(AN: Thanks for getting through the previous chapter. That is the only chapter that gets that explicit. I hope you enjoy this chapter I wrote to help kill the tension and flesh out Regina+Wolfie, with some cute sapphic interactions. If you skipped, that's alright, it's pretty obvious in future chapters what's going on.)
…
Wolfie slapped on some tanning oil and lay back in her reclining lawn chair, a tri-fold mirror under her chin.
Perfect.
She had a Sunday afternoon off from rehearsals and any responsibility, and she would be using that to her full advantage.
She yawned and adjusted the dinky sunglasses on her nose so that the bleedingly hot Midwestern sun. It was a good day to get a nap and work on her tan.
Too bad Abuelo's genes for quick tanning had skipped her but blessed Dad with a golden brown tan, leaving Wolfie looking like a sun-bleached ghost.
Abuelo lived with Gramma in Bear County, Florida, and rarely visited. She remembered spending at least one summer with the old Argentinian and his German-Irish wife, one filled with stories about animals, rice dishes, and burning the inside of her mouth with entire bags of fresh grapefruit grown on their farm.
And because they were in the neighborhood and rarely ever saw Wolfie compared to their other grandkids who lived in the surrounding counties nearby, a huge family trip to Disneyland.
Where she was shat upon by three different birds.
And chased by a very crabby duck in front of a dozen cousins, all calling her names in two different languages, only one that she could understand.
(Not a person in a suit, but a real duck that attacked her because she wouldn't surrender her cheap, soggy fries to it. The only thing that could've made the whole ordeal worse was if it was a male duck during mating season. Wolfie shuddered at the thought of how their…. ewww.)
After cursing out her father for not only leaving a place as cool as Florida but also not teaching her the language of her grandfather because she was shouted over whenever a cousin wandered through the kitchen during breakfast so she could be loud back, Wolfie went home with enough Disney merch to fill her closet.
Satisfied with her new collection and a generally fun summer that had ended with a fairly good visit to Disney, her favorite movie empire, Wolfie had decided to get her hair done.
Wolfie, caught mid-snore, lifted her glasses to glare, "Yer blockin' m'light."
The corners of Reggie's mouth pointed down as she twirled her parasol, the animosity mutual.
Upon further inspection, Reggie wasn't carrying a parasol but Mr. Cowatch's black umbrella that he usually kept by the door.
Wolfie snickered and lay back again, "Shoo, shoo, the big girl is workin' on her tan."
"Tacky." Reggie sneered, "Why be fashionable when you could be stylish."
"Don't see a difference." Wolfie said, "Hey toots, can ya get m'back? Even with these monkey arms I can't reach."
"You disgust me."
"Cool, I'll just risk a sunburn." Wolfie said, yawning. She scratched her underboob. If she wasn't feeling so tired from constant drilling and rehearsal, she'd call Marnie.
Marnie's parents were really, really weird.
Super weird.
They didn't like Pastor Sanchéz or his wife.
Which was weird, because everyone liked the church family.
Everyone.
Instead, Marnie's parents watched the Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker show or the weather every Sunday instead and made Marnie wear dresses not out of place on a toddler sized mannequin at Wal-Mart all the time.
Even at school.
Super-duper weird.
Uncle Jorje, upon visiting, said that Marnie's parents were called 'Fundies' in bigger towns.
Weird people, really weird people.
On the other hand, it was hysterical to see a girl with ribbons and lace take a puff on a cigarette laced with roach and call someone a 'Cock-Sucker'.
Wolfie grinned, ignoring Reggie as she thought of the time they'd found a box of confiscated fireworks in the K-8 center and tied a Suzy Moppet doll she'd gotten for her birthday and light 'er up.
"Are you listening to me?!"
Wolfie sat up, violently throwing her sunglasses into the grass, "What th'HELL do ya want, bitch!?"
Regina violently recoiled from Wolfie's words, "I am not, thank you very much!"
Folding her tanning mirror, Wolfie stood, "Everyone else would beg to differ!"
"Then they can beg!" Regina snorted, turning and pushing her infuriatingly cute nose in the air, "Fine. I'll just ask someone else."
"Good." Wolfie snapped.
Regina turned back to Wolfie, twiddling her umbrella handle, "Well, actually, you're the last person I know here I can ask."
"Fine. What'cha need?" Wolfie grunted, "And why me? Ya gotta sister, don'cha?"
"I asked her first." Regina said, "She didn't give me the answer I wanted."
"Princess? Izzy? Lily?" Wolfie asked, rolling her eyes when every single one had been asked already. "Why?"
"They didn't have the answer I wanted either."
"Fine." Wolfie groaned, "What do ya want?"
"Is there a good place I could get my hair done? By appointment only, of course."
Wolfie scratched her chin, "Well, there's Izzy's. Her ma does every gal 'round here, an' her uncle has a barbershop 'cross from there."
"No!" Regina stomped her heeled foot, angered by Wolfie's careless words, "That won't do!"
"Where else could'ya go? We don't have much of a town t'work wit'here!"
"I can't go there! It's so… so…"
"The word yer lookin' for is 'drab'." Wolfie said, "So either deal with it, or let yer hair grow out. Straight hair won't kill ya!"
"No I can't- UGH! I hate this damn town!" Regina turned to stomp away and fumbled with a pack of cigarettes, the expensive kind, and patted herself down for a lighter.
Wolfie sighed and reached into her bag and grabbed a Zippo.
Towering over petite and curvy Regina, Wolfie snapped the Zippo to life. She gently touched Regina's shoulder, subconsciously pulling her closer and putting the lighter to her cigarette.
Regina took a puff, still in Wolfie's carefully placed arm, and stood on the dead grass far from the Sanchéz family home, sweating.
The umbrella had been dropped moments ago.
Wolfie soon found herself shoved away from Regina. She stumbled on the overgrown grass.
"Hey, what the fuck?"
"Don't touch me, heathen!"
Wolfie gritted her teeth, "Jeez, yer a bitch! I was just helpin' ya wit'yer ciggie!"
"A creep like you should never touch a lady!"
Wolfie sat down on the lawn chair, "Whatever ya say, princess."
Regina shuffled as she awkwardly repositioned the umbrella, "I'm leaving now."
"Thanks fer announcin' it." Wolfie said, hunting for her sunglasses. She turned and stood up from her investigative hunch, "Were ya starin' at m'ass?"
"No!" Regina squealed, turning even redder, "Why would I want to?"
Wolfie put a hand on her hip, "Why wouldn't ya?"
Regina looked like she would pass out.
Wolfie was on the cusp of laughing.
"Look, I got shit t'do. How 'bout y'all annoy Thorne and String Bean."
"You're just sitting here." Regina huffed.
"I have t'meet Marnie in an hour."
"Oh, Marnie?" Regina's face began to become less red, interest peaked, "I know her!"
"I bet ya do." Wolfie grinned, "We'll be hangin' out at Joey Drews'. Wanna come?"
"That would be lovely!"
"I bet it will be." Wolfie laughed, "Especially if you're joinin' us!"