Work Text:
It’s her.
Twyla had noticed her earlier. Right away. How could she not? Her brown floppy hat with the oversized plume of cascading feathers alone demanded beholding. It almost distracted from how beautiful she was. Almost.
And the black dress with small print was just bohemian enough to fit with the general vibe of a winter solstice celebration without being obvious, like she hadn't selected it specifically and strategically for today – although something told Twyla she most likely had done exactly that.
She was lovely.
But it wasn’t just how she looked that had caught Twyla's attention earlier. Or rather, it wasn’t just what she was wearing. It was absolutely how she looked. Like she didn’t quite belong either. Like she wasn't entirely sure what she was doing here.
Like she was new to this, too. But also somehow perfectly confident as well. The unlikely combination had drawn Twyla in immediately.
The golden, flowing hair hadn't hurt either.
And now she’s standing right here in front of Twyla, looking at her...expectantly?
Oh no. Has she already said something? Is she waiting for an answer?
“Um...hi?” the girl says, definitely expectantly. Definitely like it’s not the first time she’s spoken to Twyla.
Of course. Classic, Twyla. Great job.
“Oh, uh...sorry,” Twyla finally gets out as she awkwardly drags her thoughts away from how she’d felt seeing this woman earlier today and focuses them on how she feels to have her standing in front of her, facing her, right now. “I…I was ju-”
“Oh my God!” the woman gasps, a grimace forming on her otherwise flawless face. “Were you, like, seancing, or something?” She whispers the last three words and leans forward as though she’s protecting Twyla from prying ears.
“Seancing?” Twyla asks, confounded, before realizing what the woman had meant and splicing together a response. “Umm...I don’t...no? No. I wasn't seancing.”
“Oh God ok good,” the woman replies with obvious relief. “Honestly, I would have felt so bad if I'd interrupted like some super spiritual whatever.” Her delicately accessorized hands flutter around as she speaks and Twyla wonders if they might actually contain a little magic.
“First time here?” Twyla asks with a slight giggle. She knows the answer, but is grateful her brain came up with something sensical to say and actually allowed her tongue to form the words properly.
The woman answers back with a series of tiny, aggressive nods and Twyla’s heart tightens with each one. She juts her right hand out and adds, “Alexis Rose, Libra.”
Twyla laughs and stands up, reaching across her small folding table to take her hand, luckily not too distracted by the adorably bizarre introduction to miss the spark that shoots up her arm as Alexis squeezes her hand.
“Twyla Sands, Pisces,” she replies with a wink.
“Oh, is that not how we’re supposed to introduce ourselves here?” Alexis asks as she lets go of Twyla’s hand. “I just figured, I don’t know, with all the...you know” she gestures vaguely at their surroundings in what Twyla is pleased to already recognize is a very Alexis Rose fashion.
Twyla nods reassuringly. “Well, I don’t think you need to share your sign right off the bat, but I'm sure a good number of people here wouldn’t find it strange.”
“So, kind of an optional add on, then? Got it.” Alexis nods decisively as though she’s adding the tidbit to a running mental catalog and glances around before turning back to Twyla. “Not your first time, then?”
“Actually,” Twyla replies, trying to restrain the smile threatening to fill her face at the idea that she might actually be managing to fit in when she’d assumed she was sticking out as an obvious intruder, “it is.”
Alexis’ bottom lips drops dramatically and her eyes widen as she slaps lightly in the direction of Twyla’s arm. “No way, you little sneak!! All set up here with your cards and everything, all official!”
Twyla’s cheeks heat and she hopes her freckles are feeling strong enough today to hide the pink.
“Oh my gosh, no not official at all. This isn’t even one of the sponsored tables. They just have empty tables around for amatuer practitioners to set up and offer free services. Basically to practice. You know, hone your craft.”
“Mmm, love that.”
“Yeah, it is really nice. I honestly didn’t know whether I’d even do it.” Twyla sits back down and smooths the scarf she’s spread out over the table, her eyes cast down. “You’d actually be my first...client? I guess? I’ve only ever read cards for myself.”
