Her face softened but she said nothing.
I reached out my hand, palm out, and waited until she put her hand in mine, albeit reluctantly. “I am back to my real self when I’m with you. You, Alice Crombly, bring out the best in me. I want to be able to wear my blue dress, in public, and feel pride in myself. But most importantly, I want to feel pride in standing in public with you on my arm. You’re my other half.” A single tear ran down Alice’s cheek and I leaned over and wiped it away. “I’m sorry I hurt you,” I said. “I didn’t know who I was, but you helped me find me.”
She smiled. “You realize that you’re also a good influence on me, right?”
“Me? How do you figure that? I thought I was a self-righteous bitch.”
“I’m sorry I made you sound like that. You are a good person. Yeah, I drink too much. Yeah, I can get myself into trouble. But when I’m with you, I feel like I should think first. And trust me, that’s a good thing.”
I laughed. “So, I calm you down a bit and you bring me out of my shell. It sounds like we might both be a good influence on each other.”
“Yeah, I think so too.” She stared into my eyes and I thought I could get lost in their depths. “Carrie, let’s put aside our differences. Let’s give this another try. I promise to keep my partying to a minimum.”
“And I promise to not be a frumpy, self-righteous, pious bitch.”
We both laughed. Then she leaned in and kissed me and all of my inhibitions fell away.
Our foreheads together, we looked into each other’s eyes as we held hands.
“I love you, Carrie Johnson,” she said softly.
“And I love you, Alice Crombly.”
“Do you want to get out of here?” Alice asked with a nod of her head toward the parking lot. “It’s cold.”
“Yes, I do,” I said, my voice husky.
Hand in hand we made our way back to our cars.
“Meet me at my place,” she said, a mischievous smile on her face.
I could not wait to see what that meant.
Epilogue
Alice and I moved in together when my lease was up. I found myself enjoying the parties Alice took me to, and it turned out that the Colorado Springs party where the drugs were such a hit was a one-off. Fighters, it turned out, were typically too health conscious to do drugs, and that particular party was very atypical.
“Hurry up, Carrie,” Alice yelled from the living room. We had a party to go to for Alice’s new modeling stint and I had tried on five different dresses, trying to figure out which one to wear.
“I am,” I yelled out to her. I finished putting on my nylons, dancing around the room as I tried to get them over my legs and up my hips, and then touched up my makeup.
“We’re going to be late,” Alice yelled. “Come on!”
“Coming,” I said finally, pulling the hem of my dress down one last time.
When I walked out of the bedroom and into the living room, Alice’s jaw dropped. “Oh, my!” she said breathily as she stood up and sauntered toward me to take me into her arms. “You certainly look sexy in that dress.”
“Well, you did pick it out for me,” I said huskily as our bodies pressed against each other.
She leaned down and her lips touched mine. When she pulled away, we both were breathless. “We could just stay home and I can have you take that dress off for me,” she whispered in my ear.
I giggled. “That is an option, but then how would I be able to show you off to everyone at the party.”
She gave an exaggerated gasp. “You show me off? What’s that all about?”
I reached up and pulled her lips down to mine. “Well, we could show each other off.”
“Now you’re talking,” she said into my mouth before taking my hand and pulling me toward the bedroom.
Well, it looked like we would be late…again.
But I did not mind. It was all well worth it.
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Perfect Match: A Lesbian Romance Page 11