Getting Little (Chapters)

In a little New England city that was notable for it’s toy stores, unusual Greek societies, and sturdy changing tables in public restrooms; Sarita Castro was having a terrible day in the fakest clothing store in the world.

GrrlPower advertised itself as selling clothes for women of every shape. What they actually did was carry one extra size, bringing their selection all the way up to size 14. The interior design of the store and its advertising was just as ‘edgy’, with one more splash of color than one of those ‘stogy’ brands would dare to put on.

In the store’s office, even that thin layer of attitude was stripped away. It was the most corporate, low rent, fluorescent-lit place Sarita had ever seen. The cubicle wall that held up her boss’s desk was yellowed from what Sarita hoped was age. That desk was covered in stacks of motivational posters, old meeting agendas, and procedure binders to micromanage every aspect of working in the store.

“You know the mission statement Sarita, I know you do. Let’s say it together.” Britt, her manager, said.

“To create trend-hitting clothing and accessories that empower women’s inner worlds, while giving back to our community.” Sarita said listlessly, horrified as always that this was something taking up precious space in her brain.

“Come on, be passionate about it!” Britt said. “We have to live our mission statement, or it’ll never come true.”

“I’m on board.” Sarita said, forcing a smile.

There was absolutely no chance of the mission statement coming true, no matter how much Britt or anyone else worshipped it. Sarita had never seen a single item in the store that matched current trends. Every outfit was bland and inoffensive. If there were any women who’s inner worlds were empowered by GrrlPower’s clothing line, Sarita hoped that they got some professional help, soon.

“I know you say you’re on board, but I’m not seeing one hundred and ten percent from you.” Britt said. “This is the third time we’ve talked about this. We need positivity and energy in the front. You can do this, you were such a bright spark when we hired you! Can you commit to bringing that GrrlPower energy to work tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I can do it.” Sarita said.

She stretched her fake smile into a grimace. Britt never noticed how bad her smile was. Her boss’s own smile was even worse. It looked nice, but never reached her eyes.

“I believe in you, but I have to put this down as a verbal warning at this point. Two more of those and I’ll have to put you on a Performance Improvement Plan, understand?”

“I’ve got it.”

“Okay, then it’s a fresh start tomorrow. You can head out. Don’t worry about clocking out, I clocked you out before our conversation started.”

Sarita bit her lip to keep a scream or a sob down. She wasn’t sure which one was threatening to come out, but either one would get her a second written warning right now. There wasn’t any point in complaining about having her time illegally cut either. That’d be a trip straight to the PIP.

She collected her purse from the locker and sighed at the coffee stain on her sweater and pants. They were the two best pieces of work attire she had. The last customer of the day had managed to hit both of them when she spilled her coffee across the counter. Sarita hadn’t even yelled at her. Simply checking the woman out unenthusiastically had earned Sarita the write-up.

Out on the street, Sarita jogged a few steps away from the staff door. For a couple of months now she’d been shifting automatically into a run as soon as she left work. Something in her body needed to get away from there as quickly as possible.

Me too body, me too. Sarita thought.

Checking her bank balance was depressing, but necessary. Sarita needed something to keep this day from ending with her sobbing into her pillow.  As usual, that something would be a drink at the Plush Pony. The number Sarita’s phone showed said she could have one drink, or one nice drink and one cheap one if she skipped breakfast and coffee tomorrow.

Sorry, future-Sarita. She thought. I need this.

The smell of stale beer and fried food smelled more like home than home did, these days. Sarita wound her way through the nervous first-timers at the door and around the hardcore players clustered around the bar’s single, dingy pool table. Her seat was open at the bar. It was, sadly, the first thing that had gone right that day.

“Tough day, kiddo?” asked Ineis.

Sarita rolled her eyes at the bartender. Ineis never let her forget she was the bar’s youngest regular. It didn’t help that Ineis was old enough to be Sarita’s mom, or that she’d lived through all kinds of intense gay struggle stuff that Sarita was glad she didn’t have to deal with.

