by Melissa Good
Well. It certainly was one of the few things he’d never tried underwater before.
But it was as good a time as any to try.
IT WAS MUCH quieter down the hallway. Kerry glanced around as they strolled, peering at the bulletin boards, which featured announce-ments and posters about current school events. “It’s different.”
“I bet.” Dar pointed. “That’s the PE area. Everyone had to take it and I think the locker room was one of the true character building moments for any high school girl.” She poked her head inside the alcove and tried the door. “Ah.”
Kerry followed her amiably inside. The lockers were painted in viru-lent shades of red, white and blue, and there were encouraging paper banners plastered on the walls for various team sports. The floor was tile over concrete and the whole place smelled rather like…
Hmm. Rather like an old gym sock. “Nice atmosphere,” she commented.
“What teams were you on?”
“None…well, that’s not true. I ran track, and did field events like high jump. But I wasn’t in any team sports.” Dar strolled over to a plaque and viewed it with a mixture of nostalgia and regret.
Kerry stepped up next to her and tilted her head back, reading the records hammered into the insets, made to be changed if the school records were. Her eyebrows lifted at a familiar name, in several places.
She looked at Dar. “I always envied people who could actually do the broad jump.” Her hand traveled over and patted Dar’s thigh. “My one shining moment in high school sports was during an archery competition.”
“Really?” Dar turned and cocked her head. “Didn’t know you were into bows.”
“I wasn’t.” Kerry assumed a wry look. “I shot our head mistress in the butt.” She laughed at the expression on her lover’s face. “I was grounded for six months, but let me tell you, was I ever famous in school.” She followed the laughing Dar back out of the locker room, into the mustier scent of the hallway. “I played on all the teams, though. It was sort of expected.” They walked down a long ramp, towards another Eye of the Storm 217
section. Other guests were also roaming, and occasionally, one gave Dar a nod, or waved. “Softball, field hockey, the usual.”
“No field hockey here.” Dar climbed up a set of steps. “Soccer, sure.
Softball, football, swimming. I did a little swimming and diving too.”
They exited into a long hallway, with classrooms on either side, which opened up into a center almost lab like area set up for larger groups, with audio visual screens. “This was my AP English classroom.”
Kerry regarded the small chairs and old, wooden desk at the front, and tried to imagine a teenage version of her tall lover there.
It was tough. “Did you like school?”
Dar shrugged and led her down the hall, towards a set of stairs that led back to the cafeteria. “I didn’t hate it, but it didn’t really challenge me,” she admitted. “I left here and went to work, or went home and hung around with the other brats. What was going on at the base always seemed more real to me.” They ambled down the steps, moving to one side as a group of people started up them.
“Well, well,” the tall redhead in their midst said, looking directly at Dar, “look who showed up.”
Some people, Kerry decided, really did just have “Hi, I’m a bad attitude” tattooed on their foreheads. Following some primal instinct, she hesitated, falling a step behind Dar as her lover turned, tilting her head slightly to peer out over her sunglasses.
“Hello, Cathy.” Dar’s voice was neutral and brief. “Have a nice tour.” She continued on down the stairs.
“Whoa, whoa. What’s your rush?” The taller woman edged over, blocking their path. “Been a long time.” Her friends watched in silence.
Cathy’s eyes roamed over Dar’s body, starting at the boots. “Don’t you look butch?”
Dar let her glasses slip down a little, so the redhead’s eyes met her own icy ones when she reached that level. “Yeah, but I can take these clothes off. What’s your excuse?”
A snicker came from the watching crowd, and Kerry suddenly felt like she was back in school herself, as the attitudes around her devolved into an adolescent tenor. She put a subtle hand on Dar’s back, feeling the tension beneath her fingers, and scratched the bare skin gently.
“Smart ass.”
“Yep.” Dar circled around her and continued down the stairs.
“Always was.”
Kerry felt the eyes on her and she kept her attention on her friend’s back as she followed her, closing her ears to the sarcastic comments on her body. “That was pleasant,” she muttered, as they exited the stairwell and gained the relatively cheery safety of the cafeteria. “I take it you and her weren’t buddies?”
