Learning Curve

by Rachel Spangler

“Don’t make it sound so scary.”

  “Sorry.” Trying to recover quickly, Ash asked, “What do you teach?”

  “Women’s studies.”

  “No kidding? That just happens to be my specialty,” Ash said, leaning in closer.

  “Really? Well, the papers are on Judith Butler, so you can imagine how my sophomore boys feel about Undoing Gender.”

  “Actually, I was joking. I’m a lesbian, so ‘studying women’ is kind of what I do.” Ash laughed nervously as she realized she’d made Carrie uncomfortable.

  “Oh, I guess I walked right into that one.”

  “No, I’m sorry. That was pretty sophomoric of me. Maybe I should see if any of your students would take me to a frat party.” When the beginnings of a genuine smile started to form around the corners of Carrie’s mouth, Ash continued, “Really, they could teach me about Undoing Gender, and I could teach them how to tap a keg.”

  “I think they probably know how to tap a keg,” Carrie replied good-naturedly. “Surely you have something else to teach them.”

  “Hmm…do you think they know how to mix drinks?”

  “Not very well, if the parties I went to in college are any indication.”

  “Well, there you go. I could be a professor of the bartending sciences.” Ash sensed Carrie relaxing.

  “Is that what you do? Tend bar?”

  “No, actually I just work odd jobs. I’m a regular Ms. Fix-it. Minor stuff mostly. Painting, refinishing, day-to-day car care.”

  “That’s great. Not many women in that field. How did you get started?”

  Ash saw an opening and before she thought her words through, her Casanova instincts took hold of her. “I learned early on that I was good with my hands. Maybe I could show you sometime.”

  Immediately Carrie tensed up. She wasn’t exactly cold, but Ash knew she’d pushed too far, so she tried to cover quickly. “I redid Mary’s attic. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind showing it to you.”

  “That would be nice. Maybe I can see it at the cookout tomorrow.”

  “You’re coming to Mary and Sharon’s cookout?”

  “Of course. I try to bring Tess to all the youth center functions.” Ash must have looked a bit off kilter because Carrie seemed to realize she didn’t know what was going on. “I’m sure Mary just forgot to mention who all was going to be there.”

  “Yeah, Mary has a very selective memory.” Ash tried to laugh, even though she’d been suckered into another night with Amy, Michael, and of course Tess. Oh, well, if I have to deal with them to get time with Carrie, I guess I can even handle Tess.

  As if on cue Tess seemed to materialize out of nowhere and sat down directly across the table from her. Ash had been so engrossed in Carrie that she didn’t even notice the teenager approaching.

  “So where’s the after-party?” Tess asked.

  “This is it as far as you’re concerned,” Ash replied.

  “What about you? Where are you headed?”

  “Sorry, kiddo, nowhere you can go.”

  “You’d be surprised the places I can find my way into.”

  “Yeah, and does your mother know where you are right now?”

  “Does yours?” Tess shot back.

  Ash chuckled at the flash of anger she saw in the girl. “You still can’t come.”

  “Oh, come on. Surely if I was with a local celebrity like yourself I could get in anywhere.” Tess batted her eyelashes.

  Ash once again felt the urge to snap at Tess, but she could sense Carrie’s disapproval. “Probably, but it’s almost your bedtime.”

  “Okay, want to come tuck me in?”

  “That’s enough,” Carrie said sharply. “It’s time to go. Why don’t you see if anyone else needs a ride home? I’ll pack up here.”

  As Tess reluctantly walked back toward the other girls, Carrie gathered her papers and put them in her briefcase. “I’m sorry about that,” she said, without looking up.

  Ash felt her heart sink. She was embarrassed about Tess and puzzled that Carrie hadn’t stepped in sooner. Carrie seemed disappointed and for some reason that bothered her. She was drawn to this woman in ways she wasn’t used to, and while the feeling was unsettling, Ash also found it intriguing. Carrie was beautiful and challenging. Ash had been thoroughly enjoying their conversation and now found herself wanting more.

  “Hey, don’t worry about it. I shouldn’t have let her get me going like that.”

