Close Enough (High Rise Novella Four) (2 page)

“Hey stranger, what was it like to party with the young all night?”

“Horrible.” Isabella remembered feeling her age while she waited for Nat to wrap up one small talk session after the other. “It’s over.”

Silence on the other end of the line. Isabella waited for her words to register with Maddie.

“But… What?” Maddie’s eloquence was the next thing to bite the dust that day.

“Nat obviously thought it much more exciting to take home Cindy from The Bean instead of me. At least I think it was her. I didn’t really get a good look at her latest conquest when I brought her ladyship sandwiches for lunch.”

“Jesus Christ.” Silence again. “Are you all right?”

“What was I thinking, Maddie? Really? Where was my mind when I decided to hop into bed with Nathalie Orange? I’ve made mistakes before, but this was simply ludicrous.” Isabella wasn’t expecting answers. She was mostly just scolding herself. “But hey, I had my eye-opening experience and, trust me, I’m not making the same mistake again.”

“What do you want to do tonight? Go out or kill a few bottles of Bordeaux at home?”

“Nothing too heavy. I’m seeing two clients before noon tomorrow.” Isabella sighed. “And don’t you have your regular Friday night personal training session? Now that you and Alex are all hunky-dory again?”

“Alex will understand. She will kill Nat for this, by the way. She doesn’t raise her voice often, but there’s nothing that gets under her skin more than infidelity. Cancel tomorrow’s clients. I’m serious. And I’ll bring a bottle of your favourite Scotch. We’re going on a bender.”

“I guess this qualifies as an emergency.” Isabella wasn’t sure if focusing on other people’s problems would make her feel better or not. “Do send my apologies to Alex for snatching you away from her.”

“Don’t worry about that. She’ll be too busy giving Nat a piece of her mind.”

Isabella couldn’t help but feel sorry for Nat. Alex didn’t understand her the way she did. Isabella believed no one really did, but it was this kind of thinking that had landed her into Nat’s bed in the first place. She ended the call with Maddie and rescheduled her Saturday appointments.

* * *
 

Isabella and Maddie sat overlooking the glowing lights of Victoria harbour from Isabella’s terrace. Isabella didn’t know about Maddie, but she hadn’t been this wasted since the nineties.

“The sex was spectacular.” She banged her empty glass onto the wooden table. “I mean, not just good, or fantastic, but unbelievably spectacular.”

Maddie’s mouth fell open, more in mock amazement than anything else. “Well, she’s had a lot of practice.”

Isabella was gone far enough to laugh hysterically at Maddie’s remark.

“Listen to me, Maddie.” Isabella tried to slant her body over the table in a conspiratory manner, but she just banged her chest against the edge. She ignored the pain flaring through her flesh. Nothing really hurt when you had half a bottle of Scotch diluting your blood. “Have you ever come so hard, it feels like a fountain of wetness gushes out of you?”

Maddie pondered this for a moment, before arching her eyebrows up. “You mean, you know, what’s it called?”

Isabella nodded. “Yeah, exactly that.” She leaned back against her chair, lost in a sea of drunken, but incredibly hot memories. “She’s the only one who has ever done that to me.” Isabella glanced at Maddie’s perplexed face. “I had to buy extra sheets. They were drenched every other night.”

Maddie started convulsing with laughter. Isabella gladly joined her, until she couldn’t distinguish the tears born from laughter from the ones born from pain, frustration and disappointment.

“I’ve never…” Maddie sipped from her glass of Scotch. “I mean, that has never happened to me, nor to anyone who ended up in my bed.” She searched for Isabella’s eyes. “What’s it like?”

Isabella wiped the tears from her eyes. “The first time it happened I was so shocked.” She chuckled at the memory. “Of course, Nat was all cool and relaxed about it. Acting as if it was the most normal thing in the world. You know what she’s like.”

“Too cool for old-timers like us.” Maddie clinked her glass against Isabella’s.

“But once I got over the initial embarrassment of, well, spraying my wetness around, it was the most amazing feeling I’ve ever had. No kidding.” Isabella refilled her glass. She was sure she was blushing, but it was dark and they were both plastered and it didn’t matter. “On top of that, it was total surrender. I’ll be fifty soon and I’ve seen a thing or two in my life. Then this skinny-jeaned hipster in her thirties comes along and makes me squirt all over her face. It’s a very humbling experience.” Isabella grabbed Maddie’s hand over the table. “This is between us though, okay? Please, don’t tell Alex about this.”

