Finest of Pearls

"It's not my fault she was psycho, Megs," I griped while my best friend and I shopped at a cute little farmer's market we happened to pass by.

"I'm starting to wonder!" She looked over the grapes as she shouted at me. "You somehow find these women whose first and foremost priority is to grate your heart into a bloody, pulpy mess. I wonder if it's your fault that you look for them."

I harrumphed. "Women are the devil."

"No. Just the coven you keep running into, apparently." She quipped back so easily. I was spending the day with her after I broke it off with my most recent girlfriend, Claire.

"Hardy-har-har." I squeezed an orange grapefruit as I caught sight of a girl's face across the long produce bin in front of me. Her little button nose sloped onto plump high cheeks. Her hair was so black, it was almost blue, so her stark bangs and fair skin was a gorgeous mix. Her eyes glowed a grey-blue. I was suddenly very distracted.

I desperately wanted to hear what she was saying that made her mouth move like that. I strained to hear her words. In Spanish, as it turned out.

"--quiero alguien que no le importe que yo tenga mi trabajo y mis amigos. Que le guste pasar tiempo conmigo pero también le guste tener su propio espacio." Her speech was delicious -- it flowed from her mouth like sweet water over earthy-smelling rocks. She shook a coconut lightly, then put it in her basket. She turned away from me, then I could see her ass. It was round and poured into her jeans perfectly. She moved in a way that very clearly stated she knew she had a nice figure -- swaying to her own rhythm. Bubbley-bubble bubbles... I couldn't think anymore, then the side of my hip crashed into a wooden crate at that height.

"Ow!" I crouched down in pain.

"Jace!" My friend shouted. I gestured to her I was fine though my eyes still watered in pain. "What the hell is wrong with you? Why can't you talk?"

"Shut up!" I hissed, then straightened up to look at the pretty girl and her friend staring straight at me. I smiled at them, then held up the grapefruit I'd taken. "Good grapefruits, eh? Good season." I sniffed the citrus as they looked at me.

"Good to know!" They giggled before turning back to their conversation. I smiled as I walked closer to them, though there was still the produce shelves between us. Their accent was adorable.

"Jace?" My friend called out to me.

"Yeah?"

"Claire?" She prompted.

"Who dat?" I asked while I tried to listen at the girl's conversation discreetly.

"Your girlfriend up until yesterday night." She answered, wholly serious.

"Ah, that one." My brain twitched at the thought of Claire. We weren't meant to be together, especially after she shouted at me for an hour after I smiled at a barista in a new coffee shop. I wanted to wipe the nasty things she'd said to me from my memory, and the way she'd cornered me into a little ball in my own kitchen.

I heard another snippet from the pretty girl. "I wish he would be quiet and listen for once. Just refuse to leave my side until after we've spoken." Her eyes went up to me, so I started juggling three tomatoes. She giggled, and I waggled my tongue out. A tomato fell on the floor, then a woman screamed at me.

"Oy! You buy the food, you eat the food! You no throw the food!"

"I'm sorry! I'll pay for it!"

"That's right, 'you'll pay for it!'"

The girl's giggles shot up into wheezes. I looked at her dumbly while she stifled her laugh into her long sleeves.

Meg suddenly forced my head to meet her eyes. "Jace! Jace! Listen to me!"

"Yep? Yeah?" My eyes drifted nonetheless to the right.

"JACE! Babe, you need to slow down! You were talking about possibly committing yourself to holy matrimony to Claire not even a couple of weeks ago!"

"Dodged that bullet!" I said nonchalantly while I heard the girl's tinkling laughter.

"You need to sit down, process what happened, have yourself a little cry if you need -- JACE! Jace, fucking --"

I sprinted towards the register to intercept them. I grabbed a sad looking potato from a bin on the way to bulk up my purchases.

The cashier rang me up. "Hello, welcome to The Farmer's Basket. We hope you found what you were looking for."

"Yeah, thanks."

Pretty Girl kept speaking at the register next to me. "Someone I can party with, but also someone warm and squishy on my couch so I can watch Dateline."

I smirked to myself.

The cashier caught my attention again. "--hopefully you'll be very happy with your two tomatoes, grapefruit, and one potato."

"Huh? Yeah, thank you. Oh! Three tomatoes, please." I pointed at the total.

"I only see two..."

"I dropped one, sorry."

"Ah!" She adjusted the total.

"Listen, I don't wanna rush you, but can we move on, please?" My eyes darted at the bags next door getting packed.

"Yes. I'd hate to keep you away from your culinary masterpiece."

