Chapter 1
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"Did it hurt?" a male voice behind her asked.
Oh, you have got to be shitting me. He's not seriously going to go there?
"Pardon me?" Jisoo asked as if she hadn't heard his woeful line.
"I said," he gave her a shit-eating grin that said he thought he was Tom Cruise in Top Gun, even though he looked more like a sandy-haired, freckle-faced version of Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump, "did it hurt? You know, when you fell out of heaven?"
He went there. Sweet God in Galveston, he actually went there.
The man, who was a good ten years older than her and had one of those 'Hello, my name is' stickers on his jacket lapel, sat down on the stool next to her and placed his drink on the bar.
"A scotch-rocks for me and whatever the lady's having," he said to the bartender.
The young man in the dazzling white shirt and plaid vest standing behind the counter picked up a glass and started filling it with ice while he waited expectantly for her order.
"Nothing for me, thanks," she informed him politely. The bartender nodded and gave her what she thought was a supportive and pitying smile and went back to fixing the scotch on the rocks.
"Aw, come on. What do you have there?"
She half-turned towards him and looked at his name badge. Phill, it said, with two Ls. No doubt he thought the extra L made him more colourful.
"Club soda. I don't drink." She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. She didn't want to be impolite, but she really wasn't interested in him or in having company. She had picked the bar because it was the quietest one she could find in the resort.
"Everyone drinks," he chuckled.
"I don't." She tried to keep her voice flat, not rude, but not encouraging, either. She wanted her tone to convey 'Nothing personal - I just don't want company'.
"Driving somewhere?" He didn't seem to be taking the hint.
"That'll be six dollars, sir," the bartender announced, putting his drink down.
Phill did a double take, for un-hilarious non-comedy effect. "How much?"
"Six dollars, sir." The tone was still polite but the fake smile and the slightly narrowed eyes said that he thought Phill was a tool. It made Jisoo smirk into her club soda.
Phill pulled a ten from his wallet and placed it on the bar - not in the bartender's hand, but on the bar. That sort of casual lack of respect and manners infuriated Jisoo. The fact that he took the full four dollars in change and didn't even give the bartender a dollar's tip was even more reprehensible to her. She'd done that job as a student. Rude people who didn't tip had been her pet peeve. Actually, they'd probably been the second-worst. Anyone who snapped their fingers to get her attention had been top of her black list. She never served customers out of turn and hated when people thought she would respond to dismissive hand gestures. She gave the barman an eye-roll. He grinned slyly back and shrugged.
"So, driving?" Phill repeated.
"No." If he wasn't going to take the hint, then she was at least going to make him work hard for it.
"Are you here for the conference?" he plowed on, obliviously cheerful.
"No. Just a stopover." That was a lie. She was there for her best friend's wedding, but telling him that might encourage him into asking further questions.
"Are you sure you're not here for the conference? You're certainly beautiful enough to be one of the show models in the exhibition hall."
She tried not to be insulted by the fact that he chose to compliment her by telling her she was pretty enough to lie on top of a car or hand out leaflets to bored businessmen. "No, not a model."
"Heading somewhere exciting after your stopover, then?"
Her heart sank. There was clearly going to be getting away from him. "Just back to LA."
"Oh? I've never been to Los Angeles, myself. This is as far west as I've ever been. I'm from Virginia myself. Don't really like being west of the Mississippi at all. Although, I suppose the dry heat's more bearable than the wet heat we're used to back home."
He didn't seem to want to take a breath at all. Maybe he thought that stopping might encourage her to leave. He didn't know that she didn't have that option. She wasn't really listening to him as he talked about his home town and something about a nearby lake. Jisoo was pretty sure that the whole point of the story was just so that he could share the fact that he owned a boat, no doubt because, as a woman, she wouldn't be able to help herself from being impressed by that sort of information.
