With my fingers still buzzing from my Holly induced high, I slowly venture down the hallway to my room, every so often stopping to lean against the wall as I replay the moment over in my head. I feel like I am inside that revolving door again, and the memory is trapped inside with me, only this time I don't want to get off, I want to get her off instead. I hear the elevator ding off in the distance which causes me to freeze on the spot, and it's not until she gently squeezes my shoulder and her warmth permeates through my skin that I realise I have been holding my breath.
"Hey," she softly greets me as I expel the air from my lungs, only it takes me a few painstaking seconds to build up the courage to look her in the eye and somehow provide her with a response. There is a tenderness in her expression that immediately calms me, but even more so when she curls the corners of her mouth eventuating into what can only be described as beautiful. Now I find myself fighting the urge to tell her so. Why is she forcing me to say all these words? It is rather annoying that she can pull this stuff out of me so easily. "Are you ok?" she asks, quizzically studying my face as her hand moves up to caress my cheek.
I lean into her palm as her thumb brushes gently across my bottom lip. I bring her hand around to my lips and kiss her fingers. "I'm perfect."
"Meh, I guess," she shrugs her shoulders and a blushing smile creeps it's way onto her face. Unblinking, her eyes follow our hands as they fall down between us and there is an urgency in the way that she intertwines our fingers together.
As we walk hand in hand down the hallway she reaches down the top left side of her dress and pulls her phone out from the inside her bra as we approach my hotel room door. "What?" she smirks as I lean back against my door grinning widely.
"I am just glad I grabbed your other boob, otherwise I would have hand a handful of phone and that shit would have been embarrassing!" I self-consciously laugh.
"Hmmph," she breathes out. "Well played, Officer. Very well played indeed," she concedes nodding her head decisively. She removes the cover from her iPhone and takes out her room key from behind it, "So are we still going for that swim?" she asks before clicking the cover back into place.
"Yes!" I exasperate. "I need to be weightless for a while."
She thoughtfully taps her key card against her chin. "If you want, I took a three week course in Thai massage years ago, so I could always rub you down later."
"Ha!" I exclaim. "The things you will say just to get your hands on me," I shake my head.
"No. I am just not very good at seeing people hurting," she insists. "All that wincing you have been doing tonight has been driving me crazy! The getting to touch your body part has absolutely nothing to do with it whatsoever," she winks. "You know..." she playfully draws out as she takes a step closer to me, "these hands and fingers of mine are pretty talented," she assures me as she cheekily twinkles her fingers right in front of my face. "And expensive," she continues. "Though I am sure we could figure out some sort of arrangement."
"Righto," I say in an attempt to sound casual when in actual fact the thought of her rubbing me down is a little too exciting to admit. "Steady on nerd, let's see how the swimming goes first, shall we?" I smirk. "Which room are you in?" I ask as I swipe my key card.
"It's the next one down. I think the organisers must have bulk booked the rooms or something," she clarifies as she unzips the back of my dress and I quickly look over my shoulder as the door opens. "Your welcome," she calls out, before disappearing into her room.
As I step through the door I see my suitcase and coat on the end of the bed. Thebed. One bed. Oh hell, no! This so isn't going to happen! I haven't slept in my mothers bed since I was thirteen, and that was only because a tree had smashed through my bedroom window during a blizzard and she see didn't seem to want to let go of me for the next twenty hours, which was a strange event in itself.
In an instant I am over at the small desk where the room service menus are and I drop my purse down on top of them. I switch on the desk lamp and begin to write my mother a note on the notepad provided. A note that I am particularly happy to be writing because I have been trying to think up the perfect excuse as to how I could spend the night with Holly without raising any suspicion from my mother. This, I think, is as good as it is going to get.
Dearest Mother,
I love you, but not as much as I love sleeping in a bed of my own. I am staying with Holly who has a twin room.
Message me a time to meet for breakfast.
Love your dutiful daughter,
Officer Gail Peck.
I leave my key on the desk and I pick up my purse and coat and I drag my suitcase down the hallway to Holly's room. I knock on her door and a few seconds later she opens it only slightly, so she can pop her head through the gap. "Oh, it's you," she cheekily smiles. Who the fuck else would it be? "I thought it was my other girlfriend," she jokes and I take a moment to scowl at her as she takes the time herself to laugh at her own joke. Ha! Ha! Very funny!
