Sweet Caroline

#53 Let's do a Katy Perry

Maybe now she'll finally leave my guy alone.

***

"Okay, let's do this." Tiffany is bouncing up and down on her chair.

It's Sunday afternoon and we're sitting in my small back garden. After Shaughna and Dshawn took off and made the drive back home, I called Tiffany to ask if she wanted to come over to talk. And now she's here, enjoying the afternoon sun with me, sipping her glass of chardonnay as she hands me her phone.

"I want you to take a really good picture," she tells me, straightening her shirt.

Grinning, I snap a few of her, knowing that she'll deem all of them completely useless in a few minutes anyway. We've already been through this three times in the past half hour. Now that Tiffany is no longer pretending to be straight, she wants to get on all the apps and tick the box that says she's looking for another woman to date.

"I just want to do a Katy Perry," she told me when I asked her if she was sure she was ready. When I looked at her strangely, she explained: "I want to kiss a girl and like it."

"How did your parents react?" I ask her while she frowns at the new pictures. "Or do you still have to tell them?"

She shakes her head. "They know, I told them this morning. Unlike my friends, they were pretty damn surprised, but like I told you, they don't care who I take back home with me, as long as he or she is good to me. I think Dad may need a day or two to truly wrap his head around it, but that's understandable. Hell, I needed a lot longer than that to be okay with it myself."

"He said that?" I ask. That doesn't sound good, to be honest.

"Oh no, he wouldn't want me to feel like he doesn't accept me," she replies with a fond smile. "I could just tell. Saying that being gay isn't a big deal is not the same as your daughter telling you that she is into women. He's fine with it, really, he just never even considered that I might not be straight, so he needs a minute to adjust the way he sees me, I guess."

I nod. That sounds understandable, although it never fails to baffle me how big of a deal it seems to be whether someone likes men or women. Then again, I'm not really one to speak. I may not struggle with my sexuality, but it took me years to figure out what I like in the bedroom and it's only when Nathan came into my life that I truly accepted that it's okay to like it rough. Finally just going for it freed me in ways I never thought it would, so it's not surprising that Tiffany is way happier than before now that her biggest secret isn't weighing her down anymore.

"Did you tell Hillary?" I ask her.

"Hillary?" She freezes, looking up at me from her phone. "Why would I tell her?"

"Erm... she's your friend?" I say with a frown. "And she kissed you once. You said you love her, so I figured..."

"Well, you're wrong," she snaps. "I'm not just gonna text or call her and tell her with news like this. When she kissed me, I told her that I didn't want her to do that ever again. And now I'm supposed to just call her and tell her that I've been gay all along? That I love her even though she's in Spain right now, or whatever country she is in at the moment, probably fucking some gorgeous woman that isn't scared to admit she's into girls? I can't do that. I won't." Tiffany closes her eyes for a moment and takes a deep breath. "Now, are you going to help me choose a picture for my profile or not? Because I may not want to tell Hill yet, but I sure as hell want to get my first date with a girl out of the way so I can stop obsessing about it."

"You got it," I say, deciding to stop pushing for now. I still think that she should tell Hillary, but maybe she's right that now is not the time. Maybe she needs to experiment for a little while before reaching out to the woman she fell in love with a long time ago. Besides, maybe Hillary is seeing someone or is just completely over Tiffany. That would be a hard thing to come to terms with for her, even though she pretends that she doesn't give a shit.

Right when I get up to pour us another glass of wine, a loud moan sounds through the garden, making Tiffany's head snap up. We lock eyes before glancing around to find out where the sound came from. Since it's a warm day, every single person living in the apartments around us have their windows open. It sounded close, though, so it must be either Mr. Galf or Annabel. And since Mr. Galf is in his sixties and hardly seems like the type to have loud sex, that must mean...

"Oh yeah," a deep voice groans. There is no question where the sounds are coming from now. It's Annabel's place. "Get on your knees."

"Oh God," Tiffany whispers to me. "Is that..."

"Annabel having sex with Aston?" I reply, just as surprised. "I think it is."

Two days after their date, in the middle of the afternoon. Go Annabel. At least that takes care of one of my many problems. From the sounds of it, Annabel is way too satisfied with how things turned out for her to care about me and Nathan anymore.

"Damn, if I had known he's that good I would have gone home with him instead of Yord," Tiffany jokes when Annabel cries out in pleasure. "I may not be into guys, but that sure sounds enjoyable."

We both break into a fit of laughter, trying to keep our voices down so Annabel and Aston won't hear us. That woman needs this more than anyone and I don't want to disturb her. I'm happy that my plan worked even better than I expected, although it's a little weird to know that my bitchy neighbor is now screwing one of Dshawn's best friends.

"Oh my God, that's her living room window those sounds are coming from, aren't there?" Tiffany says suddenly, almost choking on the sip of wine she just took. "Are they...?"

I grin at her wide eyes. "You don't actually need a bed to have sex, Tiff. Trust me, there are lots of places that are perfectly suited for sex. The shower, the coffee table, the couch, against the fridge, on the kitchen counter, the floor, a chair, pressed against the wall or a door, the-"

"Stop!" Tiffany covers her ears with her hand, shaking her head at me. "You're so bad, Caroline. I don't want to picture you and Nathan having sex in all those places!"

"Hey, it's not me moaning so loud that the whole neighborhood can hear," I joke. "Wait, I need to call Nathan. He'll never believe this." I grab my phone but realize just in time that he's still with Rose, so I can't call him right now. He won't be able to pick up. With a sigh, I drop my phone back on the table and grab my glass of wine instead.

"Oh, Caroline..." Tiffany moves over so she can put an arm around me. "Just a few more months until the summer break. I know it sucks right now, but you and Nate will make it. Just hold on."

"I know. Now, let's stop fixating on my problems and let's set up that profile of yours!"

And that's exactly what we do, with the sounds of Annabel's rather loud sex life in the background.