Chapter Six
The next week flew by in a whirlwind of flour and sugar and bread dough and icing with no breaks for even a weekend. Liza did a little teaching and a little observing and a whole lot of intimidating, but Regan felt pretty good about her work. Her scones came out a bit dry, but her cranberry orange bread was a thing of beauty. By the time they reached their first weekend off, Regan was more than ready for some downtime.
But before she could have that, there was a plan suggested for Saturday afternoon and into the evening. Liza was heading out of town for a long weekend for some kind of press thing, but she’d given them suggestions, things to do in town if they wanted to get out of the house for a while, one of which was an adult arcade and game room.
“Who’s in?” Madison asked, as the six of them sat around the dining room table Saturday morning, sipping coffee and eating breakfast. “I don’t know about you guys, but I hear Skee-Ball calling my name, and I will wipe the floor with you bitches.”
Maia raised her hand and laughed as she spun her purple bandanna around her neck and said, “Awfully cocky for somebody who’s going to get her ass kicked bymoi.”
“Oh, it ison,” Vienna contributed. “’Cause I’m gonna slaughter both of you.”
“I suck at Skee-Ball,” Paige said, with a slight frown, but raised her hand anyway.
“No worries,” Madison told her. “I googled this place last night, and there’s tons of stuff to do. Are you good at video games? They’ve got some cool old-school ones likeMs. PacManandFrogger.”
“I was just gonna stay here and rest,” Paige said, her voice shy, as if she was worried about some kind of judgment for not wanting to go to an arcade. She scrunched up her face in clear concern.
Regan reached over and gave her arm a squeeze. “I was, too, but then I thought maybe I’d go today and blow off some steam, then chill tomorrow and Monday, since we have that off, too. You know? What do you think?”
Paige’s expression was grateful, and she gave a gentle nod. “That sounds like a good plan.”
“Ava?” Madison prodded, looking at the only one who hadn’t chimed in.
Ava looked around the table and must have realized how unsociable it would look for her to be the only one who opted out. She gave a nod and raised her hand. “Sure. Why not?” Madison clapped, and murmurs of approval ran around the table.
All right. So they were going to an arcade to play video games and act like kids that afternoon, and then they’d get dinner and drinks. Liza had graciously provided them with a driver and a van so they didn’t have to worry about a DD, which was, honestly, pretty freaking cool of her.
“I’m off to shower,” Maia said, draining her coffee cup and then grabbing a banana off the fruit tray. Then she pointed around the table. “You should probably prepare for defeat. Peace out, bitches.”
Madison snorted and Paige and Vienna both laughed as they all pushed to their feet, as if Maia’s departure was their cue.
“Meet in the foyer at noon?” Vienna asked, and they all agreed.
Regan had some ideas she wanted to research, bakes for upcoming days and weeks. She glanced at Ava to see if she was headed upstairs, too, because she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be in the room with her. They were still sort of circling each other as roommates, and they didn’t talk much, but they were civil. When Ava stood with the rest of them, Regan decided it was fine. The room was big enough for them to work on their own sides and not be in each other’s way. Her mother had raised her to be polite. She could make it work. She should make it work. Shewouldmake it work.
She headed up.
When she got to her room, Ava was headed into the bathroom, a pile of clothing in her hands, and Regan wondered about that. Was itbecause Regan was gay, and Ava knew it and didn’t want to undress in front of the gay chick? The idea annoyed her a little bit, but so did a lot of things about Ava Prescott.
Deciding she didn’t care at all about Ava’s weird little hangups, she whipped her own top off, then her bra. She was bent over and rooting through her suitcase for clothes for their outing when Ava came out of the bathroom, startling her.
Regan stood, breasts on full display.
Ava stared, eyes going immediately to them.
A beat passed.
Then three things happened in quick succession. Ava yanked her gaze away just as Regan’s hands flew up to cover her nipples. Then Ava hurried to her side of the room and Regan hurried to the bathroom and shut the door.
Neither of them said a word.
In the bathroom, Regan leaned back against the door and blew out a breath. “What the fuck?” she whispered to the empty room.
* * *
So I’m a boob woman. So what? There’s nothing wrong with that.The thought kept rolling through Ava’s head as they bounced along in the van on their way to the arcade. The mood was jovial. There was laughing. Joking. Excitement.
All Ava could think about was boobs.
