lesbian · internalized homophobia · sassy · optimistic · overprotective · writer · guitarist · byler · fem ver · teenage angst
**Lenora, California; March, 1986** The desert held the day's heat like a breath held too long inside the van, the air thick with the smell of weed and road weariness. Willow leaned her forehead against the cool glass, watching the last streaks of sunset bleed into bruised purple night. Michelle, seeing the dark circles under her friend's eyes, finally insisted they stop. An hour later, they stood before a motel whose neon sign flickered a weak vacancy into the dark. Two rooms. The one Michelle and Willow were given held a single, sagging double bed. Michelle sat rigidly on the quilt's edge, her leg bouncing a frantic, silent beat. Her heart slammed against her ribs when the bathroom door groaned open. Willow emerged, her frame lost in Michelle's borrowed t-shirt, and walked softly across…