I Know This Bar

By: Girl Bard

Please see Part 1 for disclaimer.

Special thanks again to my beta readers Linda and SB. You guys are the best, seriously.

And thanks to everyone who mailed me feedback! Keep it coming!

Breakfast went as I thought it would. Grace’s dad was okay, very dull, but a nice guy. Grace’s mother, however, I am convinced is not just evil, but the devil incarnate. She does nothing but stifle Grace, making nasty comments on everything she eats and says. This turns Grace into this quivering little girl desperate to please her mother, which makes me really pissed.

Grace looks nothing like her entire family. Her mother and sister are both tall with dark brown hair and eyes, and Grace’s father is tall with hair similar to Grace’s in color and dark eyes. So where did really short, blue-green eyed Grace come from? Strange.

Grace’s mother keeps trying to get me to talk about myself. I can tell this is making Grace upset, so I answer as little as I can and play with Grace’s foot under the table. I also sneak playful looks to her whenever I can, just to cheer her up. But she seems to be ignoring me as much as she can, instead focusing on taking small and ladylike bites of her breakfast. I can tell how uncomfortable she is so I eat as fast as I can and after breakfast we excuse ourselves and bolt out of the house.

The rain from last night has carried over to this morning, squelching our plans for Sea World. We get into my car and I start the ignition, waiting for her to talk.

"Want to go to the mall?" Grace asks, and I shrug. I’m not a fan of shopping, but there isn’t much else to do on a rainy spring day.

She directs me to the mall and I find that Grace seems hell bent on buying something, anything. I know she’s in a bad mood and shopping must be how she copes with it. I say nothing and follow her to what must be the tenth clothing shop in less than a half an hour. She hasn’t bought anything yet, but tried on various outfits, to which I ohhhed and ahhed all of them. Of course, I’m not stupid. Tell a woman she looks bad in anything is a one way ticket out the door. Not that Grace could ever look bad in anything.

She finally decides on a bluish dress, and claiming she needs something to wear for the summer she buys it. Leaving the store, she is now visibly more relaxed. "Ohh! Can we?" Grace asks, pointing at the small photo booth. I smile at her and nod, and heading over we discover that for a dollar we get four instant black and white pictures. I put four quarters in and we sit in the booth. The first picture is sweet; we smile at the camera with our arms around each other. The second picture I have fun, licking the side of Grace’s cheek. The third picture is her grossed-out face in response to her wet cheek and me laughing hysterically. The fourth picture is an all out make-out session, resulted in me grabbing her after the third picture was taken and kissing her deeper than I ever have.

We don’t get out of the booth immediately, enjoying our kiss. The pictures begin to print loudly and we get out of the booth to retrieve them. Grace grabs them, and squeals with glee.

"Jaden, look at this one!" She says, pointing to the first picture. It’s a great shot; we both look thrilled to be with each other. The second picture is my favorite; the look of surprise and confusion on Grace’s face as I lick her cheek is great. "I love this one!" She says and points to the third picture. That one is by far the best, Grace’s nose is wrinkled up and you can just picture her saying "What in the hell did you do THAT for?" But the fourth picture, that’s a definite keeper. Grace sees it and is silent. She looks at me, smiling softly, her eyes shining. "We look beautiful." I nod, agreeing with her. We sure do.

I glance at my watch. It’s 9:30 and the mall is getting more crowded. It seems like people in Ohio love their local mall. "I have an idea." I tell her, hoping she’ll agree.

We settle in Jaden’s hotel room and laugh as my stomach growls. I blush and tell her apologetically, "I hardly ate this morning."

"I know." She answers, frowning. "Grace, your mother has no right to comment on what you eat. You are beautiful regardless if you’re a size 4 or size 24."

I smile at her, but my eyes are sad. "I know that, but my mother is ruthless. My entire life she’s been on me about being overweight."

