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Part of Sky almost felt bad for looking for more food. Almost.
Shawn was a great hunter, but a shit gatherer; he hardly bulked up on anything, something about portioning and rations and the end of the world (because when wasn't he on about that?). So she snuck out before the others could stop her to practice spells or songs or pony tricks, holding a small satchel and ducking into the berry bushes.
They weren't as good as the bananas Dave had found days prior, but they weren't bad, plump and firm in various swatches of healthy violet. The only problem was the thorns. Every time she dove in to grab one from under a canopy of vines, she hissed and drew it back.
"Come on." She went to pinch the stalk in the middle, where the brambles hung off of— and immediately snapped back. She hissed and shook her hand back and forth, blood budding on her thumb where one of the barbs had poked her. "Ow, ow, ow!"
She turned around and jumped when she came face to face with a girl in massive bug-eye glasses. They absolutely dwarfed her thin, rosy face, almost reaching from her hairline to the tip of her nose. She pushed them down as she stared down, lip jutted out and eyebrows raised. "You know you could've just used a stick to get that out," she said, astute. She reached out to help her up and Sky held her wrist with her good hand.
"How long have you been there?" Sky asked.
"Few minutes," She said. "Let me see your hand."
She cupped Sky's hand in her own. Her skin was smooth like butterfly wings, and refreshingly cool. She stroked her thumb over Sky's, spreading a sticky honey-like substance over her cut. "Sap from trees of the Pinus genus is a natural antiseptic; you can also use the flesh or juice of the Opuntia basilaris P., or even fresh urine in the event of an emergency, though the sodium content of the urea may cause stinging and if left to sit in the wound bacteria may begin to culture there, such as salmonella as well as..."
Sky hardly paid attention to her words, all collecting a sweet pudding-y mush in her mind. Her voice was smooth and nasally, but quicker than a jackrabbit, and littered with words that made her feel fuzzy and stupid at the same time.
"...You should be way more careful." Sky turned away to hide the way her face turned red when the girl tightly tied a piece of cloth around her hand (she didn't even notice that it was a worn sock).
"Wow, uh," Sky said, "Thanks...?"
"Scarlett," Scarlett said. "Nice to meet you formally, Sky."
Sky flustered and twirled her hair around her finger. Scarlett snapped her fingers and pushed her a small bag of berries. Sky's eyes went big. "Oh, I can't—"
"Please," Scarlett said, "You'll need the extra vitamin C for its antioxidant properties, it will help you heal minimally quicker as well as encourage general athleticism."
Scarlett was gone as fast as she came, disappearing behind her own shock of hibiscus-red hair. Sky clutched the bag to her chest, turning around and immediately running into someone hanging from a tree. "What was that?"
"Jesus!" Sky shouted, stumbling. "Shawn! How long were you standing there?"
"Uh, long enough to watch you develop feelings for Scarlett!" he said, scandalized.
"What?" Sky asked.
"You're falling for the enemy! And you're totally going to die trying to protect her when the apocalypse comes now! It's just like in Killer Korpses From Outer Space 3!" Shawn said.
"It is not!"
"Scarlett's a psycho, too, hellooooo?" Shawn shouted.
"Don't tell anyone about this!" Sky said.
"Oh, trust me," Shawn scoffed, "I won't even have to if you keep [that] up."
- - -
It turns out Shawn was a little right.
"Hey, Scarlett!" Sky yelled, running towards her after one of the activities. "Woah!" Scarlett put her arms out as Sky tripped over a rock, the gift wrapped in leaves flying in the air behind them as Sky fell into her arms. Shawn dragged a hand down his face and Sky froze as Scarlett picked her up, straightening her and brushing some dirt off her cheek.
"I told you to be careful," Scarlett said, almost smugly as she carded her fingers through Sky's hair to brush out the leaves. Her nails grazing her scalp made Sky almost choke. "What's this?" She pointed to the green bunch in Sky's hands.