"Lunchbox, I'm moving in," I explain as I nudge the door open with my foot, only to find her dressed in a white see through button up shirt over a matching black sports bra and boy shorts. Is she trying to kill me? This is going to be a very long and restless night.
"Stay right where you are, Officer!" she orders me from the other side of the elevator and I step back into the wall with my hands defensively in the air.
"Dude! I was just wanted to show you something. Chillax, would you?"
"Sorry," she laughs, "but my anxiety levels are going to go through the roof if we continue to play these games. You are seriously stressing me out! My poor adrenal glands need some rest!"
"It's just a coat, nerd. I am not going to flash you," I try and assure her but I don't think she believes me because she is minutely shaking her head at me and squinting her eyes like Clint Eastwood. "Anyway, I would be perfectly happy to stop with the games. Your not the only one who's head is about to explode."
"Okay, good!" she says elatedly.
I quirk an eyebrow, "May, I approach you now please?" I ask.
"You may, seeing as you asked so nicely," she beams.
"So what did you want to show me?"
I walk over to her and loop my towel around her neck and I hold on tightly to the ends. "Will you wait for me?" I ask as the elevator stops for an elderly couple to get in.
"Will I wait for you?" she questions, her voice bringing my attention back from the old lady who is staring at my silly fluffy slippers. At least they are not the ones with bunny rabbits on them.
"Yes, I could be inside an awfully long time," I disclose as I move my hands down to rest on her towel-covered hips.
"Gail, what are you on about?" she snorts.
"When I am hauled off to Jail. Will you wait for me?" I joke.
"I don't know, that depends," she contemplates, "what exactly will you be in there for?"
I take half a step back from her and carefully open one side of my coat, pulling the other side over myself to cover my body. "Champagne theft" I whisper and she looks down to see the bottle sitting deep in my inside coat pocket. The bottle I had stolen from a room service trolley when she wasn't looking. What a terrible police officer.
I wrap my coat back around myself. "Can you keep a secret?" I ask as the door to the third to last level opens and the elderly couple step out.
"I am already an accessory to champagne theft," she huffs rolling her eyes, "so, I guess another secret can't exactly hurt. Go ahead," she urges as the doors close again.
"Well this one could in actual fact hurt you, because if you tell anyone about it, I may just have to kill you, dead," I say only half seriously. "I have something else to show you," I divulge as I open the other side of my coat and she immediately looks down into the other pocket.
"Gail, I don't see anything," she says staring back up at me, now with her curiosity piqued.
"I wanted to show you my underwear," I giggle as I open the other side of my coat so I am entirely on display.
She immediately covers her eyes in a reaction time of zero point one. "Gail!" she yells, "You are such a tease! You said you weren't going to flash me!" she complains, childishly stomping her feet.
"And I'm not!" I swear to her. "Flashing you would consist of me opening and closing my coat in a split second," I smugly educate her. "Perhaps I should have said I wanted to show you what was on my underwear. I am wearing a tank top if that helps," I scoff, albeit minus a bra. "Besides you are about to go swimming with me! You are going to see it all anyway. I didn't take you for being such a prude, nerd."
She slides her hands off her face and looks down at my body in a way that can only be described as gawking. "Okay, I'm looking," she huffs red-faced.
"Look closer," I urge her. "Actually no don't do that," I laughingly backtrack. Her face doesn't need to be in my crotch when those doors open. "Putting your glasses on so you can actually see something might help," I suggest and she drops them from the top of her head to her nose and takes another gander, this time she does somewhat of a double take.
"You are a Whovian!" she exclaims.
"I'm a whova-what now?" I ask as the doors slide open and I let my coat fall back into place.
"A Doctor Who fan?" Where did you get those?" she laughs referring to my Dalek patterned blue underwear. We walk out into the hallway where we are nearly bowled over by some wet teenagers who are leaving the rooftop pool.
"Oh, I wouldn't exactly call myself a, what was it, a Whovian?" I question again as I hold open the entrance door for her and I can't help but notice on my initial scan of the place that there is no one in the pool now and I would like to keep it that way. "A very lovely wookie sold them to me at a comic convention I worked about sixth months ago. I thought you might appreciate them," I smirk as I pick up the out of order sign that is leaning against a wall nearby and I place it in front of the door to the pool entrance and then I close the door behind me.
"What are you doing?" she whispers decisively quick into my ear, scaring the living crap out of me.
