Once Jade had left them, it was up to Mitena to decide what to do next with her Stargirl. She could easily take her back to bed and satiate the burning hunger that had grilled her from the moment she laid eyes on her alabaster beauty. Yet she wanted more. As the seconds turned to minutes and the minutes to hours, Tena became more and more sure of the fact that what she was feeling for Natalia was far beyond just sexual attraction and interpersonal chemistry; it was written in the cosmos. It was something made by the Creator's design. She wanted to-- no, she needed to know more about the gift of a girl that the stars had given her.
With that in mind, the young, doe-eyed girl looked towards the raven that had nested above them-- the raven she named Charlie-- and followed it. Without letting Natalia in on her crazy notion, Tena took the Italian girl onto her bike and followed the herald of truth through Blue Hill on her bike and into the woods. Tena finally lost Charlie when her bike reached a clearing, one that she barely even remembered. She had been to it as a child but had forgotten it even existed. It was small, nestled away in the privacy of the mountain's shadow and it was all theirs: Mitena and Natalia’s own private hiding place.
Settling there for the morning, the singer took hold of Tal’s hand and led her towards the cliff’s edge; overlooking the Reservation and all the people on it. She positioned herself behind the girl with galaxies in her eyes and wrapped her arms around her small waist. Tena kissed the spot below Natalia’s neck and between her shoulder blades with a content moan. “Like what you see?”
With the topic of Charlie left behind in Adora’s kitchen, Natalia was trying to do as she had the previous night and focus on the present rather than on anything else clouding her mind. Thankfully, with company as special as Mitena, distracting oneself from the gloomy thoughts previously permeating her mood was a task quite easy to accomplish. And the amazing view of the luscious Blue Hill greenery stretching out in front of them in this desolate, little piece of mountain heaven certainly helped shift the Italian girl’s mindset into something more positive.
Mitena’s kisses sent shivers down Natalia’s spine. She had always been a fan of physical displays of affection, so it felt nice to experience them again with someone she was quickly growing to care about. At the native girl’s question, Tal shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I guess it's okay. I think it could be better," she observed with a feigned lack of amusement, a smirk playing around the corners of her mouth as she turned around and switched places with the other woman. Instead of her standing in front of the breathtaking backdrop, Tena was now in the center of the canvas of the work of art in front of them. "There. That's better," she commented in satisfaction with a wide smile, taking a moment to marvel at the beautiful sight in front of her before closing the distance between them, cupping the other girl's face in her hands and kissing her lips.
Tena gave herself completely to Natalia’s embrace, losing herself in the kiss. She slipped her tongue between her lover's lips whilst tracing her fingernails down her back. The silence around them did nothing but charge their moment of bliss, the world around them with all of its problems and fears fading and disappearing into the trees to be stolen away by the restless spirits of the wood. There was magic carried on the wind when Mitena was with Natalia. She had all but given up trying to find some logical explanation for what was happening between them. Her entire life, Tena had been told about good and bad medicine, white and black magic, karma. She had never been a full follower of her tribe's teachings but she had always been open to it, always willing to believe. Natalia, she made her believe.
Coming up for air from the throes of passion, Mitena’s dark gaze drifted from Tal’s full kissable lips and across her cute freckles, up to those damned green eyes and she smiled softly, drinking in her beauty. “I couldn’t dream of anyone more beautiful.” With their noses lightly grazing, Tena brushed her thumb over Natalia’s lips and gently leaned their heads together. “This is something, right? You and me?”
The Belmonte girl nodded. "It's more than just 'something'," she reassured her lover with a small laugh, getting her point across with another fleeting kiss. "I haven't felt this way about anyone in… Well, in a while, actually. Probably not ever. But at the same time, and I hope you don't take this the wrong way, I don't want to just rush into things and mess everything up, you know? I don't want either of us to get hurt here."
Mitena understood. She was human and had gone through the pain of heartbreak before. Whatever was happening between her and Natalia was exciting, new and intense. It was a different breed of special that needed nourishment, care and most of all, time. She nodded her head to show that she was with Tal, that she was on the same page and stood on the same hill. “I don’t know, sometimes pain can be a little pleasurable.” Tena coyly teased before playfully nipping at Natalia’s bottom lip.
The Italian girl chuckled into the kiss, amused by Tena’s flirty comment. “I guess you have a point there,” she chortled, copying her lover by momentarily capturing her lower lip between her teeth.
Taking a few steps back, the native girl reached down with her fingers and lifted her shirt off, tossing it to the side when she was done. Mitena tilted her head, deep dark chocolate eyes staring into the Stargirl’s soul. She ran her hands through her raven tresses and a smirk curled up over her thick lips as her fingers traveled down her face and neck until she suggested brushing the top of her exposed breasts which were only covered by her bra. “How’s the view now?”
There was silence between the two women as Natalia’s green eyes locked on Mitena, utterly mesmerized at the breathtaking sight. No matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn't comprehend how one person could be so gorgeous in every single aspect that mattered. She tore her eyes away from Tena’s long enough to let them travel down her lovely features: from her beautiful face, her succulent rosy lips, her shiny dark hair falling down her shoulders, her soft, sun-kissed skin, the tantalizing curves of her chest perfectly emphasized by the bra she was wearing… Natalia found herself being more captivated by this stunning woman with every second she spent in her presence. It was truly something she couldn’t truly put into words.
