“I know. I’ll be fast,” Kat yelled over her shoulder as she sprinted up the escalator, Erica hot on her heels.
Oksana sighed again and stepped on behind Annie. “You ever want to have kids, just remember trips like this are waiting for you fifteen years down the road.”
“It’s fine. Really. I’m having a good time,” Annie said.
By the time they caught up with the girls, they were already darting toward the changing rooms with more than jeans piled in their arms.
“Separate fitting rooms!” Oksana called after them. Kat groaned but walked into a room next to Erica’s.
Annie settled in for a long wait at Oksana’s side. They had plenty more small talk to catch up on.
“What’s you—”
Suddenly, Oksana froze.
“What? What is it?” Annie turned around to see a bouncy woman making a beeline right for them, weaving her way through racks and patrons. She was beautiful; her long black hair was swept up in a thick ponytail, and her bangs were electric blue. A pattern of stars was tattooed down the side of her neck. Annie could only imagine which trajectory it took along her skin, but the design picked up down the length of her arm. Her black skirt was tight and her red shirt cropped high above her diamond-studded belly button. Intense combat boots gave her a good six inches on Annie.
She pounced on Oksana. “Hey, baby!”
“Hey.” Oksana hugged her back. “What’s up?”
Annie swallowed some bile and shifted anxiously beside them. This was just a friend, she told herself. A super gorgeous friend, and from the look of things—the hair and the tats down her forearm—a friend who was exactly Oksana’s type. Annie shifted again, and on instinct slipped her arm around Oksana’s back.
Hello, Jealousy. It’s been a while.
The woman didn’t miss the gesture. Her eyes lit up, but she didn’t say anything about it. “Not much. Just returning some stuff.” She turned to Annie then and stuck her hand out.
“Hi, I’m Noelle.” Annie took her hand and was pleased with the firm handshake the woman doled out, but she was still on alert, drawing small, possessive circles across Oksana’s hip.
“Sorry.” Oksana blushed like crazy. “Noelle, this is Annie.”
“
Oh
.” Noelle nodded. Oh, this couldn’t be good.
“Jesus,” Oksana moaned. “Noelle’s girlfriend, Ronnie, was at The Maypole with me the other night.”
“Oh my God.” Annie almost smacked herself. “Can you please tell her I’m sorry? I got a little out of control.”
“Pshht.” Noelle waved her hand between them. “Ronnie doesn’t care. She’s been laughing about it for the past few days.”
“Oh, that’s great,” Annie said seriously before she matched Noelle’s smile. “I’m glad we’ve all been properly introduced.”
Then there was a five-second pause of the purest, most concentrated awkward silence. Annie almost wanted to laugh. Noelle was trying to be cool, but she failed. Her eyes sparkled at Oksana, the ache to pull her aside and drag this gossip right out of her plain as day. Annie had seen that look a thousand times, given it out a thousand times herself, but Noelle was going to have to wait for another time to interrogate Oksana. Thank God for little sisters.
Kat sprang from the dressing room like a jack-in-the-box.
“Noelle.” She beamed and skipped toward them. Actually skipped. Annie sensed a little bit of a harmless crush.
“Hey, gorgeous. What are you doing?” Noelle said brightly, giving Kat a big hug.
Kat turned around, showing off the denim that was trying to suffocate her ass. “New jeans.”
“Cute! Get those.” Noelle swatted Kat on the butt just as Erica poked her head out of the dressing room. Annie caught the daggers Erica stared at Noelle. Kat skipped away oblivious and asked Erica’s opinion on the pants.
“That’s the new girlfriend,” Oksana said.
“Oh. She might knife me,” Noelle muttered through gritted teeth. She waved at the girls as they ducked back into their rooms. Annie could have sworn she heard Erica growling. Apparently, Noelle sparked a little jealousy everywhere.
“So.” Noelle turned her attention back to Oksana. And Annie. “Since I’ve been so busy and clearly so have you, why don’t you and
Annie come to Señor Kim’s with us on Wednesday? Scooter wraps his shoot on Tuesday.”
