chapter 24: harold, they're lesbians

The sound of a soda can being popped open woke August from her sleep.

She came to, opening her eyes and seeing that the sun had finally lifted in the sky, peeking through the gathering clouds. Hearing a sipping noise, she turned her head to see Willow drinking a cherry Coke with her free hand resting on top of the steering wheel a bit too casually for August's comfort. Looking at the time on the car radio, August mumbled, "How are you drinking that at 9 in the morning?"

Willow looked over when the girl began to speak, just now seeing that she was awake. "Good morning, sleepyhead. Good to finally have you with us."

August groaned, rubbing her eyes and yawning. "I'm already tired again."

Chuckling, Willow downed more of her cherry Coke. "God, I love this shit."

August's nose crinkled. "I can tell, and I don't know why. It's disgusting."

Willow's eyes widened and her lips parted. "August, do not forget that I am fully strapped and will pop the glock on you if you again insult my favorite drink in the literal entire world," she sharply spoke, taking another sip as she kept her eyes on the road over the can lifted to her face.

"Did you real life just use the term 'glock?'" August asked her, an eyebrow raised in disbelief.

"Did you really just use the term 'real life?'" Willow snapped back after finishing the can, crumpling the empty metal in her hand and tossing it in the back seat.

"First of all, I am still considered the youth of this nation, therefore I can use those kinds of terms. Second of all, are you trying to assert your dominance or something by crushing an empty can in your one hand?" August remarked, feeling unusually sarcastic that morning. It was something about car rides with the woman that brought it out in her.

"First of all, are you calling me old? And second of all, would you like for me to assert my dominance? Because believe me, I would lov—"

"Not so fast, Willow," August cut her off, giving her a smirk as she secretly thought in her head how much she really would want Willow to assert her dominance. "Also, no, I'm not calling you old, although you are significantly older than I am."

Willow scoffed and rolled her eyes. "And you're supposed to obey your elders, which kind of loops back around to that whole dominance thing, don't you think?" She tried to hide the complacent smirk growing on her lips, but it only resulted in a dimple forming in her left cheek.

"Oh, does it now?" August countered, looking over at her. She wondered what it would be like for the older woman to perform the dominance she was talking about; her body grew hot at the thought of it.

"Got you all flustered, huh?" Willow stated without even having to look over. She could feel the desire growing inside August across the driver's seat of the car.

"I might like to see how much more flustered you could get me," August remarked. She stared at the woman who sat erect in her seat with her black turtleneck and her black hair pulled up into a French twist and clipped at the back. She watched those seductive green eyes squint as the woman's supple lips formed into a smirk.

Willow casually reached her arm across the car and placed her hand on August's mid-thigh. August said nothing, only swallowed hard as her thigh buzzed underneath the woman's touch. Willow felt the fabric of August's jeans, curving her hand around the inner side of her thigh, squeezing as she began to lower her hand down.

August's breath hitched in her throat as she watched the woman's slender, veiny hand trail up her leg, her fingertips being sure to dig into the inside of her thigh. Her entire thigh felt as if it were on fire, as if the woman's hand was a hot iron pressing against her jeans. Willow only let her hand trail further and further up, until it was right beside the girl's now throbbing crotch.

Closing her eyes, August felt so much desire for the woman to delve her hand down where she needed it most. She nearly wanted to grab her tantalizing hand and do the work herself, but she nearly cried when Willow took her hand away, placing it back on the steering wheel with a satisfied smirk. "Told you."

♠

The rest of the drive after crossing the Texan border went by pretty fast. Willow played Wild Thing and drank about three more cherry Cokes throughout the day, which caused August to be greatly concerned for the woman's health. She did not see how she was so slender and fit while being able to drink so many of those things in one day.

"Turn," August directed her as she turned off a highway and into a neighborhood.

"You live in a nice neighborhood," Willow commented, turning her headlights down so she wouldn't disturb the people in their houses.

"Thanks," August mumbled. She felt excited to see her dad and Daisy again, but she also felt nervous to show up with some random, nearly 30-year-old woman whose arms were covered in tattoos underneath her long sleeves. More importantly, she was nervous that her dad would get to asking too many questions and would figure out that Willow is a gang leader who abducted her and wasn't even going to let her come home for Christmas.

"What are you thinking?" Willow asked her. She had begun to pick up on the girl's mannerisms. She could tell by the way her lips pressed tightly together and her eyes were widened slightly, eyebrows arched as she stared blankly through the window, that something was wrong.

