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[Salic]

The drive to Portland wasn’t really the difficult part, Claudia knew. Three hours of driving wasn’t terrible, but six? Fuck, that was bad. Yvonne normally would’ve just driven to Bend herself, but, what a fucking surprise, her car was in the shop. Who would’ve thought that a 1993 Toyota Paseo that’s had basically zero maintenance in 20 years would inevitably break down? Claudia could’ve screamed. She couldn’t stay mad at Yvonne, though. She may have just not had enough money to pay for all of the repairs. Claudia pulled up to the college and parallel parked her Nissan Altima in the closest spot to Yvonne’s building.

She saw Yvonne waltz up to the door of her car, and she couldn’t help but scoff at her outfit. All she wore were mustard-stained gray leggings and a blue hoodie. She entered the car, put her bag on the floor, sucked Claudia into a kiss, and swung her feet on the dashboard. “Hey babe. How ya doin?” Yvonne asked.

“You just wake up? Decide to go shoeless today?” Claudia responded in turn, wedging her car out of its spot and beginning the journey back to Bend.

“Hey, for your information, only one of those things is true. I woke up like five minutes before you got here. I had to pack up quick, like, real quick.”

“Vonnie, it’s 1:30 in the afternoon for god’s sake! Please tell me you at least packed a pair of shoes?”

“I’ll, uh, get back to you on that one.”

“I can’t fucking believe you sometimes, Vonnie. You need to go to bed earlier if you’re gonna be doing this shit. Please.”

“Wh- I-“ Yvonne seemed to be at a loss for words before they came flooding back.

“You’re not, like, my mom, Claudia! Besides, homework and studying are time consuming. Like, I’ve got, like, a big ass chem test coming up on Tuesday. I’ve been stressing my ass off for weeks about this. That’s why I’m heading back to Bend, to like, relax and de-stress out with my girlfriend! I really don’t need you on my case about this, okay? I get you’re, like, concerned about me, and I appreciate it, but I’d rather you not get on my ass right now. That, like, comes later, okay?”

Claudia turned her head just in time to view Yvonne wink a beautiful, magenta-colored eye at her. That was her Gift. She could make her eyes any color she wanted. She knew Claudia loved it when her eyes were magenta. They were magenta when they first met.

“Yeah, yeah, alright. I’m sorry babe. I-“

She found herself unable to speak, as Yvonne had cut her off with a quick kiss. Yvonne cut it off quick, as she knew Claudia needed her eyes on the road.

“Don’t worry about it babe. I know you’re, like, concerned about me.” Yvonne assures her. A few moments passed.

“I love you, Claudia.”

“...I love you too, Yvonne.”

They crossed Bend city limits before either of them knew it.