Chapter 6
It was Friday night and the eve of the infamous Canada party. Liz pulled the brush through her hair while her thoughts were on all the different ways the evening could go. She secretly hoped the gorgeous Kris would finally notice her and talk to her a bit more, since she had been totally avoiding her over the last couple of the days. She wondered if the outfit she had picked would be good enough for the party, or if she would be over dressed maybe. She had chosen a very low-cut silky dress in deep green which reached her halfway down her thighs. She knew that green was her color and brought out the extra shades of blond in her hair. She wondered what the rest would be wearing, Kris in particular... Stop torturing yourself! She obviously doesn’t want you. You better protect your heart and focus on someone else instead. Now Liz! she quietly scolded herself before taking one last look in the mirror and putting on some Armani perfume.
As Liz stepped outside she noticed that her German neighbor Marcus was standing next to her door, almost as if he was waiting for her. As soon as he saw her his eyes opened wide and he gasped, before quickly trying to close his mouth and blushing so strongly she could see it even in the dusky light outside. “Hey Marcus, ready for the party tonight?” she asked in a light tone. He looked nervously down at his feet and stuffed his hands in his jeans pockets. He was wearing a checkered shirt in red, brown and yellow pattern. “Shall we walk together toward the party?” Liz asked him and grabbed his elbow gently before she started moving toward the staircase. She could hear the excited voices of numerous of the other summer students as they exited their dorm rooms and made their way toward the big building at the far end of the park. Someone had put out lights on the pathway toward the building and it made for quite the romantic setting. Too bad it’s Marcus who’s in my arms and not a certain someone else, Liz thought to herself while she made her way down the pathway.
Jeff sprawled out on Hunter’s bed and sipped his beer. “Will you stop fuzzing about so we can go already?” he asked impatiently. “You’ll never look as good as me anyways, so you better stop trying” he grinned. She threw one of her pillows at him before she went into the closet to change her shirt for the third time that evening. Damn, I never used to be nervous about going to a freakin’ party. But somewhere deep down she had a strange feeling about tonight, that something was about to happen and she better pay attention or she would miss out. She reached into the far end of her closet and drew out her rocked t-shirt. She decided she would go for baggy shorts in grey and white pattern with the black rock’n roll themed t-shirt over it. It wasn’t very fancy in the end, but at least she would feel comfortable which was the most important. “Let’s go” she punched Jeff in the stomach and pulled him off the bed. “I feel like flirting tonight” she said decisively before opening the door to step out into the cooler night.
“Hey you two!” Felicia shouted toward Liz as she and Marcus walked up to the entrance of the building. “Wow, you look absolutely gorgeous Liz, truly amazing!” she gasped as she eyed Liz. “If I was gay I would totally hit on you tonight” she smiled. Damn, Liz thought, did she pick up on my vibe already? They were interrupted by Katie who ran over to them. She was wearing a short white tennis skirt and a blue short-sleeved blouse over it. “You two look like models, I almost didn’t recognize you” she announced, with a slight tinge of jealousy in her voice. Felicia was wearing a tango style long black skirt and a sleeveless bright red top which showed off her sensuous breasts and let them bounce noticeably while she walked. Liz couldn’t help but notice Marcus drool over them when Felicia was laughing. Marcus seemed like such a typical geeky guy, had obviously not been exposed to enough girls during his teenage years. Now he was certainly out of his element as he stood in the midst of the three of them, but he was too shy to walk away as well.
The three girls walked up the entrance of the large stone building, high heels clicking on the asphalt and purses swinging in their hands. Marcus tagged along behind them. The other students were arriving as well, but somehow it seemed most attention was brought to the three ladies led by the beautiful blond in the dark green tightly fitted dress with the very low v-cut neck. Heads just seemed to turn a little bit extra in their vicinity and the three girls enjoyed the attraction. Someone whistled from behind and Liz turned around. Bryan winked at them. “Damn, you girls look good tonight!” his eyes briefly focused on Katie before he nervously shifted away and smiled at the rest of them.
The group of five started walking in through the door and Liz took in all the impressions of the party. It’s very clearly a Canadian party she thought, as there were Canadian flags strung up everywhere from the ceiling in the hallway leading in to the big party room. The lighting had been dimmed and turned the usual lecture hall into a completely different venue; she almost didn’t recognize it as the same place. A DJ spin table was installed on the middle of the makeshift stage which had been set up in one corner of the room. Next to it sufficient place had been cleared for having a dance floor. An upbeat techno summer song was playing in the background as the place was slowly filling up with happy students. In the opposite corner a bar counter had been put up and the five of them made their way toward it to order a couple of starter drinks. As they approached Liz halted her step, swallowing hard.
The cashier from the lunch canteen was standing behind the bar, wearing a ruby red tight fitting t-shirt and loose blond hair. She seemed to notice Liz staring at her because she turned in her direction and grinned widely when she found Liz looking at her. The cashier kept locking her gaze with Liz, ignoring all the other students waiting to be served. As Liz approached the counter she asked her “What can I offer you this evening?”
