Vivi adjusted her long skirt as she walked home from school, carefully holding her books. There was plenty of homework left to finish by dinnertime.
She glanced over to the skate park. There were the raucous boys, who spent as much time chatting and guffawing as they did skateboarding. There were the stoners, watching the more active ones from their apparently comfortable corner.
And there was that girl.
Vivi paused and leaned against the metal bars, watching her. The girl—her name a mystery to Vivi—was well-known to be something of a delinquent in the senior class. It seemed she frequently skipped class if she found it dull, though somehow she'd always managed to turn in her work on time.
Today she was wearing ripped denim shorts, a backwards Red Sox snapback, and a green flannel shirt over a blue tank top. Vivi eyed her, frowning.
Before she knew it, the girl had skated right up to her, flipping her skateboard up under one arm and leaning in intimidatingly. Vivi flinched and leaned back.
"What're you staring at me for?" the girl said, chewing some gum.
Vivi shifted her weight. "You shouldn't skate without at least a helmet," she said sternly. "And chewing gum while you do it, to boot—you might choke."
The girl grinned. "Is that all? I just forgot my helmet today. Usually I do wear it, even if it gives me awful helmet hair." She flipped some of her orange hair out of the way, bringing her freckles to attention.
Vivi nervously brushed some long blue hair out of her face.
"I don't bite," the girl said. "Sheesh, don't be so shy. You're Vivi, aren't you?"
"Y-Yes," Vivi said.
"Name's Nami." She spun her skateboard on its end and blew a gum bubble. It popped and she brought it back into her mouth, shifting it around. She grinned again. "Nice talking to you. Later."
She stepped a few feet to the left, spat her gum in a trash can, threw her board to the ground, and stepped on it, skating away. Almost at once, she slipped and crashed.
Vivi shrieked and dropped her books, awkwardly climbing over the metal bars. The other park visitors glanced over in alarm, but once they saw Vivi taking care of it, they turned back to their business.
"Are you okay?" Vivi exclaimed, kneeling.
Nami lifted her head and pushed herself up. "Yeah, I'm good," she muttered. "That's gonna bruise . . . damn it, I was trying to look cool!"
"You . . . looked cool before, if that helps," Vivi said weakly.
Nami grinned and winced as she stood. "Thanks. You go home, I'm just gonna . . . sit down for a few."
"Hey—wait!"
Vivi turned to see Nami quickly skating up to the metal bars. She screeched to a stop, flipped her board up, and attempted to look casual by leaning against the bars and grinning.
"Hi," Vivi said nervously, standing a ways away from her. "Did you want something . . . ?"
"Oh, just—wanted to say hi," Nami said awkwardly. She was wearing her helmet today. "So, uh . . . where're you headed?"
"Home."
"Oh. Oh, right."
A moment of awkward silence ensued.
"I'll be . . . going," Vivi said quietly, shifting her weight.
She had just begun to turn when Nami cried, "Wait!"
Vivi turned back.
"Do you wanna—hang out tomorrow?" Nami said, the faint red on her cheeks standing out amongst her freckles. "Like—I dunno, the tea shoppe, or—"
She hesitated.
"I—okay, sure," Vivi said, smiling nervously. "Noon . . . ?"
"Yeah," Nami said in relief.
"Okay," Vivi said. She turned away. "I'll see you there . . ."
Vivi quietly entered the tea shoppe the next day and spotted Nami sitting at one of the tables near the window. She hurried over and sat across from her.
"You're here—I mean, hey!" Nami said, smiling. Today she was wearing a buttoned flannel shirt and baggy jeans; she'd decided to forgo the baseball cap. Vivi, on the other hand, wore yet another long skirt and a loose, modest long-sleeve, her hair tied back.
"Hi," Vivi said, smiling nervously. "So, er . . . did you want to talk about something?"
Nami blinked. "Oh, uh—not in particular," she said. "Just wanted to hang out with you."
"Oh."
The server came by and took their orders.
"So! Uh, you moved here just this year, didn't you?" Nami said. She made a motion as if to take a cup, only to remember their tea hadn't arrived yet, so instead she continued moving her hand and awkwardly adjusted her shirt as if that had been her intention all along.
"Yes," Vivi said, somehow missing this. "I lived on the island before this."
"Really?" Nami said, sounding genuinely interested. "What's it like over there?"
"Smaller . . . and quieter, that's for sure," Vivi said. She watched her cloth napkin as she spoke. "Though it was so crowded in the summer . . ."
"Tourists, huh?"
Vivi nodded.
"They're a pain," Nami muttered. "Then again, there's occasionally a cutie among them . . ."
Vivi glanced up and noticed Nami was eyeing her. Nami suddenly looked away.
"What about you?" Vivi said, playing with her napkin.
"Lived in California when I was little, moved here about ten years ago," Nami said airily. "It's way colder here, but summers are nice and warm . . . if not a bit humid . . ."
Their tea arrived—orange for Nami, black for Vivi. They took the opportunity to pause the awkward conversation and stir their drinks. Vivi cautiously tried hers, but sputtered when she found it too hot.
"Have you ever skateboarded before?" Nami asked as Vivi started pouring sugar into her drink.
"Goodness, no!" Vivi exclaimed. "I'm sure I'd be terrible!"
"Oh," Nami said. "Well . . . alright."
The rest of the date was spent with quiet conversation and sips. Nami graciously paid for the drinks, but as they walked back, Vivi insistently pushed money at her to pay for her own drink.
"It was my treat," Nami said, startled.
"I insist," Vivi said.
