Andi gestured at the bartender to refill her drink before turning to
glance around the room again.
Her eyes fell on the petite redhead beside her.
"Hey."
"Hey."
They stood in silence for a few minutes longer until Andi noticed Sam
heading in their direction. He stopped when he saw Andi and smiled.
"Hi Andi," he said. "Enjoying the party?"
"Yeah. How are you?" she replied, picking her drink off the bar top.
"Hey Sam!" came a familiar voice from behind him.
He spun around and flinched. "Hey. . .er . . . Mal . . . I didn't
know you were invited," he stammered.
"Dad invited me," she said, smiling and swirling her martini. "Have
you seen him?"
Sam glanced around the Ballroom nervously and back to gaze at her
face. "He's probably with the President." He shrugged and remembered
Andi suddenly. "Have you two been introduced?"
"No," Andi smirked, noticing the usually cool and suave deputy
practically turning to jelly. "Andi Wyatt," she offered holding her
hand to the younger woman.
"Mallory O'Brien."
Sam looked between them and swallowed. "Andi used to be married to
Toby."
Mal raised her eyebrows. "Really? Toby?"
"He was good in bed," Andi snorted. "Very good."
"So I, um, need to go," Sam muttered, disappearing off into the
throng of people.
Mallory pulled up a stool and smoothed down her black evening
gown. "Sorry, that probably sounded very wrong. I was just surprised.
Toby, I never. . ."
"It was a rebound thing," Andi acknowledged, taking a free
stool. "His, not mine."
Mallory nodded. "I used to have a thing for Sam."
It was Andi's turn to raise her eyebrows. "Used to? You mean God's
gift is losing his charm?"
They laughed together before falling back into an awkward silence.
"This is starting to feel a bit like the ex's club," Mallory
chuckled. "All we really need is Mom and Mandy and we have the full
set."
"Mandy turned down the invite," Andi quipped.
"Naturally." Mallory continued to watch the older woman for a few
seconds as Andi pulled her ponytail across her shoulder. Mallory's
eyes naturally followed to the sweetheart neck of the red slip dress
she wore.
"You can ask, you know," Andi sighed, noticing the strange appraisal
she was getting. "Why did we separate?"
Mallory bit her lip and sipped at her drink.
"Another woman."
"Toby was having an affair?" Mal gasped loudly, causing two men
nearby to spin around in their seats. "Oops."
Andi waited a beat before she smiled mildly and shook her
head. "Actually I had another woman."
Mallory was enjoying a lengthy sip of her drink at the time and
coughed and spluttered. When she recovered she shook her head. "Oh."
"Yeah, my husband isn't as liberal thinking as you might think,"
Andi
groaned, catching CJ's eye across the room and waving. "But then
taking the red eye to LA wasn't exactly disguising the fact."
Mallory waved at the bartender for two more drinks and moved closer
to Andi to ask her next question. "Was it a mutual acquaintance of
ours?"
Andi narrowed her eyes and her voice became uncustomary hard. "No, CJ
is my husband's passion, not mine."
"Sorry."
"Can you imagine trying to kiss her, talk about neck crick?" Andi
grinned, changing her demeanor. "Anyway, no, definitely not my type."
"So, as a matter of interest, and with the knowledge we'll never meet
again, what is your type?" Mallory asked quietly, leaning in and
exchanging Andi's empty glass for a full one.
Andi turned to gaze into her eyes and her voice became very low. "My
type? I like strong, independent women. Not the brainless bimbo
types." She pretended to think for a moment. "And preferably short.
There's nothing quite like being able to kiss standing up."
"Yeah."
"You sound a little unsure there. Come off it, you can't tell me
you're not a modern independent woman, not if you dated one of the
Spin Boys," Andi commented, surprised.
"I didn't go to that sort of college," Mallory said, dryly."
"So you've never?" Andi allowed her voice to trail off.
"Nope, " Mallory chuckled nervously, downing the rest of her drink
and ordering another.
"Do you want to?"
Mallory lowered her glass to the bar. "I hadn't really thought about
it until now."
"But you're a little drunk, and wouldn't mind getting back at Sam?"
Andi hissed.
"I'm happy, not drunk," Mallory corrected. "And Sam has nothing
to do
with it. Everyone says it's better with a woman."
"Where, at your local lesbian hangout?" Andi teased, reaching under
her seat for her clutch.
"Now you're making fun of me," Mallory moaned, standing and adjusting
her dress so it covered her knees.
"I wasn't Mallory," Andi sighed, rising with her.
Mallory headed off across the room with Andi following closely
behind. Throwing open the glass doors Mallory stepped out into the
night air. She took a deep breath and braced herself on the iron
railings.
"I wasn't making fun, I promise," Andi said, stepping up behind
her. "It's not easy being in a relationship with a woman. It's tender
and loving and wonderfully easy emotionally. Then you have to step
outside the apartment and the world is not that understanding."
"So you date men," Mallory stated, spinning around and pressing her
back against the railings.
"I like men too. But yeah it's more acceptable for someone in my
position. Besides," she smiled. "I don't meet that many women who
I
want to hit on."
Mallory relaxed then and smiled. "How often do you get hit on?"
"Never," Andi offered shyly, wondering if this woman knew what she
was doing.
The fingers on her lower arm made Andi take a deep breath, and she
tilted her head awaiting the inevitable sloppy pass that was going to
follow.
Mallory ran her fingers up Andi's arm and leaned her head forwards.
She stopped inches from the other woman's face and pulled
back. "Sorry that was incredibly stupid of me."
"It's forgotten," Andi assured her, wondering what the soft red lips
would have tasted like.
"I want to," Mallory admitted softly. "I just didn't want to
show you
how inexperienced I really am."
Andi smiled and extracted the fingers from her arm, entwining their
fingers. "You don't have to do anything. There's not some unwritten
rule."
Mallory's eyes fell to their hands and Andi stroking her knuckles.
She reached out and took Andi's other hand in her own.
"Do you want me to kiss you?" Andi asked, her voice barely audible
as
her heart leapt into her stomach.
Mallory's nod was so subtle that Andi had to move closer to catch it.
They shared an innocent, "no pressure" smile before they
simultaneously took a step closer to each other.
Andi dropped one of Mallory's hands and moved her fingers to lightly
stroke Mallory's cheek. Very slowly she leaned in, stopping to check
that it was all right, until her lips lightly brushed the younger
woman's.
Mallory closed her eyes with the first contact and swayed slightly.
She held her breath until she felt Andi's lips collide with hers
again. Parting her lips, she responded to the kiss, matching the
tempo with her own.
When they parted for air, Mallory's hand had found it's way to the
back of Andi's neck and their entwined hands were holding on for dear
life.
"Okay?"
Mallory nodded, afraid to speak.
"Oh honey," Andi whispered, leaning in to rest her forehead against
Mal's. "I shouldn't have let that happen. Now you're all
uncomfortable."
Mallory shook her head, despite the presence of another head. "No, I
just . . . Andi?" she whispered.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
"You're very welcome," Andi replied, squeezing her hand and taking
a
step back. "We should get back before someone misses us," she added
reluctantly.
They broke apart and made a scene of straightening dresses and
running fingers through hair.
Andi finally took a deep breath and made the first tentative step in
the direction of the doors.
"See you around," Mallory called after her, hopefully.
Andi turned and smiled. "Yeah, the District's a small place." She
took another step in the direction of the doors and allowed her eyes
to dance. Continuing to smile at Mallory, the thought crossed her
mind that Washington could be as small as you wanted it to be.
The end