by Olivia Janae
“Uh, you all right?” Charlie finally asked.
“You mean aside from being a complete klutz?” Kate awkwardly tittered, avoiding the their eyes and mopping herself with a napkin. When she did look up, Vivian’s face held the same coy and all-too-knowing smile that had caused the spill in the first place. “Shut up.”
Vivian’s smile only grew, reaching megawatt levels of brightness, and Kate had to smile back. It was impossible not to.
“So, Viv, guess what? Kate here thought we were together.”
Kate’s jaw dropped, her eyes popping wide as she glared at her.
Charlie just grinned back, her look all mischief as she stuck her tongue out.
“She did, did she?” Vivian asked.
“Yeah.” Kate shifted a little in place, embarrassed. “It was my mistake, I guess.”
Vivian gave a nod. “I suppose that makes sense, given you have been seeing Ms. Campbell.”
“Ooooh, right.” Charlie rolled her eyes. “Ugh, god, I didn’t think about that.”
Kate shook her head, trying to dismiss the conversation. “Anyway.”
“I assure you, Kate, despite Ms. Campbell’s adamant and animated beliefs, Charlie and I have never been intimately involved.”
Kate didn’t know what else to say, so she took another slug of her drink, wishing that someone else would speak.
“Anyway, cheers.” Charlie held out her glass. “You guys sounded amazing tonight.”
Kate nodded a courteous thank you, a professional kneejerk reaction.
“So, Kate,” Charlie asked, halfway through drink number one. “How’s Max?”
Kate smiled. “He’s good. He might just die of a heart attack, though, if he doesn’t see this one again soon.” She jerked her head toward Vivian.
Vivian beamed, hands flying like lightning, and Charlie read fast as Vivian told her all about carrying him through the park.
“He loves you,” Kate laughed, shaking her head. “He can’t stop talking about you. I don’t know what you did to my son, but he’s bewitched.”
“Aw!” Charlie pouted. “I want Max to love me! Do you think if I buy him some candy we might be friends?”
“He just needs to see you a bit more,” Kate explained. “Also, if you give him candy, then you have to take him home with you and deal with him.”
“I don’t know about that.” Vivian clicked her tongue, wrapping her arm around Kate’s shoulder so she could conspiratorially whisper, “I think he likes me best.”
“I think he might like me best. You’re just a shiny new toy.”
Vivian laughed, flashing a wink at Kate as she playfully pulled her close.
They powered through three drinks in forty minutes, a feat Kate hadn’t accomplished since college. Everything had taken on a delightfully tipsy haze. She needed to go out with friends more often. She needed to go out with these two more often. That was really the answer. This wasn’t like going out with Ash, where the music was pounding and all of her friends were in a constant state of upset. Not once so far had Kate heard Vivian or Charlie use the phrase “throwing me shade.” The bar was dark and intimate, their conversation easy.
A little while later, Kate had doubled over, holding her sides, and leaning heavily against Vivian, whose arm hadn’t left her shoulder since it had been placed there.
Vivian was regaling them with the story of a man she had met earlier that night. “He was telling his friend exactly what he would like to do to me—in graphic detail, mind you—and the idiot was merely five feet away! Did he not understand that I could see him?”
Tears were flowing from Kate’s eyes; the animated facial expressions and noises Vivian used when she was talking were too much for her. “So, what, he just thought because he was to the side of you that you couldn’t know what he was saying?”
“I assume so, yes.”
“What the hell? Well, that dress’s slit is pretty intense,” Kate admitted. “You can’t blame him totally.”
Vivian’s eyebrow shot up. “How kind of you to notice,” she said, and teasingly she crossed her legs so her long, smooth, golden-brown legs flashed through the slit. Kate flushed and, gaping down at the exposed thigh, whatever it was that she was going to say flew from her head like magic.
“Oh my god! Sorry! That was rude!” Kate slapped her hand over her eyes. “I’m a little drunk. I’m sorry!”
She wasn’t sure if she was crazy or not, but she could have sworn she heard a light purr come from the woman she was sitting oh so close to.