"Oh!" Sky thrusted out the package and coughed, turning a strawberry color. "Just, for you. For helping me." Scarlett, with a stunned face, picked up the bundle of banana leaves and untied the twine on top.
"Oh my god," Shawn groaned, leaning into Dave's shoulder.
Dave raised an eyebrow. "What? What's going—" He scrunched up his face and lurched back, shuddering. "Oh, ewww."
"Are these...animal bones?" Scarlett picked the little white sticks and balls, clacking together a jaw and head between her fingers.
"No, no, no," Shawn said.
Dave covered his face. "I can't watch this."
"Sky..." Scarlett said. A smile danced up her face. "These are magnificent."
"Really?" Sky asked, looking up at her.
"Of course! They're almost perfectly intact," Scarlett examined, eyes twinkling behind her specs. "I can't wait to reconstruct the skeleton. Uh, thank you."
Sky returned her pink face. "It's the least I could do to repay you."
When Sky got back to her team, Dave and Shawn stared at her.
"Down bad," Shawn said.
"Horrendously," Dave agreed.
Sky walked ahead of them.
- - -
Dave was also a little right, she realized a few days later.
"What on God's green earth are you doing?" Sky yipped and jumped up to grab her notepad back from Sugar's hand, but she was already bursting with laughter. "Wowie! Someone's lovin' worse than a cat in a tuna factory, bless your little heart Sky!"
The paper had a small doodle of Scarlett on it, as well as a few stanzas of prose with various combinations of Sky and Scarlett’s last names on the side. A heart with S+S in the middle was on the bottom corner.
"You wrote a poem!" Sugar shouted. Sky shook her head frantically but Ella was already up with a joyous gasp.
"A love poem!" She exclaimed. "Can I see that?" Sugar glared but thrusted the pad towards her, and Ella twirled around and giggled. "Oh, Sky, this is just the sweetest thing!"
Beardo made a technical noise as he peeked around the wall and Ella clapped. "That's a great idea, Beardo! You give us a beat, and Sugar and I can sing!"
"Ughhh," Sugar said, "Fine!"
Ella cleared her throat and Sky buried her face in her hands as Beardo began beatboxing. "Pretty giiiiirl," she trilled, "with green eyeeeees!"
"Agh!" Sky said, "Guys, that was private!"
"Wait a second," Ella said, "Who has green eyes?"
They took a long pause. Then Ella gasped, grinning and shaking Sky around, holding her hands. "Oh my gosh, you like Scarlett! You like Scarlett!"
"Hey! It's not like that!" Sky insisted. "Scarlett's just my friend!"
"Yeah, right!" Sugar howled with laughter. "You wouldn't be friends with that girl in a million years, not unless you loooved her."
"I'm going away now!" Sky stomped out of the cave, huffing and rubbing her face. She held up her hand when Dave and Shawn opened their mouths to say something, disappearing into the brush and wringing out her hands as she treaded down the dirty hill towards the shore. Speak of the devil, she saw a feather of red hair over a boulder. Part of her began backing up into the woods, but then she saw something soar through the air. A rock smashed into the water and she heard muffled cursing as another handful flew into the sea.
"Scarlett?" She asked warily. She came up behind her, and Scarlett looked at her with baggy eyes. "Sorry, is this a bad time?"
Scarlett sighed. Sky sat down next to her. For a while they sat in silence, which became more thin and silky as the time unraveled before them. Streaks of orange and pink spread across the sky and sparkled in the water over the hour, until Scarlett finally put her to hands down and laid against the rock, playing with her hands. "Sorry."
"It's okay," Sky said.
"People tend not to like when I ignore their questions," Scarlett said grittily. Sky raised a hand gingerly, and Scarlett nodded. She rubbed her shoulder with the ease of a masseuse, albeit imperfect but better than anything money could buy. Scarlett turned into putty beside her.
"You don't have to talk, if you don't want to," Sky said. "Just do what makes you feel better. It's not going to hurt anyone to be quiet, it could hurt you to talk before you're ready."
