"I dreamed about you last night," Lin said, her delicate hands holding a cup of coffee. She smiled over the rim of the cup. "It was totally dark. I couldn't see anything. I felt your lips on my collarbone. You worked your way up my neck. You kissed my cheek. You kissed my lips. It was wonderful. Your hand touched my breasts. You pressed very hard. I've never been so aroused."
"Then what?"
"Then I woke up," Lin said with a laugh. She set her cup down on the table.
Across the table from Huang Lin sat her best friend, Song Kaichun. The two Chinese women were sitting in the middle of a crowded Starbucks having an intimate conversation in English. Their voices were cast low and no one around could understand what they were saying.
"You still think about our time in high school?" Kaichun reached over and took Lin's. She gave it a squeeze.
"Of course."
"Why didn't we?" There was no need to be more specific. Both women knew.
"I guess I thought we were just practicing, you know, for when we would grow up and have boyfriends and get married."
"I wish we could have done more than just kiss," Kaichun said. "It's my one regret."
A lull in the conversation. Both women sipped their coffee.
A week before, Kaichun had approached her boyfriend and asked him about taking an adventure. "My best friend from high school is coming to visit Shanghai. She wants me to show her around and all of that." The two made brief eye contact. "I was thinking maybe I could invite her to stay with us." Her smile was coy. "You know what I'm saying?"
Her boyfriend Jesse was shocked. He stammered a little before saying, "Don't tease me. I've asked you this before, but you said no. What brought this on?"
Her answer was slow in coming. "Me and her were best friends all the way up to college. She was like a sister to me. We saw each other all the time. It was actually very intimate in its own way. In high school we would sneak away during breaks and kiss. We always said we were just practicing. But I thought there was something more between us. If one of us had been brave enough at the time, I think we might have been a couple."
"And now that you're in a relationship with me, you two can be intimate without it being weird. Is that it?"
She blinked at his bluntness. Then nodded. "I hadn't really thought about it like that, but yeah, I guess that's it. Plus, I want to give you a treat. I know seeing two girls together is something you've always wanted."
He gave her a look he hoped was subtle, but probably wasn't. "What's she look like?"
"Hotter than me," Kaichun said. She showed him a picture on her phone. He disagreed with her assessment, but not with the underlying premise. Lin was a good looking woman. She was slim and long legged. Soft white skin and luxuriant black hair. There was an air of mystery about her. Her small eyes and precise features gave very little away.
"Have you talked to her? What did she say?" Jesse's heart was thumping wildly.
Kaichun smiled. "We talked about it. I showed her your picture and she agreed."
A week later Kaichun was sitting across from Lin about ready to embark on that adventure. They had agreed to meet first and catch up. They hadn't seen each other in years, and there so much to share, so many things that they had only said to one another in passing or over WeChat. But truth be told, they wanted to enjoy each other's company for a time. Just the two of them.
"How is your relationship with Jesse?" Lin asked, switching back to Mandarin. This was not something that needed to be discuss in code.
"Good. He's a nice guy. He's patient with me." Then. "How about you? Seeing anyone?"
"Seeing someone yes. But it's not serious." Lin was unhappy. Kaichun could tell.
"Do you want it to be serious?"
There was a long pause before she answered that. "When you asked me to join you, I was more aroused by your offer than I had ever been with him."
And that pretty much told Kaichun all she needed to know.
*
The three of them met for a dinner of Cantonese food. They made small talk. Things like how Lin likes her new job, and the cities Jesse's visited in China. Standard stuff.
That evening Kaichun wore an off the shoulder blazer dress that squeezed tight at the waist, while Lin was wearing a cheongsam that left her arms bare. Between the two of them, they made one perfect woman. Kaichun's shoulders and ass, plus Lin's arms and legs.
Jesse wore a button down with mottled print of blue and tan, and a pair of distressed jeans with holes at the knees.
Throughout dinner Jesse was nervous, while Lin was cool and collect. She laughed politely at every stupid joke he made, and lightly touched his arm every time he laughed at hers.
For Kaichun it was like a dream. Past and present blended together in a strange new way.
Lin was her high school friend, her past life. But it was comforting to see her again. Her friend was smart and sexy, and was affluent and soft spoken, but at the same time she was outgoing and cracked plenty of jokes. Her English was amazing, even better than Kaichun, who prided herself on being as natural as a native born English speaker.
Then there was Jesse, the man she fell in love with two years ago when they met through a mutual friend. He was warm and laid back. He didn't raise his voice or loose his cool. He supported her recent decision to quit her job and start a business of her own. She was working as an agent representing foreign teachers.
"What do you do Jesse?"
"About what?"
Lin playfully slapped his arm. "For a living."