“I’m twenty three in two months.” Sarita said. “And yeah, it was horrible.”

“I haven’t seen a face that sad on you since you broke up with…”

“We don’t say her name.” Sarita folded her arms on the bar and laid her head on them.

“That wound has got to close some day mija.” Ineis said, ruffling Sarita’s hair.

“No it doesn’t. Give me a fishbowl beer.” Sarita said grumpily.

Stupid Ineis. Now on top of everything else she was thinking about Felisa. The girl that had burned down both a taco truck and Sarita’s desire to date. Felisa had said after both disasters that it was an accident, but that didn’t help the Espina family or Sarita’s heart.

Ineis slid over a small fishbowl that held about a glass and a half of beer. Sarita took a big gulp and sighed.

“I’m not supposed to say this to regulars, but I worry about you, Sarita. Don’t drown your sorrows too much, okay?”

“I only have money for this and one fancy drink tonight.” Sarita said. “Can’t get blitzed even if I wanted to.”

“That plus one drink is a lot for you, depending on what you order. Be careful, okay?”

“I will.” Sarita looked up at Ineis and smiled softly. “Thanks for looking out for me.”

“Somebody has to. A mí me toca.” Ineis said. “There’s a lot of new people in the bar tonight. Folks that you haven’t blown off yet. You could try your luck with somebody to laugh with.”

“I’m just here to look, no hablar ni tocar.” Sarita said, taking another gulp of her fishbowl.

“Official Plush Pony birdwatcher, huh?” Ineis winked.

“Please don’t tease too much today.” Sarita said. It came out more pitifully than she’d intended.

“I’m sorry mija.” Ineis leaned over the bar and squeezed Sarita’s arm. “I’ve got thirsty people at the other end of the bar but I’ll come back and chat with you later, okay?”

Sarita nodded. Another gulp of her beer went down fast. It was a ‘gulp and wait a while’ beer for sure. Volume was the draw on the fishbowls. While she waited for that to settle, Sarita’s gaze wandered across the bar.

There were some new people for sure. Two very distinct groups of them. Rowdy butch girls had taken over the dance floor. Some more femme girls were set up at one of the Pony’s few tables. Lots of pretty new ladies at a nice safe distance. Best of all, they weren’t paying attention to anything outside their groups. Sarita could gaze dreamily at them without the worry of being caught staring.

The nice view and Sarita’s stress had her packing away the fishbowl faster than she’d ever finished one. Sarita knew better than to order another drink right away. She wasn’t going to become one of those regulars. Munching on peanuts in her little corner of the bar, Sarita let the music carry Britt’s words away.

When both groups of newcomers gathered for a trip to the bar, Sarita flagged Ineis down. It was either get her fancy drink now or wait for ages for the newbies. A beautiful Chardonnay Slushie slid up to her in short order.

Sarita took a moment to admire her drink and let the anticipation build. If she was giving up breakfast and coffee for the little golden treasure in front of her, she wasn’t going to gulp it down right away.

The bar was suddenly swarming with people. Sarita congratulated herself on her timing. One point for the ‘birdwatcher’. It sounded like some of the new people were pretty drunk already, as were a few of the regulars. In an effort to stay in her happy place, Sarita tuned them out as best she could.

A text on her phone had Sarita thumbing it open excitedly. It wasn’t a friend, it was Britt, telling Sarita that her schedule was changed, again. Instead of an nice quiet Thursday shift tomorrow, she had to work a pair of doubles on the weekend.

She shoved her phone in her back pocket, not caring that Britt would be annoyed when she didn’t respond. Sarita picked up her frozen drink and tried to forget her boss.

There was a shout at the bar and a ripple of people. Sarita turned her head just in time to see that group of femme girls coming at her like a wave. Already falling themselves, they swiped Sarita off her barstool. She landed hard, her head bouncing off the Pony’s gummy hardwood. Someone had landed on her, with another body falling on top of them.

