Kat rolled her eyes. “Hot date tonight?” Her droll voice almost betrayed the professionalism she attempted to exude. “It’s Friday, after all.”
Shari pursed her lips at her reflection. “No. Just having a drink tonight. Why?” She cast her gaze toward Kat, looking her up and down with the same critical glare she used a few years ago when she said, “You’re too masculine for me. Not that I think you should grow out your hair. God, no. That would look dreadful on you.” “You interested?”
Even if Kat weren’t looking forward to a date with Vivian on Sunday, she still wouldn’t entertain Shari’s delusions. Even if they had never dated before. Because Kat had a front row seat to every stunt this woman had pulled, and that was the crap she performed in public. I bet she’s even nastier in private. Nastier than she had been when Kat dated her? Back when Kat didn’t love herself enough to know that Shari was bad news? We all did cringy shit in our twenties. Dating Shari was the tip of Kat’s iceberg.
“I’m interested in knowing if I need to pull up another chair for you.” Kat leaned back as Shari leaned forward. “Because it’s gonna be crowded tonight.” The only reason they had as much seating as they did was because one of the biggest groups in the room hopped off the stools and instead gathered around the pool table. Kat was due to ask if they wanted more drinks soon.
Shari chuckled. “Darn. Thought that maybe I would have a date tonight, after all.”
Kat ignored the implication that she would be the date. “Couldn’t line anything up tonight, huh?”
“I am getting so tired of online dating.” Shari fluffed her hair. Kat couldn’t help but notice that her nails were long and sharp, the perfect detriment… or at least a warning sign that this woman didn’t intend to finger anyone soon. Or maybe she is, and she gets off on tearing up pussy in ways God never intended. When Kat thought about it… yup. Shari had never been great at giving as much as she received. Kat somehow doubted that had changed over the past few years. “Everyone is so fake, you know?” Oh, she was still talking? “Then there’s the fact that there’s hardly any fresh meat around here. I swear, if I actually liked dick, I would try my luck on the straight side, because this whole lesbian thing is a total bummer.”
“Sounds tragic.” Like her personality.
“You know what I mean, huh?”
“I know what you mean,” Kat said with a fake sigh. “So many meh women out there you’re not attracted to.”
“Right? See, you get it.”
Oh my God. Shari had no idea that Kat was making fun of her, huh? This was almost too easy. Kat had to redirect her half-amused energy into cleaning glasses before she snorted all over Shari’s drink.
That drink was half gone when Shari finally looked Kat up and down again and said, as if she had resigned herself to utter desperation, “You got a girlfriend?”
Kat stopped cleaning the glass in her hand. “Nothing serious.” Naturally, she thought of Vivian, but she wasn’t about to call her a real girlfriend yet. “But I am dating someone.”
“Too bad.” Shari batted her fake eyelashes. “All the good ones remain taken.”
That was it. Kat couldn’t take it anymore. Once she heard that ridiculous turn of phrase, she laughed so loudly that half the bar glanced in her direction before going back to their activities.
“What’s so funny?”
Kat had a stitch in her side. “Are you serious?” she asked. “Like, are you serious?”
Shari sneered into her drink. “Sorry if I offended you. Jeez.”
“I’m only confused because you and I used to date way back in the day.”
“Excuse me?”
“You seriously don’t remember me?” This was rich, and totally like the narcissist who didn’t care enough about other people to commit them to her long-term memory. “We had sex a few times while we dated.” When Shari’s eyes widened, Kat continued, “You’ve got a birthmark that looks like Iowa on your ass.”
Shari gasped.
“Yeah, seriously. You don’t remember dumping me because you thought I was unattractive?”
“I… uh…”
“You told me I was too masculine. So it’s pretty rich that you’re asking me out right now. Because it both implies that you don’t remember me, and that you’re desperate enough to sleep with someone that you would lower your standards. Not like I’m that much curvier than your date from the other night.” Kat withheld another sputter of laughter.
Shari slid her empty glass toward Kat. “I honestly have no idea who you are. You must have me mixed up with someone else.”
“Not very many women who look like you named Shari around here.”
“I think I’m gonna go.” Shari hopped off her stool and secured the bag on her shoulder. “It was nice having that chat with you, Ms… whatever your name is.”
“Kat.”
“You and half the lesbians in town.”
What was Kat supposed to say to that? “Guilty! You caught me! Another gay Kat!” Up there with the Alexes and the Maxes of the world.
Shari hurried out the door. Somehow, it didn’t hit her on her way out.
“What was that about?” Harriet asked a few minutes later. She had changed seats just to ask Kat that pertinent question. “You finally kick her out of here?”
“Nah. She left on her own embarrassed accord.”
“Damn. What did you do?”
“Would you believe it if I said she had the gall to ask me out?”
“No!”
“Yup. She claimed to have no idea who I was.”
“Did you believe her?”
“Honestly? Yes. Because her head is shoved so far up her own ass that she can’t see anything but her rose-scented sphincter.”
“Now there’s an image for the monthly newsletter.”
Kat shook her head in disbelief. “I don’t know what we in lesbiankind did to deserve a demon like that in our midst, but at least it leads to some hilarious fodder when you’re not on the receiving end of her bullshit.”
