It was a Friday afternoon at BulkCo, and like usual, the club warehouse was packed full of people. The sound of shoppers chatting, children shrieking, carts rolling, tvs playing the same demos over and over, cash registers beeping, and more filled the air. It would take a very silly person to enjoy being here at this time.
Lyra was one of those silly people. She loved people-watching, and this spot on the patio furniture display was the perfect spot to watch everyone go by without making it look like she was watching everyone go by.
But today was special, because today, she was looking for one person in particular. One very best friend who hadn’t made it to any of the summer trips CHS had taken had finally responded to her text messages. She glanced back over to the door. Bon Bon didn’t have a card, so she’d have to go let her in as soon as she arrived.
And then two hands suddenly covered her eyes. “Guess who?”
“Bon Bon!” Lyra nearly shouted, tripping over her shoes in an effort to get behind the chair to grab her best friend in a tight hug. “I missed you!”
“I missed you, too!” Bon Bon said, gladly returning it.
Lyra finally broke the hug, but kept her hands on Bon Bon’s arms, her heart still racing at being able to touch her best friend again. “It’s so good to see you! Feels like it’s been forever.”
“It really has!” Bon Bon said, clearly just as overjoyed at seeing her best friend as Lyra was. “You’ve had some crazy adventures this summer!”
“No kidding! The storm was huge! Magic is real! I was a little pony! It was just, whoa.” She brought her hand up to her forehead in the universal sign for ‘mind blown!’.
“I bet you were a cute little pony. I totally would have thought the pictures were photoshopped if there hadn’t been so many.”
“Where were you, anyway?” Lyra asked. “You left, like, a week after school got out.”
“Oh, I’m secretly a spy, and I got called up and had to go undercover for a mission overseas.”
There was a brief pause.
Bon Bon cracked first, then Lyra did, too, both girls laughing with each other.
Lyra had missed Bon Bon’s laugh.
“Nah. I got dragged on another of my family trips. And, like usual, no pictures, because my mom’s a stickler about ‘living in the moment’.” She rolled her eyes.
“Well, we have some great moments to live in now,” Lyra said, finally letting her go but staying close enough to easily bump her with her hips. “Come on.”
The two sat, just watching, happy at being next to each other.
Something occurred to Lyra. “Hey, how did you get in here without a card, anyway?”
“Eh. The best way to get anywhere is just to look like you belong,” Bon Bon answered airily.
“I say you belong here with me,” she said, taking hold of Bon Bon’s arm.
Bon Bon smiled, agreeing.
Together, they watched the people go by.
And then Lyra’s stomach growled.
The two looked at each other. “Sample time!” they sang in unison.
The two best friends wandered through the aisles towards the back.
Lyra gestured with a fork full of pasta salad. “I just… who needs a four pack of toilet cleaner?” she asked as Bon Bon giggled. “Like if you really need that much, maybe watch what you’re eating, you know?”
“I know, right?” Bon Bon tossed her empty paper cup into the trash can. She paused and cocked her head. “Hey, look at the toilet paper stack. It kinda looks like a throne.”
“Ha! It does! I can be the TP Queen.”
“Nah. That’s your mom. You can be the TP Princess.”
Lyra laughed. She was right.
And she did like being called a princess, especially by Bon Bon.
“Seriously,” Bon Bon continued. “It is everywhere in your house. The first time I tried to get a glass of water and somehow grabbed a roll instead, remember that?”
“I do!” Lyra laughed at the memory. “Apparently, she ran out as a kid once, and she’s still afraid of it happening again. So once a month, whether we need it or not, another BulkCo pack of toilet paper. She tried to hide some in my closet once. I opened the door too quick and it fell on me.”
“Gotta get rid of some of it.”
“How? Taco night, but for a month straight?”
“I was thinking more like a massive raid to TP Mr. Doodle’s house.”
Lyra nearly choked on her last bite. She laughed as she threw the paper cup away. “I’m not saying I would…”
“But you wouldn’t not?” Bon Bon finished playfully.
