by E. Walsh
“Well, I’ll be,” a woman’s voice startled her. “If it isn’t the maid of honor.”
Collette looked up from her desk and smiled widely at Tara, the blonde dressed in a tight two piece suit, her blouse unbuttoned more than was probably professionally acceptable and her skirt framing her hips.
Her hair flowed down over her shoulders in waves, framing her high cheekbones and perfect blue eyes.
Collette instantly got up and gave the woman a hug. “Oh my God, Tara, how are you?”
“You disappeared on me, woman,” Tara said, crossing her arms over her chest and feigning a scold that didn’t last more than a second before giving way to a smile. “When I came back the table you were gone.”
“Uh, actually I think it was you who ditched me,” Collette said with a smile. She gestured at the papers strewn across the table. “Welcome to my world.”
Tara pulled out the seat opposite Collette’s desk and sat down, crossing her legs as she gazed over the scribbled essays decorated with red comments.
“Wow, spending Sunday working?” Tara asked, finding an empty spot between the papers and placing her Styrofoam cup down.
“I could say the same to you,” Collette mused, gesturing to the suit. Tara looked like she was prepped for a meeting, or had at least just finished one.
Compared to the casual match of jeans and blouse she was wearing, Tara seemed very out of place with the rest of the Sunday coffee house guests.
“Interview,” Tara explained. “I’m being headhunted and thought that the best time to meet my future employers would be when everyone else I normally work with is asleep.”
Collette frowned. “You’re leaving Price Advertising?”
Tara shrugged as she took a sip from her cup and tossed back her hair. “Gotta keep your options open, I guess. Besides, there’s no room to grow at Price. I’m never going to get very far there.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Collette folded her hands around her own drink. “Jackie’s going to be devastated.”
“I haven’t actually seen her since the wedding,” Tara said. “We got moved to different floors, and I rarely bump into her anymore.”
Collette shook her head in confusion. Since the bachelorette party, it had seemed that Jackie and Tara were inseparable, and it didn’t make any sense that both women wouldn’t find a way to make more time for each other.
Collette made a mental note to ask Jackie about that the next time they spoke.
“So, what have you been up to?” Tara asked, a hand gesturing over the papers. “Besides this stuff, of course.”
Collette shrugged. “Not much. Nothing as remotely exciting as the party.”
“That’s a shame.” Tara frowned. “You should really get out more. I thought we had agreed on that the last time we spoke.”
“Well, you were the one who had offered to make my life more interesting,” Collette raised an eyebrow. “So who’s disappeared on whom?”
Tara laughed and raised her cup. “Touché,” she said. “Well, if you’re up for it, a friend of mine is hosting a small party this evening. If you’re interested, I’ll make it worth your while.”
“I’m not sure,” Collette said. “It’s a little short notice.”
“That’s the beauty of it,” Tara said, pushing back her chair and standing up. “A little spontaneity is probably what you need. Come on, you’ll enjoy yourself.”
Collette thought about it for a minute, quickly gazing over the endless essays she still had to correct. A part of her screamed out in warning, reminding her that slacking off for even a day meant more piles of work the next. Still, she had been a little restless over the past two weeks, and the closest thing to going out had been the hours spent at the coffee shop, working. Maybe she really did need this.
“You got a deal,” Collette finally said, smiling at the blonde.
Tara winked at her and raised her cup again. “I’ll text you the address,” she said. “Don’t be late, maid of honor. I’ll be waiting for you.”
Collette watched the blonde walk out of the coffee shop and disappear between the crowds.
* * *
Chapter Four
It took almost half an hour to reach the address Tara had given her. Collette looked out the cab window at the apartment building, squinting through the rain falling in torrents around her.
She paid the driver, made sure her coat was pulled tight around her, and sprinted the small distance to the sliding doors.
The doorman barely looked at her as she walked in, gesturing towards the elevator as she approached him.
“Top floor,” he said, his eyes fixated on the small portable television in front of him.
Collette felt butterflies in her stomach as she rode the elevator. She looked at her reflection in the mirrored wall, quickly fixing her hair as she studied the dress she was wearing, a black one piece she had saved for a special occasion. It framed her body beautifully, and she smiled to herself.
The man who opened the door for her was already swaying, the loud music coming from inside blaring across the hall as he ushered her in, handing her his own drink and planting a wet kiss on her cheek.
She walked into the apartment slowly, a little taken aback, surprised at the sheer number of people there. Cigarette smoke hung like a shroud above the guests’ heads, the music mixed with laughter and exciting chatter.
Collette immediately felt out of place, searching the crowd for Tara or anyone else she might recognize.
“Collette!”
Tara seemed to materialize from between the guests, drink in hand and smile wide as she hurried towards Collette.
“You made it!”
Collette smiled as the blonde hugged her and gave her a quick peck on the lips, something she hadn’t seen coming.
“Come on, you have to meet everybody!”
