Blurred Lines

"Oh," she shook her head. "I am so embarrassed, it's not like it's any of my business anyways."

"Don't worry 'bout it," I chuckled and turned away to finish putting my stuff away.

"Before you leave, I think there's something that we need to talk about," she wrung her hands nervously before finally resting them at her side. "Something that I think we've both been, um, avoiding talking about."

"What's up?" I asked, playing dumb.

She still couldn't quite look me in the eye. "The other day in the kitchen, I think you got the wrong signal from me. And I just, um, wanted to clear the air so that there won't be any awkwardness between us. "

"It's completely my fault. I thought that I saw something that obviously was not there. And I take full responsibility, it will never happen again," I told her taking full blame.

She shook her head. "It's okay. I mean it's not like you're the only one who's at fault, I didn't exactly help the situation either."

"Well I deeply apologize for making you uncomfortable," I told her truthfully. "Please forgive me."

"You don't have to apologize, I wasn't uncomfortable or anything," she paused and backtracked. "I-I mean I was slightly uncomfortable but I wasn't feeling threatened or anything by you. I knew that you wouldn't do anything that I didn't want you to do."

"It won't ever happen again," I reiterated.

"I know it won't. I like men and I'm happily married to a man with kids," she rambled on with a nervous laugh. "And I mean you're easily the most beautiful woman that I've ever met and maybe if I actually did like women how you like women, then I would totally have wanted you to kiss me. But since that's not the case-"

I cut her off mid-sentence, "How about we just both agree to forget the whole thing? No harm, no foul."

She sighed with relief, "That would be great, I was so worried that things might be awkward between us. I mean not that there's an "us" or anything because there isn't. I mean there's a me and there's a you and we're friends but there isn't an us."

"Vanessa," I placed my hands on her shoulders and squeezed gently. "Please don't take this the wrong way but shut up."

She bit her lip, "Am I rambling?"

I nodded and giggled. "Yeah you were. Don't worry, you and I are good. We're straight, well you are anyways," I joked.

"Sorry about that," she chuckled softly. "I only do this when I get flustered."

"We're good," I assured her and stepped back reaching for my bags. "It's already forgotten and it won't ever happen again."

"I'm not sure if you'd be interested or not but we're having a dinner party tonight if you'd like to come," she blurted out. "That is, unless you already have other plans."

I shook my head and tossed my duffel bag over my shoulder. "It just so happens that I'm completely free tonight."

"Then you should definitely come. It'd be a good chance for you to meet some of our neighbors and other friends. I think Jay also invited a few guys from work and their wives also."

"What time should I be here and what do I need to wear?"

She answered, "8pm and its semi casual."

"Do you need me to bring anything?" I asked

Vanessa shook her head, "Just yourself."

"Alright, I'll see you later."

**

There looked to be about a dozen or so cars parked in the driveway by the time I arrived back at their house. After nearly an hour of trying clothes on and taking them right back off, I'd settled on wearing the same dress that I'd worn to Mason's wedding a couple years ago. It was a satin, one shoulder, purple cocktail dress with a hem that stopped a few inches above my knee. I'd considered straightening my curly hair but settled on just leaving it as it was.

With my clutch in hand, I exited my car and made my way towards the front door not knowing what exactly to expect. Bougie dinner parties like these were a little out of my norm and I prayed that I wouldn't do anything to embarrass myself or anyone else. The living room was illuminated and I could already hear soft music coming from inside, along with the sounds of conversation and laughter.

Just as I'd stepped onto the porch and rose my hand to ring the doorbell, Vanessa opened the door looking like she'd just come off the runway. She wore a white, sleeveless bodice dress that accentuated her rounded hips and showcased her cleavage. Her hair was tied up in a sleek bun and she wore a pearl necklace with matching teardrop earrings in each ear. While a part of my brain registered that she was talking to me, I couldn't for the life of me pay attention to what she was saying because I was too focused on staring at her.

Holy fuck. It should be illegal for any woman, especially a straight married woman to look this good on any given night. It just wasn't fair to the rest of us queer women. She said my name softly, bringing me back to reality.

I shook my head, "I'm sorry. Did you say something?"

