Ruby
"Anyway. Sorry. That's a lot. I don't— I don't know why you'd need to know all that." Carina shuffled the photographs back into a pile and got to her knees before standing. She had only ever told Mrs. Bigby about her family, and she felt stupid for burdening Dimitra with it now. She placed her pictures back into the cabinet where they lived and made a pit stop in the kitchen for the jar of moonshine. It was barely dipped into and yet Carina felt airy. This kind of intoxication was much more severe than the gentle hum of wine. She wasn't sure she liked it so much. 

Setting the jar down in the nest of blankets, she joined Dimitra again on the floor, tucking her shins beneath her and fixing her skirt over her knees. 

"Okay, now you. Tell me something sad about your family. I'll feel like a fool if you don't."
Nathan
She quite liked the floor, she found. It was cozy, and as embarrassed as Carina felt about not having much furniture and the lack of company, Dimitra hoped she could remedy both soon enough. 

"It's natural to tell your friends things about you," She said, gratefully picking up the moonshine jar and popping the top off, getting a big whiff of that strong alcohol smell; could burn the eyebrows right off your face, for certain. Had to be the Coopers'. 

"Besides, I like hearing about it all." Made her seem more human, in a way. "Let me tell you something," Dimitra sat forward a little on her knees before she took a big swig of that moonshine straight from the glass. "Have I ever told you why I don't like sleeping alone?" She asked her curiously.
Ruby
Carina took the jar from Dimitra before she could close it and took a sip as well, albeit more timidly than the other woman. She'd never drank something that hurt so badly before. As long as it'd loosen her tongue though, she took it like medicine. She'd made it her goal to *Open up.* Short of a literal crowbar, moonshine was the best tool for the job. 

"No," Carina answered, hushed, "You haven't." Her eyes were slightly wide as she coached herself to receive the answer. She remembered the last time this subject was broached in the store a few days ago, and she was looking forward to the chance to amend her reaction.
Nathan
Dimitra's smile was easy, even as she began to launch into her story. "When I was a little girl," She said. "In the caravans, you know, we would stop from place to place along the sea," Her fingers traced an imaginary shoreline in the air. "We didn't have much job opportunity outside of dancers and circus fortune tellers, but we made it work. Odd jobs and the like. I used to make flower crowns and sell them on the streets, you know?" 

She pulled her knees in closer to her chest. "People didn't always see us... Travelers, as people. And we were this beautiful commodity, something to be collected." Her shoulders raised a bit. "To make a long story short, I was sleeping and a man came and took me from my bed. I was twelve. He wanted to make me his *Bride* Of all things," She wrinkled her nose. "Didn't touch me, thank heavens, I put up too much of a fight. But my folks couldn't find me for three days. My brothers came and got me once they found out where I was, but it was hard after that. Slept with my parents, my brothers, my friends. When I was too big to do that..." She laughed a little. "I guess I had to figure out another way to get company in my bed," Dimitra rolled her eyes. "But even just hearing the breathing of another person in the room makes me feel more at ease."
Ruby
Carina listened, rapt. Anger followed fascination, and her face reddened on young Dimitra's behalf. Not even when Carina slept in the locked clothes closet of her room in the Richmond house, the doorknob jammed with a chair from the inside as windows were smashed in the next room over, had anyone ever tried to get her. Looters carried away paintings and furniture and jewelry, but no one had bothered with her. She had never been so thankful. 

"That's abhorrent, Dimitra." She replied, her expression twisted as though she'd tasted something bitter. She thought again of how she'd reacted to Dimitra's preference in the shop. She'd been so quick to judge her. Usually, she loathed to admit being wrong, but here, she accepted it. She hadn't known even half the details needed to comment, then. Even now, there were details she dared not ask, but she had enough to properly understand. It was difficult, but, Carina began to apologize. 

