Gina reads the label of the small cobalt blue bottle.
'Use no more than needed. Effects felt within 5 minutes. Results may vary.'
She opens the bottle and sniffs. "What the...." she screams as she thrusts it away from her nose. Looking again at the label for what effects she should expect, she finds no indication.
Peaking though the dark blue glass with the bottle gently held up to the light she turns it carefully before her eyes, once, twice, then a final turn. Her fingers tease the small cork stopper from the neck slowly for fear of releasing more foul vapors. It still smells as bad as before and quickly the stopper squeaks back into place.
"Rosa!" the short Asian woman calls as she wanders barefoot though the apartment they share only as roommates. "Rosa!"
"I'm not deaf ... what?" Rosa sits on the bed leaning against the headboard reading a magazine resting on her thighs, feet pulled close to her hips with ankles crossed lightly. She finally looks up.
"What's this for?" she asks holding the small bottle up.
"Megan found it at an old shop on the other side of the tracks when she was buying incense. She thought you might like it. I don't know why."
"But what will it do if I use it? It sure isn't perfume!"
"It beats me." Rosa shrugs her shoulders and goes back to reading the magazine.
"If I don't know what it does...?" She leans against the wall and watches Rosa as if giving her more time might illicit more information.
"Hey, I don't have a clue. Maybe you should call her if you're afraid to use it. You Asian chicks...."
"Good idea." Gina ignores the unfinished racial comment, refusing to hurl one about Mexican women back at her.
"It's Friday and Max is coming over tonight. Just wanted to warn you."
"God, what do you see in that loser. Could you two hold it down in bed? All that moaning and screaming keeps me awake."
"You just need a good fuck!"
"Not from some jerk like that."
Gina pulls her cell phone from the pocket of her tight jean cutoffs and flips it open as she walks into the living room.
"Hey, thanks for the bottle of whatever. What's it for, it mentions 'effects'?" She shrugs her shoulders as if Megan can see her.
"Which bottle did you get?"
"It's blue."
"Oh-h, oh," she drawls for a while. "Have you used any?"
"Hell no-o. Not goin' put something on I don't know what it does."
"Good thing. Maybe we could meet in the food court at the mall. I'll give you the one you were supposed to get." She chuckles. "Don't forget to bring that one. I need it."
"Rosa and Max are going to be screwin' again. After we eat, maybe you and I could find a bar."
"I'd like that. See ya in about half an hour."
Gina takes a quick shower to freshen up and puts on a short tan dress that reveals a nice amount of cleavage and a lot of leg, and a pair of black pumps with thick two-inch heals. She takes a last look in the tall mirror leaning against the wall, adjusts the dress, combs her fingers though her long straight black hair, then walks towards the front door.
"Be back late, get it out of your system before then!" she yells to Rosa. All she hears is a string of profanity and the bedroom door slam.
-
Megan, like Gina, is from Thailand though they met long after leaving the country. She is only a few inches taller and just as beautiful, wearing black designer jeans that mold to her hips, a white tee shirt, and sandals. They carry trays of hamburgers and fries back to a table and sit next to each other on one side of a four-person table.
"Max, what a jerk. Knowing Rosa, she's going to have her feet in the air for a while," Megan teases. "Bet he doesn't eat her pussy," she whispers as she leans closer.
"Megan, why I never...." Gina lets the thought go unfinished and takes a bite of burger then of a few fries as she glances at her best friend though the corner of her eyes.
"Sorry. She just has such poor tastes in guys. How's your love life?"
"As empty as my bank account." Gina groans. "I thought Jim was going to last."
"What happened?"
"Seems he's into big hooters ... something I seem to be lacking in. Damn Asian female genes." She giggles.
"Was he good in bed?"
"Yeah, I think. Not like I have a bunch of guys to compare."
"I had an interesting date recently. A woman chatted me up and we ended up at her place for the night. Very nice, I must say."
"Really? Who got tops?"
"She wasn't a dyke. Geez, Gina."
"Don't know anything about that 'lesbian' stuff. How'd you climax?"
"Haven't you ever had a guy go down on you?"
"Nope."
"Oh, honey. We need to get you some help."
Megan notices Gina staring at something, almost lost in space. She traces the stare and finds a woman missing a leg crutching past the food court.
"Ever wonder what that'd be like?" Gina whispers to no one in particular.
"She works at the thrift shop over on Elm Street. Don't know her name. A most unhappy woman ... actually, a real bitch. I tried to talk to her and she snapped my head off."
"What happened to her?"
"Another woman there mentioned something about a car wreck."
"Looks good, doesn't she?" Gina continues to watch as the woman looks in the window of a store at dresses on mannequins. "So nice...."
"I didn't know you liked stuff like that."
"Huh?" Gina seems to realize she has been staring for a long time and looks back at Megan. "What?"
"I believe you were lusting over a woman missing a leg." Megan softly chuckles.
"Yeah, I guess I was."
"I wouldn't mind being that way," Megan whispers as she lays her hand on Gina's hand. "If it happened, that is."
"Is that why you tried to speak with her?"
"Uh-huh." Megan nods and nibbles at a fry covered with a dab of ketchup at the end.
"One summer when I was a little girl, I knew a girl missing a leg. I'll never forget her. Wow-w."