The Dress

"Ah hell," Talia said, "I must be crazy." Then she got down on one knee, and CJ's heart leapt into her throat.

All around them, the crowd erupted in noise. CJ hadn't realized it was so many, seemingly twice what it had been the last time she'd taken notice.

"Ceej," Talia said, as she reached out and took CJ's hand, "I don't have a ring."

"I think I'm gonna faint," CJ said, as her world started spinning.

"I'll catch you," Talia said, smiling softly. Both of them knew it was only symbolic, because Talia had never in her entire life caught anything that had ever been thrown at her, but it helped. "CJ, I don't know what this is gonna be like, but I would take a bullet for you. I don't know how to... I mean, you mean so much to me. I'm here because I couldn't lose you. You get that, right?"

CJ nodded enthusiastically.

"Even just as a friend, I couldn't lose you. It wasn't a question. Throw in all this, and..." She shook her head slowly, and then looked back up. "Whatever this is gonna be, I'm in. I was in when I woke up. I just didn't know it until the zipper was going up and I couldn't stop yelling at you even though you weren't even in the damn room.."

CJ dropped to her knees too, very emphatically, and kissed her best friend. It was a lot of smushed lips, and hands cupping cheeks, and hot breath, and Talia was laughing and it didn't really matter why. "I need you," CJ said softly. "I'm sorry, I know that's a lot to put on someone, but I do."

"I hope that's not all you're gonna put on me," Talia whispered back, with a smirk. Then, her eyes widened briefly, and she said, "Is that okay? Is that too far?"

CJ nodded, and said, "Just... be patient with me, okay? I might not always know how to respond, and I probably won't—"

Talia silenced her with another kiss, even softer and more tender than the first, and there was a smattering of cheers and clapping from the crowd around them.

"They don't even know what they're cheering for," CJ said, as their foreheads came together.

"No, but there's no chance of this not getting back to Kevon now," Talia said, as she looked around at all the phones out, recording them. "I can't deal with that in this moment."

"Okay," CJ said, standing up and raising her voice. "Thank you. Thank you, everyone."

They seemed to take this for the dismissal that it was, and pretty quickly there were only a few stragglers at the fringes still holding out phones and talking amongst themselves. She took Talia's hand and pulled her back up to her feet, and when the smaller woman hooked her arm out beside her, CJ slipped her own arm through and beamed. And cried.

"You gotta go slow," Talia said. "I can barely breathe in this corset."

***

CJ's car was not close, parked on the far side of the park so that she could get a good walk in on her way to the tree where she'd poured her Dad's ashes, but she could go slow. Honestly, CJ was perfectly fine with slow because her stomach was knotted up from top to bottom. She took her time helping Talia get settled into her car, and carefully pushing all the excess fabric into the footwell on the passenger side. When she came around, she couldn't help but laugh at how Talia was nearly drowning in it.

They attracted more attention along the way, a fair amount of cheering and nodding, and a few people who pulled out their phones and snapped a picture of them. Most of them weren't very subtle about it. Talia kept her chin up, but it was clearly getting to her.

CJ threw her car in drive and knew exactly where she was heading.

***

"Really?" Talia said, giving her a sidelong smirk as they pulled into the parking lot of the Hyatt on the edge of town.

"Mom and I used to come here," CJ said, focusing as she navigated. "Especially right after, whenever we needed to get out of the house. Mom would find me crying, and say Pack a bag! and we'd come here. I pulled that once too, when she was looking at some old photos, and it worked."

"I miss your dad."

CJ nodded. "I still talk to him a lot, so... it doesn't hurt like it used to, but yeah. We'd come here. The rooms are nice."

They pulled in, and CJ made it out and around the car in time to give Talia a hand crawling out. The dress was gorgeous, with deep red accents around a floral pattern embroidered around the bust, but it was not designed to fit into an Accord. Talia immediately hooked her arm out again, and CJ was thrilled. The novelty of walking arm in arm had not worn thin for her, even in the slightest, and she quite liked the visual contrast they presented. Her much taller, much thinner frame alongside her shorter, rounder girlfriend.

Just saying it in her head made her blush furiously.

The receptionist was focused on her screen when they came in. She smiled and held up a finger, but didn't really notice them until a minute later when she finished whatever she had been typing.