August sighed, zoning back in to the woman beside her. "I just don't know what I'm gonna tell my dad about you."

Willow shrugged. "Just tell him I'm a gunslinging, drug-dealing, lesbian gang leader who likes to make out with his daughter while holding her hostage in my hotel room."

August gently slapped her forearm. "No! That's not a good idea, you shitbag." She turned her stare back to the window, except this time she thought about the two times her and Willow had made out. She was craving feeling the strong woman pin her down and bite her neck again.

"August, just tell him I'm a friend you met and brought along because I would be alone on Christmas," Willow told her as she drove slowly down the neighborhood street, looking at all the Christmas lights and decorations on all the houses and lawns. This was the kind of neighborhood she had wished she would've grown up in when she was little.

"But you're obviously not a college student."

"Oh my God, that's twice you've pointed out my age today. Are you making me smile too much and giving me smile wrinkles or something?" Willow felt around her mouth with her fingers.

"No, honey," August said, taking Willow's hand away from her mouth and kissing the back of it. "You look like you've drowned yourself in the fountain of youth, my darling."

Willow arched her brow. "Is talking about me committing suicide by drowning supposed to be a compliment?"

August just chuckled in response, and Willow's smile lingered as August continued to hold her hand in hers.

"This is it," August said, leaning up to point to her house. It wasn't enormous but it was a two-story house with a freshly mowed lawn and her dad's red 2007 Ford Expedition sitting in the driveway.

Willow turned, pulling her black Mustang up next to the Expedition, her white headlights reflecting against the garage door in the darkness of night. They had arrived at around 6:30, which was full-blown nighttime for the Texan December.

August immediately scrambled out of the car, skipping to the front door as Willow watched with amusement. She found it interesting to see how close August was with her family. It made her seem even more angelic in her mind.

Knocking furiously on the door, August waited for a moment and held her breath, listening to footsteps inside the house near the door. She heard the door unlock before it opened, revealing her father with his salt-and-pepper-colored hair and black-rimmed glasses.

"Dad!" she exclaimed, immediately throwing her arms around his neck and squeezing him tight.

"August!" he laughed, holding his daughter tight. He hadn't seen her in so long that he felt emotional finally seeing her again. He pulled away first so he could look at her. "You've gotten even prettier since you went off to college!" he exclaimed, pulling her back into the hug.

His attention shifted to a tall, dark figure that appeared in front of the open door. He became startled, pulling away from the hug and looking at the woman with confusion as to why she was standing there.

August turned to see what he was looking at, seeing Willow standing there with her eyes awkwardly darting between the girl and her father.

"Oh, Dad," August began, grabbing Willow's wrist to pull her inside the house. "Um, this is Willow!"

Willow awkwardly stood there as her father stared at her. "Um, h-hi there," she managed to stutter, sticking out a hand. "Willow."

August's father took Willow's hand and shook it. "Harold. Nice to meet you," he greeted her, watching her give him a little too wide of a smile, it quickly disappearing when he only stared at her in response.

"Um, not to be rude or anything but, Auggie, how do you know her?" he confusedly asked as he pointed to the woman as if she wasn't even there.

Willow could feel her cheeks tinge with embarrassment. She didn't know why, but every time she looked at Harold, her mind flashed back to when she had August pinned down on the bed after that party, with her knee slipped between her thighs while she kissed the girl's neck. Even the girl's moans were resounding in her head. She tried so hard to focus her thoughts on the present, like how August must have gotten her eyes from Harold, or the smell of a ham cooking in the kitchen. But she felt so incredibly uncomfortable, and she couldn't perform her usual nervous habit since her hair was tied up. So she had to just stand there, her anxiety accumulating.

"She's a friend," August stated, looking up at Willow's lips and remembering how they felt on her neck. She could feel her face turn beet red. "That I met at a coffee shop in Ithaca," she continued, "And I didn't want to leave her alone on Christmas, so I brought her along." She looked at her dad, who still stared between the two with confusion. "As long as that's okay, right?"

"Oh, of-of course," he said, finally snapping out of it. "Your friend is welcome to stay here." But inside his head, his brain was screaming, Harold, they're lesbians.

"Auggie!" screamed a little girl's voice as she ran into the kitchen in her red and green Christmas pajamas.

"Daisy!" August exclaimed, picking up her sister and swirling her around in the air before placing her on her hip. "Oh, my goodness!" she spoke in a tilted voice, moving away the wild strands of curly brown hair from her sister's face. Her hair was just like hers, except longer and even more curly. "You look like you've grown!"

