——————– ——————
Back at the dorm . . .
——————– ——————
Alice was finally regaining some of her composure when Heather came back. Laurie ordered the poor girl to go take a shower to help clear her head. Alice reluctantly obeyed. Once she was gone, Heather turned to Laurie.
“So, did she tell you who this bitch was?”
“No, because she really doesn’t want YOU to do anything rash. I think she’ll get over it now that she’s acknowledged what happened.” Laurie grabbed Heather’s hands. “Please don’t do anything violent. I’d hate to have to visit you in prison. Though you would look cute in stripes. Have you ever . . . ”
“I’m not going to stand by and let her do that to my friend.”
“Alice is a big girl. It happens to girls her age every day all over the world. She got played. It was contem . . . contem . . . it was really mean, but it wasn’t illegal. We can’t guard her against every evil the world spits her way.”
“Maybe not, but if I can find this one chick, I can certainly show her the error of her ways.” She sat down on the bed and gave Laurie a quick kiss. “By the way, the word I think you work looking for was ‘contemptible.’ Besides,” Heather said sighing, “how could I have been so blind, or so selfish for that matter? She was obviously messed up, and all I could think about was . . .”
” . . . was us,” finished Laurie. The two of them sat on Heather’s bed, shoulder to shoulder. Laurie lay her head on her girlfriend’s shoulder and took her hand. Heather could almost hear the cogs turning in her head. The way Laurie’s forehead scrunched up when she was deep in thought was so cute!
“Alice has left Wonderland, hasn’t she?” Laurie asked at last. “Out of the rabbit hole and off with her head.”
“I think the ‘off with her head’ was while she was still in Wonderland.”
“Oh yeah. Sorry, I need to work on my anagrams.”
“Analogies, sweetheart. Those are called analogies.” Heather kissed her on the tip of the nose. “You’re so cute when you get philosophical. Did you know that?”
“Hmm.” Laurie just snuggled up against Heather. Just then, Alice emerged from the shower. She was wearing her pajamas and her hair was still plastered against her head.
“So, did I make a big enough idiot of myself?” she sniffed.
Heather smiled. “No. You could never be a big enough idiot for us.” Alice chuckled a bit. Her eyes were red from crying, but Heather felt the worst of it was probably over. She and Laurie stood up and knelt on either side of the distressed girl, giving her a hug. Then Laurie pulled up a chair.
“Give me your foot.”
“What? Why?”
“Just gimme.” Alice raised her foot, and Laurie took in her talented hands and started to give her a foot rub. Heather knew from experience how good those felt. She placed a couple of pillows behind Alice’s back as their friend settled back, enjoying Laurie’s talented hands.
“I think what my eloquent girlfriend is getting at is that you need to try and relax.”
“Yeah,” said Laurie. “So we’re just going to kick back, and I’m going to massage all your worries away, and we’re going to sit around doing girly stuff and watch movies.”
Heather looked over. “Did you say ‘girly stuff’? There is no chance in hell . . .”
Laurie looked over, pouted her lips and used her arms to scrunch up her cleavage. “Please?”
Heather sighed. She really needed to develop a defense against Laurie’s pout-attack. “Okay, I’ll go rent the movies. Alice, what did you want to watch? Let me guess . . . horror?” Heather found it strange that the shy girl had such an affinity for horror films. She knew more about them than anyone else Heather had met. Heather was (slightly) concerned that she was rooming with a potential serial killer.
“If you don’t mind . . .”
“Hell, doesn’t bother me,” Heather returned. If she was going to have to endure girlish antics, at least she could take comfort in the fact that Laurie got scared watching those types of movies, and she invariably wanted to cuddle during them.
“I don’t care,” Alice whispered, then seemed to find a little bit of internal fire. “Just find something where a redhead gets disemboweled.”
Heather smiled and gave Alice another hug. “That’s my girl.” She turned to leave.
“Oh, could you pick up some ice cream?”
“Ooh yeah! Chocolate!”
Heather stopped in the doorway. She sighed, rolled her eyes, and closed the door behind her.
————— ———————-
Later in the week . . .
