CHAPTER 30 #2
“You think too much,” Stella said and pulled Violet in for a kiss.
They sat there on two barstools, with their legs entwined, and kissed slowly.
It had been a long time since their lips had been connected for more than an instant, and usually, when they kissed, it had always been with the intention of something more, but Stella just got to kiss her now.
She got to sit there and enjoy how good it felt for long minutes until Violet eventually pulled back, looking a little dazed.
“You’re beautiful,” Stella said. “I don’t think I said that when you got here.”
“Thank you?” Violet asked more than said.
It made Stella laugh, and then she stood up and nodded toward the menu still sitting on the bar.
“Pick your poison, babe,” she said.
“Um… Can I have the Hemingway daiquiri?”
“Sure. That’s the first one I learned this week.”
“Stella, how much time did all of this take?”
“Oh, not long,” she lied and walked over to the shelf where she pulled down her ingredients.
“Are you lying right now?”
“Yes. It took several hours.”
“Stella!”
“What? I told you, I wanted it to be special.”
“It is. You didn’t have to do all this. I would’ve just gone to dinner with you somewhere.”
“Dinner is in the oven.”
“You cooked, too?”
“Yes. I didn’t think you’d fill up on sesame pretzels and peanuts. You’re not allergic to nuts, are you? I should have asked.”
“I don’t have any food allergies.” Violet took a handful of the nuts and ate them. “You?”
“No. I am allergic to bees, though, and it’s pretty bad. I have an EpiPen.”
“Jesus, Stella.”
“I’ve never needed it. I’m not a very outdoorsy person, so that helps. The pen is usually in my bag just in case.”
“If you’ve never needed it, how did you discover that you were allergic to bees?”
“I got stung,” she replied and started making two of the drinks Violet had ordered as she told her story.
“I was eight, and we were on a field trip at the zoo. I tried to swat the thing away, but it got angry with me and gave its life trying to take mine, I guess. I blew up like a balloon. It wasn’t pretty.
” She chuckled. “Then, it got scary because I couldn’t breathe.
No one on the field trip had an EpiPen, if you can believe it, so I got taken to the zoo infirmary.
They fixed me up there, and my mom took me to the doctor after that.
I’ve had an EpiPen ever since, but I haven’t needed it.
” She pointed to herself. “Because I’m not–”
“An outdoorsy person. Yeah, I got it.” Violet chuckled. “Neither am I. I’m sure you could’ve guessed that, though. I spend most of my time in the garage, the kitchen, or my bedroom.”
“I like your bedroom,” Stella commented and pushed the drink toward Violet. “Please, enjoy.”
“What’s for dinner?” Violet asked through laughter.
“I made a chicken thing. It’s just staying warm. We can eat whenever. Now, before you get mad, you should know that the kitchen smells like cinnamon and apple because I lit the candles again, and I put the cloth napkins down because I had them folded perfectly. I didn’t want to waste them.”
“I won’t get mad. And I shouldn’t have acted how I did that night. I just sort of came over here with a purpose.”
“A purpose?” Stella asked before she took a sip of her drink and then walked around the bar and sat back down on the stool.
Violet placed her hand on Stella’s thigh and replied, “I wanted to prove to myself, and I guess to everyone else, that I only wanted to have sex with you and nothing more. Then, I got here, and you had everything set up for a romantic night in, and I was terrified.”
“Of me?”
“Not you specifically, but you are… You’re beautiful, confident, smart, funny, kind, and you’ve always been that way, too.
It’s nothing new, but this is.” Violet pointed back and forth between them before her hand went back to Stella’s thigh.
“And you have your life together, while I feel like mine isn’t.
We don’t have that money officially locked in yet, and without it, I’m going to be out of a job in less than a year.
That means I might lose my friends and–”
“Oh, babe…” Stella placed her hand on Violet’s thigh now. “You’re never going to lose your friends. Even if the company went under tomorrow, and they all had to move on, you’d never lose them. They all love you. I mean, they watch BSG with you.”
Violet laughed and took a sip of her drink.
“This is delicious.”
“Thanks. I had to buy another bottle of maraschino liqueur because I practiced so much, I ran out of the first bottle.”
“What did you do with all the drinks you made?”
“Mostly? Gave them to Jen and Monique from work. They came over and were my guinea pigs one night. They got very drunk, and I had to drive them both home to get them there safely.”
“Stella?”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t know how good I’m going to be at this, with everything I have going on, but I know I want to try.”
“You do?” Stella asked with a smile.
“Yes, I do.”
“Okay. So, want to carry these drinks into the kitchen and have dinner?”
“After, can we watch Battlestar in bed?” Violet asked.
“You’re staying?”
“I left a bag in my car in case I got an invitation.”
“So, you won’t be sleeping naked?” Stella joked.
Violet leaned in and said, “No, but if you want, I might borrow some of your clothes to sleep in.”
“Oh, I’d love that.”
“I know,” Violet replied and kissed her.