Thirteen
Kylie dropped her jeans to the floor and stepped into the booty shorts. They were about as short as they could get without being explicit. As it stood, they revealed a fraction of an inch of each butt cheek. Men seemed to go crazy over that.
Once the shorts were on, she changed her T-shirt for the Jubblies crop top. Last, she threw on the leather jacket she always wore. The look was complete.
As she turned around, Paula wolf-whistled. “Looking good, bad girl.”
Kylie shrugged off the compliment. She was going to be the first one to dance, so she wouldn’t get a chance to see what the rest of the girls were doing until later.
Over the past couple days, she’d put an act together. It was a bit half-assed, but she’d chosen a song that worked, as well as picking up a gold chain with a blinged-out dollar sign hanging off it to go with the leather jacket she’d be wearing over her Jubblies uniform.
It seemed the others had been preparing as well. They’d discussed it briefly in the group chat, but all of them were secretive about what they were planning. Kylie hoped the dance she’d come up with would be up to the others’ standards. At least she was going first, so she shouldn’t get judged too hard.
“Can’t wait to see your angel costume,” she said to Paula.
The door opened, and the waitresses all turned to see who was there. Kylie caught her breath as Starshine walked in. She hadn’t seen or heard anything from her since Monday morning when she’d left her apartment. She still could hardly believe that had really happened.
Starshine was in a brown canvas jacket and a white shirt. She looked good, and Kylie salivated as she let her eyes sweep over her body. She had gotten to see everything she wanted to see, and she knew exactly what was under Starshine’s clothes. But Starshine’s secrets were still as mysterious as ever.
“Hey, ladies,” Starshine said, coming in and depositing her stuff in her locker.
Kylie licked her lips before saying hello back. She wished desperately that the other night hadn’t just been a one-time hook-up. Although she didn’t usually get involved with people, she wanted more of Starshine.
She was going to have to make good use of that video later. She was glad she had thought to record what was happening, and that Starshine had been okay with it. If Starshine had only wanted a rebound, at least Kylie would be able to touch herself and watch the video of her night with Starshine for the rest of her days.
“Where’s your pirate outfit?” Paula asked Starshine.
Starshine stuck a bag into her locker, not letting anyone see it. “You’ll all see it in a bit.”
“Sounds interesting,” Paula said. She stood in front of her locker, trying to fit a pair of wings inside. She had to slam it to get it to close properly.
“Everyone is so secretive,” Alyssa said, spinning around from in front of her locker. “You do realize we’re all going to see each other’s acts by the end of the night, right?”
“Yeah, and enough after to get sick of them,” Kylie put in.
“That doesn’t mean we can’t have fun with it right now. I want mine to be a surprise,” Paula said.
Kylie rolled her eyes. As the conversation went on, she glanced over at Starshine every few seconds. Starshine was acting normal, chatting and joking as much as she ever did. Not about herself, of course.
“Did you find a parrot, S?” she asked, trying to get Starshine to open up a little.
“You’ll see.” Starshine shook off her shirt and tossed it into her locker.
Kylie bit her lip at the sight of her lean body. It was hard to maintain a normal conversation when memories of touching and caressing that tanned skin were flooding over her. “Your days off were good?”
“Yeah.”
Although Kylie didn’t want the others to know what had happened between them, she was starting to worry. Starshine hadn’t mentioned her break-up in the group chat, and she wasn’t mentioning it now. Shouldn’t she do that around people she considered her friends?
Kylie hated to even think about it, but what if Starshine hadn’t actually broken up with Lindsay? What if she had actually cheated with Kylie? Kylie would never forgive herself if she had helped someone be unfaithful, even accidentally.
“I had a great weekend,” Alyssa said, leaning against the locker. “I went—”
Kylie cut her off, staring intently at Starshine. “Still feeling okay since your break-up?”
The others went silent, and everyone looked at Starshine. “You had a break-up?” Paula asked. “Are you all right?”
