Chapter six: The Planet
The sous chef groaned exhausted as the door to the locker room finally fell into its lock, signalizing this day of work was over. The club had been quite calm around lunch, but as soon as dinner had started, the restaurant had literally been flooded by customers, giving her and the rest of the staff some busy time. It wasn't that she wasn't used to hurried, busy nights at work-which she was indeed-but she had had different plans for the night and now she wasn't sure if she had the energy to go out on a date. She groaned again, feeling the slight ache in her muscles.
"I'm gonna be so sore tomorrow.", the redhead whispered, while she strolled past the rows of lockers.
Suddenly she thought she could smell food, but shrugged it off as it was probably just the smell lingering in her now dirty white uniform. Taking a turn round the row where her locker was located, her eyes fell on the other person present in the room. Dana was sitting on the bench between the two locker rows, wearing a tight yellow t-shirt and jeans, two containers of food sitting on her lap.
"Hey, what are you doing here this late?", Lara asked.
"Well, I thought you might be hungry.", Dana answered, gesturing towards the containers. "I didn't know what you like, so I just brought some Thai food." She looked away from Lara. "I hope you don't mind."
"No, not at all.", the redhead said, opening her locker. "Actually, I am hungry, but I thought we were going to have dinner at that mysterious place."
"I never said so, did I?", the athlete joked, watching as the other woman stripped out of her chef's jacket. "By the way, we wouldn't get anything to eat there right now."
Lara nodded. It had been almost eleven p.m. when she had been able to leave the kitchen and she hadn't thought that there would be any other restaurant-except maybe some fast food restaurants-where they could have dinner that late at night.
"So what is this place like, Dana?", she asked, her curiousity once again showing. "Is it some kind of bar, or what?"
The tennis player shook her head. "You're impossible, Lara. I'm not gonna tell you.", she said, chuckling.
Lara smiled at her and proceeded to strip out of her drenched chef's uniform to get into something more comfortable. For a few seconds Dana continued to watch her, but then turned around, her cheeks flaming red.
"You can turn around, Dana, I'm fully clothed again.", the redhead told the other woman when she was dressed in a pair of jeans and a black tank top, the situation highly resembling the first talk they ever had just a few days ago.
Dana did as she was told, a shy smile on her lips. "Come, let's eat.", she said then, patting the space next to her.
Grinning Lara sat down and took the container of food offered to her.
--
"I never thought I was ever gonna have dinner in that locker room.", Lara admitted laughing as they were strolling along the parking lot to get to their cars.
"Me neither.", Dana answered. "But I did enjoy it."
"Yeah, me too.", the redhead said, smiling a happy smile.
She had indeed enjoyed it, in fact she wouldn't have wanted to eat anywhere else. The locker room had provided some kind of privacy they never would have had at any restaurant. It had just been the two of them, no other people, no other voices, no one looking at them and somehow this had seemed to have given Dana a sense of familiarity, so that, ocassionally, she had leaned her head on Lara's shoulder or ran her hand over Lara's.
"So, when do you have to work tomorrow?", Dana asked nervously when they had reached Lara's car.
"Umm...at four.", the chef said, a mischievous grin suddenly crossing her face. "Why? Are you planning on keeping me up tonight, Dana?", she added, her voice low and seductive.
Just as she had intended, the tennis player blushed a deep crimson. "Umm...I...err...I...", she stammered, not finding the words.
Lara laughed and playfully nudged the athlete's shoulder. "God, she's so cute when she's blushing.", the sous chef thought, her eyes fixed on the other woman.
Suddenly she couldn't and wouldn't resist the urge to kiss Dana, not as passionate as the other night in front of her apartment, but long enough to leave them both speechless afterwards. After she pulled away from the delicious lips, she noticed Dana looking around nervously, just as if she feared someone might have seen them.
"What's wrong, Dana?", she asked, somewhat concerned.
"Huh?" Dana's eyes returned to her. "Uh, it's nothing, really. Don't worry, Lara."
