This is for the holidays. Based on true events/conversations.

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Alaskan Sunsets

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“You know, the girl in front of me from Saturday’s race had a really nice ass,” commented my friend. The two of us were defying gravity and pushing ourselves up a monstrous hill with our ski poles, our slick skate skis sliding along slowly.

Her comment made me laugh. “Are you bi or something?” I joked. “Because I’m a lesbian and it never occurred to me that there were hundreds of spandex clad women for me to ogle at that competition.”

“No,” she defended, “I’m not bi… She just had a really nice ass.”

“Sure,” I said, rolling my eyes. The two of us ceased talking for a moment, the hill becoming a little steeper. Skate skiing could be so difficult at times, but it was much more enjoyable than classic cross-country skiing. I gritted my teeth and pushed harder against the snow with my poles, my body bending, with abdomen and shoulder muscles flexing to the point of extreme soreness. Just a few more yards, and… there.

The two of us reached the summit of the Hillside Ski Trail’s tallest hill, panting heavily and leaning over, using our poles to hold us up. “I know it’s lazy of us to stop, but it’s not like the coaches are around to yell at us to go faster,” my friend commented.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “We can stop for a bit. Look, there’s a bench over there.” The two of us shuffled over to a snow-covered bench and released the fastenings on our skis before stepping out of them and stowing them with our poles under the bench.

“What’s it like, you know, being with another woman and all?” my friend asked me as we flopped down.

“What do you mean?” I asked, looking at my young friend. Her dark brown eyes held a level of curiosity that always seemed to define her. “Like, what aspect of the relationship would you be talking about?” I asked more specifically.

The girl shrugged. “I don’t know, just… compared to being with a guy.”

I grinned, looking out to the forested ski trails. “Well, I think being with a woman is a hell of a lot better than dating a man, but that’s kind of the whole point when you’re gay.”

My answer earned me a slap to the head and I yelped in surprise more than anything else. “Smart ass,” my friend grumbled.

“Why’d you do it?” I asked, feigning shock and hurt. “Why? What do you want from me?”

“For you to kiss me!” she declared boldly, a playful smile on her face.

I grinned wolfishly and scooted a little closer to my friend on the bench, “Only if you really want me to,” I teased.

The girl seemed to think it over before deciding, “No, I’m good.” The two of giggled childishly for a while, and then we sighed deeply, a calm settling over us. Suddenly, she leaned over on me, resting her head on m shoulder. Normally I would have pushed her off, but I had gotten used to her being touchy with me, and if she wanted to flounce her spandex-wrapped, skier-muscled body around me, then that was her decision. “Look at the city,” she said, an arm of hers wrapping around my middle.

I looked straight ahead to see the breath-taking view of the city we lived in sprawled out before us, lights of buildings twinkling against the nearly set sun. “You know, I always forget that we live right by the ocean,” I commented, seeing the sea expanding beyond the city. Carefully, I wrapped an arm of my own around my friend’s shoulder, being careful not to disturb her large mess of bark brown hair.

“Yeah,” she muttered. “Hey.”

“Yeah?” I asked.

“Have I told you that I feel a deep connection with you?” she asked carefully, both of us still looking out on the city.

“Once, I think,” I said, remembering how she had told me that when I first asked why she was so touchy with me.

“Well, I’m telling you again. I don’t know what it is. It confuses the hell out of me when I’m away from you, but when we’re together like this it all seems to make sense, and I don’t even know what there is to make sense of.”

“Does it scare you?” I asked, trying to be helpful.

“No,” she answered. “I don’t see what there is to be scared about. When I’m with you, I’m really happy, and that’s a good thing. I don’t need to be afraid of a good thing.”

I laughed lightly. “I love your reasoning,” I said, wishing that I could have been as rational as my friend when I had gone through similar things. We were silent for a moment, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable one. Words weren’t always needed around us. “The sun is about to set,” I finally said, watching the fiery globe dipping below the horizon.

“Yeah,” sighed my friend. Out of nowhere, she asked me another peculiar question. “Do you know what I want you to do?”

“What?” I asked, anticipating more games between us.

It completely threw me off balance, however, when she leaned in close to my ear, her breath hot against my chilled skin, and whispered very seriously, “Kiss me.”