Page 71 of A Quick Stop in Paradise

I put my hands up. “I told him I could see why he’d want to trade me in for her, and that I was very much enjoying trading him in for her.”

She pouted. “But you didn’t mention how the sex is better with her?”

“I… I did that later.”

That seemed to brighten all her days at once. I didn’t know what to do with this woman being so invested in my sapphic sex life. “God, I wish I could have seen his face.” She looked across the gym to Brooklyn, and she laughed again. “So that’s your type, huh?”

“Very much, categorically, yes. I’m finding this out now too.”

“I mean, I can see it. She’s seriously hot. I’m a little jealous.”

I shot her an incredulous look. “What, you want to find a hot girl to hook up with too?”

“What? No. No, I’m… no. I just mean, I wish I had a hookup that hot. God, that would really make this vacation.”

“I’m sure… I’m sure Jacob would be happy to be that hot hookup for you if you’re willing to get over all the gender roles enough to ask him out.”

She sighed heavily. “I don’t know. I just want it to happen organically.”

“You want it to happen without you having to do anything.”

She elbowed me. “Look, it’s just weird! Maybe it’s different with a girl, I don’t know.”

“You could try it out,” I said dryly. “You know Allison has a crush on you.”

She made a face. “She does not. She’s really into athletic girls, right? Girls like Jessica.”

I hadn’t expected her to pick up on that and hold onto it. I highly doubted my sister was looking to experiment, but latching onto her lesbian friend and her taste in girls and just aboutdrippingjealousy when she found out about me having a fling with a woman felt like it was an… energy. She was probably just bored. “Yeah, that was a lie,” I said breezily. “She hates athletics. Brooklyn and I just wanted to give her a hard time.”

She laughed, elbowing me. “Hating athletics doesn’t mean you hate athletic people. I’m not remotely athletic, but who doesn’t like a strong guy with a six-pack?” She shrugged. “Or maybe you’re too gay for that. A strong girl with a six-pack.”

“I’m still attracted to men,” I said, my voice pointed.

“Oh yeah. Right.”

“Are you having this much of a hard time with the concept of bisexuality?”

She put her hands up. “I just haven’t known anyone bisexual before!”

“You probably have. Sometimes they just pass as straight.”They.I was still talking about it like I wasn’t a part of it. “You know, statistically speaking, like half the queer community is bisexual women.”

“That’s not true.”

“It pretty much is. There’s a lot of us.”

She huffed. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry. So what is Allison’s type, anyway?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think she really has atype.I’ve honestly never heard anyone talk about atypeas much as you do. But she’s a pretty… romantic kind of person, so, probably someone like that. Someone artistic, probably.”

She pulled a thinking face, looking across the gym at where Allison was fuming at the base of the wall, having an argument with Brooklyn ten feet above her. “Yeah, I could see it,” she said.

I paused, looking sidelong at her. “Could see what?”

“Her, like that.”

That didn’t answer the question. She said it like it was about Allison’s type being someone artistic, but the loaded way she said it felt like it meant something more. And it wasn’t lost on me thatsomeone romantic and artisticwas a decent enough description of Stella. I’d put good money on thatyeah, I could see itwas circling back toyou know Allison has a crush on you.I had no clue how to proceed, but I went cautiously.

“I never really got why people make a big deal of someone having feelings for you,” I said lightly. “I’ve been friends with guys who I’ve turned down before. I kind of forget about it, honestly. Doesn’t really feel any different from, like… someone who wants you to go rock-climbing with them but you don’t want to. You say no and you don’t go rock-climbing, but it doesn’t make things weird knowing that they’d want to go climbing if you were interested.”

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