#North Shore Motel

[williammarksommer]

North Shore Motel

Lost Highway series

Hasselblad 500c/m

Kodak Ektar 100iso

[doo-wop-city]

Neon Lights 3: North Wildwood

I hope you enjoyed our nighttime neon excursion through North Wildwood so far. We’re now headed north on New Jersey Avenue, as we prepare to continue our adventure in Wildwood Proper. These photos were taken on August 24th, 1968. (…Or, was that 2024?) During the daytime, Vegas Diner’s storefront sign is a platinum silver-white. When nighttime descends on Doo Wop City, the sign is backlit with a…

[crabussy]

Hi robin hope you're doing good!! Are there any places to see or things to do you'd recommend for someone visiting Aotearoa for the first time?

hi its actually francis but I'm just as (if not more but don't tell him I said that hehehe) fanatic about aotearoa!!! I'm happy to help out. I'm gonna write a bit and leave this in drafts and then rob can finish it off cause its reaaaally late!! eek!! I gotta sleep because there's hiking happening tomorrow!

waitomo glowworm caves are great but ACTUALLY!!! I DON'T RECOMMEND THE SUPER FAMOUS ONE!!!! it's nice but it's not so long and the photos you see online are usually better than the experience you get. try out ruakuri caves in waitomo instead!! they're pretty much right next to the most popular caves, but they're longer, deeper, contain more interesting formations AND glow worms as well!! not as many as the main one. it depends on what you're looking for!!! there's a SUPER COOL motel called woodlyn park where you can stay in an old boat, an old tram, an old plane or a hobbit house that have all been converted into rooms. it's really cool!! might be a bit costly though

SWIM SOMEWHERE IF YOU CAN!!!! a river, an estuary, a beach. check water quality first!! beaches are probably your best bet! one of my favourite things in the world to do is swim at the beaches in aotearoa. I have yet to see a beach that makes me happier than the ones here!

some REALLY COOL TOWNS include rotorua (super stinky geothermal hotspot!!! so cool!!!!! bright green lakes!!!) and ahuriri (art deco town!! they actually hold a 1920s inspired festival there yearly if I'm remembering right!), <- francis went to bed at this point HI its robin now. what the freak is up guess I'm writing the rest of this post. also I'm DEFINITELY the bigger fanatic don't listen to her. liar liar pants on fire etc

UM!!! DEFINITELY hike/do a day walk if you can. I fucking LOVE hiking here it's always beautiful. in te ika-a-māui (north island) I really enjoy the waitākere ranges, there's currently a rāhui for some areas but I went hiking last weekend and the trail I went on was really lovely. there are quite a few to choose from!! I went along exhibition drive and the beveridge track, entering from titirangi village.

we're well known for our native birds, but as many of them are endangered you might have trouble seeing many of them. I'd recommend tiritiri matangi, an amazing conservation island off the shore of tāmaki makaurau. it can be pricey to visit but the sheer number of birds to be seen there is wonderful!!! you can even see takahē, as well as kiwi at night. the cost of the ticket goes towards the conservation being done on the island.

if you have a chance to experience a kapa haka performance or attend a māori festival GO. GO GO GO. it's always incredible, the power and just. joyous fierce pride people put into the waiata and haka is amazing. if you go around june-july, you'll be there for matariki celebrations!!! experience them. there'll be lots of events happening in major cities like tāmaki makaurau and pōneke.

if you're up for a bit of camping, motutara farm is an absolute gem. it's in whananaki, and needs to be booked WAY in advance but my god its marvelous. the beach is wonderful the rockpools are fascinating the walks are incredible and the camping sites are so lovely. you will have to deal with long drops.

genuinely, and I'm so serious, if you end up in the north island LET ME KNOW!!!! I love meeting up with people and if you end up in the city I live in, I'd love to show you around!!! there's a walk I really love in my town that I'd be happy to take you on.

there's so much more but these are my (and francis's) top picks!!!! I love these islands so much. there's so much to be experienced. I WILL ALSO SAY!!! the public transport is very good. you can mostly rely on it especially in cities.

[rreskk]

HEADCANONS: North Yankton Trevor (specific, personal headcanons)

TW: smut, drugs.

-When the rented (or stolen) cars used to break down during a journey with the guys, Trevor would surprisingly have the most knowledge about mechanics as he had to learn a few pieces here and there from his time in the airforce. By all means, he can work his way around the engine (replacing oils, fixing up batteries, replacing misused equipemtn) and can easily replace tires if necessary. As Michael said before, “he has his uses”. Besides, how else would present Trevor keep his Bhodi working if he didn’t know how to fix a good old car? ;)

-Trevor has issues surrounding wet dreams. It became a big issue when he couldn’t hide it from the guys in motel rooms. They’d wake up to the sight of Trevor’s raging boner and wet-stained bedsheets as he continued sleeping with a clearly disturbed and flustered face. He’d have these dreams at least every fortnight and Brad likes to tease him about it (earning a good fist fight every now and then).

-He’s used to cold weather as he spent most of his childhood in the Canadians freezing conditions (well, depending on the areas he lived in), but he knew snow all too well. This would mean that he was less affected. Michael and Brad would have their coats double layered but they’d watch Trevor walk out of the motel room wearing a light sweater or jacket. Even more so, he doesn’t complain about the weather at all. It could be a blizzard and he’d still get pissy at Michael for deciding the offer to sit outside with a beer.

-I’d like to believe Trevor still had his teenage band T-shirt phase throughout the Yankton era. Michael would borrow a few shirts and, no surprise, it would all have these niche punk bands imprinted with a few permanent blood-stains, also some occasional rips and tears.

-Trevor had a small crush on Amanda when she first began dating Michael. It was… an unusual time since he was also (sneakily) seeing Michael still, at the time. Talk about a chaotic love triangle, but it’s just Trevor pining for both.

-Was definitely convinced to a psych-ward during his 6 month prison sentence as he was clearly unstable and tremendously emotionally unfit to be around other prisoners. He had to attend anger meetings, art therapy, stayed in the psych-ward under the prisons guidance still.

-Michael mentioned (at the start) that he ran whores, smuggled dope etc… An idea I have would be the image of the three of them enjoying themselves with a few prostitutes, but for some unknown reason, every single sex-worker would adore Trevor. Every single one. And the only one that didn’t, it was Amanda, and she married Michael. That’s another reason why Trevor would be bitter at their relationship.

-Michael had to secure his savings because Trevor (back in North Yankton) would go crazy with his cash. Because he grew up with low money incomes, the moment he has his hands on the green notes, he’ll just blow it. Nonetheless, he learnt to save it, as we can see from Sandy Shores Trevor. Without Mikey, he had to learn the hard way.

-Trevor had a few girlfriends in the Midwest to try and understand Michael’s preference for stability and marriage. He genuinely loved these girls, but they’d all leave him due to his drug habits and emotional baggage. However, some would leave with his stash of cash. This would be because of Trevor’s heavy dependency on female figures that he’d be too naive to see the obvious signs of the gold-digger in them. A few weeks into this “relationship” he’d believe would end with marriage, they’d just leave without another word on a random day. After that, he stuck to hookups and one night stands.

-Amanda used to get drunk and vent to Trevor about Michael’s sexual performance. I’d like to imagine his cheeky grin as he’s the cause of Michael’s lack of interest in Amanda since… well, he’d be fucking her man stupid most nights of the week anyway!

[sl-walker]

Preview...

...from the next chapter of Stardust, which will go out at some point after I finish it. Until then, please enjoy this opener to an already wildly self-indulgent chapter.

--

“I maintain that this would be easier in a pool,” Ted said, though given his tone, he was kvetching to kvetch -- his term -- and was perfectly content with where they were.

Booster had never been in any body of water larger than a hot tub or a cold water post-game bath before, so obviously he’d wanted to jump into Lake Michigan.  It was upwards of 90 out and it wasn’t the dry heat of El Paso; this heat clung to the body, making clothes stick in wildly uncomfortable ways and in insanely uncomfortable places, and so naturally he wanted to wear as little as possible and the best place to get away with wearing very little was the beach.  The incredible amount of blue and water was just a bonus.

And that wasn’t even taking into account a Ted wearing nothing but swim goggles and trunks.  Which meant this could well be either Booster’s very personal heaven or his very personal hell.  Unless there was a weird personal purgatory where you were being tortured with the appealing sight of the unaware object of your affections?

Hell if he knew.  There was a reason he body-swerved religion like it was a wharf rat hissing from the storm drain.

He'd thought about going out to some of the Long Island beaches before, maybe as an afternoon trip, but the ocean intimidated him every bit as much as he was fascinated by it.  By his time, the oceans were very barren; mostly, they existed as giant vats to grow specialized algae, which in turn became the building blocks of most food sources.  Storms could rage, but the vast bumpers and floats and dividers kept the surface anywhere near shore fairly smooth; to let it get wild would be to risk starving some large portion of the roughly two billion people inhabiting Earth at any given time.

In this time, waves roared ashore and smashed against rocks and the first time he’d stood on an unsheltered walk next to an unfettered ocean had left him so awed that he didn’t even remember the walk back to the motel.  His face was windburned and he was cold enough that he took the warmest shower he could coax out of the motel’s hot-water heaters, and then sat shivering wrapped in the cheap blankets after.

But even as he did, he was still reliving the reverberation of water pounding the shore, a low and bone-shaking boom that felt like it changed the very rhythm of his heart right through the soles of his shoes.  He was still tasting salt, flecks of seawater spray flung by the wind, long after it had to have been impossible to.

Lake Michigan was cheerful by comparison to that; the waves were nonexistent today, and given the rental Ted had chosen, the largely private beach was likewise quiet.  Down the way, one of the various public beaches that lined the North Shore was busier -- Jaime, Brenda and Paco had abandoned them to go investigate the more social scene, in fact -- but there had been no talk of Booster and Ted going with.

If one was going to half-ass some swimming lessons, then it couldn’t be a better day for it, or a better location.  And, ulterior motives about getting to see the man in trunks aside, Booster wouldn’t have wanted them from anyone but Ted anyway.

Booster shrugged, drawing his hands through the water in a wide arc around himself, feeling the resistance against his palms. “Easier, sure, but way less pretty,” he said, as he pretended with award-winning composure that he was referring to the lake and not his oblivious instructor.  Though the lake was also pretty.

“Yeah, but with a pool you can practice kicking by holding onto the side.  For an example.”  Ted looked around; he had so much sunscreen on his face and shoulders that there was a glaze of it left on his skin.  Not enough to hide the birthmark on the back of one shoulder.  He smelled like artificial coconut, which was definitely not Booster’s favorite scent, and Booster still would have happily buried his face in Ted’s neck for a snootful.  “I mean, out here all you have to hold onto is me,” Ted added.