Lyra’s heart seemed to skip a beat. “You know me so well.”
Lyra spun in the office chair. “I… don’t like it,” she said, feeling strangely disappointed. “I want to, because wheelie chair-”
“Of course,” Bon Bon agreed.
“But it’s not as comfortable as it looks. Look how padded it looks and then-” She blew a quick raspberry. “Just, sadness and deception.”
“Yeah. Maybe it’s just because it belongs to an office job. I could never be stuck in an office. I’d rather, I don’t know-”
“Travel the world?” Lyra suggested teasingly.
“Yeah, but with my phone this time,” she said. “I don’t think you’d do great in an office either.”
“Oh, no?”
“Nah. You're one of those people who can’t have routine. You need new experiences, new places, you’ve got to be free, Lyra.”
Bon Bon totally understood her.
Lyra smiled, hoping she wasn’t blushing too hard, but inside, she was determined. Nothing would stop her.
Once she figured out how to bring it up, anyway.
Lyra and Bon Bon paused to let the deli worker load a cooler with plastic packs from her cart.
“Ooh, sushi. They’ve got a big selection today. Do you like sushi?”
“Sure do,” Bon Bon said. “On one of my other family trips, we got authentic sushi caught literally right off the ocean, and since then, nothing else has quite measured up.”
Lyra had not gone on many trips and was reminded of the time she went on a school trip and would have gladly eaten gas station sushi if Bon Bon had not intervened. “You go on a lot of trips.”
“Sure do,” Bon Bon said tiredly. “And no pictures to show for it.”
“We can take one now,” Lyra offered, pulling out her phone.
Bon Bon agreed, putting on a cute pose.
Lyra posed with her mouth open dramatically as she held the giant tray of truffles. It was far too many for her to eat at one time.
Not that she wouldn’t have made an attempt at it, because she definitely would have; but it was a little pricey.
Bon Bon giggled.
“How long would it take you to make something that big?” Lyra asked as she put it back.
“Way too long,” Bon Bon said wryly. “I prefer hard candies, anyway.”
“Huh,” Lyra said. “You always make me chocolates. For my birthday, for New Years, for fall equinox—I really liked the red leaf decorations-”
Bon Bon waved her down. “You’re my best friend, Lyra. You’re always worth it.”
Lyra giggled, looking down and hoping her blush wasn’t noticeable. Bon Bon was just too sweet.
Bon Bon looked at the take-n-bake pizzas. “I swear these are getting smaller,” she muttered.
“Yeah. Nothing like family pizza nights. That much dough is a pain to roll out, but fresh pizza can’t be beat. Do you know how to make pizza?”
“I definitely like candy more than pizza,” Bon Bon said, brushing a finger over her wrapped candy motif on her belt, “but I can follow a recipe.”
“What, nothing about how pizza overseas you tasted on one trip is superior?” Lyra teased.
“Yeah, no. Pizza from here is what I think of when I think of pizza. Deep dish, caked in cheese, greasy, looks like someone dropped half a meat shop on it, big enough for a whole family but so good you eat so much that there’s only one slice for breakfast the next day.”
Lyra licked her lips. “You’ve got a way with words. Now I’m getting hungry.”
Pizza from the snack bar wasn’t quite homemade, but it was fresh and hot, and fairly inexpensive, which was the perfect combination for two girls that were technically adults but still in school.
As she waited for her slice to cool, she took a drink from her cup and looked around.
A hot tub hung from the rafters, drawing Lyra’s attention. “I always wanted a hot tub,” she commented. “My grandparents had one, but they lived, like, forever away, so we didn’t get to go often. I used to love going there. I thought it was the coolest thing, and I cried once when I forgot my swimsuit.” She chuckled. “Went back last year and it was tiny, like, so small. Baby Lyra could swim around in it, but Grown-up Lyra takes up half the tub. I could maybe go under the water, if no one else was in it.”
