Chapter 15

The heatwave was petering out by Wednesday and Nicole’s 18^th birthday party. Her actual birthday was Saturday, but with a big swim meet dominating the weekend, the group decided to throw her party early. Not wanting to celebrate in one of their dinky dorm rooms, and figuring the bullies would crash it if they held it at the pool or on the terrace, they all piled into Nicole’s car to go into town for the evening. It was the first time they’d seen her car and to everyone’s amusement, Nicole drove a late-model BMW sedan.

“You are such a rich girl!” Lacey teased, sitting in the back middle seat. Nick was slightly smaller than his girlfriend (taller, but lighter). In the group he was larger only than Esmie if it came down to it, so he was glad Lacey had taken the middle seat. In the past, he had often been put there due to his size, and it felt emasculating. Eric sat on the other seat of the back row of seats, cramming into the not-particularly-roomy European sports car with Esmie in his lap. Abby and Nicole had the front bucket seats to themselves.

“Hey what am I gonna do, refuse a BMW?” Nicole said casually.

“Nick this car probably costs more than our house back home,” Esmie said.

“It definitely costs more,” Nick said, “But we live in a trailer.”

Nick blurted it out but Esmie didn’t even object. He liked that they didn’t have to hide their poor background from the group. Esmie used to put on airs, pretending like she was wealthy against all evidence, but this summer she’d grown out of that. Nicole pulled out onto the meandering road through the north woods.

“Our uncle drove us up here in his Cadillac Cimarron at the start of summer,” Eric said, “He was so proud of it.”

“Well he made us listen to Hall and Oates,” Abby said, “Don’t feel too bad for him.”

“Anyway, I was just thinking, this car feels a lot better on these curves.”

“I’m a lot better driver than your uncle,” Nicole said cockily and the engine revved hard as they went into the next curve, pushing Nick into the door, and Lacey into Nick. He put his arm around her and her curvy body felt so good against his thin frame. The curve subsided but she didn’t try to pull away.

This was the best Nick had felt in a while. As the runt of the group, he was an easy target for the increased bullying they were getting since Nicole left the popular crowd to hang out with the rejects of Summer Lake. He’d gotten endless verbal teasing for being a short nerd, shoved against the hallway wall by some lifeguards, Crystal and Gina had pretended to flirt with him while he set up for a show then tripped him as he carried equipment, and worst of all, as he’d been sprawled out on the floor fixing the equipment that broke in the fall, Brian had appeared out of nowhere and farted in his face as the beautiful girls laughed. It was so juvenile, and Brian was supposed to be this mature, front-office protege type, but in reality he was just a dumb, gross bully like the rest of them.

It didn’t even matter though. He had a beautiful girlfriend, and he had friends who were taking him to town for a night of fun. Truth be told he’d have come with this crowd just to sit on the sidewalk on a hot summer night, and he might prefer that to their actual plans.

“I can’t believe we’re going to see Problem Child,” Nick said.

“Here we go again...” Esmie sighed.

“No, Esmie, this is the dumbest movie of the summer,” Nick said, feeling a good rant coming on, “It’s like someone watched Look Who’s Talking and was like ‘whoa that’s way too smart, there’s probably some braindead hicks who couldn’t follow the plot, we need to make something even dumber! And then they wrote the script in crayon and hired a dyslexic, inbred, People Magazine reading, America’s Funniest Home Videos watching moron to direct, and were like, ship it out! People will pay money to see this stupidity! Aaaaaaah!” He screamed the end of his rant, then joined the others in laughing.

“Nick makes a good point,” Nicole said, giggling, “I’ve changed my mind everyone, we’ll be seeing the new Fellini movie Profiles in Melancholia.”

“Is that really his new movie?” Nick asked, still not used to Nicole’s wit.

“No, you moron!” Nicole said through her laughter, “I made that up!”

Everyone cracked up now, even Nick. It was easy to have a sense of humor when he was with his friends, and better yet, when Lacey was holding his hand like she was.

“How do you even know about Fellini?” he asked as things calmed down, “I understand Esmie and Eric liking dumb movies, but you and Abby are actually smart. How can you guys want to see this drivel?”

“Hey Nick are you trying to get us to ditch you in town so you can walk back to Summer Lake?” Eric teased.

