Ivy trying to wrestle her way out from under Rose and Alex, she felt like this was exactly what she'd wanted from the start. It was exactly like Olivia had just said. Or, maybe not exactly, but the general message she'd been getting at. These were people who genuinely cared about raising each other up, and celebrated each other's successes. Feeling like she belonged here was worth every I-told-you-so Olivia wanted to toss her way.

As soon as she'd thought it, Brittany couldn't help chuckling at the irony. Ivy was trying to get up while Rose and Alex literally held her down. Not all metaphors were destined to land. Ivy had nearly gotten free when Hazel finished her climb, Brittany lowered her, and she immediately joined the dogpile on Ivy, much to the delight of everybody.

The day's climbing passed in a blur of laughs and smiles from everybody, especially Ivy after she finally managed to wriggle herself to her feet. Brittany remembered climbing a few walls, Olivia and Alex getting into a debate about whether the magical love flower at the center of A Midsummer Night's Dream's plot should have been used to turn the play into a sapphic romance between Helena and Hermia, and her exchanging looks with Ivy. Lots of very charged looks, that made Brittany's lips tingle where Ivy had kissed her. It was probably a testament to how overt their flirting had become, that those looks seemed normal to everybody else and didn't give the kiss away.

Or maybe nobody was fooled. By the time they'd tired themselves out and were ready to head home, nobody seemed even mildly surprised when she followed Ivy to her car. Indeed, Rose's goodbye wave and Olivia's smirk from behind her were both very knowing. If Alex hadn't left already with Hazel to meet Mary for dinner, Brittany could only imagine what she'd say.

"Do you ever feel like we only do our stuff, not yours?" Ivy asked as they pulled out of the lot.

"What do you mean?"

"Like, all the stuff we do together. Climbing, camping trips, Dungeons and Dragons, binge reading and holding my hand while I freak out over an audition. All of that stuff was originally our interests. I guess I'm saying, if you've got anything you'd like to bring for us to do, that's cool."

Brittany hadn't really thought about it. Other than an unhealthy obsession with Final Fantasy 14 and mindlessly scrolling social media, she hadn't really had much for hobbies before. That had been one of the problems that had driven her to leave New York and try to find a community. "Nah, it's better this way. The only thing I did before was play Final Fantasy online, and trust me, that's basically a full time job that will suck all the time out of your life if you let it."

"Sounds like some books I've read."

"Yeah, but books have endings. Final Fantasy 14 is kind of like what you said about DnD the first time I came to game night, about the point of the game being to keep on playing forever. Except, Dungeons and Dragons is a weekly social event, and FF14 is constant."

"Oh, I got you. One of those games where there's always something you can be doing to get ahead, so there's always some pressure to log in and play?"

"Yeah, exactly. Like, don't get me wrong, the times when you're on with a bunch of friends doing stuff, it's a ton of fun. But, with everything that comes with it... let's just say, I don't think it'd be a good match for you and everyone."

"We already have more obsessions than we know what to do with," Ivy chuckled. "Sorry if I'm forgetting, I feel like you've mentioned those FF14 friends as a generic group, but I don't think I've heard you share any details."

Brittany laughed. She'd taken a major step back from her circle of online friends since basically retiring from the game that had been the centerpiece of their shared existence, but she still kept up on Discord, and they hadn't changed. They were still the guys who would have let her crash on their couch without a second's hesitation if she'd turned up drunk on their doorstep one night, would have tried their best not to make it weird or uncomfortable at all, but who still all seemed to think that having her as a friend gave them full license to use the D-slur in casual conversation.

"You're not forgetting. Honestly, they're a lot like every gamer meme you've ever seen. I'm happy to introduce you, if you want, but I'm pretty sure you'll realize within five minutes why I never tried to do it before."

"Really?" Ivy laughed. "That bad?"

"Slagar's first question will be which one of us wears the strap-on. If you say it's you, Trixie will probably say something about him being open to putting on a padded bra and taking it up the butt for you. And, if you show even the slightest sign of finding any of that amusing, Noxro will offer to give you all his gil - that's the money in game - and boost you to max level in exchange for feet pics."

"One of your gamer nerd friends seriously named himself Trixie?" Ivy asked, incredulously.

"He's a hell of a character. They all are. Just, it gets a little weird when you realize the funny stuff they say isn't really meant as ironically as you'd hope." Brittany sighed to herself, looking back on all the time she'd spent laughing along at stupid, inappropriate jokes. How many times had she pretended not to be uncomfortable so she could fit in as one of the guys?

"Okay, well, if that's a no-go, I'd still love to dive into some game with you. Maybe one that's new for both of us?"

"Yeah! That'd be fun!"

When they eventually arrived at Ivy's house, they'd decided they'd play through Baldur's Gate 3 together. It mirrored a lot of mechanics they were already familiar with from Dungeons and Dragons, and it was supposed to have a great campaign story.

Ivy's house was different from the other family residences. For one thing, it was actually a house rather than an apartment. Apparently, it had been her parents' first home together when they'd gotten married, and it had stayed in her family for years when her parents had moved into a bigger place after Ivy and her sister were born. If it wasn't about half an hour drive outside of town, it would have been perfect for the group dinners they so often did. Certainly much less cramped than Hazel's tiny apartment, but location was everything.

They both took off their shoes and set them on the rack by the door, then went inside.

Even though she'd been here a bunch of times, Brittany's eyes never failed to go wide. The main entryway opened into the living room, where a few low-lying couches surrounded a sizeable table that performed every possible role, from dinner setting to tabletop gaming to Ivy's desk. That setup was in the center of the room, and the couches were all set away from the walls a bit, because the walls were completely covered by Ivy's art. Tons of it. The side walls were mostly collections of smaller sketches Ivy was proud of, but the big back wall was the best. It was a mural that showed a moonlit night's sky over a lake, surrounded by trees and mountains, and looking vivid enough to walk right into.

Yet another perfectly valid reason Ivy was hesitant to finally get her tattoo. She had literally hundreds of designs that would look fantastic on her, and she kept dreaming more up. How was she supposed to settle on just a few to permanently affix to her skin? What if she created something new that she fell in love with, but the perfect spot was already taken?

Brittany moved in that direction out of habit. The couches were usually where they hung out, but Ivy stopped her with a firm hand on her arm. "There's something I've never told you," she said.

"Oh?"

"Yeah." She led the way down the short hallway, passing the kitchen to her bedroom, without elaborating. Instead, she told Brittany to "just sit on the bed for a minute. I gotta try to remember where I put the stuff."

Brittany narrowed her eyes, but let Ivy be mysterious. From her sly smile and evasive tone, Brittany doubted she would have revealed the apparent secret if she'd asked anyway. Ivy left, and Brittany could hear closet doors opening and boxes being rummaged through for a few minutes, before Ivy gave a triumphant little shout. "Found it!"

She returned with an innocuous looking drawstring bag, that Brittany didn't have a chance to get a good look at, because Ivy surprised her by gracefully swooping across the room, then half bending to bring their eyes to a level. Slowly, deliberately, letting Brittany's anticipation grow as she moved, Ivy leaned forward and initiated a long kiss.

If this was where Ivy's little secret was going, Brittany was definitely on board! She kissed Ivy back, taking her lead and slowly parting her lips to let their tongues entwine. It felt... almost chill. A chill little makeout session, which it fit Ivy perfectly, but had the opposite effect of heating Brittany up. Ivy gently reached her hand up to caress Brittany's cheek, warm tingles of joy spreading wherever she touched.

When their lips finally parted, Brittany let herself relax into Ivy's hand, looking up at her expectantly. "What's in the bag?"

"So, back when I was in college, I took an elective about massage." Ivy finally opened the bag and dumped a bunch of bottles onto the bedspread, fished through them and selected a small, golden one. She opened it and held it up to Brittany's nose. Lavender! Brittany's mind raced, arrived at a conclusion, and rejected it because it was far, far too good to be true. She tried to find a different explanation and failed, all while Ivy watched her, pure mischievous delight in her eyes as her smirk grew and grew.

"No," Brittany finally breathed out her disbelief.

"Yep," Ivy confirmed.

"But... for me?"

"For you. Right now. Or, well, in a few minutes. Sorry, I didn't plan this very well, there's a bit to set up." As if reading her mind, Ivy planted another kiss on Brittany before she could try to say something about not bothering with all the effort just for her. "Just hang tight for a second, okay?"

Still feeling the tingling on her lips and warmth of Ivy's caresses on her cheek, Brittany simply nodded. What the hell, go with the flow - why try to fight it when one of the hottest women she'd ever met, with the strongest hands, seemed to want to give her a massage? It would have been a dream come true, if she'd ever had the guts to consider dreaming about something so ridiculous. Soon, Ivy had the oil warming in an electric bowl, some fragrant candles lit and set up on the bedside tables on either side of them, and a stack of towels laid out for Brittany to lay on.

And Ivy was naked.

They'd spent enough time around each other, now, that Brittany had an intimate appreciation for how fit Ivy was. Seeing her fully uncovered body wasn't surprising in that way. No, what took Brittany's breath and held her captive was how being naked seemed to enhance Ivy. It added a sensual, erotic beauty to her already graceful movements, making her seem even more like a dancer, even as she went about mundane chores like lighting candles and fetching towels.

Graceful and beautiful, but also unbothered. Natural. Like being naked around her for the first time was no big deal. It made taking off her own clothes feel easy too. Brittany settled herself back onto the bed, watching Ivy searching her phone for relaxing background music, surreptitiously glancing downwards every few seconds to between Ivy's legs. Ivy had a very full, almost wild looking bush, that drew Brittany's eyes like a magnet.

Of course, Ivy happened to glance up and catch her at exactly the same time as she unconsciously licked her lips. "You like?" She half asked, half laughed, cocking her hips to one side and spreading her legs suggestively.

"I've never been with somebody who grew hers out like that," Brittany confessed.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Always shaved or trimmed, and I've never tried doing it myself. I think it makes you look really sexy."

Ivy must have found what she was looking for, because the sound of raindrops and a soft flute came on the speakers surrounding the bed. Ivy put the phone down and returned to her, playfulness shining in her eyes. She offered a hand to Brittany. "Want to feel?"

Of course she did!

Ivy's pubic hair covered pussy was so fucking glorious, Brittany almost wanted to cancel the massage and just spend all night touching it. It was so soft beneath her fingers, and the way it ran between them to draw her into the hot skin of Ivy's labia was just about the most erotic thing she'd ever felt in her life! "This is my new favorite plaything."

"My pussy?" Ivy laughed, indulging Brittany by spreading her legs a little more to give her better access.

"Yeah! How does it feel? Now I wanna try growing mine out."

"It just feels normal to me, but I know it's fun to play with."

"You play with it all the time, don't you?"

"Obviously!" Ivy spun her finger around in the air. "Now flip over and lay down. You're gonna love this." Brittany obeyed, reluctantly parting with Ivy's vulva and settling onto the bed of towels. She snuggled into one of Ivy's pillows, which added a little bit of the scent of Ivy's hair to the blend of pine from the candles and lavender oil. "Close your eyes and relax," Ivy's voice dropped to a murmur, blending with the patter of rain and flute music.

The first warm drops of oil actually felt like raindrops too. Then, Brittany felt Ivy's hands take hold of her foot and calf, spreading the liquid heat all across her skin. Up and down, gently squeezing and firmly gripping, rubbing in and seeming to make the heat of the oil descend into her muscles as she did. Brittany sighed into the pillow as Ivy worked her way up her leg, every muscle singing a very contented song of relaxation as she went, before she switched sides and started again from her other foot.

The leg Ivy had finished with felt like a very warm, very happy log. Like it would have taken infinite energy to move it an inch, and that was perfect because why would she want to anyway? It was already in heaven, and her other leg eagerly joined it before Ivy progressed up over her butt and onto her back.

Brittany had expected having Ivy feeling up and massaging her ass would be the exciting part. And it certainly was exciting! The sexual feelings joining the blissful relaxation was divine. But, when Ivy started working her magic on her back, the burst of pleasure Brittany experienced gave her a new appreciation for how much stress months of climbing had put those muscles through. She'd grown stronger in the last few months. Much more so than she would have thought possible, and she'd stopped feeling seriously sore after workouts as her body had adjusted. She'd stopped thinking about it about the same time she'd stopped having to restock on ibuprofen and Icy Hot.

Clearly, her back hadn't forgotten, because Ivy's hands going up to the small of her back and starting to work the stress and strain out was pure ecstasy. Brittany groaned into the pillow, writhing involuntarily into Ivy's bed. Each part of her back felt distinct, and viscerally amazing, but especially her lats. The muscles that pulled her upwards while climbing and held her close to the wall while adjusting her feet had taken the most abuse out of her entire body, and this reward was clearly long overdue.

"This is divine," Brittany said between pleasure sounds.

"Your muscles are so tense. You feel like you needed this."

"I've never had anybody do this for me before!" Brittany half turned her head on the pillow to cock an eye over her shoulder at Ivy. "You realize what you've done, right?"

Ivy laughed, pressing her thumbs hard into a spot just below Brittany's shoulder that made her eyes roll back in her head. "Made you want one every day?"

"Yes!"

Brittany got a little lost in the music and the raindrops, as Ivy slowly worked her way over her shoulders and into her neck, then helped her flip over so she could do her front. The more of her body that got covered in warm, relaxing oil, the more Brittany's mind seemed to float away. The dancing flames from the candles created little shifts in the lights and shadows playing across her closed eyelids, and as Ivy worked her magic up her thighs, over her hips and along her abs, she almost felt like she could drift off to sleep. Like the heat all over her skin and inside her body was the greatest blanket ever made, and Ivy was filling her up with the fuel for the most erotic dream of her life.

A feeling that intensified as Ivy's fingers crested her abs and skated around the edges of her breasts, before taking them into her hands and massaging them both at once.

The sounds she'd been making had been on the safer-for-work end of the spectrum, but as warm oil and Ivy's strong, firm hands took her boobs to heaven, Brittany moaned for all she was worth! It was amazing, and all the better for being a surprise, because Ivy had skipped over her vulva on the way up.

"You like that?" Ivy whispered, the soft feeling of her breath against her lips making Brittany realize she'd leaned in very close.

"Mmmm - yeaahh," Brittany purred.

"You know I've wanted to do this for a while. Your boobs feel amazing."

Brittany sighed, contentedly, and didn't bother coming up with something more original to say than "I've probably wanted you to do it too for just as long."

Ivy's lips played against hers, teasingly, not quite kissing yet, mirroring the circular motions she was making with her fingertips around and around Brittany's nipples. She seemed to like it when she got a new moan out of her, because every noise Brittany made was accompanied by Ivy flicking out her tongue and catching Brittany's lips with it.

"And you said you learned this technique in a college class?" Brittany joked.

"What? You didn't have erotic massage on your schedule?"

"Believe it or not, they couldn't find a way to link it and computer science together. Good to know this is what I was missing out on not being a theater major."

"I actually majored in chemistry," Ivy chuckled. "For all the good it's done me."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It got me in the door at my first job, but I ended up going project management and not looking back."

"Ah... that makes sense," Brittany rolled her still closed eyes sarcastically. "A much better application for your erotic massage degree."