My leg rattled nervously.

"Thank you for shopping with--"

"Yeah! Thanks!" I rushed past the crowd, then neared the girl. "Hi!"

Her cheeks popped up round and pink. She linked arms with her friend. "Hello."

"I'd really like you." I stated. My hand was halfway to them, but then slipped into my hair out of nervousness.

"Huh?" She frowned at me.

"Yeah." I was so happy she stopped to look at me. "I'd like you so damn much, I would want to be with you, ALL the time, but, also, I would respect your alone time, or if you wanted to go out with your friends by yourself. I'd definitely support your career, as well."

Her mouth pulled to one side in amusement as she raised an eyebrow in challenge. I could feel my pulse in my ears, my palms were clammy.

"I'm a very good listener!" I kept up my oral résumé for her. "I'd party with you. You wanna go dancing? I'll go dancing with you! You wanna stay in? Look!" I raised my shirt and poked at my skin. I'd been working out regularly, but I hoped I was still able to check off this box, too. I dug my other index finger into my cheek. She smiled incredulously at me. "Look! I'm squishy enough to sit on for your shows!" She barked out a laugh as she leaned on her friend. "I check off all the boxes, right?" I neared her tentatively with open arms and a sheepish smile.

"Almost!" She smiled back.

I matched her soft energy, "tell me, please?"

Her finger crooked in my direction to beckon me forward. I scrambled to stand in front of her. She grabbed the front of my T-Shirt to pull me into her space.

"Mm. Hi." She whispered in my ear.

"Yes."

"You do -- check ALL my boxes..." her lips grazed the soft shell of my ear.

"Heurgh..." I gurgled somehow.

"But... you're missing something."

"What?"

She gripped my hair to put my face in front of hers.

"A dick!" She licked up my face, leaving her spit in a line. I could feel the cold air that meant she was gone; as my cheek dripped with her spit, my face split into a giant grin. Fuck yeah! This is my kind of woman.

I saw her skipping to her car, then panicked.

"Wait!" I chased after her as I wiped her spit off my face.

"Jace! Stop embarrassing me!" My friend trailed after me.

"Just wait a SECOND! Wait! Wait!" I got to the passenger seat, but was suddenly speechless. Her friend was behind the wheel, and I was leaning over the passenger door.

I gestured so she'd come closer. She smirked, then flipped her hair over before she neared me. Her ear was in front of me, and though I wasn't sure if I could keep it private from her friend, bit the bullet, then said "That's not a problem! I got four dicks. Since I bought them, they're technically mine. Give me a chance."

I pulled back so I could look at her. Meg approached me as I looked down at her.

"Jace. We gotta go."

"Yeah. Hold on." My eyes were zeroed in on hers.

She broke eye contact, then shrugged impassively, fidgeting with the glove compartment inside the car.

"Yeah?" I asked happily. I patted my pockets and panicked yet again. One of my cards was shoved at me by Meg. "Yes. Thank you." I held my business card to her.

I made intense eye contact with her. She took the card with a little grin.

I spoke with more confidence then. "Call me if something as inconsequential as gender isn't an issue anymore, and I'll take you out."

"Do you think so?" She asked pensively.

"What?"

"You think gender is inconsequential?"

"Er -- well, to this situation, yes, I think so."

"What if I was a boy? Would you still chase after me?"

"Well, no." I confessed.

"Interesting... Nice to meet you -- Jacinda Sable." Her dark blue eyes bore into mine.

"You too! Call me Jace. What's your name?"

"Ana." She bit her bottom lip as she said it.

"Yeah? So, Ana, call me?"

"Maybe." She took my hand off the passenger door window with two fingers.

I stepped back, but didn't stop talking as their car backed up.

"There's a very nice dinner and movie event in downtown on a roof. You wanna go this weekend?"

"Bye, Jace! Be nice to tomatoes." She rested her head on her arms in the window, then blew me a kiss.

I caught it and put it close to my chest. "Bye! Bye Ana!" I waved frantically with the hand that wasn't full of kiss.

One final wave from the passenger side took her from my world.

I sighed as I clutched my kiss close to my heart. A click of someone's tongue broke my melancholy.

"I worry about you." Meg said quietly.

"What? Why?" I frowned at her as I carefully slipped my kiss into my pocket.

"You fall a little too fast."

I smiled sardonically at her. The lesbian joke didn't need to be spoken -- it was implied.

"Yeah!" She faltered. "I know! But you, like, screw yourself into a corner where you don't have any business being there. It's not pleasant to look at." She grimaced.

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh." She sat in the car, leaving me to follow.

