Olive was walking Stella out to wait with her for her cab at least an hour beyond the time a person in their thirties should leave bars to avoid feeling like a zombie the next morning. As they walked out, hand in hand, a high-pitched shriek shattered the cold late-night silence.
Olive twisted around searching for the emergency that necessitated the scream, and found three people jogging up from the parking lot.
“Oh my god, it’s the couple from the TODAY show,” said one of a group of women. The women were all wearing oversized vintage-looking coats and thick hipster glasses. “You know, the pilot and that nurse that saved Mickey Mouse.”
Olive groaned. “I didn’t save Mickey—”
“Ermigod. I love you guys. Your story. All of it.” The hipstery-est hipster shook both Olive’s and Stella’s hands.
When her hand was released, Olive’s body locked up and suddenly she had no idea how to stand next to Stella. They had gone from that carefree, casual tipsy PDA to a level of awkward generally reserved for fourteen-year-old reluctant homecoming dates trying to pose in front of Styrofoam columns and fake ivy walls. Though maybe Olive was just having flashbacks to that year she and Derek had gone to that awful dance together before either of them were out. Holy shit, that’d been awkward. But now? It was the same even though it was usually so easy to touch Stella.
Where was Olive supposed to be touching Stella that would imply We are comfortable doing all the sex things without looking like she was trying to emulate said sex things in public?
Olive realized she’d been staring back and forth between her hand and Stella’s perfect ass for a couple of seconds before the giggles of the group of women brought her back to the moment.
“Can we take a quick video of you so we can put it on my TikTok? We’ll tag you, Stella.”
“Stella’s not on TikTok.” Olive couldn’t help laughing. The idea of Stella being on TikTok was so absurd.
“Uh … she totally is. Unless this isn’t you?” The girl swiped and held up a page that yes did look exactly like Stella doing one of those choreographed dances with a group of younger kids who looked a little like her.
Stella grimaced. “My cousins made me do it last summer.”
“Why aren’t you following her?” said one of the girls to Olive.
“How did you not know that?” said another of the group.
Recovering from her shock, Olive squeezed Stella to her side, feeling Stella go rigid against her. “Oh, right. Just slipped my mind. Forgot about all those TikTok dances I’ve seen you do, hon.”
Olive made a note to self to please never call Stella “hon” again, because it definitely gave Cracker Barrel waitress delivering biscuits vibes rather than want to do all those aforementioned sex things to your biscuit vibes. And why was the word biscuit just so dirty?
Focus, Olive.
“Sure, we’ll be in a video,” Stella said, giving Olive a tiny nudge. “Won’t we?”
“Oh, yeah. Right. Sorry.” Olive winced as she rested her chin on Stella’s shoulder. The small muscles around Stella’s mouth were tight, so even though she was smiling, it didn’t reach her eyes.
“So, uhhh … can you guys just smile?” One of the group of women was holding up her phone. “And like look normal.”
Olive’s cheeks burned. Normal?
Stella nodded encouragingly, which gave Olive only enough time to force a grin before the women flashed a few poses and then eventually skipped away from them and inside the bar with calls of thanks.
As the door slammed, Stella pulled away from Olive. Her posture was back into the stiff pilot mode she used when she was working or for their interview, but didn’t have its usual warmth. “Didn’t you read the binder?”
“The binder?”
“In the questionnaire I mentioned that I had the TikTok account underneath the part where I listed all of my social media handles. I—uh—I don’t want to seem like a hard-ass about this, but if people find out, I’m really going to look ridiculous. This isn’t a joke for me, okay?”
Olive reached to take Stella’s hand, but Stella was already walking toward the curb where her cab would be arriving. “I’m sorry. I’ll read over everything, okay? I know it’s not a joke.”
“Because if this is too much for you right now…”
Olive locked eyes with Stella. “I said I’d do this. I’m sorry I wasn’t taking it seriously tonight. I’ll even make Stella flash cards if I have to.”
Stella chuckled. “I’m really good at making flash cards.”
“You know I might not have your questionnaire answers memorized, but I think I would have guessed that.”
A streetlight near the parking lot made the misty night air glow gold.
“Least we could do a convincing kiss in the bar tonight,” Olive said, her voice more gravelly than usual.
“You think we were convincing?” Stella said, sucking on her bottom lip.
“I’d always be up for more practice before the next event if you think we need it.” Olive kept her tone light, as if she were kidding, as she tucked a strand of Stella’s hair back behind her ear.
Stella laughed, and it was back to her normal laugh, not the one she used when she was worried about being too loud or too unprofessional. “So when should I schedule your pop quiz?”
Okay, this was venturing into an incredibly sexy tutor role-play fantasy, and Olive was just about at her limit for turn-ons tonight. Every potential reply occurring to Olive involved the word cramming, which just seemed inappropriate. Olive needed to get home before she said something stupid.
After a check on the road to see if the cab was pulling up yet, Olive pulled Stella into her arms. “Thank you for coming out tonight.”
“I’m glad I got back in time.” Stella’s cheeks were pink, because of either the wind or a blush. “Derek and Joni are great. Glad I could hang out with them.”
Olive nodded. “Me too.”
The lack of a kiss seemed to hum between them. But the cab pulled up in front of them. With another small wave, Stella got into the cab. After watching the cab’s taillights disappear down the road, Olive went back toward the bar door, but movement caught her eye from the shadowy part of the parking lot. Beachy blond waves.
Lindsay gave her a broad, ominous grin as she hopped into her car.
The bar door opened. Derek came out and stood beside her.
“What are you looking at?” he asked.
“Trouble.”
YOU ARE READING
Fly with Me: a novel by Andie Burke
Romance(Books you want to read but don't want to buy) A sparkling and steamy Sapphic romance, Fly with Me by Andie Burke is filled with sharp banter and that sweet, swooping feeling of finding "the one" when and where you least expect it. A one-way ticket...
