Original Fiction for Angela
Whom I love, even though she makes me paranoid. From the writing meme that I posted two weeks ago and did, but am just now getting around to posting.
She wanted something original. Southern girl, northern boy, the beach, and handcuffs. This is what she got.
Katie Brynn leaned over the sink, splashing cold water on her face and trying to remember how she had ended up in this mess in the first place. She looked into the mirror and noticed the UMASS shirt she wore and the memory of last night rose to her consiousness even as she felt the bile rise in her throat.
"Who gets a tattoo of handcuffs, anyway?" She had to yell at Melissa to be heard over the music that was being piped out to the beach from the tiny beachside cabana. Like everyone else in Panama City, they were standing in line for margaritas, her second long plastic tube of alcohol for the evening, Melissa's third. She must have been louder than she thought, because the guy sporting the tat on his calf turned around and grinned at them.
"What? Rednecks get uglier tats than this all the time," the guy had said. "Don't your boyfriends have rebel flags on their asses or something? Large memorial pictures of their hunting dogs?"
Melissa had been disgusted and half on her way to drunk already and just rolled her eyes, but Katie Brynn decided to rise to the challenge.
"Naw," she had said, putting on her best syrup sweet drawl, "they just have 'Mom' on their biceps and Elvis riding a motorcyle on their hindquarters. Really, if you're going to insult our guys you might do yourself a favor and buy us a drink. Then maybe our hick boyfriends might not beat up your yankee ass if we tell them you've been sweet."
"Uh, huh. And what's in it for me other than not getting my ass kicked by some rednecks?"
"You better be careful what you say about rednecks considering the part of the world you're in. But if you'll buy us a couple of margaritas me and Melissa might dance with you." She had gestured out onto the beach where an impromptu dance floor was covered with people grinding together.
"I don't think Melissa will be joining us," he said, and pointed to where she had wandered away and found a seat in some guy's lap next to the bar. "Maybe she thought she could get her drink a little faster that way than standing in line with the peons like us."
"Yeah, well, that's Melissa for you. All impulse." Katie Brynn grinned at him, but felt all of her bravado rush out of her.
"I'm Gordon, by the way."
"Katie Brynn."
"So Katie Brynn, does the offer still stand, even though it's only you and me now?"
Katie Brynn glanced over to where Melissa was trying to entice the guy she was currently perched on to buy her a drink. She seemed to be succeeding. "Why not?"