"The Strong & the Sequined"--a skating serial, pt. 78
Jennifer Lyon
A Skating Serial
Part 78: Girl Talk
"I finally did it," announced Tammy Sue, flopping herself down on her
bed. "I broke it off with Garth."
"What did you say to him?" Mia asked. She was sitting in a chair with
hotel towels draped around her. A few weeks ago, she had asked Larissa to
dye her blond hair dark, like Dmitra's. Larissa managed to talk her into
a lighter color-- a bright, chestnut brown that probably would have
looked better on Larissa's head than it did on Mia's. But either way,
Mia's mother was coming to town tomorrow, and Mia felt it was necessary
to go back to her natural color.
Tammy Sue was glad that Mia and Larissa were here. Telling them about
the breakup helped her feel better. "Garth was trying to make me feel
guilty about not having sex with him, as usual. So I said that since we
both want different things out of a relationship, maybe we ought to start
seeing other people."
Mia's eyes widened. "Was he mad?"
"I wouldn't say he was mad exactly. Irritated is more like it."
Larissa looked up from the bowlful of foul-smelling chemicals she was
stirring with a plastic spoon. "You gonna be all right?" she asked Tammy
Sue.
"I guess." Tammy Sue closed her eyes and sighed. "One thing's for sure-
- I'm glad Garth and I never slept together."
"Yeah, I done a lot a people I wish I hadn't. A lot a people," Larissa
emphasized. "And the next morning, I wake up feeling like total s**t.
Some a these women, I don't even like 'em-- specially the last one I done.
I must a been out a my friggin mind. In fact, I know I was. And that
makes it even worse."
For some reason, Larissa's remarks made Tammy Sue think of Igor.
Surely, Larissa must have slept with as many women as Igor had, yet not
once did Tammy Sue condemn Larissa's behavior the way she'd condemned
Igor's. It was an odd double standard, now that she thought about it.
Perhaps deep down, Igor had the same kinds of regrets as Larissa, only he
was too proud to express them. But probably not. Tammy Sue was sure that
Igor enjoyed being promiscuous. Still, he had been behaving himself ever
since his divorce became final. On the ice, he was particularly gentle
with Dmitra. He'd virtually stopped drinking, and there were no new
stories about him messing around with anybody. Was Igor depressed about
his marriage being over? Or had he simply run out of women to sleep with
on this tour?
Not that it mattered. Tammy Sue did not have any feelings for him--
she didn't! She wanted a nice boyfriend, not somebody like Igor. "I don't
think I'll save myself until I get married," she told Larissa and Mia. "I
like to make out with guys too much. But I'm not going all the way until
I find somebody special."
"I'd fix you up with my older brother," Mia offered. "But he only
dates Jewish girls."
Larissa regarded Tammy Sue intently. "Now that I think of it, little
Vladi would be bout your age. He's my half-brother-- same daddy,
different mamas. He's a hockey player."
"Is he cute?" Tammy Sue asked hopefully.
Larissa began to massage the thick, gooey mixture into Mia's hair. "He
was when he was little. Don't know what he looks like now. He ought to be
a big, strong dude, what with all the money I been paying to feed him all
these years. But you don't wanna get mixed up with nobody in my family.
You too nice for that kind a thing-- and your family's too nice." Larissa
paused. "You got the nicest family out a everbody I know," she told Tammy
Sue. "Don't bring nobody into it that's gonna ruin it."
"My family's not perfect," Tammy Sue insisted. "Things are good now,
but they didn't used to be. My mother and father fought a lot when I was
little. Then they got divorced. I was in kindergarten or first grade the
last time I saw my dad. And no matter how hard Mom worked, we were always
poor."
"Poor by American standards," Larissa gently corrected. She checked
her watch before handing it to Mia. "When it gets to be ten after, you go
into the bathroom and rinse all the gunk out a your hair. And then put on
that conditioner I showed you."
Mia pouted. "I hate the idea of being a blond again. But my mom will
kill me if she sees me with dark hair."
"Oleg Featherov nearly killed *me* when he first seen you with that
dark hair."
"Why would he do that?" Mia asked.
"Cuz he likes you," Larissa revealed with a grin.
"He does?" Mia gasped. "But he's so much older than I am!" Tammy Sue
couldn't tell if Mia was thrilled or disgusted.
"Oleg's harmless," Larissa reassured her. "But I weren't suppose to
tell you he likes you, so don't say nothing."
