A Little Slice of Heaven by Shea K.

1: Mixing business and pleasure

Tuesday was the worst day ever invented, Jaz was as certain of that as she was the sky was blue. If it was done away with sometime in the near future, she knew that she would be a much happier person. Truly, she doubted anyone would mourn the loss of Tuesday.

For her, Tuesday was an extremely long day. Her classes began bright and early in the morning, going all the way into the afternoon. Once she was free of school, she worked until eleven at night. Work meant being in her car for long stretches of time. Now, she loved having a car, but being in her vehicle was no picnic as far as she was concerned.

Jaz drove a tiny three-door hatchback, which she barely fit in. She was over six feet tall, mostly legs and arms. Often, she compared being in the car to being a jack-in-the-box.

The way that she fit into the automobile seemed to make her favorite target for police when they had "jdlr" moments; basically, she "just didn't look right" when she was driving. She never thought of it as racial profiling, even though she was black at first glance and her brother liked to insist that was why she was pulled over so often. She figured it had more to do with her age and the fact that she always had her seat pushed all the way back. She was always half-lying down when driving because that was how she was most comfortable in the tiny car. Also, she always only had one hand on the wheel, like she was trying to be some sort of badass. It did not help matters that she blared her music, which was mostly rap or heavy metal. Often, she joked that if she were a cop and saw her on the street, she would pull herself over too.

Just as that thought crossed her mind, she noticed the familiar flashing lights behind her, cutting through the nighttime sky like a laser show. A deep sigh escaped her full lips as she shook her head.

"Not again," Jaz muttered, glancing in her rear-view mirror, hardly surprised by the sight of the police cruiser.

This was another reason that she hated Tuesdays. Being pulled over about this time had happened almost every Tuesday for the past couple of months and it was getting old. She eased her car over to the side of the road, glancing at the large three-story mansion a few yards from where she was now parked. The neighborhood was littered with such houses and Jaz often wondered what type of work people did in order to afford living in them.

"I should look into that. Maybe I could double-major in it," she murmured jokingly.

She did not have time to ponder the houses, careers, or majors right now as a uniformed police officer tapped on her window. She lowered the volume of her music before manually rolling the window down; no, her car did not have power windows. Forcing out a smile, she did her best to look cordial toward the officer, but did not succeed. The expression just did not reach her cerulean eyes, dull from lack of sleep. Ah, the life of the crazy college student. She had to make sure she did not yawn while speaking with the officer.

"Good evening, officer. Is there a problem?" Jaz inquired in a very polite tone.

The officer, a young man that Jaz suspected was only a few years older than she was, peered into her car, as if he was looking for something. "'Evening, ma'am," he said with an annoyingly saccharine tone of voice. It was so condescending that he did not need the stupid smile he was wearing, screaming that he was happy for some "action."

Jaz was tempted to not disappoint him in that area. She was not one to back down just because someone thought that he had power and authority. Unfortunately, she had a time limit to keep and she needed to get through his BS as soon as possible.

"We just got some complaints about noise and heard the music coming from your car, thinking that might be it. Where're you headed around here?" he asked, making sure to sound curious. Too bad that haughty look never left his brown eyes, which were enjoying scanning the inside of her car.

"Just delivering a pizza," Jaz answered, motioning to the red bag in her passenger seat, which she was sure his nosy eyes had already seen. She liked to think that the big, lit "Pizza Palace" sign on top of her car answered that question, but she guessed not since the police always asked it when she was stopped in the posh neighborhood. She supposed the cops considered that it could be a ploy for her to use while trying to case a place in the upscale part of town, but she still thought it was silly to ask.

"Would you mind opening the bag?" he inquired, again with that sickeningly sweet tone of his. She wondered if he thought it was cute or he just wanted to make her vomit.

Jaz sighed; this guy certainly was more ambitious than a couple of the other guys that pulled her over. Usually, she could just point out that she had a pizza that she was delivering and agree to turn her music down and that would be good enough for her to be on her way. Better than that was when there were officers that just plain remembered her from other times they had this patrol and did not bother her at all.

"I'll open the bag, but I'm not opening the box. Those things are a bitch to close and I'm not getting my pay docked if the customer doesn't want an open pizza box," Jaz explained, reaching for the bag.

"If I want you to open the box-" the officer started to say, but Jaz was not even trying to hear it.

"You'll go down to Pizza Palace and buy your own. If you think I'm up to something why don't you radio it in, so they can laugh long and hard at you for pulling over the pizza girl that comes through here every goddamn Tuesday at this same time. I promise you, they'll be laughing at you for a while. And then, when Officer Perez and Robinson are back here next week, I'll have a good time telling them about what a dick you are," Jaz informed him. Like hell she was going to go through all of this over a pizza, especially when he did not have right to pull her over in the first place.

"Listen-" he was cut off again.

"To what?" Jaz huffed, opening the bag. She then let out a mock gasp, complete with a wide-eyed stare. "Holy crap, it's a pizza!"

The officer did not think that it was so funny if the grim frown his mouth was set in meant anything. "Open the box," he commanded, his voice not so sweet anymore.

"I'm not opening the box. Like I said, they're hard to close and I doubt you'll be there to stop the person who paid for this for screaming at me because the damn thing is open and cold," she retorted. She closed the bag and set the pizza back where it was before. She and the cop then got into a staring contest, which he lost and it seemed to upset him even more.

"All right, ma'am, get out of the car," he ordered in a hard tone, waving her out with two fingers.

Jaz had to resist the urge to snort and roll her eyes. "Nope. Look, I just want to deliver this pizza. Do you really want to complicate both of our lives with this? I'm just delivering a pizza. You can call Pizza Palace and check with my boss. You can also tip me because I know you're going to blow that one for me since I've got five minutes to get there before the pizza is free," she remarked.

