Pinch Hitter

"Talk about dodging a bullet," she told herself as she took a larger sip of her wine and for the first time since she left her sister's apartment, considered if she really knew what she was doing.

"June?" A voice that matched the one she had heard on the telephone earlier asked from behind May.

May paused for a second and put down her drink on the bar counter, then turned in the direction of the voice. As she finished her turn, a new smile filled her face, this one filled with relief when she saw the woman now standing to her left.

"So this is Iris," she said silently to herself as she took in the woman before her.

Iris stood, May guessed, an inch or so taller than her, with short dark brown hair cut just above her neckline. Deep blue eyes and soft red lips drew attention to her face, the rich brown flesh of which was formed into the brightest of smiles. To merely say she was pretty would be the most flagrant of understatements.

Clad in a blue business suit and skirt, the white blouse beneath her jacket tightly outlined an impressive bustline. Again if May had to guess, she would say that the two of them were the same age, and in truth she wasn't far off. Iris was only fifteen months older.

"Hi there," May said, holding back on calling the woman by name on the slim chance that this was someone who knew June and spotted her at the bar. Her mistake with the blond had made her more cautious.

"I hope you haven't been waiting too long," Iris said as she slipped into the empty seat next to May. "My afternoon meeting ran a little late."

"No, actually you're right on time," May replied, relieved that Iris's comment washed away any doubt about her identity, "I was early anyway."

Iris's next comment was interrupted by the appearance of the bartender, who wore a name-tag giving his name as Brian, on the opposite side of the bar. She ordered a drink and as he went off to mix it, turned her attention back to May.

Suddenly, May found herself at a loss for words, unsure how to start the conversation. Luckily, Iris took the lead.

"I almost didn't recognize you," Iris said. "You weren't wearing glasses in Chicago."

"My contacts have been bothering me lately," May explained, "I haven't been wearing them."

"And your hair is different too," Iris added, "but I think that's an even better look on you. A lot easier to take care of I bet."

"It is," May replied, glad that the two discrepancies were tossed aside so easily, "thank you."

"By the way," Iris said as the bartender returned and she reached out for her drink, "I hope I didn't sound too needy on the phone this afternoon."

"Not at all," May said, wondering why she would say something like that.

"I mean I'm only in town until tomorrow and I don't know a soul here," Iris went on as she took a few sips of her drink, "and I really didn't want to spend the night cooped up in a hotel room watching HBO." May didn't want to think about how many nights she'd spent just that way, substituting her apartment for a hotel room.

"So when I remembered you giving me your number and telling me to call if I was ever here, well I figured, well you know."

May smiled as if she did, but actually she really wasn't sure as to what Iris was alluding to. So she shifted to what she thought was a safer topic.

"So what brings you to town, if only for a day?" May asked.

"I had to make a presentation to a few new clients," May explained. "The East Coast really isn't my territory, but the account executive who covers it has a wife who went into labor yesterday morning. I was familiar with the material so rather than have him cancel the meetings and maybe lose the orders, I volunteered to take his place."

"That was very nice of you," May observed.

"Well he's covered for me a few times so I figured I owed him," Iris said as she put her now empty glass down on the bar.

"And you're in what business again?" May asked, wishing that Iris had been more clear on that.

"I'm in medical supplies." Iris said, her tone showing she was surprised that June hadn't remembered that. "We're one of the largest suppliers in the Midwest and we've begun to branch out on both coasts. I'm sure I told you that in Chicago."

"I guess I should apologize for that," May said, falling back on the cover story she had come up with to cover her lapses. "I'm afraid that when I go to a Wedding or some other big event, I sometimes get a little carried away and maybe drink a little too much. Some of the things we talked about wound up a little blurry the day after."

May hoped she sounded sufficiently apologetic and that Iris took what she said as face value. She didn't want to lay it on too thick and have her think she had some sort of drinking problem.