“Oh come on Nick,” Nicole said, “I’ve seen some of your highfalutin movies like Stanley Kubrick’s stuff, and it’s fine, makes me feel all smart. But it’s my birthday and I just want to have some fun with my friends and my girlfriend, watching a mindless, funny movie and laugh my head off, okay?”

“Okay, it’s your birthday I guess,” Nick said, still not excited about seeing this movie, but he did see the fairness in letting the birthday girl decide what they did on her night out.

Nicole drove fast into town, letting Abby play songs from her tape collection, songs like Hey Jack Kerouac by 10,000 Maniacs, Stand by REM, Pictures of You by The Cure. While it wasn’t what Nick would have gone with exactly, he was pleased that Nicole had at least somewhat sophisticated taste in music.

With all six of them crammed into the compact sedan, it was very intimate. Lacey stayed cuddled up into him and they all sang to the parts of the songs they knew. Eric and Esmie complained about the songs which were much too pretentious for their taste, the wind whipped through Lacey and Nick’s hair, it felt very good to be getting away from Summer Lake with his friends.

Nicole found a parking space in town and reversed right into it, parallel parking with ease. Nick found it amazing how good she and Abby were at seemingly everything that required any kind of coordination or physical aptitude, they were a perfect match. He’d long since stopped feeling any jealousy that Abby had moved on from him so easily, but suddenly having Lacey as his girlfriend made that a lot easier to accomplish.

They walked down the street of the little northern town, so quaint with its corner grocery and ice cream parlor, heading for the town’s fanciest Italian restaurant, and indeed, its only Italian restaurant. It was a bit of a splurge, but Nick had barely spent any money all summer despite working full-time. He was saving up so he could buy a car back home without burdening his parents, but he could certainly afford to have fun with his friends occasionally and hadn’t even bought Lacey dinner once yet.

“Hey, I just thought, who pays for dinner when lesbians go on a date?” he asked. No one else was around them on the sidewalk so he felt like it was fine to talk like this.

“Nick!” Abby said, aghast.

“No it’s a good question,” Eric said, “Normally the man does, of course.” He squeezed Esmie’s hand and she smiled.

“Well I don’t know, I’ve never actually been to dinner with my girlfriend like this all properly,” Nicole said. “My love life has been conducted in strict secrecy until now.”

“Well it’s your birthday so I’m paying, naturally,” Abby said. She seemed a little embarrassed by the lesbian talk, but Nick figured this was just how they teased each other in the group. Part of not being weird about them being lesbians actually was to joke like this.

“It does make sense that you’re doing this though, coming to a restaurant like this instead of dining in. I’d heard lesbians always eat out,” Nick said with a grin. There was no one else around so he didn’t fear to speak freely. Eric and Lacey cracked up and even Esmie was laughing.

“Stick to sound engineering, Nick,” Nicole said, making a playful fist, but not actually seeming offended, “I don’t like your chances as a stand-up comedian.”

They were all dressed somewhat formally since they’d known they’d be going to the fanciest restaurant in town. Lacey, Nicole, and Esmie had on dresses, while Abby wore slacks and a dress shirt like the boys. Nick felt classy for once. Maybe he could even pass himself off as a dark-skinned Italian tonight.

They made it to the restaurant right off the square in an old ornate stone building, arriving just a minute before the reservation Abby had made.

This was their big night. It was going to be great.

Abby laughed and laughed in the dark theater as she held her girlfriend’s hand and they ate popcorn from the little bag they’d got to share. Italian food and popcorn on the night before a swim meet was a terrible idea, but it was Nicole’s birthday and they’d both stayed on their training diets all summer long. That was one of the endless reasons dating Nicole was so nice, they monitored each other’s diets and gave each other suggestions and motivation. It was like having a partner in every sense of the word.

They’d overindulged at the restaurant, but it had been the best food they’d had all summer. Real Italian food from immigrants who settled up here in the north woods. Everyone had behaved at dinner, even her brother, although she’d noticed Esmie telling him which fork to use and making him put his napkin in his lap. Their server treated them like adults and was very courteous, it made Abby feel far away from the Summer Lake bullying. They left a big tip.