A stony frown conquered the officer's face. "You're one of those smart-ass punks, aren't you?"

"Haven't you noticed that? Look, man, I'm just doing a job. I deliver pizza. Like I said, you can call my boss and check it out. It'll be faster than you and me going back and forth, right?" She was kind enough to not to point out that he was probably a smart-ass punk when he was her age and that was probably why he got into police work. He seemed to like the idea of having power over someone. Hard-ass.

He gritted his teeth together and she could see the tension work through his whole face. A little vein even popped up in his forehead. He then waved her off. "Get out of here and make sure you keep that radio down," he commanded as if he was seriously scolding her.

"Thanks, sir," she said with a drawl that dripped of sarcasm. She took off before he tried to start something else with her. She was tempted to blast her music too, but she was not willing to play around while she was working.

She did turn her music up to what she thought was a decent volume, the bass shook the windows, and she bopped her head while driving. She cut the wheel to the left, turning onto the next street. Blue eyes remained alert, not wanting to miss the house, even though this was a regular Tuesday night delivery. In some distracted moments, she had driven right past the house before, though.

"No one would guess I can actually multi-task if they rode with me when I worked," she joked, wanting to amuse herself.

Recognizing the brown brick pillars and white gate caused her to slow down and pull the car to the sidewalk. Jaz turned the car off and unfastened her seatbelt. She ducked the door as she got out, having learned a long time ago to be careful or she would smack her forehead on the top of the car. Grabbing the pizza with as much care as one might grab a baby, she eased the pie off of the seat and did not bother to lock up her car. The chances of someone doing more than sneering in undisguised disgust at her car in the ritzy neighborhood was astronomical as far as she was concerned.

"I should be worried about someone having it towed or shot," Jaz commented, glancing at her poor car. It was not such a horrible vehicle, getting her from point A to point B as reliably as any other car, it ran well, and did not have any dents. Of course, when compared to the cars in the neighborhood, she might as well have been driving around in a Model T.

Shaking that thought off, she walked up the familiar cobblestone path to the large house and rang the bell. The first time she had visited the place, she thought that a butler or a maid might answer. The image tickled her quite a bit, thinking about the masters of the house having a veggie-lover's pizza served to them while they sat at a massive table in a tuxedo and evening gown. She still entertained the thought, even though she now knew that was not the case.

She strained her ears to hear light footsteps from inside the house coming close to the door. When they stopped, she knew that it would take a few seconds for the door to open. She entertained herself by leaning into the eye-hole that she knew she was being examined through. A startled yelp from behind the door got a chuckle out of her as she imagined the look on the person's face when staring into nothing but a big blue eyeball.

The door slowly creaked open and Jaz put on a semi-professional demeanor. She did not want to blow her tip, after all. She made peanuts as it was already and if gas went up anymore, she was just going to get a bicycle.

The now familiar form of who Jaz guessed was the lady of the house appeared. She was probably a little above average height, but Jaz was not sure what the average height was for women since they all pretty much looked up to her as she was an inch or so over six feet tall. The lady of the house seemed a tad thin and pale. She had shoulder length jet black hair and soulful brown eyes that looked slightly almond-shaped to Jaz. The delivery girl often debated with herself if the woman was Asian or not, but she could never tell. It did not help that the lady sort of always looked up at her through her eyelashes instead of just trying to look her directly in the face. She had decided long ago, though, that the woman was definitely sad. It was just too easy to see in those deep, chocolate eyes, even if she could barely see them.

"Sorry I'm a couple of minutes later than usual. Those boys in blue keep trying to steal your pizza," Jaz remarked with a warm smile that made her eyes seem to sparkle.

The line and expression got a very shy smile out of the woman. It did not get their eyes to meet, though. "I'm sorry if you had any trouble coming here," she apologized in a small voice that did reminded Jaz somewhat of honey. Jaz almost had a dirty thought there, but managed to suppress it.

Jaz waved the apology off. "Nothing worse than when the cops were trying to arrest me in front of the house. I mean, I know you don't get too many folks driving a car like mine around here, but I like to think that the pizza sign gives me away," she commented, jabbing her thumb in the direction of her car.

"I'm sure it's nothing personal. They've been on edge for months because there have been a string of burglaries going on in the neighborhood."

Jaz nodded. "Oh, I didn't know that. I'm glad they had a good reason for it instead of always telling me my music was too loud. Well, your pizza is safe and it's here. I don't know if I'm on time or not, though."

The woman shook her head and waved her hand a little. "Oh, no, it's fine. It's not like I'm in a hurry or anything like that."

The delivery girl smiled, happy to get someone that was polite for once. There were times when people acted like she was delivering gold or guns or something that they needed that very moment. She understood if it were stoners or something, but regular people doing it baffled her. Some people cursed her out when she was just a little late. Of course, if she was in a mood, she would curse right back, but most of the time she just let them shoot their mouths off until they took the pizza off her hands. Thankfully, most people still tipped her, even if they ranted and raved at her for more time than she liked.

"That's cool. So, it's the same price as always?" Jaz said, even though she sort of felt like saying more. Her imagination had been getting the best of her about this woman and she really wanted to settle it.

"All right. Thank you, especially for all of the trouble you go through," the woman said, handing Jaz two twenty-dollar bills. The twenty-five dollar tip always made up for whatever insanity Jaz had to go through when she came into the neighborhood as far as she was concerned.

"No, thank you for always being so generous," Jaz replied as she slid the box into the woman's hands and then shoved the money in her pocket. They both stood there for a half-second of awkwardness when Jaz just decided to let go. "Look, I'm sorry if this is going to seem out of order or anything like that, but I'm really curious about this. For the last couple of months, you order the same thing at the same time on the same day. Why? I mean, if I can ask."