I can’t breathe! Sarita realized, panicking.

She thrashed and managed a shrill squeak, but the crushing weight didn’t budge. Desperately, she clawed at the person on top of her. That moved the weight from Sarita’s chest to her hips. She gasped, watching the bar ceiling spin above her with a sick feeling.

Lots of people were shouting. Someone getting up with their foot on Sarita’s ankle. She screamed. Ineis was shouting the loudest. The bartender was suddenly in Sarita’s vision, roughly hauling a woman off of her.

“Are you okay? Sarita, are you hurt?”

“Owww.” Sarita whimpered.

She looked down at herself. Her ankle felt sore and her whole torso felt bruised. There was a wet patch on her crotch that she didn’t remember happening, but was an all-too-familiar feeling from elementary school. Worst of all, her pretty drink was splashed all over her already-stained sweater.

It was too much. Sarita burst into tears. She had nothing left to hold back with. Everything was awful, and it was going to stay that way.

“Sweetie, I’m so sorry but I have to deal with the assholes that started pushing. Do you need medical attention?”

“I duh-don’t think so.” Sarita said, shaking her head. “I’m ju-just banged up.”

“Okay, shout out if that changes.” Ineis said. She was abruptly gone from Sarita’s vision. Her voice rang through the bar, as angry as Sarita had ever heard her.

“HEY! Where do you think you’re going? You in the jacket, and you in the vest, get your asses over here. You forget that I have your cards for your tab? You can deal with me right now, or you can deal with the damn cops!”

Sarita whimpered and rubbed her head. There was a nice big bump developing. Someone crouched down next to her and offered a hand.

“Hey, I’m super sorry that I fell on you. I tried to get out of the way but it happened too fast. Are you okay?”

Sarita took the hand and gingerly climbed to her feet. Her ankle felt like crap, but it didn’t seem broken. The lady in front of her was almost as mussed as she was. Somebody had fallen on the both of them, Sarita remembered.

Her collision buddy had come in wearing a cool white dress with tattoo designs on it. It was all smudged now, with a red blotch from somebody’s drink. She had a mass of tight curls that had framed her head in an A shape. They were smushed on one side now and dusty.

“Thanks, not your fault.”

“Are you really okay? You hit your head bad. I heard the thump.” The lady winced.

“Yeah I guess. Just a horrible day.” Sarita said, slumping on her barstool. Fresh tears followed the tracks down her cheeks.

“I’m really sorry. My name’s Nohemi, by the way. Can I replace your drink at least?”

“I’m Sarita. You don’t have to do that, it wasn’t your fault.”

“I know that. Can I do it anyway if I want to?”

“Okay.” Sarita said in a small voice. More than anything she wanted to get away from the bar, change out of her soiled clothes – especially the pants – and curl up under her covers. Unfortunately, her ankle wasn’t going to cooperate with that plan for a while.

“What’d you have?”

“Chardonnay Slushie.” Sarita said, blushing. “I know it’s a girly…”

“Oh I saw that one on the menu, it looked tasty.” Nohemi said. “I’ll grab the bartender when she’s done yelling at those idiots.”

“Thanks. So uh, do you live nearby? I haven’t seen you in the Pony before and it’s mostly locals that drink here.”

“I heard about it from a friend actually, she said it was a cool queer bar.”

“It usually is.” Sarita said, wincing.

“We were just stopping here on our way to a club actually. You want to come with us?”

“Oh no, that’s okay.” Sarita said quickly. “I don’t want to butt in on your thing, plus I have to change out of these clothes.”

“We wouldn’t mind, promise. I see your point about the clothes though. It looks like you got splashed good. You don’t have to wait for me to buy you a drink if you want to head home. I’ll get you another time, promise.”

“I would but my ankle kind of hurts. What about you? Are you okay? Your dress got splashed too.”

“I’m not hurt. The stain on my dress sucks, but I can’t bail on tonight. This club is only open one night a month.”