"I still think it could be better…" she drawled, Tena's smirk mirrored on her own pale face as she approached the dark-haired beauty. With her eyes locked on hers, Tal gently grabbed both of her hands and carefully walked backwards, until she felt her back softly colliding with the thick trunk of a maple tree. Without letting go of her lover's hands, Natalia slowly slid down against the trunk, reaching the ground and settling into a seating position. It was then when Tal moved from holding Tena's hands to placing her hands on the bare skin of her small waist, and guided the Native girl into a straddling position on her lap.
From this angle, with their bodies pressed together and her face hovering so close to her own, Mitena looked even more gorgeous than before. "This right here is the most perfect view to me, dolcezza. My own personal masterpiece," she whispered softly, smiling at Tena before pulling her into a deep, passionate kiss, hands roaming over the other girl's exposed caramel skin.
Tena had never done hard drugs before. She smoked a lot of weed, of course she did, her auntie grew it on the farm she lived on but she had never touched the really addictive stuff. She imagined that the first bump of any of the strong line drugs was much like kissing Natalia; no wonder addicts always went back for more, she was pure unadulterated intoxication and Tena was craving, aching for the next hit.
The gentle touch of the Italian girl's hands, combined with the warmth of the summer sun on her bare skin was sending Mitena into a tailspin of ecstasy. The indigenous flower began to slowly but deliberately grind her hips against her Stargirl as their tongues graced each other with deep affection. She could feel the fire burning beneath her skin heating up with every passing moment of embrace they shared together. Her lover’s hands skillfully unhooked her bra and tossed it in the general direction of their forgotten shirts. Tena’s hands wandered down from Natalia’s beautiful face, down her body to the hem of her shirt where she gripped tightly and lifted it up over Tal’s head, throwing it into the brush with her own top. She gazed at the porcelain body before her with an eager hunger in her eye.
Mitena leaned forward once more to kiss those enthralling lips before she allowed her mouth to travel across Natalia’s sharp sharp jaw and up to her ear lobe where she playfully nibbled. So engrossed in her gift from the stars was Tena that she didn’t hear the rustling of the trees around them. As she feverishly gripped and nibbled at Tal’s neck, the native woman finally heard the movements. Breathlessly she turned her head, still holding Natalia’s head in her hands, and was greeted by the sight of a pale white horse, watching the lovers lose themselves in each other.
The rustling sounds of the nearby vegetation were drowned out by the two girls' chorus of moans and heavy breathing. As lost as Natalia was in being the recipient of Mitena's passion and the desperate desire to become one with her again growing with every second, she had become oblivious to their surroundings. It wasn't until Tena ceased her ministrations on her neck for longer than usual that Tal's eyelids fluttered open. She turned to her lover with a curious expression, silently questioning why she had stopped. Her answer, however, was obtained after she followed Tena's line of sight to a spot between the trees not too far away from them.
"Oh my God," Natalia exclaimed in admiration, her eyes wide at the surprising sight. In the twenty years she had roamed the earth, a pure white horse wasn't something she'd ever encountered. They were the same as unicorns in her mind: very talked about, but rarely seen in person. "Is that real?" Tal inquired, still unsure whether she was actually seeing the horse or whether it was her lusted mind playing tricks on her.
“Ska-cante.” Tena said breathlessly, still trying to suck some air back into her lungs after giving so much to Natalia. “Oh Stargirl, she’s very real.” The singer could feel her lover's body tense between her fingertips, though it was a very different kind of tension than the one she had quickly come accustomed to in their short time together. An amazed smile curled up across Mitena’s lips as she held Tal close and watched the majestic creature edge slightly closer to them. “Don’t make any sudden movements, we don't want to scare her.”
Still straddling Natalia’s hips, the doe eyed girl locked her gaze on the white mare and slowly outstretched her arm, flattening her palm in a welcoming motion. “You’re okay.” She spoke gently. “Hi there. You’re okay. You’re a beautiful girl.” The horse moved ever closer to the girls and began to lower its body to match their grounded height. “Her name is Ska-cante, in your tongue that means White Heart. Nobody knows where she comes from or how long she’s been in our woods. Like the Chief says he saw her when he was a boy, which would make her at least fifty!” Tena spoke in hushed tones, almost whispering in Tal’s ear so as to not spook their new companion. “Some say she’s the horse that led our tribe to this new land when ours was taken. She comes at times of great change.”
As the mare finally lowered itself fully to the ground and rested her head in Tena’s hand; her eyes shifted to Natalia and looked deeply at her. “I think she’s here for you.”
Tal, who had been transfixed by the mare's beauty, its intense stare locked on her and the gentle way in which her lover was tending to her, shot Tena an inquisitive look. "Why would she be here for me?" she asked with confusion, keeping the other woman held close to her body.
Mitena could feel Natalia’s grip tighten on her back and she smiled. She enjoyed the pressure, probably a little too much but she knew it wasn’t out of longing yet neither was it fear. It was a need for understanding. Comfort maybe? Tena moved her hand away from the horse who stayed her course. She reached around her back and took a hold of Tal’s wrist. “It’s okay.” Tena said reassuringly as she looked into those big green eyes of Natalia’s that had captured her heart. “Trust me.” She guided the Italian girl's palm to where her own once was, holding it flat she gently rested the Stargirl's palm against Ska-cante’s chin. “I think she’s here to tell you something. What? I don’t know. That’s between you.”
