#meg may be prickly but she knows how to woo a woman

[artemis-73]

Suptober Day 10: Mushrooms

When Charlie agreed to meet Meg at the soccer fields on the edge of town, she'd expected a moonlit picnic. Instead, she was tromping through the woods with an honest-to-god basket over one arm. She didn't even have the luxury of a flashlight because when she'd tried to use the one on her phone, Meg had glared at her

So she did her best to keep up with Meg and not break her own neck.

"You know," she huffed, "I'm not sure I'm the best person to help with foraging. I don't really do botany. I might pick something that's actually poisonous or something, and then your Yelp reviews will be in the toilet."

"How about we leave the plant identification to me, and you just look pretty?" Meg tossed over her shoulder.

Charlie nearly face planted into some moss. "Uh, yeah. I can do that. Totally." A strand of her hair stuck to her sweat-sticky face, and she swiped it away hurriedly.

Yeah, it was a weird date, but she'd done weirder stuff for a pretty face. And Meg was definitely very pretty. And funny. And smart. It'd been nearly four months since they first met, and they'd both been too busy to meet up, so Charlie was going to make the best of it.

They weren't walking much longer before, all at once, the trees fell away, and they were standing in a meadow. The grass looked nearly white in the light of the moon, and scattered everywhere in small clusters were mushrooms, deep purple but glowing lilac from their centers.

"Oh, wow," Charlie breathed.

Meg smiled proudly. "Pretty, huh? I put some basic warding up around it years ago. Nothing too strong, just enough to make people take a different path."

She placed her basket on the ground and knelt to begin digging through it. Charlie had assumed it was empty like her own, but she was proven wrong when Meg pulled out a checkered blanket. She spread it out across a spot of grass that was surrounded by the glowing mushrooms before going back to the basket and retrieving a bottle of wine and two copper mugs.

"I didn't want to risk wine glasses breaking," she said, almost shyly, if Meg had an ounce of shyness in her. She sat on the blanket and looked up at Charlie expectantly. "Well, are you going to join me? Or are you going to stand there staring all night, Chucky?"

Charlie let her basket drop next to Meg's discarded one and sat on the edge of the blanket, just close enough for their shoulders to brush. She took the cup of offered wine.

"I really thought you were taking me foraging," she said more into the cup than to Meg.

"Oh, I am. I'm double dipping." Meg's eyes reflected the purple glow of the mushrooms. In the low light, she looked unearthly, a siren or an angel. She plucked one of the mushrooms and twirled it between her fingers. "These little guys are great for glamors, and one of my regulars needs a top-up on his stash."

"Hmm. What glamor do I need?" Charlie asked, presenting her face for inspection. "Do your worst."

Meg tapped the tip of her nose with the mushroom. "Don't fish for compliments."

"Maybe you can do elf ears? Or a Who nose for Christmas? Oh! Maybe I can be Jessica Rabbit for Halloween!"

"You're ridiculous." Meg flipped one of the baskets open and tossed the mushroom inside. "Besides--" Her siren eyes bore into Charlie again. "--I'd look terrible in a Roger Rabbit costume."

Charlie snapped her mouth shut. "Right. Couples costumes. Sure."

Meg cocked her head. "That's usually what couples do, right?" she asked, faux innocently.

Charlie nodded dumbly.

"Good," Meg practically purred. Even in the low light, the mischievous twist of her lips was visible right before she closed the distance between them for a wine-sweetened kiss.