————— ———————-
Over the course of the week, Alice was pretty much able to recover. She might have become a little more guarded than she had before, but her friends were sure it would pass. She wasn’t the first girl to be the recipient of a one-night stand (even though it hadn’t even lasted the night). Heather did get a phone call from Jenny, the hostess from O’Malley’s. She had talked to the bartender Mike, and apparently there was a bit of a story to that woman. Heather found out that the girl’s name was Jamie Franklin, and she was a snake of the worst kind. Mike had noticed her casing Alice out before, but she was afraid to make a move. Apparently, Heather’s reputation as a woman not to be trifled with had preceded her. So Jamie had simply waited until the dark-haired girl wasn’t around to make her move. The girl hit a different mark each week with almost uncanny accuracy. Mike knew she lived nearby, but didn’t have an exact address and suspected she was unlisted. But he knew that she rarely hit the same haunt two weeks in a row, so she was likely to disappear for a while. Heather thanked Jenny for the information and hung up. ‘It may take a while, you fucking whore, but I will find you,’ she thought. ‘And I’ll show you just what kind of bitch I can be.’
During the week, Alice was forced by Heather to call Michelle to alleviate the woman’s concerns. When the muscular woman heard about everything that happened, she calmly asked to speak to Heather again. Alice didn’t know what those two women spoke about, but she later reminded her dark-haired friend that she didn’t want Heather doing anything rash, particularly if it was something Michelle had suggested. Alice had finally realized that she was indeed a big girl, and that she was just going to have to move on with her life.
Friday night rolled around and, much to Laurie’s pleasure, Heather decided to blow off her women’s lit group so the three of them could reclaim O’Malley’s. They wanted to let Alice know that she was safe there. Both Jenny and Mike had promised to keep an eye out for Jamie. Both of them were working that evening, and both were recipients of some outrageous tips by Laurie. Being the daughter of a senator did have some benefits.
Laurie and Heather were definitely over their issues, but Laurie sensed that Heather was a little off her game. She kept glancing around nervously, and Laurie thought she might be on the lookout for Jamie.
“Calm down. Mike said she wouldn’t be here two weeks in a row.” She kissed her on the cheek. “So just sit back and relax.”
Heather glanced away. “No, it’s not that. It’s just . . .” She was cut off as Mike announced the beginning of the Friday night karaoke contest. The three girls turned and faced the stage. Laurie and Alice marveled at how horrible the first series of people were. Each week, ten people got to compete for a one hundred-dollar prize, but the jeering public was lucky to find one of them that could actually carry a tune. And people could only participate in the contest once every six months, to prevent the singers that were actually good from beating away the “competition” each week. The first nine singers went up and gave it there all. Unfortunately, they all sucked.
Laurie looked over at Heather, who didn’t seem as enthusiastic in her insults as she usually was. “C’mon sweetie. What’s wrong?”
The speakers squeaked and Mike’s voice blared through the air. “Next up . . . Holy shit! Heather Englund!”
Alice looked shell-shocked, but it was nothing compared to the dumfounded look on Laurie’s face.
Heather looked sheepish. “I guess I should have told you,” she said nervously.
Laurie looked into her eyes. Her girlfriend was actually scared. This was one of the toughest girls she had ever met. This was a girl who, despite her and Alice’s protestations, had every intention of kicking Jamie’s ass the next time she saw her. Heather hadn’t even tried to sing for anyone but her and their small group of friends since her high school talent show, which had ended very badly. Laurie realized something. This wasn’t an idle decision for the dark-haired beauty. Heather was doing this for Laurie. She was keeping her promise.
“C’mon Heather,” joked the voice on the intercom. “Your audience is waiting.”
Heather stood up. She was actually shaking a bit. But as she headed up towards the stage, Laurie grabbed her arm, spun her around and gave her a very warm, wet kiss. The crowd went nuts. Hey, they were mostly college students, and what college student didn’t like seeing two hot young women making out in public?
“Go get ’em,” was all Laurie could think to say. “Then we can go celebrate.”
Heather smiled. She liked that idea. She made her way over to the little stage and grabbed the microphone. The music started playing, and Laurie had to agree with the choice. It was Pat Benetar’s ‘Hit Me With Your Best Shot.’ It was a song that required a little bit of attitude to sing, and attitude was something Heather had in spades. The raven-haired siren stumbled on the first line as her voice cracked a bit. But Laurie just smiled, and Heather noticed. Before anyone could even get around to the catcalls, Heather found her voice again and let loose like no one could believe. Jenny had stopped by the girl’s table to say hi, and she actually had to sit down. She was another music major and, like everyone else, was completely unprepared for Heather’s voice. By the end of the song, Heather was moving around, stomping her feet and obviously was completely consumed by her own performance. The crowd cheered so loudly that they actually scared some passersby. Once Heather realized the song was over, she buried her face in her hands, glancing over the tips of her fingers at the wildly cheering crowd. Laurie was willing to bet bottom-dollar that her lover didn’t know whether to laugh, smile or cry. It was a baby step for her, but at least it was a step forward.