Then Came Blue_ girlxgirl.

Chapter 14

I know it's not cool to show up first for the party but I've always liked to show up early and see it before its tarnished by the guests. I like to look at the setup, the flower arrangements, the decorations, the lights, the table settings... It all usually looks so beautiful and this party isn't an exception. The venue is Blue's childhood home. It's big and its beautiful, its painted all white and looks clean and modern. The lights make it so bright and beautiful, the beams as if floating through air both inside and outside.
"Wow, babe this is beautiful," I say to Blue who has her hand resting on the small of my back.
"I know but I can think of something more beautiful," she replies, sliding the arm on the small of my back further around my waist pulling me in for a kiss. I look at her and feel so much love swell in my chest, my heart beating just for her in this moment.
"I love you," I tell her. I love the way I can see the joy dancing around in her eyes just before her smile gets so big it could split her face.
"Agh, get a room you two," Lona says but you can tell she says it fondly. I was so lost in the two of us I almost forgot we weren't alone.
"I'm going to need a couple of drinks if I have to be around these two all night long," Skylar who's always bitter says. "Come on boys, let's go find the bar." She takes each boy by the hand and drags them away with her.
"Don't mind her, let's go find our seats," Kiara says.
"I'm going to find my parents, okay? Be right back," Blue says with one last lingering kiss on my cheek before she walks away and up a long winding stairwell, leaving me with Kiara and Lona. My eyes follow her involuntarily because damn, she looks good in that pant-suit.
"Excuse me? Young lady?" A beautiful elegant looking lady in a blue gown is trying to catch our attention, well at least one of us. We all turn to look at her, me looking confused while Lona and kiara break into smiles.
"I meant the one drooling over my daughter," she clarifies looking directly at me and I feel myself flush with embarrassment. What a nice way to meet the mother of your girlfriend.
"Kiara, Lona, nice to see you as always," she turns from me a second to acknowledge my friends.
"Hi Mrs T," they say in unison.
"I'm going to need to borrow your new friend over here so you two can go ahead."  She dismisses them with a flippant wave of her fingers.
I'm still standing alone with my girlfriends mother feeling a little bit shaky. I didn't know I'd be meeting her this soon and without Blue next to me. She turns suddenly and starts walking away fast issuing orders to me and to the events staff as she goes.
"Come, follow me. You, that candle is too close to the curtain, do something, and that table needs an extra napkin..." She says as she goes and I shuffle behind her trying to catch up. She stops abruptly and turns to me so I have to halt abruptly in my steps too. For a moment she just stands there looking at me with Blues eyes but only these ones are not looking at me with love or mischief like Blue's. I can't read what they are saying and its making me flustered and nervous and when I'm nervous I talk.
"Hi Mrs Tarzan, thank you for inviting me and you look so pretty in that dress but I guess you'd look good in anything. You're pretty... And I think I just told my girlfriends mother she is pretty. I'm sorry. But not that you're not but because I think you're actually beautiful and you have Blues eyes and you're probably wondering how I know your daughter well I'm_"
"I know who you are Riley," She finally says cutting off my rambling. I nod in agreement because I don't trust myself to talk anymore. She considers me for a little longer before she smiles a smidge and says, "Okay, grab those flowers and follow me." She motions to an arrangement of yellow roses so I pick it up and shuffle behind her again.
"Set it over there," She points to a table without any flowers on it, "and come hold this ladder for me."
Does she intend to go up that ladder???
"Uh,Mrs Tarzan, do you intend to..." I let my words trail off and use my eyes to complete the question.
"Climb up this ladder? Yes, that's my intention. These lights don't seem quite right." Its a short ladder but I still don't see this elegant lady up a ladder or any sort of ladder for that matter.
"Mrs Tarzan, maybe you could direct me on how you want them and I'll try and do it for you?"
"Why young lady? Do you think I'm too old to be climbing up ladders?" She puts her hand on her hip and regards me with a challenge in her eyes.
"Uh..no..no not at all, that's not what I'm saying, I just_"
She cuts me off with a smile and says, "Relax Riley, and you're right, better you than me. This dress wasn't made for ladder climbing any way." I move around her to get to the front of the ladders and I decide, what the heck, if I'm climbing ladders for her then I can also allow myself get familiar with her, right?
