Make This Last Forever Pt. 04

Ashley grinned her pleasure at Dani's compliment and replied, "Well you are looking as beautiful and sexy as ever, Dani. Love the short haircut, by the way. You look disgustingly cute."

"Oh, me?" Dani asked coyly as she curtsied and then took a sexy pose with one leg turned forward and her skirt pulled all the way up her thigh.

Ashley raised an eyebrow at Dani and shook her head with a disbelieving laugh.

"You little tease," Ashley said. "Some things never change, do they? So how the hell have you been?"

"Much better now that you're here," Dani answered gratefully. "That's all I'll say. How about you?"

"Never better!" Ashley said proudly. "I need a drink though. The people here are giving me terrifying flashbacks to my teen years. I'm still not entirely sure what compelled me to attend this stupid thing. Come and get in the line for the bar with me so we can catch up."

Ashley and Dani went together to the long line for the bar that snaked its way around the nearest roundtables. Everyone had apparently decided now was the perfect time to get drinks. It took all of Dani's willpower to keep from reaching over and taking Ashley's hand in hers as they walked side by side. She still couldn't believe that after all this time Ashley was standing at her side and looking more beautiful than ever. Dani had to keep reminding herself that this wasn't high school any more and that things had changed between them in the intervening years. Ashley very well might be in a serious relationship though Dani couldn't see any rings on her fingers other than the antique turquoise ring given to Ashley by her grandmother that she never let out of her sight.

While they waited at the end of an excruciatingly long line, Ashley asked, "So where the hell have you been the last ten years?"

Dani guffawed at getting to once again experience Ashley's patented bluntness. With all the liars and manipulators Dani had been subjected to during her lifetime being with someone so genuine was so refreshing. Always being able to find the heart of the matter was one of the things Dani loved the most about Ashley.

"Well, currently I'm planning to graduate with my master's degree in Medieval Art History and Critical Analysis from Withelby this December and am working at the circulation desk in the university library in the meantime," Dani explained.

Dani didn't want to mention any of the trauma from her past that she had endured since last seeing Ashley. Some things were best left forgotten.

"Oh la la," Ashley said in hoity-toity voice. "Private college."

"Yep..." Dani said with a shrug. "Only the best for me. So where the hell have you been? You ghosted on me when I tried to find you after my freshman year of college."

Ashley and Dani moved further up the line while they conversed.

"Yeah, I still feel kinda bad about pulling the whole disappearing act on you," Ashley said. "My Dad lost his job that Autumn and we couldn't afford to pay our mortgage. The bank ended up foreclosing on our house and we all had to move in with my grandma. Between Gram, my parents, and two rowdy little brothers it was cramped as hell."

"I'm sorry, Ash," Dani said sympathetically. "I had no idea."

Ashley shook her head and said, "It wasn't so bad. My parents were always deadbeats but my Gram was the most awesome lady I've ever known. But soon afterward my Dad found out he had lung cancer and the prognosis gave him only a year to live. We had no health insurance at the time and no way to pay for medical bills or treatment. I guess Dad felt he would be too much of a burden on his family while we waited for him to slowly die. I don't think he ever felt like he had control of his life. Had a kid young, married young, worked a dead-end job in a dead-end town, and was constantly kicked in the balls by life. It must have been such a relief for him when he stuck that shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger."

A haunted look came over Ashley's eyes as she quietly added, "I was the one who found him."

"Oh, Ashie," Dani said sadly as her heart ached for her friend. She rubbed Ashley on her arm and added, "I wish I could have been there for you."

"Looking back, I wish you could have been too," Ashley replied as she smiled.

Dani's heart skipped a beat at the sight of Ashley's beautiful smile. Her wide grin had always been one of her best features. Ashley had her own pain to deal with but she had managed to overcome it much better than Dani had.

"So then what happened?" Dani asked.

"After Dad died, I had to get out," Ashley told. "I left everything and everyone I knew behind and moved to Florida for a while until I earned my Associate's Degree at a community college. I found a steady girlfriend down there and after the gay marriage ban got overturned again we got married. Just because we could, not because we actually loved each other or anything like that."

Dani looked again at the spot on Ashley's finger where a wedding band should be and Ashley couldn't help noticing Dani's glance.

