Just One Taste

by C. J. Birch

“What?” Kalini shifted gears, turning to stare at Hayley. “Is that what you told her?”

  “No. That’s not what I said. That’s not what happened.”

  Lauren hitched her free hand on her hip. “She’s rooming with me because she didn’t have a place to live.” Lauren lowered her voice. “I found her sleeping in the diner.”

  “What?” Kalini’s face fell. “Hale, you told me you’d found a good place.”

  “I would hardly call the Palace Arms a ‘good place.’” Lauren turned, probably to make sure no one was listening.

  Kalini whupped Hayley on the head with her menu. “I told you to check out the youth hostel on Spadina. What the fuck were you doing at the Palace Arms?”

  “It was the only place I could afford. Jason didn’t want me staying on the couch…” Hayley shrugged. “So I got a place.”

  “Fuck Jason. We would’ve made it work. The Palace Arms is an absolute shithole. Only addicts use that place. God.” Kalini slumped back, folding her arms.

  Lauren took a step back. “I’m going to give you two a few more minutes. Let me know when you’re ready to order.”

  Kalini stared up at the ceiling, silent, shaking her head every few seconds. Hayley reached across the table. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. Things just spiralled really fast.”

  Kalini shrugged and shook her head again. “I’m upset you didn’t think you could come to us. You thought we would be okay with you being homeless?”

  “I hadn’t known you guys that long, and Jason was really bitchy about everything. I didn’t want to impose.”

  “Hale, you’re family now. If we’d known, Jo and I would’ve figured something out.”

  Hayley didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t even considered asking them for help, thinking since they had their own lives and problems. Her whole life she’d grown up with the belief that cities were cold and unfeeling, but so far she’d only been welcomed and folded into the fabric of life here.

  Before Hayley could say anything, Kalini waved her off. “I hate all this sappy bullshit.” She picked up her menu. “What’s good here?”

  “Everything.”

  Kalini lowered her menu. “Well, the good news is, she is definitely into you.”

  “She thinks I’m weird looking.”

  Kalini just smiled. “Even if she doesn’t know it, she likes you.”

  * * *

  Hayley pulled the Post-it from the fridge door and read it. “You’ve got to be shitting me. There’s a chart?” She scrunched up the note and tossed it on the counter. Jerkface pounced on the Post-it from the shelf he’d been lounging on and batted the ball back and forth between his paws a few times before slapping it toward Hayley. She resisted the urge to knock him off the counter.

  He’d recently found a new hobby: peeing on her things. She couldn’t leave anything lying around, even for a few seconds, or it would be marked with the telltale musk that Hayley had come to loathe. Two days ago she’d thrown her coat on the couch to run back to her room to grab something, and by the time she came back it had a wet patch on the left sleeve. She hadn’t even seen Jerkface creep from his hiding spot.

  Growing up she’d had dogs, a chocolate Lab named Almond, and then later, Dirk, a pit-bull/husky mix she’d rescued when he was a puppy. She was dog people. Dogs were easy to deal with. They loved you unconditionally, were great walking companions and bed warmers.

  Jerkface was the complete opposite. He had this weird quirk where he would sit in a room and meow until you brought him water. Once the water was set in front of him, he would take two sips, then saunter off. It was Lauren’s fault for catering to the asshole, but Hayley had also heard how loud Jerkface could vocalize. It was like having an angry toddler scream at you. Sometimes it was just easier to give in.

  Hayley opened the fridge and nudged the milk slightly out of line with the Brita water behind it, closed the fridge, and left to get out of her work clothes. She felt better until the front door opened and Lauren swept in.

  “I don’t want to hear the word ‘substitution’ for at least a week.” She collapsed on the couch with a loud groan. “My feet are done. They hate me.”

  Hayley shoved her head through her comfiest hoodie and strolled into the living room, where Lauren was resting with her head back and eyes closed. Even after a full day on her feet dealing with customers, she still looked fresh. And beautiful. Hayley tried not to think about that part, but she did. It wasn’t even a subjective thing.

