—————— ———————
About three weeks later . . .
—————— ———————
The three girls were sitting around Alice and Heather’s dorm, studying for their myriad of tests. A phone call came in. It was Jenny, and she wanted to talk to Heather.
“Hey,” came the voice from the other end of the line.
“Hey. What’s up?”
There was a moment of silence. “I wasn’t sure if I should tell you this . . . knowing your temper and all . . .”
“Jenny . . .”
“That girl is here. The one you were asking about.”
Heather’s brain seemed to seize up. All she could think about was anger and pain. Jenny knew the story of what had happened between Alice and Jamie, and she knew what Heather was capable of. She and her boyfriend Mike had become increasingly good friends over the last month, and Jenny herself had taken to hanging out with them in their music classes. And as much as she wanted to see Jamie get what was coming to her, she didn’t want Heather to do anything drastic.
“I’ll be down in a minute,” Heather said in a completely forced jovial voice.
“What’s up?” asked Laurie, who was struggling with a history report.
“I have to run down to O’Malley’s for a minute.” Heather hated this next part, because she didn’t like the idea of lying to her friends, but; “Jenny wanted to borrow my notes, but she’s going to be working late. I told her I’d drop them off and she could just return them tomorrow.” Heather got up, grabbed a notebook and headed out the door.
The other two girls sat there for several minutes. Suddenly, Laurie looked up.
“Why would Jenny want to borrow Heather’s notes? She hasn’t missed any classes, has she?”
Alice looked a little perplexed. “Now that you mention it, no.” She furrowed her eyebrows. “And . . . aren’t those Heather’s music notebooks over on the desk? I think she took her English notebook.”
“Why would Jenny need Heather’s English notes?” Laurie was truly baffled. “Why would she . . .” Laurie’s eyes shot open. So had Alice’s. The two girls’ gazes met.
“Oh shit!” they said in unison.
————— ———————–
At O’Malley’s . . .
————— ———————–
About the time that Alice and Laurie arrived at the restaurant, Jaime came running out the door. Her face was covered in what appeared to be salad dressing, and there were bits of carrot and crouton stuck to her face. She took one look at Alice, blanched, then turned and ran down the street. Her gait seemed rather awkward and she was struggling to keep her pants up. About then, Jenny poked her head out to stare at the rapidly fleeing redhead. The hostess actually looked a little pale. Then she noticed Alice and Laurie, both still looking shocked. Alice glared at the girl. Jenny looked sheepish.
“She made me promise to call her . . .”
Laurie and Alice advanced past Jenny and into the restaurant. There weren’t many patrons at that time. A number of them were looking around nervously, others just had smiles on their faces. Heather was over at the bar, talking to Mike. Mike had his head on the bar, which he was pounding with his fists as he laughed his proverbial ass off. Heather suddenly found herself flanked by her girlfriend and her roommate.
“Um, hi . . . guys,” Heather said. She had the look of a kid who had been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.
“You promised not to do anything rash,” said Alice sternly.
“Actually, you asked me not to. I never promised anything. And you neglected to define ‘rash’ in a manner . . .”
“Oh shut up!” Alice was in no mood for semantic games. “You knew I didn’t want you going after her, and you did. What kind of excuse could you possibly have that . . .”
“Heavy metal music made me do it?” Heather proposed.
“No.”
“Hole in the ozone?”
“No!”
“Violence in movies and on television?”
“NO!”
“Sorry,” Heather finished, “but that leaves me tapped.”
Mike was laughing even harder at that point. Laurie had started to snicker but had to cover her mouth after a withering glance from Alice. Alice turned back to Heather. Then her face broke into an enormous smile, and she gave Heather a big hug.
“Thanks for looking after me,” she said.
“Anytime.”
“So what exactly did you do to her?”
—————— —————–
A few weeks later . . .
