Wheels of Steel, Book 2

by Pepper Pace

  There was a masculine look about her, but mostly because of her clothing and her attitude. Patty’s face was full of soft curves only offset by the hard edge of her clenched teeth and the perpetual scowl that she wore on her face.

  Robin noted that Patty was attractive in a scary/androgynous way and she could see where some guys liked the toned and sexy girls with their perfect looks…but she could also where the very same guys were also drawn to women like her; to the tough Joan Jett’s of the world.

  She looked at Robin. “I…do you think…?” She tried again. “I’d like to look pretty. Do you think that’s possible?” was her blunt question. It was the honesty in her words that caused Robin to realize just how much she really liked this girl and that maybe they weren’t all that different from each other. Maybe Patty wasn’t just trying to be her friend because she was with Jason but because she could see something about Robin that was also present in herself. So Robin took the time to answer honestly and truthfully. She didn’t bother to tell Patty that she was already pretty; because Patty didn’t see it even though it was plainly there.

  “What kind of pretty; hard, soft or kick-ass?”

  Patty was nodding quickly at the question. It was a good question. She thought for a while. “Not slutty, and not all pink and soft; maybe somewhere in the middle?” She was asking, as if Robin was an authority.

  “Hot Topic?” Robin suggested, referring to the trendy store.

  “Fuck yeah!” They hit the store. The cute stuff was mostly in the sizes meant for stick figures. Patty picked up a tiny pleated skirt and examined it in horror.

  “Are you kidding me? Someone can fit this?! An adult?”

  Robin looked at it. “I don’t think I could get it around my thigh…”

  Patty’s eyes lit up and she rushed past Robin. She picked up a black corset. Her eyes were all alight. “I want this.”

  Robin looked at it doubtfully. A corset? To be worn in public? It was so revealing and Patty was kinda big. She turned to Robin, her eyes excited and dancing.

  “A corset! I have to get a corset!!!”

  “Okay.” Robin agreed, though she didn’t really think it was a good idea. Patty searched and searched until she found the largest size. It still looked too small to Robin but if a corset would give Patty the feeling she needed then she would be all ‘hoohah’ about it for her new friend. Now Patty seemed to be on a mission. She searched for items that Robin didn’t quite get; torn fishnet cat suit, scary platform pleather boots, leather wrist bands.

  It was the bottom half of the outfit that they had trouble with. They looked at leather, at jeans, at cheerleader skirts and then at Lane Bryants Patty finally found what she was searching for. Robin had to agree that the long, black skirt that hugged yet complimented her tall body was just the right feminine touch to offset the corset. It was good in a Morticia sort of way.

  With her packages in tow, she looked at Robin. “I want a haircut.”

  “It’s really short already.” She would look more like a dude than ever with shorter hair, Robin thought. She was thinking more on the lines of extensions if anything.

  “I’m going to cut off my bangs. I want it spiky at top and I want to color it auburn.” They went to a walk-in salon and while Robin watched as they chopped off Patty’s long bangs. It was strange being able to see her eyes. She had them arch her brows. As Robin watched, she wondered if Patty was transforming for Link…or for herself.

  As they walked to the food court a short while later, Robin kept peeking at Patty. How wrong she had been! Cutting her hair short and sweeping it out of her face had feminized her. She was nearly six feet tall, and she was thick and curvy as was Robin, but with her cool haircut and auburn color, arched brows and confident swagger Patty looked good…no; Belinda looked good.

  “Wheels of Steel is no more.” Robin said. Patty looked at her in confusion. “No need for the insulting nickname, right, Belinda?” Belinda smiled.

  “I think I agree with you.”

  As they ate their chicken strips from Chik-fil-A, Belinda kept running her fingers through her short hair. “Link is going to trip out when he sees this get-up.”

  “He’s going to love it.”

  Patty watched her with interest. “Is Jason your first boyfriend?”

  “Yes. Is it easy to tell?”

  “Yes. But you’re Jason’s first girlfriend, too.”

  “So Amberly and Jason never…?”

  “Nope. They’re just friends. Look, don’t let Amberly get under your skin. She’s just overprotective of Jason. She doesn’t mean anything by it. And once she gets to know you the way I know you, she’s going to like you, Robin, and you’ll like her.” And we’ll be a big happy family, Robin thought dubiously.

  Chapter 7

  Jason had a great time at the club meeting. They gave him shit for being away for the last few months and he promised that he wouldn’t drop out of sight again. Then he invited them to the Omicron party, promising that it was completely handicap accessible. He felt bad that he hadn’t done this before.