“If only she knew you were going out with the girl she humiliated the other night.”
“That I only met because she brought her here.”
Harriet waited until Kat had a glass of water in her hand before offering to clink their glasses together. “Cheers to that,” Harriet said, before downing the last of her drink. Kat had always heard that it was bad luck to toast with water, but eh, at least one of them had alcohol, so it was good enough.
Once the crowd died down, Kat stole into the back office where Beverly continued to crunch the quarterly numbers.
“Can I get all of Sunday off?”
Beverly dropped her glasses onto her stack of papers and looked at Kat as if she had just asked for a two-month paid vacation. “You really asking me that now?”
“Oh, come on. You can call in somebody to cover my shift.” They can even have a portion of my tips from tonight.” She had made quite a few bucks, too. Enough to take Vivian out all day Sunday, which was what she intended to do with a full day off. She didn’t work at the docks on Sundays. Instead, she usually worked a double at the bar to rake in the nice weekend tips. Not as good as Friday and Saturday, but good enough to make taking Mondays off worth it.
“Who the hell am I supposed to call in?” Beverly tsked. “C’mon, Kat, I already called someone in to cover one of the shifts you were taking off. Now you want both?”
“It’s important, okay?”
“The girl, huh?”
“C’moooon.”
“Calm yourself.” Beverly gestured for Kat to get back out in the bar. There was a reason Kat was allowed to run the whole place by herself on a Friday night. She was the most senior, most experienced bartender Beverly employed. The fact everyone – minus Shari, apparently – liked her was a bonus. It meant patrons kept coming back to say hi and have some drinks. It also meant Kat could rely on the steady shifts and extra tip income.
She was willing to throw that away for one day if it m
eant taking Vivian out on the whirlwind date she deserved. Hell, I deserve it too! Look at how hard I work! That’s what Kat told herself as she put her hands on her hips and surveyed the packed bar. Yup. They were going to need a nice, long date to loosen them up after a long work week.
They both deserved that.
Chapter 7
“Dress warm tomorrow.” Vivian found that text on her phone early Saturday evening. To think, she was about to text Kat with previews of the outfit she might wear the next day. Vivian wasn’t sure yet. The afternoon had been a mall-induced haze after Phyllis took her out for some retail therapy. “I’ll meet you at one. Supposed to be sunny, but I know how much you hate your sweaters.”
“What’s got you giggling?” Phyllis finished putting away some of the groceries they picked up on their way home. “Some Facebook meme?” She checked herself. “Nooo, that’s the kind of giggle that says you’ve got a boyfriend. No. Wait. Girlfriend. Sorry.”
Vivian held her phone to her chest so her sister couldn’t see the chain of dirty text messages. “It’s my friend I’m going out with tomorrow.”
“Uh huh. Sure. Friend.”
Vivian blushed. “Okay,” she admitted, “it might be a date.”
“A-ha! I knew it. I knew there was a reason you bought new underwear today.”
The pink bag on the dining room table called to Vivian, who went over and inspected the silky, lacy contents that were definitely more style than function. Not sure what I was thinking when I bought these. Can’t wear any of them out and about. Well, maybe the hot pink ones, but only because they actually covered her ass. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Gay or straight, Vivi, we girls don’t buy new sexy underwear for our own home-based fun. You’ve got a hot date, and I could smell it from a mile away.” Phyllis’s smile flickered. “Wait. It’s not the woman who treated you like shit the other night, right?”
“No,” Vivian was quick to reply. “Absolutely not. She’s history.”
“Good! So it must be someone else you’ve met online?”
“Actually…” Vivian stole one last glimpse at her texts before putting her phone to sleep. “I met her at the bar Wednesday. After my date went to shit.”
“Really! Well, you did say you were going to the place the lesbians like.
“Yeah… it’s actually the bartender.”
“The bartender!” Phyllis withheld one of her classic cackles. God, seriously, keep that to yourself. Phyllis only cackled when she was convinced karma was at play. So what had happened in Vivian’s previous life to warrant a woman like Kat walking into her life, serving drinks and dirty looks? “You’re not kidding? ‘Cause that’s kinda hot.”
“Yeah. She’s really hot.”
Phyllis nudged her sister. The underwear was still in Vivian’s hand, but utterly forgotten as she bit her lip and thought back to the intoxicating way Kat had made out with her. In the bathroom, no less.
“How hot?”
“So hot that I almost slept with her Wednesday night.”
“Whoa. That escalated quickly. You got a pic?”
“None for your eyes.”
“Girl, what kind of pictures are you trading on the internet?”
Vivian instantly thought of the bathtub picture she had sent Kat. God, what was I thinking? I shouldn’t be sending semi-nudes to people just because I’m horny! It didn’t matter if the recipient were another woman. What would happen if Kat’s cloud was hacked and Vivian’s buoyant tits ended up on a porn site?
Death by mortification. So here was hoping that never happened.
“So why didn’t you sleep with her?”
Vivian, who had put her underwear back in its bag, turned to her sister with renewed mortification. Was this woman serious? Of all the things to ask her baby sister! “Phyl! Are you kidding me? Why are you asking me something like that?”