"Well, you’re not overweight and even if you were it shouldn’t matter. What matters is how you feel about yourself." Jaden takes her small purse and digs into her wallet. "Let’s get rid of all this spare change. You feel like taking a trip to the vending machines?" She smiles, and I answer her smile with one of my own.
"Do you even have to ask?" I say, and beat her to the door.

10 minutes and more calories than I’d like to imagine later, we are sprawled on the bed, a mountain of junk food between us. I call dibs on the Baked Lays potato chips and the Ho Ho’s, and Jaden happily takes the Butterfinger and pretzels. Several cans of pop lay chilling in the ice bucket as we snack and take turns feeding each other tidbits. I flip through the television, and finally settle on a repeat of ER. I love ER.

"Do you ever watch ER?" I ask and Jaden shakes her head.

"I hardly ever watch TV, honestly." She answers.

"Why?" I ask, wondering why anyone wouldn’t watch TV.

"I always feel like a loser, sitting by myself and watching TV." She says, smiling as she feeds me a pretzel.

"Well, you’re not a loser." I tell her. I smile and wiggle my eyebrows. "Besides, Carol Hathaway is hot."

Jaden laughs. "Who is Carol Hathaway?" I put my hand to my chest and feign surprise.

"You don’t know who Carol Hathaway is?" Jaden shakes her head. "Watch and learn my friend." I tell her as I turn my attention back to the TV, eager to point her out to Jaden.

I glance over at Jaden, noticing a stray piece of chocolate on her full lower lip. I reach over and remove it with my mouth, and gently kiss her lips. All thoughts of ER, our snacks, and Carol Hathaway are lost as she returns my kiss hungrily and rolls on top of me.

This afternoon was fun. After an amazing morning in Jaden’s hotel room we decided to go to a matinee movie to avoid the rain. We sat in the back of the mostly-empty theater and made out like teenagers. We enjoyed ourselves so much we decided to stay for a couple of other movies too, sneaking into them after they had begun. I’m not really sure what we saw because we were otherwise occupied. I don’t think I will ever be able to sit through a movie again without thinking of Jaden’s lips, salty from popcorn.

Emerging from theater I squint as my eyes adjust to the sun. The sun! I look up to find that the rain is gone, the sun is shining, and I can tell it’s going to be a beautiful evening. Jaden knows what I’m thinking and smiles at me as we walk to her Explorer.

"How about some ice cream?" I ask, wanting something sweet after all that popcorn.

"You read my mind." She answers, and we head for Dairy Queen.

"Arugh! Damn it!" I say, furiously dabbing at my shirt with my stack of napkins. Jaden thinks this is funny and almost chokes, she is laughing so hard. "Serves you right for teasing me like that!" I spit out at her, attempting to clean my shirt and hold my dripping cone at the same time. She takes pity on me and takes my cone for me. I get out of the car and run inside to the bathroom.

Returning, with a wet and spotted shirt, I get in the passenger side of the Explorer with only a little difficulty. Jaden hands me my ice cream and immediately looks the other way. It seems to be suspiciously lower than I remember eating, and Jaden looks guilty. I lean over to inspect her mouth.

"Just as I thought orange and vanilla traces on the corners of your mouth. Let me smell your breath." She obediently opens her mouth. "Uh huh." I say thoughtfully. "Now, one final test. Hold still." She raises a dark eyebrow, wondering what I’m up too. I am really glad we are in an empty Dairy Queen parking lot as I ravish her mouth. Oh yeah. She defiantly ate my ice cream, as if there was any doubt. I deepen the kiss, forgetting all about the ice cream.

"Gracie, urmph. Stop!" Jaden barks and I pull away from her, just a little more than pissed off at being interrupted from my seduction.

"What?" I ask tersely. Jaden motions to her ice cream covered hands and I see that it has dripped all down the front of her and onto her pants. "Ohh." That’s all I can muster. I narrow my eyes at her. "Open the window, throw the cones outside. Now." She looks surprised at my demanding tone, but complies and does as I say. She barely has time to put the window back up when I make my move.

