The Mechanic Pt. 04

Even though their relationship was far from conventional and they couldn't exactly be out together - yet? - Sam couldn't be happier. She was completely crazy about her girlfriend and couldn't believe her luck that she was the one for someone whom the whole world mooned over.

She wondered who was at that party that had set their mind on her other half now. [Anyone I know?], she typed.

[Oh, you probably do. He was in a few movies with me a few years ago. I better not kiss and tell though.]

[You better not be kissing him. You behave yourself!]

Sam knew she wouldn't do anything, but it was still a difficult thought that her smoking hot girlfriend was surrounded by stupendously hot Hollywood actors who would kill to be with her.

[He's got nothing on you, champ!], came the reassuring reply straightaway.

Sam was still smiling at her phone when someone nudged her. She looked up to see a blond girl looking at her expectantly.

"Sorry, what was that?" Sam asked. The girl must have asked her something but she'd not caught it.

"I asked if you could pass that bottle of wine," the blonde repeated.

Sam had been getting herself a drink when her phone had demanded her attention and she was still standing in the kitchen, blocking the drinks table.

"Sorry, sure," she replied, passing the bottle. "Orange is the New Black, right?" She added, pointing at the girl's outfit.

The girl nodded. "Piper... But call me Riley."

"Nice to meet you, Riley. I'm Sam."

"Who are you meant to be then?" Riley looked at the retro camera hanging around Sam's neck and the Santa hat on her head.

"Therese, from the movie 'Carol'. Or from the book 'The Price of Salt', if you're a purist."

Riley nodded understandingly. "So where's your Carol then?"

Sam smiled to an inside joke. "She couldn't make it tonight..."

"Was that her you were so busy texting? Doing the famous 'phone girlfriend' thing, are you?" Riley smiled conspiratorially.

Sam chuckled. If only Riley knew how close she was to the truth. Her girlfriend was famous alright.

"Something like that," she replied with a knowing smile.

Riley gave her a curious look and asked: "How did you two meet then?"

"We met in the supermarket and ended up chatting. One thing led to another and we've been together ever since." That was a very brief summary, but it was nothing but the truth.

"No way!" Riley looked at her disbelievingly. For the first time Sam noticed that she was a bit drunk, by the way her reaction was just a little too over the top. It wasn't such an unlikely scenario, to meet someone in the supermarket, once she left out the part that that someone was a famous Hollywood star.

"So where is she tonight?" Riley asked.

"She had another party she couldn't get out of."

"Must be nice to know you can trust your girlfriend not to have too much fun without you," Riley mumbled.

Sam was confused. Where did that come from? Riley was staring into space distractedly, so Sam decided to ignore her comment.

"Anyway, I really wanted to be here regardless. Jordan has been my best friend since school. Are you a friend of Megan's?" She tried to continue their conversation.

"Yeah, kind of... My... The girl I came here with is Megan's best friend."

"Oh, you're with Rowan?" Sam suddenly recalled seeing the dark-haired woman in a similar orange outfit with a pair of spectacles she didn't usually wear. Alex, it now suddenly clicked into place.

"Yeah, you know her?" Riley looked her intently.

"We've met...," Sam replied vaguely.

The night she had met Rowan had started off very normal but had ended in a completely unexpected way. Sam had been out with her colleagues, as she often did on a Friday. She'd been drinking beer at a fairly rapid pace and had been rather desperate for the loo. In her cubicle, she'd realised there was no toilet paper, and, without asking, she'd been offered some from the next cubicle; handed to her by a tattooed hand from under the divider.

When Sam had come out, her saviour had still been there, washing her hands. They'd looked at each other appreciatively and must have had similar thoughts, because in no time they were making out against the wall in the bathroom. Sam couldn't remember what had been said to trigger that, but it must have been alcohol-induced too because she didn't usually do things like that.

Sam had ended up at Rowan's place and they'd had a short but very intense time in her bed. As it turned out, they were both more into giving than receiving. The sex had felt more like a wrestling match, while both of them got hornier with every move. They'd eventually both gotten off from the sheer feeling of grinding into each other and pinning each other down.

Some of these thoughts must have shown on Sam's face because Riley surprised her by asking: "Did you sleep with her?"

