A/N Sorry about the wait but I hope this is worth the wait. As always I don't own Rookie Blue or its' characters. All mistakes are mine.
Chapter 7
Gail's pov
"Okay maybe this wasn't the best idea," she said to herself as she opened the door to the club. As Gail glanced around the room her earlier confidence crumbled. Sure she had helped Chris and Dov hit on women before but this was different…this was Holly. Gail credited herself on having a talent for being able to find the easily impressed women from the herd and serve them up to the boys. Could she really just chat up some strange woman and pass her off to Holly and call it a night? The thought was very unsettling.
"Gail? Gail are you going to take off your coat?" she heard Holly ask over the loud music.
She turned to her and nodded as she unbuttoned her coat and saw that Holly had ducked under the coat check counter and was hanging up her coat as held out her hand for Gail's coat. "What are you doing weirdo?"
"What does it look like am a doing Miss ignores the obvious?" Holly said teasingly as she beckoned with her long fingers for Gail to pass over the coat that Gail was currently clutching to her chest. For the first time since Holly had picked her up Gail saw what the other woman was wearing; black leather pants that looked impossibly tight and form fitting and a pale green button up shirt that hugged her in all the right places. Gail found her mouth go dry. "Gail…coat?" Holly urged, snapping her out of her daze.
"Right…right…here." Gail said as she finally handed it over.
"That will be two dollars." Holly said smartly as she handed Gail a coat check ticket.
Gail arched an eyebrow, "You have got to be kidding me." Holly shook her head and held out her open palm. Gail begrudgingly fished in her purse for the correct change before handing it over to the overly smug woman. "Tip too." Holly chirped as she tapped the tip jar.
"Don't push your luck nerd. I only have a five and I planned on giving it to the bartender."
"Fine I will cover the tip, I never knew you were so cheap." Holly said as she hopped up on the counter and swung her legs over it to drop down on the other side.
Gail was momentarily stunned by the gracefulness of the med-student but recovered quickly, "I am not cheap, I simply think that the bartender is going to work a lot harder for me tonight than the absentee coat checker."
Holly nodded, "I can see your point and if I am going to survive tonight it is going to take quite a few drinks. Think you can keep up?"
Gail crossed her arms and shook her head, "Keep up? With you? You make me laugh." She said as she walked towards the bar, she needed a drink and she needed it now.
Holly's pov
Holly couldn't help but stare as Gail walked away, her head tilted to the side as her eyes drifted south and watched as Gail's hips swayed subtly to the music. It had to be illegal how good the soon to be cop looked in those jeans. Holly had to visibly shake it off, tonight was not about ogling Gail…it was about getting over her. She watched Gail lean over the bar to grab the bartender's attention and Holly was given the perfect view of the blonde's perfectly sculpted ass and Holly had to shut her eyes; Gail was killing her. "This is going to be a long night." She said softly as she took a seat at the bar. Gail smiled as the bartender poured a shot of tequila. "Make mine a double."
The bartender arched an eyebrow but poured the drink and Holly knocked it back with a wince and tapped the bar to hit her again. "Easy tiger." The woman said with a smirk.
Gail slammed her shot and turned towards the dance floor as the bartender walked away to serve someone else. "So what is your type? Tall? Short? Sporty? Curvy? Butch? Femme?"
Holly cut her off as some of her drink dribbled down her chin and she wiped it away, "Whoa! Slow this lesbian stereotype train down. Gail did you go on google today?" With a shrug and a smirk Gail stayed silent. Holly shook her head and turned towards the dance floor and sighed. "Well if you are going to do this just get it over with."
"So no preference? Come on you don't have a type?" Gail prodded as she hopped off her stool.