"Hello and welcome to the..." She blinked, and looked back and forth between them. "No fucking way."

CJ whirled around, looking behind them, and Talia gave a half turn too, but the woman behind the counter quickly added, "No no! You two! Oh my god! One of my cousin's friends streamed you in the park. It has like ten thousand likes."

"You saw that?" CJ said, at the same time Talia said, "Ten thousand?!"

"I can't believe you're here! This is amazing! Is this..." She looked back and forth at their stricken expressions. "Oh. Okay. You're here. At a hotel."

"We'd like a room," CJ said, "and some privacy? We had... kind of a public day, and..."

Beside her, Talia was nodding slowly, distractedly.

"You know what," the woman said, as she moved to her computer. "I think we can do that."

"I used to come here a long time ago," CJ said, leaning forward over the counter just a little. "The rooms on the third floor, do they all still have hot tubs?"

"Don't... you... worry," the receptionist said, smiling more with her eyes and her lips before her whole face lit up in triumph. "We have two suites that are the largest. We don't call them that, but I think of them in my head as bridal suites, and one of them is open tonight."

"Okay," CJ said, frowning as she reached for her purse. "How much is it?"

"Don't worry about that," the woman said, as she bent under the counter, pulled out a key, and punched it into the little programming box. "I'll take care of this. I can't believe I just saw you two, and, oh my god, girls, the comments! You should see the support."

"Maybe tomorrow," CJ said, smiling weakly.

The woman slapped the card on the counter, but kept her hand on top of it. "Nobody is going to bother you tonight. If you want room service, call me. I'll go down to the kitchen and get it taken care of, otherwise they'll try to charge it to the room. I'll be here until late tonight. When you go to leave, there's a staircase on the back side of the building, you can just go down there and take that exit at the bottom of the stairs. Did you get all that?"

"Why are you doing this?" CJ asked. "I mean, thank you, but, like, won't you get in trouble?"

The receptionist removed her hand from the key, pulled out her phone, and activated it. When she turned it around to show them, the lock screen was a selfie she'd taken, arm extended, while she kissed another woman's cheek. The other woman was laughing and curling into her, smiling broadly.

CJ nodded, and took the key.

"I'm pulling for you," the woman said, smiling, as she put away her phone, "and so are thousands of other people. Elevators are over there. Fifth floor. Room five twelve."

Once they got into the elevator, Talia said, softly, "Ten thousand." She looked upset, but she squeezed CJ's hand very tightly. CJ just squeezed back, and gave her friend a long look that Talia might have missed entirely. It was hard to tell.

When the elevator dinged, they both peeked out, looking left and right, before getting their bearings from the signage and hustling down the hallway. CJ didn't need to be told that getting to the room as fast as possible, at that point, was going to do her friend a world of good. She took hold of her friend's hand and pulled.

CJ opened the door, held it, and then quickly shut it behind Talia once her friend was inside. Talia went more or less straight for the bed, but once CJ caught her breath she turned around and was pleasantly surprised. They were in a central main room, with couches and a TV. There was a sink and a mini fridge, minimal kitchen equipment which made sense given the room service and attached restaurant on the first floor. On the left was a spacious bathroom, and then off to the right, in its own room, was the bed.

She could see, through the open door, that Talia was sitting on the edge of the bed and staring through the floor.

When she followed, Talia said, soberly, "All those people had their phones out. How many was it? Sixty?"

CJ thought the number was well over a hundred, but she didn't say anything.

"I didn't want anyone to find out like that."

"Do you have your phone?"

Talia shook her head. "I left it at the church, with my stuff." She took a couple slow breaths, and added, "I'll... talk to him tomorrow. He deserves that, face to face."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

Talia again shook her head, and then shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. It's a bad idea, but..." Her shoulders sagged. "...I might need you there anyway."

After that, she seemed to zone out a little, so CJ took a few steps back.

They were in the hotel. They were in a hotel room, together, and yet CJ felt like she was maybe further from understanding the path between points A and B than she had ever been. It was all so alien. She needed a way to simplify some things.

"I'll be right back," she said. Talia just nodded glumly as she left the room and went out into the living area. The phone went straight to the front desk.