Maddie raised two fingers. “I swear.” She hesitated to ask the next question. “What’s the secret? I mean, how did she… you know.”

Isabella clasped her hands together behind the back of her head. “I have absolutely no idea. And I forbid you to ask the expert.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Isabella guessed Maddie was trying to figure out the best way to turn this new information into a treat for Alex.

“What are you going to do?” Maddie asked. “Have you closed the door on you and Nat forever?”

“I believe she hasn’t left me much choice.” It hurt when she said it. Not because of the forthcoming absence of spectacular sex. Not even because Nat had slept with Cindy, and probably a few others since she started seeing Isabella. But because Isabella had glimpsed the good-natured, funny and kind, but ultimately helpless person hiding beneath Nathalie Orange’s brazen veneer.

NAT

Nat dragged herself to body combat class. She was tired, hungover and sad, but she figured it was the only place where she could corner Alex without getting too much of a mouthful. With lacklustre punches and half executed kicks, she made it to the end of Alex’s Friday night session. She sat wiping her brow on a bench outside the studio, when Alex approached.
 

Alex sank down next to her and sighed. “Oh, Nat. I really should have locked you in your room.”

“You could have tried, Pizza. I’d still have found a way to sneak a girl in. Really, you mustn’t blame yourself.” Nat shot Alex a weary grin. “Let’s go home so you can yell at me for a few hours.”

Alex put a hand on Nat’s thigh. “Don’t take this as my approval of your lewd, scandalous behaviour, roomie, but I think a talking-to is the last thing you need right now.”

“You really are a changed woman. I’m surprised we’re still on speaking terms, to be honest.” Nat curled her fingers around Alex’s hand.

“I’m not the one who got hurt. From what Maddie told me Isabella is livid, but I know that the person suffering most from the consequences of your actions is you, Nat. You don’t need a scolding. You need a plan of action.” Alex rose and pulled Nat up. “Come on, we need to get you your woman back.”

Nat stood speechless for a while before following Alex to the locker room. “Excuse me, lady in white tank top, who are you and what have you done to my self-righteous flatmate?”

“For some reason, more than three years after Claire left you, you still feel the need to sabotage anything good that comes your way. But I have eyes in my head and I know love when I see it. You’re crazy about Isabella and it looks like you need a little help aligning your actions to your feelings.”

A happy end-of-the-week buzz hung in the changing room. Several women in various states of undress greeted Alex, a few winked at Nat. She focused on getting her sweaty clothes off and hurried to the shower. She’d never expected Alex to cut her this much slack. She certainly didn’t feel as if she deserved it.

Nat cringed when they passed The Bean on their way home. “Another place I can never set foot in again.”

“Oh please, if that were an issue, you wouldn’t be able to go anywhere in this town anymore.” Alex slapped her on the shoulder. “Hey, there’s an idea.”

“Very funny.” Nat thought about what Alex had said earlier. “Do you really think I can win her back?”
 

Alex turned towards her. “Yes, I do. I mean, it’s not as if you’ve been trying like mad to keep her so far.”

“Touché.” Nat hooked her arm through Alex’s.

“I know you’re not a big fan of them, but we will need some rules.” They fell in step together. Nat felt blessed to have someone as level-headed as Alex by her side. “No more girls.” Alex squeezed her arm. “Please, repeat after me.”

Nat giggled and held up two fingers. “From here on out, my goods belong to one woman only.”

“Goods? Really?” Alex shook her head. “You’re such a romantic.”

“And that banker on the forty-third floor is one lucky chick to have scored someone like you.” Nat squeezed Alex’s bicep.

“You should probably lay off the bottle for a while as well, as it tends to screw up your judgment.”

“No girls, no booze… sounds like something an esteemed doctor prescribed not too long ago.”

“Exactly, what better way to get her back than to play by her rules?”

“If only it were that simple.” Nat remembered the expression on Isabella’s face. “She was angrier than I’ve ever seen her, but more than that, she looked extremely disappointed. Disgusted even.”

They reached the entrance of The Ivy and waited for the elevator in silence. The lobby of a posh building was not a place to discuss winning back one’s lesbian lover.

