"So do you," Sophia said.
Leah took a step closer, into Sophia's
personal space, so that their clasped hands were at her side,
instead of between them. She said, "I'd like to ask you to dance,
but there's no music." Sophia's blush deepened, and Leah went on.
"So can we go home?"
"Leah, should we--talk?"
"Not tonight," Leah said. She unclasped
Sophia's hand, and stroked her wrist, and then up her arm. Sophia
shivered.
And then Leah thought of something. "How on
earth are we going to get home?"
"Adam gave me his keys and caught a ride with
Eric," Sophia said.
"Bless him," Leah said.
"How did you get a friend like him?"
Leah considered. "I sang for him."
Sophia smiled.
"Miss Medina!" someone shouted. Sophia turned
around. She grabbed Leah's hand, gave it a quick squeeze, and
walked off to greet the couple rushing toward her.
Leah sighed. She had been so close. She went
to the bar for a drink, to waste time, ended up with a Shirley
Temple. No falling asleep drunk tonight. She sipped the sweetness,
let the bubbles tickle her nose, smiled at the bartender. He had no
idea who she was and Leah was tempted to tell him, as his eyes
followed Sophia across the room. She was the one taking Lady
Macbeth home.
Sophia came to the bar. The bartender
flushed, but she ignored him." I have to stay. There's going to be
cake."
"Cake?"
"And photos," Sophia said.
Leah draped an arm along the bar, behind
Sophia's back."I'll wait."
"Thanks."
"Do I get cake?"
"Yup," Sophia said.
"Is that against protocol?" Leah dropped her
hand behind the bar, settling on Sophia's back, just above her
ass.
"I don't care."
Leah squeezed her waist and Sophia sighed
with pleasure and took a sip of the drink the bartender handed her.
When she turned to Leah, the scent of gin wafted between them. Leah
licked her lips.
"Miss Medina!"
Leah was beginning to hate the sound of
that.
"Can we get a picture?" Glick Brice lifted
his camera, and smiled charmingly at them. "It's for the
Daily
," he said. Leah frowned at Sophia.
"Independent weekly," Sophia said.
"Ironic, right?" Glick asked.
"It caters to the gay community, you know,"
the bartender said behind them.
Leah looked over and said, "You can't be in
our picture."
He sulked.
Leah tucked herself against Sophia's side and
gave Glick her celebrity smile. Sophia wrapped an arm around Leah
in turn.
"Fabulous, girls," Glick said. "I can't
promise you the cover, but at least a quarter page."
Leah kissed Sophia's cheek. "You'll be
famous."
Glick snapped a few more as they sagged
against each other, and then let his camera hang around his neck as
he pulled out a notebook. "Sophia Medina," he spelled it out.
"That's your stage name?"
"Yes," Sophia said.
"And Leah Fisher?"
Leah nodded.
"I'll grab your bios from the playbills,"
Glick said. "Thanks, ladies. Oh, there's the deputy mayor. Excuse
me."
Sophia gave a little wave.
Leah cupped the back of Sophia's neck. "Where
were we?"
"Not here," Sophia said, and twisted away, a
little.
Leah slumped against the bar. "This is the
worst party ever."
Sophia smiled and lifted her drink.
Leah clinked hers. "To us?"
Sophia nodded, and took a sip of the gin and
tonic. Leah ran her fingertips down Sophia's arm. Sophia closed her
eyes.
Leah said, "In three seconds, someone is
going to call your name."
Sophia shook her head. Leah put her glass on
the bar, and took Sophia's hand, and tugged.
"Where are we going?"
"The bathroom."
"I don't have to go to the bathroom."
"Neither do I."
Sophia bit her lip as Leah pulled her along.
The sea-green-painted bathroom was cramped, and smelled of
potpourri. The two tiny stalls were empty, and there was enough
space for Leah to wedge herself against the door and pin Sophia
against the sink.
"Leah," Sophia whispered.
"Just for a little bit," Leah said. "Or I'm
going to go crazy."
She caught a glimpse of herself in the
mirror. Her makeup was still intact and her hair, moussed and
styled by the men in her life, had not strayed from the setting.
She looked perfectly normal in her opinion and not like the
sex-crazed maniac she felt like. She swallowed and looked at
Sophia.
Sophia parted her lips, panting, and her eyes
were wide.
