Poor Yord. That's all I can think when I watch him strike out with Tiffany time after time again. He's been at it all night, but she keeps making it clear that she's not interested anymore. I'm pretty sure the only reason Yord agreed to be a part of this plan was to see Tiff again, so I feel sorry for him, although I'm secretly glad that she isn't trying to force herself to try and be attracted to him anymore. She seems happy talking to him, yet she jerks back whenever he comes too close. He is not doing anything wrong, not even touching her, but she is making him feel like he's forcing himself on her. Poor guy.
After a while, Yord has had enough. He comes over to the table where I'm sitting with Shaughna and Stephen, chatting about a show we all watch. He slumps down in the chair next to mine and grabs the beer bottle from my hands, downing the whole thing within a few seconds.
"What is up with Tiffany?" he asks me, setting down the bottle with a bang. "First she sleeps with me, then she never responds to any of my texts or calls. Tonight she seems happy to see me and we have a great time when we talk to each other, but she's acting like she's grossed out by the mere idea of me touching her! I mean... we already had sex! Does she have a boyfriend or something? I thought you said she's still single?"
"I am," Tiffany says from behind us. "I'm sorry, Yord. I can explain."
"You can?" he replies, looking hopeful and angry at the same time. "Because it better be a damn good explanation. I don't like being jerked around."
"It's just that..." Tiffany's eyes move from Yord to me and I can tell that she's finally ready to own up to who she truly is. "I'm gay."
"You're..." Yord shakes his head. "But you..."
"I know," she says, looking so nervous I just want to hug her. "And I'm sorry that I led you on. I recently realized that I'm just not into guys and that's okay."
"Of course that's okay!" her friend Stephen exclaims. "I've been waiting years for you to finally say those words!" He gets up and hugs her tightly, lifting her up from the ground a little.
"You knew?" Tiffany asks when he puts her back down.
"We all knew," he responds, rolling his eyes. "You're not exactly subtle about it, Tiff."
She locks eyes with me and throws up her hands like she wants to say what the hell? Luckily, she's smiling so widely that it's clear that she doesn't mind. I don't know her group of friends that well, but from the few nights I spent with them, it doesn't surprise me that they don't care which gender Tiffany is attracted to. They like her for who she is, not because of her sexuality.
"Well, fuck," Yord mutters to me when Stephen drags Tiffany over to their other friends to break the news. "There goes my chance at a date with her."
I pat his arm with a little smile. "You'll find someone, Yord. Guy like you? I'd be surprised if you'll be on the market for much longer."
Sure enough, by the time I'm ready to leave the bar, Yord is kissing a girl I've never seen before in the far corner, grinding against her like he is going to need a room sooner rather than later. Shaughna and Dshawn insist on coming home with me, even though I keep telling them that it's fine if they want to stay a little longer. It's nice not to have to walk home on my own, though. Yord was originally planning on crashing at my place as well, but by the looks of it he's found himself another bed to sleep in. He's got my number and he knows where I live, so I'm sure he'll make his way back eventually.
The night ends with Shaughna and Dshawn passed out in the guest bedroom and me texting Nathan from the comfort of my own bedroom. When I finally fell asleep around 4 am, Aston still hasn't called or shown up at my place to crash here for the night. I guess his date with Annabel is going better than any of us could have foreseen.
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.