Chapter 45: 2nd Sunday Evening: Part 3: Dinner and Beyond

“Yeah ... I just...” she paused as they crossed the street “I kind of want to knock everyone of them out, you know?”

Oh... Allison thought, a hint of amusement in her ‘voice’ you’re jealous.

I don’t remember feeling this way seeing you and Manny together last week.

That’s probably because I was a rival, someone on your level.

No she held the door to the restaurant open that was different. Yes, I was jealous that he was sharing with you things I wanted him to share with me. But after getting to know you again even a little bit, I knew you were at least decent for him. But those guys... she nodded at the person “a table for two please” they were looking at you like you were some piece of meat.

The man nodded at a passing woman, handing her two menus “Jeanette will show you to your table.”

“Thank you.” Any thoughts, my muse?

Yeah ... that’s pretty much what they were doing; only seeing me as a walking pair of breasts. To be honest, I was trying to ignore their glances. But it makes me feel better than you were looking out for me. Allison leaned in toward her as they walked; Kara felt her face warm considerably as Allison’s lips met her cheek in a gentle kiss. You know she started as Kara pulled her seat out you’re blushing way more from one little kiss than all the fun we had earlier.

It’s not my ... blame the Program.

That’s fair. “What can you recommend?” Allison asked, looking at Jeanette.

“We have two house favorite cuts, although most of our regulars simply ask for ‘the steak’. If you look at your menus...” Kara opened hers and scrolled down the list “you’ll see it right there.”

Oh! That’s nowhere near as expensive as I was expecting it to be.

Allison nodded her head. Do we just want to share one and maybe get a salad to go with it?

Only if you also want to get dessert here.

Jeanette glanced over both of them and chuckled. “I know that look. ‘The steak’ is generally not quite large enough to share, unless you get something else with it ... but since you’re both dressed up so finely, why not just get two? It makes for wonderful leftovers.”

Thoughts darling?

I like the idea. And we can still bring Mom back some change while leaving a decent tip if we do that. Wait... “What’s the couple’s special?”

“Oh, right! An appetizer to share ... hold on, I should have given you this as well.”

She handed them each another sheet of paper. Perfect. We can each have our steak AND a shared dessert too. Does that sound good Ally?

Yes. “We’ll have the special.” Garlic bread? Kara nodded her head. “An order of garlic bread for the appetizer, and we’ll both have ‘the steak’ for our entree.”

“Those come with a side of your choice. Your options are fries, mashed potatoes, house potatoes, or mixed veggies.”

Mashed for one of us, and the house potatoes for the other?

Sounds good darling. “Mine will be with the house potatoes, and hers with the mashed.” Kara watched Jeanette do a double take. “I know. Isn’t the look good on her?”

“Yes. How would you like the steaks cooked?”

“Medium for mine, and...”

“I’d recommend medium-rare at most for this cut. You’ll lose a lot of the tenderness with medium.”

Kara caught Allison’s eye. Do you trust me Ally?

Yeah.

“Rare for both of us then.”

“Would you like something besides water with that?”

It does include a drink for each of us. Iced tea?

Sweetened, darling.

“Two sweet iced teas.”

“I’ll bring those right over.”

Kara watched her hurry off. “Am I putting on a more masculine tone without intending to?”

“Not that I can hear. But for some reason, her sense of your gender from your voice is being over powered by the suit maybe?”

“Maybe.”

Jeanette came back a moment later with a small tray. “Your iced tea” she began, putting a glass in front of each of them along with a small plate “and the garlic bread.” She started turning around.

“Before you go, may I ask a question?” She turned back and faced Kara, nodding her head. “Is the suit really that confusing?”

Darling! You can’t...

“Oh ... you noticed that.” They both nodded their heads. “Your presentation screams ‘man’, but your voice says ‘young woman’. Ordinarily, I’d be tempted to go with what a person’s voice says, but...” she glanced away for a moment; as if she was making sure someone wasn’t nearby “we’ve had enough gay couples and some trans folks that I’m not so sure that really works anymore.”

“Well...” Kara began.

“Honestly, your best bet if you’re not sure is to just ask what their pronoun is” a woman with a deep voice sitting near them interrupted “unless they’re wearing something that specifically makes it clear.”

“I’ll do that. Thank you...”

“Ms or Ma’am works for me.”

“Yes. Thank you ma’am.”

