THE DARE (G!P Freenbecky)

Chapter 11

She could feel her jaw set. "The real world is incredibly beautiful, full of wonder, and there's usually a surprise around every corner."

Freen smiled, dropped her hand. "You believe that?"

"I know that. Look at what happened with Mon," At this point, that angel on her shoulder had just given up and was sitting in a crumpled heap, weeping, while the little red devil on her other shoulder was jumping up and down and whispering, 'You go girl!'

"Freen, I believe it with all my heart," For some strange reason, she felt it was absolutely crucial that she get through to this woman. Even more crucial than revealing who she really was and what they'd experienced together.

Freen was silent for a long moment, looking down at her. "Good for you," She said softly, with no trace of cynicism  or mockery. And to Becky, she suddenly looked unbearably tired.

'She needs me.' The thought hit her hard, a gut feeling, a rush of intuition. She reached for her arm, words on the tip of her tongue ready to confess all, when Freen turned to her and said, "I see guests starting to file in, we'd better help Anda and Lookkaew get that receiving line together."

The moment, the instant she would have confessed, was gone. Mutely, she nodded her head.

She'll tell her later.
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Later, she lost her nerve.

She sat with Anda and Lookkaew and Freen, up at the slightly raised, larger table in front of all the other guests.

And after their first course was served, Becky found herself pushing her salad around her plate with the tines of her fork.

Ordinarily, she would have enjoyed taking in the intricate details and appreciated all the planning that Lookkaew and her mother had done. Like the plain red, green, or gold ornament balls at each place setting that had people's names written on them. They were original little place cards, and Lookkaew had told everyone that they could take their own ornament home with them tonight.

She stared at the elegant writing. 'BECKY' had been written in gold across a green glass ball, but she barely paid any attention.

This whole thing was getting extremely complicated. What had she been thinking, jumping into bed with Freen? But she had to admit, it was just like her. She had the sort of personality that leapt before it looked, but the funny thing was, she had such a strong sense of faith in life that things usually turned out all right if not excellent.

"Don't like the salad?" Freen asked, and she noticed that most of the people at their table had already finished theirs.

"No, it's......tasty," Determined not to call attention to herself, she speared some of the mixed greens in raspberry vinaigrette and raised the fork to her lips.
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'There's something about her.....'

Freen just couldn't place what it was.

The weirdest thing was, when she was with Becky, she didn't even think about Mon. Which was strange, because she was seeing the dancer tonight, and this morning she had been feeling like she could hardly wait for Mon to come back to her house.

But something about Becky challenged her.

She was pretty sure Becky had no idea who Freen was or what she did. That in itself was refreshing. She couldn't even begin to remember how many dates she'd endured where she knew the woman in question was only interested in her bank balance and how quickly she could get her hands on it.

Waiters appeared with their entée, and Freen watched as Becky pushed her salad away and began to play wiyh her entrée in the same way.

Something was bothering her, and it was more than watching her best friend get married. Besides, she didn't seem like the type who rained on another's parade.