Charlotte spins around fast, swinging her arm in Riley’s direction to cover her mouth with her hand. But with her heel still stuck in the rock, she throws herself off balance. Not only does she hit Riley square in the jaw, but her entire weight lands against Riley’s center of gravity, effectively sending her flying into the water.
Riley lands flat on her ass, the shallow water reaching up to her hip bones. Charlotte lands next to her on all fours, submerging her legs, and her arms up to her elbows. The lake is absolutely freezing.
After a few seconds of complete silence, Riley howls: “What the fuck was that?!”
She turns her head to look at Charlotte, who sheepishly eyes her up from under her own armpit, and snorts loudly.
Charlotte startles herself with her snort, and so her hand flies up to her own face to stop herself from laughing, to stop it from happening again, but in the process she accidentally splashes a large amount of water in her own face.
It takes two more seconds for Riley to start reeling with laughter. Charlotte follows and within moments, they can barely hold themselves up.
“Don’t laugh at me!” Charlotte laughs, flicking a bit of water in Riley’s direction.
Riley sharply points at her. “Stop that. You really don’t want to provoke me,” she threatens. Charlotte raises an eyebrow and lifts her hand to splash water at Riley again, until she hears her say: “I’m serious. I’m dunking you,” and she decides not to test her own luck today.
Creating a cacophony of loud noises in discomfort, both of them get up. They take each other in, both woman positively chilled to the bone.
“I’m sorry,” Charlotte mumbles weakly.
“Yeah, I bet you are,” Riley replies, hoisting herself up on a rock and wringing out one of her pant legs. But when she looks back at Charlotte, she catches the amusement in her face.
Following Riley up the rocks, Charlotte says: “Told you I’d throw you in the lake.”
Riley laughs heartily. “You just wanted to make sure I wouldn’t forget you in Switzerland. Rest assured: mission accomplished.” She scurries all the way up to the pathway and turns around to help Charlotte up.
“I’m afraid you cut my lesson in lesbianism short though. We’ll freeze to death if we don’t go back.”
“Yeah…” Charlotte sighs “Well, do you happen to do private Zoom-sessions for absolute beginners?”
Riley blinks at her. “Actually, no,” she says.
Charlotte nods as she tries to hide the impact of the verbal hit. She avoids Riley’s gaze and silently calls herself stupid, stupid,stupid...
Riley steps forward, closing the space between them. When Charlotte looks in her large, brown, mischievously sparkling eyes, she sees it: an entire story that is yet to be written.
She registers a cold, wet hand on her jawline before she realizes what’s happening. Riley leans in a bit more, and when she talks, the hot breath on her face is a nice relief from the icy palm against her skin.
“But for you, Charlie, I’ll gladly make an exception.”
That stupid nickname has never sounded so sweet as a set of warm lips presses against her cheek. Charlottecloses her eyes. It’s not just a peck—there’s a promise in the intensity of the kiss. And just for this one moment, Charlotte lets herself feel, really feel, what that sensation does to her.
Her right knee buckles, and after they pull apart, they spend the rest of the walk back pretending Riley didn’t noticed that.
7
From: Riley Amezcua
To: Charlotte Norwich
March 27th, 2026
7:12 PM
Dear Charlotte,
I’ve been meaning to call you, but between my hectic arrival, the process of settling in, and the time difference, it’s become almost impossible. I figured I could send you a text, but emailing feels more fitting as it’s less limited and there’s no pressure for either of us to respond. I hope you don’t mind that I stole your work email from your website. How are you doing? Please give Shakespeare a kiss on his hairy head from me.
Riley
