They decided to eat at a dimly lit restaurant across from the brothel.
“The drinks are fairly priced and they have the best chips I’ve ever eaten,” Vanessa assured.
Upon entering, they each ordered a glass of house red and a plate of chips to share. Conversation flowed easily between them, and they started discussing the merits of the newest movies in theaters.
“I didn’t peg you for a Disney person,” AJ laughed.
“Eh, my roommate's fiancé made me go. I really did enjoy it though.”
“What did you like about it?”
“It made me realize I could make a career out of serenading dogs in an alleyway.”
AJ coughed as wine shot out her nose. “You really are a devil,” she laughed. She ran her finger along the rim of her glass. “I’d love to have your insight the next time I watch something.”
Vanessa was about to take her up on what seemed to be an offer, when she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder.
“Well, if it ain’t the beautify Miss Cherry,” a male voice said.
She peered up at the source of it. “Johnathan,” she replied coldly.
“You’ll have to let me buy you and your pretty friend a drink,” he winked. He was now massaging his grimy fingers into her arm.
“No, I don’t think I do,” Vanessa said, shrugging him off. She glanced over at AJ, who was adamantly avoiding eye contact. Shit.
“C’mon, love. Don’t be so uptight. Especially when you’re usually so flexible,” he purred, putting emphasis on the last word.
“You need to leave, Johnathan.” Vanessa’s skin was crawling. I’m humiliating her. This was a mistake. I’m sure she was already on the fence about me, now she’ll know she’s too good for me. Fuck. Fuck. Fuuuuck.
His lecherous smile morphed into a scowl. “So what?” he jeered. “When I’m not paying you, you think you can ignore me? C’mon, love. I hate seeing that pretty mouth be so mean.”
He moved to grab her face, prompting AJ to stand up from her chair. She slammed her hands heavily against the table. “Excuse me, sir. But the lady asked you to leave.” Her words were polite, but there was a dangerous edge to her tone.
“Lady? Pfffft. You obviously don’t know who you’re with.”
“I do, rather. I agree with her. It would be best for everyone if you left now.” Vanessa was amazed at how AJ’s smile could look polite and murderous at the same time.
Johnathan advanced towards the blonde, moving a grubby finger to poke her in the sternum. Vanessa decided she needed to carry a bat in her purse from now on. Should she grab a barman? Would that take too long? She’d done self defense classes, would she be able to fight Johnathan on her own?
“And who do you think you are, lady? Getting to boss me around.”
AJ’s smile turned positively evil as she yanked roughly on Johnathan’s tie, surprising everyone with her strength. She pulled his face close to her mouth. “I’ll tell you who I am….” she began whispering. All of the color drained from the man’s face as she pulled away. “So I suggest you get on your way Mr. Johnathan, and I’m going to ask that you never bother Miss Cherry again.”
“Yes, of course ma’am,” he said in a strangled tone. He was stumbling as he moved quickly out of the restaurant. He didn’t even glance back at them as he stumbled out the back door.
AJ looked away. She was smoothing down the fabric of her dress as if nothing had happened.
“What was that?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb with me angel, it doesn’t suit you.” AJ was entitled to some secrets, but this was a bit much.
“It’s nothing,” AJ insisted.
That answer was too frustrating to accept. “You really don’t want me to know you at all, do you?”
Guilt flashed in AJ’s eyes. “That’s unfair. You’re the one person that..” she trailed off and shook her head. “You can ask me something now. Something else,” she clarified. “How about we go back and forth, like a game. Whatever you ask me, I get to ask you. How does that sound?”
It sounded great, even if it was evasive. Vanessa had a million questions race through her mind, but she decided to start with a softball one. “Fine. What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?”
AJ cocked an eyebrow. “I expected something more personal.”
“I’ll work my way there. Also, you can tell a lot about a person based on their ice cream preferences.”
“Very well then. You’ll think I’m rather boring, but I fancy vanilla bean.”
“See, that tells me loads about you! You’re not showy or over the top, and you appreciate the simple things in life. A true classic.”