"Oh fuck off!" Ivy gave her nipples a teasing little squeeze, her fingers sliding around them as the warm oil built up, making Brittany coo in pleasure. "If you must know, the class was angled towards sports medicine. I just took the skill set in different direction."

"Aww," Brittany sighed. "So no college credit for boob fondling?"

"Sadly, no."

Brittany felt Ivy repositioning herself. Her weight shifted the bed, and then she could feel the warmth of Ivy's skin all along her body, combining with the heat of the oil to form a very erotic glowing feeling all across her. It was tempting to open an eye to peek, but Ivy was snuggling into her neck and tracing her fingertips down her body, and besides, her eyelids were feeling very heavy. Her mind's eye followed Ivy's touch, around and around her stomach, downward and then teasingly back up as she approached Brittany's mound.

Brittany felt torn. The sexual energy rising inside her was slowly spreading outward through her very relaxed muscles, and being turned on while simultaneously having no desire to move felt really strange. At the same time, all she could think was that Ivy's movements across her tummy should have tickled, and it didn't because of the oil, and somehow that seemed hilarious in her head.

"What's so funny?" Ivy breathed in her ear.

"Nothing."

"You're doing your funny grin."

"It's just, like, I'm usually super ticklish, and what you're doing would normally set me off, but it isn't, and I don't know why it's so silly to me but it is." Even with her eyes closed, Brittany could practically hear Ivy's raised eyebrows. "Hey, you asked!"

Ivy paused for just a moment, and Brittany thought she was finally going to start on her pussy, when she suddenly felt Ivy trying to use her very short-cut nails to get through the massage oil and actually tickle her stomach! "NO!!! Please no!" Brittany burst out through a fit of laughter, trying to get her body to respond and defend herself, but Ivy stopped and held her down before she could make any progress.

She was still giggling as she felt Ivy slide over top of her, their breasts slipping around each other as they breathed and Ivy positioning her legs between Brittany's. For a second, she thought she could feel the soft furriness of Ivy's bush, which immediately replaced the onslaught of tickles with lust. How amazing would it feel to trib against that! Her clit started throbbing just imagining it, like it was calling out to Ivy's pussy.

Ivy seemed to have a different idea, and it was just as sexy. She eased her own thighs apart, pressing Brittany's legs open with them, and finally dropped her hand down to part Brittany's labia and press up into her.

"Oohhhh that's so good," Brittany sighed, involuntarily arching her back despite her lethargy. "Keep doing that, please."

"Hang on a second," Ivy's weight shifted once again, and Brittany thought she could feel her sliding one leg up and over her own, and then the obvious sensation of Ivy leaning her weight down, close overtop of her. "There we go," she said, her face now close enough for Brittany to feel her breath against her lips. "This should--" she rocked her body a bit, causing her to slide along Brittany, and her hand to press forward into her pussy "--be better."

Brittany gave an involuntary strangled yelp of pleasure, which got sustained into a prolonged growl-like sound as Ivy continued rocking back and forth and fucking her pussy as she went. It would have been embarrassingly inarticulate if she still had enough focus left to care. She didn't. Ivy had taken it all away, and left her feeling like clay for her to mold.

Ivy's fingers against her clit were so, so fucking good! She felt so strong, but gentle at the same time, and she did a thing with her hand where she seemed to rub into her whole vulva at once, like she was continuing the massage, and it sent the erotic thrills deep into her muscles. While she went, her body snaked up and down, skin sliding against oil slicked skin, her bush sweeping along her thigh, their heat melding together and adding to the eroticism. Every time Brittany felt Ivy's hard nipples slide along her breasts, her own pulse spiked, making her body throb into Ivy's boobs. Feeling Ivy's breaths against her lips intensified the effect, the tingles there growing and her heartbeat racing.

And yet, those breaths from Ivy were calm. Just like her rocking motion, up and down, fucking her steady and deliberate, in no hurry to get anywhere. Like she was simply here to enjoy the ride to the fullest.

"Relax," she breathed, so close Brittany could almost taste her.

"You're making that kind of difficult!"

"Relax into it," Ivy insisted. "Let your muscles go, and your mind wander, and it'll feel even better."

Brittany decided against asking whether Ivy had ever, deliberately, tried to make her mind wander. Knowing her, she actually might have. Instead, she took a deep breath, and focused on the sensations. The pressure building steadily in her pussy, and the cascading waves of it pulsing outwards through her body. She tried to make those muscles un-tense, like they had been for all of Ivy's massage, and found it surprisingly easy. Like her body was tired, and was quite happy to let Ivy do all the work fucking her.

The soft flute and melodic raindrops floated around her ears, as steady as Ivy's relaxed breathing. The lavender scent of the oil and slight smokiness from the candles blended together to feel very comfortable and safe. Like sitting beside the campfire on one of their trips. If they camped in the middle of a flower patch and didn't all stink of sweat and sunscreen, that is. Ivy's closeness, her heat and her scent, added to that feeling. Like they were snuggled close to each other, reading by the fire, after a day of hiking. Like, if she opened her eyes, she'd find Hazel cooking dinner for all of them and Rose helping her, while Alex told them about her newest crush and Olivia helped her plot the perfect seductive outfit.

It was a really weird fantasy to be having while Ivy was rubbing her clit, but that's where her mind seemed like it wanted to go. Like it was determined to have the most relaxed, wholesome, family friendly orgasm of all time. How very fitting for her first time in Ivy's bed.

The heat inside her continued to grow with each rocking cycle of Ivy's fingers into her pussy, and Brittany had to admit that she knew what she was talking about. Letting all her muscles go and her body simply accept it did make it that much better. She couldn't keep her breathing steady like Ivy, but she didn't want to try. Her ragged breath was her way of communicating how good she was feeling. When her orgasm finally crested, the involuntary spasms and clenching felt incredibly extreme. Like, after so long laying dormant, her pussy muscles had tons of pent up energy to burn. Brittany rode the wave, loving the way Ivy continued to rock into her throbbing clit, feeding more and more pleasure into her orgasm until the blaze finally burnt itself out.

Ivy gently guided Brittany onto her side, then wrapped her arms around her and settled into the big spoon slot behind her. She'd thought her body felt heavy before, but now it was like lead. Totally drained, and at complete peace with the world. Ivy gently shifted her legs, sliding them along Brittany's in a drawn out caress that had the effect of rocking her back and forth, just a little. Like a cradle, or a porch swing, or something.

"That was amazing," Brittany murmured, afraid she might fall asleep before managing to say it. "That was... unlike anything I've felt before. I loved it."

"Just my little way of saying thank you, even though I know you weren't helping me just because you wanted to sleep together."

"But I do want to - I mean, I really like you and I want us to be -"

"I know," Ivy said, calmly. "I want to be with you too. I'm just saying, I know you would have helped me even if you weren't attracted to me. Just like you've been helping Liv even after she broke things off with you, and just like you've been doing with all of us." She snuggled closer into her, the softness of her chest and warmth of her embrace coming together with her heartfelt words to make Brittany feel more seen and loved than she could remember before. She choked up, a little, trying to find something to say, but Ivy softly shushed her. "Sleep now. There'll be time for words after we wake up."

-------------------

Olivia

She and Rose lounged together on the couch while Scrubs played on the TV. JD and Turk's bromance blossomed, Dr. Cox found new and innovative ways to insult JD's intelligence, and Dr. Kelso perfectly encapsulated everything wrong with the medical industry. Entertaining, but it was mostly on as background noise. Neither of them paid it much attention.

Rose lay on her back lengthwise along the couch, head resting in Olivia's lap like a pillow, holding her iPad and continuing her class roster project. Olivia sat, trying her best to keep her heart from racing so fast it distracted Rose. She felt like one of those Instagram videos of people with cats having their cat sit on them, and then keeping perfectly still so the cat wouldn't get up. Rose had even put Olivia's hand into her hair, like she wanted to be pet, then given her an encouraging smile!

Rose had been initiating intimate touches like this, a little more at a time as she became more comfortable, and Olivia was very, very happy she wasn't trying to bury her emotions completely anymore, because that smile had kicked off a chain reaction that was too adorable to hold in. She'd tentatively begun stroking Rose's hair, and Rose had smiled wider and said she liked that. Of course, she'd been so happy Rose enjoyed her touch she'd almost cried, which Rose charitably pretended not to notice. If she'd said something, she really would have cried. So, they'd ended up here. Like this, with Olivia gently stroking her fingers through Rose's hair, struggling to find a happy medium between appreciating how blessed her life had become, but not get too sappy about it.

She hated bitches who walked around saying shit like that. Life is a blessing, or hashtag blessed, or any trite, tacky shit like that. Just, there wasn't really a better way to frame the way her life had gone from terrible to amazing, basically overnight, and it kept getting better every day. Like, Rose was actively working at overcoming her conditioning, and making this relationship between them happen! A bigger declaration of love, Olivia couldn't imagine.

The more she tangled her fingers into Rose's hair and Rose made little cat-like movements snuggling into her, the more she felt like they were breaking down barriers. Connecting on a totally different plane. The emotions kept manifesting in little waves of chills through her body, which was strange because of how warm the intimate proximity made her feel. She'd stopped trying to make sense of it. It was all her body trying to process immense happiness, why bother trying to figure out why it couldn't seem to figure itself out?

From her position, it was a little hard to keep up the pretense of watching the TV while stealthily sneaking glances down at Rose. So, she didn't try to be sneaky. They'd seen this season of Scrubs once already, so Olivia just listened to the jokes and gave watching Rose most of her attention.

On paper, it should have been boring. Rose was just shuffling names around Excel sheets, occasionally furrowing her brow thoughtfully or perking up as she thought of a solution. Without knowing most of the kids, there wasn't much for Olivia to really follow.

Despite that, there was something magical about watching Rose do something she was so passionate about.

For Rose, so much of what came naturally to other people was hard work and effort. She needed time and dedicated focus to figure out how different people expressed social cues that most people just recognized by instinct. At least, most people thought they did. How many of those people could build individual relationships with all the students on Rose's lists, even if they'd been so inclined? Olivia knew she couldn't. Not in a million years, and judging by how Rose's teacher friends talked, they couldn't either. And they were fucking professionals.

It seemed obvious, spelling it out in her mind, but putting that focus and effort into observation made Rose pick up on things everybody else missed. Sure, it took her a little time, but once she'd climbed the learning curve, she knew them better than anybody else. In the end, Rose was the one with an entire school full of kids who loved her. There was something beautiful about that. At least, Olivia thought so, and she was totally not being biased. Not at all. She hated kids! Keep those disgusting little germ factories as far away as possible! Just, Rose loved them, so that's what counted.

Not biased at all, and not gloating in the slightest about how, out of so many people who loved Rose, she was the one who was here with her cuddling on the couch. Or, not exactly cuddling as such, but getting there! Some day soon.

Rose jumped, slightly, then shifted uncomfortably, drawing Olivia's head out of the clouds. Did she not like the petting anymore? Was that too much? Olivia was about to take her hand away when Rose held the iPad up to her, angled so she could see the notification in the corner.

New message from: Lydia.

Oh. Shit.

"Do you want me to check it for you?" Olivia asked, and immediately felt Rose's nod against her thighs, which made her irrationally happy all over again despite Rose's tension. She lifted the iPad out of Rose's hand, tapped the message icon, and quickly scanned the message. It wasn't bad. It wasn't even very interesting. Drama Queen Alex would have been sorely disappointed if she'd been here. She read it out loud. "Hey, I just landed in LA, and there's this climbing gym I never noticed on the drive to my house, and I thought of you."

Rose hummed, like she was thinking, and seemed to decide it was safe to take the iPad back and read it for herself. "That's... good, right?"

"I guess so," Olivia said, then admitted, "though it still seems pretty awkward."

Rose sighed. "Yeah. Just like all the others."

Olivia resumed running her fingers through Rose's hair. Gently, trying to be comforting. "You're both trying to keep the conversations going. That's something."

"But it's so stilted! It used to be so easy between us, and now--"

"It's a lot better than silence, and you're both initiating messages with each other. Not, like, she's only responding when you reach out. I don't think she would be reaching out to you if she was angry at you and wasn't saying."

Rose thought about that for a bit, the TV filling the silence while she sorted through her feelings. They'd had this conversation a few times already, and each time, Rose managed to articulate herself a little more.

It was confusing for Rose, and Olivia was pretty sure she understood what was going on inside her better than she did herself. Rose felt like she'd hurt someone she cared for, and while she did feel terrible about it, she was happy with the way things had turned out. To her, it'd be like she'd cheated karma. Like, she didn't deserve this happiness, and that would amplify her guilt, and feed into a cycle.

Olivia understood because she felt the same way. Guilty over the happiness she felt, despite having put Rose in this position. The main difference was, she wasn't trying to simultaneously juggle the changed dynamic between them. She'd had months to wrap her head around it, but it was still very new to Rose.

Of course, it also didn't help that Rose was concerned that wanting to repair a friendship with Lydia would make her uncomfortable or jealous again. Or that she was still trying to replay and decode Lydia's expressions during their confrontation, that Olivia knew still bothered her. Or that, deep down, Rose almost wished Lydia had been mad at her, and yelled at her. At least that way, they could have gotten the negative emotions out of the way in one big explosion. This lingering tension - not knowing what Lydia really felt or wanted, but feeling the stress between them that wouldn't go away - was the worst for Rose.

"Being the bad guy is terrible," Rose finally said. "I never want to do it again."

"You'll never have to," Olivia told her, soothingly, hoping for all she was worth that her prophetic promise was good for the rest of time. "You did the best you could. Can you think of anything you would do differently?"

"Well... no, but..." Rose trailed off, still gazing at the ceiling, but then shifting to meet Olivia's eyes. "That's something I've been thinking about."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I've been wondering if Zelda, Faith and Astrid thought the same things. Did they have reasons for what they did to me that made sense to them, that I'll never know about?"

If she didn't know Rose, and her sweet, innocent tendency to believe the best of anybody, no matter how trash, Olivia might have assumed she was joking. She answered firmly, hoping to put that line of thinking to rest in one strike. "Rose, you are not your ex-girlfriends! You were honest with Lydia immediately. Your exes lied, cheated on you repeatedly, tried to convince you the cheating was your fault, and ghosted you. And yes, I know that's combining all three of their sins into one, but whatever. What mysterious reasons could they possibly have for that shit being the best they could do?"

"I don't know," Rose said, softly. "But I don't think they thought of themselves as the bad guys."

Like Rose was feeling - but Olivia forced down that bit of guilty thinking before it could go anywhere. It wasn't useful for helping Rose. "Nobody thinks of themselves as the villains in their own stories," she agreed, then continued. "But let's imagine it anyway. Give Zelda the benefit of the doubt she doesn't deserve. And before you ask, yes, I'm picking her because I can't make myself give Faith's cheating ass anything, even as a hypothetical."

Rose made a little giggling sound. "You really do hate them."

"Of course I do! Anyway, imagine Zelda's best friend, out of nowhere, professed her undying love for her."

"What? Luciana?" Rose's giggle became a full on laugh.

