by Elia Winters
Megan sipped her tea. “Sex shop?”
Scarlett nearly spilled her coffee. “What?”
“Can we go to a sex shop?”
Scarlett stared. Megan was going to keep surprising her, wasn’t she? Scarlett regrouped quickly. “You want to go to a sex shop.”
“Yeah. It’s New York. There are some good ones.” Megan shrugged. “Unless it makes you uncomfortable.”
“No, I just...it’s not something I’ve ever done.”
“What?” Now it was Megan’s turn to look shocked. “Really?”
“I don’t have any of that.” Well, that wasn’t entirely true. “An old girlfriend of mine got me a toy once, but I didn’t really like it.” Somehow, Scarlett felt embarrassed admitting that. How the tables had turned.
Megan’s mouth fell open. “You’re missing out. Oh my god. We’ve got to go now. There’s a really well-respected one down in Soho, from what I read. Maybe we can go there at some point today?”
If Megan was going to take her to a sex shop, there was no way Scarlett would say no.
Megan was an eager audience to all of Scarlett’s New York facts and figures, some of which she was pretty sure she was getting wrong, but Megan listened attentively anyway and didn’t question her. By the time they got onto the ferry, Scarlett was happy to sit down, and Megan was still bright-eyed and excited. When they got within view of the Statue of Liberty, Megan raced out onto the freezing cold deck to take a photo, leaving Scarlett in the warm interior of the ferry without dragging her along. Megan was happy, and Scarlett was getting addicted to seeing Megan happy.
“Do you know,” Megan said, coming back in from the cold red-cheeked and windblown, “that this is the first ferry ride I’ve ever taken?”
“Another first.” Scarlett stretched her arm out along the back of the hard plastic seats.
They watched the tiny photograph develop, the statue resolving from a blur to a crisper-edged figure against a light blue sky. From this close, Scarlett could smell the clean scent of Megan’s hair, and she leaned in a bit to inhale more.
Fuck, she was in trouble.
Getting taken to a New York sex shop by Megan wasn’t as much of a distraction from her attraction as Scarlett had hoped. The brightly colored toys on nearly every surface didn’t seem to faze her a bit. She left Scarlett standing in the middle of the large, well-lit space and wandered over to the wall to turn on one of the display models of something, holding it with easy familiarity.
Scarlett made her way to Megan’s side after assuring one of the friendly salespeople that she was fine and no, did not need any help.
“But you probably do need help, right?” Megan watched the clerk walk away. “Why’d you send them away?”
“I don’t know if I need help. And I don’t really want to answer questions.” Scarlett thrust her hands into her pockets.
Megan looked her up and down and gave a cheeky smile. “Are you shy? Is this making you uncomfortable?”
“No.” Scarlett emphasized the word. “I told you, I just haven’t done something like this before. And what about you? What stores like this have you been going into in Florida?”
Megan set down the vibrator she was holding and moved on to a medium-sized dildo, which she turned over in her hand absent-mindedly. “There was this shop near the college that I went to a few times when I didn’t want to deal with mail order. Nothing as nice as this, though.” She happily surveyed the space around them like it was a damn flower shop, still holding the dildo. “So what do you want to get?”
“I don’t need anything.” Scarlett still had her hands in her pockets.
“Come on. You’ve gotta get something, right? This is the best sex shop you’re going to see in a while.” Megan set the dildo back down on its plinth. “You want a recommendation?”
Scarlett’s face was already warm and growing warmer. What the hell. “Sure. Hit me.”
Megan smirked, turning purposefully toward a display of paddles. “You sure?”
Scarlett winced. “Okay, poor choice of words.”
Megan smiled, tapping her lips with one fingertip, and then immediately led her over to a display at the end of the wall. “One of these.” She waved her hand at the display. “They all do kind of the same thing.”
Scarlett picked one up and frowned, turning it over in her hand. There was a small round silicone nozzle at one end of the oval-shaped plastic body. “What do you do with this?”
