Gabrielle groaned as she dragged her wagon the dusty road for what felt like the tenth time today. Summer was in full swing as the sun beat down on her bare shoulders. She wished she had put on a new layer of sunscreen before she left the farm again, but she didn't want to waste any more time and she needed to plant the enormous number of seeds she had purchased. She could feel the skin on her back and ears get hotter and hotter.
She wasn't sure what was compelling her feet to move underneath her. Gabrielle felt like a phantom, floating over the dry, cracked earth. She could waves of heat radiating in front of her. They shimmered, white and silver, like water rushing through a stream. Her throat stuck to itself as she tried to swallow, the hot air stinging as it went down. She stopped to sit, flopping in the wagon. Gabrielle was just outside of Pierre's… she was almost there. The hot metal stung her back and arms as she laid down and closed her eyes.
What a day. She felt absolutely awful. Head pounding, vision swimming… she felt like she had no more water left in her body to sweat. The earth had hardened after the late spring rains, making it nearly impossible to dig up the dying plants left from spring. Her hoe, old and heavy, almost made the work more difficult. She needed to invest in some new tools before she hurt herself with the rusty old ones.
A very cold drop of liquid dripped right on her forehead. Gabrielle opened her eyes to see Abigail standing over her with a cheeky smile, allowing the condensation to drip off the glass in her hands onto Gabrielle's face. Gabrielle smiled and covered her face, rubbing the cold drops into her blazing hot skin. "Ooooh…" she moaned.
"Woah there. It's just water, no need to get so excited," Abigail giggled.
"Shut up, it is so fucking hot outside. You don't even know." Gabrielle said, getting up and groaning.
"Water?" Abigail said, holding out the glass. The ice clinked inside the glass tantalizingly.
"Oh yes… Oh God, yes. How did you know?"
"You collapsing in your wagon kind of gave it away." Abigail snickered.
"You creep, watching me." Gabrielle teased, laughing nervously at her own joke. She guzzled down the water. The freezing cold of the water felt so good it almost hurt. "Thank you, you saved me from this awful heat."
"It was nothing. Seriously. I poured a glass of water."
"My favorite customer and my favorite daughter!" Pierre said. Abigail groaned, which made Pierre smile with some kind of impish delight. "You here to get the rest of your things?"
"Yes…" Gabrielle groaned. She was so tired. So unbelievably tired. She tried her hardest with all of her usual strategies to motivate herself… a cold beer at the end of the day, a hot soak in her brand new bathtub… nothing did the trick. Her aching hands and shoulders spoke louder than any promises she could make herself.
"Do you need help?" Abigail said excitedly. She watched Gabrielle, rocking back and forth on her feet. She obviously had tons more energy than Gabrielle, who felt guilty as she began to think about it. This was her farm.
was supposed to run it. What kind of weakling couldn't even survive planting day? She felt ashamed that her failing strength was so obvious.
"She never offers to help." Pierre complained. "You should take her up on her offer before she changes her mind."
Abigail shot daggers at her father before smiling at Gabrielle. Fuck, Gabrielle hated that smile for not being able to say no to it.
"Yeah… I could really use some help." Gabrielle sighed.
Abigail bounced excitedly. "Okay! Okay! Hold on one minute." She rushed to the back of the store.
"I have to pay her to get her to help me." Pierre snorted. "I am glad to see that you two are friends. I like you, Gabrielle. You're ambitious. Maybe you'll rub off on her."
"I, um, well, okay, thanks." Gabrielle stuttered. Pierre gave her a funny look and went to put her things in her wagon. Meanwhile, Abigail had trotted out of her room, dressed for the occasion.
"This is okay, right?" Abigail said, looking down at her clothes. Gabrielle told herself to only glance, but her eyes settled on Abigail's curves, which were usually covered by her roomy denim vest. Gabrielle closed her eyes and nodded enthusiastically. "Let's go, then!"
"I'll probably be home late," she said to Pierre, who nodded and waved as he went back in the store.
Home late? How long was she intending to stay? Gabrielle hadn't had a chance to clean the kitchen, to pick her clothes up off the floor. Shit. She was convinced Abigail was going to take one look at her pig sty of a kitchen table, covered in paper, and walk right back out the door. The disgusted look Gabrielle imagined on Abigail's face made her insides knot up.
"I hope I'm not bothering you," Abigail said quietly, pulling the wagon behind her. Gabrielle was so deep in thought she hadn't realized they were already almost halfway back to the farm.
"No! Not at all," Gabrielle said. "I was just… thinking about stuff."
"Super descriptive," Abigail giggled. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm just worrying about stupid stuff again," Abigail replied, kicking a rock she passed in the road.
"Like what? The farm? Are you worried because I'm coming with you?"
Nailed it. She fucking nailed it. She already knew Gabrielle too well. "Well, yeah, but it's not like what you think."
"Then what is it?"
"Oh my god, it sounds so stupid now that I'm about to say it out loud."
"You left your action figures out. You forgot to close the porn on your computer. You left your underwear in the fridge because you like the way it feels when they're cold but you forgot to take them out."
"What the fuck!?" Gabrielle said, laughing hysterically.
"If it's not any of those things then I won't judge you." Abigail said, matter-of-fact.
"I forgot to clean my room. And my kitchen." Gabrielle muttered, smiling at herself.