"It was a shockingly terrible idea," Ashley said with a shake of her head. "Not too surprising considering we were both wasted drunk when we eloped. Obviously things didn't work out. I kept Katie's last name after we divorced though, so now I'm Ashley Knight."

"What, you didn't want to keep the last name Roffer?" Dani teased. "It had such a lovely sound to it."

"Haha," Ashley replied sarcastically. "Um, hell no. Not long after the divorce, my Gram got sick and I moved back up here to take care of her since I knew no one else in my worthless family was capable. She passed away about two years ago, still miss her every day. I got my realtor's license in the meantime and after working for a local company for a couple years I was eventually able to start my own agency."

Dani's memory tingled as she felt recognition dawning on her.

"Oh my God, that was you on the billboard outside town!" Dani exclaimed.

"Oh, you saw that?" Ashley said with a grin. "I'm pretty certain they airbrushed my waistline inward by a couple inches when they put my photo up."

Dani found herself reaching over and squeezing Ashley's sides before she knew it.

"That image of you feels pretty damn accurate to me," Dani observed with her hands lingering upon Ashley's waist. "Ash, you look amazing."

"Well golly gee, thanks," Ashley said bashfully as she clutched her hands together and fluttered her eyelids. "I started losing weight naturally in Florida so I kind of just went with it by eating better and exercising more."

"Well it shows," Dani remarked. "Hot damn!"

"Oh you," Ashley said with a blush.

"How is your business doing?" Dani inquired. "Must be okay if you can afford that kind of advertising."

Ashley smiled slyly and said, "Good," without adding a single word more.

"So what was it like moving back here after all this time away?" Dani asked.

"Eh, not as horrible as I thought it would be," Ashley said with a shrug. "I'm living over in Delta now which is slightly more progressive than old Cornwhole. They even have a lesbian bar."

"Oh, you mean Cuntry?" Dani asked.

"Ah, you've heard of it," Ashley replied. "I'm a regular as you might expect."

"I was just there last night in fact," Dani said. "Rowdier than I expected."

"No fucking way!" Ashley exclaimed. "Me too! How did we not see each other?"

"Well, I did leave kind of early," Dani answered bashfully. "I sort of met someone..."

Ashley sized Dani up again and assessed her with suspicion. "Wait a second. Short blonde hair. Big tits. Legs and ass to die for. Were you the blonde making out with that chick outside the bar and blocking my car from parking?"

"Holy shit!" Dani cackled. "That was you?"

"It appears so," Ashley confirmed. "Fuck, that girl you were with looked cute too. There was no one worth picking up by the time I got there. You naughty dog."

Dani grinned at Ashley and shrugged her arms guiltily.

"So are you and that girl an item then?" Ashley inquired a bit too nonchalantly.

"Who, Tharisse?" Dani said. "No, it was kind of a one-time thing while leaving open the possibility of maybe hooking up again someday. We live in cities in different states so it was kind of like the fates aligned for us to even meet."

"Oh," Ashley replied simply. "Good."

Dani couldn't help feeling gladdened by the satisfaction showing on Ashley's face when she learned of Dani's unattached status.

Dani and Ashley finally arrived at the front of the line where Dani offered to buy Ashley her first drink. Dani ordered the light beer that her friend wanted and Ashley looked askance at Dani when Dani only ordered a Diet Coke for herself.

"Not drinking tonight?" Ashley inquired with surprise.

"Not tonight," Dani answered with a shake of her head as she tipped the bartender. "To be honest, I don't really drink at all any more."

"More power to you," Ashley said as Dani handed a beer to her. "Drinking turns people into morons."

Ashley took a loud, long gulp of her drink and swallowed it down with a refreshed, satisfied sigh.

As they walked away from the bar, Ashley smirked and nudged Dani's arm as she joked, "So much for my sinister plan to get you drunk enough to take your clothes off for me."

Dani grinned at her friend and replied, "Ashley, you've never needed to get me drunk for me to take my clothes off for you. Just ask me politely. Or call me your fuckslut and command me to strip for you. Whatever tickles your fancy."

Ashley had been in the process of taking her second swig of beer but when she heard Dani's words she nearly spit out her drink. Even after all the naughty things they'd done together, it still shocked Ashley to hear such words coming from the mouth of the seemingly sweet and innocent Dani Meadows.