“It sucks your clit.”
Scarlett raised her eyebrows. “What?”
“Yeah. This nozzle right here, it fits over your clit. And then it sucks it. I mean, it blows air over it. Sort of feels the same.” Megan was grinning, clearly enjoying every minute of this. “Life changing.”
The world of sex toys was definitely a lot different than when Scarlett had last gotten that mediocre vibrator from a former lover. She turned this miraculous device over in her hand and turned it on, then pressed it to her palm, the little jets of air tapping against the skin like a delicate finger. Yeah, that would definitely feel good. The price on the box was...ouch, more than she was planning to spend, but her curiosity won out.
And maybe Megan would want to watch her use it sometime.
Scarlett looked up from the box and spotted Megan a few feet down the row, examining a collection of dildos. The unashamed, meticulous focus with which she scanned the rows shouldn’t have been sexy, but damn, it was. Megan wearing a harness wasn’t something Scarlett had ever thought about much, even in the fantasies that she kept quietly hidden back in high school, but seeing her gripping a curvy silicone cock was enough to get Scarlett’s blood pumping.
Megan looked up and caught her eye, and Scarlett hastily looked back to the task at hand. Out of her peripheral vision, she could see Megan smiling.
Were they headed toward something more...physical together? Last night was different than two friends quietly ignoring the other’s midnight dalliances. Last night felt like a tease, like a promise, like extended foreplay, but Scarlett couldn’t get her hopes up that it was anything other than just a way of “curing restlessness.” Hoping for things had never worked out very well for her. Instead, she was better off living in the moment, taking life the way it came, keeping her head down and busting ass to pay bills. She wasn’t a planner like Megan, or smart like Megan. Whatever courage she had was tempered by the unfortunate side effects of being fairly impulsive. And now? Now, she had a fun, teasing encounter with Megan that was enjoyable for both of them, and it maybe wouldn’t be repeated.
Megan interrupted that line of thought by showing up with a dildo in one hand and a harness in the other. “You ready to check out?”
Scarlett stared. “What are those?”
Megan looked down at what she was carrying. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? Thought I’d get some things to round out my collection. I won’t be able to find good quality stuff like this as easily back home.” She gestured at the box Scarlett was holding. “What about you?”
Scarlett held up the box with the too-expensive clit sucker toy in it. “I’m taking your recommendation.”
“Good! I think you’ll like it.” Megan gave her a broad smile before walking over to the register, leaving Scarlett unsure what the hell was going on.
Chapter Twelve
Megan had expected to fall in love with some of the places on her trip, but she nearly cried as they drove out of New York. Well, first, she almost cried with fear a few times watching Scarlett weave in and out of traffic trying to get them out of Manhattan, but then after that, her only feelings focused on the loss of the city and all the adventures they hadn’t had. Scarlett had been the one to push about heading north that night, rather than spending another night in the expensive midtown hotel, and Megan had reluctantly agreed. After all, there might be more things to do, but even if they stayed another night, Meg
an would still be reluctant to leave. They had eaten some of the best food of her life that day, too, and she could probably spend a year in New York just eating, but they had more road tripping to do.
Maybe she could convince Scarlett to stop in New York on the way home, too.
The way home. She hadn’t given much thought to the fact that they had a whole return trip ahead of them. In her mind, everything ended in Quebec and the world beyond that was a vague uncertainty that she’d been steadily ignoring. The wedding was creeping up on them, though, and she should probably think about the after...but that could wait. For after. Her mental gymnastics made her smile, even if it was a bit of a self-deprecating smile.
“What?”
Scarlett’s question brought Megan out of her reverie, and she blinked. They were steadily heading north in light traffic. “What?” Megan asked.
“You looked like you were smiling about something.”
“Just thinking.” Megan could have been smiling about a lot of things. “It’s been a good day.”
Scarlett’s shoulders relaxed. “It has, hasn’t it?” She returned Megan’s smile.
