Shain and Ava

Part One :)

It was the glimpse of a strawberry blonde from across the pool that caught my attention. Her eyes were closed as she purred and fixed her hair, letting it down in perfectly spiraled ringlets. They framed her face when she laughed, arm nudging against the crowd around her with her hand resting gently on a man’s forearm to steady her. I wanted to run my fingers through it. I wanted to meet this woman who caught my eye.

She made small talk to those around her while she weaved through the ever-growing crowd around us by the poolside. She seemed to expertly divert her way, moving around dancing and cheering bodies with a cup or beer in hand.

When finally, she reached empty space outside the crowd, she composed herself, sporting a baby blue bikini and sandals. In a darker shade of blue, swirls were patterned along the hem of both the top and bottom. Both were held up by knotted strings, the swimsuit complimenting and hugging her curves perfectly.

We met eyes when she looked my way and my heart jumped into my throat. Her eyes were the most gorgeous jade. They sparkled in the party lights dancing over her face, her lips curling into a dazzling smile. Butterflies flew up from my stomach, joining my heart in my throat when I blushed crimson.

And then she looked away and spoke to a girl beside her as if she never saw me.

My eyes roamed her backside, my own lips curling down into a defeated frown while the butterflies dissolved away and my pulse nullified into a steady rhythm once again. I couldn’t take my eyes away till it was too late and found her staring at me again.

If my face wasn’t red enough before, it was now. I wanted to hide and disappear forever. My palms felt hot and sweaty against the cold beer in my hand. It was difficult to swallow. Her eyes held mine for quite some time, the atmosphere taking its own beat around us, and I felt like I was the only one she could see. The only one she wanted to see.

But then perfect harmony between us shattered into a million pieces when she headed my way. My heart fluttered again, beating against my rib-cage, fighting like a caged bird wanting to be set free. I nervously sipped my beer, feeling it lug its way down my throat, almost as if it were at a snail’s pace, her sandals flapping against the concrete surrounding the pool.

Her hand was suddenly thrust at me and she beamed. Her teeth shone white in what little moonlight was out. The clouds were a nasty gray, their overcast threatening to rain down upon us within the hour, though I knew everybody here was too wasted to notice or care.

“I’m Shain.” She smiled bigger, hand clasping around my own as she took it.

When I opened my mouth to reply, my name slipped my mind and the most ridiculous thing escaped my lips, “Damn, you’re hot.”

Awkward silence came between us. Silence so thick it could smack you in the face if you didn’t watch where you went. Shain’s face was blank as the cogs in her head registered my response and then a shy smile crept onto her face.

“I-I mean…” I stammered. “I’m Ava.”

“Ava huh?” She tried a smile. An awkward one to match the awkward silence. “Mind if I sit with you? The poolside got too boring for my taste.”

I knew she was lying as an excuse to sit with me but I took advantage of the moment and pulled up the chair from the pool table beside me. Smiling as I gestured to it, she tried to match her smile with my own.

As she sat I took the chance to admire her sun kissed skin, and when her suit moved while she got comfortable, I ached to wonder if she had any tan lines. She stole my drink, taking a few sips before setting it back where it was. A party hostess had set aside a hard drink with my beer some time previous to my encounter with Shain, but I never had gotten around to it. So, I nudged it her way, seeing her face perk up. Her eyes silently thanked me, moving away to stare at something interesting off in the distance.

That’s when I saw her nail polish and smiled to myself. They were blue just like her bikini, dark blue swirls to match the hem.

Then another awkward silence settled in and I played with my thumbs. I noticed the way her fingers drummed against her drink, the nails clinking in rhythm with the bass of the blaring music.

“So, you obviously know Claira if you’re here at her party.” Shain broke in. “How do you know her?”

I hesitated to answer that question and then decided that it didn’t matter anyway. It wasn’t like we were gonna see each other after the party. I knew she was just making small talk, but no amount of small talk could break the tension among us.

“She’s my sister’s best friend from high school.” I leaned back in my chair, trying to relax.

“I see.” She smiled again and stole a drink. “This is good. What’s in it?”

“Oh, it’s just Coke mixed with Rum.”

“Really? Never tried Rum.”

I stared at her in shock for a few moments, letting it sink in, “Are you kidding?”

“No.”

Completely stunned, I stared at her.

