Something in the Wine

by Jae

  Drew’s hand was warm, as was the skin of her shoulder, noticeable even through her shirt. Annie felt the muscles beneath her fingers flex.

  “I tried to get back into archery this summer,” Drew said after a few moments of silence. She dug her teeth into her bottom lip and shook her head. “It was a disaster. I couldn’t even hit the target. It was as if I had forgotten everything my mother ever taught me. I felt like ...” She blew out a trembling breath, and her grip on Annie’s hand tightened. “Like another piece of my mother was lost forever.”

  The raw emotion in her voice and the pain in her eyes cut Annie to the core. Her eyes burned. She stared at Drew. How open she is with her emotions. I could never do that. She rubbed her thumb over Drew’s shoulder, back and forth in a soothing rhythm, while she searched for something to say. “But maybe you ... maybe it’s not lost forever. I’m sure it’ll all come back to you once you’ve had some time to grieve.”

  The muscles beneath Annie’s hand felt like knotted ropes. Drew stared at the wall. “I’m not so sure about that.”

  “Hey.” Annie rubbed Drew’s shoulder and gave her an encouraging smile. “What is it that you always tell me about negative assumptions?”

  Drew grinned and turned her head to look at Annie. Finally, the tension in her muscles receded and her eyes cleared. She patted Annie’s hand. “You’ve been hanging out with me for too long.”

  Annie smiled back and shook her head. Too long? Not possible. The thought made Annie lift her eyebrows at herself. In the past, she had never felt the need to be around one person for too long, but she liked hanging out with Drew. Not knowing how to say that without embarrassing them both, she got up and lifted the tray off Drew’s lap. “I’ll do the dishes. You should try to take a nap.”

  Drew groaned. “I’m not tired.”

  The childlike expression on her face made Annie bite back a grin. “Then at least close your eyes and rest for a while.” When she walked to the door and looked over her shoulder, Drew was already breathing in the deep, even rhythm of sleep. “No,” Annie whispered and smiled, “not tired at all.” She balanced the tray between her arm and chest, closed the door behind her, and tiptoed down the stairs.

  * * *

  When they returned from their second walk around the lake, Annie fed Cab, then cleaned and refilled his water bowl. “There you go, boy.” She set the bowl on the floor and watched Cab lap up water as fast as he could.

  Drew might be thirsty too, so Annie made a cup of peppermint tea and went upstairs to check on her. She opened the bedroom door and tiptoed toward the bed. Drew was on her side, rolled up like a sleeping child, with her back to Annie.

  The ringing of her cell phone nearly made Annie drop the teacup. Biting back a startled yelp, she set down the mug while she reached for the phone with the other hand. “Yes?”

  “Do you have any plans for tonight?”

  “I’m fine. Thanks for asking, Jake.”

  “Why are you whispering?” her brother asked.

  Annie tiptoed to the door. “Because Drew is sleeping and I don’t want to wake her up. We’ve been up half of the night.” Silence from the other end of the line made her reconsider what she had just said. She was about to explain when she stopped herself. If Jake thought she had spent the night with Drew, it would only help their plan.

  “You’re trying to trick me,” Jake said after a while, but he didn’t sound totally convinced. “You’re not at Drew’s.”

  As if she had heard her name, Drew sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. Yawning, she looked at Annie. “Who’s that?”

  “My brother.”

  Drew patted the bed next to her and waved Annie over.

  When Annie settled on the edge of the bed, Drew repeatedly pressed her mouth to her own forearm, producing loud kissing sounds.

  Annie stared at her, then realized what Drew was trying to do. After giving Drew a conspiratorial grin, she gasped as if Drew had just nipped at her earlobe and let out a long moan.

  “Uh, Annie ...”

  “Oh, sorry, Jake, I forgot you for a moment,” Annie said. “So why did you—Drew, stop it! You can’t do that while I’m on the phone with my brother.”

  Drew pressed a hand against her mouth to muffle the sound of her laughter.

  Annie grinned at her and spoke into the receiver, “Why did you call?”

  “To ... to ... Shit, Annie, what the hell is going on?”

  “Going on?” Annie repeated in her best I-don’t-have-the-slightest-idea-what-you-are-talking-about tone.

