Chapter 1 - page 1

Dusk flickered in and out of the high windows. It was quiet for a Friday, this being a bar. The lack of background noise made Tally more nervous than usual. She was hunched over her table, habitually doing her best to avoid being noticed.

"Can I get you anything?" A barhop chirped up from behind and Tally started. She turned to look and saw a cute girl smiling at her, waiting with her notepad in hand for her to order something.

"Um... No. I mean, not yet - I'm waiting for someone. So... I guess come back soon?" Her insides burned with shame. She was such a bad talker.

The serving girl laughed good-naturedly. "Alrighty, you just call me over when you're ready." She bounced off and Tally watched, her smile melting into a grimace. She was really cute. Why was Tally thinking about other girls when she was here to meet someone already? She was terrified of being stood up - the whole thing was a stupid idea. She rarely craned her neck out like this because it always backfired - on TV, in movies, and in real life especially. Maybe I should just go home, she thought.

But that wouldn't be very nice to Fleur, the girl she was meeting. If Tally left now and it turned out Fleur showed up later, she'd feel awful. The thought made her sick... And so she sat. She'd wait till closing, probably. At least she could watch the bus girl bubble back and forth until then - maybe if Tally sat waiting alone for a few hours she'd take pity and sit with her, and then she could nervously stutter and blush while a pretty girl held her hand and pretended to care. Tally smiled at the thought, however dismal. Fleur didn't seem like she would stand Tally up, though. They spoke briefly online and she seemed excited to meet; it was her idea. It certainly wasn't for Tally's looks. The only picture of her Fleur had seen was of her towering over her mother and smiling like an idiot. Her height and her freckles made her look like a stupid giraffe. Unless she was a creeper and found Tally's facebook? Oh god, she thought, panicking with renewed enthusiasm. She shrank further into her seat and chewed a nail, regretting everything that put her here.

The door jingled. Tally's breath caught - the bar rounded a corner and whoever just came in couldn't be seen yet. Her eyes latched wide onto the corner, a nervous finger frozen in her mouth. She walked into view smooth as a ghost, legs obscured by the bar. Her bright blonde hair was unmistakable. She peered around, but her eyes passed Tally over. She was too concealed for her own good, she fretted.

Fleur asked the cute serving girl something, and she pointed straight at Tally in the corner. Fleur's face lit up with an enormous smile and in a moment Tally had forgotten her fears and was returning that smile. She stood up as Fleur trotted over. Her blue hoodie was zipped down and revealed a deep pit of cleavage. Tally couldn't tell if she was actually wearing a shirt underneath. Her hair was tied into a pair of low-hanging bunches complete with swept bangs. She was even prettier than the serving girl, with milky markless skin and a perfectly rounded nose to match her soft cheeks and big round blue eyes. She was plump and filling her hoodie right up; pulled low below the zipper of her jeans, it exposed the fold of her belly and her flaring hips. A soft sweet perfume wafted to Tally as she drew near, and her nose grew used to it far too soon for her liking.

"You were hiding!" she said loudly, grinning up at Tally. A strong hint of French accent stuck to her words, smooth and sweet as honey. Her voice made Tally tingle and smile. "I was lucky the bar girl had eyes for you or I'd have thought you stood me up."

"Oh, I would never," Tally replied, smoothing down her shirt. "Uhh... Shall we?" She gestured to the table awkwardly with her waist.

"Of course!" Fleur sat down before Tally did. "So, Natalia from Portsmouth, New Hampshire."

"Just Tally, if you want... Fleur from Quebec."

She giggled. "Tally. I wish I had a nice long name I could chop up into nicknames. Shall we eat?"

"Of course." Tally gestured to the bar girl and she was over in seconds, with her notepad ready again.

"Ready now, girls?"

"Barbecue wings for me," Fleur ordered. "And a poutine."

"Large or small poutine?"

"Large, of course!" She grinned at Tally and she again couldn't resist returning it.

"Alrighty dighty," she scribbled away on her notepad, "and to drink?"

"Just a coke for now."

"Mmm... kay." She dotted a period with flourish. "And for you?" She raised her eyebrows at Tally.