Dar ducked around a pylon and edged up to the now crowded bar.
“Actually, we were.” She ordered a soda. “You want a beer?”
“Sure.”
Dar paid for the drinks and handed Kerry hers, then pointed 218 Melissa Good towards a table near the rear of the steadily filling room. “C’mon. I’m sure I’ll have to suffer more of Patricia. We might as well sit down.”
They took a seat and Dar tossed her glasses on the table, riffled her dark hair back and took a sip of her soda. “Cathy and I hung out together for a couple of years. She was all right. Not too many brain cells, but she was into partying and having a good time.”
“And?” Kerry was secretly delighted at worming out a little more of her sometimes enigmatic lover’s early years. She eyed the glass she’d been given, then wiped her beer bottle neck off and swigged directly from it.
“She got drunk and tried to kiss me and I beat the crap out of her.”
Kerry spit a mouthful of beer halfway across the table, and started coughing. “Jesus, Dar.” She received a penitent slap on the back. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No.” Dar tossed her napkin and Kerry’s on the table and wiped the beer up. “I was not a nice person in high school. I was very full of myself and I had the skills and the brawn to back it all up. Not a good combination.”
“Mmm.” Kerry set her bottle down and cleared her throat. “Did you fight a lot?”
Dar’s eyes flicked over the room, in an oddly tense movement. “I did my share.” Her hands flexed.
“Dar?” Kerry deliberately closed her fingers around one of her partner’s and waited for the blue eyes to flick in her direction. “You’re not in high school anymore, remember? You’re the Chief Information Officer of the largest IS company in the world.”
Dar paused and blinked, then exhaled, and leaned back. “Yeah, I know.” She gently withdrew her hand and folded her arms over her chest. “Just reliving some not so nice memories.”
Kerry sighed. “Next time, we just go rent a movie, huh?” She was now definitely sorry she’d coaxed Dar into this. “Wonder what your folks are up to?”
That nudged Dar off her dark train of thought. “Oh. Walking on the beach, maybe.” She released the old memories. “Exploring the island, maybe trying out that hot tub.” She spotted her cousin across the room and sighed as she was identified.
“You think so? I didn’t think they’d mess with that. I guess your dad could get a suit at the market, but—”
Blue eyes blinked at her. “It’s indoors, Ker, they don’t need suits.”
Dar chuckled a little. “I bet they enjoy that big bed, too.”
Kerry’s brows creased. “Um yeah, it looks comfortable.”
“Bouncy.” Dar smiled. “Hope they don’t bounce off and end up on the carpet.” She stopped and took in the look of wide-eyed incomprehension coming from her lover. “Kerry?”
“What do you mean, bounce?”
“What do you think I mean?” Dar laughed. “They’re not going to sleep in it, Ker, they’re—mmfph.” A slim hand covered her mouth.
Eye of the Storm 219
“Dar, let me explain something to you,” Kerry told her seriously.
<
br /> “Parents don’t have sex.” She took her hand away. “Okay?”
Dar wasn’t sure if she should giggle, or what. She rubbed her jaw and took a breath. “And you explain your presence…how? Oh right. I forgot. Private school. Let me guess. Easter Bunny brought you?”
The blonde woman glanced around and noticed the band party moving towards them. She lowered her voice. “Of course I know how I got here. I figure that gave my parents a total of three times.” She made a face. “And even that’s stretching my imagination to its limits. I wondered about cabbage patches more than once.”
Her lover buried her face in one hand and bit off a semi hysterical giggle, her thoughts of school now completely vanished. “Kerrison Stuart, you better get used to the idea that my daddy did not limit his experience to one time.” She peeked out over her fingers. “We had that little father daughter chat real, real early.”
Kerry regarded her doubtfully. “Like, how early?”
“When he figured out my treehouse on the base looked right inside his bedroom window.” Dar flashed white teeth in a mischievous grin as Kerry covered her eyes and blushed a deep crimson, very, very evident in her outfit.
