Move Closer Ch. 01

Caro frowned a little. "The last time I was in a nightclub, I got slapped around afterwards."

"Now you know that's not going to happen again—believe me, you'll enjoy this one. It'll all be fun and dancing. Sound good?"

Caro considered, then smiled. "Yes, sounds good."

"Okay, you go and get a shower while I clear away."

"What should I wear?"

"Your choice," said Lainy, "Just make yourself look beautiful."

When they emerged from their separate bedrooms later, each stopped and stared at the other. Lainy was dressed in a crisp white shirt with black boot-cut trousers and black waistcoat, while on her feet she had black Cuban-heel shoes. She was wearing jet cufflinks and earrings and her neatly-trimmed fingernails were coated with black varnish. Caro had donned a three-quarter length, long-sleeved emerald dress with kitten-heel shoes. On one wrist she had a slim bracelet comprising amber and silver links, around her neck a similar amber choker, and she wore matching earrings. The whole outfit complemented her thick, auburn hair and hazel eyes. The women clasped hands and both spoke at once.

"Wow, you look gorgeous— "

"Oh, aren't you lovely—"

They laughed. "Come on," said Lainy, "It's a warm night and we'll walk there. It's only a couple of streets away."

They left the flat, linking arms as they walked. After about ten minutes they turned a corner and in front of them, across the road, was another former warehouse and a small doorway with a discreet neon sign above: Radclyffe's. Lainy pointed. "That's it." There was a lengthy line of women queuing outside.

"Looks as if we'll be waiting quite a while," Caro said.

"Don't worry about that," Lainy told her and took Caro straight to the door. The doorkeeper was a sturdy-looking black woman who yelled with delight when she saw Lainy and pulled her into a great hug. "Lainy, girl, it's been a while. How are you doing?"

"Just great, Myra," said Lainy, returning the hug. "This is Caro."

"Hi, Caro... any friend of Lainy's... Go right on in girls, your table's waiting."

There was a querulous call from someone in the line. "How come they can jump the queue?"

Myra pointed to Lainy. "Because she's the owner, honey. And hey, Lainy, it's easy night tonight."

As Lainy led Caro down a narrow corridor, Caro said: "Is that right? You're the owner?"

"Not exactly—I'm a part-owner. Joss and Will and I have 51% of the shares between us. Olivia, who runs the place day-to-day has the other 49%. So the way it works, no one person has overall control and we get along just fine. Anyway, Joss and Will only come here for board meetings." At the other end of the corridor they came into a huge room, about the same size as the gym, with low, soft lighting. Along one wall was a long bar with several girls working behind it and a number of waitresses scurried around taking orders. A long, high mirror behind the bar made the place look twice as large and bottles and glasses gleamed in their racks. Nearly all of the tables seemed to be occupied and a spacious floor was filled with dancers swaying to smoochy music. Lainy led the way to an empty table on which was a card saying: Reserved. "Owners' table," she explained. She hailed a waitress and ordered her usual mineral water with a spritzer for Caro.

Looking around her, Caro realized that like the queue outside, all the patrons were women. "Is this a lesbian club?"

"Yes. Does it bother you?"

"No—I take it the club's named after Radclyffe Hall?"

Lainy smiled. "I knew you'd get it, most don't—too long ago and obscure, I suppose. We do get a lot of straight women coming here too. They know they can have a great time without having to fend off randy men. Mind you, how they handle randy women is their problem. Seriously, we do have a strict rule that if someone says no, and they mean no, then it's to be respected. So you'll probably get asked to dance a lot tonight—if anyone gets too heavy, just say no and let them know you're with me."

Caro nodded. "One other thing—Myra said it's an easy night, but the place is heaving with people."

"Just our parlance," said Lainy, "Each night we have different music themes: country, rock, disco and so on. Easy is when it's all easy-listening music for slow dancing. And we're always full."