  “It’s not you.” Carrie seemed dispirited. “Tess has that effect on people.”

  “Carrie.” Ash touched her lightly on the shoulder. “I’m not most people.”

  Carrie studied her for a second without saying a word, then picked up her briefcase and said, “I can see that. See you tomorrow.”

  With that she was gone and Ash was left rocking in her wake.

  Chapter Four

  “Did you girls have fun tonight?” Carrie asked as she drove the car full of teenagers across town. Tess was in the passenger seat next to her looking blankly out the window. Two other teens, Erin and Jill, were in the back and seemed to be in much better moods.

  “Oh, yeah.” Jill giggled. “I am so glad I came. I finally got to see the famous Ash Clarke.”

  “She is so hot,” Erin jumped in. “Is she going to be there every weekend?”

  Carrie shook her head at the clear case of teenage hormones gone haywire. “I got the sense that this was a one-time occurrence, but she might be at the cookout tomorrow.”

  “Good. Did you think she was hot?” Erin asked Jill.

  “She’s good-looking, but she’s slept with, like, everyone in town.”

  “So what? When you look like that, you can sleep with pretty much anyone you want.”

  “Girls, it’s not in very good taste to talk about people’s private lives,” Carrie said gently.

  “It’s not really a private life if you flaunt it,” Erin countered. “My older sister plays softball, and she said Ash has slept with practically everyone on the team. She doesn’t even try to hide it.”

  Carrie couldn’t really argue with that logic. Ash’s reputation was widely known at the university, too. She’d heard her mentioned by faculty, staff, and students alike, and the story was the same every time. Ash Clarke was a player, the kind of woman who should come with a warning label.

  “She’s pretty smooth,” Erin said.

  “She’s had lots of practice.” Jill snickered at her own retort.

  Carrie pulled up to a stoplight and allowed her thoughts to drown out the conversation. They were right, Ash was as smooth as she was stunning. She’d handled Tess’s ambush during the safe sex talk pretty well, certainly better than Amy or Michael usually did. And her practiced charm was more than evident when she and Carrie spoke. Carrie wondered if she was even aware that she came on strong really quickly, or if hitting on women was just second nature to her. It was easy to see why some women found that type of confidence attractive, especially younger ones who were also looking for superficial encounters, but that had never been Carrie’s style. She’d built her few relationships on common interest and shared respect; sex appeal had always been secondary to her.

  Carrie’s thoughts were interrupted by the blare of a car horn.

  “The light’s green,” Tess mumbled.

  Embarrassed to have zoned out so completely, Carrie focused on the road for the rest of the way to Erin’s.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to spend the night?” Erin asked Tess. “My mom is going to drop me and Jill off at the cookout tomorrow.”

  “No thanks,” Tess said, not really looking at her.

  Carrie waited until the girls reached the front door, and pulled away as Erin’s mother stepped out on the front porch and waved to her. She and Tess rode in silence for a few moments before she made an attempt at conversation.

  “You’re awfully quiet all of a sudden.”

  “Yeah,” came Tess’s one-word answer.

  Carrie knew the teenager didn’t want to
go home, and she couldn’t blame her. Most kids her age fought with their parents from time to time, but Tess and her mother couldn’t see eye to eye on anything. She didn’t know for sure, but she thought that their house was usually filled with uneasy tension that could explode at any time.

  “I’ll pick you up for the cookout right after you get home from mass,” she said.

  “If my mom lets me out of the house.”

  “Tess, if you behave at mass, your mother will let you go.” Carrie pulled into her own driveway.

  “Can I come in?” Tess asked without much hope in her voice.

  “You know you can’t. If you want to keep coming to the youth center, we have to follow your mom’s rules, and that means making it home by curfew.”

  “Whatever.” Tess got out of the car and stalked across the street.

  No one came onto the porch to welcome her or to wave an acknowledgment to her chaperone. Carrie sighed. The girl’s home life was no doubt the cause of her gradual descent into sarcasm and jadedness, but Carrie couldn’t do much about a disapproving mother. She just had to try to provide Tess with positive experiences during the time they had together. Mary thought Ash might have something to offer from a different perspective, and even though Carrie was skeptical about that possibility right now, she was willing to try anything.

