Chapter 3
Ellis waved down a server to order another drink.
The young woman must have been new because she turned on her charm to the lawyer, who didn’t even register that it was happening.
The woman was straight and had never wavered, no matter how much time she spent in a gay bar or how many times this exact thing happened.
Ordering a Vancouver with the caveat that if the bartender didn’t know it that they should come talk to her so Ellis herself could explain how to make it.
Court was sure that Ellis spent her evenings looking up exotic drinks or dishes to order, or more importantly, to impress who she was with.
Maybe it worked with her work colleagues or clients, but it didn’t with her or Rebel.
And by the pained look on the server’s face, not on her either.
Whatever attraction she had was extinguished.
Once her drink was ordered, she turned her attention back to Court. “Anyone looking interesting tonight?”
“Not yet, but the night is still young. You?” Court grinned at her friend.
“Please, even if I was into women, you know I would never pick up someone at a bar. You never know what you’ll get.
Well, you do know, and it isn’t good.” Ellis got on her soapbox.
But since she was interested only in lawyers, she stuck to picking up men at the courthouse.
Easier to find the right kind of guy, even if you don’t get the advantage of booze to make it easier.
“Maybe you’re looking in the wrong places. Or for the wrong gender.” Court pushed, like she always did. She knew for a fact that her friend would never switch teams. She’d had too many opportunities and hadn’t ever once taken one. As far as Court knew, she had never even kissed a girl before.
“Oh please, give me a guy in a suit and a thousand-dollar haircut and I’m all over that. Women are just, blah. I don’t see what you see in them.” Looking around the room, Ellis didn’t stop until she turned back to Court.
“Maybe if you gave women a try, you wouldn’t be turned off by that fatal flaw you seem to always find in those you date.” At the bar, the brunette’s friend left, and Court watched Rebel swoop in with a smile and confidence that was truly all Rebel.
Ellis blinked innocently. “What fatal flaw?”
Trying to ignore Rebel’s hand on the woman’s back, Court turned back to her best friend. “The one where Ellis cuts them from her life with the precision of a veteran surgeon for the slightest infraction.”
That had been how everyone of Ellis’s relationships ended.
She did the ending, and she had a reason.
One that she was convinced everyone would understand and nobody could overlook.
They were nothing but petty, but they got the pretentious men out of her friend’s life.
Court usually let her think the reasons were just.
Not that they were all pretentious, just ninety-nine percent of them. The rest seemed to be just stuffed shirts with no personality. Ellis seemed to attract the worst lawyers in town. And yes, they were always lawyers.
“Like?” Ellis demanded an example, as if they had never talked about this before.
“Like the guy who you dumped because his sister was 5’1”.” Court reminded her it had happened the year before, but she had been dating him for three months when she found out about the sister. Or she knew there was a sister, just not a short one. It was over by the end of the week.
The server dropped off the drink, and Ellis didn’t even look at it, which meant she was up for an argument.
“You know that my kids need to be tall. Which means I can’t settle for a man who has short genes.
I already carry enough short genes. You know I was cursed with being short my entire life.
I wouldn’t bestow that fate on my children if I can help it.
And you know what, Court, I can help it. I’m doing all this for those kids.”
“Your right. How could I forget this is all for the kids?” Taking the drink, Court took a sip to taste. If Ellis was going to order something odd, Court was going to try it.
Ellis scowled at her action, and Court didn’t bring up any of the other idiotic reasons Ellis has had for dumping a man. Including one she ghosted for admitting to hating sports, a trait they had actually shared, but in a man, it wasn’t what she was looking for.
Demurely, Ellis gave her the finger before snatching the drink back. “Does Calvin know?”
“What?” She didn’t know why they were back to talk about him.
“That you are gay. Does he know you are gay? Did you know that at seventeen? Did you tell him? You have never explained why you were kicked out back then, just that it happened. Maybe you shouldn’t go if he knew back then and didn’t want you anymore. Some people are just not worth the effort.”
Court felt her heart swell at her friend’s protectiveness. Not ten minutes before, she was arguing every reason for her to see him to get that closure she felt was needed. Now she was changing course and didn’t want her there.
“It wasn’t about that.” She admitted watching Ellis finally take a drink and flinch at the harsh taste of it.
Court had made sure she didn’t show how bad the drink really was when she tried it, and it was worth it to see Ellis’s reaction.
Now to see if she kept drinking it. “The last time I saw him, I punched his stepson and broke his nose. I didn’t come out to him.
I knew then, but I wasn’t sharing that with everyone yet.
