Chapter Text
Take my hands off your neck and
Hold on to the ghost of your body
I know that good lives make bad stories
You can text me
When punching mattresses gets old
The first thing Vodka did after getting out of the truck was bound over to the motorbike shop’s window. “Would you just take a look at that one!” she practically yelled, frantically motioning for Red Desire to come over.
The redhead in question smiled at her senior’s excitement, as she moved to stand beside her. “It does give off a sense of power, doesn’t it?” she said, referring to the cruiser bike’s massive engine.
Vodka didn’t look up at her, her eyes glued to the machine behind the glass. “That thing is massive. Way bigger than Dad’s bike, even. And that thing was huge for Japan!”
Vodka squatted, trying to get a better angle at all of the thing’s mechanical parts and innerworks. Desire glanced at her face, her eyes. They sparkled with a shine brighter than the chrome of the motorcycle’s rims. Vodka’s energy was certainly infectious.
“...Do you think this is the one, Vodka?” Desire asked.
Vodka’s head darted up at her. “Do I? Of course I do!” She grinned. “This is perfect!”
“Fufu, I knew you’d like it, from the way you were eyeing it,” Desire chuckled as she waited for Vodka to stand up.
Vodka returned with a chuckle in earnest, as she walked inside the store with Desire at her side. She smiled down at her junior as they rounded the corner towards the vehicle. “You know me too well.”
Desire’s heart nearly jumped out of her chest at that. She only managed to hold herself together by the ropes of tension that had some of her words trapped within herself. She knew that the ever-confident Vodka felt none of that tension, and that only made her heart feel even warmer. “I do.”
“Ah, hello!” Vodka said in her best English, as she waved an employee over. She pointed to the bike. “I want to rent the bike.”
The employee took a moment to process Vodka’s words—they must have sounded like alien speech to him, a native English speaker with a heavy accent of his own—but he eventually nodded, gesturing to the two girls towards the garage. “It’s gon’ be out back,” he told them in a heavy Kentucky accent. “James’ll get the paperwork done.”
Vodka and Desire nodded back, following the man in the garage. The employee soon came to a stop in front of a glossy black Harley-Davidson, nodding to himself. “This the one?”
“Yes. This one,” Vodka replied.
“Alright, we needa’ do some papers before y’can ride out.”
A good seven minutes later, and the two girls were walking into the garage again, this time with Vodka holding a key in her hand. She juggled it in her hand, unable to contain herself. “Oh man, this is gonna be…”
“So cool?” Desire said for her.
Vodka laughed as her hands grazed the handlebars. “Took the words right out of my mouth.”
“I do know you well, don’t I?” Desire giggled as Vodka let out a bemused sneer. She felt like laughing a lot more, but she kept it in for now. But she’d need to let it out eventually. Both her happiness and her sadness.
Vodka grunted as she lifted herself to her seat. “Gosh, this thing is tall. Everything really is bigger in America. That’s funkin’ sick, isn’t it?”
“It is quite amazing,” Desire agreed. “There’s so much space here compared to Japan, and everything here really fits for that. The truck we rented was at least twice the size of the cars back home. It’s like a whole other world here.”
A whole other world. Oh, how she would do anything to get to that place. For now, though, she was here with Vodka. It couldn’t be any better, especially given the week’s events.
No, she couldn’t gloom on that. Not when Vodka was here. She should be happy with her. She should enjoy the road trip, for Goddesses’ sake. That was what Vodka wanted, right? She—
“Desire?” Vodka called, snapping Desire out of it. “You wanna get on?”
“I–” Desire sputtered. “Ah, yes.”
Vodka watched as Desire clunkily made her way onto the back of the massive machine. She gave an uncharacteristically soft smile as Desire finally settled in, her back stiff and upright. “Are you good back there? You can relax, you know?”
Desire froze for a second, considering, before she moved her shoulders down. “I’m not going to fall, am I? I’m… admittedly nervous, Vodka. I doubt a saintess has ever gone through this before.”
“Well, you’ll be the first!” Vodka quipped, earning a chuckle. She tapped her waist. “You can just hold onto me. You’ll get used to it eventually,” she said.
Desire’s eyes widened. “C-Can I?” she asked. Her heart began to tremble on the fence between jumping out and melting.
