Lost in Texas Ch. 03

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Christmas morning . . .

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Everyone had awoken the next morning to the smell of cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs and hash browns wafting up the stairs. Despite their claims the previous evening, all the girls were suddenly hungry again. Breakfast was lively and everyone seemed to be in a genuine state of good cheer. Heather sat back and looked at the mob. Pamela and Marvin were definitely family oriented people and, despite the fact that THIS family was a little unconventional, they seemed to enjoy being part of the gathering. Freddie was playfully feeding Jane hickory-smoked sausages while Michelle discussed increasing the number of horses on the ranch so she could teach basic riding when they finally started taking guests. Alice seemed to be doing the same thing as Heather, watching everyone and getting a kick out of everything they said. The two girl's eyes met for a moment and the straight-faced shy girl broke out into a beautiful smile. ‘Good,' thought Heather. ‘Haven't seen as many of those as I'd like recently.'

Laurie broke into the moment the other two girls were sharing by asking Alice if she had started writing anything new over the trip. Michelle piped in with someone questions of her own, and Alice suddenly became the center of attention. Heather glanced over at Laurie, who had a twinkle in her eye. ‘Yep,' thought Heather, ‘she did that on purpose.' Laurie noticed she was being stared at.

"What?"

"Just come here," Heather said with a smile, drawing in Laurie's head and kissing her on the lips.

The rest of the day went by smoothly. Alice and Michelle went out to check on the herd of buffalo, giving them a chance to chat. The rest of the girls sat down and watched Christmas movies until the two women returned from their ride, then they all opened presents. Jane's parents had bought everyone clothes, which delighted Laurie, Alice, Jane and Freddie. Heather and Michelle looked at each other, exchanging some silent question about what either of them was going to do with a sweater. Much to her relief, all of Heather's gifts went over better than she had expected. Within an hour, the floor of the living room was littered with glittery paper and shiny bows. That was when Heather, Laurie and Alice were given a bit of a surprise gift.

Jane cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention. "Well, there is something that I would like to give to the youngest members of our little entourage. Now I know that some of you may have had designs to come down her in a few months for spring break, but I think you may want to rethink your plans. We've got professional builders coming out that week to put in an indoor pool over in the old bathhouse. Freddie had the idea that an indoor pool, while slightly breaking from the whole ‘authentic' fell, would be another attraction for guests to enjoy and use to wash the dust off. And we're also going to have some people working on restoring the barbershop, which will be turned into a modern salon with an old-fashioned feel. We had planned on doing this all ourselves, except for the pool, but my recent hospitalization has put us further behind than we'd liked. After your generous assistance this last summer, we had gotten our hopes up to open this upcoming summer, for which you still have guaranteed employment if you so desire, and we would like to keep to that new schedule."

"Sweetheart," said Michelle, "would you PLEASE get to the point?"

Jane looked down at Michelle and stuck her tongue out, causing the entire group to bust out laughing at the very-much un-Jane-like maneuver. "Very well. Anyway, I decided that since we had everyone else doing the work that I might use that week to make another trip to Dallas for what will hopefully be my last follow up appointment. But we didn't want you three to sit around your college moping while other students were off having fun, so . . ." Jane grabbed an enveloped from her pants pocket and handed it to Heather.

The dark-haired girl looked inside and her eyes shot open. She pulled out eight airline tickets. "Florida?!? For spring break?!? But . . . Why so many?"

"Well," interjected Freddie, "we figured you had two band-mates, each of whom might like to bring someone, and we threw in another one in case Alice would like to invite someone."

Mr. Voorhees took over from there. "And my wife and I have a beach house down in Fort Lauderdale which we usually use for the winter. But we figured you kids could use it . . ." He was abruptly interrupted by Laurie hugging the breath out of him, while Alice went for Jane's mom. Heather started hugging Jane, then moved on to Freddie and Michelle. After everyone had been suitably hugged, Jane's father handed Heather a spare set of keys to the house. For some reason, everyone just assumed the dark-haired siren was the spokesman for her little group, but neither Alice nor Laurie every seemed to object.

