“Now you’ve met.Sheowesmea drink.” Lea pointed from me to her to demonstrate.
Of course, she hadn’t forgotten about that.
Lea ended up grabbing my hand so she didn’t lose me in the crowd. Even though it was still early in the night, every single nook and cranny was crammed with people, but it didn’t feel too claustrophobic for some reason. They had drink specials that probably contributed to the crowds.
“It’s amazing how many people are here,” I said. Sure, this was a city, but it was a relatively small city compared to New York or California. The fact that they could pack a lesbian bar every week and stay in business was a testament to the resiliency of the queer community. We showed up for each other. I couldn’t think about it too much or I’d get emotional and I didn’t want to cry in the bar tonight for any reason.
“What’s good here?” I asked Lea as we bullied our way toward the bar. There were three bartenders who moved like lightning to pour and mix drinks as quickly and efficiently as they could.
“Oh my god, they have something called the Chappell Roan Fashioned. We have to get that, right?” I snorted at the drink puns. Why wouldn’t they have a drink like that? They also had something called a Brandy Carlisle.
The Chappell Roan Fashioned sounded fun though, so I let Lea order and passed over my card to pay.
Drinks secured, we carefully made our way back to the table where James and Delaney were wrapped around each other as if they were the only two people here.
They didn’t look away from each other until Lea plunked our drinks down at the table and slid into one of the seats. I did the same and then it was time to get to know these people.
Fortunately, Lea took control. “How did everything go with the cat sitter?”
“Oh, fine. I was probably being overprotective, but I just couldn’t leave them alone yet.”
Lea turned and informed James and Delaney about my two kittens and then started showing pictures. Delaney squealed and I could see her turning to James and saying, “Couldn’t we get some kittens?”
“Baby, we both work from home. Do you think adding animals into that is a good idea?” James brushed a few strands of hair out of Delaney’s face.
“I work from home, and they’ve absolutely made it almost impossible some days. And they wake me up in the middle of the night and early in the morning and my house is pure chaos, but I can’t imagine my life without them, and I’ve only had them for a few weeks.”
Delaney grinned at me as if I’d taken her side.
“How about we talk about it?” James said.
“Great. I’ll talk you into it,” Delaney said, kissing James on the nose.
Okay, they were cute. I sipped my drink and tried to relax as Lea did her best to keep the conversation between us moving and pasted over any awkward silences.
It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. James and Delaney were perfectly nice and pretty easy to converse with. The music was loud, but not so loud that we had to yell over it to hear each other. Good thing we hadn’t come on karaoke night.
I finished my first drink and was feeling warm and chilled out. It was nice.
“Your turn to buy me a drink,” I told Lea after she’d laughed at something Delaney had said.
She hopped off her chair and I saw that her eyes were just a little brighter and her cheeks a little flushed.
How had she gotten even more gorgeous?
This time I dragged her and did the ordering, taking her card from her as she got a Moscow Mule and I selected a Dark and Stormy.
When we returned to the table, James and Delaney were gone, but it was easy to find them on the dance floor, their bodies pressed close as they swayed together. They didn’t even seem to be listening to the music. They had their own tune that only they could hear.
“They’re beautiful together, aren’t they?” Lea said. “Sometimes it’s hard to be around them. They’re so in love.” Her voice was wistful and a little sad at the same time.
“How long have you been friends?” I asked. She told me how James had been in her Pilates class and they’d connected because they were both self-employed.
“It took forever for James and Delaney to actually figure their shit out, but they did. Delaney actually dated James’s brother.” That was interesting.
Lea nodded when my eyebrows went up.
“How did that happen?”