"I won't say anything," Mia promised. "I probably won't even be able
to talk to him once my mom gets here. She doesn't let me date yet,
because she thinks I'm too young. And Aunt Miryam says I'll just get into
trouble because that's all I'm good for."
"I can't believe your mom lets your aunt talk to you like that,"
remarked Tammy Sue.
"That's the way it is in my family. Aunt Miryam is the boss. And she
hates me."
"I had one a those when I was a young un," Larissa said. "Only it was
my stepmother, not my auntie. The woman hated me first time she seen me.
Course I did bite her on the leg." The memory made Larissa laugh. "I sunk
my teeth in and wouldn't let go. But it made my mama smile, so it was
worth the trouble."
Larissa's family dynamics confused Tammy Sue, but she didn't press for
details. It was too upsetting, and Tammy Sue was already in a bad mood
because of Garth. Fortunately, there was a knock at the door. Tammy Sue
was expecting Dmitra, but it turned out to be Cassandra. She was the last
person Tammy Sue wanted to see, but she had to be civil to her because of
Larissa.
Cassandra sunk into a chair and didn't speak to Tammy Sue, or to Mia.
"Are you almost done?" she whined at Larissa. "Leroy took Britannia to
practice with him, and this will be the only time we can go out together.
"
Larissa bent over to look at the watch Mia was holding. "Just a few
more minutes," she promised.
Cassandra pouted. "I hate Los Angeles. I can't wait until we're out of
here."
Was she thinking about her ex-husband? Or was she worried about Leroy?
Los Angeles had more than its share of young, attractive gay men. A few
days ago, when the tour went through San Francisco, Tammy Sue noticed
that Cassandra kept Leroy close to her side the entire time, away from
all the gorgeous hunks who were hanging around backstage and at the hotel.
It was doubtful that Leroy had slept with any of them, but Tammy Sue
didn't see how he could have refrained from thinking about it.
"It's gonna be OK, honey," Larissa encouraged Cassandra. "The tour's
almost over."
Cassandra made a hmmph noise. "I wish it was over now."
Leroy swung the giggling Britannia around three times before he set
her down on the ice. "See, I told you we'd be good at pairs skating," he
joked.
"I want to do singles," said Britannia. "And pairs. And ice dancing.
And I want to be on a precision team."
"How are you going to find time to do all of those things?" Leroy
wanted to know.
Britannia thought for a moment. "I don't have to do them all at the
same time. I'll do the precision team first. Then the ice dancing. Then
pairs. I'll do singles last, because learning the triple jumps will be
hardest."
"Oh, I don't know. You learn pretty fast." Leroy wasn't teasing. The
more time he spent with Britannia, the more he realized what an
extraordinary little girl she was. Cassandra continually downplayed her
daughter's uniqueness-- she wanted to think of Britannia as a typical
four-year-old in every way. But Britannia was far from typical. When
Leroy took her to a Baskin-Robbins in Sacramento, he inadvertently
discovered that she was able to read the names of the 31 flavors-- and
just about anything else he put in front of her. She made mistakes, yes,
but the child could read. Later that night, Leroy called one of his
cousins in Kentucky, who had once worked as a substitute teacher. The
cousin told him that most children didn't start reading until age six.
But here was Britannia, able to read at four and a half-- without being
taught.
Weeks ago, Leroy had decided to ask Cassandra to marry him. He hadn't
yet popped the question-- he wanted to wait until the tour was over and
he could buy her an expensive ring. And he wanted to ask her something
else-- if they did get married, Leroy wanted to adopt Britannia. He
wanted to be her father, not just a stepfather.
It was a big responsibility, but Leroy felt he was ready for it. He
was almost over being gay. After all, he'd been around all those
attractive men in San Francisco, yet he hadn't gone off with any of them.
Next year at this time, he probably wouldn't even be thinking about it.
Melody Seafoam was not going to let this golden opportunity pass her
by. Leroy was practicing his program, Cassandra was God-knows-where, and
the child was sitting on the bleachers-- all by herself. Quickly, Melody
set her tape recorder and placed it inside her jacket. Then she
approached the little girl. "Hello, Britannia," she greeted in the sing-
song voice she used with her youngest fans. "Where is your mommy today?"
The child didn't respond immediately-- a sure sign of her bad
upbringing. And even as she began to speak, her eyes remained glued to
the ice. "Mommy went out shopping with Aunt Larissa."
"She did? I thought your mommy was mad at Larissa. Somebody told me
that they're not friends anymore." It was a lie created so that Melody
could catch the child off-guard and find out what she needed to know.