She, however, was trying to work out how she would describe him later when she recounted this tale to her friends. The fairish hair and the freckles were a little bit Ron Howard, but Phill still had a full head of curly hair. She supposed that a grown-up Napoleon Dynamite was a better description. He really reminded her of a guy she had seen on a re-run of The Mentalist a couple of weeks before - one of those actors who was always popping up as either the victim or suspect of the week on all manner of shows - but that reference would be a bit too specific to help her friends imagine the reality of Phill-with-two-Ls. She was trying to think of other actors with reddish-blond, curly hair when a mental image of Ronald McDonald passed through her head, causing her to snort into her club soda. She quickly disguised it as a cough.
"I'm here for the conference, as you can tell." He pointed to his name badge. "Plastics. There's a great future in plastics. Think about it." He laughed. Jisoo did not. "That's a quote. From The Graduate," he explained.
"Oh, the movie?" Jisoo had actually known that. She had not only seen The Graduate several times, but had studied the book in college for one of her contemporary literature classes. She was pretty sure that she could wipe the floor with him by reciting the entire scene that Phill had stolen his quip from, but that would mean breaking her self-imposed new rule of keeping her responses to him to five words or fewer.
"Great movie," Phill enthused. "Plastics get a bad rap in it, though. They make it out to be dull, when it's really anything but." Jisoo could have sworn that his statement was going to be just the first step on the long road to showing her the importance of plastics, so she was genuinely surprised when he concluded, "But, you don't want to hear about my work, especially if you're not here for the conference. What line are you in anyway, if I might ask?"
She desperately tried to come up with something vague but dull, but ended up blurting out the truth anyway. "Advertising." She immediately cringed. She could tell it had been entirely the wrong thing to say from the way Phill's eyes lit up and he nodded appreciatively. Why couldn't she have just said she was unemployed or a garbage inspector or a rat catcher or any of a hundred other jobs that would have stopped the conversation dead?
"I know I just said I wasn't going to talk shop," he started, "but -"
"Copywriting for insurance companies," she added hastily. It was another lie, but she hoped it might put him off whatever he had been about to say.
"Really?" If anything, he sounded even more interested. "Well, can I show you something?" He reached down to a conference bag on the floor and pulled out some promotional literature for his company. He placed it on the bar between them, opened up the brochure on the top of the pile and started to talk about why he thought his current agency was over-charging him and yet still selling him short. Jisoo grunted at what she felt were appropriate moments.
Just when she felt that her will to live had been sapped completely dry, Phill stood and patted his stomach. "Can you excuse me for a moment, babe? You take a look at the others and then I'll pick your brains when I get back." He hopped off of the barstool and looked around for the restrooms.
"They're out in the main lobby, sir," the barman offered helpfully. As soon as Phill was out of earshot, he turned to Jisoo. "You've got a live one there," he commented with a wry chuckle.
"Don't," she groaned.
"I don't mean to be be personal, but why don't you just leave?" He was washing some glasses and polishing them with a spotless white dishcloth. Jisoo admired his quick efficiency.
She sighed. "I wish. I can't get into my room because I stupidly left my purse in my friend's car when she dropped me off and obviously my keycard's in it. By the time I realised what I'd done, she'd already driven off and I couldn't catch her. I've been back to her room a couple of times already. No sign. So, I've left her a couple of voicemails telling her that I'll wait for her here. I can't even go and do something else while I wait because I've got no money. So, I'm stuck here, waiting for her, without even a cellphone to contact her." She laughed to herself wryly. "If my father hadn't brought me up to never leave the house without some money in my pocket, then I wouldn't even have been able to afford this." She raised her almost empty glass of club soda.
"Well," the young man thought for a second, "I could call Security and get them to escort you to your room. They'll be able to let you in."
"I spoke to them already. They said they'd be happy to help as long as I could show them my ID and, of course, that's in my purse, which is in the back seat of Rosé's car."
"Aaah." The bartender shook his head. "Sorry, I can't think of anything else."
"It's okay. Thanks, anyway."
