by Cara Malone
“Your leg’s doing much better now, huh?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Darcy said. “I’ll be rock climbing with Freddie in no time.”
“I still don’t know how you have the guts to do those meet-ups,” Krys said. “I could never just show up to an event with a bunch of strangers. I’d feel like I was intruding.”
“You get used to it,” Darcy said. “And the more of them you go to, the more you know the people.”
“Have you made friends?”
“Not really,” Darcy said. “That was my brother’s whole point when he suggested that I go to them, but I haven’t really connected with anyone. They’re nice people, just not my crowd. Your friends seemed nice when they came to visit us, though.”
“Yeah, I just can’t shake ‘em,” Krys joked. Then she said, “They were asking about you at the rehearsal. I think you might have a shot with them.”
“Oh yeah?”
Krys rolled her eyes and said, “They told me to ask you to the wedding, like you haven’t had enough of attending events full of strangers.”
Darcy stared at Krys, not letting her dismiss the idea quite so easily. She crossed her arms over her chest and asked, “Is that a comment or an invitation?”
Krys raised her eyebrows, then laughed at Darcy. “You really are persistent.”
“It’s my middle name,” Darcy said.
“Really?”
“No,” Darcy said. “It’s Rose, but I would love to go to that wedding with you.”
“You would?” Krys asked, finally looking Darcy in the eyes and being serious.
“Yes,” Darcy said. “On one condition.”
Krys smiled. “What’s that?”
“You have to paint with me first,” Darcy said. “Tit for tat, or in this case, tit for tit.” Krys laughed again, a more genuine one this time that made Darcy feel good about her chances. Then she added, “Come on, Krys. Don’t make me go to that class alone.”
“Fine,” Krys said. “Only if it doesn’t interfere with my work schedule.”
“I would never dream of interfering with your work schedule,” Darcy said. “I’ll pick you up from the hospital at six?”
“Okay,” Krys said, cracking a smile that awakened nervous energy in Darcy’s core.
“Thank you,” she said. She was about to ask about the wedding details, but Mary brought a new patient down the hall and they had to turn their attention back to work.
The painting class turned out to be exactly what Darcy had been picturing, and she was glad that she’d been able to coerce Krys into coming with her. She reached down and took Krys’s hand right before they pushed open the door to the art studio, which was inside Evanston Community College.
“Ready to dust off an old hobby?” Darcy asked.
“Hell no,” Krys said. She was still wearing her scrubs from work, but it was probably a good choice, considering the medium. Krys said she wasn’t any good, but so far, Darcy hadn’t seen her do anything that she didn’t excel at.
The room was large, with cabinets full of art supplies all around the perimeter and about a dozen easels set up in a circle. Between every other easel there was a bench full of art supplies, and at the center of the room there was a plain wooden stool for the model.
The instructor welcomed Darcy and Krys into the room and pointed them to a refreshment table in one corner. “We’ll get started in about ten minutes, and in the meantime please help yourself to snacks and beverages.”
Darcy said hello to Freddie and Amy, the only two people besides herself who seemed to show up to every meet-up regardless of the activity. She introduced them to Krys, then they went over to the snack table and Darcy poured wine into a couple of clear plastic tumblers.
“I told you there’d be booze,” she said with a wink as she handed one of them to Krys. “What do you think?”
“It’s all coming back to me,” Krys said with a smile as she looked around the art room. “Should we grab a seat?”
They sat down on the last two stools that were open and next to each other, and a couple of minutes later, the instructor began the class. She introduced herself as Rachel, then went to the door and fetched the model.
Krys looked nervously at Darcy, and truth be told, Darcy’s heart was beating just a little faster than normal in that moment. As they watched the instructor and the model both make their way to the center of the room, she wondered if she’d made an error in judgment by asking Krys to come to this event with her. She could have just gone to the wedding without forcing Krys into a situation that was so far outside of both of their comfort zones.
But with no risk, there could be no reward.
The model was in her early twenties, with bottle-blonde hair that fell to her collarbones. She was wearing a terrycloth robe and a pair of flipflops, and she stood with her hands on the belt, waiting for the instructor to give her the signal.
“Who here has painted with a live model before?” Rachel asked.
Only one person raised their hand – a girl who came with her own smock and box full of art supplies. She was obviously taking this more seriously than the rest of the group, who were all sipping on wine and looking a little bit anxious.
“That’s fine,” Rachel reassured them. Then she smiled and upped the ante. “And how many of you have attended a painting class before?”
A few more hands raised, including Krys’s, but the majority of the group was from the meet-up club and they were all just here for the spectacle. Krys put her hand down then leaned toward Darcy and whispered, “I hope this girl doesn’t mind an abstract rendering of herself.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be right there with you and the rest of the expressionists,” Darcy said.
Then Rachel instructed the model to de-robe. All eyes were on the center of the room as she untied her terrycloth belt and let the robe slide open. She was thin but fit, no doubt chosen for the class because of the visibility of her muscles – at least, that’s what Darcy thought as the girl took a deep breath and her bare breasts rose and fell in a way Darcy couldn’t tear her eyes off. Then the girl settled onto the seat.