Caro was asked to dance a lot and thoroughly enjoyed it. She was propositioned several times but she was able to turn them down without causing offence. At one point, when Lainy was on the dance-floor and Caro was taking a breather, a tall, elegant woman, probably in her early fifties, came and sat beside her. "You'll be Caro," she said, extending a languid hand to shake, "I'm Olivia, Lainy's business partner. It's great to see that Lainy's found a new girlfriend at last."

Lainy's girlfriend, is that how they're seeing me? I wish... Aloud, Caro said: "I'm not her girlfriend, we're just friends."

Olivia looked puzzled. "Oh, the way Lainy's been looking at you all night, I thought... Well, never mind--that's me and my big mouth... It's just that ever since Susannah, we've all been hoping that she'd find someone else."

"Who's Susannah?"

"You don't know about Susannah? She— Oh, it's me and my big mouth again. Look, just forget I said anything, Caro." Olivia stood up. "Duty calls. Good to meet you, Caro, hope to see you soon." She wandered away, stopping at different tables to have a word.

Then Lainy was standing there, holding out a hand. "Come on Caro, I think it's about time you danced with me." As they reached the dance-floor, Nat King Cole's 'Mona Lisa' was just finishing and they put their arms around each other. The next piece of music started seamlessly: it was Phyllis Nelson's 'Move Closer'. Caro tightened her embrace and felt Lainy do the same as their cheeks came together. And as their bodies moved in unison, a jolt of electricity seemed to shoot through Caro. Oh God, she thought, this is it, this is where I belong, here in Lainy's arms... The rest of the room seemed to melt away from her, there was only her and Lainy and the music and nothing else in the world mattered any more. For the remainder of the evening, they were like one—nobody else was able to get a dance with either of them.

When they left Radclyffe's to walk home, it seemed only natural that their hands came together with fingers intertwined, that they walked together more closely than usual, that their shoulders were in almost constant contact.

At home, they changed into their pyjamas and then sat with coffees. "So, how did you enjoy dancing with a bunch of dykes?" asked a smiling Lainy.

"I absolutely loved dancing with a bunch of dykes," said Caro. Uppermost in her mind was the thought: I absolutely loved dancing with one dyke in particular—I could have danced with her forever... Then recalling what Olivia had said, she asked: "Who's Susannah?"

"How do you know about Susannah?" said Lainy, then: "Oh, Olivia I suppose. I saw her talking to you. Susannah was my girlfriend. We were together for more than five years."

"What happened? Did she leave you?"

"In a manner of speaking." Lainy's voice was suddenly bleak. "She died, three years ago. She had a serious heart condition I didn't know about. Apparently it ran in her family. Only twenty-five years old and she died of heart failure."

"Oh, Lainy, how dreadful for you." Caro reached out and took Lainy in her arms, holding her close. They sat that way for very long minutes, and the warmth of Lainy's body against hers gradually roused a deep longing in Caro. I am in love with Lainy, she thought, I really am in love with her...

She thought of their first dance together and in her mind could hear the soft, clear voice of Phyllis Nelson:

"Move closer...

Move your body real close until we

Feel like we're really making love..."

She whispered: "Lainy, will you take me to bed and make love to me?"

There was an abrupt change in Lainy. She stiffened and pulled Caro's arms away from her, speaking harshly. "Forget it! I don't need a sympathy fuck!"

Caro flinched and drew back, hurt by Lainy's words and the way they were spoken. "I wasn't offering you a sympathy fuck and I didn't mean to upset you. I'm in love with you, Lainy. I've been in love with you for some time but haven't dared say anything because I've been so confused about it. I was hoping that you'd have some feelings for me, too. I wanted to make love with you, not fuck you. I'm so sorry, Lainy—I've obviously made a terrible mistake. This isn't going to work for either of us any more, is it? As soon as I can find somewhere else to go, I'll leave so I don't cause you any more upset and pain."

Caro got up and dashed to her room before Lainy could see the tears falling. Shutting the door, she stood in the middle of the room, weeping quietly and berating herself. You stupid, stupid bitch! You were just talking about her dead girlfriend and then you have to go and say something crass like that. You've just wrecked any chance you might have had... and now it's goodbye, Lainy...

The story continues in Chapter 2.