Meet Your Match

5

I didn't need sunglasses the next time we hit the confidential because the lights dimmed for me as soon as I stepped in.

"Thank you." I appreciated the show accommodating my...occasional sensitivity. I hadn't mentioned it, fearing it would be used against me, but it must have been obvious.

I shifted on my uncomfortable shoes—those cute clear ones that promised pain. My body wanted out of the clingy clothes, too.

Just not while Hanna was studying me and chewing on her mouth.

"We need a secret way to communicate that something we're doing or saying is not real...not meant sincerely," she said. "So if the situation calls for drama, no one is hurt. When we aren't able to do it through touch, a word or gesture would be—"

I interrupted her. "You can just call me Halston. That'll work." Once I became "Halle" it tended to be jarring for people to use my full name.

"All right..." I could tell she didn't like the suggestion. "You can go with 'Hanna Alice' then."

Her scent had deepened; maybe I wasn't the only one who was on pins and needles. A warm thought.

"If we're holding hands, one of us can squeeze twice like this." I demonstrated by clasping my own, and Hanna again agreed. "Otherwise, I can pinch my earlobe and you can spin your jewelry...what do you think?" Her wrists were rarely bare. 

"That's fine. One more thing..." Though she refused to break eye contact, Hanna's reluctance couldn't be denied. "I might be difficult—I might do things you don't understand sometimes. I'd like to apologize for that in advance. Real or not, always do and say what you want to. Don't be afraid to argue, to disagree with me—especially if it feels like I'm in the wrong."

"But—" I changed course, because what could I say against that? "Okay."

"Okay?" she pressed.

"I've just...just been in situations where doing that was not an option."

Silence. Hanna didn't let it grow, though. "Then this will be a nice change."

She gave an almost-smile, and I had to return it.

As we prepared for bed, I offered to return her sunglasses, but Hanna declined.

"Is it coochies? I mean cooties! COOTIES!" I wailed.

"BE QUIET ABOUT YOUR COOCHIE COOTIES!" someone yelled from another room, their sleep rudely interrupted.

Hanna stopped to stare at me midway to her pillow, lids low, her long hair held back by one hand. "I wouldn't take them back after you said that."

Speaking was overrated. I should stop.

I sighed. I hadn't elected to participate in this show with anything but the first two weeks in mind, so the looming unknown stirred long-dormant unease. Yet...my excitement was stronger.

A lot of it centered around the woman who had just slipped into the bed beside mine.

With the final light out, I flung off my clothes at last.

"Halle."

Looking over my bare shoulder, I stilled. It wasn't the hair lovingly surrounding her or the softness with which she said my name.

...Her large black shirt had glowing white bunnies on it.

"Are you sure you'll be okay with all of this?" She took the scenic route to my eyes by tracing the line of my back first.

Jesus. 

I absorbed the movement of her throat as she swallowed. "Yes, Hanna."

She found sleep at some point.