At that moment, she was rescued, relatively, as Patricia came up on one side, and Cathy came up on the other, chairs scraping as they and their respective friends sat down at the round table. The two groups regarded each other. “Just like old times.” Cathy smiled.
“Hope your table manners have improved.” Patricia smiled back.
“Why? Your ugly face hasn’t.”
Dar sighed. It was going to be a very long night.
Chapter
Twenty-four
KERRY REGARDED THE tray that had been delivered to her by serious helpful aproned servers. It was divided into five sections, with a sixth ostensibly for silverware. The sections contained some spaghetti, with some sort of meat, a slice of garlic bread, a salad, some green beans, and a square of carrot cake.
She had sudden insight into why Dar hated vegetables, if this was any indication of what she’d had to subsist on for twelve years, and she found herself with an insidious craving for Chinese stir fry as a result.
Or an apple.
Or something.
Anything. She glanced at Dar, who was carefully separating her strands of spaghetti from the meatlike substance, and eating them individually, alternating with bites of the carrot cake.
Kerry sighed. Well, at least there was a carton of milk, which was sealed.
She tried not to remember she’d been drinking beer and opened the red and white box, then drank down the cold milk with a feeling of relief.
“Ker?”
“Mmm?” She looked up, slightly startled at the lull in the conversation, which had been going on around her for thirty minutes.
“You all right?”
“Uh. Yeah, sure.” Kerry nibbled a bit of the carrot cake. She’d let the string of reminisces go past her, glad that Dar was at least unbending enough to trade stories with the rest of the table. It was interesting, sort of. Dar’s cousin kept up a never-ending stream of questions, and she and Cathy constantly traded insults. Kerry realized that the insults weren’t really serious, but more of a game and the intimidating Cathy wasn’t nearly as scary as she’d like to make herself out to be.
She did, however, have her eyes all over Dar, a fact that earned her very little appreciation from Kerry, harmless though she knew it was. She turned her head and found the redhead staring at her and she lifted her chin a little, returning the stare steadily.
“So. What do you do?”
“I work with computers, like Dar does,” Kerry answered evenly.
“Any money in that?”
Eye of the Storm 221
“We do all right.” She rested her chin on her fist. “It’s a very fast growing industry.”
“Sounds boring as shit.”
“Dar, are you still working for that company. Whatever it was?”
Patricia interrupted, gesturing with a fork. “You know the one.”
“Yes, I am,” Dar admitted. “ILS.”
Cathy laughed. “Still? Man. Have they let you out of the mailroom yet?”
Kerry’s eyes narrowed, but Dar merely sucked on her fork prongs reflectively. “Where is our mailroom?” She turned to her lover. “I’ve had mine delivered for so long, I don’t know where they put it last time.”
“On the first floor, near security,” the blonde woman supplied. “I had to drop a package off there last week.”
“What are you doing now, Dar? Still in programming?” Patricia asked. “I remember when you made the report cards all print out in French our last year. I don’t think Mr. McGrudber ever forgave you for that, even though you did use proper grammar.” She laughed and the three girls with her laughed too. “I bet he finds you tonight.”
Dar rested her forearms on the table. “Actually, he and I had a laugh about that at our last stockholder’s meeting,” she remarked offhandedly.
“He came over to congratulate me on being promoted to CIO and just had to tell Alastair about the whole thing.” She played with her paper napkin.
“Alastair told him he was lucky it was only French.” She paused as she absorbed the looks of surprise from around the table. “In answer to your question, Pat, I’ve gone a little beyond programming.” She basked in the sweetness of their very visible envy. “Despite many predictions to the contrary.”
“Wow.” Patricia seemed at a loss for words. “That’s really great.
That’s incredible, in fact.”
“You son of a bitch.” Cathy snorted. “After all that big talk about being so out there, you go and sell out and be a corporate asshole.” She stood up and shoved her tray to the middle of the table, then stalked off, muttering in disgust.
Dar and Kerry exchanged glances. “Oh yes,” Kerry murmured, “you turned out so stuffy and traditional.” She brushed a bit of dust off Dar’s bare shoulder, since the taller woman had removed her jacket and slung it over the chair.