  “With you and Drew. You’re not really ...?”

  Annie nudged Drew’s blanket-covered knee. Yes! We’re finally getting to him! “We’re not what?”

  “Forget it.” Jake growled. “I called to ask you if you have anything planned for tonight. I have this friend who would love to go out with you, but he’s only in town for tonight and—”

  “Out of the question. We agreed that you would never set me up with one of your friends again, remember?”

  “Yeah, but Leon is totally different from my other friends. He’s a banker, and you’ve got so much in common. I promise you’ll like him.”

  Annie rolled her eyes. He had said the same thing when he had set her up with Drew. “You know me. I never date two people at the same time.”

  “Two people?” Jake paused. “Oh, come on. You’re not seriously dating Drew.”

  “Why not?” Annie asked. “You were the one who set us up.”

  “But you’re not—”

  “Good-bye, Jake. Have a nice Sunday too.” Annie ended the call before Jake could say anything else.

  Drew threw her arms around her in an enthusiastic hug. “That was great!”

  For a moment, Annie stiffened in the unexpected embrace, then relaxed and smiled. “Yes. Jake is finally getting a taste of his own medicine.”

  “Oh, yeah. If we keep it up, he’ll really think twice before he ever plays a prank on either of us again.” Drew let go of Annie and sat back in bed.

  Annie smiled and got up. “You go back to sleep. I’ll keep Cab company for a while longer.”

  * * *

  Drew’s jaw popped as she yawned. She glanced at the alarm clock and realized she had been lying in bed for most of the past forty-eight hours. No matter what Annie said, she didn’t want to stay in bed for one second longer, so she shoved back the covers and got up.

  Her knees trembled and her muscles felt weak as she trudged down the stairs, but the stuffiness in her head had receded.

  The kitchen was spotless—the breakfast dishes in the dishwasher and the rest of the food back in the fridge—and Annie was nowhere to be seen.

  A wave of disappointment swept through Drew. Had Annie left while Drew was upstairs for a nap? Oh, come on, don’t be such a baby. You think she wants to hang out and play nurse all weekend?

  A sound from the living room attracted her attention, and she shuffled across the hallway.

  Cab was stretched out on the carpet, belly up. Annie, now dressed in slacks and a long-sleeved shirt, knelt above him, and Cab’s paws jerked in pleasure as she rubbed his belly.

  A smile stretched Drew’s chapped lips. She propped one shoulder against the doorjamb and watched them.

  After a while, Annie looked up and noticed Drew. She stood immediately, making Cab jump up too. He ran to Drew and circled her, licking her hands and whining as if he hadn’t seen her in weeks.

  “Drew! What are you doing down here? I really need to handcuff you to the bed.”

  “Handcuffs?” Drew tried not to imagine the scene. She smirked at Annie. “Does your brother know you’re into bondage?”

  Cheeks flaming, Annie couldn’t meet her gaze. “Is everything a sexual innuendo for you?”

  Drew sobered. “No,” she said. “Not everything.” Maybe it was time to express her feelings—at least some of them—instead of hiding behind teasing comments. She walked over with Cab at her heels and looked at Annie. “Thank you for taking su
ch good care of me last night and today. I didn’t want to admit it, but I felt lousy. It’s the first time I’ve been sick since my parents ...” She swallowed and glanced away. “Since I’ve been alone in the house.”

  Despite needing help, she wouldn’t have called any of her friends because she couldn’t imagine anyone taking such good care of her as her mother had. Annie had, though. And instead of painfully reminding her of the loving attention she had lost, Annie’s care had felt healing.

  Annie touched Drew’s arm and then pulled away. “I’m sorry. You and your parents, you were really close, weren’t you?”

  Drew nodded. While her father hadn’t always been good at expressing his love with words, Drew had always felt it.

  “I can’t imagine what it must feel like to lose one’s parents,” Annie said, her voice low and soft.

  Or to have parents like that in the first place. Drew gently nudged her. “Want to stay for lunch and keep me and Cab company for a little while longer? If I have to stay in bed for one moment longer, I’ll go crazy.”

  “Sure.” Annie’s answer came without hesitation, and that amazed Drew. She had gotten the impression that Annie preferred keeping to herself.

