by Mia Archer
I felt a familiar old fluttering in my stomach as I pulled into the Fiesta Taco. And for once it didn't have anything to do with pulling into one of my favorite Mexican food establishments.
She stood near the entrance looking absolutely gorgeous. Short shorts. A tank top with porcelain skin that positively glowed in the light from the Taco Fiesta sign.
Fiesta Taco and sexy. Now there was something no one had probably ever said about a Fiesta Taco before, but I was saying it now.
I pulled up and rolled down my window.
"Looking for a ride?" I asked.
She leaned forward. “Depends. Where are you going?"
"Wherever you want baby," I said.
That was as far as I could take this routine before bursting into laughter. I felt like something right out of Pretty Woman, though of course I didn't even know if they'd said those exact lines.
It had been so long since I'd seen that movie that I mostly just had an image of Richard Gere picking up Julia Roberts in an expensive car he couldn't drive.
I really needed to watch that one again soon.
"Let's get going!" Taylor said.
She came around the front and stepped into the car. Or at least she tried to. She pulled on the handle a couple of times and nothing happened. I blushed and reached out to hit the locks, and a moment later she was climbing into the car next to me.
As she slid in I was acutely aware of everything about her. Her smell wafted across the center console to the driver side and I breathed it in deeply. Then I realized exactly what I’d just done and hoped it didn’t come off as a little creepy.
She looked at me, smiled, and I felt better. I hit her with a sheepish grin.
"So having a good night so far?" I asked.
“Better now," she said. "How about you?"
"Pretty good. I just had breakfast and I'm ready to seize the night!"
"Carpe noctem!” Taylor said.
"Is that even the right word?"
"I have no clue," she said. "I dated a guy who was majoring in Latin back before I realized, you know…"
"Oh I know," I said.
I thought back to some of my own ill advised dating encounters back when I was still lying to myself about who I was and what I really wanted. The less said about those the better. I was much happier now that I was honest with myself.
Even if it did mean I had to put up with a never ending torrent of bullshit from that bitch Tara at work.
We kept up with banter as I drove over to the laser tag place which was about fifteen minutes away. It was the quickest fifteen minute drive in my life. I couldn't believe how easy it was to talk with her. How we were laughing and giggling and having a great time.
As though we'd known each other our whole lives.
It felt good. I hadn't had this kind of immediate connection with a girl since I developed an unfortunate girl crush on my best friend way back in middle school.
Again, the less said about how that turned out the better.
Finally we pulled up to the place. It was one of my favorite spots in town. I didn't care if laser tag wasn't the kind of thing you would expect a girl in my profession to be into.
I'd certainly never mentioned it to any of my clients. This place was my sanctum sanctorum, even if my sanctum sanctorum tended to be overrun with screaming middle school kids.
No, I didn't want to ruin the magic of this place. I knew the moment I told any clients about it would be the moment the place was overrun with creepy middle-aged guys looking to get up close and personal with me by proving how much they were into the same stuff I was.
No thanks.
"So do you come here often?" Taylor asked.
"I like to come here when I need to unwind."
"I like it," she said. "It's quirky."
Quirky. Yeah, that was one way to describe it. I reached out and grabbed her hand. Sure I was being forward, but it felt like things were going so well. I gave her hand a squeeze and she squeezed right back.
"I'm glad you feel that way. I was worried…"
"What?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. "Worried I’d think this was totally fucking awesome? We’re going to shoot laser guns on our first date. How could I not like that?"
"Thanks," I said. "You know you're the first person I met at work that I've ever taken to this place."
"I'm honored," she said. Then she continued on in a different tone of voice that left no doubt that she was fishing for information. "Do you go out with your clients often?"
I turned and looked her in the eyes. I briefly thought about lying, but there was something about the way she looked at me that told me lying wouldn't be a good way to start. So I shrugged.
"Might as well go for brutal honesty here," I said. "There have been a few girls who came through the club looking for a little something, and I've given that to them. But going on an actual date? No, you’re the first.”
"That's fair enough," she said. "I'm not really in a position to date at my job. I'm the only girl there who’s into the fairer sex, and I'm definitely not going to date any of the guys.”
"Must be nice," I said.
"Yeah? I’d think you’d enjoy checking out the scenery at work?"
"It's not that so much as the scenery thinks I'm always checking it out, and there are a couple of girls who can get pretty nasty about it."
"You mean like that girl you were giving the stink eye when we came out of the private room?" she asked.
"Yeah, something like that," I said. "She has her clique and she decided she didn't like me early on. She says it's because she doesn't like me, but I'm pretty sure it's because she doesn't like that I’m a lesbian. Like she’s terrified I’ll be checking her out or something.”
“Probably gay herself,” Taylor muttered. “Not that it excuses it, but sounds like a classic closet case projecting.”
“Maybe, but I wouldn’t wish dating her on my worst enemy,” I said. “Not that she’d date herself.”
Taylor giggled at my bad joke. Really it was more than the joke deserved, but I’d take it.