"I'm sorry. For judging you when I didn't understand." She felt lighter. "I—" The next part stuck in her throat a bit, and she cleared it, "I sometimes speak without thinking." Carina didn't need to say it, but she'd felt herself *Wanting* To. The urge was entirely unfamiliar, but she honored it, in part thank to the liquor.
Nathan
Perhaps it was because she'd told the story a dozen times, always followed by a laugh and a wave of her hand, that this retelling felt so different. The response was never *Positive*, of course, but usually it was garnered with a reaction like someone hearing a great heroic tale— they would tell her how *Brave* She was, how it was no wonder she was *So strong.* 

Maybe that was why Carina's complete and total disgust and discomfort over the topic really threw her for a loop. Her insistence, her *Apology*, was not something she had ever expected to come. She hadn't expected one at all— nor had she told the story to garner one. "Don't worry," She told Carina, her hand coming to rest over the other woman's delicately. "I've come to know your... *Quirks*," She flashed Carina a mischievous grin at that, "And I still adore you, not despite them, but because of them." Dimitra's hand squeezed Carina's, her thumb brushing delicately over her knuckles. It was a moment of warmth; and she felt her cheeks turning just a little pink at her admission that Carina was *Adored*, but she could blame that on the alcohol warming her to the bone. 

"Tell me something happier," She said suddenly, her hand still on hers. "Your favorite memory from childhood."
Ruby
Carina soothed into Dimitra's touch. She'd been expecting closeness this time: anticipating it. Tonight, she'd set out with physical affection as her goal, and as a result, was miles away from the mindset that had sent her running from the Florakis household without dessert just a week prior. Carina received the admission of adoration with a smug kind of satisfaction. Of course Dimitra adored her. What was there not to adore? (In a more insecure moment ((of which there were plenty between Carina and her own mind)), Carina would have been able to come up with a neverending list of her own faults. Now was not that moment). 

"My favorite memory from childhood," She repeated back, searching Dimitra's eyes for mercy. She had already talked so much about her past in the form of showing photographs. She'd been expecting some kind of praise or reward to proceed more emotional chores, but alas. 

" Once, my father took me to see a collection of paintings. I loved art. His friend who was a judge owned *Rooms* Of paintings. The judge was getting ready to give them away, to open a museum just for them. My father took me to see them and let me spend hours there looking. It was amazing, all the huge canvases in their golden frames. I should like to go see them in their museum some day." Although she tried not to think about her father much, the memory was still a pleasant one. 

"Now yours." 
_ _
Nathan
She was surprised when Carina didn't bristle at her touches or words, and she relaxed considerably more. Maybe she'd had some time to think; this version of Carina was far more relaxed, and she liked that about her. She also liked uptight, as strung taut as a bow string Carina as well. She was fond of both; her fingertips went from Carina's hand to her wrist and her arm, brushing so slowly and pleasantly along the skin. "That sounds beautiful," She told her, and when she said it, she was staring directly into Carina's eyes. 

"Standing in the river in my skirts with my older brothers, catching fish. It was the most fun I've ever had; the summer was so hot and the water was so cool on the skin, and all we did was laugh and splash and try and catch dinner. My brother, Konstantin, tackled me and got me soaked down to the bone," She laughed aloud and tipped her head to the side. "It doesn't seem like much. Whenever I'm sad, though, and missing home... I think about them." 

There was a pleasant silence that stretched between them; warm, the air was tense not with hurt feelings this time, but with something far more magnetic. She shifted slightly closer and brushed her fingers over her arm and then her shoulder, her eyes flickering from her eyes and then her mouth and back. 

Last time, a kiss on the cheek had ruined everything. She hoped this wouldn't be the undoing of them. 

Dimitra leaned in so their noses brushed, far more tentative than she'd usually be with a kiss. Carina was different; she tilted her head slightly and kissed her, tasting moonshine on her lips when she did.
Ruby
Instead of miles from the feeling that'd sent her from Dimitra's house, perhaps Carina was only several meters away. She visibly tensed as the woman's touch traveled her arm, but managed to relax once she felt her jaw threatening to tighten. To do so while maintaining eye contact with her date felt like a Herculean feat. 

