Rules of the Road

by K. Aten

  Kelsey’s ears grew warm when she thought about her once a week walks around the apartment building with Newman and Pierre. “I plead the fifth!”

  Jamie’s exuberant laughter came over the tiny speaker of her phone. “I thought so!”

  Instead of responding to the blonde’s teasing, Kelsey changed the subject. “So, you mentioned a great cocoa place?”

  There was a pause before the other woman responded. “You weren’t just messing with me then? You really want to go have coff—, er, cocoa?”

  “Of course I do! I said so didn’t I? So where is this amazing place?” Kelsey watched as brake lights started flashing across all three lanes. “Dammit! This is why I hate leaving late!” She sighed and quickly switched to the center lane as her app chimed.

  “Verkehr verlangsamen voraus.”

  Kelsey rolled her eyes and glanced down to see how long the traffic jam was supposed to last. She sighed when she realized that Pierre and Newman were probably going to shred the curtains or something during her half hour or more of lateness. They were a total pain sometimes. Her app chimed again and the little nerd car’s message box popped up.

  “Hey, if you want to meet tonight I’m free any time after 5:30, traffic is really moving today!”

  With one last glance at her phone, Kelsey slowed to a stop and replied. “It’s not moving if you left work late! I just stopped, along with all the other lanes.”

  “Where are you? Are you at least past the nexus of the universe yet?”

  “No, just before. Damn!”

  “Sorry, Kels. So if you want to meet tonight, when is a good time for you?”

  The agitated woman thought about all she had to do when she got home, then answered her friend. “Tonight is fine, and how about 7:00? Is that too late for you? Or should we go someplace for dinner instead?”

  “Have I won the lottery? Did a gorgeous woman just ask me out to dinner?”

  Kelsey groaned at Jamie’s persistence even if she sensed the other woman was no longer seriously pursuing her. It was nice to know they’d made it to solid friend stage. Now if she could only convince her libido and dreams of that fact! More often than not she used the pictures of Jamie that she had saved on her phone to fuel her fantasies at night. She was going to have to invest in another jumbo pack of batteries again. Being Jamie’s friend was costing Kelsey money and sanity. “Nope, just average Kelsey. Now, do you want to have dinner or cocoa?”

  “The coffee place also makes delicious sandwiches. So if you don’t mind that we can just eat there. Maybe cocoa for dessert?”

  Kelsey laughed. “As long as I’m not cooking it, it sounds wonderful. Just message me the address when you get home and I’ll meet you there at 7:00.”

  Jamie did a little dance in her seat as she continued down the highway. She was extremely excited to meet her friend for dinner. Sadly, reality was a bucket of cold water and she calmed down again. “Chill James, she’s just a friend and not anything more. You’re turning over a new leaf now.” After talking herself down a bit, she found that she was actually sad that there was no potential with her friend. On the plus side, she really needed more solid people in her life and she knew that Kelsey was one of the good ones. Her thoughts were interrupted when her app chimed.

  “You didn’t answer. Will you message me the address when you get home?”

  The engineer shook herself out of her musings. “It’s called The Scalded Crow. You should be able to just search the place online. But I can also message you the address when I get home. I’ll send my phone number too, just in case you’re running late.” Jamie grinned at her smooth idea.

  “Oh, very smooth, James! Nice job working a legit way of slipping me your number!”

  “Damn, she’s quick!” She laughed and replied back to her friend. “Hey, it doesn’t hurt to try! All right, Kels, I need to get gas when I get off the highway so I’m going to let you go. I’ll see you later.”

  “Yup, see you in a few hours!”

  IN KELSEY’S BEDROOM, she had multiple shirts scattered around her bed, one of which was on Pierre’s head. She didn’t normally let them in her bedroom but had left the door open by accident when she got home. “This isn’t even a date, Newman! Why am I so nervous about meeting a friend for dinner? It’s just Jamie.”

