Be My Queen, chapter one
Jan. 1st, 2014 03:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
frogs_of_warHappy New Year.
Lavender’s need to keep her secrets shuts her off from the world, but when Diego coaxes her from her shell, she finds just how close her dreams have always been.
Title: Be My Queen
Chapter: Chapter One of twenty-four
Genre: romance, het, bi/trans
Rating: PG
Content: not enough room, fries, sorry plans, escape, the most beautiful girl, teasing, change of plans, introductions
Length: 1.9k
Summary: Diego travels a thousand miles to see a college friend, whose boss won’t give him the day off.
Diego stretched his arms into the air. His legs were cramped, too, but he didn’t have enough room to stretch them with the three teenage boys across the table. Twenty-four hours ago, he’d been driving down the freeway on his way to see Patrick, his college buddy. But now he sat across from Patrick’s brother Travis and his little friends. If only they were littler, then he might be able to stretch out his legs.
The restaurant was busy, despite the late hour. The lights were garishly bright and the music was turned up too loud for the speakers. He couldn’t even tell what song was playing.
Diego picked up another fry. Should he eat it? The boys around him consumed food as if they hadn’t eaten in days even though this was the second place to get food that they’d dragged him to in the last three hours. They were supposed to be entertaining Diego until Patrick finished the project for his boss, but things that might have interested Diego at seventeen didn’t at twenty-four.
He slumped in his seat and sang, “Sitting in this here café, watching the time roll away.”
“We can go somewhere else if you’re bored,” said Austin, one of Travis’s friends. He wore round glasses and looked bookish, smarter than Travis and the other two. He probably was. Travis wasn’t the brightest kid Diego had ever met.
“No,” said Travis. “The City doesn’t open until ten.”
So Diego was going to be dragged into a night club for the minor set. Yay.
He looked around for an escape. Patrick didn’t really expect Diego to spend his first night in LA babysitting, or maybe being babysat by, four high schoolers. Did he?
Diego and Patrick had planned this vacation while they were still in college. When they each got jobs after graduation, they’d asked for the same week off so they could spend their first real vacations together. But while Diego’s boss understood that vacation started on Friday at five, Patrick’s insisted it didn’t start until eight Monday morning. Diego’s all-night drive had been for nothing.
The front door opened. Outside had to smell better than stale fryer oil, soda, and teenage boys. How much of an excuse would the boys need? How much did he care? He would go out and breathe in the warm smog.
He turned to grab his jacket off the back of the bench. He shouldn’t have bothered bringing it — just because the sun set earlier here didn’t mean it wasn’t a lot warmer — when he saw the most beautiful person ever.
She was gorgeous, perfect. Her hair was dark, straight silk that hung to her hips. The strands slid across each other as she turned her head. He wanted to run his fingers through it. He wanted to kiss her perfect neck and taste every inch of her dark skin.
He followed her with his eyes as long as he could then whipped around in his seat to keep her in his sights. She was just where he’d left her. Her fingers were long and smooth as she pointed at something on the menu behind the registers.
Now if she’d just turn around. He needed another look at her face. The girls with her were interrupting his view.
“Is that your type?” asked Travis.
Diego wrenched his eyes away. He didn’t want to look like a complete fool. “One of them.”
But he couldn’t help glancing back.
She was tall. So were the girls with her. All of them were taller than the short kid at the register. But she stood straighter, with more confidence than the other four, like she’d grown into her body and they hadn’t in theirs. Her top hung elegantly from her shoulders, and her skirt swished when she moved. Put her in an evening dress and high heels and she’d fit in perfectly at one of those charity dinners his mother hosted.
“Which one do you like?” asked Travis’s blond friend. Diego couldn’t remember his name. “The black girl, the white one, the Asian, or one of the Chicanas?”
“The most boyish looking one,” said Travis.
Diego rolled his eyes. Just because he was bi didn’t mean he preferred androgynous types. He liked his men strong and his women curvy. And that girl was curvy.
Travis friend’s teased Travis despite his sputtering that he was answering for Diego. The other boys didn’t believe him.
The girls sat two booths down. Unfortunately, Diego had to turn in his seat to see them and his girl was facing away from him. But he had gotten a pretty good view of her in profile and his hands burned to cup her breasts. And lick her smooth stomach. And caress her tight ass.
He wanted all of her.
Of course he lived a thousand miles away and he’d only be in town for a week and their relationship was doomed to failure. He could hear Patrick saying that now. Only when had that ever stopped Diego?