“What kind of club is it?”

“It’s for alternate sexualities mostly. They have BDSM and swingers but the majority of the people are queer folks. It’s called Green Fairy ALC, for alternate lifestyle community. I don’t get a chance to go every month, so I’m super excited for tonight.”

Sarita looked at Nohemi and considered. It sounded potentially cool, but just as potentially scary. Nohemi looked so excited, it was hard not to pick up on that a little.

Behind Nohemi, things were settling down in the bar. The other two girls that had come in with Nohemi sidled up to her.

“Hey Mimi, who’s your friend?”

“This is Sarita.” Nohemi said. “Sarita, this is Julieta and Oriana.”

“Hi.” Sarita said shyly.

“Nice to meet you.” Julieta said. “We’re going to bounce, Mimi.”

“Okay, no problem. I owe Sarita a drink, but I’ll catch up with you at the club as soon as I make good on that.”

“Girl, we got trampled. We’re headed home.” Oriana said.

“But, it’s only once a month that it’s open. I know that was a bad situation…”

“Hemi, no. We love you, girl, but we’re sore, dirty, and my blouse is torn. Next month, okay?”

“Yeah, okay.” Nohemi said, with a strained smile. “Be careful on the way home.”

“You too. Don’t get run over in here again either.” Julieta said.

Both girls hugged Nohemi and waved to Sarita. Nohemi watched them go with a sigh.

“I’m kind of over the drink at this point.” Sarita said. “I think I’m going to head home too.”

“You’re a regular here, right?” Nohemi said. “I’ll be back. I really will buy you that drink, promise.”

“You don’t have to, but thanks.” Sarita said. She slid off her barstool and winced when her ankle met the floor.

“Can I walk you back to your apartment at least? I’m not a creeper, I swear. I don’t have to come inside, but that looks painful.”

“It’s really not necessary.” Sarita sad, gingerly testing her weight. Her ankle was very upset at the moment, but it’d be fine in an hour.

“I’m literally the one that stepped on your ankle.” Nohemi said. “The least I can do is offer a shoulder to lean on.”

“Okay, yeah.” Sarita said.

They made their way out past Ineis, who looked like she was about two seconds away from calling the police. Nohemi had her arm around Sarita’s ribs and was providing some nice solid support on her right side. It felt odd to be touching someone so much. Sarita hadn’t realized how touch-starved she was. Though her ankle was feeling better after the first block of walking, she held on to Nohemi until they reached her building.

“You could come up if you want.” Sarita said. “I don’t know if I have anything that’ll get that stain out, but we could give it a shot.”

“You sure? I’m not trying to hit on you…”

“I’m not either.” Sarita said quickly, blushing. Wetting her pants and getting a sympathy shoulder on the walk home was not her normal pickup technique. “I know you’re excited about that club, but it sucks to go with a stain on your dress.”

“Thanks, really. I’ll take you up on it!”

It was an awkward elevator ride up to Sarita’s fourth floor apartment. Thankfully the apartment wasn’t a disaster. Not that anything was put away, of course, but there weren’t any dirty dishes or takeout containers out.

“This is my place.” Sarita said with a shrug. “It’s just the room here, bedroom over there, and bathroom there. All the stuff I’ve got for stains is in the bathroom. Use whatever you want. I’m going to be in the bedroom for a sec to change.”

“You sure you don’t need the bathroom? I know you got a drink spilled on you, but you um – have some potty issues too, it looks like.”

Sarita coughed, choking on her own spit.

“You – I didn’t realize you picked up on that. Um – yeah, give me a second.”

“Take your time, it’s okay.”

Sarita scurried to the bedroom, grabbing the first halfway-coherent outfit she could find in her dresser. In the bathroom, she stripped down and checked herself out. No bruises, not yet at least. Even her ankle wasn’t too swollen. Counting herself lucky, Sarita wiped herself down with a wet towel and dressed.