“I think I’ll start with a glass of white wine, if you have that?” Liz asked carefully. “For you my darling, anything” the cashier winked, still keeping her eyes locked with Liz’. Liz felt herself blush; Damn, get a grip. Stop blushing every time someone gives you a nice complement! “Thanks” Liz said as the lady provided her the glass of white wine. The cashier turned barkeeper leaned across the counter. “I’m Reese, from Texas. How about you, what’s your lovely name?” Liz looked down and dusted something invisible off the counter. “I’m Elisabeth, but all my friends call me Liz”. She took a sip of the white wine. It tasted refreshingly cool. She glanced carefully around her only to register that her friends had already been served by the other bartender and stood a few meters away from the bar counter. She looked back at Reese just as Reese briefly touched her hand. “You look really stunning tonight Liz, that dress is really showing off your body in the most gorgeous way, if I may say” Reese said as she let her eyes slowly wander down the cleavage of her dress. Liz felt her chest tighten when she sensed Reese’s eyes slowly undressing her with their mere gaze. “I… Eh, I have to go hang out with my friends over there. But I’ll see you later.” Liz swallowed hard while she tried to speak. “I’ll surely see you later pretty girl” Reese smiled at her and continued to let her gaze travel further down Liz’ dress. Liz wasn’t used to such direct attention, she tried to flee the scene as quickly as possible.
Hunter and Jeff found themselves in the midst of the Japanese group of students, who were all really excited to meet Israeli people. They almost started quoting their history books before Jeff laughed them off and stated that they would save the school lessons till daytime. “Now it’s drinking time” he announced. The Japanese students got a slightly nervous look on their faces and Jeff had to laugh. “You guys are not too used to drinking, huh? But you have that famous liquor, you know, the saké?” “Yes, but we do never tried drink that” one of the Japanese guys stuttered in checkered English. “Let’s go buy you an American drink instead then” Jeff said and pulled them toward the bar. Hunter stayed behind to finish her beer instead. Suddenly her eyes widened in apparent surprise and she froze in her movement, her beer bottle tilted in front of her mouth. Across the room a dark green blonde goddess was standing by the bar counter, looking like the most beautiful thing Hu
nter had ever laid eyes on. Wow she thought to herself while she swallowed heavily. Then she noticed, just as Liz was walking away from the bar, that apparently the bartender was also putting some serious moves on her. Hunter felt a sting of frustrated anger in her stomach. Everyone was apparently chasing after “her girl”. Can I not get a break here?! she huffed.
“We’ll have a round of Jägermeister shots with a beer for each” Jeff told the bartender and noticed the nervous twitching of one of the Japanese students. “Relax guys, it’s just a shot. I promise we’ll take it easy and it’ll just be fun” he raised his hands calmly in the air. As they were waiting for their drinks one of the Canadian students stepped up to the stage and began welcoming everyone to the party. He announced that they had a lot planned for the evening, and pointed to the bar for everyone to moisten their throats before the first game would begin shortly. They would have a tournament of beer pong. Afterward there would be a steeplechase. Jeff grinned and turned toward Hunter, who was approaching the bar. “Beer pong huh? I guess this will be an interesting evening!”. Hunter smiled in return and let her thoughts wander to Liz, wondering if she had ever tried beer pong before or if she was the kind of girl who didn’t party like that. She felt a small tug at her heart; she wanted to know more about this girl! If only the rest of them would just back off. She let her eyes drift back toward Liz and admired the dress she was wearing this evening. It truly brought out her best features and when Liz smiled and laughed at the crowd around her Hunter understood she was lost.
Liz stood with some of the French and Spanish students, the fellow nationals of Felicia, while one of the guys were explaining about the last time he played beer pong. This sounds like a really fun game she thought, and made up her mind that she would certainly join – even though it would involve quite a lot of drinking. The game consisted of two players per round. The players would be standing at opposite ends of a ping pong table, hence the pong part of its name. They each received a certain number of ping pong balls. On the opposite end of the table a set of beer cups were lined up in a bowling pin pattern. The aim of the game was to throw the ping pong balls into the cups on the other side. Each cup you hit meant one cup of beer the opponent had to drink in full. Of course, the more beer the opponent had, the worse their aim and thus increasing your winning chances further. So the trick is to get the first upper hand, Liz quickly figured out. If only it would be that easy though. She rolled her eyes at herself. But I’m sure I’ll discover some tricks once we get started. At least I have to try this challenge!
