Le Colibri

TWO (Gabbi POV)

"Good morning..." I look up from Le Journal that I was reading while sipping at my cup of coffee and manage to hide a smile when I hear her faint tone of voice. Light comes through the wide living room windows, highlighting the blue shade of the walls that contrasts with the dark furniture, golden ornaments and white marble fireplace and makes my guest blink.

Exactly what I was expecting... When I got up, Julie was still sleeping in my bed after an exhausting night drinking, dancing and enjoying my skills... enjoying a lot since I can be really generous with the proper incentive and I felt inspired by some racy jokes I exchanged with Joe yesterday. But while I was washing up and putting my silk dressing gown in my bathroom, surrounded by white marble and green tiles, I knew Julie wouldn't feel as fine as I was feeling after getting up: my tolerance for alcohol is higher than hers and I just need a good breakfast to take care of my hangover, on the contrary she must've a terrible headache... And in addition to that, she's embarrassed by our activities last night, just like every woman who gets close to me 'out of curiosity.' Once they're satisfied, they have second thoughts about it and it turns into panic quickly when they start wondering if I'm going to tell to a mutual acquaintance of ours how much they've moaned in my bed. In this case, Julie isn't a random girl I've met in a club after drinking several glasses of champagne, she's my friend and I owe her part of the happy and carefree life I'm enjoying right now: without her help at the beginning, I wouldn't have known the trendy nightspots where I found the right people that introduced me into the lesbian and intellectual world of Paris.

"Sit down, chérie... I see you've found the dressing gown I left for you on the armchair." Julie nods closing over her chest the garment made of red satin with gold dragons embroidered. "Do you prefer coffee or tea? Do you need an aspirin?"

"I eh..." Poor girl, she seems really bewildered so I decide to make her feel better. I lean forward and take her hand.

"Julie, we're friends, aren't we?" The brunette nods hesitating. "You were curious and last night champagne gave you the courage to try a new experience, luckily I was there and I think I managed to make it a memorable occasion, didn't I? But it won't necessarily happen again and it doesn't have to change anything between us, we're both modern and independent women... And I'm a gentlelady, no one will know what happened here from my lips. My domestics are really discreet too so don't worry about them..." I assure her when she flinches on her seat after a girl comes into the room carrying a tray with jam, butter and buns. "Come on, eat some breakfast, you'll feel better..."

"Thank you, Gabbi..." My friend smiles faintly and obeys while I keep reading the newspaper sipping at my second cup of coffee: meat price has gone up, Parliament members are arguing about the general budget, some ads, the theatre guide and movie listings...

"Maybe we can go to see a show later this week, how many times have we gone to the Folies Bergère to see Joséphine Baker dancing?" I ask before biting my toast and realizing it needs more jam.

"A few but we can go again..." Julie answers with naturalness, trying to relax and get back the close friendship we had before, copying my willingness to do the same. "Gabbi..." I look up from the newspaper raising an eyebrow. "Only a couple of my former lovers could compete with your level of skill and endurance so... thanks for this special night."

"Welcome to the dark side..." I answer smiling mischievously and winking. "Come on, eat your breakfast. I can lend you some clothes and we can go out for a walk to clear our minds taking advantage of the fact that it's not raining. This autumn the weather is being very nice, don't you think?" The remains of the tension leave Julie's body and she starts talking to me like nothing happened, exactly the way I wanted.

"Where do you want to go?" she asks while opening my wardrobe doors and checking the dresses on the hangers. My friend is trying not to look at the bed and messy sheets deliberately focusing on my clothes, checking the weather through the window and even staring at the brass bedside lamps and the wall painted in a dark lavender shade. Everywhere except looking at the print of her head on my feather pillow. Once again, I try to hide my smile before answering.