"Wakey, wakey, Sleeping Cutie. We're here."
Her head cradled in the nook between the car door and her seat, Sally peeled her eyes open to see the loose patchwork of cloud spread across the sky. The clouds themselves were little more than thin twists of wispy fibres, posing no obstacle as the sun's rays sailed down and sparkled through the trees beside the car. Sally slid herself up her seat and stretched out her arms. "How long was I asleep for?" she yawned, blinking the doziness from her eyes.
Flick spun her car keys around her finger and shrugged. "Long enough," she said, failing to conceal her smirk.
"What? What do you mean?" Sally looked over at Flick, her eyebrow raised. A rosy blush shone on her girl's cheeks, as well as her neck, arms, and vest top. Holding back a sigh, Sally lifted a hand to her eyes and removed the sunglasses perched on her face. "That's still not funny!" she cried as she tossed them back at Flick, biting her lip to hold back her laughter.
"It so is! And you're the one that keeps falling asleep," Flick said, slipping her sunglasses over her eyes. Though the car's engine lay at rest and her seatbelt was undone, she lingered in her seat, her eyes staring through the gap in the steering wheel. Her neck craned towards Sally until the dark gaze of the sunglasses fell over her. "You ready to do this?"
Sally freed herself of her seatbelt. "I think so. Are you ready? We can sit here a while longer if you like."
Shoving the car keys into her pocket, Flick stared out of the windshield at the large, lurching willow tree ahead of them, its hair-like limbs dancing in the wind. "Ready as I'll ever be," she muttered as she clicked open the car door.
The cemetery sat behind a wall of well-trimmed hedges and thick-trunked trees, a shower of furled fallen leaves around the stone pillars of the gateway. At the roadside, the sounds of distant vehicles bestowed a sense of normality, yet as Sally passed through the cast iron gate, the traffic fell away. Only the tap of her boots against the hard floor followed her into the courtyard, where the rustle of more brown, papery leaves reminded her where she was. This was a place of death.
Glancing at her phone screen, Flick sighed and slid the handset away. "Damien said the plot was over this way," she muttered while pointing towards a path along the inner side of the hedge wall. "Better not keep her waiting any longer, right?"
Sally hid her hands inside her pockets. "Right."
They followed the stone brick steps around the perimeter of the cemetery, passing row after row of solemn headstones. For every flower-strewn display adorned with handwritten messages, photos, and trinkets, there was a grave shivering alone in the breeze surrounded only by untouched grass. At the heart of the space, the red-brick cemetery building dazzled whenever the sunlight hit its sides, its glow and sharp central spire making it visible from all corners of the grounds. No other people moved through the cemetery.
Suddenly, Flick's steps ground to a halt, and Sally placed a hand on her friend's back to stop herself. Flick removed her sunglasses from her face and tucked them into her shirt, revealing her red-tinged eyes that fixated on something nearby. "There's my Miri."
At the centre of a long row of plots, nestled in the shade of a downcast willow, a clean pale-grey headstone rose from a clutch of bundled bouquets. Sally let Flick lead the way, taking care to avoid the assorted plants and pots positioned by the sides of other graves. The breeze died down when they reached the plot, and Sally held her breath to brace for the blow that awaited her as her eyes found the name they sought. Miranda Aoife Farrell.
Flick scratched her neck, her other hand awkwardly half-stuck in her pocket. "Hey, shutterbug," she said with a hollow smile. Noticing Sally arrive at the side of the plot, Flick nodded in her direction. "This is Sal. Don't worry, she's pretty cool, if a teensy bit stubborn now and then. See that hella wild cut on her forehead?"
"Like you don't have one to match!" As she slapped Flick on the arm, Sally bowed her head in the stone's direction. "It's nice to finally meet you, Miranda. I just wish it was under better circumstances."
"No kidding." Slowing her breathing, Flick dug a small metal disc out from her pocket and held it up to the traces of sunlight through the willow's branches. A small photo of Flick and Miranda locked in each other's arms graced its front, and Flick froze as she studied the smiling faces in her hand. "I kinda assumed I'd know what to say when I got here, but...any ideas, navigator?"
Looking through the branches overhead, Sally rocked on her feet. "Well, what do you want to say to her?" she asked, placing a hand on Flick's shoulder and stroking slowly. "It's just us and Miranda here. Nobody else will be hearing anything."
A broken groan escaped Flick's throat as she turned her neck to face Sally. "You sure you don't mind if I get all mushy and lame?"
"It's not for me. It's for Miranda." Sally smiled and took a step away from the grave. "I think she knows more than anybody else just how mushy and lame you can be."
Flick nodded and kneeled beside the headstone, the small picture perched between her fingers. "Here goes nothing, city gal," she whispered as she brushed the letters of Miranda's name on the front of the headstone. "I'm sorry I ran, Miri. Whether you wanted me to visit you or not, I should've stuck around for you. I should've let you know I was thinking about you. I should've actually been there for you like a best friend should be, like you were always there for me. Instead, I freaked out and ran, and I'll kick my butt forever for it."
