Written Stars

by Magnolia Robbins

  Even though I didn’t think it is meant to be about me, it still stung a little. I take a step back from her and when she turns, I can see by the look on her face she knows she has offended me.

  “Oh God, that’s not what I meant I promise.”

  “It’s okay,” I laugh softly. “I tend to have that effect on women.”

  Her hand reaches for mine and when she grasps it, I can feel my heart beating out of my chest. “Trust me, you are much more charming than you think you are.”

  The moment becomes awkward and she lets go of my hand. We stand in silence for a bit before she clears her throat. “I don’t know what we’re going to do. Where did you park?”

  “I walked,” I admitted.

  “Is your house far?” She asks me.

  “It’s about twenty minutes away, I don’t think we’d make it in all this snow.” It was still coming down pretty good. Lauren hadn’t been joking when she said feet.

  “There’s a hotel about a block away. I think we could make it that far.” Megan looks to me and starts trekking through the snow. “Come on.”

  3.

  Megan

  I read somewhere that the true adventurer goes forth without a plan, leaving behind their expectations and fears. Ready to meet their fate, whatever it might be.

  .........................

  I hadn’t felt this way in years. My heart was light and free. When we ran through the field of snow it seemed as if every weight I carried had suddenly lifted from my chest. She was the most magical person I’d ever met.

  I knew I’d liked her since the moment we met eyes at the bookstore. There was something about how warm and comforting she was. So when we laid there in the snow, our eyes locked on to one another, I couldn’t control myself.

  And now I’d asked her to go to a hotel with me.

  The entire trip from the parking lot to the hotel is spent in a fit of giggles. If it isn't me falling over, it's her. We lost all signs of the sidewalk. The whole entire world around us is a giant blanket of white and the snow is coming down so hard we can hardly see in front of us.

  “Do you know where you’re going?” Olivia looks at me, her hands wrapped around my arm.

  “No clue,” I laugh, struggling to wade my way through the snow. “This is crazy.”

  “You’re telling me.”

  By some miracle or another, we manage to find the Peterson Inn. It’s one of the nicer hotels on this side of the city. I hadn’t stayed there before but we’d had a meeting there one time for the firm and it had seemed nice. At this point I didn’t care if it was a cardboard box. If it got me out of the snow, I’d be happy.

  When we make it inside, Olivia is still clinging to my arm. It felt nice, having her close to me. But at the same time, I am very aware of how we look to the people in the lobby. I clear my throat and step away from her slightly. She takes the hint and drops her arms to her sides.

  “Oh goodness,” I look up to see a woman behind the counter come to greet us. “You two look absolutely freezing.”

  “We had a little car trouble,” I admit.

  “Do you have a reservation?” She asks. Olivia shakes her head no.

  “Let me see what we have left.” We wait as she clicks on the keyboard for a moment, furrowing her eyebrows. “Do you mind sharing a room?”

  “I think—“ I start but I’m quickly interrupted by Olivia. “That’s fine.”

  “Good, I’m afraid we don’t have very many rooms to spare at the moment.” The woman looked up out the front windows. “Gosh, it looks dreadful out there.”

  “It’s pretty crazy,” I agree. She hands us a pair of room keys. “Third floor, room 305.”

  “305.” Olivia says behind me. “Thank you.”

  “You two have a wonderful evening and stay warm.”

  Olivia and I are silent as we ride the elevator to the third floor. Before we enter the room I turn to her. “I don’t know what you were thinking was going to happen, but—“

  “What did you think I thought was going to happen?” Olivia leans closer to me. I move my back against the doorframe.

  “You said—“ I trail off, embarrassed now for having even brought it up.

  “The one room thing? Come on Megan, we’re two grown women. I’d rather not pay for two hotel rooms when we can share a perfectly good one.”

  It made sense. I feel myself relax and turn towards the door, pushing the card key into the reader.