Booster stared at him for a second or two, then swallowed down a groan and just let himself slide below the surface because it was that or die right there.

He was laying sort-of on the floor of Lake Michigan in a speedo and goggles and the guy he was absolutely head over heels for was mostly naked and this was the single worst idea he’d ever had in his life.

But, he had to allow as he stared up through the water at the distorted image of his best friend looking down at him in what was undoubtedly a bemused fashion, there were definitely worse ways to go.

[oneforthemunny]

so i just went on vacation to a lil beach town with cute shops (but everything was so expensive i blew through 250 dollars and got like five things sobsobsob) and i can just imagine like janitor eddie or one of the eddies without lots of money feeling so ashamed that he can't buy you everything you want and you guys have to stay in a cheap motel because renting a beach house is pricey and he just feels like a failure and you have to comfort him

but i also imagine mafia eddie or rockstar eddie taking you out and you guys stay at a 9,000 square foot house and its so lavish and anything you even glance at it getting bought immediately

I don’t even think you would really want anything souvenir wise but janitor!eddie is adamant to get you something. he’s so sweet and tries to buy you handmade she’ll jewelry that’s wayyyy overpriced and you tell him not to. he’s feeling all insecure, even though he’ll be eating chef boyarde for the next week bc he’ll be so broke, so you take him to the shore to look for shells. laughing like kids as the waves hit your feet, sticking your hand under the water to wash it off and reveal it to each other. sand dollars, a half a star fish, a gorgeous pink shell that eddie found and you gasped so excitedly at he couldn’t help but boast. it was better than that overpriced shit bc you two found it together. the cheap motel aided to the “ambiance” you told him with a grin. it was pastels of sea green and blues and it was fun down, stuck in the fifties, but you didn’t mind. it was clean, it had a bed and a working toilet, and an ocean view (sans balcony).

mafia!eddie is taking you somewhere off the grid entirely. somewhere safe, under an alias. really to him, a vacation is anywhere that it’s just the two of you. a house in the mountains without neighbors for miles? paradise. a lighthouse on the coast of the north east where nobody but fishermen come by? even better. he just wants to be somewhere secluded where he can really relax.

rockstar!eddie goes big always but he wants to rent or buy somewhere with character. when airbnb becomes a thing??? omg he’s their biggest customer. the malibu barbie dream house?? fucking sick. the haunted mansion look a like house?? the girls love it. a hobbit inspired cottage?? you gotta be shutting me. eddie tries to buy it off the owner for an absurd amount. he loves cool vacations really. wants his girls and you (and himself) to travel and see the world. experience different cultures and ways of life and environments.

[razorsadness]

We start, heading north from the Prairie State into the Dairy State. As we cross the border, Illinois State Route 137 becomes Wisconsin State Highway 32. We drive, past bars and auto mechanics, parks and cemeteries, family restaurants that no longer exist, parking lots where I once loitered. Between 58th and 50th streets lies what is, for me, the nexus of the Kenosha stretch; one of my homes, though I’ve never lived there. To the east, my best friend’s apartment, as well as the diners I wasted so many nights at in my teens and early twenties, and the bars I wasted my nights at after turning 21 (before heading back to the diners to sober up over fries and coffee). There’s Lou Perrine’s, where I’ve stopped a hundred, a thousand times to buy snacks and water, to gas up on my way north. And to the west, the Metra Union Pacific North Line station, that train I so often rode to and from Chicago.

Just past the city, right next to Carthage College, there’s a beach along Lake Michigan. One night, long ago, leaving a lover’s house too late, I parked my car there. I sat gazing at the moon reflected on the ink-dark water, and then saw these shapes—a scattering of Great Blue herons. Most of them rested atop the gentle waves near the shore, their heads tucked beneath their wings. One stood guard in the shallows, and when I got out of my car to get a closer look, he flapped his wings at me, a strange angel in the dark.

Highway 32 was a main thoroughfare, before the advent of the freeways and interstates, and in many places along it you can still see the remnants of that past. On the stretch between Kenosha and Racine there are several lakeside motels. Their names read like a poem: Beach Aire, Red Oaks, White Bricks, Bluebird. Their signs still boast of weekly rates, color TV, A/C. Some of them even have individual cottage-style rooms to let, and for years I have longed to stay in one of those rooms and write for a night or two, just me and my typewriter and a view of the lake.

—Jessie Lynn McMains, from "I Dream a Highway"

[tautline-hitch]

rain & lightning & wind from the northwest gusting high & some unusual quality (elevation, velocity) to deliver us nearly intelligible the voices of the barge crews passing through the channel out of sight. they used to say on nights like this you might catch a glimpse, just for a moment, of a half-swamped boat pulling for shore: and the bow would say valencia, or iroquois, or janet cowan. i believed this completely as a child, that the sea would not release the dead. in the fall of, oh, 2008? drove the hope-princeton in an early snowstorm, in the '89 shadow, and the radio said they were closing the road behind us: near whiteout, no chains, we only made it out by following the tail-lights of the car ahead through the high mountain passes. pulled into the motel parking lot and they said no one else had come through for hours. after the hope slide they just paved right back over the bodies, you know, they're still down there somewhere. yellow 1959 chevrolet convertible. i mean to say: valencia, iroquois, janet cowan—clallam, pacific, princess sophia, queen of the north—see 'em home.

[rainbowbarnacle]

We took a trip to the North Shore!

On Monday Luka and I went to Duluth to go look for agates and visit the rock shop and eat mindblowingly good pie. The drive up was really nice--very long, but we listened to Stephen King's Fairy Tale on the way and it is very good so far--a kid named Charlie is isekai'd to another world where he plans to take this absolute SWEETHEART of an elderly dog to this magic sundial so she can be young and not arthritic anymore. That's all I know so far but it's been really good so far.

The only hitch in the whole trip was when we were looking for a place to look for rocks, and this crazy dog with no leash and no collar goes zooming into the road, and Luka slammed on the brakes, and the person behind us just barely slammed their breaks, and we ended up accidentally clipping the poor dog--there was a big wet splat of water and a bit of hair on the front, but no damage, and the dog just kept running without a thought in its dear little head and disappeared into some forestry that happened before the beach

So we went looking for the poor dog so we could tell its owners that we bumped it, and we never found the dog or its owner, but we thiiiink the dog is probably hopefully okay x_x

And while we were looking for dogs and people, we found out the area we were in was a perfect swimming spot, so we went down to the beach and luka got out his snorkeler and a really nice drunk lady gave us a heart shaped rock Luka found a bunch of really cool stuff! Sea glass and some kind of really lovely piece of terra cotta with a honeycomb pattern on it, and a big laker agate and a bunch of really interesting hunks of things with fascinating crystals and pretty streaks of things running through it--he can tell you much more. I found one that looks like a kitty!

And the lake was just lovely. There was a cute family of loons and people kayaking (including one woman who had her golden retriever sitting on the boat while she rowed) and one guy flew by on a motorized parachute and threw us the horns. 8)

Then we went home and wolfed down food and fell the heck over at the Motel 6, where in the morning we discovered Ellie had tried to make a nest on the floor:

We went to the culinary miracle that is Betty's Pies, where I had pancakes and luka had biscuits and gravy and we had phenomenal pie.

Then we got to go to the ROCK SHOP. :D

The folks running the store were INCREDIBLY nice and helped identify some of what Luka found in the lake the day before. I was fortunate enough to be able to nab some pretties at very reasonable prices (seriously these were like a few bucks each)

If I am remembering the labels correctly, I nabbed: a tiny slab of coral, then a lake superior agate, carnelian, citrine, green jasper, malachite, labradorite, dumortierite, sodalite, petrified wood, crazy lace agate, and amethyst. The neat little platform it's on came from a nearby goodwill and has a bunch of fossilized snails in it? IT WAS A BUCK FIFTY, HOW

But yes it feels nice to have pretties finally. <3 I also nabbed a fossilized clam and an opalized ammonite.

Aaand after that we were gonna visit the Temperance River, but then the sky opened up and munched on roadtrip snacks and listened to more audiobook while the rain pounded down, and when it cleared up we took pictures of the forest.

And Ellie had an awesome time:

The highlight of our trip back was finding this billboard. Luka got off the southbound freeway, back on the northbound freeway, and back onto the southbound freeway, over a span of several miles, just to get this picture:

WORTH IT. 8D

and now I'm hoooome and I've cuddled my kitty and I'm going to be a zombie for a little while

What an awesome time, though. I hadn't been on a roadtrip since we went with @kurloz38 and @misa-chu in June of 2018. @_@ (we gotta get you guys back up here!!) It was indescribably nice to get to swim and splurge on pretty things and enjoy a really good book.

[lairn]

Thinking about national parks now and how I'd love to go to more of them. I'm going to list the ones I've visited and a thing or two I remember about each of them. Acadia: thunder hole and the rocky shores Badlands: the prairie hike and the way you can hike off trail, scooting down a very steep descent on my butt because it was better than falling headfirst Big Bend: hot springs, jays in the Chisos Mountains, Ross Maxwell Scenic drive and sunset near Santa Elena Canyon Bryce Canyon: the sun hitting the hoodoos late in the day Carlsbad Caverns: bats and the descent, learning about the ascent into Halloween Hall Gateway Arch: I didn't realize this was a national park?? It's surprisingly narrow but it was interesting seeing the mechanism to get to the top. Grand Canyon: on the north side black squirrels and a storm rolling in, on the south side the classic view Grand Teton: sunrise against the mountains, getting caught between a moose and a bear on a trail Smoky Mountains: the fall colors, the way the fog really is mysterious and thick and smoky Guadalupe Mountains: Smith Spring and the transition from scrub to forest Indiana Dunes: spending a day at the beach before it became a national park, the bog hike, taking a solo hike in the rain while my friends slept Mammoth Cave: the ice-cream cone formation, a playground at the motel (i was very young) White Sands: my deep desire to spot a lizard, the bright white of it all, admiration for people doing multi-mile hikes Yellowstone: my dad wearing socks on his ears because we did not expect winter weather in June, Moose Valley, my brother and i picking out the smallest hot springs and naming them after ourselves Yosemite: lots of big ravens, bridalveil fall viewed at a distance, sequoias Zion: bighorn sheep, peeking into the narrows, promising myself i'd come back with people who aren't afraid of heights and hike angel's landing

[doo-wop-city]

Neon Lights 2: North Wildwood

There are so many neon signs around Wildwood that make the island aglow and illuminate the night skyline in the summertime. These photos were taken on Saturday, August 24th, 1968. (…Or, was that 2024?) We concluded our previous entry on John F. Kennedy Boulevard. in North WIldwood. Turning west on 4th Avenue, we encounter the beautiful Jade East, whose neon sign has a decidely oriental…

[maybeimamuppet]

picking teams- chapter 11: janis

hello everyone!! happy wednesday! i hope you’re all having a great day have this yeeha

tw for

ptsd-ish things

discussion of SA/drugging 

and as always please let me know if i’ve missed something so i can put it in :) 

enjoy!!