“You have a point, though!” Charlie laughed. “Look at those things. Yowza! Kind of makes me wish I enjoyed The Vagina Monologues more.”
“Kate!” Her name cracked through the air like a whip, startling both Kate and Charlie.
She yelped and tried to straighten herself, legs flailing for just a moment in her haste to sit up straight. Her knee struck the table, knocking over three empty martini glasses, and her hand accidentally smacked Charlie’s arm. Speaking of hands, when had Vivian’s found a resting place on her thigh?
“Hiiiiii.” She glanced up and gave Ash a guilty smile.
“The fuck, doll? You didn’t hear me hollerin’ at you?” Ash was standing at their table, looking as if she wanted to knock something off the wall. “What, is deafness contagious now?”
“Ash!” Kate cried.
“Fuck off.” Charlie groaned and threw her balled-up napkin at Ash. “God, you’re such a tool! Why are you like this?”
Ash rolled her eyes. “Kate, I’ve been texting you and calling you from over there for ten fuckin’ minutes!”
Kate looked between her two companions and then back. “You have?” She meant to be serious, but she had a few drinks in her and had to swallow back a laugh when she saw Vivian’s face. She looked like she had just been confronted with a very large plate of stinky cheese. Her cheeks were rosy with drink, but she had slipped into the hard mask again, her upper lip curled just slightly, her nostrils flared. Her look was possessive, as though she might snatch Kate away if Ash got too close. Kate smirked a little, her heart rate picking up speed. As Kate watched, Vivian’s hands began to move slowly, speaking to someone who could not understand her.
Kate couldn’t understand either, not at all, but she did see one sign that she recognized. She gave Vivian a pointed stare that reminded her not to call Ash a Millennial.
Vivian just smirked and looked back at Ash.
“I’m sorry,” she said as she scrambled out of the booth. “I was having fun. I wasn’t ignoring you.” She stood and gave her a plastic smile, a little bothered that she was so upset – again. “Wait, what are you doing here? You said Ana was coming down and you were going to the thing.”
Had Ash followed her? Why was she acting like a snubbed teenager? Now that she thought about it, she was a little irritated by her hurt expression.
“We’re stopping off. Relax, dude, we’re not stalking you. We’re gonna go later.”
Kate saw Vivian’s hands fly behind her and, without knowing what it was she was saying, turned and glared. Vivian raised one innocent eyebrow, the blank features not quite cracking.
“Charlie?”
Charlie just looked over her shoulder, pretending she hadn’t heard Kate’s request for a translation, eyes shining with laughter.
“Please, come meet my friends for a minute. These are different peeps, and I’ve been chatting about you all night.” Ash pushed her slightly forward before Kate could agree, her hand on the small of her back, glaring at the other two women as she did it.
Kate hesitated. She didn’t want to be pulled away. This was why she had declined Ash’s offer. She didn’t want to end up spending the rest of the night with her.
Vivian sighed, her hands moving in a silent conversation.
Kate’s eyebrows popped. She didn’t know what Vivian was saying, but one of those signs was her own name. Vivian just smiled at her.
“It’s okay, Kate. You and Ms. Campbell clearly ne
ed to speak. We’ll be here waiting when you get back.”
Kate’s lips curled down into a considering frown.
Ash rolled her eyes. “Kate, you look like Grumpy Cat. Come on. She’s fine with it. Let’s go.” Her hand wrapped around Kate’s bicep and pulled.
Kate studied Vivian for another moment, trying to decipher the look in her eyes. “Okay,” she finally said. “Yeah, fine. Let’s go.”
“How many have you had, ma?” Ash asked as she escorted her to the bar, her hand protectively on Kate’s back.
Kate shrugged, a little irked. “Is that judgment I hear in your voice there, buddy? Because I’ve gone out with you and your friends.” It was true, she was a few drinks in, but at least she knew that at the end of the night she would head home, drink a glass of water, take a shower, and go to bed. She wouldn’t lose her car or end up in a stranger’s bed.
“What? No, of course not. Work hard, party hard, baby!” Ash eyed her a bit, but let it drop. “Peeps, this is my girlfriend, Kate.”
