The L Word

Chapter Four


Shane let out an exasperated sigh as her last customer left the salon while she swept up the hair on the floor and threw it in the trash near the back of the room.

“I’ll lock up, Shane, see you tomorrow.” Heath said, closing the appointment book before he began to shut down the computer.

“Okay. Later, Heath.” She replied as she walked out and went to the corner of the street to catch the train. This was definitely one thing she’d have to get used to; taking the subway as apposed to driving home. New York City was definitely no West Hollywood, she knew this. Sighing she reached into her pocket and retrieved the slip of paper she’d been given by the cute blonde, smiling she took her phone out of her pocket and dialed the number scribbled on the paper. It rang three times before she picked up.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Kathleen?” Shane said.

“Yeah?” She heard the other girl say.

“Hey, it’s Shane. What are you up to?”

“Having coffee with my sister.”

“Oh. Um…do you wanna hang out afterward?” she asked casually.

“Okay. Where?”

“Uh, I don’t really know. I just moved here. Any suggestions?”

“Yeah, meet me in Union Square Park. You can take the yellow line; it drops you right in front.” Kathleen replied, smiling.

“Okay, I’ll be there in half an hour.” Shane agreed.

“Okay.”

She hung up the phone and scurried down the stairs of the subway. Smiling to herself, she hopped on the R train going uptown and sat in the corner of one of the carts. Her mind wandered to her friends back in California; Bette and Tina had been so happy when they heard she’d been offered this opportunity and Alice was happy too though she wasn’t too happy about the fact that Shane would be leaving. But she’d promised to visit and so had Jenny. Maybe she’d call them later, she thought, when suddenly a young girl striking an unbearable resemblance to Carmen entered the cart and sat across from her. Her face fell as she remembered their wedding trip that had come to halt when she decided she couldn’t get married. Sighing deeply she shifted in her seat as the announcer came on the loud speaker.

“This is a Queens bound local R train; the next stop is 14th street Union Square.” Her smile slowly came back, anticipating her next encounter with the angel she’d met earlier.

----------

“Who was that?” Maureen asked as her sister pocketed her cell phone and took another sip of her coffee.

“The…guy who cute my hair.” She answered, purposely saying ‘guy’. She’d known she was a lesbian for almost two years now but never dared to tell anyone or even write it in her diary for fear that her younger brother or sister would peek into it and find out.

“You gave him your phone number?” Maureen asked, slightly shocked due to the fact that Kathleen was usually pretty shy when it came to talking to boys. Kathleen shrugged.

“He was cute.” She replied, smiling. More like hot. She thought taking another gulp of her coffee before standing up. “I’m meeting him in the park in a few so, I’ll see you later.”

“Wait a minute!” Maureen demanded standing up after her sister. “I want to see this cute guy.” She insisted with a sly smile. Kathleen thought for a moment; if she could make Maureen believe that Shane was a guy then she could make anyone believe it.

“Okay.” She replied resuming her walk towards the door of the café. They walked across the busy Manhattan streets and she spotted Shane right away sitting on a bench, smoking a cigarette, sunglasses on. “There he is.” She said with a smile.

“He smokes? Mom and dad won’t like that.” Maureen commented. “He is cute though. Total skater boy.”

“Shane!” she called out waving at the taller, much skinnier figure that was sprawled out on the bench. Shane looked towards the voice and smiled, tossing the cigarette and stepping on it to put it out.

“Hey” she said, pulling her shades off as the two girls came up a few feet away.

“This is my sister, Maureen. Maureen this is Shane.”

“Hi Maureen.” She greeted extending a hand to shake Maureen’s. She took it with a smile.

“Hi. Well I’m gonna go. It was nice to meet you.” She said waving at Shane who waved back.

“You too.”

Kathleen let her eyes go from Shane’s spiky pixie cut hair down to her small firm breasts that to the untrained eye would appear to be nonexistent under her loose button down shirt and the tie that hung just as loosely around her neck. Her eyes continued down Shane’s torso to her hips, where the bones on either side were prominent and bold, outlining her masculinity.

“So, where’d you move from?” she asked letting her eyes go back up to stare in Shane’s grey ones.

“L.A.” she replied with a smile, noticing the girls roaming eyes.

“Quite a difference from New York.”

“Yeah, it really is a big city. I got lost for an hour this morning trying to find the right train to take to work.” She commented with a laugh. She motioned to the bench where she’d been sitting and Kathleen took the invitation, sitting down making sure to position herself close to the other girl. “You’ve lived here your whole life?” Shane asked, wanting to know more about the blonde haired beauty. Kathleen nodded.

“Yeah, I grew up in Queens.”

“Cool. Um...where is that exactly?” Shane asked leaning in closer.

“It’s northeast of here. Not so many buildings, more suburban.” She explained, smiling softly.

“Oh, I see.”

“I go to school in the city and hang out here most of the time.” She said. “Do you do anything else besides cut hair?”

“Not really. I co owned a skate shop back home and I used to cut hair there. The name of the shop is Wax hence where the name Shane for Wax came from. They offered me my own salon here in New York, kind of like a chain thing, but it’s only in L.A. and New York so far.” She replied.

“That’s so cool.” Kathleen beamed. “Well, you’re good at it. I’ve ever looked this sexy.” She joked.

“I seriously doubt that’s true. You looked pretty sexy when you walked in today.” Shane answered, letting her flirtatious nature take over. Kathleen blushed a little and smiled at the other girl.

“So did your girlfriend move here with you?” Kathleen asked innocently.

“I don’t have a girlfriend.” Shane replied, smiling at her attempt to be subtle.

“Had?”

Shane’s smile faded slightly, her eyes roaming away from Kathleen’s for a moment before she looked back up.

“Sorry.” She said, noticing Shane’s discomfort. Shane let a half smile tease her face as she shook her head.

“It’s okay. I had a fiancé.” She replied, decided to try the honesty thing.

“What happened?”

“You want the truth?” she asked with caution. Kathleen nodded. “I left her.” She let that sink in before adding. “I’m bad news, Kathleen.”

“That’s okay. We all have history.” She replied softly. “Besides, no one knows more about bad news than I do. I can handle it.” Shane smiled and nodded feeling good about herself for the first time in a long time.