The picnic was Ephraim's idea, but Ellie had been the one to suggest the clearing in Sutter woods near the old fishing pond. It was a short enough hike from the parking lot, and a cool breeze had swept over the hills, making it a pleasant sort of sunny weather. They should have all been making their way to that clearing together, but the Ephraim and Gavin had forgotten to pack the chips and sandwiches, so they dropped the girls off at the edge of the woods to hurry back for the food. Claire suspected that Ephraim was also eager to fly his rebuilt vintage Mustang down the narrow curves of the hillside without her constantly in his ear, hissing at him to slow down at every turn.

"I guess I'll take the lead," Ellie begrudgingly declared, grabbing one end of the ice cooler, waiting for Claire to take the other as she looked on with indolent eyes. Completely befitting of an irritable teenager.

"You know the way from here?"

"Of course, I do. I come here all the time on the weekends."

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?" Claire probed, unable to mask the criticism in her voice. She'd heard the infamous stories of Sutter woods when she was still in high school. Teens drinking and skinny dipping in the pond, vomiting from the top of the water tower, parking after hours in the old parking lot overlooking the town. Plenty of girls had lost their v card in that old lot. "I don't think your brother would approve of you and Gavin out here all by yourselves."

"I come out here with my astronomy club," Ellie indignantly replied.

"Oh. I just thought-"

"I know what you thought."

"It's not so far-fetched to assume it would be with your boyfriend."

"Well, he's not."

"What?"

"Gavin. He's not my boyfriend."

"You two are always together, so I just assumed-"

"You've been doing a lot of that lately," Ellie cut her off, suddenly hastening her pace, faster than Claire could hope to keep up.

"Ellie, hold on. Can you please slow down? Please?" The plastic handle of the heavy ice cooler bit into her aching, clenched hands, cutting off the circulation to her fingers. She slowed to a pause as they descended the steep slope to the green grassy clearing, but before she could set down her end, Ellie wordlessly jerked it onward, rattling the bottles of beer that filled the cooler.

Claire lurched forward, tightening her grip, and nearly skidding her way to the bottom.

"Was that really necessary?" She huffed angrily as soon as they came to a stop, a light sheen of perspiration dampening her face.

"Well that's rare," Ellie remarked, staring at Claire with mock curiosity.

"What is?"

"I didn't realize it was possible for the ice queen to get all hot and bothered."

Claire clenched her jaw, biting back her tart reply, and hoped the boys wouldn't take too long to return. Five minutes alone with the brat, and she already wanted to slap her.

"We should set up the picnic here," she finally spoke, choosing to ignore Ellie. "I brought matches and lighter fluid for a fire, but we should probably split up and gather some wood."

And just maybe I won't be tempted to strangle her.

~X~

Claire was nowhere to be seen when Ellie returned, sweaty and carrying an armful of dried twigs and branches for the campfire. It didn't appear as if Gavin and Ephraim had returned either, but she spied a couple of opened beer bottles on the cooler. Miss Ice Queen probably got bored and helped herself, Ellie figured, picking up a half empty bottle with her free hand and taking a long sip. There was a slight peachy taste on her lips when she withdrew it, and Ellie remembered the peach flavored lip gloss she had given to Claire for her birthday last year. It was a cheap thing she'd picked up from the clearance bins at the mall, an afterthought of a gift. The look on Claire's face when she'd unwrapped it instantly told Ellie that her sister-in-law knew what little thought she'd put into it, and Ellie always figured Claire had thrown it away.

Ellie bit down on her lip, fighting back the remorse that pestered her thoughts over their last encounter.

She's the one who was asking for it.

"Claire?" She called out as she set down the beer and wandered to the edge of the clearing. "Where'd you go?"

It didn't take long to find her. She was resting on the soft, grassy curve of a small hill, under the shadow of a red maple, in a bed of white clovers. Her hair lay sprawled in waves over fallen leaves, with just enough sunlight peering through the tree branches to cast shimmers of gold through her fair locks.

She could have been a painting in that pose.

Like something out of a dream.

