~*~*~*~*~*

            Quin sat with her mother in
two lawn chairs they’d stolen from the back of her mother’s house.  It had been Quin’s idea to come here, a place
that she’d shared with her brother when they’d been younger.  They were on a hilltop, overlooking the city,
the lights twinkled and the sun was about to rise in two hours.  A faint purple hue began to taint the
otherwise ebony sky.

            “So you have a date.”  Her mother said, and Quin gave her a cooling
look, then she nodded, taking the bottle of water from the left of her chair.  She put her lips to the bottle, tipping it
towards her as her mother sipped from the flask and Quin had to laugh.

            “Yup.”  She said simply, they’d been there for two
hours, and they had yet to speak.  They
could sit in silence for hours, and it would still speak volumes to each other.  Just spending time in each other’s presence
was enough for the two women, and Quin watched a shooting star blaze a trail to
the earth, not bothering to make a wish.

            “That is wonderful darling,
who is she?”  Her mother asked, and Quin
shrugged as if who it was didn’t matter. 
The simple fact that she had a date was enough to send her mother in a
euphoric state of mind, without the liquor.