The movie was so dumb but Nicole was right, it felt good to watch something mindless and laugh their butts off, holding each other’s hand and feeling happy. Being away from Summer Lake was so liberating. Here in town, they were just well-dressed strangers. Nobody bothered them to look tough and impress their clique. Maybe one day she and Nicole could find a place where they could openly hold hands and nobody would care. She’d heard San Francisco was like that. But they certainly weren’t in San Francisco now, and when the lights came on at the end of the movie, Nicole pulled her hand away quickly.

They stood and the others picked up their popcorn buckets, candy wrappers and empty sodas, as did Abby.

“Hey guys you can just leave your trash,” Nicole said as if they were a bunch of rubes.

“Yeah then someone who works here has to throw it out,” Esmie said as if her point was just as obvious.

“But that’s their job,” Nicole said carelessly.

“Doesn’t mean it’s pleasant to throw out someone else’s food junk,” Nick said.

Abby realized her girlfriend had never worked a job except as a lifeguard at Summer Lake, while all the others had suffered through much more menial occupations. Nicole probably never even considered what it was like for those workers. Abby was relieved that her friends didn’t make a big deal out of it – it was Nicole’s birthday trip after all – but they definitely had noticed her snootiness, and she wasn’t sure Nicole had been aware of it herself.

They did some shopping while they were in town. Abby had no interest in that so she found herself standing back, playing the boyfriend role with Nick and her brother as Nicole picked over clothes with Esmie and Lacey.

“It’s so awkward shopping with your girlfriend,” Eric said, being the more experienced of the three by that point, “If she asks how she looks, it’s always ‘Beautiful, honey’. And if she asks if something makes her look fat, pretend you’re choking on something from dinner. Got it?”

“Got it,” she and Nick said, both of them grinning.

They even got more jovial on the drive back, with Nick whining about how the movie had been and everyone else berating him. Abby felt like at the start of the summer Nick would have gotten mad and stormed off when they got back after being called out as a snob, but now he played up his snobbishness for laughs and even gave them another angry rant which was becoming his signature move to entertain the group. The whole while she saw him cuddling up with Lacey and it felt like he was not truly upset, he was just having fun being the contrarian snob of the group. It was his role.

Nicole parked in the employee section of the lot. The Summer Lake lodge was lit up so bright in the dark summer night. It was the only real light source at the remote lake in the woods, and that made it seem all the more massive and imposing.

“So what’s the plan now?” Eric asked as they walked around to the staff level entrance off the parking lot.

“Well, I was going to spend some time with Nicole ... alone...” Abby said awkwardly.

“Oooh,” Lacey said, “Diving for pearls? Going clam fishing?”

The others snickered. “You could just discreetly say you’d hang out with Esmie and the boys in their room, you know,” Abby said in annoyance, “And not try to embarrass us.”

“Yeah, but where’s the fun in that?” More snickers from everyone but Abby and Nicole.

Abby sighed. “Well yes, can we have an hour or so?”

“Only an hour?” Nicole teased.

“But of course, we’ll find a movie to watch or something. I’m not watching any more I Love Lucy re-runs,” Lacey said, and they went off to the boy’s side.

Abby walked with Nicole down the narrow corridors, looking ahead when they came to corners.

“Afraid we’re gonna get jumped?” Nicole asked.

“Well, it’s not that unrealistic,” Abby said, “Your cousin’s attacked you.”

Nicole shrugged. “Let me worry about that,” she said, “Besides, the girls wouldn’t dare jump both of us together. And the boys wouldn’t do it here, too risky to do it on the floor.”

Abby shivered at how matter-of-factly Nicole said it, like she’d been thinking about the sort of trouble that lay in store for them. Fighting girls was fine, Abby could deal with that, it would be far from the first time. But it just wasn’t fair if male lifeguards were going to jump them. That could get very bad.

They got to her door and she jangled her keys, taking a moment to find the right one. Nicole looked around nervously, then darted inside when Abby finally got it open.

Abby felt unsettled as she locked the door behind them. It was Nicole’s birthday celebration, though, and they might well not get time to be alone over the weekend with the swim meet. Even if everyone knew Nicole was hanging out with the group, the romance needed to stay a secret. Gay tolerance had not yet arrived at Summer Lake, even if it was the 1990s. The summer before, two guys had been caught having oral sex and were fired and told to be off the property in an hour or they’d be arrested for trespassing, even though the punishment for getting caught hooking up with members of the opposite sex was a slap on the wrist at the best, certainly not dismissal. With lesbians, the punishment might be more discreet, but it would probably be worse, especially given Nicole’s position. Her family would disown her; getting fired from Summer Lake would be the least of her concerns.