Tara led Collette into the crowd, pushing through the guests as she apologized and giggled. Collette felt like she was at a concert, the last time she had been surrounded by so many people having had been in college during frat parties.
She immediately felt nostalgic, despite the stinging in her eyes from the smoke and the ringing that was starting in her ears.
I’m getting old, she thought to herself.
“Guys, I want you to meet a god friend of mine,” Tara was saying, and Collette turned her attention to the small group of men and women standing near the open veranda doors where the smoke was thinner and the breeze seemed to balance the immense body heat of the crowd.
Collette smiled at them, barely hearing their names as Tara introduced them one by one, all smiles and drinks and laughter.
Collette barely had enough time to shake hands before Tara was pulling her along, back into the crowd and shaking her body in her purple dress to the music.
Collette noticed how high the skirt was, and as she looked around, realized that maybe she was a little overdressed.
“I feel like a prude here,” Collette commented when she was sure Tara could hear her.
The blonde giggled as she grabbed two drinks and handed one to Collette. “Forget it, you look absolutely gorgeous,” she smiled. “To die for, maid of honor.”
Tara kept Collette close to her for the rest of the night, introducing her to random people as she moved them through the crowds.
The apartment was a massive open space, and Collette felt that in the few hours she had been there, she hadn’t stood in the same place twice.
She watched the crowd, unable to wrap her head around the fact that she was actually here in the midst of complete strangers in a place she wouldn’t have gone to even during her wildest years.
As the crowd thinned, drinks were quickly replaced with drugs, hugs replaced by full-on make-out sessions, and couples were constantly disappearing into various rooms and bathrooms.
Tara herself was almost completely drunk, her words slurring as she tried to talk to Collette, her words completely incomprehensible.
“I nee
d some air,” Collette yelled over the noise and the music.
Tara nodded eagerly and pointed towards the bar. “I’ll be right there doing what I do best.”
Collette smiled awkwardly and made her way through the guests, already feeling incredibly uncomfortable as she bumped into one drunk person after the other, coming very close to having a drink spilled on her.
When she made it through the veranda doors, she sighed heavily and stretched, letting the cool air soothe her. She took in a deep breath, filling her lungs with fresh air, a little light-headed from the smoke inside.
She took out her phone and saw that Jackie had tried calling her. She pondered whether to return the call or not, and decided against it.
If Jackie found out she was out at a party, she would never hear the end of it. She’d give her a call in the morning.
Collette leaned against the railing and looked back at the crowd inside.
They were a rowdy bunch, and she found it hard to believe that any of them had jobs or a life to get back to.
It was as if they had been created for the sole purpose of partying, in their own little bubble as the world around them went about its business, oblivious to everything around them.
She couldn’t believe that at one point in her life, this had been a regular outing for her and Jackie. She almost regretted having had agreed to come here.
Collette looked at her phone again, registered the time, and decided she had had enough. She made her way back into the smoke and music, wincing after having had experienced the fresh air, heading straight towards the bar to let Tara know she was leaving.
She looked around for the blonde but couldn’t find her anywhere, frowning as she scanned what was left of the crowd for the woman.
“We have a problem here!”
Collette turned to where the voice was coming from, a small commotion starting up as a few guests hurried into one of the several bathrooms.
“Someone call 911!”
Collette felt her stomach turn, a sinking feeling hitting her as she hurried towards the bathroom, pushing through the crowd.
Panic immediately hit her when her fears were confirmed, Tara’s body lying limp on the bathroom tiles with a needle in her arm.
She rushed forward, falling to her knees beside the blonde as two men tried to lift her up.
Another woman was slapping her face, trying to wake her up, but Tara was unresponsive.
“Do you know her?” one of the men asked Collette.
Collette felt the world around her suddenly spin out of focus.
* * *
Chapter Five
“And sign here.”
Collette pulled her coat tighter around her, the pen in her hand shaking as she signed her name on the hospital release papers.
“You do understand that she is being released completely into your responsibility, right?”
Collette nodded as she handed the pen back to the nurse, hugging herself as she waited for the doctor to fill out a prescription form. He handed her the small piece of paper, sullen and half asleep.
“Is she going to be okay?” Collette asked.
“She should be,” the doctor said, pocketing his pen and burying his hands in his scrubs pockets. “It was pretty close, though. I suggest you keep a close eye on her.”
Collette nodded and made her way back to the waiting room. She slumped into a chair, alone in the small vestibule as she waited for Tara to be led out.
She tried to calm herself down, squeezing her hands together as she took deep breaths. She had seen more than enough overdoses in her time, but this had been different.
She had never thought that at her age, after years away from all of this, she’d be going through it again.
She stood up as she saw Tara being led by a nurse. She was still in her evening dress, but she looked nothing like the bubbly blonde that had met her earlier at the party.
Her eyes were blood shot, and her hair was tied back in a ponytail, her face white as a sheet as she attempted to smile.
