Page 14 of January

“No, just sit here. There’s only one other empty table now, and it’s right behind us, so I’m hoping they take it, and I can eavesdrop and find out if I’m right about it not being a date.”

“I feel like I’m playing a spy game or something,” she joked.

“Shut up. She’s here,” Bridgette said, nodding.

Melinda turned her head.

“Don’t look.”

“You just said she’s–”

“Yeah, but I don’t want her to think I’m being creepy or something.”

“Youarebeing creepy,” Melinda replied, turning back again. “And I’m not allowed to look at her?”

“Hold on. They’re going to sit down. Shit.”

“What?” she asked, looking at Bridgette.

“I missed an empty one. They’re sitting, like, three tables away from us instead. I can’t listen in now.”

“You might have to actually walk up to her and ask if you can buy her a drink,” Melinda replied.

“But she’s with someone. What if I’m wrong and they’re together?”

“What if you’rereallywrong and she’s straight?”

“This is why I wanted a gay bar.”

“As if no straight woman ever walks into gay bars.”

“But the odds would’ve been more in my favor, though,” Bridgette argued. “She’s cute.”

“Can I at least turn around and look now?”

“Fine. But quickly. And don’t be weird about it.”

Melinda laughed and turned her head around.

“Which one?”

“Blonde. About my age or maybe younger. I can’t tell ages.”

“There are two blondes, Bridge.”

“The one that’s facing us right now.”

Someone walked by the table, blocking Melinda’s view for a moment, but once they were gone, she was able to see her. The woman’s blonde hair was down and had frizzed a little in the humidity the city still offered this time of year. To Melinda, this made her think that she was a tourist since a lot of the locals understood how to deal with the humid climate when it came to going out and doing one’s hair. She couldn’t tell the color of her eyes from where she was, but they looked soft and kind. Her nose was cute, all buttoned up and the perfect size for her somewhat round face. Melinda smiled and lowered her eyes because she didn’t want to risk getting caught.

“See? Hot, right?” Bridgette said.

Melinda wasn’t sure she’d use the word hot to describe the woman she’d just blushed at the sight of. Cute, beautiful, adorable, and some other words like that? Yes. But hot? She wasn’t sure yet. There was something about calling her hot that made it feel like it was about what Bridgette wanted to do with her and not about how she actually looked. Was she really hot? Yes, she was attractive, so Melinda would call her hot, but right now, she thought she was beautiful.

“Yeah,” she said, turning back to Bridgette reluctantly. “She is, Bridge. Good choice.”

She internally rolled her eyes at herself.

“What do you think I should do now?” Bridgette asked. “Maybe wait for one of them to go to the bathroom or something?”

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