Dalumat

XX. Trial One

In the middle of the night, something icy grazed Leni's shin. The sensation brought her out of her sleepy haze, but only for a moment. She was about to fall back into sleep again when the icy sensation came back, this time lasting longer and feeling colder than the last. Leni opened her eyes, peeking through the darkness to find Risa's hair illuminated by the night light. Risa was facing away from her, cuddling a pillow, and it took more than a second for Leni to realize that it was the sole of Risa's foot against her shin.

"Risa..." Leni called hoarsely, the name coming out more as a groan than a word.

As she expected, Risa didn't budge.

Leni lazily lifted a hand to give Risa's arm a squeeze. "Ris..."

It took a couple more shakes until Risa finally gave a response. "Mmm..."

"Ang lamig ng paa mo," Leni said, giving Risa's foot a gentle poke with her own leg under the blanket.

"Mmm... Leni...? Where are you...?"

Leni laughed a little. "Nasa likod mo."

At Leni's answer, Risa turned over, looking for Leni in the dimness, and when they finally found each other, there was a small pause as they looked at each other's faces, as if seeing each other for the first time in a long time, before the moment came to an end and they were back to Earth again. And this time, much more awake than before.

"Gusto mong mag-medyas?" Leni said. "Parang yelo na 'yung paa mo sa lamig."

Risa nodded mutely. Only when Leni started to get up from the bed did Risa find her words again to insist that she would get her socks herself. But in the next second, Leni was already standing over their bags, and in the next few, with directions from Risa, Leni was already on her way back to the bed with a pair of Risa's socks.

Instead of going back to her side of the bed, Leni went around the bed to Risa's side.

From there, it was quiet. Perhaps it was sleepiness; perhaps it was something else.

No one spoke a single word as Leni knelt by the bed near Risa, as Risa sat up and pulled the comforter back, revealing her cold feet to Leni almost like an offering. Leni pulled a sock over Risa's foot, careful and gentle, and then the next one, taking her time, much like the last time, only this time the opposite way.

She didn't look up until she was finished.

When she did, Risa was staring at her.

(Earth.)

"Thank you," Risa said.

Leni squeezed one foot in response before letting go.

Then Risa smiled, and she held her arms out to Leni, and there was soft, sleepy laughter between them as Risa pulled Leni up and onto the bed beside her, making space for Leni where Risa used to be.

"Let's go back to sleep," Risa whispered, and Leni didn't say anything again. She only gazed lazily at Risa, until Risa fell back to sleep first, and Leni fell back to sleep second, just like the first time they slept together.

-

Maybe the air conditioner was an excuse to cuddle.

That was the last thing on Risa's mind before she fell asleep. Last night, it was Leni who had fallen asleep first, Leni who had cuddled Risa from behind, Leni who had turned the lights off and reached for Risa in the dark — at that time a different kind of darkness than the one they had just before. Risa did her own share of reaching, too — her hands cradling the arms around her — and she'd smiled when she felt the little sniff at the back of her neck, more naked than it had ever been between them.