Seducing Verónica Pt. 01

"I can't believe it. After all the things I did for him, the hours I put into our relationship. I loved him! How could he do this to me?" My friend Verónica sobbed into my arms.

"It's okay, you're going to be okay. He didn't deserve you. It's his loss."

She let another bout of tears fall, dampening her shirt.

"I'm sorry, I'm a mess," she said weakly.

"It's okay, do you want to stay the night?" I asked, putting my hand on her shoulder.

"If it's not too much trouble..."

"Of course it's not!" I said. "You've been through a lot. It's not your fault."

Verónica slumped onto the couch, defeated.

"I thought I finally found the one," she said. "I don't know how I can trust people, when the man who said he loved me left when things got tough."

"You have to start slow," I said, brushing my hand through her hair. "Men suck."

"Easy for you to say." She glared at me. "I wish I was a lesbian. Yeah, I know your dating pool is tiny, but at least you don't have to deal with sexism and fully grown adults who can't express their emotions."

"Not all men are like that, I'm sure you could find one who doesn't take part in macho culture."

Verónica sighed. "I don't exactly have unlimited options. I mean I'm almost 30 and I suck at flirting or acting sexy. Men aren't throwing themselves at me."

"You're prettier than most 21 year olds," I said. "You just gotta see yourself from other people's perspective."

"You're just saying that," she said. "I'm ugly as fuck."

I rolled my eyes. "You're straight and I'm a lesbian. Which one of us is qualified to determine if a woman is attractive?"

"Okay so in your lesbian opinion, am I hot?" she said, trying not to laugh.

"Are you kidding?" I said. "You're one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen."

"Stop it," she said. "You're gonna make me blush."

"What's wrong with that? You *are* pretty."

"Shut up!" Verónica started giggling. "Anyway I'm tired af, I'm gonna go to sleep."

"Goodnight," I said.

"Nini," she yawned.

Ever since I met her in high school, Verónica was the prettier of the two of us. She had curly black hair and olive skin, and she dressed up in blouses and pencil skirts most of the time, which were complimented by her kind personality. She was confident and sexy and everything I wanted to be. Though I had found her attractive since the beginning, it was only the past few months that I started fantasizing about her and yearning to be her girlfriend.

The problem was, she was straight and in a long term relationship with her boyfriend. So when they broke up, I immediately started formulating my plan of attack. I wouldn't force her, of course, but I wanted to test the waters to see whether she felt anything towards me, or women in general.

I had spent most of a decade getting to know the lesbian scene in Mexico City, where the two of us shared an apartment. I knew where lesbians hung out, and club 21 was the center of the action. On a given Friday night, half the lesbian population congregated there.

Verónica usually rebounded from her relationships very quickly, so I knew I had to act fast. The next morning I immediately set my plan into action.

"Hey, do you think you'd like to get dinner out tonight?" I asked over breakfast of pan dulce (sweet bread).

"I dunno," she replied. "I'm still feeling a bit down."

"I know, I thought this could help you relax a little," I said. "We can always come home if you can't handle it."

"Okay," she said. "What did you have in mind?"

"You know that bar I always go to?" I said. "Their food is really good. They have the best cilantro lime shrimp."

"Dang that sounds expensive," she said. "What's the place called."

"It's uh..." I started. "Well I just thought since I always go there, and it's a pretty comfortable place, well I thought I'd take you to club 21."

She put down her food and squinted at me.

"The lesbian club?"

"Yeah..." I said. "It's uh, more of a restaurant. They have great wine too, and the whole place has a very chill vibe. LGBT people are really friendly."

"I uh, sure," she said. "You don't think it's bit weird though? I don't think there's usually any straight people in a lesbian bar."

"Oh there's lots of them, people bring their friends all the time. If somebody hits on you, just turn them down and they'll go away. It's not like men, they won't get angry, lesbians take rejection gracefully."

"I mean, if you think it's a good idea..." she said. "I just feel like it'll be awkward."

"Hey, we always go where you wanna go. I wanna show you where I hang out and maybe introduce you to some nice people, only if you want of course. Do you think you could try it? I think the vibe would help you recover."

"Sure," she said. "I trust you."