The woman gave another shy smile and glanced up at Jaz through her eyelashes. "It's all right. Well, to be honest, my husband goes out to play cards on Tuesdays if he's not on a business trip and I really don't know what to do with myself. He's been doing it for months and every night after he left, I would try different takeout foods that I knew he would never try. Eventually, I stumbled across your pizza place and figured I would see what all the fuss was about."

Jaz's tan face scrunched up from those words. "Fuss over Pizza Palace or fuss over pizza in general?"

"Pizza in general, believe it or not. The first time you delivered was the first time I had ever had pizza. Well, I guess real pizza anyway," she answered with a small shrug.

Blue eyes went wide for a second. "Wow, you must be sheltered. Just so you know, they sell more than pizza there."

"I'm fine with pizza. It's the one night I know I'll have to myself and can eat something that I want without having to hear complaints about it. Just me, my pizza, and TV?" The woman forced out a smile that Jaz did not buy.

Jaz nodded. "Alone time is always good. Well, I won't keep you from that. Besides, if I take up anymore time, I'll end up fired."

"Oh!" The woman's eyes widened with alarm. "Please, don't let me keep you. I would feel so horrible if you were to be fired."

Jaz flinched a little from how bothered the woman sounded, so she threw on a charming grin. "Hey, it'll be fine. People are typically scared to fire someone taller than they are," she joked.

The words, or maybe just the easygoing expression, got a shy smile from the woman. Jaz's mind eased and she was able to take her leave. Still, the lonely, sorrowful eyes of the woman remained on her mind. I'm gonna do something silly, I just know it. After all, silly was a hobby of hers.

-8-8-8-8-

Another Tuesday, another reason to hate the day. A surprise quiz on a reading that she had not done in a class she hated made Jaz just want to drop the class entirely. Who the hell gives a pop quiz the fucking third week of classes? Apparently, her English professor.

"The woman is a sadist! She needs to get laid or something. Does she have nothing better to do than torment us the third damn week of class? She's already got us reading the equivalent of War and Peace whenever she assigns homework and wants a fucking dissertation on every damn book, but now I have to put up with pop quizzes? I thought I left that crap behind in high school," Jaz complained to the air, making sure to keep an eye on the dark road as she drove.

The quiz had soured her attitude, which was already in the toilet because of her other classes. Ending the day on her English class was the worst, though. Her Tuesday was full of required courses with horrible professors, but English was the bane of her existence. She was certain the professor was the Anti-Christ or at least some lesser demon. One day, she was going to bring in some holy water and maybe chant "the power of Christ complies you."

"I doubt going down on that lady would help me pass the class. Why did I do this to myself? I hope this trip to Pepper Hills doesn't involve the cops tonight. I just can't take it right now," she sighed, shaking her head.

She was really sick of people in authority roles, including cops, even if there was a burglar stalking the neighborhood. She did not think that they were doing their job by harassing her if they were supposed to be looking for a burglar. But, it seemed like the police were doing their job because there were no flashing lights and no one said anything about her music. She made it to her destination without a problem for the first time in a long time.

"Thank God for small favors," she mumbled, killing the engine. "Now, with luck, I'll get through this loopy idea without looking like a total maniac... even though, I'm pretty sure that's what I am."

Jaz hopped out of the car, grabbing a plastic bag and a pizza box. She trotted up the walkway, the chattering of the loose change in her pocket echoing through the quiet night. She rang the bell with some difficulty because her hands were full, but she managed and could not help feeling proud of herself. I'm happy I just rang a bell, how underachieving am I?!

The door swung open before Jaz could tease herself any further and the familiar ebony-haired woman answered the door. "Wow, that was fast. I only just called," she said in amazement. Her eyes focused on the box rather than the person holding it.

"Well, since you're such a regular, I was allowed to take the company jet to deliver this one to you," Jaz remarked with a charming grin, which she thought might be wasted since the lady of the house was not looking at her.

The woman chuckled. "I hope you didn't get a ticket or anything. You didn't have to rush over here for my sake. But, that really is incredible. I mean, I only just called about two minutes ago."

Jaz continued to smile, enjoying the woman's somewhat gentle presence. "Actually, I didn't know you called. I'm off tonight, but I thought maybe you could use some company." I knew I was gonna do something silly! I'm a sucker for adorable eyes! Even if I haven't completely seen them, apparently.

Those eyes that she was such a sucker for blinked several times in confusion. A creamy forehead that was slightly obstructed by dark bangs wrinkled, which Jaz also thought was adorable. She snapped out of it when she noticed the woman inching back into her house, probably about to slam the door in Jaz's face.

"Wait! I'm sorry. This seemed like such a good idea in my head, but sometimes I get weird ideas," Jaz quickly explained as the woman paused for a moment. Jaz then started to speak in a rush, wanting to get it all out in case the door was going to be slammed in her face. "Okay, I noticed that you order the same thing every Tuesday and then you told me that your husband plays cards on Tuesday, so I thought that maybe sometimes you get lonely since it never seems like you have anybody over or anything when you get your pizza. And the house is always dark and like you're not expecting anybody to come over. I just thought that it might be nice for you to have someone to share the pizza with just once, but now that I think about it, you probably have friends come over later. I'm really sorry. I'll go now." Sighing, she lowered her head like a chastised puppy.

Mentally, Jaz cursed herself out, pondering what the hell she had been thinking when she came up with this crazy scheme. She slowly turned around, ready to return to her car, and mentally kick herself just a little more. She stopped just shy of a complete about-face.

"Wait, it's okay," the woman said as Jaz turned back around. The woman looked down as she kept talking. "I would appreciate some company?" she admitted in a low tone.

"Then I'm your man!" Jaz declared with a friendly smile. "Uh?lady? Woman? Whatever!"

"Please, come in," the woman said, stepping aside so that Jaz would have enough space to enter.

