Rubbing her thumb back and forth across the hand clasped within her own, Brooke sent a smile to the woman seated next to her. "So I believe that someone here was going to share a story with me about a certain nurse who umm…deactivated her V card."
The junior editor chuckled. "Right that someone was. However, that someone wanted a private place to share this deactivation tale with so could I please borrow your phone if you have one on you? I forgot mine at home." My fairy godfather took it from me so I wouldn't call the cops. Hope he remembered to leave it somewhere I can easily find it.
"Of course." Reaching into her clutch purse, she found the flip phone and handed it to her new friend.
"Thank you." Used to speed dial or just scrolling the phone book on her cell phone, it took Haley a few moments to remember Thurgood James's number. After several rings, Haley was prepared to leave him a message via voicemail when he finally answered. She could hear the smile in his voice when he greeted her.
"Hey cupcake! I heard a rumor that you're on the yacht. Is that true? Is my little Haley finally having some fun?"
"Yep, I'm here Dad."
"What changed your mind? I thought you said you had an article to finish?"
Too distracted to come up with an instant reply, a shudder zipped through Haley. Her hand now cupped by Brooke's left one had the index finger from the right drawing random patterns within its palm. She looked toward the other woman but she was too intent on what she was doing to notice. However, there appeared to be a ghost of a mischievous smile on those soft supple lips. What pretty lips, Haley reverently thought. So inviting, so sweet looking. I bet they taste like cotton candy…or honey…or slow churned ice cream…or--"
"Haley. Haley? HALEY!"
She shook her head trying to erase the fog. However, it proved difficult since that digit now had its neighbor middle finger now assisting to torture her. "Oh, Dad! Sorry, I lost the connection for a moment. Can you hear me now?"
"Yes, it's clear on my end cupcake. I'm so happy you changed your mind. You're in need of some fun and happiness because all you do is work. I worry about you."
"You needn't worry. I'm fine," she tried reassuring him.
"Okay." Thurgood had a hard time believing that but he wouldn't press the issue tonight. "Tell me, did you bring a date?"
"N--no," Haley stuttered as those fingers took turns making quick circular motions. Yes, she was positive of it. Brooke was on a mission to kill her. "But I've been mingling. Hey Dad could I ask you a favor?"
"Anything for my cupcake."
"Are there any empty rooms on the ship? Perhaps a bedroom suite?" It didn't occur to Haley how the request might sound to Brooke until it left her lips. She meant it innocently enough but trying to nab a bedroom to be alone with someone you were obviously interested in might perhaps arise suspicion. She chanced a look at the fashion designer partially relieved to see the Cheshire cat grin she wore. However, feeling the need to explain, she asked her father to hold on a second, smothered the phone against her bosom and turned to the grinning woman.
"I swear I didn't mean it that way Brooke. I mean we just really started opening the lines of communication and I wouldn't presume that…anything…you know would happen. It would…it would be too soon anyway and I'd like--I'd love to get to know you better. That's important. We could just find another place more public yet still private to--" The two fingers responsible for her shudders were now pressed against her mouth to prevent further speech.
"Haley I'm aware that you weren't asking your dad if there's a spare bedroom on the yacht so you could rip my clothes off and perform a variety of puckish acts on me…under me…to the side of me." The Cheshire grin impossibly grew. "Although if on the off chance you were I might not disapprove." Sparkling hazel eyes sending her a wink, Brooke removed her fingers. Noticing Haley's dumbfounded expression she pointed toward the cell. "Your dad is waiting hon."
Almost in slow motion the young editor returned the phone to her ear. "Sorry about that Dad. So do you have any available suites?"
A soft laugh floated through the phone. "Just arrived and we're trying to escape already? How can you mingle while holed up in a suite?"
"I'm not trying to be antisocial--just the opposite actually. An acquaintance and I need a quiet place to have an important conversation and I thought since ya know being the boss's daughter for once I'd attempt to play the special treatment card." Haley smiled when her dad laughed again.
"Consider your attempt successful. Cupcake please give me about ten minutes to obtain a key for you and your err…acquaintance."
The emphasis he put on the word 'acquaintance' noticed by his only biological child, perhaps for the hundredth time that evening she felt her cheeks beginning to heat up. Why did she get the feeling that Thurgood 'Goodie' James might have been wearing a Cheshire grin that rivaled Brooke Davis's? If they kept this up she would require a facial fire extinguisher.
"Um, thanks Dad."
"Anything for my cupcake." He paused. "And her acquaintances."