“Twyla! Oh my god! Look at you! Just jumping right into your brand new baby guru destiny! Love this journey for you!”
Twyla laughs as she adjusts her glance to meet Alexis’ eyes – the piercing blue at once alluring and intimidating.
“I don’t know about journey. I just thought I might try it out while I’m here.”
“Well you look like a total pro, all like perfectly witchy but like with a very chill, inviting vibe.”
“Really? You think?”
“Mmhmm, totally. I mean, it’s why I came over here. You seemed like someone I could trust.”
Twyla doesn't quite know what to say to that. Her instinct is to dismiss it as ridiculous but she's actively trying to be more accepting of people's kindness while she's here. She can't form an actual response though – she's not quite there – but she sets her face in what she hopes reads as a grateful expression.
“I mean, like, I’m sure everyone here is totally nice and wise and very good at telling fortunes and reading palms and all that, but honestly, it’s just like all a little intimidating, you know?”
Twyla nods. She does know.
“Like all the scarves and beads and like billowy skirts are all just a bit like...I might need a minute to work up to like the actual witches, you know?”
A surprised laugh escapes Twyla and Alexis grimaces again.
“Ohmygod sorry, no offense.”
“No, it’s fine," Twyla assures her. "Really. I know what you mean.”
Alexis rolls her eyes at herself but looks relieved. “And it’s just...I saw you over here all set up, and you looked so, like, professional but also so normal? Like someone I could actually just approach and talk to at a party or something. And like, not specifically a moon party, you know?"
Twyla laughs for what feels like the millionth time since Alexis had shown up at her table out of nowhere. “I’m very glad I looked normal enough, Alexis.”
“Ok but like I don’t mean that in a boring way. I just mean...ugh, I’m being a bit of a spaz right now, sorry, just out of my element a bit. I just mean, like, I saw you over here and was like ‘yes, ok, that girl looks very cool and like she knows what she’s doing but also like she won’t like yell at me for not knowing what agave is.’” She shoots Twyla a shy, crooked smile.
“You seemed like a safe place to start my new witchy journey, you know?” Alexis cocks her head and narrows her eyes at Twyla at the final two words and Twyla swears her stomach turns into butterflies.
She immediately drops her gaze back to her hands, now fiddling nervously at the frayed edge of her tabletop scarf. “That’s really nice, Alexis,” she utters softly.
“And now that I know I’m going to be your very first client I feel even better. Like, I definitely picked the right person.”
Twyla wonders if Alexis leaves every stranger at a loss for words this way.
“So,” Alexis exhales, as Twyla hears her plop down onto the folding chair across the table.
Twyla raises her head to face Alexis and finds herself staring directly into her eyes as Alexis sets her face in a serious expression and asks, “What do you and your cards have to say about my future?”
~~~
Twyla didn’t get a second client.
Reading Alexis’ cards had taken much longer than she’d expected. Partially because she’d been nervous about getting it right – it was both of their first times, and that mattered to her. And on top of being slowed down by her own cautiousness, Alexis had asked roughly thirty questions about each card and another fifty questions about each sentence Twyla had spoken about what each card might mean for Alexis.
Twyla had found she really loved that, actually – how interested Alexis was. Genuinely interested.
In Twyla’s experience, most people who aren’t already involved in tarot or crystals or astrology or other things of that kind not only don’t take them seriously, they barely contain their judgment of people who do. But Alexis, who, beyond having somewhat inexplicably shown up to a winter solstice celebration, seemingly knew nothing about any of this and, if Twyla was being honest, seemed at superficial first glance like the kind of person who might mercilessly mock it with her girlfriends, had not only given Twyla her undivided attention, but had treated her like someone with answers. Someone wise. Someone she trusted to reveal absolute truth to her. Twyla had never felt so valued as she did during that hour with this near stranger. A near stranger who was starting to feel like a really important part of her life.
And she hadn’t been ready to let that go just yet.
So when Alexis glanced around and then at her watch and gasped, “Oh wow! When did all these other people get here? Twyla! Look at all these potential clients for you - lucky little things! I better let you get to it,” Twyla didn’t need any time at all to decide she was done accepting new clients for the night.