The redhead decided not to ask further questions about the matter, rounded her car to get to the driver's side and was about to get into her car when she noticed that Dana still hadn't moved, but was staring at her.
"Don't...don't you wanna get to your car, Dana, because, you know, I don't know the way.", she inquired, somewhat confused.
"Umm...actually, I don't have my car here, you know. I finished training a little earlier today to get home and, you know, Shane gave me a ride.", the tennis player explained. "So, I was hoping I could go with you."
Lara nodded. "Yeah, if you tell me where to drive.", she said, gesturing towards the passenger side and finally getting in.
"Thanks.", Dana said, walking up to the passenger side.
--
"So, this is The Planet, huh?", Lara asked as she was being led through the place, looking around the crowded room. "Is it always this crowded?"
Dana shook her head. "No, it only gets like this at night.", she answered. "It's less busy here the rest of the day."
Lara nodded, still looking around, noticing that most people were female. "Is this some kind of a women's hangout?", she wondered aloud, at which the brunette chuckled.
"Yeah, you could call it that.", she said. "It's mostly a place where gays, mostly lesbians, hang out, although there are straight regulars, too." Dana turned to look at Lara. "Have you never heard of it?"
"No, not before you mentioned it this morning.", the sous chef answered honestly. "And you come here, like, all the time?"
"Yeah, I hang out here with my friends quite a lot.", Dana answered, manoeuvrering through the crowd towards the bar in the patio, where they sat down.
Lara grinned at her, being in a flirtatious mood. "Then I wonder why you had to find yourself a date at the country club. I mean, with all the women walking around here..."
The athlete returned her flirtatious grin. "Well, the choice is definitely greater here, but, you know, the only place I know that has its very own soup chef is your country club.", she said, emphasizing the "soup chef". "And you know, I really, really like soup chefs."
The redhead blushed slightly at that remark. "What's a soup chef?"
"Ah, well, when that waiter told me the skewered vegetables were from you, he called you a sous chef, you know. I had never heard of that word before and so I thought you were a soup chef.", she explained, seemingly embarrassed.
"That is so cute.", Lara thought.
"Are you mad at me?", the tennis player asked, her voice playful.
"No, actually, I gotta admit, I really like it. Soup chef, I mean."
"You do?", Dana asked, smiling a flirtatious smile.
"Yes, I do.", the chef said. "It makes me feel special."
"Well, Lara, you are special, to me anyway.", the brunette said, sounding completely honest, looking deeply into the chef's eyes.
Lara could feel the sexual tension between them. It was threatening to overwhelm her, despite she had vowed to herself not to take that step yet. Slowly but surely Dana was leaning closer and closer, her sparkling eyes falling shut. Lara could feel the heat radiating from the athlete, her resistance slowly crumbling. She didn't know where this was coming from nor did she really understand what was going on, why they were being drawn towards each other like that all of a sudden, and right at that moment it didn't matter to her. Lara closed her blue eyes and began to lean towards Dana.
"I want you so bad, Lara." The hoarse whisper ripped the redhead out of her trance. She pulled back and stared expectantly at the other woman.
"What's wrong, Lara?", Dana asked when she had realized that there'd be no kiss. "Why did you pull back?" She sounded confused.
Lara didn't answer right away. She kept staring at the brunette, pondering whether she had been the one whispering those words or if they had been a production of her mind.
"What is it? Why aren't you saying something?", Dana asked, her confusion turning into frustration when the redhead kept staring at her. "God, Lara, you're scaring me.", she groaned.
"Did you...did you whisper these words, Dana?", Lara inquired, her voice shakier than she had intended.
The tennis player raised her eyebrows. "What words?"
Realizing that Dana had no idea what she was talking about and therefore couldn't have been uttering the words, Lara burst into laughter.
"What's so funny?", the athlete asked, even more confused.
"It's...I...you know...I...", the sous chef attempted an explanation, but couldn't form any coherent sentences while laughing.
When she was finally able to calm herself down, she noticed the weird look on Dana's face. The other woman had her arms crossed in front of her chest and seemed somewhat offended.
