AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Isn’t it obvious?” Paige almost said with a scoff. “I’m a total bottom in my marriage. Not many people guess this about Rhea, but she’s like a shark in the sack. Once she smells blood in the water…” Paige made herself laugh. “I could make a period joke with that.”
Instead, Jeanette was the one laughing loudly enough to get strangers’ attention. She and Paige moved out into the main walkway so other browsers could peruse the shelves.
“I’m sure lots of peopleassumethat about Rhea because she’s so androgynous, genderqueer, whatever…” Jeanette shrugged, the body glitter on her bare shoulders shimmering in the sunlight. “But I’m kinda surprised. She’s the one who comes off as the bottom to me.”
Paige had not expected that. “Really? Interesting. I’ll be sure to pass that along to her.”
“You willnot.Because then she’ll say something to Roxy, who will say something to me, and then I’ll have to come tell you becausereasons.That’s how this works. Everything’s a circle of self-perpetuating gossip. Now, where are our wives?”
It was almost embarrassing how long it took Paige and Jeanette to find their other halves. Both Rhea and Roxy - also known as Rhiannon and Roxanne to those who wanted to piss them off – were at a booth spinning prize wheels and signing up for the mailing list of a local West Hollywood synagogue.Today is the day I find out that Roxy is Jewish.It was also the day she discovered Rhea couldn’t spin the wheel without getting the tooth stuck with every flick of her wrist. The woman behind the booth was so patient with Paige’s wife that it was a miracle anyone else got a turn that afternoon.
“You know what I want?” Paige asked when she looped her arm around her wife’s and they continued down the walkway. “Temporary tattoos. Maybe some fairy hair. You game?”
All four of them were down. Paige already had the perfect rainbow in mind.
Rhea and Paige sorted through their finds at their neighborhood taqueria later that evening, where margaritas enjoyed happy hour status and they didn’t have to pay for parking. Not if they werelocals,anyway.
“Where did you get this?” Paige popped a pineapple lollipop out of her mouth when she unearthed a string of rainbow beads from the reusable shopping bag they took with them to Pride. “I didn’t know you were going to Gay Mardi Gras after this.”
“Some kid at a booth gave that to me,” Rhea said over her margarita. “I don’t remember where. After seeing you get that rainbow tramp stamp, I’ve forgotten everything but your ass crack.”
Paige shoved the sucker back into her mouth and pretended to make a sour face. “You love my tramp stamp. It shows you what’s at the end of my rainbow.”
“Yeah. Your butthole.”
That was the wrong moment for someone to arrive with their order.
Paige soon forgot it, though, as she rummaged for more snacks in the bag and flipped through fliers, postcards, and business cards from half of LA’s queer-owned businesses. For the second time that day, she asked her wife why her publisher didn’t have the local gay writers sitting at a booth signing autographs and passing out books. For the second time that day, Rhea looked like she wanted to die on the spot.
“I already hate doing bookstore and coffee shop signing. My God, could you imagine me atPride?All those people bothering me… no way.”
Paige dunked her fish taco into salsa, much to her wife’s chagrin.I’ll do it twice for you, honey.Paige didn’t care how other people ate their meals. When she had tacos of any kind? They went into whatever salsa she could get her hands on.No, we do not lovingly spread the salsa inside the contents and fold up the taco.She wanted it messy. That was half the fun of eating tacos.
Heh. There’s another joke there.
They had most of the taqueria to themselves that evening, the place cool and inviting while classic Mariachi songs played over the speakers. Rhea checked her phone while Paige continued to pull out more fliers from the bag, including from the local queer clubs and groups she would have never thought of joining before.
“I can’t believe how much of that stuff you grabbed,” Rhea said without looking up from her screen. “Sociopath behavior, honestly.”
Paige ignored the jab at her expense. “I want to see what’s out there. Guess I’m feeling adventurous this summer.”
“Kinda like you felt adventurous in that club?”
A pamphlet from the local poly group went back into the bag while Paige read throughHeart Disease and You.“Guess so. You know…” She remembered seeing something relevant in the bag and searched for it now. “I found this while we were separated because you had to pee.”
“Have I told you yet how fucking awful it is to piss in a Honey Bucket in LA? InJune?”
Another thing for Paige to ignore. “What do you think?” She slid a flier across the table.
Rhea leveled her gaze on her wife while snatching the flier into her hand. “What now?” she muttered, before nearly exclaiming, “What?”
“Go on. Read it over. I had a great conversation with a furry in a whole-ass fursuit. He knew a lot about this stuff.”
She half-expected Rhea to make a quip about fursuits in the summer sun, but Rhea kept that to herself as she read the flier with widened eyes. “You’re serious about this stuff, huh?”
“I think we might be on to something. I can’t stop thinking about that night. Can you?”
Rhea turned the flier over, even though there was no one around to accidentally see it. Certainly nobody hovering over their table now that they were done with their dinner. “We’ve talked about this already. I’m not sure the whole shebang is right for us.”