  “Great.” Despite her wobbly muscles, Drew felt like skipping all the way to the kitchen. “Then I’ll go and see what I can rustle up, and you—”

  “No,” Annie said. “You go sit on the couch, and I’ll make lunch. That is, if you don’t mind me going through your fridge again.”

  Drew hesitated. When her parents had been alive, she had rarely brought a woman home, and now it took some getting used to having a woman take care of her in her own house. The stubborn tilt of Annie’s chin made her give in—and if she was honest with herself, she liked the way Annie took care of her. “I don’t mind. Mi casa es su casa. Or rather: my fridge is your fridge.” Drew grinned to herself. When the time comes to pretend we’re a couple, we shouldn’t have any problems. Annie knows my underwear drawer, the contents of my bathroom cabinets, and now my fridge.

  While Drew sat on the couch, Annie walked toward the kitchen. After a moment’s hesitation, Cab trotted after her.

  “Traitor,” Drew mumbled but couldn’t really blame him. She turned on the TV and skipped through the channels.

  A group of actors parading around in familiar uniforms caught her attention. She watched Captain Picard tug on his uniform shirt with the four golden pips on the collar. “Sorry, old man, you can tug all you want, but you’ll never look as good as—”

  “Soup okay?” Annie called from the kitchen.

  “Sure,” Drew called back. “Or we can order pizza.” She didn’t care as long as Annie stayed. Maybe it was selfish to keep Annie away from whatever she had to do at home, but she didn’t feel like being alone right now.

  Annie appeared in the doorway. “I’ll heat up some soup. The pharmacist said pizza is not a good idea.”

  Drew leaned her head against the back of the couch and gave her a puzzled grin. “You talked to the pharmacist about pizza?”

  “No.” A light pink colored Annie’s cheeks. “When I bought the Tylenol, I asked about what kind of food to serve a person with a cold. He said to avoid milk products, and if I’m not mistaken, the cheese on a pizza is a milk product.” She hurried back toward the kitchen.

  How cute. She’s really going out of her way to take good care of me. A warm feeling spread through Drew’s chest.

  Moments later, Cab sauntered into the living room.

  “Not interested in soup, boy?”

  Cab gave a low woof, jumped on the couch, and settled his large head on Drew’s thigh. When he stretched out, he took up the remaining space on the couch. Once Annie returned, she would have to sit in the easy chair. My dog, the chaperone. Maybe it was for the best. After the intimacy that being sick had created between them, Drew’s defenses were down. The knight in wine-stained armor has lost her shield. Some distance was in order.

  A few minutes later, Annie came in and set a bowl of tomato soup and a piece of unbuttered toast in front of Drew before she retreated to the easy chair with her own bowl.

  “Thank you,” Drew said.

  “You’re welcome. I fed Cab when we came back from the walk earlier.”

  “Thanks for that too.”

  For a moment, only phaser fire from the TV show interrupted the silence.

  “Look what I found.” Drew pointed at the television with the end of her spoon. “Star Trek reruns, and it’s even your favorite, The Next Generation.”

  “We don’t need to watch it,” Annie said.

  “It’s fine. I told you I like Star Trek.” Stop being so afraid I’ll judge you or think you’re boring.

  When they finished their soup, the episode ended and a voice announced that another one was about to be aired.

  “Want to watch the next one and have popcorn for dessert?” Drew asked.

  Annie looked over at her. “You really want to watch Star Trek with me?”

  “Why not? I happen to think that Seven of Nine is hot, so I don’t mind watching her.”

  “Sorry,” Annie said after blinking twice at Drew’s frank words, “but Seven of Nine is in Voyager, not The Next Generation. No hot Borg in this one.”

  Drew shrugged. “I’ll make do.”

  “Okay. If you’re sure.” Annie waited until Drew nodded before she stood. “I’ll get the popcorn if you tell me where you keep it.”

  “No, this time, let me go. You’ll spoil me for other women if you keep pampering me like this.” Not waiting to see if Annie was blushing or not, Drew gathered their bowls and carried them to the kitchen. While she waited for the popcorn kernels to pop, she was very aware of Annie’s presence in the living room. Somehow, the house felt different with Annie there.

