Part Six
Present Day
Dallas is in bed, curled up with her knees and forehead pressed against the wall, and she knows she’s doing a shitty job feigning sleep when Giselle comes in, because the other woman doesn’t bother trying to be quiet as she changes out of the pajamas she wore all yesterday and into a pair that hopefully is free of oil stains.
“You know,” Dallas says without opening her eyes. “You’re going to have to start wearing real clothes again if you’re going to take the dive back into academia.”
Giselle’s snort fades off as she heads into the bathroom, and Dallas hears the sink turn on, followed by the sounds of her brushing her teeth and hands one more time.
A few minutes later, the hall light turns off and Giselle pulls the covers of their small bed aside and slides into the few inches of empty space. She presses her back into Dallas’, the bones in Giselle’s shoulders digging into her skin through their sleep shirts.
They lie together in the dark until Giselle huffs and gently kicks her heel into Dallas’ calf, “Hey,” Giselle whispers into her side of the pillow, digs her heel harder when Dallas shudders instead of replying. “We good?”
“It’s a loaded question, and Dallas holds her breath and thinks until Giselle shoves her pointy elbow into her kidney, “Fine,” she huffs after she starts breathing again. “I’ll be fine. I just need to get my shit together.”
“Well do it quick. We have to be on campus next week.”
Dallas’ chest seizes and it takes some time before she can breath again, “Can’t wait,” she squeaks, which probably doesn’t make her sound as confident as she’s trying to be.
Silence falls again, but thankfully Giselle chooses not to call her out on it. She breathes steadily against Dallas’ back, erratic enough that they both know the other isn’t asleep, and somewhere outside, a coyote howls.
For a second, Dallas thinks it might not be a coyote, that it could be something else, but she takes another deep breath and shoves the thought from her mind, because it’s definitely not possible for it to be anything other than some earth-born animal.
Really.
Eventually, Dallas shifts a little to take some pressure off her right shoulder, “I know I’ve asked you this before,” meaning, a thousand or so times since they first met. “But are you sure you want to fuck around with forces you can’t control? Do you realize what kind of Hell-themed can of worms you’re trying to bash open against a rock?”
Giselle huffs, rolls over and rests her forehead on the wing of Dallas’ shoulder, and she feels the press of her crossed arms over her spine, “Better it be me than anyone else,” she says, pointed. “And I know better than to try to go where you went.”
“Just because you want to avoid it doesn’t mean you can.”
“And that’s why I have you to help me deal with any creepies that crawl through,” Giselle giggles, digs her bony fingers into Dallas’ ribs until she squeals and rolls over.
They wrestle and grapple halfheartedly until Dallas gains the upper hand and finally pushes Giselle away, but then she has to catch her because their bed really isn’t that big and the floor below is hard.
Catching her breath, Dallas flops back on her side, pulls on of their spare pillows to her chest, “There’s just something that makes me feel so nasty about going back,” she huffs, meets Giselle’s eyes in the dark.
Giselle rolls over, touches their knees together, “That’s because both times you were there, well,” she shrugs the shoulder she’s not lying on. “You know. It was nasty both times.”
They’re silent for a while, and then Dallas huffs, “I hate that place.”
“I know. You’re allowed to.”
Part Seven upcoming on Thursday, December 29.
Like what you read? Want to see more?
-Kathryn, the Fake Redhead