She rushed on, “My family is super Mormon. I couldn’t even date a guy until I was 17.”

“Wow. I feel your pain.” I smiled sympathetically, hearing her sad laugh.

“Didn’t matter either way. I rebelled quite often. Doesn’t every teenager stuck in a religious household?” She gave a half smile with a shrug.

That sparked my curiosity, “Rebelled how?”

She swirled what was left of her drink around the ice as she thought about her next words. She seemed to be closing herself off from me, or at least some part of herself. She was hesitant, biting her lower lip in habit. Though I noticed her eyes never stayed focused on one thing for too long.

When she finally opened her lips, my mind skipped and went flat blank as it registered her next words.

“They never said anything about me not dating a woman.”

Did she just admit…?

“I had a girl, but our relationship didn’t last long once the prince of her dreams asked her out and we haven’t spoken since. Last I heard of her, she was married to him and had three kids.” She continued.

I watched as she stole another drink again and sucked it dry. Her cheeks were crimson when she realized her action.

“S-sorry...” She rubbed at the back of her neck.

Again, her nails were tapping against the glass, hands clutched onto it tightly as if it was the bridge keeping her here in the present, her eyes lost in the past. Someone hurt her. I could see her nervous ticks and signs.

She seemed like a social bird. Her personality was charming, yet underneath was a mystery to me. I didn’t want to pry or push my way into her personal space and life. After all, this was a party. Nobody said we were going to be exchanging phone numbers tonight and becoming the best of friends. Even if I was starting to want a date with the woman.

“It looks like you could use a refill,” Smiling softly I stood up. “I can get you another, but only if you promise not to leave.”

Her shoulders rose up and down in a shrug. “I have nowhere else to go.”

There she was closing herself off again.

With a last glance at her over my shoulder, I rushed inside and grabbed a Coke and a bottle of Rum from the cabinet. The house was packed from door to door with people. Many had on their bathing suits, though none were outside in the pool.

Music roared against my eardrums. I couldn’t recognize the song or artist, but tapped my foot against the floor with the tempo. It was dub-step with a heavy base drop, something catchy that made your whole body just break out into a dance number. Not for me though, two left feet in a mosh pit of women and men filled with alcohol didn’t mix.

As a hostess passed by with a tray of shots I slid a few off onto the counter in front of me, downing each with only a single breath taken in between. It was smooth rolling down my throat, the party’s atmosphere mingling with my own space.

I almost lost track of time when I found myself wandering off towards the bathroom, a shot glass in each hand. They didn’t last long.

Too soon I was staring at a familiar face. Their brown eyes, side shaved chocolate hair and the same black bikini I was wearing. Squinting harder I stumbled back into the wall, giggling at my own reflection. Sliding down I met the floor, the world spinning around me, my mind reeling in on a single thought. Where I could get more shots?

But why was the world upside down? Why were people dancing on the ceiling? I felt my way back up the wall, gripping onto the door handle to steady myself as my hunt for more shots was on. I bumped and squeezed through sweaty people, eyes studying the dance floor in front of me.

Then arms grabbed me from behind and I squeaked, looking up to see Shain. She smiled down at me, a rather large goofy smile upon her lips and I could smell the alcohol on her breath.

“There you are.” She purred and squeezed me, “I thought you left.”

“Well here I am.” I giggled.

“You done with my drink yet? It’s getting boring out there without you.”

“So, you came in here to find me?” I raised a brow.

“You told me you’d come back,” Her face twisted into something more serious.

She was right. I also asked her to stay. More like, made her promise to stay. Yet I abandoned her to a lonely table while she waited my return. Here I was taking shots left and right, making it my top priority to hunt down the nearest hostess with alcohol without a single hesitation of a pounce.

“Come on, let’s go back outside. The drink should be on the counter here. I can grab it,” Gently I took her wrist, moving towards the crowded pool outside. Well it was more like stumbling really. A boom here, a trip there, and then a crash right into a group of loners chatting outside the larger groups around the poolside.

After many apologies, and giggles, from the both of us, we had managed to finally park our rears back into our original seats. Her fingers were already clutched to the glass as before, but she seemed more open, more warm towards me.

It was to my attention that she had already sucked down half of her drink. She needed to watch herself a little more carefully with her alcohol intake.

