6. Chris
Chris
Itrudged out of my boss’s office with a sigh. Of course she wanted me to work with Julia Montego. The woman had been a thorn in my side almost my entire life.
“Let’s grab a conference room and figure out a plan,” Julia said, not waiting for me to agree.
As she walked away I couldn’t help noticing how nice her ass looked in those light pink capris she was wearing. Julia had always been kind of a girly girl, favoring pastel colors and bright red lipstick that made her thick lips look very kissable.
Objectively speaking of course. She was the last woman I wanted to kiss. So not my type.
She looked good though. Her dark brown hair was long and curly, and she had these large brown eyes like those paintings of the kids with big eyes. It gave her an air of innocence that was misleading. I knew from firsthand experience that the woman was devious.
We dipped into one of the small conference rooms. It was a jumble of mismatched furniture and boxes of god only knows what that probably should be in storage somewhere. Julia sat down across from me, and I absolutely did not notice the way her full breasts pushed against her thin shirt.
She was lush and curvy, the exact opposite of me.
The hard truth, the one thing I’d never admit to anyone – not even my best friends in the world Marlee and April – was that I was physically attracted to Julia.
I couldn’t say why. She wasn’t my type, not physically and not personality wise.
Yet whenever we spent time together I vacillated between wanting to kiss or smack her.
Not literally. I’d never hit anyone, no matter how annoying they were. Well, other than in the bedroom, and only when they asked for a little spanking…
Damn it, now my wayward thoughts were fixated on the idea of me leaving nice pink handprints on Julia’s round ass. What was wrong with me? Working together, even for two weeks, was going to be torture.
Julia flipped her long hair back over her shoulder, then pinned me with a serious look that somehow managed to both turn me on and make me irritated.
“We’ll need to figure out how to divide up the work,” she said.
“We haven’t even seen the application materials yet,” I reminded her. “We don’t know what there is to divide up.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, I know. What’s your schedule like tomorrow?”
She dug a phone out of her pocket and tapped on the screen. “I have a meeting at eleven, but I could meet at nine if that works for you? That will give us time to review the materials tonight, then we can come to the meeting with our ideas.”
Given that it was already four o’clock, that meant we’d both be working late tonight.
It wasn’t the first time, this was non-profit management after all, which meant that a forty hour work week was mostly just a pipe dream.
But I had plans tonight. Plans I wasn’t going to break.
Oh well, I could review the information after I got home from my monthly dinner with my friends.
“Fine. Where do you want to meet?”
I knew that Julia worked over at the Sunrise shelter facility. I worked at the employment center a few miles away.
“How about if we meet at the coffee shop that’s by the Starbucks over by Costco?”
I blinked at her convoluted response. “You want to meet at the Starbucks by Costco?” I confirmed.
“No.” She shook her head, sending a cascade of curls in her wake.
“There’s a coffee shop on the same block as the Starbucks by Costco.
Little family owned place. Very good coffee.
I forget the name of it, but it’s somebody’s name, like Linda’s or Mary’s or something.
They have a lot of plants in the window. You can’t miss it.”
I’d forgotten how weird this woman was.
“Fine but give me your phone number in case I can’t find it.”
She rattled off her digits, and I keyed them into my phone, texting her so she had my number as well.
It was funny that we’d known each other for over twenty years and never gotten each other’s phone numbers.
Then again, we’d done our best to avoid each other during those twenty years, much to both of our mother’s dismay.
They’d always hoped that Julia and I would be BFFs the way they were, and once we both came out as lesbians I think they had a little fantasy that we’d fall in love.
Our mothers were delusional.
A few hours later I was ensconced in a booth at my favorite dive bar. It looked like a dive bar anyway, but they had the best damned burgers in the city, and the beer was cold and cheap, the perfect combination. My friends and I had been coming here for years.
Marlee, April, and I lived in the same dorm suite in college.
We couldn’t be more different. I was a social worker who favored jeans, flannel, and what I liked to call my ‘shit kicking boots’.
Marlee was a computer programmer with a blue crew cut, a pierced nose, and a punk vibe.
And April… well poor April was an accountant who dressed like she was married to a Senator from Alabama.
We’d tried to figure out why she hid behind shapeless boring clothes that were way too old for her, but she was happy with her style, so we left her alone.
Despite our differences, the three of us had stayed tight ever since freshman year of college. We all had busy lives, but we texted in our group chat several times a day and had a standing monthly dinner date that was sacrosanct to all of us.
“Okay girls, what’s new?” Marlee said in a voice that told us that she had news.
“What’s new with you?” I asked, giving her a pointed look.
“A super hot chick moved in next door to me,” she said.
“Don’t shit where you eat,” April said immediately. She might have dressed like a conservative, but the woman swore like a sailor.
“I’m not going to date her,” Marlee said. “But I wouldn’t mind fucking her.”
Just then the server came, bringing our burgers and fries. She rolled her eyes but didn’t comment. We’d been coming here for so long she was used to our weird conversations.
“What did I just say?” April asked.
Marlee rolled her eyes. “Just because you are pathologically unable to have mindless one night stands doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t have some fun.”
Wanting to change the subject before they revisited an old argument, I interrupted.
“Guess who I got assigned to partner with on a work project?”
“Julia Montego,” they said in unison.
“How did you guys know?”
April counted off on her fingers. “First, you always get that little furrow between your eyebrows when you’re around that woman.
Second, we know you work with her, and we don’t know anyone else you work with so by process of elimination, it was an easy guess.
And third, you look like you’re both pissed and turned on, which is pretty much how you always look when you talk about Julia. ”
I looked at Marlee, who nodded in confirmation.
“Fine, okay yes, Julia and I have been assigned to work on a project. It’s this big grant application for our program.”
“Whatever you do, don’t tell your mother that you’re working together,” April said.
“Why?”
“She’s still good friends with Julia’s mom, right?”
“Yeah. Why?”
I looked at Marlee who just shrugged.
“Julia’s mother is on some quest to get her married off. If your mother hears, she’ll jump right on board with the idea of you two getting together.”
“They know we don’t like each other,” I said absently. “But how do you know about Julia’s mother?”
“She tried to fix me up with Julia a few months ago. She and my mom set us up on a drive-by blind date on Julia’s birthday.”
I definitely did not feel jealous about my best friend being on a date with Julia.
“What happened?” I asked.
“You’re getting that furrow again,” Marlee sang underneath her breath.
I ignored her, watching April carefully. Only because I was curious if she was going to date Julia, not because I cared.
“My mom maneuvered me into having dinner alone with Julia and her family,” she explained. “It was hella awkward. But Julia wasn’t interested, and neither was I, so I lied and told Mrs. Montego that I had a girlfriend.”
“You haven’t had a girlfriend in like two years,” Marlee reminded her.
“I’m aware. Julia is cute and all, but as soon as I saw her and realized who she was, I was out.”
“Why were you out?” I asked curiously. “You weren’t attracted to her?”
April had always loved quirky women, especially the lipstick lesbians.
“I was out because we’ve been watching you two circle each other for years,” April said. “No way am I getting in the middle of that shit.”
I looked between my friends. “I don’t get it.”
“You will.”