“Here’s an idea,” Alex said as soon as they entered their flat. “Maddie’s at Isabella’s and they’re both hammered. Why don’t we go up there. She might be more pliable while intoxicated.”

“Are you nuts?” Nat’s heart pounded beneath her ribcage. “She kicked me out of there just a few hours ago.”

“Of course she did. She just spotted a half-naked barista thirty years her junior in your flat. What else was she going to do?” Alex put her hands on Nat’s shoulders. “Just stop by for a few minutes, show her you’re serious about getting her back. At least, she’ll know you’re not out on the town somewhere enjoying the attention of another girl.”

Words, words, words.
Isabella’s outbreak still rang clearly in Nat’s ear. “Can I at least have a drink before we go up?”

Alex pouted her lips and brought her hands to her sides.

“Okay, okay.” Nat held her palms up. “The third rule is following the other two rules. Fair enough.”

“Do you have anything you can give her? Something meaningful?”

“This is why I need you, Pizza. I would never think of something like that.”

“Oh, I know. You’d just barge in, slap on a crooked smile and hope for the best. Those times have passed. This is serious. Make an effort.”

“All right, oh highly appraised Romantic Guru.” Nat looked around the flat. What could she possibly give to Isabella? It certainly couldn’t be a bottle of Scotch. Or a strap-on. She scanned the book shelves. Of course. “Hold on a second.”

Nat dashed to her office, flipped up the lid of her laptop and opened the document she’d been working on last. After printing five pages of a work in progress no one had laid eyes on yet, she checked herself in the hallway mirror, and went to see Isabella, Alex by her side.

ISABELLA

Isabella had reached the melancholy stage of drunkenness and wondered what Nat would be up to. Although still furious with her, it was hard to shake the memory of her scent—and the dexterity of her fingers. Would she be out and about? Off into the Hong Kong night looking for prey, for someone to forget the day with?
 

“Shall we open another bottle?” Isabella glanced at Maddie, who hung slumped in her chair. It probably wasn’t a good idea.

“Only if it’s a bottle of water.” Maddie’s speech slurred. “I believe I’ve had enough.”

“I’ll get one.” Isabella hoisted herself out of her chair and the world started spinning. Slowly, she made her way inside. Just as she entered the kitchen, the bell rang.

Isabella had expected Alex to turn up. She hadn’t counted on Nat materialising in her doorway.

“Drunk girlfriend pick-up service,” Alex said and made her way past Isabella into the flat.

“She’s outside,” Isabella mumbled, her eyes fixed on Nat. She looked effortlessly gorgeous in a tight pair of jeans and a too small t-shirt with a picture of a young Michael Jackson stencilled on.

“I know I’m the last person you want to see and I mean no disrespect,” Nat started. Her skin glowed and her eyes sparkled. Who was this person standing in front of her, having hijacked Nat’s body? “I wanted to give you this.”

Isabella steadied herself against the wall and eyed the small pile of papers in Nat’s hand. She was afraid to speak, unsure of what would come out of her mouth in the state she was in.

Nat stretched out her arm and handed Isabella the stack of papers. Isabella wasn’t wearing her glasses, and even if she had been, her vision would be too blurred to make out what was written on them. Instead of saying anything, she moved out of the way, gesturing for Nat to enter.

“I’m going to take this mess home.” Alex appeared with Maddie leaning on her arm. “Make sure to drink plenty of water before you go to bed.” She fixed her gaze on both Nat and Isabella before exiting the flat.

Suddenly, Isabella found herself alone with Nat.

“Why don’t you sit down?” Nat took charge. “I’ll get you some water.”
 

Isabella watched her dart into the kitchen. Dizziness and alcohol-induced lack of judgement suppressed the rage that had been with her all day. She realised she was still clutching the papers Nat had given her between rigid fingers. She disposed of them on the coffee table and sank down in the sofa. When she leaned her head against the backrest for balance, the world started spinning again.

“I got you some painkillers as well.” Nat emerged from the kitchen with a big glass of water and two white pills. “Drink up.”

So many things were wrong with this picture. How did this happen? How did Nat end up here while Isabella was in such a state? Isabella swallowed the pills and gulped down the water.
 

“Would you like me to go?” Nat crouched down next to her. “Or do you need a hand getting into bed?”