The delivery girl eased herself into the house and the door was quietly closed behind her. The house was dark and quiet, just like it always seemed when she showed up. In the dim light, she noticed immediately that she was standing in a large foyer and almost whistled, but she caught herself just as she was puckering her lips. She licked her lips to cover up what she was about to do and then noticed her hostess stepping off to the left.

"I watch television in the living room. It's this way," the woman explained, motioning with her hand in the direction that she was going. The way that she moved, Jaz almost expected her to bow when she showed where the living room was.

"Lead the way."

Jaz followed behind her host, taking in the rich room that they had to pass through before they got to the living room. It was massive with a vaulted ceiling that just made it seem to reach the sky to Jaz. She was pretty sure that her whole house could fit into the living room. She could see how a woman that lived in such a place might have never had pizza before; she was probably used to much finer things in life.

"Please, sit anywhere. Let me take the pizza from you??" the woman paused and squinted a bit as she just remembered something. "I'm sorry. We've never been properly introduced. I'm Georgia Blake."

For the first time, brown eyes met blue. Jaz was dumbstruck for a moment, finally seeing those glorious cocoa eyes to their fullest extent. Now it was perfectly clear to tell that Georgia was Asian...and stunning. Shaking that off, Jaz realized that she needed to introduce herself quickly or things would get awkward before they could do anything fun.

"Jasper Hall. My friends call me Jaz, so please, feel free to call me that." A happy smile followed the name.

A small smile works its way onto Georgia's smooth, pale face. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Jaz. Now, you can sit anywhere, please. I can take the pizza and get plates for us. I also should call Pizza Palace back and cancel my order since you showed up."

"Okay. Good idea, I don't want Mike to know why I was so willing to give him my Tuesday and work his Saturday for him or he'll just bug me the rest of the week," Jaz commented, handing over the pizza box. "Oh, the pizza is half veggie and half hamburger. I thought you might want to try something different, but if not, I'll eat the whole hamburger half without much of a problem," she explained.

"It's fine. I would like to try something new anyway," Georgia assured her guest.

Jaz handed over the bag she was holding as well, which contained a two-liter bottle of soda. Georgia disappeared into another room with the items while Jaz flopped down on the designer sofa. The cushion was so bouncy that her knee almost bashed her nose into her skull when she sat down. In order to avoid killing herself, she slid to the floor, thinking that it would be much safer.

As she settled into her "seat," she noted how soft and plush the carpet was. She came from a home where the carpet in the living room had been there for about ten years, maybe more. Even when it was brand new, she did not recall it feeling like the rug underneath her now. She had to resist the urge to roll around on the floor.

Scanning the room, Jaz felt like she owed Georgia money just for sitting in it. There were three paintings in the room, two classical and one modern that she recognized and knew could put a dent in even the fattest wallet. She was willing to bet that they had been hung up there because of how expensive they were because there was nothing really outstanding or eye-pleasing about them, in her opinion anyway.

"I wonder if Georgia bought those," she mused. Her gut told her that was probably not the case.

The television, which was mounted on the wall in front of her, was as long as she was tall. Every piece of electronic equipment around the entertainment system appeared to be state-of-the-art. Some of the things, she did not even know what they were for. The speakers for surround sound she did recognize and once again she knew that they were expensive.

"It's like a movie theater," she said to herself, eyes wandering over to the next thing.

There were a couple of mahogany tables lining the walls with all sorts of porcelain knickknacks on them, which looked just as expensive as everything else. Jaz would not be surprised if she saw a "do not touch" sign hanging from the tables like in a museum.

"Sorry for making you wait so long," Georgia said as she returned with two plates, each containing a slice of pizza. She placed them down on the coffee table by the couch.

"It's all right. You don't have to keep apologizing to me either," Jaz replied and she turned her attention to the food. "I get the feeling you're not the type to set the pizza box on the table and then we just fend for ourselves, are you?"

Georgia blinked. "Oh? It never occurred to me to do that."

"This way you don't have to keep getting up if you want more pizza. And I promise you, I'll want more pizza. I can eat about half a pie on my own. I doubt you want to get up three more times just because I'm a greedy cow," Jaz remarked and threw on a grin to let her host know it was all right if she wanted to laugh.

Georgia did chuckle a little, but she was polite enough to duck her head while she did it. "I really don't mind," she tried to assure her guest. "Um... you could sit on the sofa, if you want to," she added.

"I'm fine where I am, thank you," the taller woman replied with a gracious smile.

Georgia squinted and her eyes searched the floor, as if trying to understand why Jaz would prefer the floor. Jaz smiled a bit, especially when Georgia eased down next to her. It seemed like Georgia did not know how to sit on the floor, which Jaz thought was cute. She decided that she liked her hostess' shy demeanor, especially her smooth voice and how it lowered when she was being especially coy. The only problem that she had was that Georgia sat almost an arm's length from her, which was quite the distance considering Jaz's arms. She decided not to say anything about since they had just met.

"So, what're we watching?" Jaz inquired, glancing at the TV.

"Well, tonight I have several movies that I've wanted to see, but I haven't gotten the chance yet. I'll show you the stack," Georgia replied, getting up and walking over to the entertainment center. She opened a drawer at the bottom and pulled out five DVDs. As she returned to her sitting place, she noticed Jaz's pizza was gone. Her mouth fell open and she blinked hard in disbelief.

Jaz smirked, as if she was proud. "Hey, I'm a big girl!" she chuckled.

"I'll get you another slice and you can look through the movies. What do you want, meat or veggies?" Georgia asked, smiling a little herself.

"Doesn't really matter. Surprise me."

Georgia nodded and went to the kitchen while Jaz looked through the DVDs. She was not sure what to expect, but saw that the movies were a real mix. There was a comedy, a foreign drama, a romance, and a couple of others that she had never heard of. She was tempted to select the foreign drama to watch, but since she had seen it before, she thought better of it. She talked through movies in the worst way, especially ones that she had seen, and figured it would be distracting to Georgia, especially if she needed to read the subtitles.

