Panama City
Fred Burkle wandered down from her room to get a soda and a snack. A vacation at the beach in Panama City, Florida was cool except for one thing: her parents.
She was a senior in high school! She ought to be able to go on the spring break trip with Levon, but her mother told her she knew what sort of mischief girls could get into alone at the beach in a huge flock of boys. Her dad offered this long weekend to make up for it. Too bad most schools weren't breaking much in early March. There was such a lack of people around, never mind anyone to smoke weed with.
Still, there was an amusement park across the street. It had huge 'open' signs on it. She was going to spend her time there or by the pool. Her dad had already sussed out a fishing pier and was checking his tackle. She giggled. Tackle.
"Ew wait! Dad tackle is nasty!" She admonished herself.
A small, stifled giggle from around the corner stopped her for a second. Then, shrugging, she went around to see the soda machines and another teenaged girl dressed in baggy jeans and a big green t-shirt, her hand over her mouth.
"Well hey!" Fred greeted, waving a hand. "Please tell me you didn't hear that."
"Um, s-sorry." The girl said. "I-I sorta did. But you're right, dad tackle is nasty."
"Oh God." Fred turned red. "I swear I wasn't really thinking about my dad's, um, junk. I was thinking about how he's going to spend a lot of time fishing and tackle made me get all Bevis and Butthead." She waved a hand in the air, trying to explain. "Y'know, just short of the huh-huh-huh laugh. My name's Fred, well Winnifred, but Fred for short."
"Tara." The girl said and took the stuck out hand.
"Tara, cool! Like Gone With the Wind? That's a cool name." Fred grinned. Another girl! Maybe this weekend wouldn't be so bad.
Tara frowned a bit, thinking. "You know, I never asked."
Fred nodded sagely, still a little buzzed from her quick bathroom toke a half hour ago. It had been tricky, but with her own room and bathroom and the vents, she was sure she'd pulled it off.
"So, you here with family?" She asked, getting a soda.
"Um, just my mom." Tara said. "A little away from the boys time, I guess. Um, you?"
Fred rolled her eyes. "Both parents. They're trying to make up for not letting me go on a big spring break trip. Kinda a drag but at least I got to come to Florida."
Tara smiled shyly. "Yeah, Florida's nice. I'm glad mom felt up to the trip."
"Oh is she sick? Wait, okay you don't have to answer that. I tend to let my mouth get away from my brain." Fred apologized. "Especially when I'm, y'know, a little buzzed." She giggled.
Tara smiled again. "No, it's okay. She's been a little sick, but I think she's feeling better."
"Cool." Fred grabbed a bag of chips. "So, are you going to do a whole mother daughter thing?"
"M-maybe. I'm not sure what she has planned." Tara shrugged. "I think beach laying is her main idea."
"Cool." Fred said again, defiantly still feeling her buzz. "Say, if you want to, I mean if your mom says it's okay, you wanna maybe go to the amusement park tomorrow afternoon? I know it's sorta quick of me to ask, but it could be non-parental fun and feel free to say no. I just thought since we were probably the only teenagers around, we could maybe hang out some."
Tara laughed. "No, I can ask. It sounds like fun."
Fred stood on her balcony and watched the waves roll in on the dark night beach. Her parents had turned in a while ago, admonishing her not to stay up too late. Right, as if she wasn't on vacation. It was made for staying up late. Heck, if it wasn't so chilly, she'd go down and sleep right on the beach, when she decided to sleep. It just looked so inviting.
As the rushing sound of the waves lulled her into a sleepy state of happiness, she saw a person walking out from the hotel and towards the water. They were wearing a dress or maybe a flowy robe and, as they reached the edge of the tide, lit a candle. Sitting up interested, she peered hard and could just make out blond hair.
They raised the candle, one had cupped protectively around the flame and turned to one side and raised the candle again. Two more times they repeated this and when the figure turned towards the hotel, Fred realized it was Tara. She watched as the blond head dipped and held still for a long time, water lapping at her feet. Fred wasn't sure Tara was going to ever move when she blew out the candle and ran back to the hotel.
"Huh. Weird." Fred muttered and yawning, went inside.
Tara listened to Fred expound on all manner of things as they walked along the main drag of the amusement park. She talked about everything from government conspiracies, physics to music and, to Tara's surprise, magic and theology all in her broad Texas accent. Tara found it soothing.
"The way I figure it, there's got to be more than one set of gods up there. I mean too many people in too many places worship too many different things." Fred said, around a mouthful of funnel cake. "And sure, you can line some of them up, like Jesus being almost a clone of Mithras or heck the whole Greek to Roman pantheons, but all those ideas! I mean if everyone is right, then there's a shitload of heavens and hells out there. And if that's true, then it goes to follow that there's got to be a shitload of planes of existence we don't even know about! Think about it! All those places no one's ever been to! Things no one's ever seen!"
Tara nodded, frowning slightly. "True, but then why would you want to go? I mean what if every place was extremely different? Like a different atmosphere you couldn't survive in."
Fred thought for a moment. "Okay so that would be a bummer. Hey! We made it to the Eighth Dimension and poof! We choke on it's poisonous gases. Yeah that would suck."
Tara laughed, covering her mouth. "And they might not have rollercoasters."
Fred's eyes got big. "Oooo, that would be bad. Wanna go ride before some dimension stealing alien comes and steals ours?"
"Sure, and we'd better hurry. They might get here before we finish the ride."
"Can I ask you something?" Fred asked as they ate corndogs by the bumper cars.
Tara shrugged. "Sure."
"What were you doing on the beach last night?" Fred asked and Tara turned red and hid behind her hair. "Oh, hey okay another Fred Burkle mouth to brain interface problem. You don't have to tell me. It just looked cool. Kinda like you were praying."
