Homecoming (11 page)

Jill had only seen her at work or play. Those were the only two modes that Jill had. But Lizzie had another personae, and it was on display tonight.

When Lizzie reached the car and opened the door, Jill saw that not only was she dressed to impress, she’d also taken the time to apply eye makeup to make her lashes heavy and dark. “You look a lot better than I do,” Jill said, scowling. “Even though you’ve got holes in your clothes.”

“All you have to do is let a woman see this car and you’re hooked up,” she said as she closed the door. “Is this a damn Audi?”

“Uh-huh.” Jill knew she should be embarrassed to have spent so much on a car, but she really wasn’t. She drove a lot, and it was important to her to have a car that was not only comfortable, but safe. All-wheel drive was a must, and her baby could hug the road in any weather. She patted the dash. “This is Freyja.”

“You named your car?” She moved around in her seat for a moment, then fastened her seat belt. “I guess I don’t blame you. The seats wrap around you like a lover.”

“That’s what I thought.” She started to drive, commenting, “My last car was twelve when I turned her in.”

“How many miles?”

“Around two hundred and fifty thousand. I expect this one to last as long.”

“Well, you clearly throw your money away, but at least you don’t do it often.”

“I like to buy well-made things and take care of them. I only traded my last one in because they wanted many, many dollars to repair a blown head gasket.” Lizzie had thrown her off-stride, and she recalled her confusion about the house. “I thought you’d be in an apartment building. You don’t rent that whole house, do you?”

She let out a snort. “I don’t rent a whole floor. Just half of the third floor. My father would call it a flop-house, but it’s all I could find. I’m stuck till October, which leaves me off schedule for competing with students in August. I’m screwed.”

“I had some sketchy places when I was renting. Maybe you should think about buying. You could probably buy a decent starter home.”

“No real estate talk,” she said firmly. “I want to have fun tonight.”

“Suggestion withdrawn. But if you want to talk about it…”

“I’ll keep you in mind.” She pulled down the visor, slid a panel over and looked at her makeup in the light that shone down on her. “The light in my bathroom’s so dim, I can never tell how I look. I went a little crazy with the eyeliner.” She let out a giggle. “Can I use your car to get dressed from now on?”

“Sure. I’ll have a key made for you.”

Lizzie reached over and patted her leg. “You probably would. You’re a very sweet person, Jill. I’m glad we’re getting to hang out.”

“Me too. Although my friends have all been making fun of me. They say I’m too old, by twenty years, to go to this club.”

“No way,” she said dismissively. “If they think that, they haven’t been.”

“You have?”

“Uh-huh. A couple of times. It’s just a few blocks from here,” she warned. “If you find a spot, grab it.”

It took a while, but Jill finally found a parking spot she approved of. That was one of the downsides of having a nice car. You got a little careful about where you’d leave it. Lizzie had bought tickets, and the guy at the door scanned the bar code on her phone. Then they went into the crowded, dim, noisy room.

Lizzie was right in that there were a few people close to Jill’s age, but Jill’s friends had also been right. Lizzie was a little old for the crowd, who looked like they were college-aged. There were no seats, so they squeezed into an empty spot to listen. The band wasn’t bad. A little tortured. A little earnest. But that was often the case. Lizzie disappeared and came back a while later with beers. She handed one to Jill, leaned close and shouted, “Camel’s Hump lager. Jon probably sampled this very batch.”

They clinked the necks of their bottles together and Jill nodded her approval after taking a drink. “He makes a nice beer.”

Lizzie paid rapt attention to the band, starting to move her hips to the music. Then Jill noticed her scan the room, clearly checking out the crowd. Thinking about Lizzie’s sexy cologne, rock-star eye makeup, and trendy clothes, it was clear she wasn’t planning on spending the evening merely talking to Jill. But it was too crowded to roam, and they stood close to one another during the set.

The band played until ten, then Jill went to buy another round while they set up for the DJ. They changed the lighting scheme too, with a little more light falling on the crowd. When the DJ started to spin, Jill leaned against the back wall, perfectly content to watch people dance. Lizzie nodded her head in time to the music, with her body twitching like she couldn’t control it. “Don’t you like to dance?” she shouted over the noise.

“Sometimes. But I like to check out a place first. Go ahead if you want to.”