“Yeah, no worries!” Vodka reassured as she put her own hands on the handle. “No need to be nervous. Keep it cool, remember? Trust me.”
Desire only nodded in response. She inhaled, then exhaled. I can do this. It’s just Vodka. It’s just Vodka, she repeated in her head. I can hold onto her, I won’t burst, I won’t pass out.
Her arms reached forward, and slowly but surely, they converged at Vodka’s hips. Desire grit her teeth as she forced her hands to keep steady. There was no keeping steady in the rest of her body or mind.
“Alright!” Vodka slotted the key into the ignition switch, and with a twist of the hand, the engine turned on. The motorcycle roared to life, the engine filling the inside of the garage with an unimaginably loud low rumbling.
“Oh, heck yeah!” Vodka yelled over the engine. She couldn’t have sounded more excited in her entire life, perhaps excluding her Japanese Derby win. She twisted around to face Desire, a huge grin on her face. “You ready?”
Desire gripped Vodka harder. The sound of the machine was the only thing that could have been louder than the pounding of her heart. She gave a nervously excited smile. “Of course I am.”
Vodka needed no more words. She turned around and gave the bike a lovetap on the throttle, just to get a feel for it. “Aw, yeah.”
Then she pressed on the throttle again, moving out towards the garage entrance. She waved to the garage handler to open the door, and soon they were out in the evening sun.
Desire held on as the bike rumbled on through the road. The Cincinnati skyline around them rose as concrete forests, but the nearby Ohio River gave way for a piece of nature. Cars stormed the streets, yet the streets were wide enough to give way for the motorbike.
None of that, however, was on her mind as they rode.
All she could think about was how beautiful Vodka looked from behind. How immaculate her side profile was whenever she turned to get a reading on traffic. How she grinned at the tall buildings. How muscular her stomach felt as Desire gripped her—
“Gah!” Desire gasped aloud as she frantically shook her head. At this rate, she would do something indignant. She should just calm down, relax.
Then Vodka turned around as they came to a red light. “You okay, Desire?” She looked slightly worried. “Your face is red.”
Desire’s eyes widened as her hands snapped away from Vodka. “Y-Yeah!” she lied. She hoped that the color on her face wasn’t as red as the traffic light, but the concerned look on her senior’s face said otherwise.
“Are you sure?” Vodka asked.
“Of course! I’m just… feeling nervous about the ride. I’m not used to it yet.” The classic tactic of hiding a lie in a truth.
At least that seemed to relieve Vodka a bit. “Ah, well, I won’t go too hard on the throttle then.”
She turned around again, and the motorcycle got off on a steady start as the light turned green. True to her word, the pace they cruised along on was easy going. Vodka was always true to her word. She was an honest soul. Desire liked that about Vodka. No—Desire loved that.
Desire loved a lot of things about Vodka.
The first time she saw her, Desire was watching the Japanese Derby. She watched, in real time, the racer put on a stunning display of unexpected strength that shocked everyone, Desire included. By the end of it, she was merely centimeters away from the TV screen, unable to keep her eyes off Vodka as the victor pumped her fists up in triumph. She stayed like that for hours.
A few days after, she came home panting, clearly exhausted, a poster of Vodka clutched in her hands. When her parents asked about it, she said that she had picked it up at a nearby store on the way from school. When asked why she was so tired, she said that she had simply ran so hard, because she couldn’t wait to put the poster up.
“I love Vodka!” she said to them. “She was the most beautiful racer out there! She’s otherworldly," she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Her parents could only chuckle. Their daughter was just getting a new idol, they thought.
Then a couple days after that, Desire spoke up at the dinner table. “I want to go to Tracen Academy next year,” she declared. “I want to become a saintess, like Vodka. I want to win races like her. I want to be strong, like her.”
Like Vodka. It was a silly dream because of that. Her friends could only giggle at her when she broke the news. A childish crush turned driving obsession, they thought. But Desire went there anyway.
Then there was the day when she finally met Vodka in person.
Desire was walking side by side with her new friend and classmate, Buena Vista, when a loud voice took her attention away. As soon as she saw who was talking, she froze.
“Are… you okay, Desire?” Buena asked.
