Raven looked out of the window of the apartment. "Alyson? I see blue sky." "About time!" "No kidding. I thought the rain would never stop." "I have an idea, then. Let's skip on our plans for today and have a picnic." "Hell yes." Raven unwrapped the blankets from herself and got up out of the bed. She shivered at the chilly room. A sliver of sun hit the wall, the sun not high enough to reach more of the room. "Does this room ever warm up?" "Not really. It's nice in the summer though!" "Good. Not that I intend to live indoors much in the summer." Alyson grinned. "I bet not. You tired of me yet?" "No way, but I want to get out in the open" Raven stood at the window, still topless after sleeping. She looked down at Alyson and grinned. Raven looked down at Alyson. "You're beautiful". Alyson blushed and pulled the covers back on top of herself. "Hey, no fair catching me like that." Raven stuck out her tongue and yanked on the covers. "You should have days off more often. This is fun." "Yeah, and spring should show up on my day off more too." "Hey, at least you have more days off now. I'm so glad you can work the bar now." "No kidding. I never thought I'd like it. Alchohol used to scare me so badly. And drunk men. And... Yeah. I like it now. I really like working there. Of course, I feel safe with Bill living upstairs, too. He's so good when there's someone causing trouble." Raven grinned down at Alyson. She's plotting! Alyson thought to herself. She felt the covers yanked upward, and then smooth skin sliding along her body and Raven's mane of dreadlocks tickle her belly and then emerge from under the quilt. "Hi." "Hi. You have my attention." Raven laughed and rolled off to one side. "That's more like it." She bumped her hip against Alyson's and turned her head and grinned at her. Alyson laughed and bumped back. She grinned and put her arms above her head and swayed as best she could in the bed, sliding against Raven's body. Raven grinned and kissed Alyson. Alyson grinned and kissed back. The sun started to flood into the room and the tiny bedroom lit up. Still cold, but the roomed seemed warm after the cold of winter. The quilt got kicked off. Tickling. Squirming. Laughing. Good natured wrestling. I need to take more days off, Alyson thought to herself. I could get used to this. * * * They packed soup into a beat-up thermos. "We'll grab bread from the bakery at the bottom of the hill on the way out?" Alyson grinned. "Sure! They gave me a cookie last time anyway. I wanted to go back and say thank you again." "And there's cheese... and a couple apples?" "Yeah!" "So where are we going?" Raven grinned that same mischevious grin as she shoved the food into her backpack. She grabbed a blanket from the bed and shoved it carelessly in on top. "Come on. You'll see." They ran down the hill, the sunlight filtering in through the trees. Alyson noticed that they were budding. "It'll be green again soon!" "Awesome!" The bakery at the bottom of the hill smelled wonderful. Alyson grinned as she stepped inside. "It smells so good in here!" "Thank you" came a muffled voice from the back. They stood around the rack of breads. "I've never had most of these." Alyson grinned. "Try the ciabatta." "What's it like?" "It's chewy and soft inside, and the crust is really good. The name means 'slipper'." "Ooh. What's this one?" Raven pointed to an elaborate braid. "Challah. Jewish bread, full of eggs. It's really rich and soft." "And this one?" She pointed to a loaf with a band of paper around the bottom. "Oh, wow. I forgot. Easter is this weekend. That's pannetone. It's amazing. It's got little candied chestnuts in it and it tastes like heaven." An very short woman stepped out behind the counter and said "Can I help you girls?" in a thick Italian accent. "A loaf of ciabatta, please." Alyson grinned at the woman, who flashed her a toothy grin back. She watched her look up at the ciabatta on the top shelf and then grab a short stick from the counter and knocked it into her waiting hand and deftly set it on the counter. "Anything else? Dessert? Cookies?" she said and winked at Raven. Raven grinned back. "No, no cookies today, thank you. Thank you so much for the cookie yesterday, though." "Ah, you remember. Thank you." "Actually, can we get one of the little pannetone?" Alyson asked. "Of course, dear." She slipped it into a red and white bag and rung it up. They paid for the bread and walked out of the shop. "Will you tell me where we're going yet?" "Not yet! Follow me!" They caught the bus going away from the bar and the busy part of the city. "I've never been this way" Alyson said. "It's fun." The bus rounded a corner and went through a small neighborhood of fancy houses, then up a winding street, the shops crowding right against the road, then down the other side of the hill, and Jennifer knew where they were going. "Oh, my." The bus pulled to a stop in a turn-around, on one side were a cluster of houses and shops, and on the other side, open rolling hills, and the land jutting out into the ocean. "Wow. I've never been out on the point. You can see it from the window, but it looks so far away and cold." "I used to camp out here, I'd hide in the rocky parts of the beach, and find shelter at the bottom of the cliffs there. When it's not stormy, it's amazing to camp in. And when it's stormy.... I love coming here during summer storms. The wind blows across the point, and it feels like you're either in control of the world or you're nothing, just blowing in the wind. You can just give in to it, let it carry you away." Raven was grinning. She looks wild, thought Alyson. They ran together, away from the bus stop and into the wild of the park. A little dip, then up a hill and out toward the point. They found a tall outcropping of rocks. "How about here?" Alyson asked. Raven grinned. "Not a chance. Up here." She grabbed a rock near her head and hauled herself up, climbing swiftly with the backpack. Alyson followed, a little more cautiously, putting her weight carefully to balance. She hauled herself up a second level of rocks and saw that the top was level. The wind hit her as she peeked over. She grinned at the reek of fish and salt in the air. Raven pulled herself up just ahead of her and turned around and extended her hand. Alyson laughed and how Raven's usually out of place army boots looked right at home when you saw them at eye-level while climing a rock ledge. She shivered in the wind despite the sunlight. She hauled herself up on top and eyed the dark clouds on the horizon warily. Raven pulled the blanket out of the backpack and started spreading it, then thought better of it and put it around Alyson. They sat on the rough rock. Bread. Cheese. Apples. Soup, still hot. "I'm glad we took the soup hot. It's chilly out here!" "It's only April. It'll get warmer soon." Alyson moved closer to Raven and threw the blanket around her shoulders and stayed close. Raven looked at her for a moment, then put her arm around her. They sat that way, watching the ocean and the wind for hours. I could stay this way forever.