"Jesus, nerd!" I exclaim and she begins to lead me poolside. "Give this Whovian a heart attack why don't you!" I laugh as we come to a stop beside some chairs that line the edge of the pool.
"You and your sexy underwear are going to get us both arrested by nights end, I just know it," she ponders, gazing out at the ever welcoming sparkling water. I catch hold of her arm and reach into one of my coat pockets. "Don't worry so much. It's not like I had to use these to break us in here," I say pulling out a small leather cloth, unraveling it to show her two silver lock picking tools.
My father had given them to me when I was eighteen and had taught me how to use them before I went off to college. He told me that I might never know when they would come in handy, and I have kept them on my person ever since. The only time I have ever used them was about six weeks ago when I had locked myself out of the apartment in a drunken stupor. It was the very same night in which Holly had kissed me in the coat check room at Noelle and Franks wedding and I had proceeded to spend the following few hours in a growing state of denial. I still don't know how I managed to unlock that door.
Holly takes them from my hand in disbelief. "I didn't want to believe It, but somehow I knew you weren't kidding about these," she shakes her head as she rolls them back up and covertly slides them back into my pocket.
She reaches inside my coat and pulls out the bottle of champagne and passes it to me before sliding her hands up and under my collar and over my shoulders to push my coat off. I kick off my slippers and put the bottle down at the edge of the pool so it is in arms reach from the water. She removes the towel from around her neck and drops both it and my coat onto the chair beside us. I remove the towel that is wrapped around her waist and throw it over the chair. She sheds her glasses placing them carefully on top of the towels as she steps out of her slip-on shoes. All that is left now is that white see through shirt. She pauses for a moment to look at me and then reaches for the top button, but my hands beat her to it.
"Let me," I say weakly as I try my hardest to fend off my nerves, but my fingers are already trembling over her buttons.
"We should do this more often," she interrupts, breaking what little concentration I had.
"What, swimming?" I ask curiously.
"No, the you undressing me part. It's oddly calming, which is kind of strange really given the past twenty minutes of utter torture," she scoffs.
"For you maybe, but my hands are shaking," I admit, though it is probably pretty obvious to her right now. "Plus, there is something weird going on with this shirt," I grumble as I finally get to the last button after having fumbled on a few.
"You are probably just not used to taking off a women's shirt."
"Oh right," I draw out, pretending to acknowledge that fact, but that's not it all. All I am trying to do is divert her attention away from how incredibly turned on I am right now, and how I can barely concentrate enough to focus my eyes. The same eyes that keep getting pulled down to her blurry firm stomach and her impeccably contoured hips. Not to mention that sexy belly button ring with the cute little skull charm on it that I had almost forgotten about.
She leaves me standing there, mouth slightly agape as she walks over to the steps of the pool. After I achingly watch her submerge, I make my way down to the deep end and pin drop into the water, hitting the bottom of the pool with my feet. The warm water feels like it's sizzling against my even warmer skin as I float to the surface on my back. I push off the edge and lightly wave my arms through the water as I travel slowly down the length of the pool. She circles me like a shark before standing up next to my floating body. She puts her hands lightly underneath my back and neck to support my body and she begins to slowly guide me around the pool.
As we enjoy the ambient noise from the streets below we continue to float around in this position for at least thirty minutes, every so often Holly piping up to mention something about Doctor Who as I continually catch her staring at my underwear. I tell her that I used to watch it as a young teenager, but I hadn't seen it in years. And now it seems I have agreed to an all night Doctor Who slumber party with her. It's not the worst thing in the world I suppose. She seems rather eager which is kind of cute. I said it would only happen on the proviso that we watch Star Wars somewhere in the middle there. Her response was to blow on my stomach and nearly drown me instead. The champagne had helped to get rid of the chlorine taste from mouth.
"Your bruise looks like it's healing," she observes as she runs her hand over my abdomen and around to the side of my waist to where I assume she is going to touch it, but she pokes it instead looking very amused with herself. She is such a weirdo. A very beautiful bruise-poking weirdo. "It has shrunk at least, and it is now a lovely faded shade of yellow with dimply green spots," she meanders. "It's kind of pretty in a way."
"You are so weird," I shake my head lightly. "But I like it."
