The Kaleidoscope Album Box Set

by Bryce Oakley

  Meg scoffed. "Cheater. Name another. And make it one you haven't wanted to sleep with."

  "I'm deeply hurt by your accusations," Domino said, holding a hand to her chest.

  "Because you can't name one," Meg said, smirking.

  Domino paused, blinking. "Okay, you know how small the ladies who like ladies circle in LA is. Even counting all of the pansexual and bisexual women I know, it's still a tiny amount," she said.

  Meg laughed, shaking her head. "Bullshit," she said.

  "Okay, you name one female friend you haven't tried to sleep with," Domino said.

  "Easy," Meg said, counting on her fingers. "Julia, Melody, Ashley, Maria, Brittani––"

  "Okay, yeah, I've got it," Domino put her hands up to stop the list.

  "I'm just saying, you've got a shot at a really cool friendship. Don't fuck it up just because you're... eager," Meg said, sipping her beer loudly.

  "Eager?" Domino cracked up. "That's what we're calling it these days?"

  "Don't fuck it up," Meg said, pointing a finger at her.

  A text buzzed in Domino's pocket. She took out her phone and looked at the screen.

  Billie: Will you bring a date for Saturday? I'd like to get the spotlight off of Vero as much as possible for her first meeting of the parents.

  Domino sighed. She turned to Meg, about to ask her to accompany her to her parent's dinner, when another text came through.

  Billie: Not just Meg or Zoey.

  Domino frowned, looking at the screen.

  Domino: I'm not dating anyone.

  Billie: Sure. Bring the cute organizer you took surfing, then.

  Domino turned to Meg, raising a brow. "Wow, Radio Meg," she said, showing Meg the text.

  Meg laughed, blushing. "Guilty," she said.

  "Wow, couldn't have waited ten minutes to leave my house before telling Billie about Sabrina?" Domino laughed, shaking her head.

  Meg shrugged, shaking her head.

  "What happened to not sleeping with her?" Domino asked.

  "Hey, I said she was cute and that we went surfing. I didn't say anything about you potentially dating her or anything coming of it," Meg said, crinkling her brow. "I still don't want you to fuck it up."

  Domino took a deep breath. "You are a mixed bag of advice, Meghan Koo," she said.

  Meg laughed. "I'm heading out. I'll see you tomorrow for writing?"

  Domino nodded, leading Meg to the front door. She carried a bag full of damp swimsuits and wetsuits. "Thanks again for letting Sabrina borrow the suits," Domino said.

  "Sure, anything for a friend," Meg said with a wink.

  Domino rolled her eyes, shutting the door behind her. When she turned around, Sabrina was watching her from the kitchen counter, where she had paused pouring brown rice into a container. Seeing Domino catch her, she hastily began pouring again.

  "Okay, how much did you hear?" Domino said, crossing the room to lean against the counter beside her.

  "What? None. Nothing," Sabrina said, not looking up from her task. She looked adorable, her hair curling down her back, her brow furrowed as she concentrated on the rice pouring into the container with a soothing whoosh-ing noise.

  "Go on, tell me," Domino said, sighing. She raked a hand through her hair.

  Sabrina shook her head, pointedly not looking up at Domino. She sealed the container, pushing it to the side.

  "Do you have plans on Saturday night?" Domino asked, holding the next jar steady as Sabrina poured quinoa into it.

  Sabrina shook her head again, but paused with the quinoa. "No," she said slowly. "Why?" She looked skeptical, and Domino could hardly blame her.

  "Well, can I ask a huge favor?" Domino asked, putting on her best impression of puppy dog begging eyes. She was asking her as a friend, not as anything more. There was nothing behind the favor, only that she needed someone she could trust with her at the party. Sabrina was just a friend, not someone she wanted to sleep with. She could have friends, despite what Meg said. She could totally have friends.

  Sabrina arched a brow, looking up at Domino's face.

  Domino took a deep breath. "Will you please come with me to this family thing?”

  “A family thing?” Sabrina grimaced. “I don’t really do family things. Not even with my own family.”