He looked around and leaned in conspiratorially. "You want another club soda? On the house."
"You're very kind, but I'm fine."
"Coffee?"
She grinned. "Actually, I will say yes to that. Just black, thanks. You sure you won't get into any trouble?"
As he prepared a cup and walked over to the coffee pot on the far end of the counter, he commented over his shoulder, "I'm pretty sure the management would want me to help a damsel in distress."
"A damsel in distress?" Phill's now-familiar voice said from behind her. "Well, lucky for you, your Prince Charming's arrived!"
Jisoo cringed. That was worse than 'Did it hurt?' It was even worse than calling her 'babe'. His lines certainly didn't imply any prowess with women and a quick glance at the ring finger of his left hand confirmed that he was probably recently divorced. There was a lighter patch of skin where a wedding ring had previously sat. It had become a little tanned, but not the same colour of the rest of his skin. That implied that he'd stopped wearing less than a year ago.
"Have you had a chance to look over the rest of my stuff?"
Jisoo smiled her thanks to the barman as he placed her coffee in front of her. "Sorry, I got talking to," she looked at the young man's name tag, "Colton."
"No matter. I can talk you through it." He grabbed the literature from between them and picked it up. "And I'll have another scotch-rocks," he said to Colton dismissively without even looking at him. He then launched into another tirade about the shortcomings of local Virginia advertising agencies, vis-a-vis their ability to produce top quality copy for independent manufacturers of durable plastic storage containers. Jisoo had no doubt that he was one of those clients who wanted everything but was willing to pay only the bare minimum.
She could feel her patience wearing thinner by the second when, over Phill's shoulder, she saw a petite brunette enter the bar alone. The young woman stood there, looking around, with her hands on her hips, but obviously didn't see whoever she had been seeking. At the same time, a couple who had been occupying one of the small booths on the far wall got up to leave. The brunette started over in that direction, obviously intending to take their place. A burst of inspiration hit Jisoo.
"Sorry, Phill, but my friend just walked in." She didn't wait for a response, She quickly hopped off of the stool and approached the brunette, calling out, "Hey, you! I thought you'd got lost or something."
The brunette turned around and looked back in Jisoo's direction, her face indicating that she was unsure as to whether she actually knew Jisoo or not. Her look of confusion quickly turned to one of consternation as she was pulled into a loose hug by the red haired.
"I'm really sorry to do this to you," Jisoo hissed to the stranger, "but could you just pretend for a few minutes that we know each other? That guy at the bar has been hitting on me and I really needed to get away." She released the stranger from the hug and sat down on one of the vinyl benches of the booth. The stunned woman sat down opposite her.
"Uh, sorry, what?"
"The guy at the bar," Jisoo turned a little and smiled falsely in Phill's direction, feeling that he was still watching her, "has been hitting on me and now he wants to hit me up for free professional advice. I just couldn't take it any more. My friend - the one I'm actually waiting for - should be here pretty soon, so, if it's not too much trouble, I was kind of hoping that I could just sit here with you till she gets here. Unless, of course, the person you're meeting arrives, in which case, I'll be happy to leave you to it. We don't have to talk or anything," she frowned a little, "although maybe that would look a bit weird because we're meant to know each other and everything. And I'm so sorry to be doing this to you, but I couldn't think of any other way to get away from him and you were obviously just in the right place at the wrong time - or, I guess, the wrong place at the right time, depending on your point of view - and I was all -"
Her babbling was stopped by the other woman, whose brows were furrowed in bemusement, holding up her hand.
"Professional advice?" the other woman asked, using her fingers to make airquotes.
"Yeah." Light dawned on Jisoo that the stranger was hinting that she meant 'professional' in the sense of prostitution. "Oh! Um, no! Not like that. I'm not... Oh, wow. No. I meant from my actual profession. In a professional capacity. You know, work-based." As she saw a grin spread across the other woman's face, Jisoo blushed. "I'm really making this worse, aren't I? You were just teasing me, weren't you? Oh God, I am such an idiot. Maybe I should just stop talking now."