"Did you SEE her though?" I asked stubbornly as I settled in to the passenger seat.

"Ha! Yes. She was cute, but I promise you, you didn't have to profess your undying love."

"I promise you, I did."

"Why?" She cried as she eased the car off the bluff the farmer's market was on.

"Because! She's a real living person!" I explained, thinking it was wholly obvious.

"There are a lot of humans in this world." She said dryly.

"But this human is special!" I shouted.

"Don't you think every girlfriend you have is special?"

I thought hard. Claire was a spitfire, and Gemmy was hot because she wanted sex ALL THE TIME -- that was fun. I knew the difference between those perfectly lovely girls and Ana -- it was a quantifiable difference of aliveness. I just didn't know how to explain it to Megan.

"Sort of?" I frowned. "They are special in their own way... but Meg! Ana is like -- like -- she's like the oxygen you breathe in. Ana is the girl you press into the mattress on a playful Sunday morning. And her giggle just raises you up only to wrap your skull in chemicals that will compel you to keep pleasing her. She's like those cats they say infect you to make you love them.

My fingers closed around Meg's short sleeve near her shoulder. "Ana is -- she is the girl. You know that girl that you've always wanted, but didn't know exactly how she would appear? That's her!"

"Okay! Let's say I buy into your insanity. But how would you know?"

"Because! She wants someone who gives her space, but clearly desires her. Someone not too possessive, but might get jealous with just cause. She wants someone who listens to her, but also has the will and stamina to have the difficult conversations. She wants a partner in life. Someone she can go to a party with and feel safe and sexy and competent, but also someone who's okay staying in and watching trash TV and eat. Tell me how that isn't me."

Megan was quiet after my rant. "A lot of people could be that, Jace."

I frowned. "Really?"

"Yeah. You are genuinely all of those things. You have a lovely personality..."

"But?"

"Well, she very clearly said she was straight, and you JUST met her today!"

I grimaced in frustration. She didn't get it. Why didn't she get it?

"She is a person, correct?" I started and even chopped the air with a hand to emphasize.

"Yes..."

"She wants all these things, plus kisses, sex, commitment. All that good stuff?"

"Yes. Theoretically."

"I want them, too! I think she's attractive and, well, I think I made my point, too. So, what's the problem?"

"You can't just IGNORE orientation!"

"Why not? Especially if she said 'maybe'?"

Megan groaned at my stubbornness. "We're just going around in circles."

"I agree."

She groaned again. "Ugh! Okay. We're going to stop talking about this. Final thing I'm going to say is, 'I believe you fall in love too easily, and it's counterproductive to making a long-lasting relationship.'"

I waggled my head as I tried to listen. There was some truth in that, but not in regards to Ana. That was different.

"Ooh! Okay I'm done. You won't hear more about Ana from me for the rest of the night. Now, what would you like to add?" She asked me.

"Hm?"

"Yeah. Say, like, your closing statement as to why you're right."

"Oh! Erm. Well, I'm right to chase after Ana because she is lovely. You asked me if I thought of all my girlfriends as special. Yes to an extent, of course. But when you meet someone like Ana? Whoo!" I shook my head, still admiring her in my head. "Okay! I think I can explain it!" I got excited.

"Yeah?"

"Yes! So listen!"

"Ears open."

"Okay! So there's a Bible verse of how the kingdom of god is so valuable."

"Huh?"

"Yeah! Here." I opened my Bible app to Matthew 13:45 and 46. "Again, the Kingdom of the Heavens is like a traveling merchant seeking fine pearls. Upon finding one pearl of high value, he went away and promptly sold all the things he had and bought it."

Megan let the silence stretch out of sheer pettiness.

I spoke first because she was taking too long. "So the merchant found an awesome pearl, sold all his things and bought it. Why?"

"Because it was valuable?"

"Yes! But why?"

"It was worth money."

"Still a bit of a gamble though. Isn't it?" I wheedled. "You have a whole inventory, then sell it for ONE pearl? Wouldn't you say that's illogical?"

"Yeah, it doesn't really make sense unless they for sure were going to sell it."

"Well. It said he was a traveling merchant seeking FINE pearls. This pearl he found must've been good, huh?"

"Yeah, probably."

"Shiny?"

"Yeah."

"Rainbow-inny?"

"Maybe."

"Yeah. Well, Ana is SO much more special than that. I'd give up EVERYTHING just for a chance with her. Trust me. I am a pearl aficionado." I grinned as I tapped my kneecaps.

