Lex had felt perfectly fine when she went to bed that night after Cleo declared she wanted to be the big spoon and glued herself to Lex's back. She couldn’t argue with that really as she felt Cleo mold her body to hers, put an arm around her waist, and nuzzled her face into the sensitive place between her shoulder blades.
But when Lex woke the next morning there was pressure behind her eyes and in her nose, her skin dry, warm, and suffocating. She lay there a moment trying to figure out what had happened, why had she gotten sick so fast and shifted in the bed. Cleo wasn’t in bed with her, just the scent of her lotion lingering on the sheets beside her.
“Shit,” Lex muttered quietly as she stared at the ceiling and realized she was going to spend her weekend feeling like she’d been hit by a truck. Fun. Her body twinged and ached as she tried to stay still and listened to the noises of Cleo moving in their cramped kitchen. Cleo’d always been an early riser, especially having grown up on a ranch and having to care for chickens and goats. According to Cleo, hens were cute and roosters were mean sons of bitches.
Her girlfriend appeared in the doorway a second later, dark curly hair pulled into a loose bun with two mugs, thrifted of course, with kittens chasing balls of yarn on one and a dairy cow with a farm in the background in the other. Cleo was wearing one of her white undershirts, able to wear each other's clothes when the mood struck, mostly Cleo stealing her shirts. She didn’t mind it so much. Her dark eyes were lined with smudged, fuzzed out liner and they simply stared at each other for a few seconds before Lex sneezed.
“You’re sick,” Cleo said quietly as she padded over and sat by Lex, pressed a cold hand to her forehead. Then again, her hands were always cold.
“I was fine last night,” Lex said quietly and shifted into her back and stared up at Cleo. “It was my coworker.” He’d come in sick then gone home early at her boss's prompting and she guessed that was all it took.
“I’m actually going to beat his ass,” Cleo groused and she closed her eyes, tried to ignore the ache in her head and imagined Cleo stomping up to her coworker, five foot one filled with rage and clocking him in the jaw, hoop earrings swinging. Turns out short girls are incredibly dangerous when they want to be.
“Babe, really?” she said with a laugh even through it worsened the pulsing ache in her head.
“Well, at least you don’t have to worry about work right now. I’m sure Penny will let you take the day if you have to. I’ll go get the Benadryl,” Cleo said but Lex reached out and grabbed her wrist before she could walk away.
“Babe, no, it makes me astral project,” Lex said, only half joking. She hated the way it made her feel weak, and sleepy. But at least her boss, Penny who owned the bakery she worked at would let her take a few more days off if need be.
“Okay. I’ll get dressed and run by Maribel’s to grab some caldo for you. Beef or chicken?” Cleo asked as she went around the bed to the closet.
“Beef,” Lex mumbled and pushed the covers back and cool air rushed in over her body. Her eyes watered and burned but she mustered the strength to get out of bed and amble towards the bathroom. After she brushed her teeth and washed her face she felt a bit better, but she saw the purple shadows under her eyes. There were the noises of Cleo getting dressed as she stood in the bathroom. She combed her fingers through the longest section of her short dark hair away from her face, lips slightly chapped.
“Okay babe, I’m leaving now,” Cleo said as she stepped into the bathroom, curls bouncing as she moved to kiss her and Lex forced herself to dodge it, causing Cleo to pout.
“You’ll get sick too,” she reminded her and she shrugged.
“I’ll be back soon, okay?” Cleo said before she left. Stupid cold.
Cleo had left a glass of water on the bedside table and Lex sipped it as she turned on the tv in their room flipping through channels as her mind wandered.
Lex had taken care of Cleo when she twisted her ankle pretty badly at a bonfire one time, her ankle swelling up and turning purple. Lex had thought it had been broken but no, just badly sprained. This was a little different.
In the short amount of time that Cleo was gone, Lex felt herself getting worse, her sense of smell completely gone in a few more minutes, her eyes watering to the point it looked like she was crying. Maybe Cleo should go and kick her co-worker's ass. Just an idea....nah. Carlos was okay, he just shouldn’t have come in sick.
Lex sighed, sipped some more water and fell asleep, legs tangled in the floral sheets.
She couldn’t have been asleep for that long, she reasoned as she heard the front door open and close. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, swung her legs over the side of the bed and wandered into their little kitchen. Cleo had pushed her sunglasses up on top of her head, those novelty heart shaped sunglasses Lex got her in a cute downtown shop.
“Oh, I was going to take it to you,” Cleo chirped as she collapsed into a chair at their rickety little table with nicks and scratches from all the times their friends decided to play the knife game, dotted with bits of wax from the candles Cleo burned. Lex lifted her gaze to the catrina candles Cleo had purchased from the local botaníca. They were pretty and a constant on their kitchen table. Lex wouldn’t have it any other way, if she was being honest.