"Was that her name? Yeah, I remember she was, like, married with kids and a hardcore bible thumper. How did that friendship even work, anyway? If any of our friends ever told me they forgave me for being a lesbian heathen and were okay with me as a person because they hate the sin, not the sinner, I'd probably get arrested for what I'd do. But yeah, forget realism. She's just a prop in the hypothetical anyway."

"So you're suggesting the reason Zelda disappeared without even saying goodbye is because Luciana stole her away from me?"

"I'm just saying to imagine it!"

"Alright, I'm imagining."

"Good. Now, in that situation, would you prefer she told you, explained the situation, and gave you some sense of closure?"

"Of course!"

"But, from her point of view, which would have been easier? Doing that for you and owning her decision, or just slinking away into the night and never having to face you again, like she actually did?"

A little of the tension eased out of Rose. "I guess I see your point."

"Good! Now, just tell me, out loud, that you know you're better than her, and I'll be satisfied."

Rose laughed again, despite probably knowing she was being serious, and smiled up at Olivia in a thank-you-for-being-my-biggest-advocate way. "I think I handled this specific situation better than Zelda did."

Well, it was better than nothing. "Close enough, bitch," Olivia muttered.

Rose reached for the iPad again, hesitated for a moment, then put it back down. "Liv?"

"Yeah?"

"If you thought that like, objectively, trying to do this with Lydia and rebuild a friendship would be bad and end in sorrow for everyone, would you be comfortable telling me?"

That was... huh...

Rose had asked before about her being comfortable with all this. She'd tried to explain that she really was, despite their history, and not only because she would never be the sort of toxic partner who policed Rose's friendships. She genuinely had enjoyed Lydia, as a person, and she'd meant it when she'd said that Lydia and Rose shared a bunch in common. Rose seemed to understand that, but this question was different. And hard, because she'd feel like she was being toxic.

"I..." Olivia hesitated, then admitted, "honestly, that would probably be hard for me."

Rose nodded, understandingly, like she would have been surprised by any other response. "I know. You're bad at being the bad guy too."

"You said it yourself. It sucks."

"You'd still do it."

"You think?"

"For me? Yeah, I do." Rose said it firmly, then she turned on her side and wrapped her arms around Olivia's torso in a very awkwardly positioned hug. "It's what makes you a good guy," she said.

It was touching. Simple and loving, and Olivia would have gotten caught up in that if the act of hugging Rose back hadn't essentially smothered Rose's face into her tummy. "This is the weirdest hug ever," she laughed.

"Actually, I like it," Rose said into her shirt. "You smell nice."

Be calm, heart! Even after the heavy topics, it didn't take much for the happy chills to ripple through her. "Rose! Are you trying to kill me?"

Rose peeked up from between her arms. "No!" she said, then contradicted herself by snuggling into Olivia again and deliberately taking a long breath in through her nose.

"And to think, we make fun of you for not knowing how to flirt."

"Just giving myself something to remember later," she said, innocently.

"What?"

"Nothing. I'll tell you another time." Her voice lowered a little bit, and she turned back to laying flat with her head pillowed on Olivia's lap. "Now Lydia has gone back to LA, it feels like it's too late to work things out."

"It doesn't have to be."

"Heart to hearts never work as well over the phone."

"No, they don't," Olivia agreed. "But maybe that's not the best approach for you anyway."

"What are you thinking?"

Olivia started stroking Rose's hair again, creating more of those distractingly happy warm chills. "What if you sent her a really long, well thought out message? Where you lay out everything you've been telling me, and you can take your time and do it just right?"

This really was incredibly intimate. Whenever Rose shifted her head, she felt it, and her eyes looking up at her were so bright and beautiful. Would she be comfortable enough to kiss soon? Not that she minded waiting, but when it felt like they were connecting like this, not kissing her was hard!

"You think that would be good?" Rose asked, slightly skeptically.

"You don't?"

"Me telling her how breaking up with her has been difficult for me too, but that I'm very happy with my new girlfriend?"

Olivia chuckled, mind momentarily overloaded by Rose calling her 'her girlfriend'. That was never, ever going to get old. They could be together for the rest of their lives, and she would never get tired of it. Unless if they eventually got married. How amazing would Rose calling her 'my wife' feel? What were they talking about again? Right! "Well, we'd workshop it a bit so it doesn't come across like THAT."

"Good."

"I'm just thinking, like, you've both tried the approach of just moving on like nothing has changed, and it's clearly not working. To me, it feels like your messages are all so awkward because you're both trying not to talk about what happened. Maybe it's time to try something different? Plus, this way, you'll get to take your time and make sure it's perfect. We can even do it together."

Clearly, Rose liked that idea. Her eyes shone, then she sat upright and pulled Olivia into a real hug. "You'll help me?"

"Of course I will!"

Bliss. Holding Rose was bliss. Olivia breathed in deep, filling herself up with Rose's scent, and was about to sneakily snuggle into Rose's hair for some more of it when she realized Rose was doing the exact same thing. Holy shit! Rose was-- "Is this a new shampoo?" Rose asked, softly, into her ear.

That tone, whispered to her, so intimately... "Rose," Olivia whined, "we're supposed to be talking about serious stuff! You're making me crazy!"

Rose laughed, her voice making more of those wife-themed fantasies about the future race through Olivia's mind that made it very difficult to do anything but bask in them. "Then I definitely shouldn't tell you what I have in mind for later."

Olivia narrowed her eyes. She knew that tone. "What do you--" she began, but Rose laughed again seeing her suspicious expression.

"Nothing! Just a bit of training!" For some reason, Rose seemed to think that was the most hilarious thing she'd ever said.

"You know I have no idea what you're talking about, right?"

"Yep! I'll tell you soon, I promise."

Fair enough. Olivia let it pass, and picked Rose's iPad up. "How about you just talk, stream of consciousness style, and I'll write stuff down, and we can go from there?"

-------------------

Rose

Beyond her basic intention, she hadn't really planned it out much. It hadn't occurred to her that she'd need to. Masturbation was... well, not exactly the most complicated thing in the world. God knows she'd had lots of practice over the years since puberty.

Still, she lay in her bed, awkwardly looking around like she was trying to find a list of instructions, and embarrassingly realizing she might actually need some.

What did she normally do, again?

Well, normally, she didn't think about it at all. Her imagination would wander, hot feelings would blossom, and she'd find herself with a hand between her legs.

Rose tried to cast her imagination in the direction of naked Olivia, but felt it bounce back at her. Not even like her brain was rejecting her sexualizing her best friend, like, it just didn't seem to like being told what to do like that. Stubborn. Olivia was rubbing off on her. Heh. Rubbing off...

Rose took off her oversized pajama shirt and bottoms, tossing them into the darkness and rolling from side to side to settle herself into her bedsheets. They felt fresh and cool against her bare skin, comfortable and relaxing. It was dark with the lights out, but she closed her eyes anyway, and waited.

And waited some more.

Nothing entered her mind. Not even nothing erotic, just plain nothing.

She groaned and gave up that approach, reaching for her phone instead. If her imagination was stubbornly refusing to summon up sexy images of her best friend, she'd force it! Rose thumbed through her camera gallery, pausing on pictures of Olivia before picking one. It was one she'd taken while Olivia was distracted chatting with Alex. She was wearing a very fetching dressy shirt, with her hair down and her face bright and alive with amusement at whatever Alex had been saying.

Rose settled back again, looking at Olivia's image, and snaked a very tentative hand along her thigh. She found her labia, and was almost surprised when nothing dramatic happened. Like some part of her had been expecting to get an electric shock, or an outraged Olivia storming in and demanding to know what she thought she was doing.

Part of her was still in the past, struggling to adapt to this new normal where Olivia would be beyond overjoyed if she knew what she was doing, not disgusted with her.

That was actually a roommate experience they'd never had. They'd seen each other naked a few times in some innocent situation or other, but neither had ever walked in on the other masturbating. Did the photoshoot in The High Peaks count? It was definitely sexually charged, even if she'd misunderstood Olivia's feelings at the time, but she had invited her along so maybe it was the wrong category.

There! That was a memory worth turning into a hot fantasy! Rose let her phone fall down by her side, closed her eyes again, and imagined it. What if those pictures hadn't been for Lydia? What if they'd been a pretense to get Olivia out in the open air with her, to introduce her to the joys of exhibitionist sex?

This time, Rose's fingers tracing along the edges of her pussy did make a response. A warm glow, deep in her core! Yes!

Now the idea had taken root in her head, the scene played before her mind's eye without much guidance from her. Flashes of moments spun around, like a progression of what might have been. Or, of what could be now, whenever she was ready for it.

She and Olivia, walking hand in hand out from camp towards the path up Mt. Marshall. The roughness of both their calloused skin finding home in the other's company, and they'd share a smile as they vanished into the trees.

First, she'd take her shirt off, then Olivia would too, and they'd let their hands pass over the open skin in the morning sunlight. Olivia would try to get a sneaky picture of her boobs, and they'd go further into the woods, along the path up the mountain, and their shorts and underwear would join their tops safely stowed away in their backpacks. Then, they would...

Rose sighed, realizing she was getting turned on by the situation, more than Olivia herself. Fine in its own way, but not the point of tonight's mission.

She refocused her mind, picturing her best friend's body, forcibly reminding herself to think of her as her girlfriend, and then imagining the feel of her the same way she did when she practiced imagining them kissing.

Olivia would be so nervous if they really did something like outdoor nudity together. She'd be jumpy, just like Rose had been her first few times, and she'd probably try to hide behind Rose as they turned around bends in the path. But she would want to experience what got Rose so excited, so she'd try her best to be brave. It would be really adorable, watching her overcome her perfectly rational fear just to enable Rose's crazy reckless thrill seeking.

The image of the downed plane on Mt. Marshall, where she'd taken all her clothes off and posed naked, came to the forefront of her mind. This time, instead of Olivia being her safety net, she'd take on that role for both of them. She had the experience to keep calm in the middle of the terrifying excitement. She'd embrace her naked lover, lay her down on top of the plane cabin, and kiss her.

Rose rubbed her fingers over and around her clit. The scent of Olivia's hair from earlier filtered into the fantasy, making it easy to imagine what Olivia's mouth tasted like. She'd never gone this far before! She'd imagined a kiss, but never while getting herself off like this! And she didn't feel in any danger of recoiling!

Emboldened, Rose dove ahead. Her hands taking Olivia's hair, digging in and pulling her deeper into the kiss. Olivia roaming over her body, grabbing her all over, touching everywhere the open, free sunlight touched. Their breasts pressing together, their thighs, their...

Rose came up short. Their intimate bits - Olivia's and hers - imagining that felt dangerous.

But that was crazy! It was just in her mind! She'd lived the actually dangerous bit, being naked on a public trail, for real. How could a little boob on boob action be more dangerous than that?

Obviously, because it was Olivia's boobs. She let herself acknowledge that, and stopped trying to strongarm herself into powering through. Fine. These were uncharted waters, and she'd known that going in.

But... even as the part of herself that was stuck in the past protested, insisting that she stop circling her clit this instant and beg her best friend's forgiveness for this crime, another part of her whispered in her ear... Olivia's bare naked breasts pressing into her own as they made out in the open forest would be really, really hot. And it wasn't just her being an exhibitionist slut. It was because of Olivia too. Sharing the experience with her, combining the hiking they both already loved with the companionship they both craved and the sex they both wanted.

Because she did want it. She wanted sex with Olivia. And maybe admitting that to herself felt wrong and dangerous and all that, but it was still there. And, as she could practically hear in Olivia's voice in her head, when had she ever run from a little danger? Well, besides in every romantic relationship she'd ever been in, but who was counting.

Her fingers continued circling her clit, which seemed very disgruntled by all the distractions her mind insisted on when all it wanted to do was have fun. God, this was turning into the most confusing self-love session she'd ever had.

Rose held Olivia in her fantasy embrace, and mentally slowed things down a little to let herself adjust. Olivia would love this anyway, and it felt a little strange knowing that. Like, knowing what her lover would want so well, despite never having been with her before. One of the things Olivia liked most was when her partner took the lead. Olivia had to be the leader so often, taking the reins for the group and initiating activities, having somebody else take that pressure off her and guide her through what they wanted was a joy. And, she was a sucker for boobs. Both in general, and as she'd made plain recently, Rose's especially.

Rose smiled into Olivia's fantasy kiss, imagining she could feel Olivia's chest expanding with her breathing against her own chest, her fingers sliding faster over her clit as her body responded with more slippery wetness. This was fine. Not scary, just hot. The pressure inside her building up, and the heat spreading through her muscles and along her skin, mirrored what the open sunlight would feel like. What Olivia's hot body laying atop hers would feel like.

Struck by sudden inspiration, Rose quickly sat up and, picking her way carefully around the piles of clothes and school supplies scattered around the floor, made her way to the closet. It took a few seconds to remember which shelf she'd put it on after the cold winter months had passed, but she eventually found her weighted blanket.

Settling back onto the bed with it on top of her immersed her in the fantasy so much more! The blanket was heavy, but surprisingly comfortable, pressing into her and warming her just like Olivia's body might if they were really making out. Even the pressure against the back of her hand, as she maneuvered to slip and slide over her clit and down to tease her entrance felt real. Like Olivia's body was there above her, pleasuring herself as they kissed.

Her hips rocked, her body gyrating with the rhythm of her fingers. She could cum like this. The heat was focusing just behind her clit, and she realized she would soon. Except, she wanted Olivia to get her orgasm too. For them both to cum together! And obviously, she knew it was stupid for a dozen different reasons, but damn it, Olivia had waited so long, she deserved to cum too, even if she was just a fantasy!

With the hand that wasn't busy between her legs, Rose pressed up against the weighted blanket, making the same movements upward and imagining she was pleasuring Olivia.

It was so much more intimate than any place her mind had gone yet, but at this point, dreaming about pressing her fingers into Olivia's pussy didn't seem like a huge bridge to cross. It just felt like the next natural step, and her body reacted immediately. Her body wanted to give Olivia pleasure, wanted to see her eyes go wide and feel her breath get faster while she moaned her name. And for once, her mind and body agreed. How would it feel to finally connect with Olivia like that? To share this kind of love with the friend and sister she'd loved for years already?

As Rose's orgasm overtook her and she rocked back and forth in ecstasy between her pillows, the beginnings of an idea started forming. Not quite the same as naked sex on a hiking trail, but simultaneously saner and much, much more crazy.

-------------------

Mary, a few days later.

Traffic on the way to the airport was horrendous, which was depressingly normal. It was down in Newton's 14th law of physics, or something like that. The velocity of any object approaching an airport decreases proportionately to its proximity to that airport. It was pretty amazing, Newton managing to work that out centuries before air travel would be invented. Really was a pity he'd gone insane later in life, and wasted 30 years trying to decode secret messages in the bible to transmute lead into gold.

At least she wasn't driving. Stop and go traffic always pissed her off, but Keith seemed immune to it. Upbeat as always, he was regaling her with the tale of how he'd carried his bowling team to a comeback victory that week.

"It's all about getting the perfect ratio of oil on the lanes to beer in your blood," he sagely informed her. "Harmony. Gotta find the balance."

"Very zen," Mary muttered, sarcastically.