One of the girls facing him smiled. She was cute in a perky way, but even though she had hair and skin about the same color as his girl, she couldn’t compare. He smiled back and indicated Beautiful with his eyebrow. She didn’t get it the first time. But then she pointed at the girl in the middle of the bench across from her. Diego nodded. That girl said something and all the girls turned except the one he wanted.
He got up and turned to Travis. “Can you get home by yourself?”
They had taken Diego’s car and he wasn’t sure how long the buses ran.
“Duh.” Travis rolled his eyes. “Can you?”
Diego had his cell phone plus the GPS in the car. If all else failed he could drive north on a freeway and then come back the way he’d come this morning. “Sure.”
“Your funeral.”
Diego laughed. He did see a little death in his future. Or he could be totally shot down, but he wouldn’t know until he tried.
He stopped at the girls’ table. “I’d always heard that LA was full of beautiful women, but I didn’t really believe that until you five walked through the door.”
The girls tittered. They were all pretty and feminine, but none of them held a candle to his girl. Her head was bowed over her half eaten salad. Where had all her confidence gone? He had to get her to look up. “My name’s Diego Greene and—“
The girls came to life in their protests. His girl even looked up. She had beautiful eyes. They were pools of dark chocolate.
Diego pulled out his wallet and passed his driver’s license to the perky girl. “See. Diego Greene. I was named for my dad’s best friend. I go to the doctor’s office or places like that and the nurse looks at the paper then at me and says she’ll call me when she’s ready for me, but it’s Diego’s turn now. It’s the hair I think.”
He ran my fingers through his still kind of blond hair.
The girls giggled. The girl beside his girl got up. “Do you want to sit here?”
The other girls giggled.
“Thank you,” said Diego, “but I’d sit right there.” He pointed to the space directly across from his beautiful girl. The girls giggled some more.
The perky girl got up and he slid onto the bench. This table smelled infinitely better than the other one. His girl glanced up again. She was even more beautiful up close. The darkest girl looked at his ID. “You are a long way from home.”
“True, but I plan to make the most of my vacation.” She tried to pass the ID to his girl but she wouldn’t take it, so she handed it to Diego. “She’s Lavender.”
“Lavender.” He liked the way her name felt on his tongue. “Hello, Lavender.”
She was even wearing purple. She didn’t say anything or look up. The girls giggled, all except his girl. The girl with the straight, black bob poked at her. “Say hi back.”
Lavender shook her head.
“That’s ok,” said Diego. He had all night to get to know her and the best way to get a girl was to make friends with her friends.
“Your names?”
“Guess mine,” said the black girl.
“Ok,” he looked her over. She was very dark. Her eyes twinkled. She was having a joke at his expense. Well, if that would make her happy, he’d bite. If she liked him, she might put in a good word with Lavender. “Diana, like the singer?”
The girls laughed. The black girl spread her hand in front her ample breasts. “You got the singer part right.”
If Diego hadn’t laid eyes on Lavender, he might have been interest in her. He liked lively. But he liked shy, too. And he just had to know why Lavender looked like she could take on the world a moment ago and now couldn’t face him. He leaned across the table. “Give me a hint?”
Lavender looked up and then back down. Her cheeks were pink and she was only a bit lip away from a smile. He moved his feet until they brushed hers. At least he hoped they were hers.
“I’m Caiside,” said the girl with red hair. “Pleased to meet you.”
Diego put out his hand. When she took it, he kissed the back of her fingers. She blushed crimson behind her freckles.
The Asian girl put out her hand. “Alana.”
He kissed her hand. “Lovely.”
She blushed too. Now he had the choice of two hands. He chose the perky girl first. Her name was Ariel. He told her that it was a pleasure. Then he took the black girl’s hand. He hated guessing games. He wasn’t going to get it right, which might be what she wanted. A napkin slipped onto his lap. He glanced at it. This girl was very much alive. “Vivian?”
“How in the world did you guess? Who told him?"
Diego crumbled the napkin up. “Your vitality shines through.”
She smiled brightly and bumped Lavender’s shoulder with her own. “He’s a nice guy, give him a chance.”
Lavender glanced at her friends and then slowly pulled her hands from under the table. Her fingers were long and thin. Her hands were bigger than most girls’ hands, but they fit nicely in Diego’s mitts. They were soft, too. She must take care of them. Diego’s mother would approve. If they ever got a chance to meet.
Diego met Lavender’s gaze and held it as he kissed her fingers and then turned her hand over and kissed her palm. She moaned deep in her throat and her tongue brushed her full, red lips.
She pulled away as she stood up and pushed her way off the bench. The other girls called after her, but she didn’t turn around as she ran into the restroom.
