'I remember the first time I saw her, it was in one of those mixed bars out in Greenwich Village. But even in that diverse crowd she looked out of place, trying not to make eye contact with the die hards. But I felt something for her then both of us in the wrong place and trying to fit in. She was the center of attention; every two bit, try hard, desperado was trying to catch her eye. I was just there to celebrate my buddy's birthday and it looked like I was heading for the exit soon. I was three years from my last drink and I really didn't feel like tempting fate that night but still, I stayed long enough to study the pretty little straight.'
She looked like a ripe plum amongst a flock of hungry birds, many had noticed her shifting eyes as she sat with a dozen women at a nearby table. Detective Sandy Robinson restrained a tired smile as her partner sidled up beside her and put down a shot of Tequila and a glass of Coke, "hey hot lips, what's cooking?"
"That girl looks about as out of place as I feel," she took the Coke.
"Yeah," she grinned, "pretty little thing, check out the diesel coming onto her," she nodded at a short haired woman with tattoos.
"Nasty," she agreed and looked around slowly.
"You really didn't have to come in here," Dolores shot her a soulful look, "a card would have been nice."
"I'm good," she propped her chin on her palm, "it's not like I'm going to order a double shot every time I walk into a bar, I just can't hang out here every night. Eventually the Coke turns into whiskey and I'm back where I started, besides you're my partner and it's your birthday, just don't expect me to stay much longer."
Dolores looked up at her through soft brown eyes, "okay, but if you even look like drinking I'm going to handcuff you."
"Ooh, promises," her brown eyes flickered to the blonde woman in the pink satin blouse and pleated skirt, "check out G.I Jane, I swear I've seen her up on a DUI a few months back."
"Now that's proof that Mother Nature can produce a walking, talking contraceptive," she grinned, "so, you gonna go over and rescue the cute straight from G.I Jane?"
"The lipstick lesbian?" She grinned and propped on her chin. "Not likely. Still, I don't imagine G.I Jane would be much competition if I was to flash my badge."
"So long as that's all you flash," she smirked.
"Ow," she winced, "I've been celibate for the last two years, but even my clit would refuse to answer the door to her," she studied her for a moment. "You know I'm glad I let you drag me in here, it just reminded me of waking up next to women like that and hoping to crap she'd stay asleep long enough to make a clean getaway."
'Yeah I knew her all right, you found them in dozens of bars all over New York, the exaggerated moves, the strutting, forced laughter and always that needy look in their eyes, like they were looking for a mother to darn their socks and put a decent meal on the table at night. She was eyeballing the cute blonde and I felt something deep down, resentment mingled with guilt. I had once been the same, innocent, vulnerable, curious. I started out as the blonde and wound up as the whiskey swilling dyke looking for fresh meat.'
"Hell, you could wind up with G.I Jane the way you're slamming those shots down."
"Hardly," she choked. "I like my Friday night drinks but if I wake up next to her I'm quitting drinking but that cute little blonde, now that's more my style."
"Certainly be a wake up call," she sipped her Coke, "here's looking at you kid, happy birthday," she raised her glass, "and don't go opening your mouth we're working partners not lesbian partners."
They clinked glasses and kissed briefly before pulling away.
"See," Dolores winked, "I can control myself," her eyes shifted, "oh, she noticed that."
"Who? G.I Jane?"
"No, the straight," she smirked, "she was looking at us, she probably thinks we're fucking."
She raised her glass as the leather clad woman leaned over and rubbed the blonde's shoulder, Sandy swallowed a mouthful of Coke and rose from the stool.
"You're right, I don't belong here," she sighed, "happy birthday, see you Monday."
"You'll be all right?" Dolores leaned back into her arms.
"Yeah," her eyes shifted as the blonde suddenly threw a drink in her face and left the booth, "ooh, we got ourselves a ten fifty, G.I Jane just got a face full of wine."
"Well she's not about to get a sixty nine," Dolores rose with her as the blonde stormed across the floor, "go on, call me when you get home, I'll take care of G.I Jane."
"Huh?"
"Go," she pointed, "you're sober and I ain't, your country needs you."