Scarlett simpered. "That's oddly wise of you."
"Is that another jock joke?" Sky asked.
"Figure it out, meathead," Scarlett joked. "Why did you come out here?"
Sky pursed her lips. "You go first."
"Max," Scarlett said. Sky tilted her head. "The weird super villain kid, purple hair."
"Oh." After a beat, Sky asked. "What's wrong with him?"
"He never shuts up," Scarlett said. "Ever since I tried helping him with his plans, all he does is call me his 'sidekick'. And don't even get me started on the way he screams whenever something doesn't go his way."
"Haven't you tried telling him to go away?" Sky asked.
Scarlett huffed. "That's the thing. I don't want to."
Sky squinted. "Huh?"
"It's just uncomfortable," Scarlett said, "Being so direct. I...I don't want to lose my temper. But he's really driving me to that point." She bit her nail and looked at Sky. "Why are you here?"
"I, uh," Sky started. She looked away. "Nothing."
"You're lying," Scarlett said, "Obviously. What is it?"
Sky bit her lip. "My team keeps on teasing me."
"For what?" Scarlett asked.
"Well. It's personal."
Scarlett opened her mouth, then closed it. They watched the sun set behind the ocean and parted. They didn't need goodbyes. They knew those couldn't last forever.
- - -
"Hey, Max!" Max jumped up and slammed his pencil down as someone thudded against the balcony of the treehouse. "Got a moment?"
"Ah! Foolish girl!" He shouted. He whipped his head around and saw Sky there, smiling with her hands on her hips. "Don't you know it's rude to interrupt an evil genius in the midst of scheming?"
"...Are those letters to your moms?" She asked.
Max covered the envelopes with his hands. "Evil letters to my mothers, AND my rats! I'm honestly offended you forgot them."
"Sorry? Listen, I just wanted to ask you a quick favor," Sky continued. She looked around, then lowered herself just slightly to whisper, "Can you please stop treating Scarlett like your sidekick?"
"Come to fill her position, have you?" He said, rubbing his hands together.
"Uh, no. Listen," Sky said, "She might just...appreciate it, is all, and I want to help her out. But please don't tell her I said that."
"Who wouldn't love to be my sidekick?" Max said, "I'm all anyone could ever want! Intense planning, a signature style, an IQ of 300, rats!"
"You can't have a— Please, some people are just different. I understand you may not be fond of the idea, but I think it would make things better for everyone," Sky explained.
Max looked down and paced back and forth for a while. Then, he paused. "Sky, are you threatening me?"
"What?" Sky asked, sweating. "No! Not, not really."
"Ohoho," he chuckled. "I see how it is."
Don't say it, Sky thought, don't.
"You want Scarlett as YOUR sidekick!" Max shouted.
"Huh?"
"It all makes sense! You're a secret hero, trying to thwart my plans! I knew it! The silly getup, the magical gymnastics, the strange rag-tag group of misfits!" Max tsked with a smug grin. "Well, fine, you may have my inferior sidekick, just this once! But you foolishly disregard, I now have all your weaknesses! My intellect is too powerful to be defeated by those I've already analyzed, for I, am—!"
"Is that a yes?" Sky asked.
"Well, of course, I'd never want to make a lady uncomfortable," he responded simply.
Sky sighed as she escaped, climbing down the ladder as Rodney and Topher got to the top.
"Uh, what was that about?" Topher asked, pointing down at Sky and looking up from his phone. Rodney set down a bucket of mushrooms and fruit.
"You know, it is the damnedest thing," Max said, "Sky wants me to stop hanging out with Scarlett."
Rodney and Topher exchanged a look. A grin crept up Topher's face. "Does she?"
"Yes! It's so silly, she thinks she's helping her and wants me to keep it secret," Max said, "And she says it will be better for everyone if I let Scarlett be her sidekick...how communist."
Rodney gasped and smiled while Topher laughed into his hand. "Love is in the air!" Rodney said, "I should help Sky write a poem for her!"