Red brake lights cascaded towards them down the highway, and Keith slowed the car all the way to a full stop. "Must be road work," he said, though what kind of confirmation or denial he expected from Mary escaped her, so she said nothing. Apparently, that was a mistake, because he turned and flashed her a smirk. "You know, it's not too late to turn around and go home."

Mary actually had been considering doing exactly that. Telling Hazel she'd gotten sick, or some unknown relative had died, or something. But after Keith lay it out there, she stopped. Proving him right was a hard no.

"Why would I want to? This is going to be great."

Mary was quite proud of how confidently she managed to say it. Just, abominable brother that he was, Keith didn't have the common decency to pretend for even a few seconds that he believed her. He was mysterious like that. Ask him to spend hours out of his weekend driving her to the airport, and he'd agree without a moment's hesitation. But let her have a little white lie, or pass on a chance to tease her? Never. He laughed, hard, then said, "Hazel's puss must be out of this world for you to chase it all the way to a camping trip in California."

"Wouldn't you like to know," she muttered.

"Come on! Just--"

"I am not telling you about my sex life with my girlfriend!"

"Oh, you're no fun," Keith fake pouted. "But it's fine. Hazel tells all the good stories anyway."

"Good one, but you've already tried that trick before."

"Have I?"

"Yeah, when I was dating Simon a few years ago."

"Oh, right!" Again, the laugh. "I totally got you to spill too."

Fair was fair, she had fallen for it the first time. "Yeah," she admitted.

"But seriously, I still can't believe you're going camping. Like, you!?!"

Mary snorted. "You know, Hazel said something pretty similar."

"Did you tell her the story of the last time we went camping?"

The last - and only - time they'd ever been camping was for a college event. It was supposed to be about unplugging from technology and social media, getting in touch with nature, and having some good clean fun in the sun. It rained the entire time, and they'd both come home having learned that there are very few things in the world more miserable than two nights in wet clothes and soaked sleeping bags.

"Yeah, I told her about that a while ago when she was going on one of her trips. She was pretty surprised when I said I wanted to come to this one."

Surprised, and jubilant. It had made Hazel so happy, Mary was convinced any amount of boring wandering around a park would be worth it. Hazel had even seriously changed her plans to accommodate her. Now, she and Mary would only be sleeping outdoors for one night, and spending the remaining nights at the Ahwahnee Hotel, apparently right at the center of Yosemite. It did slightly worry her that Hazel had forced her to let her pay for it, then made her promise not to look up how much the room had cost at short notice, but again Hazel's gleeful smile had put her at ease.

She wanted to be a part of Hazel's world, and she'd been so hyper-focused on identity, sex, and their intersection, that she wanted to do something normal with her girlfriend. Some kind of relationship bonding that didn't end in her questioning her entire self-image. So, she found herself on the way to fly across the country to spend a week in the woods. It couldn't possibly rain for an entire week straight. Right?

The first hurdle was getting to San Francisco. Hazel and her friends had all got tickets months ago, and Mary hadn't been able to get onto their flight, so she had to fly out earlier and meet them there. It wasn't too much of a problem, it just kinda sucked. At least if they'd been together, Hazel could take on the monumental task of smalltalk with Keith.

"You are aware, Yosemite is supposed to be, like, one of the top ten most amazing places in the country, right?"

Mary waved a dismissive hand. "It's a valley with lots of rocks. Some really big, famous rocks, and Hazel is going to climb one of them, so I'm going to be there to hug her when she gets to the top."

Keith raised an eyebrow, but the effect was ruined by him facing forward driving. "You're joking, right?"

"About what part?"

"The whole fucking - oh, never mind. Just make sure to tell Hazel I mentioned it, so she can say I-told-you-so for me."

Mary made a mental note to not do that. Just in case he was right.

After so long in traffic, waiting merely 20 minutes for airport security seemed like a breeze. She even had a bit of time to spare, but when she found her gate, it was already so crowded she worried for a second she was in the wrong place. Tons of excited sounding conversations, kids rushing around while their parents called for them to come back and stay still, and no seats to speak of. Well, unless one counted the seats people were using to stack their bags on, obviously.

Mary found an unoccupied column a little out of the way, and she settled her bags against it to wait.

There was a big group up by the gate entrance who were making more noise than the rest combined. Maybe a dozen or so, all women, and a few had balloons with Mindy's Bachelorette Party 2025 printed on them in big pink letters with lots of cartoon hearts. Mary chuckled, wondering whether that meant Mindy had so many bachelorette parties, the year needed to be printed on the swag so they could keep them straight. Which one was Mindy? About half were dressed up like they were going to a club immediately after getting off the plane. Short dresses with tons of cleavage, heels, full makeup, hair, the works. The other half were the complete opposite. Sweatpants, with a few t-shirts and some hoodies, like they were set and ready to spend as much time as possible napping on the plane. One even had a blindfold propped up on her forehead. Talk about being prepared.

Mary entertained herself trying to guess which of them was the bachelorette, and she'd finally decided on the woman at the center with the excessive eyeliner and blush when the announcement for boarding came. Chaos reigned, everybody jumping to their feet and swarming the gate, as if none of them had ever flown before and didn't know they'd just be waiting all over again. By the time she eventually settled into her seat on the plane, the whole thing had all but left her mind, relegated to be another puzzle she'd never find out the answer to.

But then, two of the partygoers arrived in the aisle next to her.

"Hey! Sorry, we've got those two," one said, motioning to the window and middle seats.

Mary got up and let them in, wondering what the least creepy way was to tell them she'd been spying on them and wanted to know if her guesses were right. "So, bachelorette party?" She decided was a safe place to start, because one of them was holding one of those balloons.

"Yeah!" The one getting into the window seat replied. She was one of the dolled up ones, though she hadn't gone too overboard. Her makeup was well done without looking gaudy, and unlike some of her friends, her dress was at least tasteful enough that Mary couldn't tell what color her bra was. Which, again unlike some of her friends, was a shame because her boobs looked pretty nice. She had an eye catching nose ring that went well with her complexion, and her close cut nails and strong looking hands made Mary squirm a little in her seat.

"Mindy's last night as one of the girls before she goes off to become a mom," the one in the middle seat said. She was one of the travel-for-comfort group, her hoodie and sweats looking so soft and relaxing that Mary was a little jealous.

She'd pretty much given up on trying to find some fashion change that would declare to the world how different she felt inside. Nothing had felt right, and everything had made her feel self-conscious. Like Brittany had described of her own journey in typically feminine clothes, except for Mary, everything new and distinctly lesbian felt like she was wearing a costume. It was weird, because she'd finally gotten to a place where she was pretty much good with her identity as a lesbian. Things with Hazel were amazing, the sex was mind-blowing, and she didn't feel like she was constantly on edge. Just, trying to incorporate anything iconically lesbian into her outfits still felt distinctly not her.

So, she'd gone back to her old tried-and-true looks, and it had turned out fine. Turns out, Hazel had been attracted to her for ages while she'd presented like this, so it got the stamp of approval from the only one who mattered.

"Aww, come on, it isn't like we're going to kick Mindy out as soon as she has her kid."

"Clearly, you haven't spent much time around new parents," Middle Seat laughed, and Mary had to agree.

"Yeah, they're not much fun, but hey, I imagine I wouldn't be much fun either if I had a tiny person waking me up every hour all night so they could gnaw my nipples to death."

They all laughed, and continued chatting through the obnoxious airplane safety lecture. "I'm with ya, but Mindy is really excited for kids. I swear, the only reason she hasn't forced Michael to knock her up yet is so she can drink this weekend."

"That sounds a lot like one of my friends," Mary said, thinking of Olivia, but then remembering her view on kids. "Well, the alcohol fiend part, not the baby crazy part."

"Everybody knows at least one."

"So that's what you're going to do this whole weekend?"

"The invitation did say something like trying to make the girls version of The Hangover," Middle Seat giggled. "Don't know how that's going to work in San Francisco instead of Las Vegas, but we're sure gonna try."

"There's still gambling, tigers and strippers in San Francisco, right?"

"I'm not sure about the gambling, but there's an event for tomorrow called the erotic zoo tour."

"There's, like, a million things that could mean," Mary laughed.

"Right! And nobody will tell us what it is yet."

"What are you hoping for? A strip club with a big exotic fish tank, or an actual zoo with a section of people dressed in animal costumes fucking?"

"Doesn't matter to me, I'm just along for the ride." Middle Seat said, at the same time as Window Seat said, "Oh, definitely the second one."

"I always knew you were a furry, slut!" Middle Seat laughed, giving Window Seat a very amused look and reminding Mary forcefully of so many of Hazel's interactions with her friends.

"Could be worse," Window Seat mirrored the look. "Could be crushing on the bride's brother."

"Oh, you did NOT go there!"

"I heard he's going to turn up and surprise Mindy at the airport when we land."

"WHAT?" Middle Seat gave a panicked look down at her sweats, like she wished they were more eye-catching, and only realized she'd fallen into the trap when Window Seat exploded in laughter. "Oh, ha-ha. Way to kick a girl while she's down."

Window Seat's laughter died down, and she gave Mary a look that confused her because it seemed strangely like comradery, despite them having only just met. "Oh, to be a straight girl in love," she said, then turned her attention back to her friend just as the plane started accelerating to take off.

Mary felt herself being pushed back into her seat by the force of the plane, but she'd become too distracted to really notice, or continue following the conversation. What had she meant? Did she mean it as a joke between lesbians? But was she? And how could she have known Mary was? They hadn't even exchanged names! Did flying to San Francisco automatically put her into the probably gay camp? But San Francisco was mostly a Mecca for gay men, right?

Trying to be subtle, Mary glanced over at her neighbors, wishing that her gaydar was better developed. Now she was looking for it, she thought she could see a bit of the spark Hazel and her friends all had. That little intangible flair that, in Mary's eye, embodied sapphic self-assurance. Or maybe it was pure confirmation bias.

Had... had Window Seat seen something like that in her? Or had she just caught her leering at her dress, hands, and boobs? Either way, didn't that mean she'd been recognized, without even wearing one of the costume-feeling outfits?

Mary's face resolved from confusion into a wide grin. Even if it was the second one, she'd eyed women up tons of times before without anybody thinking she was attracted to them. This was different. It was being seen, literally, for who she was, by a complete stranger. And that felt fucking fantastic!

-------------------

Rose

When they'd originally planned this trip out, they'd thought they would only need to rent one mini-van for five of them plus all their camping and climbing gear. With Brittany and Mary joining, they'd reluctantly decided to split into two vehicles.

Google Maps claimed the drive from the airport to Yosemite Valley was three and a half hours, which proved to be a great example of computer algorithms failing to anticipate human experiences. Their early flight set them down in San Francisco a little after breakfast, and they managed to get out of the city without any traffic. They spent a while on a long highway, straight as an arrow, surrounded by rolling hills of dry looking California farmland and wineries that had Olivia begging to make a detour to Napa Valley. Once they started up into the mountains, however, their good pace took a nose dive. The road became so steep and insanely winding, they had to inch their way around corners and then put it into low gear to make it up the slope.

At least, they thought they had to, until a few sports cars with local California plates cruised by them, veering into the oncoming traffic lane like it was nothing, and taking the corners at speed like they had absolutely no fear of flying through the guardrail and out into nothing.

"That's insane!" Alex exclaimed from the driver's seat.

"That's awesome!" Rose countered. "Alex, try that, it--"

"No."

"Aww, come on, you can totally pull it off!"

"This is why she's driving, not you," Olivia joked.

"I like that you trust me with your life like that," Alex said, eyes glued to the road as they rounded a switchback turn. "But I like being alive too much to try."

"I can't believe how many houses there are up here," Olivia said, nose almost pressed to the window. "Californians are crazy."

"The views are so amazing, and they've all got huge windows. It must be fantastic inside." Rose said, but Alex agreed with Olivia.

"Can you imagine having this as your drive to work every day? Besides, the last grocery store we passed was like an hour ago."

"If you did this every day, you'd probably get really good at it, like those guys who passed us," Rose pointed out. "It would probably be so cool on your motorcycle."

Alex chuckled. "If it was a little less steep, I'd agree. My bike is powerful, but even in gear, I'd be worried she'd stall on this."

It was all worth it. For as long as they'd been obsessed with climbing, they'd heard about Yosemite Valley, spoken of in whispers with the same awed reverence as religious people used for their gods. Like climbing El Capitan was the same as ascending Olympus in ancient Greece, to find yourself in the home of Hera and Zeus. Obviously, they'd seen pictures, and it seemed like half of all climbing documentaries were made in Yosemite. It wasn't just the legendary, iconic climbs - the place was oozing with history. The sport had been born here, and the climbing pantheon had all walked these paths. Lynn Hill, John Bachar, Tommy Caldwell, and so many more had all lived here for years, in the same campsite they'd be sleeping in.

All that to say, they'd known what to expect as they drove through the tunnel and out into the valley. Still, the view completely stole their breath away. They'd wanted to get down to the valley floor and get a good spot in Camp 4 as soon as possible, but without needing any words, Alex pulled them into one of the last parking spots at the overcrowded overlook by the side of the road.

It was like standing at the very top of an enormous half-pipe. The rock walls of the valley stretched ahead to either side of them, with a carpet of green treetops extended down the middle and rising into the distance. On the right, waterfalls cascaded down from on high, bouncing between boulders and misting at the edges on the long descent to the valley floor. In the distance, towering at the head of the valley was Half Dome, its distinctive shape clear and beautiful even from here.

And, hugely dominating the scene on the left side of the valley, was El Capitan.

"Fuck..." Olivia murmured, standing next to Rose and looking the same way.

"Right?" Rose agreed.

"They don't make 'em like that back home."

"Nope."

It was so much more imposingly majestic in person than anything on a screen could convey. The white-grey granite jutting out into the center of the valley, rising the equivalent height of three modern sky-scrapers stacked on top of each other, seemed to call to her. Made her fingers itch to reach out and explore its surface. Find the cracks and crevices that would bring her up and up into the air...

"We're gonna climb THAT!?!" Brittany's disbelieving voice exclaimed from behind them, their car apparently having just found a spot. Ivy, Hazel and Mary joined them as well, Ivy so enraptured that she'd completely closed her book, without even keeping her spot marked with her finger.

"Yep!" Olivia enthusiastically confirmed. She turned slightly, meeting Rose's eyes. Wide and bright, excited, the same awestruck pull towards adventure Rose felt mirrored back at her by her best friend.

Her girlfriend! Her excitement sent a little shiver through her, and Rose took Olivia's hand and squeezed. "Waiting until tomorrow morning is gonna be so hard."

"Yeah, I wanna start now! Can we? We can, right?"

They could. There was nothing stopping them. Just, it would mean they'd have to stop for the night much sooner into the climb, and wouldn't make it to El Cap Tower. "Can you see The Tower from here?" Rose asked, squinting, wanting to dash back to the van to fish their binoculars out of their bags, but also not wanting to take her eyes off El Cap for a second.

Enormously expansive though the tall, wide face of the mountain was, pretty much every one of the thousands of distinctive formations had a name. Some names fit, like The Great Roof, which was a sharp out-jutting of rock that completely blocked the way up The Nose - the route they would be climbing. The way it came out perfectly horizontally from the vertical wall really made it look like a ceiling. Others... only half fit. Like The Texas Flake, which was a flat sheet of granite that had flaked off slightly from the main wall, but which looked nothing like the outline of the state of Texas.