“Nah, I should probably actually give up the table in case someone wants to use it. I can always set up again tomorrow.”
“Are you sure, Twy?”
Twyla was sure.
As sure as she was that she wanted to believe Alexis using a nickname was more than a casual thing she did with everyone she’d just met.
She absolutely seems like the kind of person to nickname people she never even plans to talk to ever again, Twyla.
“Twy?”
But maybe.
“Oh, sorry, just distracted. That happens sometimes after a reading,” she lies. “You know, it can take a few minutes to get back into normal conversation mode after all that concentration.”
“Mmhmmm.” Alexis nods with a seriousness of someone who not only understands but was the first person to invent feeling that way.
Twyla cannot let this person disappear into a crowd of other people.
“So can I help you clear off your things, then?” Alexis asks.
Twyla smiles. There’s not much to help with – all she has is her cards and her scarf.
Maybe Alexis doesn’t want to just disappear from her either.
“That would be great,” Twyla says enthusiastically – probably too enthusiastically, God. “Thanks, Alexis. Maybe you could fold the scarf while I put my cards away?”
“Happy to,” Alexis beams back. “Honestly, I know how this must sound, but I’m actually so good at folding scarves – I know like 38 different ways to do it.”
“There are 38 ways to fold a scarf?” Twyla asks, genuinely intrigued. “Did you watch a bunch of YouTube videos or something?”
“Oh no it’s not like I went looking for ways to do it. It’s just a little something I picked up while I was dating this Saudi princess for a while – or, sorry, I mean” – she drops the scarf to make dramatic air quotes – “while I was completely platonic friends with this Saudi princess for a while.” She punctuates her sentence with a wink and Twyla bursts out laughing.
“Yeah, I guess that is a skill you’d pick up being such...close friends with someone like that.”
Alexis giggles and drops her eyes as she picks the scarf back up. She keeps her eyes down as she toys with the scarf rather than folding it, gently biting her bottom lip as though trying to contain a smile at whatever memories she seems to be recalling.
Twyla finds herself endeared by the display before jealousy starts to creep in as Alexis’ remembering appears to take a turn from scarf folding to whatever else she and her princess would get up to.
“You know I really love that eyeshadow, Alexis!” she exclaims, needing to break the moment (although she does love the eyeshadow – it’s shimmery copper and looks like it was designed specifically for Alexis).
It works.
“Oh!” Alexis snaps her eyes open and back up to Twyla’s. All signs of remiscising vanish from her face as her smile fills it. “Thanks, Twy! It’s my favorite.”
“I can see why. It’s a perfect color for you.”
“OhmyGod, Twyla, you little lovebug, that’s so sweet.”
Twyla shrugs and begs her body to stop the flush she can feel starting to fill her cheeks.
“Honestly, I bet it would look amazing on you, Twy.”
There it is again. How does one syllable feel like so much?
Twyla can’t do more than shyly shake her head at the idea of wearing something of Alexis’ but Alexis isn’t having it.
“Please, you have to let me put some on you. It’ll be so perfect. Trust me.”
“Oh, I don’t know. It’s ok…”
“Come on, Twyla. I promise you’ll love it. My cabin is so close to here. And besides, we have to celebrate you doing your first official tarot reading for someone!” Alexis waves Twyla’s scarf around and snaps it toward Twyla, her eyebrows raised.
Twyla laughs but doesn’t answer.
“Aaaand I have champagne in my room. Bubbles to go with the shimmer! It’ll be so fun! And we’ll just be a sec and then we’ll be ready to come back out and conquer the rest of the night!”
Well, Twyla can’t say no to that.
~~~
“Oh my God, Twyla,” Alexis giggles, “eyes closed unless you want me to turn these beautiful green eyes of yours copper, too!”
“Sorry!” Twyla exhales with a sigh as she closes her lids to allow Alexis to apply more shadow. “I’m just really not used to having someone do my makeup. And I’ve never applied more than a single coat of anything, so I keep thinking you’re done.”
That’s a lie.