"I'm sorry you have to deal with that,” she said. “I’ve never had to deal with crap like that at work, and I can't imagine…"
I smiled and patted her leg. I tried to ignore the heat that shot through me as I touched her bare leg. That reminded me of some of the things we did together that night in the private room before we came out and ran into Tara.
Yeah, we were really reversing things here. Getting hot and heavy in that private room and then going on the first date a few days later.
"Enough about that crap," I said, forcing a smile on my face. Not that I had to work too hard to bring that smile to my face. Not with her looking at me with that smile and those sexy eyes. "Let's go in and frag some middle school kids!"
"There's a phrase that would get you on a watch list if you typed it out online," she said. "But I agree. Let's go!"
We were out of place as we stepped into the laser tag place, but I didn't care. The guy at the entrance looked up and smiled when he saw me.
"Jasmine! It's been a while!"
"Good to see you Mr. Thomas," I said, a smile splitting my face. It was hard not to smile with Mr. Thomas. He was always so happy and so full of life.
"And you brought a friend tonight! Wonderful!"
"Yeah, this is my date. Taylor." I looked at her for any sign that she might get annoyed that I called her my date, but there was nothing. She was beaming and she looked absolutely beautiful.
I mean she looked beautiful no matter what, but she looked particularly beautiful this way with that huge smile on her face. She was gorgeous. She was the most beautiful girl in the room.
Of course it didn't hurt that she was the only person my age in the room aside from some soccer moms who were obviously checking out of reality by staring into their phones while their kids were no doubt inside playing.
"A date!" Mr. Thomas said. His voice was endless enthusiasm. "In that case you get a
special rate tonight! Two-for-one!"
I held out a hand even as I knew it wasn't going to do a damn bit of good. He was just that nice.
"There's really no need for you to do that Mr. Thomas…"
He shook his head, his mustache shaking along with. He also had a wild shock of silvery white hair that stuck out making him look like a young Einstein minus the accent.
"I won't hear of it!" he said. "You're here on a date and that means you get two-for-one. A deal for one of my best customers!"
I looked around. A couple of those soccer moms were looking up, and some of them looked irritated. No doubt annoyed that I was getting a special deal while they were paying full price to have their kids play.
Oh well. That was their problem, not mine. I turned back and returned Mr. Thomas’s infectious granite.
"That would be wonderful Mr. Thomas," I said.
"Of course it would be wonderful!" he said. "Now how many games do you want to play?"
"How about the unlimited?" I asked.
"Of course," he said. "I don't know why I ask. You never do anything else!"
I looked over to Taylor to gauge her reaction. It's not like I was ashamed of my favorite pastime, it's just that it felt a little odd to do something that most people aged out of by the end of high school. But I loved this place, and I wasn't going to let the fact that society thought I shouldn't be playing laser tag stop me from enjoying myself.
Next to coming out of the closet having society looked down at me for doing something that was a little outside of my age range was nothing.
“Man,” Taylor said as I got our wristbands for the night. "This place is like your Cheers. I half expected them to call you Norm or something."
I grinned. "I never watched enough of that show to know what you're talking about, but sure."
"You totally should," she said. "It's on Netflix. We'll have to watch it sometime while we’re chilling."
I blushed at the unspoken promise of what she'd just said. I was well aware what "Netflix and chill” meant. And the thought of “chilling” with her was exciting. Really exciting.
"I'd like that," I said.
"You're not the only one," she replied. "So are we going to do this?"
“Hell yes!” I said.
"There's just one problem," she said.
"What's that?" I asked, suddenly worried.
"Well I’ve never done this sort of thing before. It would be my first time," she said.
I couldn't help but blush at the obvious double entendre. I looked her up and down. A considering look if there ever was one.
"Oh really? This is your first time?"
"Yeah," she said. "So be gentle."
We managed to look at each other without breaking up for the space of maybe ten seconds. Ten seconds and we both burst into laughter.
"Sorry, that was too much," I said.
"Not at all," she replied. "I was hoping you’d say something."
"So are you ready to go? I'll show you the ropes, promise."
"Definitely!"
And so with that we went back to get our vests and prepare for a fun night of laser tag.
11
Taylor
I brushed my hands against my shorts and gave the apartment one final once over. It's not like the place was a complete pigsty or anything. I wasn't going to be on an episode of hoarders any time soon.
Still, it more untidy than I’d like it to be. Especially before a date. Then again whose apartment or house was ever as tidy as they’d like it to be?
I wanted everything to look perfect. I wanted to make a good first impression tonight. So I breezed through the place one more time and picked up a couple of socks sticking out from under my couch. How had those even gotten down there?
I didn't even want to think about how long they'd been down there before I noticed them just now.
I turned to the TV. Made sure everything was ready to go there. The PlayStation was set up and Netflix was good to go. I couldn't wait to try out that new show about the royal family. Matt Smith was an absolute dreamboat.