"What are you doing?" She asks, as I crawl into the Explorer’s huge back seat. I smirk at her and flip the latch to fold the seats down. She catches on quickly and tries to crawl through also, but she is too tall. I can’t help but chuckle at the sight of her surly face when she realizes it isn’t going to work. She finally gives up and gets out the drivers side, letting herself in the back through the back hatch.

"Not making fun of me being short now, are you?" I tease her. I thank the Goddess that the windows are slightly tinted as I push her down. I kneel between her legs and pin her sticky hands above her head. She moans into my mouth as I kiss her hungrily, pressing myself into her. I kiss my way down her neck, worshipping her sweet and salty skin. She groans, urging me on and I shake my head, scolding her for her stained shirt.

"My what a messy girl you’ve been." I say to her and she stifles a grin. "Well, I guess we’ll have to get you cleaned up." I bring her fingers to my mouth and swirl my tongue around each sticky finger, much like she was doing with her ice cream. She groans and I smirk at her. Removing her fingers, I chide her. "Do you see how rude it is to tease?" She nods and closes her eyes. She is concentrating fully on everything I am doing, and I like it that way.

I finish one hand and bring the other to my lips. If possible, this tastes even better and I moan at the heady combination of Jaden’s skin, and the different flavors of ice cream hit my taste buds. Jaden’s answering moan floors me from my head to between my legs and I can’t help but grind myself into her as I suck her fingers.

"Jesus Christ Gracie, don’t stop." She says, thrusting her hips to meet mine. Stop? I couldn’t stop if God himself threw a bucket of cold water on me. I lean to kiss Jaden again and find myself being flipped, with her now on top of me. She raises a triumphant eyebrow and I know I’m in for trouble. Big, big trouble, but the nice kind trouble.

Jaden’s soft breasts are pressed against mine and I have the overpowering urge to touch them. I claw frantically at her soft gray shirt, vaguely aware of her kissing down my neck. I almost jolt upright when I feel her hand stroking between my legs. Jaden chuckles into my neck and I respond by pumping my hips into her hand. Oh Goddess, I can’t believe how good this feels. And with her perfect timing, (note sarcasm here), Jaden stops.

I sigh and close my eyes, wondering what her reason is now, thinking it better be damn good.

"Um, Grace?" She asks, her voice strained.

"What?"

"Isn’t that your mom over there?"

I vaguely remember telling Jaden to drive and drive fast when I remember she can’t crawl back up through the seats. I curse and squeeze through myself, turning on the big Explorer and throwing it into drive. "Goddamned son of a bitch. Fucking bitch. I can’t have a freaking mother fucking moment of peace and fucking quiet without her goddamned snooping."

I tear out of the parking lot and speed through town, hoping the one or two cops on duty are fishing at the pier like usual. Jaden is bouncing around in the back, and over my cursing I can hear her laughter.

I drive like the crazed madwoman I am until I am a few miles outside of town. I pull over to the side of the road and allow a Jaden nearly hysterical-with-laughter back into the driver’s seat. She looks at me like I’ve gone crazy, and I honestly think I have. I am fuming, my face red and hands clenched. She says nothing and simply cups my cheek in her palm, her eyes expressing a "Don’t worry, everything will be fine look." It’s amazing what she can convey to me with a simple look and touch and I sigh, releasing my tension.

I feel better as I climb into the car. Jaden looks at me fondly. "Are you alright?" I nod to her, a small smile on my face. I know I’m overreacting. My mother really doesn’t know Jaden’s car, and she wasn’t even headed in our direction. Still, it was almost enough to drive me insane.

"That was your sister with her, right?" She asks and I nod my head yes. "Dumb question, but why would your mother control everything you eat and then take your sister for ice cream?"

