[boathouse] In which it's Shannon's birthday.
[Set in Save Tonight. Cowritten with imrelentless. Becca is waterdoesntwork.]
Shannon had dinner with her parents as per usual, but when she and Sam got back home she went into her room to shower and change. She put on a shorter skirt than she’d wear around her father and a lighter top. She had never been too great at the dressing up thing, but her mother had been trying to help most of her life. In fact her mom had picked the skirt out. It was just something they’d never tell Michael.
She put her hair up on top of her head and grabbed a pair of black sandals with short heels, then picked up her purse and headed into the small living room. She did a little spin. “How do I look?” She asked her uncle.
“You look great,” Sam nodded. “If I were a younger man and not friends with your dad ... ”
Shannon laughed. “It still wouldn’t get you anywhere if you weren’t a woman, sorry.”
Sam grinned. “A guy can try, can’t he?”
She rolled her eyes. “Actually it gets a little annoying, but for you...I give forgiveness.” She smirked. “Okay, don’t wait up for me.”
“Wasn’t plannin’ on it. Have fun, Shan.”
Shannon headed out the door and took a cab to the bar she was meeting a couple of friends at. She found them outside and they all headed in, going for drinks immediately. Gabe announced it was her birthday so the bartender gave her her first drink free, which she wasn’t going to complain about.
Becca, as a general rule, was not a fan of Miami. It was too hot, too sticky, and just too much, in every way. But occasionally she did need to travel down there for business and attend clubs that were too loud to deal with men who mostly wanted to grab her ass, but wouldn’t because they knew she would have them on their ass so fast that they wouldn’t even know what happened. She may be living on the Upper East Side, but she was from the Heights. She was a scrapper when she wanted to be.
Excusing herself from the table to get herself another drink, she made her way to the bar and sighed at the bartender. “Another seven and seven? Thanks.”
Shannon was already on her second drink of the night. She was mostly just hanging out, talking to her friends or saying hi to other people she knew. Her friend Jackie was eying the bartender.
“Hey, it’s too bad he doesn’t have tits,” she said, a bit louder than needed. “I’d buy you a body shot.”
Becca rolled her eyes a bit, but she stayed at the bar once her drink arrived, sitting up on the stool and crossing her legs in front of her. She wasn’t ready to go back to the table yet, and staying here would buy her a little time, regardless of the company.
Shannon rolled her eyes. “One, body shots are kinda disgusting, two...it’s not like breasts are the only requirement. That’d be like saying all you need for a guy-” She paused. “Wait, no, that is all you need from a guy.”
“Ha-ha,” Jackie said. “I was just trying to be a good friend.”
“Sometimes you don’t even need that,” Becca snorted, before taking another long pull of her drink.
“Depends on your preference,” Shannon shrugged.
“I personally don’t understand heterosexuality,” Becca sighed. “I look at the men in the world and think ... why would someone want to commit to that for the rest of their lives.”
“Who said anything about commitment?” Jackie asked.
“Honey, you’re a slut, you don’t count,” Gabe told her.
Shannon’s cheeks went a little red, but she tuned them both out. “They’re not all so bad, but it doesn’t mean I want to sleep with any of them.”
Becca shook her head. “Every man I’ve ever met has just screwed me over. And I don’t mean sexually -- I don’t swing that way.”
Unlike Shannon, Gabe realized that this was a good opportunity for Shannon to work on her flirting skills, so he distracted Jackie into moving a seat or two down for a row of shots. Shannon watched them go before turning back to Becca.
“I guess I got lucky. The men I grew up around are all...I don’t know. The good kind. Doesn’t mean I haven’t met some assholes around, but for the most part...” She shrugged.
“I guess you are,” Becca sighed, looking up at her. “But the men in my life just keep proving me wrong.”
“Sorry to hear that.” She offered a small smile. “At least you don’t have to rely on them for anything.”
She smiled back. “Yeah, at least there’s that.” She extended a hand. “I’m Becca.”
Shannon shook her hand. “I’m Shannon, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Likewise. So are you a Miami native, or just visiting?”
“Born and raised. You?”
“Just visiting. Business trip.”
“What do you do?”
“Advertising,” she nodded. “I freelance for different companies when needed.”
