Ketchum, ID

ch 18 - both

Jo

As Alex and I walked to the office. I remembered what had happened in the very office we were stepping into just moments before. I could feel my cheeks turning pink all over again as I shut the door behind Alex and I.

"She kissed me," I felt the words coming out of my mouth before I could stop them.

Alex turned around faster than I had ever seen them move in my whole time of knowing them. The look of shock on their face was exactly the reaction I was expecting.

"OH MY GOD!" they screamed loud enough that I'm sure people sitting at the bar heard them. "FINALLY!"

"Finally? What are you talking about? We barely know each other!" I shouted back with a smile on my face.

"How long you've known each other does not negate the tension that's been in the air since she first stepped into this bar. I see how you guys look at each other and how you both react to each other. It's been a long time coming," they said in their signature know-it-all voice.

"A long time? What, like 6 days long time?" I said with a laugh.

"Long enough! You're lesbians! Most lesbians would've had the U-Haul parked out front already!"

"Okay, okay, it happened. We can't act crazy insane when we go back out there, though. I don't want her to regret it," I said.

"I highly doubt she could regret it, babes," they said in that same matter-of-fact voice. "But I won't act, what did you say? Crazy insane? I'll be on my best behavior. But only if you tell me exactly how it happened. Spare no details. Make me feel bad about my celibacy."

"Well it should hardly make you feel bad, we kissed for like a minute. The kiss could be shown in a PG movie, it was hardly breaking celibacy," I said, laughing again.

"That's a minute more than I'm kissing anyone," they said, shrugging their shoulders. "But you're still not giving me enough details here, give me an Evelyn Hugo tell-all kiss retelling right this instant, young lady," they said, referencing the last book our book club read.

"Okay, okay," I said as I waved my hand at them. "So I was crying, as one does when their mentally unstable ex shows up at their place of work and confesses that they're still in love with them, and she stepped forward to me and wiped the tears from my face," I said as Alex's hand moved up to cover their gasp.

"Shut up!" they said. "She's cute and considerate? Tell me more!"

"And then I totally embarrassed myself and pretty much confessed every feeling I have for her," I said, causing Alex to sharply inhale. "But then she cut me off by placing both hands on my face, and then she asked if she could kiss me."

"She ASKED?" Alex shouted. "Oh my god! This is the best story I've ever heard. I need it imprinted into my brain immediately!"

"Yes, she asked," I said, feeling the blush creep back onto my cheeks again. "And then she asked me what time I was off-"

"You're off right now! Let's go! We need to get you back out there! You guys need to leave!" Alex said, rushing to straighten the desk up.

"What about finding a band for Live Music Thursday?"

"I'll just ask your girlfriend's band," Alex said with a wink.

"She is not my girlfriend," I said with a dramatic eyeroll.

"Yet," Alex said, winking again. "She's not your girlfriend, yet. Don't forget the key word here."

Julien