"Cool!" said Laurie, looking like she just had an epiphany. "Swimsuit shopping!" That got a laugh out of everyone. Except Heather. "Oh c'mon," said Laurie to her forlorn looking girlfriend, "shopping isn't that bad."

"It's not that. Well, not entirely. It's just that I won't be going in the water, so there's not much point in buying a suit. I figured I could go check out the concerts and stuff . . ."

"Pish posh," returned Laurie. "You are NOT going all the way to Fort Lauderdale for spring break and NOT go to the beach. We are going to get you some sun, and we are going to get you stared at by guys and girls who can't have you and we're going to go swimming and . . ."

"Um," Heather said nervously, "that might be a problem."

The room went silent for a moment. Michelle finally broke it with, "Don't tell me you can't swim?" Heather's blush was all the answer she needed.

Heather felt a need to answer the unasked question. "My parents never really showed any interest in my learning to swim . . . or me doing anything for that matter. The opportunity never presented itself and it didn't seem particularly important, so I just never learned."

"Well, we've got three months to figure something out. But even if you don't do anything but lay on the beach and get a tan," said Laurie sternly, "you ARE going to let me see you in a swimsuit. End of discussion." Laurie turned and promptly started discussing some things with Marvin regarding the rules of the house, and Heather was just sitting there with a confused expression on her face.

"Seven months ago," whispered Jane.

"Hunh?" was Heather's reply.

"Seven months ago is when you lost sole control over your life and gave some of it over to Laurie. Get used to it."

Heather grinned. "I don't mind so much anymore. But dang it, I'm going to drag her cute little butt to do some stuff that I want to do down there."

"And she'll probably go along. Being part of a real couple is strange, isn't it?"

"Yep. So, did you talk to Michelle and Freddie about the . . . .you know, physical thing?"

"You mean sex?" Jane grinned. "No, but they definitely seem to be loosening up. But I don't mind waiting a few days for the physical aspect of our relationship to return." She whispered into Heather's ear in a conspiratorial manner, "You see, regardless of how old you are, having sex while your elderly parents are in the next room is . . . well, icky." She and Heather stared at each other for a moment before starting to laugh outrageously, and no one else in the room had any idea what they were going on about.

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The day quickly turned into evening and the Christmas movie marathon continued. At one point, Alice went up to the kitchen to get some more soda, and Heather joined her under the pretense of wanting more coffee. Well, it actually wasn't a pretense. Heather went through coffee like a fish went through water, but she really wanted to talk to Alice.

"So," she said when the two girls were alone, "Did you have anyone in mind to take with you to Florida?" Alice blushed a bit, and Heather hurried to make sure that her friend didn't think she was being made fun of. "I didn't mean to say . . . Shit, I'm not good at this." She stopped and took a deep breath. "Alice, I know you don't like talking about your love-life that much, but I've been concerned. I know you're looking, which is cool. I just wanted to know if you wanted my and Laurie to help you look or if you want to do it on your own or what?"

Alice gave one of her shy smiles. She gave Heather a quick hug, which thankfully didn't feel awkward for Alice. Whatever had happened on Halloween seemed to have gone away. Maybe there was something ABOUT Heather which Alice liked, and all she needed to do was figure out what it was so she could seek it out in someone else. "I wish I knew. I realized I don't know myself yet what I want. I mean, if you know someone who is gay, or at least bisexual . . ."

"Don't you mean ‘bicycle'?" said Heather with a Cheshire cat grin.

Alice shot her a dirty look. Heather was never going to let her live that comment down. "I'm SURE the word is ‘bisexual.' Anyone, if you find someone . . . well, trustworthy, I don't mind if you bring them by. But don't bring them by just for me. Does that make sense?"

"I think so. Give you the opportunity, and maybe the right one will present itself. I think I could do that."

Alice gave her another quick hug. "Thanks again for looking after me."

"It's the least I could do. We have a really inbred little group here. You're like the mom, but I'm like the big brother. Sounds like that Ray Stevens song."

"You mean, ‘I'm My Own Grandpa'? I love that song." The two girls grabbed their drinks, and Alice started scolding Heather for drinking so much coffee, claiming that it COULDN'T be good for her. Heather rolled her eyes, took another sip, and the two of them went back to the living room.

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New Years Day . . .