Shannon nodded slowly. “You enjoy that?”
“I do. It’s good money, and I get to be pretty creative with my time.”
“That’s good. That you like it.”
“What do you do?”
“I work at the local aquarium, mostly behind the scenes. I do a lot of field work, dives and such. But I spend the majority of my time with the conservationist team...which...I don’t get paid for.” She picked up her drink and drank from it quickly, not wanting to babble too much about things that other people found boring.
“Do you work with fish, or the bigger marine mammals?”
“Really it’s with all marine life, but I do focus a lot more on the bigger guys. Bigger the better.” And inwardly she groaned at that.
She laughed. “Well, the bigger ones do seem like more fun.”
Shannon smiled at that. “They really are.”
Becca took another sip of her drink and groaned as she heard someone calling her name. “I have to get back to wining and dining. But it was nice meeting you.”
She nodded. “Yeah, you too.” She probably could have come up with something better to say, but it really wasn’t her strong suit.
Becca picked up her glass and headed back to the table, settling back in with the men she was working with.
“What the hell?” Jackie came back over.
“What?”
“You? Are a horrible lesbian,” Jackie said, shaking her head.
“Shut up,” Shannon rolled her eyes. She ordered another drink and the three went back to enjoying their time together.
Becca went back to drinking, being professional, and trying not to explode at the idiots around her. It was a trying thing -- it really was.
They’d all had plenty to drink by later in the evening. Shannon was tired of sitting in the same bar, and she wanted to either find somewhere else to go or just go home. Jackie had just left with a guy, so it was down to Gabe and her. She looked over at him.
“We can call it a night if you want.”
“It’s your birthday,” he said. “What do you want?”
She smirked. “Something you can’t give me.”
He laughed. “Ditto, honey.”
Becca had just finished saying goodbye to her clients and was standing on the sidewalk outside the club, trying to flag down the taxi.
They paid their tab and headed outside. Shannon was leaned against him. “Go home to your cats.”
“Wow, that doesn’t make me sound lame,” he said with an eyeroll.
“Yeah, but I know you. It’s okay.” She leaned in and kissed his cheek. “Night.”
“Gonna get home okay?”
“Yup. Cab.”
“Okay, night.” He turned and headed down the sidewalk.
Becca was waving her arm in front of the taxis driving by, and they kept whizzing by her. “Son of a bitch.”
Shannon turned to the sidewalk and saw this, then smirked slightly. She stepped over. “Most cabs in Miami won’t stop at random.” She pulled out her cellphone and speed-dialed the cab company she kept in her phone. “Luckily it doesn’t take long to call them out.” She waited while the phone rang.
“Man, I miss my city,” she sighed, running a hand through her hair.
“Which city is that?”
“Manhattan,” she sighed. “There’s always a cab waiting to pick up a fare.”
Shannon opened her mouth to reply, but the dispatcher picked up. She held her finger up and spoke to the man briefly, then after a moment she asked him to hold. “How far are you going?”
“The Hilton,” she said, before rambling off the address.
“Mind sharing a cab? Otherwise one of us will have a long wait.”
She shook her head. “No, not at all.”
She finished the phone call and hung up. “Should be less than ten minutes.”
She nodded. “Sounds good.”
Shannon nodded and put her phone away, then fell silent, unsure of what to say.
Becca wasn’t really sure what to say either, just standing there and waiting for her cab.
After a moment or two she turned to Becca again. “I’m sorry if my friends were...obnoxious earlier. They....well, they are.”
She shrugged. “It’s cool. People are who they are when they’re drunk.”
Shannon laughed. “No, that’s pretty much who they are when sober.”
“Well, even better,” Becca sighed.
She nodded and glanced down at her feet, chewing her lip a bit. Why the hell did everyone always tell her that flirting was easy? She never found it easy. And she was probably making an idiot of herself.
Becca crossed her arms in front of her chest again before glancing back at her. “So how long have you been here? In Miami, I mean.”
“My whole life,” she spoke up. “My dad’s from here and my mom..actually, she’s from New York. She moved down here for my dad and...then came me.”
“Where in New York is she from?”
“Queens originally. The rest of my family on that side is still there.”
