Talia laughed again, head back and throat bared.Callie’s heart fluttered.“I don’t have the patience for rope, or people.I won’t surprise you with a girlfriend, if that’s what you’re asking.Or a boyfriend.”
“No theyfriends either?”At this point it was teasing.
“None.”Talia’s smile felt bright and easy.The music had started up again.Talia held out her hand.“Do you want to dance for a bit?I think there’s another fifteen minutes left until you must kiss someone.”
Callie took her hand and allowed Talia to lead her away.“Kisssomeone, hmm?”
Talia smiled, teeth on display.Her overlarge incisors and lithe tall frame belied that innocent face.This was a predator – a beautiful one, but a predator, nonetheless.The way her slender arms darted with the rhythm reminded Callie of the dragonflies that inhabited the swamps that formed around the city every summer.
And she was good.Callie didn’t expect someone so tall and lanky to have that much coordination.It was like watching a violent ballet.Callie sweated in her overalls while Talia spun and stomped and writhed her spine like she moved just to keep warm.
Callie was mesmerised.Despite the heat, they kept touching.A quick brush along an arm.Her knee against her thigh.Callie’s eyes slid like a bead of perspiration across Talia’s abdomen, olive skin somehow taut as a drum and moving like oil.
Talia’s heavy-lidded gaze caught Callie’s grey-blue stare and from there, probable became inevitable.They circled, an unspoken sense of caution keeping them centimetres apart, but they could both feel it dissolving intowant.
Callie felt Talia’s arm around her waist, but she had already fallen into Talia’s eyes.She probably hadn’t blinked in several minutes.She followed Talia’s arm to her shoulder and slid the other around Talia’s neck.Callie had a vague awareness of other bodies moving in the periphery, but for them, the dance had already ended.The muscles in Talia’s neck relaxed under her arms.Her head fell to meet Callie.She stood on her toes to bridge the distance.
Callie hadn’t kissed anyone in so long that she had forgotten how it felt.The soft yield of open lips against hers.A tongue slipping into your space – tentative at first, unsure whether it is an uninvited guest.Then bolder, exploring the house.Talia’s tongue nearly rearranged the furniture, and the feeling was glorious.Callie whimpered, eyebrows knitted together, sucking as though it would leave her mouth empty.It had been far, far too long.
Callie fisted Talia’s short spikes, pulling her in.Their mouths still interlocked when the call for the new year went out.They only broke apart, when their teeth clashed against each other.Talia pulled back, laughing.
“So, um…, do you want to maybe go somewhere else?”Talia looked at her with a lopsided smile.
Callie found herself nodding enthusiastically, her breathing still trying to keep up.
“Come on, I know a place.”Talia laced her fingers through Callie’s hands and pulled her away.Callie quickly messaged Sparx.
Callie silenced her Opti and braced as the chill of outside hit her sweat-soaked skin.The Thermabulle kept her from freezing, but it was still a far cry from the heat of exertion combined with five hundred bodies and their cyberware inside.
Talia clapped her mask back on.Callie thought it odd, but she didn’t want to ruin the moment yet.It was too fragile.
Talia led her through the streets, Hexaline bricks illuminating the haze of filth that hung in the air.Motorcycles flew past, their fat studded tyres churning a spray of slush, salt and mud.It was the darkest, coldest part of the year and all Callie could think about was how she hadn’t stopped smiling and how fast her heart was beating.
Talia led her along the side of a building where the Hexaline glow grew much sparser.A bald, heavyset man leaning against the side of a fire door made eye contact.Callie thought they were about to be stopped, but he banged on the door twice and it swung open.Talia brought her inside as though nothing unusual had happened.
The space projected a calm, inviting atmosphere, like if you were here, you werein.A dark velvet-like cloth along the walls seemed to absorb the sound around them.Plush synleather couches and rich Hexcel tables made to look like real wood were strewn tastefully around the space.The music floated softly and unobtrusively around them.She could see why Talia had brought her here, but she had no idea places like this existed or how Talia could afford it.
Talia demagged her mask and hung it on her belt.“Do you want a drink?”
Callie bit her lip and nodded, letting Talia lead her over to the bar.
“Whiskey?”the mixer asked as she slid onto a stool.Callie hopped up beside her, remembering to keep her pedantry to herself this time.
“And for you?”the mixer eyed Callie.
“Uh, the same?”It didn’t matter since it was all for show.
The mixer gave a small nod and walked away.
“So,” Talia leaned on the bar and turned to face Callie.“What do you do in this town?”
Callie gave a small laugh.“First date questions?”
Talia’s lopsided smile grew larger, and she shrugged.The movement seemed exaggerated on her frame.“We just met.The old-fashioned way.If I’d found you on a dating site, I’d have all this info already.”
“That’s true.Do you want my favourite colour?”
Talia called her bluff.“Mine’s yellow.”