"Here you go," Georgia said as she returned with two new slices for Jaz and a tall glass of cola.

"Thanks," Jaz replied as she licked her lips in anticipation of eating another slice. She took a huge bite before turning her attention to her hostess. "How about we watch this one?" she suggested, tapping the case of the comedy.

"I've always wanted to see that one, but no one would watch it with me. My husband thinks that slapstick, madcap humor is low brow," Georgia explained.

"I love slapstick! But, then again, I love a lot of things," Jaz remarked with a bright smile that made Georgia smile too.

"I'm glad. I hope the movie turns out to be good," Georgia said as she took the movie out of the plastic wrapping. She put the DVD into the player and had one of the most enjoyable nights in a long time.

-8-8-8-8-

2: Let it snow

The doorbell rang and Georgia took a deep breath before hurrying to the door with as much dignity as she could muster. She could not wipe the grin off her face as she swung the door open, not needing to check who it was. A icy gust of wind greeted her along with her good friend.

"Good lord, it's cold out here!" Jaz declared with a smile of her own. The red hue on the end of her nose and rosy tint to her cheeks were a testament to the horrendous weather. The bitter, freezing air nipped at Georgia through her designer v-neck shirt and thin pants.

"Then get in here already!" Georgia said with a laugh, yanking the much taller woman into the house. Quickly, she shut the door to keep the winter chill out.

"Careful there. I got hot food," Jaz pointed out. In her hands were a box of pizza and a plastic bag. "I'm pretty sure my hands are stuck to the food in fact," she added as a joke when she noticed her friend's expression had dipped a bit.

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm just?" Georgia paused and ducked her head, hiding a light blush staining her pale cheeks. "Glad you're here," she admitted in a low tone, somewhat embarrassed.

An easygoing grin spread across Jaz's smooth face. "No problem. It's nice to have some place to unwind after my crazy Tuesday classes."

The smaller woman picked her head up at that and then shook her head a little. "I can't believe you took another Tuesday off to come here."

Jaz smiled a little more. "It's no problem really. I didn't take the day off. I just traded days with somebody else. So, now he has my Saturdays and I have his Tuesdays permanently. He was happy to do it."

Chocolate eyes blinked hard. Georgia was surprised to know that Jaz would surrender a weekend off for an odd day like Tuesday. She did not want to consider that Jaz did it just to keep her company, even though the tall woman had been over for the last three Tuesdays, not counting this one. The thought was flattering enough to draw a light blush from Georgia.

Jaz did not notice as she was making her way to the living room. Sighing in relief, she enjoyed the warmth that embraced her cold body. She put down the pizza on the coffee table and set the bag next to it. Georgia came in behind her as she was easing her long body down onto the floor, sighing again as she settled into the soft carpet.

Without a word between them, Georgia slid Jaz's long, heavy coat from her broad shoulders. She exited the living room to hang the coat up. When she reentered the area, Jaz smiled at her.

"Ready to eat?" the tall woman asked, rubbing her hands together.

"I'm going to go get some plates. Would you like anything to drink?" Georgia countered.

"Nah. I brought soda. Not all of us can drink wine with pizza," Jaz replied with a grin. She actually had never seen someone have pizza with wine until she met Georgia.

The ebony-haired woman smiled back before she vanished into the kitchen. She brought back two plates and two glasses. She set them down on the mahogany coffee table and groaned a little as she sat down next to Jaz.

"I don't understand why you'd rather sit on the floor than on the couch. This doesn't feel very comfortable," Georgia commented, scanning around at the floor as if that somehow would make it more pleasant.

"It's better for me than your couch. I damn near kicked my own head off sitting on there before. Besides, it's not big enough in the back to really support me," Jaz explained as best she could.

Georgia glanced back on the sofa and then at Jaz. "I suppose. Just how tall are you anyway? I feel like a child standing next to you."

"I'm six foot one or two, something like that. Been a while since I was measured and I've been told it looks like I'm still growing." Jaz shrugged.

Georgia nodded and took in the sight of the Amazon sitting next to her. To her, Jaz's height was not really the most impressive thing about her, even though it was the first thing that most people noticed. She had dark brown hair mixed with blonde that was done in what Georgia believed were called dreadlocks. They were thin and went all the way down to the middle of her back, pulled into a loose ponytail that Georgia thought fit the young woman. She also thought that Jaz's hair color complimented her skin tone well; she had a somewhat sandy skin complexion, like tan and yellow mixed together.

Georgia guessed that her guest was bi-racial, not just because of her skin tone, but because of Jaz's eyes. Jaz had the palest blue eyes that Georgia had ever seen and that was the most physically impressive thing about Jaz for the older woman. Those eyes were unbelievably beautiful and reminded her of diamonds. Sometimes, it seemed like her gaze cut through things when she was watching them. Other times, they tended to sparkle when she smiled, which was often Georgia noted.

"So, your family is tall?" Georgia asked.

"Just me and my mom. I have to look up to her, so I'm not the tallest one in my family," Jaz explained, looking up for a moment as if her mother were in the room.

Georgia laughed. "Wow, that is amazing. My father's the tallest one in our family and I don't think he's even six feet. Do you have a big family?"

Dreadlocks swayed as the amazon shook her head. "Nope. Just me, my parents, and my little big brother."

"Little big brother?" Georgia echoed in a bemused tone.

"He's shorter than I am, so I call him my little big brother. You got any siblings?" Jaz asked as she opened the pizza box. She figured they could converse and eat at the same time.

"No. I'm an only child. I'm pretty sure I was an accident too. My father's always away on business, so how my mother got pregnant is still a mystery to them," Georgia remarked, chuckling a bit to let Jaz know that the usually reserved woman had actually made a joke.