While Liz was preparing herself for the upcoming game her heart suddenly made a jump. Across the room she spotted Kris for the first time that evening. Kris was fetching some of the game accessories and didn’t see her. Wow, she looks absolutely gorgeous. Kris wore loose black slacks nicely hugging her very desirable behind, and as a top she wore a white starched shirt with the sleeves folded up and the collar open, exposing her nicely tanned skin and a rather enticing cleavage, Liz noted. Damn, I don’t have a chance in hell to catch her attention; she’s just simply too gorgeous, Liz thought melancholic while she tried to force her eyes to look away. She had secretly hoped Kris would notice her looking and return the gaze, but no such luck. Kris seemed very busy with the preparations and was walking quickly between the tables lining cups. Better bring my attention to the game at hand instead of dreaming away my days at summer school. Focus on the people around you instead Liz! She turned her attention to the people around her settling in to watch the upcoming beer pong game.
Felicia was nervous about joining the game, and since they were both new-beginners, Liz and Felicia had decided to start off playing against each other. Felicia was busy trying to look as sexy as possible and leaned over the cups to expose as much cleavage as she could before throwing the ball toward Liz’ end of the table. The guys didn’t seem to mind the view though, and honestly so didn’t Liz either. She never had anything against some good window shopping, even of very straight girls. Liz smiled at her own thoughts before focusing on the ball she was about to throw. Felicia was already way ahead on the drinking part, which meant she was losing thoroughly. This is surely a good way of getting everyone nice and drunk for the evening Liz thought while she merrily observed Felicia’s more and more drunken moves on the other end.
Liz could not believe her winning streak. What was it about this game?! She was on her fifth round and still merely buzzed from the beers she had downed so far. People had started gathering around her table and were cheering her on. Even Kris seemed to have noticed her beer pong talents and kept shifting her gaze over in Liz’ direction from time to time, but with such subtlety it seemed she was going out of her way to make it seem she was not watching. Liz wondered why, when both Reese and Hunter were quite the opposite, staring her down every second they got the chance and obviously enjoying their view as they kept sending her little smiles and winks. It’s always the cute ones who are the most difficult to get the attention from she grimily thought while she remembered her various dates after coming out. Typical! she thought frustrated and rather focused her energy back toward the game instead – much more productive.
◆◆◆
Liz drew in the crisp night air and let her shoulders relax while she slowly breathed out again. She stared out across the grass field in front of the building, listening to the muted sounds of the party behind her. She couldn’t believe she was really here now, in California following her dream, meeting other space enthusiasts. This was an incredible site, the government space research facility. It felt surreal to be living every day in a high security location where most others could only dream of ever entering. Wonder what this summer will lead to in the end she thought while letting her eyes blur into the distant horizon. “Enjoying a bit of fresh air and quiet?” said a ragged voice from behind her. Liz spun quickly around and found Hunter looking deep into her eyes with a curious look. “Yeah, just wanted to cool off a bit” she smiled reserved back at Hunter.
“Can I offer you a drink while you relax out here?” Hunter asked and stretched out her arm to offer Liz a glass of rosé wine. Hunter tilted her head slightly while her eyes followed Liz when she sipped slowly to the wine. “Good?” Liz swallowed the refreshing pink liquid. “Yes, it’s very good in fact. That’s not the normal selection from the bar is it?” “No, I asked the bartender to bring out the bottle hidden in the back, you know; the good stuff they normally don’t open” Hunter grinned. Liz thought of Reese pouring the wine and reminded herself to thank her later for this incredibly good wine. “So, what are you doing out here?” she poked at Hunter trying to show a playful attitude while raising one of her eyebrows. “I’m actually looking for you” Hunter looked down and slowly up again, revealing such admiration in her eyes that Liz felt her heart sting and a lump beginning to form in her chest.
“Really?” Liz said, clearing her voice slightly from the nervousness building up. Hunter reached out and let her index finger trace slowly along Liz’ cheek bone while resting her thumb on her chin stroking it slowly back and forth. Liz felt Hunter’s touch spread through her skin and into her bones, making her shiver slightly. Hunter held her gaze firmly focused on Liz, staring so deep Liz felt as if she was exploring her soul. Heat started developing from deep within and spread to her chest and Liz could feel herself blushing from the rather intimate connection. It was as if Hunter noticed this, because she drew Liz even closer to her and grasped both of her cheeks, staring into her eyes. “You okay?”. “Su… Sure, I’m good” Liz swallowed hard while she tried to clear her voice. “I really want to kiss you right now. Is it okay with you if I do?” Hunter asked carefully and peered into Liz’ eyes. Liz nodded, no words could escape her lips at this point. Hunter leaned further toward her and closed the distance between them.
She gently placed her lips on Liz’ and held them for a few seconds. When she felt Liz was comfortable with the movement, she gently probed her tongue between Liz’ lips and let it explore slowly in her mou
th. Liz felt slightly lightheaded and confused by her feelings, or rather lack thereof. She found her thoughts drifting to Kris and wondering if her tongue would feel anything like this when she would kiss her. She wondered where Kris was right now, and suddenly a lightning bolt of fear struck inside her chest. Her whole body tensed up before she pulled away abruptly. She can’t see us like this! Hunter’s face was filled with confusion as they stood slightly apart from each other. Just as Liz was about to explain, a very loud crash sounded from inside the building.
Courage to follow your heart Page 5