Alder's Grove

http://www.lynthornealder.com/2020/10/07/pumpkin-patch/

"So why is it a pumpkin patch and not like a wheat field or a rice paddy?"

"To make it sound cute? Like you know, it's the part of the garden, it's a wee home-town pumpkin patch?"
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The first story in my Squash Prompt Call is up! Check it out and give it a read~

More or less to eseme's prompt and a companion to Character Study: Melinda

Summer was always the last to go to sleep.

She liked the quiet moments at the end of the day, the way she could cuddle with a sleepy Bishop and Mellie until, one and then the other, they headed off to their giant cobbled-together bed. She liked stroking their hair and their backs while they watched TV or studied together - sometimes, despite all advice, both at once. She liked sleepy late-night kisses.

And then she strolled the house alone, listening to the noises the old place made, picking up this and that. Sometimes she would whisper charms for her family, charms for her lovers. Sometimes she'd just stay up studying.

Tonight, she wandered out to the back yard and stared up at the stars. It felt like they were watching, reminding her to be good.

Summer stuck her tongue out at them and went back inside, where the lights were warmer and less distant.

It was only Applebee's, but they were on college student salaries, after all, the food was good enough, and they could take the bus.

Summer sat between Bishop and Mellie, but they'd gotten one of the small round bar tables, so everyone was, technically, between everyone else: best of all worlds.

As a rule, they weren't that unusual: three college kids, out on a Saturday night. It wasn't until Summer stole a small kiss from Mellie that anyone looked askance at them, and it wasn't until Bishop responded by stealing his own kiss from Mellie that someone whispered to someone else at their table.

Summer didn't mind the stares. She was nineteen, she wasn't famous or looking for a Professional Job, and if people wanted to stare, it wouldn't be likely to hurt her at all.

But Mellie, the stares made her uncomfortable. Summer stole another kiss and pressed a blessing into it. Nothing to see here.

If making your girlfriend comfortable wasn't using your powers for good, she didn't know what was.

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Un-slump-me prompt call