  Hayley walked into the kitchen and moved the milk back into place. “Why don’t we order a pizza and binge-watch British Bake Off?” Hayley took a seat a cushion away.

  Lauren turned her head on the back headrest to face Hayley. “Can it have red peppers on it?”

  “Yep.”

  “And Italian sausage?”

  “Sure.”

  “And anchovies?”

  “Um?”

  Lauren reached over and squeezed Hayley’s knee. “I’m kidding. I hate Italian sausage.” Hayley’s brain was still trying to put out the explosion of sensation happening somewhere around her knee when Lauren burst into laughter. “You should see your face, Hale.” She pushed herself up from the couch. “Priceless.”

  Hayley could hear Lauren unzip her uniform as she entered her room. It was one of those cotton-blend dresses designed to look like something from a diner in the fifties. Luna and Vic complained about them constantly. Hayley’s imagination at that moment was located somewhere between Lauren’s breasts, and while her body was thoroughly enjoying the experience, her mind was not. She looked up at the ceiling and whispered, “This is so not fair.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Hayley dried her hair on a towel, the shittiest towel she could find, and surveyed the results. In the span of several hours her hair had gone from deep ocean blue to platinum blond. It was closer in colour to her natural blond, although hers was darker. She’d been dying her hair since she turned fifteen and hadn’t seen her real colour in a decade.

  Surrounding her were the results of her labour. The discarded dye box, an empty mixing bottle, her tint brush, scrapped plastic gloves, and several hair clips. She’d been careful not to let the bleach drop on anything that could stain. Hayley circled the bathroom once more to make sure. She had a feeling Lauren would flip. They’d been living together for only a couple of weeks, meaning they were in that honeymoon phase when you still hid the worst parts of yourself. After the coffee incident Hayley was being vigilant. It was proving harder than she’d thought. Growing up with Hannah, Hayley was used to the OCD nature of her sister. She was more organized than a library, and almost rebelling, Hayley had become the opposite. She didn’t go out of her way to be messy, but she preferred the convenience of leaving things where they were instead of selecting a place for them to live. She liked the idea of chaos. For some reason it helped her be more productive.

  As soon as she began making a conscious effort to tidy up after herself, it was like her natural tendency to spread had intensified. She couldn’t help it.

  Her mom might even go so far as to call her a slob, though it would be a gross exaggeration. Hayley just organized things differently than most people did. So far she was having fun messing with Lauren. This morning she’d moved the eggs a few inches out of place just to see if Lauren wrote her another note. Tomorrow she had big plans for the toaster.

  She pulled out her hairdryer, unwrapped the cord by letting the dryer spin to the ground, and plugged it in. In the background, Huey Lewis and the News was crooning about the power of love. Hayley loved this song, it always reminded her of her childhood, so she let it play out before turning on the dryer.

  She had the day off, her first in a while, and tonight she was joining Kalini at Jo’s art opening. Jo would likely be busy schmoozing most of the night. Hayley was happy to fill in as her companion.

  Since she’d moved here, she hadn’t done much more besides look for an apartment or work, so this would be a welcome change to her r
outine. And in honour of that she was getting a new look. As she sculpted her hair into a soft wave, she told herself it had nothing to do with the fact that Lauren thought she had Smurf hair. Nothing at all.

  * * *

  Lauren pulled open the fridge. It had been another long day, and all she wanted to do was eat ice cream, drink wine, and binge on Netflix. Maybe Hayley would join her. She hadn’t seen her yet today. Because of her double, she’d been up and out of the apartment before Hayley was out of bed. She knew she was home because faint eighties music drifted from the back bedroom.

  She was about to go knock when she noticed the eggs. She sighed and nudged the carton a few inches to the right. She knew she was being anal but couldn’t help it. She liked things a certain way.

  The door at the end of the hall opened, and the music shut off. “Hey,” Lauren called. “Do you want to binge-watch—” But her voice stopped the second she saw Hayley emerge from her room. All coherent thought left her, and at that moment if you’d asked her what time it was, she’d have said “Thursday.”