And then there were some that weren't even close to their name. El Cap Tower looked nothing at all like a spire sticking up on its own into the sky. It should have been El Cap Balcony or something like that. It was a flat ledge roughly halfway up The Nose, and it was deep and wide enough for 6 or 7 people to comfortably sit and relax. A pretty mundane spot on a lot of walls back east, but on the harsh and unforgiving El Capitan, it was nearly unique. Almost every other rest or sleep spot was much, much smaller, and most would require the portaledge.

Rose had plans for Olivia on El Cap Tower.

"I can't see it, but I can barely make out any details from this far away," Alex said from Olivia's other side.

"I think I can see some climbers, though!" Hazel excitedly pointed. "There, you can kind of see the red ropes and blue clothes."

They all squinted and strained their eyes, trying to figure out exactly where Hazel meant, but it really was too far away. Rose was about to suggest they start the drive down so they could get closer when she noticed Mary standing next to Hazel. Her eyes were wide as plates, her jaw totally slack, gazing out across the landscape as though she'd just discovered Eden.

"Worth the trip?" Hazel asked, teasingly.

Mary did a slight double take, then pulled herself together. "If my brother asks, that didn't happen. I said it was nice, and that was all. Got it?"

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me," Hazel laughed.

"Good," Mary started saying, but Alex put in.

"I'll just tell Keith for her."

"What!" Mary rounded on Alex, "You wouldn't!" But Alex was running back to the car, giggling about finding the binoculars, with thumbs flying over her phone. "HEY! You get back here!"

Before they left the overlook, Olivia demanded they all pose for a picture. Alex teased her about being the group mom putting together a vacation scrapbook, and Olivia fired right back that Alex loved all her pictures and videos the most. Rose grinned to herself, waiting just long enough for Olivia to be satisfied with her shots, before breaking pose and pulling out her own phone.

"Excuse me," she asked a nearby stranger. "Would you mind taking a picture of all of us?"

"What?" Olivia tried to make a break for the cars. "No need, I'm--"

But Alex was on Rose's wavelength, and was already dragging Olivia back. "No way, Liv! You have to be in the scrapbook too."

"But I left my hat in the car," Olivia complained.

"You mean my hat that you stole from me?"

"It was a gift! You just didn't realize it at the time."

This time, they all crowded around Olivia, who posed well after having put up her token resistance. "Thanks," Rose said when the stranger handed her phone back.

She eyed the line of icons at the top, showing that she had new unread messages and emails. This would probably be the last spot with enough coverage to connect to the internet, unless they used the Wi-Fi in Hazel and Mary's hotel room. Her thumbs hovered, indecisively. She'd finished the class assignments and sent them off, so there would probably be a bunch of emails for her complaining about some of her choices and demanding changes, and a bunch more saying everything was perfect and she shouldn't change a thing. She'd found that the best way to deal with those was to sit back and let the two sides fight it out. They knew she was on vacation now, anyway.

Summer tutoring was over, too, so none of those messages were urgent.

But one of those messages would probably be Lydia's response to the novel-length email she'd agonized over with Olivia, and Rose both desperately wanted to see it, and didn't know if she was brave enough. She could pass it off to Olivia to look first. Rose even took a step towards her, but then stopped herself. She'd been doing that a lot recently, and it was starting to feel too much like a deflection. Things with Lydia were her choice, and she owned that. As they were getting back into the cars, Rose finally clicked Lydia's new messages icon.

The first thing she saw was a string of sad face emojis, which hit Rose like a punch to the gut and almost made her close her phone on reflex, but she soldiered on.

Lydia: Wow. I didn't expect that. We'll talk after you're back

Lydia: I'm not mad at you. I said I get it, and I meant it. I'm still sad about it, even though you are sort of right

Lydia: I don't think either of us would have been happy long distance. I'll tell you more when we talk, but it's a me thing

Lydia: I'm a nomad. It's part of who I am. I get anxious when I've been in one place for too long. I've wanted to find someone who feels the same way as me, and wants to live that life with me

Lydia: And I'm sorry I never told you that. Part of me thought that, with you being a teacher with summers off and doing all these adventures and trips, maybe it would work out like that with me

Lydia: But anyway. Don't worry about me, I'm fine. We'll talk, we'll figure it out. Go enjoy Yosemite!

Rose shook her head, slowly. Just when she'd been starting to think she was figuring Lydia out, it turned out that she'd missed so much. She read the messages out loud to Alex and Olivia, and was about to share that feeling, but Alex spoke first.

"When the fuck was she going to tell you that?"

"Yeah," Olivia agreed. "What was the plan? Get you to visit LA, then just mention how you should stay there with her for however many months until she got tired of it again?"

"Maybe she dropped hints and I didn't notice," Rose suggested, but Alex wasn't impressed.

"We're not talking about flirting or something. She can't just hint about big shit like that and just hope you give up your life to go become a wanderer with her."

"It doesn't even work out with you being a teacher," Olivia said. "She's in LA during the school year, so you'd have to get a new job there."

"Yeah, Rose, you know we'd call you out if we thought you weren't noticing important obvious stuff like you always do. This ain't that."

"Yeah. If anything, it shows she's the one who doesn't get you."

"What do you mean," Rose asked, and Alex snorted.

"If she thought you'd leave us behind for anything, she can't have known you very well," Alex said, matter-of-factly, giving Rose a surge of emotion, but then Alex spoiled the moment by turning to Olivia in the passenger seat and flashing a wicked grin. "It's a real shame. She was so much hotter than you, Liv."

"FUCK YOU, BITCH!"

"Hey Rose, is now a good time to ask if you'd be cool sharing some of those hot exhibitionist nudes she sent you?"

"Don't change the subject! You take that back or I swear to god I'll call you Alexandra the entire fucking trip."

"You wouldn't dare!"

The further down the valley they descended and the more Alex and Olivia made her laugh, the more relieved Rose felt. Olivia had been right. Telling Lydia how she really felt made her feel better, and they'd work something out. Or, at least, they would try. Everything was out in the open now, and even if they were right and Lydia hadn't communicated the best either, that wasn't what Rose was focused on. She was just happy Lydia had read everything, and still wanted to talk. That was good. Everything else would come, and Rose felt herself breathing easier as her tension totally disappeared.

The two cars met up again to set up their campsite, then Hazel and Mary split off.

They'd only been able to pack and fly with enough ropes and climbing gear for a pair of them to climb El Cap at a time, so the plan was for Rose and Olivia to go first. The rest would do the hike up Half Dome, but it was too long and difficult for Mary to do in one day and have a good time. So, Hazel and Mary would do half of it that afternoon, camp close to Half Dome's base, and Alex, Ivy and Brittany would catch up the next day. It worked out, because they hadn't been able to book the hotel room for that night anyway.

For Rose, most of that afternoon and evening was spent hand in hand with Olivia, wrapped up in the magic of finally being on the edge of something they'd been building towards for so long. It felt a lot like being a kid again, trying to make the clock go faster before Christmas morning. They wandered the Californian woods together, feeling how much more open and epic they felt than forests back home. There seemed to be much more space between trees, which were each much larger than they were used to. Even the air felt different, lighter and less substantial, probably because of the elevation. The lowest spot in the valley was something like 4,500 feet above sea level, which would be the top of a high peak back home.

The crowds of tourists slowly thinned as the day wore on to dusk, and then by nightfall it was refreshingly quiet. Olivia brought a blanket out from her tent and lay it beside their fire for both of them. Rose snuggled into her, happy to bask in the feelings and passively listen as Alex and Olivia chatted about how terrible it was the Camp 4 wasn't the same 24/7 drunken party it had been back in the 70s and 80s. On the other side of the fire, Ivy reclined against a tree with her eyes closed, gently brushing her fingers through Brittany's hair while Brittany held a book to catch the firelight. Brittany's mouth was moving, and when she strained to hear, Rose realized she was reading out loud, quietly, for Ivy to enjoy while she relaxed.

If there was a more tender, loving image for Ivy than that, Rose couldn't imagine what it would be. Stealthily, like she was afraid any sudden moves would startle them and ruin the moment, she reached for her phone and lined up a picture.

"They're so good together," Olivia whispered when she saw what she was doing.

"Yeah, I'm so happy they found each other."

Seeing what Ivy was doing with Brittany's hair, Rose repositioned so she was lying out with her head resting in Olivia's lap, and was rewarded by Olivia immediately mirroring Ivy's movements. Gazing up at Olivia, the firelight flickering in her eyes and the barely restrained excitement keeping her smile as wide as it would go, Rose knew they were feeling the same things. The same draw to adventure, to each other, to everything tomorrow might hold.

The first day of the rest of their lives!

Rose giggled, absolutely certain Olivia would call her incredibly cheesy if she could hear her thoughts. Her lips filled her vision. Full and vibrant, flushed with happiness, her perfect teeth peeking through as she spoke. They called to her. Made her own lips tingle with a craving to join and become one. Yes! Training paid off! Rose's chest swelled and her toes wiggled in her warm socks.

"Thinking happy thoughts, Rose?" Amusement colored Alex's voice.

"Yep!" Rose said, then went right back to watching the firelight on Olivia's face.

"Care to share with the rest of the class?"

"Nope!"

Alex huffed, but Olivia laughed and gave Alex a playful nudge with her shoulder. "She's just glad she has the hottest girlfriend in the world."

"Are you still pissed about that!"

Olivia was explaining that yes, in fact she was, when Rose made up her mind. She sat up and took Olivia's hand, pulling her upright with her. "Come help me get something out of the car?"

Olivia didn't point out Rose had unpacked everything hours ago. She smirked so only Rose could see, and let herself be led away until they were out of earshot. "Yearning for a romantic moonlit stroll, love?" She said, teasingly sarcastic, which made Rose laugh aloud because she was exactly right.

"You know, I had this big scene planned. I was going to wait until tomorrow morning just before we start climbing, with our family around us. I was going to get down on one knee and hold a carabiner up for you like I was proposing, and say: will you climb with me forever?" Olivia clearly hadn't expected the sudden vibe change. She glanced back towards the campfire, like she was half expecting to see she'd left her body behind and had stepped out of it into a dream. They'd come out from under the trees to the clearing beneath El Capitan near the center of the valley. The strip of stars visible between the mountainous valley walls danced above them and the full moon lit the tall grass a pale, ethereal white. "It would have been so perfect! You would have gotten all blushy and adorable, and then I would have kissed you, and everyone would cheer, and we'd start climbing together." Olivia's eyes lit up about as bright as the moon at the word kiss, and Rose wrapped her arm closer around her. She took a deep breath, inhaling Olivia's scent and feeling her nearness, before going on. "But, actually, I think I'd rather have this first time with you be just for us."

"Rose--" Olivia half breathed, half begged, still looking like she expected to wake up any second now.

Rose gazed, deep, into her eyes, and let herself slowly drift forward. "I love you, Liv, so much. And I always will."

Their lips coming together wasn't like any other kiss Rose had ever had. Certainly not like she'd imagined over the last few weeks. It almost didn't feel sexual at all. Instead, it felt to her like coming home. Like opening the door to their apartment and finding Olivia there, on the couch, with dinner made and two plates of it on the table in front of the TV. It was all the times Olivia pretended not to notice she'd made a mess in their bathroom and trusted she'd clean it up soon, and all the times Olivia got drunk and trusted her to get them both home safe. It was the time she'd been so stressed with upcoming parent-teacher conferences, she hadn't wanted to celebrate her own birthday, and Olivia had brought a cake to school and eaten it with her. It was everything about her best friend she trusted and admired, and everything they'd shared in their lives together.

It was love.

-------------------

Mary

Okay, maybe Keith had been right. Maybe they'd all been right. This place was pretty nice. And fine, maybe cuddling next to a campfire with Hazel watching the sun set was the single most romantic thing she'd ever done in her life. But god damn it, getting blisters on the hike, not being able to shower before bed, and waking up with her back screaming bloody murder sucked!

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Hazel's bright voice in the surprisingly crisp and chilly morning air greeted her as she crawled out of the tent.

Mary growled at her. "You have any idea how long it took me to figure out which of the ten million zippers in there was the right one to let me out?"

But Hazel knew exactly how to cut through her morning grumpiness. "I made you tea!"

Mary took the proffered mug and sniffed it. Black tea. Her favorite. She sighed and took a long sip, letting the hot liquid flow into her and hoping it would magically soothe her back. "How long do we have until the others get here, do you think?" She asked, eyeing the immense bulk of Half Dome above them and trying to ignore the way her feet throbbed just thinking about hiking further.

"Hours at least. They'll probably try to get to us around lunch."

"Oh. Good." Mary slumped down next to Hazel onto the log beside the fire, and placed the tea down close to it to keep warm. "So... like... when you're camping, what do you do for hours on end?"

"You're so addicted to the internet," Hazel laughed.

"If god had intended mankind to live without the internet, he wouldn't have given us smartphones," Mary said, trying to channel her mother's religious zealotry into her voice. She couldn't pull it off. Not after years of it during her childhood had turned her into a devout atheist.

"Riiight," Hazel laughed harder. "The same god who hates fun so much he banned masturbation, made sure to give us all screens so we'd never have to be bored again?"

"Something like that."

"You'd make a horrible nun."

This time it was Mary's turn to laugh, though a little bitterly. "Don't tell my mom that. Shipping me off to a convent was, like, her favorite threat growing up."

"Well, I do think you'd look cute in a habit."

"Is that one of your fantasies?" Mary turned her laugh more positive. "Corrupting a bride of Christ to sinful sapphic lust?"

"No!"

"What if I got a reverend mother costume going for Halloween? Would that do it for ya?"

Hazel narrowed her eyes. "If I say yes, you'll take that as nun fetish confirmation, won't you?"

"Of course!"

"Oh well, it's worth it."

"And if I do it, I get to pick your Halloween costume for you too."

"What? I never agreed to that!"

"Don't worry, I won't make you wear anything embarrassing."

"Good."

"Just some cat ears, lots of fur, and a tail butt plug."

"NO!"

Hazel never did answer the original question about how to kill time without technology. They both forgot about it. Little nothing type activities blended together, until Mary realized the sun had risen above the trees and she was hungry for lunch. Where had all the time gone? She'd mentioned her aching body, and Hazel had reprimanded her for not saying something much sooner. She put moleskin on her feet and helped stretch her back, both of which made her feel much better. They'd both gone down to fetch water from the stream nearby, which had made her feel like a medieval peasant doing chores. Other things, like disassembling the tent and repacking their bags, but all of it together hardly seemed like enough to have taken up hours.

"What do you think those people you met on the plane are up to now?"

"The bachelorette party? Probably taking shots off some hot male stripper's body at a zoo somewhere. What made you think of that?"

"Oh," Hazel looked at her thoughtfully across the fire where she'd started making lunch. "I was just thinking, you've seemed more at ease recently, and it's great."

"Thanks."

Hazel's smile turned up. "And I've also noticed you looking at my hands more often."

"What? Really?"