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It was another sad day when the girls had to pack their bags and head home. They had another week until school started again, but Heather and Alice were both going to be looking for jobs, so they wanted a head start. They thanked Jane's parents again for letting them used the beach house and Jane, Freddie and Michelle for the plane tickets. Michelle made Alice promise to call more often, which Alice agreed to and Heather made Jane promise to call when her physical relationship with her lovers was back on track, which Jane reluctantly agreed to. Pleasantries and fond farewells exchanged, the girls headed back to the university. Their hostesses had given all the girls travel games so that their increasingly frequent trips weren't quite so tedious. They had word games and magnetic board games to occupy their time. There was one game where the participants were asked to provide nouns, proper nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs that were to be fit into a story, but they didn't know what the story was about. They had to have Alice read the stories back to them since neither of the other two could do it with a straight face. At one point, when Alice was driving, Heather attempted to teach Laurie to play chess. After a while, she reluctantly acknowledged that it was a lot like trying to teach a dolphin how to roller-skate: it was kind of sad and doomed to failure, but it was also a lot of fun to watch.

When they got home, finding part-time jobs turned out to be easier than expected. Jenny and Mike dropped by to see them after they got back to town. Mike and Jenny had been visiting Mike's parents over the break and, when they were given their plane tickets and informed of the plan for spring break, had gone to their boss and helped get all three girls jobs at O'Malley's. They had even managed to guarantee the time for spring break, particularly since the girls were willing to work weekends. Even Laurie had decided to go to work, mostly since all her friends were going to be there anyway. She was going to work as a waitress, Alice was going to be in the kitchen and Heather was washing dishes and bussing tables. Some people might have been insulted by getting assigned to latter duties, but Heather preferred physical labor to anything else, and her social skills still needed a bit of work.

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A few days later . . .

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All three girls had just gotten back from their first day of training. Heather was actually in better spirits than her friends were for possibly the first time in known history. It was the type of work she was used to. Alice was mostly complaining about the heat of the kitchen, but that she would survive. Laurie was moaning about how no one had warned her not to wear heels. Heather finally got her to stop complaining by reminding her that this was just an excuse for her to go buy a new pair of comfortable shoes. Laurie perked up immediately, then used the pout attack to get Heather to go with her. Heather didn't mind as much, since SHE wasn't the one who would have to be trying anything on.

When they got back to Heather and Alice's room, they found a note on the door that was addressed to Heather. The dark-haired girl grabbed it and read it out loud. It said:

"Look out behind you."

Suddenly, Heather was grabbed and lifted off her feet and wrestled to the grass outside the dorm. Alice was taken aback and Laurie grabbed her cell phone as if to call the police. Then something happened that stopped her. Heather was laughing, and not just a little bit. She was laughing her head off. And she was fighting back. She had managed to out of her assailant's grasp and had what appeared to be another woman locked around the waist in some sort of scissors grip with her legs. The woman had one of Heather's arms and was twisting in a way which had to be painful. But this other woman was laughing too. Laurie and Alice both sat down on a bench a stared in total befuddlement at what was transpiring. Heather and the mystery woman wrestled for at least ten minutes before things ended. The mystery woman had Heather in a headlock with one arm, but Heather had grabbed the woman's other arm and was threatening to bite her thumb off.

"Okay ya little cheater," said the new woman, "we'll call it a draw, but only ‘cause I want to keep that thumb." Heather mumbled some kind of agreement without removing her teeth from their current positions. "On the count of three. One . . . Two . . . Three!" Both girls let go at the same time, and then Heather gave a very ‘manly' hug to the stranger.

Now that they weren't rolling around on the ground like wild animals, Alice and Laurie got their first look at the woman. She was tall, appearing to be about six feet two inches. She was wearing dirty blue jeans and leather chaps. Her denim shirt was tied in a knot below her smallish breasts. She had a long lean body that, like Heather's, was obviously low in fat content. She wasn't quite the beauty queen that Laurie was, but her face had a fair amount of appeal, though some people might say it looked a little stern. A couple of things helped alleviate that sternness. For one, she was smiling one of the most brilliant, perfect, ear-to-ear smiles anyone had ever seen. It reminded Laurie of Shannon Elizabeth's smile from the American Pie movies. Secondly, the girl's eyes were an incredibly light-blue color that was incredibly striking. Her long hair was pale blonde; so pale it might be seen as white or silvery in direct sunlight. And the eyes and hair were made more striking by a deep, rich tan that covered all viewable areas of her body. Alice found herself needing to remember to breathe.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" asked a still-grinning Heather.

