Little Disquietude C. E. Case

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came over and asked her to dance, even with Sophia, gorgeous and
glistening and sweet, sitting right next to her. Feeling beautiful and
flattered, she accepted.
The woman smelled of leather, and Leah let hips press against hers,
and buried her nose in the collar of the leather jacket, and breathed and
moved to the slow, sexy Indigo Girls song playing as hands traveled
down her ass. She would never tell Adam, but it had been a good idea
to come, to feel desired.
As soon as the song ended, she wobbled back to Sophia at the bar,
who was regarding her oddly.
"What?"
"You're supposed to continue with her. She's looking at you,"
Sophia said.
"What? She's all right. But I--" Leah frowned, and considered. She
shrugged and said, "I got what I wanted."
"What, are you a tease?" Sophia asked, lightly smacking her on the
back, and then sliding an arm around her waist.
Leah settled her arm across Sophia's shoulders and said, "Nah, just
easily pleased."
Sophia elbowed her.
"We have to walk back," Leah said forlornly, because her feet were
killing her after an hour on the dance floor wearing the evil boots. She
just wanted to be home so she could cut off her feet in peace.
"You should have asked that woman for a car."
"Why don't you?"
"What, and show some innocent native the roach motel? No, thank
you."
"Then why did you come?" Leah asked. She dropped her arm to the
bar. Jealousy from nowhere, not with Sophia pressed against her side,
burned inside her chest.
"I came with friends," Sophia said, cautiously. "And found one."
Leah exhaled slowly, and then said, "If you were really my friend,
you'd carry me back."
"If I were really your friend, I'd get you laid."
Leah stopped short. Sophia gave her a little grin. Leah tried to stand
upright, and found that she could. "Let's go," she said.
Sophia took her arm and pulled herself up, and then let go. "Sure
you don't want to take a cab? It's a bad neighborhood."
"I have high-heeled boots on. I'll kick them," Leah said as they left.
The air outside felt cool. She inhaled deeply, and shook her shirt to let
the air in against her skin.
"What are you doing?"
"It's the first cool night I've experienced since coming to North
Carolina," Leah said.
Sophia nodded.
"You?"
"I like to get up in the mornings, right before sunrise, and go
jogging, when the humidity and the dew stick to you. Everything's
fresh and cool then."
Leah felt like she was going to pass out.
Sophia said, "Only sometimes. Twice a week. Not lately, since the
play opened. I tend to sleep in."
"There's a reason I have a night job."
"What's that?"
"Oh, you want a real answer?"
"Yeah," Sophia said.
They were walking together, in a relatively even line, but Leah's
face was flushed with heat and alcohol and she hadn't prepared for the
sharing part of the conversation. Sophia waited for her, though, so she
finally said, "I liked it, and I was good at it. I wasn't good at much else,
you know? Not like that."
"Not like it felt natural?"
"Right. You, too?"
"Like nothing else did," Sophia said, and sighed.
They got to Sophia's hotel first, and Leah looked at the brightly lit
sliding doors with drunken interest.
"Want to come in?" Sophia asked.
"No, I--" Leah shook her head. She hadn't been expecting--though
now that the idea had entered her mind, arousal entered with it. She
swallowed.
"Just for a bit. Or is Adam waiting up for you?" Sophia asked, a
teasing lilt to her voice.
"No, I'm sure he's with Ward," Leah said.
"With Ward?"
"They went down to High Point to go clubbing. I don't know when
they'll be back." Leah looked down the street. Six blocks away was an
empty house. Or one filled with sex and lust and groans that would
keep her up all night, make her restless and lonely.
"You don't have go back to an empty house, Sophia said. "I have
the Cartoon Network."
"Do you have a roommate?"
Sophia shook her head. "Ensemble is two to a room, the ones that
aren't local--most of them are. But Lady M?" She ended on the question
and looked sad.
Leah squeezed her. "I'll walk you to your door, at least. It's only
fair," Leah said. She was still drunk, and her feet were not going to
allow her to walk the six blocks home.
Sophia led her through the lobby. In the elevator, they stood not
looking at each other, not touching. At the door to Sophia's hotel room,
Leah said, "It's weird, having a friend. I feel like I've known you longer
than a week."
Sophia leaned her temple against the door and studied Leah.
Leah said, "It's hard to make friends. As an adult. Without like,
school."
Sophia smiled. "There's always a new show." She pushed open the
door, and looked unsure.
Leah said, "Look, I can just go."
"No, come in. If you still want to." Sophia caught her wrist, and
then let her go, and went in, holding the door open.
Leah shrugged and went in. She flung herself into the nearest chair,
at a small, round table covered in boxes of power bars and flowers, and
groaned. "My feet."
"Not much of a dancer?"
"No. What do you do, to avoid this?"
"Insoles."
"I'm wearing them."
Sophia went into the bathroom. Leah saw the light go in the corner
of her eye. Then Sophia came out, holding a glass of water and a bottle
of Advil. "Take two," she said.
"For foot pain?"
"Whatever ails you."
Leah clutched the bottle. Her feet throbbed. She surrendered and
took two. Sophia went back into the bathroom. The water ran. The
toilet flushed. When she came out, her face was clean and she'd
changed into a T-Shirt reading Durham Playhouse.
"Want a power bar?" She asked.
"Kind of."
"Help yourself."
Leah chose blueberry, and ate, as Sophia made coffee in the
machine in her little kitchenette.
"This is like a dollhouse," Leah said.
"Are we the dolls?" Sophia asked.
Leah inhaled the scent of coffee and said, "I don't care if we are.
Thank God for coffee."
"It's not Honduran fair trade."
"Next time you come over I'll send some home with you," Leah
said. Sophia brought Leah a mug. "Bless you," she said, and drank.
Sophia sat on the bed, far away from Leah, at the headboard, and
closed her eyes.
Leah tried not to crunch too loudly. The wrapper, though, crumpled
audibly when she threw it away, and went to get more coffee.
"Coffee?" she asked, to see if Sophia was still awake.
"Sure." Sophia slapped the side of the bed next to her, and said, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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