Private Dancer (36 page)

        
"Mmm?"

        
"If I don't eat something, I'll never walk again."

        
"Oh my! Feed her Cori! I need her body in working condition!" Faith mock panicked. "ALL of it!"

        
"Sure. All you want me for is my body."

        
"Shut up Reece."

        
"Oh I see it started already."

        
She received a playful glare.

        
"Yes dear." Reece walked with exaggerated weakness towards the kitchen. She got a kiss for her efforts. Yep, this feels very good.

        
*  

        
Cori was in pain by the time the little Datsun double parked in front of her house. She was forced to sit between Faith's legs in the front seat. Reece said it was better for her, Cori having longer legs than her friend. But she knew it was if they crashed her head would smash the windshield leaving Faith safe and sound. Faith opened the door and the twisted dancer tried to extricate her legs from under the dashboard. Reece looked on with amusement.

        
"Well it's better than the subway." The tall woman smirked.

        
"Oh... ugh... yeah... mmmmph." Cori actually had her hands on the street and was hoping to drag her tingly legs out after her in some sort of crawling motion.

        
Reece couldn't resist the temptation and spanked her. Hard.

        
"YEOWCH!" Cori lay successfully sprawled in the street. "You are such a pig Reece Corbett! Faith, can't you do something about that?" She jerked her thumb at the grinning driver.

        
"I wouldn't dream of changing her Cor." Faith looked at Reece and grinned too.

        
"Oh beautiful. I'm sitting on my ass where dog's pee, and you two hear violins." The dancer gained feeling back in her legs and reached in for her backpack.

        
"Well it got you out of the car didn't it?" The dark haired woman handed Cori the bag and winked.

        
"Oh yes, thank you sooo much. Where would I be without you Reece?" She narrowed her eyes. "Hey, thanks for the lift anyway. Babe, you hurry up ok?" She closed the door.

        
Faith watched as her friend limped to the front steps. "Maybe SHE should be pursuing acting." She giggled. She smiled at the hand sliding around the back of her neck. It pulled tentatively, so gently that Faith didn't notice it until it stopped. She turned and looked at slightly troubled blue eyes.

        
"Reece? You're nervous?" She whispered.

        
"Um, I've never been here before. And don't say I've been to your house. You know what I mean."

        
"I wouldn't tease you about this baby. Come here." She stretched herself towards the kissable lips across from her and waited for contact. And she waited. Confused, she opened her eyes and found that Reece was staring at her with genuine appreciation and disappointment.

        
"You are so beautiful Faith. Are you sure it's me? Is this..." She pointed to herself, "...what you want?"

        
"Are you kidding me? For gods sake! You don't think that this is all I've thought about? Yes I want you. I might even need you..."

        
Reece smiled crookedly and moved in towards the lips that were calling to her.

        
"...I don't know what the hell is going on and I don't know if I want to know either. All I know is I can't get enough of you. Can't we just take it as it comes?"

        
The next sound out of the small blonde was a moan as Reece's tongue tickled her lips.

        
Cori looked out the window again.
Oh no!
She laughed out loud. There was a parking cop a few cars behind them and apparently they had no idea. She could just see their faces when they assume the knock on the window to be her.
Serves them right.
She thought.
Aw shit...
She couldn't let that happen.

        
Reece had Faith's head supported by one hand. Her fingers were moving slightly, feeling the softness of her hair. She was breathing heavily through her nose.
Oh man. She got me good.
She thought as Faith once again groaned into her mouth.
She's so ready to trust me. So open to me.
She breathed in deeply and renewed her oral attack with meaning.
Stop thinking you asshole. Just do it.
Her other hand came up and held Faith's chin. She caressed the skin there and felt her stomach drop.
NO! I can't do this.
Her heart sped up.
I can't love her. I can't let her love me.
Suddenly her kisses became rougher. The recipient grunted and adjusted. The hand tightened in the blonde hair.

        
Faith put both hands on Reece's face and pulled away from the kiss. She was also breathing erratically. This was going somewhere else now. She could feel it. Reece was scared again.

        
"If we don't stop..." She closed her eyes and focused.
You'll do something you'll regret... again.

        
"Yeah, I know." Reece was disappointed but relieved in a strange way. She took a deep breath and bit her lip. Somewhere inside she knew she'd never recover if she used Faith.

        
Faith looked out the window and spoke. "Maybe one day you'll share yourself with me. All of you. Right now I'm willing to take what I can get, but I know it's not what you really want to do." She paused and glanced at Reece. Her blue eyes were full of turmoil and guilt. She quickly looked out the window again.

        
"I know you need time right now. I understand. I'm just afraid that if I let you go, you'll never come back to me again. It would be too much trouble." Faith admitted. Her eyes teared up. "Why should I be any different?"

