Sugar and Spice

The end of the semester was a week away, and Alexis and Mitty sat in the library going over their work. They agreed they would help each other as much as they could before the end. Alexis had managed to sneak an extra session in, but she was conscious of the fact that after that, they were done. No longer would they have to critique each other's work, and no longer would they be obligated to spend time together.

So when they finished, what would happen to them?

This was what Alexis was ruminating over as Mitty shuffled her papers, ready for reviewing. Alexis took them absently, but she couldn't go over them just yet. She thumbed the corner of the paper and drank in the faint vanilla scent of the library books, trying to figure out how to broach the topic.

"Something wrong?" Mitty asked.

Well, that was one way to do it.

"No, just thinking about stuff," said Alexis. She wasn't even really sure what to say. Hey Mitty, are you going to stop hanging out with me now that you don't have to? Yes, that would go over well. Besides, she was being stupid. They already hung out on Legends Online with Amni, and were both working for the uni newspaper now. They even met up at her work occasionally. They were together plenty, so why did Alexis need to ask for more?

But we barely spend any time together alone. Just the two of us. When Mitty's at work, she's too busy. Without this...

The library clock chimed twice, indicating the new hour and a full minute of Alexis' silence. Only then did Mitty press, "What stuff?"

Alexis thanked the dragon deities that Mitty's well of patience had deepened since they met. "What are your plans next semester?" she asked.

"I'm hoping to get accepted for the internship at Bramble's," said Mitty.

Alexis nodded. From the next semester on, students were encouraged to pursue the next steps in their lives, though internships were not officially part of the curriculum until the semester after, which would be their last. She knew Mitty hadn't intended it to, but her words served a heavy reminder that Alexis needed to find something soon, before she was lumped into doing something she didn't want to for her last semester.

"Though they might not take me 'cos I applied early," Mitty went on. "I read that you have to be pretty special to get an internship before they officially open them to students, so…"

"You'll get in." Alexis beamed. She knew Mitty was good enough for Bramble Publications. More than good enough, even. She ignored the hollow feeling in her chest at the thought of Mitty not even attending university with her next semester, and held up a hand before Mitty could protest, and before she could dwell on it. "No arguing! You will get in, or my name isn't Alexis."

Mitty snorted and smirked. "Hopefully. But if I don't…" this time she was the one holding her hand up before Alexis could interject, "then I'm thinking of joining the baking club."

“Oh, that’s great!” Alexis wagged her tail, thumbing a larger crease in the paper. Something hurt inside. No matter what, Mitty was going to be busy next semester. Alexis remembered how she’d longed for her friend’s company during the Winter’s Fest period. Mitty’s absence had tugged at her heart in a way that reminded her of her old friends. And now she was going to feel it again, but there wasn’t an end to it this time. They only had two semesters left before graduation. It was like Mitty was standing on one end of a long bridge, barely in sight, and Alexis stood on the other, gripping the handrail for all she was worth, yet an invisible wall prevented her from taking a step forward.

It had started this way, too, when she and her old friends had lost touch. They got busier. They didn’t have time for her anymore. They moved on, while she was stuck reliving the past through messages long abandoned. She didn’t blame them at all. It wasn’t their fault she couldn’t move past them.

But the fact that it could so easily happen again…

Stop it, Lexi! You’re being silly. Nothing’s even happened yet!

She fixed her smile, brought herself back to the library, to the now. No need to fuss over the future. Besides, what Mitty was doing was a good thing. Joining a club, getting an internship, moving forward… Alexis would cheer her on, no matter what. And so she pushed her misgivings down to the depths of her swirling mind, and straightened the creases she’d made in the paper. “Anyway, we should get on, right? Not much time left before we turn these in.”

“Terros, yeah. Final stretch, Alexis.” Mitty smirked. “We can do this.”

Alexis nodded. “Yeah. We can.”

The routine was so familiar. Alexis couldn’t lose it now. She’d gotten used to the criticism of Mitty’s red pen. Nothing stung anymore, not when it was so close to the end. So she read her friend’s work and made notes, as she’d done every week for the past several months. Mitty’s work had evolved beautifully during that time, especially now that she was truly writing what she wanted. Alexis was so proud of her.

“I do have one question,” she said as they got into the feedback portion of their session.

“Shoot.”