“Bathroom is all yours.” Sarita said, dumping the bundle of dirty clothes on the pile of laundry in her living room corner.

“Thanks! I’ll try to be fast.”

It seemed weird to turn on the TV, which left Sarita sitting on her couch, trying not to think about the fact that there was a naked girl in her bathroom. A cute one too.

A cute girl that’s not interested in you. Sarita reminded herself. Nohemi is being nice, way nicer than she needs to be. She doesn’t need to be creeped on.

Even IF there had been a chance with Nohemi, wetting herself in front of the girl had blown all that out of the water. Sure, it had happened under pretty extreme circumstances, but Sarita didn’t think there were a bunch of lesbians out there, hot for girls with pee in their pants.

“Managed to mostly salvage it!” Nohemi said, stepping out of the bathroom.

The red blotch on the tattoo-dress had become a very light pink smudge. If you didn’t know it was a stain, it’d be easy to miss it among all the wild colors in the dress’s pattern.

“Nice! You still going to the club then?”

“Yeah.” Nohemi said determinedly. “I wasn’t looking forward to going alone, but there’s no way I’m passing it up. It’s been three months since the last time I was able to make it.”

“I could go with you, if you still want.” Sarita said. The words were out of her mouth before she realized what she was doing. Immediately, she curled up on the couch, cursing her impulsive tongue.

“Really?” Nohemi asked, excitedly. “Yeah, if you want to that would be awesome. You even have a great outfit for it.”

Sarita looked down at herself. Her random pick of clothes had put her in leggings, a long button up blouse, and a miniskirt. It’d pass for club wear, sort of. The whole idea was so stupid, she wished she hadn’t said anything to Nohemi. The girl looked so excited now, Sarita couldn’t bear to disappoint her.

The club seemed interesting anyway. Sarita had never heard of it, but she wasn’t much of a club scene person, never mind alternative lifestyle clubs. It’d be nice to meet some queer women who didn’t know her as the Taco-Truck-Fire Girlfriend.

“Yeah, let’s do it.” Sarita said, picking up her purse. “Oh uh, but how much is the cover? I sort of blew my budget on drinks tonight.”

“The cover is on me. As is at least one drink.” Nohemi said firmly. “I owe you for a spilled drink and a sore ankle still.”

Sarita hesitated. Nohemi didn’t really owe her for that stuff. It felt like mooching when Sarita knew she wouldn’t be able to afford going on her own. Still, the offer seemed genuine and she didn’t have work tomorrow. The weekend was going to suck, maybe tonight was still salvageable.

“Okay. Thank you.”

“My pleasure. It’s been a crazy night. Let’s try to have some fun!”

—–

The Green Fairy was nothing much to look at from the outside, just a set of stairs descending to a basement door. The sign was only a couple of feet across, though pretty cute up close. The ‘fairy’ was a drag queen done up in a green dress and loud green hair. Whoever had designed it had done a good job, AND had been allowed to be creative. A rare combination in her experience. Not that she’d sold any designs, yet.

The first thing the club presented them with inside was the bar. A wide open area with a be-tabled sunken space dominated the room. The bar was at the back. It looked generic enough, except for the high number of collars or leather-wear on the people at the tables.

Double-doors were set evenly along the side walls, each with a neon-lit icon next to it, presumably indicating what kind of space you’d be entering. The handcuff sign was obvious enough, as was the swing. Sarita thought she had an idea of what the horse icon meant, but someone was going to have to explain the mermaid and – the teddy bear?

“The bar is pretty clear, let’s get you that drink first.” Nohemi said.

“You’re kind of obsessed with that.” Sarita said bemusedly, as Nohemi lead her by the hand around the table area.

“I don’t like to cause people trouble and not make up for it.”

The Green Fairy didn’t have a chardonnay slushie, but they did have a raspberry daiquiri. The first sip through the straw soothed Sarita’s soul. Nohemi was drinking something hardcore looking, that involved a burnt orange peel and some smoke. It was brown and therefore sure to be bitter.

