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Annabelle rolled over in a bed she knew wasn’t her own. And how could it be, when the room around her was stark white and modern, in contrast to her dark, cramped little apartment. She sat upright and blinked a few times. It was a nice bedroom, though it could certainly use a few more personalized touches, she decided. How had she ended up here?
It took a moment, but the flash of memory that accompanied the closing of her eyes told her everything she needed to know.
High on the music and doing something so different, so unexpected, she’d followed Elizabeth home. There, they’d kissed their way into her condo. It was a nice place with its pure white walls, hardwood floors, and symmetrical arrangement of furniture. Nice, but a little dull. There was nothing to really hint at Elizabeth’s personality in the minimalistic decor. Then Elizabeth had spotted her high school yearbook on the coffee table and they curled up next to each other on the sofa to flip through it.
After that, it’d been so late, they simply went to sleep. It was such a nice sleep, too, deep and rejuvenating. Advertisements for special posture beds came to mind and she let out a giggle.
Elizabeth was already up and Annabelle could hear her humming in the kitchen. In the end, they hadn't stayed up beyond midnight, but that was late enough for them. Annabelle still winced at the clock. She didn't have anywhere to be on a Wednesday, but it was a little earlier than she normally woke. She also realized she hadn't planned for an overnight stay, which meant no change of clothes, no toothbrush, and no makeup. The spontaneity was nice for a change, though, so she tried not to think about it.
She used the bathroom and then wandered into the kitchen. Elizabeth was still humming as she moved in front of the stove. “Hey,” she said, turning to Annabelle. “I'm not much of a cook, but I do decent scrambled eggs. Do you want some?”
“Sure.” Annabelle sat at the table and her nose twitched slightly at the smell of coffee. “Is the coffee included?”
“Absolutely. How do you take it?”
Annabelle didn't want to be a difficult guest, but she liked her coffee light and sweet. Part of her almost made the remark out loud, her mind amending, “Like you,” but she bit her tongue and reframed her thoughts. “Pretty much half milk and sugar,” she said. “I don’t want to taste too much coffee in my coffee.”
Elizabeth laughed and nodded. “I’m the same way. I did black coffee in college, but only out of desperation. Sometimes I needed the hit of caffeine so much, and it was the only option at times.”
Soon there were two plates with eggs and buttered toast on the table, and two cups of light coffee, liberally sweetened.
“It's a pretty simple breakfast,” Elizabeth said apologetically, as she sank down into the chair across from Annabelle. “I wish I had all kinds of morning-after game, but I don’t.”
“Simple is good. Besides, we didn’t have sex, so I don’t expect pancakes.” The first part was an understatement. Annabelle had rejected everything but simplicity in her life and not for any kind of aesthetic reason. Without even thinking, the words, “Maybe I can make breakfast next time,” spilled out of her mouth.
“Next time?” Elizabeth seemed to sit up straighter in her chair. “Will there be a next time?”
Annabelle realized she had to choose her next words carefully. She wanted a next time, but she still had reservations about whether or not they could make their differences work. “I think so. I mean, what did we really get to know about each other last night, other than we went to the same high school and have families we love and hate at the same time?”
“Well, I can’t say I hate my sister for deciding to pretend I don’t exist. People do have a right to their opinions, even if they suck.” As she picked up a forkful of fluffy scrambled eggs, Elizabeth added, “And I think I learned a lot about you last night. You hate your job, for example, and the entire culture forced upon you there. Your dream job involves making other people happy by immersing them in a world completely apart from their own.”
It was pretty darn insightful and Annabelle tried to remember if she’d said anything so meaningful during their date. “I still don’t know what you do,” she finally said.
“I’m a management consultant which is just a fancy way of saying I help other people run their companies. If you want to know what I mean, watch Baby Boom. You might consider it kind of old school, but it’s a good movie. That’s a super simplified way to explain it, but...” Elizabeth shrugged and Annabelle saw her eyes flick to the microwave clock. “But I better get going soon. This is the latest I’ve gone to work since I even started, and I’ve been at the same company for almost twenty years. Please tell me we can go out again, though.”