“S’ okay. I wanted to get up anyway,” Lex mumbled, reached up and scrubbed a hand over her face. Cleo pulled out a large styrofoam container followed by a smaller one and a can of sprite. Lex scooped up the Sprite and pressed it to her forehead and groaned at the cold contact.
“I...I think I’ll take you up on that Benadryl,” she mumbled and Cleo’s eyebrows rose.
“Okay, babe. Don’t worry, I'll take care of you this weekend.”
The first taste of soup awakened a pit of hunger in her stomach and she spooned a bit of beef and Spanish rice into a torn bit of corn tortilla, making a tiny taco. Maribel made some damn good Spanish rice, if she was being honest.They ate in comfortable silence for the most part until Cleo handed her that tiny pink pill once she’d eaten most of her food.
“Bone apple teeth,” Lex said before washing it down with Sprite. She had about thirty minutes before she started to feel funny.
She was aware she should have been more assertive on her stance of not being so physically close to Cleo lest she get sick too but she didn’t want to start drifting off alone, and she couldn’t say no when Cleo gestured for her to rest her head on Cleo’s stomach.
Cleo began to card her fingers through her hair, and yeah, that felt really nice as they watched But I’m a Cheerleader for the thousandth time.
“That lady can suck my dyke dick,” Lex mumbled into Cleo’s stomach as her lids grew heavier and Cleo burst out laughing, shaking her head. Lex knew how the movie would go but it still irritated her each and every time yet the ending kept her coming back. It was familiar. It was safe. Cleo hummed in response as she kept playing with Lex’s hair, carding her fingers through the silky strands.
“I saw this one time when I was like...twelve? It was in the summer so I was watching it at one in the morning or something,” Cleo told her softly, “And my dad walked by to go to the Bathroom and I changed the channel instantly.”
Lex remembered the summer after senior year when they would talk until dawn broke because they could. She didn’t think Cleo had ever told her that story before.
“Did your dad say anything?” Lex asked softly, lifting her head to look at Cleo, who’s face was somber in remembrance. Her face relaxed after a second.
“Nah,” Cleo said at last, after a few beats of silence. Lex put her head down again and closed her eyes, telling herself she was just resting her eyes. In high school, Cleo had been that weird girl that everyone was too afraid to approach, who wore tiny loteria card earrings and kept to herself, resting face turned up to a hundred. Cleo had admitted to Lex she did it so boys would leave her alone. Some boys had said she was a satanist or a bruja, snickering about it as she walked by and Cleo did read Tarot cards, most of her clientele coming from the gay bar down town but that was besides the point.
And she had heard what the girls said about her, the way she openly drew naked women during class when she wasn’t doing anything. Lex had never seen something so bold but she had just...done it. Plus she had never dated a boy, always rejecting them when it happened and that was damning enough evidence for them. Cleo was very good at drawing naked women. Lex nearly laughed at the thought.
Slowly and subtly they had pushed Cleo away until she was excluded, just as Lex had been until it was just the two of them at a table in Home Ec and that was that. They had been partners in that class for the rest of senior year, cooking for two and only two.
“Cleo?”
“Yeah?”
“Remember in Home Ec when it was just the two of us?” she asked and Cleo ghosted her fingers over the column of her neck. Cold hands. The home ec room had been large and spacious with three sets of kitchenettes set into the wall with tables and chairs for each one. It had been just the two of them at a kitchenette and Cleo had brought an electric candle for their table.
“Don’t laugh,” Lex pleaded and Cleo shifted a bit underneath her.
“Of course not,” she answered quickly.
They’d been making cookies that day and Lex had watched Cleo for a few seconds, pressing metal cookie cutters into the dough and she wondered what it would be like if she went up behind her and wrapped her arms around her waist. They were not in school in the brief scenario but in a small house or apartment…somewhere.
“You never told me that before,” Cleo whispered and Lex nuzzled her face into her stomach.
“I didn’t want you to think I was weird,” she said and Cleo smiled.
“Now that I think of it, that was very gay of us. And you took a long time to ask me out.,” Cleo said with a giggle and Lex laughed.
“I didn’t know if you liked girls. I was trying...to be respectful?” Lex said slowly.
“Respect this pussy,” Cleo giggled and Lex raised her eyebrows, eyes snapping open to stare at the ceiling.
“Goodnight Cleo,” she said, rolling over and shutting her eyes. Cleo laughed again and settled down next to her. Lex smiled as she fell asleep.