Page 14 of March

“Cut the line?” Jill asked, laughing a little. “Yeah, it’s a perk of being a tour guide: you meet a lot of people. Mel’s been doing this for a long time, too, so she knows them all. She can skirt most lines, pretty much, any day.”

“That’s pretty cool. I guess it’s a good thing to have tour guide friends, then, huh?”

“Totally,” Jill said before she took a sip of her coffee. “You should join our food tour one day. There’s typically at least one no-show who pays ahead online, so there’s a little extra ready for us at the restaurants. Mel and I have a theory that whenever that happens, someone got too wasted the night before, and they decide to stay in bed and lose out on the money they paid for the tour already.”

Sophie nodded and thought about it but didn’t see herself essentially taking someone’s food on a tour that she didn’t pay for. By the time Melinda was back at the table with way too many items for one tray to hold, Kyle had arrived. She pulled a chair from an empty table and sat down next to her girlfriend, giving her a quick kiss on the lips. Sophie looked away then, feeling bad about it but needing to do it all the same. Watching others kiss was too hard for her to take today. She’d kissed someone less than twelve hours ago, and it had been the best kiss of her life.

“So, tell us everything. We’re here,” Melinda said, giving her a sympathetic smile.

“I’m not sure what there is to tell, really. I guess I had a great night with someone, but we got interrupted, and now, I’ll never see her again.”

“No, that’s not how you told me,” Jill pointed out. “You made it sound like you met the love of your life.”

“Whoa. Really?” Kyle asked. “This wasafterwe left the bar?”

“It was a different bar,” Sophie replied.

“Can I tell it?” Jill asked. “I feel like I should tell it.”

“Sure. Go for it,” she said, needing a break from explaining it, anyway.

“Okay. So, you two left early to go have sex with each other.”

“Hey!” Melinda laughed.

“Was I wrong?” Jill asked with a quirked eyebrow.

“No,” Melinda replied.

Sophie watched as Kyle wrapped an arm around Melinda and blushed. It was sweet, but Sophie hadn’t expected to have to tell the story to a new couple this morning, and she wished she had someone all her own to share some PDA with.

“Anyway, I wanted another drink, and we went across the street. I spotted a table, but by the time we got there, this group of girls also got there at the same time. Well, women, not girls. Then, like, instantly, Sophie is staring longingly at the woman.”

“Longingly? Really?” Sophie asked.

“Yes. You didn’t see it.Idid. It waslongingly. Don’t worry, though: she was staring longingly at you, too. And it really was in an instant. Like, boom! They locked eyes, and I was left standing there, wondering what was happening.” Jill took a breath. “There were three other women with Bryce. Oh, and Bryce was hot, too. I should’ve led with that. She’s like this perfect androgynous kind of butch, but really…”

“Soft,” Sophie practically whispered.

“Yeah, that.” Jill pointed at her.

“It was obvious what was happening there, so I tried to talk to the friend, when the other two friends left, to give Sophie a chance for some alone time with Bryce. Kelsey was hot, too, but I wasn’t interested. Totally selfless of me.”

Sophie laughed and said, “Yeah, right. She’s straight, and you were into her before you found out.”

“Still selfless to take the straight friend I had no chance of sleeping with while you went upstairs to slow dance with Bryce.”

“You danced with her? And wait… Upstairs? The bar across the street? People don’t really dance up there,” Melinda noted.

“Theydid. That’s what she told me, anyway. And, apparently, it was one of those slow, sexy dances where hands were everywhere, and lips were also involved.”

“Lips, huh?” Melinda asked.

“On my neck,” Sophie said. “But it was a peck, really.”

“A sexy peck?” Kyle asked.

“Yes,” she replied with closed eyes, picturing it again. “Like a slow, lingering kiss there.” Sophie touched the spot, missing Bryce’s lips.

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