Page 55 of Emerald Moon
“The things I made when I was younger were awful,” Jo said.“Or did you forget the ‘burning chocolate in the microwave’ incident?”
June grinned.“How could I forget that smell?You melted a plastic bowl!But they weren’t all bad.Even if they looked funny, they sure tasted good.”
“I have gotten better,” Jo was willing to admit.
Cass squeezed their hand.“Everything I’ve tried has been amazing.”
“You keep this one, Jo.She’s hot and nice.The best combo.”June winked, then wiggled her fingers and leaned in towards them with a renewed interest.“When was y’all’s first kiss?Who started it?”
“I did,” Cass said.“It was that first night we went camping together, in the tent.It felt like the right time.”
Jo’s soul left their body.They nodded robotically.
How much of this was fake for the act and how much of it was real?Was this Cass admitting that it’d been an attempt at a kiss?Jo replayed that moment in their mind — the quiet conversation, Cass getting closer, Cass being close enough to touch, and then panicking and going to bed.
It had been a kiss!Right?Or probably not.Jo tried to keep their features neutral while they had an inner meltdown, but they knew their face always told the truth.
June noticed.“What’s got you making a sour face?”
“I’m not making a sour face.Anyway, shouldn’t you be getting to bed soon?I hear there’s some big event tomorrow starring you,” Jo deflected.
June narrowed her eyes at Jo, but let it go.“It’s true.I’ve got about a million things I need to get done before I can go to sleep and tomorrow’s going to start early.Which, I know you’re, like, nocturnal or something now — as though you weren’t already before — so I’ll cut you some slack, but I need you in my hotel suite before lunch, alright?”
Jo promised and June left for the night with another hug — and one for Cass, as well.
“Your sister’s nice,” Cass said as they stood to leave.
“Did you mean it?”Jo blurted.
“Mean what?”
Jo scrambled to cover.Their tongue burned with the desire to ask about the kiss in the tent, but instead they said, “When you called me ‘babe.’”They laughed much too loudly for the situation.“That was so classic Krista.”
“I guess I did pick it up from her.It felt right in the moment, though.Was it too much?”
“No, no, not at all!It just felt like you’d summoned her.”Jo laughed again.“I should probably text her.I haven’t done that all day and I told her I’d let her know when we got up here and how things were going with mom and June and everything.I can’t wait to tell her about standing up for myself and that June’s been awesome.It’s been pretty good so far, right?At least way better than I thought.Tomorrow will be a whole other beast, but we’ll manage, I’m sure.Thanks for being here, again.It means a lot.”
“Like I said before, I’m glad you picked me.”
Jo smiled, but couldn’t take their eyes off the gentle curve of Cass’ lips.“Do you have another great bird shirt for tomorrow?”
“You’ll have to wait and see.”
“It’s a bird shirt.”
“It could be something else.”
“Did Krista help you pick it out?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, then it might not be a bird shirt.”
They turned a corner in the hotel hallway and Jo could see their room door in the distance.Their exhaustion hit all at once knowing the end of the night was near.A day like that would have taken a lot out of Jo on a normal day, let alone a day when they already started with half the energy they usually had.Pretending was hard, and not just pretending Cass was their girlfriend.Pretending that they felt okay when they didn’t was necessary but always difficult.It drained Jo like nothing else.
“I’m going to be busy in the early afternoon before the wedding,” Jo said.“So you can hang out in your room or do whatever.There’s some sights in the area if you want to drive around and see them.I could make some recommendations.Not that you need me to tell you what to do or anything.Mostly this place just kind of sucks, though.I moved for a reason.”
“I’m sure I can figure something out.”