"I was asking you if you wanted to come in," she pointed to the door. "You're still standing outside."

"Oh," I smiled at her apologetically as I walked in. "Sorry, I was just admiring you. . . erm, I mean your dress. Your dress is beautiful."

Her face broke out into a grin, "Thank you. I'm very glad that you. . .like my dress. Can I get you anything to drink?"

I'd already forewarned myself to steer clear of any alcohol tonight. Alcohol + me being drunk and horny around this very attractive woman was a very, very bad not to mention dangerous combination. "Water would be fine," I told her. Preferably a water hose because I was still feeling the effects of seeing her in that dress.

"I'll be right back," she told me before disappearing into the kitchen.

I looked around the living room and took in my surroundings as she left me for a moment. Several small groups of people were standing around talking with glasses in their hands while others sat on the couch nibbling on hors d'oeuvres.

She returned a moment later with my glass of ice water and I greedily supped down the ice-cold liquid. "Let me introduce you to a few people," she said as she touched my back and guided me across the room. I closed my eyes and suppressed a moan at her touch. Her hand felt like velvet against my flesh and I longed to feel her hands all over the rest of my body and not just on my back. She introduced me to a few of her close friends, including one particular woman who'd been looking my way since I'd first walked through the door.

The tall, dark haired attractive woman smiled at me over the rim of her martini glass. "Natalie Martin, it's a pleasure to finally meet you."

I frowned. "I'm sorry, have we met before?"

"No, but I know of your work. You did a spread for a friend of mine a couple years ago that landed her a high end modeling gig. I'm Cecilia Campos but you can call me C.C."

"C.C. is the daughter of Jay's boss," Vanessa clarified.

"I've also did a few commercials here and there but nothing big. I'm really trying to get into modeling, that's my true passion."

I dug out a business card from my clutch and handed it to her, "If you're serious, give me a call sometime and we can take some headshots and put you a portfolio together."

She batted her long eyelashes at me inconspicuously. "I'd really like that. Sit near me at the dinner table and we can talk more."

Vanessa who was still standing beside me excused herself to go check on the food and Cecilia wasted no time in leaning closer to me, "So tell me, do you taste as good as you look?" she asked mischievously.

My jaw went slack and thankfully Jay who was talking with several men saw me and walked over to rescue me. "Natalie, I'm so glad you made it. You look great by the way."

"Er. . .thanks." I looked down at what I was wearing. "I was worried that I might be too underdressed."

"Not at all, you look amazing."

An older man walked up behind Jay and put his hand on his shoulder, "Were you planning on introducing me to this exquisite beauty? Or were you just trying to keep her all to yourself?"

Vanessa's husband laughed and made introductions, "Victor, this is Natalie Martin. Natalie this is my boss Victor Campos."

He held out his hand for me to shake, "Nice to meet you Ms. Martin. I see that you've already met my daughter; Cecilia."

I squeezed his hand firmly, "Pleasure to meet you too, Mr. Campos."

Jay added, "Natalie's an amazing photographer. We hired her to take some pictures of us and the kids."

"She's also going to help me put together a portfolio so I can land some modeling gigs," C.C. added.

"So not only are you beautiful, but talented also. That's a lethal combination," He took my hand and kissed it. "I must confess. If I were forty years younger, unmarried, and with a full head of hair; I'd give all these single, young men a run for their money."

"Let him tell it, all the girls back in the day wanted him," An older grey haired woman walked over to us and put her arm through Victor's. "Excuse my husband, he fancies himself as a real lady killer."

He chuckled, "They just couldn't seem to resist me."

"Of course sweetheart. Keep telling yourself that." His wife patted his hand and turned to me. "Marcie Campos. How are you liking our little town so far dear?" she asked.

"It's very refreshing and friendly. I needed a change of pace."

Vanessa interrupted us to announce that dinner was ready and we all filed into the dining room and sat down to eat. The meal which was delicious and had me carrying home a to-go plate consisted of chicken and spicy pork meatballs, steamed vegetables, tomato and basil soup, and herb roasted pork shoulder. For dessert she served raspberry cheesecake and strawberries dipped in milk chocolate.