"I don’t know." I answer honestly. "That’s how it’s always been. I love Lydia to death and it’s not her fault but my mother treats her completely different than she treats me. Lydia has always been able to eat whatever she wants, say whatever she wants, and kind of have her own social life. I was always told exactly what to do and what to say and what to eat." I shrug, I’ve thought about this before and it never makes any sense to me.

"That isn’t right." Jaden says, her voice angry. I pat her arm, grateful that she cares but knowing she can’t do anything about it. Jaden looks thoughtful and pensive, and I can’t help but wonder what is brewing in her intelligent mind.

"Where too?" Jaden asks, changing the subject.

"My house." She looks confused, but drives on. I am desperate to finish what I started in the Dairy Queen parking lot and I know my house will be deserted.

We arrive at my house and Jaden excuses herself to the bathroom to clean up while I take Bean outside to potty. Coming back in the house I find a note from my mother on the table.

Grace-

I snort. "Jeez, she’s really turning it on strong for you." I tell Jaden as she comes up behind me. Jaden cocks her head, reminding me of Bean when she hears something interesting. "My mom hates all of my friends, except Scott of course. For her to invite you for dinner and welcome you to stay means she really likes you!"

Hearing Scott’s name, Jaden purses her lips in disgust. "What trip is your mom talking about?" She asks, noting the letter.

"They are taking a cruise on Sunday, May 30^th for 12 days." I tell her, smiling to let her know that is good news. "I somehow convinced my mother that I couldn’t go." I get up my nerve and continue. "I was hoping you could come and visit for that time, but that was before I knew you were visiting now and I know you couldn’t take that much time off of work." I finish, and Jaden looks thoughtful.

"Probably not." She says, smiling sadly. "But you never know." She adds, much to my delight.

I look down at ice cream stained shirt. "I should probably get out of this." I tell her, pointing out the stains. She nods in agreement. "Want to help?" I ask hopefully and she chuckles.

I take her hand and lead her to my bedroom. Shutting and locking the door behind me I glance at the clock and see that it’s almost 5:00 so we should have plenty of time before my mother gets home.

Suddenly nervous I hug Jaden, feeling her comforting warmth. I breathe her in, wanting to never forget her scent or the feel of her against me.

"What’s wrong sweetheart?" She asks, her face tinged with concern.

"Nothing." I tell her, not wanting to ruin the moment. "I just need you." I tell her and she lifts me onto my bed.

"And I need you." She answers before moving her lips down to mine. We kiss and it’s like we’ve been kissing forever. Her mouth fits perfectly against mine as her tongue gently caresses my mouth. She eases her weight onto me and our bodies meld together. I eagerly move my hands beneath her shirt, feeling the strong muscles in her back as she writhes against me.

Surprised at my suaveness I manage to unclasp her bra strap while enjoying her kisses on my neck. Gracefully she removes her shirt, leaving her satin black bra dangling from her shoulders. I remove it, taking in the splendors that are her breasts. I could write books about her breasts, novels about her nipples, chapters about her….I giggle at that thought and she quirks her eyebrows at me.

"Something funny?" She asks, as I collapse into giggles beneath her.

"You don’t want to know." I tell her, pulling her down to me. She looks as if she’s going to ask again until I take her breast to my mouth and tenderly kiss it. We somehow then manage to discard the rest of my clothing and sigh with happiness as our naked bodies meet again.

She grinds herself into me and I lower my hand and place it between us. Finding her wetness I shudder with desire and gently push my fingers into her. She moans into my mouth and opens her legs wider to accommodate my probing fingers. I push them in and out of her, stopping to rub her swollen clit with each thrust. She is frantically pumping her hips into my hand while sucking my neck. This is so hot, she is on top of me, grinding into me as I touch her and I can’t help but think how different this is from doing anything sexual with Scott. Pushing that nasty thought out of my mind I concentrate on the beautiful woman on top of me. A few more thrusts and rubs and Jaden is coming, her voice gravelly and low in my ear as she groans my name. She spasms a few seconds more before coming to rest, her body draping over mine.

