Chapter 12 #3
“Go be fabulous,” Charlotte dismisses them with a wave of their hand. They say their goodbyes and turn to leave. Once Gabi and Lou are out of earshot, Charlotte nervously leans in and whispers:
“Do you think they know about us?”
Riley starts laughing so hard she drops her cutlery onto her plate. At Charlotte’s concerned expression, she gets all serious again.
“Impossible.”
After they finish their meals, Riley suggests they go visit a little hippie market in town. Charlotte agrees, but tells her she’ll need a change of clothes first, to which Riley replies she doesn’t see any reason not to help her with that.
Never in her life had swapping a sundress for shorts and a shirt taken close to 90 minutes before, but there’s always time for firsts.
Who could blame them? Charlotte had definitely needed help with the zipper, even though she’d been perfectly fine closing it by herself earlier.
Not taking advantage of those skilled hands already so close to her naked skin, well, that would probably be considered a crime and she wasn’t about to go to Mexican jail.
With equally flushed faces, the two of them eventually walk down the cobblestone road toward town.
“I might be starting to understand what you said about those hormones,” Charlotte admits begrudgingly while Riley puts her hair up, making it impossible for Charlotte to tear her eyes away as her top moves and exposes the skin around her belly button.
They approach the market and Riley grins widely while she secures her ponytail. “Don’t tell me you’re horny again.”
“Again, or still? Maybe you just weren’t thorough enough,” Charlotte says, haughtily looking away.
Of course, Riley wouldn’t be Riley if she didn’t have anything to counter that.
“So tell me, because I lost count: how many orgasms did you have in the last 24 hours? And how many more would you need to be satisfied for a while? Just give me a number and I’ll have you right here in an alley until you stop complaining. ”
Charlotte groans. This doesn’t exactly help to extinguish the already growing fire in her core. “Don’t say things like that if you’re not planning on actually doing them.”
They start strolling past the various stalls, each displaying the most colorful fabrics and jewelry. It’s so crowded that it’s hard not to bump into people, but Charlotte finds them a way through the crowd, Riley following closely behind her.
“Who says I wasn’t going to? You might be in your second puberty, but you make me enter my third,” Riley whispers in her ear.
At that, Charlotte can’t help but smirk. “Nah, you’re just an animal in heat.”
Riley pretends to get bumped by someone so she can justify stumbling forward and letting her hands land on Charlotte’s hips from behind.
She firmly digs her fingertips in as a warning.
“Careful who you’re calling an animal, tiger,” she husks as Charlotte tries to slap her hands away, but it only makes Riley laugh.
“You seem to be the one who can’t keep her hands to herself,” Charlotte says through clenched teeth.
“You like it,” Riley purrs.
“Do not.”
“No? So if I were to slide my hand down your p—”
“Riley, if you don’t shut up right now—”
“Then what?”
Riley’s teasing voice in her ear and her possessive hands on her hips make her shiver. She knows she wouldn’t have tolerated this behavior if they were back home, but for now she can’t say she dislikes the attention she gets. It helps that most of the locals won’t understand them.
Once they’ve made their way through the most crowded part, Riley releases her hips and skips forward to walk beside Charlotte again.
“You’re beyond help, Riley,” Charlotte says, side-eyeing her.
“You started it, babe.”
Babe? Was that just a casual babe, or…
She doesn’t get any time to process the word, because Riley quickly takes her hand and smoothly intertwines their fingers. Shocked, Charlotte looks down. “Wha—”
“Relax, I just don’t want to set up a coordinated police search if I lose you here,” Riley says calmly, squeezing her fingers.
Charlotte can’t help but feel like she’s being pulled from one corner of her comfort zone to the other, with Riley dragging her through all the remnants of reservations and shame.
With anyone else she would have protested, but Riley’s confidence is so reassuring that she doesn’t mind it for now.
Riley will catch her, she knows that. And if she says the word, Riley will respectfully take a step back.
She knows that too, which is enough for her not to fight her on this.
She chooses to be absolutely not juvenile about it, so she sighs loudly and dramatically rolls her eyes, emphasizing Riley’s slip up. “Okay. Babe.”
When she looks back up at her, she catches Riley staring at her with a new kind of sparkle in her eyes; one that she hasn’t seen there before. Riley lifts their joined hands up and brings them to her face, but they get interrupted by a woman at one of the jewelry stalls.
“?Hola, muchachas! ?La bella dama es tu esposa?"” she asks Riley, beckoning her to come closer.
Riley snorts, at a loss for words for a few seconds. “Ya quisiera, senora.”