“Queens is nice. I’m from Washington Heights.”
“That’s cool,” she nodded. “Mom tries to get us up there at least a couple times a year. My Grandpa and uncles wouldn’t let her hear the end of it if she didn’t. Actually, they wouldn’t let my dad hear the end of it. It’s apparently all his fault that she left.”
“Well, it’s always easy to blame the outsider.”
“Yeah, guess so,” she nodded.
Becca shrugged. “Could be worse. They could not want her to come back at all because of him.”
“She wouldn’t put up with that. She doesn’t put up with much of anything.”
“Sounds like a smart woman.”
Shannon smiled and nodded. “She is.” She watched the cab pull up and when it stopped she opened the door for Becca.
Becca slid inside and gave the driver the address for the hotel before leaning back again. “My mom spent a lot of me growing up working hard.”
“Yeah? What’d she do?” Shannon slid into the cab beside her, turning her attention to her.
“Whatever she could? Cleaning hotel rooms, apartments -- whatever she could get her hands on just to make ends meet.”
“You two close?”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “She’s pretty much all I got.”
“That’s good. That...you’re close I mean.”
She nodded. “I don’t know what I would have done without her.””
“I get that,” Shannon nodded.
“You close with both your parents?”
That brought another small smile. “Yeah, I am. Corny as it sounds...my mom’s pretty much my best friend.”
“That’s good. That’s really good.”
She shook her head. “Okay, see me drunk...not good. I get a little sappy. Among other things.”
Becca laughed. “Sappy is good. Better than being a cynical bitch like me.”
She smirked. “With the exception of my parents...I’m never sappy sober. Then add in hyperness of my birthday and nerves and...who knows what’ll come out.”
“It’s your birthday?”
She looked at her watch. “Well, for a little while longer, yeah.”
“Happy birthday.”
“Thank you.”
“How old -- if you don’t mind my asking?”
“Twenty-five,” she said. “Quarter mark of my life...or something.”
“It’s a good year.”
“Does that mean I get to ask how old you are?”
She laughed. “I’m twenty-seven.”
“Ahh,” she nodded. “An older woman.” And...that was one of those things she was talking about that would pop out.
She smirked. “Only two years.”
Shannon shrugged. “It isn’t much. But I do tend to think older women know what they want.”
“We usually do. A little more experience that way.”
She bit her lip. She didn’t know why, but she liked the way that sounded. “I’m all for people figuring out what they want, but...at this point I don’t think I can take it anymore.” She didn’t know if they were talking about life in general or relationships, but she wasn’t going to press it.
“Too many people who were trying to figure things out?”
“There’ve been a few.”
“It’s part of life. You’re still young.”
“Not young enough for that anymore,” she shrugged. Then she smirked. “And not much younger than you.”
She shrugged. “I’m still young. It’s not as young. And some things take longer for some people than others.”
Shannon nodded. “I know, and...it’s probably bitchy of me, but..” She paused, but then quit skipping around the bush. “I guess I’m just tired of really starting to like a girl when she decides she likes only guys again.”
“Yeah, well -- as I said. I don’t get heterosexuality.”
“Me either. Girls are much more fun to look at.”
“And much more reliable -- aside from the sexuality thing.”
“That too,” she nodded. “And usually they smell good.”
“They do.”
And before she could filter it, “Like you. You smell good.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”
She really didn’t know what she was getting herself into, but she’d already said it so she figured she may as well keep going. “Yeah,” she nodded.
“You smell pretty good too.”
Her cheeks warmed a little at that and she laughed. “Good thing you didn’t catch me around work hours.”
Becca smirked. “I’m sure it’s not too bad.”
“I can’t say, I’m used to it.” And when the cab came to a stop she glanced out the window. “Oh.”
“That’s you or me?”
“You,” she replied. “My place is a little more...boat-y.”
“Boaty?” she raised an eyebrow before leaning forward to pay her part of the fare. “Nice.” She paused before starting to open the door. “It was nice meeting you.”
She nodded. “Yeah, you too.”
Becca gave her a small smile before getting out and closing the door, starting to head back to her hotel.
Shannon leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes, issuing a soft, “Fuck” under her breath.