  Newman looked back at her, all dapper in his stately black and white tuxedo markings. “Mroooow”

  She glared back at her cat. “You’re not much help!” Then she glanced over at Pierre, whose head had managed to poke out an armhole but was still very much wrapped in her shirt. “You’re definitely no help! And I can’t wear that one now even if I wanted to because it’s covered in cat hair!” She untangled the cat from the shirt and tossed the garment in the hamper. Rather than consult the cats any longer, she chose a soft long-sleeve t-shirt and her favorite jeans. She paired the shirt with a lightweight zip up hoodie and called it good. She looked at the alarm clock on her nightstand and sighed. It was twenty to seven. Rather than rush out the door, she picked up all her clothes and put them back into her closet and shooed the cats from the room. Then she made one more trip to the bathroom to spray some cologne on herself.

  Afterwards she took a minute to stare into the mirror. She pulled her shirt and hoodie down a little more to cover her hips then shrugged her shoulders and watched both ride back up again. She turned sideways and frowned at the way her belly was rounded out. She ignored her ass because she had accepted a long time before that the booty would never ever be flat. It just wasn’t in her genetics. She lifted her hair off her shoulders and held it up folded over to see what it would look like shorter. “Hmm, maybe I should get it cut off?” Kelsey let the hair go and tucked the front part that came across her forehead behind her ear to keep it out of the way. She looked into her strange dark green eyes as an even stranger thought popped into her head. “I wonder if Jamie would like it short.” Her mental musings were halted as she glanced at the little watch on her bathroom counter and saw that she was going to be late. “Well, shit!” She quickly left the bedroom and grabbed her wallet and keys. She yelled to the cats on her way out the door. “Be good boys, Mommy will be home soon!”

  Jamie was having a strangely similar experience across town, minus the cats and hips. Since she wasn’t meeting Kelsey until 7:00, she had plenty of time to get a quick workout in and clean up her apartment. Not that she needed to clean her apartment because no one was coming over, and no one had come over in weeks. After the gym and cleaning she painted her toenails while she watched the newest episode of her prison show. She was nervous and was trying to do anything to distract herself. But why she was nervous, she had no idea. Instead she paced around her living room, walking with her toes pointed up to avoid smudging the paint.

  During her pacing, she picked up a stuffed moose that she got when her company sent her across the bridge into Canada to research a potential supplier. She named him Dudley after the cartoon from her childhood. No, it wasn’t the moose’s name from the show, but it was another Canadian character. The one who always did the right thing. She stopped pacing when her mind ran off onto the new tangent. Looking at the adorable little moose in her hands she asked him the questions that she couldn’t ask anyone else. “Am I doing the right thing?” She did another wobbly pacing circuit on her heels. “I mean, I’m not doing anything wrong. Kelsey is my friend and I meet friends for coffee or dinner all the time. It’s not like I’m trying to pick her up. I’m not trying to pick anyone up anymore.” She looked down at the moose cradled in the crook of her left arm. “Jenn was right, Dudley. I needed to start taking a different street. Do you think Kelsey would approve?” She stopped abruptly and hobbled over to put the moose back on her shelf. “Kelsey would think I was insane for talking to a stuffed animal! Okay James, enough fooling around!”

  She pulled the toe separators off her feet and put away the rest of the pedicure stuff, then took herself to the shower. Afterwards, she stressed for twenty minutes trying to decide
what to wear. In the end, she settled on a light blue button down, jeans, a pair of buckskin colored boots that were laced halfway, and a navy puffy vest. After swinging her messenger bag back across her chest, she took one last look around the condo then let the door shut behind her. It was only Kelsey, what was she so nervous about?

  Chapter Eight

  KELSEY WAS LATE. It wasn’t her fault, rather she couldn’t find parking for the coffee shop. Mostly because it was a lot busier than she expected. At least she wasn’t too late though, only five minutes. When she walked in she spotted Jamie immediately. The blonde had gotten a lucky two-top table along the wall of windows and waved at her as she entered. She had to shake herself a little as she realized her friend had a really great smile. They’d only seen each other twice in person, for maybe fifteen minutes total. Jamie wasn’t exactly smiling when she was stranded on the side of the highway. Then there was the time at the gas station but Kelsey was distracted by her impending class. It was only in the coffee shop that Kelsey started to understand the stories about why the engineer was so popular with the ladies. She took a deep breath and sighed at what could never be, then walked over to her table. Jamie stood up when she arrived and before Kelsey could even register what she was doing, the other woman gave her a big hug. It felt a little too good.