“Ah,” the woman seems to nod understandingly. “No me digas que…” She eyes up Charlotte and continues in a whisper: “...tiene marido.”
Riley looks at Charlotte too, beams, and replies: “Los hombres no tienen oportunidad.” She squeezes Charlotte’s hand again, who gets impatient now.
“Ehm, hello? Translation please?”
“Ah, ?no entiende espanol?” the woman asks Riley.
“No, I do not entiende espanol, senora," Charlotte says in a thick American accent. At Riley’s entertained, raised eyebrow, she snarls: “Yes, I got that, thank you.”
The woman reaches out to tap Riley’s arm. “Es una dama temperamental, entiendo por qué la amas.”
Riley suddenly gets all flustered, stammering syllables which don’t make sense in either language. Charlotte’s frustration about being left out turns into amusement.
“No sé… No sé si la—”
The woman shakes her head and turns to the bracelets on display behind her. “No es ningún secreto, carino. Se te nota a leguas.”
“Oh my god,” Riley mumbles, pushing her sunglasses up in her hair to pinch the bridge of her nose.
“What is she saying?” Charlotte demands.
“She… just wants to sell us a bracelet,” Riley replies, deliberately not looking at her.
The woman takes a green, delicately hand-braided bracelet off the rack. “A las mujeres les encantan los regalos. Esta pulsera tiene magia. Unirá el destino de quien la reciba con el de quien se la dé.”
Charlotte crosses her arms at the woman wiggling her fingers around the bracelet. “Is she cursing it?” she asks defiantly.
“Something like that,” Riley says, and she sighs. “?Cuánto—?”
“No, no, no!” The woman starts smiling and shakes her head. She takes Riley’s free hand, and places the bracelet in her palm. Then she looks over at Charlotte and says with a thick Spanish accent: “For free.”
Charlotte snorts. “Thank you, but why?”
As the woman finds Riley’s gaze again, she says: “Solo soy una bruja vieja, no necesito dinero. Soy feliz cuando puedo unir dos almas destinadas.”
Charlotte tugs on Riley’s shirt, waiting for a translation again.
“She says… that this will protect you from demons. And you very clearly need it, because you’ve angered quite a few.”
Before Charlotte can be offended, Riley quickly says: “Muchas gracias senora, encontraré un momento especial para regalarlo.”
Riley receives an endeared nod, Charlotte a wink. She feels utterly confused as Riley pulls her away from the stall.
“What was—” Charlotte wants to ask, but Riley holds up her hand, and turns around to the woman one more time.
“Disculpe,” she says. “?De verdad es una bruja?”
The woman’s eyes spark mysteriously as she puts her index finger up in front of her lips.
“No importa, carino. Lo que importa es que la magia y el amor son reales.”
Charlotte bugs Riley about the bracelet and the weird interaction all day, despite Riley’s frequent requests for her to just drop it. Ever since she’s pocketed the bracelet after leaving the stall, Riley has refused to even show it to Charlotte, who keeps asking to get a closer look.
Back at the hotel, Riley resorts to heavy measures, asking what she will get in return if she gives in.
“A date,” Charlotte blurts out before she can stop herself. “You have been taking the lead in this whole… thing,” she says, motioning between the two of them. “But I can take initiative too, you know. Can I take you out?”
Riley’s grin is so wide, it gives Charlotte an unobstructed look at her molars. “A date, huh?”
“Yes. But, like, casual,” Charlotte starts to defend herself. “No expectations, just one single date. Or maybe date is the wrong word; we can just chill. Let’s just call it… a hangout.”
“I think we should call it an appointment,” Riley mocks her, curling her tongue up against her front teeth to keep herself from laughing. “You called it a date, no takesie-backsies.”
“Whatever, you’re such a sap,” Charlotte shrugs. She hopes the artery in her neck isn’t giving away her racing heartbeat. “I’ll text you the details.” Once I have figured them out myself.
“Do you need to make any phone calls? I know your Spanish can be… insufficient, on a good day,” Riley says, picking her words carefully. “Do you need my help?”
“Like a hole in the head.” Charlotte scoffs. “No, honey. Something simple like, I don’t know, making a reservation is something I can do without adult supervision.”
“Sounds good,” Riley shrugs, before her excitement returns. “It’s a date then?”
“Fine. Looking forward to our... date.”
“I know you do,” Riley says, slipping her hands into the pockets of her shorts as she turns around to leave for her room. Even from the back, Charlotte doesn’t miss the way Riley’s fist performatively clenches in victory as she utters a restrained cheer.
“You’re a loser, Ri!” Charlotte calls after her.
Riley answers without looking back. “A loser with a hot date!”