Sam hesitated. It was a long time ago - surely before these two were together - but Riley seemed upset suddenly, taking a large gulp of her wine before urging: "Did you?"

"Yes...," Sam admitted, causing Riley to drain the rest of her glass in one swig.

"That was a long time ago, though. And it didn't mean anything; it was just a wild night. We'd been drinking, you know..." Sam wasn't sure why she felt the need to explain.

Riley refilled her glass. "That's what she said too." She pointed to another girl who was chatting just outside the kitchen. "And her, and her..." She pointed at a couple of other girls.

She took another sip of wine and asked: "Has Rowan slept with Jordan too?"

"What!? No!" Why on earth would she think that?

"Well, it sure looked like they wanted to a moment ago," Riley murmured.

"Jordan has just moved here. And she's with Megan. She would never do that." Sam said, even though she had no idea why she was put in the position to have to justify her friend's decency.

"And Rowan wouldn't either, I'm sure," she added, not remotely sure at all. She didn't even know Rowan. "She's with you now, isn't she?"

"You'd think that, wouldn't you...?" Riley slurred, now seeming even more drunk. She was refilling her glass again. When had she emptied that?

Sam's phone buzzed again. She realised she hadn't replied to her last message.

"Hey, don't let me keep you from your girlfriend," Riley said. "I better go find mine... Well, whatever she is..."

Before Sam could stop her, she wandered off, leaving Sam utterly confused about what just happened.

"Lesbian drama...," Sam muttered to herself as she turned back to her phone.

* * * * *

"Here you are. I've been looking all over for you!" Rowan looked up to see Riley walking towards her.

"I've been right here all along," Rowan grinned. "Where have you been looking?"

"The bathroom, the bedroom, the broom cupboard...," Riley said, looking slightly puzzled now that she had found Rowan in such a completely normal place as the living room.

Rowan burst out laughing. "Why would I be there?"

"It doesn't matter... I need to ask you something."

Rowan had a feeling she knew what this was about. Jordan had let something slip earlier about Rowan getting lucky. Maybe Riley had said something to her or to Megan. Was Riley going to ask her to have sex?

"How many women have you slept with?" Riley burst out. Her eyes were slightly out of focus and her speech a bit slurred, but the expression on her face was dead serious.

Rowan's mood dropped. Where did this come from? This did not feel like the kind of question that would lead to sex. If she had been thinking about it earlier, Riley certainly did not seem in the mood for sex now. Besides, how had she gotten this drunk this quickly? She'd been fine when Rowan had left her a little while ago.

"I'm quite tired. How about you? And I've had enough to drink. Let's go home, okay?" She tried gently, meaning of course that Riley had had enough to drink.

"Don't avoid the question. Tell me!" Riley was raising her voice now.

This was not a topic Rowan was particularly keen to go into, especially not in a drunken state at the end of a night. She wasn't sure what to do to calm Riley down. Something told her she wouldn't welcome a hug or a kiss right now.

"Do you really want to get into this right now? Let's go home. We can talk about it in the morning."

"Come on, give me a ballpark figure. A hundred? Five hundred? A thousand!?"

Rowan sighed. Even if she wanted to tell Riley - which she certainly didn't - she couldn't; it wasn't as if she'd kept count. She'd been having a good time with a lot of different ladies for a long time. Surely that wasn't something Riley wanted to hear more about?

"I saw you flirting with Jordan. Are you going to sleep with your best friend's girlfriend too?"

"What!? What are you talking about?"

Rowan was shocked. Had she been flirting with Jordan? It was possible; flirting was like breathing to her: it came so natural and was kind of something she couldn't not do. But she would certainly not sleep with Megan's girl. Even in Rowan's book, that was not done.

"You, telling her she is hot; that she made you want to go to the gym..."

Rowan looked at her in disbelief. Had she said that? No girl could ever make her go to the gym, no matter how hot she was.

"Excuse me...," Riley said suddenly. She turned round abruptly and rushed towards the bathroom.

Rowan was still trying to recall her conversation with Jordan. She remembered talking about Riley; about how 'happily ever after' may be on the cards for Rowan now too. Very unfortunate that the girl apparently hadn't heard that part.