So far, it seemed to be working. At least Britannia was looking at
Melody now, instead of looking at the ice. "Mommy's still friends with
Aunt Larissa," she said.
"Are you sure?"
Britannia nodded. "They're going shopping together."
"What about last night? Was your mommy nice to Larissa last night?"
"Uh-huh. Aunt Larissa had a bad dream and Mommy made her feel better.
"
Melody was delighted. "How does your mommy do that?" she prodded.
"Larissa has lots of bad dreams, but nobody can make her feel better the
way your mommy does. Does your mommy hug Larissa?"
"Uh-huh."
"Does she ever kiss Larissa?"
"Yeah, I think so."
How disgusting that those two harlots would carry on like that in
front of a small child! "Then what do they do?" Melody wanted to know.
Britannia shrugged and turned toward the ice. "I don't know. Mommy
made me go back to my own bed."
"Why did she do that?"
"Because she doesn't want me around when they're doing grown-up stuff,
I guess."
Perfect! This was exactly what Melody wanted! Her book was going to be
fabulous! "OK, now I get it. I'm glad your mommy isn't mad at Larissa
after all. The person who told me about that sure was wrong, wasn't she?
Oh well, everyone makes mistakes. I guess it's better if we don't say
anything about it. We don't want to get anybody in trouble, right?"
Britannia wrinkled her forehead. "Right."
Leroy said nothing the first time Garth almost crashed into him.
Things like that happened when two skaters were practicing at the same
time. But the second time, Leroy stopped. It seemed to him that Garth was
doing it deliberately. "Is there a problem?" he asked, hoping his voice
sounded firm.
Garth grinned his usual grin. "Sorry, man. There's no problem. I guess
I'm just distracted today." He glanced over at Britannia, sitting by
herself on the bleachers. "I see you got the little woman with you. But
where's the big one?"
"She and Larissa went shopping." Leroy was about to start skating
again, but Garth laughed at him.
"You really think that's what they're doing?"
"Yes. What else would they be doing?"
Garth stopped laughing and shook his head. "Leroy, buddy, you've got
to face reality. Everybody on this tour knows what's going on."
Leroy's heart skipped a beat. How could they know about him? He hadn't
done anything! What were people saying? Whatever it was, Leroy was going
to play it cool and deny it all. "Everybody knows what's going on with
what?"
"Wake up and smell the coffee, Leroy! Your girlfriend is having sex
with Larissa!"
"You've got to be kidding!" Leroy was so relieved that he burst out
laughing. "If Cassandra's really making it with Larissa, then how come
Larissa is always so damned depressed?"
"That's easy-- because she's jealous of you. She wants Cassandra all
to herself."
"Look, I don't know where you've been hearing all this crap. But I can
assure you it's not true. Cassandra and Larissa are friends, and that's
it. Trust me, I know."
But when Leroy arrived back at the hotel, he asked Dmitra to keep an
eye on Britannia. He wanted to talk to Cassandra alone.
"About what?" she asked as he closed the door to her hotel suite.
"Are you aware of the fact that most of the idiots on this tour think
that you and Larissa are having sex with each other?"
Cassandra laughed, just as Leroy did when he first heard about the
rumors. But hers wasn't a relieved kind of laughter. This was a rare,
deep, hysterical belly laugh. Obviously, Cassandra truly thought this was
funny.
"I know. I laughed when I heard it, too," Leroy told her. "But from
now on, maybe you and Larissa should be more careful..."
"What for? I don't care what these a**holes think." Cassandra's
laughter abruptly ended. "But you do. That's what this is all about,
right? You're afraid they'll think you and me are both queer. I'm not
being a good beard, is that it?"
"Cassandra, please keep your voice down!" Leroy pleaded.
But Cassandra would not shut up. "Maybe I really should f**k Larissa.
In fact, I'll go ask her if she wants to do it with me right now."
Leroy stopped her from walking out the door. "You really want to have
sex with Larissa?"
Cassandra burst into tears. "I want *you*."
Leroy drew her closer to him and kissed her pretty face. "I'm so sorry.
. I didn't mean to upset you.... You know I love you."
"No, I *don't* know that you love me!"
Leroy spent the next half-hour doing all he could to assure Cassandra
that he really did love her. But the one thing she wanted most, he failed
to do. "I-I-I'm sorry... Maybe when we're not on tour and I'm not under
so much stress, I'll be able to..."
"Stop apologizing." Cassandra was putting her clothes back on. "Let's
get Britannia and go out to dinner or something." She didn't sound angry
anymore, but she was far from being happy.
TO BE CONTINUED...