A cloud of uncertainty cast a shadow on Natalia's eyes, and she began to bite the inside of her cheek as she gently stroked the horse’s chin. "I'm sorry. I just… I don't know how I'm supposed to figure out what that message is…" she admitted, crestfallen at potentially disappointing Tena with her non-answer. Even with their brief time together, the girl could tell that Tena was a person who believed in the power of the supernatural and who was very in tune with her feelings, her emotions and her spiritual side. The Italian, however, was the complete opposite. She had never been much of a believer, even after being raised by a devoted Catholic. She was a thinker, who liked to justify things with reason and who believed in the logical explanation of things. To be told that there was a potentially mythical horse on this field to give her a message from beyond was a thought she needed to digest in itself. But to somehow be expected to know exactly what that message was was a tall order in Tal’s opinion. She'd try, though, for Mitena.
“I don’t think you are.” Tena responded. “At least not yet.” The native girl leaned back, allowing Natalia a little more room to maneuver. “She’s a horse, she can’t speak. She’s not going to give you a vision. She’s just here to signify that something is about to change for you. Something important.” With Tena’s final word, the white mare licked Natalia’s open hand before moving and doing the same to Mitena’s. Ska-cante pulled herself up by her strong legs and back up to her full height. With a loud whine, she turned and took off back into the woods from whence she had come, leaving the lovers alone once again.
Mitena moved closer to her Stargirl once more, placing her hands on the alabaster girl's neck and jaw, holding her close. “Or maybe she was just a pervy horse that wanted to watch me fuck your brains out like I did last night? Who's to say?” She couldn’t help but let out a laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation, and heard Natalia joining along. There she was: in the middle of the woods, mostly naked with a girl she had met the night before, getting gawked at by a horny horse. It sounded like one of Bear's stories.
Tena gently caressed Natalia’s cheek with the back of her fingers, getting lost in those big green eyes as she did. “You okay?”
Natalia was quick to ease any worries Tena might have with a nod, kissing the nearest finger caressing her face. "I'm good. I was just thinking about how nice it feels to be the one being chased for once. Makes me feel important," she said with a small laugh, tucking a strand of the other girl's hair behind her ear.
“Your exes never chased you?” Mitena questioned. She couldn’t help but wonder why anyone wouldn’t chase Natalia to the ends of the Earth, Beyond and back again. With her hands resting on Tal’s jaw, Tena sunk her thick hips deeper against her beautiful stranger's lap. Her dark eyes mapped out the light freckles over the Italian’s face like it was a map of the world. Such deep sadness lay like sea water in the stardust flecks of Natalia’s eyes. Such sorrow. Yet behind the ocean of hurt there was a bright light on the horizon. The burning of a sun which lit up her life and filled Tena’s heart. “If you ever let me go, I’m chasing you off the edge of the map.”
Natalia laughed brightly, amused and elated at Mitena's declaration. While knowing that this girl found her attractive enough to want to chase her in that way, her statement made the Italian girl nervous. Nobody that had ever said those words before had ever stuck around longer than a few months. But before she could ruin the moment by going down the rabbit hole of bitterness left behind by her failed relationships, she shifted her attention back to the breathtaking beauty on her lap.
"That's not how I meant," she told Mitena, kneading the girl's thighs. "I meant like in the beginning of getting involved with someone. Nine times out of ten, I'm the one taking the initiative and chasing after whoever I want. I do most of the work and they reward me with a chance. This is about the third time in my life that it's the other way around. It's a good kind of different." She admitted, momentarily kissing the native girl's lips. "What about you, dolcezza? I'm sure you had boys and girls chasing you left and right," she teased with another kiss.
“Only people chasing me were the people on my track team.” Mitena joked as she ran her fingers through Natalia’s gorgeous hair. “I wasn’t exactly what you would call popular in high school. See in Salem, everything was a little cliquey and the class I was in with my bandmate Odie, they didn’t take kindly to native girls. Odie got it worse.”
The pale woman rolled her eyes and shook her head in disapproval. While Edenridge might be cursed and riddled with crime, Tal liked to think that the diversity of its residents made for a more tolerant, inclusive town. People of all races and walks of life made up their tightly-knit community, and everyone eventually found a place where they felt like they belonged inside of it. The thought of anyone discriminating against Mitena of all people just for her ethnicity made Natalia’s blood boil under her skin.
"That is ridiculous,” Tal protested, green eyes flashing as she displayed anger in front of Tena for the first time since they’d met. “Ostracizing someone because of their race, their ethnicity or even their social standing in this day and age is a pretty pathetic move if you ask me. This isn’t the 1900’s. And just for the record: being popular doesn’t give you an excuse to be a shitty fucking person to other people. I was part of the it-crowd back home since sophomore year and queen bee senior year, and I treated everyone the same way they treated me. Hell, one of my best friends was in a fucking wheelchair, and you bet I was quick to put whoever said anything about him in their place. Anyone who discriminates against someone else period is nothing more than a fucking loser.”
Even talking of sorrowful things, Tena still tried to keep her confidence in the moment and not be sucked into bad memories. “I dated a few guys, nothing long term. Girls too. Weren’t even bad break-ups, really; they just didn’t ignite my soul, you know? Didn’t set my world on fire.”