"Oh... Uhh, a..." She hadn't seen a menu, she just realized.

"Just a burger and coke for the little miss," Fleur cut in, eyeing her playfully.

"Okey dokey," the bar girl bemusedly jotted the second order down. "With fries?"

"Naturally," Fleur smiled up at her. Tally would have said "no", but then again if Fleur didn't say something she would have just blue-screened like a dummy some more. The waitress pranced away, surely laughing inside at the gibbering giraffe and her speaker.

"Thank you," Tally said, flushing.

"Not at all," she smiled, waving a dismissal. "I know the menu here like the back of my hand - can't go wrong with their burger."

"So..." Tally wrung her hands under the table. "You're... from Canada?"

"Yes," Fleur laughed. "My great-great-great grandmother Colette came to America in 1750 to be a chef for a lumber baron. I guess we went north after that."

"Why did you come to America?"

"College, I suppose. I'd like to follow in her footsteps and be a live-in chef, but you know things are."

"Mhm," Tally smiled. "I'd like to be a foot shorter someday myself." Fleur broke into laughter, then sighed and looked into Tally's eyes with a wistful hand on her cheek.

"Tall girls are cute," she said. "Tall funny girls... Mm."

"Oh," Tally blushed hot. "Thank you... You're not so bad yourself."

"Oh, go on!" Her laugh was sweet and genuine and mirthful, "Imagine if we stood side by side - we'd look like the number ten!"

"Oh," Tally hedged, "you're not, uh..." She didn't know how to say she wasn't that fat without saying she was fat.

"Oh stop." Fleur patted her stomach. "I'm fat, it's alright. I'm perfectly happy how I am."

Tally wished she could say the same. The serving girl came with their drinks. "Two cokes," she announced prettily. "Food'll be out soon."

"I'm just hoping it's not killing your lady boner," Fleur added as Tally sipped her drink.

She had never considered fat people particularly attractive, but here was Fleur and as she thought about it Tally found herself attracted to her. Shapely and confident and... Well, apparently she liked Tally back. Beggars can't be choosers. Not that she would choose differently...

"You wear it well," she said.

"That's what all the drunk guys say when they're trying to get in my pants," Fleur smirked. "It never works for them... But you have a little advantage."

Tally did not know how to respond. She smiled and stirred her drink, trying to think of something to say, but again Fleur saved her from the agony of thinking of something to say.

"Are you in school?" she asked.

"Uh... No. I work at a gas station."

"Ooh la la, prestigious!"

Tally laughed. "Shut up! I tried school, but... Well... I dunno. You're taking something culinary in college, I take it?"

"Nah." She took a drink. "Social science. I've been cooking all my life, I just needed something to get my parents off my butt while I try to find out how to get a rich old man to hire me to cook for his daughter."

"Would that be easier here than in Canada?"

"I dunno. But the food's better here, you can bet on that! Less snails, more oreos."

"I'll drink to that," Tally said happily, tempted to raise her glass, but she didn't want to make a scene. She lifted it feebly not an inch off the table but Fleur closed the gap with relish, clinking their glasses.

"To sugar!" She took a sip, smiling. Her lips were fat and red against the dark soda. Luscious, the word came into tally's mind. She smiled and drank and wondered if she was just going to blush all night long. With a girl like Fleur across from her it wouldn't be hard. She was so effortless, Tally thought. Everything about her was saturated with natural grace as smooth as silk.

Something drew her eyes away from Fleur: the serving girl rumbled out from behind the bar, tray clinking in hand. "Here you go, girls," she said as she placed the plates in front of the pair. The burger was big and steamy and her fries rose above it like an earthy yellow hill.

In front of Fleur was a pile of wings that looked like it outweighed Tally's plate handily - and she had the poutine as well, which was almost as big again.

"Be a sweetheart and bring us some cosmos," Fleur requested. The bar girl nodded and was off, platter folded under her arm. "Mmm, look at all this," she gushed over the food in front of her, sending steam dancing to the ceiling. "Don't be shy, Tally. I know I won't!"

"Do they actually eat snails in Canada?"

Fleur winked, already eating. "Let me tell you about Canadian food."