  “Ash,” she said out loud.

  Now that her chaperoning duties were through for the evening, she could allow her mind to wander to the woman everyone talked about. She was certainly everything her reputation suggested: handsome, charismatic, cocky, and irreverent. Still, there had been moments during their conversation when Carrie thought she’d glimpsed something more—brief flashes of genuine interest, even a hint of sincerity just below Ash’s cool exterior. The responses had faded as quickly as they appeared, as if Ash shut down as soon as she became aware she was revealing another part of herself. Carrie would be lying to herself if she said she wasn’t intrigued.

  *

  Ash took a seat next to Mary at the bar and said, “Amaretto stone sour and a Bud.”

  “You remembered.” Mary leaned into Ash to be heard over the music coursing through the club.

  “How could I forget? I’m the one that introduced you to Amaretto. It’s what you were drinking the night you left me for Sharon.”

  Mary seemed shocked. “Ash, there was nothing to leave. We weren’t a couple.”

  “I know. I didn’t mean it like that.” Ash shook the memory from her mind.

  “Something hit a little too close to home?” Mary asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “This sudden walk down memory lane, could it have anything to do with Tess?”

  “Tess?” Ash tried not to be insulted. She thought Mary knew her better. “I’d never hook up with Tess. She’s just a kid, and a troubled one at that.”

  “Who said anything about hooking up? Are you thinking about sleeping with her?”

  “God, no! Do you think I’m so desperate I need to hit on minors?”

  Mary took a large swallow from the drink the bartender had placed in front of her. Relaxing noticeably, she said, “You had me worried.”

  “I thought we were talking about Carrie. I still don’t know what Tess has to do with anything,” Ash said.

  “No, I guess you wouldn’t. You’ve got a one-track mind. I should have known you would walk into the youth center and find the one woman in this town you hadn’t slept with.”

  “Hey, I’m not that bad. There are a lot of women I haven’t slept with.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Mary laughed. “Point to one.”

  Ash scanned the crowd on the dance floor. “There. The blonde in the black skirt and red top.”

  “No, she’s too cute. I don’t believe you’ve never gone after her.”

  “She must be new in town,” Ash replied distractedly, never taking her eyes off the woman.

  “So, if I ask you tomorrow if you’ve slept with her your answer will be different?” Mary prodded playfully.

  Before Ash could say anything, the blonde saw them watching her and Mary looked away quickly. Ash held the attractive stranger’s gaze, giving her a broad smile that was immediately returned.

  “Jesus.” Mary sighed. “Another one bites the dust.”

  “All I did was smile at her.”

  “Exactly. That’s all you have to do, flash those pearly whites and women just fall into your arms.”

  “I’m irresistible.” Ash shrugged playfully. “It’s my curse.”

  Mary rolled her eyes. “Oh, you poor thing.”

  “I really am the victim here.”

  “A victim with a short attention span at that. What about Carrie? Remember her—the woman you were fawning over all night? Any of this ring a bell?”

  “She went home,” Ash responded dryly.

  “My point exactly.” A hint of agitation entered Mary’s tone. “Carrie went home, so you just move right on to your next prospect.”

  Ash was surprised by Mary’s expression. She seemed frustrated. “Why are you so concerned about Carrie? And by the way, how come I’ve never met her before if you two are such good friends?”

  “We aren’t good friends. We work together on the youth center advisory board, we see each other at all the functions, and we have a shared passion for making this community safe for those kids. I respect her. She believes in things that are bigger than herself.”

  “And she’s sexy.”

  “Which brings me to my point,” Mary said. “It never occurred to me that the two of you should be introduced. You know I love you, but she’s not exactly one-night-stand material. Now if you would consider settling down—”

  “All right, Mom.” Ash feigned exhaustion. “We’ve been through this a thousand times. I don’t want a relationship. I’m not built that way.”