Natalia nodded her head to show she'd been listening, but remained silent after the dark-haired girl's words. The difference between hers and Tena’s romantic experiences seemed to be as opposite as the night was to the day. While it seemed like Tena had been the less invested party of her previous relationships and the one to put an end to them, Natalia had always been the one at the receiving end of the breakups. She tended to fall so deeply in love with her partners; investing so much of her time, attention, trust, and affection in their happiness and healing only to be discarded and eventually replaced by someone else. She never claimed to be a perfect partner. She’d definitely made her fair share of mistakes over the years. But she sure was tired of giving everything to people who wouldn’t be sticking around
“I’d take my world never being set on fire in the first place than constantly having that fire being extinguished by somebody else,” Tal eventually muttered under her breath before she could stop herself, shifting her eyes down to stare at her lap.
“Excuse me.” Tena took her finger and placed it beneath Tal’s chin. She pushed the stunning Sicilian beauty’s gaze back up to meet hers. “You don’t look away from me. I’m not done with you yet.” A soft, barely there half smile slipped across the indigenous girl’s face as she looked with such wanting at the girl between her legs. “When I’m done with you, your world will be brought to cinders and you…” Mitena lowered her voice to a whisper as she kissed each corner of Natalia’s lips between her words. “Will love every moment of it.”
The gorgeous musicians' hands wandered down from Tal’s face and interlocked their fingers together. As their fingers laced together, Tena rested her forehead against Natalia’s, sharing the air, their lips hovering close together. “Dolcezza, that’s a beautiful word. What does it mean?” She bit her plump bottom lip, her tan body warming by the second.
The Italian girl smiled at the question. "Sweetness. It means sweetness in Italian,” she explained, kissing the back of both of Tena’s hands without letting them go. “It felt like the most fitting name to call you. I figured since you call me Stargirl that I should have the same courtesy and give you a cute nickname of your own.” Tal told her with a small laugh before adding, “Which I have no idea what it means, by the way, the Stargirl name that you keep calling me by.”
Stargirl. Tena smiled. She hadn’t even considered the connotations of bequeathing that name to her. It just seemed right, especially once she knew who Natalia was. In Charlie’s novel, his way of describing Tal was otherworldly, like she was a star stolen from heaven, with eyes that burned with the fire of a million supernovas. She was a beauty that no Earthling could truly understand, let alone a small boy from Massachusetts.
“It’s from a book.” Tena mused. “It means you are a cosmic beauty, something we mere mortals will never be able to understand. It means that when I look into those pretty green eyes, I see a million galaxies shining and stardust dancing in space. In my culture, there’s a strong belief that star people come from other words to help us progress, to move forward and to take us on our next great adventure.” The songstress kissed Natalia deeply once more, placing her hands between them, pressed tightly against both of their bare chests. “Stargirl means I want to explore and I want you to be my next great adventure.”
The usually outspoken Natalia was left speechless, a breath catching in her throat and her eyes filling up with tears. All her life, she’d been waiting for the person that would make her feel like her intense, passionate, unconditional love wasn’t this overwhelming burden they would never be able to repay or measure up against. She had tried to find a love like hers in the arms of broken partners; giving her all but always ending in disappointment because the timing was never right. She’d spent years numbing away each rejection and the feelings of inadequacy and emptiness with weed and pills, or compartmentalizing and pushing the bad memories to the back of her mind with the help of active sports and fleeting one night stands.
But for the first time in her life, Natalia felt like she was finally enough. She wasn’t a burden, or an inconvenience, or a person that could so easily be discarded and replaced with someone else. Her love wasn’t this behemoth that intimidated and scared people away. It was the opposite. She was someone who was worth the world: who deserved her same form of love to be returned to her even with her many flaws and mistakes she’d made throughout the years. The way Mitena spoke to her filled that invisible emptiness in her heart in ways she hadn't even dreamed of. And although she was aware that they had just met, Tal could sense it in her very spirit that the woman in her arms had meant each and every one of the words that came out of her mouth.
Completely overwhelmed with raw emotions, Natalia didn’t know what to say, and she didn’t want Mitena to see her cry. Instead, she did the only logical thing that was left. Without any further hesitation, the Italian girl wrapped her arms around Tena’s bare torso, pulled her close and passionately claimed her mouth with her own. Words may have failed her, but her actions would always reveal the truth.
The last day had been a whirlwind of emotions and situations that Mitena never thought she would have to deal with. Charlie’s long lost friends searching for her, connecting with one of those friends in a way that was borderline cosmic; not of it really made any sense. Hell, there was a high chance she just met a mystical horse. It was a weird day. Yet she wouldn’t trade it. She didn’t want to change a thing save how her meeting with Poppy went. Mitena knew that she needed to seek out the girl with the flower for a name; the one that Charlie broke into a million fragments of glass. She had to make it right. Yet before she did, the powers cosmic were not done with her and the Stargirl just yet.
The feel of Natalia’s lips on hers drove the fire inside Mitena to burn hotter than ever before. She desperately gripped at her lover's hair, face and body, driven not by lust but by love. Tena had fallen in love. The force of their passion pushed the girls down onto the floor where between feverish kisses, they removed what was left of their clothes and gave themselves to one another in body and in soul. Mitena wondered what the future had planned for them. There were so many variables in the equation that it was hard for her to really fathom its enormity. Yet she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind, the answers would come in due course. This moment was theirs and theirs alone. Straddling her Stargirl, Tena pinned her arms to the floor, her breath labored from their kisses and desire for one another. She stared deeply into Tal’s green galaxy eyes, and saw Natalia looking back up at her with the same desire and need. God, she was so beautiful. As they crashed into one another once more, becoming one as they were meant to be, Ska-cante raced through the woods, bringing life where once there was none.
