Page 8 of Emerald Moon
“Of course.”
“Hey Jo?”
“Yeah?”
Cass tipped forward, the tips of their noses brushing.Jo sucked in a breath and froze.Cass shifted her weight towards Jo, her breath dancing across Jo’s lips.
Jo panicked and fell backwards into their sleeping bag, eyes wide and staring at the tent ceiling.“Good night!”they yelled.
Jo was stiff as a board as they listened to Cass move in the darkness beside them.The further she moved away, the more Jo could breathe, but it was in quick, staccato breaths.Was that almost a kiss?What would have happened if they hadn’t pulled away?
“Good night,” Cass said.
“Sleep well,” Jo managed, voice shaking.“See you in the morning.”
Jo stared at the tent ceiling.If this were one of the numerous fanfics they consumed, that would have been the tipping point.Jo would have been inhaling the story to get to the moment where they kissed.They’d have been kicking their feet and squealing as they held their phone to their chest.
But Cass had tried to kiss them, right?If it even was a kiss.Jo had no idea.People didn’t try to kiss them.They were friend material, not kissing material.Whatever just happened required some serious overthinking before they could even attempt sleep.
Jo made a plan to wake up well before Cass so they could start packing up the camp and be super normal right from the start so nothing would be weird.They’d act like absolutely nothing had happened.Because nothing had happened!So, Jo would simply be acting accordingly.Anything else would be strange.
three
Jocrackedtheireyesopen, yawned, and realized Cass’ side of the tent was empty.They could hear noise outside.Cursing under their breath, they wriggled out of their sleeping bag and tried their best to look somewhat presentable before they zipped open the tent.
“Morning!”Jo called out to Cass’ back with all the very, very normal cheer they could muster.Their foot caught on the tent and they stumbled out.
Cass turned.”Good morning.Did you sleep well?”
“Super well,” Jo lied, acting like they hadn’t thought about what happened until their brain finally wore itself out and let them sleep.“You?”
“I slept well, but I rarely have trouble sleeping.”Cass finished putting a foldable chair back in its bag and turned towards Jo.“About last night —“
“We’re good!”
“What?”
“You.Me —“ Jo gestured between them.“We’re good.We’re all good.No worries.”
“No worries?”
“Yeah, nothing happened and we’re good.Nothing to worry about.”
Cass looked puzzled, but she nodded.“Alright then.”
“Can I help with anything?”
Cass was silent for a long moment, her eyes traveling the length of Jo’s body.Jo felt her stare and chewed their lip under the attention, wishing she would say something.
“It’s mostly done,” Cass said.
“Sorry I didn’t get up earlier to help.”
“It’s fine.Like you said, we’re all good, right?”
Cass’ tone made them unclench their jaw and relax their shoulders.It was all good.Nothing, especially something that didn’t actually happen, could mess up the good day they’d had the day before.Jo wasn’t going to let something weird ruin this day either.
“I was thinking,” they said as they started helping pack the campsite, “that yesterday you let me play a lot of Dolly, but today I’d like it if you could share your music on the drive back.”
