They laughed together as they got out of the car.
“Fuck, right.”
After they had their IDs checked at the door, Juniper’s eyes scanned the dark, crowded bar. She didn’t see anyone they knew at first, but she also knew they couldn’t possibly be the first people there considering they were almost 45 minutes late.
Wren made eye contact. “Really?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I’m just looking around.”
“Mmkay. Everyone’s in the back room in the bar games area. Let’s grab a drink first, lover girl.”
“You really are so irritating.” Either way, Juniper’s stomach tightened in anticipation the entire time they waited for their drinks.
“Crown and Coke all night for the birthday bitch,” Wren joked as she clinked glasses with Juniper before leading the way to the back room.
They crossed through the open casing and into a large open area with pool tables, darts, and some old pinball machines. The room was lined with standing tables and large booths in the corners. A few of Wren’s friends had hung a piece of poster board decorated with stickers and “Happy Birthday Wrenny Boo-Boo” handwritten across it above a large booth in the back corner. The group yelled across the room and waved them over with various shouts ofhappy birthday,the birthday girl is here finally, andhey sexy.
“You guysss!” Wren squealed as she strutted across the open space.
Juniper followed at a regular, normal person pace behind her. She quickly tried to take in all of the faces at the table before taking her seat at the end across from Wren. A couple of Wren’s friends from her job at the Tribal education center were there, and a couple of their other friends, but no Rowan. After saying their hellos, it was like Wren was reading Juniper’s mind.
“Where’s Ro?” She asked the group.
“She’s over there,” Wren’s best friend Kyle pointed with his lips over to the other side of the room. “She took her lady friend over there to show her how to play darts. Said she never played before.”
Lady friend?
Juniper’s eyes immediately shifted over to witness Rowandemonstrating how to throw a dart to another woman who looked on giggling. Juniper’s stomach turned when she saw the woman flirtatiously reach out to touch Rowan’s upper arm and lean her body into her while laughing. Rowan turned to the group’s table and caught Juniper’s gaze, which she held before finally averting when the other woman turned to see what she was looking at. Juniper glued her eyes to her glass in front of her before draining the last half of it in one sip.
When Rowan and the woman came back over to the table, Wren, the ultimate social engineer, indicated with a waving hand to her friends on the other side of Juniper to scoot in.
Juniper looked up and saw Rowan standing next to her in a short sleeve button down shirt and black jeans that cuffed just above white high tops.Goddamn. All Juniper could do was turn forward and close her eyes for a second.
“Wren, happy birthday!” Rowan leaned over the edge of the table to give Wren a hug.
“It’s so good to see you, Ro. We missed you so much.”
Rowan’s eyes met Juniper’s before she looked back at Wren and smiled softly in response.
“You can sit there,” Wren insisted, pointing to Juniper.
Kyle, who was also one of the few other gay people they knew from their Tribe, piped up. “Oh look all the gays together again, and at one table. Better be careful or they’ll throw us all out on our flat Indian asses. Well except Junie, somehow you defied all the odds on that one.” He widened his eyes at his next genius thought. “Maybe all our asses got combined and given to you!”
Juniper was caught blinking and unmoving. While she appreciated the flattering commentary on her curves, maybe a little less in front of the ex-love of her life and her newlady friend.
Wren finished laughing and enunciated, “Junie. Scoot. In.”
“Oh, shit sorry,” Juniper stammered as she slid her body down the booth into the space cleared for her earlier, and time stood still as she waited for the close proximity of Rowan’sbody.
As Rowan moved into the seat next to her, Juniper breathed in Rowan’s scent, like cedar and sea salt, with a sweetness that felt familiar, like a home she hadn’t known in fifteen yearst. She felt the fabric of Rowan’s jeans and the length of her thigh press directly against her own bare thigh. She closed her eyes as an intense heat overwhelmed that point of contact and radiated quickly inward.
She dragged her sweaty palms down her thighs in some effort to hide what she was feeling. Or maybe the additional physical touch could cause enough distraction to divert her attention from the thudding between her legs. Or maybe she just wanted to touch herself.
Friends, Juniper Banks. Friends don’t fuck each other. Well, most of the time.
“Hi Junie,” Rowan whispered as she leaned her upper body in to bump Juniper.
“Hi.” It hung in her throat, so she cleared it. “Hi,” she repeated.Fuck.
