It was finally Saturday and time to go to work. Tia couldn’t wait. “My God, I’ve never felt so self-conscious before in my life,” she told Tinkerbell, who was getting ready to call it a day. “Do I look ok?”
Knowing the rat couldn’t answer, she gave herself a final once-over in the full-length mirror behind the bedroom door. This time she wore a lavender top and denim shorts similar to the ones she’d worn on Wednesday.
“See ya, girl,” she said and was off to the pet store. When she first entered the store, she was disappointed not to see Courtney around.
After exchanging hellos with Morgan, Tia set off to change the rat and mouse tanks. She was so caught up in her work after a while that she was startled by the tan, smooth arms with their slight but obvious ripples of muscle that suddenly reached out to grab a mouse that was trying to escape its confines and many roommates.
“Hi there,” Courtney said, voice cheerful.
“Hi,” Tia said, maybe a little louder and more chipper sounding than she’d meant.
Courtney placed the mouse back in the tank and then their eyes locked. They smiled shyly at each other and Tia was sure they were both blushing.
“How ya doing?” asked Courtney.
“Ok. Trying to keep up with these would-be escapees gets a bit challenging at times, but I’m fine otherwise.”
Courtney laughed. Then she winked and said, “See you around.”
“Sure thing,” Tia replied to Courtney’s retreating back. She had trouble concentrating throughout the remainder of the morning but was grateful to at least not screw anything up.
“Sorry, sir. We don’t speak Spanish,” she heard Morgan say a little while later.
Tia glanced up at the counter where Courtney stood next to her mother, then at the man. He was middle-aged and appeared to be Mexican. “Ok, lo siento por molestaba,” he said.
Tia walked over to him before he could leave. “¿Puedo ayudar?”
The man turned to her. “Sí, sí.” Then he proceeded to ask her something in Spanish.
Tia turned to a surprised-looking mother and daughter and said, “He’s asking where Lilac Lane is.”
“Oh,” said Morgan. “That’s off of Live Oak Drive. Tell him to jump back on the freeway and head right.” She gestured with an ample arm. “Then continue on down another mile or two.”
Tia repeated this to the man in Spanish.
“¿Y luego?” asked the man.
“And then?” Tia interpreted.
“And then he’ll see Live Oak Drive on the left. That’ll take him right to Lilac Lane, which is a dead-end.”
Tia repeated this to the man as well. He thanked her and left the store.
Courtney grinned widely as Morgan said. “Wow, you really are full of surprises!”
“Languages are one of my hobbies,” Tia told her.
With Courtney still smiling, Morgan asked, “And what other languages do you speak?”
“Sign Language and some Italian. Someday I’ll get to the Portuguese, French and maybe Hawaiian, too.”
“Damn!” Courtney exclaimed with shock. “And you taught yourself?”
Tia nodded. “Yeah, I usually learn better that way, so I can go at my own pace.”
“That’s pretty amazing,” Courtney said just as someone else came into the store.
An hour later, Courtney approached her as she was sweeping the area in which she’d changed cages. “Hey, you.”
Tia turned to face her.
“I know you said you don’t do lunch, but I was hoping you could join me anyway over at the pizza place that’s just a few doors down.”
“I’d love to,” Tia said. Suddenly, the thought of lunch never sounded so good.
“Great. Let’s head on over now. Ma’s got things covered for now.”
“A half-hour, girls. Don’t be late,” Morgan said as they left the store.
And so began what would probably be the quickest half hour of Courtney’s life. Walking alongside Tia, she admired the fact that Tia was shorter, especially considering the fact that she herself was little more than five-four.
Fortunately, the store wasn’t very crowded, so they were able to place their orders right away. Tia ordered a slice of mushroom pizza, while Courtney ordered pepperoni. When Tia went to pull some money from her purse, Courtney said, “No, no. My treat.”
“I’ll get the drinks then and find us a table. What do you want?”
“Sprite will do it for me.”
Tia got the drinks and settled at a table by the window. A few minutes later, Courtney joined her with the pizza. “Here you go,” she said as she placed hers in front of her.
“Thank you,” Tia said.
Tia took a bite of her pizza as Courtney turned to look out the window. Tia admired her profile. She liked the shape of her nose and the way her hair hung sexily to the side. As usual, she had no makeup on, but as plain as she was, she really didn’t need it. Plain or not on an overall basis, her eyes were beautifully framed with dark, thick lashes. Courtney turned to face her. “So how is it?”
“It’s delicious.”
Courtney bit into her own slice.
Tia thought she had nice lips, too. She watched the muscles ripple gently under her forearms. “Nice muscles. Do you work out?”
“No, I’m just naturally this way.”
They were definitely opposites. Where Tia was fair-skinned, Courtney’s complexion was of a medium tone. Where Tia’s hair and eyes were light, Courtney’s were dark, and she was much like a boy in mannerisms and shape as opposed to Tia’s feminine curves.
“So tell me,” Courtney began.
“Yeah?”
But before Courtney got a chance to ask her question, a voice familiar to her suddenly spoke.