Ellie set down the branches on the small pile that Claire had gathered and walked over to where she lay without uttering a sound, pausing to kneel over her sleeping form. Despite being awake, Ellie's actions were dictated by the trance-like dream that had overtaken her the moment she had caught sight of Claire. The lovely and lonely girl that often haunted her dreams.

In that moment, Ellie was much like the seven-year-old child who had first laid eyes on stardust, made manifest in the girl that laid before her. She reached hesitantly for her, pulling her hand away when she got too close, and briefly wondered if stardust burned hot or cold to the touch.

"Every princess needs a crown," Ellie remembered her mother often telling her, long before she grew too ill to look after her and Ephraim. Each time, her mother would fashion a flowery crown, strung together with white clovers, and fasten it into Ellie's hair.

Wordlessly, Ellie plucked a white clover from the grass and carefully fixed the stem into the billowing locks of stardust, hoping that Claire would not wake. When she did not stir, Ellie fastened another in her hair, then another, slowly weaving Claire's silvery blonde tresses with a flowery crown over her bangs. Once she wended the last white clover into her locks, Ellie's body was gripped by an instinctive compulsion.

"Claire," Ellie whispered, leaning in as Claire slowly stirred awake. Her lashes fluttered open and her sleepy eyes peered up, still insufficiently awake to make sense of the softness in Ellie's eyes. Claire was only beginning to gather her senses when Ellie reached for a small tendril of hair and gently pushed it away from the sleepy woman's forehead. Her fingers lingered, softly caressing the contours of Claire's face, and for the first time since she'd known her, Claire saw a beautiful untamed creature. And she was drawn to her.

The years of distance between them diminished into nothing as Ellie drew in closer, gently tilting Claire's chin up, and stealing her lips for the very first time. It was tentative at first, lips on lips, soft and fluttery. But Ellie pressed deeper, seeking out the wetness of Claire's mouth, suckling on her timid tongue, until she pried an unchaste whimper from her ravaged lips.

"Do you understand now?" Ellie whispered, the heat of her breath teasing Claire's aroused flesh. "Why Gavin could never be my boyfriend?"

Claire opened her mouth to speak, but she was too stunned by realization to formulate a reply. But her body could still respond, and she reached for her this time, teasing her fingers along the curve of Ellie's ear, fluttering them down her neck, then gently tugging at her braids and pulling her in for a second kiss. Even as Ellie had her pinned down, it was Claire who was taking, deepening, and seeking respite in their embrace. It was only when they heard the distant voices of Gavin and Ephraim approaching from beyond the clearing that they finally pulled away.

And she was swallowed up by guilt, headfirst.

"Is there something going on between you two?" Ephraim asked Claire after they finished their sandwiches. They were watching Ellie and Gavin bicker as they struggled to set up the bonfire. Just days ago, they'd all been gathered in the backyard looking up at the stars, Ellie and Gavin arguing over the telescope; a moment that resonated much like today. But the world had changed since that day. Or perhaps it was only Claire who had changed, and the world remained as it always was.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you and Ellie."

Claire tensed and nearly forgot how to breathe, expecting the ground to open up beneath her feet.

"Why would you think something is going on?" She asked, forcing a laugh.

"You've barely spoken a word to each other," he insisted with accusing eyes. "Don't think I haven't noticed. What's the fight about this time?"

"It's nothing, really," Claire said unconvincingly, too relieved to bother dissuading him.

"Sure, it is," he replied with a playful glare, and she couldn't have felt worse.

That evening, as they reminisced and melted marshmallows under the dying sky, Claire lost herself more than once in Ellie's intrepid eyes, falling deeper into a lie that she could not control.

"So, your sister hates your wife," Gavin drunkenly whispered to an equally inebriated Ephraim, loud enough for Claire and Ellie to hear. "There are worse things in life than that."

The girls looked away. Claire explored the stars with Ephraim, and listened quietly as he invented stories about each constellation they found, and Ellie took Gavin for a stroll in the woods. Their eyes did not meet for the rest of the night.