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“Sorry.” Florence’s laugh is a bright, flustered noise right next to her ear. “Forgot about that.”
Luca melts as far back into the chair as humanly possible and tries to ignore the way the scratch of the tattoo gun feels a bit too nice all of a sudden.
Florence doesn’t move from Luca’s side all throughout the process. When Luca feels her blood sugar start to drop, Florence feeds her little sips of Sprite until her hands are warm again. When Luca has trouble sitting still, Florence lets her toy with the rings on her fingers, spinning them in circles around her thumb.
And then it’s over, and Luca gets up from the tattoo chair with a scorpion the size of her palm on her bicep. Studying herself in the mirror, she can’t hold back a grin. “It looks really fucking cool.”
Florence steps up next to her, matching tattoo on display. “This was a really good idea.”
Turning around, Luca finds the others huddled in a half-circle around them.
“Scorpio Season forever,” Miray says, beaming.
Luca brushes her fingers over the wrapping covering her tattoo. “Scorpio Season forever.”
“So,” Luca says, awkwardly shifting on her feet. “Wall or no wall?”
Florence is standing next to her. She’s wearing pajama pants and a white T-shirt; the hostel room is too hot for her matching set. “Um.” She brushes her hair behind her ears. “No wall?”
It takes an embarrassing amount of courage for Luca to pull back the blanket. The bed springs creak as she crawls onto the bed and shuffles over to the side touching the wall. Once she’s settled, she holds the blanket up for Florence to get under. Except, Florence isn’t moving.
“Are you two going to go to sleep sometime today maybe?” Toni asks from the other side of the room.
Florence gets onto the bed with the expression of someone stepping up to the gallows, which would be insulting if Luca couldn’t sympathize. The scent of her—perfume and sunscreen and the skincare products she uses before bed—is overwhelming as she slides in next to Luca. Luca reaches up and turns off the light.
Immediately, the proximity is too much. In the dark, she can feel every point where her body touches Florence’s—which, somehow, seems to be every single one. She swears the bunk beds in every other hostel were wider than this one. Next to her, Florence’s breathing sounds unnaturally shallow.
“I,” she begins. Her throat clicks as she swallows. “I can only sleep on my side.”
Luca scrunches her eyes closed. Of course, Florence Elizabeth Gibson is particular about her sleeping position. “Okay,” she croaks.
More creaking as Florence turns over on her side, back facing Luca. The new position opens up a precious few inches of space between them. Except . . .
“Florence,” she whispers. “Are you falling off the bed?”
A small, strangled sound. “No?”
Luca drags a hand over her face. This is ridiculous. Everything about this is ridiculous.
Yet more creaking as she turns onto her right side. It really is a very loud bed. From above her, Izzy asks, “What are you two doing?”
“Nothing,” Florence snaps. “Go to sleep already.”
Luca has to bite her fist to stop herself from devolving into nervous laughter. “Florence,” she whispers. “Come back. You’re going to fall and crack your skull.”
“I will have you know that my skull is very sturdy,” Florence returns petulantly.
They’re not going to get anywhere like this. Luca waits a few more seconds. When Florence doesn’t move, she sighs quietly, reaches across the bed, and hooks an arm around Florence’s waist to pull her back from the edge, her palm flat against Florence’s stomach.
Florence makes a soft, shocked noise in the back of her throat but lets herself be moved so she’s once again fully on the mattress—and fully pressed against Luca.
“All right?” Luca whispers.
A tiny pause. Then, strangled: “Uh-huh.”
Luca draws in a shaky breath. Okay. This is . . . okay. She’s calm. She has shared a bed with a woman before. Not with this particular woman, but—she’s calm, is the point.
“Do you think you can sleep like this?” Florence asks. Her voice still sounds strange.
