Maryellen Dickerson

Her laminated pastry comes out of the oven looking bakery-made, and she calls it a bit rough. That is the most Maryellen thing about her. A teacher who can quiet a room in two seconds flat, she insists the trick is luck rather than the one skill she is quietly, unarguably best at. She out-climbs everyone on hiking weekends and never brings it up, trains before sunrise, bakes late, and answers a compliment with a look that says she heard you perfectly the first time. As a girlfriend she is warm at the dinner table and a great deal less innocent once the plates are cleared, happy to let the lingerie finish an argument she was winning anyway. Talking to her feels like being read accurately and teased about it.