Sheltered

Renolds took one look at me and immediately shook her head. “Didn’t anyone ever teach you how to put on makeup?”

“Uh…”

“Poor unfortunate being… Aren’t you lucky I’m here?!”

“Well…”

“You are. You’ll thank me for it later. Or now, you know, possibly with monetary compensation. Or sexual compensation, I mean, I can’t say no to that.”

Playfully, I hit her arm and rolled my eyes. “You’re a hussy.”

“I’ve been told so before. Now sit and let me fix you!”

So I sat and let her fix me.

“Glossy lips. Black eyes. Smoky green shadow. There you go. I guess I need to teach you how to do a lot of things, Flo. You’re sheltered.”

“Not anymore,” I snorted.

“I’m slowly breaking through your bubble. Now stand up and let me see you.”

I stood and turned around, my straight hair falling on my shoulders. The dress just barely covered the hickeys. The fabric clung to my skin and hardly covered my ass (which looked quite nice, I must admit).

“Quite nice, don’t you think?” Renolds was behind me, wrapping her arms around me. No… that wasn’t Renolds. I was back in time a few hours, feeling Astrid’s arms snake around my waist. She kissed my neck, my shoulders…

“Florence… Florence?”

I snapped out of my mind and stared at Renolds.

“What are you thinking about?”

The story of my afternoon was on my lips. I could tell Renolds, it’d be easy. She’d get it. But…maybe she wouldn’t. I didn’t think Renolds would kick me out or take me home or anything. I didn’t really think Renolds would do anything much about it. The words just wouldn’t pass my lips.

“Nothing,” I managed to say.

“Well then. Let’s go.”

Most Definitely Not

“Go get your ass in a pretty dress and get ready to go to a club! We may have had a serious moment but it’s time to get back to work,” Renolds instructed as we reached her apartment building.

“Great…” I sighed.

“What?”

I was dreading what could come of the club, to say the least, but I couldn’t tell Renolds that. So I said, “I don’t know what to wear.”

“Never fear when you have my closet!” she dashed off and disappeared up the stairs. I followed at a leisurely pace and was greeted at the door by a beaming Renolds holding a tiny lavender, spaghetti strapped dress.

“Purple? This is not a color I’ve ever seen you anywhere near before.”

“It’s solely for borrowing purposes!”

“A community dress. How wonderful. I can’t wait to get it on…”

“Hush up and get dressed! The sun’s setting. We need to get going,” Renolds dragged me into the apartment and proceeded to push me into the bathroom with the purple dress.

“Sorry. I forgot you only have the night time to go outside,” I smirked.

“I’m deeply offended you’d compare me to a creature from Twilight. Now stop procrastinating and get your ass in that dress!”

She slammed the door in my face before I could make a remark. As I slipped off my shirt, I was straddling Astrid. Her hands lifted the weight of clothing off my skin without missing a beat in kissing me.

I looked around the bathroom as if waking up from a dream. I had actually been that close to Astrid… I had actually almost had sex with Astrid…

That was all too much to comprehend. So I shook my head of anything to do with her and put on my poker face. I had an entire day of sunlight to deal with that once morning hit. For the night however, there was no Astrid. That afternoon never happened. And I certainly did not have any hickeys on my boobs to cover up. Most definitely not…

I zipped up the dress, took the price tag off with a relief (I knew exactly where the dress had been), and ran my fingers through my hair. That night, I was going to lose my straight virginity.

Maybe.

Pretexts

“I had this…friend,” Renolds began as we walked. “I use the term friend loosely. She…got into some bad things and ended up…well, dead. Yeah… She’s dead.”

Her eyes glazed over for a long moment. She shook her head and took a deep breath in, letting it out slowly.

“I’ve never said those words out loud before. I don’t know if I ever even said it to myself before. It was hard, to say the least.

“I’m not the kind of person who frowns and hurts. I move on and live. I don’t linger. But it’s hard not to dwell on the past when that’s the only place where your best friend is.

“So, I left my old town. I ran away and I had no one. For a few years I was so lost in partying and drinking… I don’t remember those years well. Eventually I woke up in the apartment of a person I didn’t know for what I wanted to be the last time. I was done being lost.

“I got a job and an apartment. I’m still not tamed, per say, but I have limits.

“I know what it’s like to be lost. Hell, I still am. Hopefully, somewhere in the confusion that is my life, you’ll find yourself.”

Renolds shrugged and took a seat on the curb. It amazed me that a girl so tiny had such a long life in so few years.

I watched her slip off her flats and set her feet on the black pavement. Perfect red toes that walked her past losing everything wiggled like it was a breezy summer day.

“Now, what’s your sob story, Flo?”

I snorted. “Does the lack of one count?”

Renolds smiled, her eyes filling with mischief and excitement again.

“Come on. Let’s go home.” We walked arm in arm, with her shoes dangling from her hand. The word home seemed like a pretty okay description for the place we were going.