Page 38 of Unforgettable You

I couldn’t stop smiling as I sipped my drink and bopped to the music. They did have a good playlist going and if I was feeling a bit more adventurous, I might hit the dance floor. There was a group of women all dressed in similar outfits with one woman wearing a crown and a sash that looked like they were having the time of their lives.

I wished I could just dive in and join them. So many times in my life I was the one standing on the outside looking in at everyone else having a good time.

I didn’t want to be that person anymore.

I finished my first drink and felt warm and silly as the alcohol sloshed through my veins. A few more people randomly spoke to me, but I kept my interactions short. One thing I did want to do was leave while I was still having a good time. I didn’t want to stay too long and then have a negative experience.

It seemed like time to go after I visited the bathroom and heard at least one couple hooking up in a stall. Not that I judged them. I was a little envious that they felt free enough to do something so intimate in a place like this where they could get caught.

As I blushed and washed my hands, I thought, again, of that night when Reid had heard me. Ever since then, I’d tried to be as quiet as possible when I masturbated if I knew she was home. My loudest vibrators were confined to the nights that she worked at Sapph. Just a few times I’d wondered what she would do if I used my wand again when she was home. If I wasn’t quiet and let myself go. Would she bang on the wall again? Would she try to ignore it?

Reid had told me we could forget it, but I hadn’t. I couldn’t. There was still some embarrassment, absolutely. But there was something else that was even stronger: excitement. I’d liked that she heard me. That she knew what I sounded like when I came. What did that say about me? I for sure knew I wasn’t an exhibitionist. None of that appealed to me. But Reid knowing and hearing me? That was different.

Shit. I’d been standing at the sink with my hands under the water for too long. I dried off my hands and left the bathroom, scanning the bar to find Reid. She stood at one end sipping what looked like a glass of ice water through a straw.

I approached her and tried not to smile too much. Seeing her made me giddy and I couldn’t let her know. Reid had made it so clear that we could be friends, but anything else was never ever going to happen. I didn’t blame her at all. Her history with my sister was rough. These growing feelings I had for her were all on me and mine to deal with alone. This was my first crush on a woman now that I knew myself and I couldn’t let it get out of hand.

I couldn’t ruin things with Reid.

“You’re still here,” she said, giving me a tired smile. Her skin glistened with perspiration. It was warm in here and she’d also been hustling back and forth for hours.

“Don’t you get to sit down?” I asked.

She shrugged. “If I sit down, then it’s harder to get back up. I sit when I get home at the end of the night.”

That made sense, I supposed.

“I think I’m going to head out.” Now I felt foolish for coming over here and announcing that. As if she cared or would notice if I was gone.

“Saw you talking to Jamie,” she said, an odd look on her face.

“Oh, you know Jamie?” I asked.

“She’s a regular. And I wouldn’t, if I were you. She’s the lesbian equivalent of a fuckboy, and that’s not what you need when you’re freshly out. Trust me.”

Oh. I didn’t pick up on that at all.

“See? This is why I need you to teach me,” I said, slapping my hand down on the bar.

Reid chuckled. “I’ll do my best to steer you in the right direction, padawan Sophie.” She was so cute when she called me that.

I giggled and wished that she could jump over the bar and hang out with me. Tonight would have been more fun if I could have spent it with Reid.

“Thanks. I guess I’ll see you when I see you?” Reid finished her water and set the glass down.

“Did you maybe want to do something on Sunday? The weather is supposed to be nice, so I thought I might drive out to one of the nature trails in the suburbs.”

Oh. She was inviting me to do an activity with her. That was new.

“Yeah, that sounds fun. I’ll just be hanging around the house so knock on my door when you’re ready to go. If you drive, I’ll buy us coffee.”

That earned me one of her genuine smiles. “That’s a deal.”

Chapter Seventeen

Reid

Sophie had done well on her own at the bar. I’d been a little worried about her, so I’d kept one eye tracking her as she moved around, but she’d held her own. She wasn’t nearly as awkward socially as she worried she was. I’d wanted to intervene when she spoke to Jamie, but then I’d seen Jamie walk away so she hadn’t completely charmed Sophie, which was satisfying. Jamie would fuck anyone and everyone and she didn’t care who she hurt. She was a menace and one of these days she wouldn’t be able to talk her way out of trouble. I just hoped I’d be around to see her get some consequences for her shitty behavior.

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