MARBLE & SALT (Lesbian)

Chapter 23 (Part 3) WHEN THE CLOSET IS TOO DARK, AND IT'S SO HARD TO COME OUT

I was sure that there was no one in the apartment, because it was hushed. The walls reflected the golden blush of bizarre sunbeams, distorted by the glass of the neighboring house windows.

"I'll just grab some of my items, and we'll go home... to residence," I said, touching Hebe's cool hand. She let out a soft moan, barely audible, like soft Zephyrus's breath.

"Velka?" I suddenly heard Dasha's voice. "Lord, thank God you are here! Where have you been?! Your parents were talking some nonsense about Harvard! Danya said that you disappeared from the apartment at night, and then you wrote him that you left with your parents: I know you, you would not have set on a long car trip without extreme necessary, you are always nauseated! And, and, and this strange situation with the blonde in the club!" She threw herself on my neck.

I could hear distinctly the distant sounds of approaching thunderstorm.

I would have melted in her arms, but now I felt stifling and embarrassed. "Where is Danya?"

"We broke up..."

"This is not new. You are constantly breaking up. Where is he now?"

"We really broke up. He left." Her eyes filled with tears.

"Where did he go?" It was difficult for me to return to everyday reality after the maelstrom of events in my new life.

"Have you gone deaf, Vel? He left me! He left the apartment! He no longer lives here! Do you understand it now?! He moved in with his new girlfriend... that shrink I told you about. You would have known that if you hadn't left without warning me! I thought we were friends with this baba; I thought she was interested in me, but in fact she was just making her way to Danya."

I would have been stunned by the news if it hadn't been for Hebe:

"Don't you dare talk to her like that and stop clinging to her with your hands," my witch growled menacingly, pulling her hand away from me.

"Who are you to give me orders in my own house? Velia, who is she? And... what are these weird stripes on your skin!?" Dasha was shaking with anger; her curls twitched on her head as if she was Medusa the Gorgon.

Hebe didn't give me a chance to answer, "I'm her girlfriend, and you missed your chance, Dashenka. You've lost this treasure. Now go bite your elbows! I will take care of her, and you stay here... in your house," having said it, she gently hugged me, pulling me closer. "And this is what you call home? Pathetic... My girl will never live in this shit. It looks like a garbage dump."

Dasha stood rooted to the spot. I felt so sorry for her, but I could not help or comfort her as I used to do million times during our long long friendship, because Hebe took my hand and pulled me to the exit; on the way she grabbed the telescopic handle of my violet suitcase. "You don't need the junk from this apartment; I will buy you brand new things, whatever you want, just tell me, and I will rip the crown off English Queen's head!"

"The Queen seems to love cute damsel hats..." I whisper.

Hebe grabbed me into her arms and kicked my poor suitcase dashing it towards the open elevator.

"Vel..." Dasha said hoarsely. "VELIA, WAIT!!!" She screamed desperately and ran after us, but the elevator doors closed in her face.

Hebe put me on the floor. There was only one light in the elevator, creating the classic atmosphere of any Soviet elevator that survived perestroika. The mirror on the wall, surprisingly nowhere chipped (the power of superstition was and will always be strong in Russia), was dull, dark, but at the same time surprisingly attractive. I wanted to put my hand into it like into the black water of a night lake to find myself in the huge Forest.

"Velia, tell me the truth... Do you love her? I need to know..." her voice was husky and sad. "You two have long history together, a shared past, but I'm just a raging wildfire..."

"I loved her, Hebe." We stood close to each other. I lift my head looking into her eyes. "She is the closeted past of the girl who no longer exists. I no longer want to look back at the past; I want to look only at you. I love and will love only you..."

Hebe's eyes were glistening. I would never forget that look of marble eyes. She leaned towards me, slightly lifting my chin and kissed my lips as gently as she had never kissed me before. It seemed to me that those were not her lips at all, but rose petals. I hugged her strong back with my arms, trying to snuggle closer to her.

When the elevator opened on the first floor, breathless and tear-stained Dasha, who had been running all that time down the stairs, saw only an empty elevator car.