Page 12 of Falling Together

“Because you have a crush on her.” Marisol said it as if it was a statement and not a question.

Crush?No. Blair definitely wouldn’t go that far “I wouldn’t call it a crush. I’d say it’s more like a…” she took another sip of beer as she tried to think of a word. “Lush.”

Marisol scrunched up her nose and furrowed her eyebrows. “A lush?”

She smiled proudly.I’m so creative.“Yes. Somewhere between lust and a crush. She’s not just some girl I want to take home from a bar and have a one-night stand with, but I’m also not daydreaming about what it would be like to date her.”

Marisol laughed, causing some of her drink to shoot from her mouth. “Only because youdon’tdate people.”

“It’s not that I don’t date. It’s just that I haven’t found someone worth dating.”

“Until now,” Marisol said with a smirk.

Blair glared at her best friend, who clearly wasn’t listening. “I can’t date the mom of the kid I’m babysitting.”

“I know you can’t. But it doesn’t change the fact that youwantto.”

“Just because she might be the sexiest woman I’ve ever met doesn’t mean that I want to date her.”

“Oh yeah? What does it mean?” Marisol smiled over the top of her drink.

“It means I need to find a way to control my hormones around her. If I keep checking her out, she’s going to realize I have alushon her.” Blair drank the rest of her beer and slammed it down on the bar. “Did I tell you how I caughthercheckingmeout at the pool, though?”

Marisol rolled her eyes. “Only about one million times.”

“Well, what do you think that means?” Blair had no idea why she was worrying about this so much. She was used to women checking her out. She was also a hopeless flirt who was ridiculously gay. Finding a woman attractive and making that fact known was nothing new to her. She had even found herself accidentally flirting with her professors at times, but she had never spent time thinking about the way they looked at her (probably because theydidn’tlook at her the way Erin had at the pool).

Instead of addressing Blair right away, Marisol looked at Ralph and shook her empty glass. “I’m going to need another one of these, Ralph. This girl is driving me nuts.”

Ralph lifted both eyebrows as he looked between the two of them. “You know the rule. You can only get a second drink if you order food. I need you to have something to soak up the alcohol, unless you’re planning to have someone pick you up.”

“Fine,Dad,” Marisol said jokingly. “Give us the loaded cheese fries and an order of hot wings. That should definitely soak up the alcohol.”

Ralph gave them a satisfied smile. “Coming right up.”

Blair waved an accusatory finger at him. “You know what, Ralph? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you only made that rule to take our money.”

Ralph laughed as he picked up Marisol’s empty glass and started making her another drink. “Gotta bring cash in somehow, right?”

Marisol stuck her tongue out at Ralph, then turned toward Blair again. “Anyway, where were we?”

“I asked what you thought it meant that Erin was checking me out.”

“It means she’s a lesbian with eyes.” Marisol ran her own eyes up and down Blair’s body, an action that would’ve sent chills down Blair’s spine if it were any woman other than her best friend. “I hate to admit this, because we both know your head is already big enough, but come on. You’re hot. She likes women. She’s going to notice a woman like you.”

“True.” Again, Blair was left to question why she was even thinking about it so much. Maybe it was the whole forbidden romance thing that made it so hot. Erin was off limits, which was why Blair couldn’t get her off her mind. What she needed was a distraction. “I think I just need to get laid. It’s been too long.”

“Didn’t some girl fingerbang you in the bathroom when you went out after graduation?”

Blair smiled as she thought back on that night.What a great graduation present.She shook these thoughts from her head to focus on Marisol. “That barely counts. I need a bed and time to really show offallof my skills.”

“Like the bed in your bedroom at yourparents’house? Good luck with that.”

Blair shrugged. She wouldn’t let a minor detail like living with her parents keep her from getting what she needed. “I’ll just find a girl who has her own place.”

When Marisol gave her a pointed look, Blair knew exactly what she was thinking. She put a hand up to keep her from saying it. “A girl with her own place whoisn’tthe mom of the kid I’m babysitting.”

“Good girl. Mission Get-Blair-Laid is officially underway.”

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