"You know that your tank top is see through," she blurts out and my eyes instantaneously shoot open. I think about covering my chest with my hands but I know we are probably past the point of being modest, seeing as I have been lying here for at least thirty minutes with her undoubtedly staring at my chest anyway. Who am I kidding though? I have always been anything but modest about this kind of stuff anyway.
"Thank you, Detective. You are unbelievably perceptive tonight."
"Well I need to be in my line of work."
I break from my floating position and Holly sinks down into the water and I pull her towards me. She wraps her legs around my waist while she paddles her arms in order to keep her top half afloat. "Speaking of, it's so amazing about that grant you won, congratulations again," I praise her, but she uncomfortably smiles at me and shrugs her shoulders like it were nothing. Just like Kate had described. I push us both over towards the pool edge until her back hits the wall. "Hey! C'mon," I say, lightly shaking her arms beneath the water, "It's such an incredible achievement. You should be proud of yourself."
"Yeah, I guess," she pouts.
"You guess?"
She pretends to perk up for a moment. "Yay me!" she exclaims rising out of the water.
"Holly, don't do that!"
"Do what Gail?" she huffs, annoyed at me as she sinks back down into the water.
"That!" I say pointing to her disgruntled face, but she continues to be insolent in her reactions. "You are acting like it means nothing to you."
She releases her legs from my waist and closes her eyes as her body sinks down and her head disappears under the water. Her stubbornness is now rearing its ugly head, that's for sure. You are like two peas in a pod. I am starting to understand why people find me so infuriating sometimes (well probably all the time, but for many different reasons). I hold onto the edge of the pool ledge with both hands as she emerges from the water. She takes in a deep breath as she brushes the water off her eyes with her fingers, opening them to see my face right up in her own. I see the side of her mouth curl up but she tries to mask it by biting her lip.
"Look, I don't know what's going on with you, and I am definitely not going to force you to tell me, but I can't exactly sit here and pretend like your job is not the most important thing to you in the world, and in saying that, it is something that I would like to know more about."
I wait for her brain to start to do its work. She chews on her lip, wriggles her nose, blinks a few times before finally squinting at me. "I just want to know more about you," I express as I move my body flush up against hers.
"Gail," she pauses and I concentrate in on the frown line that is slowly disappearing between her eyebrows as we bob up and down in the water. "You are so," she pauses again. This sentence of hers is going to take a lifetime to present itself to me, I know it.
"Annoying? Tiresome? Irritating? Difficult?" I try and help her out. "Spit it out Lunchbox, don't leave me in suspense here!" Maybe you should be adding impatient to that list.
"Utterly devastating," she says as her muscles relax and she sinks down further into the water.
"Huh?"
"Gail, I want to share with you, I do," she assures me as her hands hold onto my face, "but it's kind of a boring long-ish story and it's been an even longer day so, if it's okay with you, could we perhaps just wait it until we get home? I just don't feel like talking about it. Especially here," she emphasises before returning her hands back under the water.
"Holly, that's fine. As I said, I am not going to force you."
She attempts to smile at me, but falls very short of her intended mark. I thought she was a high achiever? I feel like I need to say something reassuring to her. "I know this is going to sound corny as hell coming from me, and you may just laugh in my face which would make things a little uncomfortable for me because I am not really used to the whole drowning people thing, and I kinda prefer my dead bodies dry and fully clothed. But, I just wanted to say to you that your work matters. That you matter, so thank you." I stare her squarely in the eye in hopes that she heard me.
She wraps her arms around the back of my neck. "Hmm. I know I have probably said this before, but I have really got to step up my game in the sweetness department. You are kinda leaving me in the dust."
"Um, I don't think so! This coming from Miss "utterly devastating" girl?"
She leans into my ear, "In every way," she breathlessly whispers.
"See? Gross!" I laugh into her shoulder.
"Turn around," she sighs.
"Ooh, this sounds kinky!" I joke and she scoffs at me and forces me around anyway.
"I promised you a massage," she reminds me as her hands find there way to my shoulders and the instant pressure makes my eyes roll back in my head. I try to hold back on as many moans and expletives as I possibly can as her hands move down my back, but a few do naturally pop out.
"Truth or dare?" she asks, breaking the intermittent silence. I am quite curious to see where she intends on taking this game.
"Um, dare would mean me having to probably move from this position and away from your hands so, truth I guess?"