—————

The beginning of November passes by in a blur. Revenge, football, Cady, more football, more Cady, revenge. The general gist is the same. 

Cady and Janis are both happy with how their plot is progressing. Of course, they haven’t actually done anything yet, but the ideas give them a lot of hope. It’s a slow process. 

They’re both scheming in their heads on their respective buses to an away game. They’ve had a few so far throughout the season, but this one is special. It’s in the city, and they’re playing against a school far enough from home that they’ll be staying in a hotel overnight. 

About ten minutes away from their destination, Janis realizes she should probably be planning strategies for the game instead of how to ruin her ex-best friend’s life. She has plenty of time for that, but the game starts in two hours. 

Janis is surprised to see the hotel they pull up next to. It’s not a five star establishment by any means, but the North Shore budget she’s used to would barely cover a motel. The football team clearly gets more than the arts departments. For once, she’s not complaining. 

“Sarkisian, over here for a sec,” Coach Carr says. Janis grabs her bag from the storage trailer and jogs over to him. “You’ll be rooming with one of the cheerleaders. Can’t have any co-ed rooms.”

“Yes, coach,” Janis nods, heading over to the other girls to find out who she’s been stuck with. Please don’t be Regina, please please please don’t be Regina. 

“Alright ladies, listen up! Room assignments!” the cheer coach yells. “Wieners, Smith; 300! Pak, D’Alessio; 301!” The names continue until they get to, “Heron, Sarkisian; 310!”

Janis sneakily looks over at Cady, and finds Cady looking back out of the corner of her eye. Cady shoots her a quick smile before she looks away again and pretends to complain about the room assignment to the Plastics. 

Janis heads up to get her room key from the cheer coach. All the other girls give her a wide berth and shoot sympathetic glances at Cady. Janis rolls her eyes as she takes the plastic card and heads off to find their room. 

-

Janis is lounging casually against the wall while she waits for Cady to arrive. She shoots her a smile when Cady comes up. “Howdy, roomie.” 

“Hi,” Cady giggles. She fumbles adorably with the lock for a second before she gets the hang of it and pushes the door open. Janis motions for her to go into the room first and follows right after her. “Oh. There’s… only one bed.” 

“I’ll talk to coach, see if we can get a new room,” Janis says immediately. “Or I could sleep on the floor. Or-”

“Janis,” Cady interrupts. “It’s fine. I was just pointing it out.”

“I just don’t want you to be uncomfortable,” Janis mumbles sheepishly. 

Cady gives her a precious smile. “I appreciate that, but it’s really okay.” 

Janis purses her lips the slightest bit and nods. Cady puts her bag down and continues exploring the room. 

“Ooh, we have a balcony,” she says as she pulls the curtains open. Janis heads over to see and looks out over her shoulder. 

“Oh, and what a view,” she laughs when she sees their room has a beautiful vista over the parking lot and that their room in particular seems to be directly over the dumpsters. Luckily, they’re high up enough that they can’t smell anything. 

“I know, right?” Cady giggles. “It’s not so bad. It’s cozy.” 

“Yeah, it is,” Janis agrees. Cady closes the curtains again and turns around. 

“Are you excited for the game?”

“More excited for this bed,” Janis groans as she flops backwards onto it. “Ooh.”

“Comfy?” Cady asks happily. 

“Yeah, for a hotel bed it’s not bad,” Janis says. She hauls herself to sit back upright with a great deal of effort. “I should probably start getting ready, though.”

“How do you get ready for games?” Cady asks curiously. 

“I don’t, really,” Janis chuckles. “Spend most of the time I have beforehand trying to figure out what to do with my hair.” 

“You can’t just leave it down?” Cady asks, tilting her head like an adorable little puppy. God, how does she do that? 

“No. Learned that the hard way,” Janis chuckles. “It’s an easy target for people to grab. Almost lost a chunk my first game. And it just gets hot and sweaty.” 

“Oh, and you can’t wear it up with a helmet,” Cady says. “That is tough.” 

“Yeah,” Janis says. “You guys are lucky your hair is part of your uniform.” 

“Yeah, it is handy,” Cady giggles. She watches Janis stand and go grab her jersey out of her bag. Janis is confused but not complaining when she turns around to find her still staring at her curiously. 

“Uh…” Janis says brilliantly. “What’s up?” 

Cady taps her fingertips together like a cartoonish supervillain about to unleash her latest evil scheme. “Can I do your hair?”

Janis pauses. “What?”

“I have an idea that might work,” Cady says, deflating a bit at Janis’ unenthusiastic response. “But if you don’t want me to I get it.” 

“No, no,” Janis says. “If, um… if you really want to, you can. But don’t you have to get ready too?” 

“All I really have to do is get dressed and do some quick makeup, it won’t take very long. Regina gives me time trials now,” Cady says. “Zero to cheer-o in twenty minutes or less.”

“Wow,” Janis says, raising her eyebrows. “That’s impressive.” 

“Thanks,” Cady giggles. “Okay, sit, girl, sit.” 

Janis obediently sits on the ground next to the bed and tries desperately to ignore Cady’s muscular thighs bracketing her shoulders. Cady tenderly brushes through her wavy hair, making sure not to pull too hard whenever she encounters a knot. Janis almost falls asleep at her gentle strokes and cool hands occasionally touching her scalp and neck. 

“Your hair is really soft,” Cady says quietly as she uses her long pinky nail to part Janis’ hair down the middle of her head. 

“Thanks,” Janis squeaks, trying desperately to hide how flustered she is. Cady tucks half her hair over her shoulder and instructs Janis to hold it out of the way while she works on the other side. Janis does, and feels Cady apparently start braiding the other half. 

It pulls a little bit, but the process is still incredibly relaxing. Or it would be, if Janis wasn’t hyper-aware of her every move and breath and the fact that it’s Cady doing her hair and touching her and making her want to melt into a puddle of queer goop. 

Cady is very gentle and meticulous with her work. Janis holds the end of the braid as Cady leans towards her bag to grab a few hair ties to loop around the ends. 

Her forehead winds up almost resting on Cady’s leg as Cady maneuvers her head for the sake of the other braid. Janis almost combusts. 

She’s not sure if she’s glad or upset when Cady finishes the second braid and pulls her hands away with a thoughtful hum. “How far down your head does your helmet go?” 

“Uh… not very, I guess,” Janis says, fidgeting absentmindedly with the end of one of her braids. “It stops about with my hairline, little further down, maybe.” 

Cady hums again. “Can I get it and check?”

Janis nods, so Cady pops up like an adorable little gopher and heads to root through Janis’ football duffel. 

“Oh, it’s heavy,” she says as she finds the helmet and comes back. 

“Yeah, all of it is,” Janis chuckles. 

“I guess it’s better for you to be protected than comfy,” Cady says as she gently pops Janis’ helmet on her head. 

“I guess,” Janis agrees as best she can with her cheeks smushed in by the padding. Cady giggles quietly. “Shut up.”

“Sorry,” Cady chuckles. Janis is confused when she undoes part of the braids and ties the elastic bands a bit higher, at the nape of her neck. Cady tenderly pieces apart the waves before twisting them into two buns right beneath the helmet at the nape of her neck. “Does that work?” 

Janis takes the handheld mirror she holds up for her and moves it around to look at her head. The buns are off her neck enough to keep her from overheating, and small enough that her opponents won’t be able to grab them to get her down or hold her back. And they’re not pressing weird against the inside of her helmet, which is always a plus. “Yeah, this is great.” 

She can see Cady beam in the mirror and smiles a bit herself under her helmet. She pulls it off for the time being and sees that the part on her head has been delicately twisted into two French braids. “That should stop it from getting tangled and stuff while you move.”

“Thanks,” Janis says. “I love it.” 

“You’re welcome,” Cady grins. Janis smiles back as Cady gently takes the mirror back and grabs her makeup from her cheer bag. Janis takes advantage of Cady being in the restroom to start getting dressed. She usually waits to put the padding on until the very last second, but she can at least put on her special pants and her jersey. 

Cady really can do her whole routine quite quickly. Janis is expecting her to take a good while, seeing as the routine must be quite involved, but Cady reappears from the restroom in her uniform with her makeup done in almost no time at all. She’s finishing tying her curls up into a ponytail and clipping her bow in as she makes her reappearance. 

“That was crazy,” Janis chuckles. “How did you do that so fast?” 

“Regina,” Cady says simply. Janis nods. 

“Makes sense.” 

“Do you… think you could help me with my eyeliner? I can never get it right and you did mine for the Halloween party really well,” Cady says. Janis looks at her. “You don’t have to! I just, like-”

“Caddy,” Janis chuckles. “I’ll do it, c’mere.”

Cady is visibly relieved as she hands Janis the eyeliner pen and sits on the bed. 

“How do you need it to be?” 

“It’s… um…” Cady says. “It’s supposed to have the, uh… the… bird?” 

“A what?” Janis asks with a laugh, pulling the pen back just before she makes contact with Cady’s eye. 

“Stop laughing, I don’t remember the word!” Cady grumbles. “The… the little… fwoopy part.” 

“Oh, a wing,” Janis says, laughing so hard she actually has to lean on the bed for support a bit. Cady whines and hides her face behind her hands. “The bird, oh my god, Caddy.” 

“Stop it!” Cady whines adorably, muffled by her hands. Janis gently grabs her wrists and pulls her hands away from her face. Cady pouts up at her when she does. 

“I’m never calling it a wing again,” Janis giggles in a pitch very uncharacteristic for herself. She puppets Cady’s hands to clap a couple times before she lets them go and grabs the eyeliner again. “Ready?” 

Cady nods. Janis leans in close and carefully swipes a thin line over her eye before ending it in a flicked wing roughly where Cady’s other eye makeup ends. 

“Your eyes are beautiful,” Janis whispers as she shifts to do the other eye. She bites her lip to shut herself up as soon as the words slip out of her mouth. Cady’s eyes are quite possibly the most beautiful she’s ever seen; vibrantly green that fade into a deep blue as you get further from her pupil. But Janis still probably shouldn’t say so when she’s straddling the other girl on a hotel bed. 

“Thanks,” Cady whispers. “So are yours.” 

Janis takes a moment to look down at the girl beneath her. She almost chokes when she sees Cady staring back at her with something almost… no, it couldn’t be. In a friendly way, maybe. But most definitely not that. 