But it wouldn’t do to worry about that now. She turned on the bedside lamp and put on Nick’s romantic “Soulmate” tape. She had been meaning to make her own, and Nick probably wouldn’t appreciate her making love to somebody else using his tape, but it did the trick for now.

She reached under her bed and pulled out a wrapped present.

“Aww you didn’t have to, baby,” Nicole said.

“I still can’t believe you’re here calling me baby, after how this summer began,” Abby said, thinking back to that awful bully version of Nicole as her girlfriend took the bag.

“Well, I regret how we met, but I don’t regret how we’ve ended up,” she said, kissing Abby on the lips quickly and making her knees feel weak. Then she opened the present and took a framed picture of them at the quarry, holding each other, the deep blue water behind them. They were unmistakably a couple, the two tall girls’ bodies pressed together, Abby’s arm around her waist.

“It’s so beautiful,” Nicole said, holding back tears. Having a couple’s portrait like this made everything feel so real and romantic, like they weren’t sinful degenerates, but real people in beautiful love.

“Nick developed it when the office was empty and gave me the negative. It’s behind the picture,” Abby said, and Nicole nodded appreciatively. Across the Universe by the Beatles was playing now.

“This music! You don’t have to put the moves on me at this point, baby,” Nicole said as she peeled off her dress, then slid across the room in her underwear to make sure the door was bolted, and even the dresser in front of it enough to block anyone from trying to jimmy open the bolt the way their friends had before.

“We do have to bar the doors though, huh?” Abby said, unable to help feeling a little offended at the lengths her girlfriend would go to avoid people finding out about their love, even if she understood it was necessary.

“My cousin is grilling me every day about whether we’re fucking, it’s so hard to keep lying, and I know she’s trying to find out other ways,” Nicole said. “But let’s not worry about that now, okay?”

“Okay,” Abby said. Nicole dropped her underwear to the floor, standing naked now, and Abby admired her girlfriend. She had the same lean swimmer’s build as Abby, but Nicole had full breasts, wider hips and a generally more womanly form, Abby thought. “You’re so beautiful,” she said, walking across the room and hugging her naked girlfriend.

Nicole kissed her quickly, her lips feeling so hot and excited. This relationship was maybe more lust than love, Abby knew, two women who’d pushed their sexuality deep down for years, and now they found in each other an equally eager and passionate partner, and it all exploded every time they were alone. But still, there was some love too, in the kisses, the caresses. It just wouldn’t do be in mad, ends-of-the-earth love when they might very well never see each other after summer ended.

Nicole’s fingers were on her shoulders, pushing her down. She didn’t have to go, but she wanted to. Her knees landed on the throw rug and Nicole stood over her, pushing her fingers into Abby’s hair now, guiding her head forward. This was very submissive and more than a little rough, but Abby liked it. Nicole was so aroused, she was taking what she wanted.

“I need your tongue,” the woman said, her voice low and sultry, “And your fingers.”

Abby groaned softly in excitement as Nicole yanked on her hair. She didn’t know why she took the more submissive role in the bedroom, or why the roles even had to be split that way, but Nicole insisted, and it felt good to Abby anyway. They were equals in this relationship except when it came to the sex.

“Lick me, Abby,” Nicole said, but the way she used the word out of lust now, not hate.

Abby pressed her tongue against the woman’s clit and slid her index finger into her, reaching deep inside her warm opening as she flicked Nicole’s clit back and forth with her tongue. Nicole moaned loudly, the kind of pleasure that came from deep within, a part of her essence only Abby could touch.

Nicole yanked hard on Abby’s hair, pressing her pussy against the girl’s face aggressively. Abby’s knees hurt by now and she felt totally under Nicole’s control, held there to submissively pleasure her girlfriend. She started fucking the woman’s pussy with her strong fingers, moans escaping from her mouth as she licked her lovingly. Nicole yanked harder and harder then slowly let go as she had an orgasm, moaning loudly. “Fuck, Abby ... my girlfriend...”

