Returning her lover’s gaze, and with a tender smile, Olivia nodded.
“You remember the teenage hormones I told you about?” Alex looked down, and twisted the gold chain with her fingers. “From the very beginning we did stuff. We did everything but. I wanted her to be my first, but she wouldn’t. She just kept saying that one day I’d meet a boy, and I’d be thankful that she and I didn’t...”
Seeing how troubled her lover was, the brunette tried to offer a reason, “Maybe she didn’t see a future for the two of you. You were from very different backgrounds. Ling said she saw fading bruises on Cass’ face the night you first met.”
“Leave it up to Ling and her photographic memory…” The blonde sighed. “Cass would wear those stupid reflective aviator glasses during the day, and she wouldn’t take them off until it got dark. Finally, I asked her.”
“And did she tell you?”
“Yeah. The neighborhood boys would call her a bastard and her mother a drunken whore, and she would get into fist fights with them…” Alex closed her eyes, and tried to define her emotions. “I didn’t care, not about any of that. I just knew I wanted to be with her.”
“Then what happened?”
“At the end of six weeks, she finally told me she loved me.”
“So she finally saw the light, huh?”
“Maybe. I got mad at her though.”
“Why?”
“I really don’t know, Liv.”
“There must be a reason.”
Why do you care? Alex wondered. “Maybe because it took her long enough, or maybe because it took her getting beat up by a bunch of girls before she could admit it.”
“By a bunch of girls?” Olivia sniggered. “Sorry… Why was she beat up?”
“One of them saw us one night, and told the others.” With deep regret, the blonde revealed. “I guess they liked her. Or maybe they were just curious, and couldn’t stand the fact that she didn’t like them. Anyway, they waited for her to leave her apartment building, and they cornered her…”
“And?”
“And they called me a rich dyke bitch.”
“I hope she defended you.”
“It wasn’t a completely false statement, you know?” Alex forced a small smile, and tried to justify. “But, yes, she did, verbally.”
“Just verbally?”
“She wasn’t going to hit a girl.”
Olivia shook her head. “Meanwhile they beat her up.”
“And made her screw them… all of them…” She reflected softly, without meaning to do it out loud. Though It felt good to share her guilt with another person, her lover.
Unbelieving, the brunette gasped, “And she did?”
“They threatened to send their brothers after me if she didn’t.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“So what happened after that?”
Skipping the part where she made Cass strip and show her the bruises and scratches, and how she tearfully tried to kiss them away, Alex replied with calm conviction, “We were going to run away together.”
“You were?”
“We were going to go to Paris. She was taking art classes at Pratt; she wanted to be a sculptor…”
“Oh? And you were going to be her muse?”
Was that a flicker of mirth, or was it jealousy she saw in her lover’s smirk? Alex wasn’t sure. “Something like that. We were going to find our own Xanadu in Montparnasse.”
“As in Mount Parnassus, the home of the muses?” Olivia laughed with raised eyebrows.
“I was 16 going on 17, and Cass was a Wiccan, we were totally into symbolism, okay?”
The brunette laughed some more. “Wiccan?”
“That wasn’t what she called herself, but she believed in charms, and special powers…” Alex tried to explain, then shook her head. “She was just a very spiritual person.”
“And Xanadu?”
“That’s one of the rerun movies we kept seeing. Cass loved Olivia Newton John’s voice, and thought she was gorgeous. And she liked Coleridge.”
“Wait, you jump all over me when I pay a little too much attention watching CSI,” Olivia protested. “Meanwhile, you saw Xanadu repeatedly? How’s that fair?”
“I guess life’s just unfair that way.” Grinning, Alex countered, then raised up and kissed her lover softly on the lips. “Besides, you should be glad that I feel more possessive towards you.”
“I suppose I should.” She gave the blonde a playful Cheshire cat smile, and returned the kiss. After her lover settled back against her chest, she asked, “So, how were you going to live?”
“She had money saved up from working. And she was going to sell her car and her motor cycle.”
“She had a bike? Was that why we went around England on a bike?”
“I wanted to show you just how much fun it was. That’s all.” Remembering their short trip to England after their commitment party, Alex hugged her lover tightly, and let out a happy sigh. “The countryside, the freedom... As much as I disliked London, I missed Avebury…”
“And I liked having the excuse to wrap my arms around you all the time.” Olivia offered in agreement, while her mind wandered to their predawn tryst en route to Salisbury… “You know you looked so hot riding and being ridden on that bike…” She reminisced, her voice low and sultry.
“Mmm…”