  After the meeting, Amberly suggested they pick up Chinese and head back to his place. He didn’t particularly care for Chinese; it was messy, hard to spoon into his mouth and he choked on it easily. But what the hell. If Amberly was going to be present then she could give him the Heimlich if necessary.

  “Man, Top, we don’t do stuff like we used to.” She said while helping him into her car. “When was the last time we went to a movie?”

  He winced as he adjusted his legs. “I’d rather watch a DVD…or better yet, mix music. Besides, we hang out five days a week at lunch.” She closed his door with a scowl. When she entered the car on the driver’s side she continued.

  “I just think that we should do more stuff.”

  Jason closed his eyes as his head began to swim. His breath came in quick pants and then he was in the throes of a seizure. With a low groan he stretched and kicked out before his head and limbs began to beat repetitively against the car’s interior. When he could open his eyes, he saw that Amberly had started the car and was waiting patiently for the seizure to end.

  He looked at her, still not quite awake, and found that he missed the feel of Robin’s hands on his chest and on his face and the look of concern she wore; the barely concealed fear that he wouldn’t start breathing again. As he watched Amberly, he saw the reaction that he had become accustomed to; a pretense that it wasn’t really there, like it wasn’t the big fat elephant that was sitting in the car with them.

  They got the carryout and brought it back to the house. And just as he predicted he choked and coughed more of it up then he had managed to eat. Amberly paused each time, and as soon as he got himself back into control she continued talking as if nothing happened. Robin would have pulled out her trusty baby wipes and cleaned him off while he sat there quietly waiting for her to be finished and feeling like an infant…a very lucky infant to have such a sexy caregiver fussing over him.

  At seven he looked at the clock and wondered when she’d get home….home.

  “Jason.” He dragged his eyes back to Amberly and raised his brow. She stood up and moved to sit in his lap. He watched her quietly, finding her behavior today a bit strange. Poor Amberly, maybe she felt left out. He wrapped his arms around her. They would have to make sure she knew that she was included even if she wasn’t paired off with someone.

  “Are you okay?” He asked and she leaned forward and placed her lips on his. Jason pulled back in surprise.

  Amberly stared at him. “It’s supposed to be me and you, Jason.”

  “What?” He was trying to figure out the punchline. Amberly’s hands moved beneath his shirt.

  “Amberly….” And then her fingers found his nipples and Jason’s body jerked. “Amberly! What are you doing?!” He roughly grabbed her wrists but she leaned forward and pressed her mouth to his, kissing him deeply. He pushed her back, away from him. “Stop it, Amberly!”

  She pulled back slowl
y, a look of hurt on her face. “Jason…don’t you see? It’s always been you and me?”

  “What are you talking about?!” He continued to push her until she got off his lap. He couldn’t believe that she had done that! She stood before him, the sad look replaced with one of determination.

  “Jason, there is no one better for you than me. Who else understands your CP, your seizures, your need for touch? No one can understand it the way I can!”

  “Oh my god…” Jason’s mouth fell open as he watched her. “Amberly…I thought…you said that you liked normal guys…?”

  “I just said that so that I wouldn’t scare you away. I wanted you to come to me Jason. I didn’t want to be the one that had to come to you…but you didn’t because SHE suddenly popped up. I love you Jason. I love you so much.” Jason covered his face with his hands, rubbing it roughly before looking at her again.

  “I love you too Amberly. But I’m in love with Robin-”

  “But that’s because Robin’s normal…it’s like, she’s that unattainable thing that we always think we want. But when it comes down to it once we get it, it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be!”

  Jason raised his hands in submission, but they were really going out of control instead as was the rest of his body. He took a few deep breaths and concentrated on his slow moving tongue. “I---I don’t feel that way. I don’t want her because she’s normal. I don’t even think about that. It doesn’t have anything to do with why I love her.”

  Amberly rolled her eyes. “You don’t love her! You just met her! You can’t love her already.”

  “Don’t tell me what I feel,” he said cooly. “It’s not about Robin, anyways.”

  “Well, we have the same interests. Music and art is our lives. When we get out of school, this is going to be our careers. I mean…Robin, where does she want to go-?”

  “Whoa, Amberly. Look, you don’t know Robin. You haven’t even given her a chance yet-”

  “Yeah, but she doesn’t even talk to anyone. She just sits there! It’s like she doesn’t even understand what’s going on around her-“

  Belinda’s voice came out of nowhere—or maybe everywhere. It was just suddenly there and Jason and Amberly’s head jerked to the entranceway of the kitchen where she and Robin were standing.