"Well I can't say I haven't been there myself one time or another," Iris said after considering it for a few long moments. "So I guess the best thing for the two of us to do is forget Chicago and start over right here. The only important aspect of the chat we had there was that you remembered who I was when I called this afternoon. I would've been crushed if you hadn't." she added with a playful smile.

"Great," May said after her own momentary hesitation as she placed her empty glass on the bar as well.

"So I understand you're a Chef," Iris said as if she was meeting someone for the first time. Which unknown to her was exactly what she was doing.

"This I can handle," May told herself as she told Iris a little about her professional life, tailoring some of the details to fit June instead of her.

"I don't know how you do a job like that and stay so slim," Iris laughed. "If I spent my day around all that great food I think I'd be three hundred pounds by now."

"Well sometimes you just have to resist temptation," May said.

"Hopefully, not all temptation," Iris laughed again.

Before May could ponder the meaning of that one, Brian placed two new drinks in front of them. May said she had this round and handed a ten-dollar bill to the bartender.

"These are already taken care of ladies," the tall redhead said with a grin as he declined the payment. "Compliments of the two gentlemen at the end of the bar."

May and Iris both turned to look down the length of the bar in the direction Brian had indicated. Two good looking, twenty-something black men smiled back at the two of them, lifting their own drinks to say hello.

Under different circumstances, May might've been happy to have accepted the drink, but this time she saw it as a problem. If she had been here with another man, there wouldn't be any question of anyone trying to pick her up. Two women drinking alone, however, made it look like they might be trying to meet someone.

"Please thank the gentlemen," Iris said, stepping in to take control of the situation, "but my friend and I are here together and are really not looking for, shall we say, male companionship. I'm sure you understand." she added as she took May's ten dollars from her hand and offered it again to the bartender, saying they'd hate to take the drinks under false pretenses.

"Sure, no problem, Brian said as he took the money and rang up the sale.

When he brought back their change, he spent what both women thought was an excessive amount of time staring at the two of them. The reaction of the two men who had tried to buy them drinks was pretty much the same as Brian returned their money and repeated what Iris had said to him.

"Care to bet all three of them already have the both of us naked and doing nasty things to each other in their minds," Iris whispered to May as she picked up and drank her drink.

May smiled at the remark, taking a large sip of her own drink as well. Until that moment, a nagging fear had been building in her mind that she had let her imagination run away on her. That maybe Iris was just someone June had befriended at the wedding in Chicago and was as straight as she was. After all, not every woman June knew was a lesbian.

Both women finished their drinks, glancing over their shoulders to see that they were still the objects of some attention. An attention that had now spread to a few other male patrons as well.

"Have you had dinner yet?" Iris asked, ignoring the men looking at them. "Actually, no," May replied.

"One of the clients I met today told me about this really great Chinese restaurant that isn't suppose to be too far from here," Iris explained. "Care to give it a try?"

"I'd love to," May answered, "I love Chinese but it's one of the few things I really can't make for myself."

"Then let's get out of here," Iris said as they gathered up their things and headed for the door.

As they passed the two men who had been staring at them so rudely, Iris paused for a moment to say something to them.

"We're leaving now," she said in a low voice, "but I do hope that neither of you make a mess of yourselves thinking where we've gone or what we might be doing."

Then, before either man could react, Iris grabbed May by her arm and rushed her out of the bar. A few seconds later, they were out on the street flagging down a cab.

"That was wicked," May laughed in reference to Iris's comment to the men.

"But fun," Iris laughed back as a cab pulled over in response to their hail.

-=-=-=-

The night air had turned even colder and May was glad they were able to get a cab so quickly. As the cab driver navigated the crowded streets, May asked Iris if she was warm enough.

"Honey, this is nothing compared to Chicago winters," Iris assured her. "You were lucky that we were having a warm spell when you were there last month."

May nodded her head in response. Unlike the real June, she had never been to Chicago. Or many other places for that matter.

After a trip that took three times as long as they thought it would, the driver pulled up in front of Madame Cheng's. Iris paid the fare before May could object, saying that she was going to pay for dinner as well. After all, she assured May, that's what an expense account was for. Having it put that way, May couldn't really object.

