taking in the sights and measuring the sounds

"What jerks. God I should've done way worse than just to threaten him," the curly haired girl deadpanned as they walked further away from the bar. Her hands were clenched into tight fists, her heart thummering fast as the sickening image of the boy's hands on Gray clogged her brain.

"Elis it's fine. We're away now and they won't do anything to me."

"Fine?" Elis stopped walking and turned around, incredulity dripping in her tone. "Gray, there was nothing fine about the way those losers treated you. Like you were some sort of item they could just toss around and play with."

"I know that, okay? But we're away--"

"I don't care that we're away. I should've broken his arm. I can't believe he had the guts to lay his dirty fucking hands on you."

"Yeah I know it wasn't okay but they're--"

"I mean who the hell do those jerks think they are? The next time I come across any one of them, I swear I won't hesitate to break one of their arms."

"Elis you need to calm d--"

"Or I can break their dicks seeing as that's the only thing they function on."

"ELIS!" Elis stopped, her hard gaze turning to the shorter girl who's been trying to talk, and Elis sighed when she realised that she has not been letting her, and simultaneously her glare softened. "Fuck. I'm sorry. It's just the thought of those bastards molesting you that really got to me."

"Elis. Nobody molested me. Yes they did some pretty stupid things and not to make any excuses for them but they were intoxicated and besides, they got what they deserved."

Elis audibly exhaled, her gaze fixated on the street before looking back at Gray. "I don't want you to dismiss it so lightly, Gray. Those were some pretty unacceptable dick moves, and you should kick a person in the nuts the next time that happens and I'm not around, okay?"

The ginger girl sighed, but she nodded.

"No, please, I need hear it," the taller girl insisted.

"Okay, yes I will," Gray immediately replied with an exasperated look she couldn't hide, and the air had changed as she continued walking down the road, leaving Elis slowly trailing behind her.

~

Elis and Gray just about walked a long distance from the central place of the town, that they've just gotten to an open grassland area. There wasn't much to the place except for it's vast greenness and the steepy aspect. With barely saying anything for the particularly long duration of their walk, Elis followed Gray to a tree situated on one of the hilliest part of the grassland.

And the two girls sat under the shadow casted by the tree, it's branches calmly following the direction of the wind as Elis began to play with the taller grasses, and Gray occasionally darted her hazel eyes to her. It was not long until she caught Elis's gaze, both girls holding the moment in which their eyes met until the curly haired girl sighed, reaching out to grab Gray's hand, and trying to see if she would pull away. She didn't.

"Are you still upset at me?" Elis asked, uncertain of her response and hating that she couldn't tell her emotions from the way in which Gray looked at her.

"No," the ginger girl replied. "I never was."

"You seemed to though," Elis said.

"Reality vs. Illusion."

"What?" The taller girl looked up from their slightly conjoined hands, confused, and Gray spared her a small grin.

"I seemed upset, you say. But was I really? No. No. I could never be upset at you Elis."

God. The way she made Elis's heart beat fast. They way the ginger girl could, in just a short statement, or a simple look, or even in just an unexpected touch, make Elis feel absolutely naked, showing her everything that made her up and ultimately becoming prone to the ginger girl's judgement and resentment.

Which never came.

Gray saw everything she wished to be whenever she looked at Elis. Without realizing it, the curly haired girl was the bravest person Gray had ever met, strong, courageous, intelligent, and Gray would wonder if she'd ever be half the woman Elis really was, though Elis would never wish Gray was anything different.

"I was trying to protect you. I don't know... There's just something that happened to me when I saw him putting his hands on you. And I couldn't control it when I came over... I'm sorry if it seemed like..."

"I appreciate it, Elis. Really. I was more worried about you. There were three other boys who could've gotten involved, and the thought of you getting hurt..."

Elis scoffed. "Oh please. All four of them combined wouldn't have done anything to me. I used to attend Bryson's wrestling lessons so those boys would've gotten their arse kicked for sure. Come to think of it, I could show you some moves one day."

Gray grinned, loving the joyous glow appearing in Elis's eyes when she spoke of Bryson, which was something different from the usual sadness that would lace her face to take away any good that Elis has ever tried to be.

"That would be cool. Maybe I could also gain some muscle like you." Gray smiled, raising her hand to touch Elis's firm, strong arm, which justified the hours of gym Elis would spend every other day back in the city.

"But seriously though, I was never upset. Just hurt that once again, you didn't think of yourself at all."