Starshine stroked the back of her neck, her eyes slightly wide. “Yeah. It’s not a big deal, it was coming for a while.” She glanced at the floor and turned around quickly, fumbling to close her locker.
“Weren’t you two together for a couple years?” Alyssa asked.
“Yeah, two, but it’s fine. I don’t particularly want to talk about it.”
Kylie watched her carefully as she turned around and headed for the door. Was she really acting like someone who’d just had a break-up? There was definitely something off about her behavior. She couldn’t figure out what it was.
It probably wasn’t Kylie’s business in the first place. The fact that they’d hooked up once didn’t give her any right to know about Starshine’s life. She had done what seemed to be ethical with the information she was given. As far as she knew, Starshine was single at the time they had fooled around, so she was in the clear. Even if Starshine had lied to her, no one else could blame her for her part in it.
Starshine left, and Kylie finished fixing the cuff of her jacket. She was a little more nervous than usual since tonight was different than any other night she’d had working at Jubblies. But she would do fine. All she had to do was be herself. She doubted she could ever play an angel or a cop or a pirate. With her, what you saw was what you got.
She headed out to the area they’d cleared for dancing. There were a few groups of people who had shown up for the start of the night, and they watched her with interest as she walked up to the center of the room.
The music started to play. “Bad Boy” by Ma$e had seemed like the most appropriate choice to Kylie. It was a classic. The customers were already nodding their heads as the female vocalist sang the hook. Kylie strode around the space, locking eyes with each customer. As Ma$e started to rap, she shrugged off the leather jacket and let it slide to the floor.
The acts were spaced throughout the evening, so a few minutes went by before the next one. It was Starshine, to Kylie’s great interest. Even though she was with a table by that point, she glanced up at the stage every few seconds.
“I just loved your performance,” one man enthused. “I like your smile.”
“Thank you,” Kylie said, her attention on Starshine as the “He’s a Pirate” remix started up.
Starshine looked incredible in the outfit she had come up with. In a flowing white shirt, a red headband, and kohl eyeliner, she was a gender-bending replica of Johnny Depp. She took on a mischievous grin as she took a few preliminary steps around the area.
A sword appeared out of nowhere, and Kylie stifled a gasp as Starshine flashed it in complicated movements. She must have seriously practiced for this.
Even her face looked different now. She seemed to swagger more. She could’ve been a different person with the way she moved on the stage. As she dropped the sword and unbuttoned her shirt to reveal the Jubblies crop top, Kylie was mesmerized.
“She is owning that pirate thing,” the girl next to Kylie said.
Kylie nodded, hardly hearing her. She was realizing something: Starshine was a good actor. Therefore, she was a good liar.
And Starshine was definitely lying about something. Kylie just didn’t know what.
Fourteen
As Starshine left the dance area, she was compelled to glance over at Kylie. She’d seen her looking, and she couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Her performance had gone pretty well. She’d come up with a few pirate-like moves
, and she was pretty proud of the costume. But Kylie had absolutely killed it with her bad girl routine.
Kylie’s dance moves hadn’t been all that complicated. Starshine doubted she had actually put a ton of effort into it. It was just so perfectly her. She didn’t have to work to get that effect. Her trueness to herself was incredibly seductive.
The customers were very enthusiastic at the first table Starshine went to after her turn dancing. “You were great,” one said.
“No, you were amazing.”
They gave her big tips, and they promised more with their bill at the end of the night. Starshine shook her head to herself as she walked away. That had to be the easiest money she’d ever made. She wasn’t quite rivalling Kylie’s hundred-dollar tip yet, but that had been close.
She glanced around the room, wondering where Kylie was now. She knew she should only give her the same attention as the other waitresses, but it was hard. She wanted to make sure they were cool with each other. Kylie had seemed a little strange in the change room earlier, asking those questions about her fake girlfriend.