Haley groaned. "Dad…"
**********
"You may have a couple of wicked stepsisters but your dad is cool," Brooke mentioned as they walked arm in arm toward the suite Thurgood assured them they could occupy until the yacht arrived back at the marina. "I thought that the first time I met him and tonight solidified it." She giggled. "No matter how hard you tried to clear it up, I still don't think he believes that I'm just your acquaintance. You must really be an all work and no play type of girl 'cause I get the impression Goodie wants me to liberate you from every stitch of clothing." Grinning she quickly added, "That just makes your dad that much cooler in my book."
"Brooke!"
"What?" She totally failed at appearing innocent.
"Stating that my own father wants me to indulge in a booty call is weird." Rolling her eyes, Haley tried to withhold a smile at the fashion designer's raucous laughter. "It's not funny you nut." And yet she skipped the smile and began laughing right along with the other woman. "Dads are supposed to wish for their daughter's to remain virgins until at least they reach age forty." Approaching their suite, Haley pulled the keycard from her jeans pocket.
"I think it's different when daddy's little girl is a lesbian."
"How so?" Inserting the plastic card and withdrawing a second later, Haley turned the knob after hearing a faint snick. Quickly locating the light switch, she turned it on and in gentlewomanly fashion stepped aside to wait for her companion to enter first. Thanking her, Brooke meandered into the suite making sure to pinch a nearby jean-clad bottom on her way. The reply in the form of a yip caused a satisfied smile to grace her lips.
"Perhaps I'm biased because I'm gay, but in my opinion a non-homophobic father might be more inclined to trust his daughter being in a relationship with another female and I'm referring to daughters in their teenage years and early twenties mostly.
"Imagine you have a sixteen year old. I'm not trying to knock guys--some of my closest dearest friends are men--but they can be horn dogs and girls tend to mature faster…think more about the emotional part of a relationship, wanting to nurture it rather than focusing mainly on the physical. So a dad might not worry so much about his teenaged daughter dating her classmate Pauline as opposed to Paul." Head cocked to the side, she regarded the woman leaning against the closed door. "Am I explaining this well enough? You picking up what I'm putting down?"
Haley began smiling. "Yeah, I'm grasping on to it. However, sometimes Pauline can act like more of a horn dog than Paul."
Brooke nodded her agreement. "At sixteen I was more of a Paul."
Haley faked a gasp. "You mean Goodie wouldn't have been able to be worry free with me dating you at that age?"
"I don't think it would have been an issue considering you were dating your nurse at that time." Grinning, she grabbed Haley's hand and led her toward the couch. With their thighs pressed together, Brooke stretched an arm along the back of the couch, her hand coming to rest against the smaller woman's shoulder. "So about your nurse…" She trailed off wanting to see if Haley would begin her story.
Haley nodded, trying to decide where she should start. "Blaire." Okay, reciting her first lover's name would do.
"Hmm." The fashion designer seemed thoughtful. "So would it be accurate to claim that you like girls whose names start with a 'B' and only consist of a solitary syllable?" While the other woman smirked she chuckled.
"You forgot to mention that each name has six letters."
"And three vowels."
"A trio of consonants."
"Haley?"
"Yes Brookie?"
'Brookie' looked fairly amused. "Your nurse?"
"Mmhmm."
"Set the stage for me sweetie. What did Blaire look like? Where did you meet her?" A devilish grin approached her lips. "Was she good in bed?"
Brown eyes trained on the wall about ten feet in front of them, Haley mentally pulled up various images of the nurse. "She always reminded me of the actress Kate Beckinsale except she's American with a faint southern accent instead of being British. I met her at my house where she was employed by Goodie and," on cue her face warmed, "Blaire was brilliant in bed. Granted I was a sixteen year old sexual novice, but after having two more lovers I declare that Blaire was indeed a terrific one."
The current six-lettered B-girl released a laugh. "Kate Beckinsale look-alike with awesome bedroom skills. I'm not a fan of Paris Hilton but I must utilize her catchphrase -- that's hot!" She watched as Haley blushed while silently nodding her agreement. "So she worked at your house…as a nurse?"
"Yeah," Haley softly responded. Needing something else to do before this conversation continued, she leaned over and untied her shoes before tugging them off. She stood up just long enough to rearrange herself on the couch, leaning her back against the arm of it with her legs folded Indian style. Now facing Brooke, she sent her a smile and then opened her mouth to speak. "Blaire was my--"
"Sweetie?" Brooke gently called as she reached out for a hand, sandwiching it between her own. "The last thing I want is for you to feel uncomfortable and I'm getting the impression that this is difficult for you so there are a million and one other topics for us to delve in to. Like… I know you love it since you write articles pertaining to it, so what's your favorite type of music?"