“What’s Señor Kim’s?” Annie asked.
“Mexi-Korean fusion restaurant. With karaoke,” Noelle told her.
Annie spun on Oksana, surprising herself with her eagerness. She didn’t want to push herself on Oksana’s friends like she’d pushed herself on Oksana and Oksana’s family, but that combination of cuisine sounded delicious. “Don’t make me ask?” she pleaded. She realized she was at it again. Pushing. But she’d already blurted out her interest to Oksana and her friend.
Oksana simply smiled. It seemed genuine. “Sure. We’ll be there.”
“Good.” Noelle sounded almost appeased. “Bring Annie.”
“Ha. Funny. I will. Bye.” Oksana frowned back playfully.
“Bye, Kat!”
“Bye, Noelle!” Kat yelled over the door.
“Bye, ladies.” Noelle strolled back to the register, not even hiding the fact that she whipped out her cell phone as she went. Annie imagined her girlfriend, Ronnie, if she remembered right, would know about their little introduction in three, two…
“Did I just invite myself to dinner?” Annie looked up at Oksana and bit her bottom lip.
“No. Noelle invited you.”
“And you?” Annie asked anxiously.
Oksana’s eyes dropped to the ground and now the smile, genuine or not, was gone.
“Hey. What’s wrong?” It was the third time Annie had asked Oksana today.
When Oksana didn’t answer, Annie gently tugged her into a quiet corner between a rack of vests and blouses.
“Talk to me,” Annie said, letting her hands rest on Oksana’s hips.
Oksana took a deep breath.
Oh, this
really
can’t be good.
Annie winced internally.
Oksana shut her eyes tightly then opened them. “I thought I was okay with all of this. I feel like the other woman.” The confession just exploded out. Oksana was being honest, exactly what Annie wanted, but the truth was like a stab to the gut. It was her turn to stare at the floor.
“Aren’t you afraid we might run into someone you know?” Oksana reasoned. “I mean you’re still technically engaged, and you’re touching me in public.”
Annie sighed and shoved her hands in the pockets of her hoodie. She hated to do it. She missed the warmth from Oksana’s body immediately. Still, she was smothering.
“I know, I’m sorry. It’s just when I’m with you I sort of forget about everyone else.” She looked up finally, searching Oksana’s eyes for some understanding.
“I get that, but what if your maid of honor came walking in here right now and we were holding hands. You wouldn’t care if she started asking questions?” Megan knew something was going on between them, but that wasn’t Oksana’s point. This was bigger than the two of them, bigger than what she had spilled to Megan over lunch.
“Should we stop seeing each other?” Annie asked, struggling to keep her tone neutral. She was frustrated with the timing and the situation. She was frustrated with herself and a little bit with Jeff. The truth was it didn’t matter how she felt about Oksana. She’d created a nightmare scenario.
“No! No. I—”
“Sana, listen.” Annie held up her fingers to start counting. “One, Shane is out of town this weekend. Two, Feather lives out in Topanga Canyon. She and her boyfriend are spending the next week living in the near-authentic tipi they’ve just erected on his property. And my best friend-slash-maid of honor”—she did the slash through the air—“Megan wants to meet you, so we’re in the clear.”
“So you’re just out with me because it’s safe?”
Okay, that explanation came out all wrong.
“No. I’m out with you because I love spending time with you. And if we ran into my friends, I would tell them the truth and I would have to deal with Jeff however that came. I would just prefer it if he heard it from me first.”
“And Jeff’s friends?”
“His close buddies are with him on his trip, and the other ones wouldn’t be caught dead in the mall.” Annie dialed down the emotion and put a gentle hand back on Oksana’s hip. “I want to spend time with
you.
”
“I…” Oksana paused. “How can you be so calm about this?”
“Because I really like you. I mean it. I want to be with you.” Annie couldn’t think of another way to put it. Her heart skipped when Oksana smiled.
“I should believe you, shouldn’t I?”
“Yes.”