  Domino continued, trying a different course of action. “Not like as a date or anything, but just as a friend and someone... normal? It's just a dinner, but Billie wants Vero to feel comfortable, and my brothers will be there, and they're... well, intense, and––"

  Sabrina interrupted her, dropping the rest of the bag of quinoa onto the counter. "Wait, Vero De Luca will be there?" Was she... bouncing in excitement?

  Domino paused, her brows knitting together in confusion as she looked Sabrina up and down. "Well, yeah, of course," she said, as though it was a super normal thing for her sister to be dating one of the most famous pop stars in the world.

  She liked Vero, but her time with Billie's girlfriend had been short. She hoped maybe she could get a few seconds with her alone at the dinner to apologize in person.

  "Yes," Sabrina said quickly, and the bouncing in place escalated.

  "You can't like fan girl over her, though," Domino said quickly, but she was trying to stifle a grin. Sabrina's eyes were twinkling with excitement.

  Sabrina scoffed, throwing her hair over her shoulder. "Excuse me? I would never. I am very cool," she said.

  Domino's grin broke through her casual facade. "Yeah, sure, whatever you say," she snickered.

  "Extremely cool. Did you know I surf now? I'm just so cool," Sabrina said, twirling her hair around her finger.

  Domino laughed, rolling her eyes. "You are very cool," she said, patting Sabrina on the shoulder.

  "Seriously though, I had a lot of fun today," Sabrina said. "Thank you for taking me surfing. I never would have tried that without you."

  Domino couldn't help but smile. "I'm glad. And thank you for letting me come to The Organizer Store with you. Who knew I was such a pro at designing closets?" She joked.

  "Yeah, I think you missed your calling. If the rock and roll lifestyle doesn't pan out, you could totally get a job there," Sabrina teased.

  "Wow, you think I have that much talent?" Domino asked, trying to sound honored.

  "Would we call that talent?" Sabrina tilted her head, pretending to think it through.

  "No, talent was you standing up on your very first time out, if only for a quarter of a half of a second," Domino said, grinning.

  "Maybe it was my very good teacher," Sabrina said, rolling her eyes. "Meghan."

  Domino scoffed in mock-outrage and reached to tickle Sabrina, but paused as her hands brushed Sabrina's body.

  Domino froze in place as her laughter quieted, the tension growing thick between them.

  Sabrina was so close. Domino remembered how warm her body had felt in the water, pressed against hers. How good it had felt to hold her and have Sabrina's arms around her own neck, too.

  Sabrina opened her eyes, the twinkle still in her eye, but her smile faded. Her gaze flicked down to Domino's mouth.

  Then, before Domino could think it through and stop herself, she had closed the gap between them and pressed her mouth to Sabrina's, her lips soft and tentative in a question that Sabrina seemed to know exactly how to answer.

  She tasted sweet like honey ale against Domino's tongue.

  Domino wrapped her hands around Sabrina's waist, pulling her close. She summoned every ounce of reserve, trying to keep from sliding Sabrina onto the counter and taking her right there.

  Sabrina moaned against her mouth, dizzying Domino's rational thoughts. She took Sabrina's hair in a fist and tipped her head back, kissing her deeper. Sabrina brought her hands to either side of Domino's face, warm skin contrasting against Domino's cool cheeks.

  Sabrina pulled back to take a breath, closing her eyes as she held her forehead against Domino's.

  Domino struggled to take a deep breath of her ow
n.

  Was that the best kiss of her life?

  "That can't happen again," Sabrina whispered, her voice cracking slightly as though she was on the verge of tears.

  Domino opened her eyes, taking a step back. She held up her hands. "I'm sorry," she said quickly. "I didn't mean to upset you. I thought––"

  "You are my client, and I do consider you my friend, but this is an important job to me, and I'm not jeopardizing that just because you're an extremely good kisser," Sabrina said, shuffling backwards to put space between them.

  Domino pursed her lips in thought. "So, you think I'm a good kisser?" She joked, trying to lighten the mood.

  Sabrina scoffed. "Missing the point, Domino," she said, her hands on her hips.

  Domino rolled her eyes. "Relax. I'm fine with friends," she said, holding out her hand to shake on the new agreement.

  Sabrina stared down at it, but tentatively took Domino's hand in hers and shook it.