  As soon as Jamie pulled back she started to speak rapid-fire. “Hey, only a few minutes late I see. Did you find parking okay? They’re really busy today.”

  Kelsey laughed lightly, realizing that Jamie was nervous. “Yes I did, but I had to park down the street. That’s the reason I was a few minutes late. I would have called you but you forgot to message me your number.” Taking a chance, and with more than a little twinkle in her eye, Kelsey spoke again. “So, do you come here often?”

  Jamie barked out a laugh then quickly stifled it. “That was really lame, Kels. Seriously!”

  “Whatever, nerd! Now lead me to the place where I can get the promised sandwiches and amazing cocoa, I’m starving!”

  The blonde grinned and looped her arm through her friend’s elbow before she could protest. “If you could come with me, madam, I believe you will find a fine assortment of meat and bread arrangements to meet with your hunger demands. Even if you’re a,” Jamie shuddered for a second. “Vegan or vegetarian. They have it all.” Kelsey snickered at her words as Jamie gestured toward the hand-written board of sandwiches and wraps that was high up on the wall behind the counter.

  The woman behind the counter smiled at Jamie. “Hey, James, good to see you again.”

  Jamie gave her a casual smile back. “Yeah, you too, Hazel.” She nodded toward Kelsey. “I’ve got a new customer here. I’m trying to convert her to the wisdom of giving the Scalded Crow her patronage.”

  Kelsey giggled at her friend’s antics. “All right, I’m always open to new things and I’m ready to order.”

  Jamie looked at her in shock. “But there’s like, twenty sandwiches up there! You can’t tell me you’ve read every single one already.”

  She got a shove to the arm for her teasing. “I skimmed them all but found one that I have to try.” Then she turned to Hazel, who was waiting to take her order. “May I please have the Cubano and a bottle of water?”

  “I thought you wanted a hot cocoa?” Jamie looked genuinely confused.

  Kelsey turned to her and scoffed. “It would be cold by the time I’m done eating, I’ll just come back up and order later.”

  Jamie nodded at the wisdom of her statement and Hazel offered a suggestion. “I can put it on your order and you can just come back up and have me make it when you’re ready.

  She got a big smile and thumbs up from Kelsey. “That would be perfect, thanks!”

  After Kelsey paid, Jamie ordered her own sandwich. “I’ll have the double BLT and a Dr. Pepper.”

  “Is that like a double-decker sandwich?” Kelsey looked at her friend in disbelief and wondered how she would fit a double-decker in her mouth.

  “No, it just has double bacon.”

  Kelsey grinned at her. “Way to be healthy, James!” Jamie just nodded as they walked down to the end of the counter to wait for their sandwiches.

  Once they had their food and were seated back at their table Jamie watched as Kelsey took her first bite. Her friend chewed thoughtfully and a look of wonder came over her face. “Oh damn, this is easily one of the best Cubano sandwiches I’ve tasted!” She looked up at Jamie. “Where do they get their meat? This pork is delicious!”

  “Hazel is the daughter of the owners and she told me that all the veggies and meats come from Zingerman’s Market and Deli. They also get all their bread from Brown’s Bakery and like Zingerman’s they are another place that gets their ingredients from local suppliers.” Kelsey was listening intently while chowing away at her sandwich.

  “Wow, I love supporting local places. And this is about as local as you can get, huh?” She wiped a bit of mustard she could feel on her upper lip and smiled at her friend. “I think this is also going to become my new favorite place.”