Thinking back to her previous girlfriends and crushes none of them had much in common, they all certainly looked different; Jessica was an impulsive redhead from Nebraska that joined the Peace Corps that joined on a dare. Julie was almost a foot shorter than Holly and during the time that Holly had known her the girl's hair had gone from pink, purple to fluorescent green. Holly didn't even know what her natural hair color was. Julie worked at a publishing house. And Leah was…
"No I don't have a type." Holly answered as she felt the alcohol start to take effect.
Gail started to back onto the dance floor, "Okay then. Watch the master at work."
Holly turned back to the bar and flagged down the bartender, "Another please and my friend would like to run a tab."
The bartender smiled and poured the drink, "Sure. You girls driving?"
Holly lifted the shot to her lips and sipped, "Nope."
"Alrighty then, enjoy."
She was about to ask if they served any food, she hadn't eaten anything and the strong liquor was going to hit her hard if she didn't get something in her stomach when her phone rang. Holly fumbled around for it in her purse when she recognized that it was Jade's ringtone. She managed to answer before it went to voice mail.
"Heya Jade."
"Hi Holls, what is with all of the noise? Oh my freaking god! Allie has hell frozen over? I think our little Holly is out at a bar!" Jade laughed.
"I am at a club and I will have you know that I do go out…not frequently but I do have a life." Holly was sure that she heard her friend snort.
"Sure you do. I will bet you my autographed Tegan and Sara guitar that you are at the same club that Allie and I took you to when we helped you move and that this is the first time going back since then."
Holly said nothing and finished her drink and motioned for another one.
"I am going to take your silence as a yes. So I have to know who managed to drag you out, did you met someone? You did didn't you?!"
Instead of answering Holly watched as Gail danced across the dance floor, she wasn't the best dancer out there but there was something about the way she moved that held Holly's interest.
"Holly are you even listening?"
It was getting a little loud to hear her friend so Holly went back to the still deserted coat check room. Sh sat on the floor. "I am listening Jade."
"Are you going to answer?"
Holly chewed on her lower lip, "I don't know how to answer that."
"It isn't a trick question?" Jade said slowly. "Holly who is it? You know I won't judge."
She sighed, "Remember the last time we talked I told you about how I got partnered up with a criminal justice major for a joint class?"
"Sure…the blonde wannabe cop…wait I thought you said she was straight? You are out with her?"
Holly nodded and then remembered that they were talking on the phone, "Yes. She decided to be my wingwoman. Evidently I need to get laid." All she heard on the other end of the line was laughter. "It isn't funny Jade."
"No it isn't funny it is hilarious. A straight girl dragged you to a gay bar to get you a girl. And by the way she is right, you do need to get laid." Jade said as she tried to reign in her laughter.
"Figures that you would be on her side."
The laughter stopped, "Holly I am always on your side, I just happen to agree with your lab partner on this. What is the problem? Is she bringing you trashy girls?"
"No."
No one spoke for a while, Holly played with the end of her ponytail and Jade finally broke the silence. "Holly do you have feelings for the blonde?"
"Gail."
"What?"
"Her name is Gail."
"Okay…do you have feelings for Gail?"
Holly looked around the small room and then down at her feet and made a point of counting the number of eyelets on her boots before answering. "Yes."
"Are we talking crush type feelings, lust type feelings or I want to make little blonde cop babies feelings?" Jade asked cautiously.
"I mixture of the last two."
"Oh Holly…"
"I know…I know. I didn't want to feel like this, I tried I really did but there is something about her Jade…" Holly trailed off feeling tears forming. "I haven't felt like this before." She then went on to describe the last month or so that she had spent with Gail.
"I take it that she doesn't know? No, of course not, she took you to a club to get you laid." Jade paused as Holly sniffled. "Holls, you deserve to be happy. Now I don't know Gail but from everything that you just said she cares about you. Talk to her, she might surprise you."
Holly shook her head, "I can't…I could lose her and I need her…" she gulped, "For the project…I need her for the project."
"You are scared and you have every right to be scared but Holly don't let that fear hold you back. The things that scare us the most are usually the things that make life worth living. I thought that my heart was going to beat so hard that it would break my ribs when I asked Allie to marry me but when she said yes it was worth every ounce of anxiety that weighed me down."