  "You, Meloy, are unlike anyone I've ever met," Domino said, shaking her head.

  Sabrina sighed. "Am I still invited to your party?" She asked, reaching for the half-empty bag of quinoa.

  "Of course," Domino said with a laugh. She stared down at the woman before her, blinking back against the strong force of rejection Sabrina had just thrown her way. After that kiss, and the way Domino's heart still pounded –– she just wanted to be friends?

  Domino swallowed the lump that began to form in her throat. She hated that feelings had begun to bubble up inside of her. She tried to stifle them back down where they belonged.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Sabrina

  "I guess this will do," Sabrina said, holding the dress up in the mirror. She was wearing a fluffy bathrobe, trying to figure out what dress to wear to Domino's family dinner. Domino hadn't given her a wardrobe clue: Was it cocktail? Dressy? Casual? Was it a barbecue? Sit down dinner with candles? She grew more nervous by the minute.

  "You guess that will do?" Isla said with a dramatic sigh. "Okay, wait, let me get this sorted. You and Domino had a perfect day together, she invited you to meet her parents, you shared what you, in your own words, called an incredible, toe-curling, heart-pounding kiss, and then you... Wait, let me check my notes." She made an affirmative sound, pretending to flip over a piece of paper. "Yep, you told her that you didn't ever want to kiss her again and that... yes, says right here." She pointed to her invisible paper. "That it couldn't happen again."

  Sabrina sighed, shoving the dress back in her closet. "That's... yeah, that's the gist of it," she said.

  And that gist had made doing her job at Domino's house a bit awkward. Thankfully, on Thursday, Meg had been over to write with Domino, and they had worked together in the living area while Sabrina had stayed busy organizing the rest of the kitchen. On Friday, Domino had been out of the house, and Sabrina had finished the linen closet, the laundry room, the guest bathroom, and the guest bedroom. They were simple tasks that allowed her to get out early before Domino returned.

  Isla flung herself back on Sabrina's bed dramatically. "Don't you wonder even just a little bit what she's like in bed?" She said with a giggle.

  Sabrina rolled her eyes. Uh, yeah, all the time. "Nope," she lied.

  "And are you saying the kiss wasn't the best kiss you've ever had?" Isla asked.

  Best ever. Mind-blowing. Holy cow, she could kiss Domino forever. "It was whatever," Sabrina said, rummaging through her closet.

  "Are you nervous for tonight?" Isla asked.

  Absolutely. "Not really," Sabrina said. "It's just a small family thing."

  "Why are you suddenly like this? You're way more of a badass than this scared girl in front of me," Isla said, sitting up again to fix her with an intense stare.

  Because her five year plan meant more than a one night stand. Because at this point, she wouldn't be able to go back to being just friends with Domino after going all the way. She could barely pull herself away from a kiss. If she were to sleep with Domino, the next thing she knew, she'd be sacrificing her hard work and plans to go play at the beach.

  She shook her head. "That reminds me," she said, narrowing her eyes at Isla. "Are you ever going to tell me the details of who you went home with from the bar? I didn't recognize her."

  Isla turned beet red in an impressively short amount of time. "Absolutely not," she said.

  "Was it someone I know?" Sabrina asked.

  Isla shook her head.

  "Was it someone you know?" Sabrina continued.

  Isla laughed, rolling her eyes. "Of course," she said, snorting in disdain.

  "Wow, you don't remember her name," Sabrina said with a giggle.

  "Of course I do," Isla said. "It was... Jenny." She said the name slowly, as if testing it out.

  "Wow, you just chose a character from The L Word and you expect me to believe you?" Sabrina said, crossing the room to grab a pillow off of her bed to smack Isla with it.

  "Was there a Jenny on The L Word?" Isla asked with joking naivety.

  Sabrina lifted the pillow over her head and Isla held up her hands to shield herself.

  The doorbell rang, causing her to pause. "Oh, you are totally saved by the bell, which is a total cliche, and I don't know how you managed to time it," she said, tossing the pillow back into its place.

  She walked out into the living room with Isla right behind her. The doorbell rang again.

  "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," she called out. Despite having a No Soliciting, Please sign, it was rarely respected. Even with a please! The nerve of some people.