"Too much?" Leah asked, her thigh already
between Sophia's legs, and her hand around Sophia's waist,
protecting her back from the sink edge. She brushed hair away from
Sophia's face, the black strands giving way to smooth skin.
"I'll tell you when it's enough."
Leah leaned in and then hesitated, her mouth
hovering just in front of Sophia's. She waited for the cell phone
to ring or the knock to come at the door or Sophia to protest.
There were no sounds beyond Sophia's breathing, no signals other
than the tingling in her hands and the low ache that insisted she
kiss Sophia. So she did. Sophia mewled against her lips, a faint
cry of need that compelled her. Sophia's arms went around her neck.
Leah braced herself with both hands against the sink, leaning into
Sophia, offering her mouth for kisses. Already her heart was
racing.
Sophia tugged on her lower lip. Leah snaked
out her tongue to protect herself and met Sophia's. Warmth turned
to heat, tongues met. Leah could only hold herself up by pressing
herself against Sophia's body. Sophia squeezed her neck, tangling
fingers in her hair and tugging as she enticed Leah's kiss. Leah
abandoned the sink and held Sophia close. If she sank, she
sank.
Something banged into the door, which only
half-opened as it slammed into Leah's hip. She yelped. Sophia bit
into her lip and she yelped again.
"Sorry," a woman's voice called.
Leah let go of Sophia and ducked into the
passage beside the stalls, and Sophia gingerly opened the door.
"It's okay," she said.
"Tiny bathroom."
"Yeah." Leah waved the woman into the stall
and then met Sophia's eyes.
Sophia laughed.
Leah went back to the sink. Her hair was now
tousled from being pulled, her eyes and lips were swollen, and her
lipstick was smeared. But she mostly still looked like herself.
Sophia, too, was wild-eyed but not indecent. "I'll see you at the
bar?"
Sophia nodded.
Leah escaped. Her drink was gone. She ordered
a new one, just water and lime, earning a scowl from the bartender.
She put a dollar on the bar.
"When's cake?" she asked.
He went into the back to check. Sophia came
out of the bathroom, waved at her, and went over to the
Macbethians. Leah wanted to kiss her again so much that she
clutched the bar to keep from running across the room. Having a
taste, tempting her desire, had been worse than denying herself
completely. She gulped her water and made herself not look at
Sophia.
Ward came up behind her. "Waiting for
cake?"
"I am," Leah said.
"You think they'll let
experimental-musical-sters like us partake?"
"You've been getting it, too?"
"Yes. Everyone loves theater as long as
they've heard it before a thousand times."
"Works for Shakespeare," Leah said.
"Yeah."
"Sorry you took the part?"
Ward leaned on the bar and shook his head.
"Everyone who comes to see me--They'll know. They'll feel it.
They'll be the special ones."
Leah pressed her forehead against her glass.
Waiters wheeled out the cake with blood-red icing.
"Apropos," Leah said.
"Cool," Ward said.
"It's like a wedding. As soon as we eat the
cake, we can leave."
"To the happy couple," Ward said, raising his
glass of water.
Leah clinked.
Glick was there taking photographs as the
director, Macbeth's lead, and Sophia smiled and cut the cake, all
three hands on the oversized knife. And then the waiter took over
and Sophia took the first two pieces and struggled through the mass
of people.
"I hope one of those is for me," Ward
said.
"Go away," Leah said.
He slunk toward the cake and Sophia came to
her side.
"No forks?" Leah asked.
"I thought we could eat back at the hotel,"
Sophia said and then looked away, as if avoiding the way Leah's
expression changed.
"Do you need to say goodbye to anyone?" Leah
asked.
"Nah."
Leah took the cake from Sophia. "Lead the
way."
Sophia raised her eyebrows. "You have the
keys."
"Oh, right."
They headed straight for the door, ignoring
all cries of "Miss Medina!" and "Miss Fisher!" and refusing to talk
to anyone.
Sophia drove to Adam's with Leah's hand
resting on her thigh. When the car stopped, Leah looked longingly
at the house. The lights were on in the living room.
"Would you--um," Sophia started.
"I was just thinking, a shower, maybe some
more makeup... I'm fine. Right? I'm fine," Leah said, mostly to
herself. She glanced at Sophia as they got out of the car.