"I was." Tara said quietly. "I-I pray like that when I can."
"Sorta like a druid except they were men." Fred said. "All out in nature."
Tara nodded. "Something like that."
"Can I ask you something else?"
"Um, sure?" Tara's voice was hesitant.
"You wanna go smoke some weed?"
Tara looked up and laughed. "I've never smoked before."
"Well I think it's every teenagers right to smoke at least once even if the law says otherwise." Fred grinned. "But you don't have to, I'm just thinking the merry go round would be wicked stoned."
Tara thought about it, biting her lower lip. One of her cousins smoked pot and he seemed okay most of the time. Just a little prone to laughing a lot. Somehow, she didn't think laughing should be a bad thing, no matter what her father said. And it was used medicinally so it wasn't like she would be shooting poison into her veins.
"Okay, maybe a little, but if I do something stupid you have to promise to stop me." She said.
"Cool!" Fred jumped off the bench. "I saw a perfect place."
Fred stepped off the merry go round and stumbled a bit. Tara steadied her and they headed for another concession stand. After they were armed with slushies, they continued down the boardwalk.
"So, what did I tell you? Fun on the merry go round." Fred said.
Tara grinned. She wasn't falling down stoned like she expected to be. Just slightly giggly and lightheaded. Relaxing in a way. Maybe that's why her cousin did it. "Yup. You were right. Thanks."
"My pleasure. Wow, I never got someone stoned for their first time. I feel so evil." Fred gave a bad movie villain laugh.
Tara grinned more and blushed. Fred was fun and easy to talk to. She always felt out of place back home, both with her grim family and with the children at school. The constant worry that someone would find out she was a demon weighed heavily on her, but it was easy to forget hanging out with Fred.
"Now I know why you eat so much." Tara said, finishing her slushie. "I'm still starving."
"One of the drawbacks, a raging case of munchies." Fred lamented, tossing her cup away. "Hey! I know! Let's go back to my room and order a pizza! Mom's on the beach and Dad's fishing so I am totally on my own until, like, well dinner but I told them I wanted pizza anyway. I think they were all glad to have a date night. One more thing I try not to think about, parents dating."
"I'd like that. My mom said she'd probably just come back and get room service. I can leave her a message." Tara said, hoping her mother wouldn't mind.
"Great! Let's hit it!"
"Oof." Tara flopped back on the bed. "I don't think I can eat another bite."
Fred shook her head. "I'm stuffed too. No more pepperoni for me." She put the pizza box on the dresser and flopped next to Tara. "I think I'll lay here and listen to my stomach gurgle."
"The soothing sounds of digestion." Tara intoned and they both laughed.
"It was cool of your mom to let you hang out more." Fred said after a while. "She seems really nice."
Tara nodded. "I'm glad you didn't mind meeting my mom. She's just sorta protective."
"Parents are like that." Fred propped herself up on an elbow to look at Tara. "Mom's always worried I'm going to get into trouble. There has to be trouble to get into first."
Tara hummed and sat up. "T-this might sound really stupid but thanks."
"For what?" Fred peered up at her.
"My family can be really strick and I-I don't get to do a lot of things." Tara explained, feeling another blush starting. "So thanks for everything today."
Fred sat up, smiling and did what she'd been wanting to all day: brushed the curtain of blonde hair aside. "You're very welcome."
They sat for a long time, just shyly looking at each other. Then Tara leaned forward and hesitantly placed a kiss on Fred's lips. When she pulled back, Fred's eyes fluttered open and she smiled.
"Wow." Fred breathed. "I didn't even know I'd closed my eyes. That was. Can we. Um. Wow." She giggled and swooped in for her own kiss.
Tara smiled around the enthusiastic kiss and broke for air. "Um, I was going to apologize but I guess it's okay?"
"Yeah. I mean I've never kissed a girl before. Well, okay and my kissing boys is pretty far and few between but yeah it's okay." Fred sat back against the headboard.
"I-I've never really kissed anybody much either." Tara tried hard not to bite her lip or hide behind her hair.
"You wanna do it some more?" Fred leaned close and just knew she was redder than she'd ever been.
"I should probably get back..." Tara started. "Oh heck. Sure."
They kissed, laying down on the bed and snuggled closer. There was a brief confusion with arms before Fred just wrapped hers around Tara and kept kissing. Lips parted, tongues tasted, teeth nibbled lightly. Just as one of Fred's hands started drifting down Tara's arm, the phone rang.
"Well shit! Sorry." Fred grabbed the phone and, after a hello, handed it to Tara. "It's your mom."
Tara took it. "Hello?... Yes, ma'am... Okay... Bye."
She placed it into the cradle and sighed. "I have to go. Mom wants to get an early start tomorrow."
"Aw! Okay." Fred got up, trying not to feel upset. "Oh! Hey! Addresses! We can write?"
"O-okay. That would be good." Tara smiled.
Fred wrote her address on a piece of hotel stationary and handed it over with a perky flourish. Tara wrote her very carefully and gave it over with one last kiss on Fred's cheek and nearly flew out the door.
Fred stared at the door for a while, a huge grin on her face.
Fred was floating, Tara nestled between her legs. Waves of deep seated pleasure flowed through her body. She cried out, writhing helplessly, as she came.
She woke with a gasp and pulled her damp hands from between her legs.
"Wow."
Two years later, Tara wondered why the letters stopped. She'd gotten one every month since the trip to Panama City, three for a while after her mother died, until earlier this year. Now, as she packed to go University of California, Sunnydale, she put her last change of address letter in the mail and hoped.