The Long Winter #111
Paradise part one
It was a long drive from Upper Michigan to Miami. Penny and Becca crammed their necessary belongings into a few bags and shoved them in the back of Becca’s swoopy red Mitsubishi and went south. They listened to music too loud, they told funny stories about their high school days, they ate under the curious eyes of the highway towns’ denizens, and broke it up with two sweaty nights in hotel rooms.
It was midafternoon when they finally arrived at their home for the summer. They were a walk down a ramp from the ocean, an endless expanse of beautiful fine, white sand. The streets were crowded and lively, music blaring from several directions. Becca led Penny up the palm tree-lined walk to their building. A man let them in and Becca’s key card opened the elevator doors.
“We’ll always have to remember our cards,” Becca said as they got in. She pressed the button for the fifth floor and up they went.
The hallway was pleasantly cool and smelled faintly of sunscreen and coconut. The tile floor was polished and the walls were finished in plain white without a scuff or mark on them. Becca opened their room and Penny stifled a gasp. One step into the apartment and she could see the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the horizon. The room itself was not so different from Becca’s apartment in Upper Michigan with modern furniture and fixtures, everything shiny and new. Penny dropped her bags and rushed past it all for the balcony. She flung the door open, a blast of warm, humid air washing through her hair, and took a long, deep breath. She spun back around and smiled at Becca.
“This is amazing!” she said, dancing out onto the wide balcony. “Look at this!”
Becca came out, closing the door behind her, and wrapped her arms around Penny, resting her chin on the half-Asian girl’s shoulder.
“This is like a dream. I mean, like, we live here! Look at this!” Penny turned, staying in Becca’s arms, and held her back. “Thank you. This is just…”
“I know.” Becca kissed her. “We have the whole summer ahead of us. Don't let this beautiful weather fool you, though! It can get stormy down here in the afternoons. You don’t want to get caught out in one!”
Penny giggled as she looked back out at the beach. There was blue sky overhead, the faintest wisps of clouds here and there. There was no danger of a storm that day.
“Come on. Put on your suit, we’ll go check out the beach.”
“Okay!”
Penny followed Becca back inside and they changed into their suits. Penny smiled at the pink bikini her girlfriend put on, and Becca snickered at Penny’s modest boy-shorts and tankini.
“You look like a middle aged woman,” Becca said, pulling on a thin shirt and buttoning only two buttons.
“It’s comfortable,” Penny answered with a bright smile. “Besides, I like to only show you more of my skin.”
“I appreciate that, of course, but I also like showing you off.”
Penny nodded and promised to buy a new bikini with her first paycheck from the lab. Then they were in their flip-flops heading down to the beach. They passed another doorman on the beach side of the building, and Becca waved hello at a couple she knew relaxing by the pool. They walked down the wooden ramp to the beach and Penny again gasped in delight when her feet touched the soft, hot sand.
“I’m going to burn myself!” she squealed, hopping from one foot to the other.
“Aren’t you wearing sandals? You look like a fool!”
“It’s hot!”
Becca laughed and they ran down to the water. It was cool and soothing after the fiery sand, and Penny sighed and bent down to pick up her sandals. Becca’s were already in her hand and she was striding away down the beach.
“Hey, wait up!”
Penny ran up to her, unable to decide where to look. The waves rolled in from the ocean, calming by the time they reached Penny’s toes. The buildings were tall and close together, an interesting mix of modern and art deco styles. Beach grass separated the beach from civilization. Palm trees were everywhere. Some were tall with smooth bark and slender trunks. Some were spiny and thick. Anywhere there wasn’t a palm tree there were flowers. The people on the beach were beautiful, even when they were heavy and ugly. Everyone was tan. Music was ahead of them. Music followed along behind them. Penny reached for Becca’s hand. She squeezed Penny’s back.
“I’ve made a few friends down here,” Becca said. “It’s a pretty good community, different from Shawn’s little gang. They throw events, I’ll take you to your first Pride parade. This is going to be a great summer.”
“I’m so excited. This is such a beautiful place.”
“And we have a whole week to explore it before you start working.”