She turned around and quickly went to a table on the other side of the restaurant. “I’m Ms. Trent by the way. May I ask your names?”

“I’m Kara, and the vision of beauty across from me is my ‘wife’ Allison.” She scanned the woman, noticing her doing the same thing. “Is everything okay?”

“My apologies. I was just admiring how that suit fits you as well as the dress does for your wife. And if I may ask a potentially personal question...” Kara nodded her head “who makes your binder? I almost couldn’t tell that you were wearing one.”

“A binder?” Allison asked “what’s that?”

Ms. Trent smiled. “A much safer way of hiding the fact that you have boobs. It’s basically a compression vest for your chest.”

“I’m not wearing one. The suit is just cut right to mostly hide mine.” And the vest is just big enough that it doesn’t give them away.

“So your vest serves a similar purpose, just with a much lower level of compression.” Allison began to open her mouth. “I think I know what you want to ask. I started transitioning almost six years ago, and if I had a dollar for every time someone questioned what I know to be true, I’d be filthy rich. One might think that would slow considerably down when these” she hefted her breasts “finished growing three years ago, but at most it’s only been a little. So I would think it quite a rude thing to question someone else whose lived experience is different from what our culture believes.”

Kara smiled. “We appreciate it. Only a very small percentage of the adults in our lives have been willing to take us even remotely seriously.”

“I hope your parents are among them. I...” a look of profound sadness appeared on her face “haven’t spoken to mine since the day I ‘came out’ so to speak.”

“We’re very fortunate that our mothers do believe us; mine performed the hand-fasting and is the reason we’re able to afford this date tonight.”

“And mine more or less ensured the three of us would get a chance to prove our relationships to hers.”

The woman’s face lit up with a smile of surprise. “Three? Your other wife didn’t want to come out tonight with you?” Kara attempted to hold in a laugh; failing to as Allison’s own soft laughter filled her ears. “I see. I must apologize for assuming their gender. I’ve only heard of one local poly trio up until now, and that was a group of women. And I can’t even say if they were one of the lucky ones that are still together; I was only a child when rumors started flying around that they’d broken up.” She glanced at their faces. “You know the truth?”

“Our mothers are that trio. Unfortunately, those rumors were true; but they all stayed close friends.”

Allison nodded her head. “Close enough that we grew up together; at least until our husband’s mom died some years ago.”

“May I ask your last name?”

Kara smiled at Allison, then turned back to the woman. “Do you want the name we’re both planning to take by next year, or our current ones?”

“Family name to be is enough. I firmly believe speaking such things to the universe greatly improves the likely hood of them coming true.”

“Lopez.”

“I recognize that name. Not just because of recent news either.” The sad look reappeared on her face, a little softer than before. “I do hope he is handling that okay.”

“About as well as can be expected really” Allison began to reply “but at least he doesn’t need to handle it alone.” This garlic bread is so good.

I know, right? I totally wasn’t expecting the cheese on it, but that makes it so much more delicious.

“Is this your first time at this fine establishment?”

Allison nodded her head. “And if the garlic bread is this good, I have high hopes for the steak.”

Kara nodded her head in agreement as well. “I just hope we don’t fill up too much on it.” She watched a server bring a small tray with two plates on it, placing both down in front of Ms. Trent. “Whoa ... is that it?”

“Yes. Don’t worry; as long as you didn’t get yours over cooked, it reheats beautifully. I never leave here without enough leftovers for another meal.”

Kara grinned, and waited for Allison to swallow her current bite; she leaned forward, catching Allison in a strong kiss. What do you think?

Okay, I was worried for nothing. A soft, almost feminine giggle from nearby caught their attention; Allison pulled back breaking the kiss, then turned toward Ms. Trent. “Something funny?”

“People really give you trouble about your relationships when you can do that? Cis folks can be so blind sometimes.”

Allison nodded her head. “It seems only the old married couples ever really notice that.”

“That’s because people tend to be blind to things that might challenge their way of thinking. You must have encountered some of that by now; neither of you strike me as the kind of people who would try to hide who you really are.”

“I was for a while” Allison replied sadly “but not because I wanted to. I didn’t see another choice until very recently.”

“And I was lying to myself for far too long. You could say that we’ve been through a lot in the past decade.”

“Just as I did for much of my youth. But what matters is that you’ve both seemed to make it out the other side stronger than when you entered; regardless of how long that may have taken, or who you needed help from to do so.”

