Page 53 of Cory Sloan is Swearing

“Wait, I’ll walk you out,” Cory said. They walked to Vi’s car in comfortable silence.

“Have fun tonight, Cory. Congrats to CeCe,” Vi said, opening her door.

“Uh, hey, would you want to go on a delivery with me tomorrow?”

“You deliver on Sunday?” Vi furrowed her brow.

“Yeah, I do for this customer. It’s a place at the lake. We could go swimming and hang out at this little beach they have.” That hopeful look on Cory’s face could get Vi to say yes to almost anything.

“Ohhh, that sounds nice.”

“So you’ll come with me? I’ll bring everything we need.”

“I’d love to,” Vi said. She got in her car, but stopped and looked up at Cory. “Is this like a date?”

Cory grinned. “You agreed to the trade, so I’m no longer your rival. Does that mean you’d go on a date with me?”

Vi smiled. “I was hoping maybe that’s what tonight would turn out to be.”

Cory winced. “I wish it could.”

Vi got back out of the car and kissed Cory on the cheek. “We can wait until tomorrow. But, for the record, I asked first.”

Cory laughed and Vi decided right then that it was one of her new favorite sounds. She winked at Cory and said, “See you tomorrow.”

She could see Cory in her rearview mirror as she drove away. “Whew,” she sighed. “I really like you, Cory Sloan.”

Vi drove home wondering how things had changed so quickly. When she thought about it, her feelings for Cory had ignited the moment their eyes met. Yes, ignited was the right word. Vi smiled as she remembered the day she first looked into those blue eyes. They were kind and friendly then almost in the same moment she saw them brighten as a little flutter tingled in her stomach.

She was thrown off by the feeling and Cory’s easy charm, so much so that she came back to the store later to buy something which was her goal when she walked in in the first place. When she evaluated a new store, she always tried to purchase something. She was gaining valuable intel and the owner didn’t know it. The least she could do was buy something.

But when she went back to The Liquor Box she hoped Cory would be there. Vi wanted her to notice that she was buying an expensive bottle of wine.

“I still have that wine, Cory Sloan,” she said and giggled. Maybe when she figured out where she was taking Cory on their second date she’d open it when they got back to her place.

“Whoa, there,” she muttered. Talk about moving at the speed of lesbian.

Since that first meeting Vi had tried to solidly put Cory in the enemy zone. Okay, enemy was a little harsh, but competitor, rival, adversary. But every time they ran into each other, Cory found a way to make her body tingle, usually make her smile, always make her swear, and ease right back out of rival into delightful foe, bordering on friend.

Thoughts of Cory were in her head most days and especially at night. She wondered many times what it would be like if they were friends. Vi knew Cory’s family was important in her life since her sisters had businesses in the same shopping center. But when they all showed up for their volleyball game, Vi felt begrudgingly happy for Cory. She wanted to win the game, but she almost felt bad for Cory when they won. Almost. Vi chuckled.

As Vi went through her research before accepting Cory’s trade she realized how much time Cory had spent working on this plan. “She must really want us to be friends,” Vi said softly as she pulled into her parking spot at her townhouse.

Diane’s words echoed in her head. She’d been happier the last few months and her co-workers had noticed. Vi could remember how her cheeks flamed, knowing Diane saw her kissing Cory. It turned out to be an opening for a nice conversation.

She walked into her house and then it hit her. They were going on their first date and she’d be wearing a swimsuit!

Vi had a positive body image and knew her appearance wasn’t everything. She remembered times of body shaming from her youth and that’s one thing she tried to work on with the kids at the youth center. Body image was everywhere; you couldn’t get away from it even if you tried.

Vi had confidence, but a first date in a swimsuit was still a little daunting. She smiled as she walked into her bedroom and looked in the drawer where she kept her swimsuits. Vi was pretty sure it wouldn’t matter to Cory what she was wearing, but she still wanted to look nice.

Images of swimming and splashing around in the water with Cory danced in Vi’s head. Vi had held Cory’s hand and held her close in her arms, but she wanted to feel Cory’s skin under her fingers. The idea made Vi’s heart speed up in her chest.

She took a deep breath and felt like all the constraints and limitations she’d put on herself regarding Cory were gone. She scoffed at herself because she may have tried to limit her thoughts and how she felt about Cory, but she failed. Part of that was Cory’s fault because she was so damn cute and friendly.

But now, Vi let her thoughts and feelings run wild. She welcomed the images of Cory’s beautiful face and sweet smile. Vi was excited about tomorrow and couldn’t wait to see where this connection might lead them.

She glanced at her watch and wondered how the proposal and engagement party were going. CeCe and Alexis looked so happy together. Then Vi realized every time she’d seen CeCe and Alexis together, they were holding hands or touching in some way except for the night of Cory’s birthday party. She couldn’t look away that night and the happiness on all their faces celebrating Cory was contagious. CeCe and Alexis’s love had been blooming then and she’d witnessed it.

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