Carina didn't smile or express much appreciation for Dimitra's recounted memory. Getting soaked in all of one's clothes seemed like a sensory nightmare. She only just kept from grimacing, but as Dimitra herself laughed, Carina couldn't help but lighten, too. She could relate to missing home and thinking of the people that had defined it. Trying to imagine *Home* Being knee-deep in a river with wet skirts whisked her away for a moment, the moonshine taking its liberties and possessing Carina to search in Dimitra's eyes for a clue into the feeling. And, oh– what was she doing? Why was she looking– 

Oh. 

First, Carina was concerned for her physical health. She had never felt the sensation of her heart so high in her throat, and she stiffened in the moment it took to reassure herself that she was not actively dying. Second, she calculated the possibility of pulling away: the velocity and angles at which she would recede from the kiss. Third, she relented. 

Fourth, she rejoiced. 
But only for a few seconds. That was all she had prepared for. 
_ _

She gave herself to Dimitra for long enough to convey her desire. Her resistant, ever-frowning mouth softened and searched for the span of a breath and a half. Her eyes fluttered closed for only a couple heartbeats. This was the math in which she engaged during their closeness, until finally she released herself. She did this slowly and with purpose, punctuating her returned affection with a stamp of authority: *I decided to kiss you back, and I am deciding to end it.* 

Carina was shaking as she straightened her shoulders. It had... Been a while since she'd last been kissed. She was all at once proud and exhausted that she'd participated in the act again. 

The thing that Miss Templeton foolishly hadn't rehearsed was the moment after. Having successfully navigated intimacy, she stalled in the afterglow. What comes after the first step? The second step, of course, but after all that careful math, she'd forgotten how to count to two. Jarred and flustered by her own unpreparedness, she did what her body commanded and reached for the moonshine. 

After swallowing a generous sip and setting down the jar, her nervous eyes found Dimitra's and, of all things, the dour shopkeeper broke out in a silver chime of laughter, soon thereafter clamping a hand over her mouth. In her tipsy post-kiss fog, she went on laughing, tipping forward to catch her head at Dimitra's chest, her palm falling to brace on the woman's thigh. Who knew how many years of unbridled humor were being released in those moments? Later, she might be embarrassed, but here and now, Carina was lost to catharsis. 
_ _
Nathan
The moments between the initial kiss and the end of it felt both a lifetime and like a mere snap of her fingers. Dimitra could've stayed in that moment forever; Carina's lips were soft, hesitant, and she could almost distinctly hear the turning of gears in Carina's head. Dimitra relished in the closeness that she knew was rare for her friend; she internally laughed at the word *Friend* When their lips were pressed together. 

Of course, Dimitra had kissed plenty of her friends. She'd pressed her lips to the cheeks and temples and noses of plenty of her companions, and placed a few kisses to their lips, too. God knows, she'd engaged in a few drunken moments of affection with people like Rhett Sterling, but that didn't *Mean anything*, even when she had distinctly tasted the back of his teeth once or twice. It was funny, how a simple kiss, curled up on the floor before the fire, was a far more intimate and stomach-churning act than others she'd engaged in before. 

Dimitra kissed her friends. But she was kissing Carina Templeton and that was another story altogether. She tasted like moonshine and she smelled like sweet perfume; probably something old and fancy, with a name Dimitra couldn't pronounce, because Carina had standards. 

When the kiss broke, and Carina dove for the moonshine, Dimitra couldn't blame her. Of course, she hadn't expected her to tip forward, laughing, but it was an infectious thing. She was laughing too, gripping Carina's waist with her free hand, both laughing at nothing and everything all at once. 

"You're good at that," She told her. "Kissing, I mean. A little stiff in the shoulders, but..." She said softly. "Nothing a little practice couldn't fix."
Ruby
Carina had passed the test she'd arranged for herself, and she was ecstatic. Finally she gathered herself from the laughing spell and slowly sat back up, becoming aware of Dimitra's hand at her waist and her own hand on Dimitra's thigh. Following the hurdle of the kiss, all other touch seemed alien somehow. Unrehearsed closeness was something Carina still needed to work on. She quickly extracted her limbs back to herself and cleared her throat. 

"Thank you. The shoulder stiffness is my signature, I'll have you know." She defended herself, a placid look over her face. Dimitra, having spent some time with Carina by now, would recognize humor there, but it wasn't obvious. 