  Hayley was wearing a little black dress that scooped low in the front, the fabric hugging her breasts and tied around her neck. And her legs. Lauren had never noticed women’s legs before, but maybe she should start, because Hayley had fantastic legs. The dress clung tight until mid-thigh, and then nothing but skin showed until three-inch heels. The effect was expansive, smooth legs. Hayley took a couple steps forward, and Lauren watched her calf muscles flex.

  And at that moment Lauren’s libido, which had been dormant for years, sat up and slapped her in the face. Ideas of what it would feel like to skim those thighs with her fingers inching that dress up trailed through her mind.

  “Too much?” Hayley asked. “A friend lent me the dress, but…” She looked down, surveying her cleavage. “It draws a little too much attention to the girls.” It was obvious Hayley was uncomfortable showing off that much skin.

  “You look…” To be honest, there was nothing too much about that dress. Lauren was practically drooling on the carpet. “So different.”

  Hayley scrunched her face up. “Different bad?”

  “God, no.” Lauren reeled herself in a bit. “It’s good. You look good.” She couldn’t get over the transformation, because that’s exactly what it was. Hayley’s now-platinum-blond hair was styled into soft waves that tickled her shoulders, bouncing ever so slightly with her breasts as she walked. Lauren tore her eyes away. God, she’d never gotten so wet from just looking at a human before. “Where are you off to tonight?”

  “My friend Kalini’s fiancée has a gallery opening tonight. I’m sort of her stand-in date since Jo’ll be busy most of the night.”

  Hayley walked past trailing lavender and shoved her lipstick, debit card, ID, and phone into her leather-jacket pocket. “Um, are you going to be up later? Or…” She shrugged her jacket on, killing the effect somewhat.

  “What are you doing?”

  Hayley looked down at herself. “What do you mean?”

  “You can’t wear that jacket. For one thing, you’ll freeze to death, and it just ruins the whole aesthetic you have going on.”

  Lauren pulled a knee-length, dark-blue coat off the coat rack and opened it for Hayley to slip into.

  “But the leather jacket is cool.”

  “It may be cool, but you’re going for sexy.”

  “I am?”

  Lauren shook the coat a little. “You most definitely are.”

  Hayley slipped out of her jacket and turned to accept the dark-blue wrap. Lauren fixed the collar from behind, then smoothed her hands down Hayley’s back. It was an entirely intimate gesture that she hadn’t meant to do but couldn’t help herself.

  Hayley turned and they locked eyes. “Better?”

  “Much.” But Lauren hadn’t bothered to look because she was still staring into Hayley’s deep-azure eyes. The platinum hair added a whole different hue that was mesmerizing. Lauren blinked quickly and turned away. “My night is Netflix and chill…the solo version. So I might be up.”

  Hayley’s mouth quirked. “Cool.” She sounded cocky and confident and sexy as hell. She opened the front door and took one look at the fire-escape stairs leading down to the back alley. “Crap. Forgot about the stairs.” She slipped off her heels and descended in bare feet. “Bye,” she called halfway down. And just like that, the real Hayley poked through the exterior.

  Lauren slowly closed the door, letting it latch before leaning against it. “What the fuck was that?”

  * * *

  The gallery was packed when Kalini and Hayley entered. She spotted Jo in the back surrounded by several people. She had a glass of red wine in hand and was using it to point out something in the painting on the wall. She was in her element. Usually a pretty laid-back dresser, she’d gone all out tonight, wearing a bright-pink blazer over a silver button-up shirt and skinny white tie. Her pants were also white and so tight Hayley could see the outline of her boxers. She had no doubt Kalini had dressed her. This was a girl who lived in hoodies and jeans.

  They stepped farther in, and each took a glass of wine from the bar off to the side. The gallery tonight was showcasing three different artists, all of them mixed media. Jo’s was the boldest. She used found garbage from the streets and painted them into beautiful landscape scenes as if they belonged.