“Where to next?” The cabbie asked. She sighed and gave him her address.
Shannon had dinner with her parents as per usual, but when she and Sam got back home she went into her room to shower and change. She put on a shorter skirt than she’d wear around her father and a lighter top. She had never been too great at the dressing up thing, but her mother had been trying to help most of her life. In fact her mom had picked the skirt out. It was just something they’d never tell Michael.
She put her hair up on top of her head and grabbed a pair of black sandals with short heels, then picked up her purse and headed into the small living room. She did a little spin. “How do I look?” She asked her uncle.
“You look great,” Sam nodded. “If I were a younger man and not friends with your dad ... ”
Shannon laughed. “It still wouldn’t get you anywhere if you weren’t a woman, sorry.”
Sam grinned. “A guy can try, can’t he?”
She rolled her eyes. “Actually it gets a little annoying, but for you...I give forgiveness.” She smirked. “Okay, don’t wait up for me.”
“Wasn’t plannin’ on it. Have fun, Shan.”
Shannon headed out the door and took a cab to the bar she was meeting a couple of friends at. She found them outside and they all headed in, going for drinks immediately. Gabe announced it was her birthday so the bartender gave her her first drink free, which she wasn’t going to complain about.
Becca, as a general rule, was not a fan of Miami. It was too hot, too sticky, and just too much, in every way. But occasionally she did need to travel down there for business and attend clubs that were too loud to deal with men who mostly wanted to grab her ass, but wouldn’t because they knew she would have them on their ass so fast that they wouldn’t even know what happened. She may be living on the Upper East Side, but she was from the Heights. She was a scrapper when she wanted to be.
Excusing herself from the table to get herself another drink, she made her way to the bar and sighed at the bartender. “Another seven and seven? Thanks.”
Shannon was already on her second drink of the night. She was mostly just hanging out, talking to her friends or saying hi to other people she knew. Her friend Jackie was eying the bartender.
“Hey, it’s too bad he doesn’t have tits,” she said, a bit louder than needed. “I’d buy you a body shot.”
Becca rolled her eyes a bit, but she stayed at the bar once her drink arrived, sitting up on the stool and crossing her legs in front of her. She wasn’t ready to go back to the table yet, and staying here would buy her a little time, regardless of the company.
Shannon rolled her eyes. “One, body shots are kinda disgusting, two...it’s not like breasts are the only requirement. That’d be like saying all you need for a guy-” She paused. “Wait, no, that is all you need from a guy.”
“Ha-ha,” Jackie said. “I was just trying to be a good friend.”
“Sometimes you don’t even need that,” Becca snorted, before taking another long pull of her drink.
“Depends on your preference,” Shannon shrugged.
“I personally don’t understand heterosexuality,” Becca sighed. “I look at the men in the world and think ... why would someone want to commit to that for the rest of their lives.”
“Who said anything about commitment?” Jackie asked.
“Honey, you’re a slut, you don’t count,” Gabe told her.
Shannon’s cheeks went a little red, but she tuned them both out. “They’re not all so bad, but it doesn’t mean I want to sleep with any of them.”
Becca shook her head. “Every man I’ve ever met has just screwed me over. And I don’t mean sexually -- I don’t swing that way.”
Unlike Shannon, Gabe realized that this was a good opportunity for Shannon to work on her flirting skills, so he distracted Jackie into moving a seat or two down for a row of shots. Shannon watched them go before turning back to Becca.
“I guess I got lucky. The men I grew up around are all...I don’t know. The good kind. Doesn’t mean I haven’t met some assholes around, but for the most part...” She shrugged.
“I guess you are,” Becca sighed, looking up at her. “But the men in my life just keep proving me wrong.”
“Sorry to hear that.” She offered a small smile. “At least you don’t have to rely on them for anything.”
She smiled back. “Yeah, at least there’s that.” She extended a hand. “I’m Becca.”
Shannon shook her hand. “I’m Shannon, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Likewise. So are you a Miami native, or just visiting?”
“Born and raised. You?”
“Just visiting. Business trip.”
“What do you do?”
“Advertising,” she nodded. “I freelance for different companies when needed.”
Shannon nodded slowly. “You enjoy that?”
