‘Oh,’ Alice said, starting. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.’
The insomnia had begun in high school. Alice would arrive to school late, heavy concealer under her eyes and a dullness about her that Briar had detected instantly. Between first and second periods, Briar would sneak out to get Alice coffee from the shop across the street. Alice would sip on it until lunch, when she would lean on Briar’s shoulder and let sleep claim her for a few minutes.
‘It’s fine,’ Briar said. Alice was still in her pajamas and she was clutching what was possibly the thickest book Briar had ever seen. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Reading,’ Alice said, glancing down. ‘Every Living Thing, have you read it? Susan sent it to me when I got accepted to Oxford.’ She thumbed the page. ‘This must have been her copy.’
‘You nearly ran into me while… reading?’ Briar asked, sure that her brain was simply too tired to make sense of what was going on.
‘Yes,’ Alice said. ‘I pace while I read. Tire my brain and my body at the same time. It’s efficient.’
Briar imagined Alice pacing late at night, alone in her dorm room. She wished Alice would have just picked up the phone, that she could have been there for her.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked, knowing Alice’s insomnia always worsened before exams or big presentations.
‘I got an email from my advisor,’ Alice said, sighing and walking over to the desk. She put the book down and slumped into the chair.
‘Bad news?’ Briar slid into the opposite chair. Alice steepled her fingers together, squinting at nothing in front of her. It was a familiar gesture, from countless late night study sessions where Alice would quiz Briar before a test.
‘No.’ She sighed, rubbing her eyes. ‘He’s recommended me for a position with the Royal Botanical Society.’
‘That sounds like good news,’ Briar said.
‘Yes,’ Alice said faintly. ‘I suppose it is.’
‘Do you not want the job?’
‘It’s everything I’ve been working towards,’ Alice said firmly, then sighed. ‘I just didn’t expect it to happen so fast. I’ll be interviewing as soon as I get back, and then I’ve got to defend my dissertation. Jeremy says it just needs some final tweaks, but it’s nowhere near ready.’ She was working herself into hysterics. ‘And I just don’t know if I’m ready to be done with school yet. I feel like I have so much more to learn. I’m not re—’
Briar got up and crossed over to Alice before she could finish. She grabbed Alice’s chin and tilted her face up.
‘It’s going to be okay,’ Briar said. ‘The real world isn’t that scary. Trust me, you’re going to be fine. Not just fine, you’ll be incredible.’
Alice’s eyes were glassy as she wrapped her arms around Briar’s waist. Briar squeezed her back just as hard. They stayed like that for a while, until Alice was able to breathe normally again.
Briar slowly disentangled herself and looked Alice in the eye again. ‘We’re going to make sure you ace that interview. If you need time to prep for it, we can work it into the schedule. But’ – she grabbed Alice’s hands and pulled her up – ‘that can all wait until morning.’
Alice let Briar guide her back to bed, didn’t complain when Briar made her drink a whole glass of water, and, when Briar slipped into bed, gratefully clung to her.
‘Now,’ Briar said, wedging a thigh between Alice’s knees and slipping a hand under her tank top, ‘tell me all the different subspecies of mushrooms in the Mid-Atlantic.’
It was an old game they had played when Alice couldn’t sleep. Alice smiled and leaned in, pressing her lips against Briar’s softly before retreating to her own pillow again. ‘Alphabetical?’
Briar nodded.
‘Scientific names?’
‘Naturally.’
Alice kissed her again before closing her eyes and starting: ‘Armillaria gallica, Armillaria mellea, Armillaria solidipes, Cortinarius caperatus, Coprinus comatus, Coprinopsis variegata…’
They both were asleep before Alice finished the Gs.
The next morning, two of the counselors woke up with some kind of rash. How they’d contracted it, and subsequently infected each other, Briar didn’t want to know. She sent them off to see Harper and brought their campers to the lake for a swim lesson.
Noah was lifeguarding the empty lake diligently. His face lit up when he saw the nine- and ten-year-olds bumbling towards him.
‘Well, hello there, sailors,’ he said, grabbing a stack of kickboards. ‘Today, we’re gonna see who can kick the hardest.’