Desire didn’t respond. Instead, she bolted up to Vodka, who was in the middle of a heated argument with Daiwa Scarlet. “V-V—“ she stuttered. She had never been so excited in her life, she couldn’t tell what letter was supposed to come next. She just stood there, hands furiously clenched to her chest, her mouth in a wide, open, speechless smile.
Vodka looked up just in time to see the bolt of red stop in front of her. “Uh— You alright?” Vodka asked as the redhead stared. The other redhead—Scarlet—was too frazzled now to yell at Vodka for ignoring her.
“O-Oh, uhm—“ Desire shook herself out of her daze. “I-I’m Red Desire! I’m a big fan, Vodka!” she exclaimed, as she frantically pulled out an isekai novel from her bag. “M-May you please sign this?”
Vodka stared at her outstretched hand in disbelief. She glanced towards Scarlet, but she only returned her puzzlement. “I— Uh. Do you have a pen or something?”
Suddenly, Buena spoke up from behind Desire. “I do,” she said as she handed a pen to Vodka.
“Thanks!” Vodka said as she opened the cap. The pen hovered over the book’s front page, Vodka’s face scrunching in concentration. Then she swiped. With the flick of a hand, a signature appeared, simple yet memorable, clearly thought out.
“There!” she said, handing the pen back to Buena. “How does it look?”
“P—“ Desire stared at the page for a moment, silent. Then her open hand moved to cover her mouth as she tried not to squeal. “It’s perfect… It’s heavenly…”
It was then that Vodka’s expression turned from puzzled to proud. “Thanks! I spent a lot of time on that one. You’re the first person I tried it on, actually.”
Desire’s eyes widened. “I… I’m honored… I’m honored to be helpful to someone so great…” she whispered, breathless. “I-It’s a pleasure to meet you, Vodka!”
Vodka responded with a bashful grin. “Aw, geez. Thanks a lot!” she said as she rubbed her head. “Are you new here?”
“Y-Yes, junior,” Desire replied.
“Aw, nice! I’m pretty excited to have a junior hanging around me. I used to hang out with Gimlet all the dang time.”
“In truth, I…” Desire began to muse. “I’m also excited. I came here because of you, Vodka.”
Vodka froze. Then she broke out into a bashful grin again, her tail starting to swish. “Aw man, really?”
“Y-Yes,” Desire replied. Her tail was starting to swish, too. “You’re strong, confident, charming…”
Now Vodka started to blush. “Oh man, I, uh…” Realizing how open her embarrassment was, she tried her best to seem to match the description of her. “Thanks!!”
“I watched you win the Derby on TV,” Desire continued. “You were so magnificent… I— I want to do that too!” she suddenly exclaimed. “You were like a saint, running and cutting and—
I pray that I can be like that, too.”
Vodka stared for a moment. Was this really happening? Someone really thought of her this highly?
It was hard to believe, but it was happening. Vodka decided to embrace it. “Well, I think you could do it,” she said coolly, confidence welling. “You know, you’re pretty cool, Desire.”
Desire’s heart nearly stopped. “Y-You think so?”
Vodka chuckled. “Of course. I can basically feel the determination comin’ off of you.”
Desire then gave a smile and nodded. “I… Yes, this is my dream. I will do anything to reach the other world where you are.”
“…Other… world?” Vodka tilted her head in confusion. But she soon perked up. “I dunno what you mean, but it sounds heckin’ cool!”
She suddenly put her hand to her chin, as if she just got a bright idea. “To be honest…” She turned to Desire with a smirk on her face. “You wanna go on a partner run next time?”
“I–” Desire froze, speechless, staring. Vodka was… offering to run with her? So early? “A-Are you sure? You’re probably better running with the seniors or—”
“Nah!” Vodka interrupted. “They’re cool and all, but I’ve been with them plenty of times. I need a change of pace. Plus, I’d love to help you. Cause you’re cool and all. Getting so strong that you can just cross ‘worlds’? Heck yeah!”
“You…”
“What class are you in?”
“I-I’m in 3-B,” Desire sputtered out.
“Sweet!” Vodka exclaimed. Then she reached out her hand. A handshake. “See you around then?”
A handshake. With Vodka. And she was going to see her later. For practice together.
“Desire?”
“Ah– Yes…” Desire broke out of it and took Vodka’s hand. Her own hand trembled slightly.