AJ rolled her eyes, but looked pleased. “And what’s your favorite flavor?”
“Strawberry. Matches my hair wonderfully.” She gave it an exaggerated flip, earning her a laugh. She decided to move to a more personal question. “When did you realize you liked women?”
AJ flushed. “Like most people in our community, it’s something that’s always been there.” She bit her lip, like she was trying to hold something back. C’mon angel, you can trust me. Share your story. Have some confidence in me. To Vanessa’s relief, AJ continued. “The first time I really knew was with a girl in my class named Maria. We were 13 and I thought she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I had read about romance in books before; people were described with sweaty palms, speeding heart rates, an inability to think clearly, but that was the first time I had actually experienced it. I managed to scrape up enough courage to ask her to be my partner on a history project. It nearly gave me a heart attack,” she stopped to giggle. “It wasn’t hard to convince her, I always scored high marks. Most students wanted to partner with me.”
“Nerd,” Vanessa said while ruffling her hair affectionately.
“Quite, but I knew it would be the perfect excuse to invite her to my house.” Her smile faltered. “It went well the first few times, but I became greedy. She had been laughing about something, I can’t even remember what, but I leaned in and kissed her. It was like I had no control over my body. To my shock, she kissed back. We were so occupied, neither of us heard the front door opening.”
“What happened?” Vanessa asked in a concerned tone.
“My parents caught us. They had a fit. They sent her home, obviously, and I was shipped off to a religious boarding school the next week. It was a great school, really. It gave me a far better education than the one I had previously been attending, but I was alone. My parents didn’t even visit for the first seven months. When they did, they acted as though nothing had ever happened. We haven’t spoken about it since.”
“Angel, I’m so sorry. That must have been hard.”
“It is what it is,” she said with a heavy sigh. “I apologize for putting such a damper on the evening. While my parents may have sent me off, I still had a place to live. Some people with our romantic preferences are completely abandoned when caught. I know I should be grateful. How about yourself?”
Vanessa decided to just answer the question instead of calling AJ’s parents arseholes. “Same as you. I’ve always known I loved women. I experimented with men in my teens, but I never felt anything with them.”
“Is your family supportive?”
“My mum passed away when I was three, so it was just me and my dad. He tried to raise me in the church to give a sense of family, but it never really stuck. I told him I had a girlfriend when I was 18, and he told me that it was his house and his rules. I couldn’t live with him if I chose to be gay, so I left. We write letters occasionally, but we’re not as close as we used to be.”
“I’m sorry, dear.” They had already been sitting close to each other, but AJ still reached across to give her hand a sympathetic squeeze.
“Like you said, it is what it is. Now, let’s move on to an even deeper, more emotional question: What is your favorite thing about me?” Vanessa batted her eyelashes and gave her a cheeky smile. “Take your time, I know you probably have a long list to go over.”
“Ha, your humility of course,” she dryly, but she was already turning pink. “I would have to say that you’re nice.”
“Am not!” Vanessa protested.
“Please. No one has ever been as kind and gentle to me as you are. You are patient with me, and listen when I prattle on. I think you’re the only person I’ve met that hasn’t asked me to change who I am.” Her face resembled a tomato as she finished. “You make me feel… happy.”
“Doesn’t mean I’m nice. I refuse to accept that answer.” Her tone remained calm and joking, but her insides were screaming.
“Fine,” AJ said grumpily. “Then it is your eyes. I’ve never seen such an exquisite shade of green on anyone before. Your turn.”
“My favorite thing about me? I think my arse is an absolute stunner.”
“Foul fiend.”
“In all honesty? You’re a bit of a bastard.”
“Now really!” AJ tutted.
“Don’t worry, I love that about you.”
AJ raised her eyebrows at the comment, but didn’t read too much into it because there’s no possible way she feels it in return.
Conversely, Vanessa’s inner monologue consisted of, AHHHHHHHH, followed by, too close, too close, too close.
Vanessa quickly moved on to more rounds of questioning.
Where’d you go to school? AJ: Bedford College, earning a degree in literature. Vanessa: Hard knocks.