Not that she’s not used to this. Or that she’s never so thoroughly applied eyeshadow herself.
But she hasn’t opened her eyes and been jokingly chastised by Alexis roughly ten times in half as many minutes because she thinks she’s done.
She just hasn’t been able to keep herself from trying to catch glimpses of Alexis’ focused expression and steady hands – the delicate gold bands scattered across her fingers sparkling as they reflect the overhead light – as she expertly brushes layer after layer of her prized copper eyeshadow across Twyla’s lids.
And from the smirk that dances lightly across Alexis’ lips each time Twyla’s eyes flick open, Alexis knows exactly why they refuse to cooperate.
Determined to retain what little cool she might have left, Twyla presses her eyes closed, concentrating with all her might on the precise brush strokes as they grow shorter and quicker and repeating, “closed, closed, closed,” in her head like a mantra.
She’s just finally lulled herself into a bit of a meditative trance when her calm is disrupted by a new sensation. It takes her a moment to identify it as – oh – Alexis softly blowing on her eyelids, first one, then the other. The only thing that keeps her eyes from snapping open that second is the fact that she’s completely frozen in place.
She’s never felt so calm and so panicked at once. Never before wanted to simultaneously disappear and linger in a moment forever.
“Twy? Did you hear me? You can open them now.”
Can I?
She does.
Slowly. And with a heavier sigh than she intended.
“You ok? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
Twyla shakes her head and pulls her lips into a half-smile. “No, you didn’t hurt me. That was really nice.”
Alexis’ concerned expression is replaced with a wide but closed-lipped smile as she nods once emphatically. “Good!”
She grips Twyla by the shoulders and turns her around to face the mirror. “Here, what do you think?”
Twyla has to admit Alexis was right. The shimmery copper looks really nice on her. She feels pretty. Maybe even worthy of the attention this beautiful woman is lavishing on her.
It’s so nice.
Her eyes find Alexis’ reflection and both of their smiles broaden together.
Another day, with another person, Twyla might feel silly wearing matching makeup. Childish, even. Embarrassed. But in this moment, with this particular person, she just feels special. Chosen.
“I love it,” she whispers.
Alexis leans forward to rest her chin on Twyla’s shoulder and winks at their joint reflection. “I told you it would look amazing on you. Those eyes.”
Twyla giggles and tilts her head toward Alexis, nuzzling her before she can stop herself. If Alexis is surprised by it, she doesn’t give any indication.
“Now come on, let’s get back out there and get you and these eyes seen!”
Twyla forces down her impulse to object to the idea that she should be seen and nods instead. “Let’s do!”
“Yay, Twyla! Oh my God I’m so excited! Ok, yay!” Alexis claps as she lifts her chin off Twyla’s shoulder to stand up straight. Twyla immediately misses the warmth of her.
Alexis grabs her small fringed suede purse off her bed and hangs it from her right shoulder, glancing quickly at herself in the mirror. Twyla grabs her bag from the floor where she’d set it and takes a step toward the door. “Ready?” she asks, turning back toward Alexis.
Alexis walks to her side and links her left arm through Twyla’s right, sending a wave of warmth through Twyla’s body. Alexis turns her head toward Twyla – closer than she technically needs to be, Twyla muses – and nods.
“Ready.”
~~~
They wander the grounds, the packed dirt providing a perfect balance of solidity and give as they weave around all the other attendees doing the same – large collectives and small groups and other pairs and the occasional solo explorer. A sea of strangers existing and moving together and also apart, all searching for connection and understanding and truth – from each other and from the world around them. Twyla feels it all and it’s a bit overwhelming in certain moments, being part of this big, small thing while also simply floating around it, observing.
That’s mostly how it feels. Like floating. Or at least like she could if she weren’t comfortably moored by Alexis’ arm clasped around her own.
She hadn’t let go since she’d linked their arms together in her room. And it didn’t feel like she was holding onto Twyla because she was nervous. Or because she thought Twyla might be. It felt like she was holding onto Twyla because there was nowhere more natural for her arm to be than intertwined with Twyla’s.
It felt like they belonged next to each other. With each other.
