March 24, 1975

Later in the morning, Jill's fingers dialed the number they knew on their own.

"Hey. it's me. Listen, I just wanted to apologize for last night." She had meant to get Sabrina some attention, and make her feel better, not worse. She'd gotten drunk, gone on autopilot and accomplished just the opposite.

"Hm? It was no problem," Sabrina answered openly.

"No, I ditched you and it was rotten. I know you don't even like it there. The time got away from me."

"With your dance partner, I don't blame you. I wasn't about to ruin the rest of your night. How was he, anyway?"

She paused, knowing Sabrina wasn't referring to his dance moves. She remembered it happening... but not really what it felt like. It was the same as so many other times. "It was okay."

"Good. I'm glad you had a good time. I'm afraid I've been cramping your love life."

Jill's face flattened. She never kept her doings a secret from Sabrina, but somehow this time she was a little embarrassed. Was her sex life this big a part of her identity in Sabrina's eyes? Was it actually?

"No, you haven't."

"Well, we've been together most nights, and I know you haven't been getting any from me, so..."

Jill laughed.

"Really though. Much as I like being with you, I don't want to keep you from having your own fun."

"I... it's not as much fun as it used to be," Jill said, twisting the cord.

"Hm, how come? You love dancing."

"I don't mean..." she trailed off sullenly. Now that she had a real friend to fill that empty spot in her life, ditching her for sex was the first time it had ever felt... icky. But that was probably too much to say. "Idunno. What do you want to do today?"

"Well, SOME of us have to go to work."

"Oh. Right." It was her day off, but not Sabrina's. "Well, how about tonight?"

"Eh. Whatever. I'm off at 10."

"Okay. C'mon over if you want."

"Alright."

"Scrabble?"

"You definitely don't like scrabble," Sabrina pointed out.

"I just decided that I'm going to beat you."

"In that case, I'll be slightly late because I have to stop by the bank and pick up as much betting money as I can carry."

She laughed. "See ya later."

"How do you sleep on this couch all the time?" Jill yawned as she wriggled into a standing position and switched off the TV.

"I do okay."

"It's inhumane. I can make room in bed."

Sabrina consented, heading the the bathroom to wash and change into the set of her spare pajamas that stayed in Jill's top dresser drawer. They traded off. She heard Jill begin to brush her teeth as she climbed into bed. The sheets smelled nice. She got comfortable. Minutes passed. She frowned curiously, turning to look into the open bathroom where Jill was just standing in front of the mirror, toothbrush motionless.

"What, are you doing an Ultrabrite commercial in there?"

"Huh? Oh." Jill had sleepily spaced out. She rinsed, then came back into her bedroom to climb between the covers with an excited grin. "This is fuuun."

"Why? You aren't gonna sleep naked or something, are you?"

"I don't do that ...often," she finished with a quiet smile, clicking off the light.

"Yippee."

"What, you wouldn't wanna sleep with me if I was naked?" Jill teased.

"Eh, wouldn't matter. Just as long as you don't snore or sleepwalk, I'm not hard to get along with."

Despite the joking nature of the question, she was now picturing Jill naked next to her in the semi darkness. The image was a pleasant one, and probably not that far from the truth. It didn't faze her.

"I don't think I do. But anyway it's like a sleep-over. That was so fun, having a friend sleep over when I was little, I haven't even thought about that in so long." She also remembered those few nights when a thunderstorm had got too scary, and little Kris had climbed into bed with her. "Did you ever have a sleep-over?"

"No, see, there were no other children on the planet that I come from."

Jill let out a melodious giggle.

"My dad never organized a tea party for me or anything. But I had a few sleep-overs, yeah."

Her father acted a little bit more like a superior officer than a dad, sometimes. Not that she ever felt unloved or unhappy - she respected him tremendously, and few things rivaled the proud glow she felt whenever she earned his praise for a task well done. While he wasn't as warm and fuzzy as some of her friends' dads, she was fully aware even as a little girl that he was doing his job the best he knew how.

A car accident had killed her mother before she was old enough to remember, and so her childhood lacked certain frills. Fresh-baked cookies, hair braiding and games of dress-up in mothers' clothes happened only at friends' houses.

She remembered that one faded, solemn-looking blue wool sweater that hung on a wooden hanger in the hall closet, all the way towards the left, a deliberate few inches apart from everything else. It was her mother's. As a young girl, she would open the closet and look up at it from time to time, with a vague feeling like she mustn't ever touch it. Once when she was home alone, she took it off the hanger and put it on, and went to look at herself in the mirror. It smelled stale. Maybe she wasn't playing right - it didn't seem to be very fun.

"You know, I can't even picture you as a little kid," Jill said with a smile, interrupting her thoughts.

"I'm not sure I ever was one," she laughed. "My dad never treated me like a kid, really. Not like I saw my friends' parents talk to them, like they were babies. He talked to me like a grownup, pretty much. If he read to me, it'd be something historical. I don't think we owned any fiction books. He's just that type that teaches you to swim by throwing you in the pool... which he also literally did."

Jill snorted.

"He let me make my own decisions, set out all the facts with me, and then had me to do it for myself. Like, I never had a bedtime. He let me find out what worked and what didn't. He knew I'd understand a thing better if I had control over it."

"That must be why you know how to do everything," Jill mused, and yawned. "I wonder what it would be like to have a strict regular bedtime."

"Your daddy must have spoiled you awful."

"He did," she smiled sleepily.

How much nicer this felt, really, than last night. Just being able to fall asleep next to someone she liked without the nagging knowledge that she'll have to sneak away in the morning, or worrying about whether she looks sexy at this angle.

She woke sometime in the night, rolling over to get comfortable, and saw Sabrina's face in the near-darkness. She really was pretty, but she'd probably make a wisecrack if you told her so. At this moment, Jill could look at her, really study, for much longer than she normally could. And it was a good thing - for some reason, she didn't feel like taking her eyes away. Perfect profile. Nice skin. She wondered if it was as soft as it looked.

Early in the morning she was surprised to find she had cuddled up to Sabrina at some point. Bri wasn't the cuddly type, and would probably swat her away when she woke up. But for now, it felt nice and warm and comfy. She eased her head back down onto her sleeping friend's shoulder and closed her eyes again.

Sabrina smiled faintly. She'd been awake since sunrise.

Is this really that same disco queen sex bomb from the night before? Take away all that crap, and the girl underneath thinks it's nice to sleep on my shoulder. Little old me. Heh, how many guys would love to be me right now?

She likes me, she thought, feeling special. I like her. I kinda even love her.