After a fair amount of gossip was shared we left the cavern and went to the ridge to place our braided fibers in the sun to dry out.
“We should call this lovers lane.” Kayla suggested as she assessed the ledge. “By the looks of the rumpled up furs, it seems like someone had a lot of fun out here under the stars.”
I had been standing at the far end of the space next to Talia and Sarah.
“It looks like they had a wrestling match up here,” Sarah whispered to Talia.
“I’ve heard there’s some wrestling involved in sex,” Talia whispered back.
“It sounds dangerous,” Sarah said, sounding genuinely concerned.
“I wouldn’t worry about it too much. I overheard my older sister’s best friend say sex could be a lot of fun with the right partner.”
“Did she say anything else about sex?”
Talia shook her head. “No, they caught me listening outside my sister’s door and told me to go away.”
Sarah looked truly downcast. I made a mental note to bring up with the other women the topic of explaining the birds and the bees to Sarah. It might not hurt to fact check Talia just to make sure her parents or school really taught her everything she needed to know. Fifteen was such an awkward age. It was old enough to be considered a young person wellon their way to adulthood, but still young enough to not really have any of the tools needed to be an adult–or the knowledge, for that matter.
We laid out our braided cords to dry and went our separate ways until dinner.
Chapter 8
Orsu
I woke up early and eager to face the day. I hadn’t gotten to sit next to Julie at dinner since all the females decided to sit together and chat amongst themselves–and I meantallthe females. It was a sweet sight to see the humans hang onto every word of the elder Sirret women of the dekes. They shared stories of when their children were young and tales of their own luminescence.
But now it was the next day and I was ready to make Julie a special breakfast while I prepared the cookfire for her and I to make porridge side-by-side.
I’d thought of nothing else, actually. I’d even run into the wall of my own bed cave last night thinking about how I might try to brush my arm against Julie’s as I stirred my bowl next to her.
“Are you cooking that or letting it burn?” Drovo teased. I looked down and found the sweet flatbread I’d been baking was already brown on one side. I quickly turned it over before it could get any darker.
“You got someone on your mind?” Drovo’s mischievous smirk turned into a look of awe as soon as Kayla entered the cavern.
He looked up at the vines criss crossing the ceiling and used his abilities to have them drape down behind Kayla. She yelped as his vines cradled her and swept her off her feet and deposited her onto a chair next to his.
“Good morning, beautiful.” He looked besotted as he grinned at her.
“I swear to god, if you pick me up one more time, I am going to find a knife and cut down every vine in this place.”
“Do what you want, my sweet luna moth, but my vines will grow back.”
Drovo’s face fell into a pained look as Kayla punched him in the groin.
“Does that grow back too?” She looked pleased with herself as she got up from the table and sat next to Fatima.
“Good morning,” Julie’s sweet voice fluttered up to my ears and I turned to see her smiling face.
“Is that bowl for me to use?” Julie pointed to the empty bowl sitting on the flat stone next to the cookfire.
“Y-yes. I set that one out for you,” I stammered. “And I prepared a sweet bread for you too.”
“Oh, thank you,” Julie giggled as soon as she saw the bread. “Did you bake a smiley face into the bread using berries?”
“I did,” I smiled down at her. “I like for my food to reflect how I feel about people, and that’s how I feel when I’m around you.”
Julie’s cheeks turned rosy. “I’m glad you enjoymy company.”