Once the meal was over, all of the women sat around room sipping wine, talking, and listening to one of Vanessa's old jazz albums while the men had retreated to Jay's self-proclaimed "man cave". Victor's wife was incorrigible as she told stories about their whirlwind unconventional romance. It was so obvious that they were crazy about one another.

She refilled my empty wine glass and handed it to me, "You'll have to come out on our boat one weekend, dear. In fact, if it's beautiful this weekend, we may have to take it out for a spin."

I smiled at her apologetically, "I would but I'll probably be working next weekend. Can I take a rain check?"

"Of course, it's an open invitation."

C.C. who was busy texting on her phone stood up to be excused to the bathroom and a woman named Monica who I'd been introduced to spoke. "Jarred and I rarely get the chance to have sex anymore with his promotion and my new job. It's been three months and I'm getting desperate."

Marcie made a noise, "Girl you better go to the store and indulge in some sex toys. My rabbit does wonders for me."

One of their mutual friends choked on her wine. "Wait wait, you actually use sex toys?"

Victor's wife sipped her glass of red wine slowly, "Isn't it obvious? My husband also likes to use them on me."

Vanessa laughed and held up her hand, "TMI. I do not need that mental picture in my head."

Marcie playfully nudged her, "Please don't act like you and that sexy husband of yours don't use them. Jay looks like he has a really freaky side."

His wife struggled to contain her laugh, "We've never even talked about it. He'd probably be horrified with the idea."

"Yeah, Jarred would probably get offended too if I told him to use one on me. You know how men are when it comes to their manhood," Monica remarked.

Marcie turned to me exasperated, "Please tell me that your sex life is nowhere near as boring as the rest of these women."

I blushed slightly, "Personally I don't see anything wrong with using toys. My last girlfriend and I did it in the dressing room at Victoria's Secret and I used my bullet on her."

I added in the last bit to gauge their reaction. Some women weren't comfortable with having a lesbian in their inner circle. I waited for the briefest cringe or judgmental look but none came until Marcie clinked my glass against her. "My kinda girl. I knew I liked you for a reason."

"So you're into women?" Monica asked turning to me, "Are you completely lesbian or do you like men too?"

"Lesbian. I'm strictly chickly."

Another one of Vanessa's friends chimed in, "That's pretty cool. I experimented with my roommate once in college but that's it."

"Me too, but it was my Psych professor who was married," Another woman added. I saw Vanessa looking at me from the corner of my eye but she said nothing.

Between all the water that I'd downed at dinner and the second glass of wine that I'd had during dessert, Mother Nature began calling and I excused myself to use the restroom. After handling my business and washing my hands, I was walking back to rejoin the rest of the ladies when the sound of hushed voices from a room caught my attention. I silently crept over and peeked inside through the crack in the door.

Jay was in what looked to be his office arguing with C.C. She had her back turned to me but I could easily read the tension in her body. "This had better be important," she told him impatiently in a hushed voice.

"I wouldn't have had you meet me if it wasn't. Do you honestly think that I want my wife knowing about us?" he demanded quietly. "If she knew, she would pack up the kids and leave me without looking back."

"This has been on going on for over two years so how can she not know about us? Or maybe she really is that naive and wants to think that her husband is Mr. Perfect."

He pointed his finger in her face, "You leave my wife out of this, she doesn't have anything to do with it. Don't you dare disrespect my family in my home."

"Whatever," she said pushing his finger away from her face. "Will you just get to the point already? I told you that it wasn't safe for us to meet like this. Anyone could just walk in."

"I know but it couldn't wait," he looked around nervously before speaking. "Diego called and there's been a problem."

"What do you mean a problem?" she demanded irritably.

"Someone apparently broke into the warehouse last night and stole the shipment," Jay confessed.

"And you're just now telling me?"

"I didn't find out until a few minutes ago. They apparently doused the place in gasoline and torched it before they left."

"Who would be that stupid to steal from us?"

He shook his head. "Your guess is as good as mine but he seems to think that it was someone who knew where we were keeping it. They had to have been watching us the entire time."

"How am I going to explain this to The Boss? It's unacceptable."

"What do you want me to do?" he questioned. "He said that the investigator was already there and asking questions."

She paused, "I want you to call him up and have him spread the word that whoever stole from us made the biggest mistake of their miserable life. Someone has to know something."