There was an uncomfortable silence then Pat cleared her throat.
“Here I thought I was doing okay being a law clerk.” She laughed a little defensively. “Who knew?”
“TELL YOU WHAT,” Dar murmured into Kerry’s ear as they climbed the flight of steep stairs towards the metal doors of the gym.
“You share one dance with me in this place, and then…”
“Mmm?” The pink ear twitched with interest.
“Sushi and the beach?”
222 Melissa Good
“Ooo.” Kerry warbled in delight. “You’re definitely on.” She laid a hand on Dar’s arm. “Listen. Sorry if this has been a bust for you.”
Dar dodged a thickset man who swayed slightly as he climbed. “It hasn’t been.” She shrugged and looked around. “It’s been sort of…not fun, but I think it’s been interesting for me to see how…um…”
“Far you’ve come?” Green eyes twinkled at her in the dim light. “I know how I’d feel if I was at home, walking the halls of my school.” A memory stirred. “I had this one teacher, Ms. Van Schuver, who taught creative writing. She told me, after giving me a barely passing grade in her class, that I’d never go outside my nice, safe box so she considered me very Republican and very boring.”
Dar put a hand on her bare back and guided her into the gym. “And when is your high school reunion?”
“Hmm.” A wash of air hit her, mixing the scents of a lot of people, alcohol, rubber, and old wood. She paused inside the door to look around, as a babble of voices in several languages and loud music added to the atmosphere.
The gym had, of course, a large clear space in the center and a stage on one side with a DJ complete with an assortment of chaser lights. On the other side, the seats had been pushed back mechanically against the wall, exposing only the lower two or three tiers for people to sit on.
Tables were lined up near the back with various nibbly snacks on it and two large freestanding bars w
ere quickly gathering customers. Kerry followed Dar to the side of the room and they stood watching quietly as a few groups broke up into twos and threes and drifted to the center of the room.
“Thirsty?” Dar finally asked.
“A little. Punch, though, please. That beer’s deadly.” Kerry put a hand on her stomach and watched as Dar slipped through the crowd and headed towards the bar. She leaned back against the collapsed, wooden tiers and exhaled.
It was a mixed crowd, of course. Hispanics were prevalent, with a liberal spattering of Anglos and African Americans among them. She could hear English, Spanish, Creole, and some Jamaican accents just in her vicinity, and smiled as the music changed to a Latin beat and the sports jackets started to come off.
“Hey…it’s the little blonde kid.” Cathy appeared at her side, making Kerry jump a little. Her voice was slightly slurred and she smelt of something stronger than beer. “You’re pretty cute, you know that?”
Kerry folded her arms over her chest self-consciously. “Hi.” She smiled briefly. “Thanks for the compliment.” She was aware of the taller woman’s imposing presence and that Cathy stood within inches of her, well within her comfort zone. She eased back.
“Where’s your big shot friend?” Cathy moved closer, reaching out to finger Kerry’s soft leather jacket. “Must be nice to have all that money, huh?”
“Dar’s just getting a drink.” Kerry’s heartbeat picked up. “And I Eye of the Storm 223
have what I work for, just like everyone else does.” True.
“Oh yeah?” Cathy pulled a flat bottle from her overalls’ back pocket and took a sip from it. Its sharp scent made Kerry’s nostrils twitch. “Bet you never been poor, though, have you? Not a little WASP like you.” Her voice became bitter.
“No, I never have,” Kerry admitted.
“Want some of this?” Cathy pushed the bottle at her. “Or are you too good to share a little drink with a poor old cracker like me?”
Kerry realized that she was surrounded by leather clad shadowy figures and a jolt of panic hit her in the gut. She forced herself not to shake as she took the bottle and sniffed it cautiously. Well, she felt a tinge of wry amusement, I never thought this skill would come in handy ever again, but... She took a long sip of the alcohol and swallowed it, then licked her lips and shrugged as she handed it back. “Mescal’s better.”