“The two girls.” Alexis tapped her paper. “I’m a little worried they’re not gonna realise each other’s feelings before the story ends.”

Mitty blinked. “What makes you say that?”

Truly, Alexis was enjoying the little romance subplot Mitty had thrown in. She was fond of both the girls. The characters were very believable, except for one aspect. “Well, with everything going on in the main plot, they don’t have a lot of time to spend together now,” she said. “Plus Maya seems a little, um… oblivious.”

Mitty visibly stiffened. “How so?”

Alexis wondered what was up with Mitty’s reaction and hoped she wasn’t about to upset her. If there was anything she’d learned in the months doing this, though, it was to not hold back. “Well, Maya is supposed to be quite smart, yes? Like, socially smart. And poor Tam is dropping hints left and right that she likes her, but Maya isn’t picking any of them up.”

A strange expression crossed Mitty’s face, like a mixture between a grimace and a smile, but it was gone in an instant. She looked down at the table, but she didn’t seem upset, or shocked, or anything, really. Alexis’ one skill was failing her; she could not read Mitty at all. Did I make her mad? Is she amused? Oh, dear, I hope I didn’t say something wrong. The warmth of the library made her squirm as she waited for Mitty to say something, anything at all.

Then Mitty looked up, and her usual stoic face was back. “It is a bit hard to believe, isn’t it?” She snorted, then smirked, like she was in on a joke Alexis didn’t know. “I see what you mean. Hopefully I can make it work by the end.”

Alexis rubbed her chin with a finger. She wasn’t sure what she expected when she voiced her concern, but it definitely wasn’t Mitty taking it in stride quite like that. Nevertheless, she was glad Mitty wasn’t mad. She seemed the furthest thing from it, actually.

They continued their session, the warmth of the library growing just a bit more comfortable.

***

That night after dinner, Alexis set aside her stack of papers and wiped the sweat from her brow. She beamed down at her writing before leaning back against her bed, basking in her flood of satisfaction. She couldn’t help clapping once, then pointing at the ceiling and declaring to her imaginary audience, “I did it! I did it!”

Beside the first draft of an article she’d written for the newspaper club, sitting proudly at the centre of her desk, was her finished assignment. It was printed, it was neat, and best of all, it was complete. Alexis giggled, getting swept up in the glow that only came from finishing long university coursework. She’d take it to Mitty one more time so she could see the finished product, have one last discussion with her just for the sake of it (their last session had been agreed to be more for Mitty than for Alexis anyway), then hand it in to her professor and officially wash her hands of it.

Cheerful pop music blasted from her laptop, and she wagged her tail to its bouncy rhythm. She hadn’t indulged in just feeling good for some time. She’d almost forgotten what it felt like. She was sitting on a cloud, letting herself get carried in its soft pull, and continued swaying to her playlist, ignoring what the finished assignment meant regarding her and Mitty’s hangouts. She’d already worried about it enough. She could let herself enjoy her accomplishment for a bit, surely?

Her good mood carried over to Legends Online, which she booted up after clearing away her desk. The silver light of the laptop in her dark room was comforting as always, maybe even more so now. She swayed her head from side to side as the game’s music hummed in her headphones. Nobody was online yet, so she busied herself with completing a quest she’d left for such an occasion. Didn’t need to pull Mitty and Amni into doing boring stuff for her anyway.

After the victory jingle played upon completing the quest, she received a notification that Mitty and Amni were looking to join her. “Hello!” she chirped once she saw their characters in the lobby. She was still riding the high of finishing her assignment, and was feeling a little playful. “Funny to see you two come on at the same time.”

“Coincidence,” Mitty replied, while Amni declared, “Oh, we’re on a date!”

Alexis snorted long and loud. Something pricked at her, just a little, but she wasn’t about to ruin her good mood, especially when she knew it was a joke. “I don’t think this is the best place to have a date,” she said.

“Hasn’t stopped us,” said Amni, sidling up to Alexis’ character and wrapping his arm around her.

“Oh, knock that off, already.” Mitty’s voice was brittle. “Alexis wouldn’t date you if you were the last Vistian in the world.”

“How harsh! Mitty, why must you wound me so?" Amni untangled himself from Alexis and swooned. “You love me, right, Lexi? Right?”

Alexis laughed, but saying it even jokingly made her blush a little. “Yes, Amni, I love you.”

Mitty coughed.