"So, how do you know who I am? I mean we've only just met and_"
"I know who you are Riley because every time I get to see my daughter she can barely string together two sentences without 'Riley' coming up," She puts air quotes on my name, "and when I saw you come in with her, I didn't need anyone to tell me who you were."
She talks about me to her parents. I feel a gleeful smile creep up on my face.
"Just move the lights a little to the left so they hang_" Mrs Tarzans words are cut short by an outraged Blue.
"Mum!!! You can't do that to my guests!" Her eyes are open wide moving from her mum and up to me. "Riley, baby come down."
"Hey, she offered to help," her mum replies.
"Well you could have said no. Babe, come on down."
"Blue I just have to move this here and I'm done," I speak as I move the lights into place.
"We'll you're done now so get down before you fall and break something."
"Thanks Riley honey, now get down before my daughter kills both of us."
"Only you honey can have our daughters girlfriend up a ladder within a minute of meeting her," a deep masculine voice says from a man I hadn't noticed standing beside Blue.
"Well, I'm not the one looking up our daughters girlfriends skimpy dress," Mrs Tarzan replies.
Father and daughter both speak at the same time, "Dad!?" and "I wasn't!!" If I wasn't at the center of this situation I'd probably laugh but as it is I  only have room to be mortified. I climb down the short ladder and Blue is quick to  pull me to her side as if protecting me from her mother. Mrs Tarzan walks to stand closer to her husband who loops his arm around his wife's waist.
"You know I wouldn't look up any woman's skirt right?" He asks her.
"I know and I wouldn't let you," she replies confidently like a  woman who knows her worth.
"Can you guys not talk about that now, here, in front of me?" Blue asks them.
"Of course. Now will you introduce this beautiful lady to us officially?" Blue's dad says.
"Mum, dad, this is my girlfriend Riley. Riley, these are my crazy embarrassing parents as you might have noticed."
"Nice to meet you Mr and Mrs Tarzan," I say, extending my hand for a hand shake but I find myself drawn into a big engulfing masculine chest.
"We are huggers in this family dear," he whispers against my hair. "Its nice to finally meet you Riley." He adds after he let's me go.
"Riley and I already met so I'll let you go find your friends. The guests are beginning to arrive as it is," Blue's mum says moving away I assume to order around more people. "Vaughn, go make our guests feel welcome," she says to her husband over her shoulder, "And can someone please take away this ladder." And on she goes leaving Blue and I with her dad.
"Much as I'd love to stay and chat, I  have to go do your mothers bidding." Mr Tarzan says to his daughter. "Again, its nice to meet you Riley," he finishes with a warm smile before sauntering off too.
"I'm sorry about my mum," Blue turns me into her arms and says.
"It's okay, I wanted to help. Your parents seem nice though. Not what I expected."
"Really?" She raises an eyebrow. "Let's go get ourselves something to drink as you tell me what it is you expected them to be." She loops her fingers with mine and drags me to the bar.
* * *
An hour later the party is in full swing. Blues parents might not be as snobbish as I thought they'd be but I can't say the same for their friends. The gowns and jewelry on these people could easily pay for me through school and the rate at which champagne is being consumed is alarming. I'm seated in Blues lap(I'm in her world where its okay for us to do this) and it's nice not to have to be worried about who knows her and I are dating. My guard is down, I'm laughing and having fun with Blues friends, seated in my girlfriends lap eating grapes she's feeding me having no care in the world when a problem walks through the door.
We've all been watching the entrance for people coming and going so the moment she steps into the room, I notice her. Its Lynn, my very homophobic friend Lynn. I jump off Blue's lap so fast I send the grape in her hand flying. He hand accidentally knocks over the metallic salt shaker which clashes to the tiled floor with a resounding noise attracting unwanted attention to our table and especially Lynns attention.
"What the_!? Babe?" I hear Blues concerned voice but I'm too busy chanting a mantra in my head and busying myself with picking up the salt. Please don't notice me, please don't notice me, please don't_
"Riley? Is that you?" So much for that mantra. I stand up straight and put on my best surprised look. Everyone at our table has also turned to see this new arrival.
"Lynn!?? What are you doing here?" I ask genuinely curious.
"I could ask you the same thing," she replies, pulling me into a hug.