  Better.

  She rolled her eyes at herself. Stop thinking like that. She’s a friend—a straight friend, not a girlfriend who’s here to stay. She distracted herself by trying to smell the popcorn, but her stuffed-up nose refused to cooperate.

  With two sodas and a giant bowl full of popcorn, she returned to the living room; then she glanced across the coffee table at Annie. Oh. I should have gotten two bowls. “Want to come over here so we can share the popcorn?” She nudged the dog who was trying to stick his muzzle into the bowl. “Cab, off.”

  With an almost human-sounding sigh, Cab jumped from the couch.

  Annie rose and rounded the coffee table. When she sat, Cab immediately trotted over and placed his head on her thigh.

  Drew grinned. Seems he’s in love. She tried to ignore the voice in her head whispering that she might not be so far behind. Nonsense. Just because she found Annie attractive and interesting didn’t mean she was in love with her.

  With the bowl of popcorn between them, they leaned back. Drew chewed a handful of popcorn, hardly able to taste a thing, and swallowed through a throat that still felt sore. Ouch. Maybe having popcorn wasn’t such a brilliant idea. She sipped her soda and watched Annie watch her favorite TV show.

  When the bearded commander wandered along the ship’s corridors with the Enterprise’s beautiful counselor, Annie made a face.

  “What? Don’t tell me you’re jealous because you had a crush on ...” Drew stopped herself before she said Deanna Troi. She’s straight, remember? “On ... what’s the name of the bearded guy? Stryker?”

  “Riker,” Annie said. “And no, I never had a crush on him. I don’t watch Star Trek for the romance, but if anything, I liked Deanna with Worf.”

  “Worf. That’s the Klingon, right? Yeah, they have that beauty-and-the-beast thing going.”

  Annie seemed to consider it for a moment. “It’s not that. But sometimes, the most unexpected pairings work best.”

  Drew nudged her with an elbow. “Kind of like us.”

  Annie choked on her popcorn. She bent over and gasped for breath.

  “Hey.” Drew rubbed Annie’s back. She stopped when she realized how intimate the touch was. “You okay?”
<
br />   “Fine,” Annie rasped. “A piece of popcorn nearly went down the wrong pipe. That’s all.” She gave Drew a sidelong glance. “Watching Star Trek with you is dangerous.”

  Drew grinned. “Maybe I should come with a red-shirt warning.”

  Annie’s laughter filled the room, making Drew’s chest expand with pride at being the cause of Annie’s merriment. “Maybe you should.”

  For the remainder of the episode, both of them were silent. Once, their hands brushed against each other when they reached into the popcorn bowl at the same time.

  Tingles shot up Drew’s arm.

  Annie pulled her hand back. Had she felt it too? Her expression was hard to read.

  Wishful thinking, dumbass.

  When the episode ended and the theme song accompanied the closing credits, Annie cleared her throat. Twice. “Drew?”

  Something in Annie’s voice made Drew hold her breath. She peeked at Annie out of the corner of her eye. “Yes?”

  Annie brushed a tiny piece of popcorn off her lips. She glanced from the TV to Drew, then back. “Drew, I want you to know ...”

  Drew’s heartbeat picked up until she thought the couch was vibrating beneath her. She turned to face Annie and then settled back when their knees touched.

  “I don’t want you to think I’m taking advantage of you.”

  “Advantage?” Whatever Drew had expected Annie to say, this wasn’t it. “Annie, I was just kidding before.”

  “I know. That’s not what I mean. What I want to say is ... you’re not just some random lesbian I’m using to get back at my bratty brother.” Annie’s green eyes glowed with intensity. “I ... we ...”

  Drew decided to help her out of her misery. “We’re friends. Or at least starting to become friends.”

  Annie nodded and exhaled. “Yes.”

  “And as your friend, I’m fine with whatever you want to do. Getting even with Jake was my idea, remember?”

  “Yes, but I’m the one who didn’t want to stop even after ... after Halloween.”

  Had Annie changed her mind? Drew studied her, took in the nervous movements of her long fingers. “And now you want to stop? If you want to call off our revenge plan so you can just relax around me ...”