  Jamie smiled smugly. “I told you it was amazing.” Kelsey didn’t bother answering. They made short work of their sandwiches then went back up to have Hazel make their hot drinks. Coffee for Jamie and a caramel hot cocoa for Kelsey. When they were seated again, Kelsey gazed at her friend while she sipped the hot, sweet liquid. She thought it would be awkward keeping up a conversation in real life since they didn’t really know much about each other. Not to mention they had really only interacted in a limited capacity via an app. But she was mistaken. She felt so comfortable with the other woman. Jamie was thinking nearly the exact same thing. Then, as with any other time, her brain switched gears and took off on a tangent when she remembered something that Kelsey had said via the app. “Hey, you said that anything was good as long as you didn’t have to cook. Does that mean you don’t enjoy cooking?”

  Kelsey shook her head. “Nope.”

  Jamie cocked her head at the woman across from her. “Nope, it doesn’t mean that and you do like cooking? I don’t understand, you bake such yummy treats”

  Kelsey laughed. “Baking is not cooking! And I don’t like it or dislike it, I just can’t do it.” She thought for a second and shrugged. “Okay, so I don’t particularly like it either.”

  “Really?” Jamie looked at her friend in disbelief and Kelsey nodded. The blonde seemed appalled that her friend didn’t cook. “How do you survive?”

  Kelsey made a face. “Frozen meals, take out, sandwich shops, cake pops, you know, like a college kid.”

  Jamie started shaking her head. “Oh, Kels, no. There is a world of flavor at the tip of your tongue, you merely need to taste it!”

  “That’s what she said!”

  Jamie stopped at the beginning of what promised to be a foodie rant and a sour look came over her face. “There you go again, stealing my lines!” She pointed at her friend. “Stop it!” Kelsey laughed at the way Jamie seemed so put out, but that didn’t deter the engineer. “Okay, seriously though, I can’t believe that you don’t cook!”

  Kelsey shrugged. “It’s not a big deal, it was just never something that interested me. I played soccer in junior high and high school and never had a lot of free time. My abuela came to live with us for a while when I was ten. She taught Mama how to cook authentic Mexican food for Papa but the only thing I learned was not to sass my abuela.” Jamie snickered. “Actually, she did teach me how to make homemade tamales.”

  The woman across the table did a double take. “Wait, you mean from scratch? Beef or chicken?”

  “Either. I cook the meat in a crock pot.”

  Jamie gave her wide eyes. “Cooked in the corn husk and everything?” Kelsey nodded again. “Oh for the love of—, you can cook then!”

  “Nope. I have a very specific recipe that I wrote down as my abuela described it to me. I have no interest in cooking anything else. It’s just, eh, that’s why I decided years ago I just needed to find a wife that liked to cook.” She laughe
d and shrugged.

  “I like to cook.” Jamie blurted out the words then immediately realized how they sounded and rushed to explain. “I mean, I’ve always liked to cook. I like food and I like to experiment with stuff.”

  Kelsey looked at her friend with fresh eyes. “You’re not at all what I expected.”

  She got a slow blink from Jamie in return. “What do you mean?”

  “Honestly?” Jamie nodded. “When I heard you flirting via the app, and some of the comments you’ve made, I assumed you were a bit of a partier. You know, clubs, women, dancing, and stuff. And I’m not going to lie that your name is out in the community as a bit of a, um, lady’s lady, if you know what I mean. But after all our little talks, and with every bit of new information I learn about you, I just think there is a lot that you don’t show other people. You don’t let people see the real you. For instance, you come across as a major extrovert but I sense something completely different. Like you are only putting on a show and secretly you’re very private.” Kelsey stopped and sipped her cocoa and watched her friend’s reaction.

  Jamie sat back in her chair, completely blown away by Kelsey’s serious insight that seemed to come out of nowhere. But it wasn’t the fact that the other woman had changed gears with the conversation, it was that she was so frighteningly accurate.

  Her mind immediately flew back years into the buried recesses of memory.

  “Be more social, James. People think you’re a bitch when you don’t talk and just sit there like some kind of freak!”

  “You’re embarrassing me, try to watch what you say when you’re around my friends.”

  “Why can’t you just lighten up a bit and go with the flow?”

  “Why are you so fucking weird?”

  “Everyone does it, James.”

  “You’re nothing but white trash and you’ll never be anything but white trash. You’ll never have it as good as you do with me!”