Twyla had maybe never felt a more natural connection with someone. Certainly not with someone she’d only met hours before. And maybe not with anyone ever.
Their conversation flows as easily as their bodies do through the crowds, Alexis pointing out every thing and every one she finds interesting or beautiful or new, and Twyla telling Alexis what she knows about the different services on offer at various booths and tables. When she hadn’t known what something was, they’d stopped and learned about it together, talking easily with astrologers and healers and wiccans and craftspeople.
After about an hour of dipping their toes in various waters, they both suggest, almost in unison, that they get their birth charts done by the second astrologer they’d met – Sarah, their agreed upon favorite – and sit side by side as Sarah does first Alexis’ and then Twyla’s, assuring her they each want the other to hear.
In the middle of Sarah explaining to Twyla what it means that her natal moon is in sensitive Cancer in the seventh house, Alexis quietly rests her head on Twyla’s shoulder, still subtly nodding along with Sarah’s explanation. Twyla’s so surprised and endeared by it that she almost misses the small but knowing smile that creeps across Sarah’s lips even as she continues speaking in her soothing cadence. Alexis leaves her head on Twyla’s shoulder for the remainder of their time with Sarah, and Twyla is somehow still able to absorb most of what Sarah tells her.
When they leave Sarah’s table, it’s with firm, warm hugs and promises to honor their spirits as an extension of the universe and to be good to themselves and each other. Alexis thanks Sarah with a warmth and sincerity that almost knocks Twyla to the ground before she re-links their arms and leads them back into the rest of the evening.
~~~
As dusk approaches, they decide to head to the fire circle where dinner will be served and the official solstice ceremony will happen once the sun sets. Food has already been set out, so they each fill a plate and find a pair of open cushions near enough to the fire pit that they’ll be warm but not so close that they’ll feel exposed.
As they eat, they talk about their birth charts – what had rung true and what less so about what Sarah had told them – which leads them to discuss how they’d each first gotten interested in things that led them here.
Alexis tells Twyla about her friend Claire gifting her a crystal not long ago, and how when her mom had seen it, she’d asked Alexis where she got it and then immediately launched into an extravagant story about when she’d gone to a “lunar-themed occultist gathering of great renown” to research a role in a Lifetime movie she had been assured she would almost certainly be getting an audition for. Alexis had rolled her eyes at first, but her mother had gotten so dreamy-eyed as she’d talked about it that it had stuck with Alexis a bit. So when Alexis had been perusing Instagram weeks later, getting more and more frustrated and sad at seeing her ex’s posts filled with randoms, she’d abruptly decided it was time for a change and had googled “lunar-themed occultist gathering of great renown + witchy.” This solstice celebration had popped up with space still available, so that was that.
Twyla tells Alexis about how Stevie – who Twyla grew up with in her small town – and Stevie’s Aunt Maureen have organized this celebration for as long as Twyla can remember. Stevie always seemed to hate it – Twyla thinks she only does it because she loves her aunt so much and wants to spend time with her – so Twyla had never heard good things, or much at all, really, about it. And then her mom’s latest boyfriend had left his deck of tarot cards along with her mom, and Twyla had felt drawn to them for some reason. Maybe it was the strange mark she’d originally thought looked like a halo before she’d realized it was probably just a ring left behind by one of his beer cans. But whatever the reason, she’d been intrigued. So she’d researched a bit – almost tempted to ask Maureen to teach her but too worried it would get back to Stevie – and had finally gotten to the point of practicing with the deck, pulling cards for herself more and more often until it became part of her daily routine. When she’d finally felt comfortable enough that she thought she might want to try reading for other people, she treated herself to a brand new deck and the very first card she pulled for herself was The Empress, who, Twyla explains, is a good omen for starting anew – taking routes you've never taken before. So when later that day she’d run into Stevie and Stevie mentioned in passing that Maureen had told her just that morning two people had cancelled their solstice reservations, Twyla had seen it as a sign and asked Stevie to hold one of the spots for her.
“Oh my God, Twy, what day was that?”
