Crystal & Elizabeth
Elizabeth stood by the gate of her school, a stream of girls wearing the same uniform as her (navy cardigan, white collared shirt, red and blue striped tie, black pleated skirt, white stockings, Mary Jane shoes) pushed past her and onto the city streets. She was scanning the road for her mother's red Prius when her eyes caught on a figure walking on the other side of the street. There wasn't something specific about her that drew Elizabeth's attention, just a sort of subtle connection that sometimes happens between two people and inexplicably draws them together, even if only for one glorious moment. She looked like most other young New Yorkers, her scraggly brown hair was matted with the heat of approaching summer and her thin white tank top stuck to her skin showed her delicate curves, even from across the cluttered road. Her grey jeans hung tantalizingly low on her hips, held in place by a studded belt, the fabric clinging to her ass and curving down her thighs, strategically placed holes showing teasing patches of skin.
Elizabeth was shaken from her reverie as a group of loud, laughing girls blocked her view of the girl and by the time they had passed, the girl had melted into the busy sidewalk. Elizabeth took a deep breath and merged into the walking traffic heading the other direction, making her way towards the subway.
Elizabeth got back to the apartment she shared with her mother and immediately stripped out of her uniform - now contaminated with the grime of public transportation and New York humidity and air pollution - and tossed it into her hamper, changing into a pair of jean shorts and a navy V-neck t-shirt. She sat at the desk in her room and began to work away at her homework, determined to get it done early so she could spend the weekend basking in the heat. Caught up in her work, she was surprised when her cell phone beeped with a text message from her friend Kelsey asking if she was down for going out.
Normally, Elizabeth would have said no - and Kelsey knew that, but she still asked because they were friends - but suddenly, she remembered the girl that she had seen on the sidewalk and before she knew what she was doing, she had sent a message to Kelsey saying yes. Kelsey messaged back saying they were going to a party out in SoHo and to meet at the subway station at 10 p.m. Elizabeth felt her stomach flutter and doubt crawled across her mind, but she shook it off and abandoned her homework for a quick snack and a few hours on her computer. When her mom got home, she told her about going out later and she just nodded, plopping down on the couch was a glass of wine.
Elizabeth ran a brush through her hair and quickly passed a few brushes of makeup over her eyes. She kept her shirt, but traded her shorts for a pair of boot-cut jeans and slipped on a pair of black ballet flats. She stuffed her phone, keys, and some cash into her pockets and bolted out of the apartment, storming down the stair and down the street onto the subway.
She arrived in SoHo before Kelsey, of course. Kelsey always ran late. Just as Elizabeth was about to pull out her phone to check the time for what was probably the fifth time, Kelsey ran up squealing, her eyes surrounded in glitter and her hair straightened to perfection. She wore a sparkling halter top that swung when she walked and a tight mini-skirt. Hooking her arm though Elizabeth's, she briskly carried them out of the subway station and up into the streets, chatting lightly the whole way. She guided them through the streets confidently and soon they arrived outside of a building thronged with people and lights and music flowing out into the night.
Elizabeth quickly lost Kelsey in the crowd and found herself a bottle of water and a sofa to perch on as she watched people walk past. There were tons of people around, and few that she recognized, and Elizabeth once again wondered what had possessed her to come out. She was distracted from contemplating leaving when a girl plopped down onto the couch beside her, snatching her water bottle and taking a swig of it. Elizabeth startled as she recognized the girl that she had seen on the sidewalk after school.
"I know you," The girl said firmly, pointing Elizabeth's water bottle at her. "Yeah, I saw you outside that preppy school in the cute uniform. Name's Crystal by the way."
"Elizabeth," Elizabeth replied softly. Taking the outstretched hand and shaking it weakly, surprised by Crystal's firm grasp.
"Elizabeth, that's a pretty name," Crystal complimented, grinning widely and leaning into Elizabeth as she draped her arm over the back of the sofa. "Well, Elizabeth, to be honest, this doesn't really look like your scene. You aren't dressed like a slut so you aren't here to hook-up. You're drinking water, so you aren't here for the alcohol. You aren't dancing so you're not here for the music, not that it's any good in the first place, but the sound system's stellar. So what brought you all the way out here, so far away from your safe, ivy-covered tower?"
"I came with a friend." Elizabeth smiled.
"Ah, a friend friend or a friend," Crystal said the last work with a wink causing Elizabeth to laugh.
"Just a friend," She assured her.
"Well good," Crystal leaned back against the couch and took another swig of water, "I'd hate to become jealous."
"So why are you here?" Elizabeth asked curiously after a few moments.
"Apparently, I'm here to save a damsel-in-distress." Crystal grinned and grabbed Elizabeth's hand, standing and tugging her off the couch. "Come on, let's get out of here."