“You see, Mitty! We love each other.” Amni went back to putting an arm on Alexis. “Why must you stand in the way of our relationship? Do you disapprove of our love because you have a long-standing feud with me? Is our love…” he gasped dramatically, “forbidden by you?”

“What.”

Alexis chuckled. She appreciated Amni’s attention, but it hadn’t escaped her notice that he didn’t do the same thing to Mitty. It couldn’t be because he was actually interested in her; it just seemed to be his way of joking around, and it wasn’t like Alexis shot down his flirtations. Where she’d been embarrassed by them before, she’d learned there was no real weight to his words and ended up playing along half the time now, especially because of the reaction it elicited in Mitty. There was something fun about teasing her that she couldn’t get enough of, which was probably why Amni flirted as often as he did. Still, why did he never pull that on Mitty?

“Alexis, we must get married post-haste, before Mitty can intervene.” Amni gestured wildly to one of the stone arches in the lobby. “Then we will be free to share our feelings with the world…”

“We’re declaring it to the world now?”

“Our love is bright and beautiful!” Amni boomed. “The world will be blessed to know of it.”

“Okay, well since I apparently have some role in preventing this from happening,” said Mitty, her voice stone cold, “Amni, stop flirting with Alexis so we can do a damn quest already.”

Even though she’d been playing along, Alexis suddenly felt like hiding after Mitty actually referred to it as ‘flirting’. She needed to shift the focus off her before her cheeks reddened further. “Yeah, why don’t you do that with Mitty, anyway?”

Amni let go of Alexis. “Well, I did at first, but… let’s just say she didn’t care for it."

Alexis raised her eyebrows. That was hardly a surprise, but the way he worded it got her curious. “No?” she prompted.

“No,” this time Mitty answered. Her wolf character had her arms crossed, which just seemed to be her default pose at this point. "Wasn't interested from the start. So he stopped." She moved to go set up a quest.

This got Alexis thinking. She never really thought that Mitty and Amni had a thing, and any time she got close to entertaining the idea, she felt annoyed and stopped herself. In fact, hearing that Mitty was never interested relieved her.

Stop that. Stop being possessive! Mitty's allowed to like whoever she wants. It doesn't change our friendship.

Something lodged itself in Alexis' chest.

She knew she shouldn't ask, but she did. As a joke, of course, because there was no way Mitty would actually answer her. It was just idle curiosity, nothing more. "Is there anyone you are interested in?"

The music, quiet enough to fade in the background before, suddenly drummed in her ears. No one spoke. She hung on the silence like a fish on a hook. What was she waiting for? For Mitty to brush her off and to carry on as normal? There couldn't actually be anyone on Mitty's radar, surely. And even if there was, it wasn't Alexis' business.

She was about to dismiss it. Get past the awkwardness and have fun with her friends, not having to think about anything but their quests. Then;

"Maybe."

Alexis froze. Her stomach lurched. Her blood chilled. Everything quieted until it was just her and her heart pounding in her ears. Why? Why did she care so much? It shouldn't matter to her. In fact, she should be supportive. Jealousy wasn't part of a friend's job description. Just because Mitty was interested in someone, that didn't mean she would slip away from Alexis.

She was brought back to Vistus by Amni's gasp. "No way. I had no idea!" Sarcasm dripped from his tinny mic.

Mitty finished setting up the quest and started preparations. "Shut up."

Alexis joined her absentmindedly. "Was it obvious?" she asked Amni. She couldn't believe she didn't notice anything. Or maybe she didn't want to?

"Hmm…" Amni disappeared from the screen to prepare. "Maybe just to me."

Alexis shuffled uncomfortably under her bed covers. She was glad nobody could see her. "W-what are they like?" Stop pushing! Dear Vacerus, what is wrong with you?

Mitty cleared her throat. Alexis just knew that one dismissal, that little shut up, was dancing on Mitty's tongue. But the aloof girl pressed on. "She's sweet and cute and that's all I'm saying now let's please stop wasting time and start this quest!"

"Hmm…?" Amni murmured with interest.

Meanwhile, though Alexis was making preparations, her mind was just not there, and probably wouldn't be for the rest of the game. She… she's sweet and adorable? Who on Vistus is that? Her eyes widened. Oh dear Freya it's Kyra isn't it.