"What about the investigator?"

C.C. shrugged nonchalantly, "He's on our payroll so don't worry. He'll do whatever we tell him to."

"But what are we gonna tell The Boss?"

"Nothing," C.C. answered simply.

"Nothing?" Jay repeated. "He's out of 1.2 million in blow and you're not going to tell him anything? Are you crazy?" he asked incredulously.

"We won't tell him because he doesn't ever need to know. We can handle this by ourselves."

"But what if we don't get it back or find out who took it?"

She slowly turned to face him, "We don't have any other choice. After last time, we can't afford any more slip ups."

I backed away from the door and processed the information that I'd just heard. Vanessa's husband and Victor's daughter were apparently working for some kingpin drug dealer. And it wasn't as though they were dealing in something light, 1.2 million in cocaine was a lot of money. People got killed and would kill over that heavy shit!

I heard footsteps approach me and I turned around only to run directly into Vanessa whose hands reached out to steady me this time. "We've got to stop running into each other like this. Someone's bound to get hurt," she joked but her face fell as she noticed my serious expression. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," I lied putting on a happy face. "I was actually just looking for C.C. but I didn't find her. I was going to see if she needed a ride home before I left."

"Oh. You're leaving so soon?" she frowned. "I didn't get a chance to tell you how pretty you looked tonight. That color looks great on you."

I looked down at my dress self-consciously. "Thanks but I've had this for a while. You look amazing too."

"Are you sure you can't stay any longer? You can sleep in the guestroom if you had too much to drink or I can give you a lift home. The girls all really like you."

The door to Jay's office opened suddenly and he and C.C. both stepped out into the hallway and joined us. They both nervously looked from one another then back to Vanessa and I. Jay was the first to speak, "Is everything ok? C.C. and I had some work stuff to discuss."

"Everything's fine," I turned to look at C.C. "I was just looking for you actually."

She licked her lips slowly, "Oh yeah. What's up beautiful?"

"I was about to leave and I wanted to see if you needed a ride home before I left."

"Thanks, but I actually have somewhere to be after I leave here."

"No problem. I guess I'm heading out then," I turned to Jay and Vanessa. "Thank you both for a lovely evening. Everything was great and the food was wonderful."

I said my goodbyes to the rest of the remaining guests before making my departure. I heard someone call my name just as I'd opened my car door to get inside my Jeep Cherokee. I turned around to see C.C. walking behind me. "I wish you could stay longer. We really didn't get a chance to talk."

"I wish I could but I have a meeting with a lady tomorrow that wants me to take her maternity pictures. How about we have lunch sometime this week? You can show me around town."

Her smile was so slow and seductive, "I like that idea, how about Friday? Do you like Italian? I know this great authentic Italian place."

I nodded, "I haven't had much Italian food but I sure do love me some Italian women, does that answer your question?"

"Both of my questions actually," she told me with a kiss on the cheek. "I'll hit you up Friday."

**

Over the next few weeks, I didn't have very much time to think about Vanessa and for that that, I was so grateful. Work was always one area that could always take my mind off everything around me. I'd recently put an ad in the paper and several people in fact had called and hired me to be their photographer for their special events. I'd done a wedding last weekend for a male Pastor whose husband was in the military, an engagement shoot for a recently engaged couple, as well as several shoots for couples who had wanted to announce their pregnancies.

I was currently working on a shoot for a set of seven year old Vietnamese fraternal twin boys who lived in the same apartment building as me. The older more rambunctious one; Tej wouldn't stop antagonizing his younger more quiet brother; Thomas who was content to just deal with it. Their mother who was of Vietnamese/Korean descent was at her wits end and kept yelling at them to behave and smile for the camera. I hid my smile and turned away just as Thomas decked his older brother in the eye with his fist.

Their mother Stephannie who I'd casually passed several times in the building quickly hurried over and yelled at them both in her native tongue and sent them both upstairs to their rooms. "I'm so sorry, they're not this hyper usually."

I laughed, "Don't worry about it. They're actually kind of tame compared to some of the kids that I've had to work with. At least they didn't spit on or throw up on me. Bodily fluids are the worst."