"Really? I thought rich schools offered sex ed to clear these things up," Jaz quipped, earning a laugh from her host.

"You're too much. Speaking of school, how was it for you? You said you're a sophomore, right?" Georgia asked.

"I am. School for me is fine. My English class this semester is killing me. I took this professor that everyone told me was nuts, but I needed the credits and her class was the only one that fit the times I needed. I'm glad I'm not an English major. If I had to see this woman more than once in a lifetime, I would throw myself off a bridge," Jaz replied before taking a healthy bite out of her slice with meatballs.

"What are you majoring in anyway?" Georgia asked, grabbing a slice too, one with meatballs. She noticed that her guest appeared lost for a moment. "I'm sorry if I'm being nosy or anything," Georgia quickly apologized.

Jaz shook her head and waved Georgia off, staving off any nervous feelings for the older woman. "No, it's fine. It's just funny that you should ask that since I just recently changed my major... for like the third time," she answered with an oddly amused smile.

The response caused Georgia's forehead to wrinkle, a little bewildered by her friend changing majors so many times without even getting two years of school under her belt. "What were you majoring in?" She leaned forward, as if not wanting to miss the answer.

Taking another bite of her pizza, Jaz rubbed the bridge of her nose with her index finger for a moment, like she was considering her response. Georgia was going to withdraw her question, thinking that she might be troubling Jaz if the giantess had to think so much on it. As it turned out, Jaz was not really troubled, but finishing chewing her food before replying.

"Started out in engineering. Honestly, I have no real clue what I thought I would do with an engineering degree, but it sounded really smart. I figured I might be an architect or something. I really don't know what I was thinking with that and that let me know that I didn't want an engineering degree. After I decided engineering wasn't going to be my thing, I went right into architecture, thinking I would be fine with doing that. After a while, though, I didn't think I would do well there either."

Georgia's eyebrows curled up, disappearing slightly underneath inky bangs. "Those sound like good majors. Why'd you pick them if you didn't think you'd do well at them?"

Jaz shrugged. "I thought that would make my family happy. I know they have really high expectations of me because they think I'm so smart. I figured that they expected me to go into some really great field or something like that. But, when they saw how miserable I was, they told me to go with what I wanted."

Georgia smiled, thinking that was very sweet of Jaz's family. "So, what did you want?"

A huge and elated grin swept across the youthful tan face. "Graphic design."

Georgia blinked. "You're an artist?" She gave her new friend a long look, not thinking that the lanky giant looked like an artist. She was not sure what it was, but nothing about Jaz said artist to her.

There was a vigorous nod before anything verbal could make it out of Jaz's mouth. "Yes, I am. I've gotten a few jobs already. My friends let me design tattoos and junk for them. I can show you my portfolio sometimes if you want."

For a moment, Georgia could only take in Jaz's energy and obvious love for her art. The way those pale blue eyes shined just from mentioning her work fascinated Georgia. "I would love to see your work."

"Well, I'll bring it by next Tuesday for you to see."

"Oh... yes?" Georgia replied, sounding just a little disappointed, and she ducked her head a little, hiding her face behind a curtain of silky ebony hair.

Jaz cocked her head to the side to take in the sight, wondering if Georgia was being her typical bashful self. She bent over a little and caught sight of Georgia's deep brown eyes. No, she saw this was not the usual shyness taking over. It was something deeper.

"You know, I should give you my cell number. That way, you can call me and we can hang out on days that aren't Tuesday," Jaz impulsively proposed and then realized how crazy that probably sounded to someone she was sure was a busy socialite. "Or you know, you can warn me if you're not going to be here on a Tuesday or something," she quickly added.

Georgia's smile could have powered the whole city. "I would like that!" She then winced, realizing just how eager she sounded. She cleared her throat and settled down a bit. "Jaz? I?" A blush invaded her porcelain cheeks and she wished that she could get herself together enough to at least assure Jaz that she was not always so awkward.

"Hey, you don't have to explain it to me. I like when pretty girls want my number," Jaz remarked and then she noticed that Georgia arched an eyebrow to that instead of laughing as she had hoped. She chuckled a bit to cover up the fact that her joke had not worked and made a mental note of the face her friend was giving her. "Uh? but, yeah, let me give you my number and we can hang out more. Your husband won't mind, right?"

Georgia shook her head, eyes focused on the floor. Her voice was low and her despair almost tangible. "He won't. He's gone most of the time. He started this new business and he's always trying to get new clients, so he's always gone. I get? really lonely?"

"Well, pal, never fear. Jaz here will straighten that all out!" the teen declared with a smile, throwing her arm across Georgia's shoulders and tugging the smaller woman close.

Georgia's first instinct was to pull away, but she ignored that when she realized that Jaz's lean body was warm and friendly. It had been a while since she felt the warmth of another human being. She sighed and stayed right where she was.

-8-8-8-8-

Chocolate eyes stared down at the torn sheet of paper with a phone number on it. Georgia was surprised that she had not rubbed the ink away considering how many times she pressed her thumb against it and rubbed the pad of her thumb across it. It was faded a bit and the paper shining from oil from her fingers. Her bare feet on the tiled foyer barely made a noise as she paced, eyes straying to the hall phone every few seconds. A faint sigh joined her footfalls for a brief moment.

"How pathetic am I? I mean, really? She probably has class or something. I should just leave her be, but I really do want to see her portfolio? Oh, who am I kidding? I just want some company. Some company that won't look at me like I'm crazy if I want to watch a bunch of movies from the 20s or foreign films or something like that," Georgia muttered, shaking her head and trying to rub the worry lines from her forehead.