The wind fell still, letting the small sigh that left Flick's lips register in the air. "I know you'd get it, though. You always got me like nobody else did. Even when your whole family told you I was nothing but trash, you stood up for me, fought for us against them. I'd never had anybody in my corner like that before, but you made it seem like the most normal thing in the world. No wonder I was crazy into you so quickly, shutterbug!"
A couple entered through the gates the girls had taken, and Sally fixed her eyes on them across the grounds. When they turned to walk the opposite way around the graves, she sighed with relief, and Flick smiled to herself. "You helped me see that it's okay to follow my heart, to reach out and let other people in, even if I still suck at it. You helped me see that I don't have to be alone, that I can be loved for who I am. I'll always be so grateful to you for that. It's just..."
Sally kneeled by Flick's side and took her free hand. As she felt her friend's touch, Flick clutched the framed photo in her hand to her chest and shut her eyes. "I miss you. I miss you so damn much."
As her eyes welled up, Flick set the photo down in the middle of the flowers around the headstone. Sally squeezed her girl's hand and caught her head as it fell against her shoulder. "You don't have to hold back," she whispered by Flick's ear, her own voice choked with sobs. "You can cry if you need to."
Turning her gaze back to the grave, Flick smiled. "I love you, Miri, and you can bet I always will. You're stuck with me forever!" she said, wiping her eyes only for more tears to trickle down her cheeks. She looked up at Sally and sniffed. "Sorry, that last part kinda slipped out. I didn't freak you out or anything, did I?"
"Not one bit. It's nice seeing how much you care." Sally blinked the glassy film out of her eyes as she studied the gravestone, tightening her arm around Flick's shoulders. Suddenly, a small laugh broke through her breaths. "And it's nice seeing that you're just as mushy as I am, you soft soul!"
"Hey, what happens in the cemetery stays in the cemetery, got it?" Jabbing a finger into Sally's side, Flick stood up and hid her hands in her pockets. "Besides, I'm allowed to be mushy."
"Are you? Why's that, then?"
The car key glinted through the sun shafts as Flick dug it out of her pocket. "Because I'm driving, so I make the rules. It's my seat or the high seas, sailor!"
Sally rolled her eyes and scoffed, then broke into a fit of laughter. "If you say so," she said, rising to Flick's side and catching her girl's free fingers with her own. The urge to lay her weight on Flick and sink in her embrace burned as intensely as ever in Sally's chest, yet seeing Flick shift her balance between her feet gave her second thoughts. Instead, she kept a loose grasp around Flick's hand and smiled. "How are you doing?"
With a choked sob, Flick looked up through the swaying tree branches. "Heck of a question to drop, Sal," she answered. Her feet eased to a steady stance, and she rocked her and Sally's joined hands in the space between them. "I think I'm good, actually. I think this helped a whole lot."
Squeezing Flick's fingers, Sally beamed through the shade. "I'm glad you think so, Flick. I was hoping this would help you find a bit of peace."
"Oh, peace is still way off, bud," Flick said, fiddling with her side plait. "Maybe in a hot minute, I'll get there. But right now? I just want to drive out somewhere quiet and cry my eyes out for an hour or six, maybe throw in a nap to spice things up."
Sally checked the time on her phone and nodded. "We can do that, no worries." She followed the length of Flick's arm to her side, pulling her friend into a gentle hug. "Though six hours might be pushing it. I might have to cut you off after four for both our sakes."
"Guess I really can always count on you to have my back, cutie!" As she turned to lead Sally out of the grounds, Flick glanced over her shoulder at the clean headstone. "I'll be back soon, Miri. Look after yourself for me, alright?"
The sound of far-off traffic reached Sally's ear as soon as she stepped out of the cemetery gate in Flick's wake. She kept a soft hold on her girl's hand every step of the way, parting only when they reached the car. Settling into her seat with a sigh, she reached out to find Flick's hand again, yet her friend stared forward and tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. "Everything okay?" Sally asked in a low voice.
"You know, I never actually said it." Flick looked over at Sally and shook her head. "Back at the lighthouse, remember? I was going to say it, but I never did."
Sally parted her lips and blinked slowly. "What do you mean?"
With a grin, Flick took up Sally's hand. "I mean I love you, Sal."
"I –" Though she knew how Flick felt, the sheer shock of hearing someone outside her family say this to her ground Sally's mind to a halt. After the rush of adrenalin eased, however, she took a deep breath and smiled back at her girl. "I love you too, Flick. I really do."
Flick's eyes sparkled as she winked. "Pretty sweet, right?" she said, starting the car's engine. "Alright, enough with the mushiness. Where are we headed, navigator?"
As she clicked her seatbelt into place, Sally rested her head by Flick's neck. "Straight on, I guess. Anywhere is fine with me right now."
"Now, that's adorable." Moving the car out into the road, Flick glanced down at Sally checking her phone. "You good down there?"
Sally swiped through the rest of the day's weather forecast, the unbroken streak of sun symbols beaming a smile onto her face. "I'm fine," she said as she put her phone away and looked up at Flick, her smile broadening to a warm grin. "I couldn't be better."
With her head on Flick's shoulder and the pleased purr of the engine rolling around her, Sally shut her eyes and let herself drift off on the soft, slow tide of sleep once more.