The outside of the plain brick building that housed Madame Cheng's was unimpressive to say the least, causing both women to double check the address. Then they found the equally nondescript basement entrance, marked by a small sign in both English and Chinese.

"Well Colleen assured me that this was the best in the city," Iris said as they started down the stairs. "She said she and her lover come here all the time."

Iris's reference to her client's lover made May wonder if Colleen was a lesbian as well. After all, women usually didn't refer to boyfriends as lovers, at least not the women May usually encountered, her sister excluded of course.

"Maybe all of them belong to some kind of club," May thought humorously. "That's how they all know each other."

Reaching the bottom of the stairs and stepping inside, they found the inside of Madame Cheng's to be totally different from its facade. Decorated like Shanghai in the early twentieth century, it certainly had character.

"Table for two?" a quite attractive middle aged Chinese woman, dressed in traditional garb, asked as she stepped out from behind a small counter.

"Yes please," Iris said, looking out into the restaurant and realizing that it was filled.

"Did you have a reservation?" the Chinese woman asked as she looked down at the small clipboard in her hand.

"I'm afraid not," Iris admitted, "I'm only in the city for the day and this place was recommended to me by one of my clients."

"And her name would be?" the older woman asked.

"Not that I think it matters," Iris said feeling a little defensive all of a sudden, "but it's Colleen O'Conner."

A smile abruptly filled the woman's face as she called out to another woman, similarly attired, who was also behind the counter. Neither Iris or May had any idea what was being said but by the time the brief exchange in Chinese was finished, the woman with the clipboard had asked them to please follow her.

The woman led them to a row of booths in the extreme rear of the restaurant, far away from the noise of the kitchen. Despite there being a small line of people waiting for tables, half of these booths were empty.

"I guess your client must be a really good customer," May remarked as they sat down.

Placing menus on the table in front of them, the older Chinese woman, who they wondered might be the Madame Cheng for whom the restaurant had been named, wished them a good meal and left. As soon as she did, a much younger girl wearing the same traditional garb replaced her. She took their orders and left just as quickly, leaving them to their privacy.

The food, which came to the table surprisingly quick, turned out to be all that Colleen had said it would be. May couldn't remember the last time she had Chinese food this good outside of someone's home. Definitely not your normal restaurant fare. She made a mental note to come back on another day.

By the time they finished their meal, both women were greatly satisfied both with the food and the company they had shared. The streets were more deserted when they exited Madame Cheng's, so they had to walk a few blocks up to a main street to find a cab.

"I can't remember the last time I had so much fun," May said as they huddled together for warmth as they moved down the street.

"Really?" Iris asked as she held May's arm tightly, "I had gotten the impression back in Chicago that you were the kind of girl who had fun no matter where she was."

"Oh, well I guess sometimes I give that impression," May replied unconvincingly.

The younger woman was afraid Iris was going to pursue that train of thought, but again fate stepped in as the visitor from the windy city spotted something that caught her attention.

"Oh my God," Iris said as she stopped abruptly, pulling May back as well. "Look what's across the street."

May looked, but wasn't sure what she was looking at. There, a few storefronts down from the main thoroughfare, was what looked like a bar or club of some kind. In its own way, it looked as nondescript as the outside of Madame Cheng's had been. She didn't understand why Iris was so excited about it.

"So..." May said cautiously, hoping Iris would provide some much needed information.

"That's Scarlett's Rose," Iris said, giving May the impression that the name was supposed to mean something. "Or at least one of them. I think I read somewhere that you had three or four of them here in the city."

May looked at the large image of the rose on the glass window outside the club and the engraved lettering next to it. She remembered her sister saying that the cruise ship she was going to be working on was run by Scarlett's Tours and wondered if there was some kind of connection.

"I guess you want to go and take a look," May said.

"You can't tell me that you've lived here all your life and have never been to one?" Iris said in surprise.