In the last month, which was really only a collection of four Tuesdays, Georgia found herself appreciating Jaz's company. Sometimes, she even found herself craving Jaz's company and anticipating Tuesdays because of that. She quickly warmed up to Jaz after the initial surprise of the young woman just showing up out of the blue on her doorstep. Of course, it was hard not to warm up to such an open and friendly, if not a little crazy person. She smiled at the memory and wondered if Jaz was always so impulsive. She was willing to bet that she was.

"She probably also feels sorry for me and that's why she did it. But, she did invite me to hang out with her other times beyond Tuesday. Was she just saying that? What do I look like hanging out with some college sophomore? My college days are far behind me. This just makes me seem even more pathetic," Georgia hissed, her mouth bending in an irate frown.

Georgia did not know how old Jaz was, but she got the feeling that the tall woman was young. She felt embarrassed now that she was thinking about it, how much she enjoyed hanging out with someone that was still a college undergrad. She glanced down at the paper in her hand again and decided to just forget about it. She did not have any business hanging out with someone that was probably not even old enough to drink.

With that settled, she went into the quiet living room and scanned the area with sorrowful brown eyes. The space always felt like a grave to her, her tomb, cold, empty, and alone. She closed her eyes and she could hear laughter, feel warmth, and company. Without thinking, she ended up back next to the phone. She picked it up and looked down at the paper. Her fingers dialed before she had a chance to second-guess herself.

"Hello, you've reached Jaz. If you're calling to blame me for something, press one. If you're calling to commission something, press two. If I recently accidentally drove through your yard, I was drunk and it wasn't me," Jaz answered her phone, earning several chuckles from her friend.

"What do I press if I want to see if you're free tonight?" Georgia inquired, voice sounding amused and pleased.

"You don't press anything. You just tell me how much you're willing to pay me for my precious time," Jaz remarked and her tone made it easy to picture the smile that she was sporting.

"Well, I do have money to spare."

"I know, which is why I'm trying to milk you for all your worth. But, seriously, you want me to come over?"

Georgia bit into her bottom lip. "If it's not too much trouble. My husband just left on a business trip and none of my friends would come over to just hang out?" she explained in a quivering tone.

Jaz sighed a little, recognizing that voice already; it was how Georgia sounded when she was lonely and unsure of herself. It tugged at Jaz's heart, so it was an easy decision to make. "Should I bring food too? I was going to eat some burgers or something since my mom didn't cook today."

Georgia blinked hard because of the words "my mom." She was starting to think about Jaz's age again. The college student still lived at home, it seemed. What the hell am I doing hanging around a kid?

"Georgia, you still there?" Jaz asked.

"Yes, I am," the ebony-haired woman answered.

"So, I'm going to get some burgers and junk and be over in like an hour. That good?"

"Um?" Georgia hesitated, mind backtracking over her insecurities and troubles. Embarrassment settled in her soul. "You know, I really don't want to take up your time," she suddenly said, trying to let Jaz off of the hook now.

"It's no problem. I was just sitting here reading for class. I can do that in the morning. I'd rather hang out with you anyway. So, you sit tight and find something for us to do while I get some food and get my ass over there."

"Uh? okay?" Georgia agreed. She smiled a little and her heart fluttered, glad that Jaz did not fall for her pathetic attempt at wiggling out of spending time together. She really did want someone there with her and Jaz had proven to be great company.

"See you in a few."

"Okay." Georgia sighed in relief as they disconnected the call. She flopped down on the sofa and tried to will her heart to slow down now that everything was over. I can't believe I'm really anxious over this. It's just Jaz.

She knew that Jaz was the cause of the anxiety. She was somewhat troubled over spending time with someone so much younger than she was. But, she felt rather comfortable with Jaz. The college sophomore offered an unconditional acceptance and amiability that no one else did. None of her other friends made her feel so relaxed and at ease with both herself and her company. This could be something that we should talk about? Since it was so easy to talk to Jaz, she believed that conversing on it would make her feel better.

"Why is it so easy to talk to her? I can't talk with anyone else as easily as I can with Jaz. I never even wonder if she cares what I'm saying because I can always tell I have her undivided attention. Sometimes, she just seems like a big teddy bear, ready to listen to whatever comes out of my mouth," Georgia murmured to herself. She was not sure what to make of Jaz or her behavior around the younger woman.

Barely an hour after Georgia made the call, Jaz was knocking on the door. Georgia was shocked when she opened the door to see that it was snowing rather hard. She could not believe that Jaz made the trip in such a heavy storm.

"I didn't know?" Georgia muttered as her guest stepped in. Doe-like brown eyes apologized more than word ever would.

"It's okay. I'm hoping the snow never stops and I don't have to go to class tomorrow," Jaz remarked before sniffing at the end of her sentence. "Well, I've got the food. I hope you have the entertainment," she declared, holding up her spoils, four white paper bags containing junk food.

"I have a few movies and some board games. I was hoping we'd be able to talk a little too," Georgia explained.

"No problem. Let me just get out of my boots before my toes freeze off."

Georgia snapped into the role of a good hostess and immediately took her guest's coat. She hung the coat in the closet and turned up the heat for her guest. Jaz shivered as she made her way into the living room, even though she thought that it would probably be best to eat in the dining room. She just did not want to walk around the house, not knowing how comfortable Georgia felt with her just yet.

"Are you warmer yet? Should I get you a blanket?" Georgia inquired as she entered the living room.

"I'm fine. Hungry, though, so I'm gonna open these burgers. If you plan on eating any of them, I suggest you sit your ass down and hope I don't gnaw your arm off," Jaz joked, grinning as she spoke.

Georgia chuckled and made herself comfortable next to Jaz as she started pulling food out of the bag. The older woman blinked hard when she saw the stack of wrapped burgers and several cartons of fries. She laughed again, earning a curious look from her guest.

"Something funny?" Jaz inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"It's just so much food. I'm always amazed at how much you eat. Your parents must break the bank feeding you and your brother," Georgia replied, still gawking at the pile of junk food.