Janis tries to ignore the fact that Cady’s actually in her uniform beneath her. She was in lingerie the last time they did this, which was somehow less revealing. Janis tries not to start hyperventilating as she remembers that her thighs are bracketing Cady’s bare legs, exposed by her very short skirt. 

Cady’s also unfairly adorable in her uniform. They have long-sleeved undershirts to wear now that it’s getting chilly, and Janis almost squeals every time she sees Cady fidgeting absently with the ends of the sleeves or tugging at her collar. It’s much less revealing than their typical uniform they wore during warmer months, but Janis still can hardly stand it. 

And here she is straddling it as she finishes Cady’s eyeliner. Holy gay, batman. 

Janis takes a second to admire the beautiful face beneath her. She thinks she passes it off as making sure the eyeliner looks even. She’s not sure what she’d do if Cady caught on to the real reason for her staring. 

“Uh… there,” she says when alarm bells start going off in her head, signaling that she’s at imminent risk of kissing Cady against both of their wills. Time to move. 

“Thanks, Jay,” Cady says. She takes the pen back and sits upright again. 

“No problem,” Janis says, her voice significantly higher than it normally is. She clears her throat and decides to just cut her losses and start packing up for the game. 

——

The game is… interesting. Janis tries her best to snap out of Cady mode and into football mode, but Cady mode seems to be turned on at all times these days. 

She thought she had finally gotten used to seeing her crush in her uniform doing her thing with the rest of the cheerleaders on the sidelines, but apparently not. Now that she’s had it beneath her fingertips; seen Cady in it up close, she’s unsure it’ll ever leave her mind again. 

Every moment of rest she has during the game, few and far between as they are, is spent looking in her direction. Even some moments where she’s not resting and instead meant to be focusing on the game are spent looking in her direction. 

“Sarkisian, what the hell are you doing?!” someone yells. Janis pauses and looks at herself. She realizes she had been preparing to pass the ball in the wrong direction. She turns around and finds Aaron, only barely getting the ball launched in his direction before she’s tackled by the opposing team. 

Aaron manages to use the distraction to his advantage and score for them. Janis sheepishly heads to the sidelines while the new quarter is handled. 

“What the hell was that?!” her coach yells at her. 

“I’m sorry, coach, I’m distracted,” Janis says. 

“Get your goddamn head in the game, Sarkisian.” 

“I will,” Janis promises. “I’ll do better, I’m sorry.” 

—-

Janis does her best, but… 

Cady is just so… Janis doesn’t even have the words to explain it. Every affectionate adjective possibly applicable is rushing through her mind like the most inconvenient thesaurus in the world. 

It almost costs them the game. Luckily, her teammates can scramble around her and make up for what she’s lacking today. 

Janis breathes a sigh of relief as they barely scrape by with a win. Not quite as satisfying as decimating the opposing team on their own turf, but satisfying nonetheless. 

And now she’s got free reign to think about Cady all she wants. 

—————-

“I stink!” Cady declares as she enters their room and drops her bag by her feet. Janis startles from her spot on the bed and looks up with a laugh. 

“Thanks for sharing.”

“Is it okay if I take a shower?” Cady asks, pulling her bow from her hair.

“Yeah, I already got one at the school. They don’t let us on the bus if we don’t,” Janis says. “Have at it.” 

“Thanks,” Cady says with a sigh. She grabs a couple things from her bag and heads off to the bathroom. 

Janis continues playing games on her phone since there’s no internet connection at their hotel and tries desperately not to think about the fact that her crush is in the shower mere feet away from her. 

She must black out at some point, because it’s suddenly twenty minutes later and Cady is exiting the restroom. Janis almost chokes when she sees her just wrapped in a towel. She looks back at her phone immediately and hopes she isn’t blushing. 

“Shit,” Cady grumbles in the corner, rooting through her bag for something. 

“What’s up?” Janis asks. 

“I forgot to pack pajamas,” Cady sighs. “All I have is my spare undergarments for my uniform.” 

“Do you want my sweatshirt?” Janis offers. “Just… y’know, for the night?”

“Really?” Cady asks. “But then what’ll you have to sleep in?”

“I can sleep in my jersey, it’s pretty cozy,” Janis shrugs. 

“If you’re sure, that would be great,” Cady says in relief. Janis nods and tugs it off, tossing it over to her. Cady picks it up from its spot at her feet and pads off to the bathroom again to change. “Thanks, Jay.” 

“Yep,” Janis calls back, pulling her jersey on and suddenly thanking the lord she had the foresight to leave her sports bra on after the game. 

Cady makes another return after a couple minutes, and Janis almost chokes again. Cady’s only wearing the shorts she wears under her uniform, which are, needless to say, short, and Janis’ sweatshirt; which is so big on Cady it could pass as a dress. And it’s adorable. 

“Your shirt is cozy,” Cady says, hugging herself happily. “Thank you.” 

“Anytime,” Janis chuckles. “Doesn’t quite fit.”

“What do you mean?” Cady asks sarcastically, holding up her hands to show off just how long the sleeves are. Janis got it a couple sizes up so it would be big on her, and on someone as tiny as Cady, she’s practically drowning in it. “Anything good on TV?” 

“Not unless you’re really into the hotel you’re already at,” Janis sighs. “Or Sesame Street.” 

“I do happen to be a big fan of Cookie Monster,” Cady hums. “Then I guess we’ll just have to entertain ourselves.” 

“We do have a balcony,” Janis reminds her. “Pretty nice night.” 

“Ooh, yeah,” Cady says. She pulls their curtains open and climbs out the window onto their tiny little balcony. Janis follows her and sits down on the frigid metal. Cady looks up at the sky with a childlike look of wonder gracing her delicate features. “It’s pretty.” 

“Yeah,” Janis agrees, looking with her. “Kind of amazing you can still see so many stars with all the smog and light and stuff out here.” 

“Yeah,” Cady says with just a touch of melancholy in her voice. Janis looks at her gently. 

“Do you miss it?” 

“Miss what?” Cady asks, turning to look at Janis as well. Janis feels her heart stutter at the blue-green eyes peering innocently at her. So pretty. 

“The sky,” Janis says lamely. “In… Kenya.” 

“Oh,” Cady says, looking upwards again in thought. “I… don’t know.” 

“You don’t know?” 

“I don’t,” Cady says quietly. “I do miss it, but… I like it here too.” 

“That makes sense,” Janis says with a gentle nod. She leans back against the wall and tips her head back towards the stars. “Do you miss Kenya in general?” 

“No,” Cady scoffs immediately. She pauses and inhales, looking briefly at Janis, before quietly saying, “I… miss… walking on ground that isn’t pavement all day. You have to pay attention more, and it makes you feel… awake. And the sky was really beautiful there. There were always so many stars, it just felt like you could reach up into the abyss and grab a few. And I’m always freezing here.”

“Might be how you dress now,” Janis jokes. 

“Shut up!” Cady giggles, gently knocking against her. “It’s the air conditioning.” 

“I dunno how you survived without it,” Janis sighs. 

“Now that I have it, I don’t know either,” Cady says with a chuckle. “I miss a lot about Kenya, but I still… I’m glad I’m here. I like it here too.” 

“Really?” Janis questions. Cady nods. 

“It’s not perfect. But neither was Kenya,” she murmurs. “At least here my friends can talk. And don’t bite.”

“Speak for yourself,” Janis mumbles under her breath. Cady looks at her in confusion, but Janis just says, “What else?” 

“Things are… um… I-I don’t know,” Cady says. 

“So the only thing you like about Evanston is that your friends don’t bite you?” Janis chuckles. 

“I guess so,” Cady shrugs. “There’s a lot of it that’s kind of… up and down for me. I love it here, and I love the people, but it’s still not… home, for me, I guess. It’s hard sometimes.” 

“I get that,” Janis says softly. “Big moves are always tough. Especially when it’s, like… to another continent. And you’re sixteen.” 

“Definitely,” Cady giggles. It fades quickly, and she fidgets with the hem of Janis’ baggy shirt. “Did you grow up here?” 

“No, actually,” Janis says. She gets the feeling Cady doesn’t want to talk about herself anymore, at least for a while, so Janis begrudgingly explains her own story. “I’m from Georgia.” 

“Really?” 

“Yep,” Janis says. “Damian is too.” 

“He makes sense,” Cady says, tilting her head as she mulls this over. “He kind of still has an accent.” 

“Wait ‘til you meet his mom,” Janis chuckles. “But yeah, he never quite got rid of his twang.”

“You don’t have an accent at all,” Cady says in confusion. 

“It comes out sometimes when I’m really angry,” Janis says. “Or really tired. But I, uh… had to practice a lot to get rid of it.” 

“Regina?” Cady asks quietly. Janis nods. “How old were you?” 

“I think I was… seven or eight when we moved?” Janis recalls. “It was pretty soon after Stevie was born. My mom got a new job here and they didn’t really have many ties to be worried about other than my grandparents and stuff, so we moved. And we just visit them from time to time.” 

“Hey, that’s why we moved too,” Cady giggles. “So… your mom’s family lives in Georgia?” 

“Yeah. My grandparents and a couple aunts and uncles,” Janis explains. 

“Are they…” Cady begins before trailing off. Janis gets what she means well enough, and shakes her hand in a meh sort of gesture. 

“Some are, some aren’t,” Janis says. “My cousins are all chill, and my grandpa is. He managed to get my grandma around eventually, but it took her a while. And my aunts and uncles are a pretty even split.” 

Cady nods with a thoughtful hum, but doesn’t say anything in response. “Did you and Dame move at the same time?” 

“No, we were, like… ten, when he moved,” Janis says. “His, um… his parents got divorced, so his mom moved up here to be closer to some of her friends and family and stuff.” Janis decides not to tell Cady that Damian’s dad had actually walked out on them when Damian had come out and was never heard from again. That’s his bit to tell Cady if he wants to. “We’d kept in touch a little bit as, like, pen pals and stuff, but he didn’t tell me where he was moving, and then he just walked into my fifth grade class and it was like I’d never left.” 

“Aww,” Cady says. “You guys have the sweetest friendship.”

“Don’t tell anyone,” Janis snorts. “We gotta keep up our image.” 

“Okay,” Cady giggles. “I won’t tell anyone you’re the greatest people I’ve ever met.”

“…That might be okay,” Janis amends. Cady laughs, and Janis can’t help but laugh along with her. Cady’s laugh is so sweet. She has the fakey titter she’s gotten accustomed to doing whenever there are people around, but her real laugh is so deep, so genuine. A hearty belly laugh. It might sound goofy to anyone else, but to Janis it’s the sound equivalent of ambrosia. 

“I’m really glad I met you,” Cady says quietly, looking at her lap again for a moment before she dares glance up at Janis. 

Janis gives her what she hopes is a gentle and not awkward smile as she says, “I am too.” 

Cady smiles at her. Janis’ own grows. 