"Didn't Grandpa tell you? I'm going to get my Masters degree."

"Why? I thought you had a great job?"

"I do. It's just . . ."

"AHEM!" This came from Laurie, who had found herself wondering who this woman was who had wrestled her girlfriend and gotten her all dirty and sweaty and . . . sweaty. Laurie's mind snapped back to reality when Heather started to speak.

"Sorry. It's just been a long time since we've seen each other . . ."

"Or pummeled each other," the other woman added.

"Yeah. Anyway, this is Elizabeth Price. Mr. Price's granddaughter."

Laurie looked confused. "Wait, your old teacher, Mr. Price? You never said he had a granddaughter," she said as she moved to stand beside her girlfriend. For some reason, she was feeling a bit threatened, though that threat diminished a bit when the Elizabeth gave another great big smile and offered Laurie her hand.

"Sorry for the disturbance ma'am. Call me Liz." Liz turned to look at Heather. "So this is the fluff you've been dating that Grandpa told me about? Nice! Definitely better than some of those militants you used to date, and certainly better than that one guy you took for a spin." Heather blushed as Laurie shot her a look that indicated that her girlfriend had some explaining to do. Then Liz turned back to look at Laurie, and more specifically to stare at her chest. "Damn, those things are big! Are they real? Can I touch them?" she said, wiggling her fingers.

"No!" said Heather and Laurie together as Heather moved between the two. The dark-haired girl had a vexed but amused look when she said, "Hands off, pig. Yes they're real, and no, you can't touch them." Laurie gave a ‘So-there' nod of her head.

"So," Liz said with a glance at Alice, "who's the skirt?" Alice blushed from head to toe.

"That's Alice. She's my roommate, friend and an extraordinary songwriter." This made Alice lower her head shyly.

"Nice to meet you," said Liz. Then she turned to Heather. "So what Grandpa said is true? You're singing again?"

"Yeah. Mostly karaoke so far, but we've got a little band going and we're going to start playing some bars, clubs and coffee houses this semester. Alice has given us almost a full set. Throw in a couple cover tunes and we're almost ready to roll."

Liz gave Heather a big hug. "It's about friggin' time."

When released, Heather took Laurie's hand. "I had some help getting back on track."

Liz grabbed Laurie's hand. "Then the world owes you a debt," she said, giving Laurie's hand a kiss. The she winked and released Laurie's hand. Laurie blushed. With the blonde girl, flattery got you almost everywhere.

The four women went inside the dorm. "Hey," Heather said to Alice, "would you mind entertaining Liz for a minute? I just need to take a shower." She looked at Laurie and motioned her head in the direction of the shower. The two girls disappeared before Alice was able to object.

"Oh great," she muttered, trying to avoid staring directly at the stranger in their midst. "This could take a while." She sat on the edge of the bed with her hands on her knees, trying to think of something witty to say. "So . . . tell me about yourself."

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In the shower . . .

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Heather turned on the shower quickly. She figured there were a few things Laurie needed to know, but she didn't want to keep the other two girls waiting. Laurie was already undressed and giving her a ‘you'd better explain yourself' look.

"First of all, you have nothing to worry about," said Heather with a smile and a kiss. "She's no threat to you. Secondly, I had no idea she was going to be here. Thirdly, there's something you should probably know about her and I." Heather actually started to blush. "She was my first."

Laurie's eyes shot open and that sense of nervous defensiveness returned. "You never said anything about Mr. Price having a granddaughter, much less that you had sex with her! How could you . . . ooh!" she said before climbing into the shower. Heather sighed, realizing that she was really going to have to work to get Laurie calmed down. She stripped and climbed in with her girlfriend. Laurie was trying to be petulant, but Heather started kissing her on the shoulder as the water cascaded over, and this greatly reduced Laurie's desire to be difficult.