Vodka shook it, then she released her grip, and it was over. “See ya, Desire! I won’t let you down!” she said as she waved goodbye.
“Goodbye, Vodka…” Desire muttered, as she watched Vodka begin to move on with Scarlet.
She just watched and watched, her hands clenched hard together, as if she was praying thanks to the Goddesses. Her cheeks were flushed with Spring sakura blossom pink. “...She’s not just strong, but she’s kind, too…”
“Desire? Are you okay?” Buena asked as she tapped Desire’s shoulder, giggling to herself.
Desire’s blush deepened as she gave a soft, dreamy smile. “Yes…
She’s just, so cool…”
A few years later, Desire was here, riding a motorcycle with Vodka, on the other side of the world.
She had won the Shuka Sho in Japan. She ran alongside Vodka in the Japan Cup, placing 3rd. Then she went on to win the Al Maktoum Challenge in Dubai. Then she went further still, to America, to take on the Breeder’s Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
She was strong too now, just like Vodka. She had kept her word, and of course, so had Vodka.
Right?
Desire was pulled from her thoughts as the bike came to a sudden rolling stop at a street. “Vodka?”
“Just stopping for lunch,” Vodka answered. She swerved to the side, knocking the kickstand down. “I’m getting pretty hungry. You?”
Desire nodded without a second thought. “Sure. I’d love to.”
Vodka lifted herself from her seat, stretching in relief after sitting for the better part of half an hour. Desire followed closely. She clenched her hands together, hard, as if she was still holding onto Vodka from behind.
The smell of frying oil immediately bombarded them as the two walked inside the diner. An employee greeted them and walked them over to a booth, handing them two menus. Vodka gave thanks in her best English.
“Let’s see what they got,” Vodka said as she peered at the menu sheet. “Burgers, fries, burritos… What the heck is a Coney?”
“I think their signature chilli spaghetti looks nice,” Desire remarked. “It would be nice to try something unique since we’re here.”
“Oh, yeah,” Vodka agreed. Until she spotted the next thing a few sections down. “Oh my goddessess,” she whispered in disbelief.
“What is it?”
Vodka held up the menu and put it right up in Desire’s face. Desire recoiled at the sudden movement, moving back to get a decent view on whatever Vodka was suddenly so excited about. She blinked, and the image came into focus. It was…
“Chicken over waffles!” Vodka hollered. “Chicken over waffles—“ She started to laugh hysterically. “They actually have these! Ahaha, these are so funking cool!”
Desire returned with a slow chuckle of her own. “They do… look interesting, Vodka.”
Interesting was an understatement. There was no wonder why Vodka was so shocked. The photo showed a nice, fluffy waffle doused in maple syrup—the same kind Desire had eaten at an IHOP that morning—except there was a key addition.
There were a few large chunks of fried chicken tenders adorned on top. They couldn’t escape from the maple syrup, either. The entire thing seemed absurd, but out of all the things that were, this seemed to be the most delicious looking. Vodka certainly thought of it that way, as she stared speechless. She practically started drooling.
“Goodness, now I want one…” Vodka gave her an expectant beam. “It looks delicious, don’tcha think? C’mon, let’s order it up!.”
Desire nodded with a smile. “Of course! I trust that you know your way around.”
The waiter then came around to the table, and Vodka pointed to their choice. “Two.”
“Alright, is that all? Any drinks?”
“Oh, drinks, uh…” Vodka turned to Desire, tilting her head. “One Cola, and…” She turned to Desire with a silent questioning.
“Water is fine.”
“And a water,” Vodka continued.
“Cola and water, okay. Is that all?”
“Yes, thank you.”
They watched as the waiter walked away with their orders. “It’s quite a magnificent place,” Desire remarked as she took the opportunity to observe.
“Oh, definitely. Way bigger than the places I know, way more fancy too,” Vodka noted. “It’s really cool though how they put shiny chrome all over the place. It’s kinda like our motorcycle in a way, right?”
“Mhm. It reminds me of those old American movies you showed me.” Desire put a hand to her chin as she recalled. “There would be a large highway going across the country, and the restaurants would always shine in the desert sun. It’s almost like we’re stepping into those movie worlds.” Desire smiled at the thought. “It’s breathtaking.”
“...Desire, you…” Vodka whispered. “YOU’RE SO RIGHT!” she exclaimed, loud enough that Desire recoiled at the volume. She didn’t mind it at all.