Janis gasps as Cady suddenly leans in and presses their lips together. She’s trying desperately to kick her brain into gear, kiss Cady back, hold her, anything, but her brain is caught in a loop of holy shit pretty girl kissing me hello that she can’t escape. 

Before she gets a chance to mentally kick her own ass, Cady breaks away and pulls back. Her eyes are missing their usual sparkle, and Janis can tell she’s putting on a brave face, thinking Janis didn’t want this. 

“I’m sorry, I-I don’t know where that came from,” Cady whispers, gripping the rail so tight that her knuckles go white. Janis stares intently at her small hand poking out from the sleeve of Janis’ shirt. Get it together, do something. 

Cady looks at her in shock when Janis gently rests a hand on her arm, giving a little squeeze and trying to get her to relax. 

“Did you want to kiss me?” Janis replies quietly. Cady inhales sharply and looks away. Takes a moment to think. Then, nods. “Then… can we try that again?” 

“Wh-what?” 

“I messed my part up,” Janis whispers, making a bold move and stroking some of Cady’s hair behind her ear. Cady looks back at her, hesitantly, and leans partway in. 

“Really?” she whispers, ghosting the word against Janis’ lips. Janis is lost in the dizzying scents of strawberries and textbooks swirling around the redhead in front of her, the blue-green eyes blinking hopefully at her. 

She doesn’t answer. Out loud, anyway. Cady inhales as Janis just grins, nods, and cups her cheeks to pull their lips together once again. 

Cady releases her breath as a content sigh that puffs against Janis’ cheek, as she gently grabs on to Janis’ wrists to keep her hands held against her face. It’s a chaste kiss, slow and sweet, but they both don’t ever want it to end. 

Unfortunately, they both need to breathe, and break apart with a gasp. ‘Apart’ is a little bit of a stretch, since neither of them really want to pull away. Janis rests her forehead against Cady’s, and can’t quite hold back the smile that spreads across her face. 

“Much better,” she whispers, still panting to catch her breath. Cady giggles quietly, smiling wider than Janis has ever seen her smile. 

“Definitely,” she whispers back. 

“Since when have you been into girls?” 

“Since I met you,” Cady murmurs. Janis raises her eyebrows. 

“Are-are you sure?” she asks. “I’m not gonna be your experiment, or whatever. Or if Regina talked you into this, then… I’ll just go. You can tell her you won.”

“Janis,” Cady whispers, the hurt visible in her eyes. “She had nothing to do with this. You know more than anyone what she’d do if she found out I like you. That I like girls at all.” 

“Then…”

“I kissed you because I like you,” Cady continues. “A lot. I… I’ve wanted to for a long time, I just… didn’t realize until a little while ago. But I would never do something like that. I’m not her.” 

“You actually like me?” Janis asks shyly. 

“Is that so hard to believe?” 

“Yeah, actually,” Janis chuckles sardonically. “The great Cady Heron wants to kiss me. Regina’s second in command. And me.” 

“I’m not her second in command,” Cady says. 

“Might wanna tell the school that,” Janis teases. 

“I’m not!” Cady whines. “I made a mistake. Getting involved with them. I just… can’t undo it. I’ll be crucified.” 

“So what do we do now?” Janis asks, looking worriedly into Cady’s eyes. 

“I don’t know,” Cady replies. “Wait, do you even… do you even like me back?” 

“That wasn’t enough evidence for you?” Janis laughs. “I’ve wanted to kiss you since you fell into my arms that time you were tumbling.”

“That was in August,” Cady whispers. Janis nods, as if to say, duh. “That long?” 

“Yeah, Caddy,” Janis says. “That long.” 

“Oh.”

“Oh?” Janis asks. Cady hesitantly moves to straddle Janis’ lap and kisses her again. “Oh.” 

“Can we… be…”

“Girlfriends?” Janis smirks. Cady nods shyly. “I think that works for me.”

“You think?” Cady giggles. “Do I have to make you believe it?” 

“Definitely.”

“Can I make you believe it inside? I’m cold,” Cady asks softly. Janis laughs and nods. Cady delicately clambers off Janis’ lap and back through the window. Janis follows suit, shutting and latching the window again behind her to keep out the frigid November air. 

Cady is on her again in a second, winding her arms around Janis’ neck and smiling at her for a moment. Janis can’t help but smile back. She kissed me. 

She laces her arms around Cady’s petite waist and leans in partway. As much as she wants to kiss Cady again, and as much as she thinks Cady wants that too, forcing herself on her is most definitely not something she wants. 

Cady gives her a gentle, thankful smile and stands on her tippy toes to close the gap between their lips once again. Janis smiles against her lips and pulls her closer by the waist, gently shifting a hand to tangle in Cady’s still-damp hair and fisting the other in the fabric of her sweatshirt. 

Cady falls back onto the flats of her feet, but doesn’t pull away. Janis bends at a strange angle to keep their lips together while Cady starts slowly walking backwards towards the bed. 

Janis presses in further when the backs of her knees finally hit it, never breaking away from their kiss. She gently guides Cady beneath her and holds herself up on her elbows. Cady releases a quiet, content noise as she lands on the bed with her girlfriend on top of her. Janis swallows it and swipes her tongue gently across Cady’s bottom lip. 

Cady lets her in, hesitantly flicking her tongue against Janis’ and reaching her hands up to tangle in her hair. Janis purrs quietly and ghosts her hands down Cady’s sides. 

Janis is gently working her fingers under the hem of Cady’s shirt, and then she’s suddenly on the floor. Cady has scrambled into the far corner and curled herself into a ball. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she says frantically. 

“Hey, whoa,” Janis replies gently as Cady bursts into tears. “It’s okay, what happened?” 

“The-the p-party,” Cady stumbles, wringing her hands together. “Mem-memories.”

“Oh god, Caddy, I’m sorry,” Janis says, frantic but still trying to keep her voice low and comforting. “I-I wasn’t thinking, I’m-”

“I’m sorry,” Cady whimpers. 

“No, sweet thing, don’t be sorry,” Janis murmurs. “Can I touch you?”

“No! I mean, um… not-not yet, p-please,” Cady chokes. Janis nods and adjusts her clothes.

“Okay. I’m not gonna do anything, I promise. I’m gonna go hang out in the bathroom so you can have space, okay? Come get me when you’re ready,” Janis murmurs. 

Cady nods and continues doing what she needs to do to calm down. Janis watches anxiously as Cady rocks herself slightly and coaches herself through some deep breaths. 

She grabs her phone and heads off to their restroom. There’s not a huge amount of space to just be in here, but Janis doesn’t want to pressure Cady any further by lingering in the main room. 

So Janis leaves the door cracked so Cady knows she’s welcome in and curls up in the bathtub. 

She feels awful. What the hell was she thinking? She wasn’t, clearly. They’ve only been together for fifteen minutes and Janis has already fucked something up. Maybe irreversibly.

She tries to apologize telepathically through the wall as she hears Cady sobbing to herself and trying to calm down. Janis tries to play games on her phone again, but she’s so worried and pissed off at herself that she can’t focus on anything but Cady in the other room. 

How could she have done this? Lost control of herself so quickly? She doesn’t even want that with Cady yet! And with Cady’s history… 

She’s stewing in the bathtub so much that she doesn’t hear when the faint sniffle comes from the doorway. Cady creaks the door the rest of the way open and pads over to Janis, wiping tears from her eyes with a sleeve as she does. Janis looks up at her as she stands next to the tub.

Cady seems a bit confused, even cracking a faint smile seeing Janis just chilling in the bone-dry bathtub, but she climbs right in to join her and curls up in a ball against Janis’ chest. 

“Hey,” Janis greets gently, not touching until she gets an okay from Cady. 

“Hi,” Cady croaks in response, adjusting herself so she’s laying more comfortably against her. “Will you squish me?” 

“Squish you?” Janis asks. Cady nods. Janis isn’t totally sure what she means, so she hesitantly wraps her arms around Cady’s body and squeezes as hard as she can. “Like that?” 

Cady nods and gives a relieved sigh, resting her head on Janis’ shoulder as she adjusts Cady to sit fully in her lap. Janis is suddenly very glad for all the arm workouts she’s had to do lately. It means she can hold onto Cady like this for a good long while without getting sore or tired. 

Neither of them say anything for a while. Cady shifts periodically; Janis tightens or loosens her grip depending on how much she can manage in a moment, and beyond that, the only sound is the quiet humming of the air in the vents and a few muffled sounds from the room next door. 

“I’m sorry,” Cady murmurs eventually. 

���No, Cads, I’m sorry,” Janis says. “I don’t even know what I was doing, I don’t… don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t want to… do that with you yet. And I know what happened to you, I shouldn’t have-” 

“I started it,” Cady interrupts softly. “I don’t want that yet either, but… I liked you touching me. I liked you kissing me. It just… went too fast.” 

“Yeah,” Janis murmurs. “I still shouldn’t have done it.” 

“Maybe not,” Cady agrees gently. “But I got too into that, too. It was a heat of the moment thing, Jay. It’s not your fault.” 

“I’m still sorry,” Janis mumbles shyly. She feels Cady give a weak grin against her chest. 

“It’s okay,” she replies reassuringly. “And… I really appreciate you apologizing.” 

Janis isn’t sure how to respond to that and simply nods, squishing Cady a bit closer and resting her cheek against her head. “Still wanna be girlfriends?” 

“Are you kidding? Of course I do,” Cady giggles. “I’ve been crushing on you so hard I literally didn’t even notice I was on fire because of you. That’s not gonna change because of one little slip-up.” 

“That was about me?” Janis asks shyly. “You said it was Aaron.” 

“It kind of was,” Cady shrugs, stretching a bit and shifting positions so she’s crouched astride Janis’ lap and they’re face to face once again. “But it was mostly you. You just looked like the cutest little bug in your goggles and I couldn’t stop staring and then… I was on fire.” 

Janis squeaks as Cady makes claws with her hands and gently pinches Janis’ cheekbones before leaning in to kiss her nose. She’s still reeling from all the earlier kissing. And now the girl of her dreams is practically in her lap talking about how cute she finds her. “Oh.”

“See? Cute,” Cady says like it’s a simple matter of fact. She smiles widely, and Janis can’t help but smile back. Cady cups her face in her sweatshirt paws and gently pulls Janis’ face to hers for a soft kiss. It’s barely a brush of lips, but it still sends an electric thrill coursing through Janis’ veins and out her extremities; her body coursing with adrenaline that could easily rival what she felt after her first game. 

“You’re cuter,” she breathes against Cady’s lips when they pull back the slightest bit. Cady smiles and shakes her head, accidentally nuzzling their noses against each other. 