“It was just a few weeks ago, but I’m not sure what day exactly. Why?“
“Ok well try to be sure.”
Twyla laughs but Alexis’ expression remains serious.
“Um, ok, well, I was on my way to work, but that doesn’t really narrow it down much.”
“Come on, Twyla.”
“Oh!” Twyla suddenly remembers she had just dropped off her monthly letter to her dad in prison, which she always does on the first day of the month the post office is open. “One sec.” She pulls her phone from her pocket and checks the calendar. “December 2nd.”
Alexis inhales sharply. She’d pulled her phone out as well and had been scrolling a bit frantically but was now staring at the screen, her thumb stilled.
“What is it?” Twyla has no idea what’s happening and even with the relatively little she knows about Alexis so far, she imagines Alexis’ reaction could indicate anything from a truly horrifying piece of information to an Instagram dog influencer’s latest post.
“I knew it!” Alexis gasps. “Ok, listen, I thought I remembered this right because it was really weird to me so even though I kind of forgot about it, I didn’t totally forget, you know?
“Alexis, what?”
“Twy, we registered on the same day.”
“Really? That’s crazy.”
“Ok yes but like very crazy because not only the same day, but when I booked my spot, the registration email had this little like note on top that says, 'You must have been born under a lucky sign because you got the last spot!’ Twy! You and I got the last two spots – the ones that opened up because those two people cancelled!”
“That’s really something,” Twyla admits. “Wow.”
“It’s wild, Twy!” Alexis squeals. “Like, meant to be.”
It’s sure feeling like it.
~~~
“Ok, be right back, Twy.” Alexis stands with their plates and walks to the composting station. Twyla watches her go with a sense of gratitude and astonishment. At being in this place. In this moment. At meeting this woman. This woman who is kind and confident and funny and gentle and so beautiful and who just offered to take their empty dinner plates and then go get them “the absolute softest blanket you have ever felt like I swear to you, Twy, it will change your life” from her room because the chill in the air has started to become too much for even their co-mingling body heat.
As she waits for Alexis to return, missing her proximity and warmth, Twyla’s face heats thinking about how physically affectionate they’ve been over the past few hours. Linking arms and holding hands, brushing back errant locks of hair, playfully batting at each others’ arms and averting gazes at particularly flirty admissions. The heat spreads from her face down her neck, sending tendrils of warmth sprawling down her body as she imagines what new physical explorations the added privacy of a shared blanket might inspire.
“Wow, it’s really filled up!”
Alexis’ remark from a few feet away breaks Twyla from her reverie and she sees what she’d been too distracted to notice as it happened – their space has been severely encroached upon in the minutes Alexis was gone. The sun had nearly set and the programming is about to begin, so essentially every attendee has gathered around the fire pit.
“Oh my gosh, sorry, Alexis. I didn’t save our space very well.” The cushion Alexis had left behind had been nudged back by the newer arrivals excitedly jostling for position.
“Twy, honestly, don’t even worry about it.” She re-takes her seat, now positioned more behind Twyla than beside her. “I’ve been to enough festivals in enough random muddy fields to be fine with way more cramped spaces than this.”
Twyla turns back to offer an apologetic smile and Alexis shakes her head as though she’s never been less bothered by anything in her life. “Besides,” she adds, “this way we’ll be warmer.”
“Ok, but can you see alright?” Twyla asks. “I feel bad you got nudged back.”
“Shh, Twy, honestly, I’m totally fine. Best seat in the place. Oh! Is that the famous Maureen coming out?”
Twyla turns toward the front to see Maureen taking her place in front of the fire and raising her arms as she bellows a welcome. She twists her head back just enough to nod at Alexis and whisper, “Yep, that’s her. Here we go!”
“Yay!” Alexis whispers back.
Twyla does her best to listen to Maureen’s welcoming remarks, but truthfully she doesn’t hear a word. Not after Alexis gently drapes her blanket – my God it is the softest blanket ever – over her shoulders, wrapping her arms around Twyla to firmly cocoon her in luxurious warmth. Not after Alexis then gently pulls Twyla’s hair free from under the blanket, her fingers brushing against the back of Twyla’s neck as she does.