"Why would you write a poem for your minions?" Max asked. Topher took a picture of the ground below and laughed, frantically typing.
"This is so going on my blog. Hello, team Skylett!" He posted and put his phone away while Max squinted at them, then looked at his feet with frustration.
"Hey." Sky turned around as she walked away from the tree and her face softened.
"Uh, hi," Sky said, leaning against the bark. Scarlett flashed her a smile. "What are you doing out here already? I thought you were at the beach."
"I came back early," Scarlett said. "The question is, what are you doing here? Your guys' fort is across the island.
Sky tucked some hair behind her ear. "Well..."
"Sky! Sky!" They both looked up at Rodney while he waved around some papers. "Two hearts, one beat! Uh, Emily Dickinson, cats and dogs, for, oh, darn-it!"
Topher snapped a photo beside him. "How's the new 'sidekick', Sky?"
Sky covered her face and Scarlett walked away with her, barely stifling some silent giggles. "You talked to Max, huh?"
"Ugh, yes!" Sky said, "I totally get what you mean now."
"Where would I be without my superwoman, hm?" Scarlett chided. Sky laughed nervously while Scarlett pulled some flimsy, colorful books from her bag. "Speaking of, I know you aren't much for reading, but I found something less...academic we can share." She held some mixed volumes of different superhero comics, a premier one sporting two women with guns and another about Helen & Aphrodite. "I convinced Jasmine and Shawn to let me borrow them."
"Wow," Sky said, thumbing the pages. "Scarlett, this is great!"
"Would you like to read them together? I don't know where we'd go, but, I'd love to hear your take on some of the characters," Scarlett said gently.
"Of course! Let me grab a blanket, I know just where to go; I found the softest spot on the beach, you're going to love it!" Scarlett rubbed the side of her neck as Sky led her off, remembering how Sky almost profusely avoided the beach before.
- - -
"Do you know how to do make-up?"
Sky looked up and tilted her head. "Uh, kinda. Why? You look wonderful already."
Scarlett sat down next to her on her own bed, rubbing her cheeks. "Just some advice I've gotten. Granted, it was from Amy, so it was probably a backhanded insult. But I just think it would be fun." She set a small cosmetic bag on the sheets, pushing it towards Sky a little.
She opened up an eyeshadow palette and rubbed dust off the end of her brush, before scooping some up on the end. "Okay. Um, here I go."
Sky's hand gently clasped her jaw, like feathers under her skin. The brush ran smoothly over her skin, but jerked a little as Scarlett shook. "How about you lay down, it might make things easier."
"...Yeah, sure," Scarlett said through a dry mouth. Sky eased her down against the mattress, smoothing her hair back and letting it wave over her hand. She set down the brush to fix the pillow beneath her head, and removed Scarlett's glasses from her forehead. Her eyelashes fluttered and caught some of the glittery shadow under her eyebrow. Sky leaned in against her chest, one hand playing with Scarlett's curls and tapping down her cheekbone as she settled. She was cool, but refreshing, like a serene waterfall; she warmed up like melting chocolate as Sky laid against her. Scarlett admired her calloused hands languidly cupping her skin, surprisingly burly compared to how lithe she looked. Up close, you could see all the dots and divots in her skin. It sank in especially then how real she was, touching her and inhaling her air. She smelled like dirt and deodorant, a calming walk down a hidden path.
Sky ran her thumb down Scarlett's bottom lip, her heart jumping up and down in her chest. Scarlett looked into her eyes, and Sky froze. She quickly scrambled for the bag and took out two tubes of lip gloss. "Orange or pink?"
"Ah, orange would be great," Scarlett replied quickly.
She smudged some of the shiny salve over her lips, cleaning it with her thumb. Scarlett wanted to revile at the sticky texture, but kept her face straight. Sky pushed herself up and fished out a mirror. She clicked it open and held it up. Scarlett's face jolted a little, lips slightly parted and eyes big. Her makeup was smeared and uneven, and the colors hardly matched, but Scarlett felt her heart swell. "It looks wonderful, Sky," she said. She covered her hands and closed the mirror. "Thank you."