"Unforgivable. You should be ashamed. Existing like a normal person, what the hell, Gabby?"
Gabrielle was laughing again. Abigail was so good at making her laugh, which just made it feel good to be around her. Gabby's heart fluttered as she thought about it all. She hoped that she could make Abby feel as good as she made Gabrielle feel.
"I'm glad you came with me." She said quietly, smiling a little half smile.
"Me too," she said. Abigail brushed her free hand against Gabrielle's. Feeling brave, she grabbed it. Abigail interlaced her fingers with hers, making Gabrielle's heart jump right into her throat. They held hands all the way back to the farm.
"Wow," Abigail said, taken aback, as they got to the farm. A lot of the forest had been cleared from the northern half. Small, paved walkways lined fertilized plots of land, waiting for seeds to be buried in them. A fence lined the entire cleared area, with a large, vacant space on the other side with the forest. "It's all clear…"
Gabrielle felt a pang of guilt. Abigail was just talking the other day about how she loved the forest on the farmland. Now, here Gabrielle was, rubbing the clear land in her face. "Well, do you see the other half? With all the forest left?"
"Yeah," Abigail said quietly.
"I'm gonna ranch on that side. Leave the trees and the grasses for the animals to live in, and a barn, of course." Gabrielle said. "I figured it would be nice to tap the maple trees. Fresh maple syrup is so, so good."
Abigail's hands covered the bottom half of her face, but her eyes couldn't lie. She was smiling, a lot. "Thank you, thank you," she whispered. She gave Gabrielle a big hug.
"What, you think I did that for you?" Gabrielle said.
"Shhhh." Abigail said, pressing finger to Gabrielle's lips before going back to hug her. Gabrielle smiled to herself and she let go, handing the old, rusty hoe to Abigail. Today was supposed to be about farm work, not letting her head get all wrapped up in fantasies about a girl she wasn't even sure would reciprocate her affections.
"Do you think you can handle this?" Gabrielle said.
"This thing is heavy…" Abigail said, lifting it up above her head. "Yeah, I think I can handle it."
Gabrielle explained the job to Abigail, who seemed eager to get started. While Abigail was digging up the rest of the plotted land, Gabrielle got to planting. The activity itself was rhythmic and it was easy to get lost in while she worked. Dig, plant, cover, water. Over and over again. An hour had passed before she remembered that she had company. She turned around to sit in the soil and watch Abigail work.
Gabrielle had always assumed that because Abigail was small, she must not be very strong. She was pleasantly surprised, she found, by the endurance Abigail had. Swinging the hoe over and over again, she had broken a decent sweat, but had not stopped. It looked like she was entranced by her repetitive activity as well. Gabrielle had never seen her so focused. She enjoyed the company whether they talked or not. It was nice to be around someone she didn't worry about as much as other people.
They both worked for awhile longer until the sun started to edge closer and closer to the treetops on the cliff. Sweaty and tired, Gabrielle plopped down on the porch with Abigail landing next to her. Huffing and puffing, they looked at each other and smiled. "You do good work, Abigail Martin."
"Eh," She said between breaths. "It was easy."
Gabrielle snorted, trying to stifle a laugh. "Your bright red face says otherwise," she laughed.
"Shut up, without me not even half of this stuff would have gotten planted today." Abigail replied.
"You're not wrong there. I really appreciate it," Gabrielle said. "I can drop off some money for you tomorrow at the store, sorry, I don't have enough on me right now."
Abigail looked at her like she had just insulted her mother. "Are you kidding?"
"I mean, unless you didn't want to get paid."
"You are so fucking dumb." Abigail said, standing up and rubbing her forehead with her hand. She looks pissed, Gabrielle thought.
"What! I don't understand!" Gabrielle said. She felt out of breath again, but not from the work. She could feel panic bubbling in her stomach.
"Do you honestly think I did this because I wanted to get paid?" Abigail growled, balling her hands up into little fists.
"Well, I don't fucking know why you wanted to be here!" Gabrielle said. She knew why
wanted her here, but Abigail was hard to read. She never really knew what the other girl wanted.
"Ugh…" Abigail turned around. Gabrielle could see her hugging herself. Gabrielle sighed. You dumb fuck, she told herself. "I just thought… I don't know what I thought. I can't tell with you. I thought maybe.. At the dance…" Abigail muttered. "Maybe I was wrong."
"Wrong about what?" Gabrielle asked quickly.
"Wrong about how you felt." She said. As she turned around, Gabrielle could see that her eyes were shimmering with the light from the sunset behind her.
It was now or nothing, Gabrielle thought. There wasn't any hiding anymore, they had reached this point where what was unspoken needed to be said. She felt like she couldn't breathe, which she realized was stupid. This beautiful girl was standing in front of her and needed to be heard, to be reassured. Gabrielle couldn't imagine why Abigail had picked her, of all people, to be the reassuring one.
"Not wrong." Gabrielle choked out, barely making a sound.
"What?" Abigail said, sounding desperate.
"You're not wrong."
Gabrielle lifted herself from the porch with her aching muscles, standing right in front of Abigail. The air around her smelled sweet, like lavender and sweat. Gabrielle snaked one arm around Abigail's waist and her free hand behind Abigail's head, lifting her lips, and kissed her.