‘No hot date?’
CJ screwed up her nose. ‘I couldn’t be arsed, to be honest,’ she said. ‘My period is due. I can go two ways before I bleed: full-on hermit, or raging sexual demon. I think it’s a case of the former, this month.’
‘An invitation from your body to slow down,’ Ash offered, only mildly taking the piss out of herself, because she’s woo-woo-adjacent, talking about menstrual cycles. CJ has come to appreciate that about her, though, all her therapy-speak and different ways of looking at the world. It turns out, nothing bad happens if you open your eyes – and heart – to the woo-woo. Not that she has admitted this finding to Ash. Shesuspects Ash has cottoned on, though. She acts like CJ must want to hear all this, and CJ doesn’t correct her.
‘Yeah,’ said CJ. ‘It’s the sofa and a movie for me.’
‘Heavenly, when done right. I might do the same.’
The women looked at each other. CJ didn’t want to ask Ash to come over to hers, because she didn’t want to put Ash in the position of turning her down. Plus, she didn’t want to seem … needy.
But …
‘We could veg out together?’ Ash said. ‘Do you want to come up for a bit? I don’t have a TV up there, but I do have UNO? And music?’
CJ laughed. ‘Oh my gosh, did youbuyUNO?’ she asked. Ash had never played before, not until their last dinner together when Jorge taught her. Ash reached into her bag and pulled out the distinctive red box, waving it to and fro. ‘You’ve caught the UNO bug!’ CJ said.
‘Do you think it’s terminal?’
‘I suspect you might have a bad case that takes a while to leave the system,’ CJ told her. ‘I’ve seen it happen before, at first exposure. Then the bug is in your system forever, and will only flare sporadically, normally around summer holidays and the festive season.’
‘Like the cold sore virus.’
‘Yes, exactly. Enjoying UNO is exactly like the cold sore virus.’
That was a week ago, and CJ continues to think about it, about that impromptu night together. Ash has the nicest room in CoLab, and the most expensive. They call it a suite,or studio, because it has a bed and a small lounge area, as well as a hotplate and mini fridge in the kitchen corner too. CJ kicked off her Birkenstocks and lay down on the couch looking at the rooftops of the houses across the street as Ash declared she needed to wash the day off her. CJ had never been more aware of another human’s nakedness than she was of Ash’s, despite Ash being the other side of the bathroom door, and fully clothed both as she entered and when she reappeared, in her pyjamas: a neat pair of white cotton shorts and matching vest.
‘Sorry if this is a bit titty,’ Ash said as she folded her legs beneath her after motioning for CJ to sit up. ‘Not that I really have tits, of course.’
But she did. CJ saw them, the shadow of them, when Ash leaned forward, the outline of them when she sat back, and CJ remembered when Ash had got changed in front of her, on the side of the road, turning around in that little lace bra.
And now, here CJ is, running gel through her hair as she gets ready for Luis’s fortieth birthday party, mind wandering once again to Ash, her chest, her laugh.
‘You almost ready?’ Miguel yells through from the living room. ‘Because we’re already pre-gaming without you, cousin!’
CJ checks over her reflection: she’s in skin-tight black leather trousers she’s had for years, and, unusually for her, strappy black heels. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does CJ actually likes how they make her feel – tall, elegant, somewhere in the ballpark of regal. Her top is black, too, sleeveless and slashed at the neck, but almost entirelybackless. She turns, looks at herself over the shoulder, all the better to double-check that her back remains her best feature. It does. The deep welt of her spine, the ripple of muscles across the rear of her shoulders. She has moisturised with baby oil tonight, and her skin glistens with it. With her patent black clutch and swipe of red lipstick – another rarity, make-up, but not unheard of – she feels sexy, powerful. With all the effort Ash puts into her appearance, CJ is playing catch-up. Ash has raised the bar. Tonight, CJ has accepted the challenge.
‘Holy moly!’ Todd says when she leaves her bedroom. ‘Catherine Jane Hall! Jesus, you look amazing! Here to steal your heart and kick your ass, whaaaaat!’
CJ does a twirl, thrilled to have elicited this exact response.
‘Will I do?’ she asks, but of course the answer is yes. When the affirmative comes, from Jorge, too, CJ grabs herself a shot glass and tells Miguel, ‘OK. Hit me. Let’s rack ’em up.’
However, for all her bravado, she only has the one shot – her tummy is in knots, strangely enough.
‘Is it because of the threesome?’ Miguel says, whispering the wordthreesome. ‘Are you nervous?’
‘Fuck off,’ CJ says, also whispering for Jorge’s benefit. In her normal voice she adds, ‘I wish I’d never bloody told you.’
‘Oh, come on,’ Todd says. ‘Orgies have been happening since the dawn of time. Live a little! Give the man the present he truly wants!’
‘He really does want the blender I got him,’ CJ deadpans. ‘It can heat up, too, to make soups.’
‘Get your tits out,’ Todd says. He clicks his fingers backand forth across his face to add, ‘Let’s get this first lesbian experience done and dusted!’
The doorbell goes and the babysitter arrives. She instantly asks to take Jorge down to the park, before it gets any colder, and CJ says yes. She gives him a kiss and says she’ll see him in the morning.
‘But will you wake me up and give me a kiss when you get back?’ he asks, eyes wide. ‘So I know you’re home?’
