Page 2 of A Party for Lola

Thankfully we had a three month break before Sasha's birthday, and they were never one for big parties.

I called Tiffany back as I walked over to the tea shop. "Hey," I said as soon as she connected.

"Where have you been? I've been calling you!" She was shrieking. That was never a good sign.

"Sorry. Sophia's cat had an emergency and—"

"How's Loki?" she interrupted me. She understood emergencies too. She was the biggest animal lover among us. Someday soon we would have to give in and go get her a cat of her own.

I paused for a second as I crossed the street. "He's fine. I got the cupcakes. Sophia's not going to be able to make it to the party. How's shoe shopping? You're sounding a little manic." Hopefully she was managing to keep it together and not stress out another person at the store like she usually did when she was trying to control everything and nothing was going her way.

"Don't even start with me. None of these people have shoes that are larger than a size eleven. I need cute thirteen heels in wide width and no one can give them to me."

I winced. It was definitely good that she was out shoe shopping and not me. I would have just said screw it and gotten Lola a purse or something. But I had horrible taste, according to everyone close to me. "What about that place at the mall?" I was fairly certain that I'd seen them have bigger sizes the last time we'd stopped in there after getting the soft pretzels that Micah loved.

Tiffany sighed dramatically. "They had pumps. That were boots. I got them anyway, but they're not my favorite. Like, they'd be okay if Lola had nothing else to wear but they're not going out dancing with her squad kind of shoes. No, I'm looking for come fuck me right here and now kind of shoes and no one in Springfield has what I need. They can order it, but that doesn't really do me any good ."

I knew better than to bring up the idea that we should have planned better and ordered Lola's presents months ago. I leaned against the building and looked out at the street. "So... I'm at the tea shop. Would saying good luck help you at all?" I doubted it, but it was the best that I could do for her from across town.

She laughed. Now that she'd vented, at least, she seemed to be doing better. "I need more than luck, Charlie baby. But I'll take it. Kisses, darling. Kisses."

Tiffany hung up on me and, with that crisis firmly in what I knew were her very capable, highly manicured hands, I went into the tea shop to get a nice selection of loose leafs to add to Lola's spread of presents tonight.

She loved peppermint tea. Peppermint was safe. But there were so many more options to choose from. I grabbed some already bagged green teas, a few whites, and a chocolate chai that smelled incredible. On second thought, the chai was going to be for me. We weren't supposed to be shopping for ourselves, but I highly doubted that Tiffany would pass up a perfect pair of heels if she happened to see some for herself and I wasn't going to miss out on a new chai that I'd never tried either.

I grabbed Lola a new coffee mug on the way up to the check out counter too. There were never enough clean mugs in our house.

I had my birthday party errands done with plenty of time to spare, just the way I wanted. But it occurred to me that Tiffany needed a break. I knew she could handle everything. She always did. But I wanted to give her a little bit of a moment just to breathe too between the errands she had planned. She also had to go get Lola's sister and kids after she was done shopping. I turned into the parking lot for our favorite cafe and texted her.

Feel like getting some coffee?

Her text back was instant as if she had been looking at her phone already.No more than ten minutes ok?

I wouldn't let her be any more frantic than she already was.I promise. I'm at our cafe right now. Be here soon?

I'm on my way.

She was too. Not more than five minutes later she was pulling up beside me and then we walked into the cafe, hand in hand. She was taller than me, and way prettier than anyone I knew. Tiffany was grace and beauty and I loved her kick ass demeanor. When she looked around the room it was as if she was sizing every person there up and deciding whether or not they would be trouble for us.

No one was, thankfully. The cafe was queer owned, queer ran, and very queer friendly. The bathroom was a single space and had a unicorn on it. I ordered a green tea latte, Tiffany ordered something called a mermaid special that had sprinkles and whip cream and looked like melted cotton candy, and then we were sitting next to each other on the couch, her hand in mind as we sipped and enjoyed a quiet moment together in the busy cafe.

"Do the cupcakes look amazing?" Tiffany asked when she'd finished nearly half of her drink.

"Yeah." I leaned against her shoulder. She was back to looking around, meeting the gaze of anyone who looked at us a little too long.

"No one is going to bother us here," I assured her. It was, after all, why this was our cafe.

"Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe not me but you're small and adorable."

I rolled my eyes, but I didn't argue with her anymore than that. If she wanted to protect me she was welcome to, even when I didn't need protecting from anything. "Did you get what you needed?"

She looked away from the people in the cafe to turn and kiss me. It was just a quick kiss. But I was grateful for it. We were all stressed and running around and any little bit of calming affection was welcome at that point.

"No, but I've got one more shoe store to check before I give up."

We sat there quietly together, just enjoying each other and our drinks, until she had to go and I got the cupcakes home.

Tiffany

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