Her surprise at Ash’s announcement must have been evident because a few of the people cracked into laughter, one shouting, “She doesn’t seem to know it, sister!”
Kate blushed, pushing a hand through her hair at the same moment that Ash uncomfortably reached up to fix hers. She tried to wipe the surprise from her face, but to say she was stunned would be an understatement. Girlfriend? She hadn’t agreed to that. They weren’t there yet. Impending breakup aside, had Ash even asked her to be her girlfriend?
Kate smiled, politely shaking each offered hand and avoiding Ash’s unhappy gaze.
“What are you doing over there?” a man named Robert asked, eyeing Charlie openly. “You and your friends should join us.”
“Oh …” Kate smiled and gave a little headshake. “I think we’re having kind of a girls’ night tonight, but thank you. Maybe next time.”
Ash kept her tightly under her arm for the next few minutes, and Kate smiled graciously. She nodded along with the conversation, her mind still tumbling over Ash’s title and the fact that her friends were waiting behind her. She tried to figure out exactly how long she needed to wait until it was no longer rude to leave.
She shifted, uncomfortable. Ash’s arm was squeezing tightly enough that it was beginning to hurt. She shifted again and manually loosened Ash’s arm, giving her a warning look that Ash didn’t see, or pretended not to see.
“Right?” Ana cried, glaring at the bartender. “If she shorts my next drink, then I’m gonna fucking lay a bitch down.”
The bellow brought her attention back to the conversation. “You know there’s usually a recipe for drinks,” Kate said, irked. She really didn’t want to be there when Ana turned on the bartender, who would probably be surprised to hear the accusation.
“No.” Ana glared back at Kate like she and the bartender were co-conspirators. “It’s a thing that bartenders do. They short customers that they don’t like.” She said it with such authority that it left little room for disagreement.
Kate squinted through the low light, trying to see if she was kidding. “Really?”
There was a moment of silence before Ash laughed. “Ooookay! This is awkward turtle. It’s whatever. We’re all friends here. Let’s just move on.”
“No, sis, it’s bullshit. Why are you even with her?”
“Ana!” Ash grabbed her friend by the elbow and turned away, her face fierce as they whispered back and forth.
Kate sighed in annoyance. She had never had Ana’s approval; that much had been clear from the beginning. Kate let her eyes slowly drift behind her to the table that she had only meant to be gone from for a moment.
She had expected to find Vivian and Charlie chatting, caught up in their own conversation, but the moment she turned her heart jumped into her throat and then fell down through the floor.
Vivian was staring intensely, her arms crossed over her ribs, watching her, reading her in that way. Her chocolate eyes were dark, speaking tantalizing volumes as slowly, murderously, deliciously, she tilted her head to the side and cocked an eyebrow. The look was intentional, pointed. Kate felt the flush start at her throat and make its way down her body until it settled hot and wet between her legs, pulling at her belly.
She knew she was a little drunk, she knew that she was reacting strongly, but she couldn’t look away. Kate stared, her mouth open slightly, only vaguely aware that she had probably passed the line of appropriate three seconds ago.
Ash wrapped her arm around her again, giving her a slight squeeze, and her head whipped back around, her neck creaking angrily.
“Sorry about that business,” Ash whispered in her ear.
The feeling was unpleasant, and she pulled away a little. “Yeah, it’s fine. Listen, Ash,” she whispered, “I’m going to go back to the girls. I’ve already been away for a while so I should go.”
“Just ignore Ana.”
“No, it’s not that.”
“Do you have to?” she asked, pulling her even tighter so she could whisper in her ear. “You could just stay with me, you know. I like having you here.” Her breath smelled of cheap beer, weed, and tequila, and it occurred to her that maybe Ash was a little drunk. “Plus, I was thinking, um, you said that we should do something a little less mommy… well, what’s less mommy? Let’s go back to yours. Ya know, watch a movie, or, I don’t know, whatever you would like.”
“My friends.” Kate pointed vaguely over her shoulder. “I need to go back to my friends.”
“You sure? ’Cause I bet it would be bomb, and we’d have fun. I promise I’ll be fun. I’m always fun.”
