Research and Analysis
Crossover #6
PUH...LEEEESE! Do NOT give me any of this "It's Always Darkest Before the Dawn" crap! Oh, and you can shit-can the "Every cloud has a silver lining"! And if I hear "Every time one door closes, another one opens", that person will stand in grave danger of severe bodily harm! Let them go through what I had been through recently in my life and I suspect they will feel exactly as I do.
Depressed? You bet your ass! And, really, there wasn't anybody around to cheer me up. Gar knew what my situation was, at least with respect to Decker, but all of his clowning did nothing to pull me out of my funk. Tanya did her best trying to fix me with another lesbian chick but hat fell through when said chick changed her mind. I was left by myself in a 5 Star hotel room with 5 Star lotion and a fully charged vibrator. The local police, in the depths of their collective minds, were still not sure I had nothing to Decker's disappearance, and Decker's father--or rather his investigators--kept tabs on me. I'm surprised the FBI didn't have me under surveillance--or did they?
"The Last Straw"! Why do they call it "The Last Straw"? I know, yeah, yeah, it is that one last thing, on top everything else, that causes total collapse. Well, I didn't need a "Last Straw" to collapse--the weight of what I was bearing was going to collapse me anyway, sooner or later. But I certainly didn't need anything else to add to the load, that's for sure. But here it came....
I got a text from--you'll never guess--Juliette! It read:
"Tawney, my sweet, Glorietta and I will be in town for an entire week. We would love to get together with you. I must say that Glorietta is even more excited than I am to see you, if such a thing were possible. We will be staying a suite at, YES, our favorite 5 Star Hotel. Oh please, Tawney, make some time and come to see us. We can have tea and chat and you can get to know Glorietta! Please...for ME?"
We swapped texts and Juliette blocked out an entire day, a Monday, for our get together. It seems that this was not an easy thing to do because both she and Glorietta had a slate of performances on hand and the only break would be this Monday. I squared it with the boss, dumped on GAR prep for my project, and prepared myself for "THE MEETING".
Now, aside from the fact that I was blind-sided that Juliette had gotten married, I was stunned by her marrying Glorietta. I knew that Juliette was somewhat of a celebrity but I had no idea how big she actually was in her field. The same is true of Glorietta, a "Prima Diva"!
I don't know much about opera; I don't follow opera; in fact, I don't particularly like opera. I have always thought it was just a bunch of self-important "artistes", ludicrously costumed, engaged in over-blown caterwauling. I know, I know, I know, opera has been around for five-hundred years; it must be good to have lasted that long, etc. And, yes, I have to admit that some of the songs--"arias" they call them, don't you know--are popular. They are even used them to sell hamburgers, for crying out loud--literally! But...sorry...not my thing, never has been. But, the world of "High Brow" music is where Juliette and Glorietta lived!
I wasn't about to show up for tea with Juliette and Glorietta at a 5 Star Hotel in my "costume" of blue shirt and khakis. That was pretty much a thing of the past anyway. I had actually done some shopping to change my "look" and my new wardrobe, if not "girly", was decidedly more feminine. I re-styled my hair, which is to say , I let it grow long, and re-thought my make-up scheme. I took to wearing skirts--yes, SKIRTS--and blouses; I even adopted wearing a bra-- though you and I know it didn't contain much--to complete the image of a female attire. Dressed up, I looked much better than the woman who first met June/Juliette that wonderful night in the past.
To say that Juliette and Glorietta "had rooms" at the 5 Star Hotel would hardly do justice to their accommodations. They had a suite, a Grand Suite, on the 36th floor of that august establishment. It took up half of the top floor, had three--count'em three--bedrooms, an immense living room, and even included a smaller TV room with a wet-bar, a room which Juliette and Glorietta used to practice and rehearse. I have no idea how much this suite would cost for one day, let alone a week but, since both women commanded large fees for their performances--of which there were many--I suspect it was just a business expense to them.
"Tawney, Mon cher!," Juliette greeted my with a kisses to my cheeks, "how glad am I to see you again!"
Juliette had changed. She wasn't the shy, diffident person that I first knew her to be. She was in high spirits, expansive, and gloriously beautiful. My heart leapt and fell all at the same time.
"Come, come," she said, "you MUST meet Glorietta. Yes, come here!"
She led me over to a settee--incidentally that would have cost me a year 's salary--to meet Glorietta.
Glorietta stood as I approached. I caught my breath, she was even lovelier than she looked in her photos. She and I and, for that matter, Juliette were all about the same height but, among the things that distinguished us were our boobs. I, of course, have virtually none; Juliette's 34C are perfect for her; but Glorietta's breasts were prominent and magnificent. They weren't the 36DD Cups that I had originally estimated, but fully 36D and she carried them well. Whether this was natural or from her stage training, I don't know, but she pulled it off nicely. She was shapely in other places, too, with what looked like a 24" (61cm) waist and probably a 34" (86cm) hips. I could easily see why Juliette would be attracted to her body. I was.
"Amore Mio," she said to Glorietta--her switch to Italian was not lost on me, " vieni, vieni , meet my precious Tawney, molto prezioso Tawney!"
"Tawney, how nice to meet you at last," Glorietta said with barely an accent as she held my hand, "so very nice. I say, there are times when Julietta speaks of nobody but you. You are lovely, my dear."
Summoning up what little of the Italian language I knew, I haltingly said, " Grazie, grazie!"
"Prego," Glorietta responded, with a brilliant smile. I had to think for a minute exactly what she was saying, then I remembered that "Prego" mean "You're Welcome" in Italian.
"I think 'Tawney' is such a lovely name," Glorietta said, "how did you come by it?"
"Oh, Glorietta, 'Tawney' is a pet name that Juliette and I used when we met," I answered, "my actual name is 'Lin' but I answer to 'Tawney' just as well with Juliette" I wondered, though, how much Glorietta knew, or was told about, me and how I and Juliette met.
"Si, si...Yes, yes," said, Glorietta, cheerfully, "Julietta always refers to that fondly. 'How romantic!' I say to myself, how you and she met. Che romantico! "
"Tawney," Juliette said me, but clearly for Glorietta's benefit, too, "we have no secrets between us, Glorietta and I. She knows all about you and me, how we met, and how we love each other. You and I haven't kept any secrets from each other; neither do Glorietta and I."