Page 30 of Liquid Courage
Chapter 9
“It’s true,” Kat said, arm on the bar counter and fingers drumming against her beer bottle. “I really did meet Chelsea Clinton.”
“You did not.” Vivian scoffed. “Liar.”
Another group of young men squeezed past them to get to the other end of the bar. For once, they didn’t go to Kat’s bar.Sometimes it’s nice to branch out, you know?This place, while stubbornly co-ed, was owned by one of Beverly’s friends, and Kat said they would be taken care of if someone gave them shit for being into each other. “I really did meet Chelsea,” Kat reiterated. “Please note that I’m saying ‘meet.’ You make it sound like I said I slept with her. Please. She’s a little old for me.”
“When did you freakin’ meet her?”
“Waaay back in high school. She came through these parts when Obama first ran. Damn. That was a long time ago.”
“She was campaigning?”
“You know, I have no idea what the hell she was doing. She could’ve accidentally stumbled into my high school because Google Maps told her to go through someone’s backyard and take a left at Albuquerque. Either way, the Secret Service was with her, sothatwas cool.”
“Were you old enough to vote yet?”
“Not in that election. By like… five months. Dumb.”
“First time I voted was the local election where we decided to give more taxes to public playgrounds. I was a real adult that day.”
“Hey! That was my first one too!”
“I thought you were older than me?” Vivian had already done the math. Kat should have voted in at least one or two other elections before that one.
“Yeah, well…” Kat hid her sheepishness in her beer bottle. “I was a kid, you know? Too cool for voting, especially with so much capital C Change going on.”
“Meanwhile, I’ve voted in every election I legally could since turning 18.”
“Aren’t you a good citizen?”
“I try to be.”
The Sunday night crowd swelled until Vivian was forced to scoot her stool closer to Kat’s. They were deep in the corner of the room, and if they wanted to leave before things started clearing out, they would have to flex their elbows to make the guys and gals move. Vivian would have liked to see that, honestly. Kat had proven herself incredibly competent in so many areas already. Fending off the hoard sounded like it was right up there in competency.
And sexy. Because one little orgasm in the back of a dark theater wasn’t enough to satiate Vivian. Relax her? Yes, actually. It had taken some of the edge, the anxiety out of her body. For fuck’s sake, Kat had fingered her! In the pussy! What else was there to be shy about now?
They were practically girlfriends.Now there’s a thought.She was half-tempted to ask Kat if it was true, but decided to wait until they had slept together first. To keep with the hookup aesthetic they started off with, of course.
But if Kat did want to be girlfriends… Vivian would say yes right now.
Almost seemed too good to be true, though. Kat was so put together and in control of who she was that Vivian occasionally had the urge to shrink before her. What was she compared to a woman like this? Kat could have anyone she wanted.Nobody turns her down, I bet. When she breaks up with a girlfriend, it’s because she wants to end things. Who the hell would break up with her?Not Vivian. She had to keep from bracing her hands against Kat’s legs and letting her hair close them off from the rest of the busy bar.
Aw, fuck it. She’d do it.
“So what made you become a bartender?” Vivian asked, palms digging into Kat’s thighs.
Kat looked between those hands and Vivian’s face. Which one was a prettier sight? “Necessity,” Kat matter-of-factly said. “Needed a job that could get me decent money, coincide with a morning job,anddidn’t require a college degree. Tending bar was the natural choice. Helps that I had good connections from other jobs and I don’t really hate talking to people.”
“That’s why I would never be able to do it.” Dealing with a constant rotation of strangers would drive Vivian out of that job faster than she could learn to make a cosmo. “I much prefer sitting behind a desk.”
“You wear those cute outfits, so can’t blame you. Especially if I get to look at them.”
“Meanwhile, you get to strut around in jeans and T-shirts. What’s not to love about that?”
“It’s definitely comfortable, yes.”
“What do you think you’ll do in the future?”