At least he struck me as the kind of guy who would be an absolute dreamboat if I was into that sort of thing. I loved him in Doctor Who, and I figured he’d be pretty good playing royalty.
Though the less said about his role in that Schwarzenegger movie the better.
Not that I planned on doing much viewing, whatever we decided to watch tonight. No, Jasmine was coming over to Netflix and chill, and butterflies danced in my stomach as I mentally put emphasis on the "chill" part of that phrase.
At least I hope that's where the emphasis would be.
It had been two weeks since that first date at the laser tag place. We'd since been on a couple more dates there. Mr. Thomas was starting to think of me as a regular as much as he thought of Jasmine as a regular.
It felt a little weird to be thought of as a regular where most of the people our age were either people coming through for a party as a one time thing or people who'd made questionable decisions about birth control earlier in life so they now had kids who were old enough to go to laser tag.
Other than those parents the crowd skewed way younger and way older than Jasmine or myself.
My final sweep of the apartment was interrupted by a knock at the door. Damn. I wasn't anywhere close to being ready, but then again I didn't think I’d ever be completely ready.
This was a big step. We’d done our fair share of canoodling before, a couple of times in the back of a mostly deserted theater and at least once in a secluded corner of the laser tag place where there were conveniently no cameras to watch as we paused to make out, but other than that we hadn't had anything approaching that incredible experience I got the first night when we went back to a private room at Jasmine's work.
I hadn’t been back to Jasmine's work. Sure the guys had talked about maybe going again, making it a monthly thing, but so far they hadn’t actually turned it into a regular thing.
Never mind that a month hadn’t passed yet. I looked down at my outfit. Hoped it was suitably enticing. I wanted everything to go perfect tonight. I wanted this to be a magical night that I remembered for the rest of my life.
What I really wanted was for this to be the beginning of many magical nights. There were still times when I had trouble believing this was actually happening, that I'd fallen for a girl I met at a strip club, but I also wasn't one to question it when the universe threw me something nice.
Even if that something nice wasn't exactly in the package I'd expected.
I threw open the door and there she was looking gorgeous. She was in a pair of pajamas much the same as my own. A tank top top and shorts down below.
That made me wonder if maybe she was planning on spending the night.
I made no secret of looking her up and down. Really checking her out. I wanted her to know just how interested I was. Just how much I'd been looking forward to this.
"Damn,” she said.
"Damn yourself," I replied.
We stood staring for a long awkward moment. Even though I didn't want it to be an awkward moment. I guess there were some things about the opening dance of a relationship that were going to be awkward no matter what. Finally she piped up and interrupted the awkward.
"So were you going to invite me in or…"
I could have smacked myself. Of course. Not an awkward moment. Or if it was an awkward moment it was entirely my fault seeing as how I was standing here blocking her way.
I stepped to the side and motioned for her to come in.
"Welcome to my humble home," I said.
"Not bad," she said. “This place is nice. Way nicer than the place I share with my friend."
"Oh?" I asked. "I didn't know you had a roommate."
It was a reminder that there was a lot I didn't know about her. A lot that I had to discover. But I was looking forward to discovering those things. I was looking forward to taking as much time as was needed to discover those things
.
"Yeah, my friend Tiffany," she said. “You probably saw her at the club. Pretty blonde girl. We got a place together to save money a few years back, and she was the one who actually got me into my current line of work."
"Really?" I said, not sure how to take that.
Jasmine shrugged, obviously sensing something in my tone.
"What can you do? I saw the kind of money she was pulling down on a weekly basis for what amounted to a couple of nights work, and I couldn't resist!"
"I suppose you've got a point there," I said.
Jasmine looked around the apartment, and I felt another one of those brief awkward moments coming on. Sure we'd been dating and things had been getting pretty hot and heavy, but this was the first time one of us had been back to the other’s apartment. It was a big step.
"Nice place you’ve got here," she said. "I can't believe how clean it is!"
I laughed. I couldn't help it. "Yeah, well you should've seen how much time I invested in making sure everything looked nice and clean."
She let out a long breath and giggled right along with me. "I'm so glad to hear you say that. I was starting to worry that…"
"I was a crazy neat freak or something?" I asked. "Don't get me wrong. I'm not a slob, but this is definitely not how the apartment usually looks."
She took it all in. “Still. This is pretty impressive, being able to afford a place like this all on your own."
"One of the perks of working in the tech sector I suppose," I said. "What about you? You probably make more than I do in your line of work."
"Maybe," she said. "I also like to save as much of that money as possible. I'm well aware there's an expiration date on my current career, and I’m not going to be one of those sad girls still out there shaking it for money after my ass starts to sag."
I rolled my eyes. "I'm having a hard time imagining your ass sagging at all," I said.
“Do you spend a lot of time imagining my ass?" she asked with a smirk.
I blushed, but I wasn't going to say no. She certainly had me there. After all, I’d done my fair share of fantasizing about her. Ass included. I'd seen tantalizing glimpses of the full package when we were making out, but I'd never come close to seeing the whole thing one-on-one.