The States

I know that it's delicate (we can't make any promises now, can we, babe?)

march 2007

Cal frowns at her unlocked front door, carefully opening it and being suddenly glad that she fixed the creaking hinges last week.

She sets her camera bag down gently on the couch, grabbing the bat she keeps behind her door without looking.

After a moment of thought, she slips her feet out of her flip flops too.

Cal moves through her house with the bat raised, freezing at the entryway to the kitchen.

She lowers the bat. "Some warning maybe, next time, I thought you were with Austin."

Carmen turns to look at her. "I was." She eyes the bat. "Where you going to hit me?"

Cal resists the urge to tuck the bat behind her back. "I didn't know it was you. My house has been broken into before."

Carmen raises one her eyebrows. "Really?"

"Yeah, they stole ten bucks and the toaster, what are you doing here?" Cal pauses for a second to lean the bat against the cabinets. "Also, are those empanadas?"

Carmen shrugs, crossing her arms. "Austin had to work, but I have three days of vacation time left. Thought it'd be nice to see each other."

Cal grins and crosses the kitchen to kiss Carmen, wrapping her arms around her neck to pull her down the few inches between them.

++++++++++++

Cal runs her fingertips down Carmen's spine, laughing when Carmen shivers. "What do you want to do while you're here?"   She sets her chin on Carmen's shoulder. "We could go to the beach or the movies or something. Go out to eat somewhere. Whatever you want."

Carmen turns enough so that she can see Cal's eyes. They're soft and affectionate, the light hitting them just right to turn the dark brown into golden honey.

As tempting as Cal in a bikini is, or the fact that when Cal says 'go to the movies' she usually means going to a premiere, Carmen likes this best.

Carmen kisses her brow. "Or we could just stay at home," She mumbles against Cal's cheek as she leans to kiss her. She kisses under her jaw, biting gently.

"Okay," Cal responds, sounding a little shaky as Carmen bites her throat again. Carmen grins.

++++++++++++

Cal has probably thousands of photos tucked away in her house. That's not including the ones on display, or the ones Carmen knows are in boxes in the other houses Cal owns throughout the state or in one of the state houses scattered across the nation.

Cal takes a lot of pictures. It's a fact of life.

And as someone in a tentatively defined relationship with the girl in question, Carmen should really have expected this.

Carmen's head snaps up at the click of a camera shutter, and Cal dances away from her as Carmen tries to take the polaroid from her. Cal's feet are bare, her toes painted with an aquamarine nail polish that's chipped in places. It's more endearing than it should be.

"No! My hair is a disaster! Cal!"

"I think you look beautiful!" Cal's holding the picture over her head, which isn't very effective when Carmen is four inches taller than her. It definitely isn't effective when Carmen tackles her into the couch to get the photo, waving it triumphantly. The loose white t-shirt Cal was already slipping down her shoulder before, and tackling her into the couch only made it slip down further.

Cal pouts, which definitely should not make Carmen want to kiss her breathless. "I don't have very many pictures of you," she murmurs.

Which for someone with boxes of pictures labeled affectionately with siblings' names, is a big deal.