Bon Bon giggled. “I’m sorry, I’m just imagining Tiny!Lyra being so sad about forgetting her swimsuit. You’re so cute in my mind.”
Lyra hesitated. Could that mean she was cute now? “Hey, I’m cute now, too,” she floated.
Bon Bon grinned. “Yeah, you are,” she said with a wink. She leaned down to take another bite of her pizza.
Lyra shook her head. She wasn't sure if that was flirting, but she was sure she was overthinking this. She had held this inside long enough. She had to just go for it.
Not right here, of course. She had no intention of ever celebrating any anniversary in a noisy, raucous BulkCo food court.
But she couldn’t just buy a hot tub. That was way out of her price range.
But the two pack of foam dart blasters below it was not.
And an idea took form in her mind.
Author's Note
Or dare she say, ‘took foam’? 
Lyra adjusted the pot on the table. She put her hands on her hips and wished her heart wasn’t beating so fast. It was time. Bon Bon had been invited and confirmed that she was coming over, and now all she needed to do was wait for the doorbell, and then-
Ding dong!
Yeah, that was it, it would sound just like that, and then-
She turned and ran over to the door and tore it open. “Bon Bon!”
“Lyra!”
After a long and affectionate hug, the two came back in.
“So I made some macaroni and cheese for us,” Lyra said. “And by that, I mean I shredded the cheese while my mom did the rest of it.”
Bon Bon laughed lightly, which was a wonderful sound. “I bet you were the best shredder of cheese.”
“I was! No cheese could stand in my way. I was relentless. All the cheddar was shredded to shreds before my eyes.”
Lyra had been a little nervous, but there was a lot going on (or hopefully going on) tonight, and her mother’s macaroni and cheese wasn’t one of the things she needed to worry about. Bon Bon ate heartily, and Lyra did too, continuing to talk around the rich and cheesy dish.
Once they’d eaten their way through the pot at the table, they switched to ice cream at the kitchen island. Before long, the cartons were nearly empty, but there hadn’t even been a break in the conversation.
Bon Bon put her spoon down. “So, I noticed you had some foam blasters out,” she said, spinning one on the counter.
“Yeah. I figured it’d be fun. We could be like super spies,” Lyra said, picking one up and posing like the opening scene of one of the spy movies her dad liked so much. “We can be Double-0-Lyra and Bon Wick.”
Bon Bon chuckled. “I’d prefer something more Wild West,” she said as she picked up her own. She cocked her hips jauntily and raised it like a slightly-inebriated gunslinger. “We could be Wild Bon Hickok and Calamity Lyra.”
Lyra laughed. “I like it,” she said. “As long as I’m with you.”
Bon Bon comfortably twirled her blaster around her finger. “Sounds good to me,” she said. “Are we keeping score?”
“Nah,” Lyra said, hoping she sounded nonchalant. “Just for fun.”
Bon Bon nodded. “Alright. Five second head start?”
“You got it,” Lyra said, cocking her blaster with her thumb. She technically had the home field advantage, but Bon Bon had been over enough that she knew her house just as well as she did.
With the time running, Lyra ran into the living room, her heart beating fast for multiple reasons. It was going to be sweet and cheesy and she was here for it.
Thinking herself sneaky, she quickly doubled back while crouching and saw Bon Bon sliding into a bedroom. She quickly followed.
Bon Bon must have heard her coming, because as soon as Lyra stepped in the doorway, she fired her blaster, but it went wide, and Lyra’s return shot hit her in the stomach.
“Agh!“ Bon Bon cried out, but it was clearly playful. “You got me.”
Lyra giggled. “Again?”
Bon Bon cocked her blaster with her thumb. “You got it.”
Lyra ran out, giving Bon Bon some room to strategize. Then, she quickly crouched behind the couch and waited for her friend to walk by.
She didn’t have to wait long. Bon Bon soon walked by, her eyes looking up too high to see her. Lyra quickly fired her dart and it hit her thigh.