Diego would give her time. He’d have to. Right now he was too hard to walk.
Lavender’s need to keep her secrets shuts her off from the world, but when Diego coaxes her from her shell, she finds just how close her dreams have always been.
Title: Be My Queen
Chapter: Chapter One of twenty-four
Genre: romance, het, bi/trans
Rating: PG
Content: not enough room, fries, sorry plans, escape, the most beautiful girl, teasing, change of plans, introductions
Length: 1.9k
Summary: Diego travels a thousand miles to see a college friend, whose boss won’t give him the day off.
Diego stretched his arms into the air. His legs were cramped, too, but he didn’t have enough room to stretch them with the three teenage boys across the table. Twenty-four hours ago, he’d been driving down the freeway on his way to see Patrick, his college buddy. But now he sat across from Patrick’s brother Travis and his little friends. If only they were littler, then he might be able to stretch out his legs.
The restaurant was busy, despite the late hour. The lights were garishly bright and the music was turned up too loud for the speakers. He couldn’t even tell what song was playing.
Diego picked up another fry. Should he eat it? The boys around him consumed food as if they hadn’t eaten in days even though this was the second place to get food that they’d dragged him to in the last three hours. They were supposed to be entertaining Diego until Patrick finished the project for his boss, but things that might have interested Diego at seventeen didn’t at twenty-four.
He slumped in his seat and sang, “Sitting in this here café, watching the time roll away.”
“We can go somewhere else if you’re bored,” said Austin, one of Travis’s friends. He wore round glasses and looked bookish, smarter than Travis and the other two. He probably was. Travis wasn’t the brightest kid Diego had ever met.
“No,” said Travis. “The City doesn’t open until ten.”
So Diego was going to be dragged into a night club for the minor set. Yay.
He looked around for an escape. Patrick didn’t really expect Diego to spend his first night in LA babysitting, or maybe being babysat by, four high schoolers. Did he?
Diego and Patrick had planned this vacation while they were still in college. When they each got jobs after graduation, they’d asked for the same week off so they could spend their first real vacations together. But while Diego’s boss understood that vacation started on Friday at five, Patrick’s insisted it didn’t start until eight Monday morning. Diego’s all-night drive had been for nothing.
The front door opened. Outside had to smell better than stale fryer oil, soda, and teenage boys. How much of an excuse would the boys need? How much did he care? He would go out and breathe in the warm smog.
He turned to grab his jacket off the back of the bench. He shouldn’t have bothered bringing it — just because the sun set earlier here didn’t mean it wasn’t a lot warmer — when he saw the most beautiful person ever.
She was gorgeous, perfect. Her hair was dark, straight silk that hung to her hips. The strands slid across each other as she turned her head. He wanted to run his fingers through it. He wanted to kiss her perfect neck and taste every inch of her dark skin.
He followed her with his eyes as long as he could then whipped around in his seat to keep her in his sights. She was just where he’d left her. Her fingers were long and smooth as she pointed at something on the menu behind the registers.
Now if she’d just turn around. He needed another look at her face. The girls with her were interrupting his view.
“Is that your type?” asked Travis.
Diego wrenched his eyes away. He didn’t want to look like a complete fool. “One of them.”
But he couldn’t help glancing back.
She was tall. So were the girls with her. All of them were taller than the short kid at the register. But she stood straighter, with more confidence than the other four, like she’d grown into her body and they hadn’t in theirs. Her top hung elegantly from her shoulders, and her skirt swished when she moved. Put her in an evening dress and high heels and she’d fit in perfectly at one of those charity dinners his mother hosted.
“Which one do you like?” asked Travis’s blond friend. Diego couldn’t remember his name. “The black girl, the white one, the Asian, or one of the Chicanas?”
“The most boyish looking one,” said Travis.
Diego rolled his eyes. Just because he was bi didn’t mean he preferred androgynous types. He liked his men strong and his women curvy. And that girl was curvy.
Travis friend’s teased Travis despite his sputtering that he was answering for Diego. The other boys didn’t believe him.
The girls sat two booths down. Unfortunately, Diego had to turn in his seat to see them and his girl was facing away from him. But he had gotten a pretty good view of her in profile and his hands burned to cup her breasts. And lick her smooth stomach. And caress her tight ass.
He wanted all of her.
Of course he lived a thousand miles away and he’d only be in town for a week and their relationship was doomed to failure. He could hear Patrick saying that now. Only when had that ever stopped Diego?