  “But you know, we could if you wanted—“

  My heart raced in my chest as I turned back around to face her. She was smiling at me, trying her best not to laugh.

  Olivia uses the shower first to warm up. The king sized bed is luxurious for a hotel room. When I lay across it, I wish I had one of my own. Then again, with no one to share it with it seemed like a waste of room. I flip through the channels on the television. It has been years since I have turned one on. I have no idea what most of the shows are.

  The TV must have drowned out the sound of the shower because when I turn to look towards the other room, Olivia is standing in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest, wearing a fluffy white robe with the hotel emblem across its breast. I stare at her for much longer than I probably should have, admiring how cute she looked all clean with her curly hair in damp ringlets.

  “What?” She asks me as she comes over to sit beside me on the bed. I jump up quickly, and walk around her. As I pass her on the bed, I toss her the remote. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Before she has a chance to respond, I scurry out of the room.

  If anything was more relaxing than being in a hot shower after walking in a snow storm, I don’t know what it could have been. My mind got so lost in thought that I found myself dozing off against the tile wall. It feels like only seconds pass when I hear a knock at the door.

  “Megan, are you okay?”

  “Huh? Yeah, I’m fine.” I call back to her, my heart racing in my chest when I hear her voice.

  “You’ve just been in there a really long time. I thought maybe we could order some room service. I’m starving.” She seems slightly concerned.

  “Okay, that sounds good. I’ll be out in a minute.” I turn off the shower and dry myself off. After staring at the robe for a good length of time, I finally take it off the rack and cover myself with it.

  I take it back, maybe being in an expensive plush robe was the most relaxing thing ever.

  Olivia is stretched out along the bed waiting for me when I come out.

  “Amazing, right?” She says happily, pulling the robe up to her face.

  “You’re telling me,” I agree. Every time she smiles at me I feel my insides melting a little more. All I want is to go to her and kiss her but I can’t bring myself to.

  “So, room service?” Olivia asks and tosses me the menu. I rummage through it.

  “How hungry are you?” I ask her.

  “Famished.”

  “Well, then. Let’s have ourselves a party.”

  I give the kitchen staff a run for their money when I place my order. We select almost every appetizer and dessert on the menu. Olivia has some weird obsession with desserts. She’s stunned when I tell her I’d never tried tiramisu before.

  “You love coffee but you’ve never had tiramisu? I thought you were this big fancy lawyer. Don’t you eat fancy food all the time?” Olivia raises an eyebrow at me and smirks. She sits on the far side of the bed against the headboard, staring at me.

  “I’m not a big sweet eater,” I admit. “I don’t have a lot of time to exercise, so I just watch what I eat.” We meet eyes for a moment and I smile at her.

  “Life’s too short to live by all those strict rules you set for yourself, you know.” She sets the menu down on the nightstand table and flips through the channels on the television mindlessly.

  I don’t know how to respond, but we’re quickly interrupted by knocking at our door.

  When I answer, I instantly regret my mouth being larger than my st
omach. It had taken two different wait staff to bring us the two carts of food we had ordered. When they realize it’s just Olivia and I in the room, I can see their judgement. I tip them both and usher them out quickly.

  “Holy shit, that’s a lot of food.” Olivia exclaims.

  While we stuff our faces, the TV drones on in the background. We’re too engaged in all the delicious delicacies before us to care. Just as I’m about to explode from all of the eating, Olivia scoots next to me on the bed with a plate in her hand. It’s a dessert of some kind, with lots of layers.

  “Oh God, I can’t eat another bite,” I tell her, nursing my stomach. “I haven’t eaten that much food in years.”

  “It’s the dessert of my childhood! You have to try it. At least one bite.” She holds up a small piece for me on her fork and presses it up to my lips. I close my eyes and take it. It is literally the most delicious thing I have ever tasted in my life. I sigh softly, enjoying the rich flavors of coffee and custard.

  When I open my eyes again, she is watching me intensely.

