The weather is humid and hot, leaving clothes sticking to skin and mirages in the long road up ahead. The sun is beating down hard on the front of the house, making even the shaded porch hotter than hell. Carol is leaning back in one of the big lawn chairs they have on the porch, sipping at her iced tea, watching the ice cubes bob and dip in the drink.
It’s hot no matter where they try and hide, but Carol can almost ignore it when she’s lounging beside Maria, their hands dangling over the armrest of their chairs so their fingers brush.
“It’s too hot to be out here,” Maria pipes up, sitting cross-legged on her chair next to Carol’s. They’re both sweaty and too warm, watching Monica tumble and run through the sprinkler running out on the lawn, the thirsty ground sucking it up too fast to make puddles. “She’s gonna get heat stroke.”
Carol laughs, tipping her sunglasses down past the bridge of her nose so she can look at Maria better. “She’s the one running around in the water.”
“Well, I’ll get heat stroke, then,” Maria grins. “And it’ll be your fault.”
“It’s hotter inside,” Carol says, shrugging. “Be my guest if you wanna head back inside, though.”
“It’s too hot everywhere,” Maria says, swishing back the last of her drink. She’s smiling as she watches Monica, soaking wet and all grins.
“Bet Monica could cool ya down,” Carol says, grinning. Maria shoots her a glare back.
“And get me soaked.”
“Win-win,” Carol chimes and Maria tosses her straw at her face in return.
“Don’t you dare.”
“Dare what?” Carol asks, setting down her tea. She’s already standing up before Maria can stop her.
“Carol, I’m serious, I’ll make you sleep outside!” She laughs, but Carol doesn’t doubt that she would, either.
“You’ll be the one that looks like a wet dog!” Carol laughs, dodging the remainder of her drink as Maria attempts to throw it on her. She pads down the steps barefoot as she runs into the grass, past where she can clearly hear her laughter and threats. “Hey! Your mom wants to cool down!”
Monica spins around, the frills of her swimsuit throwing water. There’s a big gap in her smile where she lost one of her baby teeth recently and Carol thinks it might be one of the cutest things she’s ever seen if she’s frank. “How?” Monica asks, bouncing in place as the sprinkler continues to spit icy water at her.
Carol is standing a couple of feet back, mostly just letting the wet, cool grass brush her feet and ankles, but she can still feel the tiniest splash of the water and that alone is refreshing. “Hose her down!” Carol says grinning, and she can hear Maria running towards them now, shouting.
Luckily, Monica had always had a special fondness for mischief, just like the two women, and a particular fondness for Carol and doing whatever she asked or proposed. Carol would be lying if she said she didn’t regularly abuse her power.
Monica was already laughing as she grabbed the hose, just as Maria ran up to Carol, grabbing onto her arm and tugging. “Don’t you dare!” she screeched, already laughing so hard that she was doubling over into Carol’s side.
Apparently, though, Carol needed to work on specifying her wishes because before she could shake Maria off of her arm, Monica was aiming the hose at them and effectively spraying them both down until they were a shrieking, soaked mess, Carol’s sunglasses half off of her face and Maria’s hat drooping over her eyes.
“Cold!” Maria shouted eventually, water dripping from her face as Monica continued to laugh, the hose aimed at the ground now.
Carol was too busy trying to remember how to breathe through her laughter that she couldn’t force any words out, especially through her chattering teeth.
“Better, mom?” Monica asked, still giggling manically.
“Oh, get outta here!” Maria said, shooing at her daughter who happily went back to playing, both smiling too much for any hurt feelings.
“Well- I’m not too hot anymore,” Carol said, fixing her glasses.
“You did this to yourself,” Maria said, shoving at Carol.
“Worth it,” Carol snorted, wringing her hair out a bit over the grass.
“I’m glad,” Maria huffed, pulling at the soaked tanktop that was clinging to her like it’s life depended on it. “Can we go get changed now?”
Carol laughed again apparently it was kind of contagious because Maria bust out laughing again and shoved at Carol again until they were stumbling over each other. “Yeah, yeah,” Carol wheezed eventually when she could breathe again. “Let’s go change.”
Maria poked and shoved at her playfully the whole way back into the house, muttering about the shit Carol always managed to do.
“Would you really have it any other way?” Carol quipped, pulling off her T-shirt once they were in their bedroom. There was already a trail of water through the house from the both of them and a quicky forming puddle where they stood.
“Have what? You?”
“Yeah,” Carol smiled.
“I didn’t know you came any other way,” Maria said, tossing her hat aside. “Why’d I get stuck with this one then, huh?”
Carol just smiled down at her feet for a minute. “My bra is soaked. It’s like a sponge.”
Maria snorted as she wriggled out of her shorts. “Yeah? Who’s fault is that?”
“I’m serious though, feel it!” Carol said as she unhooked it, whipping it at Maria. Water sprayed everywhere in the process and when it hit Maria’s arm, it gushed water out onto the floor, too.
“Carol!” Maria shouted, grabbing it from her. “Look at what you just did!”
“Oops?” Carol smirked and Maria narrowed her eyes at her.
“I hate you sometimes.”
“No you don’t, not ever.”
“Oh really?” Maria asked, tossing Carol’s bra into the ever-growing pile of wet clothes on the floor.
“Yeah,” Carol nodded, stepping up until she was close enough to Maria that she could feel her breath. “Not ever. You love me too much to hate me.”
Maria was quiet, looking from Carol’s face and across her body, at least half naked by now. “Lucky for you, I guess, huh?”
“No one else would put up with your shit either, you know?” Carol teased, leaning in until she could rest her chin on Maria’s shoulder.
“Yeah, I know,” Maria chuckled, kissing the shell of Carol’s ear.
Carol shifted until she could look at Maria again, pressing her lips gently against hers. The kiss was soft, slow and sweet. Maria tasted like summer. Their bodies slotted together like puzzle pieces, teeth nibbling at Carol’s bottom lip, Maria’s leg nudged up between her thighs. They stayed like that, kissing and feeling, hands roaming over each other, still damp from not toweling off.
Eventually, Maria pulled back, her face looking happy and relaxed. “We should get back to Monica,” she said softly and Carol whined but nodded too.
“Yeah, alright,” she agreed, pulling off the rest of her clothes. “Lemme get dressed.”
Maria smiled and dug around in the closet until she found a couple of cut-off shorts and some old T’s and tossed some at Carol. “You’re sweet too, sometimes.”
“Yeah,” Carol hummed, pulling on the shirt. “I know.”