—————– ——————
The three girls were sitting around Heather and Laurie’s dorm room getting ready for the party. It was Halloween, and there was a big costume party at Laurie’s sorority house and another one at O’Malley’s. Heather was slated to do some karaoke at the second one.
Laurie had decided to dress at the dorm for the sole reason of making sure her girlfriend didn’t chicken out. Somehow, the blond girl had convinced Heather to go with a “couple’s” costume theme. In other words, Heather reluctantly had agreed to wear something that went with what Laurie was wearing. Laurie was dressed as an angel, so Heather was dressed as a devil. Alice realized that, despite her snide comments about couples that dressed alike, the two did look good. Laurie’s angel costume was really just a long white robe that was cut really low in the front, a gold-wire halo and a plastic harp. Heather was wearing the most skin-tight red-spandex body suit Alice had ever seen. It clung to the girl’s curves tenaciously, and the spiked tail hanging down in the back drew attention to Heather’s ass. Laurie liked that particular feature, as she spent a lot of time staring at that ass. A pair of horns completed the ensemble. Alice could barely contain herself from snickering. For her own costume, Alice was going with a tried and true classic: a sheet with a couple of holes cut in it. She was going as a ghost.
“Are you sure you don’t want something a little flashier?” asked Laurie.
“Nah, I’m good with this,” Alice returned.
“C’mon,” the blonde girl almost whined. “You’ve got some good stuff going on,” she continued, referencing Alice’s gentle curves. “You should show it off a bit. You’re never gonna attract attention in that!” she said, pointing at the ghost costume.
Heather was listening but not participating in the discussion. She realized something that Laurie didn’t. Alice may have mostly gotten over what had happened, but something had changed. When Alice had been with Michelle, she had given herself completely to the muscular woman. For Alice, sex had become associated with love and trust. Over the summer, that was all she knew. That trust had been violated with Jamie, so it was likely the sex-drive had been affected as well. Heather was still convinced her friend was going to be fine, but she wasn’t likely to be looking to hook up with anyone for a while. Not unless that trust could be restored. Laurie picked and snipped and did everything she could to get their friend to open up, but Alice had set her mind.
The evening rolled around and they decided to hit the sorority party first. That was because Heather wanted to get the painful experience out of the way so they could end the night on a good note. While Laurie’s sorority sisters had come to terms with Heather’s presence, the dark-haired girl hadn’t quite come to terms with them. Heather’s social life had been in an upheaval since she had parted ways with some of her more militant friends. While a few still considered her a friend, the only ones she could count on were Laurie, Alice, and increasingly in Jenny and Mike. The two O’Malley’s employees had become closer with their little group in the last month. Jenny and Mike often went on double dates with Laurie and Heather, with Alice “tagging along.”
The first party wasn’t quite as bad as Heather had expected. It was crowded, as college parties often are, and the music wasn’t TOO horrible. Laurie danced almost constantly, and she occasionally used the infamous “pout attack” to get her girlfriend out on the floor, much to the pleasure of the boys in attendance. Alice just sort of hung out in a corner of the room, trying not to be noticed. Heather looked over at her and thought to herself, ‘Unfortunately, it’s working. How are we going to help her out?’ And idea crossed her mind. It was simple and direct. But it would also require Laurie’s consent, and she wasn’t sure how to ask her girlfriend that type of question.
Finally Heather convinced Laurie it was time to leave and go to O’Malley’s. They grabbed Alice and strolled across campus towards their favorite restaurant. Laurie pestered Alice with questions, such as whether or not she was having a good time. The girl insisted she was having fun. When they arrived at the restaurant, the place was packed and hopping but due to some finagling, Mike managed to get the three girls seats at the bar. They were all underage, so they wouldn’t get any alcohol there whether their friend was the bartender or not, but they got free sodas (or in Heather’s case, water) and an endless supply of nachos. Heather sang karaoke to a very appreciative audience, Laurie won a dance contest (also to a very appreciative audience), and Alice just sat back, smiling under her sheet and enjoying the company of her friends.