“I do. It’s good money, and I get to be pretty creative with my time.”
“That’s good. That you like it.”
“What do you do?”
“I work at the local aquarium, mostly behind the scenes. I do a lot of field work, dives and such. But I spend the majority of my time with the conservationist team...which...I don’t get paid for.” She picked up her drink and drank from it quickly, not wanting to babble too much about things that other people found boring.
“Do you work with fish, or the bigger marine mammals?”
“Really it’s with all marine life, but I do focus a lot more on the bigger guys. Bigger the better.” And inwardly she groaned at that.
She laughed. “Well, the bigger ones do seem like more fun.”
Shannon smiled at that. “They really are.”
Becca took another sip of her drink and groaned as she heard someone calling her name. “I have to get back to wining and dining. But it was nice meeting you.”
She nodded. “Yeah, you too.” She probably could have come up with something better to say, but it really wasn’t her strong suit.
Becca picked up her glass and headed back to the table, settling back in with the men she was working with.
“What the hell?” Jackie came back over.
“What?”
“You? Are a horrible lesbian,” Jackie said, shaking her head.
“Shut up,” Shannon rolled her eyes. She ordered another drink and the three went back to enjoying their time together.
Becca went back to drinking, being professional, and trying not to explode at the idiots around her. It was a trying thing -- it really was.
They’d all had plenty to drink by later in the evening. Shannon was tired of sitting in the same bar, and she wanted to either find somewhere else to go or just go home. Jackie had just left with a guy, so it was down to Gabe and her. She looked over at him.
“We can call it a night if you want.”
“It’s your birthday,” he said. “What do you want?”
She smirked. “Something you can’t give me.”
He laughed. “Ditto, honey.”
Becca had just finished saying goodbye to her clients and was standing on the sidewalk outside the club, trying to flag down the taxi.
They paid their tab and headed outside. Shannon was leaned against him. “Go home to your cats.”
“Wow, that doesn’t make me sound lame,” he said with an eyeroll.
“Yeah, but I know you. It’s okay.” She leaned in and kissed his cheek. “Night.”
“Gonna get home okay?”
“Yup. Cab.”
“Okay, night.” He turned and headed down the sidewalk.
Becca was waving her arm in front of the taxis driving by, and they kept whizzing by her. “Son of a bitch.”
Shannon turned to the sidewalk and saw this, then smirked slightly. She stepped over. “Most cabs in Miami won’t stop at random.” She pulled out her cellphone and speed-dialed the cab company she kept in her phone. “Luckily it doesn’t take long to call them out.” She waited while the phone rang.
“Man, I miss my city,” she sighed, running a hand through her hair.
“Which city is that?”
“Manhattan,” she sighed. “There’s always a cab waiting to pick up a fare.”
Shannon opened her mouth to reply, but the dispatcher picked up. She held her finger up and spoke to the man briefly, then after a moment she asked him to hold. “How far are you going?”
“The Hilton,” she said, before rambling off the address.
“Mind sharing a cab? Otherwise one of us will have a long wait.”
She shook her head. “No, not at all.”
She finished the phone call and hung up. “Should be less than ten minutes.”
She nodded. “Sounds good.”
Shannon nodded and put her phone away, then fell silent, unsure of what to say.
Becca wasn’t really sure what to say either, just standing there and waiting for her cab.
After a moment or two she turned to Becca again. “I’m sorry if my friends were...obnoxious earlier. They....well, they are.”
She shrugged. “It’s cool. People are who they are when they’re drunk.”
Shannon laughed. “No, that’s pretty much who they are when sober.”
“Well, even better,” Becca sighed.
She nodded and glanced down at her feet, chewing her lip a bit. Why the hell did everyone always tell her that flirting was easy? She never found it easy. And she was probably making an idiot of herself.
Becca crossed her arms in front of her chest again before glancing back at her. “So how long have you been here? In Miami, I mean.”
“My whole life,” she spoke up. “My dad’s from here and my mom..actually, she’s from New York. She moved down here for my dad and...then came me.”
“Where in New York is she from?”
“Queens originally. The rest of my family on that side is still there.”
“Queens is nice. I’m from Washington Heights.”