“I’ve heard the first part of that from a number of people” Allison began, glancing around for their server “but you’re maybe the third person to include the second half. It was always with an eye toward the future before now though.”

In large part due to why people were saying it I imagine.

Yeah. Wait ... that’s our waitress over there, right?

Where are you Kara followed Allison’s eyes oh, yeah; that’s her. And that’s a nice big tray she’s carrying.

Allison’s grin grew as Jeanette stopped in front of them. Ooh ... here it is! I hope you’re not being rude to Vanessa.

Not at all. She’s in the ladies room again. We’re probably going to be done soon anyway.

Good.

“You had the mashed, right?” Jeanette asked, looking at Allison. Allison nodded her head, licking her lips as the large plate was carefully laid down in front of her. “And then this one” Kara watched her put the other plate in front of her “is yours. Do you need anything else?”

“I think we’re good for now.” Tempted as I am to ask for something special to drink ... I don’t know.

Manny and I shared a bottle of wine with Tony and Emily during our double date. It would be kind of nice to share something together. Can we? Kara nodded her head; Allison looked at Jeanette who was starting to turn around. “Actually ... two glasses of whatever wine goes best with the meal.”

“Two glasses of the house red. I’ll need to see some ID though.”

I didn’t bring mine Ally.

You didn’t, but... Kara watched her rummage around in her purse that’s what I thought. Clara put yours next to mine, and my wallet is in here. She handed both to Jeanette. To be fair to you though, we weren’t planning on also getting dinner tonight.

That’s true.

“Thank you...” she started, handing back their IDs, then stepped closer “are you sure you wouldn’t prefer to share a bottle? It’s only a few dollars more, and is the better value.”

That’s not typical, but ... the price for the steaks isn’t typical either. You know how much we’re already spending though darling.

We’ll be fine ... thanks to the special. “Okay, we’ll take the bottle then.”

What do you two need your IDs for anyway?

Wine. Just a little something to celebrate our first date with each other. Allison cut a piece of her steak as Jeanette nodded her head and stepped away; then quickly brought the piece up to her mouth. Oh, this smells so good. I hope it... she started to think as they began to chew almost in unison oh...

He ‘laughed’. Sure. Two massages and some of my meal is a small price to pay. However, I’m going to put up a much stronger wall...

Yeah, I’ve been feeling that too. She is our nymphomaniac after all.

Guilty as charged, and damn proud of it.

Jeanette returned with two wine glasses and the bottle, putting a glass in front of each of them. Kara watched as she deftly pulled a corkscrew out of her apron, spun it around her finger, then with a small flourish lined it up with the cork. Several smooth turns later, she rested the bottle on the table and with one smooth motion pulled the cork out of the bottle. Another spin of the corkscrew brought it back to her apron; the other hand picking up the bottle and pouring a full glass for each of them then putting it down between them. “Enjoy.”

Kara blinked her eyes several times as Jeanette walked away, then shook her head. “That was...”

“Yeah. I wasn’t expecting a show.”

“She’s the only one of them that can do that” Ms. Trent added with a soft smile “I’ve heard that she moonlights as a bartender sometimes.”

“That would make sense.” Kara picked up her glass, smelling the wine in it before holding it toward Allison. “To an excellent first date.”

“And many, many more as we grow old together.” One way or another.

The almost imperceptible ‘clink’ of their glasses was quickly replaced by a soft gasp of surprise from Ms. Trent as they each took their first taste of the wine. This is really nice.

Yeah. It really does go well with the meal.

By the way ... I think we shocked our new friend. Do you want to handle it this time?

Sure. “We’ve gotten that reaction a lot lately.”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting to hear that you’re effectively married without having dated yet.”

“A series of unexpected circumstances and things that don’t happen to most people; but that’s why we’re not planning to make it official as soon as the new law goes into effect. And why we were more than happy to accept a hand-fasting as our joining ceremony.” She laughed under her breath at the look of confusion that appeared on Ms. Trent’s face. “Basically, the ceremony we had on Monday means that as far as those who recognize it, we ARE married for a year from that moment. On the next day, we choose whether we want to make it permanent or go our separate ways.” Assuming we don’t make our decision before then of course.

Even then, I’d still want the big family event to be a proper anniversary thing.

I agree. Anything else would feel ... wrong.

“You two look so natural together. I think that’s why your statement surprised me most.”