Darcy looked at Krys. Fuck. This might have been a colossally dumb date idea. But Krys was just as transfixed by the model, her plump lips parted slightly as she adjusted to the unfamiliar sight of public nudity.
The girl sat so that she was in profile from where Krys and Darcy were sitting, and Rachel walked around the room as she gave instructions. She talked everyone through the supplies on their benches – pencils, paintbrushes and water, plus an assortment of oil and acrylic paints to choose from. Krys seemed to pick up old memories, selecting supplies without trouble while Darcy stared dumbly at the array of brushes and paints in front of her.
Rachel pulled up an easel and said, “I’ll make sure to rotate this periodically so everyone can see. You’re free to either follow along with my instruction or go where your paintbrush leads you.”
“My paintbrush would probably lead me to throw it in the garbage to save it from its misery,” Darcy said. “Should we follow along?”
“Yeah, please,” Krys answered.
The class turned out to be pretty relaxed, with people getting up for wine refills as needed and Rachel walking the group through the basics of painting the human form. She dumbed it down enough for the non-artists in the room to follow along reasonably well, and before long everyone was laughing and having a good time with it.
“Is it weird that I’m concentrating so hard on getting the anatomy right that I’ve forgotten there’s an actual nude woman in the room?” Krys asked Darcy as she glided her paintbrush down the canvas to outline the curve of the model’s back with remarkable skill.
“You, concentrating hard?” Darcy teased. “Nah, I can’t picture it.”
Krys reached over and gave Darcy’s shoulder a little shove, and Darcy swiped at Krys with her paintbrush, leaving a thin, flesh-colored streak down Krys’s bicep.
“So, are you having fun?�
�� she asked.
“Yeah, I am,” Krys said, smiling and turning back to her canvas. She licked her lower lip a lot when she was concentrating and Darcy had a hard time looking at the model instead of Krys.
“Any time,” Darcy said.
“So how’s Harvey doing with all these extracurriculars you’re getting into?” Krys asked after a minute, when she’d gotten around to painting the model’s breasts and her cheeks were turning a lovely shade of pink. “Rock climbing, volunteering at the clinic, going to weddings – he must be pretty hungry for attention.”
“He does okay,” Darcy said. “He gets more attention now than when it was just my dad looking after him, or my brother when my dad was away on long flights.”
“So your parents are split up?” Krys asked. Then she added quickly, “Shit, I’m sorry. Is that too personal?”
“No,” Darcy said. She hadn’t talked about her mom with Krys yet, but doing it while they were already in the middle of a strange situation seemed like as good a time as any. “They divorced when I was a teenager and it was kind of ugly. They wanted my brother and I to pick sides – or at least, my mom did – and when we decided to live with Dad, she never got over it. Things only got worse when she found out I was following in his footsteps and going into the military.”
“Was he in the Army, too?”
“No, the Air Force,” Darcy said. “His being a pilot had a lot to do with their marriage falling apart - he was never home. My mom hated that and I think when she found out I was going into the service, too, it was like another line drawn in the sand, another vote for Dad.”
“I could see how she might feel like that,” Krys said. “So were you able to reconcile?”
“Hell no,” Darcy said, laughing to take the edge off it. “We don’t talk anymore. My brother managed to fix his relationship with her when he was in college, and now he’s kind of like the mediator of the family. What about you? Your parents are still together, right?”
“Yeah,” Krys said. “I hardly ever get to see them, but they’re doing well.”
“Brothers and sisters?” Darcy asked.
“Only child,” Krys said, and Darcy smiled.
“I should have known.”
Darcy drove Krys back to the hospital after the class was over and dropped her off in front of her car in the parking lot. Darcy left the engine idling as they said their goodnights and Krys pulled her completed painting out of the footwell in front of her.
She held it up to the light coming from the street lamp in the parking lot and said, “It’s actually not bad. Rachel’s a pretty good teacher.”
“Don’t sell yourself short – I think you’re more talented than you give yourself credit for,” Darcy said. Krys was studying her painting with a self-critical frown, but Darcy only had eyes for Krys. “So was it worth tearing yourself away from work for a night?”
“It was priceless,” Krys said. “I never would have done something like that without you to drag me there.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Darcy said. “And I guess I’ll let you drag me to the wedding next weekend.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” Krys said, suddenly becoming earnest. “And I know Megan and Alex are, too.”
“I should hope so,” Darcy said with a laugh.
“No, I mean they’re happy that you’re coming,” she said, “as my date.”
“That’ll be our third,” Darcy pointed out. She wagged her eyebrows at Krys and said, “Fair warning – I always put out by the third date.”
Krys laughed and that was the moment Darcy chose to lean in and surprise her with a kiss. She put her hand up, her fingertips lightly grazing the curve of Krys’s neck, and her lips parted for just a moment, her tongue venturing out to taste her.
Krys sank into the kiss, sliding closer to Darcy on the bench seat and running one hand through her hair. Darcy’s head tingled from her temple to the back of her ear, memorizing the path of Krys’s fingers just as she got to know the shape of her lips. Darcy wanted more. Her tongue pressed against Krys’s lips, seeking entry, and she started to glide her hand over Krys’s shoulder. But then she pulled away, her cheeks flushed as she fumbled for the painting in the footwell of Darcy’s truck.