Ashley choked down her gulp of beer and croaked, "I guess we'll see where the night takes us. Should we get some chow while the line is short?"

Ashley and Dani loaded up platefuls of food from the buffet line and chose a roundtable with no one seated at any of the folding chairs surrounding it. The table sat far enough away from the loudspeakers that the long-lost friends could talk without music blasting in their eardrums yet separate enough from their classmates to allow them plenty of privacy. The reunion was overall a low-key affair with a few bar games like beer pong, foosball, and darts played in one corner being the only real activities. This was no formally organized event, it was up to the attendees to co-mingle if they chose to. No one had found courage enough yet to take to the dance floor.

Ashley and Dani's conversation reached an intermission as they ate dinner. While Dani sipped at her Diet Coke daintily Ashley drank more generous portions of her beer. Dani loved the way Ashley drank beer, taking large gulping swallows like a man and occasionally burping too. Dani noticed Ashley's hand resting beneath the table and impulsively she reached over to take Ashley's hand in her own with her knuckles resting atop Ashley's knee. Ashley looked over at Dani and smiled.

Oh God, she smiled, Dani thought happily. It was happening, Dani was falling again just like the first time.

Dani had been so worried that Ashley still hated her but apparently time and distance had healed the wounds from a decade ago. They silently held hands for a moment, cherishing the affection that remained between them. The subtle way Ashley's thumb stroked its nail against Dani's palm made Dani's heart go all aflutter. Dani smiled and simply enjoyed the touch of Ashley's hand on hers for a while before starting their conversation again.

"So are you still driving that crappy Oldsmobile?" Dani asked.

"The Ancient One?" Ashley asked, referring to the nickname given to the car she inherited from her grandmother on Ashley's sweet sixteen. "Nah, that thing died years ago when I was driving back from Florida. What a total piece of shit that car was. I loved it so much."

"I know," Dani said as she rubbed Ashley's hand consolingly. "I remember."

Dani recalled summer nights cruising around their stupid little town in that car, laughing at how silly her friends were behaving and listening to music while they smoked cigarettes and tried to figure where they could have sex at that night. Of course, Ashley and Dani hadn't been the only ones in the car during those escapades. There was a very prominent someone who Ashley and Dani had carefully avoided bringing up in their conversations so far. Dani decided she would wait for the right opportunity to mention Sam.

"I haven't thought about that thing in years," Ashley said with a mournful shake of her head. She had nearly finished her beer already. "I miss that piecer."

"What about your parent's cabin?" Dani asked. "Did you ever made it up there again?"

"Nope, they had to sell the cabin along with pretty everything else we owned when the troubled times came," Ashley said regretfully. "Never forgave them for that, though I understand why they had to do it. It sucks knowing now that I could've gotten a way better price than what they sold it for."

"Oh," Dani replied tersely. "I see."

There went Dani's grand plan to propose a radically different sort of reunion at that old cabin where Dani experienced her lesbian awakening. Dani even plotted to half-jokingly suggest a game of truth or dare which would have been even naughtier than that first memorable time they played now that those senseless young girls had matured into full-grown women who perfectly understood what their bodies were capable of.

Ergh, so much for that idea, Dani thought with disappointment.

Ashley noticed Dani's displeasure and squeezed her friend's hand as she asked, "That place was very special to you, wasn't it?"

"I can't lie," Dani replied. "It really was. What we shared there was incredible and life-changing. That cabin was where I discovered who I really was and where I fell in love for the first time. And of course, that was the place where Sam took my virginity too..."

"Hey, I was plenty involved in that too!" Ashley protested. "Let's not downplay my participation in your corruption and deflowering."

"Very true," Dani admitted. "Yours was the first pussy I ever licked and it must have been pretty damn good because I've been addicted ever since."

Dani and Ashley chuckled for a moment but a momentary silence between them soon turned awkward. Well if Ashley wasn't willing to bring up the elephant in the room, Dani would.

"Where is Sam, Ashley?" asked Dani point blank. "What's happened to her?"

Ashley grimaced and said, "God, you act like she's dead or something. Sam's still around though I haven't seen her in a couple years."

Dani breathed a sigh of relief and said defensively, "Well, it's not like I had any idea where you were. I tried finding you both on every social media website I could think of but you guys disappeared on me."

"The only Facebook page I have is for my agency," Ashley explained. "I don't go in for that social networking BS. I haven't seen Sam online for a long time."