“Have you been here a lot?” Sarita asked.

“Not as much as I want, but as much as I can.” Nohemi said. “It’s really quiet right now, we’re here a little early.”

Sarita checked her phone and groaned. She’d been too frantic when she was changing, to notice the spiderweb of cracks on the screen. No wonder one side of her butt was more sore than the other.

“Huh? Oh no, is that from when I knocked you over? Don’t worry, I’ll…”

“Don’t you dare.” Sarita said. “I really appreciate everything you did so far, but nothing that happened was your fault. It’s on those jerks that started pushing.”

“I’m taking responsibility for your ankle at least.” Nohemi said.

“Fine, but my ankle is not my phone.” She shrugged. “It’s not like I haven’t had a cracked screen before.”

“Alright.” Nohemi said. “I guess I’ll let that one go. I’m going to insist on being your friend though, unless that makes it too weird.”

See? She just wants to be friends. Sarita smiled at Nohemi. “I could use a friend. I lost all of mine in the taco truck fire incident.”

“Oh now you have to tell me about that.”

“I want to start out by saying that I don’t think all my exes are crazy. Felisa legitimately needs medication or something, though.”

“Felisa wasn’t very feliz, huh?”

“Oh no. You make puns.”

Nohemi laughed, drawing a giggle out of Sarita. That felt good. A friend would be good. You could survive all kinds of bad stuff with a friend in your corner. Sarita related the rest of the story of Felisa’s rampage starting with the Valentine’s Day date that turned into a bar-crawl.

“Wait, she broke into the taco truck while on a date – to make food for you?”

“She wanted to make my favorite tacos, right then. I think she thought it was super romantic. We were both really drunk. I still knew it was a bad idea, but I was too wasted to stop her. I don’t get that drunk anymore.”

“Good.” Nohemi shook her head. “And then she caught the whole thing on fire?”

“Started a grease fire, sprayed water on it… yeah. She got out before she got seriously hurt, and I called the fire department. They couldn’t save the truck though. Felisa ended up giving the Espinas basically all her money and moving to California.”

“Wow. That beats my worst breakup story, hands down.”

“I’m a winner.” Sarita said, twirling her finger lethargically in the air.

“I want to hear more stories, but I need to pee. Watch my drink for me?”

“Course.” Sarita said with a smile.

After watching Nohemi long enough to see where the bathroom was, Sarita pulled her phone out to assess the damage. It was still functional, thankfully. Maybe she could try to barter some graphic design work for the phone repair shop under her apartment. Their sign was really ugly.

Movement at one of the double-doors caught Sarita’s eye. A woman emerged from the teddy-bear door. She didn’t look weird at all, or even dressed up in fetish stuff. If anything, she was dressed like somebody’s mom, in a dark blue dress with floral print on it. The way her hips moved was mesmerizing. She had that silver-age-of-movies figure going on.

When the woman met Sarita’s eyes, she realized she’d been caught staring. Quickly, Sarita ducked her head and focused on her phone.

“Is there someone already sitting with you, or did you get two drinks to save time?”

Sarita looked up, then further up, past the floral-dress woman’s ample chest to her pretty green eyes. “Yeah, my friend is in the bathroom.”

“Just a friend? Do you mind if I sit?”

Is she hitting on me? What even is this night? Sarita licked her lips. Realizing that she’d already let an awkward amount of time pass, she stammered, “G-go ahead. I’m Sarita.”

“Thank you. I’m Astra.” Even the way that Astra sat was elegant. Sarita jerked her eyes up from those hips and back to Astra’s eyes.

“First time at the Green Fairy? I think I’d have noticed you if you’d been here before.”

Oh shit I think she IS hitting on me! Sarita blushed and tried smoothing down her hair. It was a messy bob at the best of times, she was sure it looked like a wreck that night.

“Yeah, I hadn’t even heard of it before tonight. You must be a regular.”