"You and Allie are getting married?"
"Oh yeah that was why I called in the first place."
Holly straightened up, "Are you serious?"
Jade clicked her tongue and Holly could imagine her friend smiling, "Yep, I got her a ring and everything. I still can't believe that she said yes."
"Congratulations, you will have to tell me when the wedding is so I can fly back for it."
"Of course, I was hoping that you would be in it. Stand up with me, be my best woman of sorts."
"Really?"
"Well yeah, you were really one of our first supporters and you are my best friend. I want you there with me."
"I would be honored." Holly said as more tears came but for a different reason.
"Good. Now back to your problem, I know you Holly, you let the girls come to you and that has worked up until now. If you want her you need to go after her. Take action…be bold."
"Be bold…"
"Yes, take a chance. From everything that you have said I think that Gail just needs a little nudge."
Holly laughed so hard she hiccupped, "You don't know Gail she might need a nudge with a bulldozer."
"Well I hear that you can rent those. Seriously Holls you will drive yourself crazy with the what ifs and regrets."
"I will think about it."
"Good; I have to go now it is getting late but I will call you next week and I want to hear that you done more than think about it."
"Bye Jade, send my love to Allie."
"I will. I love you Holls and I am here for you no matter what. You need me you call me."
"Okay."
"Bye."
Holly sat on the floor holding her phone on her lap and she realized that she had been gone for a while and wondered if Gail had missed her and was looking for her. She got up onto her feet and almost fell back down the four double shots had definitely taken its toll on her. Holly managed to stay upright and left the coat room to see Gail talking to a group of fairly drunk looking women. Gail was right that she could attract a flock of naïve young things to her like moths to a flame. It didn't look as if Gail had even noticed that she had been gone.
She made her way back to the bar and found the bartender waiting for her with a drink already poured.
"It looks like your friend is attracting quite a bit of attention." The bartender commented as Holly stared at her drink.
"She does that." Holly said her eyes focused on the honey color of the liquor that swirled in her glass.
"I wouldn't worry about that too much, she only has eyes for you."
That statement snapped Holly from her melancholia and she jerked her head up to stare at the woman. "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean exactly that, ever since the two of you came in tonight she has not been able to look away. Even now she is trying to be subtle but she is following your every move. You should have seen the panic on her face when you disappeared."
"Oh…well she is nervous about being here…that is probably it." Holly said as she tried to process this news. Had Gail been watching her?
The bartender scoffed, "Trust me I have worked here for a few years now and I know when there is a connection between people."
"She is straight."
The woman laughed as she opened a beer for a customer and rested her elbows on the bar in front of Holly, "Are you sure? Because straight girls don't eye fuck their friends when said friend isn't looking. I am Brandi by the way…I know…I know Brandi the bartender but I am a month away from finishing my doctorate dissertation in psychology so I will be Dr. Brandi soon."
"Holly."
Brandi smiled and offered her hand for Holly to shake, which she did, "Nice to meet you Holly. Now back to your friend…"
"Gail."
"Okay so Gail…Look Holly I see a lot of people come through here and I have gotten pretty good about reading people. For instance the couple at the table over there…the girl with the striped shirt and the girl wearing the "Whip It" tee shirt; they are breaking up. Probably not tonight but soon."
Holly looked at the couple in question and didn't see anything but two girls watching the dance floor. "How could you know that?"
Brandi smiled softly, "Look at their body language, stripe shirt is turned away from her girlfriend and is more interested in her phone than with the person across from her and the girlfriend is watching the woman wearing the metallic tank top. There hasn't been a moment between them tonight were they have even acknowledged that the other one even existed."
Holly could see the distance between them now and nodded, "Alright I will give you that one."
"How about those sorority girls that are by the stage…see them?"
