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“Hey, are you okay Marie?” Callie looked up from her lunch. “You’ve barely touched your Marieburger.”
“I, uh,” Marie stared down at the burger with black buns and neon green patty. “Guess I’m not hungry.”
“It does kinda look like it’d turn you into a superhero if you ate it, huh.”
Marie snorted, lifting up a bun to fully appreciate the ‘toxic waste’ shade of green, Callie giggling from across the table, her own black-bun-and-neon-pink-patty Callieburger already devoured. They were seated at the far end of The Horseshoe Diner, ostensibly to try out the Squid Sisters collaboration menu, which was due to end that week. Though the truth was that Callie had simply been hungry and in the area, and so they’d stumbled upon the nearby diner by pure coincidence.
“Really could’ve just done a desert or something.”
“But that wouldn’t tie in with the diner vibes! If you hit up a diner, it’s gotta be a burger. That’s just the rule.”
“What about sundaes? You get sundaes at diners.”
“Ohh, that’s true. Wait, I’ve got it! Squid Sister Sundaes! We have to like, write that idea on a napkin and leave it here, so they subtly stumble upon it and think we were just some genius writers, passing by!”
“I think they know who we are, Callie. The sunglasses and hats only do so much.”
“Wait, really?”
“Really. The waitress keeps giving us looks, and I don’t think it’s just because I’m not eating the burger.”
“…So why didn’t they say anything?”
Marie leaned back in her chair, turning to look out the diner window at the Inkopolis street that lay outside. The view seemed to shimmer and distort with the heat of summer, most passers-by rushing from one bit of shade to the next, while others held large umbrellas over their head.
“I think we’re just… Not as big anymore. I mean, it’s been three years since our last song together.”
“Oh… Huh.”
Callie also turned to look out the window. They stared at the outside world for a while, sitting in a silence only broken by the occasional sip of soda, and the brief moment where the urchin waitress came to take away their plates with an apologetic glance at Marie.
“You two want anything else?” She asked.
“I’m good.” Marie shook her head.
“Do you do take-out?” Callie asked, to which the waitress nodded. “Great. Then, uhh, I’ll take a whole bag of fries. Like, the usual takeout bag, but just dump a bunch of fries in there. Just like, calculate the amount in terms of side-order servings, I guess?”
“Uh, sure,” The waitress gave an uncertain smile. “I’ll check in with the manager, but it should be fine.”
“A whole bag?” Marie snorted as the waitress walked off.
“What? I like to have something I can munch on while I walk.”
“You just ate a whole burger. With a double-serving of fries. And two jumbo-jugs of soda.”
“Jeez, lay off Marie. I have my image as ‘the cute and chubby one’ to maintain, you know. These rounded love-handles took the Sapphic world by storm back in the day. If anything, you should be the one snacking on some more fries, you look like you’re built like a telephone.”
“A telephone!” Marie rolled her eyes. “Well maybe these string beans of arms and legs similarly shook the Sapphic world like an earthquake. You ever think about that?”
“Touché,” Callie conceded, and raised her half-empty jug of soda. “To the Sapphic Sundae Squid Sisters, maybe they uhh… Something that has a bunch of s-words.”
“May they salute the salacious squids who scream sensually?” Marie suggested, lifting her own finished cup of water.
“So scandalous! I love it.”
They clinked glasses and took a swig (an imaginary one, in Marie’s case), before bursting into laughter.
“You know, that’s something they’re never going to take away from us,” Marie smiled. “No matter how much we might fall out of the public consciousness, we’ll still live on in the memories of lesbians everywhere.”
“I’ll drink to that. Oh, actually. I should get a take-out of soda to go with the fries. You think they’ll let me?”
“I can argue your case with the waitress, but only if you let me sneak a few fries from your bag.”
“Wow! What happened to those sexy string bean limbs of yours?”
“Well, maybe I’m open to a slight image change. Nothing ever stays the exact same, you know?”
“Yeah…” Callie smiled wistfully, reaching out to take Marie's hand in her own. “But as long as you're here, I feel like we can face it."
"Now, and always." Marie smiled in turn.