"By how much?" the girl spoke in a squeaky voice through her missing teeth.

"A hundred years, at least!" August said with a huge smile, staring down at her blue-eyed sister whose bubbly laugh filled the room as she began to tickle her stomach.

Willow watched intently, a warm smile tugging at her lips at how August talked and played with her sister. She loved seeing this new side of August—the daughter and older sister in Amarillo, Texas.

♠

"But I—"

"Just play with her!" August told the nervous woman as she turned to go help her father take out the fully cooked ham.

"But August, I—"

"She's a child, not a fucking pit bull. Play Barbies with her or something," August hurriedly said while rushing into her kitchen where her dad was calling her to.

Willow turned around, staring at the little girl who looked like a mini August sitting on the floor holding up a blonde Barbie doll. She felt silly, being so scared to be alone in a room with a child, but to her, children were more complicated and scarier than most things in the world.

The woman just slowly sat down on the couch, eyeing the girl who used a tiny comb to brush the Barbie's hair. "So...what's that one's name?" she asked, biting her lip as the girl ignored her and simply kept brushing the Barbie's hair.

"Just set it on top of the stove," Harold told August as they both lifted the tray of ham out of the oven and set it on top of the burners, August feeling a wave of heat wash over her when she slammed the oven door shut.

"It's perfect!" he said after checking the ham's temperature.

August lifted the oven mitts off her hands, placing them on the counter as the smell of honey-glazed ham filled her nostrils.

"Sweetie," her dad began, taking his oven mitts off and setting them on the counter. "Now that we're alone, do you want to tell me what's going between you and that woman?"

August froze. "What do you mean?" She racked her mind for any hints she could've given her dad since they'd been there. Considering she had purposefully barely interacted with Willow the entire time, she couldn't find any signals she could've accidentally given him.

"I see the way you look at her. It's the same way your mother looked at me," he spoke with a tight smile. "And she looks at you exactly how I looked at your mother, like she was the most interesting, mesmerizing, beautiful thing I have ever laid eyes on."

August felt a sadness rise in her chest at the mention of her mother, but also a happiness at the way her father was describing the way Willow looked at her. She assumed she had always been too busy looking at Willow like that to see that she was staring right back at her in the same way.

Shifting on her feet, August looked up at her dad and simply smiled. Her father smiled back, giving her a pat on the shoulder. "Listen, kid, even though she is older than I would have expected or wanted you to date, I approve. I can tell by the look in her eyes that she adores you. And I can surely tell you adore her just as much. Don't ever lose that, kid."

Her dad shook her shoulder with a smile, turning around to cut a slice of the ham. "I'm trying not to," she whispered in response, thinking about the tall woman's green eyes and soft lips.

♠

After August helped Daisy put out milk and cookies for Santa and then tucked her in and read to her about five Christmas books before the little girl would go to sleep, she sat on the floor and helped her dad place the wrapped presents underneath the tree.

Willow sat and watched from the couch, a mug of hot chocolate in her hand that was melting her icy fingertips and also the ice lining the inside of her heart like stalactites. While feeling slightly out of place, she felt ever more comfortable. She never had this stuff—putting out milk and cookies for Santa, having quite a few presents under the tree, hot chocolate warming her winter skin. Her childhood never held those types of homey things, and that stuck with her as an adult. So now, as a 29-year-old woman, Willow finally experienced a family Christmas. And it was one she knew she would never forget.

"Alright, that's about all of them, I think," Harold spoke, slowly getting up from the floor with a groan and placing his hand on his back.

August stood up, looking at the presents under the tree. There were quite a lot of them, most of them going to Daisy. She smiled at their old Christmas tree that they'd had for years. Having been able to afford all those presents under the tree, August wondered why her dad didn't get a new one, but she remembered that her mother was the one who picked it out so many years ago, not long before she died. That's why her father kept the tree, always staring up at the angel sitting on top with a glimmer of gloom in his eyes, still smiling nonetheless.

"I'm gonna hit the hay," he told her after he had his couple of moments staring at the angel on the tip of the tree. He placed his arm around August's shoulder and pulled her close, giving her a quick peck on the top of her head. "Merry Christmas Eve! And goodnight to all!" he announced, walking over to the staircase. "Oh, and goodnight, Willow. I'm really glad to have you here for Christmas." He gave her a warm smile.

Willow returned his smile from the couch. "Thank you for having me, sir," she enthusiastically told him, trying to sound as respectful as possible.

Harold smiled and waved before finally heading up the stairs.