"When was the first time you wanted to kiss me?" she asks as her hands run up the sides of my rib cage, but she is careful not to squeeze too tightly. Oh, so she is fishing... I bite my tongue as her fingers eventually graze the undersides of my breasts. I am pretty sure I daydreamed something like this once. "Probably about half a second after you kissed me in the coat check room at Noelle's wedding. But that soon changed after you called me insane and then proceeded to ditch me for a bottle of booze and more dancing," I explain.
"I never actually went dancing you know," she confesses as her thumbs run circles around the dimples of my lower back. "I left the bottle at the entrance, hailed a taxi, stopped by a convenience store and bought some ice cream. I then went home, grabbed a spoon and got into bed and read a manual called 'How to turn a straight girl.'" Holly and her manuals...
I shake my head and laugh at the thought of such a manual. Who knows, it probably does exist! "How's that working out for you?" I ask.
She kisses my shoulder. "Pretty good so far I think," she professes, but it makes me wonder if she is waiting for the other shoe to drop. Gail, don't go there. You are doing fine.
"Truth or dare?" I ask back.
"Truth," she answers. Just as I was hoping she would.
I am just going to throw this out there. "So what happened with you and Heidi?" I ask and her hands cease to work their magic on my back.
"Did I say truth? I totally meant dare," she fake laughs and then clears her throat.
"Fine, you get one pass." Avoider! Avoider! Avoider!
With her dare I figure there is no point in making her do anything athletic because she would enjoy it too much. "I have a good one," I claim and I can barely contain my excitement. "Though you can't do this now. So, tomorrow when we go shopping, I dare you to take a photo with my mother,"
"Easy," she hastily interrupts.
"I'm not finished!" I burst out. "Gail-shark has to photobomb said photo," I snicker. My words hang in the air a while, however I can't remain quiet. "Telling me about Heidi doesn't really sound that bad now does it. Eh? Eh?" I tease.
"I can totally do that," she claims as she begins massaging my back again. Nice deflection, nerd. "It'll mean Ill have to carry her around all day in my handbag. But she has never seen New York, so, it all works out," she says a little too enthusiastically. "Truth or dare?"
Okay, avoider! "Um, truth again." I'm sure she is going to make me do laps or something and probably underwater too. She turns me by the shoulders and begins to say something when I hear the door open to the roof. "Crap! Stay there!" I order her, pushing her down into the wall. "Only one of us should go to jail for this," I chuckle as I kick off the edge of the pool and float out into the middle. This is it! I am off to jail for not letting anyone in a pool.
"I'll wait for you," she quietly echoes through her hands.
I watch a short young woman dressed in a smart black skirt and jacket with a white collared blouse walk over to the pool and stop meters away from the waters edge directly behind Holly's head. "Sorry, am I in trouble," I call out trying not to laugh.
"Excuse me?" she questions putting her hands on her hips.
"I said am I in trouble for being in the pool," I repeat. I think this woman has a bit of an attitude. It's just a stupid pool, lady!
"I don't work here," she responds coldly.
"Oh, sorry, it's just with the get up and everything," I say, charmlessly pointing to her attire. Eek! Nice way to speak to stranger's, dinkus!
"Holly?" She calls out taking a few steps closer to the edge. What the? I drop my eyes down to Holly who I have been trying to avoid eye contact with for the past thirty seconds so as not to give her position away, but her eyes are closed and she is banging her head lightly against the wall.
"Um, Holly, that lady wants to talk to you," I point out and she pushes off the wall and swims out to me in the middle.
"Two birds, one stone," I manage to catch her say before she reaches me. "I think you are about to get your truth and a far lot more," she says as she grabs hold of my arms. "Promise me you will stop me before I do anything stupid, okay?" she asks, and just like that she pulls me in and passionately kisses me in a way that leaves me breathless and wanting more. Her hands fall from my face to my arms before she lets go and swims back to the edge of the pool.
"Holly, what the fuck does that mean?" I call out.
She lifts herself out of the pool by her arms in one swift move, her muscles ripple everywhere as her feet land straight on the ledge. Focus, Gail! She picks up a towel and her glasses and stands off in front of the well-dressed woman before backing away a considerable amount as she dries her face. "Heidi, what do you want?" she asks as she puts on her glasses and I quickly make my way over to the pool steps. Ooh the ex! This should be interesting.
"I just wanted to say hello, I haven't seen you," Heidi replies as Holly continues to pat herself down with her towel.