“Happy birthday,” Abby said with a grin, looking up at Nicole from her knees still.

Nicole looked down at her with a cocky grin, then quickly reached under Abby’s arms, pulling her up and pushing her back down on the bed with excited strength. Nicole was between her legs fast, using her fingers aggressively, several at a time, pushing deeper into Abby than she’d gone herself on Nicole, who was so full of confidence as she fingered her girlfriend and looked at her lustfully.

“Fuck,” Abby said, “Slow down!”

“No!” Nicole said with a wicked grin, “Can’t you take it, girl? Are my fingers too much for you?”

Abby couldn’t even form words now, she just moaned. Her legs spread, she was sopping wet, Nicole really knew how to use her fingers on a girl. She kissed Abby’s clit occasionally but mostly used her big strong thumb, rubbing Abby’s button as she fingered her so deep.

She almost screamed out an orgasm and felt something strange from down there as the pleasure flooded over her. She looked down and Nicole was grinning. “Girl, you squirted something at me!”

“No I didn’t!” Abby insisted, blushing.

“No it’s good, it means your body loved what I was giving you.” She held up her wet finger, putting it right under Abby’s face. It did look wet, but that finger had been inside of her.

“Nooo you’re just teasing me!” Abby said. Nicole climbed up and they cuddled naked in each other’s arms.

“Nuh uh girl, I made you squirt! I’ve got dyke fingers,” Nicole said, flexing her long fingers proudly.

“Girls are gonna figure out we’re dykes cause we keep our fingernails cut so short,” Abby joked, “We should get Lacey to paint them, as straight girl camouflage.”

Nicole laughed. “Sure, anything to blend in. Oh, what do you call a dyke with long fingernails?”

“What?” Abby asked.

“Single,” Nicole said, and they cracked up laughing, rolling around in the bed together. What Abby liked best about Nicole was that she was becoming so comfortable in her own skin, she was such a beautiful, queer woman. She’d hidden it away her whole life, but now under Abby’s friendship and touch, Nicole was being herself. She was being herself, not that awful, self-loathing bully she’d pretended to be at the start of the summer. Abby never wanted that shell of a person to come back.

The sex was over but Abby wanted to lay with Nicole for as long as they could get away with it. She hoped Lacey didn’t hurry back.

Lacey woke up in a well-lit room and realized it wasn’t her own. She was laying with Nick in his bed, fully clothed. Eric and Esmie were on the other bed, also fully dressed except for Eric’s unbuttoned dress shirt. I Love Lucy was on the television and everyone else was watching it in a haze of boredom. It was the scene where Lucy and Ethel had jobs in a candy factory and couldn’t keep up with the speed of the production line, and were frantically swallowing chocolates to hide their problem. It was funny for an old black and white show, but she’d seen this episode twice already this summer.

“Isn’t there anything else on?” Lacey asked. “I specifically wanted to not watch this.”

Eric stumbled over to the television since there wasn’t a remote and switched it to MTV.

“Did you guys know Nick wired this whole floor for cable last year?” Lacey said, full of pride in her boyfriend, “Used to it was just in the lounge we only had rabbit ears in our rooms, and the reception sucked.”

“It was easy,” Nick said, “Once the staff found out I could do it they practically threatened to go on strike unless the front office paid for the splitters and a few spools of cable and let me do it.”

“My brother’s such a nerd,” Esmie said.

“Well I could remove the cable if you’re that unimpressed by it,” Nick teased.

“No!” Esmie said, and everyone chuckled. They watched some more videos but it was late summer and there was nothing new, they’d seen every one many times before.

“I think I’m gonna go back to my room,” Lacey said, “I’m tired.” She kissed Nick on the cheek. He looked pretty sleepy too and didn’t seem bothered by her early exit, so she didn’t feel bad.

The room was still locked and she figured Nicole and Abby must still be doing their thing. She thought about banging on the door since it was past the hour she’d given them, but Abby had been a pretty good roommate all summer so she decided to go for a walk outside and have a smoke.

It was a Wednesday night but the hotel and unusually high level of non-geriatric guests due to the swim meet beginning the next morning. Lacey hadn’t even thought about it due to the trip to town with the group for Nicole’s birthday, but there was actually stuff going on out on the terrace even though it was nearly midnight.