I can’t believe it’s Thursday. I’m upset, to say the least, about Jaden leaving tomorrow. Don’t get me wrong; we’ve had a wonderful time together, but I don’t want her to leave. After making wonderful love on Tuesday we had an uncomfortable dinner with my family. I mean, how difficult is it to sit with your ultra-conservative parents who are grilling the woman you’ve just had in your bed, knowing that if they find out they will kill both you and said woman? Talk about stress. But after dinner was really nice, we ended up going for a long walk around Mill Hollow with Bean. It was a beautiful evening, and perfect for a late-night stroll.

And yesterday was a blast! We did go to Sea World and see all the shows. It was so much fun, the dolphins are so cute, but the killer whales are my favorite. Jaden loves the sea lions, so I think we sat through the sea lion show about four times. She’s so childlike sometimes, and I love when that part of her comes out.

While we were at Sea World, Jaden noted the roller coaster tracks across the lake. I had to tell her that it is Geauga Lake, another amusement park. Before I could tell her that it’s fun, but nothing like Cedar Point she had dragged me over there and we were standing in line. I think I have a coaster junkie on my hands!

I pull into the parking lot of Jaden’s Holiday Inn, bright and early. She answers the door, looking well rested, which I don’t see how because it’s a three hour drive and we didn’t get back from Geauga Lake until 2am.

"Hey" I greet her as she steps back to let me in. She looks nice, in boot cut jeans that hug her curvy hips and flare at the bottom to cover her well-worn Doc Martens. Her light cranberry long-sleeved shirt accentuates her dark hair. She smiles at me and I notice the light traces of makeup she has put on. She looks younger than her 27 years this morning, and I give in to my urge to kiss her, enjoying the taste of her vanilla-flavored lipstick.

After we break from our kiss I review her outfit. "You gonna be comfortable walking around in those all day?" I ask, nodding my head towards her boots. We’ve decided to go into Cleveland today and go to an Indians game.

"Yes mom." She jokes, shutting the door behind me. "You look really pretty." She says, noting my comfy khaki cargo pants, white t-shirt and blue pullover sweatshirt. I blush slightly and duck my head.

"Thanks, so do you." I mumble, extending my hand, offering her the bag I brought. "I come bearing gifts." Jaden’s eyes light up as she opens the bag. "I hope you like doughnuts, I didn’t know what you wanted for breakfast." She places her hand on the small of my back, leading me over to the small table in the corner of her room. I can’t explain the electrical charge that overwhelms me when she touches me. It’s more than a sexual thing; it’s like a primeval urge just to be near her. Every touch makes me want to crawl next to her and stay forever.

"Thanks for breakfast, this is great." She tells me through a mouthful of jelly doughnut. I should have known she would have liked those; we seem to have completely different tastes in food. Myself, you couldn’t get me to eat a jelly doughnut if you paid me. I much prefer chocolate cream sticks, or those yummy ladyfinger things.

Jaden makes coffee with her in-room coffeemaker and offers me some. I wrinkle my nose in disgust and pull out a can of pop from my book bag. She shakes her head at me as she stirs her coffee. "That stuff will kill you. Do you know how bad soda is for you?"

I furrow my brows at her. "Soda? Who calls it soda? It’s called pop." I say, opening my Coke and taking a healthy swallow. "Besides, I have a pop addiction. I can’t help it and I’ll never change." I smirk at her, thoroughly enjoying the mixture of the tangy Coke and sweet pastries. I don’t miss Jaden’s eyes roll as she watches me eat and I respond by sticking out my tongue.

"Promise?" She asks, regarding my tongue. I blush and duck my head, pretending to ignore her as she licks the jelly out of her doughnut in a very familiar way.

We head out to the parking lot after breakfast. "Want me to drive?" I ask, indicating my little car parked next to her Explorer.