  She opened the door ready and armed with her no soliciting speech that was neither too spineless nor too mean, but she gasped in surprise when she saw Domino and Zoey standing on her doorstep.

  "Uh, I thought we were meeting at that Target off the 5?" Sabrina said, clutching the neck of her robe. Just her luck –– she was wearing a hideous, bright pink, fluffy robe when the one person she wanted to impress that night was standing on her doorstep.

  Domino was holding a large box. "Well, I'm early. And I brought backup," she said, gesturing to Zoey.

  Zoey laughed, taking a step forward to hug Sabrina. "I picked it out," she whispered in Sabrina's ear.

  "Picked what out?" Sabrina asked.

  "Can we come in?" Domino asked, tilting her head to the side with a smirk.

  "Yes, of course," Isla said, pulling the door out of Sabrina's hand to yank it wide open.

  Zoey walked in, looking around. "Is that a new couch?" She asked pleasantly.

  "New to us!" Isla announced with pride about their find. Truthfully, it was an incredible couch, and getting it for 60% off the original price just because it had a giant hole in the back was a steal, in Sabrina's opinion. Besides, she had sewn it up with an almost-matching fabric and voila, it was good as new. "Anyone need a drink?"

  "Yes," Sabrina and Domino said in tandem.

  "Show her," Zoey squealed, as though she was about to witness someone unwrap a Christmas Present.

  Domino handed Sabrina the box. It was heavier than she had expected. She set it down on the coffee table and lifted the lid off.

  "It's Givenchy," Zoey said, clapping her hands.

  Sabrina's jaw dropped. Folded delicately inside of the box was the most beautiful dress she had ever seen. She gently took the shoulders of the dress, lifting it out of the box to examine it.

  It was a knee-length 70s style dress, made of dark blue organza with a subtle floral print of greens, reds, and blues. The skirt flared slightly, and the sleeves came down to the elbow without an underlayer, letting the organza fabric shimmer on its own. The dress glistened in the light, almost creating a stained glass effect.

  "Wow," she whispered.

  The tag read "Givenchy, Nouvelle Boutique. Bergdorf Goodman on the Plaza, New York."

  Sabrina stared at the dress in her arms. She wanted to hug it to her, but she resisted the urge.

  Zoey clapped again, squealing. She turned to Isla. "Show me where you keep your
hair straightener," she said. The two of them skipped down the hall, talking excitedly about how to style Sabrina for the night.

  Domino waited until Zoey and Isla were out of the room.

  "I owed you a dress," Domino said in a quiet, shy tone. "I ruined your white dress on the day we met, and I wanted to make it up to you."

  Sabrina looked up at the ceiling, willing herself not to cry. "False equivalence," she whispered.

  "Do you like it?" Domino asked, taking a step closer to touch the sleeve of the dress. "Zoey said it would look good on you, and I'm inclined to agree."

  Sabrina nodded, turning to meet Domino's eyes. "I really do. It's perfect."

  Domino smiled, the expression growing slowly on her face until it touched the corners of her eyes.

  Sabrina thought of the kiss from Wednesday. She had been unable to think of much else since. Domino's lips tasted faintly of salt, as though she spent so much time in the ocean she had become mostly saltwater. The commanding and tender way Domino had held Sabrina's body, the gentleness of her demanding kiss...

  She was in trouble.

  But she was proud of herself for sticking to her priorities. She had always stuck to the plan. Nothing went wrong when she was able to focus and go after what she wanted. Her five-year plan included many things, but it did not include a wild rock star.

  "Zoey dressed me, too," Domino said, breaking into Sabrina's thoughts as if she wasn't already there.

  Sabrina looked up at Domino, taking in her outfit for the first time. She was wearing a dark button up shirt that was made of a soft material that clung to her just right. The top few buttons were undone, showing just enough skin to intrigue Sabrina.

  She wore trousers tailored perfectly for her, hugging her slim hips. She finished the look with a pair of Chelsea boots and a leather jacket.

  Topped off with her slightly messy hair, she looked absolutely breathtaking.

  "Were all of your black jeans dirty?" Sabrina teased.