“No way,” she whispers. She kisses her again before she pulls back a bit more and asks, “Can we get out of the tub now? There’s not much room in here.” 

“Yeah,” Janis chuckles. Cady climbs out of the bathtub and reaches her hands to help Janis out. Cady pauses to splash some cool water on her face and rinse off the tears before she follows Janis out to their room. They wind up on their queen sized bed; under the covers and face to face. “Hi.” 

“Hi,” Cady says with a smile. 

“Can we talk a little bit?” Janis makes herself ask. She doesn’t want to, but… it needs to be done. Cady’s face falls the slightest bit in concern, but she nods. 

“Yeah. What about?” 

“Earlier,” Janis says softly. “Just a bit. So I don’t trigger you like that again.” 

“Oh. Okay,” Cady says. She doesn’t continue, so Janis takes the initiative. 

“Okay,” Janis begins with a deep breath to settle her nerves. “I think we should definitely wait a while before…”

“Sex?” Cady asks bluntly. Janis nods and hopes she isn’t blushing like a child at the mere word. It’s not like she hasn’t had sex before. Everything with Cady is just so different. 

“Yeah. I don’t want to rush things with you,” Janis says. 

“I don’t either,” Cady murmurs. “And I’ve never… had sex with anyone. I want it to be special.”

“Yeah,” Janis agrees. “So… maybe… if we ever, like… get to that point, we talk about it first? And… maybe after that, you initiate things. So I know when you’re feeling okay with… stuff.” 

Cady nods again. “Okay.”

“What else can I do?” Janis asks, gently resting her hand on Cady’s cheek and tracing her cupid’s bow with the pad of her thumb. 

“Um… I think… lying on top of me makes me… panic,” Cady says, looking at Janis’ mouth instead of her eyes. Janis doesn’t mention it. She understands why she doesn’t feel up for eye contact at the moment. “So maybe don’t do that? Unless… I ask you to. And he, um… he covered my mouth, so I don’t… that… that brings it back too.” 

“Okay. I’ll keep that in mind. Should we have a safeword? We don’t even have to use it for… intimate things, we can just use it if we ever feel uncomfy,” Janis offers. 

“What’s that?” Cady asks, tipping her head into the plushy pillow beneath her. 

“Something we can say that wouldn’t come up too often in normal conversation that’ll let the other person know to take a second and check in. Basically our own word for ‘stop what you’re doing’.” 

“…Pompom,” Cady says quietly. Janis grins and gently brushes her thumb over her cheek. 

“Pompom it is,” she says. Cady hums happily at her touch and nuzzles into her hand. 

“Is that it?” 

“For now, I guess,” Janis agrees with a shrug. “We can talk more if anything else comes up later.” 

“Okay,” Cady says. “This was nice.” 

“Yeah,” Janis says. It was an awkward conversation, but a necessary one. Janis isn’t normally a big talker. Maybe with Damian, but most definitely not with anyone else. But Cady… it’s like she’s pulled a stopper somewhere in Janis’ mind and all the words just come pouring out. And she doesn’t really find herself wanting to stop them. 

Cady gives her that fantastic, adorable smile. Janis decides she definitely doesn’t want to stop. 

“So, uh…” she says anxiously. What now? All she can come up with is, “More kissing?”

Cady nods eagerly and leans in. Janis meets her halfway and shifts her arm to wind around Cady’s back. She keeps it close to the middle, not wanting to risk going any lower or higher and bringing up any memories again. Cady wraps her arms around Janis’ neck and tilts her head a bit for the best angle. 

“Thank you,” she murmurs between sweet kisses. 

“You don’t have to thank me,” Janis replies, gently nuzzling her nose against Cady’s. Cady grins happily and gently kisses the tip of Janis’ nose in retaliation. 

“I’m gonna. Can we snuggle?” Cady replies softly. Janis kisses her one more time before gently tangling their legs together and pulling Cady impossibly closer. Cady sighs happily and curls in on herself, nosing her way into a tight embrace and pressing her face just above Janis’ chest. 

They’re quiet again, both just relishing in finally holding the other girl close. Janis listens to Cady breathing and focuses as much as she can on the feeling of Cady’s fingertip tracing little figure eights on her tummy. It’s an absolutely beyond perfect moment. 

“You’re still tense,” Cady whispers after who knows how long. She tips her face up to look at her. “What’s the matter?” 

“Nothing,” Janis says. “I’m just thinking.” 

“About what?” Cady asks softly. 

“Everything,” Janis says. “Nothing.” 

Cady nods thoughtfully. “You wanna talk?” 

Janis shrugs. “It’s not really the kind of thing you can put into words, you know?” 

Cady nods again. “Yeah. I get that. But you… look like you wanna talk to me or something.” 

Janis shrugs again. “It’s nothing important.” 

Cady adjusts herself a little bit so she’s as much on top of Janis as next to her. She looks meaningfully into her eyes as she says, “But I wanna know anyway. I don’t care if it’s not important. I wanna hear what you have to say.” 

Janis blinks back the burn of a few tears and clears her throat as Cady starts fiddling with the blonde ends of her hair. It feels nice, so Janis doesn’t stop her. Until she quietly asks, “How much do you remember?” 

“From the party?” Cady clarifies. Janis nods shyly. 

Cady starts fidgeting again, but it’s clearly with some extra agitation. Whether it’s nerves, bad memories, or genuine anger; Janis can’t be sure. Stupid. Of course she wouldn’t want to talk about this.

She’s surprised when Cady says, “Not much.” 

Janis pauses her worried, self-deprecating spiral in her head and blinks up at the redhead hovering on her elbows above her. Cady doesn’t meet her eyes, but Janis gets the feeling she really wants to. It’s just not something she can handle, one way or another. 

“When I woke up in the hospital, it was just, like…” Cady mumbles hollowly. “You know when you have a nightmare, and then you wake up and can’t remember it? But you just know that you’ve just seen something awful?” Janis nods. “It was like that.”

Janis still doesn’t say anything. Cady seems to need her quiet. Need her to really listen. 

“I knew something bad had happened. To me. I just… didn’t know what it was at first,” Cady says. “But I heard the story. From Aaron. And my parents. And… now it comes back in bursts, I guess.”

“Bursts?” Janis asks quietly. Cady nods and flicks her eyes up to meet Janis’. 

“Sometimes if people touch me a certain way, or I smell something specific, or… I see… him,” Cady says. “It can be the littlest thing or the biggest thing, but sometimes a little piece of what happened just… hits me like a bus. But it all still just feels like a bad dream.” 

Janis had almost completely forgotten Shane is still at their school. She doesn’t have any classes with him, and apparently the damage Janis did to his testicles at the party scared him enough that he doesn’t approach her outside of school hours. 

But he is here. Cady’s had to see the boy who assaulted her, who could’ve seriously injured her, or worse, every single weekday for months since it happened. And she hasn’t complained or said anything once. 

“I try not to think about it,” Cady continues quietly. “As much as I can. I just… don’t… I don’t want to face what’ll happen if I do. I know I have to, but I just- I can’t even sleep in the dark anymore because of him. I almost quit the squad because of him. I washed my uniform five times before I could wear it again just so there wasn’t any of him left on it. I didn’t leave the shower for, like, literally two days after I was released from the hospital and it still wasn’t enough. I literally scrubbed my skin off in a couple places.” 

“God, Caddy,” Janis breathes. Cady bites her lip as tears well behind her eyes, and she looks off into the distance for a second. 

“And I’m one of the lucky ones,” she chokes quietly. She looks back to Janis and whispers, “Because of you.” 

“He still hurt you,” Janis says, rolling Cady back onto the bed and wiping her tears away with the back of a finger. Cady sniffles and nods. 

“He did. But… you and Damian are the only reason I didn’t beg and plead to move back to Kenya,” she says shakily. “I learned that there are some… really shitty people in America, that day. Some really shitty people who do really shitty things. And if you hadn’t saved me I think that would’ve changed… everything, in me. Everything about me. But you did, and… I know there are some really incredible people here too.” 

Janis smiles sadly and kisses her cheek, tasting the salt from her tears staining her sweet skin. “You’re one of them, too.” 

Cady sniffs again and kisses her for real, resting a soft, gentle, chilly hand against her jaw and gently brushing the pads of her fingers against the sensitive skin just beneath Janis’ ear. She doesn’t say anything when she pulls back. She simply looks at Janis like she hung the stars and keeps her hand where it is. Janis can feel a similar look in her own eyes as she looks back at Cady in the relative darkness. 

Cady wriggles close again, pressing back against Janis like she’s trying to pass directly through her. Janis certainly doesn’t complain. 

She almost drifts off to sleep like that, with Cady’s steady, soothing weight pressed against her front and Janis’ arm looped around her waist to keep her that way. But Cady does something that gives Janis pause. 

“Are you sniffing me?” she asks quietly. 

“…Yes,” Cady says so, so softly, almost like an apology. Janis chuckles. 

“Why?” 

“It’s dumb,” Cady whines, hiding somehow closer against Janis. Janis laughs and squishes her a bit. 

“No it’s not,” she says. “It’s cute. I just don’t get it.” 

“I’m making a memory,” Cady mumbles. 

Janis feels her heart melt a little. “A memory?” 

She feels Cady nod against her chest. “I really like this. And I dunno when it’s gonna stop. So I like to go through everything I can to make sure I remember things like this forever.” 

“What are you memorizing?” Janis whispers. 

“You’re really warm,” Cady begins. “And your nails are scratching my back in a really satisfying place, but they’re dull, so they don’t hurt. It kind of tickles. And I’m in your shirt and it’s very cozy. Aaaaand… the wallpaper in this hotel is really garish, and the curtains are still open a little bit and I can still see the stars behind you. And it’s dark, but I can still see your face and your eyes and they look really pretty but kind of scary in the dark. And you smell like… the woods, but in a kind of fakey way. But a nice fakey way. And you also smell like paint. And laundry detergent. And I can just smush my face right in here and you have a freckle right here too. And your skin is really soft and warm.” 

Janis laughs and squeals a bit as Cady noses right at the point her neck meets her chest. “That tickles.” 

“And your voice is croaky,” Cady continues quietly. “Because you’re tired. And I can hear you breathe.” 

“Sounds like a nice memory,” Janis whispers back. Cady nods contently. 

“You should try it.” 

“Maybe I will,” Janis says, grinning at Cady in the darkness. “Goodnight, Caddy.” 

“Goodnight, Jay,” Cady echoes with a matching smile. She leans in for a sweet kiss before they settle in and drift off to sleep tangled together. 

—————

Janis wakes up very slowly. There’s a warmth beneath her she isn’t used to; a steady rising and falling and the faint thumping of a heart. She opens her eyes and looks around. 

