❛ Eventually you grow up, one day you open your eyes and the fairy tale disappears. ❜ jemma x sara
Sara breathed out a soft stream of smoke as she lowered the cigarette from her lips and settled her forearms on her raised knees. Water lapped lazily at the slats of the wooden walkway they were currently perched on and far in the distance the sun was beginning to set over the horizon, casting golden rays over the ocean. This was paradise. Fourteen thousand miles away from the ice cold winds of New England in a place where Sara finally realised her only responsibility was to make sure Jemma could exist right there in the moment with her. She deserved nothing but after all this time. To their left a Pacific reef egret soared low over the water caressing the coastline, the tips of its wings brushing the water but leaving no ripples. On a fishing boat on the opposite walkway, two men spoke quietly to one another in Thai. They waved cheerfully in their direction before climbing skilfully into the canoe bobbing on the sea. Just like the egret, they moved across the water soundlessly as they rowed away, their paddles cutting water but leaving no marks. “Or maybe, one day you open your eyes and embrace the fairy tale for what it really is.” Sara stated quietly as she put out the cigarette in the small pot of sand by her foot. And then she reached for Jemma, twining their fingers together and brushing her thumb over the band crafted from jade on Jemma’s left hand. “We weren’t ever really a fairytale, were we? And if we were then I’d probably be one of the mean cunts. And you know it.” She knew why Jemma might be worried. The whole concept of going home and having to return to normality - perhaps a fear that Sara would change again. Revert to who she had been. But for the first time in years, on a stunning beach in Ko Samui, Sara felt like she was no one but herself. But Sara had asked for Jemma to leave with her; run away into the woods with her where they could find their own house of candy. The big bad wolf couldn’t get them here. No one could. “I think I’ve grown up twice. Once when I lost you, and once when I found you again...or when you found me. Or whatever.” She chewed her lip and lifted Jemma’s hand to her lips. “We don’t have to grow up, Jem. Not again. I’m not ready to open my eyes. I don’t need a stupid shit fairy tale either...just you. And this. You’ve got so much left to show me. Don’t let me down, Cinderella.”