Elizabeth nodded and let Crystal lead her out onto the street and away from the house. Elizabeth was surprised, but relieved when Crystal didn't let go of her hand once they had passed through the crowd of partiers. Crystal continued to walk with purpose, dragging Elizabeth behind her.
"Where are we going?" Elizabeth asked, slightly out of breath from their quick pace.
"Oh, just a little place I know. You'll like it princess, its right up your alley." Crystal responded, looking back at her with a grin.
"How do you know what my alley is?" Elizabeth felt her heart skip a beat at Crystal's beaming smile and silently cursed herself for saying something so stupid.
"I know all about you, princess," Crystal said, flashing her another grin, causing another skipped beat. "You'll see." Elizabeth nodded mutely and let herself be dragged down unknown streets by a complete stranger. Crystal abandoned the main streets lined with clubs and restaurant and would them deeper into a residential area with less and less people around. Elizabeth began to doubt her blind trust and jerked to a stop when Crystal tugged her down a dark alley.
"Come on, it's only a little further." Crystal beckoned, turning around and tugging on Elizabeth's hand. Elizabeth hesitated, but then followed her. The alley narrowed and turned into a dead-end with a wooden door fit into an arch in the wall. Crystal rapped on the door soundly before jiggling the handle and pushing her way through. Elizabeth stepped through after her and stopped to look around in amazement. They had just entered what appeared to be, for all intents and purposes, a secret garden. Walled on all sides by brick buildings, the small space was about the size of a modest apartment, the ground was covered in lush grass. Bright paper lanterns were strung overhead; casting soft light onto the Victorian styles settees and chaises that lined the walls. The center of the grass had been taken over by a long table, draped in a lace tablecloth and covered in silver platters filled with delicate pastries and hors d'oeuvres. People milled about in groups, laughing and talking, with glasses and plates in their hands, some had settled onto the couches.
"What is this place?" Elizabeth whispered, afraid to shatter the bright scene before her.
"Just a little party a friend of mine like to throw every once and a while. We all get a real kick out of it." Crystal said, taking Elizabeth's hand and leading her towards the center of the garden up to a woman in a 60's style peach summer dress and falling tresses of brown hair.
"Crystal! So glad you came," The woman exclaimed when she turned and saw them.
"Wouldn't miss it Madeline," Crystal said, letting go of Elizabeth's hand to quickly embrace the woman before taking it up again and turning to her with a grin. "This is my friend Elizabeth."
"It's nice to meet you Elizabeth," Madeline said sweetly with a wide smile, her eyes flickering between her and Crystal and down to their clasped hands. Elizabeth blushed and looked down, knowing how it might have looked and what she must be thinking. "Please, help yourself to anything you want."
Crystal led Elizabeth over to the table laden with food and began filling a plate with a little bit of everything. She then grabbed two glasses of sparkling cider and settled them on a plush pink settee. "Here, you can have the raspberry." She said, picking the fruit off of a slice of cake she had picked up and holding it out to Elizabeth between her fingers. Elizabeth leaned forward and grabbed it with her mouth, blushing as she swallowed the tart fruit. Crystal laughed, throwing her head back and Elizabeth could see how she got her name. When Crystal laughed, it reminded Elizabeth of a physics experiment from school when they had shown light through a prism and it had come out as a rainbow. When Crystal laughed it bounced around inside of you and exploded into a rainbow.
Crystal and Elizabeth slowly worked through the plate of food and several glasses of sparkling cider, talking companionably about music and New York City and school. They talked like they had known each other for years. It began to get late and the party dwindled down to those too stubbornly having fun to go home yet. They all pulled the couches into a circle and sat around picking over what was left of the buffet and laughing rambunctiously. Crystal lay, draped across Elizabeth, her head in her lap as Elizabeth mindlessly ran her hand through her choppy hair. Occasionally, Crystal would look up at Elizabeth and grinned her signature grin that sent butterflies rioting through Elizabeth's chest every time.
The lanterns' light began to dim and dawn seeped across the sky and with yawn and quiet good-byes and promises to do it again soon, the party finally disbanded as the sun breached the horizon. Crystal and Elizabeth walked side by side, Crystal with her hand in Elizabeth's back pocket and Elizabeth with her arm curling around Crystal's waist and leaning her head against her shoulder. They basked in the silence of the waking city, laughing at the fact that they were just heading home to their bed. The subway was nearly empty as it rattled along, Elizabeth and Crystal leaning against each other and yawning intermittently. Crystal accompanied Elizabeth to her apartment building and stopped outside the door.
"So that was fun yeah?" Crystal asked. Elizabeth nodded and smiled brightly.
"We're gonna have a lot of fun together Elizabeth. I assume we are going to see each other again?" Crystal inquired. Elizabeth nodded severely, finding that she was too tired to even speak.
"Good," Crystal grinned and leaned forward, pecking Elizabeth on the cheek.