  Hayley needed this—time away from the diner and the guys. As much as she enjoyed working with them, there was just something about being stuck in the role of cool chick. She spent a little too much time ignoring Ezra’s view on women, which he didn’t mind sharing with her even though she was female. He had a phone full of women based on body parts. It was offensive to have to listen to him talk about them as a challenge, as if the only thing they offered existed between their legs. The thing about Ezra, though, was that he viewed himself the same way. He felt the only things he had to offer the opposite sex were his muscles and abs.

  It was also good to get out of the apartment. Hayley was finding it hard to keep her feelings about Lauren from blooming into so much more. It was almost impossible to avoid her. Everywhere she looked she bumped into reminders of her presence in the apartment. Her smell of vanilla was on everything. Taking a shower had become a dangerous thing. She’d started having fantasies of Lauren in the shower, and that was no good. This was someone she could not have a relationship with. Her mind was aware of this fact; she just wished she could get the memo to her body.

  “What’s that look for?” Kalini asked. They’d slowly begun their circle of the gallery.

  “What look?”

  “If I didn’t know you better, I’d think you wanted to make out with that guy over there.” She pointed to where Hayley had been staring off into space, lost in thought. “Are you thinking lusty thoughts about your roommate slash boss? Please say yes.”

  Hayley blushed. “No, I was actually thinking lusty thoughts about that guy over there.”

  “Mmm-hmm. I still think you should’ve brought her. What better way to see if she’s into you than a no-pressure, pretentious-as-fuck art exhibit?”

  “She’s straight.”

  “You don’t know that. Is that the only reason you’re not willing to put yourself out there? Because you think she’s straight?”

  “No. It’s because she’s my boss. And we live together. This cannot happen.”

  “Why not? Are you planning to make a career out of this job?”

  “No, but if things go bad, then we still live together. It’ll be awkward.”

  Kalini shrugged her slender shoulders. “So? Move. You’ve seen how fluid your living situation can get in this city. Why not embrace it? Especially if she’s hot.”

  “What are you? Some sort of matchmaker?”

  Kalini laughed and finished the last of her wine. “I’m your fairy godmother granting you permission to give in to your impulses.”

  Hayley sipped her wine, contemplating that last bit. She’d never seriously considered giving in to her urges. In
her mind, Lauren was simply off limits, but what if she wasn’t?

  * * *

  The clock above the stove read one fifteen when Hayley slipped in the front door. The place was dark except for the occasional flicker from the TV in the living room.

  Hayley set her heels on the front table and slipped out of her coat before heading to see if Lauren was still up.

  She’d had the best time. Better than she thought she would. The exhibit was a mix of boring, exciting new work and pretentious fucks, but Kalini said that was normal for those gatherings. She’d gotten tons of attention, unfortunately not from the right gender. But that was the risk of dressing too femme. Hayley had always sat on the fence. Not exactly femme, her usually exotically coloured hair put her in the category of alternative but not necessarily gay. Her hair was long and she wore makeup, but she also rarely wore dresses and tended toward jeans and ironic T-shirts. Yet she found it fun to sometimes slip into a more feminine persona, like tonight.

  But more fun than anything had been Lauren’s reaction. Hayley would be lying if she said she hadn’t dressed with Lauren in mind, but she never thought in a million years it would get a jaw-drop. And she’d seen lust in Lauren’s eyes as plain as if Lauren had said it out loud.

  Hayley tiptoed into the living room, trying not to bump into anything. She’d had a few glasses of wine. Nothing to get her drunk, but enough to impair her ability to be stealthy. And it had certainly affected her inhibitions. She’d talked so much on the way back, her Lyft driver had dropped her off a block away, mumbling that his engine light was on.

  Lauren was curled up on the couch, her black hair sprawled on the armrest behind her. She’d changed out of her uniform into a black tank and yoga pants that stopped mid-calf.

  Notting Hill was playing on screen. They were at the scene where Hugh Grant and his friends chase through London to get to Anna’s press conference in time. Hayley took a seat on the edge of the couch to watch the ending. It wasn’t her favourite romance, but it was pretty good. Her all-time favourite was Career Opportunities. She’d had a mad crush on Jennifer Connelly growing up.