CHAPTER 4 #2
Reese risked another glance at Jette. Her striking features were still soft, never hardening as she gently stared at Kiran. The intense way that she looked at him gave Reese pause. She couldn’t tell if she was jealous or grateful that Jette wasn’t looking at her like that.
Emery pointedly checked his phone and looked back to Jette expectantly.
“We gotta head out in a minute…I have to get there early.” He turned to Reese apologetically.
“Do you wanna come with us?” Reese tore her gaze away from Jette to find Emery’s piercing blue eyes trained on her face.
Jette was looking at her hopefully, dark lips cracking a smile as their eyes met.
“Babe, you should go out with them. You hate basketball anyways,” Kiran jibed.
“I can always meet up with you guys after the game.” Reese searched his face to see if he meant it, but he glazed over her distractedly.
“Go on, get outta here,” he playfully pushed her away and chuckled.
A faint blush crossed Reese’s cheeks as she looked back at Emery with a nod.
“Oh hell yeah,” he said, reaching into his back pocket. Excited energy hummed around Emery as he shuffled around the studio and Reese unsuccessfully tried to blame the nerves that settled in her stomach on his palpable eagerness.
“Alright Em, do you want to call an Uber or should I?” Jette loudly called out, waiting for Emery’s response from the back hallway. She bent down and adjusted the buckle on her heeled boot as Emery emerged.
“Oh babe, I already called it. It’s like two blocks away. We gotta move,” he hurried.
Reese instinctually patted her jacket, double-checking her belongings before heading down the front steps into the cold.
She turned to wave to Kiran and watched him mouth the words ‘Love you’ through the glass.
Pressing her hand to her lips, she blew a kiss and turned around to follow Jette and Emery down the street.
. . . .
Lizzy’s was surprisingly crowded for 8pm.
Once inside, Emery shucked off his heavy jacket and leaned over to kiss Jette on the cheek.
He looked incredibly thin without the bulky winter jacket.
Underneath, he wore a loose black mesh tee that was so transparent, Reese could catch a glimpse of two long and shiny pink scars across his chest. “Make sure you get good seats,” he insisted as he flashed a smile and ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time.
Reese looked back to Jette and caught dark eyes slowly trailing over her oversized tan button down layered over a black crop top.
Jette looked back up and her eyes widened slightly as she realized that she had been caught checking Reese out.
Restrained confidence radiated off her in measured waves.
She gestured her head towards the bar as she unzipped her leather jacket.
There was no denying that Jette was stunning.
She dripped with raw magnetism. Dark curls gently cascaded from her ponytail, nearly brushing her ripped jet-black skinny jeans.
But Reese was momentarily speechless as Jette slipped the jacket off her shoulders, revealing slender arms underneath.
Her white crew neck tank top showed off her tattooed arms perfectly.
Over the tank top, she wore a combination of leather straps and buckles.
Reese felt her mouth go dry as she realized Jette was wearing a black harness that tightly wrapped around her stomach, just underneath her chest.
Holy fuck.
Jette had to have noticed that Reese was checking her out, but she politely pretended not to see.
Reese followed her in a slight daze, the dry feeling in her mouth lingering as she trailed her eyes over the patchwork of tattoos covering Jette’s arms. She had a feeling she was going to need a significant amount of liquid courage to get through the night.
The crowd surrounding the bar begrudgingly shuffled around them as Reese looked at Jette, but the dark-haired woman’s focus was already trained on the bartender. Hardly any time had passed before the cute butch bartender flashed a brilliant smile and locked eyes with Jette.
“Whiskey ginger,” Jette said over the roar of people talking. She looked at Reese expectantly.
“Tequila soda with lime,” Reese called out, leaning over Jette’s shoulder.
The butch bartender looked back to Jette and her smile faltered the smallest bit as Jette handed her card over and said, “One check. I’ll close it out please.
” Her voice cut through the cacophony of patrons surrounding the bar with ease.
Reese tried to squash the butterflies in her stomach.
She just paid for my drink to make it easier for the bartender, she thought to herself sternly.
She repeated the words in her head as her cheeks blushed.
She followed Jette up the sticker-covered stairway, careful not to touch the wobbly railing that she had clung to on many nights before this.