With that in mind, the young, doe-eyed girl looked towards the raven that had nested above them-- the raven she named Charlie-- and followed it. Without letting Natalia in on her crazy notion, Tena took the Italian girl onto her bike and followed the herald of truth through Blue Hill on her bike and into the woods. Tena finally lost Charlie when her bike reached a clearing, one that she barely even remembered. She had been to it as a child but had forgotten it even existed. It was small, nestled away in the privacy of the mountain's shadow and it was all theirs: Mitena and Natalia’s own private hiding place.
Settling there for the morning, the singer took hold of Tal’s hand and led her towards the cliff’s edge; overlooking the Reservation and all the people on it. She positioned herself behind the girl with galaxies in her eyes and wrapped her arms around her small waist. Tena kissed the spot below Natalia’s neck and between her shoulder blades with a content moan. “Like what you see?”
With the topic of Charlie left behind in Adora’s kitchen, Natalia was trying to do as she had the previous night and focus on the present rather than on anything else clouding her mind. Thankfully, with company as special as Mitena, distracting oneself from the gloomy thoughts previously permeating her mood was a task quite easy to accomplish. And the amazing view of the luscious Blue Hill greenery stretching out in front of them in this desolate, little piece of mountain heaven certainly helped shift the Italian girl’s mindset into something more positive.
Mitena’s kisses sent shivers down Natalia’s spine. She had always been a fan of physical displays of affection, so it felt nice to experience them again with someone she was quickly growing to care about. At the native girl’s question, Tal shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. I guess it's okay. I think it could be better," she observed with a feigned lack of amusement, a smirk playing around the corners of her mouth as she turned around and switched places with the other woman. Instead of her standing in front of the breathtaking backdrop, Tena was now in the center of the canvas of the work of art in front of them. "There. That's better," she commented in satisfaction with a wide smile, taking a moment to marvel at the beautiful sight in front of her before closing the distance between them, cupping the other girl's face in her hands and kissing her lips.
Tena gave herself completely to Natalia’s embrace, losing herself in the kiss. She slipped her tongue between her lover's lips whilst tracing her fingernails down her back. The silence around them did nothing but charge their moment of bliss, the world around them with all of its problems and fears fading and disappearing into the trees to be stolen away by the restless spirits of the wood. There was magic carried on the wind when Mitena was with Natalia. She had all but given up trying to find some logical explanation for what was happening between them. Her entire life, Tena had been told about good and bad medicine, white and black magic, karma. She had never been a full follower of her tribe's teachings but she had always been open to it, always willing to believe. Natalia, she made her believe.
Coming up for air from the throes of passion, Mitena’s dark gaze drifted from Tal’s full kissable lips and across her cute freckles, up to those damned green eyes and she smiled softly, drinking in her beauty. “I couldn’t dream of anyone more beautiful.” With their noses lightly grazing, Tena brushed her thumb over Natalia’s lips and gently leaned their heads together. “This is something, right? You and me?”
The Belmonte girl nodded. "It's more than just 'something'," she reassured her lover with a small laugh, getting her point across with another fleeting kiss. "I haven't felt this way about anyone in… Well, in a while, actually. Probably not ever. But at the same time, and I hope you don't take this the wrong way, I don't want to just rush into things and mess everything up, you know? I don't want either of us to get hurt here."
Mitena understood. She was human and had gone through the pain of heartbreak before. Whatever was happening between her and Natalia was exciting, new and intense. It was a different breed of special that needed nourishment, care and most of all, time. She nodded her head to show that she was with Tal, that she was on the same page and stood on the same hill. “I don’t know, sometimes pain can be a little pleasurable.” Tena coyly teased before playfully nipping at Natalia’s bottom lip.
The Italian girl chuckled into the kiss, amused by Tena’s flirty comment. “I guess you have a point there,” she chortled, copying her lover by momentarily capturing her lower lip between her teeth.
Taking a few steps back, the native girl reached down with her fingers and lifted her shirt off, tossing it to the side when she was done. Mitena tilted her head, deep dark chocolate eyes staring into the Stargirl’s soul. She ran her hands through her raven tresses and a smirk curled up over her thick lips as her fingers traveled down her face and neck until she suggested brushing the top of her exposed breasts which were only covered by her bra. “How’s the view now?”
There was silence between the two women as Natalia’s green eyes locked on Mitena, utterly mesmerized at the breathtaking sight. No matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn't comprehend how one person could be so gorgeous in every single aspect that mattered. She tore her eyes away from Tena’s long enough to let them travel down her lovely features: from her beautiful face, her succulent rosy lips, her shiny dark hair falling down her shoulders, her soft, sun-kissed skin, the tantalizing curves of her chest perfectly emphasized by the bra she was wearing… Natalia found herself being more captivated by this stunning woman with every second she spent in her presence. It was truly something she couldn’t truly put into words.
"I still think it could be better…" she drawled, Tena's smirk mirrored on her own pale face as she approached the dark-haired beauty. With her eyes locked on hers, Tal gently grabbed both of her hands and carefully walked backwards, until she felt her back softly colliding with the thick trunk of a maple tree. Without letting go of her lover's hands, Natalia slowly slid down against the trunk, reaching the ground and settling into a seating position. It was then when Tal moved from holding Tena's hands to placing her hands on the bare skin of her small waist, and guided the Native girl into a straddling position on her lap.
