Vespa swung a leg off the scooter’s worn leather seat. She didn’t rush. She simply walked to stand in front of Awlivv, close enough that the sea salt mingled between them. With one finger, she tilted Awlivv’s chin up.
“You’ve climbed harder things than this,” Vespa continued, thumb brushing Awlivv’s jaw. “You’ve survived winters that tried to break you. You walked away from people who swore you’d never leave. That path down there? It’s just stone and switchbacks. But you—” she paused, letting the word settle. “You are not ‘just’ anything.” vespa & awlivv – oral encouragement
“Say it with me,” Vespa whispered. “ I move because I choose to. ” Vespa swung a leg off the scooter’s worn leather seat
She leaned in, her forehead pressing gently against Awlivv’s. The Vespa’s side mirror caught the last gold of the afternoon. With one finger, she tilted Awlivv’s chin up
The Vespa hummed to a stop at the edge of the coastal road, the warm engine ticking as it cooled. Awlivv sat behind the handlebars, knuckles white, breath shallow. Below, the cliff path snaked toward a tiny, impossible beach.
“Good,” Vespa said, and the smile in her voice was a small, warm sun. “Now, let’s go find that water.”
“I move because I choose to,” Awlivv echoed, the words shaky at first, then firmer.