"Have you guys seen my ocarina?" They both jumped as Tammy pushed herself up and through the doorway. "I've been looking for it all day."
The three of them stared between each other. "Um," Tammy asked, "What are you two doing?"
"Normal," Sky blurted out. "Normal things. Bye, Scarlett; bye, Tammy!"
"Wait!" Tammy raced down after her, almost falling on her face. "Scarlett hexed you, didn't she!"
"What?" Sky asked.
"No one would want to spend time with her if they weren't hexed," Tammy pointed out. "Scarlett's a very powerful warlock."
"Are you guys talking about Serpents and Sepulchers?" Leonard popped out from behind a tree. Tammy gasped, then squealed.
"You like her, don't you!"
"Hey!" Sky protested.
Leonard put his hands on his cheeks and grinned. "Great ghouls!"
"Leonard." Sky cringed. "Don't start this, please."
"You have to let us practice our love spells!" Leonard rattled his pockets and pushed a vial full of wax and leaves into her hand. "This love potion would work great with some enchantments to make you seem more confident and attractive!" Leonard paused. "Unless she cursed you."
"It would be a hex," Tammy said, "Gosh, Leonard."
"It could be a curse," Leonard said. "Not a jinx, though."
Tammy shook her head. "Never a jinx."
Sky disappeared into the forest as they bickered. Scarlett leaned over the windowsill and sighed deeply, holding her head in her hands.
"You look like you got hit by a bus," Amy scoffed as she walked in.
"Hi, Amy," Scarlett said solemnly.
Amy rolled her eyes. "Ugh. What's wrong now?"
- - -
"There you are!" Sammy dodged a shoe as she came through the door, holding her satchel close to her chest. "I've been waiting for you for hours! You need to do something about Scarlett and Sky?"
Sammy furrowed her brow. "Huh?"
"Oh, of course, you're THAT dumb," Amy snapped. "Scarlett won't stop moping around about her crush on Sky. As my sister, you're supposed to take care of her." Sammy choked on her spit. "God, shut up!"
"Scarlett has a crush? On SKY?" Sammy gawked.
"Are you deaf? I told you, she's been whining nonstop about how much she likes her. It's gross," Amy said.
"What am I even supposed to do?" Sammy asked.
"Um, hello? Make her stop! Did you not hear me?" Amy shot up and Sammy backed out the door. "Now, leave! I have things to do. I only get so much peace now, y'know. You wouldn't understand."
Sammy huffed and grumbled under her breath as she hit the ground and walked down towards the creek. Jasmine sat there, gabbing with Shawn while Dave leaned on his shoulder. Sammy flopped down on the bank and they looked at her.
"Somethin' wrong?" Jasmine asked.
"Amy wants me to get Scarlett to stop talking about her crush on Sky, but I dunno how," She complained. Jasmine choked. "That's what I said!"
Shawn poked his head around Jasmine. "Wait, Scarlett likes Sky too?"
"Huh?" Sammy said. Dave swore while Shawn continued.
"Dude, she's been all over Scarlett for weeks! It's getting annoying, she switched teams for her, and she was the best at dodgeball," Shawn explained.
"She was like that on your team, too?" Jasmine said. "Sky always drags her to the finish, and they share rewards all the time."
"I know!" Shawn exclaimed. "Dave, what do you think?"
Dave bit his thumb and looked at the water. "I mean. I guess, if it'll stop them from being such morons, I have an idea."
He whispered to them, and Jasmine's face lit up. "That actually might work. I know just the place."
Later that day, Sky found a letter tucked under her pillow.
'Sky, meet me in the swamp area. I have a surprise for you. -Scarlett.'
Sky's face flushed red. She quickly got dressed in her nicest pants and sweater, and jogged up the hill, through the brush, and around the caves; she could hardly think, but at the same time, her brain was overloading. How did she know? Was she mad? Did she feel the same?