“So, Ava. You’re not much of a talker.” She swirled her cup around, watching the ice cubes. “So I think it should be your turn to talk.”

“About what? My life hasn’t been that fascinating.”

“Well mine hasn’t either and I’ve been talking up a storm.” She took a moment to take a drink.

“Um, Shain…I think you’ve had enough.” I lightly took the drink and watched her hand jolt out and snatch my wrist.

“No. I’m fine. My house is just a block away. When the time comes I can walk home.” She stole the drink back and guarded it. “Now tell me more about yourself.” Smiled.

“This a date now?” I joked but her face was serious. Blushing I rubbed at my neck. “Could you give me more of a specific topic?”

As smile slowly crept onto her face. “Okay. Tell me about the first time you kissed someone.”

Why did she care to know that?

“My first kiss was in kindergarten from a little boy named Jeroth. He said he’d love me forever and we’d grow up and get married and have twenty three kids.” I smiled a little.

Shain’s giggles were loud and I could feel all eyes on us from everyone. Fortunately, the music continued on and the crowds were too drunk and satisfied to care on putting too much effort into focusing on us. She recollected herself sometime later and smiled at me.

Her fingers went through her hair as she fixed it and I so desperately wanted to do it with my own fingers. But I reminded myself to watch the way I was thinking, keeping my hands in my lap.

“That’s so cute. What happened after that?”

I blushed again. “He found his ‘soul mate’ and they’re up in Paris right now.”

She giggled really hard again and then sighed with another cute grin on her face. When she went to fix her hair a second time I felt myself instinctively do it for her and my finger went through her silky hair watching her flinch. It was subtle, but just enough for me to notice. I got chills when she watched me and I pulled away almost immediately.

“U-um…”A hot flash rolled over my face. “I-I’m sorry.”

She was quiet for a moment and her face was blank as I fiddled with my thumbs. I let her soak in my blunder and hid my face behind my beer as I brought my chin down to the table

“Where you going?” I felt her hand run through my hair and I tensed up. A part of me didn’t want her to stop and just have me on her lap, petting me as I purred the night away and then I’d do the same to please her…

“Where you going?” She repeated, my mind falling back into place back from the gutter.

“Nowhere. I’m stuck here.”

Her mouth opened in the cutest yawn and she rubbed at her eyes, drowsily peeking over at me. Her exotic green eyes knocked the air from my longs. I couldn’t stop myself from staring and too soon we were staring into each other’s eyes.

“Wow…”she smiled warmly. “You have the prettiest brown eyes.”

“Your green ones are pretty amazing too.” The blush crept onto my cheeks.

She giggled and yawned again. “Man, I’m so tired…”

“I could drive you home…?” I offered and added a shy smile.

She knocked the keys from my hand onto the table as I fetched them from my purse. Her usual smile was set into a deep frown and her brows were furrowed towards me.

“What the hell are you thinking? Driving me when we’ve both have had plenty to drink.”

Well.. when she put it that way…

“I just want to get you home to sleep.”

“You really want to get me in bed.” She smirked with a wink and a heavy blush settled over my cheeks. “Relax.” She laughed. “I’m just kidding.”

I fiddled with my thumbs again and she laid her hand on mine, causing me to look up at her. She had on a warm smile, one that dissolved away the upset face from earlier and gently caressed the top of my hand with her thumb.

The butterflies had returned, lodging themselves in my throat and fluttered against the back of my eyes. I swallowed hard and slowly rose.

“Let’s get you home.” I made my smile more confident.

Hopping up she took my hand and clung to me. I took my drink and purse in the other hand, waving goodbye to everyone, and guided us out the side pool gate.

Shay giggled and petted the hood of my car as we walked by it, looking at me. “Cute car.”

“Thanks.” I rubbed at my neck.

She sat upon the front of the vehicle, legs crossing as she did so. Her eyes wandered towards the sky, gaze following the clouds as they continued overhead. More of the moon managed to peek its way through and that’s when she did the most daring thing. I squeaked as she dragged me onto her lap. Her hands caressed my face and then she grabbed my chin and kissed me. The air was ignited, feeling a thousand degrees hotter as I kissed back and we were lost in the other for a long moment. It took the reminder of air to separate us.

She rested her forehead against mine and smiled, closing her eyes. Her fingers caressed over my knuckles, eyes opening to focus on mine.