"Hyatt Courtyard, front desk, Angela speaking."

"Hi. Um, I... my friend and I just—"

"I know who you are," the woman said, with a hint of a smile in her voice. "What can I help you with?"

"Didn't there used to be a spa downstairs?"

"Yes," the woman said, hesitating slightly. "It's been closed for the most part since the pandemic, but we're in the interviewing process to bring on some new permanent staff. There's no one here right now, though."

"No, that's okay. I was wondering if you had any massage tables?"

"We do," she said, suddenly much more excitedly. "Would you like one brought upstairs?"

"If it's not too much trouble," CJ said. "And, like, some kind of oil?"

"A massage oil? Yeah. I'll have one of the staff bring those up as soon as possible."

"Thank you!"

CJ got herself some water, and went into the bathroom to clean herself up. She hadn't been prepared for any of this. She would have wanted some eyeliner on, and some eyeshadow, and a little bit of blush. There wasn't time for any of that, so she took off her beanie and raked her fingers through her hair, splashed some water on her face, and gave each of her cheeks a little Home Alone-esque slap. For a few minutes after that, she just stood there staring at herself.

The knock on the door came just as she was coming back out. Talia poked her head out of the bedroom just as CJ got to the door, and the woman from the front desk, Angela, came in a second later with a big rectangular thing slung over her shoulder. CJ helped her unfold it, and get the headrest section in place and adjusted.

"I grabbed two," Angela said, conspiratorially, when the two of them were knelt down by the head of the table. "Both are non-toxic, but this one... it's the good one. The other one is..." She widened her eyes briefly. "...tasty. You need to use a little more, though, because it's... you know..." She tapped the little bag she'd brought with a smile, and then hustled out of the room.

When CJ stood, Talia was in the doorway with her arms folded, leaning against the frame. "It's for you," CJ said. "I thought maybe this would... I thought it might..." She cleared her throat. "I wanted to do this for you. To you."

"Mmm-Hmm," Talia said, smirking very slightly.

"I don't know where to start, okay? I don't know how this goes, and I'm embarrassed that you're probably so much more experienced than me, and I'm nervous that I won't be good enough, and I really need to be good enough, I really really need to be good enough. I—"

Talia cleared her throat, and that brought her to silence. "Is this what I think it is?"

She couldn't be sure, but she also couldn't bring herself to be specific, out loud, so she said, "Probably?"

"We don't have to, you know."

"I know, but..." CJ shrugged and winced. "I mean, I want to. With you."

Talia nodded, then twisted a little to expose her back and said, "Can you get me?"

CJ nodded emphatically, and rushed over. The hook at the top of the zipper was a little snug, but easy enough. The zipper itself was harder to get started, but once it got going it was easier, and then the dress was going down.

It was impossible for her to not take in Talia's body as the dress fell away. Talia's skin was a rich, warm brown, and there was so much of it. After Talia stepped out of the dress, CJ helped her out of her corset as well. Talia kept her back to CJ, and smiled over her shoulder as she said, "Should I start on my back, or my front?"

"On your front," CJ said, hesitantly. That wasn't what she wanted to say, but she was building up to it.

It took Talia a minute to get settled. She had a bust that was, CJ guessed, several cup sizes north of D, and a beautiful belly to match. It was round, and kissable, but laying on her front proved to be a bit of an undertaking. It was like watching a reverse pushup, which was kind of fascinating, and Talia's breasts collected underneath her. Spilling out slightly to either side. After a little bit of settling, she laid her head into the headrest, and sighed.

It sounded like a good sigh. CJ couldn't be positive, but nevertheless she persisted. Once she stripped out of her jacket and hoodie, leaving her in just her spaghetti strap top, she spent a few seconds building herself up to be ready. This was really happening.

She started with the traditional oil, pouring a bit into her hand to let it warm against her skin, before letting it drizzle down from her palm along Talia's back. Talia shivered, which felt like a really good sign. Maybe.

From there, CJ worked the oil into the skin in slow swirls, following the spine. Around the shoulder blades, and the base of the neck. The oil warmed as she worked it, and she kept the pressure light. She wasn't aiming to work out any knots or kinks, but to help get Talia relaxed enough to go slow and to give herself time to get worked up.