“Hey, buddy, what’s up?”
Courtney turned to face the young girl who had approached their table, dismayed by her timing. “Oh, hey, Miranda. This is my friend Miranda,” she explained, introducing her to Tia.
“Oh, hi there,” Miranda said, extending a hand toward Tia.
Tia accepted the nearly crushing handshake from Miranda, who also looked lesbian, but wasn’t just plain. She was downright ugly. She was of average height, overweight, sloppily dressed, and had extremely short hair, which Tia never considered to be attractive on a woman, even if the woman was as masculine as Miranda was. It couldn’t have been more than half an inch long.
“You were right,” Court.
Courtney shot her friend a warning glance, and then Miranda apparently caught herself. “I mean, she really does have long hair. Way long.”
Courtney smiled and said, “Yeah, and we don’t have much time either.”
“Oh, yeah. Yeah, I getcha,” said Miranda, backing away from the table. “I’m starving anyway and gotta take something to go so I’m not late for class again. Nice meeting you, Tia.”
“Nice to meet you, too.” Tia smiled politely.
“I’ll call you later tonight,” Courtney told her, smiling thankfully at her friend as she headed to the counter.
“Sure thing. Talk to you then.”
Courtney turned back to Tia, and they finished their pizza.
“Tell you what?” asked Tia.
Courtney looked up at her, momentarily confused. “What’s that, babe?”
“You started to say, ‘so tell me.’”
“Oh, oh yeah,” Courtney said with a slight chuckle. “Sometimes I’m such an airhead.”
“It’s ok. We all are.”
Courtney appeared slightly hesitant, then said, “Well, I was kind of curious.”
“About?”
“Like, about how you ended up here, and why Auburn?”
Just then, a couple of kids ran up and down the aisle laughing and shouting. By the fifth time, Tia wanted to stick her foot out and trip the unruly pests. Instead, she said, “Auburn wasn’t part of the plan, actually. I decided to go to Sacramento, figuring there’d be more job opportunities there. Then the economy turned bad, and I quickly came to see that jobs were pretty much jobs no matter where you went. The only problem was that while I was now in a more moderate climate, the rents were twice as expensive.”
“But where did you first go and who were you with?” Courtney asked. “I mean, you certainly didn’t come down alone, did you?”
Tia shook her head. “No, I came down with a distant cousin of mine and his wife. They wanted to leave Oregon for the same reasons, but they were heading down to Southern Cal because Hal was going to work at his brother’s company.”
“Why didn’t you go there with them?”
“Too crowded. Lara, Hal’s wife, has a brother of her own in Sacramento with a two-bedroom house. She arranged for me to go there, get a job, then get a place of my own as soon as I gained some financial stability. But people don’t usually start off making good money, so I had to take what I could get and get out a lot faster than I thought I’d have to.”
“Why, what happened?”
“He started wanting more than just a roommate.”
Courtney gave a look as if to say she wasn’t surprised.
“He didn’t harm me in any way, but I was soon desperate to get out for other reasons as well.” She took a sip of her Pepsi.
“Such as?”
“He was rather loud and had a lot of company. I was constantly getting woken up because once I started with Rainbow Robin, I’d usually sleep in because I had to be up late.”
Courtney nodded with understanding.
“Then when I was awake, he’d often blast music and make it hard for me to concentrate on anything I may be doing, like reading, or listening to my own music, or watching a movie on my laptop. So I began hunting online and found the place I’m at right now was the best deal.”
Courtney looked at her watch. “I’d love to learn more, but mom will pitch a fit if we don’t get back soon.”
“That’s ok, there’s not much more to learn anyway,” Tia said.
“Hmmm…” said Courtney as they made their way back to the store. “That’s hard to believe.”
Tia laughed and walked with Courtney, happy to be at her side. Courtney was hot with the way she took long, casual strides, hands tucked in her pockets. She wore dark jeans and a dark open vest over a red T-shirt. “You look nice in black and red,” Tia dared tell her.
Courtney smiled, but Tia couldn’t tell if it was a smile of pleasure or discomfort. “Well, thank you,” she said softly.
They were back in the store much sooner than Tia would have liked, but the rest of the day passed by quickly with a steady flow of customers. She’d watch Courtney whenever she got the opportunity to do so. Everything she said and did seemed to turn her on. The way she moved, the sound of her voice.
She grabbed her handbag and turned to head out, bumping into Courtney along the way. The contact made her tremble in a way that was unfamiliar to her.
“See you tomorrow,” Courtney told her.
“Yeah, see you. And thanks again for lunch.”
Courtney shrugged as if to say it was no big deal, and then Tia was gone.
“So, did you talk much during lunch?” Morgan asked her daughter once Tia had left.
“Sort of, after running into Miranda,” Courtney told her mother what she’d learned. The only thing she didn’t tell her mother was that while she wasn’t sure that Tia was necessarily unstable, she did get the feeling that she was hiding something. She tried to tell herself it was only because they hadn’t known each other for even a week, but just like her mother, Courtney was also good at picking up on things when it came to other people.
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