Sammy thought the first time she held Lindsay's hand. It might be during a cute walk by the river, or perhaps, late at night, during one of their movie marathons. She never thought it would happen in the creepy

basement of this old haunted house. Lindsay turned to look at her friend's face, caught off guard.

Her eyes wandered from Sammy's expression to their connected hands, and then she smiled.

"'A sorry,' muttered Sammy.

"'I didn't mean—'

"'No, I like it.'

It had been their friend Dante's idea.

He'd spent a pretty penny getting all his friends together in this supposed haunted manner.

They were all meant to be staying the night, even though the place was said to be home to

multiple ghosts and spirits.

"'I think I'm about ready for bed,' said Lindsay suddenly, making Sammy jerk to attention.

The two were still holding hands.

Ah, yeah, same, said Sammy, yawning. Dante looked annoyed that the two of them weren't going to be there for the next round of his storytelling, but he let them go.

Sammy and Lindsay could already hear him launching into his next tale by the time they reached the stairs.

Do you believe any of this? said Lindsay, as the two of them got to the room they were assigned,

"'it was called Room Crimson,

"'because of the deep shade of red that covered the walls and four-poster bed.

"'The ghosts, you seemed pretty scared downstairs.'

"'Sammy blushed and took a step closer to her friend. Scared because Dante was acting a

fool, not scared of ghosts. Lindsay's gaze was heavy-litted as Sammy's face moved nearer to hers.

A soft exhale left her lips, and then they were kissing. It felt surreal, a moment of softness in such a strange, cold place. They moved beside the bed and began to undress each other. It was a slow, fluid process process with each of them taking turns. When they were

finally both naked, they stood together, just observing and basking in this moment.

...