Where are you going?
“Where are you going?”
“Out.”
“Out where?”
“Out to have a good time.”
The silence was deafening. Suddenly, Bree remembered that she was talking to John Sebastian, not a queen from San Francisco. She realized, once again, that she had an entire history of music and behavior that was so foreign to John that he didn’t even know that she was quoting one of her favorite songs. She tried to break the ice.
“It’s been, like, MONTHS, John. I’m going Up North. I heard they have a lesbian bar up there.”
John just turned around and went to his bedroom and shut the door, but James and Kevin hovered in the background. Kevin was the first to break the ice.
“Who’s going to drive you home?”
Bree smiled to herself. “I got a hotel room right next to the bar so that I can just stumble back to it.”
The scar on James’ lip quivered. “That ain’t right. Ya gotta go with friends just in case you need to be rescued. Ya know…” His voice trailed off.
Bree crinkled her brow. “Rescued? James, I’m 5′10″ and built like…” it hurt her to say it, but the farming had burned away every inch of fat and she was all muscle again. “I don’t need to be rescued.”
Kevin was quick to answer, “Yeah, but you might be all bugged by some girl that you don’t want to… you know… and you need someone to… block her… you know?”
Bree couldn’t figure them out. “What? You want to be my GIRLFRIENDS? You know, lesbians don’t act like they do in porn.” James held up his hands and looked at John’s closed door. “Keep your voice down. There’s no porn in this house. We don’t even talk about pornography in this house.” Bree and Kevin exchanged guilty looks. James continued, “Listen, we all should go with you Up North. There’s some normal girls at those clubs, aren’t there?”
Bree shook her head, “Not usually.” Kevin shrugged. “We’ll come along anyway.”
Bree was surrounded by several chubby lesbians, all of them dancing together. James and Kevin kept a watchful eye on her and nursed their drinks. Kevin had never seen James drink and he was surprised at how easily the hulking blond got drunk. “All I’m sayin’ is that she’s never tried a guy, so how would she know that she wouldn’t want one?” Kevin felt like the only sober person in the entire club. “Dude! I don’t think you realize how offensive what you just said was. Think about it! YOU’VE never had sex with a man, right?”
A shudder went through James’ entire body, “Heck NO!” Kevin smiled at his friend’s reaction. “Well, how do you KNOW that you wouldn’t want to have sex with a man? You’ve never tried it.” The scar on James’ lip quivered uncontrollably. “You some kinda fairy? I ain’t never seen ya even try to pick up a girl.” Kevin jerked away from James. “Fuck no! I’m just trying to give you an idea of what it’s like for Bree. To her, having sex with a guy is just as disgusting as it is for us.”
It was uncomfortably silent between them with the loud noise blaring all around. Bree started kissing the most attractive of the women around her and suddenly, they felt even less at ease. James turned the other way. “Seriously, why don’t you date girls? We shoulda done this a long time ago.”
Kevin looked around the bar and noticed a girl eying them. “I don’t know. I used to…” It was so hard to even talk about it. It had been YEARS and he still didn’t want to talk about it. “I used to date this lawyer that used to work with Sierra, but she broke up with me and I can’t stop thinking about her.” James nodded and noticed the girl that was staring at them. “So, you’re just waitin’ for her to come back to ya or somethin’?” Kevin shook his head. “No, she got married last year.” Just thinking of it made him feel even more sober in this club full of drunk women.
“You guys aren’t gay, are you?” The girl had approached them and was brazen enough to ask them outright. James answered, “No, ma’am. We’re just here for moral support.” He looked for Bree, who was no longer on the dance floor and had moved to making out on the couch in the corner. He blushed as he pointed at her. The girl nodded and pointed at a different woman on the other side of the bar. “Me too. Wanna dance?” She took James’ hand and pulled him to the dance floor.
Kevin was left sober and alone to contemplate Mira and her marriage to that bum, Jacob.
A special thank you to Divine for being his wonderful, drag queen self.