Megan had been worried that last night would change things between them, but it didn’t have to. It was just mutual masturbation. Rubbing one out. Whatever euphemisms she might use. The fact that Megan wanted more, more, more was about her overactive hormones, nothing else. Sure, so she had a bit of a crush on Scarlett. Long before she even knew she wasn’t straight, and therefore didn’t know it was a crush, she’d had a tiny crush on Scarlett. Maybe that’s why she had been so pissed off, all those years ago.
“So this is Connecticut.” Megan looked out at the darkness surrounding the car. “It’s pretty much the same as all the others.”
“That’s only because it’s dark.” Scarlett sat up like she was giving a lecture to a room of students. “Connecticut is a very small, pretty state. And they all drive like maniacs.”
“You drive like a maniac.” Megan gestured at the dashboard. Without traffic, Scarlett had accelerated up to over seventy-five miles per hour again.
“Because I’m in Connecticut.” Scarlett gave her a knowing look and turned her attention back to the road.
Megan smiled. Lots of Scarlett’s comments were making her smile today, even the dumb ones that would have probably made her roll her eyes a week ago. This tolerance must be some side effect of being stuck in a car together.
The unquenchable hormones were another side effect.
A few more songs in the CD later, Scarlett broke the conversational silence. “I’m sorry we had to leave New York so quickly. I know you were having a good time.”
“Just me?”
“Yeah, me, too. But this trip is much more about you than about me.” Scarlett shrugged. “If I wanted to, I could come up and go to New York anytime.”
Imagine just picking up and driving across the country without several weeks notice. It boggled Megan’s mind. “You’d do that?”
Scarlett snorted. “Well. Clearly not, or I’d have done it. But it’s more about not wanting to go back to New York than not wanting to travel spontaneously.”
“But you had a good time on this visit.” It wasn’t a question. Megan needed to confirm, to hear that Scarlett wasn’t having a miserable time just for her.
The smile Scarlett gave her back was crooked, affectionate. “Yeah, I had a good time. Turns out it’s different coming to visit when you aren’t running away from a bad breakup and drunk off your ass.”
Megan twisted her fingers together in her lap. “Have you had a lot of bad breakups?”
Scarlett made a motion with her shoulders that wasn’t quite a shrug. “Hasn’t everybody?”
“I haven’t.” Megan’s breakups had all been pretty amicable.
Scarlett looked over, giving Megan an appraising look, before turning back to the road. “Well, you’re lucky, then.”
“I don’t get attached.”
Scarlett snorted. “Then you’re doubly lucky.”
Megan wasn’t sure why she felt like she should apologize for never having had bad breakups, like it was a sign of something bad. “Anything recent?”
“A recent breakup, but not a bad one. Pretty mutual. I was seeing this girl Gwen for a while, but we broke up after New Year’s. We were just bad for each other, and I think we always knew that.” Scarlett sighed. “Sometimes you hold on to something bad, just because being alone seems too scary.”
Megan played with the CD case, flicking the zipper back and forth. “I think I’m more likely to stay alone because the alternative seems too scary.”
“What, being in a relationship?” Scarlett glanced her way. “What’s scary about that?”
“Getting hurt. Getting left behind. Letting somebody in, and then they leave you.” Megan hadn’t known Scarlett was dating someone so recently, someone who hadn’t been good for her but who she probably missed. “Were you in love with her?”
“Who, Gwen?” Scarlett tipped her head to the side. “I don’t know. Probably. I seem to fall in love with everybody.”
Megan’s stomach twisted. “You’re kidding.”
“Nah. I fall easy and fast. It’s not like I’m the one-true-love kind of person. Or nobody’s been that for me. But to say I haven’t been in love with all of them?” Scarlett frowned. “That feels like it’s unfair to me. And them.”
Megan tried to wrap her mind around that. Falling in love so easily, without any kind of commitment in return. And then ending things. “How do you keep your heart from breaking?”
Scarlett rested her head back, giving a sad smile to the windshield in front of her. “It breaks all the time. I mend it up and keep going.”