From this angle, with their bodies pressed together and her face hovering so close to her own, Mitena looked even more gorgeous than before. "This right here is the most perfect view to me, dolcezza. My own personal masterpiece," she whispered softly, smiling at Tena before pulling her into a deep, passionate kiss, hands roaming over the other girl's exposed caramel skin.
Tena had never done hard drugs before. She smoked a lot of weed, of course she did, her auntie grew it on the farm she lived on but she had never touched the really addictive stuff. She imagined that the first bump of any of the strong line drugs was much like kissing Natalia; no wonder addicts always went back for more, she was pure unadulterated intoxication and Tena was craving, aching for the next hit.
The gentle touch of the Italian girl's hands, combined with the warmth of the summer sun on her bare skin was sending Mitena into a tailspin of ecstasy. The indigenous flower began to slowly but deliberately grind her hips against her Stargirl as their tongues graced each other with deep affection. She could feel the fire burning beneath her skin heating up with every passing moment of embrace they shared together. Her lover’s hands skillfully unhooked her bra and tossed it in the general direction of their forgotten shirts. Tena’s hands wandered down from Natalia’s beautiful face, down her body to the hem of her shirt where she gripped tightly and lifted it up over Tal’s head, throwing it into the brush with her own top. She gazed at the porcelain body before her with an eager hunger in her eye.
Mitena leaned forward once more to kiss those enthralling lips before she allowed her mouth to travel across Natalia’s sharp sharp jaw and up to her ear lobe where she playfully nibbled. So engrossed in her gift from the stars was Tena that she didn’t hear the rustling of the trees around them. As she feverishly gripped and nibbled at Tal’s neck, the native woman finally heard the movements. Breathlessly she turned her head, still holding Natalia’s head in her hands, and was greeted by the sight of a pale white horse, watching the lovers lose themselves in each other.
The rustling sounds of the nearby vegetation were drowned out by the two girls' chorus of moans and heavy breathing. As lost as Natalia was in being the recipient of Mitena's passion and the desperate desire to become one with her again growing with every second, she had become oblivious to their surroundings. It wasn't until Tena ceased her ministrations on her neck for longer than usual that Tal's eyelids fluttered open. She turned to her lover with a curious expression, silently questioning why she had stopped. Her answer, however, was obtained after she followed Tena's line of sight to a spot between the trees not too far away from them.
"Oh my God," Natalia exclaimed in admiration, her eyes wide at the surprising sight. In the twenty years she had roamed the earth, a pure white horse wasn't something she'd ever encountered. They were the same as unicorns in her mind: very talked about, but rarely seen in person. "Is that real?" Tal inquired, still unsure whether she was actually seeing the horse or whether it was her lusted mind playing tricks on her.
“Ska-cante.” Tena said breathlessly, still trying to suck some air back into her lungs after giving so much to Natalia. “Oh Stargirl, she’s very real.” The singer could feel her lover's body tense between her fingertips, though it was a very different kind of tension than the one she had quickly come accustomed to in their short time together. An amazed smile curled up across Mitena’s lips as she held Tal close and watched the majestic creature edge slightly closer to them. “Don’t make any sudden movements, we don't want to scare her.”
Still straddling Natalia’s hips, the doe eyed girl locked her gaze on the white mare and slowly outstretched her arm, flattening her palm in a welcoming motion. “You’re okay.” She spoke gently. “Hi there. You’re okay. You’re a beautiful girl.” The horse moved ever closer to the girls and began to lower its body to match their grounded height. “Her name is Ska-cante, in your tongue that means White Heart. Nobody knows where she comes from or how long she’s been in our woods. Like the Chief says he saw her when he was a boy, which would make her at least fifty!” Tena spoke in hushed tones, almost whispering in Tal’s ear so as to not spook their new companion. “Some say she’s the horse that led our tribe to this new land when ours was taken. She comes at times of great change.”
As the mare finally lowered itself fully to the ground and rested her head in Tena’s hand; her eyes shifted to Natalia and looked deeply at her. “I think she’s here for you.”
Tal, who had been transfixed by the mare's beauty, its intense stare locked on her and the gentle way in which her lover was tending to her, shot Tena an inquisitive look. "Why would she be here for me?" she asked with confusion, keeping the other woman held close to her body.
Mitena could feel Natalia’s grip tighten on her back and she smiled. She enjoyed the pressure, probably a little too much but she knew it wasn’t out of longing yet neither was it fear. It was a need for understanding. Comfort maybe? Tena moved her hand away from the horse who stayed her course. She reached around her back and took a hold of Tal’s wrist. “It’s okay.” Tena said reassuringly as she looked into those big green eyes of Natalia’s that had captured her heart. “Trust me.” She guided the Italian girl's palm to where her own once was, holding it flat she gently rested the Stargirl's palm against Ska-cante’s chin. “I think she’s here to tell you something. What? I don’t know. That’s between you.”