Annabelle considered the question. They could, but her schedule wasn’t exactly conducive to dating. The fact that she worked Friday and Saturday nights pretty much sucked. Very few people wanted go out on dates on a Tuesday or Wednesday night. Come to think of it, her job and her hours didn’t just suck. Everything about work ate at her soul, bit by bit. Or was that bite by bite? Either way, she hated it. It’d made working at the ren faire exhausting, yet the faire was the only reason she made it through her weeks this fall. Looking forward to that getaway was enough to make almost anything bearable.
“I have Wednesdays and Thursdays off,” she said, “and I work Friday and Saturday nights – the after-dinner shift, you know? And then Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, I work from about lunch until five.”
“So your mornings are better than your evenings, whereas my evenings are better than my mornings.” Elizabeth blew out a sigh that ruffled her bangs. “Wow, that’s a rough schedule, but we’ll figure it out. I mean, I think it’s worth making time to see each other, don’t you? There’s something here, I don’t think even you can deny that.”
Initially, Annabelle wouldn’t have answered. After the date and the impromptu sleepover, though, she had to admit she was intrigued by Elizabeth. It wasn’t just about crushing on the beautiful woman anymore. She was actually curious about who she was as a person. She nodded as she swallowed a mouthful of coffee.
“You’re right. There’s something.” It was as much as she was willing to concede for now.
“What about tonight?”
“Already?” Annabelle asked. “Isn’t that a bit fast.”
“Well, you did sleep over here last night and even though nothing happened, I think ‘fast’ is a relative term.”
True, Annabelle told herself. And she’d certainly had no qualms about kissing Elizabeth last night. It was like a magnet drew her to the woman, their lips met, and then... Just the memory of the kiss sent tingles through her. To keep from thinking about it, Annabelle brought the coffee cup to her mouth again and closed her eyes.
Elizabeth seemed content to leave her to her thoughts. She stepped away from the table to rinse her dishes and then left the room. Annabelle finished her food as quickly as possible. The last thing she wanted to do was make her new friend late for work. Besides, she had to get home, change her clothes, and process what had happened last night.
They met at the front door, Elizabeth still smiling. “I like you,” she finally said as they approached their cars. “I really do. I still can’t pinpoint what it is, but you’re not like the women I normally date. There’s something about you I want in my life, if that makes sense. Something I want to be. Will you see me again tonight?”
“How can I turn you down after you said something like that?” Annabelle was sure the skip of her heartbeat was due to the cold air now filling her lungs, not to emotion. Still, she couldn’t prevent the corners of her mouth from lifting if she’d wanted to. “Tonight,” she finally agreed.
“Great. How are you at trivia?” Elizabeth gave her a half-smile and Annabelle’s heart fluttered all over again. Her little crush certainly seemed to be giving way to something more.
“I’m okay at it, I guess. Why?”
Elizabeth’s grin just widened. “I’ll call you and we’ll sort out details later.” She kissed Annabelle on the cheek and then got into her car. Annabelle waved as Elizabeth pulled out of the driveway, then sauntered over to her own car to unlock it.
She hated how cold her car felt after sitting all night. The old clunker didn’t warm up quickly, either, but sitting in it gave her the opportunity to text her buddy about giving the vehicle some TLC. In less than a minute, she had her response and turned in the direction of her friend’s house.
Despite the cold, Felicia was already outside, leaning over another car under the open hood. Her long black hair was drawn back in a ponytail and she wore overalls with a heavy brown work coat.
Annabelle loved the natural swagger in Felicia’s walk, the way she exuded confidence. It was a lot like Elizabeth, actually, and she wondered if she had a thing for strong women. The mechanic approached the car as Annabelle got out of it.
“You ever think of trading this thing in?” Felicia asked as she knelt and looked at the creaky door hinges. The Mexican lilt to her voice was what had Annabelle falling head over heels in love with her years ago. Although their relationship hadn’t worked out, their friendship solidified over a shared dislike of the rich and entitled.