Collette took her off the nurse, and the blonde immediately rested into her arms, shivering.
Collette took off her coat and wrapped it around the woman, balancing her as they walked out of the hospital and into the rain.
* * *
Chapter Six
“I’m sorry about all this.”
Collette handed Tara a mug of freshly brewed coffee. “Don’t worry about it,” she said softly. “We all trip up some times.”
Tara was lying on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket, visibly shaking despite the warmth of the apartment.
Collette sat on the couch opposite her, her own coffee in her hands as she curled her legs underneath her.
She took a sip from her drink as she eyed the blonde clad in sweat pants and an over-sized sweatshirt one of Collette’s exes had left behind.
She liked casual Tara a lot more, less flamboyant, more attractive even.
“This isn’t the way I’d like people to see me,” Tara said, lowering her face closer to the coffee and letting the steam warm her face.
“It happens to the best of us,” Collette said.
Tara looked up at her and smiled weakly. “Had your share of overdoses?”
“No, actually, I never really got into it,” Collette replied. “College was full of them, though. It was almost a rite of passage.”
Tara nodded and sipped on her drink. “Jackie was a lot less understanding.”
“Is that why you guys aren’t talking anymore?”
“Who said we weren’t talking?”
Collette raised an eyebrow and cocked her head to a side.
Tara smiled wider. “One of the reasons,” she said, her voice almost a whisper.
“Jackie will come around, whatever the problem is,” Collette said.
Tara looked at her, her blue eyes glowing softly in the dim lights. “I’m not being headhunted,” she said. “I was fired.”
Collette put her mug down with a frown. “What?”
“News of my drug problem reached top management,” Tara admitted. “I didn’t stand a chance. They didn’t care about my work there, or how much effort I put into that company. They had me escorted out as soon as they heard.”
“Oh my God, Tara, I had no idea. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s ok,” Tara said. “I’m not exactly proud of it.”
“Did you try getting help?”
Tara scoffed. “I’m past that,” she said. “Everybody I know is a druggie. I need more than just help. I need an escape.”
“I’m not going to pretend to know what you’re going through,” Collette said, “But taking the first step is always hardest. After that things usually just flow.”
“Do you tell your students that crap?” Tara asked.
Collette felt the words like a slap in the face and bit back her tongue.
“I’m sorry,” the blonde said. “I was out of line.”
“I understand,” Collette said, although she did feel a bit hurt. “You’re frustrated. I get it.”
“It’s just that I keep thinking back to when my life was normal, when I had everything under control, and I wonder where the hell I went wrong.”
“If you ever need to talk about it, I’m all ears,” Collette offered.
Tara smiled. “I’ll hold you to that, you know.”
Collette smiled and stood up. “I need to get some sleep,” she said. “I have a full day of work ahead of me. You’re welcome to stay here as long as you need, Tara, no strings attached.”
Tara eyed her for a moment before smiling. “I can see why Jackie loves you so much,” the blonde said. “You’re really something, maid of honor.”
Collette squeezed the blonde’s hand before walking past her and down the hall to her bedroom.
* * *
Chapter Seven
She didn’t know what woke her up first, the opening of her bedroom door or the warm body that slipped under the sheets beside her.
Collette opened her eyes and stared into Tara’s blues, locked onto them for what seemed like forever before Tara leaned over and pressed her lips against hers.
Collette hesitated for only a second before throwing caution to the wind and kissing the blonde back, her mouth opening slightly as their lips tangled together, the kiss deep and sensual.
Collette could feel the heat rise from her core and race to the surface, her face flushing as Tara’s hands found their way into her shirt and against her skin.
Collette felt goose bumps break out all across her body, and as the blonde adjusted herself, Collette immediately reached for the hem of the sweatshirt and pulled it off.
Tara was naked underneath, her skin soft to the touch as Collette ran her hands up and down the woman’s back, pulling her closer until her nipples were in her mouth.
She could hear Tara sigh in approval, the blonde’s hands entangled in Collette’s hair, pressing her closer, hugging her to her chest.
Tara suddenly pulled away and reached down underneath the covers, pulling at Collette’s shirt and undressing her swiftly.
Collette watched as the blonde admired her naked body, smiling wickedly before diving down between her breasts, squeezing, sucking, kissing.
Her lips felt like soft touches of a feather against Collette’s skin as the blonde traced her way down, pulling at Collette’s shorts and panties, leaving her completely naked.
Collette held her breath, looking down at Tara as she kissed the inside of her thighs, slowly moving to the soft part in between.
When her lips touched Collette, the woman found herself arching her back and moaning softly in pleasure, the swift flick of the blonde’s tongue immediately sending shock waves throughout her entire body.
Tara had Collette rocking against her, her hands cupping her ass cheeks, pushing her against her face as she worked, Collette’s hands grabbing the bed sheets in fists as her moans quickly turned to screams of ecstasy.