“Yet Allison was the first woman I was ever with, and there’s really only been one other that’s really meant something.”

“If I may ask, the same for you?”

“No. Kara wasn’t my first experience with another girl, but all of those were strictly for the Program. But...” she grabbed Kara’s free hand, holding it tight “she’s the first and so far only woman I’ve fallen in love with.”

“I’ve heard that some people aren’t aware of their orientation until something smacks them in the face with it. It never did mesh with my own experiences though.”

“A new friend of ours said something similar; that she knew for a long time that she was different; that once she had the label for how she’d always remembered feeling, it made everything up to that point make sense.” Ms. Trent nodded her head. “I guess that could be nicer on a person in a way. More cathartic at least.”

“I’d almost be willing to trade the years of not being comfortable in your own skin for a shorter period of shock. But if I did...”

“Then you wouldn’t be the same person you are today” Kara finished, nodding her head. “All three of us have needed to come to terms with that lesson lately.”

“Well, I’ll leave you...” she started, then looked back at Allison. “I’m sometimes a little slow at processing things; it sounded like you briefly mentioned another woman?”

“Vanessa’s her name, and she’s the reason Manny isn’t home alone right now. I think their date is nearing its end.”

“Before you ask” Kara began, putting her fork and knife down “we don’t know yet, but we have high hopes that someday conditions will be right for her. For now though, we both care about her more than either of us were expecting to. And that’s enough for the time being.”

“You’re both okay with him being on a date with her?”

Allison began laughing as she started to pick up her wine glass. “We had to convince him to agree to the date! So yes, saying we’re ‘okay with it’ is accurate enough.”

“In that case, I’ll actually leave you to your meal this time.”

Kara nodded her head in thanks, returning to her steak. I think I’ll be able to eat maybe half of this.

Same. I wasn’t expecting them to be so big. Possibly less than that if I finish the potatoes.

How are they?

Delicious. Here, try some. Allison held out her spoon; Kara opened her mouth and watched the spoon disappear from her sight. Well?

You’re not kidding. Garlic and butter, and super creamy. Oh, and try mine

She speared a few potatoes onto her fork and started moving it toward Allison. Very different flavor profile, but still so good. We might need to leave some of both for Manny.

They both felt his wall go back up. “He’s right darling. We have a lot to catch up on.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Mostly what other interesting things you got up to all those years. I ... don’t have much to say that you don’t already know.”

“It deteriorated that quickly?”

“Kind of. I didn’t have much reason to leave the house after Mom made her decision. I didn’t really make any new friends until freshman year; Emily was my lab partner for Biology and George just ... kind of gravitated toward me. Loners unconsciously calling out to other loners I suppose.”

“You made friends at least. I only really had Manny; for reasons you already know. Maybe the only interesting thing I did was the theater camp I went to almost every summer for the first few years.”

“I thought your acting abilities have improved considerably.”

“It was the kind of thing you might expect. Some improv games, but nothing too complex. Mostly, it kept me out of trouble over those summers.”

“Why did you stop going?”

“I got into Kempo, and quickly became serious enough about it that missing almost twenty classes each year wasn’t an option.”

“So you haven’t done anything since then until this term?”

“Did you know that our community theater has a youth division?” Allison shook her head. “I found out about it that first summer I couldn’t go to camp, and auditioned for every play I could.”

“I bet you made every single one.”

“Not even remotely. They typically put on four to six different performances a year. The year I joined, I managed a minor part in two of the six. I’d gotten used to there being better actors than me because of camp though, so it wasn’t really a big deal. I got my first major role two years ago, and have had a few since then.”

“Any particularly interesting ones?”

“Not really. The director seems to stick to kid-friendly versions of older plays; stuff that’s in the public domain now. But I had a lot of fun, and I learned a fair amount so that doesn’t really bother me.”

“Does the school have a proper drama club?”

“Sort of. You saw the shape the stage is in during the demo; that should give you a bit of a clue for what kind of a budget the club and performances got from the former principal.” Allison nodded her head. “I didn’t join the drama club properly until sophomore year, but I guess a lot of the kids I was acting alongside in the community theater go to other schools.”

“Why do you think that?”

“I’ve easily pulled a major role in each of the two performances the last two years, and I only recognized one person from the community theater.”

“Are you planning on auditioning for the fall play this year?”

“If you’d asked me last week, I would have given an enthusiastic yes. But I’m not so sure now.”

“Because of us?”