"You know," CJ said, absently, as she worked down toward the lower back, "it's easier to look back now and think... I'm having kind of a how did I get here moment... I think that I was really turned off by how fast everyone else was moving when we were in school. She was dating him last week now, but now she's dating that guy this week, and he was with two other girls in the past month. It was so... it made my head spin."

Talia turned her head slightly and peeked an eye open. "Yeah, you took, what, fifteen years to get to this point, right?"

"Mmm-hmmm," CJ said, as she moved down to Talia's calves. "I went on two dates with Tre Millingham. At the end of it, he was irritated that we hadn't kissed yet, and that some other boys were already getting to second base. I was just... not cut out for dating. I walked away from that and never looked back... until, you know, yesterday."

"Even then, you only made a move because things were about to change."

"You know, what's really uncomfortable for me is that... if things with Kevon hadn't worked out, I might not have ever realized what I was doing. I was so content being your emotional support, and living vicariously through you. That's not okay." Back of the knee, gently, and then with a little more oomph as she kneaded into the thigh. "I'm not not a sexual person. I have wants, but... it was harder to express that to anyone than it was to just... take care of myself. So... as far as everyone else was concerned, I just... wasn't. It's just... different for me."

She climbed up onto the table, legs straddling Talia's, so that she could bring her force to bear on Talia's upper thigh and glutes. She didn't want to be running around the table, going back and forth to get each side. She wanted to get both hands on there, even though she had no idea what she was doing and no idea if it was really working for Talia at all. She wasn't even sure it was working for her until she went to wipe her brow and realized how hard she was sweating. She hadn't been working hard enough to warrant all that, which meant...

She wasn't positive what it meant, even though it suggested something, so instead she went around, and around, kneading with the blade of her palm but letting her outstretched fingers grab, and hold, and just... feel. Talia's skin was so soft and squishy, and so eminently grab-able.

For a moment, thinking about how much she was enjoying touching her best friend made her dizzy.

Talia was quiet while she worked, which was good. It felt like her friend was relaxing, muscles loosening, which she could only categorize as positive. She wasn't sure she could get Talia out of her own head completely, but getting rid of some of the tension seemed possible. After a long minute, she'd started using her thumbs to work the muscle underneath in slow, arcing waves.

Her hands slowed to a stop, so that what she was about to say wouldn't be mistaken. "I'm sorry that I couldn't see what you meant to me until it was almost too late."

"Ohhh boy," Talia said, exhaling loudly. "That..."

"It's bad, I know."

"No, that's not what I was gonna say." Talia took a few long, slow breaths. "I was... that..."

CJ just laid her hands gently on the backs of Talia's thighs, and waited. Staying in contact felt like the right move, even if she didn't know what was coming.

"I relied on you too. It was easy to ignore how I felt because, you know, I'm straight and you're ace, and that's just a no go right from the get go."

CJ felt a little stab hearing her friend continue to describe herself as straight, and, out of sheer panic, asked, "What does that mean?"

"Maybe that... Maybe it wasn't one sided. That's what I mean." Then she let out a long, aggravated sigh. "I read the letter last night. I barely slept, going through all kinds of shitty responses in my head. I was upset, I was mad. I was sad, I was hurt. It wasn't until I was getting ready, really, that I realized I was making a choice, and I just... I flipped out. Completely lost my shit in the room. Celia and Angie tried to get me calmed down, but I was... I was irrational. I just barged right out of there, to come yell at you, yeah, but... also..."

"Also what?"

"To see if it was true?" After an excruciating long heartbeat, Talia added, "Because I wanted it to be true?"

To distract herself from really taking that in, CJ leaned forward, hands gliding up and over the perfectly round orbs of Talia's ass to her lower back. A quick press told her everything she needed to know. "You're getting all tensed up again."

"Yeah, well, I blew up my life today. Tense is probably best case scenario." She trailed off at the same time CJ started working the tighter muscles in her lower back, and CJ couldn't help but think the two were related. Then, very softly, Talia added, "I'd do it again though."

CJ paused, frozen, and had to take a few breaths to get moving again. "Why don't you flip over," she said, as she slid smoothly off the side of the table.