"I ain't about to," she stopped as Dolores swung around her and planted herself in the path of the furious woman, "seduce her," she muttered under her breath as Dolores smiled and produced her badge.
"Sit down, sister," she enunciated the last word.
Sandy headed for the door but she lost sight of the woman as soon as she pushed through the door and ran out into the street and trying to look unobtrusive, Sandy edged out onto the sidewalk and looked up and down the sidewalk.
She had disappeared but not for long. Sandy spotted her emerging from a doorway but she had one eye on the bar and didn't see the group of men until she banged into one of them.
"Hey, watch it girl," the man's eyes widened.
She opened her mouth to apologize.
"Pretty girl," another chimed in, "you looking for a good time?"
Sandy sauntered down the sidewalk as she sized the six men up and picked out the ringleader, they didn't notice her until a badge flashed in their faces.
"You boys looking for a nice warm bed and breakfast with the judge?"
They looked her up and down and the ringleader spotted the handle of the pistol under her arm, he held his hands up and smiled.
"Just kidding around, weren't we sister?"
"She ain't your sister, jackass," she jerked her head, "now go on, get to Jersey before I give you some silver bracelets."
"Okay, we're splitting."
"Thanks," the woman swallowed her fear, "it's my fault."
"No it ain't your fault," she shot her a sideways glance, "I saw what happened in the bar and out here, there wasn't any need to be talking to you like that," she turned as the men disappeared down a subway ramp.
"You live far from here?"
"Out in Charles Street."
"Well we got two choices, I guess," she squinted down the street, "I can call you a cab or drive you home but either way you shouldn't be walking all that way alone."
"Okay," she nodded.
"Okay to what?" Sandy looked into her eyes, "the cab or the drive home?"
"The drive," she replied, "I gave my cab fare to one of the woman back there."
"Whoa, you are kind hearted," she grinned crookedly, "where were you when I was drinking?"
"You in a twelve step recovery program too?"
"Yeah," she nudged her, "this way," she pointed, "and you?"
"No," she looked over, "my brother is in recovery along with my father. I was practically raised in the fellowship. I was doing Alanon meetings back in Philly."
"Oh," she looked over in mild interest, "so you don't have a drink problem?"
"No not me," she paused as Sandy unlocked her car, "social drinker only but I can take it or leave it, my youngest brother is the same, some of us get it others don't."
"Yeah, it's a lucky dip all right," she stepped back, "well come on, you can get a ride back in a police car, minus the handcuffs."
"Whereabouts on Charles Streeet?" she looked across a minute later as she turned the key.
"Number eighty, just down from Burberry."
"I gotcha," she checked her mirror and spun the wheel, "I'm Sandy Robinson."
"Hannah Wolfe," she smiled, "so, you're a cop?"
"Yeah," her mouth twitched, "I'm a detective, fifteen years on the force, eight with Special Victims, the rest with Major Crime. I'm thinking of switching but can't figure out where to go next," she spun the wheel, "getting tired of chasing bank robbers and looking at bodies."
Hannah looked away and Sandy bit her lip.
'You know I used to be the queen of chat up lines. They used to say I could seduce a nun, but that was when I was on a bender. The hardest thing about being sober is not having an anesthetic to loosen the tongue and take away the inhibitions. I was sitting next to the most beautiful woman I had seen in months and my tongue had dropped the connection with my brain.'
"Sorry honey, I'm just trying to make conversation. Cops don't have much of a social life, hence we wind up in strange bars with strange people, having stranger conversations."
"That's all right," Hannah replied.
"So," she continued, "tell me. What were you doing in that place? I was only there because my partner had a birthday thing. Were you meeting someone there?"
"My girlfriend," she replied, "not that I'm that way inclined, neither is she but we both decided to go and check it out. We're both models signed to an agency here, we both got curious but she never turned up and then I got talking to some of the women and you saw the rest."
"I see," Sandy digested this news in silence for a block, "so you're curious or just wanted to check it out? I mean there are straights in there as well, they turn up with their own kind and leave with their own kind."
"Curious but I won't let a guy paw me like that so why should a woman get away with it? Who was she anyway?"