“Lately, I’ve been using the performances partly as a distraction from my growing attraction to Manny. And I wouldn’t want the time rehearsals take to pull me away from you two and growing our relationships.”

“You said partly. You still enjoy it, right?” Kara nodded her head. “Then go for it! Besides, I’d love to actually see you in a proper stage performance. And you’ll blow everyone away with you know what.”

“That is a good point ... if I do, and I get a role, will you help me memorize lines?”

“Definitely. Mrs. Sneider is also the head of the drama club, right?”

“Nancy? Yeah. Why do you ask?”

“Manny and I have her for drama class, and she’s trying to get Manny and I to audition for the next play. I think you’ll like what she’d like to do too.”

“It involves the Program in some way I’ll bet.”

“Yup. She wants to give a classic play the naked treatment; do the kind of thing with them that you’ve mentioned doing in improv.”

“Naked actors and people as props?”

“Definitely the former. She didn’t specify anything about the latter though.”

“I’ll make you a deal then. We both audition, and help each other out with preparations depending on how many of us actually make it in.”

“You don’t want to try and convince Manny too?”

“Oh, I’ll try. But I don’t think he’d be terribly interested ... wait, I don’t think you mentioned what you’ve been up to in drama this week.”

“Nothing much unfortunately. With how insane this week has been, we haven’t had the opportunity to do anything really interesting. And that was clearly driving her a bit mad.”

“My science teacher too. I’d be perfectly content if next week is nice and quiet. Hopefully going back to being a regular student will allow for that.”

“Darling, there is no way that will happen. We’re too famous as it is. The best we can hope for is to just go back to being deities.”

“My apologies for interrupting again...” Ms. Trent started “but it sounds like your lives have been very interesting lately.”

Allison nodded her head. “I suppose interesting is a way to put it. I went from all but invisible at the beginning of the first day of school to even higher status than queen bee in a matter of days. I hoped we could get at least move to just ‘queen bee’ once my week was over ... but her week made that impossible.”

“Only because your plan wouldn’t have worked. When the sheep latch on like they did, there is no ignoring the message. You have to control it. You have to admit that improved things at least somewhat.”

“It’s been awhile since I’ve been through high school, and I don’t entirely trust what I’ve read about the Program in the news lately. How has that changed things like the cliques of old?”

Kara nodded her head. “Not as much as you might think. Our husband already had a jump start on his popularity, being one of the ‘jocks’ with all of the perks and assumptions that come with the label. Unlike most of them though, he didn’t brag about whatever he did with the girls he dated before us...”

“But they did, and that gained him ‘that’ kind of reputation.”

“If you mean ‘a god’, then yes” Allison began to respond, finishing her first glass of wine. “So when he was chosen as one of the first Program participants, naturally that only encouraged that reputation. And while I wasn’t originally chosen as his partner, mine ran into serious problems almost right away. So did I for that matter, and he was the only reason I didn’t also end up in the hospital.”

“I don’t remember hearing anything about partners.”

“We were paired up with another participant who shared at least some classes with us. Basically to give us someone else to lean on as we learn to deal with being naked, stared at, and touched by others. Mine wasn’t ready to deal with all that, and Manny helped me start to deal with that okay. He also quickly learned what to do to set me off like a rocket, and I learned him. That launched me straight to ‘sex goddess’ status; at least, from a portion of our classmates. We tried to ignore them, but that didn’t work as the universe seemed to be out to get us.”

“She means the former principal.”

“Only because she hates the very idea of the Program. But we prevented her machinations from succeeding, and that made us even more famous.” Allison nodded at Kara. “Your turn darling.”

Kara nodded, finishing pouring each of them the rest of the wine. “Long story short, when he started dating her earlier that week, I couldn’t help but see her as a rival because of some false memories we both had. Her kindness quickly changed that though, and by the end of thew week I had my chance to at least to be with my best friend once.”

“Your husband, I presume.”

“Yes. I think we were all expecting that Sunday to be a one time deal. It wasn’t. So when the next day rolled around and my week started, I became an honorary sex goddess too. But since I refused to ignore the cult or the rumor mill, we needed a way to set the record straight. I tend toward the dramatic, and we bent the rules of what makes a request reasonable as much as we could. That established me as a true sex goddess on the same level as Allison.”

“That was this past Monday, right?” Kara nodded her head, taking a drink of wine. “Oh. So that happened...”