"As I said, I wasn't gonna get hurt."

"Okay. I hear you. But the next time you tackle down a drunk boy just think of his three other friends that can take you down as much. A picture I don't even want to be thinking of, but I need you to promise you'll be more considerate to yourself in the future."

Elis sighed, grinning, her hand wandering from Gray's hand and further up her shoulder, where she gently pushed the ginger girl down to the grass underneneath, leaning over her and for a second breathing the same air as her before she kissed her. But it was not long before she pulled back, heavily sighing, and returning to her sitting up position.

"Why do you care so much about that?" Elis asked. Gray sat up too, her golden skin appearing as the shiniest shade of brown in the bright day.

"About what?"

"You talk so much of me being more considerate to myself. Why?"

"Because... It's what my mother failed to do, when she was still alive," Gray answered in blatant honesty.

And as Elis thought more of it, she's never heard Gray talking about her mother or father before. A part of her feeling horrible realizing just how focussed she's been on her grief while the ginger girl could potentially be going through the same and she's never even asked.

"Oh, shit. I know it sucks to say this but I'm sorry, I didn't know," Elis countered, not thinking of the right words to let out but hating the combination that did. And her eyes worriedly wandered to Gray.

"It's fine," the ginger girl assured.

"Is that why you're living with aunt Lauren?"

"Yes," the smaller girl nodded. "Well, not really. We moved to Aunt Lauren's two years ago, mom was still alive but she was very sick. She spent half her entire life not thinking of herself. I had never met my dad so mom and I barely had anything to live of, so she'd take different type of jobs, working long houred shifts just so she could make sure I went to bed with a full stomach. And I understood that she was doing all that for me because there wasn't anybody else to help, but the strain she put on herself and her health led to her being very sick and barely being able to move around on her own. And that resulted in me losing her, eleven months ago, actually."

"Wow. I don't even know what to say," Elis cooed, but the temporary sombre look crossing Gray's face as she thought back to eleven months ago vanished as she grinned, and it was as real as it could be.

"It's okay. Aunt Lauren basically took me in as her daughter after that. So it's me, my cousin Everett that you've already met, and his little sister Layla. I call her Lay. She's adopted, actually. So she's different from all of us."

"How so?" Elis asked.

"She's American. Our family, we're a mixture of Indian, Scottish, and Southern African."

"That's a wild combo... I love it."

"There's a lot more to love than my ethnicities."

"True," Elis smiled, thinking of whether Gray's statement gave away the fact that she knew Elis loved her, but as the thought lingered in her mind, she leaned forward and kissed the girl who's been successful at driving her insane. "Definitely true."

"We should go to the highest hill, for a better view of the sunset."

Elis looked up, realizing that sunset was about to happen anytime. "Okay," she stood up, holding Gray's hands and guiding her to her back. When the ginger girl didn't follow what she was trying to do, Elis turned around, a soft laughter rumbling through her words. "I'm trying to give you a piggy back ride."

"Really?" Gray articulated, surprise lacing her voice but a wide smile on her face as she jumped onto Elis's back. "Gosh. What are we? Five?"

"No," Elis secured her hold around Gray's thighs by her sides. "But we're out in the open field and nobody else is here so I am at liberty to do anything I want, which just so happens to include some of my amazing piggy back rides."

"Okay. Wow. Just don't fall." But it was contrastingly so that Elis had miscalculated her steps, forgetting the steepy aspect of the grassland, which sent her losing her balance and the two girls rolling down the hill with screams that morphed into a fit of laughter once they were all the way down.

"Oh my god. Are you okay?" Elis asked between laughs, and Gray gripped her stomach from how painful it was from laughing.

"Yes, I'm alright. Jeez. After I just tell you not to fall."

"I'm sorry! I wasn't too careful on where I stepped," Elis laughed. And it was when she rolled over to Gray that their laughter started dying down, the taller girl putting her arm over Gray's waist.

"You're a mess," Gray said.

"I know."

"I think we're missing the sunset," the ginger girl said, though not making any move of getting up.

"I'd rather have this gaze." Elis grinned, looking down at Gray's body to check for any injuries. "Seriously though, are you okay?"

Gray exhaled, pulling Elis up to her hot face, that which still failed to keep the smile hidden, but Gray would never have it any other way. "I've never been happier, Elis."

The taller girl's heart jumped, managing to skip a few beats. And with those words written in the sky, both girls knew that they've just about answered everything.