Girl Crush(15)

I couldn’t imagine. My parents had always loved me, flaws and all. They’d never breathed a word of disappointment in my direction, and I’d given them plenty of cause to do so. “That’s horrible. What happened when you were honest with them?”

“My mom said she’d always known. I guess she wasn’t quite as narrow-minded as my dad. So it was our ‘little secret.’” The way her features contorted when she used the air quotes made me giggle. “He lied to himself until the day he died. I had a girlfriend for several years, and my dad introduced her to our family as my best friend. To this day, no one in my family says girlfriend. Best friend is the code.” She shrugged with a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “They’re all incredibly supportive—I think it’s a way to keep my dad’s memory alive…in some odd way.”

Maybe memory lane was the way to keep her talking. She was quite bright, and her body and face came to life when she spoke. Her hands and arms moved with each word, and her expressions exaggerated every sentence.

“So how bad was your first date?”

“Lesbian?”

I nodded.

“Disaster. It took me a year to stop asking stupid questions and quit acting like I was twelve under the bleachers. Cami Bartlett. If you see her online, run.”

I giggled—the wine continued to lighten my mood. I was nearing a point where it would turn sloppy if I didn’t slow down.

“I was na?ve, not just to dating women, but online dating wasn’t something I’d ever tried. I didn’t have a clue where to go to meet like-minded females. Anyway, she was cute. A couple years younger than me, but she was nice on the phone.” She took the last swallow from her glass. “We agreed to meet at a coffee shop, but when she showed up, I didn’t have a clue who she was.”

“Why?” I’d had too much to drink if I couldn’t connect these dots.

“Well, I’d guess her profile pictures were a decade old, she’d put on a solid seventy-five pounds, and something happened to her right eye, but I couldn’t speculate as to what.”

“Holy shit, you legit got catfished?”

“It was awful. But even worse, I had no clue how to deal with it. I didn’t want to be shallow, and let’s be honest, I was wading in a pool I’d never swam in before.”

“So what’d you do?” This really shouldn’t have been as fascinating as it became.

“Got lucky. She, however, did not.”

The confusion must have shown all over my face. Roxie laughed in a way that made me want to be her, not be with her. This girl was cool as hell. In a lot of ways, she reminded me of Ronnie. Gorgeous, could rock kiss-ass heels with jeans and a T-shirt, and look flawless doing it, but it was the confidence that oozed from her that I wanted…coveted.

“I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. So I let her go down on me. But when it came time to reciprocate…” Her voice trailed off as I assumed she tried to think of a politically correct way to put it. “Let’s say I told her she needed to close down the fish market before the health inspector did it for her.” Her nose scrunched in disgust.

I tried not to gag, but the thought mixed with intoxication turned my stomach just a bit.

“I don’t know about you, but dating women was like starting over at puberty. Awkward, confusing, and I sucked at it. Even kissing was different.”

I didn’t have the courage to admit to her that I hadn’t had any tongue action on either set of lips, yet. Instead, I nodded like I knew exactly what she meant.

“What about you? Worst date?” She wasn’t asking about men, but I didn’t really have anything to offer without outing myself, and that hadn’t gone so well with Beck.

“Shannon Darby.” Technically, Shannon was a dude I’d dated in my early twenties, but if I could keep from using pronouns, this wouldn’t be a lie. “Notoriously would order the most expensive things on the menu but conveniently never had any money when the check came. Wallet was in the car or on the counter. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem taking turns paying the bill, but Shannon made scamming free shit off me a full-time job. That dragged on far too long before I called it quits.”

The waiter came back to the table for like the fifth time since we’d finished eating. We’d long since paid the bills—Dutch treat on this outing, which suited me just fine. We’d consumed our food in virtual silence, so when Roxie finally started talking, I hadn’t wanted to interrupt. Looking around, we were one of two couples still seated.

“You want to get out of here?” Roxie placed her napkin on the table. “There’s a great dance club a couple blocks away if you’re up for it.”

We both stood, and Roxie took the lead. I couldn’t help but notice her artistically sculpted ass. The jewels on the pockets did nothing but embellish an already fantastic booty. The sparkles held my attention until we were out the door, and she caught me staring.

Instead of making it awkward, she tossed her head back and laughed before taking my hand to stroll down the sidewalk. She quickly tucked her arm into the crook of mine and admitted, “That totally made my day. Thank you.” With a peck on the cheek, she pointed across the street to a small crowd gathered on a corner. “Over there.”

“Crème?”