So Starshine made a circle around the room, keeping an eye out for Kylie. No, she definitely wasn’t around. She remembered what Kylie had said about smoking outside. Finding her out there might be a better way to talk to her.
Starshine stuck her hands in her pockets and headed out the door. She found Kylie around the edge of the building, exhaling smoke into the cold air. The smoke froze immediately, making Starshine aware of just how cold it was. She hadn’t thought about grabbing her jacket first. She shivered, her nipples hardening.
“Hey,” she said. “Thought I might find you out here.”
“That’s a safe bet,” Kylie said, pulling again on the joint.
She seemed completely unsurprised that Starshine would have come to find her. If not, she was hiding her feelings well. Starshine doubted that Kylie would do such a thing, though. Kylie seemed to wear her emotions on her sleeve.
“Your routine was great,” Starshine said, leaning against the wall. That made her feel even worse, since the bricks poked into her skin and sent the coldness deeper.
Kylie glanced at her, looking amused. “Yeah, thank you. Are you okay there?”
“Just a little cold. I may not have thought this through.”
“Take my jacket.”
Starshine waved away the offer, but Kylie had already taken the jacket off. Now she was just in her tiny crop top, and Starshine gulped as she looked at the curve of her chest. She wanted to run her fingers over those surface piercings again. If only she had some kind of souvenir of that evening they’d spent together.
Kylie covered Starshine’s back with the jacket, and Starshine huddled inside it. It was almost ridiculously warm considering how light it looked. Better yet, it made her feel like Kylie was holding her. It even smelled like Kylie.
As she warmed up, she was so caught up in the moment that she almost missed Kylie’s words. “Your routine was great, too.”
“Oh, you saw it?” As if Starshine hadn’t seen her watching. “Thanks. I spent half the time off coming up with the costume.”
“You went all out. It looked great.”
Starshine wondered if Kylie was flirting again. Even if she was, it didn’t matter. After all, she was the one who had said that their hookup was only a one-time thing. She had to just take the compliment for what it was. But if she was sure she didn’t want more, why had she followed Kylie out here again?
Right, she was trying to make things less awkward. Unfortunately, their conversation was getting worse by the second. Starshine sighed, clutching Kylie’s jacket around her. “Well, I just wanted to say hi. I had fun the other night.”
“Me too,” Kylie said, exhaling another puff of smoke. “I’m glad you’re doing okay since your break-up.”
Starshine shot her a look, but she looked sincere.
“It seemed like good timing,” Kylie said meaningfully.
Now Starshine’s eyes widened, and she felt stupid for not seeing why Kylie might be concerned. “No, I’m definitely single,” she said, looking at the ground. “Sorry you had to worry about that. It was a little weird between me and… Lindsay… but I’m not seeing anyone right now.” She was probably emphasizing that too much, and she hurried to shoot down any possibilities she might be leaving open. “And I’m planning to stay single for a while.”
“I guess that girl messed with your head.”
“You could say that,” Starshine mumbled. Better to leave it ambiguous and let Kylie assume what she wanted. She tried to change the subject. “I’m just going to get my mind off it as well as I can. I’ve had my rebound, and now I can just focus on my hobbies.”
Great, she had just reduced Kylie to a throwaway hook-up. Hurt flashed across Kylie’s face, but it was gone just as fast. “Glad I could help,” Kylie said curtly. Before Starshine could apologize, she was speaking again. “What are your hobbies, anyway?”
“Oh… mostly hiking lately.”
“Hiking?”
“Yeah, I’ve been checking out a lot of the trails around town. Bird-watching, too. There’s some pretty cool fowl around here if you know where to look for it.”
“Seriously? That’s pretty… different.”
Starshine chuckled. Of course Kylie thought it was nerdy. “Yeah, I guess. I don’t have a lot of friends in town, so I’ve been spending a lot of time by myself. I like being in nature, too. It feels good.”
