Grab your shades and sun loungers! Dive into this feel-good collection of winning short stories for the LGBTQIAP+: Sun-Kissed Summer Anthology contest.
New stories added every other day.
Congratulations for earning a spot in the LGBTQ+: Sun-Kissed Anthology! ♥
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•Jupiter•
Jupiter first found her in the summer rain, dancing without a care. Her silver-blue hair was plastered to her head, and her clothes were completely soaked. She asked if she needed a ride home. The silvery girl just smiled, which perplexed the unsuspecting girl, so Jupiter simply sat and watched her dance with the grace of the gentle summer rain.
The second time she saw her, she was in a coffee shop, wearing the same blue and white striped dress she'd worn on the first day they met. Her hair was cut to her jaw, with side fringe that was constantly being flicked from her eyes.
"May I sit here?" Jupiter inquired, curious of the strange girl she'd met in the rain.
"Of course," said the girl, then, "You look familiar. Have I met you before?" Jupiter noticed that her eyes were precisely the color of the coffee she was drinking. They were quite beautiful.
"Not formally, no. You were... dancing. In the rain." Was there any way to make that sound less awkward? The girl smiled, her eyes lighting up.
"Oh, I remember now. My name is Adelaide. What's yours?" It surprised her that Adelaide brushed off the fact that a stranger had watched her dance, in the rain, no less, so easily.
"Oh! Um, I'm Jupiter?" she said, the supposed-to-be statement coming off as more of a question. Talking was never her strong suit, after all.
"What a beautiful name. Fitting, for a girl like you, if it is your name at all. You seemed a bit unsure," she teased, her perfect nails tapping against the side of her cup. Suddenly self conscious, Jupiter blushed and glanced down at her own nails, bitten down to the quick. It took her a second to realize what Adelaide had said, and her crimson blush deepened, spreading across her cheeks and ears like cranberry juice in water.
"T-thank you," she murmured. The girl sitting across from her was quite beautiful, she noticed, as she really looked at her. She had many a constellations of freckles scattered across her pale skin, a few pimples popping up here and there. Adelaide contrasted with her quite a bit, her having hot cocoa skin and long, dark, curly hair. Their eyes, though, were exactly the same. Finding her blush quite cute, Adelaide chuckled.
"You are very pretty, you know," she complimented again, amused by the shorter girl's reaction, which was to smile broadly, only to quickly cover it with her hand. Adelaide didn't know why. It was quite possibly the most gorgeous smile she'd ever seen.
"You're quite pulchritudinous yourself," Jupiter responded, then she immediately mentally slapped herself. Pulchritudinous? Adelaide must think she's such a nerd.
"Pulchritudinous; to have great physical appeal or beauty. That's my favorite word, actually. It's a bit ironic, you know, that such an ugly word could mean something so kind. And, thank you." The shorter girl looked up in surprise. Adelaide was smart, too?
At this moment, Jupiter knew she was completely, utterly, one hundred ten percent gone.
The third time she saw her was at the community park. They'd arranged to meet there the following Friday. Jupiter refused to call it a date, though it could definitely be considered one. Adelaide was sitting on a bench, sketching something in a tiny book. She looked absolutely stunning, though she was just wearing a plain, white T-shirt tucked into navy blue jeans. About to compliment her, Jupiter was stopped by Addy's (that was the nickname she'd given her in her head) voice.
"You look very nice," she said, which was true. In her mind she looked very nice. Taking Jupiter's hand, the pair began to walk down the path that wound around the park. Glancing at the sketchbook, Jupiter was exceedingly surprised (and flattered, of course) to see a drawing of her image, right on the front page.
At the end of the day, they exchanged phone numbers and went on their way.
They talked often after that, each conversation reaching deeper into the night. Through these secret tête-à-têtes, Jupiter learned that Adelaide's favorite color was blue, that she loved to read (like her), and that she constantly fell victim to wanderlust (the desire to travel the world). Wanderlust was Jupiter's favorite word.
The weeks passed by, and soon, it was Independence Day, more commonly (and informally) known as the Fourth of July. Jupiter received a text from Addy, saying:
Would you like to come with me to see the fireworks?
Of course!
I'll pick you up at 10 pm. See you soon.
She sent over her address, and waited impatiently for 10 o' clock. Jupiter had tried on at least ten different outfits and fifteen different hairstyles. She finally decided on a knee length black skirt and a denim tank top, with her hair in a (very) messy bun atop her head. The doorbell rang, and Jupiter jumped before scrambling to the door and throwing it open, then instantaneously realizing that she'd forgotten something she considered insanely important.
"Makeup!" She groaned and turned to go back inside, but Adelaide's hand on her arm stopped her.
"Don't worry. You look much more pulchritudinous without it, anyway."
Laughing, Jupiter allowed herself to be tugged out the door and into Adelaide's car. The drive to the park was short and comfortably silent, which was unusual, as the dark haired girl usually hated silence. When they arrived, she spread out a blanket on the crest of a hill, and the two girls sat down, waiting in anticipation for the fiery blasts to light the velvet sky. It didn't take long for the first firework to go up, whistling joyously before exploding in a shower of multicolored sparks that Jupiter was terrified would fall on her when she was much, much younger. They both watched in awe, but as Jupiter admired the colors of the night, Adelaide admired them as they reflected in her wide, dark brown eyes. She couldn't stop staring at the child-like wonder that made her seem more beautiful than ever before. When Jupiter's face turned towards hers, it felt as if a magnet was pulling Addy to her. She leaned forward slowly, giving Jupiter time to refuse. She didn't; they kissed, and it was perfect. To the silvery girl, it felt better than the mid-summer rain on her skin, better than cool lemonade on a hot July day, better than the smell of fresh peppermint, or the taste of hot cocoa. It felt better than anything she'd ever experienced in her entire twenty two years of life, and she didn't want it to end. Of course, it did, as all good things must, and they sat there for a while, forehead resting against forehead, each staring into the other's eyes, listening to the fireworks streak across the sky. Jupiter grinned, not bothering to cover it up, and Adelaide smiled softly and whispered,