  “I thought you didn’t like coffee.” I gave her a smile.

  “I like you,” she says without missing a beat. At first I think she’d misspoken, but when her eyes stared firmly into mine, I know she is being serious. All at once I can’t stop myself. She sits the plate on the tray beside the bed and I push myself into her, our mouths colliding.

  4.

  Olivia

  And when I stopped to admire the trees in the Earth and the birds in the skies, I realized. There is joy in every moment. It’s been placed all around us. All we need to do is find it.

  .........................

  It came out of my mouth before I knew what I had said. That’s the funny thing about fate. You never know what will happen and you just go with it when it does.

  I didn’t expect Megan to kiss me again that was for sure.

  She tastes sweet, like the tiramisu I’d just fed her. The faint hint of coffee and custard. If I hadn’t thought she was intoxicating enough, she is even more so after that. We flow together in perfect unison, our bodies melding as she pushes into me.

  She grazes her fingers along the side of my cheek. They feel so soft and nice against me. Her kiss is so calm and gentle. Like she is carefully exploring the new territory before her. Our noses brush together softly and when we part, we keep our faces only inches apart.

  “That was nice,” she whispers softly to me, her breath hitting the side of my face.

  “We can do it again,” I note and she moves her mouth back over mine.

  This time she is a bit more deliberate and firm. I feel each brush of her lips when she comes back down over top of me. When she does, I kiss her back fervently. I can hear it when our mouths push together. She is overwhelming, with her soft supple pink lips and the faint hint of lavender in her hair. I breathe her in like oxygen.

  When I get brave enough, I let my tongue very gently tease her lips. I am subtle at first, just trying to test the waters. She opens her mouth slowly for me and I push inside of her, our tongues intertwining. My hand gently caresses the side of her face as we move from one mouth to the other.

  I push myself until I can barely breathe before I pull away from her. We both are in pants. I feel her body roll alongside mine and we turn so we are both lying facing each other on the bed. .

  “You’re so beautiful,” I whisper to her through breaths.

  “You too,” she smiles, leaning in to kiss me.

  We lie there staring at one another, relaxed and calm, while the TV drones on in the background. I stroke the side of her cheek while she runs her hand up and down the length of my arm.

  Before I know it, she’d closed her eyes.

  “Megan,” I whisper. When she doesn’t answer, I lean in to kiss her softly on her nose and curl up next to her on the bed. It doesn’t take long and I find myself dozing off beside her.

  The next morning I wake early. It takes me a moment to realize where I am and when I do, I see my arm draped around a beautiful woman’s waist. I snuggle up against her, looking outside the window to see that it is still snowing.

  Megan wakes shortly after me. I feel her hand gently caress my arm for a moment before she slides out from under me.

  “Good morning,” I say softly to her as she gets to her feet.

  She tightens her robe around her waist and turns towards me, smiling. “Good morning. Did you sleep okay?”

  “Like a baby,” I reply, sitting up. “I think it’s still snowing.” My head nods towards the window. When Megan looks outside she gasps. “There must be three feet out there.”

  The weatherman is on TV so I click the volume up a few notches on the remote.

  “—experiencing record-breaking snowfall in Portland. Estimates of two and a half feet of snow have fallen in some parts of the city and the snow is predicted to continue.”

  “Shit,” I hear Megan say from across the room. She runs over and snatches her purse off the floor by the door. “Claire..”

  My thoughts wander for a moment wondering who she was but it was like Megan had read my mind. “My sister,” she looks up at me. “She’ll be worried sick that I didn’t come home last night. Jesus, fifteen missed calls.”

  I watch her as she dials the phone. When the person on the other end answers, I can hear the yelling all the way over at the far end of the bed where I sat.

  “Oh my God, I’m so sorry! I meant to call you!” She sits in silence, letting her sister rant and rave over the phone for a minute or two. “Yeah, I’m okay. I got a room in a hotel by the grocery store. I’m so sorry, I know… The weatherman just said it wasn’t going to let up for a while. I guess I’ll be staying here till then.”

