Episode 6
Episode 7
Episode 8
Episode 9
Episode 10

Episode Seven

Finals

Frances had a huge headache. She was sure that she’d screwed up on all her exams and would lose her scholarship. She’d screwed around the whole semester… well screwed around and hadn’t studied enough and slept through half her classes. She’d tried to cram an entire semester’s study into two nights and she was sure all she’d really managed was to drink so much caffeine in forty-eight hours that she was never going to be able to sleep again. After her last final she went to her room, packed some clothes, and headed for Rhonda’s still so jazzed she was sure she could have run it if she wanted.             Which was just as well because Tammy had left without her.

            A boy named James walked up to her, and she cringed because she barely remembered fucking him in the bathroom at some frat party.

            “Hey, Frances, how’s it going?”

            “I’m sure I flunked all my finals, my head is pounding, and I’ve still got so much caffeine in me that I could probably run all the way to B Street.”

            “What you doing on B Street?” he asked with a sort of disgusted, curious note to his voice that Frances took immediate exception to.

            “Well, James, contrary to what my past behavior might have indicated, I’m a lesbian and I work for a big gay caf� there that my big dyke girlfriend owns,” Frances said.

            “Can I… go with you?” James asked. She gave him a confused look and realized she had been reading him all wrong. He lowered his voice to a mere whisper and said, “Remember I’m the one who couldn’t… well you know.”

            Frances smiled and answered. “Truthfully, no. I was pretty trashed.”

            “I think… well I think I may be, well you know. I knew you were bi, and I actually knew you worked on B Street because I heard someone talking about it, and I want to go and see if that’s where I belong but… well I don’t want to go alone.”

            Frances nodded. “Then come on.”

            They started walking and James said, “I mean I don’t even know if I am or not but there’s something wrong with me.”

            “Being gay doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you, James,” Frances said with heart-felt compassion. “That’s what they all want you to believe.” She flung her arm around indicating the campus. “Society wants to make us believe that we’re sick, but there isn’t anything sick about embracing who you are and loving who you love without letting other people dictate who that will be. You know who I should introduce you to? Ryan. He’s just come out himself in the last year, and…”

            “Wow, I’m not looking to hook up. I don’t even know if I’m gay or not remember?” James said with a laugh.

            “You know, contrary to popular belief we aren’t all about sex. I thought he might make a good friend for you, not a lover. Hell I don’t know what men see in each other.” She made a face.

Tammy wasn’t really getting a winter break from school. The basketball team was still expected to show up every day to practice. After all, the season was about to start. She was sort of relieved because it meant she didn’t have to go home for the break, except of course she’d still have to show up for Christmas. She loved her parents, but was tired of lying to them, and feeling worse about it all the time because Frances was probably right and they probably would be fine with it. The real problem was that Tammy felt guilty about being a lesbian. She felt like she was letting them down, and she just flat didn’t want to tell them.

She was sure she’d barely passed all her exams, but she was in basketball, so that was all she had to do. Still she felt like she’d been chewed up and spit out.

            She sat down at her favorite table and told Jerry she wanted a glass of cranberry juice and a chicken salad. She didn’t even want to smell coffee for at least a week. She thought she’d been drinking too much, but Frances had just kept the coffee maker in their dorm room running for two days, and now even Tammy’s clothes smelled like coffee.

            Frances walked in with some boy and said to her, “Thanks for picking me up Tammy.”

            Was she supposed to pick Frances up? She didn’t remember if she was. Hell, it was only two blocks. The only reason she drove at all was because she didn’t want to have to walk back to the dorm by herself in the dark. After Frances had gone two days without Adrian it was a sure bet that she wouldn’t be going home tonight. Hell, Frances only slept in the dorm about half the time now as it was.

            “See here you go James, you can sit here with Tammy.” Frances set him across from her, and when Tammy realized he was a boy from school she gave Frances a heated look and said quickly, “I’m not gay.”

