Part 7: Fish
It was six in the morning when Cooper called her. He wanted to get breakfast with her, which wasn't unusual. The unusual part was that he wanted to get fish for breakfast. And they weren't exactly fish people, but Cooper had insisted. "They're having a special," he said. So here they were, at this little restaurant on the docks, waiting for their tilapia.
"So what's with the scarf," Copper asked pointing to the blue silk wrapped around her neck.
"Nothing," she said, placing a hand on the fabric. She was really just trying to hide the marks Charlotte made on her.
He grinned. "You're hiding something."
"I am not," She said while throwing her napkin at him. The napkin did nothing to deter Cooper as he reached over the table and swiped Violet's scarf.
"You are!" Cooper leaned in closer to examine her neck. "Violet Turner, you are so having sex!"
"Okay, so I am."
"Who is this person? Wait, do I know this person?" Copper happily twittered.
"Uh…you know this person."
"Well, what does he look like?" Copper paused to throw her napkin back at her. "Tall? Dark? Handsome?"
"Kind of on the short side, blonde and beauti-." She amended herself quickly. "I mean handsome, very handsome."
"Huh, who do I know that's short and blonde? Well there's Charlotte," he laughed. "But I highly doubt that you're sleeping with her. Although, that would be kind of hot, a little girl on girl action."
She was glad he was only joking. For a minute, she thought she had actually been caught. "Cooper you're such a creep. Stop thinking about us like that."
She watched his face as he imagined said fantasy and couldn't help, but smile. She could always count on cooper to make her laugh. And it did seem like he was over Charlotte, just like he said. Things were starting to look up.
"Seriously, you wouldn't want to sleep with her?"
"No, Cooper, I wouldn't. I'm straight."
"But what if you had to?" He asked.
"In what situation would I ever have to sleep with her?" I can't believe we're actually talking about this.
She watched Cooper mull over it for a few moments. "Okay, so you're stuck in Antarctica with Charlotte and the only way to stay warm and survive the night is to have lots of wild, crazy, lesbian sex!"
"Can't I build a fire?"
He shook his head. "There's no wood."
"What about my cell phone?"
"There's no service there."
"Why am I in Antarctica?"
Copper let out and exasperated sigh. "You have no imagination. Okay what about this: If you had to sleep with either me or Charlotte, who would it be?"
"Oh, that's easy. I'd choose Charlotte over you any day," she laughed.
"See!" He jumped up out of his seat and pointed at her. "You would sleep with her."
"Cooper, shh! Sit back down you're making a scene."
"Aww, I'm just teasing Vi. So who is he?"
"What?" She had forgotten what they were originally talking about. "Oh, yeah, his name is…Charles …Lindberg. Yeah, Charles Lindberg."
"I don't think I know him. Oh, well." He handed Violet her scarf back. "I'm happy for you Vi."
"You're fish," the waiter interrupted before she could thank Cooper.
An hour later and they were back at the practice, well Cooper was. She was in line for coffee on the ground floor of the building. She hoped a caramel frappe with extra whip would take that fish taste out of her mouth. Speaking of the fish, her stomach was beginning to feel a little queasy.
The nausea grew increasingly worse as she progressed up the line. Her stomach was churning now. She looked behind her to locate the public restroom and spotted Charlotte walking into the building.
"Perfect," she muttered.
"Excuse me miss. You're next."
She turned back to the coffee counter and opened her mouth to order, but she felt like hurling that tilapia and rushed out of the line to the restroom. She hoped she made it to the toilet. It would be embarrassing if she puked in front of everybody.
She ran so quickly that she missed the half amused, half concerned look Charlotte gave her.
She did make it to a toilet, just in time to hurl the contents of her stomach into it.
"Stupid Cooper and his stupid fish," she grumbled. "Come on Vi, it's a special," she imitated. "Sure Coop, sounds like fun." She paused to hurl again. "God, I'm going to kill him. Stupid, stupid, stupid, fish."
She missed the sound of the door opening as she complained to herself. Charlotte had the pleasure of listening to her grumble and bitch about Cooper and his fish. The blonde laughed aloud before letting her presence be known to Violet.
"Turner, is that you?"
Violet froze and checked the lock in the stall. Great, Charlotte's here. "Go away, go away, go away," she whispered. She did not need Charlotte King seeing her like this.
"I can still hear you," Charlotte said dryly.
Violet heard the click clack of heels approach her stall and stop.
"Open up," Charlotte commanded.
She puked in the toilet in response.
"Can't believe you're going to make me do this," Charlotte grumbled to herself.
Violet wondered what Charlotte was going to do, but her question was answered when she saw the blonde's head hovering above her. Charlotte had climbed onto the toilet in the next stall to peer at her.
"Bad fish?" The blonde questioned.
She nodded her head and reached behind her to open the stall door. Charlotte entered the cramped stall and kneeled down beside her. "Are you okay?"
She didn't get a chance to answer, but this time as she threw up the bad fish there were hands holding back her hair. When she was finished Charlotte handed her a wad of toilet paper and rubbed soothing circles on her back. It felt good to have someone take care of her. She flushed and walked out of the stall to wash her hands with the petite doctor following after.
Charlotte leaned against the wall, crossing her arms over her chest. "You, okay?"
She did feel better now. No more nausea. The hurling must have done the trick. "Yeah, I think so."
"Good." Charlotte looked at her for a moment before placing a soft, hesitant kiss on her forehead. "Well, I'm glad you're okay." Charlotte stepped back and Violet watched as Charlotte regained her composure and went back to being her prickly little self. "You should go back to your little Oceanside friends."
Violet looked at her. "Maybe I'd rather stay here."
Charlotte opened her mouth and then closed it. Charlotte didn't have any friends, some acquaintances maybe, but no friends. She had some fun with men late at night and then there was Cooper, but she ruined that. And now there was Violet, who slept with her and now was saying that she wouldn't mind being her friend. She should push Violet away to protect her, but she wanted this.
"Don't look so surprised," Violet said, snapping Charlotte out of her reverie. "I told you, I liked you, and I meant it."
"Whatever. Why don't I walk you to the elevator? Don't want you puking on any innocent bystanders."
Violet chuckled at the blonde's sarcasm and thanked her.
"So, no sex today?" Charlotte asked her as they walked out of the restroom.
She let out a full belly laugh. "You're insatiable."
Charlotte cocked an eyebrow and lowered her voice to a purr. "Can you handle me?"