She somehow wound up on top of Cady during the night, her ear just beneath Cady’s sternum and the blanket tucked just beneath her chin. She can faintly hear Cady’s tummy rumbling and the beating of her heart. 

Cady has one hand resting protectively on Janis’ upper back and the other sprawled above her head. She’s still deeply asleep beneath Janis. 

Janis feels herself smile as she wakes up a little further. Cady kissed her last night. They’re together. Official, in the flesh, bona fide girlfriends. They can’t tell anyone, but still. It happened. 

Janis looks at the clock on the nightstand and sees it’s already nine. They don’t have to be out of the room until noon. The school, luckily, realized that trying to get a bunch of teenagers up and ready by any earlier would end in unavoidable disaster, so they have plenty of time. 

Janis still thinks she should get up. She doesn’t want to. Ever. But she should probably get breakfast and stretch a bit so she doesn’t get too sore from yesterday’s game. 

She carefully removes herself from Cady’s cuddly grasp, inching herself to the side and out of bed. Cady snuffles discontentedly when Janis’ weight is no longer on top of her. Janis freezes. Cady seems to drift off again, so she continues her sneaky scoot to the side. 

She’s in the home stretch, one foot on the ground and everything, when Cady wakes up for real. Janis freezes when she feels a small hand gripping her shirt and hears a sleepy, “Don’t go.” 

She turns her head to see Cady looking groggily at her; one hand on the hem of Janis’ shirt and the other being used to rub the sleep from her eyes. “I gotta go eat breakfast, Cads.” 

“No,” Cady whines. She actually looks near tears at the prospect of Janis leaving her all alone in the big hotel bed. “Stay.” 

Janis doesn’t even try to resist her. She rolls her eyes affectionately as she tugs the blanket aside and crawls back into the bed next to Cady. “Fine.” 

Cady takes her turn to pin Janis to the bed, snuggling tightly against her side and resting her head on her chest. Janis gently squishes her close with her arm and rests her other hand softly against Cady’s side. 

Before she knows it, she’s waking up again an hour later with Cady half on top of her. She’s staring at her like she’s been waiting for her to wake up the whole time. “Good morning.” 

“Good morning,” Janis says as she stretches and yawns, interrupted partway through by a smile. “Girlfriend.” 

Cady smiles back and sits up, crouching over Janis’ face to kiss her. Janis kisses her back before she rubs her eyes and sits up. “You have morning breath.”

“Thanks,” Janis chuckles. She pulls the covers aside and pads off to the bathroom to go brush her teeth. Cady follows and follows suit. 

Janis can’t help but smile watching Cady do something as simple as brush her teeth; foam all around her lips and everything. And Janis knows then that she’s hopelessly in love with this girl. 

Cady kisses her again when they both spit out their toothpaste and wipe the residue from their lips. “Much better.” 

“Good,” Janis grins. 

“Do you wanna stretch with me?” Cady asks eagerly as they head back into the main room. She looks like the most unhinged of angels, her still-wild slept on curls illuminated by the bright morning sun streaming in through the window and an even brighter smile on her face. Janis can’t find it anywhere within her to say no. 

“Sure,” she says. She should anyway, but she gets the feeling that Cady’s definition of stretching is going to be a fair bit different from her own. 

Sure enough, Cady immediately sinks to the ground and goes into a sort of lunge position. She pats the ground across from her and looks up at Janis with that same adorable grin. 

Janis hesitates for a moment. It doesn’t look not painful. She takes note of how Cady’s legs are positioned before she carefully tries to copy it. “Ow.” 

“Be careful,” Cady says in concern. “And make sure your knee doesn’t go past your toes.” 

Janis looks at her foot and carefully adjusts herself. Her muscles are practically screaming at her. She hopes it’s just from all she did at the game yesterday and not some muscle she’s pulling now. It does feel almost kind of nice. “How often do you do this?” 

“Every day,” Cady says nonchalantly. 

“Every day?!” Janis yelps, losing her balance with the exclamation and tipping to the side. Cady catches her with a laugh and steadies her before she grabs her back foot and bends it to touch her bum. Janis tries to do the same. She doesn’t get anywhere close. 

“It helps keep me flexible,” Cady says. “And it’s a nice quick way to wake up.” 

“How do you do that?” Janis asks as they switch legs. She’s already out of breath.

“I’ve done it every day since I was four,” Cady giggles. “It stops hurting if you do it enough.” 

“How nice,” Janis says. Cady laughs as she makes a visibly pained face. 

“You don’t have to do it if you’re in that much pain, Jayjay,” she says. 

“I’m committed,” Janis groans. She sighs in relief as Cady finally gets out of the hellacious lunges. 

“Now the next one.”

“Next one?!” 

“You can’t do a split if the only stretch you do is a lunge,” Cady says with a smile. 

“I can’t do a split anyway,” Janis says. Cady does a similar move, but her front leg is straightened in front of her and she bends down to touch her nose to her knee. “Oh, hell no.” 

Cady laughs so hard at that even she loses her balance. Janis chuckles with her and tries to do it. The straightened leg is easy enough, but she’s barely at a forty-five degree angle. Her nose is nowhere close to her knee. Cady says, “Thats really good!”

“You’re a hot liar,” Janis groans. “Good god.” 

“No, really! For a beginner that’s really not bad, Jay,” Cady says. Janis shoots her a smile, which Cady returns. 

Cady slides straight from that stretch into a split. Janis watches in awe and tries to do the same, but there’s a solid four inches between the apex of her thighs and the ground. Janis isn’t sure she’d be able to get a piece of paper between Cady’s and the ground. 

The stretches for the middle splits are only slightly less painful, but they’re almost relaxing. It’s not dissimilar to the yoga classes Damian dragged Janis to a couple summers ago. She can almost see how this might be a nice way to begin a morning. 

Cady can hold her split and lean forward to lie flat on the ground. Janis can… sit. She tries not to stare at Cady’s bum or muscled thighs as she stretches. She doesn’t quite manage it. 

“Isn’t this nice?” Cady says as she straightens back up. 

“Yeah, it’s a nice reminder that I have so many muscles I never use,” Janis sighs as she lays on the gross carpet of their room. Cady giggles and leans over her for a kiss. 

“You did it, though,” she murmurs before she pulls away. Janis chuckles and kisses her back, leaning after her as Cady teasingly pulls away. 

“Barely,” she sighs as their lips separate. “Cheer shit is intense.” 

“You’re telling me,” Cady giggles as she does… some… back bend thing. Janis looks at her and leans in for another kiss while Cady’s upside down. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Janis responds. “I’m not doing that.” 

“Suit yourself,” Cady grins. “You’re pretty upside down.” 

“So are you,” Janis chuckles. “And right side up.” 

“So smooth,” Cady says. She lets herself down from her stretch and ends up with her head in Janis’ lap. “Breakfast?” 

“Finally!” Janis groans. Cady laughs and stands up, reaching to help Janis off the ground. She leads her to the door and out into the hall. Janis wants to hold her hand all the way down to the dining room, but she drops it before the door is even open all the way. Cady looks a bit upset. Janis gives her an apologetic look back. They both just channel it into looking like they want nothing to do with each other and walk down as far apart as they can bear to be. 

They eat at separate tables, sneaking glances at the other as frequently as they dare to while also desperately trying not to arouse suspicion. Among other things. 

Cady finishes first and heads back upstairs. Janis takes her time a bit more, savoring the off-brand Lucky Charms before wolfing down the last couple bites and running after her girlfriend. 

She pauses in the elevator. They’ve had to act like they hate each other for at most ten minutes. It was agony. Are they getting into this too quickly? Nah. 

Cady startles when Janis returns to their room, but she smiles when she sees her. Janis smiles apologetically. “Just me.” 

“Hi,” Cady breathes, resting a hand over her heart. “Sorry. Plastics have me on edge.” 

“Did they say anything?” Janis asks in concern as she starts lazily gathering her things to pack up. She winces as she opens her football duffel and is almost knocked off her feet by the smell. That’s definitely getting a thorough wash when she gets home. 

She stuffs what she can into it and zips it back shut before Cady can be subjected to the heinous smell. The rest gets shoved into her personal backpack. Along with the mini shampoos and soaps in the bathroom, because of course. Damian hasn’t taught her nothing. 

“No, I’m just being paranoid,” Cady says.

“Probably better than the alternative,” Janis chuckles wryly. Cady laughs too. 

“Yeah, true.”

Cady pouts when they’re all packed up and only have five minutes to get down to the buses. Janis isn’t exactly thrilled herself. This hotel room was like their own little world, hidden in plain sight. Somewhere they could just enjoy being together without worrying too much about what anyone else would hear, or see, or think. 

But their twelve-ish hours in paradise are up, and it’s back to reality. Janis sighs as she grabs her duffel and is almost out the door. She jumps as Cady slams it shut as soon as she has it open a few inches and somehow finds the strength in her tiny self to turn Janis around, pin her against it, and pull her down for a hungry kiss by the collar of her shirt. 

Janis squeaks in surprise and kisses her back once she gets her bearings. What the hell just happened? 

She’s not complaining, tasting the sweet syrup Cady had on her breakfast waffle off her pillowy soft lips. 

Cady pulls back once they both run out of breath and gives one final peck to the corner of Janis’ lips. She pants, “Will you text me when you get home?” 

“Of course,” Janis whispers back, leaning in to kiss her again. Cady smiles against her lips and kisses her back. 

“Good.”

“Good,” Janis grins, smooching her one more time before she regretfully pulls away. “I’ll see you soon.” 

“Yeah,” Cady says with a precious smile. “See you soon.” 

Janis has a dopey grin on her face the whole way down to the buses. She can’t get rid of it even as she chucks her stuff into the storage trailer behind the bus and climbs on. Even as her teammates slowly make their way on after her. Even as the bus whirs to life and they’re off, heading back home. 

Janis rests her head against the glass and watches the city go by absently; head filled to bursting with thoughts of Cady. Her girlfriend, Cady. 

Maybe this year’ll turn out okay. 

—————

thanks for reading!! i hope you enjoyed!!

lots of love,

ezzy

[fleurcareil]

Northeast Quebec & West Labrador

I drove in the pouring rain onto the ferry between Matane and Baie-Comeau across the Saint Laurent, so unfortunately there were no whales to be seen but the ferry was super modern with lots of different seating areas to choose from, and you could simply drink a beer at your table rather than being constrained to the bar area 😊. After arriving at the north side, I first had difficulty finding the motel, then got soaking wet getting stuff out of the car & finally only found a mediocre place to eat... you can't have it perfect all of the time!