Megan turned to look at Scarlett, her beautiful light brown curls pulled up into a messy bun, the loose clothes she’d put on in the hotel bathroom for the drive, the tanned skin still gleaming even without makeup. “That’s the worst plan I’ve ever heard.”
Scarlett burst out laughing. “What?”
“Break your heart over and over again and keep going? That’s horrible! You should stop doing that.” Megan knew this was ridiculous advice, but she couldn’t help it.
“You’re sweet.” Scarlett reached over to squeeze her hand. “But trust me. Not everything is as easy as a friendly wank in a New York hotel. Feelings get involved, and then hearts get broken. It’s normal.” She put her head back and started to sing, loudly, and not entirely on key. “‘It’s the CIIIIIIIIIRCLE of LIIIIIIIIIIFE...’”
Megan waved her hand frantically. “That’s enough of that.” Scarlett may find all of this funny, but the disquiet settling into Megan’s stomach was real. “If you fall in love with everyone you date—”
“Well, not everyone,” Scarlett interrupted. “I was exaggerating. And sometimes I fall in love with people I’m not dating. But go on.”
“If you fall in love with almost everyone you date, and people you aren’t even dating, how do you expect to have any relationship last?”
Scarlett pursed her lips. “It’s about choice. Eventually, if I find someone who wants to be with me, and I want to be with them, I’ll choose to be with them.”
“What if you fall in love with someone else?”
“That doesn’t matter. Because I won’t choose to be with them.”
It sounded way too complicated for Megan, and she said so, making Scarlett laugh. Then Scarlett turned the music up, and passed some other Connecticut driver, and Megan watched the dance of headlights outside as they headed north to their next stop: Salem.
They’d warned the Witch Way motel in Salem that they wouldn’t be arriving until after midnight, but there wasn’t even a front desk clerk when they arrived. Instead, a little envelope with Megan’s name waited on the front desk. In it were two room keys and a note to check in officially the next day.
“Seems
like they trust people,” Scarlett said, letting them into their room at the end of the upstairs hall.
“I can’t do these late nights forever.” Megan tossed her bag onto the floor and collapsed down onto one of the beds. “It’s past my bedtime,” she said, words muffled into the comforter.
The bed dipped as Scarlett sat down next to her. “That isn’t what you said last night.”
Megan rolled over onto her side to look up at Scarlett, who was grinning. “Last night was different. Tonight, I need a good night’s sleep.” She wouldn’t be opposed to more of that some other time, but it couldn’t be now, no matter how her body responded to Scarlett’s proximity.
Scarlett still studied her, though, not getting up off the bed. “Do you want to stay in Salem an extra night instead of making the push to Quebec?”
Megan mentally started doing the extra math. “That gives us less time in Quebec before the wedding.”
“We could see about moving our hotel reservation and stay a few days after the wedding instead.” Scarlett shrugged one shoulder. “We’ve been doing a lot of late-night drives. If we try to make it all the way to Quebec tomorrow night, I think we’ll be exhausted.”
The idea of not driving anywhere tomorrow was enticing. Megan nodded. “Let’s call the Château Frontenac tomorrow and see what they say.”
* * *
Scarlett had never been to Salem, but even if she had, it would probably have felt like the first time again when looking at it through Megan’s eyes. “It’s probably even better in October,” Scarlett said as they walked down a cobblestone street between shops, Megan’s glance darting from window to window.
“This is fine. No crowds.” And truly, there was barely anyone in the town at all, just a few pedestrians to contend with. They’d slept in, successfully called and moved their Quebec reservation, and had a quick breakfast before hitting the downtown area, where Megan wasted no time finding all the “witchy” shops. They were the kind of tourist trap places that clearly thrived in a place like this, and Scarlett was having a hard time not being cynical about their authenticity, but Megan seemed delighted by it all. Finally, after the second witchy bookshop, Megan stopped and addressed her directly. “You don’t have to come with me, you know.”