“Because I’m nosy.”
Vivian sat in one of the dining chairs. “I don’t ask you about your sex life.”
“Because mine is boring. I haven’t dated anyone in yonks. Besides!” Phyllis sat down next to her. “My baby sister has been through a lot these past couple of years. I’ve gotta make sure everything’s working out.”
“Well, I…” Vivian could barely tell her friends what went through her mind in the world of sex and dating. Even the ones who understood what it was like to be attracted to other women. It was one thing to express her insecurities to Kat, who was naturally a good listener and was personally invested in making Vivian comfortable enough to go out with her. Quite another when it was her own sister. “It didn’t feel right. After that bad date, I wanted to take my time with someone else. Not get my hopes up, you know?” Yeah, that’s totally what went through Vivian’s mind when she was pressed up against Kat’s wall, a whole hand coming for her pussy. Not getting her hopes up!
Phyllis was not convinced. “You can do better than that, Vivi. What’s the real reason? ‘Cause I know you’re not opposed to one night stands.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Uh, how long have we known each other? And how many times have you stumbled home at seven in the morning after a date?”
“Like… four times!”
“That’s enough to establish a pattern.”
Vivian shoved aside the lingerie bag and kept her head turned away from her sister. “Maybe I want it to be more than a one night stand with this girl. Take my time, you know?” Even though I’m exploding inside. Not the good kind, either. The good kind could only come from Kat’s body. Preferably after their date. Something will have to be really messed up with me to not finally sleep with her tomorrow. Now that the poison had been injected into her thoughts, however, Vivian was likely to entertain it long enough for it to fester.
Phyllis studied her for a few more minutes before finally being satisfied with that response. Until she said, “You sure it’s not your self-esteem crashing and burning all around you?” anyway.
Vivian didn’t know what to say to that.
“Sorry.” Phyllis opened a bottle of soda she had bought at the market. Fizz threatened to spill everywhere if she didn’t close the cap again. “Just thinking about some stuff you said before the date. Like how you were worried you looked too skinny in that dress.”
Vivian was still silent.
“Aw, Vivi. I’m sorry. But, hey, if this woman wants to go out with you so much, she must think you’re hot, huh? Because I can say you’re pretty until I’m blue in my face, but I guess it doesn’t mean a thing since I’m your sister and you think I have to say things like that.”
“Well,” Vivian finally said. “You do.”
“I wouldn’t blow that kind of smoke up your ass unless I thought it was warranted. I love you too much to not tell you the brutal truth.”
“What brutal truth?”
“You really wanna hear it?”
“You just said you loved me too much to not let me hear it.”
Phyllis chuckled. “You’re way too hard on yourself and take other people’s opinions too seriously. I know you’ve been through a lot, Vivi, but there comes a point where you’ve gotta know when your shit stinks and when you’re too hot for other people to deal with.”
“Oh my God. You sound so corny.”
“It’s true, though! I don’t want my little sister to go through her adult life thinking that other people’s opinions make or break her self-worth! Hey, take the compliments for what they are, but the criticisms, especially about your appearance, can fuck off. You’re healthy. That’s all that matters.”
Phyllis leaned over and pressed her forehead against her sister’s shoulder.
“Trust me,” she said, “when you were in the hospital, I worried about everything you can imagine. Everything but how you were going to look after it was over. I had no reason to believe you would be anyone but my gorgeous baby sister who makes me insanely jealous.”
“I do not make you jealous!” Vivian hid
her blushing behind her lingerie bag.
“Sure you do! You’ve always been prettier than me! Even Mom used to say so!”
“No way!”
“Uh huh. But, even though she used to say that right to my face, I didn’t let it get me too down. It was just her opinion. I’ve had pretty good dating experiences despite me being the not-prettiest sister. So that means two things.”
“Dare I ask?”
“One,” Phyllis placed her finger on Vivian’s nose, “I’m still knock-out gorgeous and you’re stratospherically stunning, and life really isn’t all that bad. Come on. You can agree with that, right? What’s a couple of bad dates when better ones are always around the corner?”
Vivian couldn’t help but smile. “I’ll concede that I might be pretty, but I am not stratospherically stunning. That’s how egos swell and bad Instagram careers get started.”
“But you’ll concede that you’re pretty, and this woman is hella lucky to have a date with you tomorrow?”
“Sure.”
Vivian took her things into her bedroom and collapsed upon her pillow and comforters with a loud flop! Her phone was still in her hand when she rolled over and thought about what her sister had said.
“I’ll wear a nice, warm sweater tomorrow,” she texted Kat, who was probably at work and too busy to immediately check her messages. “But you’ll eventually have to take it off and see what I bought at the mall today.”
She left her phone in her bedroom while she took a shower and attempted to think about anything but her date the next day. When she returned to her room, she picked up her phone and found a message waiting for her on her lock screen.
“You assume I’ll see it long enough to remember what it looks like.”
The best part? Kat could’ve been talking about Vivian’s underwear… or her body. Both options were utterly delightful.
Chapter 8
Liquid Courage Page 6