Rain pounded on the asphalt, the wheels of Elsa's motorcycle kicking up water as she sped down the lonesome highway. This time of night, there weren't many people on the road. She hadn't seen another vehicle in at least an hour, and she figured she had another hour or so before she reached her destination. The sound of the motor rumbling and the rain pelleting her helmet were her only companions.
Not for the first time, and not for the last, Elsa questioned the choices in her life that led her to this point.
She didn't hate what she did; in fact, she enjoyed it. It was just that sometimes it felt like she was in a rut. Traveling the country, performing at bars and hotels and anywhere else that would have her.
It just got old, sometimes. It was so lonely
She missed her sister, even if she wasn't sure whether or not her sister missed her.
What would Anna say if she knew where Elsa had disappeared to. That she spent most of her time driving the endless highways that stretched across the country like a spider's web.
She reached up, wiping at her goggles with one hand, knowing she must look a sight.
If there was anyone to see her tonight anyway. This weekend, plenty of people would see her, if things went well. There were some downsides to that. Elsa was used to the looks she got sometimes, stepping onto the stage. Like some in the audience resented that she was up there. As if they could tell what kind of person she was with just a glance.
Hazard lights stopped her mind from spiraling through what ifs and should haves, and she slowed down, pulling to the side of the road. Ahead of her was a lime-green Mustang, with the hood up.
Elsa pulled a piece of plastic out of a side bag, got off her bike and quickly put the plastic down over the seat. Then she walked around the passenger side of the car, glancing in to see a buxom young blonde woman sitting on the passenger seat. The woman peered at her through the window and Elsa smiled, before stepping around to the front.
A woman with dark curly hair sticking to her scalp and neck was bent over the engine, cursing under her breath as she inspected whatever was wrong with it. She jumped a little when Elsa's shoes crunched on the gravel, and looked at her.
She was beautiful, with warm, dark skin and a little smudge of oil on one cheek, her hair every which way. It was longer than Elsa's shoulder-length style.
Her brown eyes pierced right through Elsa.
"Need any help?" Elsa asked, after realizing she was staring, "I mean, I can help."
She probably only knew a little more than the woman about cars, but it was too late to back out now.
"Hopefully you know more than I do about cars," the woman replied. She had a faint accent that was hard for Elsa to place beyond some vague southern state (Louisiana, maybe), but her voice made her think of sirens, like she'd been lured in during a storm. "I'm a goddess in the kitchen, but hand me a wrench and a whatever-that-is and I'm as clueless as a newborn puppy."
"Uhm. Well I can maintain my bike well enough, but… " Elsa shrugged, "I can take a look, at least? What happened?"
It might be a little easier to just give them a ride, but taking on two passengers in the rain was as dangerous as leaving one or both of them alone.
"We lost power. Engine went out, could barely steer, pushin' on the brake was like stepping on a rock." She put her hands on her hips, stepping back to give Elsa room to look. Elsa pulled her helmet off and set it aside under the hood, then peered in to take a look. Her jacket sleeve rode up, exposing her wrist as she ...
… Yeah, she was pretty sure she had no idea what to do, except a vague memory came to her. She looked around at some of the wires. She once had a car that had a loose cable that caused it to lose power like that. And she spotted a disconnected wire. "Engine off?"
"Key is still in."
"Could you pull the key out? I don't want to get electrocuted."
"Wouldn't want to fry your cute butt," the woman agreed, and Elsa nearly knocked her head on the raised hood.
After a moment, the woman called out, "All right!"
"Well here goes nothing." Elsa attached the wire, then picked up her helmet and backed up. "Try now!"
The starter whined and then the car sputtered to life. Elsa watched the wheels turn back and forth and smiled in relief. "Well, there you go!"
"Thank you so much." The woman closed the hood then turned to Elsa.
"It was nothing. Really. You're lucky I had that exact problem once."
She grinned. "Still, I want to treat you to a nice dinner. I own a restaurant, about fifty miles the way we were both going. If it's on your way, it'll be my treat."
"I've actually got a gig that way," Elsa said. "And it's too cold and rainy to turn down such a nice offer."
"Music?"
"I'm a singer."
"Mm." The woman tilted her head thoughtfully, "Well, I'll meet you there then, all right?"
"All right." Elsa pulled her helmet back on, unable to help her smile. She wasn't about to turn down a free warm meal in her current situation, and if she was honest with herself, she wanted to talk to this woman more. "Oh, I'm Elsa."
"Tiana," came the reply, before Tiana got back into her car.
As Elsa passed back towards her bike, the blonde in the front seat waggled her fingers at her, then turned to chat excitedly at Tiana.
?
Tiana closed the door behind her, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel for a moment before turning on her blinkers and merging back onto the highway.
"So," Charlotte said, turning in her seat to smile at her friend. "That woman sure has a nice butt, doesn't she, sugar. Pretty sure those bellbottoms were painted on..."