And especially not after Alexis begins running her fingers through Twyla’s hair, loosening knots and softly scratching at Twyla’s scalp and down her back.
Twyla’s never felt so taken care of. She knows she should be listening to Maureen, and the string of women who speak after her, if she wants to fully experience this Solstice in the way she’d intended to when she’d decided to come.
But when she’d decided to come, she hadn’t anticipated Alexis.
She couldn’t have.
She couldn’t have known how focusing on Alexis’ presence, and her fingers running through her hair, would magnify the warmth and softness of the blanket in a way that makes her feel like she’s suspended in some element between air and water. Like she’s more spiritually connected to other people – one in particular – and to the universe than she ever thought she could feel.
So Twyla lets herself stop worrying about the words the women by the fire are speaking, or the reactions of the people around her. She lets herself be lulled by the gentle tugging of Alexis braiding and unbraiding and rebraiding sections of her hair. Lets herself release every expectation she’d had for this night and just accept what the night is giving her.
She doesn’t hear a single word spoken at the ceremony.
But she feels like she knows exactly what the moon is trying to tell her.
~~~
The glow from the lantern sweeps over a grove of trees about ten feet ahead of them and Alexis calls out from behind her, “Twy! There! Oh my God, they’re perfect,” in a whispered shout. She grips Twyla’s free hand between both of hers and squeezes, stopping Twyla in her tracks and closing the distance between them.
They’d been sent off along with all the other attendees when the ceremony had ended, with a lantern and a suggestion to each find a spot in the woods to commune with nature, leaving themselves open to guidance from the moon and from within themselves.
“Isn’t it perfect?” she whispers from behind, her hot breath warming Twyla’s neck as goosebumps cover her arms.
“Perfect,” Twyla agrees as she turns her head back to see Alexis’s beaming smile, the moon and lantern casting just enough light across her face for Twyla to see the sparkle of glee in her eyes. Alexis nods in satisfaction and then overtakes Twyla, pulling her along.
“You know,” Alexis says, as she approaches one of the trees in their grove, her steps slowing as she lifts her gaze to take in its full height, “this reminds me of this amazing place I once went to in Arizona. I was on a roadtrip with some girlfriends – we’d seen this list in a magazine of like the most random places in America and we were so bored hanging at Leo’s we just decided to get up and go like right then. And it ended up being so cool. There was like this very old and very like sprawly, gnarled tree, and it was so big it had to be like held up with this big support system. Anyway, it’s actually technically like a museum or something, so we went during the day and did the whole tour and gift shop and whatever – oh my God, that’s actually where Claire bought me that crystal!”
“The one you were telling me about earlier?” Twyla asks.
“Yes! So funny. So, anyway, the museum was ok but after we’d gone back to our Airstreams and taken a nap we were talking about how much like spookier and cooler the tree probably was at night. And so we ended up sneaking back in at like 2:00 a.m. and just like hanging out under this massive old tree-canopy thing – just us, no one else around.”
“Wow.”
“Oh my God, Twy, you would have loved it so much. We just like laid around for hours – actually Claire and Jitney and Canyon did mushrooms I think and honestly got to be a bit much and super annoying, so I just basically ignored them and like did my own thing. I actually had my crystal with me, and at first I felt a little silly that I had brought it with me – I don’t even know why I did – but then the longer I laid there, looking up at this crazy network of intertwined branches and sort of rubbing the crystal like it was a good luck charm or something, the more peaceful I felt, you know?
Alexis pauses and reaches out to pat the tree gently and Twyla’s heart flutters.
“Like, I just really let myself go on a little journey with myself that night,” Alexis continues, her voice softer than before. “And I just felt so calm and centered. And honestly, Twy, before that night I always thought that was just something celebrities said they felt when they wanted people to think they’re deep or really understand yoga or whatever, but I swear that night it actually made sense to me. Like somehow just being there with that crystal, which I’m pretty sure Claire gave me as a joke, under that rose tree – that’s what it was called, the Rose Tree Museum! – really somehow changed me in a way. I fully did not expect that. It really surprised me. But you know how sometimes you find yourself somewhere completely random but it feels like just exactly where you’re supposed to be?”