            “Don’t be ridiculous,” Frances said in a voice that told Tammy that Frances was still loaded on caffeine. “He’s not likely to run and tell everyone on campus your huge un-secret that you’re a big dyke.”

            The boy nodded in agreement.

            “Hey, baby,” Adrian said as she walked out of the kitchen and quickly walked over and embraced Frances. “I missed you.”

            “I missed you, too,” Frances kissed Adrian on the mouth, and then was just all over her.

            Adrian laughed and pushed her to arm’s length. “Damn, girl! Is your bloodstream just pure caffeine?”

            “Mostly,” Frances said, her teeth all but chattering.

            “Jerry!” Adrian called. Jerry ran over. “Can you handle the front a little longer by yourself?”

            Jerry nodded.

            “Jan, I’ll be back in thirty minutes.”

            “Forty,” Frances said with a smile. Tammy watched as Adrian took Frances’ hand and led her out the back door, some jealous, because she wished she had someone to miss her and fuck her rotten oh at least seven times a week.

            Tammy smiled uncomfortably at the stranger across from her. “Hi,” she said as Jerry set her salad and juice in front of her.

            “Hello, I’m Jerry,” he said to James.

            “James,” he said nervously.

            Jerry smiled at Tammy. “So I guess I don’t have to ask where the boss took Frances.”

            “Maybe she can unwind her,” Tammy said with a smile. “Finals. We’re both a little jacked up from coffee and Mountain Dew, oh and Jolt, we must not forget the Jolt. I don’t think Frances has actually slept at all for two days.”

            “That’s what I thought. The girl was damn near glowing.” Jerry handed James a menu. “Just holler when you get ready to order.”

            Tammy started eating as she watched James look at the menu. “It’s all good, but if you’re looking for junk food you’re sort of screwed here. Stella says the entire gay culture seems hell bent on stuffing the worst stuff in their systems: bad hook ups, bad drugs, and bad food. So everything on the menu is pretty healthy. Even the nachos are baked chips with real cheese sprinkled over the top and melted. Burger Heaven just two doors down does all the greasy shit, hamburgers, fries, pizza. It’s pretty good, too, but just walking in the place will make your arteries start closing up.”

            “I actually prefer to eat light,” he said.

            Tammy smiled. “Most of you guys do.”

            “Ah… I’m not gay, I mean I don’t know.”

            “Dude,” Tammy shrugged. “If you don’t tell on me I won’t tell on you.”

“You’re shacking, what the hell have you done to yourself?” Adrian asked. She handed Frances the beer she’d just brought her from the fridge. “You didn’t take anything did you?”

            “No,” Frances said, more than a little put out, but then thinking about it added. “Well I probably would have, but I didn’t have time to look around to score something. I just… I haven’t slept in two days. All I did was drink coffee and cram, and the worst part is that I’m pretty sure I flunked every fucking thing. I’m wired and exhausted at the same time.” She drank some of the beer. “And I know it’s all my own damn fault because I was more interested in partying than I was studying, and I didn’t really give a shit while I was doing it, but now I’m not, and it does matter to me, and I really fucked up.” She was almost in tears, but sniffled and wished them away. She took another long drink of the beer. “I don’t see what good this is going to do.”

            “It will help take the edge off your caffeine buzz.”

            “I’d sort of like to use the buzz another way if you know what I mean.”

            “Drink the beer and we’ll see about that.”

            It was good; it always was. But then Adrian’s head was suddenly between her legs, and she’d never gone down on her before, and Frances realized just what she’d been missing. Adrian’s mouth and tongue were skilled and wonderful. By the time she’d come so hard she’d nearly crushed Adrian’s head and drowned her, Frances felt like she was ready to pass out.

            “God Adrian… is there anything you don’t do better than everyone else?” Frances asked as Adrian moved to wrap herself around her. Adrian kissed the side of her face. Frances started to move, but Adrian stopped her. “But it’s your turn,” Frances said with a pout. Adrian took hold of Frances’ right hand and stuck it between her legs where Adrian was drenched.

