Chapter 2 - page 2

The bar began to fill, but it was still more or less quiet. Tally and Fleur chatted lightly over dinner and drinks, Tally nursing her plate and trying to keep up conversation while Fleur happily munched away, switching between her wings and poutine as she giggled and snarked and smiled.

"Go on and have some if you like," she said, gesturing at the poutine with her fork. "I won't miss it, trust me."

Just so she didn't look uncomfortable, Tally forked a piece. "Ohmm," she said as she chewed. "Iss good!"

"I know," Fleur replied with a knowing grin. "I grew up with this stuff. I could make poutine before I could ride a bike."

"I've never had it before," Tally replied plaintively.

"What! Who lets their child go without poutine?"

"I guess... American parents?"

"Go on, have some more." She nudged the plate towards Tally. "I ought to make you some of my recipe sometime. This is the only place I trust to do it right."

"I think I have plenty." Tally still had most of her food, and she was getting full.

"Alright, but they say an appetite is a sign of good health." Fleur flashed her teeth and kept eating. Her food was disappearing much faster than Tally's, with a pile of wing bones starting to overcome the remaining wings with meat still on them. She was an expert, pulling the bones out from the meat and popping it in her mouth in a single motion. She sucked sauce from her fingers, smiling at Tally.

"So, a... A chef," Tally said, shakily trying to start a conversation on her own for once. "What do you like cooking most?"

"Baking is my love life," Fleur bubbled. "I'm trying to round out my skills - y'know, with proper dishes like steak and potatoes and stuff, but I've been baking since I was a little girl. If it starts with batter and ends with a full belly, I'm all over it." Tally smiled and nodded her comprehension as Fleur continued, talking about how she wanted to improve her cooking and making more than just desserts; not many rich old farts wanted their kids stuffed with cakes and brownies all day long, she assured her. Fleur was quite turn-key, Tally noted happily. All she needed was a nudge and someone to listen, and Tally could provide that in spades.

All the while, Fleur's meal(s) steadily continued to disappear into her stomach. Their perky server came and swapped their cokes for cosmos and Tally loosened, just a bit. She had bravely squared off with her burger, but she was quite full. She liked it a lot and planned to have it boxed, but not before Fleur was finished; she didn't want to imply her date was making her uncomfortable with her eating. So Tally nibbled and kept a trickle of crumbs and fruity drink flowing into her. Fleur seemed to have picked up on Tally's fullness and was taking advantage, pinching fries from her plate and scooping up spare gravy with it. It made Tally smile, seeing her so at home. If it was someone else, she would probably have been put off by them eating from three plates at once, but it was Fleur the aspiring chef doing it... Fleur the very pretty aspiring chef who looked at Tally like nobody else had before. Tally had been on dates, but never with a girl quite like this. She was... Tally couldn't really think of a word. Warm? She did look cozy... Her figure was plump, almost motherly, but youthful too. Yes, plump was the perfect word. Tally wondered what her lap must be like; the thought made her tingle. Be polite, her conscience scolded! Don't go eye-humping girls you've only just met. Suddenly Tally realized she wasn't even listening to Fleur talk, and snapped to attention.

"And so I haven't used curry powder much since then. Except in curry, of course. Anyway, that's plenty about me! I always get carried away talking about myself."

"It's alright," Tally smiled, "I'm much better at listening than I am at saying things." Internally she shamed herself for making that a partial lie.

"Well, at least tell me one thing," Fleur fluttered her eyelashes as she asked, a saucy look growing on her features. "How did you realize?"

"Realize... Uh...?"

"That you were gay," she giggled. "I always find it interesting to know how people found out."

"Oh." Tally frowned, thinking back. "It was... Kinda... I never even really thought about it until it was a part of me. I just stopped one moment in high school and was like 'oh, I think I'm a lesbian - that's weird.'" Fleur busted into laughter and struggled to keep her poutine in her mouth.

"And you never thought it was unusual that those little thigh gaps caught your eye more than a bulge?"

"I thought girls were just supposed to like other girls' bodies..."

Fleur laughed even harder and Tally blushed, feeling ashamed. "Well how did you find out, then?"

