"You know, I have to hand it to you. I really didn't expect you to come up with something so—"

"So what?" Piper asked with a smirk. She and Julia were sprawled out on a blanket under the shade of a tall tree, watching the wind sway the orange-tinted leaves during a warm autumn afternoon.

"So...chill?" Julia finished her thought.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Piper wondered.

"Well, you're a little over the top sometimes while making plans, or sometimes just underwhelming. It's like there's no middle ground. I was nervous when you said you would make the plans for us this weekend, but a picnic in the park was a perfect idea," Julia explained. She was lying on her stomach, eating strawberries from a plastic container that Piper had picked up from the store earlier that morning. The juice of the berries were staining her lips red the more she ate them.

"Hey!" Piper exclaimed.

"I'm just saying, we've been roommates for three years almost, and I usually make the plans for a reason," Julia explained.

Piper sat quietly, not wanting to admit that the picnic had been Lucy's idea. She had texted the girl in a frenzy asking her what sort of date she would like to go on.

I hope you're not asking me out, Lucy had replied.

Stop being cocky. I'm asking for Julia, Piper had angrily texted back.

I don't know. A picnic?

Huh.

What?

You didn't strike me as a picnic girl, that's all, Piper had responded.

And that's supposed to mean?

Nothing. Just do your trial work this weekend.

Whatever.

Piper wasn't sure how Julia would respond to the idea, but she had been satisfied with it. Julia admitted that she needed nothing more than a relaxing break for a few hours during a Sunday afternoon. That was how they had ended up here, at the community park next to campus, lounging around after having eaten their lunches. While Piper was glad that Julia was enjoying herself, she couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed.

They were still talking like normal. They were still acting like normal. This gesture had really meant nothing in Julia's eyes besides just one of their normal hang-outs. It was what Piper had expected, but just this once, she thought something might change.

Julia looked beautiful under the glow of the autumn sun. Though her hair was pulled back into a messy bun to accommodate for shoving strawberries into her mouth all afternoon, she had put on a nice black-striped sundress. Piper herself was content lounging in shorts and a t-shirt as they sat under the shade of the tree. Around them, kids were squealing with delight as they passed soccer balls and threw frisbees to each other. In the distance, a dog was barking, begging its owner to throw the tennis ball it was chasing once more.

"It's a little loud is the only thing," Piper murmured.

"It's a warmer weekend than normal, and we're at the park. What can you expect?" Julia said. Having finished snacking on strawberries, she laid down completely and stared up at the sky. Piper took a glance up, watching the way the fluffy white clouds strolled across the sky. Awkwardly, she laid down beside Julia and rested her hands on her abdomen.

"Pretty clouds," Piper murmured.

"Yeah," Julia replied. "Man, I'm so tired. I could fall asleep."

"Will you?" Piper asked.

"Nah. You put in the trouble and everything of planning this. But I will be taking a nap when we get back to the dorm, if that's okay with you," Julia admitted.

"Fair enough," Piper murmured. "I should go to the library and work on the trial some more, so you'll get the room to yourself."

"Trial this, trial that. Just stare up and look at the clouds for a little bit, won't you?" Julia asked.

"Fine, fine," Piper said, shutting her mouth to stare at the way that the clouds were strolling. They were pretty, she supposed. When she was a kid, she used to lay down in the backyard with her older brother and sister and cloudgaze, though they always liked to do so longer than her. She was always on a mission as a child, and sitting and watching the clouds just didn't fit her agenda.

Next to her, Julia had gone extremely quiet. All Piper could hear was her breath gently entering and exiting her mouth. She wondered if Julia actually had fallen asleep, but suddenly, she spoke up.

"What are you thinking about?" Julia asked.

"Huh?"

"You're really quiet, that's all," Julia said. "So what are you thinking about?"

Piper gulped and stared back up at the sky. "I don't know. A lot of things."

"The trial?"

"Yeah."

"You'll do great. I know it. Even though that girl Lucy seems like a pain in the ass," Julia thought out loud.

"You can say that again," Piper said with a little laugh.

"So, what else are you thinking about?" Julia asked, turning her head to look at Piper.

Piper felt her palms grow sweaty staring into Julia's face. They were so close, all she would have to do was lean forward. But Piper didn't want it to play out that way. After all, she'd probably scare Julia off. But in this moment, everything felt so calm, so perfect. She'd never felt calm telling Julia about her feelings, but perhaps today was the moment. Perhaps today she finally had the courage to.

"I was thinking about you," Piper admitted at last. Her heartbeat throbbed against her chest and pulsated through her fingers as the words left her mouth. There was no taking anything back from this point forward.