A cloud of uncertainty cast a shadow on Natalia's eyes, and she began to bite the inside of her cheek as she gently stroked the horse’s chin. "I'm sorry. I just… I don't know how I'm supposed to figure out what that message is…" she admitted, crestfallen at potentially disappointing Tena with her non-answer. Even with their brief time together, the girl could tell that Tena was a person who believed in the power of the supernatural and who was very in tune with her feelings, her emotions and her spiritual side. The Italian, however, was the complete opposite. She had never been much of a believer, even after being raised by a devoted Catholic. She was a thinker, who liked to justify things with reason and who believed in the logical explanation of things. To be told that there was a potentially mythical horse on this field to give her a message from beyond was a thought she needed to digest in itself. But to somehow be expected to know exactly what that message was was a tall order in Tal’s opinion. She'd try, though, for Mitena.
“I don’t think you are.” Tena responded. “At least not yet.” The native girl leaned back, allowing Natalia a little more room to maneuver. “She’s a horse, she can’t speak. She’s not going to give you a vision. She’s just here to signify that something is about to change for you. Something important.” With Tena’s final word, the white mare licked Natalia’s open hand before moving and doing the same to Mitena’s. Ska-cante pulled herself up by her strong legs and back up to her full height. With a loud whine, she turned and took off back into the woods from whence she had come, leaving the lovers alone once again.
Mitena moved closer to her Stargirl once more, placing her hands on the alabaster girl's neck and jaw, holding her close. “Or maybe she was just a pervy horse that wanted to watch me fuck your brains out like I did last night? Who's to say?” She couldn’t help but let out a laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation, and heard Natalia joining along. There she was: in the middle of the woods, mostly naked with a girl she had met the night before, getting gawked at by a horny horse. It sounded like one of Bear's stories.
Tena gently caressed Natalia’s cheek with the back of her fingers, getting lost in those big green eyes as she did. “You okay?”
Natalia was quick to ease any worries Tena might have with a nod, kissing the nearest finger caressing her face. "I'm good. I was just thinking about how nice it feels to be the one being chased for once. Makes me feel important," she said with a small laugh, tucking a strand of the other girl's hair behind her ear.
“Your exes never chased you?” Mitena questioned. She couldn’t help but wonder why anyone wouldn’t chase Natalia to the ends of the Earth, Beyond and back again. With her hands resting on Tal’s jaw, Tena sunk her thick hips deeper against her beautiful stranger's lap. Her dark eyes mapped out the light freckles over the Italian’s face like it was a map of the world. Such deep sadness lay like sea water in the stardust flecks of Natalia’s eyes. Such sorrow. Yet behind the ocean of hurt there was a bright light on the horizon. The burning of a sun which lit up her life and filled Tena’s heart. “If you ever let me go, I’m chasing you off the edge of the map.”
Natalia laughed brightly, amused and elated at Mitena's declaration. While knowing that this girl found her attractive enough to want to chase her in that way, her statement made the Italian girl nervous. Nobody that had ever said those words before had ever stuck around longer than a few months. But before she could ruin the moment by going down the rabbit hole of bitterness left behind by her failed relationships, she shifted her attention back to the breathtaking beauty on her lap.
"That's not how I meant," she told Mitena, kneading the girl's thighs. "I meant like in the beginning of getting involved with someone. Nine times out of ten, I'm the one taking the initiative and chasing after whoever I want. I do most of the work and they reward me with a chance. This is about the third time in my life that it's the other way around. It's a good kind of different." She admitted, momentarily kissing the native girl's lips. "What about you, dolcezza? I'm sure you had boys and girls chasing you left and right," she teased with another kiss.
“Only people chasing me were the people on my track team.” Mitena joked as she ran her fingers through Natalia’s gorgeous hair. “I wasn’t exactly what you would call popular in high school. See in Salem, everything was a little cliquey and the class I was in with my bandmate Odie, they didn’t take kindly to native girls. Odie got it worse.”
The pale woman rolled her eyes and shook her head in disapproval. While Edenridge might be cursed and riddled with crime, Tal liked to think that the diversity of its residents made for a more tolerant, inclusive town. People of all races and walks of life made up their tightly-knit community, and everyone eventually found a place where they felt like they belonged inside of it. The thought of anyone discriminating against Mitena of all people just for her ethnicity made Natalia’s blood boil under her skin.
"That is ridiculous,” Tal protested, green eyes flashing as she displayed anger in front of Tena for the first time since they’d met. “Ostracizing someone because of their race, their ethnicity or even their social standing in this day and age is a pretty pathetic move if you ask me. This isn’t the 1900’s. And just for the record: being popular doesn’t give you an excuse to be a shitty fucking person to other people. I was part of the it-crowd back home since sophomore year and queen bee senior year, and I treated everyone the same way they treated me. Hell, one of my best friends was in a fucking wheelchair, and you bet I was quick to put whoever said anything about him in their place. Anyone who discriminates against someone else period is nothing more than a fucking loser.”
Even talking of sorrowful things, Tena still tried to keep her confidence in the moment and not be sucked into bad memories. “I dated a few guys, nothing long term. Girls too. Weren’t even bad break-ups, really; they just didn’t ignite my soul, you know? Didn’t set my world on fire.”