Nobody asked anything more; not even Amni dug any further; and they went on to do the quest. But Alexis was still thinking, even as she went through the motions in-game.

I mean, Kyra is nice. Pretty, too. But I thought she and Mitty didn't get on that well? Or that Mitty at least didn't like her that much. Maybe I was just imagining that, then. I guess I was in denial.

Click, step, attack, step.

But why would I be in denial? Because I don't want Mitty to like her? That's stupid.

Loot, step, attack, step.

I wonder if she'd ever like me that way?

Alexis officially stopped her stupid train of thought there. She'd had enough. Now she was just being pompous. Mitty, liking her? Please. She wasn't worthy of that. She scoffed at herself, at her brazen self-importance, and went on to play Legends Online to the best of her ability, ignoring her silly idea.

But of course, once the thought had entered her mind, it was already too late.

Suddenly Alexis noticed Mitty's short bark of a laugh whenever Amni amused her. She noticed the faint lilt in Mitty's voice when she found an item she was looking for, a barely-there singsong of restrained excitement. She noticed Mitty's hitches of breath in her ear when fighting in a tight spot, and then her breath caught, too.

Uh oh.

"Alexis?" Mitty nudged her avatar in the lobby, where they were resting after doing a rather difficult raid (Alexis had no idea how she managed when she was barely focusing).

"Huh?" She jumped in real life as though Mitty had actually touched her. "Y-yeah?"

"You okay? You're spacing out."

"I'm fine!" Alexis spluttered, practically screaming like a broken siren. "Just fine!"

Amni's avatar visibly winced. "You might be, but my ears aren’t."

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry!" And yet Alexis just could not stop.

"Dude, did something happen?" Mitty asked. "You can tell us, you know."

Oh no I cannot. "Nothing happened, I'm fine! Just coming off the raid high."

Mitty snorted and nudged her again. Alexis found herself blushing for no reason. Mitty wasn't actually touching her. She was being silly. "Were you eating sweets during the raid again?"

"No…" Alexis chuckled nervously, then mentally slapped herself for denying a reasonable excuse. She had absolutely no reason to be so jumpy in Mitty's presence. None at all. Yet where it had once been comforting and familiar, it was suddenly electric, new, uncomfortable. And it had happened so abruptly she had no time to think about it.

"You're a terrible liar," said Mitty.

Oh geez I sure am! "Okay, you got me!" Alexis eyed an empty bowl on the counter some meters away. "You know me, I gotta get my energy somehow, haha."

"Hmm?" Amni's little hum sounded far too accusatory for Alexis' liking.

"Did you forget what happened last time?" asked Mitty. "You came to uni half-dead."

I have a feeling that's gonna happen tomorrow regardless. "I just needed a boost, is all! Oh well!" She laughed, but it sounded like a wild squirrel with hiccups. "I'll deal with that tomorrow."

Thankfully Mitty stopped her interrogation, and even wild card Amni kept his mouth shut for the rest of their game time. Alexis might have gotten away with fooling her university friend, but she just knew Amni had caught on. Mercifully, even as they shut off for the night, Amni did not message her afterwards. She had no idea what she’d say if he did.

She just knew that, for once, she was dreading seeing Mitty in person.

***

Alexis sat on a bench at the park near her high school. Beside her was Angel, and standing behind the both of them was Honey. She wasn't sure what they were saying, but she felt at ease all the same. She hadn't seen her friends in so long, it was just nice to hang out with them again.

Angel, ever the sweetheart, had brought Alexis a gift. It was a box of chocolates, half-eaten. One of them even had bite marks on it. Silly Angel probably couldn't help herself. Alexis smiled, thanked her. They joked about Angel's gluttony. Angel, always relaxed, took it in stride.

The sun dipped below the horizon, but the sky stayed pink. Honey nudged Alexis to get up, and together they left the park. Angel joined them. Alexis wasn't entirely sure where they were going, but knew they had to take care of business before heading to Kisbi's house.

The scenery swirled from the greens of the park to the greys of the street, illuminated by the pink sky. Honey joked; Alexis laughed. Angel was no longer there.

Her heart leapt to see a familiar group up ahead at the school gates. There were at least seven of them, all greeting Alexis like they hadn't seen her in ages, which was odd, because they'd seen each other at school just yesterday. She waved back, swimming in ecstasy. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't question it. For once, she was happy. What else mattered?