            “I don’t really need a turn.” She moved and kissed Frances gently on the mouth. “You need to get some sleep.”

            “I don’t; I’m fine. I could make you scream.”

            “And I’m sure you will but not right now.”

            “I have to go to work,” but even as she said it she could feel her body shutting down.

            “You’re sleeping with the boss. There ought to be some bonus to that.”

            “Being your lover is the bonus.”

            “Shush,” Adrian kissed her again and then settled into the bed beside her. “I’m just going to hold you till you go to sleep, and then I’m going to go back to work. I’ll bring you something to eat when I come home tonight, all right?”

            “All right,” Frances said, almost asleep already.

“God help me I really missed you Franny,” Adrian whispered.

“I love you, Adrian.”

            “I love you, too.”

“Is it all right?” Adrian asked Jan for the second time where they were working side by side in the kitchen—Jan doing the cooking, Adrian doing the prep work.

            “You were gone an hour and forty-five minutes. You made love to that girl for at least an hour and a half. Of course she said she loved you,” Jan said with a laugh.

            “But I said it back, and well… I care about her, but I’m not in love with her.”

            “But you do love her, Adrian, you do. Maybe it’s not what we all dream of, but you do have really strong feelings for her. You do love her and it certainly isn’t the end of the world that you said so,” Jan said with a laugh. “So, we’re starting to fill up and how are you going to do her job and your job, too?”

            “She was just so tired and wiped out. She needed some sleep,” Adrian said. “We need another person around here because if I keep trying to do Stella’s job and my job I’ll go nuts.”

            “And tonight, Frances’ job,” Jan reminded.

            “I really need to hire a couple of more people don’t I?” Adrian said with a sigh.

            “I think so yes,” Jan said. “I mean you need some time to have a life. After all you have a beautiful, sexy girl that you love.”

            “Don’t fuck with me, Jan,” Adrian hissed. She walked over to the phone and punched some buttons. “Ryan?… yeah… you still want a job?”

            In minutes Ryan was there, huffing and puffing, and Adrian put him to work with Jan. “Help with prep work and when you’re caught up here start waiting tables. You’re covering for Frances, but after we close I’ll sit down with you and we’ll work out your schedule”

            Ryan nodded happily and Adrian went back out to open the bar.

“Looks like Frances isn’t coming back?” James said nervously.

            “Probably passed out,” Tammy said. She smiled at him. They’d been talking for awhile and she knew his story. “Don’t worry, gay people don’t bite and I’ll protect you.”

            So James, who turned out to be twenty-one, had looked really nervous and apprehensive and lost till he got a couple of beers in him. Then he started to loosen up, and by ten o’clock he had his shirt off, was dancing to the music the three-piece all girls band was playing, and he swung his shirt above his head and yelled out, “These are my people!”

            Tammy laughed and wondered how long Frances was going to sleep. She felt like she was about to crash herself, and was more than a little sick to her stomach, so much so that she didn’t really feel safe to drive back to the dorm and she sure didn’t feel like walking. She got up and walked over to Adrian at the bar.

            Adrian smiled at her. “Need something?”

            “Actually could I crash on a couch in the rec room? Suddenly I feel like hammered dog shit.”

Adrian nodded, fished her key ring from her pocket, took one of the keys off her key ring and handed it to Tammy. “Sleep in my guest room. It should be easy to find; it’s the room without the hot blond in the bed.”

“Thanks.”

“No problem. Do you need help getting there? You look sort of green.”

“Nope, I’ll be fine.”