  “Um…we’re here.” Belinda said tightly. “I guess you two didn’t hear us come in from all of this arguing.”

  Jason looked at Robin who seemed pale beneath her brown skin. Fuck, how much of this conversation had she heard; but worse, what had she seen?

  Amberly crossed her arms defiantly. “Well we weren’t arguing. We were just having a loud discussion.”

  Belinda glanced at Robin, waiting for her to speak, to defend herself or to curse out somebody. But Robin remained quiet at her side.

  “Maybe you should go, Amberly.” Jason spoke.

  Instead of being hurt by his dismissal, Amberly seemed smugly pleased. Because there Robin was, just standing there looking like she was the one that was defeated.

  “Sure. See you at school tomorrow.” She sauntered past Belinda and Robin out of the kitchen. “Bye Patty.” She ignored Robin and shut the door soundly behind her. Robin’s eyes had followed the limping girl.

  “Robin-” She was just staring at the closed front door, as if she could see through it and at Amberly beyond it.

  “I’ll be back.” She headed out the door.

  “Robin-” Jason began rolling his chair after her. Belinda held up her hand to halt him.

  “Let her handle her business.”

  Robin felt a fog dropping down over her vision as she replayed walking into Jason’s apartment to the sound of arguing voices. Amberly and Jason; what could they be arguing about? And then she heard her name. Jason saying ‘ You don’t even know Robin. You haven’t given her a chance yet.’ And then there was Amberly’s response…that she was a misfit, that she didn’t know how to act, that she didn’t fit in.

  And it was all probably true. For a minute there was nothing but the idea that she wanted to be sick, that she wanted to go home and crawl into bed. Then she remembered something; Jason was the only person that mattered. He loved her. Amberly had walked out the door, looking as if she owned ‘this’. Robin went outside with her.

  “Amberly.”

  The petite girl looked over her shoulder at Robin and then shook her head. “What?” Did she want to fight? Fine, she’d claw her black skin up.

  “I think I always knew that you were in love with him; even if the rest didn’t.” Robin crossed her arms and rubbed her elbows while Amberly turned bodily to face her. “But he’s mine and I’m not going anywhere.” Amberly’s eyes flinched at not only Robin’s words but her calm demeanor. “Maybe I don’t fit in with your friends. But Jason and I ‘fit’ just right. And so…I guess I don’t care what you think. At first I did, but now…you just fucked yourself out of a friend—no; two.”

  The meaning behind her words became clear as Amberly realized what she had really accomplished; she just alienated the man that she loved.

  Robin turned to go back into the apartment.

  “Wait.” Amberly said quickly. “Wait…Robin.” Robin turned slowly and looked at her, arms still crossed.

  “Can we talk?”

  Robin didn’t respond but she walked past Amberly and towards the lake. The girl shambled behind her to catch up. Neither spoke. It seemed that by unspoken agreement, they would wait until they reached the lake.

  Robin sat down on the bench that she was beginning to love and to associate with Jason. She hoped this unpleasantness would not mar that.

  Amberly sat down next to her, speaking almost anxiously. “Jason is my friend. I’m like…his big sister. It was me that got him acclimated to the University. People with disabilities sometimes find it hard to make friends.” Robin stared into the waters of the lake. “But I saw such a hardness in Jason that softened as soon as he saw that someone cared. It’s almost like…he’s too open. I just care too much and I don’t want anyone to hurt him-”

  Robin turned to her. “Right now, all I hear is blah blah blah, coming from your mouth. I got your number, bitch. Don’t try to fake me out.” Robin had never thought she’d say such a thing but she meant it with ever fiber of her soul.

  Amberly stared at her fearfully. “Don’t take Jason away from me.” She finally whispered. “He’s my…best friend.”

  “If that’s true…which I doubt, then nothing I can do will change that.”

  “But you can make it hard.”

  “I know.”

  “Are you going to?”

  “Yes.”

  Amberly sighed and looked at the lake. Tears filled her eyes and spilled over. She wiped them away quickly. “I’m sorry.” She finally said. “I shouldn’t have said what I did. Please let me stay friends with him. And I won’t try anything again.”

  Again…Robin latched onto that word. What had she tried already? Robin glanced at her and didn’t like seeing the tears reddening her eyes even if she was just a few moments before, treacherously downgrading her.

  “You tell me, and don’t lie, I want to know everything. If I ask Jason--and he will tell me if you have left anything out, I will be very angry. What have you already done to try to get with Jason?”