She side-eyed me as she drove. I obviously couldn't show her how Ana would love me, to assuage her fears, so I just tried to slip into a calm demeanor until Ana would call me.

----

That day I met her was Saturday. Sunday passed. I went to dinner with friends. Monday passed. I went to work. My phone rang Monday evening and I panicked.

"Hello?"

"Hello! I am calling on a recorded line for a Jacinda Sable. Thank you for picking up."

"Er - she's not here, sorry."

"Okay, thank you. Have a nice day."

"Yeah. You too."

I sat with my head in my hands as I got over the fright of her maybe calling me.

On Tuesday evening, after work, I got in my car. I was looking forward to cooking shrimp and rice when I got home. With lots of garlic.

My phone rang. "Hello?"

"Hi!"

"Hi Ana. How is your week going?" I stretched in the bucket seat of my car as I heard her tinkling voice, relishing the sound.

"Eh. Hard. And you? What are you doing?" Her sweet, calm voice was beautiful. I wanted it every night.

"I was about to go home and cook dinner."

"What will you cook?"

"Garlic shrimp on rice."

"Oh! With chile?" She exclaimed.

I spluttered. "Bah! Of course! With chile... I always make it perfect..." I tapered off as I panicked.

"Mmm... shrimp sounds good!"

I tapped my steering wheel nervously. "What -- are you up to today?" I asked her.

"Oh. Maybe I'll visit family."

"Who's your family?"

"Mom, dad, sisters."

"Cool." I paused. "If you decided not to visit your family, maybe you could come over for dinner with me."

There was silence on the call. I held my breath.

"No. But you can come with me... on Sunday for a barbecue," she whispered.

"To your family's house?" My eyebrows went high up.

"Yeah. It might be fun?" She said it as a question.

"Ha! Yeah! I'm sure it would be a blast! All right! I'll go with you to your family's barbecue."

"Really?"

"Yeah! Why not?" I figured if I set myself up for absolutely everything, then I needed to rise to the challenge.

"Okay! So just a simple dinner. We are NOT together. We're just friends." She paused to wait for my agreement.

"Yes! Trust me. It would be counterproductive to put the moves on you at a family dinner. We're friends."

"Okay."

I nodded quickly though she couldn't see me. "So... meet you there? Or ride together?"

"Oh! Yeah! Um... I'll drive us to my parents house. So be at my house this Sunday at four PM."

"Okay! I will! Don't forget to send me your address!"

"I will. Thanks Jace."

"Thank you!"

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Ana."

----------

Ana's parent's house was chaos. Every relative she had was in that house. Somehow five women were cooking at the same time with no accidents. I kept getting a beer shoved into my hand and little chips with guacamole in my other hand.

All in all, it wasn't terrible.

Seeing Ana be so free and happy with the people she loved only made her more attractive.

"Yace? You like my guacamole?" Her mother asked.

"Yes, Mrs. Garcia. It's very good!"

Her mother stepped in front of me and looked my face over, apparently liking what she found, she slapped my cheek. "Ana! I like this one. Why you no bring us more little gay friends like this one? They polite."

"Mom! That's rude!"

I chuckled.

"You are not gay?" Her mom frowned at me.

"I am."

"She is but you don't have to say 'little gay friends' it's weird."

"Ah!" She didn't seem very interested after that, and went back to the stove.

We went to the backyard where the meat was grilling.

She immediately spoke near my ear. "Sorry about my mom. Sorry about them all, actually. They don't have one common sense bone between any of them."

"I'd rather have your family feeding me than my family as they tell me about their exciting adventures in Home Depot."

She laughed. "That's uncle Ger. He was in prison for shooting at the guy who slept with his ex." She pointed at a guy who was serenely laying back in his beach chair. There was a beer held loosely in his hand, and a bunch of little girls were drawing rainbows on his face.

"Oh, wow."

"That's aunt Fina." She pointed at a heavily made-up woman with long nails, and leopard print shoes. "She's got six kids with four different men. None of them left her any money."

"That's messed up."

"She's not so innocent herself. She cheated on every guy."

"Oh well --"

"That's cousin Frank." She pointed at a tall boy near the grill. "He's a pyro. That's why he's at the grill."

I chuckled. She smiled widely, then ducked her head even closer to me. "This is fun, right?"

"Lots." I grinned back at her. "You are fun." If she were mine, I'd run the tip of my nose down her cheek, then find my lips with hers. Her family would mill around in the barbecue as if their Ana was always going around getting kissed softly and persistently by lesbians. "Who were you talking about at the farmer's market?"

"What?" She scrunched up her eyebrows.