Next morning, I started a route that I had anticipated for 14 years since I came to Canada; driving the entire Labrador loop from west to east! The first leg of 565km is actually still in Quebec, which was built to access massive hydro projects along the Manicouagan river. On the way, I pass the Manic-2 dam but the real beast is the Daniel-Johnson dam at the Manic-5 power station, which with its 14 buttresses and 13 arches is the largest of its kind in the world. A free tour allows you to go inside the power station, walk at the base and atop the massive structure and provides tons of interesting info, including that it's named after the Quebec prime minister who died on the eve of the inauguration... 😢.

To my big surprise, the paved road stops immediately outside Manic-5 and continues like that for 100km... I remember having seen in the news last year that the entire highway had finally been paved, but I now realised that that was the Labrador section, whereas Quebec did not pave it... the often-loose gravel, many construction road stops, fast truck traffic and the rolling hills made for a tiring drive, so was glad when I arrived at my place to stay for the night at Station Uapishka. They had originally cancelled my booking due to the wildfires (which I saw evidence of further south along the road) but when the road reopened, they did too. Luckily so, as my next stop was 494km further which would have been too much to add!

The special thing about this hotel is that it's on the shores of the "L'oeil du Quebec", the reservoir filled by the Manic-5 dam in the form of an eye, as a result of a meteorite impact 214 million years ago. At a diameter of 75km, it's the 5th largest astrobleme in the world and clearly visible on Gmaps... I had wanted to go supping on the lake but decided for a walk and a beer on the beach instead, sometimes it doesn't hurt to be lazy 😊. Over a delicious dinner, I had a great conversation with a woman who is professor in cellular biologie about amongst others how to stimulate children to study sciences. With my engineering background we had a lot of back & forth, which I tried to do in French as much as possible. She's Quebecois but teaches in English so we had a good linguistic exchange! 😁

Next morning, I continue the unpaved road for another 200km or so😒, passing massive mines and electricity projects until I finally arrive in the "Big Land" just outside Labrador City. The first thing you see when coming into town is the Canadian Tire store, which still makes me smile 😍, but less than 10 minutes later I had inadvertently driven out of it already and had to U-turn to find a gas station and a park to have a picknick lunch. I had hoped for some Canada Day celebrations (was wearing a red tshirt 🍁) but there was nothing going on. The only funny thing to see is that most cars have a pole with a flag on top for better visibility on project sites, quite comical as it looks as if everyone's celebrating a birthday 😂.

Then another 3 hours onward to Churchill Falls, on a much better, less industrial road which was a breeze to drive on (apart from the water holes left by rain bursts). I made a few photo stops to capture the boreal landscape, which is dominated by thin, almost skeleton trees with sometimes a light green moss undercover and lots of bogs or little lakes in between. It's not the prettiest forest I've seen (I like fuller trees) but its vastness is impressive. You could also see the ecological succession of regrowth after a fire, as some older fire areas were regenerating with tons of little trees with the burnt stalks still standing tall...

Arriving at Churchill Falls, I only take 2 minutes to drive all roads in town to find the gas station (very important as there's signs at the intersection that it's 285km one way and 240km the other way for the nearest gas station!) and the one building that houses the library, canada post, grocery store, hotel and sole restaurant - convenient! 😁 The tiny village (collection of houses really) did celebrate Canada Day with a baseball game and fireworks which I couldn't see but hear from my comfy bed 😜.

The next day it was sunny, so after a call with my parents, I already hit the road at 08:15am for the next 327km. Labrador looks big on the map but feels truly massive when driving... whenever I hit a traffic jam in the GTA, I was longing for empty roads... they do exist; in Labrador!! 😎 I think I saw less than 15 cars on the entire drive (in both directions!). A pitstop for some stretches and a muffin gave me another opportunity to snap pics of the strange trees.

I first skipped Happy Valley - Goose Bay on arrival and went straight to North West River where the Labrador Interpretative Centre has interesting exhibits about the 4 peoples that live here (Inuit, Innu, Métis and Settlers) including the installation of an inukshuk, one of my favourite symbols of Canada 😊 (I still would like to buy one but not sure where exactly, perhaps in a Montreal art gallery or out West). For who like me, until today, doesn't know the difference; Inuit are coastal people that came from the Artic, whereas Innu are traditionally nomadic people from Quebec who followed the caribou herds. The Métis here are descendants of Inuit and settlers (although due to dispute about the name east of the Prairies, they've renamed themselves to Nunatukavut). Labrador has a complicated history including the forceful relocation of villages and lack of self-determination over its rich resources, so good to learn more about it! Before heading to the guesthouse, I have a peek at Melville Lake and sit at the beach (it's 27 degrees!) until the rain forces me back to the car.

After having done the laundry, groceries and ever-crucial filling up the gas, I head out to the Birch Island Boardwalk which gives access to a sandbar on the Churchill River. Once a year, I dedicate time to reflect on the beauty of life while remembering the people who died too young; my half-brother André, my housemate Berber, and since 2019, my friend Soren who took his life on the 2nd of July. These deaths have impacted me tremendously, in that they have given me the resolve to live my life to the best of my abilities and spur me to put my personal life above a career, including my decision in 2009 to leave BP for a radical change and then now doing it again. Especially given that I have the flexibility without a partner or children, I owe it to myself and to André, Berber and Soren that I go after what I think makes me happy 💖. For now, that's traveling through Canada!

Wildlife: 1 moose & 1 rabbit (along the road)

SUPs: none

Hikes: none

[naamahdarling]

Search History Sad

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Caylin Capra-Thomas, “Search History Sad”

[cityofsailsmotel]

Motels in Northshore: A Comfortable Stay for Every Traveler

Why Choose a Motel in Northshore?

North Shore is an ideal location for those wanting to experience Auckland without the hustle and bustle of the city center. With access to beaches like Takapuna Beach, Devonport, and Browns Bay, North Shore provides a relaxing atmosphere. Many motels in the region cater to both short-term and long-term stays, offering cozy rooms and essential amenities for visitors.

Whether you're visiting the area for leisure, work, or medical reasons, North Shore's motels provide an excellent balance of proximity to attractions and affordable pricing. With public transportation readily available and key business centers nearby, it's no wonder North Shore motels are popular among travelers.

Popular Motels Close to Smales Farm

If your trip to North Shore involves business at the renowned Smales Farm, you’ll want a comfortable place to rest without being too far from this bustling business park. Smales Farm is a key commercial hub in North Shore, housing many corporate offices, making it an important destination for professionals.

For those seeking motels close to Smales Farm, here are a few top picks:

Poenamo Hotel – Located just a short drive from Smales Farm, this motel offers a convenient location paired with an affordable price. It features spacious rooms, a restaurant, and an outdoor pool, making it a great option for both business travelers and vacationers.

Takapuna Motor Lodge – This lodge is perfect if you want to be near both Smales Farm and the beach. With spacious self-contained units, free parking, and laundry facilities, it’s an ideal option for extended stays.

City of Sails Motel – Another solid choice close to Smales Farm, the City of Sails Motel offers modern rooms and quick access to public transportation. The staff is known for being friendly and accommodating, ensuring a pleasant stay for all guests.

Each of these motels provides comfortable lodging with easy access to Smales Farm, making them perfect for business travelers who don’t want to stray too far from their meetings.

Northshore Motel Options for Medical Visitors

For those visiting loved ones or attending appointments at North Shore Hospital or Takapuna Hospital, there are several convenient and nearby accommodations. Staying close to the hospital is crucial for many who require easy access to healthcare services.

One of the most popular options in this regard is Northshore Motel, which is well-known for being located in proximity to healthcare facilities like North Shore Hospital. It offers clean, comfortable rooms with amenities designed to make long-term stays easier. Many guests appreciate the supportive and accommodating staff, especially when dealing with medical-related travel.

Similarly, the Takapuna Hospital Motel provides a peaceful place to stay for visitors needing access to the hospital. This motel offers quiet rooms with essential facilities like Wi-Fi, kitchenettes, and private bathrooms. The convenient location ensures that guests can walk to the hospital within minutes, providing peace of mind during stressful times.

Why Northshore Motels are Perfect for All Travelers

Choosing to stay at a motel in North Shore means you'll be close to everything you need, from corporate offices to healthcare facilities and recreational spots. Whether you’re exploring the beautiful coastlines or attending to business meetings at Smales Farm, the variety of motels in Northshore ensures that you’ll find a place suited to your needs.

In addition to affordability, the motels in North Shore offer personalized service and a range of facilities designed to make every stay as comfortable as possible. From free parking to Wi-Fi and proximity to public transportation, these motels give you all the amenities you need for a hassle-free visit.

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Ocean Breeze B&B: Your Vancouver Pet-Friendly Place Away from Home

Traveling with pets can be tricky, be it anywhere. However, if you want a budget-friendly stay in Vancouver, look no further than Ocean Breeze B&B for your ideal short-term rental. It would be perfect if you're looking for a cozy, convenient place to stay in Vancouver that also welcomes your furry friend.

Finding Your Perfect Budget-Friendly Stay

Location, facilities, and pet-friendliness are important factors to take into account while traveling with pets and looking for short term rental or a high-quality, inexpensive place to stay in Vancouver when traveling with pets.  Look for places near public transport, with free Wi-Fi and laundry facilities.  Remember to ask about any size limits and pet fees.

Immerse Yourself in Vancouver's Beauty

Vancouver stuns with its natural beauty. Inhale the clean sea air, take a stroll among the tall cedars of Stanley Park, or paddle a kayak in Deep Cove's serene waters. Right in the center of everything is where Ocean Breeze B&B puts you.

A Luxury stay for You and Your Pet

Ocean Breeze B&B’s offers a unique blend of comfort and luxury to guests traveling with pets & need a short term rental, unlike traditional hotels or motels. Imagine unwinding in a tastefully furnished room, your pet by your side, and taking in the tranquility of the North Shore setting. All rooms have private bathrooms and amenities like fridges and coffee makers, making your stay truly convenient.

The Perfect Location for Exploring Vancouver

Despite its tranquil setting, Ocean Breeze B&B boasts an unbeatable location. The best sights in the city are all within easy reach, just an 11-minute Seabus ride from downtown Vancouver. Explore Stanley Park, Capilano Suspension Bridge, Grouse Mountain, and more, all within easy reach.

More Than Just a Place to Stay

Ocean Breeze B&B goes beyond just a place to sleep.  For your convenience, our helpful team is delighted to supply you with free maps and brochures to aid in your expedition planning. We can also help with food requirements and other travel requirements, making sure that you and your pet have a stress-free visit. At Ocean Breeze B&B, we understand the importance of traveling with pets short term rental. That's why we're a proud pet-friendly establishment. In our hospitable environment, your pet will feel completely at home.

Book Your Pet-Friendly Escape Today!

Ocean Breeze B&B provides a cozy place away from home for those visiting Vancouver for the first time, for the seasoned tourist, or just to explore the city with their pet. Discover the difference that traveling in a short-term rental that allows pets can make.