She handed Jill her beer. “Feel free to down it if you want. I’ve got work to do.” Her evil laugh was just barely audible, but it made Jill smile. It was a little hard to see, with a strobe flashing every couple of seconds, but Lizzie didn’t seem to have any trouble finding women to dance with. And why should she? Anyone would be attracted to her big smile, the carefree, graceful way she moved around the crowded dance floor, and the way she sang along to every song she knew.

Things had changed since Jill was in college. Now people didn’t really dance with one person. They just danced, with people getting close then fading away after a song or two. Lizzie danced with as many men as women, with a lot of really energetic guys urging her on. It was a surprisingly wholesome scene, with people just getting off on moving their bodies to really loud music.

Jill had let Lizzie’s beer grow warm, limiting herself to two. She was dying for a bottle of water, but the bar was jammed with people crowding around it and she hated that kind of scrum.

Lizzie had found a very cute young woman to dance with, and Jill noticed she moved a little more energetically as she teased her, moving close, then flitting away to dance in front of someone else. She reminded Jill of a honeybee, hovering for a moment, then moving a little bit farther away, only to come back. The woman she was flirting with put her hands on Lizzie’s hips to hold her in place, but as soon as she did that, Lizzie gave her a very friendly wave and walked back to Jill. Her hair was wet, with a few strands stuck to her forehead, and her shirts looked limp too.

“You don’t hold back,” Jill said. “Are you having fun?”

“Yeah. Of course. I love to dance.” She reached down and picked up the beer that sat by Jill’s foot. “I’m gonna hate this, but I’ll pass out if I don’t get some liquid in me.” She shivered with distaste as she gulped down the beer. “Nasty!”

“I’ll go get water. Just hang on for a minute,” Jill said, raising her voice to compete with the music.

Lizzie took her by the hand. “Dance for three songs, then we can leave and go get a Big Gulp or something.”

Jill wasn’t going to drink thirty two ounces of soda at one in the morning, but she consented. Having Lizzie drag her forcibly behind her helped in the decision-making process.

The song changed to one Jill was familiar with. She was a little rusty, not having danced once in the time she was with Becca, but after a few minutes she loosened up and simply let the beat tell her hips and her feet where to go. Lizzie wasn’t flitting around now. She stood very close to Jill, brushing against her every once in a while, heat radiating off her body. Lizzie really knew how to move, and if she hadn’t been Mark’s little sister, Jill would have put her mind to seducing her. But Jill flushed that thought out of her brain in a matter of seconds. As Lizzie said, you didn’t have to act out every impulse you felt, or something like that.

Good to her word, after three songs she put her hand on Jill’s back and herded her towards the exit.

The cool, fresh air hit them like a slap. A slap they both relished. “Damn, it was hot in there,” Jill moaned.

“I danced for an hour longer than you did. I’m dying!” They made it to the car, with Lizzie peeling a T-shirt off, despite the fact that it couldn’t have been more than sixty degrees. She wiped her face and neck with it, then threw it on the floor when she got into the car. “I need water, but I also need food. Wouldn’t you love a big order of fries right now?”

“I’m not sure why, but that seems like a good idea. Where to?”

“There’s a pub I like not too far away. I think the kitchen’s open for another fifteen or twenty minutes. Can you get us to College that fast?”

“Freyja is at your service. Ride on, girl!” Laughing, Jill peeled out, then drove at her normal speed to reach the place right at the deadline. “Go in and order for us,” she said. “I’ll park.”

Jill had to leave her trusty goddess five blocks away, but the walk let her cool down a little, or at least let some of the sweat evaporate. The pub wasn’t nearly as crowded as the club had been, and Lizzie had secured a table. She stuck her hand up and waved Jill over.

“Weren’t you wearing a white T-shirt a second ago?” The shirt was gone, with Lizzie now displaying a lot of skin. The bar was dark, but Jill was certain she’d changed.

“Yeah. I made a critical error in wearing a leotard. I can’t take it off, so everything else has to go.”

Laughing, Jill said, I’m not going to check to see if you still have your jeans on.”

“I do. But I’m tempted…”

“I don’t want any trouble. Your mother would never forgive me if you were carried away by a pack of guys.”