One of the girls facing him smiled. She was cute in a perky way, but even though she had hair and skin about the same color as his girl, she couldn’t compare. He smiled back and indicated Beautiful with his eyebrow. She didn’t get it the first time. But then she pointed at the girl in the middle of the bench across from her. Diego nodded. That girl said something and all the girls turned except the one he wanted.
He got up and turned to Travis. “Can you get home by yourself?”
They had taken Diego’s car and he wasn’t sure how long the buses ran.
“Duh.” Travis rolled his eyes. “Can you?”
Diego had his cell phone plus the GPS in the car. If all else failed he could drive north on a freeway and then come back the way he’d come this morning. “Sure.”
“Your funeral.”
Diego laughed. He did see a little death in his future. Or he could be totally shot down, but he wouldn’t know until he tried.
He stopped at the girls’ table. “I’d always heard that LA was full of beautiful women, but I didn’t really believe that until you five walked through the door.”
The girls tittered. They were all pretty and feminine, but none of them held a candle to his girl. Her head was bowed over her half eaten salad. Where had all her confidence gone? He had to get her to look up. “My name’s Diego Greene and—“
The girls came to life in their protests. His girl even looked up. She had beautiful eyes. They were pools of dark chocolate.
Diego pulled out his wallet and passed his driver’s license to the perky girl. “See. Diego Greene. I was named for my dad’s best friend. I go to the doctor’s office or places like that and the nurse looks at the paper then at me and says she’ll call me when she’s ready for me, but it’s Diego’s turn now. It’s the hair I think.”
He ran my fingers through his still kind of blond hair.
The girls giggled. The girl beside his girl got up. “Do you want to sit here?”
The other girls giggled.
“Thank you,” said Diego, “but I’d sit right there.” He pointed to the space directly across from his beautiful girl. The girls giggled some more.
The perky girl got up and he slid onto the bench. This table smelled infinitely better than the other one. His girl glanced up again. She was even more beautiful up close. The darkest girl looked at his ID. “You are a long way from home.”
“True, but I plan to make the most of my vacation.” She tried to pass the ID to his girl but she wouldn’t take it, so she handed it to Diego. “She’s Lavender.”
“Lavender.” He liked the way her name felt on his tongue. “Hello, Lavender.”
She was even wearing purple. She didn’t say anything or look up. The girls giggled, all except his girl. The girl with the straight, black bob poked at her. “Say hi back.”
Lavender shook her head.
“That’s ok,” said Diego. He had all night to get to know her and the best way to get a girl was to make friends with her friends.
“Your names?”
“Guess mine,” said the black girl.
“Ok,” he looked her over. She was very dark. Her eyes twinkled. She was having a joke at his expense. Well, if that would make her happy, he’d bite. If she liked him, she might put in a good word with Lavender. “Diana, like the singer?”
The girls laughed. The black girl spread her hand in front her ample breasts. “You got the singer part right.”
If Diego hadn’t laid eyes on Lavender, he might have been interest in her. He liked lively. But he liked shy, too. And he just had to know why Lavender looked like she could take on the world a moment ago and now couldn’t face him. He leaned across the table. “Give me a hint?”
Lavender looked up and then back down. Her cheeks were pink and she was only a bit lip away from a smile. He moved his feet until they brushed hers. At least he hoped they were hers.
“I’m Caiside,” said the girl with red hair. “Pleased to meet you.”
Diego put out his hand. When she took it, he kissed the back of her fingers. She blushed crimson behind her freckles.
The Asian girl put out her hand. “Alana.”
He kissed her hand. “Lovely.”
She blushed too. Now he had the choice of two hands. He chose the perky girl first. Her name was Ariel. He told her that it was a pleasure. Then he took the black girl’s hand. He hated guessing games. He wasn’t going to get it right, which might be what she wanted. A napkin slipped onto his lap. He glanced at it. This girl was very much alive. “Vivian?”
“How in the world did you guess? Who told him?"
Diego crumbled the napkin up. “Your vitality shines through.”
She smiled brightly and bumped Lavender’s shoulder with her own. “He’s a nice guy, give him a chance.”
Lavender glanced at her friends and then slowly pulled her hands from under the table. Her fingers were long and thin. Her hands were bigger than most girls’ hands, but they fit nicely in Diego’s mitts. They were soft, too. She must take care of them. Diego’s mother would approve. If they ever got a chance to meet.
Diego met Lavender’s gaze and held it as he kissed her fingers and then turned her hand over and kissed her palm. She moaned deep in her throat and her tongue brushed her full, red lips.
She pulled away as she stood up and pushed her way off the bench. The other girls called after her, but she didn’t turn around as she ran into the restroom.
Diego would give her time. He’d have to. Right now he was too hard to walk.