  “What do you want? Do you even know?”

  “Right now I want you to relax, I want another beer, and I want to see if Blondie over there would like to dance with me. But not necessarily in that order.”

  “Fine.” Mary threw up her hands in defeat. “Carrie would never go for you anyway.”

  They sat there for a moment not saying anything. Ash felt stung by the last remark but tried not to let her feelings show. Somehow being told Carrie was not an option made an ache settle in her chest. She tried to dismiss the thought. There were plenty of other women who would love nothing more than to spend a night with her. She would just have to redirect her attentions to one of them.

  All of a sudden Mary said, “I need to get home to Sharon and Annie.”

  Ash was a bit startled by her abruptness, but when they hugged good-bye, Mary whispered, “Blondie is making her way toward the bar. Call me tomorrow.”

  Ash laughed at her friend’s antics, then ordered another beer. All she had to do now was relax. The blonde would come to her.

  *

  The evening progressed rather quickly, even by Ash’s standards. She was pleasantly surprised that after only three dances the blonde—Allison—whispered, “I’ve got a room at the Chateau. If you’ve got a car here, we can go.”

  “Are you sure?” Ash eased out of Allison’s clinging embrace slightly. She’d been enjoying the ritual of the seduction, but for some reason thoughts of Carrie still lingered in the back of her mind.

  “I wouldn’t have said it if I wasn’t.”

  “A woman after my own heart.” Ash laughed softly, burying her doubts. “Let me pay my tab and we’ll go.”

  Once outside, Ash opened the door of her Mustang for Allison to slide in, then she jogged around to the driver’s side. As she did, she had a flashback to earlier that evening, when she and Tess had stood by the car, arguing. She shook her head slightly, wondering what made her think of that.

  “This is a great car,” Allison remarked as they drove toward the hotel.

  “Thanks. She gets me where I want to be.” Ash focused her attention on the road. A few seconds later she felt a hand move up
her right thigh. She took a deep breath as Allison reached her waist and began to unfasten her belt. “We’re almost there,” she said hoarsely.

  “Good, I don’t think I can wait much longer.”

  “I can see that,” Ash said, but in her head she heard Carrie’s voice from when she’d used the same words earlier. “Damn,” she muttered at the memory.

  “What’s the matter?” Allison asked, still running her hands over any part of Ash’s body she could reach.

  “Nothing. Where should I park?”

  “By the back door.”

  As soon as the car was in the space, Ash hurried around to open the passenger side door for Allison and they both bolted for the elevator. By the time the elevator doors opened on the fifth floor, they were latched onto each other, kissing and groping. Allison had not only made it to second base, she was rounding the corner toward third. A businessman waiting to go downstairs got more than an eyeful before they could tear themselves apart. Neither could refrain from laughing as Allison fumbled with her key, but once the door was opened they were back to business.

  Without taking time to bother with the light, Allison backed Ash toward the bed until she was sitting on the edge, and then straddled her leg. Ash pulled her down hard, enjoying the damp warmth resting on her thigh. She ran her hands up under Allison’s top and cupped her breasts. Allison moaned deeply.

  “Why do I get the feeling you’ve done this before?” she asked as Ash expertly unhooked the clasps of her bra.

  “Probably because you’re no rookie, either.”

  Ash discarded the bra and top, and took a hard nipple between her lips, rolling it around with her tongue. Allison arched her back and ran her fingers through Ash’s hair, holding on tightly to keep from falling over backward. She ground her hips down on Ash’s knee, moving in slow circles. Her breathing became more ragged with each rotation, making her press down even harder.

  “Oh no, you don’t,” Ash said when she realized how close Allison was to climaxing.

  Flipping Allison onto the bed, she pushed her skirt up so it was in a bunch around her waist, then climbed on top of her, locking their mouths together before reaching down to slip a finger into her. Allison moaned and began rocking her hips again. Ash kissed her neck and nibbled on her ear, but when she took a deep breath she was overwhelmed by the scent of a shampoo similar to Carrie’s. She shook her head to banish the image of Carrie smiling up at her.