"I'm sorry," Fleur replied, picking up on Tally with a sympathetic smile. She took Tally's hand and held it. "It's funny, but you might be right. How could we know what straight girls think about each other?"

Tally laughed a bit now. "Yeah. But really, how did you find out?"

"Well, that's a bit of a secret," Fleur began, "but lucky for you I'm a bit drunk and you're a cutie. I was fourteen or so. There was this neighbor girl whose mom babysat me when I was younger. We were best friends. She invited me to a party once and we ended up in the garage - drunk, of course. I promise I don't get drunk all the time, by the way. Anyway, she told me she thought I was sexy and one thing led to another and we had to throw our pants and underwear in a ravine the next day, we were so embarrassed. Haven't touched a man since," she added proudly.

"Wow." Tally laughed. "I wish I had someone to just lay it out for me like that."

"Mmm." Fleur discarded the last pair of bones. "C'est la vie! I was lucky, I suppose. But that was a big secret, so now you owe me."

"Okay..." Tally played with her straw, smiling nervously down at her third cosmo. She cut herself off mentally. "What do you want to know?"

"Well," she gave Tally a confident smile and looked right in her eyes. "Earlier, you mentioned I wear my weight well."

"Yes." Tally didn't like where this was going.

"That doesn't really explain what you think of the weight itself."

"Um... You... Have." She put her hand over her mouth and said no more. Fleur watched her, still smiling, but not with amusement. It was a look of patience.

"Be honest," she said. Tally composed herself. She was attracted to Fleur, no doubt about it. Her voice alone had Tally melting. She had a good sense of humor and she was knew what to do when Tally would otherwise just freeze with awkwardness. Her body, on the other hand...

"I've never thought about... bigger girls before."

Fleur smiled and put a sultry gaze over her plump body. With an exhale she brushed one hand against her chest and brought it up to her cheek. Her elbow subtly pressed her breasts together, deepening her cleavage. Tally watched it all in slow motion.

"Have you been thinking about them tonight?" Her eyes, her lips; a touch of redness graced her cheeks. In the course of a second Fleur had gone from good-natured and sweet to oozing sex. Tally caught herself halfway to biting her lip.

"I've been thinking of you..." Oh god, her stomach twisted. How stupid was that! "I mean -"

Fleur took her hand again. "Guess what: I've been thinking of you too, cutie."

Tally's eyes dropped to the ice in her drink. Oh god, she chanted in her head, oh my god. She wrenched her eyes back to Fleur, who looked concerned. "Something wrong?" she asked.

"No," Tally forced a smile, fearful of ruining the moment. "Er - You just caught me off guard a little. In a good way."

"Sorry." She was back to sweet and kind, soothing Tally's hand with a wry little smile. "If it helps, that catches lots of people off guard. You did better than most, I might say."

"I wonder how bad you'd have to do to get worse than that." Tally surprised herself with her honesty, but Fleur laughed and her smile grew.

"You might have puked on me, for one."

Tally broke out laughing, taking Fleur with her. "No way!" Her voice shook with mirth. "Did that really happen?"

"Te mentir - I mean, would I lie? Trust me." She was still holding Tally's hand, and she looked at it and her own braced together on the table with a smile. Then her eyes cracked back into position looking into Tally's. "Of course it doesn't hurt your position, being as attractive as you." Tally looked back, her eyes unnaturally steady. She wanted to fidget, but she couldn't.

"You're attractive too. Very." She desperately wanted to say something different, to not just mirror Fleur's compliments. "I just wanna..." No. She shut her mouth before she embarrassed herself. Fleur tilted her head.

"Go on," she said, sultry tones leaking in.

Tally pursed her lips and shook her head no. She was getting way ahead of herself. It was only their first date!

"I won't push you." Fleur cupped her other hand over their clasped fingers. Her smile was pleasant but her eyes shone passionately like molten sapphire. "Just remember, I want you to trust that you could tell me anything. Especially if it starts like that."

Tally nodded slowly. She wished with all her heart she could talk that way, shine her eyes that way; make someone tremble and want with a gesture and a whisper. She blinked slowly and washed over with shame as a tear slid from her eye.