Page 19 of Liquid Courage
Chapter 6
Such heavy-handed flirtations continued well into the weekend. Kat woke up early Friday morning wishing she had taken things more slowly with Vivian – but how was she to know that the woman with wavering self-esteem found the most power in sexually charged text messages and making out in bathrooms?
Seriously, how was she supposed to know that?
“Hooooly shit,” Harriet uttered early Friday evening, right before the end-of-the-week rush began at work. Kat had shown her some of the tamer – yet still oh-so-racy – texts that had come in over the past twenty-four-hours. While careful to keep the hot bathtub photos out of it, Kat wasn’t shy about giving one of her friends a small peep into the world of Vivian’s dirty mind. “This is the girl Shari dumped the other night?”
“Yup.” Vivian pocketed her phone, looked up and down the bar, and lowered her voice as she leaned forward. “Nobody knows this yet, but I ended up taking her home that night. Things just clicked as I was trying to make her feel better, you know?”
“You dog.”
“Anyway, nothing really happened ‘cause she got cold feet, but she came back in here yesterday to apologize and… we may have picked up where we left off for a few minutes.”
“What doesthatmean?”
“It means we flirted by the pool table and then made out in the bathroom.”
“Here?”
“I live in a small world that consists of my apartment, this bar, and the fish-sorting facility down at the dock. What do you think?”
“Don’t kiss girls on the fish-sorting machine, Kat.” Harriet laughed into her drink. “Oh, man, the jokes write themselves with that one.”
“I smell enough fish all day to know.”
Kat pulled her clean rag off her shoulder. More customers had come in, and before she could get Harriet’s opinion on things, Kat needed to chat up the newcomers and get them their first round of drinks.
By the time she returned to Harriet’s corner, her friend had decided that what Kat needed was a change in perspective.
“Girl like this could be really good for you.”
Kat shook her head. “She’s driving me crazy, is what she’s doing. Is that good for me?”
“If it makes you take it seriously, then yeah, why not?”
“What do you mean?”
Harriet snorted. “How long have I known you, huh? Four years? Five years? How many real girlfriends have you had in that time?”
“Not enough. Too many. Take your pick.”
“Because your definition of a girlfriend is all over the place. Do you consider those girls you take back to your place every couple of months to really begirlfriends?Or just the ones you see more than once?”
“Guess a girlfriend is someone I enjoy for more than the sex.”
“And someone you think about even when you’re apart.”
Kat shrugged. “Guess you’re right. I don’t really think about the people I’m seeing unless we’re together.” It was true. Kat had such a laid-back approach to life and dating that she was more likely to think about her next day’s work schedule than the woman she would seeafterwork. It didn’t mean she didn’t care about the people she dated, though. They were fun. Sometimes they were more drama than they were worth, but usually, Kat was happy to keep that part of her life in its own tightly-packed corner.
“You’re still thinking about her the next day, right?” Harriet continued. “Who knew what you needed was a woman who kept you at leash’s length?”
“I don’t know if we want to talk about leashes. I ain’t quite into that.”
“Whatever floats your boat. Can never tell who’s into that kinky shit these days.”
“Ever since we got rid of the handkerchief code, all hell has broken loose.”
“Not my fault my handkerchief always said the wrong thing!”
