Chapter 12

"Come here darling. Sit down and tell Marilyn what's wrong," the slender, dark-skinned woman said; as she used her foot to push out the chair on the other end of the table. She held out her hand to the chair invitingly.

Sophia hesitated, but smiled weakly as she looked at Marilyn's sympathetic expression. She turned toward the empty seat and hung her head in an exaggerated manner as she plopped herself down.

"How do you always know?" Sophia asked.

"It's a mystery," Marilyn responded with an unwavering smile, "so... what cloud is raining on your beautiful spirit today, love?"

"It's this girl," Sophia began.

"Ah, so you've finally accepted that part of yourself," Marilyn said as she sat back and folded her arms on her chest.

Sophia's head shot up and she stared at her lunch partner with wide eyes, unable to believe that Marilyn could have known about her bisexual nature before she herself had. Still, this was Marilyn; she seemed to have a sixth sense about these kinds of things. Words of protest floated around her head, but were quickly dispersed as Sophia realized that there was really no point in arguing the matter.

"Yes," Sophia answered with resignation, "we've been... seeing each other."

"You fucked her." Marilyn stated matter-of-factly.

"Er... yes," Sophia responded as she tried to recover from the bluntness of Marilyn's remark.

"And you haven't heard from her since." Marilyn continued.

"How do you know these things?!" Sophia's voice rose with awe before she stopped and added, "do you know her?"

"Who?"

"Kaylin."

"Kaylin who?"

Sophia opened her mouth to speak, but realized with horror that she was stumped. How in the world could she not know Kaylin's last name? As a matter of fact, what exactly did she know about this girl? Sophia stared down at the table as if she were trying to fit the pieces to a puzzle together.

"Love, why do you let this woman bother you?" Marilyn asked with concern, "So you had a rebound. It sounds like that's what it was for her, too. Now that you've got that out of your system, you can move on." She looked at her watch and added, "Oh, just like me. I got class in a few. Listen to me, love; hold your enemies closer than your friends, but hold your friends closer than strangers."

Even with a metaphoric statement like that, Sophia knew that she was referring to the rocky status of her and Raquel's friendship. Marilyn grabbed the remains of her lunch and tossed it in a nearby garbage. Then she returned to give Sophia a hug, and grab her backpack.

Sophia knew that, as much sense as her friend was making, she didn't want to move on. She and Kaylin were friends before that night, and they both understood that it wasn't anything more than sex. Of course, it's possible that she could have sensed Sophia's growing attachment and gotten scared off. Sophia scowled as she cursed herself for not being able to maintain better objectivity; for letting her emotions rule her. Amelia was right; she was far too much of a hopeless romantic.

"So, I'm sitting on top of her, grinding very slowly on her so that she begs for me to do it harder. What she doesn't realize is that I'm purposefully holding my weight up so that she gets all frustrated," Kaylin's excited voice could barely be heard by anyone except Amelia, who was sitting across from her in the restaurant.

"Oh, you are so wicked," Amelia replied with equal enthusiasm. She was leaning over the table, clearly attentive to the story she was being told.

"She could only take so much of that before she pushed herself up on me. I had to make her want it that badly before I gave her a fucking that she'd never forget. By the time I was through with her, she was crying for me to stop. And do you want to know what the best part was?"

Amelia nodded her head vigorously as she grinned with anticipation.

"I had a video camera hidden on the night stand that recorded everything! And she had no idea!"

"No!" Amelia gasped with delightful shock and then laughed along with Kaylin. "That's evil, even for you."

"Oh Amelia... you have no idea."

"Sounds like you found yourself quite a slut."

"Oh, don't I wish. But wouldn't you know it? The bitch gets all sappy and keeps emailing me about 'our special night together'," Kaylin said with sarcasm as she stuck her tongue out and pretended to vomit. "God, doesn't anyone just want to fuck anymore?"

Amelia rolled her eyes in agreement. "Don't I know it. You know, I'm starting to think that being single is the only way to be. I was really starting to believe that this whole threesome idea could work."

"Oh, please... a woman like you can't be tied down; literally or metaphorically. You're in your prime. Your successful, you're hot and you can have anyone you want."

"My ego thanks you for stroking it."

Kaylin smiled and said, "I wouldn't mind stroking something else... if you wanted me to."

Amelia looked up from her food and met Kaylin's eyes. She paused for a moment, as if to consider her offer. She nodded and said, "Thanks, but I don't think Estelle would appreciate that."

Kaylin did her best impression of polite disappointment and then changed the subject. The two were so involved with rushing passed that awkward moment that neither one of them saw Sophia and Raquel come through the entrance.

"Two?" the waitress inquired before leading the girls off to a table in a different section of the building. Sophia and Raquel followed her obediently then sat at the table where she placed the menus.

Raquel was too occupied with the menu to notice that Sophia was looking past her at the girls at the cash register, who were paying for their meal. They both had dark brown hair, but one was slender while the other was a little bigger. They both wore colorful shirts that flaunted their breasts quite generously. One of them had on a pair of stonewashed jeans that had a rip right under her left cheek. The tear traveled all the way across the leg and disappeared inside her thighs. Sophia discreetly ran a finger up the crotch of her pants to ease the tingling. The woman turned in time to catch Sophia staring, which caused Sophia to quickly look away, embarrassed. She brought her hand back above the table.

"Well I don't know what to choose. Everything looks so delicious." Raquel said as she turned a page in the menu.

Sophia resigned herself to looking over the menu. "I think I'm going to have some breakfast for lunch," she voiced.

The waitress came and they ordered their meals. Raquel waited for them to be alone before trying to start a conversation. She thanked Sophia for taking the time to join her for lunch which, though it wasn't intended to, filled Sophia with the guilt of pushing her friend away. Then they discussed the nature of Sophia's break-up with Trevor, which inevitably lead to the subject of her newfound attraction to other women. Sophia was quite certain that she was going to receive a lecture on how she was turning away from God. However, Raquel was only interested in offering her support as a friend.

The lunch date had gone quite well, all things considered. Raquel excused herself to use the restroom which allowed Sophia to continue checking out the women more freely. She looked over to the cash register and froze at what she saw.

Amelia was talking to the lady at the register, paying for her food. Sophia panicked. A part of her wanted to rush over there and beg for forgiveness, while another part of herself told her to hide under the table and pray that she wasn't seen. But then something else caught her eye — a second person, standing on the far side of Amelia. She was tall, slender and had long, blonde hair.

"Oh God," Sophia whispered to herself as she held her hands up to her mouth. It was Kaylin. Amelia was eating lunch with Kaylin. She felt like she was going to be sick.

"Where were you?" Trevor asked with as much of a voice of authority as he thought he could get away with.

"I had lunch with Amelia," Kaylin responded as though it was the most normal thing in the world. She set her purse down on the table and paid no attention to him. After starting up the computer, she finally acknowledged him staring at her. "What?" she asked, mildly annoyed.

"What? What were you doing with Amelia?"

"I just answered that. Having lunch."

"But I thought you hated her?" Trevor asked, perplexed.

"I'm just taking things up a notch. Chill out."

"Jesus Kay, are you —"

"I said chill the fuck out." Kaylin's voice was stern now. "If you're too much of a pussy to stand up for yourself, that's your problem. I don't mind taking the reigns, but you could show a little fucking respect. If it wasn't for me, you'd still be stuck with that pathetic slut."

"Don't you call her that!" Trevor yelled back.

"God, you are completely beyond saving, you know that?" Kaylin stood there like she was savoring the moment before she laid down her winning hand. "I got what I needed, and I'm done with you. Get the fuck out."