Julia blinked in confusion. "Me? Why?"

"I—" Piper never got farther with her sentence because her phone began to ring. She let out a groan and sat up, pulling it out of her pocket. Normally, she would decline the call, but when she realized it was Professor Murphy, she begrudgingly answered it.

"Hello?"

"Good afternoon, Piper," he said on the other line. "Sorry to call you on a Sunday, but I just had my meeting with Lucia."

"Oh? How did it go?" Piper asked. Not wanting to bother Julia with the conversation, she mouthed she would be right back and went to stand by the nearest tree to talk.

"Not well. Perhaps you two have worked a little harder at the route, but she still won't spill any personal details to me about all that transpired that day. I had hoped you meeting with her might loosen her tongue a bit, but she's quite stubborn," Murphy explained.

"You can say that again," Piper grumbled. Her fist was clenched, suddenly. Lucy always had to butt in and ruin everything, didn't she? Just now, she had been about to tell Julia her feelings for her, and now she had lost the courage again. Why had Professor Murphy paired her with the most stubborn brat in the world?

"I need you to work harder on loosening her up. Keep working on the route, but see if you can get a little more out of her. In the meantime, I managed to get all the contact information of her roommates and friends, and I want you to send out some emails," Professor Murphy explained. "I know it's a Sunday, but I'm afraid this doesn't take a break on the weekends."

"No, I understand. What should the emails say?" Piper asked.

"Just ask if they would be willing to talk to you about Lucia and answer some questions. You can ask some questions about Lucia in the email if you have some in mind. At this point, we may be relying on character witnesses, so those that are closer to Lucia, the better, and if you can get anything out of them about what happened that day, that might be helpful as well."

"How soon should I send the emails out?" Piper asked. She still wanted to wrap up her "date" with Julia.

"As soon as possible, I would think. Let me know how it goes," Professor Murphy said. "And remember what I said about getting more out of Lucia. Bye."

The phone went dead. Piper held a scream inside her and instead kicked the tree she had been leaning against before marching angrily back to Julia. Julia was sitting up now, looking at her confusedly.

"That was Murphy," Piper explained. "He needs me to go send out some emails to Lucy's roommates and friends or whatever. She still won't talk around him. Not sure how he thinks I can help. Anyway, it looks like we'll have to wrap up our picnic."

"No worries. Duty calls," Julia said. She began piling away their trash and folding up the blanket. Meanwhile, Piper was busy texting away at Lucy.

You owe me, she wrote.

?

Murphy just called me.

Oh.

You interrupted my date, Piper angrily texted.

Well, first off, we both know it's not a date, and secondly, I'll offer you more advice next time we meet to make up for it, okay? There was a break in the texts. So how did the date go?

Piper didn't respond and angrily shoved her phone back in her pocket.

"Why don't you try taking Lucy somewhere fun?" Julia suggested as they headed back to Piper's car.

"Somewhere fun? Why?" Piper asked.

"Maybe if you act more friendly toward her, she'll be more willing to open up. Not to be rude, Piper, but if we hadn't been paired as roommates, I don't know if I'd have become friends with you," Julia teased.

"What? Why?"

"Well, you're hard to approach sometimes. But today the picnic you planned was fun. Do something like that for Lucy. Maybe that'll help," Julia suggested.

"I guess I can try," Piper said.

She felt dejected the entire ride home as Julia dozed in the front seat. She almost wanted to let Julia keep sleeping when she pulled back into the university's parking garage. Julia was cute slumped up against the seat, even if a faint bit of drool was exiting the side of her mouth, but the car was getting hot, and Piper had emails to send. She gently shook Julia awake, and Julia embarrassingly sat up before following Piper back to their dorm.

Julia hopped onto her bed and passed out as soon as they were back inside. Piper, meanwhile, took a seat at her desk and went through the list of individuals Murphy had sent her via email. Slowly, she began emailing them one by one, with the subject of, "What do you know about Lucia Peterson?"

After that was done, she shut her laptop and collapsed onto her bed. The last text from Lucy still sat there, waiting to be answered. Piper ignored it. She had other things she needed to focus on anyway, like what she was going to do with Lucy the next time they met.

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Weekly QTPOC Book Recommendation: The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta

Synopsis: "A boy comes to terms with his identity as a mixed-race gay teen - then at university he finds his wings as a drag artist, The Black Flamingo. A bold story about the power of embracing your uniqueness. Sometimes, we need to take charge, to stand up wearing pink feathers - to show ourselves to the world in bold colour."