Her right eye stung, probably because a grain of sand had got in during their earlier romp, and it was keeping her awake. She rubbed at it furiously with her fist, knowing that she probably shouldn't do that, but feeling relief when the tears started to bloom. Much better. Trying to keep her eyes shut, Alex shifted her position in the sleeping bag and scooted closer to Piper's body. She surrounded the blonde with one arm and dipped her face under her chin, seeking the warmth emanating from the woman's skin.

Alex was sure that there were versions of Piper she hadn't smelled or tasted yet, but some she had. There was one that smelled of coconut milk shampoo, with a clean, cozy taste, like home. There was the early morning Piper, with the fresh taste of toothpaste and chlorinated water from the swimming pool. There was the late night Piper, with the metallic taste of alcohol on her tongue. There was the one that had stayed too long in the sun and tasted like a fever. This one now had sand on her brow, and was a bit salty and sticky from the ocean, which Alex considered was the scent and taste of adventure.

Something else which was preventing her from sleeping was the weirdly powerful knowledge of being the only two people on the miniature island. It should've made her feel smaller, more insignificant, and it did, but it somehow empowered her as well, like the world was theirs because they had inherited it. Camping on a beach, with one tiny tent, one sleeping bag, one backpack, and a portable freezer against the supreme presence of Nature with a capital "N"… it was impressive enough to make her heart swell. This was so much more than a pretty backdrop; this Nature grabbed you and made you kneel down before raining heavily over you, screaming "Here I am".

She buried her face deeper between Piper's bikini-clad breasts, accidentally waking her up. The blonde groaned and reached down to sink her fingers in her dark hair.

"Al?" she asked, in an adorably dozy way.

"Yeah." Alex kissed her way up to Piper's mouth. "Sorry."

"Oh, it's fine…" Piper's croaky voice trailed off. "I was just so tired."

"You did great today, for someone with a hangover the size of the Titanic."

Piper's fatigued laughter came out inaudible, just several intakes of breath and a vibration of the ribs. "I did better than you."

"Yeah you did… You wanna go back to sleep?"

"No, no, I'm okay." Piper rubbed her eyes and blinked exaggeratedly. "Why don't we go outside? It must be so beautiful now."

They kicked their way out of the sleeping bag, which Alex opened up completely so that it could be used as a blanket. Then, she fetched her glasses, zipped open the tent and stepped out, followed by Piper. It was like being born again, in a way. She threw the sleeping bag over their naked shoulders and looked up at the immeasurable, polka-dotted sky.

As they slumped on the patch of sand in front of their little tent, Alex raised her arm to point at the brightest star, Antares. The entire constellation of Scorpius seemed to be greeting them with its long tail. Piper just nodded, just as enthralled and wide-eyed.

Before them, across the water, was the island of Anak Krakatau, born out of an explosion that cracked open the earth with the supposedly loudest sound ever heard in modern history. Alex had wished to see an active volcano for ages, and felt immensely happy to be there, sharing the experience with Piper.

The mountain started sputtering bright red sparks, which floated downwards like fading embers and clawed their way down the mountain's slopes. She had read that those were called Strombolian eruptions, which were relatively low-level and went out at irregular intervals, but nothing could have prepared her for the actual sight of flying lava. Piper was gasping, covering her mouth with one hand and fumbling around the sleeping bag with the other until she found Alex's. With their fingers entwined, they watched the dumbfounding spectacle of the Earth vomiting its contents through its cracks, as if they were sitting in front of the world's most extreme fireplace.

"I can't believe I'm here." Piper whispered, finally.

It felt like no one had spoken for hours.

As the volcano simmered down, akin to firewood turning into embers, they relaxed. Piper snuggled against her, eyes closed tightly. Alex believed she glimpsed the sparkle of tears between her eyelids, and maybe it was due to the floating ashes, maybe due to the sight they'd witnessed, and maybe it was something else entirely. Raking Piper's hair with her fingers and kissing the top of her head every once in a while, the brunette absorbed the sight of the radiant, ruby-colored cracks until they weren't visible anymore and the omnipresent column of smoke resurfaced - that was how the island looked most of the time, like the largest chimney ever.

"Hey," she whispered, placing her lips on the girl's earlobe.

"Hmm?"

"You're falling asleep. C'mon, let's get you back in the tent."

Poor thing. They had spent the last couple of days travelling around Indonesian islands and that same morning they'd gone both snorkeling and trekking. No wonder she was falling asleep in her arms. Alex was tired too, but only her body. Her mind was like a live flame asking for things to burn. She had never been happier or more scared in her life, and she didn't know if the fact that her dreams were all coming true was just live bait for darker times to come. Piper was like a new craving hadn't known she possessed, one she would unfortunately keep on needing, and that worried her, because the more she tried to take a step back, the faster she always ran back to the girl.

They entered the tent and set down the sleeping bag, with Alex helping Piper get in. Just as she was closing its zipper, the blonde grasped her hand.

"Aren't you getting in?"

Nodding, Alex crawled into the sleeping bag and finished closing it up. As soon as she did, the blonde hugged her, rubbing her face against her neck. What did this say about her own capacity for being in control? Cursing inwardly, she sighed and took off her glasses.

She had held back earlier that day, during their extensive trekking excursion, and it hadn't ended well. She had challenged Piper to jump from the tallest fucking waterfall she had ever seen, and Alex hadn't jumped with her. It hadn't been a malignant joke; she hadn't even meant to trick her. Piper had wanted to hold her hand, but she'd blurted out an excuse (that she needed to hold her nose or some bullshit of the sort) and had let the blonde jump alone. Alex still didn't know how she'd been taken over by that panic, but her limbs had really frozen, her eyes fixed on the thundering waters.

Moreover, seeing Piper as a mere speck of yellow floating in the water below had calmed her. She had felt the relief wash over her whole body, and only then she'd been able to move her legs to climb down from the slippery rocks. She still couldn't figure out why. Maybe the dimensions of the trouble she was getting into had seemed smaller, more distant? Perhaps it had been some sort of fucked up, extreme strategy for self-reaffirmation. Was that far-fetched?

Now, zipped inside that little tent, zipped inside the even smaller sleeping bag, Alex just felt like the worst possible asshole ever.

Back at home it would've been possible to end this, if only she hadn't asked her to come to Bali. But now, barely a week later, here, in a tiny island in the Indian Ocean, this thing already felt inevitable. There was nothing she could do but accept what she herself had contributed so thoroughly to create. If Piper had in fact crawled inside her heart, Alex herself had been the one to carve the tunnel.

The brunette cupped the girl's face and started kissing her fiercely, but then choked up. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't jump."

In one graceful movement, Piper frowned, shook her head, and shrugged. "What? Alex, it's okay. Really."

"Yeah, but-"

Piper hushed her, not even letting her finish the word. Sleepy and tired as she had to be, the blonde positioned herself on top of Alex, kissing and caressing her tentatively, and Alex didn't and couldn't object. She felt like Piper was curing her in a way, reassuring her.

The nylon fabric of the sleeping bag shuffled with their sluggish movements. There was no hurry now, no desperation. There was only Piper gently stripping her, slowly stroking her, patiently letting Alex's wetness gather on her fingers before pressing on, rolling her tongue over Alex's nipples, taking them between her lips once they'd hardened.

Nobody could've made them hurry, not even the creeping daylight, nor the boat that was to come pick them up, nor the promise of seeing dolphins and flying fish. Not even the colossal and gloomy cloud of smoke that kept emerging from the neighboring mountain.