"Oh, of course I've been to one," May lied. "It's just that I've never been to this one. I think that it's new."

"The two back in Chicago are always so hard to get into," Iris said, "unless you're a member. So far I haven't been able to find anyone who would sponsor me."

"Well I guess we could give it a try," May said, not really sure what sponsorship entitled.

Excitedly, Iris led May across the street, taking a place at the end of the short line of would be revelers. Standing at the front of the line stood a tall and muscular six foot two blond wearing a black leather jacket. The jacket was much too thin for the cold weather, but it was just another example of style winning out over practicality.

The line was moving rather quickly, giving both women hope that they would be able to soon get inside. That hope turned to disappointment as they reached the front of the line and they were told by the Gatekeeper that a private party was going on inside at the moment and non-members weren't being let in.

"Oh well, at least we tried," Iris said as the tall woman at the door gave them the bad news.

Just then, a black haired Hispanic woman came out from inside to bring the Gatekeeper a hot drink and saw the two women about to leave. Handing off the steaming mug, she stepped past the rope barrier to get a better look at one of them.

"June?" she called out.

May stopped and turned around, taking a few seconds to react to her sister's name.

"Hi," May said, for lack of anything else that came to mind.

"I thought it was you," the girl, whose name May later learned was Danielle, said. "What are you doing out here in the cold?"

"You know these two?" the Gatekeeper asked.

"June's a member," Danielle said. "I don't know her friend but if she's with June she's more than welcome."

"She didn't say she was a member," the Gatekeeper said in her defense.

Iris was thinking pretty much the same thing as she looked at May.

"I was just about to say something," May said to Danielle, and then to Iris she said, "I wanted to surprise you."

"Well consider me surprised," Iris said excitedly as she now pulled May towards the entrance, "let's go."

The obviously irritated Gatekeeper pulled back the heavy velvet rope that barred the way and admitted the two women into the club. Danielle followed them inside as well.

-=-=-=-

Moving into the club, the first thing they saw was that the inside of Scarlett's was at least four times what it appeared to be from the outside. The store front on both the right and left, as well as the three that faced the next block over had all been combined to form one gigantic center. All of the other entrances, however, were now only used as fire doors.

"There has to be over three hundred people here," Iris said excitedly.

"Yeah, it does tend to get a little crowded on Friday night," Danielle said from behind them. "Especially when there's a party."

"What's the occasion?" May asked curiously.

"I'm not sure," Danielle said, "for all I know it's for Gertrude Stein's birthday. We really don't need much of a reason to have a party."

"Hey Danielle, we need you over here!" came a voice from the far right of the room.

"I have to go," the olive-skinned woman said, "but I'll catch up to you later. As I remember, you still owe me a dance, June."

Both women watched the heavy breasted woman walk away, noting that her ass was almost as full as her bra. That was if she had been wearing one.

"Close friend of yours?" Iris asked as Danielle disappeared into the crowd.

"Not really," May replied, at least she hoped not.

"Well why don't we get a drink then," Iris suggested.

"I could definitely use one," May said, noting that they hadn't had any alcohol at the restaurant and their last drink had been hours ago.

They made their way through the crowd and up to the bar. Iris caught the attention of the barmaid, another six-footer, this one a brunette, who was definitely an improvement over Brian back at the hotel. The Amazon put two bottles of cold beer in front of them, saying that the first set was on the house.

"Here's to us then," Iris said as she handed one of the bottles to May and they both took a long drink from them.

The noise level of the party had grown to the point that conversation was pretty difficult, so the two of them just enjoyed their beers and the atmosphere. Looking around the club, May was astonished by the wide variety of women that filled it. They were all ages, colors, shapes and sizes. United by the fact that all of them preferred another woman in their bed. And one of those was Iris Banks.

"A dollar for your thoughts," Iris said, shouting to be heard over the din.

"I thought it was supposed to be a penny," May yelled back.

"Maybe I put a high price on what you're thinking," Iris smiled.

May smiled back at the thought, but before she could add anything to it, Danielle reappeared.