Lizzie simply smirked at her. “I ordered a shandy, but I figured you wouldn’t want any more alcohol, so I got you some sparkling water.”

“Perfect.” The server brought their drinks and they attacked them like they’d just emerged from a long march across the desert. “Damn, I needed that.” Jill took out her phone and took a selfie, then moved over to stand next to Lizzie and take one of them together. “I want to show my friends that I not only stayed up with the youngsters, I actually danced. I think I look appropriately trashed, don’t I?”

“Pretty much,” Lizzie said, laughing. “Did you have fun?”

Jill moved back to her side of the high table and sat on her stool. “I had an excellent time.” The server walked over with a huge plate of fries and a bowl of chili, with raw onions, cheese and sour cream lying on top. Jill looked at the food, then said, “My stomach might hate me in the morning, but tonight, I’m living large.”

Lizzie started to shovel fries into her mouth like she hadn’t eaten in days. “Damn, these are good.” She took another big gulp of her shandy and said, “I don’t do this very often, to be honest. Every month or two is enough for me, but if I don’t go out once in a while, I start to feel like I’m stuck in a rut.”

“I don’t generally feel that way, but after dancing just a little I feel better. Looser,” she said, frowning. “That doesn’t seem like the right word, but it’s all I can think of.”

“I think it’s the perfect word.” Lizzie took a few fries and dunked them in the chili. As she chewed, she said, “Dancing knocks the rust off.”

“Good analogy. I’m in danger of letting myself get rusty.” She mimicked Lizzie and dunked some fries in the chili. “If you ever need a partner when you go dancing, give me a call.”

“You’re on,” she agreed. “You’re fun to hang out with. I don’t have many lesbian friends, and I don’t like to take my straight friends to gay clubs.”

“No? Why?”

She shook her head as she swallowed her latest mouth-f, with a few more fries in her hand, waiting to be gulped down. “My friend-group’s in flux. I don’t have anyone who’d appreciate a gay club right now, and I don’t want my straight friends staring at people.”

With her hunger partially satisfied, Jill could slow down and eat one fry at a time, but that dipping was a good idea. She’d have to remember that. Chewing thoughtfully, she said, “What’s…mmm…I’m trying to think of how to ask this properly.”

“Just ask,” Lizzie said, waving her hand. “You won’t offend me.”

“How do you identify? I mean, I know you call yourself bisexual, but are you only interested in dating both sexes at once?”

“I’m not locked into that,” she said quickly. “That’s actually never worked out great for me.”

“But you said…”

“I know what I said. And I have brought a woman into bed when I’ve been with a guy. But that’s never been what I really want. I’m not sure what to try next.”

Jill dunked a fry, then popped it into her mouth. “Details? Or would you rather not?”

“I don’t mind.” She took a long drink, and set her glass down. “I’ve been with three guys since I’ve been out of school. All relationships, not hook-ups. But I always knew I was bi, so I thought it would work to bring a woman in once in a while.”

“But it didn’t?”

“It worked the first time I tried—but more for Nick, my boyfriend, than it did for me.”

“But…you did it for yourself.”

“Uh-huh.” She took a big bite of chili. “Hot!”

“Spicy?”

“Yeah,” she said, waving her hand in front of her mouth. “You don’t notice it when you just dunk.” After cooling her mouth down with a sip of her drink she said, “Nick was very open-minded about the whole thing. We were monogamous until we’d been together about a year. Then I got the urge and met someone at a conference who I thought would be up for it. Nick was all for it, and we got together with this woman. It was great,” she said wistfully. “That satisfied me, but then Nick wanted to ask her over again. I would have loved to get into a long-term thing with her, but she came to work at the Gardner, and I didn’t want to be that involved with a co-worker.”

“That makes sense,” Jill said as she took a bite of chili and fanned her mouth just as Lizzie had. “I don’t want people I work closely with to come to my house, much less be involved with them.”

“Yeah. But Nick wouldn’t stop. For the next year, he badgered me until we hooked up with a woman we found on a dating app. That was a disaster. She’d never been with a woman and found she wasn’t into the whole thing.” She rolled her eyes. “No fun at all.”

“Why’d you break up?”

“He loved having two women focus on him. Not that I blame him,” she added, laughing softly. “But I wanted it to be a special treat. Not something we spent all week planning and working on.”