They joked, they laughed. They talked about everything and nothing all at once, voices overlapping in an excited cacophony just like they used to. Alexis was home again.

Again?

They spent the day together, Kisbi at the heart of the group, since it was her birthday, after all. Alexis panicked; she hadn't brought a gift. Kisbi just shrugged and smiled, her pretty face glowing in the pink light.

Alexis didn't want the day to end. She was with her friends again, as she should be. There was a hole in her chest, though, because something wasn't right. This felt so familiar, yet so distant, for some reason. Impossible.

She opened her gift to find that the box of chocolates was empty.

Alexis opened her eyes to the darkness of her ceiling. Her chest ached with a dull hollowness, like someone had yanked out her heart and haphazardly stitched her back together.

It wasn't a slow realisation. It was deep in her bones, a cold resignation that constantly lingered, even when her brain liked to play pretend. She had dreams like this every so often. They'd subsided when she met Mitty, to the point she forgot what they felt like. She longed for that ignorance now.

She cursed her mind for daring to trick her with falsities again. For getting her hopes up, only for her to wake to her empty, black ceiling, the imagined voices lingering in her ears.

She’d been in such a good mood earlier. Why was she ruining it now? Why was she still dreaming about this? She had friends again! She had Mitty and Amni. She wasn’t alone!

For now. But when Mitty gets that internship, then what?

Alexis pressed her head against the pillow, eyes screwed tightly shut.

When Mitty gets a girlfriend, or a job, or when she graduates and leaves you, are you going to cling to her like a pathetic puppy?

Alexis begged her mind to shut up, but the thoughts broke through her feeble wall, already weak from her dream. She let something slip from her closed eyes to stain her pillow. She wished more would spill, but those came with the sharp pain of something fresh; not this empty ache that was now as much a part of her as anything else.

She lay there, not even trying to beg for sleep to claim her.

***

Alexis sat on the bed in Mitty’s room, feeling her friend’s leather jacket pressing against her arm. It was the only barrier between her and Mitty’s warmth. They sat together, Mitty’s papers strewn about the covers like an afterthought. Alexis was trying her best to pay attention, by Vacerus, she was. In fact, she should win an award for keeping it together for this long. She truly wanted to help Mitty in their last ever session, help her present the best assignment she’d ever written and get that perfect grade.

But all she could see was Mitty’s hand just inches from her own, her white fingers trailing delicately over one of her pages. Alexis couldn’t help wondering how soft that hand was. How soft Mitty was. How nice it would be to hold--

Stop it, she’s just a friend! Come on already!

How did she even get into this mess? One minute, Mitty was her fun best friend whose hand she’d have held just to mess with her. Now the mere thought caused her face to flush a shade so vibrant she was sure Amni could see it.

“I knew you shouldn’t have had those sweets,” Mitty murmured, her voice somehow barely there yet jolting Alexis’ eardrums at the same time.

“Huh? Sweets?” She blinked, then cursed herself for being stupid. Yet stupidity ran through her veins at the best of times; now she was something else entirely. She needed to get it together before Mitty realised something was wrong with her!

“Did you get any sleep last night?” Mitty poked Alexis’ arm.

To her credit, she did not scream. No, that would be undignified. Instead she squeaked like a strangled mouse on helium.

Mitty stared at her. “I’m gonna guess not.”

Alexis sighed, pressing her back against the wall and trying to sink into Mitty’s bed. The eyes of all the Vanilla plushies on the shelf above Mitty’s computer leered back at her. She couldn’t waste time getting hung up on her friend’s every action when they needed to get her work done. She was being selfish. “No, I didn’t sleep much,” she admitted, and it wasn’t a lie. “Sorry. It’s a bit hard to focus. I’ll get there.”

Mitty sighed, too. “Tell you what. We’re almost done here.” She smiled, but there was something else there Alexis couldn’t place. “How about we take a break?”

“But this is our last session.” And just like that, she’d been doused in freezing water. All stray thoughts suffocated under the weight of that implication. “We need to… to make it count.”

Mitty bit her lip and looked down at her duvet. “We will.”

“But…”

“Alexis.” Mitty held her with her sharp, teal gaze. It was so familiar, yet now she was aware of how it stopped her heart. “You’ve done more than enough for me over this semester. You think I didn’t notice we always spent more time on my work?” Alexis’ ears lowered, but Mitty went on. “Sure, you can say it’s ‘cos you didn’t like the critique, and I’d believe you. But I know you better by now.” Her gaze wavered, but she stayed. “And I know that you deserve a break.”