While chatting with Jordan Rowan had actually realised for the first time that things were different now; that she couldn't just hook up with any girl she fancied anymore, now that Riley was in the picture. It had been easy to forget that while going about her everyday life; it wasn't like she had a solid stream of hot women walking into her shop. When one did walk into her shop, well, that was a different story. But a night like tonight - being around this many lesbians - would previously have gone very differently for Rowan.

The loss of this freedom had suddenly hit her when Jordan had sternly suggested she'd have to check with Riley as well as with Megan, when Rowan had joked about hooking up with Jordan. Riley would certainly have been as disapproving of this idea as Megan would have been. Did that mean that Riley was to her what Megan was to Jordan?

When Riley returned from the bathroom she looked pale and there was a sheen of sweat on her forehead and nose.

"Are you alright?" Rowan asked. The booze had caught up with her, it seemed.

"I think I need to go home...," Riley replied in a small voice.

"That's a good idea. I'll take you." Rowan felt bad for Riley but she was glad the girl had at least reached the right conclusion.

"No! You're a womaniser and you're not coming anywhere near my house." Riley's earlier anger came back in full force. "I'll call Sarah or Jenny and ask them to pick me up." She started patting her pockets for her phone.

"It's one in the morning. Come on. Your friends are probably sleeping. Wait here for a second, okay? I'll just tell Megan we're leaving."

Before Riley could protest any more, Rowan rushed off to find Megan. Fortunately, she found her quickly in the small flat, as many of the other guests had already left.

"Meg, hey. We're going to take off. I need to get Riley home. She's a bit upset." That was the understatement of the century.

"What happened?" Megan switched immediately to concerned friend mode, even though Rowan could hear she'd also had a few drinks and she was enjoying life; Megan had always been a happy drunk.

"No idea. She was asking these weird questions all of a sudden, like how many women I've been with. No idea what's gotten into her head!"

"Oh... Shit..."

"What? What it is, Meg?"

Megan's face had dropped and her earlier giddiness had disappeared completely.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Rowan. I said something. I think I may have caused this." She looked devastated.

"Why? What did you say?" Rowan tried to stay calm. How bad was it? How much damage control would she have to do?

"I can't remember exactly how it happened, but I was telling her that she'd shown you she was different from all the other girls you'd been with... I mean, she is different, right?"

When Rowan didn't respond, she added: "She seemed happy about that at first, but then she asked me how many others there had been. She seemed pretty upset after that. I was going to find you and tell you, but I never got around to it. It completely slipped my mind. I'm so, so sorry, Rowan!"

Rowan was trying to assess the severity of the situation. "What did you tell her? About the other girls?"

"I didn't tell her anything! I said she should talk to you."

"Well, she did that...," Rowan mumbled. Then, realising this wasn't her friend's fault she said: "Thank you for not saying anything. You were right in telling her to come to me."

"I should never have mentioned anything! I don't want this to come between you two."

Leave it to Megan to worry about the beautiful fairy tale romance shattering because of a bit of history better left buried.

"Hey, don't worry about it. We would have had to address it at some point. I can't take away the women I've slept with - and I wouldn't want to. I don't expect you to cover for me. If Riley can't cope with my past..." She trailed off and saw the panic in Megan's face rising.

"Anyway," she continued quickly, "the main thing is that I get her home now. She's quite drunk."

"Make sure she's okay." Megan's voice was still laden with guilt.

"It's not my first time taking a drunk girl home." Rowan winked at Megan, trying to lighten the mood.

"I know. Just don't do what we did then..."

Rowan grinned, glad to see her friend smile. "You know me better than that."

Megan gave her a sceptical look, which made Rowan laugh.

"You weren't that drunk and you were literally begging for it. And I was kind of drunk too; what was I supposed to do? You know I can't resist you." She gave Megan one her most over-the-top sleazy grins.

Megan laughed. "Alright, alright, enough of that! Go on, get out of here!"

"Don't worry. I'll be a perfect gentleman. Thanks for the party. Please thank Jordan from us too."

When Rowan returned, Riley wasn't where she left her. Why did 'wait here' never work with drunk people? She should have known better.

After a brief search, Rowan found her outside, sitting next to a bush at the front of the house.

"I'm really not well...," Riley admitted, looking even greener than before.

Rowan couldn't suppress a chuckle. "I can see that. Now can I take you home?"