“It is like we’re in an old American movie!” Vodka agreed. “And we’re like, riding across the country one city at a time, having the time of our lives, the wind in our hair and all that stuff… Gosh, that’s awesome.”
Desire couldn’t help but grin at Vodka’s wild mind. It was her favorite part of the cheerful, confident girl. It was a part of her that had been missing lately.
“Vodka… Fufu, you make it sound like we’re going on a holy quest,” Desire giggled, Vodka giving a cheeky smirk in response. Today, though, it seemed to have returned in part.
“Well it’s gonna be one heck of a quest though, right?” Vodka said.
Desire nodded. “Of course.”
“I’m just really excited to ride through the mountains to the East. I heard that the roads there are awesome and curvy and stuff.”
“Yes,” Desire answered. “It sounds perfect. I heard the mountains are beautiful this time of the year.”
“Yeah! Autumn and all, it’s gonna be crazy cool to see while—“ Vodka pretended to hold a bike handle, swerving back and forth. “—cuttin’ up. Haha, yeah. I’ve seen the videos. Real sweet. Like, you’d be standing on the side and then woosh! These groups of like 9 bikes just pass by. You get those awesome sounds as you’re looking out at the huge mountain range.”
Vodka paused and raised a finger. Her voice lowered to a conspiratorial whisper. “Hold up. I got…”
Desire’s head tilted. “You got what?”
“I got…
I GOT AN IDEA!” Vodka suddenly cheered, pumping her fist like she had just won a bet. “Woo! That’s— Mmm that’s perfect!”
“O-Oh–” Desire sputtered, taken aback. She blinked.
“O-Oh, uhm.” Vodka’s eyes darted around them, trying to see if anyone was looking at them. “S-Sorry, that was pretty loud.”
“No, it’s okay,” Desire assured, stifling a laugh. “I love seeing you like this.”
Vodka’s eyebrows raised. Her ears began to flatten in embarrassment as she let out a bashful grin. “I guess I am just really excited about this weekend! I’ve… We’ve been having a pretty rough time lately, y’know. Racing and retirement and all.” She paused to think of her words. “I think we need this.”
“Vodka…” Desire whispered as she gazed into Vodka’s eyes. She broke out into a smile. “Yes, we do. I should thank you for planning this through.”
“Ahah, thanks!” Vodka said as her hand casually waved the praise away. “It’s nothing, really. I’ve had more complicated things than this. Like, did I ever tell you about the time that Scarlet stole my alarm clock?”
Desire’s ears perked up as she began to listen. “No, I haven’t. What happened then?”
“So this happened before you came to the school, right? I was still like, kinda dumb back then.” Vodka chuckled fondly at her self-deprecation.
“I am kinda a brick in the head sometimes now, I’ll admit it, but I had my stuff together by the time you came around. Anyways, the details are kinda fuzzy, but one day I got in a bunch of trouble with Scarlet. After that, I had to get up at like, 5 in the morning as punishment.”
“You didn’t do that already for training?” Desire asked, her head tilting.
Vodka shook her head. “Well, I did it sometimes. But I got lazy too. Totally lame, right?”
The two of them shared a laugh over it.
“Anyways,” Vodka continued. “I custom set my alarm to be super loud so I could hear it better, but that morning I didn’t hear anything. I just kept sleeping. Guess what? It was ‘cause Scarlet took my dang clock and replaced it with someone else’s. I mean, I dunno if she actually did it—she just kept telling me ‘You just overslept, dummy’—but clearly something was up!”
Desire giggled. “That sounds like a difficult trial. Did you get punished further?”
Vodka scoffed. “Yeah, for sure. Fuji got my ass good. She put up a note on my door, saying something like ‘Did you forget about our morning session? I’ll be waiting, pony’ with a heart in all. I swear on the Goddesses, that heart gave me a heart attack. Scariest thing ever.”
“Were you okay afterwards?” Desire asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Vodka replied with a slack wave. “I got through it fine, just had to endure some of that for a day. I never, I mean never, overslept again. I even kept getting up for early morning training after my punishment was over. It scared me that much.”
“So that’s how you got so strong~”
“Hah!” Vodka cackled, and Desire followed with a hearty chuckle of her own. “Yeah, I guess you’re right! I got put in my place for real.”