"Uh, a...a friend...invited me." I stutter on the word friend because using it to refer to Blue has my stomach in knots. I take a quick glance at her but she turns away from me suddenly finding her cutlery interesting.
"A friend huh, which of them is he?" She asks motioning between Ethan and Kenji.
"Uh..." I start to stutter again when Kenji comes to my rescue, intentionally or not I don't know but I'm grateful.
"Hi, I'm Kenji and you are beautiful." He plants himself in front of me right between Lynn and I. Pheewww.
"And she came with someone so step away." A not so cute but definitely hot dude materializes beside Lynn.
"Isaac!?" Kenji says, the surprise in his voice is a happy kind of surprise.
"Nice to see you again, Kenji," the Isaac person says, flashing a toothy grin before they share one of those bro-hugs.
"Same here man, and now I'll leave your date alone." Kenji retorts before moving back to his seat.
The boy called Isaac then looks down to where Blue is seated,still playing with her cutlery,the rest of the crew also just watching on.
"Blue," he says in acknowledgement. "And I see the whole crew is here," he adds, his gaze sweeping across the table and finally coming to rest on me. "But this one, this one I don't know. She one of yours Blue?" He leers at me making me uncomfortable and more so because of what he just asked.
Blue looks up from the table for the first time and stands up beside me, but its in that same moment I say, "I'm not anyones!" making Blue take a step away from me regrettably. I want so badly to pull her back or step closer to her but I can't, not with Lynn standing there looking at Blue like she just saw something unusual. I spare a quick glance at Blue but her face is so blank in a way I've never seen it.
"Isaac, its been a while," she says ever so flatly. "And, this is my friend Riley. Riley this is my cousin Isaac."
"Nice to meet you Isaac." We shake hands before Isaac steps around me to say hi to the rest. Then he turns around and points to Lynn.
"And that is my date Lynn who, apparently knows your friend Riley, small world huh?" You can say that again.
"Hi," she says. Lynn is still looking at Blue kind of funny and Blue being Blue holds her gaze confidently, unwavering and challenging. I feel it beginning to get awkward so I grab Lynns hand and pull her away.
"I'm going to show Lynn to the bar, be right back." I say pulling her away quickly. I look back at Blue over my shoulder and I feel my stomach flip. She doesn't look happy in the least bit. 'Sorry' I mouth to her, trying to put as much emotion in my eyes as I can but she just shrugs and turns away from me.
"Riley, that babe is a lesbian." Lynn states immediately we are out of earshot and my stomach flips over again.
"What babe?" I ask trying to play dumb.
"The one with the eye-shadow and pant-suit. Blue."
"And how would you know that?" I ask.
"Oh please, everything about her screams,'I like pussy.'"
"You don't have to be so crass about it you know." I know I'm being defensive but it's just her words are making me uncomfortable.
"I know she's probably your new boos friend but there is no defending such people Riley." "Such people" who are people like me. My stomach rolls again and I think at this rate I'm going to lose my lunch soon.
"Such people? They are human too you know."
She turns to me with disdain on her face and I'm ready for something offensive but she just shrugs and says, "Whatever, but you should be careful with their kind." She turns around to order her drink and I stay behind her seething and wanting to kill her for even thinking bad about Blue but also wanting to run and hide from the idea that I'm one of "those people".
We go back to our table but this time I take my own seat instead of Blues lap but still next to her. Lynn sits across from us with her date Isaac who just falls in with these people like they all have been friends for a long time. I put some distance between my seat and Blues because well, Lynn. From across the room Skylar sneers at me as if she is disgusted with me and this time I agree with her because I disgust myself too. All Blue has done is love me and show me off and proudly tell everyone who cares to hear that I'm her girlfriend but I can't do the same for her. I'm the coward keeping her as my dirty secret which she totally doesn't deserve.
The conversation goes on around me and I pitch in when I can but most of me is attuned to the girl beside me. She isn't her usual chatty loud self and she's so tense in her seat and its all because of me. I love Blue and that means when she hurts I hurt too and that's why I can't sit here beside her and pretend I'm not bothered that she isn't okay.
I gently put my hand on Blues thigh under the table and immediately I see the tension start seeping out of her body. She brings her hand down and puts it in mine so we are holding hands under the table.