"Yep. And when you told that story, the woman's hands and short nails were pretty prominent in your description."

"You think that's what tipped her off?"

"It's one thing that sets my gaydar pinging, at least."

That made sense. After all, why would anybody whose idea of sex didn't include a lot of fingering pay that much attention to fingers? "Hazel," Mary said, tentatively. "Mind if I ask you something deep?"

"Sure."

"What does being a lesbian mean to you?"

"You mean, like, to me personally?"

"Yeah. Like, we've talked a bunch about figuring out if I'm gay, and then how to express that so it feels good for me, but this is different."

Hazel nodded slowly, gazing up into the deep blue sky thoughtfully. "I think I understand. Like, you're asking how the identity shapes me as a person?"

"Something like that, yeah."

Hazel looked back down from the heavens to meet her eyes, a little sheepishly. "Okay, so, I know this is going to sound really obvious at first, but just give me a few seconds to explain."

"Sure."

"To me, being a lesbian means loving women."

"Hazel!" Mary laughed, exasperated.

"You said you'd let me explain!"

"If I'd wanted that answer, I would have just opened a dictionary," Mary chuckled, then waved a hand. "Fine, explain what you actually mean."

"I mean loving women, not just being attracted to them. I absolutely love women. I love the friendships we form and the bonds and shared experiences we have between us. I love how we can know each other and experience, like... a sense of community, I guess. I'm not trying to say straight women don't have really meaningful friendships! They definitely do, and I'll get back to that in a second. It's just... I don't know... I guess, to me, it feels like there's something magical between us," Hazel motioned to Mary, then nodded over her shoulder. "And them too." Mary turned to see Ivy, Brittany and Alex's distant shapes making their way up the path.

"You really love them, don't you?"

"Yeah, and that's a huge part of what being a lesbian means to me. They're my family, not just because they're my closest friends. Because so many of the experiences that have shaped my life have shaped theirs too. We get each other so much more than our blood relatives do."

"That's beautiful," Mary said, not quite knowing what else to say. Hazel had tried to express similar things about her chosen family before, but Mary hadn't realized she'd linked it to her identity so closely.

"Yeah. So, like, you'll probably know this better than me, but for the women who date men I've known, it's always seemed like there's two modes for them."

"The one when she's with her boyfriend, and the one when she's with her girlfriends?" Mary guessed.

"Right! And I'm not saying lesbians don't do something similar. We totally do act different around our girlfriends than our platonic friends. Just, at least to me, it's always felt like those two versions of myself are much closer together. Like, being a lesbian, I get to treat my lover much more like a friend I'd love spending time with even if we weren't having sex. And I get to treat my friends like we love each other."

"That's..." Mary began, but didn't know how to express the lump in her throat that gave her. She struggled for a few seconds, then gave up and circled around the fire and wrapped her arms around Hazel, hoping that would get it across.

"You totally just made us sound like a fucking cult," Alex's voice said, making Mary jump. Fuck, they'd been so far away just a few seconds ago! How fast were they? She'd been completely winded doing that hike, and they didn't even have the common decency to look out of breath.

"Alex," Brittany said, amusedly. "Lay off, they're having a moment."

"I'm not saying that like it's a bad thing," Alex continued. "It'd actually be great. I've seen the documentaries, cult leaders get all kinds of pussy."

"You ruined it!" Hazel said, even as she laughed. "No lunch for you, Alex."

"You're out of the cult, bitch."

"Don't mind her," Ivy said, carefully putting her earbuds into their charging case. "She's just salty she's the only one on the trip who isn't coupled up."

"You're out of the cult too!"

Ivy took her own advice and ignored Alex, calmly continuing as if she was observing the weather. "Rose and Liv kissed, by the way."

"What!?!" Hazel squealed.

"Yeah!" Brittany agreed, excitedly. "They both came back to the fire last night glowing, like they'd reached nirvana."

"Both of them, like Rose too? She was good with it?"

"Apparently she initiated it," Alex told them, calling Hazel's bluff by helping herself to a portion of beef stroganoff. "We didn't get to see, which for your information, Ivy, is what I'm actually salty about."

"But seeing them both afterwards - Hazel, I wish you'd been there. You too, Mary." Brittany paused to accept a helping of pasta from Hazel and gave her a quick thanks. "You could just see how much it meant to both of them."

"It's been a long time coming for them," Ivy agreed, and even Alex did too instead of cracking another joke.

"Yeah, they deserve their happily ever after. And now they're climbing El Cap together. Talk about an amazing honeymoon."

Mary had kept quiet, watching them and thinking about what Hazel had said. Hazel's experience of the lesbian community was certainly much different than her own had been until recently. Brittany's too. She'd been lonely, and had to go searching before she found somewhere to belong. How many people never found a community that made them as happy and fulfilled as Hazel? How differently might they answer that question about their identity?

She shook her head, and decided to think about that another day. "A honeymoon suite with no showers or Wi-Fi?" She jokingly reentered the conversation.

"Oh, you think this is rough, just wait until we get to the last bit of Half Dome!" Alex said, looking far too wickedly amused to be joking.

Mary rounded on Hazel. "What's she talking about?"

"Um--"

"You haven't told her about the cables yet!?!" Alex laughed.

"Not warning the newbie. Why does that seem familiar?" Brittany joined her laughter.

"Hazel! What aren't you telling me!"

"Don't worry, it's fine!" Hazel waved her hands in front of her, like she was trying to dispel Mary's glower like a swarm of mosquitoes. "I've got my climbing harness for you, you'll be totally safe--"

"Why would I need your climbing harness!"

It turned out, The Cables were exactly what they sounded like. Two thick, solid steel wires embedded into the rock leading up to the very top of Half Dome for people to grab onto with their arms and pull themselves up, because it was so steep it would have been impossible otherwise. When Mary saw them, she thought she was going to have a heart attack. Hazel showing her how to clip herself into the cable with a carabiner attached to her climbing harness, just as an added precaution, only helped so much. But then she saw some groups ahead of them doing it, and they seemed to not be dying, and that did help a bit.

Right up until she started climbing, that is. Then the heart attack pounding in her chest started right back up again.

If Hazel hadn't been right behind her, calmly telling her to take her time, no rush, she had this, she probably wouldn't have made it. The harness she was wearing really was Hazel's. Like, Hazel wasn't using one herself. Some people from other groups were using them, but none of the family were. Clearly, they trusted that this wasn't suicide.

Telling herself she trusted Hazel was one thing. Actually trusting her in an intense situation felt like something else! But, one step and one pulling hoist upwards at a time, she made her way through the worst of it and felt the slope get more and more manageable as they rounded the top of the dome.

The first thing that popped into her mind was the "I'm the king of the world!" scene from Titanic. Except, Mary felt like she was standing on top of an enormous stone globe, not just a big boat like Leonardo DiCaprio. Like a giant on top of the literal world. The view was reminiscent of what she'd seen at the tunnel overlook, with the whole majesty of the valley stretched out before her, except from this high up she could see over the valley walls and off over the Sierras into the vanishing distance.

Hazel took her hand, and Mary turned to see her gazing out and smiling, wide and free, just like her. Brittany and Ivy came up too, and watching them was like seeing an echo. They did the same thing as she and Hazel, coming to a spot away from the traffic of people coming up and down the cables and surveying the wonder of creation, hand in hand.

Maybe Hazel was right. Maybe trying to separate out the different aspects of her identity into their own lanes didn't make sense. Maybe she should see it like her - the different bits of herself mixing into each other to form her whole. Her lesbianism entwining with her social life, her hobbies and passions, and everything that made her happy. And probably her job and all that other lame stuff too, but that didn't count as much. Everything combining to make her - and to get her to spots like this, surrounded by friends and with somebody she was slowly falling in love with, even if they did both reek of sweat and the nearest shower was many hours hike away.

Sure, that was just Hazel's point of view, and there wasn't a right and wrong answer to it. It was probably different for everybody, but at that moment, it resonated with Mary. She felt good about it.

-------------------

Olivia

Olivia probed with her fingertips, easing along the edges of the rock above her, looking for the best spot to grip onto. El Capitan was unlike anything she'd ever climbed before. The stone surface was so smooth, and the ripples and cracks were so small and crimpy, it felt significantly harder than its official difficulty grade. The challenge was as much mental as physical. Being able to map out the next series of holds, and see where her hands and feet would go and how her weight would shift for each movement, was just as deep a skill as actually being able to physically implement the plan.

The challenge was everything she'd dreamed it could be, and more!

She kept snaking her fingers until she found what she was looking for. A shallow indentation just along the curve of a ripple. Not much to grip onto, but combined with her good right foothold and the excellent spot she had in mind for her left, it'd be more than enough to support her. Olivia flexed her legs, pressing upwards, shifting and making the move.

Perfect!

Olivia gave a little whoop, then busied herself clipping the rope into the bolt she'd arrived at, and adjusted to belay Rose as she climbed up after her.

"Ready for you," she said into the walkie-talkie clipped to her harness.

"Great, coming up now," Rose responded.

Olivia shifted slightly, trying to get a good angle for both her and the GoPro on her helmet to see Rose climbing the pitch she'd just done. Rose said Olivia was the best climber because she was so good at seeing the best directions up the wall. Maybe there was something to that, but once Rose watched what she'd done as a guide, she was the far better climber. She was so self-assured, trusting her fingertips and the very edges of her climbing shoes with her weight so completely, she made the incredibly difficult ascent look easy.

Until she reached a nearly dead-end spot, where the next steps were almost invisible.

Olivia grinned, watching Rose crane her neck and feel around for any hint of where to go next. There was a little ledge, slightly above Rose's fingers but within reach, that was angled back in a way that made it really hard to see from below. Above that point, there was a very easy to grip outcropping that led into a crack that would bring Rose the rest of the way up. If only she could find that tiny ledge to bridge the gap.

Radioing down to tell Rose the solution would have spoiled Rose's fun, and besides, Olivia was pretty sure she knew what Rose was going to try. Rose was eyeing the far outcropping, bouncing slightly on her feet and shifting her head to judge the distance. When she'd been down there, Olivia had guessed it was 5 or 6 feet above her head.

Rose seemed to come to a decision. She stopped bouncing and stilled her body, alternately dipping each hand into her chalk bag and then looking slowly around her and then down to the valley very far down below. They were about one third the way up El Capitan, which made them about a thousand feet up from where they'd started climbing and maybe two thousand feet total above the distant trees. Even being too far away to make out the details on her face, Olivia knew exactly what was going through Rose's mind. She could picture the wide smile that showed her teeth and the calm exterior that was the eye of the storm inside her.

Rose dropped low, stretching her arms to full extension to bend her legs as much as she could, held for just another second, then leapt upwards with all her strength! She completely let go of the wall, her feet only slightly grazing it to keep herself on target as her jump brought her up, then she reached and grabbed at the high outcropping.

She got it!

Rose hung by one hand, dangling in the air, and her whoop of triumph carried all the way up to be loud in Olivia's ear. Olivia chuckled to herself. Most climbers' instinct would be to find spots for their feet. But Rose? She was too busy fist pumping to bother.

"That looked awesome!" Olivia said into the radio. "I got a great shot of it too. That's going to be the thumbnail for the video."

Still casually hanging by one hand and clearly loving every second of it, Rose grabbed the radio from her harness to reply. "You're just biased. I'm positive when everyone sees the shots I've been getting of you hanging out with the sky and El Cap in the background, they'll make you the thumbnail."

"Oh, shut up and get your ass up here, ya damn showoff."

Soon enough, Rose had scurried up the crack, clipped into the bolt beside Olivia, and was trading off with her as they hauled their gear bag and the portaledge up. It was backbreaking work, even with the pulley system and kick-hoist.

"I swear, no matter how much I kill myself at the gym, this shit never feels any lighter," Olivia grumbled, and Rose laughed in agreement.

It was so worth it for that moment of flopping back onto the portaledge to relax. The sun was just behind the lip of the wall, giving them a bit of welcome, cool shade to go with the light breeze coming up from below. There had been several groups of climbers starting out the same time as them that morning, but they'd all gone for different routes on different portions of the mountain. She and Rose occasionally glimpsed some climbers above them, but they were far enough away that it felt like they had this lower part of The Nose all to themselves. For as popular a climb as this, it was pretty lucky, even though they had deliberately picked a day in the middle of the week to improve their chances at solitude.

Olivia took a deep breath, drinking in the breeze and accepting the sandwich Rose handed her. "Thanks."

"You want some water too?"

"Yeah, please."

Rose fished a fresh bottle out of their haul bag and passed it down, then nudged Olivia's leg with her foot. "Make room for me?"

"Wha - oh, right." She shifted, sitting up so Rose could settle in beside her.

"I hope you're not like that in bed," Rose chuckled.

"I'm not a bedhog!"

"Good. Because I'm a complete starfish, and there's only enough room for--"

"You are absolutely NOT allowed to starfish me out of our bed!"

Rose laughed and unbuckled her helmet, clipping it onto her harness while she munched her sandwich. She'd already removed her climbing shoes, which were the bane of every climber's existence. The better the shoes for climbing, the more uncomfortable they felt, and getting them off was always a relief.

"But I thought you'd like a bit of physical contact while we're falling asleep together," Rose teased, managing to keep her voice innocent, like it was Olivia being unreasonable exiling her to her side of the bed. "I'd love to feel your leg alongside mine." She slid her leg over to Olivia's, letting her bare skin rub along hers and sending a shiver along Olivia's spine. So good!

Weakly, Olivia tried to protest, "but that's different than you being a starfish in the middle of our bed and pushing me off the side."

With both their legs dangling over the side of the portaledge, watching Rose using her bare feet to tease her and wrap their legs up together simultaneously drew her eyes downwards to the distant ground. This high up, the trees should have all been indistinct masses of green, but some of the redwoods and sequoias were massive enough to stick out, even from this distance. It was beautiful, and almost distracting enough to keep her heart from fluttering with every move Rose made along her leg. Almost.

"Well then, what would you do about it?" Rose continued teasing, her playful voice giving away how much fun she was having making Olivia's heart race with images of them sleeping together. "Kick me out of bed?"

The best part was how clearly Rose was enjoying herself. Better than the tantalizing touches, and even better than the kiss, which was saying something because the kiss had been the single best thing to happen in her entire life. But no, the delight on Rose's face as she injected images into her head of them spending a life together sharing the same bed was what made it perfect.

It was like she'd told her that first night. She wanted Rose to want this too, not to go along with it because she felt obligated. Rose had spent the last few weeks feeling things out between them. Experimenting with little tastes of intimacy, and then a little more, and she'd finally decided this was what she wanted. That Olivia was who she wanted, and not just as a best friend.

That's why the kiss had meant the entire world to her. Because Rose had initiated it, and then her eyes in the starlight had mirrored back the same love she felt inside herself.

Another little caress of Rose's leg, another hard thump of her heart, and Olivia couldn't have felt more on top of the world if she'd been on top of El Capitan already instead of just partially up it. She'd never really been into feet and legs before. Obviously, she loved the look of sexy strong feminine legs, but not to the fetishistic extent some people went crazy for them. Now Rose's were having this effect on her, though? Might need to re-evaluate.

"Um... probably not," Olivia admitted.