“But look at you now,” Desire said as she gazed into Vodka’s eyes. They must have seen a thousand battles. Those deep, piercing, yet kind eyes… “That trial shaped you into who you are now.”
“...Who I am now, huh?” Vodka repeated. Her gaze drifted to the window beside them. Her eyes floated around in the glass. They lost themselves in her own reflection.
She turned back to Desire. “Yeah, you’re right. It was probably better that it happened.”
“Mhm.” Desire turned as she heard a pair of footsteps approaching. “Oh, our food’s here.”
Vodka followed her gaze, nodding to the waiter. “Oh, sick. Thank you.”
Once the waiter walked away, Vodka gaped at the tray in front of them, soaking in the sight. “Holy cow.” She grabbed her plate, dragging it towards her. “It’s even bigger than I thought!”
“It smells beautiful too,” Desire noted, as she leaned her head down to take a whiff of the sweet maple syrup combined with the fried crisp of the chicken. “And look, they put strawberries on it!”
“Oh yeah!” Vodka took a fork and stabbed at one of the fruits, immediately sticking it in her mouth. “Mmm!” she mumbled. “Sweet!”
Desire smiled at her senior’s reaction. “I suppose I should try it too,” she said as she took her own fork. She poked it into a waffle that had some fruits clinging to its shape. “Mm!” she hummed, as the orchestra of sugars danced in her mouth. “It’s wonderful!”
“Mm, aw, ya, ish really dang good,” Vodka mumbled between chews. She took another stab at the chicken in the middle, lifting it up to her still-full mouth, before taking a huge chunk out of it.
Conversely, Desire ate much slower, more controlled. Her hands moved lightly, her mouth only taking small pieces of the combined waffles, chicken, and fruit. Graceful, like a saintess. But her eyes watched Vodka as she ate.
Look at the way she stuffs it all into her mouth. The unrefined, unrestrictedness of it. She’s enjoying it to her fullest…
Desire’s chest started to pound.
She has no restraint… She just goes where the world takes her, and she overcomes it all. Vodka doesn’t conform to bounds. She only does things honestly… She’s so cool! I can’t believe I’ve gotten this far, so I can eat lunch right in front of her, all alone~
Her eyes locked onto Vodka’s face. Desire began to stare.
Her face… She’s so happy, and handsome. Even with her mouth stuffed, it feels like she gives off the energy of a free spirit, uncaring of judging eyes. She’d do anything, with that heart of gold. She’d defend a bullied girl with her life. She’d fend off a dragon without a care. She wouldn’t hesitate to carry in the middle of the road if I was tired—
“Desire?”
Desire nearly jumped out of her skin. “Y-Yes?”
“You okay?” Vodka asked, as she tilted her head. “You haven’t touched your food in like, a minute.”
“I-I’m fine!” Desire sputtered. She frantically composed herself, stabbing a fork into her waffle, sticking it in her mouth, attempting to seem like she wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary. “I was just thinking about something,” she said through slow bites.
“Thinking about what?” Vodka asked.
“N-Nothing!” Desire responded without a second to spare. “Nothing.”
Vodka’s expression turned to light concern. “Desire, you look like a strawberry right now.”
“I– I do?”
“Yeah, you’re like. Red all over.” Vodka sighed. “I’m just starting to get worried that you’re getting like, sick or something. Let’s go order up another water for you.”
“V-Vodka? You really don’t…” Desire’s words fell in her mouth. She was too late; Vodka was already waving for an employee.
“What do you need?” the waiter asked.
“Just one water.”
A minute later, a fresh glass of water was on the table.
“Vodka…”
“What?” Vodka asked, oblivious. “Here…”
She picked up the glass and handed it over across the table. “Take it,” she said with a soft smile on her face.
“I-I—” Desire shuffled in her seat, her ears twitching. Then her arms reached out, her hands slightly shaking, her eyes straining to stay stuck to the water glass. “T-Thank you, Vodka…”
“Yeah, you’re welcome,” Vodka casually said. “It was nothing, really. I just wanted to make sure you were doing fine.” She leaned forward as Desire took a sip. “You are good, right? Nothing crazy?”
“Y-Yes,” Desire responded, trying her best to suppress the shakiness of her words. “Nothing remarkable.”