“I should go,” Krys said. “Thank you for tonight.”
And then she was gone, and Darcy put her head back as the truck door shut. She smiled and ran her hand through her hair in the same place Krys had.
11
Krys
The wedding was the following Saturday, a warm and sunny afternoon in mid-July.
Krys offered to pick Darcy up from her dad’s house since she’d been the one to initiate the date, but Darcy insisted on picking Krys up. Twenty minutes before the ceremony was scheduled to begin, Krys stood in front of the mirror in her small bathroom, her hands clammy and her heart beating a little faster than usual.
It was silly because she’d been out with Darcy on a real date already, and on a mock date in their quarantine room. They’d even kissed a few more times, when the clinic was slow and Darcy stole moments of her attention. As she pulled up her hair, Krys thought maybe that was the reason for her nerves. When Darcy’s eyes were on her, or her soft, full lips, everything else faded into the background, and Krys didn’t have the type of job where she could afford not to be completely alert and present.
Krys dried her hands on a towel and then slicked on a layer of pink-tinted lip balm while she waited for Darcy to arrive. She was wearing a light blue tea dress that flared at the hips, with black matte heels and her dark hair pulled up into a chignon. She’d left a couple of delicate tendrils of hair out of the bun to frame her face and she hardly recognized herself in the mirror.
She hoped Darcy would like it, and that thought only made her heart beat faster.
To steady her nerves, she ran through the reading she’d been asked to give. She’d gone through it about five times by the time the buzzer for her apartment finally sounded and she practically jumped out of her heels.
“Darcy?” she asked into the intercom.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Krys smiled at the formality. She wondered if she’d ever be able to break Darcy of the habit of addressing her and every other woman she came across as ma’am. Surely by the third date – the putting out date, apparently – they should be on more familiar terms.
“I’ll be right down, babe,” Krys said. She practically choked over the final word, not sure if she’d said it in gest or as a genuine term of endearment. She released the intercom button and snatched her purse – and her hospital pager – from the kitchen counter.
Maybe by the time I get down to the lobby, Krys thought, Darcy will have forgotten about ‘babe’.
When she walked out the front door of her apartment complex, Darcy was standing on the sidewalk in a pair of tailored dress pants, a button-down shirt and a pinstripe vest that accentuated her curves in a way Krys had a hard time looking away from. She held a small plastic box in one hand, and even though the crooked smile she wore said she was ready to poke fun at Krys for the term of endearment, her eyes told a different tale.
As soon as she saw Krys, her mouth opened and she looked her up and down. Krys’s skin grew warm beneath Darcy’s gaze and she rolled her eyes when Darcy motioned with her finger for Krys to do a spin for her.
“Wow,” she said. “Just wow. You look incredible.”
“I can clean up from time to time,” Krys said. “You look pretty wow yourself. No cane today?”
Darcy stood up a little taller and said with a grin, “Nope. My physical therapist said it’s a good idea to start weaning myself off it and I’m only too happy to comply. It’s in the back of my truck just in case.”
Then she popped open the clear plastic box and held it out to Krys. “I haven’t been to a formal event like a wedding in a really long time. I wanted to get you flowers, but I figured they’d wilt if we left them in the truck so I got you a corsage instead. I hope it doesn’
t feel too much like prom.”
The small flower arrangement inside the box was a single white rose alongside a couple sprigs of lavender. It was delicate and it gave off a lovely scent as Darcy carefully slid the elastic band around Krys’s wrist.
“I never went to prom, so I wouldn’t mind if it was,” she said, leaning in to give Darcy a lingering kiss. When embarrassment threatened to turn her cheeks red, she pulled away. This concept of dating was something she wasn’t used to.
Darcy looped her arm in Krys’s and walked her to the truck waiting at the curb. “Why didn’t you go to your prom?”
“I was way too busy shadowing doctors in the hospital downtown and building up my extracurriculars for college,” Krys said, then shrugged and added, “and the girl I liked didn’t know I existed.”
“Well, she was a fool,” Darcy said, giving Krys a wink and holding open the truck door for her.
On the way to the church, Krys told Darcy as much as she could about her friends so she wouldn’t be in the dark when they arrived. She told Darcy that Megan and Alex met three years ago when Megan was in medical school, and that Darcy might find some common professional ground with Alex, who was a paramedic.
She told her about Ivy, who she’d been mentoring since they met the previous year, and how it was practically a hostage situation – Ivy had been so insistent upon working with Krys because of their shared work ethic, even though they were in different departments of the hospital. She also told Darcy about Chloe, Ivy’s girlfriend of one year, and the fact that they’d just moved in together at the beginning of the summer.
“I think Ivy’s worried that she’s going to wake up one day and realize that the hospital is no longer the center of her universe,” Krys said with a laugh as Darcy parked the truck on the street a little way down from the church. “She’s a bit of a control freak and the idea of not focusing all her attention on her work scares her.”