*Author's Note: Any and all persons engaging in any sexual activity are at least eighteen years of age.
**Disclaimers: This story has been edited by myself, utilizing Microsoft Spell-Check. You have been forewarned; expect to find mistakes.
*.*
Lexia Lindstrom wiped at her tears as she sat at the wobbly kitchen table to write out another 'Thank You' note. For a brief moment, she cursed the damned table; one leg was shorter than the other and no matter where one sat, the table rocked slightly.
"The flowers were truly beautiful; I know my mother would have loved them,' she wrote.
A few months later, the Shipping Line's insurance company was still trying to wait Lexia out. Thankfully, though, Lexia's mom, Roxy Lindstrom had been good friends with Amelia Waters. The young, beautiful attorney had assured Lexia, she would take care of everything. At present, Lexia's rent and utilities were being taken care of by the Law Offices of Richards, Pellichet, and Jones & Associates. They were also giving Lexia eight hundred dollars a month for groceries and other incidentals.
"Two more months. Just two more months of this crap," Amethyst Boudreaux declared, flopping onto Lexia's couch.
"Uh huh. And then what?" Lexia asked, pulling the covered dish from the refrigerator.
"Then freedom! And, no more of Marla's stupid shit of 'Hey Rocky' and..." Amethyst said.
"Uh huh, and no more 'Lezzy-ah' and...God damn I just hate that little blonde bitch Marla my-shit-don't-stink Tooms," Lexia snarled.
"Hey, when you get that settlement? Maybe we can put a hit out on her, huh?" Amethyst suggested and the two girls giggled. "So, what you making?"
"Told you; Santa Fe wraps," Lexia said.
That morning, Lexia had taken two fat leg quarters, mixed together some lime juice and olive oil, thoroughly coating each piece. She then combined salt and pepper, fresh cracked black pepper, not that stuff out of the tin, some cumin, some garlic powder and some red pepper flakes. Each piece was coated with the spices and placed into a covered dish. The covered dish went into the refrigerator and had marinated while Lexia and Amethyst were at school.
Now, while a large cast iron skillet heated on the stove, Lexia diced up some onions, bell pepper and one jalapeno pepper. Dropping a tablespoon of vegetable oil into the skillet, Lexia scraped the contents of the cutting board into the sizzling skillet. While the vegetables cooked, Lexia diced the chicken into uniform pieces.
While the chicken and vegetables sizzled and popped in the cast iron skillet, Lexia made a chunky salsa and a creamy guacamole. She stirred the chicken and vegetables then heated some corn tortillas on a flat cast iron skillet.
"Would have taken my mom the whole day to do all that," Amethyst praised as Lexia scooped the contents of the cast iron skillet into a large ceramic bowl.
"Next place I get? Going have a gas stove," Lexia declared.
"And a better table? This one sucks," Amethyst said as they sat at the wobbly table.
"Hello? New York Times? Hi, uh, my friend Am? Yeah, she just said something real obvious...you're sending a reporter right over?" Lexia said, pantomiming speaking into a cell phone.
"Shut up," Amethyst said.
"Yeah, I know the table sucks; my mom's grandmother gave it to her when she got kicked out of the house," Lexia reminded Amethyst.
While they ate, Amethyst looked at her best friend, her only friend. When they'd met as frightened eighth graders going to the overwhelming and confusing Kimble Academy High School, they'd gravitated toward one another, taking comfort in their shared misery. At that time, Lexia had been short and stocky. Lexia was still short; she was only five feet one inch in height, and was still ten, fifteen pounds overweight, but those pounds were now in Lexia's chest and buttocks.
"Thought guys liked big boobs," Amethyst thought, watching Lexia's braless breasts jostle and jiggle underneath her snug blouse.
Lexia's whitish blonde hair reached almost to her waist and bounced in her ponytail as she spooned salsa onto the tortilla. Her blue eyes were brilliant and expressive; Lexia would never be a good poker player. Her face was pale and narrow, with a slim nose and pouting lips.
Amethyst glanced down at her own solid physique. She had long brown hair; it reached down to her calves and she wore it parted in the middle. Her big round eyes were a warm brown, her nose was a round, snub nose and her mouth was a button mouth. Her chest was a 32C chest and at present, she could feel her nipples poking against the thin material of her blouse. Her waist was a thirty inch waist; diet, exercise, it just didn't seem to help. Her hips were thirty three inches; Amethyst thought she had a fat ass even though Lexia kept assuring her that her ass was perfect for Amethyst's four foot, eleven inch frame.
"You know the rules," Lexia said as they finished eating their supper. "Ain't having no chicken bones and skin stinking the whole place up."
"Yeah, yeah," Amethyst smiled, clearing the wobbly table.
"And now..." Lexia said when Amethyst returned from throwing the garbage bag into the apartment complex's dumpster.
"Huh?" Amethyst asked, shutting the door of Lexia's apartment.
"Party!" Lexia whooped, putting a half-gallon bottle of Nulough's Strawberry flavored vodka onto the kitchen counter.
"Par-TAY!" Amethyst corrected. "But, Lex, how, where'd you get that?"