"But then won't the guy know that we're not friends? You know, if we sit here silently?" She seemed very amused.
Jisoo, however, felt appalled by her own behaviour. "I am really sorry for having done this. It was just spur-of-the-moment and I really shouldn't have imposed on you. I'll just go."
The stranger did not have a chance to respond before Colton, the barman, appeared next to their table and slid Jisoo's coffee in front of her. "Hey, you found your friend. Good job." He turned to the other woman. "And what can I get you, ma'am?"
"Could I have a coffee as well and a Diet Coke? And can I charge it to my room?" She handed him a credit-card-sized slip of paper. Jisoo had received a similar ticket when she had checked in and knew it held details of the room number and the daily charging limit attached to that account. She craned her neck, but couldn't make out the room number on it.
"No problem. Back in a minute." He hustled back towards the bar.
"So, the guy over there?" the stranger prompted.
Jisoo grimaced. "Phill. Two Ls. He's in plastics and he's here for some convention. He offered to take me out on his boat back in Virginia."
"That was very nice of him. Long way to go for a boat ride, though."
"Yeah. I think he was offering a little more than just a trip around the lake."
"I'll bet." The amused tone was still there, Jisoo noted, along with an inherent huskiness. "So, who're you waiting for?"
As Jisoo explained her circumstances - how she had asked to be dropped off at their hotel, rather than accompany Rosé to her hair appointment, and had ended up stranded - she took the chance to really look at the young woman upon whom she had foisted herself. She looked to be a couple of inches shorter than Jisoo and was quite slight. Her long brunette hair had obviously been straightened; Jisoo could tell by the way that it had started to curl again, no doubt in the heat. There were flecks of other shades in there, too, probably a mixture of nature and salon colouring. She had cat-shaped eyes which looked deep chocolate in the darkness of the bar, but were possibly a little lighter, maybe even hazel, and sculpted eyebrows that gave her a slightly mocking look. There was a small mole on her left eyelid which made Jisoo wonder if people still referred to them as beauty spots or if that only happened back in 18th century France.
By any objective standard, the young woman was truly beautiful. Jisoo knew that she herself was attractive, but this stranger was in a different class. It was possibly the other woman's bearing. Jisoo was naturally quiet and unassuming, but the other woman clearly held herself with a kind of mirthful arrogance infused with more than just a touch of self-mocking. It was hard to say how she knew that, other than the fact that Jisoo just knew people because she noticed details. She had known, for example, that Phill was basically a nice-but-dull man who covered his shortcomings with bluster and that he was harmless, if annoying.
She realised that neither of them were talking any more and that she was now just staring at the other woman's hands, which looked both delicate (long, tapering fingers with expensively manicured nails) and used to working (calluses on the thumb and forefinger of both hands). She looked up and her gaze locked with that of the woman opposite her.
"He's watching, you know," she confided.
"What?"
"Your admirer, Two Ls. He's watching us like a hawk."
Jisoo shook her head and averted her gaze. She sighed. "I really am sorry for imposing on you like this."
"Don't be stupid. I am always ready to help a damsel in distress."
At the second use of that phrase in a short time - Jisoo could not remember ever having been described in those terms before that day - her head shot back up and they grinned at each other. When Phill had offered to be her Prince Charming, it had been offensive; the thought of being rescued by this woman, however, seemed positively exhilarating.
Colton reappeared, a glass of Coke in one hand and a coffee cup in the other. He placed them down on the table. "Will that be all, ladies?" He handed the charge slip back to the young woman, along with a receipt for her signature.
"I think so," Jisoo replied.
"Sure," her companion answered simultaneously.
They grinned at each other once more and that caused them both to burst into nervous laughter. Shaking his head and smiling, the bartender picked up the receipt and left them again.
"So, are you waiting on someone, too?" Jisoo asked.