            But Tammy felt like her feet weren’t attached to her body as she walked over to Stella’s house. She turned the key in the lock and walked into Adrian’s apartment feeling around for the light. She found it and flipped it on and then she took a double take. One wall of Adrian’s living room was dark blue and the other three were stark white. The walls were covered with framed art. But several of the frames were empty, and it was obvious why. The frames were attached to the wall and the paintings were painted on the wall, but these weren’t murals—not like Adrian’s other work. These were more detailed, some landscapes, some portraits. The ones that immediately grabbed her attention were one of Stella, one of Faye and one of Jan. There were a couple of nudes of women she didn’t know, but that she would almost bet Adrian did. They were brilliant almost like photos they were so perfect.

            “Damn, is there nothing this woman isn’t good at?” Tammy muttered.

            She found the wrong bedroom first because her petite blond friend was sprawled all the way across the king-sized bed. Tammy smiled thinking she looked like she owned the place. She found the guest room, shed her bra and pants, and crawled into bed, glad for the warmth of the covers and feeling suddenly chilled. She felt like she was coming down with something. Damn, she couldn’t afford to get a cold. She was probably just tired.

            I’d love to live here, Tammy thought, and then had a sudden realization, Stella’s room was empty; it must be for rent. She went to sleep reminding herself to ask Adrian in the morning.

“Stella’s renting from me,” Adrian told Tammy as she pushed the glass of juice across the counter at her.

            “But why she isn’t living there?” Tammy said feeling thwarted.

            “Because she had to have someplace to keep all her shit. She can’t travel all the time. She needs some base,” Adrian said with a shrug.

            “Would she sublet it?” Tammy asked.

            “No.” Adrian grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down across the table from Tammy. “You know… I never have company. It’s sort of stupid for me to have a guest room. Why don’t you move in there? I wouldn’t have to have any more money than you’re paying to live in the dorm. and it’s a damn sight nicer here.”

            “What about Frances?” Tammy asked.

            “She’s still asleep. I tried to wake her up to eat last night, but she’s just out.”

            “I meant could I share the room with Frances?” Tammy asked.

            Adrian gave her an indulgent smile. “I sort of thought Frances might share my room with me.”

            Tammy laughed and nodded her head. “I guess that was pretty stupid.”

            “Maybe not,” Adrian said, looking a little embarrassed, “I mean I didn’t actually ask her to live with me and… It’s too soon for that isn’t it?”

            “Oh fuck no,” Tammy said. She didn’t really know if it was or not but she didn’t want to lose her chance to get to live in Stella’s House. She just felt like she belonged here. Had ever since she came to B Street that first day and heard about the house even before she saw it.

            “I guess I have to ask Frances,” Adrian said.

            “Ask me what?” Frances said, walking out of the hall wearing one of Adrian’s shirts. Adrian looked more than a little startled which was unusual for her.

            “You want to live with Adrian don’t you?” Tammy said, giving Frances a please say yes look as if it was more important to her than it was to either Adrian or Frances.

            Frances looked at Adrian confused no doubt because Tammy was asking her to live with Adrian. “What?” she asked not Tammy but Adrian.

            “Well I guess what I’m about to ask in the most awkward possible way,” Adrian glared at Tammy, “is do you want to live with me?”

            Tammy couldn’t really read Frances’ features as she just stood there with her mouth hanging open. Figuring she’d already said enough, Tammy just sat there holding her breath.

            “All right,” Frances finally said with some hesitation in her voice.

            “You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Adrian said in a defensive tone.

            “No, I want to, Adrian, I just… Well I just woke up after a Rip Van Winkle type sleep and my brain is only partly engaged… You want me to live with you? For us to live together?”

            “Yes,” Adrian smiled, and pushed away from the table. She patted her lap and Frances happily walked over and sat down. She wrapped her arms around Adrian’s neck and then they were kissing.

There was movement from the couch behind her, and Tammy jumped and then James's head popped into view and Tammy liked to jump out of her skin.

“What the hell!

“Well, I couldn’t just leave him at Rhonda’s, and he was too drunk to leave on his own, and I sure wasn’t going to let him go home with any of the twenty guys who offered,” Adrian explained, and then she and Frances were just necking again.