“That’s cool,” she nodded. “Mom tries to get us up there at least a couple times a year. My Grandpa and uncles wouldn’t let her hear the end of it if she didn’t. Actually, they wouldn’t let my dad hear the end of it. It’s apparently all his fault that she left.”
“Well, it’s always easy to blame the outsider.”
“Yeah, guess so,” she nodded.
Becca shrugged. “Could be worse. They could not want her to come back at all because of him.”
“She wouldn’t put up with that. She doesn’t put up with much of anything.”
“Sounds like a smart woman.”
Shannon smiled and nodded. “She is.” She watched the cab pull up and when it stopped she opened the door for Becca.
Becca slid inside and gave the driver the address for the hotel before leaning back again. “My mom spent a lot of me growing up working hard.”
“Yeah? What’d she do?” Shannon slid into the cab beside her, turning her attention to her.
“Whatever she could? Cleaning hotel rooms, apartments -- whatever she could get her hands on just to make ends meet.”
“You two close?”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “She’s pretty much all I got.”
“That’s good. That...you’re close I mean.”
She nodded. “I don’t know what I would have done without her.””
“I get that,” Shannon nodded.
“You close with both your parents?”
That brought another small smile. “Yeah, I am. Corny as it sounds...my mom’s pretty much my best friend.”
“That’s good. That’s really good.”
She shook her head. “Okay, see me drunk...not good. I get a little sappy. Among other things.”
Becca laughed. “Sappy is good. Better than being a cynical bitch like me.”
She smirked. “With the exception of my parents...I’m never sappy sober. Then add in hyperness of my birthday and nerves and...who knows what’ll come out.”
“It’s your birthday?”
She looked at her watch. “Well, for a little while longer, yeah.”
“Happy birthday.”
“Thank you.”
“How old -- if you don’t mind my asking?”
“Twenty-five,” she said. “Quarter mark of my life...or something.”
“It’s a good year.”
“Does that mean I get to ask how old you are?”
She laughed. “I’m twenty-seven.”
“Ahh,” she nodded. “An older woman.” And...that was one of those things she was talking about that would pop out.
She smirked. “Only two years.”
Shannon shrugged. “It isn’t much. But I do tend to think older women know what they want.”
“We usually do. A little more experience that way.”
She bit her lip. She didn’t know why, but she liked the way that sounded. “I’m all for people figuring out what they want, but...at this point I don’t think I can take it anymore.” She didn’t know if they were talking about life in general or relationships, but she wasn’t going to press it.
“Too many people who were trying to figure things out?”
“There’ve been a few.”
“It’s part of life. You’re still young.”
“Not young enough for that anymore,” she shrugged. Then she smirked. “And not much younger than you.”
She shrugged. “I’m still young. It’s not as young. And some things take longer for some people than others.”
Shannon nodded. “I know, and...it’s probably bitchy of me, but..” She paused, but then quit skipping around the bush. “I guess I’m just tired of really starting to like a girl when she decides she likes only guys again.”
“Yeah, well -- as I said. I don’t get heterosexuality.”
“Me either. Girls are much more fun to look at.”
“And much more reliable -- aside from the sexuality thing.”
“That too,” she nodded. “And usually they smell good.”
“They do.”
And before she could filter it, “Like you. You smell good.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”
She really didn’t know what she was getting herself into, but she’d already said it so she figured she may as well keep going. “Yeah,” she nodded.
“You smell pretty good too.”
Her cheeks warmed a little at that and she laughed. “Good thing you didn’t catch me around work hours.”
Becca smirked. “I’m sure it’s not too bad.”
“I can’t say, I’m used to it.” And when the cab came to a stop she glanced out the window. “Oh.”
“That’s you or me?”
“You,” she replied. “My place is a little more...boat-y.”
“Boaty?” she raised an eyebrow before leaning forward to pay her part of the fare. “Nice.” She paused before starting to open the door. “It was nice meeting you.”
She nodded. “Yeah, you too.”
Becca gave her a small smile before getting out and closing the door, starting to head back to her hotel.
Shannon leaned back in the seat and closed her eyes, issuing a soft, “Fuck” under her breath.
“Where to next?” The cabbie asked. She sighed and gave him her address.