"This is why I regret telling you I'm bisexual," Tiana muttered, shaking her head good naturedly.
"What, a straight woman can't admire a nice butt and a pretty pair of baby blues?" Charlotte tapped her finger on her lip, then shrugged one shoulder, "Okay, maybe I'm a little bit bi-curious, but the point stands, hon. I see a nice butt, I point 'em your way."
Tiana rolled her eyes, checking her mirror and seeing Elsa was still behind them. At least she assumed that singular headlight was Elsa. "Don't make a big deal about this, but I invited her to the cafe as thanks for helpin' us out."
As she'd feared, Charlotte squealed with excitement. "Oh my gawd we have got to cook to impress."
"I have to cook to impr- I'm not trying to impress!" Tiana's eyes moved to the rings dangling from her mirror, frowning.
Charlotte followed her gaze, and then reached over and out a hand on her arm. "Oh sweetie. It's been two years. Ya'll can't keep hidin' yourself away from the world."
"I'm not hiding, Charlotte." Tiana returned her eyes to the road.
"Naveen would want you to be happy. Y'all had five years of bliss together, there are people out there who ain't never had a day of that in their lives. I don't mean to say you took it for granted or nothing. What you had was somethin' special. But … "
Charlotte sighed heavily, sinking back in the passenger seat, "But you could find somethin' new that's special just different special. And there ain't nothing wrong with that."
"I meet a woman on a highway after dark, that don't mean there's anything special that's going to happen."
"Did you learn anything about her? Besides being … handy." Charlotte waggled her eyebrows, adding, "Leather jacket, short hair, and did you see that helmet? She's as straight as Ol' Louie is."
Charlotte, really? "There was a tattoo on her wrist, couldn't quite make it out, though. But she said she was a singer, has a gig in town."
Charlotte tapped her lip again, "Say, didn't we book someone for this weekend? Name began with an E… Elizabeth?"
"Liz was last week. Pretty girl, also with blue eyes, but black hair." She steadfastly ignored her friend's smirk.
"Yeah, she was really pretty. Nice smokey voice. But she didn't have the same butt as motorbike lady."
"Her name is Elsa."
"That was it!" Charlotte clapped her hands and bounced in her seat, "Can you believe that? What a coinkidink! Think I can get her to sing Blue Bayou?"
Tiana shook her head, thumb rubbing across the wheel, "What's with you and Linda Rhondstat?"
What kind of dumb luck was it to have the woman she booked to sing at her restaurant be her roadside rescuer? And an attractive one that had made it just a little hard to breathe around at that?
"She's my favorite," Charlotte whined. "Put us both through college stripping to her after daddy put all my money into a trust."
"He wanted you to be able to survive on your own," Tiana pointed out. She didn't think stripping to pay the bills had been his intent, but it had worked, and Charlotte was a damn good manager. And Tiana loved her for sticking with her all these years, especially after Naveen was killed. "And I'll have you know I contributed to that too! My callouses still have callouses from all that dish washing."
"And lookit you now." Charlotte leaned over and hugged Tiana, nearly making the car swerve, "Got your own restaurant and everything! Earned it fair and square, and it is the most popular destination in this part of the state!"
"Not quite the river-side cafe in New Orleans I dreamed about," Tiana said softly. "But it is something, isn't it?"
"A beautiful somethin'," Charlotte assured her, flouncing back to her side of the car. She shook her hands out, "And less prone to flooding."
?
Tiana's Palace was a two story building nestled in a grove of trees alongside a meandering river. It was more like a stream, but that was just arguing semantics. She stared at the flickering neon sign and realized this was her gig for the weekend.
"What a coincidence…" She should have realized the two Tianas would be the same.
Elsa liked it. It looked homey and welcoming and she hadn't felt either homey or welcomed in longer than she cared to think about. She pulled up, sitting there a moment as she watched Tiana and her friend get out of the car and rush for the doors. She couldn't help but grin at their antics as Tiana struggled to get the Restaurant open before they were soaked through.
Swinging off the bike, Elsa put her plastic down, though it hadn't actually helped all that much last time. Then she grabbed one of her bags and her guitar and rushed inside after the ladies.
Elsa stood there, dripping water all over Tiana's floor.
Tiana caught a look at her and then chuckled. "Charlotte, can you take Elsa upstairs? She can toss her clothin' into the dryer and borrow somethin' from us."
"Oh! That's okay, I could just towel-" But then Charlotte had her hand and was dragging her to a set ot stairs. Elsa left her shoes at the foot of the stairs and then glanced towards Tiana before following Charlotte upstairs.
"Laundry room is right over there, sugar, I'll bring ya a towel and some clothin' you can wear while Tiana cooks us something delicious."
"Thank you." Elsa removed her jacket and stepped into the tiny little room that housed their washer and dryer. She hung it up and leaned against the dryer as she tried to tug her soaked socks off.
