Love Songs

Chapter Two

"That's...a nice tattoo," the girl said, making no effort to provide the semblance that she wasn't staring.

"Yeah?" she said, biting her lip sexually. "Let me sit down, I'll tell you how they did it." 

At that point, Shay embarked upon an overly dramatic account of the creation of her tattoo. Allie and I watched and made commentary, becoming firsthand spectators of Shay Thaller's favorite pasttime in full swing. She giggled in all the right spots, making sure to make physical contact with the girl whenever possible. 

"She's putting a lot of effort into this one," I noted.

"She's wasting her time," Allie denounced. "No way that girl likes girls."

Just a minute later, the stewardess told us all to sit down and fasten our seatbelts. Shay came stalking back towards her real seat, a small slip of paper in hand.

"What's that?" Allie asked.

Shay gave a satisfied smile. "Her phone number."

"Come on, Shay, she was straight," I said incredulously.

"Mhm," she nodded, her expression unchaning. "Was." 

The flight was, in a word, unbearable. I was never a fan of air travel, and I was never a fan of mornings. The two of them put together with Shay's constant flirting with a stranger three rows away was enough to rob me of my sanity. I don't know why it bothered me so much watching her. It just did.

And it certainly bothered me when she made Allie and me wait twenty minutes at the baggage claim while she persuaded the stranger into a quickie in the airport bathroom. I was absolutely stunned by how quickly she operated. This woman had left Ohio straight, and had sex with a woman before she set foot outside the airport in Boston.

"I hope you're satisfied," Allie scoffed, throwing Shay her luggage as she finally sauntered to us from the general direction of the bathroom.

"I am," she said suggestively, giving Allie's words a more sexual innuendo than she'd intended them with. "Thank you."

"Gross," I muttered bitterly, tired of Shay's behavior.

"Aw, are you jealous Jess?" she teased condescendingly, playing with my hair and messing it up. "Because I can go again if you really want."

I pushed her off of me by the shoulders, somewhat outraged. "You're disgusting," I denounced. 

"Can you just get us a cab, Shay?" Allie asked, already put out. "I don't want to be here anymore."

"You both need to chill out," she dismissed, making her way towards the street where taxis were lining up. 

__________

Shay - Saturday, 11:30am.

"Thaller," I was telling the guy checking us in at Tecspa. He was obviously new, and completely incompetent. I'd never met him, and he made it obvious as he searched fruitlessly for my name.

"With a 'T'?" he asked, flipping through papers.

"No, with a silent 'Q.' Really?" I spat, getting annoyed as he continued to waste my time. I took the papers myself, probably having gone through check-in proceedings more times than he had, and found my name in less than five seconds. "Here," I said, pointing to myself. "Shay Thaller."

He reclined in his chair, apparently put off by my sarcasm and flippant attitude. "Shay Thaller?" he repeated, his expression changing to a more amused one. "Is that a stage name?"

"It's my name," I pressed, growing in aggravation. "Can you just tell me where I'm supposed to be so I can get out of here?"

"You're in charge of the fourth floor," he said, passing me papers and keys and becoming all business when he finally realized I wasn't in the mood to play games. "That's where 16-18 year olds are."