After college, while looking for work as a writer, I settled for a retail job, for which I was the ideal woman. With the strong legs acquired from playing college soccer, thick blonde hair that fell below my shoulders and boobs like melons, nary a man or woman walked into my department without gawking, at least a little.
The day I met Jules was a day of pastels and derby hats. A certain spring fundraiser in my town requires fancy, flowery, over-the-top headwear, and in the days leading up to the event, society ladies come into Fashion Accessories to spend thousands on bonnets and fedoras.
After the Ladies Who Lunch left, their Chanel perfume still tickling my nose, she β with her prickly bald scalp, tattooed shoulders and dainty fingers painted black β brought goose bumps to my arms and the back of my neck. Until that moment, I thought I only liked boys.
My body said otherwise when we locked eyes and smiled at each other. As she handled a pair of Versace sunglasses I ogled the interaction β her fingers on the shiny, overpriced plastic β imagining that clean manicure with its rebellious hue pinching my tit until it glowed pink.
It was then that the warm gush soaked my stockings, under which I was bare.
My face felt hot. I must have blushed. How could I hide my attraction?
Certainly she noticed the sweat at my temples when she handed me her credit card.
"Can I see your ID?" I asked.
She slapped it on the counter and stuck out her tongue. "I hate this picture," she says.
She looks traditionally gorgeous in it, with a chin length deep brunette bob and mahogany lipstick. I calculated her age at 28, five years older than me.
"You look pretty."
"Well, thanks," she says. "That's sweet."
"I mean you look better like you are now." And to my own shock I add, "Sexy."
After looking around to see who is within earshot she says, "You are."
We both laugh. That night I think about her as I bathe. Squeezing liquid soap onto my nipples, into my palms, dreaming they are hers, I move them up and down, in and out, banging until my legs stiffen and my toes curl and I catch my breath mid-moan, embarrassed.
The next day she is there again. She needs a dress. She is a curator at the modern art museum downtown, it turns out, and she needs something fancy for an artist reception tonight.