Page 2 of No One's Like You
"If you don't play with us, you'll end up bored," Mildred insists emphatically. She doesn't understand that there could be any other option for spending vacation than running around and having fun.
"I'm going for a walk with Chester," Beatriz answers with dreamy eyes. "Yesterday he gave me a kiss on the cheek."
Ruby almost throws up. Ellie wrinkles her face and Mildred shakes her body as if she has ants crawling on her. Beatriz rolls her eyes again.
"You are all still very childish, but soon you'll start liking boys," the oldest assures them.
Ellie shakes her head so hard that the muscles in her neck hurt.
"I will never be with boys," she declares.
Beatriz brings a hand to her chest while opening her eyes wide.
"And then what will become of your life? You need a good husband, Ellie."
Ellie is clear about it, has always been since Ruby came into her life.
"Ruby and I will be best friends forever. We don't need a husband; it'll be her and me."
Ruby's chest explodes as she connects her gaze with that of her friend. The eyes of both shine; they're nevergoing to separate, they don't need anyone else if they have each other.
Chapter 1
Present day.
"My God, I'm going to be late because of you," Amelia says, gulping down her coffee hurriedly while searching for her phone on the kitchen counter.
"My fault?" Ruby asks, arching her eyebrows with an amused expression. "I didn't hear you complaining while I was between your legs. In fact, you moaned so loud the neighbors probably heard you."
Amelia finds her phone and grabs it, then turns toward Ruby and feels a spasm between her legs when she remembers that moment—barely twenty minutes ago—when she was showering and Ruby burst into the bathroom. Amelia was about to protest because she had just enough time to finish showering and drink her coffee before heading to the supermarket where she works as a cashier, but when she saw Ruby kneeling before her with the sole intention of giving her pleasure, her throat closed and the words got trapped in her mouth.
"It's lucky they're both an elderly couple and deaf as posts," Amelia comments, grabbing her keys.
She approaches her girlfriend and gives her a kiss. Ruby is finishing her coffee. She's also going to be late, though no one will scold her because she's the owner of the bar where she works. Actually, she owns half of it, because the other half belongs to her best friend Ellie. They didn't fulfill their dream of always being together as they promised—at least, as Ruby understood it in her nine-year-old mind—she always thought that together meant together in every sense, but, unlike her and to the pain of her heart, Ellie did start feeling attracted to boys and that repulsion she felt toward them disappeared to the point that, currently, she's married to Marcel.
Otherwise, at thirty-three, they still maintain a friendship that has remained unbreakable the entire time. They opened the bar where they work ten years ago and, although it was very tough at first, now they can't complain. It gives them enough money to pay the bills, live comfortably, and cover the salaries of four bartenders plus two cooks who split shifts throughout the week. Ruby and Ellie agreed to each open one day, so today is her turn and Ellie will come later.
Between them they handle the accounting, take care of inventory, and work behind the bar without fixed schedules. If one needs a day off, she takes it; if she needs hours, she gets them too. The other doesn't ask questions—they have that kind of blind trust in each other.
Ruby says goodbye to Amelia at their front door and each rushes off in a different direction. She reaches the bar barely ten minutes later, panting from hurrying, and lets out a huff when she sees Gaston, the beer distributor, unloading the last box on the sidewalk and closing the truck doors, ready to leave.
"Hey, Gaston!" Ruby shouts, appearing beside him like a ghost.
The man turns, startled, and frowns when he sees her.
"I've told you a thousand times not to unload the merchandise outside. Every time you do, someone steals a box," Ruby complains.
"I arrived and no one was here. I don't have time to wait," he justifies, flapping his shirt to cool off from the sweat.
Ruby checks her watch and frowns. Her agreement with the delivery company is for them to come after seven-thirty, and there are still five minutes to go.
"You're delivering outside your schedule. You should come later."
"It works better for me to stop here first. Or would you prefer I leave you for the end of the route?"
Ruby sighs. Her day started with sex, and she doesn't want this guy to ruin it in five minutes.
"Forget it," she says and pulls out her keys.