"Aww!" Rose laughed. "So you'll embrace me and my starfish ways?"

"Fuck no! I'm battling you for every inch of space. You're gonna learn that every time one of your feet pokes my leg, I'm tackling you with cuddles."

It felt so, so good talking about their bed like this. Like it had become a foregone conclusion, just in the short time since the kiss, that they'd be sharing one.

Something had clicked between them. Like they'd become connected, or entwined in each other, more directly than ever before. At first, Olivia had put it down to them being literally physically connected by climbing ropes, but it was more than that. Deeper. Like when she'd kissed her, Rose had left a bit of herself behind in Olivia, while taking a bit of Olivia along with her.

Rose laughed some more, following Olivia's gaze down to their legs and further to the landscape beyond. "Think they can see us from there?" She asked, straightening her leg to point with her toes down towards the open clearing near the base of El Capitan, which was a viewing spot for tourists. Occasionally, they could see the flashing reflections of sunlight on cameras and binocular lenses.

"Probably. I bet you've got us an audience with dynamic moves like that jump."

The smile on Rose's face grew wider. "That was so much fun! I hope there's more spots like that, I'm loving this climb so much."

"Think you might have to wait until tomorrow." Olivia waved vaguely at the wall behind them. "Looks like it's mostly crack climbing until El Cap Tower."

"We're still planning to stop there for the night, right?"

"I think so," Olivia leaned back and stretched a bit, flexing her back and shoulders. "Not gonna lie, though, I'm absolutely loving this climb too. It seems a waste to rush through it with the aid gear, I wanna spend months up here and free-climb as much as we can."

"I know exactly what you mean," Rose agreed, and Olivia laughed.

"You're gonna try to free-climb Changing Corners a few times, aren't you?"

"Of course! And The Great Roof!"

"I think I'm going to try too."

The Great Roof and Changing Corners were two pitches towards the top of The Nose, and they were famous for being 5.14 graded insanely difficult sections. They were the sections that separated the mere experts from the virtuoso level masters, and the two of them had a snowball's chance in hell of actually doing them without their aid-climbing clip-in ladders to help them up. According to the internet, it wasn't quite certain because not everybody who'd done it bragged afterwards, but best guesses were that only something like twenty people in history had ever free-climbed the entire Nose, including those two.

Still, they were here. Those legendary sections, featured on the covers of magazines and in every climber's dreams for decades, were just a little ways above them. How could they resist getting a taste?

They started climbing again, into a bunch of consecutive pitches along the same crack that would lead them to El Cap Tower.

A lot of people said crack climbing was boring, and honestly, Olivia could see their point. Wedging her shoes into the same crack in the rock and pulling herself up, again and again, would probably lead to some monotony if this was all she ever climbed. But, being from the northeast, most of what she was used to were slabs. It made these few hours up this crack feel like a welcome little change of pace, even if it was a pure muscular grind and all the sliding along the protrusions on the side did leave her with a few scrapes and bruises.

And then a few more. And then a cut on the back of her hand when she misjudged a foothold and fell, that stung like a bitch as soon as her sweat got on it. It was so constant on the same muscle groups in her legs and back, Olivia started to realize why west coast climbers always looked like bodybuilders. If they hadn't been going hard in the gym all summer, she would probably have been gassed ages ago.

By the time she pulled herself up over the ledge to El Cap Tower, the shadow of the setting sun had nearly covered the valley, and the first few feet of flat level rock all day looked like the most beautiful thing Olivia had ever seen. There was so much room! Which was to say, by the standards of everywhere else in the world, the three foot deep porch-like outcropping would have felt narrow and constraining. Here on El Capitan, it felt wide and spacious enough to land a goddamn airplane on.

"How's it look?" Rose radio'd up to her.

"Like heaven."

"That good, huh?"

"Dude, you gotta get up here. There's so much space, you could probably have like six people sleeping up here."

"And we've got it all to ourselves."

"Looks like it," Olivia clipped the rope into the bolt and adjusted to belay Rose up to meet her. "You're good to start climbing."

Rose was clearly feeling tired too. She went slowly and deliberately, only deviating from the approach Olivia had taken in a few spots where she used her raw strength to lift herself instead of going through multiple steps of changing grips and shifting weight. More effort up front, but she got to the top faster, so probably less work overall. She pulled herself over the ledge, and immediately flopped down onto her back, spreading her arms and legs like the starfish in bed Olivia was becoming increasingly worried she hadn't been joking about being.

"You look like you're gonna sleep good tonight," she said, adjusting the ropes again to start hauling their gear up.

"You have no idea."

"Yeah, even on a fucking rock like this, it's gonna be great."

Rose peeked an eye open to smirk up at her. "I have a confession to make."

"Oh god, what have you done this time?"

"Remember how you said the haul bag felt heavy? I miiiight have stashed our sleeping pads and pillows in the bottom."

"You bitch!" Olivia laughed.

"What! We'll both love having them tonight."

"That's, like, another 5 pounds in there!"

"Only 4 point 8," Rose said, sheepishly, and Olivia laughed again.

"Riiiight, that totally makes it better." She tossed one end of the haul rope down at Rose. "Start pulling."

Rose's eyes met hers, shining with amusement as Olivia made a show of reprimanding her, and Olivia felt it again. That connection. It wasn't really anything she could directly put her finger on, but it still felt distinct. Them sharing this experience doing something together they both loved so much, Rose looking out for both of them and making the experience better, them bantering - the whole thing. It was so... them. They'd done this so many times before, but now it felt less like they were two people together and more like one singular unit.

In the end, Rose was right. Obviously, she was always right, but Olivia was damned if she'd let Rose get away with her deception and letting her pull the extra weight all day by telling her that. At least, that's what she told herself. Right up until they'd set their mini-stove up to boil water for their dehydrated chicken pad thai dinner, inflated the sleeping pads, laid them out and settled down on them.

"Fuuuuck," Olivia groaned, feeling her muscles relax down into the softness.

"Better than rock?" Rose teased.

Olivia gave her shoulder a playful bump. "Oh, shut up with questions you know the answers to."

"It's one of those magical things," Rose said, pouring the boiling water carefully into each of their dinner containers. "Back home, we'd say these things feel so much worse than, like, the couch or something. But out here?"

"Better than a literal cloud. Same with shit dehydrated food like this. Try it at home and it's barely edible."

"But it's the best tasting stuff in the world out here."

"It really is."

Twilight was giving way to night, the blanket of shadow moving to completely envelop the valley, while the last rays of sunset shone on the very tops of the surrounding mountain peaks. The first stars peeked through the portion of sky where the yellows and pale oranges had receded to deep, endless black. Slowly, as they blew on their scoldingly hot pad thai, the moon rose, seeming nearly bright enough to replace the departing sun. They were quiet as they ate, gazing out over the beautiful landscape and feeling immersed in it. Like, if they stood up and started walking into the open air, they'd float out among the mountains and into the twinkling stars.

Olivia was just thinking that it had gotten a little chilly when she felt Rose shifting, and then warmth as she slid over and nestled herself in beside her. Rose's hair fell down Olivia's side as she rested her head on her shoulder, then snaked her arm down between them and took Olivia's hand in hers.

Her nearness brought the kiss back to front-and-center of Olivia's mind, and what Rose said just before. I love you, Liv, so much. And I always will.

"Liv," Rose's voice cut across the mental replay.

"Hmm?"

"You remember when we saw Valley Uprising, and Alex said it would be amazing to drop everything and live here and climb every day?"

"I think so." Olivia thought back. Valley Uprising was one of the many documentaries about Yosemite climbing they'd all seen together. "Didn't Ivy say something like doing this every day would make it feel less special after a while?"

"Yeah. At the time, I thought she was right."

Olivia chuckled, thinking she knew what was on Rose's mind. "But now?"

"Now, I'm struggling not to do mental math about how much money it would cost to buy an RV big enough for all of us, how much we'd need for gas and food and replacement climbing shoes every year or so, and whether we could get there if we sold everything we all own."

Olivia's chuckle became a full laugh, and Rose joined her, her hair sneaking between them to play across their cheeks. It smelled... well, like Rose had woken up in a tent, spent all day sweating, and the closest shower was miles away. Which was to say, she smelled perfect. Olivia breathed in deep, loving everything about life in that moment. "Afraid if you start crunching the numbers, it'll get too tempting?"

"Kind of, yeah. Liv, today was so amazing. I want more of this. I want our lives to be about doing this."

I love you, Liv, so much. And I always will.

Olivia gently nuzzled into Rose's hair. "I know what you mean."

"Think Alex, Hazel, Ivy and Brittany would go for it?"

"After they get their turns climbing this? Probably. Do they even make RVs big enough for 6 people?"

"I don't know."

"And what about when Mary visits, or Alex has someone over?"

"We'll figure something out."

"Sexiling everybody whenever someone wants to hook up doesn't count as figuring it out!"

"I wasn't going to say that!" Rose laughed.

"Oh, right," Olivia sarcastically teased, using her free hand to tickle Rose's side. "I'd forgotten, you like getting it on with an audience now."

"Hey!" Rose giggled, batting her hand away. "It's not like that!"

"Really? Because I definitely remember some pictures involving you butt ass naked on a public trail."

Rose shifted again. Quickly, before Olivia could tickle her more, she sat up and tossed one leg over both of Olivia's, then moved so she was effectively straddling them, resting on Olivia's lap facing her. "It's not the same as having sex with people right there watching you. I'll show you."

She was so close! Suddenly, their faces were just inches apart, Rose's breath brushing on her lips as she spoke, just like moments before the kiss!

I love you, Liv, so much. And I always will.

Goosebumps rose on her arms and a shiver of excitement made her pause. God, Rose's eyes! Even in the moonlight, they were big and bright enough to make it very obvious what she had in mind, and as badly as she'd wanted the exact same thing for months, it was still crazy! "No," Olivia breathed, not in rejection, but disbelief. "Here?"

"Here."

"But--" Olivia weakly tried to protest even as her heart raced and she felt her excitement and desire rise with every pump. "--we're on El fucking Capitan!"

Rose's eyes twinkled, like they'd become stars. She draped her arms over Olivia's shoulders, embracing her and drawing them even closer. "Yeah? So?"

So? SO!?! Olivia couldn't believe she was putting up even a token resistance to Rose initiating sex with her. But she also couldn't believe she was suggesting they get it on here! They couldn't possibly be more out in the open if they tried! Sure, it was dark enough and they were so far off the ground that even the tourists with binoculars probably couldn't make out what they were doing, but still! They were on a narrow ledge thousands of feet up the most famous climbing mountain in the world! "You're insane!"

"Something you've known for years, and you still fell in love with me."

She wasn't wrong. Olivia swallowed, fighting down her urgently rising excitement just a little longer. "You're sure you want this? With me, I mean?"

"I'm sure."

"You're not worried it'll be too weird for you, or it'll change us too much?"

Rose smiled reassuringly, "Not anymore." Olivia felt Rose lacing her fingers together behind her head, taking her hair between them and playing with it. "You're the most fiercely, selflessly loyal person I've ever met. You've proven so many times that you'll follow me anywhere, and have my back through anything, no matter how crazy." As if to emphasize her point, Rose glanced deliberately around their little ledge, then let Olivia's hair fall and whisked her shirt up and off. She smiled down at Olivia, like stripping here was the most natural thing in the world. "I think, if there's anyone I can trust to never want to leave me, it's you. Just like how I'm pretty sure that, if there's anyone who will embrace a little wildness in our fun together, it's you. So," she raised her arms over her head, "do my bra for me?"

"A little wildness," Olivia grumbled, trying to use sarcasm to distract from how much Rose saying those things meant to her. How much it felt like Rose's voice had vibrated right down that connection she'd been feeling all day, and spoken her love directly into her soul. Rose's eyes were still doing the shining-like-stars thing, like she knew exactly what she was doing to her, and which made it difficult to look away, even for as urgent a mission as uncovering Rose's boobs. It was such a mindfuck. Her body positively itching to finally get some action, while she simultaneously felt too full of emotion to function. "Say that thing you said before kissing me again."

Rose raised a questioning eyebrow, apparently replaying the scene in her head, then grinning when she got to the right part. "I love you, Liv," she said, then stopped, like she thought she'd said the whole line.

Olivia waited, expectantly, but she didn't finish. "You're messing it up!"

"What?"

"It was the most important thing anyone has ever said to me, and you forgot!"

"So dramatic!" Rose laughed.

"I should make you take your own bra off as punishment."

"Aww," Rose tried to look chastised, but ruined it with more laughter. She pulled at the sides of her sports bra, roughly dragging it up and over her head in a quick motion, then wrapping Olivia up in a tight embrace. "I love you, Liv, so much. And I always will."

She did remember! Any other time, she would have given her crap for playing with her heartstrings like that. Now, with Rose topless, holding her tight, Olivia felt like if her heart somehow didn't overflow with emotion soon, her lust would probably make it explode. "I love you too."

Her heart kept beating so hard and fast, she was sure Rose could feel it through her chest. Like letting those words out hadn't done anything to release any of the bubbling feels inside her. Because it totally worked like that.

She was about to try again, but Rose beat her to it. "Overwhelmed?"

"Totally."

"I kind of am too. In a good way, though."

Olivia snorted. "Bitch, this is your fault. You started it." Rose chuckled, and Olivia let her hands run over the bare skin of Rose's back. Warm beneath her fingertips, despite the chilliness of the night air. Rose was just as worked up as she was, and after so long believing Rose would never get turned on by her, it felt fantastic.

So, gently, Olivia brought her hands from Rose's back and around her shoulders, playing along her tired muscles and around to her sides. Rose responded, shifting slightly to separate a little, giving her room between them without fully breaking her embrace. At least, that's what she thought she was doing. When Olivia came around fully to take Rose's breasts in her hands - full and so, so wonderfully soft and hot with passion - Rose simultaneously kissed her.

Rose's tongue filling her mouth at the same time as her hard, engorged nipples filled her hands set off fireworks inside Olivia - inside both of them. Everything that had been simmering, barely contained, boiled over at once. They both pressed into each other, Rose trying to force her boobs harder into Olivia's hands while Olivia forced Rose's tongue across their teeth and back into her mouth, following hard after it.

But it wasn't enough.

Olivia tried to get Rose's shorts off, but failed because of their position and Rose's climbing harness, while Rose was groping at her shirt and failing to get it off because her arms were down making their attempt at stripping Rose. Frustrating! But, as their tongues battled back and forth from mouth to mouth, they both found workarounds. Rose went under her shirt and pawed at her chest through her sports bra, which was half heart-throbbingly pleasurable and half tantalizingly teasy. Olivia dove her hand into Rose's shorts, beneath her underwear, into the hot-tub of sopping wet juices that was Rose's pussy.

Rose moaned into their kiss, then broke it off to lean her head back and moan louder, which might have saved Olivia because she was close to hyperventilating!

Rose's pussy! HER FUCKING PUSSY!

It was like her entire world became laser-focused. Nothing else existed beyond her fingers, probing along Rose's labia, feeling the desire radiating off of them in waves, and then pressing them apart to find her even wetter inside.

But even that wasn't enough.