Lizzy’s had always felt nostalgic to Reese.
It was the first bar she went to after attending her first Pride parade in the city.
The first place she and Lida had ever hung out outside of roller derby practice.
The gaudy rainbow flyers and posters covering the walls brought a smile to Reese’s lips as she climbed.
A smaller crowded bar was nestled in the corner of the sweeping room upstairs.
Countless folding chairs had been laid out in rows with a wide aisle down the middle.
Heavy winter coats and handbags were thrown haphazardly on chairs in an attempt to save seats for the upcoming drag show.
The stage glimmered as the tinsel backdrop fluttered in the breeze of the industrial fans overhead.
Reese grinned to herself as they slid into two empty seats.
Reese pretended not to notice Jette glancing over, surreptitiously looking her up and down as they chatted. The attention made her sit straighter in her seat as she tousled her hair, enjoying the smell of her own shampoo that lingered. “So, how long have you known Emery?” Reese asked.
Jette finished her sip and ran her thumb along her bottom lip before answering, “Uh, about seven or eight years now I guess.” She shifted in the folding chair and crossed her legs to face Reese directly.
“We met back in college and just clicked, you know? I mean, we were inseparable. Still are, I guess. He comes home with me for holidays and everything,” she explained.
“Wow,” Reese said, “His family’s okay with that?”
Jette shrugged and answered, “I don’t know. He hasn’t talked to them in years.” Her eyes locked on Reese’s fidgety hands. “What about you?”
“No, I’ve never talked to Emery’s family,” Reese quipped. Her grin grew wider as Jette let out a single surprised cackle.
“Okay smartass,” Jette teased. “What about your parents?”
Reese hesitated before answering, “I uh, well, I see them at least once or twice a year.”
Jette nodded understandingly as she waved her hands away. “Got it. Sorry, we can change the subject.”
Reese shook her head and added, “No, no it’s okay.
I just…my relationship with them hasn’t been the same since I came out.
Not that we had a great relationship before.
But I mean, they’ve never done anything bad or anything, you know?
We just don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things.
” Reese waited for the warm and prickly feeling to break out across her chest the way it always did when she talked about her family. “Most things, actually,” she amended.
Seth, her brother, was the only person in her immediate family who she still talked to on a semi-regular basis.
Though, even those facetime calls had become more scarce since Seth had gone back to school for his Master’s degree.
He was the golden child. A mild-mannered and quiet kid who had grown up into a respectable adult following the life path that Reese’s parents drilled into them since they were toddlers.
Nothing like Reese with her lack of ambition to become a doctor or engineer, or her desire to live a life that was authentically hers—not theirs.
Reese waited for the tense feeling to creep up her shoulders, but it never did.
Instead, Reese felt oddly calm as she told Jette about her family.
“They helped me get through college and all. And they’re still close with my brother. Plus they love Kiran,” she added.
Jette’s eyebrow raised slightly. “They’ve met Kiran?” Her tone sounded defensive but Reese struggled to read the expression on her face.
“Well, I mean…yeah, we’ve been together long enough,” Reese answered obviously.
“How long have you been together?” Jette asked.
Reese took a sip before answering, “Ah, coming up on three years.” She debated texting him to see how his night was turning out. Not that she was likely to get a timely reply.
Jette looked stunned. She leaned back in her chair and gently brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “Wow,” was all she could say.
“Wow?” Reese asked challengingly.
She shook her head and answered, “Just surprised, that’s all.
” She finished the last of her drink and continued, “After the party the other night, I was trying to guess how long you’d been together.
” Jette made eye contact that Reese could feel deep in her chest. And Reese felt a flutter in her stomach as she wondered how much Jette had thought about her.
Reese struggled to maintain eye contact. “What was your guess?” she asked innocently.
“I don’t know,” Jette stalled, “Six months?”
Reese’s mouth fell open slightly. “Huh…six months…” Her voice grew defensive as she countered, “Why?”
“Why what?” Jette asked.
“Why did you think we were only together for six months?” Reese clarified as she swirled her mostly empty drink.
Jette looked slightly embarrassed and tried to avoid the question, “I don’t know…” her voice trailed off.