Surprising them both, Haley leaned toward her and delivered the most delicate of kisses to her lips. Although it was as brief as a couple eye blinks, the fashion designer felt those butterflies taking flight within her belly. Her eyes immediately shut when a warm palm pressed against her cheek. The soft padding of a thumb traced a languid path from her top lip to the bottom. She only opened her eyes when her name was whispered and Haley removed her hand. Brooke sighed in response to its lost. Haley clasping her hand made up for it somewhat.
"Thank you for letting me off the hook, but I want to share you with. It's just tough to talk about because it…it involves my mom."
"What was her name?" Brooke quietly asked, getting the feeling that the reason Thurgood James and his first wife were no longer together didn't have anything to do with a divorce.
"Alicia."
Brooke squeezed the hand against her own. "A very pretty name."
"A very pretty woman too."
"Well that's not hard to believe. I mean just look at her daughter."
A soft smile and a blush followed the compliment. Haley observed their joined hands as she prepared to talk. "When I was thirteen she was diagnosed with cancer--lung cancer although she never smoked a day in her life. Neither did my dad, so it's not like she inhaled his secondhand smoke over the years. It just…somehow it just…came to be. Between fifteen to twenty percent of female nonsmokers develop lung cancer and Mom had to…unfortunately, she was one of them." Within two seconds of her vision becoming blurry, Haley found her face pressed into a warm neck and a pair of arms tightly wrapped around her torso. Brooke began rocking her back and forth while the tears escaped, running down her cheeks and eventually making their way on to her companion's skin.
"I'm sorry baby," Brooke fervently whispered, sounding as though she were on the cusp of crying. "I'm so sorry." Her own tears threatened to fall as the thoughts raced inside her brain. Haley's childhood must have come to an abrupt end when she was only thirteen years old. She could imagine the teenager assisting her dad and Alicia's nurses with taking excellent care of her. She just seemed like she would be 110% devoted to her family.
The fashion designer's eyes narrowed through her tears when she suddenly thought of Peyton and Rachel. Some time after he lost his wife, Goodie married their mother so then Haley had to be subjected to those jackasses. Closing her eyes, Brooke slowly counted backwards from ten in an effort to calm down and dispose of her negative thoughts.
Uttering a hoarse apology, Haley pulled back raising her hands to wipe at dampened cheeks. Grabbing her clutch purse, Brooke found a pristine delicate handkerchief. Instead of just handing it to Haley, she began dabbing at the other woman's face.
"What makes you think you have anything to be sorry for?" She asked while running the handkerchief over long dark lashes.
"For the crying. This is supposed to be a fun party and instead of enjoying it, I have you locked in this suite listening to all this sadness." She pointed toward the suite entrance. "You should go. Go have a good time."
"Hey," dropping the handkerchief, Brooke cupped the smaller woman's face, "you don't ever apologize for showing emotion. You needed to shed a few tears and I'm glad that I was here for you. You don't have me locked in this room-- I accompanied you willingly and to be honest I'm fine with it just being the two of us. I'd honestly rather be with you than to mingle around this giant boat." Leaning forward, she softly kissed Haley's forehead. "And I predict that tonight you and I are going to have a great time."
**********
"So you haven't seen Blaire since?" Brooke inquired as they lay in the queen-sized bed facing each other with a nearly empty package of honey-roasted peanuts they lifted from the mini bar between them. Deciding to move to the bed nearly thirty minutes ago to continue their conversation, Haley had managed to get through the rest of her story without further crying, which was a relief to Brooke just because she hated to see the junior editor so upset.
Haley rubbed a peanut between her thumb and forefinger as she shook her head in the negative. "The last time I laid eyes on her was the day I drove her to the airport a week after Mom passed away. With my being sixteen and she twenty-four and us being able to carry on a two month affair without anyone being the wiser we thought it best not to press our luck." Her brow furrowed with a thoughtful pause. "Was it wrong? Definitely, but over those weeks Blaire brought me some happiness, comfort, tenderness…and I'd like to think that I did the same for her."
Goodie James decided to hire a full-time nurse for his ailing wife when he discovered that his teenaged daughter had been skipping close to half a semester worth of her sophomore year in order to stay at home and help the ever rotating day nurses take care of her mother while he spent most of his time overseeing the magazine.