"I'm pretty tired, too. I'm probably about to go to bed," August said standing in front of the woman and stretching.

Willow hummed, bringing the last of the hot chocolate to her lips. "I can sleep on the couch," she stated, licking her chocolate-covered lips as she leaned forward to set the mug down on the wooden coffee table.

"No!" August exclaimed, causing the woman to look up at her with slight unsureness. "I mean, no. I have a full bed in my room," she continued, looking into the woman's green eyes that softened with her words. "It wouldn't feel right to sleep in there while you slept in here." Her last sentence was a whisper as she clasped her hands together, fiddling with her fingernails.

Willow softly smiled, standing up and hooking her fingers with the girl's. She wanted nothing more than to sleep with the girl cuddled up the way they did the previous night. "Then show me to your room," she spoke, her voice husky, a seductive light filling her eyes.

Smiling through her lashes, August clicked the living room lights off and walked up the stairs, Willow still holding her hand and following shortly behind her. The woman's eyes couldn't help but fall to the girl's butt that was right in front of her, moving to the pace of August's steps. She remembered the feeling of grabbing that ass, every curve and slope, but she wanted to feel it again. She restrained, though, not wanting to do anything that would make August uncomfortable. Being in the unfortunate positions of Willow being the formidable kidnapper and August being the one held hostage, Willow wanted to always make sure that August knew she had the option to say no. She never wanted to push anything on the girl that she didn't want.

August led her down the hall to the room on the very end, opening up the door to reveal her room. It wasn't teenager-y like Willow had expected, but rather minimalistic and pretty empty.

"A lot of my stuff is at my dorm," August explained as she led her in and closed the door, locking it and not turning on the light.

Willow quietly chuckled, walking over to the bed and running her hand across the black comforter before sitting down. She stared at the girl who stood in front of the closed door, her eyes trying to read her expression that was frustratingly unreadable sometimes. "What?" she softly asked.

"You're just..." August could hardly speak, as her eyes stay glued to the look of the woman. She was sitting there, her black waves of hair laying down her sweater, her green eyes fluorescent even though her back was turned to the window where moonlight flooded in. Her lips were dark and ample, so inviting and so pretty to ogle at. "You're just so beautiful."

Willow felt her cheeks warm. "You are more beautiful, August."

August shook her head. She had begun to adore the woman days ago, but now she felt something more than adoration. She felt a longing, a desperation to always feel her touch, to always be near her, to always have her smile at her the way she did. Her dad's words rung in her ears.

"Willow," she began, licking her lips and coming closer. She sat down next to the woman, so close she easily placed her leg over her lap and turned slightly so she could really look at her. She inhaled before continuing, "I don't want to ever lose you."

The girl's words were so full of vulnerability, of rampant emotion that she had stopped trying to fight. Her blue eyes searched the woman's moonlit face, silently screaming for her to respond.

Willow brought a hand up, stroking August's hair behind her ears. She leaned closer, placing her forehead directly against hers. "You won't," she whispered, closing her eyes.

August felt the woman's words breathe against her lips, and she fluttered her lashes closed as their foreheads gently pressed together, Willow's hand resting in her hair.

"I promise, you won't," Willow confirmed, pulling away but still staying extremely close as she looked down at the girl's mercury blue eyes. She mentally contemplated for a moment before deciding to let August know all the feelings that have been growing in her since they met. "Over the past few days, my biggest fear has become clearer and clearer to me," she whispered.

August's eyes flickered back and forth between the woman's lips and her light green eyes. With trepidation, she listened to the woman's words.

"Losing you," Willow whispered, running her hand across the girl's soft cheek. "I don't want to wake up one day and you not be there right next to me. I don't want to make the wrong move and have you hate me forever. I'm so scared of the danger your life is in, and I'm just now learning what being scared of danger even means." She stopped, her own breath hitching in her throat as she ran her thumb across August's cupid lips, feeling every indention. "But I'm scared that if I squeeze too hard, you will slip out of my grasp."

August's heart was racing in her chest as the woman whispered those words against her skin. She didn't want the woman to be scared; she wanted to show her that August was not going anywhere, that she wanted her just as much as she did if not more.

"Willow?"

The woman's eyes shifted from the girl's lips that she was basically drooling over, back up to the pools of deep blue and staring at them expectantly.

There were a few moments of silence as they both were seemingly out of breath simply from the raw emotion running through each one of their veins. And it only took two words from August's lips that caused a new emotion to arrive and completely surmount their bloodstreams.

"Take me."