        
Reece didn't know what to say. In a way, it was the truth... she needed time to think right now. She too was afraid. Every time she had time to think, she over thought and made bad decisions based on nothing more than convenience. This had to be different - Reece felt she'd die if she hurt Faith again. The twisting in her stomach was incredible.
This is no good. Faith knows me too well, yet she still wants me. She doesn't deserve me.

        
"Faith, I'd be lying if I gave you my word."

        
Faith sobbed but nodded her head. "Look, I don't know what's going on either. I've never felt like this before. It makes me sick and at the same time incredibly good. You did something to me that surprised me, something I will never forget." Reece suppressed the urge to grab her and hold on. "Just know this, I can't lose you from my life completely. I don't know if that's a promise of a good thing or a bad thing. I have nothing to base it on. Nobody has ever taken the time with me, given the effort that you did."
Trusted me so completely.
"But I will try. For your sake. For our sake. OK?"

        
Faith took a deep breath and nodded again. She sniffed and smiled hoping it didn't look as fake as it felt. "You know Reece, I wouldn't be lying if I gave you my word. I'll fight for you." She opened the car door and Cori was standing there poised to knock. "I won't let you go quietly." The car door slammed.

        
Reece sat there for a few minutes looking out the driver's window. She couldn't let anyone see the tears in her eyes.
Fuck me. I don't know what to do. It hurts again inside. Why can't she give up on me so I can blame myself and go on? I know how to do that.

        
Cori watched Faith tearfully run into the house. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Reece pound on the steering wheel in frustration. The dancer sighed. She knew Reece was trying her hardest, but it was going to be a long ride before this journey was over. The dancer just hoped SHE'D get through it unscathed. She shook her head as Reece dropped her head to the wheel. Cori could only imagine the punishment she was giving herself.
No need for me to say anything.
She looked upstairs and shivered in the cold. Faith's light came on.
Poor things.
Two completely opposite women, drawn together by something so totally foreign, so powerful. Reece suddenly peeled down the street, leaving a very angry cop and a sick feeling in Cori's gut. She looked up and saw Faith watching Reece's car as it revved at the light. Cori reluctantly went upstairs. This was not going to be an easy couple of days.
Smile... smile... THINK! Let's get this ball on the road.

        
Reece had plenty of time to think on the way back from Brooklyn. There was only one tube to the Battery Tunnel open and you'd think every car in the state decided to use it at the same time. At first she played the typical New Yorker, banging on her horn and trash talking every one around her that honked back. The guy in the tow truck didn't care for her finger and greeted her right back. Lucky for him, she was nearly asphyxiated by the exhaust of hundreds of cars when she opened her window to retaliate. Stuck in bumper to bumper traffic deep beneath the earth with nothing else to do, she thought.

        
She really had no idea what to do.
I told her I love her, so it's no secret. I want to do this, but how? How do I learn? I can't ask for help!? And with THIS?
She leaned her head back on the headrest and blew the horn one more time just because she was frustrated. She sneered out the window at a limo in case there was any body of importance in it. She fidgeted some more before her mind took over again.

        
Ok Corbett, she left the ball in your court. You wussed out, not her. She's gonna fight for this... she said so. YOU can't make any promises you chicken shit. Why can't you be like everyone else? Why are you so goddamned thickheaded? Give her what she wants. She wants you, as much of you as she can get. So? What are you waiting for? She understands you. She wants you... boy does she want you. Mmmm, and how I want her.
She slapped herself in the head.
C'mon girl, get out of the gutter. Its much more than sex, its the whole freaking package. You want all of her and for some godawful reason, she wants all of you. You gotta show her you're worthy. Prove it's not all about sex. You can do it. I have faith in you... heh heh, and on you, under you...

        
Reece blew out an exasperated breath. She looked around at the white tiles that made up the inside of the tunnel. They looked like bathroom tiles. She tapped her hands on the steering wheel, eventually working her way up to "Wipeout" by the Surfaris.

        
I love Faith. There I said it. So, all I have to do is tell her again, and it will all be all right. We'll be a couple, and she'll be mine to keep. Just her and me. Faith and Reece. No more regret, no more shame, no more whoring around. She loves me. Look at that, sweating already.

        
*  

        
Two words hadn't passed between the dancers since last night and Cori felt it was time. She put down her coffee and knocked on the bedroom door.

        
"Faith? Can you come out here? I want to talk to you."

        
"Please, I think you have some guts to spill."

        
No response.

        
"Its ok, I have a mop." She joked.

        
The door opened and Faith went back to her bed. After crawling back under the covers and wrapping her arms around her drawn up knees, she rested her chin on them with a sigh.