"Well now you have, so bye bye then," Holly says in a cutesy yet patronising tone, dismissing her with a wave as she walks over to pick up the half empty bottle of champagne sitting by the waters edge. I pull my tank top out from my chest as I climb the pool steps, though it doesn't seem to help much because my nipples seem to have a mind of their own right now, so I just fold my arms up over my them as I walk around the edge of the pool.
Holly wanders back to where she was standing, dropping her towel back on the chair on the way. "Holly, I just want to talk to you," Heidi insists, taking a few steps closer to her, while Holly steps backwards holding her arms in the air with the bottle in hand.
"Shouldn't you be like, one hundred feet away from me right now?" Holly questions. Which can only mean one thing in my line of work. Restraining order. This can't be good.
"No, and it's fifty feet. You have to update those things you know, or they lapse?" She's right.
"Well fuck me for being such a mindless idiot," Holly exclaims as she takes a swig from the bottle.
Heidi leans around her view of Holly and catches my eye as I very slowly start to approach them, however I make sure not to get too close. I watch Heidi bend over to the chair beside her and pick up my towel before throwing it to me. Not forcefully though, otherwise I think Holly would have probably drowned her by now if her current mood is anything to go by. I barely register a smile after I catch it. I am not sure how the etiquette goes when your girlfriend's ex-girlfriend politely throws you a towel as your girlfriend yells at said ex-girlfriend. It's all very complicated.
Holly turns around and manages to smile at me. "Take this bottle away from me," she signs one handed.
"Holly, I just wanted to say congratulations, that is all," Heidi says and Holly whips back around to her in a flash.
"I thought you just said you wanted to say hello and to see me? And besides, don't you think you would be the last person I would ever want to hear congratulations from, especially about this?" Holly asks, as I approach her from behind.
"Can you please stop being so ridiculous for half a second?" Heidi pleads.
"How exactly am I being ridiculous, tell me?" Holly insists as I take the bottle from her hand and stand off to the side so they are both in full view. I feel like I am watching a theatrical play right now, and I am curious to know who will be beheaded first. My money is definitely on Heidi. I am totally biased though.
"It's been almost two years, Holly! I thought you would be over this by now. Look how successful you are!" she points out. Holly staggers in her next breath. "Here we go," Holly signs to me, even though she is locked in a death stare with Heidi. "None of what I am about to say to her will even register," Holly adds. I wrap the towel around my body as I sit down on one of the deck chairs close to the edge of a roof wall.
"Yeah, and it's in no thanks to you!" Holly yells. Heidi turns to me rolling her eyes, leaving me completely mystified as to what she could possibly be thinking. Perhaps she thinks I am just some random Holly picked up, and she wants me to commiserate with her because some seemingly crazy lady is yelling at her. That's right! Holly is actually yelling! I didn't know her voice could be so loud.
"No! Hey!" Holly clicks her fingers out in front of Heidi's line of site as she tries to grab her attention again. "Don't you look at her! You look at me when I am speaking to you." Holly orders, and Heidi turns back to her shaking her head. Wow! Holly can be quite forceful when she wants to be. I am not sure I ever want to be on the end of that. "Do you know how hard it has been for me to get to this point? The countless days and nights I spent at home and in the lab trying to rebuild everything you took away from me? And you did, you took everything from me!" Holly's voice suddenly cracks.
"C'mon Holly, I think you are exaggerating just a little," Heidi scoffs.
Holly huffs. "You think I am exaggerating?" Holly asks as her hands move to her chest. "You ruined me! You left me heartbroken and incapable of ever being able to trust anyone! But that stuff I could live with. The worst and most inconceivable part is that you fucking stole from me! Burning my fucking kitchen down in the process! You left me fucking homeless!"
"That was totally an accident," Heidi claims as she nervously wipes her hand down the sides of her skirt.
"Totally an accident," Holly mumbles to herself. "You know you keep saying that? It's great to see you are still completely bat-shit crazy. How exactly does throwing a year and a half's worth of research into my kitchen sink and lighting it on fire constitute as an accident?" Holly asks and the air falls silent. "I am waiting!" She says impatiently.
"Hollykins..."
Holly's muscles immediately tense. "What the hell did you just call me?" Holly asks taking a meaningful step forward and I suddenly find myself on my feet and a few meters closer to them both. Holly sees me out the corner of her eye and waves me back, but I don't dare move.
"Well you should have made backups," Heidi says cavalierly brushing her hands through her hair.