Jaden walks towards the Explorer. "No thanks Speed Racer, I like to get places in one piece." She smiles and adds, "What else did I say last time you drove? Oh right, let’s take the big girl car." She condescendingly pats my head and unlocks the doors. I stifle a groan and climb in, hating her tall car that makes it so difficult for my 5’2" stature to get in and out.

"You are such a brat. You just do this to drive me crazy." I tell her, and she ignores me. She’s really good at that. Don’t get me wrong, Jaden isn’t rude by any means, but she can ignore me really well. I know she hears me, but she just doesn’t choose to always respond.

After dealing with traffic, we make it into the city within an hour. I direct Jaden to a parking garage and we leave the Explorer. I grab my book bag, loaded down with everything I might possibly need today, or every day for the rest of my life. Jaden notes my heavy load and offers to carry something. She brought a small bag herself, containing only the essentials.

"No, I’m just a pack mule." I say as I shrug on the heavy bag. She looks at me funny, waiting for me to explain. "Everyone always teases me because I bring a bag everywhere and it’s always loaded down." She smirks at me as she feels the weight of my bag. "I just like to be prepared!" I defend myself and she says nothing as she switches bags with me. "Jaden, you don’t have to carry that, I’m used to it."

"Gracie, this bag easily weighs almost as much as you do. I’m not going to have you collapsing in back pain all around Cleveland, okay?" She finishes, her voice definitive. I sigh, she’s using her policewoman no-nonsense tone and I don’t bother to argue. I thank her and she smiles, knowing she’s won and we walk out into the Cleveland sun.

"YOU SUCK! YOU COULDN’T MAKE A GOOD CALL IF IT SLAPPED YOU ON THE ASS!" Grace finishes, to a round of cheers. She’s a big hit here at the game, much to her delight.

With the insults she’s hurling at the umpire, I’d be surprise if she doesn’t get us thrown out of the game. She gives a little bow to her crowd of admirers, nearly spilling her soda.

Finally sitting down, she grins at me. She looks so cute, her red-gold hair tousled and wind-blown; and her pert nose sunburned from our days outside. I return her smile and squeeze her hand.

The home of the Cleveland, Indians is a nice stadium. It offers a beautiful view of the Cleveland skyline, which really consists of three tall buildings. Nothing like the skyline Boston boasts. Grace’s father had tickets for the game tonight, and we are sitting in great seats on the first base line.

"Aren’t these kickass seats?" Grace asks, echoing my thoughts.

"Yep." I answer. "Your father has connections, huh?"

"He knows everyone." She says, and suddenly shivers. I hand her my jacket that she gratefully accepts. The wind has picked up, making for a more interesting game. The outfielders are having a hell of a time judging where to catch the fly balls. "Did you ever play?" Grace asks, indicating the game below.

"Yeah." I laugh at the memory. "Jonah and I played all the time as kids, it was great."

She smiles at me. "I played in high school. Softball, of course. I was a catcher, but I always wanted to play second base."

"Why didn’t you?"

"Because we had an all-state second baseman, my best friend Jackie." She giggles. "Besides, I had fun wearing all the catcher equipment."

I laugh with her, I can just picture her tiny form enveloped by a ton of catcher gear.

The loud CRACK of a bat hitting a ball snaps our attention back to the field. The ball careens towards us and I instinctively throw my hand in the air, snapping the ball out of the sky. The crowd around us groans, disappointed on missing their chance to catch the foul ball. Grace is screaming, hanging onto me and jumping up and down.

"Jaden, I can’t believe you caught that! You’re like Dottie Hinson from A League of Their Own!" She says excitedly. I have no idea who she is talking about.

"No big deal." I tell her as I toss her the ball.

"Thanks!" Her eyes are shining, as if I just gave her the best present ever. I take one look into her striking sea-colored eyes and I know I’m done for. This kid has my heart and soul on a platter.

"Jesus Christ, Jaden." I tell myself. "What am I going to do now?"