She seemed to almost beam after kissing me. I could still feel it linger on my lips as though her lips were still there.

“Thanks for such a great time Ava,” She purred, using her voice low enough for only me to hear, “Was a better night than dancing with a bunch of people I didn’t care to know.”

I had to chuckle slightly, “Is that a compliment?”

 But after a moment of silence I peeked her way, seeing she was snoring quietly with her head lolling on my shoulder, fast asleep, fingers still twined around mine.

I had to smile to myself as I caressed her cheek, watching her eyes flutter around under her eyelids. I could still picture the jade colored spheres underneath them, the way they captured me utterly helpless beneath them. The way they captivated me. The way they made time slow to a still point around us when they met my own.

I left her briefly for a moment to fetch a throw blanket from my backseat, but found her awake, staring at me curiously from the hood of the car. A small smile was on her lips, perking up in the corner when she finally noticed the blanket in my arms.

“Too lazy to walk me home, Ava?”

I had to blush, “I’m sorry, you fell asleep. I thought-”

Her finger was placed gently against my lips, “For someone who doesn’t talk much, you sure love to ramble and apologize too much.”

Feeling my blush darken I decided to be a little daring, “Then why not shut me up?”

But rather a witty remark or finding a way to shut me up, instead she climbed off the hood of the car and opened the back-seat door next to my right side. She hesitated slightly, clutching the other half of the blanket in her hands.

“Would it be alright if we just slept back here?”

I eyed over our attire. “In our bikini’s?”

“You don’t have a spare large shirt in your car?”

I gave her a dumbfounded look, “Why would I need to carry one of those in my car?”

“For when you and I get drunk and you can’t drive me back to my place.”

“Oh yes, like I planned on getting drunk at a party and having the hottest party girl in the back of my car with me.”

Sarcasm dripped in my words, my brain doing a back-flip and rewind after the words left my mouth but Shain was already smiling from ear to ear. Instead of a remark she cupped each hand around my face, bringing me into another soft kiss, her lips sucking gently against mine, teeth grazing against the flesh, eliciting a slight shiver from me.

Breaking free to breathe, her voice was in a purr.

“Well maybe we should change that then.”

Reviews

[Nigel Newman]

Hi There. I was browsing and landed here. My over-riding feedback is that you've told this well. It's not easy balancing the alluring her & me developments with all the necessary context, but that balance felt about right. Any more would be more detail than we needed - any less and we wouldn't quite have been able to place and position what was happening.

I was reminded of a similar starting situation in my long ago student days. Eyes meet across a crowd and you gradually make your way towards each other with all kinds of interruptions. After several minutes you're finally next to each other .... and I could not think of one word to say (and seemingly neither could she). So, unlike this tale, there was no developing relationship; but for your story that whole eyes-across-the-crowd was a nice beginning.

I have a couple of observations
- The language you use in the descriptive passages is quite articulate; similarly when you voice Ava's thoughts. So I was surprised to hear both of them say 'gonna'. Maybe that's normal for normally articulate drunk folk in Utah, but as a Brit, it jarred slightly.
- There's a lot of rubbing the back of the neck, by both of them.
- Ava's disappearance when Shain thought she'd gone to get drinks ... I can well understand Shain's confusion because I was also completely lost. I can't quite decide, but I was wondering whether you could have given the reader more of a hint that Ava had been scared, lost her nerve, got distracted through drink, etc and that she was running away in some sense. There's some, but I might argue for a little more. BTW Ava must have several hands because at this point she's carrying a Coke, a bottle of Rum, and a couple of shots!

Regards
Nigel

[Squishy Lesbian]

Oh my gosh. I'd like to start off by saying thank you for the review! And second, yes xD I have to admit I was not putting it quite into my head of how many things she was carrying. And as for the Utah thing, a lot of us speak that way so it's normal, atleast where I'm from. And hey, who's to say a lady can't carry all those drinks in two hands? Ha ha

[EJ's Horror]

I loved how desciptive you were on each and everything, and the way you spaced the lines out had made it an easier read, I think rather than me giving you advice, I should just take leaves out of your book, pun intended!

[Squishy Lesbian]

Thanks so much! This was actually a rework of an old story of mine. I knew it just had to be updated. I really appreciate the feedback ^_^