The amount of time Goodie spent there only increased once highly recommended RN Blaire Newton moved into the James's expansive home. It wasn't that he didn't care about and love his wife--on the contrary his heart burst with love for Alicia anytime he merely thought of her. Thinking of her was one thing, but actually seeing her waste away, fade away a little each day from him and their daughter just about shattered his heart. So, his not totally successful remedy was to work, often around the clock.
Meanwhile, over the next several months, Blaire and Haley formed a bond, often carrying on long conversations deep into the night. At the beginning of her summer vacation before Haley's junior year started was when their friendship developed into something more. Alicia having one of her rare precious good days joined them for an early evening picnic in the backyard followed by a couple hours playing a spirited game of Monopoly. She kicked both her daughter and nurse's butt by the way.
Once Alicia was settled in for the night, the pair returned to the backyard where they lay side by side on their backs while gazing up toward a starry sky speckled with a few clouds. They took turns attempting to discover shapes within the stars and clouds, pausing when a shooting star traveled across the sky.
*****
"Make a wish cookie," Blaire softly stated, using the pet name she adopted after hearing Goodie refer to his daughter as his cupcake. At first she intended cookie as a good-natured rib, but soon she and Haley started to become genuinely fond of the name so it stuck.
With her heart furiously beating, Haley made her wish known. "I wish that Blaire Newton would kiss me." She wasn't sure she had said it loud enough since ten seconds passed with only the crickets talking. At the eleventh second after her admission the nurse sat up on their picnic blanket with her eyes scanning the backyard. Finally, she looked down at Haley, the teenager unfortunately not being able to read her face.
"Huh, I don't see any others, so hoping I don't sound conceited but I suppose you were referring to me." An 'ouch' and a chuckle crossed her lips when Haley delivered a light punch to her arm. A moment later she laid back down, gaze returning to the sky. "You're only sixteen," she quietly mentioned.
Haley sighed, shutting her eyes. "I wish that Blaire Newton would kiss me despite my age." When she felt a tickling sensation, she opened her eyes to find Blaire's face hovering above her, the ends of her dark tendrils grazing Haley's cheeks.
"I'm an idiot for doing so, but I'm gonna grant your wish cookie." A gentle hand cupped Haley's cheek. "God help me, but I ache to."
*****
"Were you in love with her?" Somewhere within her, Brooke could detect a tiny voice begging for Haley to please say no.
"I loved her, but no I wasn't in love. In a strong crush, like and adoration. She was an exceptionally good friend, sweet, kind and amazing with my mom who also adored her." A smile tugged at her lips. "Now that I think about it, Mom might have had a smidgen of a girl crush on her too."
Brooke chuckled. "Well who wouldn't with a Kate Beckinsale doppelganger as their private nurse?" Grabbing the plastic package, she evenly divided the remainder of peanuts, handing Haley her portion. They spent the next few moments silently munching on the eight tiny sweet and salty treats between them.
Haley tried not to stare while her friend leisurely licked her fingers clean. She cleared her throat and glanced at her watch. "You hungry?"
Brooke made a show of studying the junior editor's entire body before she answered. "Positively ravenous baby. You wanna guess what I have a taste for?"
"Prime rib? Filet mignon? Chicken?" Haley responded, pretending that she was unaware of the flirtatiousness running through that question. "Those are just a few of the items at the buffet downstairs, which I think just started serving." She almost laughed when Brooke's mouth dropped open enough that she could probably eat a triple patty cheeseburger.
"You had me at filet mignon." Smoothly rolling out of the bed, she hurried to retrieve her shoes like the suite was on fire.
Amused, Haley watched her lean against the couch while sliding on her leather pumps. "So I guess you had a taste for filet mignon…baby?"
Picking up Haley's sneakers, Brooke brought them to her. However, instead of just giving her the shoes, the fashion designer knelt on the carpet to place them on the cutest little sock covered feet. Haley attempted to grab the shoes but her hands where slapped away.
Once Brooke had the Converses neatly tied, she looked up at Haley and winked. "A taste for filet mignon for dinner." Her dimples appeared along with a slow grin. "A taste for something else entirely for dessert." Standing, she reached for Haley's hand. "Let's go eat!"
Thanks so much for your feedback on the last chapter guys. I really appreciate it and was wearing a grin the size of Texas! ;-) Next chapter will arrive soon. Have a very Merry Christmas and New Year!