Sweater Weather
Chill. Trees rustling. A sharpness in the air. Every sense alive as the light died. Yohane had ascended to the celestial plane of pumpkin spice weather. And she was meeting a girl. And there was Dia, arriving at her family home, swerving in on the motorcycle, taking off her helmet to let her long dark hair swing loose in its ponytail, unzipping her worn leather jacket with Sakura Bomb and blossom bomb graffitied on the back. SO COOL. Yoshiko shivered a little. Then the jacket fell open, revealing the turtleneck sweater Dia had underneath. Orange. No one should look that good in orange. Orange was a bright, cute, round pumpkin color, girls like Ruby and Hanamaru. Dia was like a sexy, carved, dangerous jack o’lantern, flickering just ahead, a will o’ the wisp luring Yohane to fall again.
Yoshiko shook her head. This was no time to get distracted by her internal monologue. Dia had driven down from Tokyo so her parents could “officially” meet her girlfriend. Yoshiko had visited Ruby a few times, but this was different.
Dia waved, helmet tucked under her arm, striding toward Yoshiko.
“Hi.” Yoshiko fidgeted with the basket of cookies.
“Nothing spicy, right…”
“Just me…” Yoshiko’s voice cracked like spring ice. She could see Dia holding in a laugh.
“Sorry. Nervous.” Dia chuckled, pulling Yoshiko into a hug, and whispering into her hair, “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Of course.”
“We have to go in the back way.” Dia sounded a bit hesitant.
“Okay???”
Dia shook herself, “It’s just my mom always sets up a scary obstacle course.” She grinned at Yoshiko. “But I figure you’ve seen worse.”
Yoshiko felt a swell of confidence and offered her hand, “Of course, Yohane, will lead her beloved through any trial.”
And Dia’s hand was warm and strong and the vibe as she bumped shoulders with Yoshiko was a whole world of comfort sexy cute. A world Yoshiko would protect.