519. Chapter 519
Alex is a nervous bundle of excitement, and Maggie is a nervous bundle of… well… anxiety.
She doesn’t mention anything – of course she doesn’t – partly because she’s still trying to get used to this whole talking about herself thing, but mostly because Alex’s eyes are glistening so brightly.
The way she’s wringing her hands and pacing and changing her clothes sixteen times… reminds Maggie of when she was sixteen, off to her first lesbian club with kids she met at the college a few hours’ drive away in her rundown pickup.
And she wants it to be better. For Alex. She wants everything to be better for Alex.
So she soothes her girlfriend’s nerves and she laughs – genuinely, happily, because god this woman’s smile is infectious and the way she wrinkles her nose is absolutely adorable – as they step into Alex’s first lesbian bar.
She smiles at Alex’s wide-eyed ecstasy, at Alex’s trembling jaw because this, this, this is what she’s been looking for – without even knowing she was searching – for so damn long.
And she should know better.
She really should. Because Alex deserves better. And here? She can get it.
So she should know better than to leave Alex alone by the pool table while she goes to get them drinks.
Because one second later – one damn second later – Maggie looks over her shoulder and her smile fades.
Because one damn second after she walks away, some gorgeous blonde is leaning into Alex and Alex is spluttering and Maggie’s shoulders sink because Alex deserves better than her.
By the time she gets to the bar, two more women have tried. With her girlfriend. She glances, but she doesn’t watch. She doesn’t want to be possessive, after all, and more? Alex deserves better than her, sure. And she can have anyone she wants. Obviously.
That doesn’t mean Maggie has to watch her slip away from her.
Even though this is literally the reason she hadn’t wanted to date this woman to begin with.
Because she’s just coming out. She hasn’t experienced all that she should yet. All that she deserves.
And Maggie shouldn’t stop her from that. Alex deserves better than that.
She collapses onto a bar stool and orders a shot along with the beer Alex had requested. She downs it immediately and vaguely wishes the bartender was M’gann. She hears a high-pitched laughter from the other side of the room, and she knows Alex has caused it.
She signals for another shot.
Her body tenses when an arm slips around her waist, but she almost immediately recognizes those hands, those arms, that caress.
“Was your plan to take me to a lesbian bar and then drink alone, babe?” Alex asks, her voice heavy with excitement, light with exhilaration.
Maggie shrugs without turning around, so she doesn’t see Alex slowly starting to frown.
“I just… no, Danvers, you just… you seemed to be having a really good time, uh… without me. And you should, that’s okay. I mean, you can have any woman in this bar, Danvers, and I don’t want to – “
“Maggie, hey, stop. Stop it. Please. I don’t… I don’t want any other woman in this bar. I only want you.”
“It’s okay, Alex, I’m not mad, I – “
“Hey, no, you don’t get to tell me how I feel. I… yeah, okay, a lot of women were trying to talk to me, and I… I’m flattered, I’m… I’ve never been in a space like this, but Maggie, I… I told all of them that I’m good to make friends, but the only woman I have eyes for is at the bar getting us drinks.”
Maggie gulps down a throatful of tears and wills herself not to completely ruin her reputation by sobbing. Hard. She nods her head toward the woman on the stool next to her.
“That girl there?” she grins shakily, and Alex pffts and rests her elbows on Maggie’s shoulders.
“Nope. Guess again.”
Maggie tilts her head to her other side, and Alex brings her lips closer to Maggie’s with a smile.
“Nnhnn. One more try.”
“Me?” Maggie asks, her voice small and disbelieving but so damn hopeful.
“You,” Alex promises, and an awwwww runs up across the bar as they bring their foreheads together, bring their lips together, and forget the rest of the world even exists.