"Found my mom's ID," Lexia admitted. "God, you look at the picture? Can't even tell it ain't me."
Lexia made some drinks using Strawberry soda and the Nulough's Strawberry vodka. Both Lexia and Amethyst agreed, the best soda in the world? Strawberry. The best ice cream in the world? Strawberry. The best jam in the world? Strawberry. The best cookies in the world? Girl Scouts Thin Mints. But the Burns & Burns Grocers brand sandwich cookies with strawberry flavored filling was a close second.
"'Course, ain't much of a 'par-tay' with just the two of us," Amethyst thought as Lexia prepared the drinks.
Amethyst wondered why it was just her and Lexia, two eighteen year old girls all alone on a Friday night. She was cute and Lexia was beautiful.
"I'm pretty cute, and you're really cute. So, what's the deal?" Amethyst asked as they plopped down on Lexia's couch.
"What's the deal with what?" Lexia asked, glancing over at Amethyst.
"Oh," Amethyst said, realizing she'd spoken her thoughts out loud.
She took another sip of her drink. She shrugged her shoulders and faced the waiting Lexia. She let out an exasperated sigh.
"Well, I'm kind of cute, and you, you're really cute," Amethyst said.
"Am, you're beautiful," Lexia corrected.
"Any. Way, I'm cute and you're cute. So, why's it just us?" Amethyst asked.
"Uh? Because they all afraid of Marla Tooms," Lexia said. "Remember? Ophelia? Started hanging out with us and next thing you know Marla started that shit that she was doing all of the basketball players?"
"Oh. Yeah," Amethyst said, remembering the obese but very sweet classmate and the misfortune that had befallen the girl at the hands of the cruel cheerleader.
"And of course, they all think we're dykes thanks to her," Lexia said bitterly.
"Oh well, two more months," no, no, it's not even two more months; it's just six and a half weeks," Amethyst brightened.
"And then, in a couple of months, you'll be going off to college," Lexia said quietly.
"Yeah. How come you not going to college?" Amethyst said. "I mean, your grades are perfect and..."
"Well, Mom, Dad, I don't want to, all right?" Lexia snapped.
"But Lex, you, you're really smart," Amethyst declared. "You could get..."
"Am, I, all I want to do is get married, take care of my husband and our kids and our house," Lexia said. "I know, I know it's real old-fashioned, but that's what I want to do. I just want to be a housewife."
"Domestic Engineer," Amethyst playfully corrected.
"Housewife. There's nothing to be ashamed of in being a housewife; I don't need any fancy titles to make it okay," Lexia defended. "But seriously; what I'm going learn at college?"
"I don't know," Amethyst admitted.
"You still going to Myndee?" Lexia asked, getting up to fix more drinks.
"Yeah, but hey, it, it's only I think it's only 'bout seven, maybe eight hours away," Amethyst comforted.
"But, but U.L.D's right there," Lexia whined, pointing toward the general direction of the University of Louisiana at DeGarde.
"Uh and guess who's going there. Along with just about everybody else from our suck ass school," Amethyst said, accepting the fresh drink from Lexia.
"I, I just hate..." Lexia said, then barked out. "God damn that bitch and her 'Lexie Lix' shit.
The two girls sat quietly for a moment. Lexia took a deep gulp of her drink. Amethyst sat, staring at the glass in her hand.
"You ever..." Amethyst asked, voice barely a whisper, staring hard at the red bubbles in her drink.
"I ever what?" Lexia could barely choke the words out.
"You ever, you know," Amethyst forced herself to ask.
"I ever what, Am?" Lexia demanded.
She wasn't going to say it until Amethyst said it. Lexia knew what Amethyst was trying to ask, or thought she knew what Amethyst was trying to say. But, suppose she was wrong; suppose Amethyst was trying to ask if Lexia had ever seen a particular television show, or flown in a hot air balloon or any other unrelated incident.
"You know, Lex, uh, with another girl?" Amethyst managed to choke out, her words a jumbled rush.
"I uh, no. I, you?" Lexia choked out.
"No, I, no," Amethyst said, then guzzled her drink in one long swallow.
Putting her empty glass down onto a thick cork coaster, Amethyst suddenly let out a monstrous strawberry flavored belch. Her big brown eyes opened wide at the gargantuan burp she'd managed to expel. Then she and Lexia collapsed in a fit of laughter.
"Oh my God, people in Apartment two ten heard that one!" Lexia declared as they slumped together on the comfortable couch, giggling.
The first kiss was a soft, tentative kiss. They touched their lips together, then jerked away, as if scalded. Lexia's big blue eyes looked deeply into Amethyst's deep brown eyes. Amethyst's deep brown eyes looked deep into Lexia's blue eyes.
The second kiss was a soft kiss, lip to lip. Lexia's arms came around Amethyst's torso, holding her friend loosely. When Amethyst opened her mouth, Lexia's hold around Amethyst's torso tightened. Amethyst wound her arms around Lexia's torso as she tasted Lexia's strawberry flavored tongue.
"I, so, what we do now?" Amethyst asked quietly when they broke the kiss.
"I, Am, how I would know? I ain't never done this," Lexia gasped out.