"So are things between you two... y'know... Good?" Dani asked.

Ashley looked over at the bar and said, "Line is looking pretty short. Let me grab another beer and then I will tell you some shit you will not believe."

Ashley chugged the rest of her beer down before releasing Dani's hand. Dani didn't want to let her go but knew innately that Ashley wouldn't abandon her again. Ashley grabbed the refuse remaining from their meals and made a stack of plates to toss into the trash can on her way to the bar. While Ashley was away, Dani noticed Lindsey, Paige, Halley-Anne, Rita, and the other popular girls from high school sitting together at a table on the other side of the hall. Ten years ago, Dani would have been seated right there with them laughing awkwardly at their cruel jokes and homophobic slurs.

Paige used to be one of Dani's closest friends but everything changed once Dani started hanging out with Sam and Ashley and questioning her sexual orientation. Paige was the monstrous bitch who seduced Dani and tricked her into unwittingly exposing herself on camera. She then used this blackmail tape to force Dani into recording even more depraved acts that were later uploaded to the internet. If there was any justice in the world, Paige would have seen jail time for what she did but her family's money and influence ensured she'd never spend a day behind bars. Dani caught Paige glancing at her with the strangest look showing on her resting bitch-face. Dani didn't believe it could possibly be true, but Paige looked jealous and spiteful.

What the hell was that about, Dani wondered.

Now that she had Paige's attention, Dani scratched the side of her scalp using her middle finger to flip an insulting sign at Paige who grimaced when she noticed the obscene gesture and turned back to continue visiting with the awful cunts who made up her circle of friends.

A moment later, Ashley returned bearing a plastic cup of beer in one hand and two shots of whiskey held gingerly in the other. Ashley set the drinks down with one shot glass pushed toward Dani.

"Interested?" Ashley asked.

"No, thank you," Dani replied.

"Suit yourself," Ashley shrugged before shooting back one shot and chasing it down with her beer. She quickly did away with the second whiskey by pounding it back with another following chase of beer. Ashley used her elbow to wipe her lips off and then raised her beer to her mouth for another drink.

"Woah, easy does it there, Ash," Dani said disapprovingly.

"You're right," Ashley said after she stopped herself and set the beer back on the table. "I'd much rather be sober with you tonight. Well, mostly sober that is."

"I want you to be too," Dani said. "I don't mean to be a buzzkill but I want us enjoy this night to the fullest without passing out early."

"Just seeing you again and remembering Sam..." sighed Ashley. "It brings to mind some painful memories that I buried for too long instead of dealing with."

"I know, Ash," Dani consoled as she took Ashley's hand in hers again. This time she wouldn't allow Ashley to be the first to let go.

Ashley breathed deeply before starting her story:

"So after that summer when we were all together I didn't see or hear from Sam for years. There was just nothing. I figured we had all just moved on though to be honest I never really got over it. But then a couple years ago right after I moved back here from Florida who else but Sam messages me on Facebook from out of nowhere asking if we could meet. I didn't even know she was on Facebook though it's possible she created a profile just to contact me. Of course I told her yes. She was my best friend and I used to be in love with her. I never stopped loving her, truth be told."

Dani nodded encouragingly as Ashley continued her tale.

"I built myself up thinking maybe she had finally forgiven me. I held out hope that we could get back together and try making our relationship work again. I was dating someone at the time but not involved in anything serious. I would have dropped everything, burned every bridge, broken every commitment without hesitation to be with Sam again. But when we met for coffee she looked nothing like we remembered her. She had no makeup, normal clothes, she looked... well..."

"Basic?" Dani offered.

"Exactly. Her hair was its natural blonde color instead of dyed black which seemed like the worst affront. That should have been the first red flag. We caught up for a bit and then Sam tells me about how she started going back to church."

Dani groaned, "Oh, sweet Jesus," and laid her forehead in the palm of her hand. She could see where this was going.

"Precisely," Ashley said as she took another drink. "She's become a damned extremist. Sam told me that she had prayed on it for a long time and finally forgave me in her heart for tempting her into a sinful lifestyle. She tried convincing me to quit my obscene ways and come to church with her. As if that bitch hadn't initiated everything during our first sexual encounter. She shoved her fingers inside me the second time we ever hung out together."