Lovely

14. Celia, ethereal Celia

I heard the crunch of her footsteps on the gravel after the thud of her dropping her bike on its side. Of course I knew it was her. By the time that she had got to the backyard where I sat with Delilah, I still had a gargling Theo in my arms. She called my name and I gave her a small smile.

"You wanna go to the lake with me?" Celia asked. She was straight to the point, just like me, but it felt different. She asked in a way that convinced me that she couldn't care less for what I answered. She sounded like she was merely asking for the sake of being nice, but she had biked to my house and asked me specifically which told me it wasn't only out of the general kindness of her heart.

I looked over at Delilah, silently wishing she had a reason for me to stay. She just smiled at me. I nodded and kissed Theo's head for the last time before handing him back to his mother. A satisfied smile found its way into Celia's face but I didn't forget to sigh before getting to my feet. The other girl ventured back to her bike while I ventured upstairs to my room to change into my togs and grab a towel. Once I was downstairs again, I found my own bike and we set off.

What to say, what to say, what to say. I had nothing, and it appeared that she didn't either as we rode on in silence. But she seemed to be more comfortable in the absence of words than I could be. Just like every other time I was around her I felt coiled up tight. Like my insides were a ball of yarn that a kitten had tangled up and left to collect dust. Celia, ethereal Celia, didn't have a care in the world. She felt no pressure or unease, she simply pedalled and savoured the wind whipping her hair around.

We biked right to the edge of the lake and rested our bikes against a tree. Celia dropped her towel and instantly sprang out of her dress, where as I dragged my feet over the the water and sat down. A few drops hit me and soaked into my dress, but the girl in the water swam further out. She got to a point where her feet could no longer touch the muddy floor of the lake, and once there she turned to face me. Her head bobbed on the surface of the water, her hair floated behind her.

What an angelic sight. Celia looked like a siren, captivating enough to lull me into a watery death. Her eyes alone could make me do anything and how they were locked onto mine so tightly enthralled me. I saw her lips move, but there was no breeze to carry her words to me. Before I knew what I was doing, my fingers had undone the buttons down the front of my dress. The material opened to reveal my bikini and I shrugged it off of my body.

The water was colder today. It crept all over my skin. I shivered. Celia smiled. My arms and legs worked in unison to get me to where she was. My feet couldn't feel the bottom either. She giggled at my loss of breath caused by the low temperature of the water. A scream shot out of my mouth when my face was sprayed with water suddenly and I immediately heard elegant laughter ring out. In no time I had returned the favour and we were both wiping our faces and laughing.

I was plunged into darkness. Two hands gripping my thighs informed me that Celia had grabbed hold of me and had dragged me down into the water with her. Bubbles tickled my face from the laughter that just disappeared under water. I playfully yanked her hands off and kicked my feet until I had broken the surface of the water. I coughed and splattered, but mostly laughed. When she too joined me above the water, she laughed. Forgetting my anxieties and worries, I lunged forward. I clung to her shoulders and floated just above her back. She got the idea of what I was inferring and began go kick and paddle. I couldn't make out much of how good her shoulders, her skin felt. All it was, was warm, bare skin. But that also was fine with me.

Two young girls, rosy and carefree, splashing around in a crystal lake. I would have loved to watch from the edge, in my old age, admiring the sisters, the friends, the lovers, in their most purest form. Skin and laughter and electricity. I would comment on how you wouldn't see such lovers back in my day, and also about just how much the girls didn't realise they were in love with each other. Naive, daft, coy. But lovely.

My legs grew tired, and hers did too. We were just floating on our backs. It didn't matter how far away I drifted from her body because my heart had already touched hers. And it liked the sensation. My heart and hers, they were connected somehow. Yes, they were. But soon my limbs felt heavy so I made my way over to the grass. The splashes behind me were Celia following my lead.

I collapsed on the soft, sturdy ground. Land, sun. It was not in a way that meant that I was exhausted, just finishing my travels from one world to another. The other girl mirrored my actions yet again. We lay on our backs staring up into the trees above us.

"Was it fun?"

I turned my head towards her to look at her face. She continued to look upward.

"Being here, with you, I couldn't think of a better way to spend the afternoon," I replied.

I had come around, I realised. I had changed. From not wanting to come, to not wanting to ever leave.

"Good," she simply said, but she had taken my words for more than I had meant them, for I felt her fingers snake through mine. My gaze returned to the trees as I tried not to seize up completely. I was surprised, but I didn't want to make a wrong move in case she fell out of the mood she was in and let go. I didn't ever want her to let go of my hand, just as I never wanted to leave her side, or the grass, or the lake.

"I've been here before, but it feels different. More beautiful, even."

After I said that, she rolled onto her side. Now her whole body faced me and I could feel her gaze burn the skin of my neck.

"Beauty is seeing you lying on the grass beside the water, so I can confidently say that it truly is more beautiful this time."

I closed my eyes after I audibly gasped, to tell her that I was embarrassed she had such an impact on me, but to also say that I wanted her to hear it. It was like I was putting my cards on the table, then looking down at my lap. Like I was shooting a gun with my hand over my eyes, because the thing I was really afraid of was what would come after.

Another shiver ripped through my body when her other hand clutched my upper arm. Then she dragged her fingers down my arm, and back up. Slowly, teasingly. A minor gesture that set my insides alight. I wondered to myself if things were different here. They didn't have to wear labels on every outfit they put on. They didn't have to discuss anything. There was only love. Girls do girls, boys do boys, multiple people can do multiple people if they wanted. They didn't have to ask, she didn't ask me. I don't know if she purely just knew, or if she purely just hoped. Either way, no words concerning the matter were shared. The language of the body was the only one spoken in our case.

I recovered from my spiral of dooming embarrassment and turned my face to catch a glimpse at her expression. My eyes caught hers. They took me far away from the lake, to forests full of trees and flowers and fairies. They took me to a hammock swinging under the shade, but where spots of heated sunlight reached your face. How addicting, how magical. That's what you are, Celia. Anything and everything. For ever mine in that moment. Both of your hands on me, my heart drifting around in your eyes. And it only felt natural to lean a little closer. Because my lips begged to taste yours and I was in no state of mind to deny them of what they longed for. You leaned in too and I knew what was going to happen.

That was until my toe dug into the dirt as I leaned and nicked a sharp rock. The pain clouded my mind for only a moment, but that was all it took. I shot up, uncaring of how Celia was leaning in also. I had evaluated the situation and quickly became aware of how impulsive I was being. Completely crazy. I couldn't kiss her, I now thought. The girl next door was a spirit not to be chained down by romance. Other than that, I was unsure of why I couldn't kiss her. I filled my own head with generic excuses. I had never had feelings for a girl before, I was leaving after summer ended, I had Kahlo. Deep down I knew that nothing that I came up with, to tell the truth, even mattered. Because we had a connection that had never existed in my world before, and love may have a time limit but that doesn't make it any less of a love. Panic had gripped me, and it wasn't until Celia stood up completely and climbed onto her bike silently did I realise how special a moment I had completely ruined