I
Cath set down her beer and surveyed the bar's crowded tables with an appraising eye.
"Four o'clock," she said. "Sandy hair, undercut, torn jeans."
"No fair," said Sam quickly. "Undercuts are too easy."
"Not anymore," said Cath. "All the straight girls have them now." She heaved up off her chair, almost tipping over the table as she pushed on it to raise herself to her full height. Heads turned, understandably: at six foot one, with her fiery red mane of curls, Cath stood out in any crowd.
Sam and Naomi clutched at the half-full bottles to make sure they didn't fall. "Ten bucks she turns you down," Sam said briefly, a smile pulling wide her lips.
"Make it twenty," said Cath, sidling out around Sam's and Jayda's chairs, "and I'll share her."
Sam hooted derisively, but nodded. Jayda gasped, and even Naomi looked faintly scandalized. Cath strode off toward her quarry, her leather jacket accentuating her shoulders and her tight jeans showing off her long, incredible legs.
Naomi looked at Sam. "Where does she get the confidence?"
Sam was watching Cath's approach with narrowed eyes. She raised her beer to her red mouth.
"She's not the only one," she said challengingly. "Give me a target."
Naomi blinked, but Jayda said breathlessly,
"In the back corner. In the..." she fluttered her hands helplessly, unsure of the word.
"In the hijab," said Sam slowly, smiling.
"Yes!" Jayda bounced in her seat with glee, her prominent bosoms jiggling merrily. She shared a conspiratorial glance with Naomi, who returned the look doubtfully.
Sam considered for a long moment, then her smile flashed again. "Deal," she said. "Twenty."
Jayda nodded, gulping. Sam rose with much more delicacy than Cath had, and made her way to the back corner, her small, dainty figure and severe black haircut attracting much less attention.
Jayda leaned over to Naomi, her bosoms almost upsetting the bottles again.
"She
can't
win this one," she said happily. "I had a lab partner who wore one of those. She never even touched herself!"
Naomi shook her head. "You never know," she said. "When Sam wants something, she usually gets it."
Jayda's face fell.
"Oh my gosh, that's true," she said.
"It was her idea that we all move in together," said Naomi placidly. "
Cath
didn't want to, said she could afford her own place.
You
didn't want to, you were going to marry Tyler."
"Ugh, don't remind me," said Jayda, wrinkling her nose.
"
I
didn't want to, I thought you'd all distract me from my work. And I was right. But Sam made it happen anyway."
Jayda watched Sam disconsolately.
"She's been talking to her for a while," she said. "I
did
think I was going to win one for once. I never win one, and it's not fair. Sam and Cath have jobs."
"I have a job too," said Naomi mildly.
"I know, but it's different," said Jayda with no hint of offense. "You never have any money either."
Naomi looked as though she would have liked to dispute this, but shrugged her plump shoulders.
"It takes a while to build a readership," she admitted.
Jayda gasped, and clutched at Naomi, upsetting several bottles for good at last.
"Sam's crawling under the table!" she cried in despair.
Naomi nodded. "And Cath's heading to the bathroom with the undercut."
"So I pay Sam, and Sam pays Cath," sighed Jayda, attempting to mop up the beer with a napkin totally inadequate to the job.
"What if I bet you?" said Naomi. "Then if you win, at least it's my twenty in Cath's hands instead of yours."
Jayda stared at her uncomprehending for a long moment. Then her face crumpled.
"I would probably lose," she said.
"Not if I pick the right girl," said Naomi, already scanning the crowd.
"But I don't know
how
. I was only with Tyler before I moved in with all of you, and he asked me."
"You won't need to do anything," said Naomi, with a glance at Jayda's cherubic face, hourglass figure, and pale blonde hair. "There. Girl with the book in the oversized sweater."
Jayda looked, and bit her lip uncertainly.
"She
is
cute," she admitted.
"Go up to her, tell her you couldn't take your eyes off her, and see what happens."
Jayda looked for Cath and Sam. The former had disappeared into the women's room, and the latter was visible only as two shoe soles peeping out from the darkness underneath a table, its hijabi occupant's eyes wide and her face flushed.
"And you'll give me twenty dollars?"
"After one of you gives the other an orgasm. That's the deal."
"That's the deal," Jayda whispered. Staring at the girl in the oversized sweater, she groped for an unspilled bottle, took a long swig from it, and set it down. "Okay," she said at last, looking at Naomi, who smiled at her encouragingly.
Jayda stood, steadied herself on the table, then moved numbly toward the girl in the oversized sweater, walking as though she were still unused to the high heels she wore every night. Naomi sat back in her chair and nursed her beer with a faint smile. A plump black girl with a puffy cloud of natural hair, she was used to being ignored in neighborhoods like this.
A shadow passed between her and the light from the bar, then paused.
"You here alone?" said a soft, deep voice. Naomi looked up.
II
Cath and the girl with the undercut had begun kissing as soon as the door swung closed behind them, Cath's hands gripping her ass and pulling her up to her height.