"Come here darling. Sit down and tell Marilyn what's wrong," the slender, dark-skinned woman said; as she used her foot to push out the chair on the other end of the table. She held out her hand to the chair invitingly.
Sophia hesitated, but smiled weakly as she looked at Marilyn's sympathetic expression. She turned toward the empty seat and hung her head in an exaggerated manner as she plopped herself down.
"How do you always know?" Sophia asked.
"It's a mystery," Marilyn responded with an unwavering smile, "so...what cloud is raining on your beautiful spirit today, love?"
"It's this girl," Sophia began.
"Ah, so you've finally accepted that part of yourself," Marilyn said as she sat back and folded her arms on her chest.
Sophia's head shot up and she stared at her lunch partner with wide eyes, unable to believe that Marilyn could have known about her bisexual nature before she herself had. Still, this was Marilyn; she seemed to have a sixth sense about these kinds of things. Words of protest floated around her head, but were quickly dispersed as Sophia realized that there was really no point in arguing the matter.
"Yes," Sophia answered with resignation, "we've been...seeing each other."
"You fucked her." Marilyn stated matter-of-factly.
"Er...yes," Sophia responded as she tried to recover from the bluntness of Marilyn's remark.
"And you haven't heard from her since." Marilyn continued.
"How do you know these things?!" Sophia's voice rose with awe before she stopped and added, "do you know her?"
"Who?"
"Kaylin."
"Kaylin who?"
Sophia opened her mouth to speak, but realized with horror that she was stumped. How in the world could she not know Kaylin's last name? As a matter of fact, what exactly did she know about this girl? Sophia stared down at the table as if she were trying to fit the pieces to a puzzle together.
"Love, why do you let this woman bother you?" Marilyn asked with concern, "So you had a rebound. It sounds like that's what it was for her, too. Now that you've got that out of your system, you can move on." She looked at her watch and added, "Oh, just like me. I got class in a few. Listen to me, love; hold your enemies closer than your friends, but hold your friends closer than strangers."
Even with a metaphoric statement like that, Sophia knew that she was referring to the rocky status of her and Raquel's friendship. Marilyn grabbed the remains of her lunch and tossed it in a nearby garbage. Then she returned to give Sophia a hug, and grab her backpack.
Sophia knew that, as much sense as her friend was making, she didn't want to move on. She and Kaylin were friends before that night, and they both understood that it wasn't anything more than sex. Of course, it's possible that she could have sensed Sophia's growing attachment and gotten scared off. Sophia scowled as she cursed herself for not being able to maintain better objectivity; for letting her emotions rule her. Amelia was right; she was far too much of a hopeless romantic.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"So, I'm sitting on top of her, grinding very slowly on her so that she begs for me to do it harder. What she doesn't realize is that I'm purposefully holding my weight up so that she gets all frustrated," Kaylin's excited voice could barely be heard by anyone except Amelia, who was sitting across from her in the restaurant.
"Oh, you are so wicked," Amelia replied with equal enthusiasm. She was leaning over the table, clearly attentive to the story she was being told.
"She could only take so much of that before she pushed herself up on me. I had to make her want it that badly before I gave her a fucking that she'd never forget. By the time I was through with her, she was crying for me to stop. And do you want to know what the best part was?"
Amelia nodded her head vigorously as she grinned with anticipation.
"I had a video camera hidden on the night stand that recorded everything! And she had no idea!"
"No!" Amelia gasped with delightful shock and then laughed along with Kaylin. "That's evil, even for you."
"Oh Amelia...you have no idea."
"Sounds like you found yourself quite a slut."
"Oh, don't I wish. But wouldn't you know it? The bitch gets all sappy and keeps emailing me about 'our special night together'," Kaylin said with sarcasm as she stuck her tongue out and pretended to vomit. "God, doesn't anyone just want to fuck anymore?"
Amelia rolled her eyes in agreement. "Don't I know it. You know, I'm starting to think that being single is the only way to be. I was really starting to believe that this whole threesome idea could work."
"Oh, please...a woman like you can't be tied down; literally or metaphorically. You're in your prime. Your successful, you're hot and you can have anyone you want."
"My ego thanks you for stroking it."
Kaylin smiled and said, "I wouldn't mind stroking something else...if you wanted me to."