"You're right. You'll need practice to get used to it." She idly picked at a stitch in the blanket beneath them, doing her best to pretend at playing cool. Her performance had a lot of layers to keep track of, and she accidentally cracked a sheepish smile. 
_ _
Nathan
Her lips cracked into a wide smile and another laugh rang out from her; she laid down on the blanket, her curls splayed out beneath her head as she gazed up at Carina from this position. Her hands folded on her stomach and she just felt at peace with tonight. There was no rush, no desperation. Just two friends, maybe more, enjoying one another. 

"I'm sure I'll get used to it," She said, the words very soft and fond as they left her lips. She still had no idea what she was doing in the grand scheme of affections and lovers and all, but she knew this felt good and Carina was so beautiful, and she wanted to kiss those lips again when her friend was ready to do that. It could be in ten minutes, tomorrow, next week, or a year later. 

She was a creature of touch; her hand dropped onto the blanket and her fingers skittered their way to Carina's skirt, touching the fabric and rubbing it between her fingers. "You can't deny," She said after a second. "That was nice, wasn't it?" Dimitra couldn't help but pry.
Ruby
"Of course it was," Carina said sharply, nearly offended by the obviousness of the answer. In what world would it not have been nice to be kissed by a woman like Dimitra? A woman so soft and bold all at once? A woman who made her feel wanted and rare. 

She decided she liked this view of her friend, as she stared down at Dimitra on the blanket. Enjoying it for a few moments longer, she decided then that she was ready for continued closeness. She eased herself down into the floor, sealing the side of her body to Dimitra's. It was a kiss of sorts, if you squinted. 

"I really should see about some furniture. I don't know the first thing about purchasing a sofa in this town that isn't stuffed with straw." She surprised herself at how comfortable it was to fall back into conversation— how comfortable she was in general here. She couldn't recall the last time she'd felt this, or if she'd ever even felt it at all.
Nathan
She was giddy, watching Carina follow suit and lay on the floor beside her. Their sides touched, and she looked to the side to watch Carina's face as she spoke. She traced the outline of her face with her eyes; the slope of her nose, the pursing of her lips, and the way her eyelashes fluttered a bit when she spoke. 

"Could you order it from the city? In one of those fancy furniture ads in the city newspaper? Do you think they'd deliver it all the way out here?" Dimitra laughed and dragged her hand through her hair. "You could ask one of the carpenters to make you one. I don't know about sofas, but Dallas Sinclair made me a chair once." She whistled, drumming her fingertips on her stomach in thought. "I'm sure someone could make a sofa." 

Dimitra liked the closeness. The intimacy of laying shoulder to shoulder, warmed by the fire, and just talking like this was their everyday. Carina was tricky, she'd admit that, but it was something Dimitra liked, in all honesty.
Ruby
Carina laughed, imagining a vivid scene of the hypothetical furniture delivery. 
"The people of Briar Ridge can make it a week without rations. I'll have the delivery driver fill his truck with furniture instead of groceries. Problem solved." She focused on a far off spot on the ceiling, lost momentarily to fiction. 

"I could use a few chairs." She nodded, reeling herself back to the present, "A bigger dining table. I'm sure Mrs. Bigby has some things she'll bring with her when she comes. She's having a hard time saying goodbye to her little place over the store. She's been there more than 20 years, since Mr. Bigby passed. I don't blame her getting attached. It'll be nice out here for her, though. No stairs to worry about." Carina had become uncharacteristically loose in the tongue since she'd summoned the courage to kiss Dimitra back. The moonshine helped, sure, but she was buzzing with adrenaline like she'd just jumped from the top of a waterfall. 

Maybe the ease of her speech was also in part owed to her company, though this would be the last justification Carina would lean on. Dimitra's presence, when she wasn't stealing candy, was soothing. Even when the woman appeared in the shop with nefarious intent, she was a source of familiar chaos, and as long as chaos was familiar, Carina could stomach it. She could even grow to like it, and before long, who knows? That same chaos might just stir up love.