Kate scoffed, pushing away a little. Sex was the last thing she wanted to do.
“All right, if you insist. But Flynn, if you change your mind.” Her cocky grin shone. Try as she might, Kate couldn’t summon one of her own.
“All right.” Ash pulled her in, not seeming to notice her hesitance as she kissed her, long and deep despite their audience. The feeling of Ash’s tongue slipping past her lips for a split second was uncomfortable, as if the scent of her was grating against the pool those eyes had created, an oil and water combination.
She had to pull a little to get Ash to release her, but finally, she slipped back to the table and settled in, a bit more sedate than she had been before. “Excuse me!” She raised a hand to the passing server and tipped her empty glass to him. “Another round for the table, please.”
“So,” Vivian spoke first. “Is everything all right? Were you properly claimed and marked?”
Kate glared, feeling a bit naked. “What were you saying before I left?”
Vivian studied her for a moment, her gaze flicking this way and that over her face before she looked away.
“Charlie?”
Charlie shook her head, shooting a cold look at the still hopeful Robert, who was staring her way.
Kate took a huge swallow of the drink when it appeared before her and waved her hand, trying to catch Vivian’s eye. “What did you say?”
Vivian looked away again, playing at coquettish.
“Hey!” Kate cried, grabbing her jaw and forcing her face back to hers. Vivian’s laughter died in her throat. Kate narrowed her eyes, doing her best intimidating look. “I know it was about me. What did you say?”
Vivian licked her lips, her eyelashes fluttering. “Kate, that’s not—”
“What did she say?” Kate asked Charlie again.
“Who said what?”
Vivian smirked.
“Charlie!” Kate whined.
“I said,” Vivian finally answered boldly, “that I worry that you don’t know that you deserve better, Kate.”
“Oh.” Kate’s playful façade dropped. She had expected it to be a quip or a joke. Kate’s hand dropped away from Vivian’s jaw. She had to blink a few times to let that settle in her already sour stomach.
“She’s dyke candy. She’s nothing substantial.”
Kate wasn’t sure what to say to that. Her stomach had instant
ly knotted into a tight ball, the same thought looping on repeat: That’s not true.
“I’m not a dyke.”
It was a stupid thing to say.
Vivian’s eyebrow just rose again.
Kate flustered over her words. “I didn’t say I’m not gay-ish, but I’m not a dyke! I’m not a lesbian. I’m completely comfortable in my bisexuality, thanks!” She felt watched. She could feel Ash’s and Charlie’s eyes on her, as well as all the eyes near her, but above all others, she could feel Vivian’s, so close that if she leaned in an inch she would probably be able to feel Vivian’s breath on her lips.
The thought pulled her eyes downward without her permission, making her notice just how perfect the line of lipstick was, how smoothly it transitioned into golden skin.
She jumped a bit as she felt Vivian’s hand settling softly on her thigh, her thumb rubbing in gentle circles. “Kate—”
The contact snapped her out of whatever headspace she had been in. She was a little drunk. She saw that Charlie was looking pointedly in the other direction, appraising a group of attractive men at the bar. She glanced in Ash’s direction and saw her back turned.
She felt so cornered and yet no one was actually watching her.
Kate stumbled to her feet, nearly taking out a waiter as she did. “I, uh, I gotta go! I gotta, uh, I gotta get going.” Vivian reached for her arm, confused, but Kate slunk away. “I’ll see you guys later?”
She was already moving before she had finished her sentence. What it was that had bothered her so much? Did she deserve better? What had that meant? What had Vivian meant?
She headed toward the door, catching their server along the way. “Hey, uh, I’m sorry, but I really gotta go. Can I please settle my tab?”
The server blinked at her, a small frown creasing his eyebrows. “That woman there already covered the tab. She gave me her card when you walked in.”
“What?”
“Uh, yeah.”
Why the hell had Vivian covered the entire tab? Again! That was all three times they had gone out together, an uncomfortable trend started with the flashing of Vivian’s Business Gold Card and an excuse of a “business dinner” after the dinner that Kate had invited Vivian to.