She needed more - needed to feel as much of Rose as she could. In a frenzy, Olivia started circling Rose's clit, but Rose seemed to be even more ravenous than she was. She thrust her hips forward, hard, forcing Olivia's hand downwards while she ripped her hands out from under her shirt and gripped the sides of her head. This time, the kiss was the roughest, most intense of Olivia's life! Rose kept pulling at her, desperately, like she wanted to gobble her all up, while she kept thrusting with her hips, trying to draw her down and in.

Sliding her fingers inside of Rose was like materializing their connection in the flesh. Feeling Rose's body accept her in, rippling around her like she was pulling her deeper, welcoming her into the core of her arousal like she belonged there - all combined to make Olivia giddy. She followed Rose's lead, fucking into her with the rhythm of her thrusting hips and their dancing tongues, hard and fast and hot and heavy.

But, as divine as it was, it still wasn't enough.

Rose's breathing between kisses was getting ragged. Her pelvic floor clenched and gripped at Olivia's fingers, the velvety squeezing vaginal muscles feeling like the hottest thing she'd ever experienced in her life. Was she getting close? Already? Fuck yeah!

Rose let out a huge groan, then suddenly stopped. "Not yet," she said, leaning over with one arm resting her weight against the rock wall behind Olivia, and breathing hard.

"What? Why?"

"I want us to do it together." Rose straightened up, standing and taking Olivia's hand, and pulling her up too.

The moon had risen high enough now to illuminate their ledge in a pale glow, and standing under it, carefully undoing her climbing harness and lowering her shorts, Rose looked like the most gorgeous creature Olivia had ever seen. Like she was some kind of mystical being from a fantasy novel. A moon sprite who took in the glowing light and made it her own. Her chest, rising and falling fast with her excited breathing, the soft pink of her nipples standing out against the backdrop. Her hair, gently blowing in the soft breeze over and around her neck and shoulders, and occasionally pulling in front of her mouth. God, they'd only just stopped making out, and Olivia already felt the urge to kiss her again! Rose shifted, setting her clothes aside, and her bare legs caught the light. So firm and strong, her muscles rippling through her skin with each movement, seeming to guide Olivia's eyes upwards along them to the apex between her legs. Her fingers twitched and she unconsciously licked her lips, every part of her feeling the pull to Rose's pussy.

"Holy fuck, you're beautiful," Olivia breathed as Rose stood, naked in all her glory, glancing between Olivia herself and the distant lights in the valley down below them. As excited as she'd been before, shedding her clothes seemed to have pitched her into the eye of her internal storm. She slowly spread her arms, as if she was trying to embrace the entire valley, or show herself off to it, then she turned her full attention to Olivia.

"Your turn!"

Olivia gulped. "I still say this is crazy," she breathed, half to buy time while she worked up her courage, and half to keep ogling Rose. Her eyes kept zooming around, being drawn by one thing after the next and back again! The color at her nipples against her skin in the moonlight, the shadows shifting between her legs whenever she moved, and the little silhouettes of her hair dancing across her face in the slight wind... absolutely gorgeous.

And that smile! Part excitement, part joy, part nervous energy seeking an outlet. She hadn't appreciated it fully before during their photo shoot, but this perfectly transformed Rose and put her into her thrill seeker element. It frightened her just the right amount to feel dangerous and make her come alive with passion, and she wanted to share that special feeling of hers with her. Olivia breathed in, deep, steeling herself. How hard could it be? Just strip! Forget the setting, pretend it's a normal bedroom, and get naked!

She wasn't nearly as graceful as Rose had been. She basically ripped her clothes off in jerky motions, tossing them in a heap by their haul bag, but she managed it.

It felt so fucking freaky! Even knowing nobody could possibly see them, not wearing their climbing harnesses was a mind fuck. Like, the ledge was more than big enough not to need the layer of protection, but constantly wearing it was so ingrained into her, having it off made her feel even more naked than merely being on an open mountainside with no clothes. Which was saying something, because she felt more exposed than she'd ever been in her life.

Rose slipped her hand into Olivia's, beaming like Olivia'd just won Olympic gold and she was the proudest partner in the world. "How does it feel?"

"INSANE!"

"I know, right! Isn't it great?"

"I - you -" Olivia blustered, but Rose quieted her with a kiss. Because of course she wanted to kiss like this! They were already putting on a peep show, why not take it up a notch to full-on hardcore porn?

But, as Rose expressed her excitement with her enthusiastically probing tongue and her squeezing hand, it was like a bit of it transferred. Like insanity was a thing Rose could feed her down their connection. "Don't try to fight it," Rose said between kisses. "Lean into it. Let yourself feel scared, embrace it, and touch me!"

Oh well, she'd already come this far...

Olivia pulled her hand free from Rose's, then tossed both arms around her to grab her butt and pull her, as hard as she could, into her body. "Your ass--" kiss "--is so--" kiss "tight!"

Rose giggled into her mouth and wiggled her butt back into Olivia's groping hands. She went back to enjoying Olivia's boobs, gently massaging and teasing at her nipples, making Olivia coo softly into their kiss.

It felt so, so strange. Like, she kept wanting to check behind her to make sure it was still night and the sun hadn't magically materialized to expose them. She jumped at every natural sound and flicker from the corners of her eyes. Like the very distant headlights of a car winding its way down the valley was threatening, or the soft flaps of bat wings signaled another climber right behind her. It was all in her head. They were safe, but still, the instinct to cover up and hide was ever present, making her heart beat faster and her adrenaline spike all over the place.

Which had the knock-on effect of fanning the flames of her lust for Rose. Desire burned inside her, searing her veins with intensity. Fuck, was this what it was like for Rose? No wonder she'd become an exhibitionism addict. Olivia groaned, trying to find an outlet for all this energy, and squeezing Rose's ass with all her strength while pressing her mouth into their kiss.

Rose gave a little jump of surprise, then met her with even more savage enthusiasm before breaking off for air with a wet sucking sound. "Fwah! Liv! I knew you'd love it!"

"You coming at me with kisses? Of course I do!"

"You know what I mean!" Rose laughed, smiling with an innocent sort of joy that was completely at odds with everything.

"Fine, maybe I'll let you drag me along for a little more exhibitionist sex, in very small doses."

"Yes!" Rose squealed, the intensity in her eyes redoubling. She pushed, backing Olivia up directly into the wall, then gave her a very meaningful look. "I meant it about wanting us to cum together. I'll be annoyed if you spoil it exploding too soon."

Then she dropped to her knees and pushed Olivia's legs apart.

Oh fuck! OH FUCK! Rose framed between her legs! Rose lining herself up, licking her lips, getting so close she could feel her breath against her sopping wet labia!

If there had actually been any voyeuristic climbers hovering in the dark, the moan Rose's tongue forced out from inside her would have brought them scrambling. She felt her head hit the rock, and realized her eyes had rolled back in her skull and she was slouching forward, hips bucking, trying to thrust herself into Rose's mouth for everything she was worth. It was so, so good! Rose took her in deep, long strokes of her tongue, from her vaginal opening all the way up her pussy to rub across her clit and flick up and over it, and again. Normally, she liked it hard and rough. Rose knew that - she'd told her often enough over years worth of post-date dish sessions. She must be doing this just to tease her and work her up even more, but fuck! Every time she licked across her clit, Olivia thought she might cum.

And it wasn't just the way she could feel the wet, sloppy heat from Rose's tongue pushing pleasure into her with every lick. It was that, combined with an emotional release that took Olivia completely by surprise. Like, telling her best friend she loved her had been one thing. Having her say she loved her back was another, just like the kiss had been. But having Rose pressing her mouth up into her pussy, lapping up her juices and taking her clit as far between her lips as she could was a level of acceptance that hit Olivia deep in the heart.

She felt powerless to sort any of that out, even if she'd wanted to. Hell, she could barely hold herself upright. As Rose transitioned to drawing her clit between her lips and sucking it into her mouth while steadily licking it, Olivia felt like she was being drawn into a furnace. Rose's mouth was so, so hot for her! Her clit throbbed and pulsed, pressing itself out to meet Rose's tongue. When she finally regained enough of herself to look down and meet Rose's eyes, she felt her heart skip a beat. Rose's eyes radiated a passion and love that filled Olivia up just as much as the pleasure did.

"Rose," Olivia moaned her name out loud, tenderly caressing her hair and repeating it again and again in the rhythm of Rose's licking tongue. "Rose--Rose--oh, Rose!"

Olivia sagged again, and realized how much of her weight Rose had been holding up when Rose suddenly stopped and lowered her down to lie on the sleeping pad she'd been kneeling on. Quickly, like she was just as desperate to keep her mouth on her as Olivia was to have her there, she positioned herself kneeling above her, reversed so her pussy hovered over Olivia's mouth, then went back to eating her out with a passion.

Cum together. Right.

Even in the shadows of the moonlight, Rose's pussy looked very happy to see her. Her labia had engorged and parted, her clit poking out cutely from within her folds, swaying slightly with the erotic gyrations of Rose's body. This didn't require any thought. This was pure feral instinct. Olivia dove in, wrapping her arms around Rose's thighs and pulling her hips down to meet her, and was immediately rewarded by sweetness filling her mouth and a groan of satisfaction from deep inside Rose. Her clit was so hard! She'd gotten this turned on by her!

Circling Rose's clit with her tongue like she'd always said she liked, Olivia felt Rose's body instantly tense like she'd run an electric charge through it. All her muscles went rigid, her legs squeezing either side of her head and her core solidifying to marble against her boobs. "Oh, yeah, Liv! Keep doing that!"

Olivia grinned directly into her pussy. "Right. Because I was totally going to get up and go home if you hadn't said anything." Rose half laughed, half moaned, and Olivia was expecting a similarly sassy response when she felt the hardness of Rose's teeth nibbling on her thigh, and it sent a hot surge of energy through her that made her jump. "Oh god, no! No teeth!"

Rose laughed harder. "You can't fool me, Liv, I know all your secrets!"

Then she dug her teeth in for a full-on bite, making Olivia seriously question the wisdom of confiding how hot it'd been when Brittany accidentally did that. But Rose followed it up with plunging a finger into her pussy and licking where her teeth had been, which was seriously hot too. At the same time, as if to cut off any more sass, Rose thrust her hips down, effectively silencing Olivia with her pussy.

Way to play dirty, bitch. Bite her back? Nah, Olivia took the high road and kept circling Rose's clit, feeling rewarded when Rose went back to moaning and started rocking her hips in time with the circles. It was so erotic, the way Rose's body undulated against hers, her core muscles rippling and her clit throbbing along with the rhythm.

The little vibrations from Rose's voice moaning made it that much better when she locked her lips around Olivia's clit once again. She felt herself getting sucked back into the glorious furnace of Rose's mouth, and then fireworks going off all through her pelvis! No buildup, Rose must be using all her tongue strength, and it really felt like explosions of pleasure. Every press of the tongue was a new boom, sweeping Olivia up in the excitement, making it very hard to spare any brain cells for eating Rose out.

She closed her eyes, letting the sensations have their way with her, and gave in to the experience. The taste and smell of Rose's pussy, absolute pure sex right in her face, their bodies writhing against each other in their mirrored 69 position, the heat of raw pleasure cascading in waves from her pussy all through her. Every time Rose voiced her pleasure and Olivia's clit throbbed into her mouth, it was like Rose pulled at their connection. Like their joined bodies had created direct ropes between their souls, and they could inject each other with everything they were feeling directly. Olivia felt the urgency in Rose's body, her tension growing as her pleasure mounted, then she abruptly lifted her hips up away from Olivia's mouth.

"I'm so close. You feel so good, baby."

"Let me finish you off, then!"

"Not yet! I want us to cum together!"

"Fuck that sounds awesome."

"Just pull me back down when you're close too, it won't take much for me to cum."

It didn't take much for Olivia either. The idea of cumming together was too perfectly erotic for her to resist. Rose somehow made her tongue press even harder into her clit, and she felt herself being undone. Her back arched, her legs spreading as wide as they'd go, as the fire in her clit focused to a blaze.

She wanted it. Wanted the release. Wanted to let it all go - with Rose - together as one. Her heart throbbed, all her love pouring out and into Rose, as she pulled at her hips and reunited with her pussy.

In retrospect, Olivia was pretty sure Rose started cumming first, but that almost made it better. Feeling her spasm and jerk, and tasting the sudden rush of her juices made her own orgasm even more explosive. Her entire body quivered, then she latched onto Rose with the tightest hug she could manage, her mind going in sputtering bursts of flashing colors with each of Rose's movements across her clit. Rose wasn't any more coherent. She clung right back to her, her moans only restrained by how focused she was on injecting pleasure into Olivia's pussy. Even in the throws of ecstasy, they both wanted to give each other more.

It was a good thing Rose had been on top, because afterwards, Olivia felt like her body had been completely drained. She lay in a heap on the sleeping pad, gazing up at the open stars while Rose shifted back around to join her for cuddles.

"That was... Rose, I can't even tell you," Olivia said, brain still struggling.

"I know."

Olivia refocused her eyes back down to earth and Rose's face, and laughed hysterically. "Rose, your face!"

"What?"

"You're so fucking out of it, you look like you're drunk!"

"Oh," Rose laughed too. "It must be a side effect of eating you out. Like they say, you are what you eat."

Olivia rolled her eyes. "I'm taking that as a compliment." She chuckled, then stifled a yawn. "I always knew I had an intoxicating pussy."

Rose reached for their haul bag and fished around inside it, finally pulling her sleeping bag out of the bottom. She pulled it from the stuff sack and unzipped it, then draped it over both of them like a blanket. "Honestly, though, what did you think of doing this outside?"

"It's kind of hot," Olivia admitted, stretching out under the warm cover and loving the feeling of Rose settling herself in alongside her. "I'd like to do more, but also, not only this. I also want some, like, just normal sex in a normal bedroom too."

"Of course! I'm so happy you like it!"

"With how wild it drives you, it's hard not to enjoy." Rose's face still hovered above hers, against the background stars, with her hair gently brushing between them and her eyes slowly refocusing. Olivia sighed, dreamily. "You're so beautiful here. I was thinking it earlier, but it's like you belong like this. You were made for it, and I want to encourage that."

Rose squeezed into her side and lay a caressing hand on Olivia's cheek, which immediately set her heart to sputtering again. "I love you."

"I love you too." Olivia mirrored Rose's movement, reaching up but aiming for Rose's hair and gently playing it between her fingers. "I really mean it, Rose. We just hooked up, and it was amazing, and I'm still in love with you, and that will never change."

Rose sighed, softly, her eyes taking on a little of their dreamy post-sex daze again. "I can feel it. You make me feel so loved, and it makes me feel safe."

Safe. Right! "We have to get our clothes and harnesses back on before we fall asleep!"

"Don't worry, I've got them right here," Rose pat the ground beyond her line of sight.

"Oh. Good." Olivia let herself be guided by Rose onto her side, facing away from her, looking down into the valley with Rose as the big spoon. Rose rubbed her back, tenderly, lovingly, taking Olivia's mind back to a drunken night months ago after a party. Emotion welled up inside her, almost choking her up in a second. "This is what I always wanted for us," she murmured.

"And now we'll always have it. Together."

The end.