Vodka sighed in relief. “I mean, that’s good. I didn’t want this trip to get off to a bad start already. I was pretty concerned for a moment. Maybe you got yourself sick after the race or something….”
Desire grimaced the slightest bit at the mention of Thursday’s race, quickly composing herself to put on another strong image. Regrettably, Vodka caught a glimpse of the Desire hiding behind it.
She should just destroy this topic before it got out, Desire thought to herself. She didn’t want Vodka to be the catalyst of her sorrow again. She wouldn’t even believe it if it happened again. Could it even happen again at all?
“I’m fine, I assure you!” she affirmed, ignoring the mention of the site of her sin. “Oh, weren’t you saying you had an idea?” she said, deflecting it.
Vodka cocked her head and peered into Desire’s eyes, as if she didn’t believe it. Yet she let it go anyway. “Oh yeah, about that.” She waved off the previous topic with a flick of her fork.
Desire breathed a massive internal sigh of relief at her success. “What was it?”
“We’re going to go into Appalachia, right? I was thinking, since we’re there, we might as well have like uh, a photoshoot. Or something. Cool, right?”
“A… photoshoot…” Desire repeated. Taking photos of Vodka against the beauty of the mountains… “T- That sounds amazing!”
Vodka smiled at Desire’s agreement. “Great! Actually, I—” She reached down into her sling-bag, before her hand pulled out a small, black camera. “I brought this. Cool, huh?”
“Oh! That’s great!” Desire exclaimed as she clasped her hands together. “You’re so prepared, Vodka!”
Vodka coolly waved off her compliment, even as her smile remained wide. “Oh, it’s nothing. I figured since we’re out here and all, I should just bring it. Actually—.”
“Hm?”
“You mind if we take a picture?” Vodka asked. “To test it out,” she explained. Her voice quieted to a low whisper. “And also to like, save the memory… y’know?”
“The memory…” Desire slowly nodded as a smile broke out. “That sounds great.”
Vodka smiled. “Cool.”
She raised the camera in front of her, then swiveled around. It didn’t matter to her that she couldn’t see the camera screen—she simply pointed the lens in the direction of them both.
Vodka grinned widely. “Pose!” She held up a peace sign.
Desire did her best to wipe away her flustered expression, breaking into as composed of an awkward smile as she could show.
“Say cheers!”
“Cheers~”
Vodka pressed the photo button, and the camera clicked. Vodka lowered the camera to her, peering at the new photo on the screen.
“Heehee, this is good,” she declared, smirking. “The camera works like a charm, just like I remembered.”
“You look great, as always, Vodka,” Desire remarked, a small flush appearing at her own words.
Vodka chuckled. “Thanks!” She glanced back at the photo. “You look great too!”
Desire’s blush grew ever so deeper, her hand covering it, feigning as dignity. “T-Thank you…”
“Of course!” Vodka responded, as she raised her fork again and began to finish her meal. Desire followed suit.
A few minutes later, all that was left on the table were a stack of empty plates, an empty Coke can, and two empty water glasses.
The two didn’t have to wait long before the waiter came, a check in hand. As he handed it down on the table, Vodka immediately swiped it into her hands. “I’ll pay. Whole thing.”
Desire’s eyes raised in surprise. “Eh? Why? Y-You’re already using so much of your wallet, with the plane tickets, gas, the bike—I don’t deserve all—“
“My treat,” Vodka said. She smiled lightly at Desire, casually, sincerely. “My treat, Desire. I owe you too much.”
A hint of melancholy washed in a wave behind her eyes. “I don’t want to be selfish again. Okay?” she said quietly, under her breath.
“…I…”
“…My treat.” Vodka turned back to the check, signing it and giving her card info, then handing it to the waiter with her usual easy nonchalance.
The waiter nodded and thanked them off, and Vodka stood up. “Come on, let's hit the road again.”
“…Yes, let’s go,” Desire said. She watched Vodka as she took towards the door. She stood there, hands clenched together, trying to know what to think.
“You coming or what?”
“S-Sorry.” Desire frantically scrambled her thoughts, snapping her hands apart from her heavy pounding chest. “I’m coming.”
No, it would never happen again. I’m sure of it. Not when I need you the most.
She’s too kind for that.