“Don’t you dare. He’s a good car,” Annabelle answered, picking up a random socket wrench off the ground and twirling it between her fingers.
“First of all, cars are ‘she,’ not ‘he.’ And second, she’d be even better on a scrap pile.” The mechanic shook her head and applied lubricant to the hinges. “Honestly, you have the money, amiga. Why not just buy a brand new car?”
Annabelle grimaced. “Because I’d have to ask for the money and you know how I feel about that.”
“Right.” Felicia straightened and then opened the hood. “Still, must be nice that you can ask at all. The rest of us can’t just have money fall from the sky.”
This was a discussion Annabelle really didn’t want to have, so she changed the subject. “I had a date last night with one of them.”
It was amusing to see the way Felicia’s eyes widened, surprise washing over her features. “Really? How did that happen?”
“Do you remember the ren faire queen?”
“The one you have a crush on? You went out with her?” Felicia bent over and started wiggling hoses, checking connections. “I thought you didn’t want to go anywhere near her. I mean, except in your dreams.”
Annabelle set the socket wrench down in an open toolbox a few feet away from her car. “I thought so, too, but she just happened to walk into the store where I work. She kind of insisted on a date and I couldn’t have her standing there. You know what a douchebag my manager is. He’d catch me socializing, chew me out, and then put me on some kind of extra shitty shift as revenge.”
“Yeah, I know. But if you really wanted to avoid her, you could have given her a fake number.”
“And then have her come back and ask me about it? No thanks. So we went out last night and, well, it wasn’t half bad. I mean, other than the fact that we both went to the same school.”
“Oh, shit.” Felicia turned to stare at her. “Does she know your family?”
The question made her squirm and Annabelle lifted her face to the sky. Staring into the sun, weak as it was, might burn away her fears. Maybe. “I didn’t give her my last name and I don’t think she’s the kind of person to pry, but you never know. If her family ran in the same circles as mine, it wouldn’t be too hard to figure out where I come from.”
Felicia let out a chuckle and turned back to her work. Her body quivered with laughter, even though it was muffled by the way she leaned under the hood.
“What’s so funny?” Annabelle asked.
“I think you like her a lot more than you let on. I mean, a lot more. All this time, you’ve been dating people either outside your race or your family’s comfort zone, and then you meet this one woman who comes from the exact same place as you...” Felicia trailed off and gave a shrug. “It’s actually cute.”
Cute? That seemed like an odd description. “What’s so cute about it?”
“The idea that this might be something that leads you full circle, that gets you to come back to your family and look at them, and realize some things aren’t as bad as you make them out to be.” Felicia seemed to be done fiddling with the engine, because she stepped back and closed the hood. “Maybe your beautiful queen will get you to stop running away from those things.”
Annabelle knew her lip was jutting out in a pout, but she couldn’t help it. “I don’t run away –”
“You run away,” Felicia interjected forcefully. “You run from your privilege and while I appreciate how mindful you are of the injustices in this world, sometimes it bugs me that you don’t do more with what you have.”
“What do you mean by that?” Annabelle shifted her stance, uncomfortable with the conversation. She’d always kept relationships, both with friends and lovers, light. No deep talk about anything. Felicia, like Elizabeth, was treading dangerously close to things Annabelle liked to keep deep inside.
“Privilege gives you power.” The mechanic picked a rag up off the ground and wiped her greasy hands on it. “Plenty of people misuse their privilege, but there are also those who use it in good ways, like creating foundations for underprivileged kids, you know? That’s just one example, but you get what I mean. You ran away from all of that, because you thought the personal price was too high. But what if you went back to it and used it, your privilege, your way? It might not be as bad as you think.”
“Wow, I got greased hinges and a lecture. Thanks for opening my eyes, Felicia. Do you charge extra for the wisdom?”
Felicia rolled her eyes and extended her hand. “Just twenty for the hinge lube and hose check. And do yourself a favor – spend more time with this queen. I think you might learn something about yourself.”