Page 10 of Caged
“I shouldn’t go falling in love with the first woman I kiss, right?” I clapped my hand over my mouth, hoping that Sarah wouldn’t pick up on my use of the L word.
“Marlena said you practically ran out of Club Surrender,” she asked instead. “Did something else happen? Are you okay?”
“Skye said something about keeping me forever and used the word ‘mine’. I don’t know, maybe she was just messing with me, but it freaked me out. I panicked.”
“I don’t think she was messing with you,” Sarah said. “The Ice Queen is very literal, she’s not one for flowery language or nuance, at least as far as I’ve seen.”
Sarah spent way more time hanging around Club Surrender than I did now that she had a girlfriend there. She’d even purchased a monthly membership.
We’d run into Marlena the very first time we went to the club on Newbies Night. The curvy dominatrix was Sarah’s brother’s ex-girlfriend, but that didn’t stop them from falling in love. They’d been together ever since.
When I didn’t respond, Sarah added, “Skye was asking Marlena about you after you left. She even asked for your address. She said she wanted to come over and check on you.”
I sat straight up, looking around the darkened room as if Skye were waiting to jump out from the shadows.
“Marlena told her she couldn’t divulge your personal information without your permission, but that we’d check on you and let you know that Skye wanted to see you again.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. Or maybe it was disappointment. “Oh. Okay. Thanks for passing on the message.”
“Are you going to see her again?” Sarah asked curiously.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, you’re bound to run into her at the club, right?”
“If I go back again.”
As if I could stay away...
Skye
When an entire week went by without seeing or hearing anything about Janie, I decided that it was time to track her down. I wasn’t going to be a stalker or anything, I just wanted to talk to her again. I needed to make sure that she was okay.
After work one night I decided to go to the bar that I’d seen her working at when I’d gone out with a coworker for drinks. It was a Wednesday, the same day I’d been there before, and I was hoping that she had a set schedule there. I got stuck in the lab at work a bit longer than I wanted though, and when I got to the bar, I didn’t see her anywhere.
“Is Janie working tonight?” I asked another waitress.
“Yeah, but she’s on break right now. What do you want with her?” The woman gave me a hard look, like maybe she thought I was there to serve a subpoena.
“I’m a...friend.”
“Oh, well in that case then, I think she’s probably out in the back courtyard. It’s through that door.” She pointed to a short hallway.
“Thanks.”
It was a warm, dry night, unusual for this time of year in Seattle, and I could see why Janie wanted to take her break outside. I walked out the back door of the bar, which opened into a courtyard where I knew they had bands perform on weekends in the summer. Janie was sitting at a picnic table at the far end, eating a sandwich and reading something on a tablet in the fading light.
“Hi Janie.”
She startled at my voice.
“Oh my God, I was so engrossed in my book I didn’t even hear you coming,” she said ruefully. “What are you doing here, Skye?”
“Looking for you.” I gestured at the table. “Is it okay if I join you for a few minutes?”
“Okay.”
She looked at me expectantly as I mentally pulled up the prepared words I’d memorized.
