Jess Drake reached over to the phone, the black haired woman hesitating for a moment before picking it up. She dialed the number quickly, listening to it ring, then after a moment it was picked up. Alice Sinclaire spoke cheerfully, "Sisterhood Bookstore, how can we help you?" "It's Jess," she said softly. Her voice dropped a bit to keep anyone nearby from hearing as Alice said coldly, "I don't want you calling me here at work, Drake." Jess flinched at the other woman's tone. Taking a steadying breath she said, "I was hoping we could get together and talk." "I think you had plenty of chances to talk to me about what was going on before now," Alice's tone was positively glacial. "I never meant to hurt you," Jess was a little surprised to hear her own pain so clearly apparent in her voice. There was a long moment of silence from the other end, so much that Jess wondered if she had just hung up. Finally Alice said softly, "I can't forgive you yet." Jess fought back sudden tears, silently cursing her weakness. "Call me when you're ready," was the best she could get out. "I will," Alice promised and did hang up, this time. Jess put the phone back in it's cradle then she sighed softly. Things were a mess between them, and all of it was her fault. Eve though she knew Alice was very straight laced Jess had continued on with her usual lifestyle, including a bit of sleeping around. And of course once she found out about it, Alice was shocked. Jess smoothly got up from her living room table, shaking her head. 'It's not all your fault,' she tried to remind herself as she dumped out her half finished cup of coffee into the kitchen sink, 'Alice never asked you to change, either.' She opened her fridge and grabbed a banana as she thought wryly, 'Who am I kidding?' Walking over to the door she pulled on her boots, hopping a bit to get one on, then grabbed her coat from where she had hung it up last night. Out she went into the hallway, sliding her arms into the sleeves after she locked the door, her red T-shirt tight across her chest as she moved. Downstairs then outside, the humidity high as she felt the coming rain. "Suits my mood," Jess muttered and set off at a steady walk. It wasn't the best part of town she walked through but it wasn't the worst either, in part due to her own efforts. There were prostitutes every now and then, but no pimps had ventured into this part of town for awhile, much like the hard drug dealers. Pot was about the worst thing sold around here, Jess having made it clear to the city's dealers that she'd make then regret selling anything else. Jess looked around then frowned, realizing where her footsteps had carried her reflexedly. Sisterhood bookstore lay about a block away, but Jess wasn't going to go there. It wouldn't be fair to Alice to visit her place of work, and she hated the idea of making a scene. Turning she walked down one of the many alleys, stepping over a few sleeping street people as she continued on. "Hey Jess," Lane smiled as Jess emerged from between two buildings, the beautiful and subtlety androgynous figure looking down at her warmly. "Lane," Jess smiled back, feeling just the slightest bit uncomfortable. Lane had been clearly on her way to or going home from somewhere, her short blonde hair falling around her face in a carefully shaped wave. Her breasts were hidden by her fine clothes, but they were well shaped and perky. Half in shadow her face was lovely, delicate and almost elven. And tucked away in her panties was a piece of male equipment. "Pardon me for saying so," Lane reached out a graceful hand to push back some of Jess' black hair, "but you don't look so good." 'Is it that obvious?' Jess thought a bit angrily, then shook herself. Part of her was tempted to just tell Lane that it wasn't her business, but.... "Girlfriend trouble." Lane fell into step beside Jess, the two heading off in the direction of Jess' tattoo parlor. She looked down at Jess thoughtfully and asked, "Why?" "Keeping secrets," Jess answered, "or maybe not coming clean quickly enough." "I know how that feels," Lane smiled wryly. Jess nodded, "I guess so." The sun tried to break out through the clouds above them, but they were too thick, cutting the rays off. "When do you tell?" Lane shrugged slightly as she explained, "I suppose it depends on what I want from them. For friends I see how it goes, honestly, but with those I want to be closer to... I'm as truthful as I can, as soon as I can." "It must be scary," Jess commented as she casually nodded to one of her neighbors, "risking rejection like that." "You never get used to it," Lane quietly agreed with her, "but I think there's no other way to build a real relationship." They reached Jess' tattoo parlor and she unlocked the door, her expression thoughtful as she dispelled all the protective enchantments. 'And if I had been more honest with Alice would we have avoided that fight?' she wondered. Changing the subject she gestured towards Lane's shoulders, "How are they doing?" Lane looked amused at Jess' changing the subject but she let her get away with it as they went inside. "They're fine," she reassured Jess, "I can pull the wings back in as needed." "A useful little stunt," Jess took her jacket off as she turned the lights on, hanging it up then going around to check up on the girlie pictures that hung on the walls and in the front window. With a slightly impish smile Lane leaned up against the counter as she said, "Are you going to be busy today?" "No appointments," Jess replied as she looked at the elegantly dressed woman, "why?" "I was thinking of getting another tattoo," Lane conceded, "one on my arm this time." Jess brightened, clearly glad to be back at work. "What sort of design?" she asked. "I was thinking about a merged version of the roman male and female symbols," Lane sketched in the circle with an arrow and also a cross attached in the air." Jess had to shake her head in admiration, "You don't hide at all, do you?" "Hiding means that you're ashamed," Lane said it gently but firmly, "and I've never been ashamed of who and what I am." "Fair enough," Jess got out a sketch pad from behind her front counter and began to draw, sketching the symbol that Lane wanted. Together they ran through a few variations and settled on a design that she liked, then they got to work. This time they used the normal tattoo gear up front, rather than slipping into the back room for the more occult gear. Lane casually stripped herself of her blouse, sitting down in the reclining chair, her bra protecting her modesty well enough. With her usual care and precision Jess worked for the next few hours, needle and ink marking fair skin in red and a delicate blue. Finally she showed her work and Lane sighed happily. "It's lovely," Lane purred softly, her smile honest. "My pleasure," and Jess realized it was. The work and the focus it had required had stilled her restless thoughts for awhile, leaving her with an odd feeling of peace. Carefully she cleaned the skin around the tattoo then applied a bandage to protect the sensitive flesh. Lane wrote out the cheque after she finished dressing, including a more than generous tip. "If there's anything I can do to help," she met Jess' eyes from where she stood a moment in the doorway, "please let me know." There was nothing hidden in that, a direct offer that came from a place of human caring. "Maybe one of these days I'll do that," Jess answered with a warm smile. "I'm glad," and with that Lane was gone. Jess pulled her surgical gloves off then washed normally, her own expression thoughtful as she considered what they had been talking about earlier. "Honesty," Jess said to herself as she dried her skin, "maybe it is time."
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