Holly craned her neck to see where Brandi was directing her and then she saw a group of giggling girls that were sipping some fruity umbrella drinks. "Yeah so?"
"I can guarantee that they came here tonight because the tall blonde one said that it would be cool to come to a gay bar and they all agreed because being open minded and for equal rights is the trendy thing to do now. But the one in the red boots and the girl touching her shoulder are "experimenting" with each other. You can tell by the way they keep finding excuses to touch one another. See it is subtle but it is there, an "accidental" shoulder graze here and there and the way they stand so close that their fingers brush together."
Holly turned on her stool to seek out Gail in the crowd and spotted her dancing somewhat awkwardly. "How do you read Gail?"
"Gail comes off as confident but it is a front, a mask. She wants you and everyone around to see her as this strong infallible person and for the most part she succeeds except when you are around. You are her kryptonite. I don't think she realizes how her body both relaxes and tenses when you are near. She may have been straight before meeting you and she may be in denial about how she feels about you but the feelings are there and I would bet you a week's worth of tips that if I were to touch your arm or kiss your cheek right now she would be here in less than five seconds." Brandi said as she wiped the bar down with a towel.
Holly shook her head and finished her drink. Hearing all of this was making her head spin, maybe the alcohol played a part in that but could Gail actually have feelings for her beyond that of protective friend? Her heart beat a little faster and she couldn't help the smile that threatened, it sounded a little too good to be true. She was brought out of her thoughts by Brandi placing an orange colored drink in front of her. She was about to ask what it was she felt the bartender's lips on her own. It lasted a split second but even in that short amount of time it didn't elicit the same tingles that the kisses the she had shared with a certain blonde.
"Five…four…three…two… and look who is here. Brandi whispered into Holly's ear before taking a step back.
Holly was a bit dazed as she turned to see Gail rushing up to her. Gail had an odd look on her face that Holly had never seen before. Gail glared at Brandi before grabbing Holly by her forearms and turning Holly to face her.
"Save me!" she hissed.
Amused Holly lowered her glasses and gave her a pointed look, "Save you?"
"I thought you said that they wouldn't bite!"
Holly laughed, "Someone bit you?"
Gail fidgeted and smoothed her shirt, "She didn't bite me but the one wearing the leopard print shirt licked my neck and pinched my butt."
"I see…" Holly laughed as she looked at the woman in question who in turn waved at Gail.
Gail glared, "It isn't funny."
Holly waved back and the woman approached them, "It kind of is." Holly whispered loudly into Gail's ear.
Gail's "new friend" smiled, "You disappeared on me blondie. One minute we are dancing and then…poof! Gone." She said and then turned to face Holly, "Hi I am Missy and you are?"
Holly went to answer but Gail was faster, "This is Holly…my girlfriend."
Her face felt as if it were on fire and Holly could her Brandi laugh. If the shock of hearing Gail call her that wasn't enough she felt Gail's hand grab her own. "Going on two months now; isn't that right babe?"
Holly nodded but then decided that if Gail wanted to play this game she could play it better. Holly wrapped her arm around Gail's middle and pulled her onto Holly's lap. "That is right babe." She kissed the spot where Gail's neck met her shoulder. She could feel Gail squirm as her lips teased the sensitive skin and maybe her ears were playing tricks on her but she could swear that Gail moaned. She couldn't help herself as she continued to tease the flustered blonde, "I think we should take off soon, I can't wait to take you to bed and in the morning… I am making waffles."
Missy's smile faltered and she started to back away, "Oh nice to meet you…I think my friends are looking for me." When she was gone Holly released Gail and picked up her drink but before she could take a sip Gail grabbed it out of her hands and drank it down in a single gulp.
"Damn! What was that?"