Nami frowned and pocketed the money. "Next time I'm paying for both of us," she mumbled.
Vivi stared at her. "Next time?"
Nami grinned. "That's my way of asking if you wanna hang again. Yeah or no?"
"Yeah, I'd like to," Vivi said, smiling.
"Where d'you wanna go?"
Vivi pursed her lips, thinking. "The library . . . ?"
"Huh?"
"Well . . . it'd be nice to spend some quiet time reading with a friend," Vivi said. "If you want to, I mean . . ."
"That sounds good," Nami said, grinning. "I haven't read a proper book in a while. The library it is. Want me to walk you home?"
"Oh! No, I—I'm good, thank you," Vivi said nervously. She smiled. "I'll see you on Monday?"
"Yeah. Next week, same time, library?"
Vivi nodded.
"Nn . . ."
"You want some help with that?"
Vivi glanced over to Nami and looked back up at the shelf, where the book she wanted to read lay just out of wait. Nami already had a book under one arm.
"I got it," Vivi insisted, standing on her tiptoes. After a moment of wobbling, she lost her balance and tipped over.
Before she hit the ground, she felt a strong arm around her waist and looked above her in surprise. Nami stood over her, suspending her just above the ground with one arm wrapped around her torso and the other still holding the book.
"Uh . . . thank you," Vivi whispered, embarrassed.
Nami grinned and seemed to lean in for a moment before gently pulling Vivi back up on her feet. "Let me get that," she offered, setting her book aside. She stood on her toes and eased the book off of the shelf, eventually letting it fall into her hand. She passed it off to Vivi with a smile.
"Thank you," Vivi said again, holding the book to her chest. Nami nodded and stretched before grabbing back her own book.
"There're a couple soft chairs left over there," she said softly as they strode out of the shelves.
Vivi and Nami hung out like this a few times a week well into November.
Vivi wasn't sure what to make of Nami.
That is, she thought of her as a friend, but . . . there was something else, wasn't there? Was there something else?
It just felt confusing.
In early December, before the first snowfall, Nami invited Vivi over for a sleepover. With reluctant permission from her father, Vivi showed up with a bag for her clothes and sleeping bag.
"Hey!" Nami said happily, hugging her. "C'mon, my room!"
As it turned out, Nami's room was quite neat. An orange bedspread decorated her mattress, and a poster for The Bangles was hung by her window. A few maps of different countries were hung on another wall. Other than this, the closet, and the bureau, the room was tidy and free of decoration.
"I like your room," Vivi said, smiling as she set her bag to one side.
"It's nice, isn't it?" Nami said cheerfully. "We're gonna have dinner soon, so we'll have plenty of time to hang out after that!"
After dinner, the girls spent many hours together. They went to the computer room at one point, where Nami showed Vivi an interesting computer game she owned. Vivi admitted her family did not yet own a computer, but was looking to purchase one.
The rest of the evening was spent in Nami's room. By the time conversation started to die down, it was nearly two in the morning.
"Hey, Vivi," Nami said sleepily.
"Hm?" Vivi was setting up her sleeping bag.
"Can I kiss you?"
Vivi froze and looked over. "Pardon?"
"I really like you . . . can we kiss?"
Vivi hesitated, feeling heat rise to her cheeks. What was she supposed to say to that?
By the time she looked back at Nami, however, she found that she'd fallen asleep, curled up on her side.
Vivi quietly stood, turned off the light, and wriggled into her sleeping bag. She stared up at the dark ceiling for quite a while, thinking things over, before falling asleep as well.
Vivi woke up the next day to see Nami sitting up slowly, yawning.
"Good morning," she said nervously, smiling.
"Mornin'," Nami mumbled. She froze. "Did I ask you if I could kiss you last night?"
Vivi nodded.
"Oh, hell," Nami muttered, scratching her head. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so forward. I was super tired."
"You . . . were trying to flirt with me, or . . . something?" Vivi said cautiously.
"Have been for the past month or two . . . and a half."
Vivi stared thoughtfully at the wall. Suddenly, her mouth popped open in an 'O' of realization and her eyes went wide.
"Did you not notice?"
"That explains a lot," Vivi whispered. "But . . . you're not straight?"
Nami stared at her. "What about me says straight? I'm as lesbian as they get. I thought the flannel would've tipped you off."
She sighed and fell back into bed. "I'm sorry. I'll stop with the flirting. You being straight and all, it probably wouldn't work out . . . can we at least still be friends?"
". . . Straight?"
Nami glanced over at her. "You like guys, don't you?"
Vivi hesitated. "Well," she said awkwardly. "I dated a guy back in junior high, but it didn't work out—he was really nice, I just didn't like him in that way, so I figured I liked girls and told him and we broke it off—we were still friends, of course—but since then I did some thinking, and I think maybe I'm bisexual, and it just happened to not work out with him—?"
She promptly cut herself off and stared at the ceiling.
"So you do like girls," Nami prompted.
Vivi nodded. "I think . . . I like you, too." She fell back into her sleeping bag.
"YES!" Nami yelled, pumping her fist. "Woohoo!"
Vivi covered her face. "Nami . . ."
Nami rolled off the bed and hugged Vivi on the floor. "Please go out with me!" she exclaimed, grinning.
"I—isn't that kind of what we've been doing for a while?" Vivi said weakly, hugging her back hesitantly.
"Yes, but a date means we can hug and kiss! Please?"
"Okay," Vivi said without giving herself room to hesitate. She smiled. "Okay! We're going to date!"
Nami rolled over, bringing Vivi on top of her and keeping the hug going, unable to stop smiling.