“Ah! Got me again,” Bon Bon said with a giggle.
They separated once more, and Lyra went back through the hallway towards the bathroom, but only because that bedroom had two doors.
So when Bon Bon followed, it was easy to sneak up on her and tag her again.
“Are you going easy on me?” Lyra asked accusingly, partially playful.
“Maaaybe,” Bon Bon said airily.
“Well, stop,” Lyra said.
Bon Bon shrugged. “If you want,” she said.
Lyra headed back and then doubled back into another of the bedrooms, watching for movement in the mirror. Before long, she saw Bon Bon approach. She timed it just right to jump out, raise her blaster, and-
Bon Bon wasn’t there.
Her brow furrowed.
And then she yelped as something hit her leg.
Bon Bon was prone on the ground in the hallway. She grinned impishly.
Ok, misdirection, not bad at all. “Nice shot,” Lyra said.
“Thanks.”
Lyra tried again. She headed out, then doubled back. She heard movement which made her look over…
Right into an empty bathroom.
But Lyra was crafty. She yanked the shower curtain back and fired, but all she hit was the faucet. Bon Bon wasn’t there.
And then a dart hit her in the side, making her squeak in surprise. ~~Too low~~
“Surprise,” Bon Bon said teasingly.
Lyra hoisted her blaster and pulled on a grin. It was still early.
Lyra wandered through the house, but it was quiet. Too quiet. Where was she? Feeling like a federal agent from one of her mom’s shows, she stepped in a bedroom doorway with her blaster up, but didn’t-
Wait, there she was. Hiding under the covers. Huh. Why would she do that?
It turns out, she wouldn’t. When Lyra pulled the covers off, all she saw was a couple of strategically-placed pillows. She realized too late that she had fallen for an old trick like you’d see in the movies.
And Bon Bon, who had secreted herself in the closed, easily tagged her in the shoulder.
Lyra’s eyes narrowed. That was it. No more Miss Nicestrings.
Lyra spun in a small circle, feeling oddly like the last girl in that one scary movie where the characters got picked off one by one. “You’re not outside, are you?” she called suspiciously.
She got her answer when a dart bounced off her butt. She jumped, startled.
Did Bon Bon like small butts? She hoped so. She’d never asked.
A dart bounced off the back of her head and Lyra suppressed a soft growl. She thought she’d been so sneaky! This was not going according to plan.
Also, she hadn’t tagged Bon Bon once since she’d asked her to not go easy on her, and it was getting frustrating.
“Boom,” Bon Bon said in her best deep announcer voice, cupping one hand over her mouth. “Headshot.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Lyra grumbled.
Bon Bon picked up on her frustration, and lowered her blaster. “Sorry about that,” she said. “Apple Family reunions get a little competitive sometimes.” She chuckled as she set the blaster on the counter. “I don’t even know how I’m actually related to them, honestly.”
“It’s fine,” Lyra said with forced cheeriness. “Let’s keep going.”
Bon Bon winced. “If you’re not having fun, I’m not having fun,” she said.
“No, this… ugh. This is all wrong.”
“What’s wrong, Lyra?” Bon Bon asked, so perfect, so caring.
“Nothing. I wanted you to shoot me in the heart,” Lyra groused.
Bon Bon paused. She subconsciously brought up one hand to touch where her own was. “I’m not going to shoot you in the boob, Lyra. That’d hurt.”
Lyra scoffed, and it all came spilling out. “Yeah, but then I could be like ‘oh, shot through the heart, just kidding’, and then I’d go get these…” She ran over to the fridge and retrieved what she’d actually worked on while her mom made their macaroni and cheese: a series of cupcakes with alternating pink and blue frosting and seafoam green frosting (that had come out a tiny bit too dark for Lyra’s liking) “-and then say something like, no, you can’t shoot me in the heart, because you have it already.”
Bon Bon stared. Her eyes took in the different colors and… what was that look in her eyes?
