“Kissing?” Daphne asked.
“You two act like you’ve never heard the word before,” Sasha said. “Yes,kissing.K-i-s-s-i-n-g.”
Daphne waited for April to protest, but instead, she simply set the torch on the forest floor, then took a sip of her drink, her expression impassive.
“Kissing,” Daphne said again.
“The beloved pastime,” Sasha said, then folded her arms. “You said you wanted more queer experiences, and you can’t get more queer than making out with your friends.”
“It’s true,” April said.
“Have you ever kissed Ramona?” Daphne asked.
“No,” April said slowly, lifting her chin in thought. “Though I think she’s one of the few friends I’ve never kissed before. She and I were too much like sisters from the moment we met. But I’ve kissed every roommate I ever had, and a lot of people I met at college. A few strangers in bars.”
Daphne’s cheeks warmed again, as she thought of April kissing so many different people. She imagined her floating through a party at college, smiling, hooking her fingers into collars and under dress straps.
Daphne swallowed, looked at Sasha. “And you?”
Sasha grinned, all Puck. “Who haven’t I kissed, honey?”
April rolled her eyes but laughed.
Daphne’s heart thumped so vehemently in her chest, she was sure the other two could hear it. Shehadsaid she wanted to kiss people she hardly knew. And this was the perfect setting—the moon, the stars, the trees. It was intoxicating, and she didn’t want to lose the feeling. Didn’t want to say no, didn’t want the night to end. The last person she had kissed was, of course, Elena. She’d love for that to not be the case, but this…this was…
She glanced at April only to find April looking right back at her. Neither of them looked away. Daphne wasn’t sure what her stomach was doing—roiling or fluttering or rebelling against the spiked cider—but she felt nauseous and excited and nervous all at once.
“It’s up to you,” April said. “We can just keep walking, enjoy the trail and the moon.”
“You’re fine with this?” Daphne asked her.
April tilted her head. “With you and Sasha kissing? Why wouldn’t I be?”
Daphne’s mouth dropped open. “Oh, I…” She trailed off. She’d thought…well. Didn’t matter now, did it? But when she glanced at Sasha, she lifted a brow at her as though she knew exactly what Daphne had been thinking.
“This is your wild rumpus,” Sasha said, that mischievous glint in her eyes sparkling in the moonlight. “You’re in charge.”
The words settled around her like a strange sort of hug.Incharge. She’d never been in charge of anything before.
She could kiss Sasha. It would be fun, and Sasha was safe and sweet—if a bit randy—and Daphne could experience kissing someone new, someone she had no intention of dating. As she stood there in the middle of Moon Lovers Trail, she realized she really did want to kiss Sasha.
But she wanted to kiss April too.
She had no intention of dating April Evans. Of course not. The entire idea was preposterous—the two of them existing together at all, right here in this New Hampshire forest, was preposterous. It was ridiculous and wild andfunny. If she really thought about it, removed her heart from Elena’s betrayal, she and April were a Shakespearean comedy.
And that was exactly what she needed right now. Every interaction with April had felt heavy and loaded from the jump, and her thoughts of late hadn’t helped matters. She needed to lighten things up. Needed to laugh about how they’d danced together, how they’d ended up in the same cabin, the cosmic twist of it all.
She wanted to befriendswith April. Wanted to think about kissing her the same way Daphne thought about kissing Sasha—fun, silly, free.
“Okay,” she said a little too loudly, her blood pumping quickly and forcing out her words. “I’m in.”
“Really?” Sasha asked.
“On one condition,” Daphne said.
“And what’s that?” April asked, sipping casually at her drink.
“We all kiss,” Daphne said.
