Time passes quickly when you’re busy, they say, but Rally also noticed that time passed quickly when you’re avoiding being busy. Business was quiet; bounty hunting was out of the question, since she was suspended. It was too hot to do much and the store was as clean as she and a bottle of glass cleaner could make it. She sighed heavily and leaned her chin on her hands. The door signal chimed and Rally looked up in surprise as a tall woman walked into the store. "Cowboy!" Rally came around the front of the counter, smiling. "Hey darlin’. I thought it was time to see your spread." She looked around and nodded. "Pretty spiffy." Whistling, she walked over to a case and nodded. "Nice. You probably sell a lot of those." "The AR-15s? Yeah - they’re pretty popular. Easily customizable, people seem to like ‘em." Rally found herself turning away when their eyes met. "So," Rally stepped back to the counter, pretending not to notice the warmth in her cheeks, "what brings you to this part of town?" "Cowboy shrugged. "Nothin’ really. I’m "in between jobs" as they say, and had nothing better to do." "In between jobs?" Rally asked. "What is it you do?" "Oh, heh," Cowboy looked a little sheepish, "delivery, mostly. Nothing special." The conversation lapsed in to silence. "Hey," Rally said suddenly, "can I get you some coffee or something? Although it’s kind of hot for coffee…" she said a little wistfully. "Actually," Cowboy came up to the counter and leaned on it, her face close to Rally’s, "I was hopin’ you’d join me for a beer." She scrunched her face up in the same smile Rally knew from the photo in the file. "You *are* legal, right?" Rally grinned. "Twenty-two." Cowboy grinned back. "Sure. And my Daddy was Macarthur. Well, if you know a place that’ll serve you, that’ll do." *** Cowboy gave an envious whistle when she saw the Cobra. Rally preened. "Helloooo kitty!" Cowboy said, as she stroked the hood with a fingertip. "This is one hell of a piece of work!" "Custom job," Rally said unnecessarily. Cowboy nodded absent-mindedly. "Get in. It’s my turn to drive." Rally almost laughed out loud with pleasure. *** Two beers. Not much, Rally thought. I’ll have two beers and ask her what was up with that chase and that’ll be that. Three beers later, Rally had forgotten and remembered her plan something like thirty times. The two women had just arm-wrestled and were now hiccupping with laughter, although neither of them could have told anyone why. Cowboy waved the bartender over and asked for another round. He frowned a bit, but brought two more frosted glasses. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t seen in a thousand times already… "Say, Cowboy," Rally had to remember to remember what she was going to say, "what the hell was that chase about anyway?" "Chase?" Cowboy was puzzled. "Oh that. Sheesh, I never apologized for that, did I?" Rall, ole buddy, I guess you figured out that they were gunnin’ for me by now, haven’t ya?" Rally nodded exaggeratedly, so Cowboy knew what she meant. Cowboy nodded. Then nodded again. "What was I sayin’?" Rally barked with laughter. "You were apologizing, because you almost got me killed on the bike." "Ain’t she a sweet thing?" Cowboy’s attention seemed to have wandered again. "A finer piece of metal I’ve never had." The tall woman nodded a few times for emphasis. Grinning at Rally she asked, "So, what’d you think of her? You liked that little ride, right?" Rally’s head bobbed up and down like a Chihuahua toy in the back of a car. "Hell yeah. Now that’s speed!" They toasted to speed and drank. Rally frowned…there was something she wanted to know. ‘Right. Oh, right." Cowboy said with surprise. "Right, like I said - I’m sorry. It was all a misunderstanding. The city planners want to tear down my apartment building and I just got moved in and all. I went down there and gave them a piece of my mind. It was all a misunderstandin’, ya see?" Rally nodded. That was it. A misunderstanding. "Sure, sure - no sweat. But hey, thanks for the ride!" They grinned at each other. Outside the bar, Cowboy said she’d walk back to her place. "I got a snoot full - the air’ll do me good." Rally opened the Cobra door. As she moved to get in the car, she was pulled back with a jerk and awkwardly embraced by a gushing Cowboy. Off balance, Rally had to grab onto the woman to stay upright. She looked up to find Cowboy’s blue eyes crinkled up in a smile. "Hey, Rally, you’re all right." Cowboy let Rally go so suddenly that she stumbled back and fell into the driver’s seat. She watched the tall woman walk off somewhat unsteadily, until she couldn’t see her anymore. *** Later that night, Rally lay in bed with an icepack on her head, moaning softly to herself. "Damn you, Cowboy," she said to the room at large. May entered with a tray. "Here you go, Rally. Some of my mama’s homemade hangover recipe!" May was being loud and cheerful on purpose, Rally assumed. May spooned some nasty herbal concoction into Rally’s mouth and watched her solemnly as she choked on it. Spluttering, Rally said, "Your mother never made that!" May smiled brightly. "Not my mother, silly - the Mama at the Purple Pussy. This is her recipe." "Oh." Rally lay back, the pounding in her head was letting up a little. "What were you thinking Rally? You never drink this much." May looked down at her friend. "I didn’t drink this much," Rally said petulantly. "Cowboy and I were just having a beer or two." "Cowboy, huh?" May stood and picked up the tray. "Rally - don’t you think it’s kind of weird - her turning up here and all?" Rally cracked an eye open. "Nah. I invited her to drop by. What are you worried about?" May shook her head. "I’m not sure." She walked over to the door. "You like her Rally, don’t you?" May’s voice was teasing. "Sure I do. She’s fun and she’s a good shot - and has a nice bike…" Rally closed her eyes again, as sleep crept up on her. "That’s not what I mean." May said, and closed the door behind her. *** Rally was riding again - this time the wind hit her full in the face. The speed must have been incredible, because she felt like she was flying. Then she opened her eyes and saw the ground rushing up at her headlong. She closed her eyes again and screamed…and woke up. Sitting up, Rally breathed deeply until her heart stopped racing, then sat there in the darkness for a long time. Eventually she felt ready to try to sleep again. She thought about her last meeting with Cowboy, about how they parted. This time, when Rally looked up, Cowboy stopped talking and leaned down a little. Rally’s hands tightened on Cowboy’s arms as they kissed. Rally’s eyes popped open. The light of morning turned the room the same shade of grey she felt. Stumbling out of bed, Rally threw herself into the shower. The hot water felt good, like fingers that stroked her stiff muscles. Leaning against the wall, she let the fingers soothe her sore body. When she realized that the fingers belonged to a tall brunette, Rally turned off the hot water and braved the blast of cold for a solid minute. Shivering and miserable, she toweled herself off and went downstairs for breakfast.
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