It was a wonderful day. Their favorite place – a lake near the Auguste Armand Institute. They often came here: Carla, Berenice, Souleymane, Solal, Tom and the other guys. They used to swim here all the time in the summer. There was a small hut on the shore where they could hide from the rain, a hammock hanging between the trees, and a place for a fire. Perfect.
This is where they stayed all day, Carla and Berenice. They sat on the shore, walking around the lake, talking casually and making plans for the future. They had a picnic with wine, cheese and fruit, lay cuddled together in a hammock, sat by the fire, kissed as much as they had never kissed before. All day long, just the two of them. It seemed unreal. On Monday Carla could only dream about it, because the whole week was busy and it was hard to find a moment alone with her girlfriend. But today was different. They had been enjoying the beautiful views of the lake and each other's company since morning.
Berenice... Looking at her girlfriend, Carla thought only of one thing: no matter how many minutes, hours, days she was given to spend with Berenice it would never be enough for her. In her eyes she was drowning, her embrace was the most comfortable and safe place for Carla, she felt like the happiest person with her. She felt alive with her.
And now, sitting on the shore of the lake, even with her face a little red from the sun and her hair slightly disheveled from the wind, she was the most beautiful girl in the whole world. It was Berenice who interrupted her thoughts.
“Hey, what are you thinking about?” - Berenice asked.
“The right question is "about who?" – replied Carla.
“Hmm, and WHO are you thinking about? I guess you're thinking about Souleymane" – Berenice began to tease her.
“God, how did you guess? I was actually thinking how great it would be if he was here to brighten up this boring day” - said Carla, making a serious face.
“You're silly” – replied Berenice, kissing her on the cheek.
“Actually, if you're bored, I have an idea" – she continued slyly.
“Mm… really?” - said Carla with a smirk.
“Uh-huh” - whispered Berenice, starting to kiss Carla's hand.
Carla always liked her delicate kisses. On her hands, on her cheek, on her forehead. It was always so sweet and gentle.
Berenice began to kiss Carla tenderly. Less than a minute later, they were already on their way to the hut, wanting to hide from prying eyes, which in principle were not there.
They felt more comfortable in this "house". The darkness added a little intimacy and, it seemed, confidence for Berenice, for no sooner had the door closed behind them than Berenice pressed Carla against the wall and began to kiss her passionately. Lips, neck, earlobe, lips again.
The kisses were getting hotter and deeper. Oh, the taste of cherries on Berenice's lips! Her favorite lip gloss was on Berenice today and Carla was even crazier with this sweet addition.
Bere's hands roamed all over Carla's body. Suddenly they stopped and started looking at each other. Their noses were almost touching. They froze and enjoyed each other, enjoying the moment. As if two souls were looking at each other with human eyes. For them it was a moment of greater passion and greater intimacy than all kisses and touches.
"I love you" - whispered Berenice.
"I love you" - Carla replied and leaned in for a kiss.
It was getting hot in this wooden hut. Berenice ran her hand under Carla's shirt. Her movements were smooth and gentle. She ran her hand over Carla's belly, but then Carla heard some kind of melody... Berenice began to drift away and... disappeared.
Not quite sure what was happening, Carla opened her eyes. It was morning. She was lying in her bed. In her room. The music was coming from her alarm clock.
Her alarm clock???
God. Carla's pulse was racing. “What the hell was that? What the fuck?.. What was that all about? It was...a dream. A dream? Berenice? What a... Why is that? God, this dream was so real”. Her heart was still beating hard in her chest, still remembering Berenice's kisses. Carla still couldn't come to her senses. It was hard to understand where was reality and where was a dream. Or a nightmare…
Why Berenice? She loved her friend, but… as a friend. Why would such dreams appear in her head? For several minutes Carla sat in bed with her head clouded. Thoughts about the dream didn't leave her head for a long time. "And why was everything so colorful, detailed, like in reality?"
After gathering her thoughts, she got out of bed. After taking a shower Carla started to cook a hearty breakfast, because it was gonna be a long day: she had to meet Rose, then there was going to be a meeting for first-year students, then there was a lot of classes at the institute, a few other things, and then they planned to cook one interesting dessert with Berenice.
“Berenice”..! The memory jolted Carla and almost made her stagger. "It's just a dream, it didn't really happen", Carla reassured herself. Just a dream. Which for some reason had that effect on Carla. She had dreamed about all sorts of strange things, but this...
“Weird. Well, anyway, I'll see Berenice, maybe tell her my silly dream and we'll laugh together” - Carla said to herself.
Quite satisfied with her decision and completely calmed down, she headed over to Rose. Lately she'd been enjoying spending time with Rose. And even the half hour they had now was a pleasure. So on the way to the institute, she had already completely calmed down and forgot about the nightmare.
“Hey, Carla!” someone called out to her. The voice of that “someone” gave Carla goosebumps and made her nervous. Berenice was walking towards her friend and smiling broadly. A strange feeling came over Carla. She felt a kind of shame in front of Berenice. It was as if she had fantasized about her friend on purpose and had made up all these ... scenes.
It was strange to look at Berenice now. After all, just a couple hours ago she had passionately kissed her friend and almost slept with her. «Oh, damn it. Thank God it didn't come to that in my WONDERFUL dream».
Well, still not quite understanding what all her emotions meant, she tried to control her thoughts and pretend that nothing was happening.
- Hi, Beree...nice,- Carla could barely get those simple two words out. - How...are you?
- Uh, I'm good. But you don't look fine. What's wrong? You look weird. You sound even weirder. You look too much like me now, but not like the Carla Furiani I know, - a little surprised but still with a smile said Berenice.
- Nothing, I'm fine, - lied Carla. - How was the weekend?
- Calmer than I would have liked. Maybe even a little boring, - said Bere. - And yours?
“I wish I was bored”, thought Carla, but said out loud. - Pretty much the same.
- We should get out more often, - Berenice suggested.
“Yeah, preferably to the lake”, Carla thought to herself again and said out loud -Yes, I agree with you. Things at the institute are a bit tiring, we should get away from it all once in a while.
- Great, - said Berenice. - Shall we go?
And they headed towards the institute.
The whole day was very strange for Carla. Being in the kitchen, as usual, next to her friend, she felt awkward. As if she'd done something embarrassing to Berenice and not told her. Like she was spying on someone in the shower. Like she's invading another person's privacy. As if... She didn't know how to describe her emotions.
As if to spite her, this dream wouldn't leave her mind. Usually she forgot dreams pretty quickly, but not this time. It felt like someone in heaven had decided to mess with her.
Her morning idea of telling Berenice everything and laughing had failed. Even in the evening, while making their new dessert, she couldn't string two words together to tell her about it. She tried several times to start, but her courage faded away. She didn't know if she could turn it into a joke. She didn't know how Berenice would react. Maybe her friend would think Carla liked her and that's why she was having these dreams. No, Carla didn't want to risk their friendship and embarrass herself. And all the right words were flying out of her head just looking at Berenice.
Fortunately for Carla, the evening with her friend passed rather quickly and productively. Pastry thoughts occupied her head and gave her a chance to forget about that stupid dream for a bit.
Going to bed, Carla asked the universe not to send her a continuation of her nightmares. Besides, she believed that a new day would come and everything would be forgotten. And there would be no awkwardness between her and Bere. A new day - and everything would be as before! With these thoughts Carla closed her eyes.
