“Oh get your mind out of the gutter, this way we all can stay warm. Here, I’ll lie this way.” Hanna moved everyone so that she and Lily were on either side of Maya, their coats open and wrapped together to create a little blanket over Maya, whose coat was also open. All of their body heat was pressed together, trapped by their winter coats. It wouldn’t last long, but Hanna could feel heat collecting between them.
“Okay, so I may have also snuck this up here.” Maya shimmied and produced a small flask. “Cinnamon whiskey,” she said, peering up at both Lily and Hanna.
Hanna turned to Lily and then back to Maya. “Where did you get a flask?”
“I found it in Lily’s house, I don’t know. There were like three in one of the cabinets so I nipped one. I wanted to do a cute little day-drinky toast to celebrate our hike.” Maya smiled, her brown eyes turned skyward, the daylight pulling out the light amber hues in them. Hanna wanted to kiss her, but Lily beat her to it, planting a smack on Maya’s cheek.
“I knew there was a reason I fuck with you,” Lily said, taking the flask.
“And your family just keeps flasks around?” Hanna asked instead.
“I mean, yeah,” Lily supplied, and she started to take a swig.
“Wait,” Maya interrupted her, “what are we celebrating?”
“To this wonderful walk,” Lily said.
“To this wonderful walk,” Hanna repeated.
“To this wonderfulhike,” Maya corrected, and the three of them laughed. Lily took a swig.
Hanna took it as a promising sign that Lily then handed the flask to her. Hanna took a sip. The burn of the whiskey was immediate, but the syrupy cinnamon flavor helped keep her from coughing. She handed the flask to Maya, who took a swig.
“That’s no cider,” Maya declared, and the three of them laughed.
“So, twenty questions?” Hanna said, because truthfully, she wanted to know about both women. She snuggled in closer, Maya’s lean body beneath her, Lily’s pressed against her side.
“Fine, now that I have some booze I guess,” Lily said.
“Okay, hmmm, if you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?” Maya asked.
“Whoa, okay, thought we could start with like, favorite color or something,” Lily said.
“We only have twenty questions!”
“I mean itiscold, so this needs to be over rather quickly,” Hanna said. Curiosity nipped at her. “But what is your favorite color?” she asked, turning to Lily.
“Green,” Lily said immediately, “like an obnoxious lime green or even better, limerick.”
“Limerick?” Hanna repeated.
“Trust the art major to know that one,” Maya said, smiling up at Lily.
“What’s yours?” Lily said to Maya.
“I was going to just say purple but I better be more specific and say magenta, like a dark magenta.”
“Ooooh sultry and sophisticated, makes sense,” Hanna said, and then because she was the only one left she said, “I just like blue. All kinds of blue,” and the three of them laughed.
Lighter on theirfeet than they had been on the way up, they made their way down the path towards the house for a late lunch or early dinner, depending on how you looked at things. Hanna walked between Lily and Maya, smiling as they continued their game of twenty questions, having been chased away by the cold at around question ten. She learned Maya was a Sagittarius, December; Lily, a Leo (becauseof course she was),July; so two fire signs, which would prove interesting to navigate considering she was an October born Libra.
“We really could use an earth sign to ground us,” Hanna said.
“God what is it about us queer folk and astrology?” Lily laughed.
The air around them was lighter then too, but as the questions went on, the more in depth they were becoming. Lily and Maya shared about navigating their parents’ relationships. Hanna learned that Lily’s father had a whole other life now, which was heartbreaking. The man was also an idiot, because the Blakes made for great women from what she could tell.
“Yeah well, I’m not a Blake, am I?” Lily said, and there was a pause before Maya asked if she ever wanted to change her name. After a long moment Lily said, “It’s the only thing I have left of him, the last reminder that it had all been real once.”