Alexis shook her head. “No! We can’t let this go to waste!”

Mitty’s brows furrowed softly. “Alexis, what’s wrong? Seriously.”

She wanted to say it. So badly, she wanted to admit to Mitty that she was scared she would lose interest in her if they didn’t have to meet every week. But she knew Mitty would take offense to that. You think our friendship’s so flimsy that we need a reason to spend time together? She wasn’t sure if she was imitating Mitty or if that was her own thought. She felt guilt clenching her heart just thinking it. Guilt at being so doubtful. Guilt at being so selfish. Guilt at wanting more and more of Mitty’s attention, to be more to her, to take that place in Mitty’s heart that was currently reserved for someone she did not know.

So she did not say it. She stroked the soft cotton of Mitty’s duvet, warmed by their body heat, her hand so close to Mitty’s own. She did not touch it. “I told you,” she said, smiling as she always did. “Just didn’t sleep well.”

It was a copout. A terrible one. Even Mitty could tell, for her eyes narrowed just so, just enough for Alexis to know she’d been seen through. But the judgement was gone in an instant, and her eyes softened, a tiny smile gracing her lips. “Then we’re definitely taking a break. I won’t argue on this.”

Alexis’ tail flicked and accidentally brushed against Mitty’s own, but where she’d expected Mitty’s tail to jerk away, it just stayed beside her own. Giving her permission. So she did not move it.

“Fine,” she murmured. There was no use arguing if Mitty was so insistent, anyway.

“Good.” Mitty patted her shoulder. She did not jerk, or gasp, or anything. The electricity dulled in intensity, but she still felt it. “Now, you know what we’re gonna do?”

“No?”

Mitty swallowed. She looked down and glared at the floor for just a second before seeming to collect herself, then turned back to Alexis with a cocksure grin that wouldn’t look out of place on Amni. “We’re gonna reward you. For everything you’ve done.”

Alexis’ eyes threatened to pop out of her head. “W-what?”

Mitty’s grin quivered for a second, but held firm. “You heard me. You deserve a reward.”

Alexis’ eyes lingered on Mitty’s twitching lips before looking back up. “But I…”

Mitty shushed her with a roll of her eyes, and the Amni mask disappeared instantly. She was back to looking as uncomfortable as ever, like she’d been when they were first becoming friends. “No buts.”

Alexis wanted to protest one more time, but she couldn't deny her curiosity. “Okay.”

Mitty frowned and gestured to her shoulder, looking everywhere but at Alexis. “Here.”

Alexis blinked. “Um…?”

Mitty looked like she wanted to explode. “My shoulder. You can use it. For napping.”

Alexis stared.

“I just thought, if you’re tired…” Mitty’s fingers dug into her palms as she fidgeted and glared at the floor. “You could… if you wanted…” She winced and drew away. “Ugh, never mind. Sorry, it’s stupid. I just thought being like Amni might… Sorry.”

Alexis’ reaction was instant. She leaned her head against Mitty’s shoulder, pressing against the cool leather of her jacket. She drank in the faint scent of strawberry wafting from her pink hair, closing her eyes to fully take it in. All embarrassment vanished in the face of her friend’s warmth. Just being able to feel her put her at ease in a way nothing else could. “Thanks,” she murmured, her voice trailing softly from her lips, lost to the air.

She felt Mitty stiffen at the initial contact, but gradually relaxed against her cheek. “N-no problem,” she muttered.

They said nothing. They didn’t need to. As Mitty’s shoulder slackened, Alexis nuzzled it like a pillow, taking comfort in the cold leather pressing on her nose. She heard and felt the pleasant rise and fall of Mitty’s breath, rhythmic and hypnotic, lulling her into a trance. Her body felt weightless, and for once, her mind did, too, as the fear from her dream finally melted away. She let herself float on the current of her friend’s quiet exhalations, immersed herself entirely in the girl who’d given more to her than she could ever hope to say. And as her mind drifted, she felt Mitty’s head lean atop her own, a perfect fit.

If only we could just stay like this… 

The sun filtered through the window, casting light on the two girls sitting side by side on the bed, eyes closed and hidden from the world.