"Oh right, the ones that magically disappeared and somehow found their way over to Boston University nine months later? You mean those ones?"
Heidi holds back a laugh. "You can't prove anything!" she exclaims. Wow! This woman is completely mad! Shouldn't she be in a mental institution or something, or better yet, jail?
I watch Holly's jaw clench and knuckles roll. That is never a good sign. "Remind me again why the hell I didn't get your ass thrown in Jail?" she says taking a few steps forward. I'd say this constitutes as the start of her doing something stupid, right?
I launch and take Holly by the elbow, losing my towel in the process. I get in between them both and face Holly. She doesn't look at me, her gaze is still directed straight past my head, and so I look over my shoulder at Heidi who shoots me a look of contempt. Why are you looking at me like that? I mean, apart from the butting in part.
"What? Now you have got Miss Perky Tits here to fight your own battles?" Heidi says and I feel Holly step into me wanting to get past. I put my hand under her chin and direct her face back towards mine and push her back. "Babe, look at me," I softly ask her and it takes her a few seconds to hear me, before her dark eyes find mine. "This is me stopping you, okay? She isn't worth it. This isn't you, okay?" I tell her as I brush away the tear that falls down her cheek. "This isn't you," I repeat and I feel her muscles relax as she takes a calming breath and I smile warmly at her.
"You know what? You always were a complete and utter coward, Stewart," Heidi mutters, and her words hit me like a thousand knives to the heart. I step back from Holly, who now looks like a ghost has just passed through her. Her eyes are wide, her skin is probably as pale as it can get and her body has completely frozen to the spot. I don't think she will be moving any time soon.
"But, it is me," I say and turn around and take Heidi by material of her jacket and drag her over to the edge of the pool and fling her into the water. I go back to the chairs and throw Holly's shoes at her feet. "Hey, Lunchbox!" I call, "Look lively!" I tell her as I throw her towel and shirt at her and she catches them and then slips her feet into her shoes.
"You killed my phone!" Heidi yells from the water. I think that is the least of your problems. I pull on my slippers and pick up my coat from the chair as Holly walks over to me and hands me my towel. I fold them both over one arm and then take the hand Holly offers to me and she pulls me towards the exit. "You fucking whore! I should call the cops!" Heidi yells but we keep walking.
"You do that," I shout back. "Why don't you take that short skinny ass of yours down stairs to the ballroom full of cops and see what they have to say about it! And ask for Superintendent Peck, she will help you out!" Holly shouts as she opens the door and walks through it. I let go of her hand and stop in front of the door and hold it open. "Better yet, maybe I should just arrest you now for being such a psychotic bitch!" I add. "Fucking a-hole," I mutter to myself as I walk up to Holly waiting by the elevator. As we wait for the doors to I put my coat on as she wraps her towel around her waist. She then puts her shirt back on, but doesn't bother with the buttons.
Ding!
We step into the elevator and I press the button for level ten. I listen to Holly fall back into the far wall with a thud and I back up and stand next to her as the door slides shut.
"So..." I draw out. "When you said hate," I pause as I turn my head and look at her, but her eyes are squarely focused on the door, "you really meant it, hey?"
She immediately takes my hand intertwining our fingers with the same urgency that she had earlier, but this time it is like my hand is her only lifeline. Something that she never wants to let go of.
"Well, at least she said my tits were perky," I shrug and she chokes on her next breath. Her face slowly turns red as I watch the tears stream down her face. I drop my towel and instantly turn into to her, wrapping my arms tightly around her back. She doesn't return my embrace, she just drops her head into my shoulder and starts sobbing uncontrollably. She takes in some long staggered breaths as she now heavily convulses into my arms. But it's weird; I swear I can hear the distinct sounds of laughter between every sob. She gasps for air, as she becomes more and more hysterical and I feel her slip through my arms as her legs give out on her and she is suddenly on the floor rolling around on her back like she is pain, only they are painful fits of laughter. She holds onto her ribs trying to gasp for more air, but it doesn't seem to be coming to her. I feel like I should be laughing with her but I am completely stunned and I fall back against the wall with my mouth wide open. She looks up at me and seems to be calming down only she begins to point at me. "Perky tits!" she cries out before her hysterics begin again, only this time her laughter has become contagious.
Special thanks to Oceanchic13 for the Gail-shark photobombing idea!