"That was a Screaming Orgasm. It is my specialty…I made it just for Holly but I can make her another one. In fact I could make her several when my shift ends if she wants." Brandi said suggestively as she leaned over the bar. Holly visibly gulped and couldn't make her mouth form words to save her life and Gail looked as if daggers were going to fly out of her eyes. "I need to get back to work but here is my number Holly if you want to meet up later for that drink." She said as she pressed a napkin with something written on it into Holly's hand.
As soon as Brandi left Gail muttered, "There goes her tip. Some nerve on that one…like you would go for some bartender."
"She is a month away from getting her doctorate in psychology." Holly said automatically, she didn't know why she was defending the bartender but it was fun to rile up Gail.
"Oh…but still she just heard me call you my girlfriend, kind of a cheap move on her part." Gail argued.
"What was that anyway Gail?"
"What?" Gail said looking away.
"Uh uh, don't play innocent."
Gail shrugged and blushed a little, "It is something that the guys and I do when there is unwanted company around. By the way you really played the part, so much better than Dov or Chris. I particularly liked the bit about waffles." Gail's face then fell, "Oh shit! I totally blew it didn't I?"
Holly wasn't sure what Gail meant by that comment and shook her head, "Blew what?"
"Here I am trying to get you a girl and then I go and announce to the entire room that you are my girlfriend."
She had to laugh, "Yeah you kind of poisoned the well here, the only women that are going to be interested now are either into cheaters or looking to be part of a threesome."
"Sorry."
Gail actually did look sorry and it made Holly smile as she said, "It is okay but can we go now?"
"Yeah, let me pay the bar bill, why don't you grab our coats."
"Sure." she walked towards the coat check room and glanced over her shoulder to see Gail have a few words with Brandi before paying. Holly could practically see the waves of hate waft off of Gail as she accepted her change from the bartender. Holly was still holding on to the folded napkin that Brandi had given her, she unfolded it and read: "Good luck Holly, if you ever want to talk here is my number. You owe me a big tip."
"I thought you were getting our coats?" Gail asked as she walked towards her.
"Oh yeah, I guess I got a little distracted." She said as she refolded the note and noticed Gail's eyes narrow and a frown form as the she saw the note.
Instead of hopping over the counter Holly as she had done before she used the door and Gail followed her into the small room. Coats had been thrown haphazardly since Holly had last been in there and she sat on the floor to sort through them trying to find theirs. Gail joined her and sat quietly for a minute or so before tapping out a nervous pattern on her leg. "I wasn't a very good wingwoman tonight."
Holly didn't know how to answer but Gail continued, "I am usually really good at this sort of thing. I am lousy at romance when it comes to my own but I have always been good at finding it for Dov and Chris but tonight…I sucked."
"It was fine Gail really…"
"No. No it isn't fine Holly. You are this incredible woman, so freaking smart that it scares me sometimes and funny even when you are not trying to be. And beautiful…inside and out…so beautiful and there was no one here that deserved you. I must have talked to two dozen women tonight and not one was good enough for you."
Holly had never had anyone talk about her in that way and for a second all thoughts of went out of her head. There were no worries about Gail being straight or of losing her, no the only thought that was coursing through her wasn't so much a thought but a need…a need to kiss Gail, a real kiss; not a peck on the lips but an emotion fueled kiss. She was leaning in when a coat smacked her in her face and Gail laughed. And with that the moment was ruined. Holly shook her head in frustration and Gail held up their coats. "Come on nerd let's get out of here."
They left the club and saw a taxi pulling up and they waited for the occupants to leave before they got in. "Catnip Club." Gail said as she sat down.
"Huh?"
"The name of the club, I hadn't noticed it before, kind of a stupid name…oh… of I get it. Cats…catnip…pussy cats…pussy…"
Holly shook her head, "Gail stop…just stop."
The driver cleared his throat, "Where to?"
Once again Gail answered before Holly could and gave the driver Holly's address.
Holly must have looked confused because Gail smirked, "You promised me waffles."
"You are insane."
"I might be."
A/N Did it live up to your expectations? Please drop me a review or PM and let me know what you think.