"Goodnight 'Lezbeth, you'll be seeing me around." Crystal said with a wink, turning and sauntering down the street. Elizabeth blushed and brushed her finger across her cheek before shaking herself and scrambling into the building, falling into her bed and into a deep sleep before she knew it, her last thought being of how she hadn't even gotten Crystal's number, or given her's.
Elizabeth's weekend crawled with lethargic heat and burning memories of Friday night. It was only too soon when she had to wake up early on Monday morning and her mom dropped her off at school. Elizabeth paused for a second at the gates, stopping to look across the street before joining the flow of the students heading inside. The day passed in a blur of unremembered lectures and notebooks that held more doodles that notes. Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief at the final dismal, shutting her books and stuffing them into her messenger bag. She fled from the building, dodging the girls loitering in the hallways and bursting out the entrance into the front courtyard. Elizabeth skidded to a stop when she saw Crystal leaning against the gate.
Elizabeth drank her in. Her hair was sloppily piled onto her head with chopstick, stray pieces lingering around her eyes and along her cheekbones. She wore red shorts, exposing long, dark legs and a black, lacy camisole. Crystal turned and saw Elizabeth, a grin spreading across her face. She strutted forward wrapping her arms around her neck. Surprised, Elizabeth wound her arms around Crystal's waist and pulled her close. Crystal pulled away slightly and toyed with Elizabeth's tie, looking up at her coyly from beneath her eyelashes.
"You really are rockin' this uniform, 'Lezabeth," She said softly.
"What are you doing here?" Elizabeth asked, then mentally hitting her head against the wall for saying exactly what she didn't want to say.
"Told you you'd see me soon, didn't I?" Crystal beamed. "Come on, I thought we could spend the afternoon together." Elizabeth relaxed and nodded, loosening her arms around Crystal's waist.
"Where to?" She asked.
"Follow me," Crystal said and took her hand, leading her away from the school. They wandered the streets with ice-cream cones for hours, Elizabeth abandoning her sweater and tie and unbuttoning the constricting collar of her shirt. They joked and laughed, Crystal pulled out her MP3 player and they sang along (badly) to their favorite band, claiming their favorite song as 'their song' and listening to it on repeat. They wound their way through the Upper East Side, looking into couture designer's windows and laughing at the harried businessmen. They stopped late in the afternoon to grab hot dogs for dinner and Elizabeth realized she would have to return home soon and probably do some homework.
"I need to get going," Elizabeth said sadly, when she noticed the slight darkening of the sky. Crystal looked at her with a frown and then nodded when she noticed the same.
"Good girls need time to do homework and get sleep, huh? Well, alright, I'll walk you home." Crystal acquiesced, slowly guiding them back to Elizabeth's apartment. When they reached the stoop, Elizabeth hesitated with her hand on the door and turned back to Crystal.
"Do you want to come in for a bit?" Elizabeth asked awkwardly.
Crystal cocked her brow and chuckled. "Sorry 'Lezbeth. I'm not the kind of girl that you bring home to your parents."
"Oh," Elizabeth said quietly before asking, "Will I see you again soon?"
"You'll see me around 'Lezbeth," Crystal winked. "I'm not done with you yet." With that she disappeared down the street and Elizabeth slipped into her apartment.
The days began to blur. Crystal waited for Elizabeth after school almost every day. They would roam the city or aimlessly ride the subway for hours. They ransacked record stores and pillaged clothing shops with loud burst of laughter. Elizabeth stopped paying attention in school, but with summer fast approaching, everyone else did too, even the teachers. Her backpack was filled with a change of clothes and flip-flops instead of notebooks each day for her to wear with Crystal. Once or twice, Crystal would pop up by the fence during lunch and whisk Elizabeth away from her afternoon classes. Some afternoons, when Elizabeth got too far behind in work, they would lounge on the stoop of her apartment building while she studied; or they spent it at the library while Crystal tried to amuse herself by building book palaces and they would get scolded by the librarians for giggling too loud.
Friday nights, and sometimes Saturday's too, Crystal showed Elizabeth the secret wonders of the city. Parties; big and small, loud and quiet. Concerts; impromptu and free at dive-bars buried under buildings. Art shows and poetry nights, black and white films with subtitles in a different language. Anything that could be imagined, they did it. After a few weeks, Crystal gave Elizabeth her cell phone number and they would text through the night when Elizabeth was supposed to be sleeping. Finals in school came and went in a blur; Elizabeth barely saw Crystal and that Friday when she saw her after school she ran, catching her up in an embrace and swinging her around.
"I missed you," Elizabeth whispered into her hair.
"I know 'Lezbeth," Crystal giggled, planting a small kiss on the top of her head.