Natalia nodded her head to show she'd been listening, but remained silent after the dark-haired girl's words. The difference between hers and Tena’s romantic experiences seemed to be as opposite as the night was to the day. While it seemed like Tena had been the less invested party of her previous relationships and the one to put an end to them, Natalia had always been the one at the receiving end of the breakups. She tended to fall so deeply in love with her partners; investing so much of her time, attention, trust, and affection in their happiness and healing only to be discarded and eventually replaced by someone else. She never claimed to be a perfect partner. She’d definitely made her fair share of mistakes over the years. But she sure was tired of giving everything to people who wouldn’t be sticking around
“I’d take my world never being set on fire in the first place than constantly having that fire being extinguished by somebody else,” Tal eventually muttered under her breath before she could stop herself, shifting her eyes down to stare at her lap.
“Excuse me.” Tena took her finger and placed it beneath Tal’s chin. She pushed the stunning Sicilian beauty’s gaze back up to meet hers. “You don’t look away from me. I’m not done with you yet.” A soft, barely there half smile slipped across the indigenous girl’s face as she looked with such wanting at the girl between her legs. “When I’m done with you, your world will be brought to cinders and you…” Mitena lowered her voice to a whisper as she kissed each corner of Natalia’s lips between her words. “Will love every moment of it.”
The gorgeous musicians' hands wandered down from Tal’s face and interlocked their fingers together. As their fingers laced together, Tena rested her forehead against Natalia’s, sharing the air, their lips hovering close together. “Dolcezza, that’s a beautiful word. What does it mean?” She bit her plump bottom lip, her tan body warming by the second.
The Italian girl smiled at the question. "Sweetness. It means sweetness in Italian,” she explained, kissing the back of both of Tena’s hands without letting them go. “It felt like the most fitting name to call you. I figured since you call me Stargirl that I should have the same courtesy and give you a cute nickname of your own.” Tal told her with a small laugh before adding, “Which I have no idea what it means, by the way, the Stargirl name that you keep calling me by.”
Stargirl. Tena smiled. She hadn’t even considered the connotations of bequeathing that name to her. It just seemed right, especially once she knew who Natalia was. In Charlie’s novel, his way of describing Tal was otherworldly, like she was a star stolen from heaven, with eyes that burned with the fire of a million supernovas. She was a beauty that no Earthling could truly understand, let alone a small boy from Massachusetts.
“It’s from a book.” Tena mused. “It means you are a cosmic beauty, something we mere mortals will never be able to understand. It means that when I look into those pretty green eyes, I see a million galaxies shining and stardust dancing in space. In my culture, there’s a strong belief that star people come from other words to help us progress, to move forward and to take us on our next great adventure.” The songstress kissed Natalia deeply once more, placing her hands between them, pressed tightly against both of their bare chests. “Stargirl means I want to explore and I want you to be my next great adventure.”
The usually outspoken Natalia was left speechless, a breath catching in her throat and her eyes filling up with tears. All her life, she’d been waiting for the person that would make her feel like her intense, passionate, unconditional love wasn’t this overwhelming burden they would never be able to repay or measure up against. She had tried to find a love like hers in the arms of broken partners; giving her all but always ending in disappointment because the timing was never right. She’d spent years numbing away each rejection and the feelings of inadequacy and emptiness with weed and pills, or compartmentalizing and pushing the bad memories to the back of her mind with the help of active sports and fleeting one night stands.
But for the first time in her life, Natalia felt like she was finally enough. She wasn’t a burden, or an inconvenience, or a person that could so easily be discarded and replaced with someone else. Her love wasn’t this behemoth that intimidated and scared people away. It was the opposite. She was someone who was worth the world: who deserved her same form of love to be returned to her even with her many flaws and mistakes she’d made throughout the years. The way Mitena spoke to her filled that invisible emptiness in her heart in ways she hadn't even dreamed of. And although she was aware that they had just met, Tal could sense it in her very spirit that the woman in her arms had meant each and every one of the words that came out of her mouth.
Completely overwhelmed with raw emotions, Natalia didn’t know what to say, and she didn’t want Mitena to see her cry. Instead, she did the only logical thing that was left. Without any further hesitation, the Italian girl wrapped her arms around Tena’s bare torso, pulled her close and passionately claimed her mouth with her own. Words may have failed her, but her actions would always reveal the truth.
The last day had been a whirlwind of emotions and situations that Mitena never thought she would have to deal with. Charlie’s long lost friends searching for her, connecting with one of those friends in a way that was borderline cosmic; not of it really made any sense. Hell, there was a high chance she just met a mystical horse. It was a weird day. Yet she wouldn’t trade it. She didn’t want to change a thing save how her meeting with Poppy went. Mitena knew that she needed to seek out the girl with the flower for a name; the one that Charlie broke into a million fragments of glass. She had to make it right. Yet before she did, the powers cosmic were not done with her and the Stargirl just yet.
The feel of Natalia’s lips on hers drove the fire inside Mitena to burn hotter than ever before. She desperately gripped at her lover's hair, face and body, driven not by lust but by love. Tena had fallen in love. The force of their passion pushed the girls down onto the floor where between feverish kisses, they removed what was left of their clothes and gave themselves to one another in body and in soul. Mitena wondered what the future had planned for them. There were so many variables in the equation that it was hard for her to really fathom its enormity. Yet she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind, the answers would come in due course. This moment was theirs and theirs alone. Straddling her Stargirl, Tena pinned her arms to the floor, her breath labored from their kisses and desire for one another. She stared deeply into Tal’s green galaxy eyes, and saw Natalia looking back up at her with the same desire and need. God, she was so beautiful. As they crashed into one another once more, becoming one as they were meant to be, Ska-cante raced through the woods, bringing life where once there was none.
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