Wren laughed as Lily and Beth climbed the few stairs onto the porch.
“I’ll play double agent any day for a good cause,” Beth said, reaching out and pulling Wren into a hug. “Hi, sweetie. Glad to have you back around for a few days.”
Wren grinned, returning the hug. “Thanks for the flawless execution of Operation Fortnight.”
“I still don’t like the idea of you two working together behind my back,” Lily said, rolling her eyes.
“Wren, did you have enough time to—uh—successfully conclude all your plans for Operation Fortnight?”
Lily giggled at her mama’s awkward attempt to play along with Wren’s game. She loved her for trying.
“Yes, of course, Operation Fortnight has been fully executed down to the very last detail.”
“And when does the guest of honor get clued in on all these details?” Lily asked sarcastically, sliding her arm around Wren’s waist and leaning into her.
“Now? Yeah, now,” Wren said, squeezing her hand, pulling Lily towards the basement stairs.
“I’m heading out in about twenty minutes,” Beth called down the hall. “I’ll be out for a few hours, but I’m thinking about picking up Chinese for dinner. Usual order?”
“Sounds good,” she and Wren said in unison as they descended the stairs into the basement where Lily’s room was.But before they got to the bottom, Wren turned and blocked her, swiftly leaning in to kiss her with lips that tasted like the cucumber mint chapstick she had gotten obsessed with over the summer—the very chapstick that Lily now always made sure to have on hand because Wren was constantly losing hers.
“So, were you surprised?” Wren asked, a tiny twinkle in her eye.
Lily nodded, eagerly reaching out and clasping her hands behind Wren’s neck, under her curls, pulling her forward to kiss her again. “Extremely, but what about the party for Mattie?”
“Mattie has a birthday every year…but it’s in May.” Wren shrugged. “But even if there had actually been other plans, I would have picked you in a heartbeat. You’re my favorite person to hang out with.” Her voice was timid, almost like she was unsure about something, which was silly because there literally wasn’t a single thing that Wren could do or say that Lily didn’t absolutely love.
“Are you ready for the second part of the surprise?”
“There’s more?” Lily asked, curious as to what else Wren had up her sleeve.
“Yeah, well, I know you’ve been a little down lately about getting injured and the rehab and not going back to school, and I know since the Olympics I’ve been so busy and I kind of got the feeling that maybe you were upset by that and I wanted to just, you know, do something to make you smile.”
Wren pulled her forward, leading her into the living area in the basement that usually had a couch, TV, and the most comfortable oversized armchair Lily had ever sat in. Now it was completely unrecognizable, draped in blankets, sheets, and twinkling fairy lights.
“Welcome to Fort Lily!” Excitement took over Wren’s face as she pulled back a blanket flap, revealing the inside of the fort—the floor piled with pillows, couch cushions, snacks, and video game controllers.
Lily still hadn’t said anything. A slight twinge of guilt gnawed at her as she processed all of the thought Wren had put into creating this for her when all Lily had done was be annoyed that they hadn’t been able to see each other much over the last few weeks.
Wren’s smile fell at Lily’s silence. “You don’t like it. It’s too much, isn’t it. I thought—I don’t know. It’s pretty stupid?—”
Lily cut her off, throwing her arms once more around her neck. Wren instinctively caught her around her waist.
“I love it,” Lily whispered. “It’s perfect.”
“Okay, cool.” Wren breathed a sigh of relief. “It took me way longer to set everything up than I thought it was going to. Beth told me to let myself in with the spare key, and I literally had just finished putting the little lights up when she texted me that you guys were in the driveway.”
Lily ducked through the blanket flap Wren was still holding open, slipping off her shoes as she scooted across the cushions that padded the floor. Fairy lights cast a warm glow over the inside, making everything feel warm and a little hazy.
Wren flopped down next to her, shifting around to prop herself up with pillows, reaching to hand a controller to her. “You know that snowboarding game we watched Mother Goth play a few months ago? The one for that weird square console?”
Lily nodded, remembering the game. It looked fun. They had added it to theirkeep an eye out forlist—the list of items she and Wren looked for while thrifting.
“Well, I finally found the console”—Wren raised the pink controller in her hand—“and Dylan found the game for us. So now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’d like to kick your ass at yet another game.” She grinned and turned on the console, the grainy logo splashing across the TV screen.
“Oh, you are so on, Parker. Do I need to pull up the spreadsheet? I’m pretty sure I hold the crown for Queen of the Console,” Lily quipped, her words dripping with the competitive snark she and Wren so often took with each other.
Wren grumbled something inaudible under her breath, grinning as she selected her character, and the two of them settled into the game, keeping track of races won, points accumulated, and other data points—all of which factored into their scoring metrics.