James rubbed his head and then fell back onto the couch out of view because he simply couldn’t hold his head up.

Tammy smiled broadly and stood up. “I’m going to go to school and get our shit.”

Adrian sat in Stella’s… her office at Rhonda’s. She looked at the numbers in front of her and scratched her head. She pulled the adding machine out and ran the numbers again and then double checked her invoices and receipts and payroll.

            “That just can’t be right,” she muttered.

            “What can’t be right?” Jan asked, walking in and flopping in the chair on the other side of the desk.

            “You know that I went in hock up to my ass to buy this place and the apartment building?”

            “You had mentioned it a couple of hundred times,” Jan said with a smile.

            “Well, I just figured on being in debt till some time after I croaked. Jan… I’ve been handling… Well damn near everything off and on around here for years, but I’ve never done this—sat down and just figured out what went out and what came in and… This fucking place is a gold mine, and the apartments… I make five times what I put into them with a hell of a lot less work. I thought I’d paid way too much for them, but… Well this isn’t exactly our busiest time of year, and I just figured out that unless a meteor falls on us I could easily put back enough money to pay off the remainder of my loan in three and a half years.”

            “You’re kidding?”

            “I’m not. Jan, you know the Thanksgiving feast that we put out every year where all anybody has to pay for is their drinks?”

            “Yes.”

            “Well get this, we make tons of good will and Stella actually made $200.00.”

            “Made money how?” Jan asked.

            “We all worked for free because it was basically charity, but think about it. The food is cheap—a couple of turkeys, a bunch of sweet potatoes, stuffing, some green beans, fruit salad, a couple of pies—all cheap stuff. A lot of work but not much expense. But drinks… there is a huge mark-up on drinks.” She shook her head. “Jan, Stella bought Rhonda’s for a song. She practically stole the damned apartment house. She paid them off including repairs and remodeling years ago. Yet she had to sell out to me and through a bank instead of just having me make payments to her because she needed the money to fund this film project of Toni’s.”

            “Yeah, so?” Jan asked with a shrug.

            “Jan… what the hell was Stella doing with all her money?”

            “Charity, Toni?” Jan suggested.

            “We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars Jan.” Adrian didn’t want to think about what had happened to all that money. Adrian had always had to work way too hard for every penny she made. Hell, she’d had to watch every penny she spent when she was remodeling Stella’s house, wait till she got one room rented so that she had the money to work on the next one. All the employees including her had barely made more than minimum wage, and the whole time hundreds of thousands of dollars were going, where? “Maybe I’ve missed something, but effective next pay period I’m giving everyone a dollar an hour more…”

            “I’m not going to argue with you, Adrian.”

            “Don’t interrupt me; you’re getting two dollars an hour more.”

            “You’re fucking kidding me,” Jan said excitedly.

            “No. Crap, you do damn near as much as I do here, and unless I’ve just done this all wrong I can give everyone a raise, live like a fucking king, and still pay off my note in three and a half years.”

            “What the hell was she doing with the money?” Jan asked, now obviously as curious as Adrian was.

            “I have no fucking idea, but I’d bet the whole lot that it has got something to do with Toni. If Stella had been hording money all these years I don’t think she would have sold out. I think she would have kept everything.” Adrian looked at all the calculations in front of her. “She sold it to me for way less than it was actually worth.”

            “Adrian… everyone gives Stella the credit for Rhonda’s and for Stella’s House, but even though it’s called Stella’s House it’s really yours. You built it all and for what? Room and board in an apartment you had to rebuild. She sold them to you for a hell of a lot more than it was worth before you poured your heart and soul into rebuilding them, and she knew she could trust you to keep running things the way she wanted them to be run. It’s still important to her; I refuse to believe that none of us and this place means a damn thing to Stella.”

Adrian nodded. “Have you heard from her?”

“No, you?”

“No.”

“It doesn’t mean she’s not thinking about us right?” Jan said.

“Right.”

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