Lyra decided that she had made it this far and so she might as well go all the way. “Bon Bon, I missed you every day this summer. Every single day. I wanted to be with you, eating with you, hanging out with you, people-watching with you; basically, everything I do, I want to do it with you. You make me so happy and I can’t imagine being in a world without you. So, Bon Bon, my very best friend in the whole world, will you be my girlfriend?”
Bon Bon looked down and licked her lips. She looked down at the cupcakes, then back up at Lyra. “Hold that thought.”
Lyra’s brow furrowed. Not quite the response she had hoped for.
Bon Bon ran over to her bag and dug inside. She retrieved a small white box from the very bottom and held it out.
Lyra hesitantly took it. She opened it and her eyes widened.
It was a set of chocolates, larger by far than the ones she’d see at the store, each topped with her motif in colored modeling chocolate. “Lyra, I missed you every day this summer. Even when I’m just walking around on the street, I keep looking to the side for you, because I expected you to be there with me. I can’t imagine life without you and honestly, I don’t want to. Everything about you makes me happy, from your laugh to your hilarious observations to the way you’re always there for me with always the right thing to say, so Lyra, my very best friend, will you be my girlfriend?”
Lyra let out a laugh she didn’t know she was holding. “Ser- I can’t believe- I was so nervous about asking you!”
“Me too! This is actually my third set,” Bon Bon admitted. “The others kinda melted because they were in my bag for so long. I’ve been thinking about this for a while.”
“Me too!”
They looked at each other, their eyes meeting.
“Yes, by the way,” Bon Bon whispered.
“Me too,” Lyra said, hoping that made sense.
There was a breathless moment.
They were girlfriends now, right? And what were girlfriends for if not kissing?
Slowly, carefully, Bon Bon leaned in, and Lyra mirrored her.
And then they bumped noses.
“Sorry!” Lyra squeaked.
“No, no, you’re fine. I’m kinda new at this, too.” She let out a nervous little chuckle. “This’ll be my first.”
“Mine too.”
Oddly buoyed by their shared inexperience, they tried again, leaning in close.
And right before contact, Bon Bon’s phone rang. Lyra recognized the ringtone she used for her mother and wilted. That was the end of their night.
Bon Bon knew it, too. She closed her eyes and let her head fall back and let out a long, low growl.
And then she decided to just go for it. She kissed Lyra on the lips before pulling out her phone to confirm what they both knew. “Yep. That’s my mom. I gotta go.”
Lyra let out a soft, plaintive whine. That had felt good. She wanted more!
“I don’t want to,” Bon Bon assured her quickly. “But I still live at home and I’d really like to not be grounded.” She smiled. “It’d be hard to see my girlfriend that way.”
Lyra giggled. It made her feel all bubbly inside to hear Bon Bon call her that.
Bon Bon darted in to steal one more kiss, grabbed a cupcake for the road, and then quickly headed towards the door.
Lyra watched her go, feeling a strange mix of happiness and sadness.
Well, it didn’t matter. Bon Bon was officially her girlfriend now. And the next time she saw her, she’d tell her just how happy that kiss had made her.
Wait. She didn’t have to wait! They would still have their good night text tonight, she’d just tell her then.
Lyra giggled and popped one of the chocolates into her mouth, already coming up with cute things to say before that faded into the bliss of the delicious chocolate. Bon Bon had really outdone herself. She was a very happy Lyra.
Author's Note
As soon as she shut the door behind her, Bon Bon pulled out her phone and hit redial. She spoke as soon as she was connected. “K, if this emergency is just someone writing down the Wi-Fi password again, I’m going to kick you in the shins the next time I see you.”
“Not this time, Sweetie Drops. I’m sending a screengrab to your phone. Tell me what you see.”
Sweetie Drops rolled her eyes and took her phone away from the side of her head. Her eyes widened. “Is that what I think it is?”
“We think so.”
“No way that just appears on a SnapGab video. There’s more there.”
“Our thoughts exactly. I’m sending you the address.”
“I’m on my way.”