“And then I only work four days a week!”
“Three day weekends every week? Lucky you.”
“Can I splash in the ocean?”
“What am I, your mom? I don’t care.”
“Can I splash you?”
“Do it and see what happens.”
Penny laughed and whirled away from Becca, running into the ocean and tumbling over a wave. She popped up and wiped the salty water from her face to see Becca watching her with her hands on her hips, far enough away to be safe from any of Penny’s splashing. Penny dove back into the water, twisting around in the surf to roll back towards the shore. She popped up and raced at Becca, water falling from her hair, her arms, her legs, and Becca’s amused smile turned to concern as she realized just what Penny had in mind. Penny laughed, catching Becca in a bear hug before the blonde girl had a chance to react.
“Penny!” she shouted, trying to push the half-Asian girl off of her. “You’re soaking wet and freezing cold!”
“It’s so hot down here, Becca! You looked like you needed to be cooled off!”
“You are most definitely going to pay for this!”
“I can’t wait.”
Becca laughed with her and they continued down the beach. They ignored the young couple staring at them from behind their sunglasses who walked past in the other direction.
“We should eat barbecue tonight,” Becca said. “I’m too tired to cook.”
“Yeah. I don’t want to cook, either. Maybe tomorrow. We can make a list tonight at dinner and we can go to the store tomorrow.”
“Do you want to go out tonight?”
“Out?”
“Yeah, drinking, dancing, that sort of thing.”
“You’re too tired to cook but not too tired to go drinking and dancing?”
“Yes. Cooking is work, but I always have energy for play.”
Penny laughed and held her.
“Sure. Let’s go out tonight.”
“Great. We’ll clean up, have dinner, and spend the night out together.”
“How exciting!”
***
Penny leaned against the bar, staring glumly out at the floor at Becca who danced in a circle with four other women. She took a sip of her water and sighed. They had been out for hours and hours and Penny was long since ready for bed. But Becca kept drinking and she still wanted to dance. Penny begged her way off the dancefloor, her aching feet needing a rest, and thus she found herself standing between two unoccupied stools at the end of the bar.
“Yo, you want something other than water?” the bartender asked as Penny finished her glass.
“No, I want to go home.”
“Why’d you come in here if you wanted to come home?”
Penny frowned at the bartender’s blunt face. She was pouty and dark-skinned and her black hair glowed red and purple and orange under the club’s undulating lights. She took the fresh glass of water the bartender offered up and sipped before answering.
“My girlfriend wanted to dance some more.”
“Why ain’t you dancing with her?”
“I’m exhausted. We spent the last three days driving down from Michigan and now I want to sleep. But I can’t. She’s drunk and I want to make sure she gets home safe.”
“You armed?”
“What? No, of course not.”
“Well, don’t say that too loud. Little chica like you? You could get yourself raped or murdered or worse.”
“We’ll be fine. We live not far from here. I know where we are.”
“Yeah, and it’s your first day. Don’t forget that. This place is different in the night. You should get an Uber. You got Uber?”
“Yes, on her phone. We’ll be safe.”
The bartender nodded and left. Penny turned back to see one of the other girls grinding her hips against Becca’s. She took one last sip of her water and went back out onto the dancefloor, bouncing between other couples (she had never seen so many female-female couples!) and begging off advances made by other single girls. She frowned at the curvy girl dancing with Becca and the curvy girl made a face and left. Becca smirked at her and welcomed her back with an alcohol-soaked kiss.
“Penny, my love, where did you go? I was getting lonely out here!”
“I’m tired, I want to go home, let’s leave.”
“Leave? But we just got here!”
“We got here almost an hour ago!”
“Has it been that long already?”
“And this is the third club you’ve dragged me to!”
Becca laughed and pulled Penny hard against her. Penny submitted and writhed along with the beat with her girlfriend but still scowled at her.
“Come on, Becca. Let’s go.”
“Fine, you fucking dud.” Becca gave her a hard shove and Penny stumbled backwards into another couple.
“Watch it, you clumsy bitch!”
