This is a quickie while I organise another couple of larger pieces. I have set this one in NYC, some time in the early eighties. I think this will be just a one off but I may come back to these characters at some point in the future but this will have to do for now.
Enjoy!
Shaima.
*****
The apartment on Park Lane was much bigger than her own tiny apartment, but it was the pictures that drew Katie's eye as Penny led her into the living room. A series of framed pictures showed city skylines from around the world and she stopped in front of a group of four photographs arranged around a larger photograph of the New York city skyline. The top one was obviously London and the bottom was Paris. Her eyes shifted to the left and she read the print under it.
"Stockholm," she murmured as Penny undid the belt on her overcoat.
"I lived there for nearly two years," Penny started unbuttoning her coat.
Katie's eyes moved to the picture on the right that had a city skyline with a tower that looked like a smaller version of the Eiffel Tower.
"Where is that?" Katie glanced over her shoulder as Penny undid the last button and parted the leather overcoat.
"Melbourne, Australia," she pulled the overcoat over her shoulders and let it fall down her back. Katie felt a slight uneasiness as Penny tossed the overcoat over the back of a couch, "I worked there for six months."
"You're quite the world traveller," Katie moved to inspect some pictures on the other wall, one of them was Sydney, alongside pictures of Singapore, Tokyo, Rome, Athens, and Berlin. The row of pictures below it had pictures of Edinburgh, Madrid, Cape Town, Cairo, and Amsterdam. The next row of pictures were of Washington D.C, San Francisco, New Delhi, and Moscow. The next row had three pictures, Auckland, Nairobi, and Seoul. The next row had two pictures, Oslo and Warsaw, the last row had a single picture of Beirut. Standing back the whole arrangement took on the shape of a very wide V and she looked at Penny and raised an eyebrow.
"I've been to all those places," she flicked at the tie of her red satin, pussybow blouse, "shall I take your coat?"
Katie hesitated before undoing the belt of her overcoat. The question hung heavy in the air, this a casual evening with a woman she'd just met, and as the belt slid through the buckle she felt as if someone else was controlling her hands. It had started with a drink at a gay bar and now she was in another woman's apartment. What was she doing here? She'd gone there hoping to find Denise and instead she'd found herself drinking with Penny. Now she was in her apartment and she suspected she was probably going to shed a lot more than her coat.
She parted the coat to reveal a cream, satin blouse and plaid, button through pencil skirt and slid the overcoat over her shoulders, vaguely conscious that Penny's eyes had shifted to take in her ample bosom beneath the blouse. It made her feel aroused. How long had it been since she'd consciously done something that could be construed as suggestive?
Too long,
she mused.
She had originally stepped inside the bar hoping to find Denise but she'd heard enough about the place from her co-worker over the last few months.
"It used to be a speakeasy but these days it's just a regular bar. I go there on Friday, you really should check it out some time."
Framed newspapers hung above some of the booths, one showed police posing beside confiscated liquor with grim looks on their faces. Whether the picture was taken here or elsewhere was unclear, but the new owners had certainly made the history of the place a feature. Pictures of jazz stars and bands adorned one wall, even though the jukebox was stocked with the usual Top Forty tunes. The jukebox was the only thing that seemed at odds amongst the Roaring Twenties style décor. Even the bar staff were dressed in period clothing, the girls in white, flowing blouses and trousers and the men in grey suits and white shirts.
The clientèle seemed to be a mixture of gay and straight, and in the case of the gay couples, their mannerisms seemed remarkably subdued. This was a place to chill out, have a few drinks and perhaps find a companion, it was not the place to flaunt your sexuality. What was immediately apparent however was that the patrons had money and style, judging by their outfits. However, despite waiting at a table by the window for nearly fifteen minutes she didn't see Denise. It was as she was preparing to leave that a barmaid put a drink on her table and nodded at a woman in a red blouse sitting in a booth some twenty feet away.
"The lady in red," she murmured.
Katie hesitated as she contemplated the drink and the woman in succession. The gesture was unmistakeably sexual and yet Katie wasn't sure she wanted to accept a drink from a strange woman. It wasn't until the woman turned to look at someone else that Katie gathered her drink and purse and made her way over to the table.
"Thanks," she stopped by the booth.
"You are welcome," the redhead purred.
The accent was definitely English and Katie felt a slight warmth as she slid into the seat opposite her and took her measure. She looked to be a few years older with thick auburn hair framing a broad face. She had a firm jawline and when she smiled it was obvious she was on good terms with her dentist. Her eyes looked to be green but it was hard to tell in the subdued lighting.
"Penny Lee," she held out her hand.
"Katie Marsh," Katie shook her hand and felt something leave her body, her eyes shifted slightly to take in the shimmering satin blouse as Penny's smile deepened to reveal dimples in her cheeks.
"Pleased to meet you," Penny released her hand, "I can't say I haven't seen you here before because this is the first time I've been here."
"Likewise," she replied, "I was hoping to meet my friend here but she hasn't showed up."
"Girlfriend?"
"No, nothing like that although she is a friend but you know what I mean."
"I do," Penny's smile deepened, "it's a changed world, we used to have girlfriends without having to explain ourselves, now we have to define the relationship or hide it."
"I'm straight," she felt the need to explain.
"I'm bisexual," Penny replied.
Katie felt a little relief at that but there was still the need to define the relationship between Denise and herself.
"Denise and I work for the I.M.F."
"Turtle Bay?" Penny shifted in her seat, "it's surprising I haven't seen you before, I work for the World Health Organisation, I'm an analyst."
"I'm an archivist," she replied, "your job sounds more exciting."
"It can be, interesting," Penny smiled, "analysing produces unexpected results when you drill down deep enough."
It was an off the cuff comment that could be taken either way, in this place it was only too obvious and Katie felt a slight uneasiness as she looked past her.