Kylie shivered, and Starshine hurried to offer her the coat back. Kylie tried to brush off the offer. “Take it, you’re colder than I was,” Starshine told her.
“I guess you’re the one that likes nature,” Kylie said. She took back the coat.
Starshine wrapped her arms around herself to keep warm. Kylie put one arm around her, making Starshine tremble for another reason. She could still remember how Kylie’s mouth had felt on her, and even this soft touch was enough to bring up those memories.
“What do you do for fun, anyway?” Starshine asked.
“Hang out with friends, family…” Kylie said. “I go to the gym. And I like programming.”
“Like programming websites?”
“Naw, not so much. More like apps. I’m working on one for video streaming. It’s fun.”
“Wow. I’d have no idea where to even start.”
“I always liked fooling around with that kind of stuff. I’m just fucking around, though. Not going to do anything with it.”
“That’s kind of cool.” Starshine hadn’t even realized when the conversation had started to flow naturally. She felt like she was talking to a friend now. It was a feeling she hadn’t had much lately.
“Never been hiking, though,” Kylie said. “Maybe you should take me sometime.”
Starshine stiffened and looked at her. She looked genuinely curious. Could she be, though? Why would Kylie of all people want to try hiking?
“Just as friends, of course,” Kylie said. “I know you don’t want anything more than that.”
If Kylie only knew how much Starshine craved her! Starshine’s throat was dry, but she didn’t see how she could say no to the suggestion. It would have been rude to decline when Kylie was being so friendly.
“Yeah, I’ll take you sometime,” Starshine said. “You like birds?”
Kylie shrugged. “Sure.”
“I’ll find you some cool birds.”
Taking a long puff on her joint, Kylie glanced at her. “You’re sure you’re not some kind of cop, huh?”
“Pretty sure.”
“I won’t take it too kindly if I find out you’ve been lying to me.”
Now Starshine was the one shivering. “I swear I’m not any kind of cop.”
Kylie put out the joint, stubbing it on the ground. “All right. Guess we should go back in.”
“Okay.” Starshine walked back into the restaurant with her, wondering if she had made a mistake by agreeing to the hike. Kylie was clearly still suspicious of her—not to menti
on how her whole body longed for a repeat of the other night. Being around Kylie was definitely going to be frustrating.
A repeat of what they had done would have been amazing. They could’ve had something good together.
But Starshine couldn’t take that risk.
Fifteen
All you need is some comfortable shoes, clothes to layer, and a bottle of water. See you there.
After rereading the text, Kylie put on a T-shirt, sweater, and cargo pants. She grabbed an old jacket just in case, figuring her leather one was too nice to get dirty. If there was a water bottle in the house, she couldn’t remember where it was. She hunted through most of the main floor before finding an old one of her grandmother’s.
Do you need a ride? she wrote to Starshine.
Starshine: No, I’ll meet you there. It’s easy to get there by bus.
Kylie: I might get lost without you to guide me.
Starshine: Okay, you can come pick me up. For your sake.
Kylie slid the phone into her pocket. She remembered all too well where Starshine’s building was. Going there was going to bring up memories that would have been easier to forget. Sometimes when she thought about how it was never going to happen again, she wished she hadn’t gotten that glimpse of how good it could be.
There was still something off about Starshine. Although she doubted Starshine was up to anything bad, how could she be sure? Spending more time with her might help her figure things out. Either way, she’d get to hang out with an amazing girl.
“Bye, Gran!” she called to her grandmother. “I’m going out for the afternoon.”
The little old lady stood at the top of the stairs. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going for a hike.”
Her face scrunched up. “You? Hiking?”
“I can hike.”
“You never have before.”
“It was a new friend’s idea. I’m going to try it.”
Apparently that was good enough for her. Kylie got in her Jeep and was at Starshine’s place a few minutes later. Starshine came out immediately after Kylie texted her to come down. It was so fast that Kylie wondered if she had been waiting in the lobby.
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