Elizabeth would always remember that summer as being magical. Hot days and hotter nights were filled with memories of Crystal and short shorts and thin tops. Days were spent in the shade of the park or in the safety of air-conditioned buildings. Nights were filled with stars on soft blankets and whispered conversations interrupted by soft stolen kisses. Elizabeth's heart ached for Crystal; for her beauty and laughter and the gleam in her eyes. The summer flew by, Elizabeth wished that it would never end, but she felt autumn approaching with every red leaf she found on the ground and every bite she felt in the wind late at night. Fear filled her because she that with the coming of autumn, things would become different.
On one of the last nights of summer, Elizabeth had secreted Crystal into her bedroom and was running her fingers lightly across her bare back, pausing over the tattoo on her shoulder blade she had seen only a few times before. She bushed her fingers over it again and Crystal turned her head to see what she was doing.
"What is this?" Elizabeth asked quietly. She had learned quickly that Crystal didn't like being asked questions, especially not about herself and wasn't sure if she expected an answer.
"It's a bird, flying, free." Crystal responded absently.
"Is that what you want Crystal, to be free?" Elizabeth asked, afraid of the answer. Crystal just smiled and rolled them over so her body was pressed onto of Elizabeth and washed away all of her worries with a demanding kiss.
On the first day of school, Elizabeth donned her uniform and filled her backpack, her heart heavy. She still remembered that night – less than a week ago – when she had asked about the tattoo. Crystal had been gone when she awoke in the morning and there was only a little note left on the pillow with a heart drawn on it. Crystal stopped answering her texts and when Elizabeth tried calling the number, it was disconnected. Elizabeth had wallowed in the pseudo-darkness of her room for days, her heart feeling as if it had been ripped from her chest and carried far away.
When she had finally ventured from her room and onto the street, in the vain hope of Crystal waiting for her in one of their many meeting spots, she saw her everywhere. Every laugh made her heart jump and every brunette caught her eye. Elizabeth was relieved with the distraction that school provided and slowly, autumn froze into winter, Elizabeth's pain growing more numb with the increasing drop in temperature. At the approach of Spring, Kelsey dragged Elizabeth out to another party in SoHo; the only reason she had for agreeing to go was in a habitual hope that Crystal would be there.
After searching the crowd and determined that Crystal wasn't there, Elizabeth began to aimlessly wander the streets and soon found herself in a familiar residential area. She began to hurry, suddenly knowing exactly where she was. She dashed down the dark alley where she had followed Crystal the night that they had met and burst through the door set in the wall…into an empty garden. Elizabeth's shoulders sagged and a quiet sob shook her body, felling for the first time in months that Crystal was truly gone.
Elizabeth noticed a door set in the wall to her left and wiping her nose with her hand, she approached it and knocked lightly. After a few moments she heard the jingling of locks being undone and the door opened softly.
"Hello?" A soft voice asked as Madeline came into view and light flooded the grey garden. Elizabeth stood there, praying she would remember who she was because she didn't know how to explain what she was doing here at this time of night.
"It was Elizabeth, right?" Madeline said softly, her face settling into a sad expression of pity. Elizabeth nodded and sniffled again, tears pricking her eyes. "Why don't you come in for a cup of tea?"
Elizabeth followed Madeline into a bight cozy kitchen and settled herself on a chair by a small table. In a few minutes she held a steaming mug of tea cradled in her hands and took a hesitant sip, letting the hot liquid spread through her body and soothe out the tension in her shoulders. Madeline watched her for a few more minutes, drinking her tea peacefully, before she put the cup down on the table and clasped her hands together.
"I've known Crystal for only a few years," She began slowly, giving time for her words to sink in, "and she has always been a…free-spirit, to put it lightly. She never got in trouble, she just did things her own way and could never really settle on something. It's what makes her so…loveable, isn't it?" Madeline said, casting Elizabeth a knowing glance.
"I've only seen her bring a few girls around, some of them looked at her the way you did, like she was the very moon come down to earth to lead you to eternal happiness, but she didn't look at any of them the way she looked at you, with this kindness and protectiveness. I thought it would be different, you were so shy and nice, not her usual type at all." Madeline hesitated, but Elizabeth remained silent, contemplating her tea. "She loved you Elizabeth, you may not believe it, but the way she lit up when you were around…I've never seen her like that before."
"Do you still see her?" Elizabeth asked quietly, desperately.
Madeline gave her another pitying look and shook her head softly. "You know I can't tell you that. If Crystal wanted to see you, she would come find you, there's nothing you can do but let her go."
Elizabeth nodded and stood. "Thank you for the tea…and the talk." Madeline gave her a small smile and nodded, leading her to the door.
"She really did love you Elizabeth." Madeline repeated as she stepped out the front door onto a normal city street.
"I…I know, I loved her too. I just thought that would be enough." Elizabeth said softly, not bothering to turn around and then walked away from the house.
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