She came to a stop to catch her breath, leaning against a tree and panting as the butterflies in her stomach threatened to come up her throat.
"Sky?" She peered up and saw Scarlett walking around. She made Sky's heart stop. Her glasses had been left behind, and she'd let her hair down around her face, falling in tight red curls. Her dress and coat were dull shades of green that complimented her vanilla skin and owlish eyes.
"Scarlett?" Sky walked towards her. Before she could ask what was going on, they heard the trees rustle and turned to see the curtain of vines at the edge of the swamp pull open.
After a moment of hesitation, Sky grabbed Scarlett's hand and led her down the stones to the other side of the water. They hopped over stones, and Sky held her tight so she wouldn't fall.
The forest on the other side was almost as pretty as Scarlett was. Trees overhung with ripe, colorful fruit, and thin streams of water sparkled like molten pearls. The sand glimmered in the perfect strain of sunlight flitting through the perfectly green canopies above them, like wicker wedding arches.
“Oh, wow,” Scarlett said. They came upon a small tea table, with a kettle and cups next to a plate of berries and mango slices. “Did you organize this?”
“Well, uh,” Sky said, “No?”
They sat down and Scarlett dropped some of the chai tea bags in the hot water. “I thought you didn’t like spices?” Sky asked.
“What can I say, I’m in the mood for something new.”
“I’m not really a tea person,” Sky mentioned.
“I much prefer coffee.”
Sky looked around, and picked up a toothpick. “Fruit?”
“Sure.” Sky skewered a berry and held it out for her.
They exchanged a look, and Scarlett slowly picked it off with her teeth. She looked back up with it in her mouth, and saw Sky holding back laughter. She smiled and chuckled around it, until they were both snorting and hunched over with laughter.
“So,” Scarlett said, wiping her eyes. “I guess your friends set this up?”
“Oh, no,” Sky whined. She put her head in her hands and Scarlett tittered, coming over to rub her shoulders. “What did they tell you?”
“Nothing, but they handed me this.” She held out a note, obviously too practiced to be Sky’s handwriting. “I know. I’ll never know why.”
“…Never know why?” Sky asked.
“Probably to get me off your back,” Scarlett said, “I’m sorry about this.”
“What? Scarlett.” Sky reached out for her hand. Scarlett looked at it and wrapped her fingers around it. “What are you talking about?”
“I mean, I don’t think I’ve been subtle,” Scarlett said. “I just figured, maybe this was to scare you off from me. I’ve been spending so much time with you, and it’s been great, but I can’t lie to you anymore. I…” Scarlett gulped. “I—”
Sky pulled her in and kissed her on the lips. Scarlett’s eyes went as wide as her glasses. She’d long thought of kisses as a mere exchange of germs in leeway of courtship, unnecessary and unnatural; but nothing had felt more right. Sky’s hands were not animalistic, but gentle behind her ear and on her shoulder. They held her like she’d long imagined a god would an angel, mindful but respectful of the power inside her. It was no persuasion, no physical desire, but just a raw tenderness. Scarlett melted against her, softly brushing her jaw and trying to remember the shape of her lips like they were the last variable she needed in her equation for love. The way butterflies flurried inside of her couldn’t be a chemical reaction anymore. For once, she felt she couldn’t hold an agnosticism about the divinity of emotion. If there was a higher power, it had blessed her.
They pulled apart and Scarlett felt like her head was spinning. “Oh,” she said, “That makes more sense.”
Sky giggled and wrapped her in a hug. “I can’t believe this.”
“You didn’t figure it out earlier?” Scarlett asked. “I mean, I gave you berries, and the comic books, and everything.”
“Such a way with words,” Sky said playfully, “I thought you would first! Everyone says I was being obvious!”
They stared at each other, then laughed.
“You’re an idiot,” Scarlett said.
Sky smiled. “I love you, too.”