There was some sort of outdoor karaoke event, and she was surprised her boyfriend wasn’t running it and complaining about running it, but it seemed to be something one of the visiting teams brought and set up. She stood around as a girl sang It Must Have Been Love off-key. Teenagers were all over, some of them fairly attractive. Last summer she would have hooked up with a cute guy. Now she was hanging out with the group, she was basically a nerd. Hookups with random cute guys were not in the cards for her anymore.

She wondered if she missed her old life. Nick was no hunk, but he wasn’t bad looking either, skinny and handsome in a clean-cut way. He wasn’t bad in bed either, he’d gotten good at eating her out, which no guy had ever bothered doing for her before, at least long enough to make her cum. Then again the group was rather boring, they were watching I Love Lucy tonight, after all. But the trip into town had been fun, and they usually did more than watch television. If she thought about it, she was much happier now than she had been a year ago, and the only real change had been her new friends.

A crazy thought entered her head: she could hook up with a boy. One of the muscular swimmers from another team, here for the weekend then gone forever. If she did it right, which she could, no one would ever know. She could turn on her charm (and show some cleavage), get him to secure a room upstairs – his team would have many guest rooms booked – and they wouldn’t be seen, she could have sex, get off, then go back to Nick and he’d never know.

She shook her head as if literally knocking off the cobwebs. What was wrong with her? The only point of hooking up with a boy like that would be to sabotage her relationship with Nick, and her status in the group, since they’d surely take his side if she did something that lousy. She hoped it was just her horniness talking, and resolved to be sexier with Nick so she could satisfy her urges. Lacey Larue needed a lot of sex and Nick was just going to have to deal with it – he was a boy, he could manage it.

She laughed at her ridiculous thoughts once the urge was fully gone and walked off to the edge of the terrace where it was dark and quiet so she could finish her cigarette.

“Oh hello, Lacey.” She turned to see Laura Ballard in jeans and a Summer Lake T-shirt. Laura wasn’t her boss, per se, but she was the daughter of the president of Summer Lake and known to play favorites with workers at the resort. Everybody on staff kissed her ass if they knew what was good for them.

“Um, hello Miss Ballard,” Lacey said awkwardly. She’d never really talked to this woman, and she was management, so she figured she’d better be formal. She’d heard what Laura was like to Nicole, but Lacey felt powerless to do anything about that.

“Oh please, call me Laura,” the woman said. “Are your friends here?”

“No,” Lacey said, “I just came out for a smoke.” She took a drag off her cigarette to illustrate.

“Ah, good idea,” Laura said, getting out her own cigarette and lighting it. “I so rarely see you without your friends this summer. And now my cousin is in your group.”

“Yeah,” Lacey said, trying to be polite, “We like Nicole. She’s one of us.”

Laura grimaced but kept up her cheerful tone. “Well she’s a wonderful girl, and with such a bright future ahead of her,” she said, “She’s going to Stanford, you know.”

“Yeah,” Lacey said, “That’s equivalent to Harvard right?”

“Er, something like that,” Laura said, “It’s where I went. We just want what’s best for Nicole.”

Lacey knew this was going somewhere, but she decided to just smoke and stay quiet, rather than hint around to see what Laura wanted.

“You know, you could be more here than just a waitress, Lacey,” Laura said, “Waiting tables for tips from old men, I know it must be very degrading. You’re a beautiful girl. You could be a lifeguard.”

Lacey smirked. Last summer, she would have jumped at the chance to be a lifeguard. With Laura’s blessing, she’d be accepted into the popular crowd and no one would mention her slutty past. She’d be “in”.

“It’s true,” Laura continued, “Or even work in the front office. Whatever your heart desires. Full-time, even. My family can do amazing things for people who help us.”

Lacey looked at her. “What do you need?” she couldn’t help asking. Nobody rich and powerful had ever needed Lacey Larue’s help.

“Just to know about what Nicole’s doing, for her own well-being,” Laura said, “She has such a bright future, but ... some people just can’t help getting their own way.”

Lacey put out her cigarette and started to walk away. This seemed very sleazy, and probably not in Nicole’s best interests, despite Laura’s words.

“Think about it, Lacey,” she said, “I can make amazing things happen for you. And stop bad things too, but there’s no need to go into that. I just need to know if Nicole and that Abby are girlfriends.”