Penny apologized and scurried after Becca. Outside she could still hear the thumping music from the club, blessedly dull through the walls, and it was still warm and sticky. Penny pulled the bottom of her t-shirt up and wiped the sweat from her forehead before she located her girlfriend standing under a light peering at her phone. Becca looked up as she approached and flung her phone at Penny.
“Hey!” Penny fumbled it before securing it against her belly.
“You better not drop it, you fucking nerd.”
“What’s wrong with you? You’re being totally mean!”
“You’re the one being mean, Penny,” Becca said, jabbing her finger into Penny’s chest. “I brought you out tonight to have fun and all you’ve done is mope around and whine about how tired you are.” Becca took on a cartoonish sulk and her voice became mocking with a thick, high-pitched, fake PMer accent. “Rook at me, I’m a stuck-up, boring PMer beeeetch, and I hate having fun with my girlfriend who roves me and takes care of me and welcomed me into her ruxurious South Beach home.” She stopped and put her hands on her hips and glared at Penny. “Fuck you.”
“What? We’ve been out all night! I just want to go home and sleep, after three days of driving I don’t think that’s unreasonable. We have the whole rest of the week to go out, but now I’m not sure I want to if this is what happens on the very first night.”
“Every night, Penny! Every night from now on! If you’re not going to come out with me, I’m going to spend the whole summer whoring it up! You can sleep on the couch like a loser while I bring whatever fun girl I want into my bed! You can wear earplugs because I’ll make sure we’re super loud! You boring, stuck-up bitch!”
“You’re being so mean! You drank too much! You should have been sobering up with me, we should have been home hours ago, we could have showered and gone to bed, but you wanted to get drunk and now you’re saying really horrible things!”
“Are you calling me a drunk?”
“No, I’m saying right now you’re too drunk!”
“You’re calling me a drunk!”
Penny stared at her girlfriend, her mouth working, but no sounds coming out.
What do I even say to that? She’s being totally unreasonable!
Agree and escalate? Sometimes that works. Maybe she’ll laugh.
“Fine! Yes, you are a drunk! Now let’s go ho—“
Becca slapped the rest of the words right off of Penny’s face. Penny recoiled from her but Becca reached out and seized her arm.
“Come on. Uber’s picking us up in five minutes.”
“You—“ Penny swallowed a sob. “You hit me!”
Becca stopped and rounded on her.
“You called me a drunk. You were a wet blanket the whole night and dragged me down like an anchor! The thanks I get for welcoming you to my home! For taking care of you all the rest of the semester after the Spring Game! For getting you this prestigious fucking internship!”
“I am grateful, really—“
“Then fucking act like it! Fucking act like it, Penny Stark, you self-righteous, goody-two-shoes, boring basic bitch PMer!”
“Thank you, Becca! Thank you for everything you’ve done for me! Now can we please go home and sleep? Please.”
Becca took a deep breath and Penny put her hands up.
“Please don’t slap me again.”
“Fine. Come on, Uber’s here.”
Becca grabbed her arm again and dragged her to a waiting car. The young foreign man inside asked if they were all right and Becca smiled and assured him that of course they were. They drove back to the condo in awkward silence and, once finally inside, Penny struggled through a shower before slumping into the bedroom. Becca was not there. She sighed and trudged back through the unfamiliar abode to the living room where Becca had passed out sprawled across the couch. Penny stood watching her for a moment, considering the pros and cons of leaving her like that.
She can’t come to bed all sweaty and gross like that.
I don’t think she would appreciate a shower right now. You might as well just leave her.
What if that makes her mad, too?
It’s a risk you’ll have to take. At least tonight.
She hit me.
I’m sorry about that.
It’s not your fault.
I did suggest “agree and escalate.” It really does work sometimes.
She was just too mad at me. I’m too tired to think about it anymore.
Get to bed. Things will be better tomorrow.
Penny nodded and returned to the bed. It was spacious and comfortable and oh-so-lonely without her loving girlfriend.
It was the alcohol. She was just drunk. If we don’t drink again, if she doesn’t get drunk again, she won’t hit me again…
She did not hear Marv’s response as she drifted to sleep. She would deal with it tomorrow.