Twyla doesn’t answer.
“Twy? You ok? Twy?”
The last word is inflected with a touch of panic, which breaks Twyla out of her stunned silence.
“Oh, sorry,” she says. “Sorry, Alexis.”
“Are you alright?” Alexis asks, cautiously taking a step toward her and grabbing her hand. “You seemed like you drifted off to somewhere entirely else.”
“No. No, not at all. I was listening to every word. I just...I’ve been to that place, Alexis. The Rose Tree Museum. In Tombstone, right?”
“Oh my God, Twyla, yes, that’s it! That’s exactly what it was called. No way, you’ve been there too?”
“I have.” Twyla nods, remembering her trip from several years before. She hadn’t thought about it many times since then, but suddenly she’s flooded with crystal clear memories. The immensity of that rose tree. The feel of its bark – somehow both rough and smooth. The fragrance of its roses. The coolness of the shade it provided. The warmth of the people sharing the space with her. It had been the first trip she’d ever taken with a group of women who weren’t family. The first time she’d felt anything she’d later come to call spiritual. The first time she’d had someone read her tarot cards.
It had been the first time she’d ever felt a connection with a woman that she’d later be able to identify as romantic.
She tells this all to Alexis, who listens with the kind of rapt attention that Twyla has never experienced until today and is already addicted to. She feels a bit lightheaded when she finishes. Like the sigh she’d just exhaled had carried the absolute last breath from her lungs.
So she’s already inhaling a deep breath when Alexis leans in, but she still manages to gasp.
She feels Alexis’ breath on her neck a split second before her lips, like a warning that doesn’t provide nearly enough time to prepare. Twyla is completely overwhelmed immediately, as Alexis makes steady but quick work of covering the full length of Twyla’s neck with plush kisses, her lips ghosting over Twyla’s skin between each one.
She doesn’t stop at her neck, continuing the trail of delicate but intentional kisses across Twyla’s shoulder, pushing her shirt farther and farther over to make room for each one. When the fabric won’t stretch any more to the side, Alexis dips her head lower and gently pulls Twyla’s collar down to gain access to her collarbone, barely skimming her tongue along it before she retraces the path with a tortuously slow series of kisses, each pressed more firmly than the last.
Twyla can’t take it.
“Alexis, please,” she exhales, her whispered voice breaking.
Alexis pulls back immediately and locks eyes with Twyla, a concerned expression painting her face.
“You alright, Twy?”
Twyla nods emphatically. “Yes. Very alright.” She grips desperately at Alexis’ hips, her eyes flicking down to Alexis’ lips as she squeezes. “Just…”
Alexis smirks and tucks a strand of Twyla’s hair behind her ear.
‘What can I do for you, Twy?”
Twyla pulls Alexis toward her by her hips, pressing their bodies together – finally – and breathes out “Alexis” against her lips before she closes the final inch between them, melting into the all encompassing warmth of the best first kiss she’s ever had.
~~~
Alexis pulls her face back, breaking their kiss just as it’s reaching the kind of fervor that demands a decision, and Twyla instinctively leans forward to chase her lips. Alexis smiles, her aqua eyes shining. “Do you want to go back to my room? We never opened the champagne earlier…”
Twyla definitely wants to go back to Alexis’ room.
But not just yet. Alexis looks too lovely in the moonlight.
And Twyla feels too perfect right now.
“I definitely do want that, yes.” Twyla says, and Alexis surges forward to recapture Twyla’s lips with hers. Twyla takes Alexis’ face in both her hands and pulls back a few inches to catch her gaze. “In a little while, though, ok? I just want to stay out here with the moon a bit longer.”
Alexis smiles and nods. “Mmhmm, that’s a better idea, yes.” She places a soft, lingering kiss on Twyla’s right cheek, and then her left. “Plenty of time for the room later.”
Twyla’s heart swells and she leans to whisper into Alexis’ ear, “Lucky for us it’s the longest night of the year.”