It was late and the day had been filled with almost nothing. That's the beauty of having a job which gives you days off on end - you don't feel you have to DO something with each moment. You can get lost in the mundane. I'd spent most of my day flipping through back issues of Oprah magazine and drinking coffee to recover from my hangover. With several more jobless days ahead of me I felt satisfied with being boring and listless.
Michelle felt the same way. She'd been right in there with me, picking aimlessly at her guitar and brewing inordinate amounts of herbal tea. I'd spent nearly two hours just watching her. I'd noticed how her upper lip curled toward her pointed nose just slightly as if she was always hiding some secret. I saw the many hues of her white-blonde hair - the honeys, silvers, whites, and golds that created closely-cropped halo on her head.
Our dinner came in styrofoam boxes. Hamburger and fried-food smells accompanied by beers left in the fridge from the party the night before. Why cook when you can walk across the street for take out? We devoured our meals in hungry silence in front of the TV, both watching and ignoring the episodes of the L-Word flashing in front of us.
When Denver came over we were still there, sitting on the futon with a single blanket draped over our legs. He'd come to apologize to Michelle for the night before. In a drunken stupor he'd told her he loved her. She sat and heard what he had to say and told him that she did not mind. She was flattered - just not into guys. He settled in with us to watch the TV, sitting on the floor in front of us and leaning on the futon by our crossed legs.
The show was not riveting, but I felt akin to it anyhow. As a bisexual female I always felt the need to connect with lesbian culture. It was as if I had to make up for the fact that I liked men. As if loving women too was not good enough. As I pondered this deep thought Michelle shifted and her knee came to rest against mine.
Electricity.
She felt it too. I looked up to see her staring at me in a way I'd not experienced. Glancing at the back of Denver's head, she slid her hand along her thigh until it connected with my patella. My temperature raised and I responded by sliding my own hand out to touch hers. Our fingertips gently rubbed against one another as we turned our heads back to the TV screen.