  I let out a loud cough in surprise.

  “Oh,” Megan said, looking back towards me. “I’m here with a woman I met at Redford’s… Yeah, can you believe it’s still open?” Her voice gets quieter. I can barely hear her but I crane my neck to try my best. “She’s really nice.. I don’t know, maybe. Shh… I know, I know.” When she turns back to look at me again, I look towards the TV.

  “Listen, I have to go. I’ll stay in touch from now on, I promise. I love you too. Bye.”

  When she pulls the phone from her ear, she turns back towards me. “Sorry about that. My sister’s even more wound up than I am.”

  “I probably should call Lauren too,” I thought, getting up from the bed. I join her on the floor, pulling my phone from my coat pocket. “My roommate,” I add, giving her a small smile.

  “Hey L, it’s Oli. I just wanted to let you know it turns out you weren’t kidding when you said FEET. I got stuck at Redford’s and got a hotel with a beautiful woman.” I look up to Megan who is sitting on her knees beside me, blushing. “I’ll tell you about it later when I see you. Have fun with your lady friend all day.”

  I hang up the phone and slide it back into the pocket of my coat. When I look at Megan again she is biting her lip, deep in thought.

  It looks as if she wants to say something but she stops herself. Instead she breaks into a soft smile and turns to me. “I’m hungry. Should we get some breakfast?”

  We decide to wander down to the restaurant on the first floor instead of staying cooped up in the hotel room all day. Neither of us speak about what had happened. While we ride down in the elevator, Megan leans close to me and I feel her hand barely graze mine. I almost reach out to grasp it in my own but something stops me.

  The restaurant, Antonio’s Bistro, smells delicious. There is quite a bit of others with the same idea we have. We manage to get a table in the back corner. I quickly steal the seat with my back against the wall so I can watch the people around us.

  “Can I get you ladies something to drink?” The waitress asks as we sit down.

  “Coffee for her, orange juice for me.” Megan smiles at me when I order.

  “How did you know I wanted coffee?” She asks me curiously as the waitress wanders away from us.

  “Reme
mber, I’m Sherlock Holmes,” I reply smiling, knocking on my head with a finger.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever had someone order for me before,” she notes, raising an eyebrow.

  “A bit of a control freak, are we?” I browse through the menu, taking casual glances at her. She’d combed through her hair a bit but it still looked adorably like morning hair.

  “There would have been no way I would have made it through law school without being,” Megan says, putting down her menu.

  “You already know what you want?” She’d barely looked at the menu.

  “The same thing I always get. Two medium poached eggs, three slices of bacon and a piece of rye toast.” Megan says matter-of-factly. I stare at her curiously as I finish deciding.

  The waitress came back and took our orders. As I sipped my orange juice, Megan looks as if she was lost in thought again, her eyes staring out the window behind me at the falling snow.

  “What’s up?” I ask her and she shakes her head, drinking some of her coffee. When she finally looks back up, we meet eyes. She has a curious look to her face.

  “How long have you known you were a lesbian?”

  I nearly drop my drink in surprise of the bluntness of her question.

  “Sorry,” Megan says, rubbing the back of her neck with her hand. “That was a completely inappropriate question. I don’t know what I was thinking even asking. I don’t even know if you are, I just thought—after what happened yesterday…” She trails off embarrassed.

  “I think I’ve always known I was,” I admit, smiling softly at her to try and relieve her from her anxiety. “I never acted on it till high school though.”

  “Really?” Megan looks surprised. “What happened, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “Oh gosh, it was nothing special.” I shrug. “Just some girl I had a crush on who felt the same way and we decided to experiment. When did you know?”

  Her face turns crimson and she stares down at her lap. “I still don’t really know,” she admits. “I had this fling with a girl in my law school cohort. It made me sort of start to question myself. Now I just see things a lot differently than I used to.”