"Don't worry, Dana, I wasn't laughing at you.", the chef said, trying to sound apologetic. "I was laughing at myself."
The brunette's eyebrows raised again. "At yourself? Why?"
"Well, you know, because...", Lara began. She then looked around themselves, leaned towards Dana's ear and told her why she had to laugh. She told the other woman about how she had been fantasizing about them after their first kiss. She told her about how it had aroused her, how she had heard her voice. She told her about how she had ended up on the couch, fucking herself. When the sous chef had finished her explanation, Dana pulled back, her face blushed. Lara kept looking at her. Somehow retelling what had happened that night had been quite a turn on.
"Wow, I hadn't realized I had that effect on other women.", Dana said after a short silence.
Lara grinned. "Well, now you know, Dana."
A shy smile came across Dana's lips. "Yeah, I do. Well, umm, maybe we should order something to drink?", she suggested.
The sous chef didn't mind the sudden change of subject at all, in fact it suited her rather well, since she figured if they'd keep on talking about sex, they'd end up having sex that night, something she didn't know if they were ready for yet.
They sat like that for hours, talking, flirting, enjoying each other, when Dana suddenly grabbed Lara's hand and pulled her from the bar stool. A little surprised at this, Lara looked at Dana, her eyes wide.
"I think we should join the crowd, Lara.", the tennis player said, pulling her into the mentioned crowd.
"I don't wanna leave already.", Lara said, not knowing what the other woman had in mind.
"I'm not talking about leaving.", Dana answered and turned around, beaming at the sous chef. "I wanna dance with you." With that the tennis player wrapped her arms around the taller woman's neck, pulling their bodies closer together.
"Okay, but you better watch your toes. I tend to step on them.", the redhead admitted with a giggle, wrapping her arms around the other woman's waist.
The athlete smiled at her, pulling herself towards Lara, so that her mouth was level with Lara's ear. As the other woman's hot breath caressed her ear and neck, Lara's own breath caught. She felt her heartbeat quicken, the sexual tension returning.
"You know what they say, Lara?", the tennis player whispered, the seductive tone in her voice sending a shiver down Lara's spine.
The sous chef couldn't believe how strongly her body responded to the other woman's actions. "What do they say, Dana?", she managed to get out, her voice already low with the desire that was welling up inside her.
"Well, I heard that if a person is a great dancer, it's very likely that he or she is a great lover, too.", the brunette answered, keeping her voice low. "Whereas lousy dancers..." Dana's voice trailed off, leaving the rest to assumption.
The redhead could feel a slight aching between her legs. She pulled back slighty, so that she could look at Dana without breaking the body contact. "Do you want to find out if it's true?", she asked, smiling seductively.
She had expected the athlete to blush furiously, but the blush never came. Instead the tennis player kept looking straight into her eyes and before Lara had any chance to react Dana pulled her head down, their mouths fusing together in a heated kiss. Lara's thoughts were running wild in her head. Had Dana changed her mind about not rushing into this? If so-and by the way she was kissing her, Lara was sure she had-the redhead wouldn't refuse. Lara moved her hands onto Dana's hips and pulled the smaller woman into her, running her tongue over her lips. Dana willingly opened her mouth to let the tongue in. As the two women were exploring each others mouths, their bodies moving to the latino music in the background, the chef began to lose control.
"Oh, God, Dana, what are you doing to me?", she breathed out, when the passionate liplock was broken due to their mutual need of air, their foreheads touching.
"I could ask you the same." Dana was breathless. "What do we do now?", she wondered. "I mean, I know I said I don't want to rush into anything, but..." Her voice trailed off.
"I want you, Dana.", was all the chef said, before pulling the brunette into another kiss.
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at SuperGirl06: I know what you mean, I miss really them, too, that's why I write this story...well, Dana didn't try to cook for Lara in this chapter, but that's actually a great idea. Maybe that'll happen in a later chapter.
at Totallygay: I will, I promise.
at auggy1984: There's a lot more to come. Believe me.