Karli was so used to being on the run, she forgot what it was like to sleep in a bed.
It was purely circumstance - the family who’d offered to house her small (but growing) band of runaways had a small crawl space where her two compatriots could rest for the night, but they had one room that Karli could stay in - one that their daughter was willing to share. It had been years since Karli had slept in a proper bed, not a cot, sleeping bag, or the back of a car. She was drawn to the idea of taking the night to rest, even though a teenage daughter wasn’t ideal.
To be fully fair, Karli could have pressed harder, but the crawlspace was unappealing at best. At the alluring offer of a proper bed to sleep in, she found her resolve quickly scattered. She shouldered her small backpack, gave a nod to her friends, and turned back towards the bedroom.
***
The girl sitting on the bed was older than Karli expected - the minimal decor didn’t give much away, but the girl on the bed was distinctly falling out of her teenage years.
“My parents say you’re going to fix the world.”
The girl watched Karli with intense and focused eyes. The shadows under her eyes were dark, but her accented voice was kind. She looked like so many others Karli had come across - worn down from a world she didn’t belong in.
Karli nodded, setting her bag down tentatively by the door. The young woman’s eyes darted up and down Karli’s figure with nothing but curiosity. A hint of maybe something more, something hungrier, but it was gone before Karli could decipher it.
“There’s too much that needs fixing for me to sit idly by and do nothing,” Karli replied, leaning against the doorframe. She reached up to release her hair from its ponytail, and it didn’t escape her notice that the girl on the bed’s eyes followed the movement of her bicep, all the way up and then unsubtly down towards her hips. “But the world can be fixed tomorrow morning.”
“Let me draw you a bath. It’s the least I can do for the revolution.” She smiled at Karli with a spark of mischief in her eye. Karli cracked a grin and took off her windbreaker.
“The revolution is grateful for your support.”
“I’m Ally.” The young woman murmured, brushing her hair back behind her ears as Karli scanned her up and down. It had been a long time since Karli had a bed, and even longer since she’d shared a bed. With a pretty girl, no less, and one who seemed more interested in Karli outside of her work as a revolutionary.
“I’m Karli.” She smiled for the first time in a while and followed Ally towards the bathroom. Ally offered her a hand, and when Karli cautiously accepted, Ally tugged the young woman forward by her fingertips, closing the bathroom door swiftly behind them.
***
Later that evening, Karli and Ally were wrapped in soft covers, hair still damp from the shower.
Ally spoke after a long stretch of silence.
“Will you be gone in the morning?”
Karli didn’t say anything, just nodded and squeezed Ally tighter against her shoulder. Karli’s cheek drifted down to rest on the top of her hair. The cold water set Karli’s sights back on reality - she was leaving in the morning to continue building a revolution. There was no place for softness in their war.
“Would you have me if I wanted to come with you?”
Karli’s train of thought stopped dead in its tracks. Her mouth answered before her brain caught up.
“Of course I would.”
Ally’s eyes flicked upward, but she didn’t move, fearing that any disturbance to this moment would wake her up from the dream she was clearly having.
“Really?”
Karli’s lips pressed together in a line. Ally had stamina, but that didn’t necessarily mean she had any fight in her. Karli weighed her options but stayed stationary in bed with the young woman.
“If you want to play Bonnie & Clyde, I’m not the girl for that.” Karli gazed up at the ceiling while she spoke. She felt Ally move to look at her, but Karli closed her eyes as she continued, reminding herself of her mission - the reason for the revolution at all. “I’m trying to unite a world that has never been more divided. If you’re willing to do whatever it takes,” Karli finally met Ally’s gaze. “I could bring you with me.”
Ally and Karli were quiet for a long time. As minutes ticked away, Karli’s heart began to sink. She wasn’t trying to bait a pretty girl into her messy revolution just to be a booty call. She couldn’t ask Ally to leave her kind parents - revolutionaries in their own right who risked the wrath of international law enforcement to help her cause.
“You’ve done enough for the revolution tonight,” Karli murmured, pressing her lips against Ally’s forehead. “I can’t thank you enough for a bed and a proper shower.”
Ally chortled to herself, the sound reverberating through Karli’s chest. She twisted one of Karli’s wet curls around her finger, letting the auburn coil bounce away as she exhaled.
“If you still want to run away with the revolution,” Karli continued, rolling to face Ally on the mattress. “We leave at dawn.”
Ally readjusted, her eyes sweeping over Karli’s face as thoughts visibly raced through her head. Karli met Ally’s gaze, feeling warm and safe and sleepy from a steamy shower. She reached up to bush against Ally’s cheek, feeling her soft skin in case it was the last time. As Karli drifted off to sleep, she dreamed of soft touches and light kisses instead of the blood and violence she was used to.
***
When Karli woke, Ally was still sleeping soundly.
Karli moved out of the bed silently, hoping not to disturb her. She dressed quietly, thinking about the last time she’d had a true bed to sleep in. She wondered darkly if she’d ever sleep like that again. Not many girls lined up for a revolutionary who could die or get them killed tomorrow.
Before she left the room to retrieve her friends, Karli looked back at Ally, who remained peacefully asleep, and the ghost of a smile crossed her face. Even if this was the last time she slept in a proper bed, she had memories of Ally’s soft gasps to keep her company forever.