“Right on the first try.” Astra said with a wink. “What brought you in? I know the club intimidates a lot of people.”

“I don’t know. I was having the worst day today, met someone, and she invited me here. It seemed interesting I guess.”

“Oh no, what happened today?”

“It was a whole thing with work and a big disaster at my regular bar. I don’t want to dump all my drama on you.”

“It’s not drama. You look frazzled. Tell me all about it.”

Hesitantly, Sarita told Astra about getting chewed out at work. Astra didn’t look bored at all. She was paying attention with a really kind expression. Encouraged, Sarita spilled some more background information on the job. Astra was still listening and offering encouraging comments.

Taking a good look at Astra, Sarita was pretty sure they were close to the same age. For sure Astra had to be under thirty. It was hard to believe with how strong her caring vibes were. It was like talking to a sympathetic aunt. A really hot aunt in a low cut dress.

In a rush, Sarita got the rest of the evening out. She even mentioned wetting herself before she realized what she was doing. That only accelerated the pace of her story. Sarita hoped she could pile enough words on that fact to bury it.

By the time Nohemi was back at the table, Astra had Sarita’s right hand clasped in hers, and the story was done.

“Hi Nohemi! I didn’t realize you were here with Sarita.”

Nohemi looked at the two of them and blinked. It was a complicated expression, Sarita couldn’t read it. She hoped that Nohemi didn’t feel ditched.

“I didn’t realize you were here tonight, we’d just gotten here. You’re sneaky, Astra.”

“She just came over to say hi and I spilled my guts about my whole evening to her. Thanks for listening even if it wasn’t very interesting, I didn’t mean to talk your ear off.” Sarita babbled.

“It sounds like you’ve both had a hard night.” Astra said.

“Yeah, all kinds of stuff hasn’t gone the way I expected.” Nohemi said, taking a seat and a sip of her drink.

“I can go if you two wanted to have a private evening.” Astra said.

“No, it’s not like that, we’re friends. Well, super new friends but, friends, right?” Sarita winced at the sheer cringe that was falling out of her mouth. What was wrong with her tonight? Had she just forgotten how to talk to people?

“Yeah, we’re friends.” Nohemi said with a smile. It looked like a genuine smile.

Sarita sighed in relief. “And you two are friends, or I guess you know each other at least?”

“Yeah, I’ve known Nohemi for a couple of years now, I think. You’ve been coming to the club for at least that long, haven’t you?”

“It’s almost three now.” Nohemi said. “Time flies.”

“Dios mío, I’m such a newbie.” Sarita said. “Will you keep me from doing anything stupid?”

“Of course, hon.” Nohemi and Astra said in unison. They looked at each other and burst out laughing. The last of the lingering tension at the table cleared with the echoes of their laugh.

The rest of the evening was boring by club standards, but Sarita was in heaven. They talked about everything, the news, the city, queer women’s local gossip, silly sex jokes, and food. Sarita couldn’t believe how much she’d been missing hanging out with friends.

Not that it was purely friendly with both women. Astra kept finding excuses to touch Sarita’s hand on the table, her foot underneath, or her shoulder. At the end of the night, when Astra plucked some probably-imaginary fluff off Sarita’s shoulders, she felt like calling the other woman out.

Yes, I get it! I’m picking up your signals and my motor is running!

Astra was gorgeous and funny and didn’t seem to have a flatlined bank account. Sarita had no idea why the blonde woman was hitting on her so hard. She wasn’t questioning it, though. Sarita made sure that Astra had her number at the end of the night, giving it to Nohemi as well as a cover.

Though that wasn’t exactly fair. Nohemi was awesome too. If she’d really managed to pick up a new friend and a date in the same night, Sarita was going to have to stop calling it the worst day ever.

A check of her shattered phone showed it was well after midnight. Maybe that meant yesterday was the worst day ever. Today could be the awesome day. With her worries temporarily out of mind and no work that day, Sarita let herself skip home.