“Kissing who?” April asked.
Sasha just laughed and started walking across the clearing to where the trail continued into the woods. “Let’s go.”
“I swear to god, she makes me dizzy,” April said, then groaned and grabbed one of the tiny solar-powered torches sitting in a basket by the drinks table. “You can’t go in the dark!”
Daphne hurried to follow, her drink sloshing onto her wrist as she went.
“What is Sasha talking about?” she asked as they dived into the thickening woods, the trail a thin line along the floor.
April sighed. “Moon Lovers Trail. It’s a local legend. They say any couple who walks its path under a full moon will fall in love and live happily ever after or some shit.”
Daphne smiled at April’s explanation, which was somehow romantic and cynical all at once. “Do you know anyone who has?”
April was silent for a second as they walked. Sasha was a few feet ahead of them and started singing the song “Moon River.”
“Wow, she really can’t sing,” April said.
“I heard that,” Sasha said. “Now answer Daphne’s question.”
“So bossy,” April said.
“I’m a power top,” Sasha said.
“I’m shocked,” April said, and Sasha resumed her singing.
“So?” Daphne asked.
“Fine, yes, I know some people. Owen, the guy who ownsClover Moon Café. He took his high school sweetheart on the trail when they were, like, seventeen, and they’ve been married for eight hundred years. And Ramona and Dylan.”
“Really?” Daphne said. “That’s really cute. Who else?”
“It doesn’t matter,” April said. “It’s a silly legend.”
“I thought you loved stuff like that,” Daphne said as they came to another, smaller clearing. This one was quiet and peaceful, the bonfire far enough away now that the only sounds were the cicadas chirping in the brush.
“Stuff like what?” April asked.
Daphne arched her arm in a semicircle, indicating the sky, the woods, the soft golden glow from the torch mixing with the moon’s silver. “Like this. Stars and fate and legends.”
“Not this legend,” April said curtly.
Daphne frowned at her, but only for a second before the unspoken truth all but slapped her in the face.
Elena.
April had brought Elena here.
“Okay,” Sasha said, setting her cup on the ground and rubbing her hands together. “So what do we think?”
“About what?” April asked.
“Falling in love,” Sasha said.
Both April and Daphne stared at her.
“I’m kidding, take a breath,” Sasha said. “Just a little light kissing among friends.”
“Kissing,” April said.