"Okay, but only because my phone has died and I can't remember how we walked to get here. I'm still upset with you, though."

"Of course, duly noted. Let's go."

Rowan helped her up and led her towards the sidewalk. A walk would do her good at least; sober her up a little.

Reaching Riley's house was a bit of a struggle because Riley kept wanting to sit down and go to sleep. In addition, she couldn't quite remember how to get to her place and Rowan had never been there.

Rowan had considered bringing her to her own apartment instead, but she knew that she herself preferred to be at home when she wasn't feeling well. She imagined Riley would feel better waking up in her own bed.

When they at last made it through the door, Riley staggered off in the dark. Rowan followed her, trying not to trip over anything or bump into things.

Reaching the top of the stairs, it appeared Riley had made her way to her bedroom and Rowan heard her collapsing on the bed. She found a light switch next to the bed.

"Let's get you out of these clothes," she said, reaching out.

"No! Go find another girl to take advantage of, player!"

Rowan chuckled. "Come on, you'll be much more comfortable."

As she struggled with Riley's top, pinning her belligerently waving arms down, she reflected on what Riley had said. Rowan knew that she was only saying it because she was drunk, but drunk people told the truth, didn't they? What if she really was just a player? What if that was who she was meant to be? Why was she here playing at relationships?

She eventually managed to get Riley's top and trousers off but left her underwear. She didn't want Riley to wake up naked and wonder what had happened.

She couldn't help but admire the girl's body: her breasts, looking full in her lacy bra; her flat belly; her long, elegant legs.

It had been so long since Rowan had seen her without her clothes on. She had been thinking about it a lot; she had pictured undressing her again. This was obviously not the situation she'd imagined. However, seeing Riley half-naked now - even though she was drunk, even though she was currently snoring quietly - made Rowan's body stir. If only the blonde wasn't so drunk...

Those were the thoughts of a player, weren't they? Those were not the thoughts of a loving girlfriend. Was that what she was supposed to be, a loving girlfriend?

Rowan was surprised when her usual discomfort at the word remained absent. She gave Riley another appreciate gaze. She knew she should not be looking at her this way when she was in this state. Girlfriend or not, Rowan would never take advantage of a drunk girl.

However, listening to Riley's relaxed breathing, she felt something else; something she couldn't immediately place. A wave of affection washed over her, as if she was looking at a puppy or a kitten. She felt strangely protective over the sleeping girl; she felt responsible for her being safe and well.

She suddenly realised she wanted to stay. She had to make sure Riley was okay. It would be a super early start to get to work, but there had to be a bus she could catch from her. It didn't really matter; she would make it work.

After making sure Riley was comfortable and leaving a glass of water, some painkillers and a just-in-case bowl by her bed, Rowan made her way into the living room. The room was tidy and dominated by a large bookcase, a piano, and a large comfy sofa. A small coffee table and a TV stand with a modest flat-screen completed the room.

Curiously, Rowan scanned the book shelves. There were a fair number of books related to security, cryptography, infrastructure, and other IT related matters; her work resources. The other shelves were filled with fiction: mostly fantasy, by the looks of it.

Rowan picked up a copy of 'The Fellowship of the Ring' that looked really old. Perhaps this was a collectors' item because Riley had the same book as part of a set sitting on the shelf below.

So the girl liked reading? They hadn't discussed this before and Rowan was pleased to discover this. She had a sudden vision of relaxing on that sofa with Riley, both engrossed in books.

Where did that come from? Since when did she waste valuable time with hot girls reading books?

Surprised by her own thoughts yet again, Rowan moved on. She perhaps shouldn't be snooping but someone's house said so much about a person. It was like she was getting to know Riley more with each object she picked up.

She browsed a small collection of DVDs in the TV stand: mostly chick flicks; she'd have no choice but to tease Riley about that later. 'The Horse Whisperer'; really? Rowan would have to introduce Riley to some classics and broaden her horizon.

So, now she wasn't only reading books with Riley but watching movies too? This was starting to get dangerously close to girlfriend territory. At least, as far as Rowan could judge; she'd never actually had a real girlfriend.

She felt strangely at ease in Riley's home, considering she'd never been there before. She realised she could easily picture herself spending more time here; spending more time with Riley.