"You mean apart from you?" She waggled her eyebrows at the small joke as she added cream and sugar to her coffee. "Just an old friend. He's late, but that's normal. He takes longer to get ready than most women I know. He'll probably be at least another quarter-hour." Her gaze darted back towards the bar. "Warning. Incoming."
Jisoo didn't have a chance to ask what she meant before she felt Phill hovering by her shoulder.
"So, can I buy you two ladies a drink?" he asked, somewhat leeringly.
The brunette looked straight at Jisoo and replied, "I hardly think that would be fair." She never turned to face Phill. She just kept gazing at Jisoo, a strange but somehow reassuring look on her face.
"Oh, no?" His fake swagger was even more pronounced than it had been.
Jisoo gave a quizzical look back to the other woman, whose lips were curling in a grin, even as her hand reached across the table and took Jisoo's in her own. Jisoo had to stifle a gasp at the touch. The hand that clasped hers was soft and cool. The other woman's thumb was rubbing over the back of her hand in a way that sent frissons of excitement right through her. She wanted to shiver, but tried instead to maintain the other woman's gaze. She had a pretty good idea what was going on, but she didn't want to do anything overt in case she had jumped to the wrong conclusion.
"I really don't think so." Her voice was even huskier than before and she still didn't look in Phill's direction. She gave Jisoo an impish grin that made the skin at the top of her nose crinkle before finally turning her attention to the man who was staring at her expectantly. "But thank you for the offer anyway."
She flashed him a sweet grin before turning her attention back to Jisoo, whose breathing was getting shallower with every swipe of that soft thumb across her skin. The back of her hand felt incredibly sensitive, as if every single tiny hair was broadcasting signals all at once. Intellectually, she understood that was what was actually happening - that touch worked on exactly that basis - but she had never been so aware of every individual tiny hair before and certainly not so vividly. She hoped that no-one was expecting her to say anything. She felt incapable of speech.
"You're sure?" Phill sounded dubious.
"Oh, I'm very sure." There was no ignoring the fact that the voice dripped with sexual promise, but not for the man standing next to Jisoo. "I think we're both fine. Aren't we, sweetheart?" She pulled Jisoo's hand towards her and leaned down to softly brush her lips across the knuckles.
Jisoo was so caught up in the chain reaction of sensations that the touch of the other woman's lips to her skin had set off that she almost didn't catch the fact that she was expected to respond in some way. After what felt like minutes, she finally nodded mutely.
She didn't have to turn around to know that Phill's pride was bruised. She could sense his body stiffening and, at the edge of her peripheral vision, she could see his chest puffing out in a classically defensive show of masculinity. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the other woman, though. She had never really understood what the phrase 'bedroom eyes' had meant when she had read it in books, but she was pretty certain that she was seeing them just now. The word 'smouldering' flitted through her mind, followed by several triple-x-rated images. Her entire nervous system seemed to have seized up entirely.
"Right, well, I've got a mixer to go to anyway," Phill huffed.
Jisoo could sense him staring down at the top of her head, possibly in the hope that she might yet say something contradictory, something that could give him a faint glimmer of hope.
She mumbled, "Sorry."
As Phill stalked off, she could hear him grumbling to himself, no doubt using some choice expressions to describe her.
"Well, I'm pretty sure that did the trick," the other woman laughed, gently withdrawing her hand and picking up her coffee cup. "I hope you don't mind."
"Mind?" Jisoo wasn't sure what she was supposed to be bothered by, but she definitely felt bothered.
"That I pulled that little stunt. It just seemed a sure-fire way to get him off your back. This way, you don't have to worry about it happening again if you run into each other later."
"Yeah." She felt like she should say something else, but she was looking down at her own hand. "Thanks. You really didn't have to."
"Hey, what kind of knight in shining armour would I be if I didn't do everything in my power to save you from certain doom?"
Jisoo nodded. She was still too stunned by her reaction to the whole incident to form coherent thoughts.
* *©Devje* *