Which was the smartest thing I did that summer. ”
In the end, that punch had told her who Calvin’s fidelity lay with.
She had left in the middle of that sunny afternoon and never returned.
Spending the next few weeks living with friends on couches and spare bedrooms. It was only when she had gone to school, the school she was enrolled in, that her mother had managed to find her.
Or maybe it was because the school cared that she wasn’t living with her parents that parent started to care that she wasn’t living with her.
“And this all happened before your mom found out?” She asked, found out was the correct way of saying it. Helene hadn’t been told she’d ferreted it out of her and had proceeded to change the entire projection of Court’s life because of it.
Shaking off the memory of her mom’s hours of lectures about how Court’s feelings had been wrong, and how disappointed she was about it. She answered, “Yes, but I think he approved of everything that happened after that. I know he knew, I overheard the phone call between them.”
Pushing her full glass away from her, Ellis leaned across the table and closer to her.
“I think you need to take this opportunity to find out if he really agreed to what he agreed to. What do you lose? Tell him how his actions had a lasting effect on your life. You don’t even have to spend the entire weekend, just long enough to get your answers. ”
“His actions didn’t affect my life.” She argued because Calvin had never been a part of her life. And she didn’t want him there now.
Pushing her glass away from her, Ellis leaned forward, focusing all her attention on her.
“Lack of action, then. Court, you are desperate to have a meaningful relationship, but freak out the moment someone gets too close. It’s been that way since I met you.
But lately you don’t even get that far. When was the last time you had more than a single date or a night of sex with a woman before you ghost them?
You don’t even give out your number anymore. That’s classic daddy issues.”
“A. he’s not my daddy, and B. if I had daddy issues, I would want to fuck old guys. I don’t do that.” Court nearly gagged at the thought.
Not taking the bait in the argument, Ellis said quietly, “As someone looking in from the outside for a decade, I think talking to him will help. Maybe not just him, but a professional.”
“I’m not you, Ellis. I don’t need a therapist. Or three.
” She tried to lighten the conversation with a joke.
Her friend had three, one for her overall life.
One was for her job, and one was dedicated to her dating life.
That last one was changed as frequently as the man on her arm.
Not only did she blame breakups on almost nothing, the therapist was removed for the failure that they had no control over.
“You do you. I’ll do me.” She snapped, “Maybe this was all a misunderstanding, and he misses being in your life. Have you ever thought about that? Talking to him might be receptive to you coming out to him.”
“I haven’t had to come out to anyone in years, and I don’t want to start with him. I don’t exactly hide my sexuality, people know what they're getting with me.” She waved a hand over her button-up shirt and short blonde spiky hair that was shaved around the ears. A total butch vibe.
“Which I’m proud of. I would never want to change anything about you. You are perfect as you are.” Ellis gave her a pep talk she didn’t need. She liked herself just fine without her best friend’s input.
“I’m done talking about family tonight. I need a break from all those thoughts.
You know what, I’m going to see if Rebel’s chick is more interested in someone else.
Someone with a bit more class.” She pushed her glass to the edge of the table.
She needed away from this conversation, and playing with Rebel was a great way to get her wandering thoughts back.
Not to mention, Rebel had amazing taste in women.
“This isn’t a game.” Ellis shuffled out of the booth herself.
“This is always a game. One I intend to win.” Court eyed the bar and how far Rebel had made it in wooing the woman. Not far since she was barely to her yet, in a classic move she stopped for a drink before making her move. “Wish me luck.”
Rolling her eyes, Ellis moved her full glass to the edge as well.
She wasn’t going to give it another try, so Court took it and got two gulps down before she had to stop.
She wasn’t drunk enough to drink anything that bad.
But there was enough alcohol in it to get her closer to her goal, a pleasant buzz.
Ellis adjusted her purse with far too much care. “I will not. But I’m also going to head home, since you two are thinking about nothing but getting screwed.”
“You can think about it, too. Call what’s his name and see if he can take the stick out of your ass,” Court suggested, since Ellis was currently dating some lawyer who checked a few less boxes than he should.
One Court hadn’t met yet and was almost certain she wouldn’t.
Ellis had said just yesterday he had bowed legs. The flaw.
“His name is Wyatt, and we aren’t there yet. Besides, I don’t have a stick up my ass. I’m just… forget it. You wouldn’t understand with your daddy issues!” Getting the last word in, Ellis walked towards the door.
Now alone at the table, Court was deciding if she was going to steal Rebels’ woman. One more glance at the brunette’s perfect butt on the barstool told her she was going to try.
After one more drink of the Vancouver, she headed for the women at the bar, but focused on only one.