Cat person or dog person? AJ: Had three cats growing up, and was devastated when she left them for boarding school. Vanessa: Views Virginia as her child.
Favorite card game? AJ: Gin rummy. Vanessa: claimed it was poker (even though it’s Uno)
What makes you angry? AJ: People that dog ear books. Vanessa: Pedestrians.
The evening was getting late, and they were growing more intoxicated. AJ decided to ask a question of her own. “Do you think you’ll continue doing sex work long term?”
Vanessa shook her head. “Honestly, I can’t see myself doing it for the next ten months, let alone ten years.” She might actually be able to stop sooner based on how much AJ was paying her.
“Is that so? Pray tell, where do you want to be in ten years? Perhaps at a famous art gallery?”
“Don’t need to be famous to be happy. Painting is something I do for me, not for the glory of it. Honestly, when I picture where I want to be in ten years, it’s not sucking up to wealthy gits in a gallery, even though it’d be a riot to get showcased.”
“Where do you picture yourself then, ideally?”
“You’ll laugh at me if I tell you.”
“I’d promise not to, but I’d hate to make a liar of myself.” AJ winked as she took another sip of her wine.
“Remember when I called you a bastard earlier?” AJ gave her a proud smile before Vanessa continued. “Dover.”
AJ gave her a surprised look. “That small town in Kent?”
“The best memories from my childhood were visiting my grandparents there in the summer. I’d love to be in a cottage with huge windows that let in loads of natural light. I would have a great big garden to tend to, and I could just sit out there and paint all day.” She had never told anyone this dream before, but it felt important to share it with her blonde companion.
AJ swallowed and gazed downwards. “Do you...do you picture yourself there alone?” She was speaking with that false sense of casualty again, and Vanessa picked up on it immediately.
Vanessa took in a heavy breath, inhaling the intoxicating scent of AJ’s rose blossom perfume mixed with their earthy red wine.
“I used to. Now I picture growing vegetables and berry bushes among my flowers. I’d use them to try, and fail, cooking for a beautiful woman. Even though all my food turns out horribly wrong, I’m sure she’d still be touched by the gesture. We would stay up late into the night drinking wine. She’d be clever, so I’m sure we’d be laughing the entire time. I’d be absolutely entranced by every conversation, so I wouldn’t realize the late hour until she pointed it out.
“On mornings when we’re feeling lazy, I’d lay in bed with her and she would read to me. I’m actually very handy. You don’t know this, but I restored my own car. So I would build a giant bookshelf that wrapped around the entire living room. We’d never run out of books, so she could read in the garden while I painted.” Vanessa looked up, daring to make eye contact with AJ again. Her heart was pounding heavily in her ribs. “So, I do picture myself with someone, and that’s where I want to be in ten years.”
AJ appeared to be on the verge of tears.
“Where would you like to be in ten years?” Vanessa breathed, moving closer to her.
“It sounds like you already know,” AJ said with a watery smile. Vanessa stretched out her hand and placed a shaking palm on top of AJ’s. The blonde laced their fingers together, giving them a tight squeeze. She pulled their intertwined hands towards her lips and kissed the inside of Vanessa’s wrist.
She leaned close to Vanessa, her sweet breath tickling her ear. “My dear, you have always been so good to me. I’ll always be grateful for you.” She kissed her on the cheek, and Vanessa could feel that AJ’s face was wet. “Thank you for a wonderful evening, darling. I truly hope that you get your dream.” She untangled their hands and pulled away.
“Are you leaving?” Vanessa asked, disappointed.
“Yes, I am. It’s rather late, isn’t it?”
Vanessa looked for a clock. She had been so enraptured by their conversation that she didn’t realize it was nearly 11pm. “I'll see you next week?” Vanessa asked hopefully. “Maybe we could do this again sometime? Have dinner, I mean.”
“I honestly can’t think of anything I would enjoy more.” AJ gave her a meek smile and tenderly kissed her lips. “Goodbye, Vanessa.”
Vanessa realized she had left their drawing in the brothel, but figured AJ could pick it up next week.
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