"Hi," she says quietly for my ears only, addressing me directly for the first time since Lynn and Isaac joined our little circle.
"Hi," I reply,smiling at her and giving her hand a gentle squeeze. We might not be in full-on Blue and Riley mode but I feel so much better now. But nothing lasts forever, not even this little moment we'd just had ourselves.
"So, Riley, are you dating....anyone?" Isaac asks. I immediately tense up in my seat and so does Blue.
"Um, why?" I ask.
"Because I want to ask you to dance and I don't want to step on any ones toes." His eyes dart between Blue and I when he says this.
"She is dating someone alright, what was his name again? Ben, Bob? Rob? No, it starts with a B," Lynn adds her own useful insight.
"Yeah Riley, what is it? Bob? Ben?" Skylar asks looking at me challengingly.
Blue trues to wrench her hand out of mine but I hold on tighter. "I never gave you nosy bitches a name," I say, willing my voice to sound so casual and friendly. An awkward silence descends on the group.
"Anyway, so how about that dance?" Isaac insists.
"Aren't you two like dating?" Lona asks, she's addressing Isaac and Lynn.
"That doesn't mean I can't ask another beautiful girl to dance."
"Riley doesn't dance," Blue says with such finality you would think she's my owner and everyone is quiet again until Lynn breaks the silence.
"Yeah, the dyke is right. Riley doesn't dance," she says and everything comes to a standstill.
"The fuck Lynn!? That's my cousin you're talking about?" Isaac is the first to break the silence.
"Do you want to rephrase that Lynn?" Kiara asks next going full on mama bear.
"Uh, no I don't," Lynn says looking on defiantly. "She's one isn't she?"
"I'm going to go stand over there so that I don't get any blood on me," Kenji jokes but no one laughs.
"I think I'll go with you," Ethan says but they don't move.
"A dyke!? You are the repressed dyke you ugly piece of_" You can all probably guess who that is, our resident bitch Skylar but right now she isn't being a bitch. The bitch is me who's seated here quietly as my friend insults Blue.
"Sky, its okay," Blue cuts Skylar off. The use of Skylar's pet name is like a punch to my gut but I deserve it. She finally wrenches her hand from mine and gets up, leans over the table until she's right in Lynn's face.
"Yes, I am a dyke baby but I prefer to be called a lesbian and I'm a proud one just so you know and I'll tell you this, I don't give a fuck what you and the rest of your homophobic kind think or call me. I love pussy and I love me." She finishes her little short speech and gets out of Lynns face, Lynn whose mouth is hanging open. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go wish my parents a happy anniversary." Without even sparing me one last glance she walks away. I stay seated cold in my seat somehow not feeling any part of my body. I think Isaac hustles Lynn out of the room because one moment she's there and the next she's gone. I can't seem to register what is happening around me. I feel like I'm existing in a fog.
"I don't know what she sees in you but she definitely deserves better." Skylar sneers at me one last time before she grabs her drink and walks away.
"For the first time I'm going to agree with Skylar," Lona says and she gets up too and leaves. If I didn't hate myself already it'd probably hurt but I don't think anyone hates me more than I hate myself right now. I could have at least said something, anything to defend Blue because all she has ever done is defend me from people like Skylar.
"I think we should go find some more food," Ethan says to Kenji. I don't know if its their way if getting away from me or they really need more food after all the food  they've had today but I'm beyond caring.
"Riley, Riley? Look at me Riley." Kiara is now beside me, shaking me as if to rouse me from a trance. I'm afraid of looking at her though. I'm afraid of the hate I might see in her eyes, or the disdain and disgust after all I just hurt their friend. "Riley, this isn't the time to sit here feeling sorry for yourself. I might understand you a little bit right now but you need to go talk to Blue. She's hurting right now."
Blue.Talk. Now "Yeah, yeah, okay..." I start to look around and it feels like I'm just waking up from a dream, my eyes finally focusing on all the other people in the room going about their business sipping champagne and making merry.
"She went through those doors," Kiara says pointing me to a set of doors that I think lead to a balcony. I can see Blues silhouette out there in the dim lighting.
"Go make this right," Kiara says rubbing my back gently for either reassurance or comfort. I take a much needed deep breath and go to her.