"Here you go!" Charlotte deposited two towels and a small stack of clothing, then closed the door behind her as she left Elsa alone.
That was awfully nice of her, and Elsa was relieved. She peeled her jeans off, next, then tossed them and her panties in after the socks. Her shirt followed and she hung up her bra near her jacket, then turned to inspect what kind of clothing Charlotte had provided while she toweled herself down.
She'd have to go commando, but the jeans fit well enough. The shirt was a t-shirt from a recent Linda Rondstat concert, and was a little baggy on Elsa's frame, since Charlotte had a bit more up top.
After adding the towels and starting the dryer, Elsa stepped out of the room, and glanced at herself in the mirror. Her hair looked like it had been blown about in a storm and she spent a minute combing it down with her fingers and cursing her decision to cut her hair.
Swallowing her nerves, Elsa started down the stairs. As she reentered the restaurant, she spotted Tiana in the kitchen, dark eyes following her movements.
?
Charlotte bounced into the kitchen, spinning around like a ballerina before stopping at Tiana's side. She leaned in conspiratorially, eyes bright and expression just to the left of crazy. "Guess what, Tia?"
"I'm regretting this already, but what?"
She leaned in further and whispered loudly, "She's a lesbian."
"Did you … Charlotte what did you do?"
"I didn't do anything!" Charlotte spun around behind Tiana and reached for something off a rack. "Just got a nice look at that tattoo you saw."
Tiana frowned, but had to admit there was a part of her consumed with curiosity. She held her hand out for some spices. "Yeah?"
"Double venus on one wrist, with a labrys," Charlotte said, offering up the requested ingredients. "Real tiny, but I'm sure of it!"
"And you know what those mean, how?"
"I uhm… Naveen and I did a lotta reading after you came out to us, that's all." Charlotte smiled sheepishly.
"Hand me that pepper," Tiana said, fondly. When she'd married Naveen, she'd sworn to herself there would be no secrets between them. And if there were no secrets with him, there would be no secrets with Charlotte either.
She started to slice into the pepper, glancing up when Elsa came down the stairs. Her golden shoulder-length hair was tousled and she wore Charlotte's favorite t-shirt and a pair of Tiana's jeans and Tiana nearly cut her fingers off before Charlotte grabbed her hand and moved it out of the way.
"Smooth, sweetie." Charlotte grinned at her, "I know you're hungry but ya might wanna focus on the food and not the girl."
Tiana took a breath, then stared down at the cutting board.
"So I'm pretty sure this is the place I'm performing this weekend," Elsa said, sitting on a stool at the counter and watching Tiana. "Isn't that funny?"
"Just means fate likes to play tricks sometimes is all." Tiana grinned at her, "A nice harmless one in this case."
"I guess so." Elsa tucked some hair behind her ear, and Tiana realized that Charlotte had been right about the little tattoo. It was as though Elsa had wanted to express herself but had been too afraid to be bold about it.
"Do you have a place to stay?"
"There's a motel down the road," Elsa said.
"Oh hell no." Charlotte bustled her way out of the kitchen and joined Elsa on one of the stools, "We got plenty of room for ya, honey. Don't need to stay at that flea infested abomination."
"It's a Motel 6," Tiana called out.
"I rest my case." Charlotte spun around on her stool, and Elsa looked dizzy trying to keep up with her. She abruptly stopped herself by grabbing onto the bar. "So what do ya say? You're already gonna be performin' here, consider it part of your compensation package."
Elsa glanced at Tiana, and Tiana shrugged her shoulders. "Charlotte's my manager, she handles all this stuff."
"Tia just cooks and looks real pretty while she does it." Charlotte elbowed Elsa playfully.
Elsa's baby blues flicked to Tiana and Tiana felt heat rise to her cheeks.
Food. Not girl. Tiana busied herself with getting everything simmering, "Were you traveling for very long?"
"About ten hours."
"Jesus Son of Mary," Charlotte breathed, hopping off of the stool, "Y'all must be famished! Would ya like somethin' to drink?"
"Water would be great," Elsa said, looking outside. "That I can drink instead of wear, that is."
Charlotte howled with laughter, and disappeared into the kitchen to fetch a glass of water.
"That can't have been easy." Tiana checked her pots, then stepped behind the counter. She leaned on it, gazing into Elsa's eyes. "A drive like that, just for three nights?"
Elsa seemed to search Tiana's face, "It's what I do. I go where the jobs are. And ... I can't say that I hate it."
"Stay here," Tiana said, unsure of where that was even coming from. "Charlotte is right, we've got the room.
"Okay." Heat colored Elsa's cheeks, "I'll need to borrow an iron, though. I was going to use the one in the motel room to steam out my outfit."
"You don't stand up there crooning in a leather jacket and jeans?" She teased.
"Depends on the venue." Elsa glanced around, smiling, "The palace gets the dress."