Sophia tilted her head. She took the
cake.
Leah turned away from the house and put her
hand on Sophia's back. "Let's go," she said.
They walked together down the street, too
enchanted by each other, too worked up, too expectant, to worry
about muggers or drive-bys. The theater was dark as they strolled
past. They held hands, walking together, listening to the crickets
and frogs and the distant traffic. A block past the theater, just
before the lights of the hotel became visible, Leah pulled Sophia
to a stop. Sophia looked at her curiously. Leah hesitantly leaned
in toward her mouth until she could feel Sophia's breath against
her lips. She swallowed.
Sophia said, "Um."
"Yes?"
"Okay."
Sophia licked her lips reflexively. Leah
kissed her gently enough to not spill the cake, firmly enough to
taste those lips, to try and still the trembling in her own body.
Sophia hugged her with one arm and kissed her back, letting Leah
see her hunger too. She was surprisingly strong even one-armed.
Leah broke the kiss when Sophia threatened to rob her of
breath.
And the ability to stand.
She opened her mouth to say something,
couldn't think of anything reasonable though a thousand mumblings
were in her mind. She looked toward the hotel.
"Too much?" Sophia asked.
"I'll let you know when it's too much," Leah
said.
Sophia grinned and squeezed Leah's side and
resumed walking.
* * *
Leah stood nervously between the beds in
Sophia's hotel room. Beige carpet, white sheets, cheap paintings on
the wall. The motel didn't seem worthy of her moment. She glanced
toward the exit, thinking of them going back home, to the house
with the piano.
Sophia had closed the door and then kicked
off her shoes.
"Right," Leah said. She sat on the bed and
lifted up her foot, bending it onto her knee to undo the strap.
"Let me," Sophia said.
"Really?"
Sophia sat down on the opposite bed and
gestured. Leah extended her foot. The touch of Sophia's fingers on
her skin sent lightning up her calf. The dull ache that followed
her wherever she was with Sophia became urgent, hot desire.
She gasped.
Sophia ran her thumb over Leah's toe.
Leah unwittingly remembered her first time
with Grace; awkward, lustful, bad. They'd been drunk and had given
into unspoken flirting of a month's duration. Only after several
more attempts did they really look at each other and acknowledge
what they wanted.
"I want you," Leah said.
Sophia smiled and got the strap undone and
loosened Leah's shoe. She looked shyly at Leah, peeking out from
under lidded eyes. Leah offered her other foot to Sophia.
Sophia worked off the shoe. Then she dropped
her hands to her lap, looking down, and said, "I want you,
too."
Leah stood up and took Sophia's hands. Sophia
stood with her. Leah tried to control her heartbeat. Standing
should be easier than this. They kissed, only lightly.
Then Leah asked, "How does the dress come
off?"
"The same way it got on."
"Ripping and tearing?"
"I've never had anyone rip off my clothes
before."
"Is it an expensive dress?"
"I--" Sophia halted. She breathed audibly,
and quickly, and looked down at her dress. "I can afford a new
dress."
Leah sat on the bed and pulled Sophia down
beside her. She pressed a quick kiss to Sophia's lips. Sophia
kissed her back, coquettishly, but made no move. Leah gathered
enough boldness to urge her back on the bed. Sophia smiled. Her
longing for what Leah had to give was palpable and Leah wanted to
surge forward. She hesitated, considering. Heat pooled. Her chest
constricted. Desire was taking her over, making her yield to
need.
She knelt over Sophia and captured her lips.
The kiss became hard and passionate. Sophia whimpered as Leah's
tongue plundered her mouth. She breathed hard between kisses, and
then urged Leah back if they paused for breath too long.
Leah grabbed the neckline of Sophia's dress,
right above her breast, and yanked.
"Ow!"
Leah ducked Sophia's involuntary kick and
tugged again, more gently. The fabric didn't budge. Disappointment
warred with frustration as Leah considered. She decided not to try
again.
"This always works in the movies."
Sophia brought her down for another kiss. "I
think they use a different fabric."
"I think they use Velcro." She resigned
herself to kissing and accepting that she lacked the barbarianism
her fevered imagination had suggested lurked inside her. She'd had
animalistic sex before, but with Sophia she--She buried her face in
Sophia's neck and sucked at her throat, and kissed her collarbone
and at the underside of her chin.