“I’m into you too, if that wasn’t obvious last week and yesterday in the park. And last night at your place. And this morning.” Oksana sighed again then finally got to the heart of what was bothering her. “I’m just not ready for labels yet. It’s one thing with Kat and Baba because they’ll know everything basically. With other people, I don’t know. After Jeff gets back, okay?”
“Okay. So until then we’re just friends? That’s the official report? No touching. No kissing. In public.”
“You don’t mind?”
Of course I do,
Annie wanted to say, but she held that back because Oksana had a point. Being caught by her friends or any members of the wedding party would be awkward as hell, and even though Annie was slightly terrified about how things would ultimately go down once everyone knew the truth, she knew the fallout was her problem to deal with, not Oksana’s. Nothing would have ruined their first day out together more than running into Shane or Feather while Annie was busy palming Oksana’s ass.
If the tables were turned, Annie wouldn’t want to be the other woman. Add in Oksana’s romantic past, and the last thing Annie should do was pressure her further, no matter how happy Oksana made her or how sure she was about her decision. She’d promised Oksana time and patience, and that’s what Oksana would get.
“No. I don’t mind. Even though I really want to kiss you right now, but I get it.”
“Are you sure?” Oksana frowned.
“Yes,” Annie asserted with a smile. There was nothing to be upset about. “I want you to be comfortable with everything, and if you’re not comfortable with the kissing and holding hands for now, then those things are out. And I’ll lay off in front of your friends.”
“Well…” Oksana shrugged. That put Annie at ease. At least there was some hope.
She squeezed Oksana’s hand in a friendly way. “We’ll play that by ear, and in three weeks I’m going to enjoy making out with you in front of everybody.”
“Who’s making out with who?” Kat asked. Oksana spun around to find Kat and Erica waiting with their arms filled with clothes.
“No one.”
*
As the afternoon stretched on, Annie learned quickly just how hard it was to keep her hands to herself when Oksana was around. As they ran Baba Inna’s errands, all Annie wanted to do was sneak little touches here and there and perhaps a kiss or two, but she kept her word to Oksana. There were the looks though. Annie saw the glimmer of lust in Oksana’s eyes. She felt the humming electricity between them as they helped put the groceries away. She felt the same tug while they took Vasily for a walk around the neighborhood.
By the time dinner was ready, all the magic was back. The cozy feelings that had taken flight during their awkward conversation in the mall had returned. It wasn’t just the warmth, Annie realized. It was a true unconditional love that radiated through the house. Baba Inna served dinner with a kiss and a pat on the butt for each girl, Annie and Erica included. She spoke English, even asking Annie polite questions about her job and telling Erica not to talk with her mouth full.
It was a type of attention Annie had never experienced growing up, and it was only made more surreal by the notion that this wasn’t an act they were putting on to be polite to their guests. This was the real deal, every night. Oksana wasn’t kidding; her family really mattered.
Annie’s engagement to Jeff was the first time her mother had shown an ounce of interest in anything Annie did. Her dad still didn’t care. Baba cared that the girls ate a full meal. She cared that homework was done. There was no fanfare, no sugar coating. That old woman cared.
Annie could live with that, she realized as they put away the last of the dinner dishes. She could be with Oksana and easily share her life with a dyed and pierced fifteen-year-old and a chain smoker. Not to mention the dog. Vasily had spent most of the evening curled up between Oksana’s and Annie’s feet. Her mom had a toy poodle named The Duchess who tried to bite Annie every time she went home.
The grandmother, the sister, the dog, and even Erica had their certain charm, and Annie wanted to be a part of it.
*
Oksana pulled into Annie’s driveway. She didn’t park on the street. Good sign she could stay for a little while. She probably had more Mom duties to tend to in the morning. For now, though, they were friends with benefits. As they walked up Annie’s back steps, Annie wondered who would be the first to instigate a good night kiss or a last-minute good night screw. Annie was in favor of the latter. The tension had been building between them all day. It had been confusing, to say the least, but it was the growing pains of what Annie wanted to build together. She would happily put up with awkward tension and blurring of certain lines and titles for a while if it meant that she and Oksana could be together in the long run.