After Her

Catching Up

Emily's POV

Flashback

I was on the grass, under a tree, holding my girlfriend's hand, while she held me in her arms in one of our favorite hiding places near the school we both went to. We were just laying there, talking about the future plans, how we're going to live together, and all of the other plans.

"What else would we have?" I asked Vanessa as I was laying in her lap on the grass, with her soft hand stroking my hair.

She looked up for a moment and then looked back at me, right into my eyes, then she answered:

"I'm thinking we can have a huge cabin out on some mountain. Far away from everyone. We would have everything we need there all the time. And we could go there just for fun and... you know." Vanessa smirked.

"Oh? Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?"

"I don't know. What are you thinking?"

She asked me, then she bent down to kiss me on the lips, but instead she kissed my nose. I got up and straddled her lap, facing her. Her hands immediately met my hips, which were uncovered now since I was wearing a crop top. I could see the lust in her eyes as she looked down instead of my eyes.

Just as our lips met and we started a steamy make-out session, I heard a voice behind me:

"Disgusting, keep your PDA out of the school premises." Our friend Samantha said.

We jumped far apart from each other, scared.

"Shit, Samantha... Don't sneak up on us like that here," I said as I fixed my clothes, standing up. I looked over at my blonde friend and saw she was with Sadie, her girlfriend.

"Oh, relax. No one knows about this place except for us." Samantha said, pointing at the four of us. We called this our spot and we liked to go here whenever we had a free period or even during lunch.

"Do you have a smoke?" Samantha asked my girlfriend.

Vanessa put her hand in her back pocket and gave Samantha the whole pack. I looked at Sadie and rolled my eyes because we both didn't like our girlfriends smoking.

"When are you going to quit that disgusting habit?" I asked as I looked between Sam and my girlfriend.

At that moment, Sam inhaled deeply and then let the smoke out of her mouth. She passed the cigarette to Vanessa, and I rolled my eyes again.

"I'm thinking..." Vanessa said, pretending to be in deep thought, "never."

I just rolled my eyes, not being amused by her answer.

"Look, baby... How about we make a deal?" Vanessa said as she grabbed my hand, holding her cigarette in the other. I looked at her and raised my eyebrows, acting pissed off. I actually was. "After we get married, I'll stop smoking. But until then, I get to enjoy my cigarette sticks, as you like to call them." She finished and looked me in the eyes.

"Wow, Ness. Married?" Sam said, looking at my state of shock. "You're really whipped for this girl, aren't you?"

I gave Samantha a deadly glare and she just averted her eyes and hid behind Sadie.

My girlfriend chuckled and kissed my cheek to make me look at her instead of trying to kill our friend with my eyes. I looked at her and thought: marriage? I had no idea she was thinking about this, but the whole thing just made me smile and my heart and stomach felt warm.

End Flashback

The club lights spun around my head while I starred at the beautiful woman in front of me. I can't believe how much I got caught up in Vanessa and the way she looked now. She approached me to whisper in my ear:

"You look good." She said nervously and smiled at me.

That smile meant everything to me. I missed that smile. But I still couldn't comprehend if this was real or if I was dreaming. I don't know why I'm so happy. I should be angry right now, considering how she left me ten years ago. I guess my heart just didn't allow it.

"Thank you", I replied.

She furrowed her eyebrows and then she leaned in again to whisper something else.

"You wanna go outside with me for a minute?" Vanessa asked. I just nodded and she grabbed my hand to lead me out of the crowd and then out of the club. We passed the same pink and purple neon signs on our way out which gave the hallway its color, but all I could look at right now is the woman in front of me, holding my hand and I still didn't feel anything as she did. It's like when you're dreaming something really good and you want it so hard to be true but you know it isn't. It's like I was being careful not to get excited yet. There was a whirlwind of emotions going on in my head right now.

We were finally outside, standing in front of Aphrodite. I looked around for a bit, seeing there's still a long line of people waiting to get in with the same tall bald man guarding the entrance. I turned back to Vanessa and saw her light up a cigarette.

Just as she lit it up I was able to see her sleeve tattoo up-close. It certainly caught my attention in a good way. I decided not to stare anymore but instead start talking.

"You still have that disgusting habitt, huh?" I asked retorically, as I decided to break the awkward silence between us. She inhaled deeply and then let out a large smoke out of her mouth and nose. I used to love watching her smoke, even though I hated the fact she did that. I still found the way she smoked kind of relaxing.

"Yeah", Vanessa chuckled, "I guess I do". She looked at me for a second, deep into my eyes, and then she asked: "So, what are you doing here?" Vanessa said, pointing towards the club.

"Actually, I'm here with Sadie." Vanessa's mouth went into an 'o' as she remembered our mutual friend from high school.

"Really? I haven't seen her, I would like to say hi."

"She made me come of course... I mean, I had no choice... This guy, he was annoying and I had to get out... I mean..." Why was I so fucking nervous? Vanessa chuckled and looked at me as I smiled nervously. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Sadie, she annoyed me about this club for God knows how long, and finally I had to come when this guy Robin, whom I work with, came to ask me out and I had to give him an excuse as to why I can't go out with him." I exhaled as I finished the story that I barely managed to put together.

"And you didn't think of just telling him you're not interested? I mean, considering that you're gay?" Vanessa said laughing.

"I kind of been doing it for too long, and I think telling him I'm gay now would just sound shady to him. Never mind him, I want to know how come you're here? Not just Aphrodite, I mean Chicago?" I asked, dying to know the answer.

"Well, Chicago is a long story," The raven-haired woman said as she dropped her cigarette and put it out with her shoe, "But long story short, I work at Aphrodite as a bartender, while I live here. And tonight is my night off."

"You spend your night off in the same club you work in?" I asked suspicously.

"What can I say, it's a really good club." She smirked, and I knew what she meant by 'good club'. She probably spends her nights with the girls that work here as well.

"Oh, I see," I said, looking back at her, thinking why she came to Chicago in the first place and will I find out.

"Emily, I missed you." She just said it, and I stood in shock looking at my ex-girlfriend.

Finally, tears went down from my eyes and I rushed into her arms. I wanted her to hug me, to hold me. She held onto me tight and I decided to get out of her arms and look at her.

"Why did you have to leave?" I asked my ex-girlfriend, seeing the sudden change in her posture, as she seemed to be uncomfortable.

"Em... That's a long story."

"Again with the long stories... Well guess what, I want to hear all of them. And the thing I want to know the most is: what the hell do you have to do with The Dames?"