"Well, there's never many leftovers in our house, but then again, my parents can put the food away too."

"Oh. Your brother still lives at home too?"

"Yeah. My mom would pitch a fit if he tried to leave. I don't think she likes the idea of having an empty nest at all," Jaz commented with a laugh and then she grabbed two burgers. "You want a plain hamburger or a cheese-burger?"

"Um? hamburger is fine," Georgia answered.

"Okay, a couple of them are plain. I didn't know if you like ketchup or mustard or mayo or pickles or anything like that. As you know, I'm not picky, so you go ahead and take what you like and I'll eat whatever's left."

Georgia nodded. "Is your family like that?"

"My mom is really the only one that's particular about what she eats. My dad's from one of those families that grew up on eating cheese sandwiches and stuff on occasion, so he's always good with just having a hot meal in front him. Me and my brother just inherited my father's taste, we guess anyway. My parents worked really hard to make sure we always had food on the table."

Another nod from the hostess. She really did not know what to say to that, even though Jaz's tone implied that it was no big deal. Still, Georgia had never grown up worrying about if there would be food; it was a given. It was still a given.

"Um? so, how old is your brother?" Georgia asked curiously. She figured that would be a good way to talk about their age differences.

"Twenty-five. He's a really good mechanic, so if you ever have a car or five that needs some work, call me," Jaz replied with a beaming smile. The expression was so bright that her host had to smile too.

"Your brother? he's a year younger than I am?" Georgia commented and waited for the reaction. She was not sure what she expected, but she tensed as if Jaz was going to literally explode or hit her.

"Yeah?" Jaz tilted her head to regard her friend with intense ice blue eyes. "I wouldn't have figured you for late twenties, but then again, it makes your being married make more sense to me."

Chocolate eyes blinked several times before Georgia squinted, examining her guest for a moment. "It doesn't bother you that I'm a year older than your big brother?"

Jaz scratched her forehead and chuckled a bit. "Uh? no. Should it? You're not bothered that you're hanging out with a nineteen-year-old, does it?"

"You're nineteen?!" Georgia gasped, going so far as to put her hand over her mouth.

"Yeah, sophomore in college and everything. I'm guessing it does bother you," Jaz replied.

Georgia's gaze turned downward and she wrung her hands together in her lap. "I just feel a little weird about taking time from your social life. I feel like we should spend time with people our ages or something. We should be around our peers."

"Why? I hang out with my brother and his friends all the time. Some of them are almost ten years older than me. As long as we're cool with each other that's what counts. If you like hanging out with me, it's cool. There's no age limit? on adults anyway. I admit if I was like twelve, this would be damned creepy," Jaz commented, chuckling at the end to lighten the mood.

"I do enjoy your company. You're different from my other friends. I just wanted to make sure it was all right with you that I'm so much older than you are," Georgia said, and she was hoping that she would feel better about being around someone so much younger than she was.

"You're not so much older than me. It's just six years. Don't worry about it. As long as we're cool, it's no problem," Jaz dismissed it all by biting into a cheeseburger. "I hope you don't plan to eat your hamburgers with wine," she said with a teasing smile, purposely changing the subject.

Georgia blushed. "Uh? no, I didn't plan on it. I thought you might bring some soda. You didn't?"

"Of course I did. There should be bottles in that bag next to you."

The older woman leaned over and checked the bag closest to her. There were three liter-bottles of cola. She took one and handed the other to Jaz. For a while, they quietly munched on the pile of junk food.

"So, what happened with your husband? Seems a little abrupt for him to go on a business trip," Jaz commented.

"Not really. He was working on a deal for a couple of days. He told me yesterday that he was going to fly out to seal it. His business is small, so he has to do a lot of legwork for it. Sometimes, he's more busy than others, but he often races off if it seems like he might have a client," Georgia explained.

"How'd you meet him anyway? Actually, what's his name first of all? It's weird always saying 'your husband' or something like that."

"His name is Allen. I met him in college, actually. We had a business class together and just ended up talking to each other at some point during the semester. He was very sweet and very nice to me. He always treated me like I was precious to him. We dated for two years and then got married."

"How long have you been married?"

Georgia sighed. "Hmm? four years. Sometimes, it feels longer and other times it feels like nothing at all. I guess it's because he's not here a lot of the time."

"What kind of business does he have?" Jaz asked.

"He sells anti-virus software. It's all high-tech and state-of-the-art stuff. He swears there's nothing like it out right now. He's only just been able to get it off the ground, though. Before that, he spent a lot of his time developing the technology."

Jaz nodded. "I do work on computers and stuff sometime. So, what about you? What do you do when he's out running around trying to get his product off the ground?"

"Well, before hanging out with you, I spent a lot of time baking. I really like baking."

Jaz scratched her forehead, which was furrowed. "What about work? I mean, you've got a degree and everything, so I figured you'd have a job or something."

"No. I was going to, but Allen didn't really want me to. I think he wanted to prove to my father that he could support me and take care of me. So far, he's doing a really good job. My dad really likes Allen too."

"Well, I would think you liking Allen would be the more important thing, but I doubt you would stay married to him if you didn't like him," Jaz reasoned.

Georgia nodded and they went back to eating. Suddenly, the ebony-haired woman remembered something. "Hey, did you bring your portfolio with you like you said you would?" she asked curiously.

Jaz stopped chewing and caught herself before her mouth dropped open. "Shit! I left it in the car. I'll have to brave the polar frost for it."

"You don't have to."

"Nah, it's cool. I don't like leaving it in the car anyway. It's like leaving my baby in a car or something," Jaz remarked with a somewhat sheepish giggle.

Georgia laughed, even though she did not really understand. Jaz quickly put her boots back on and trotted out into the thickening snow; she hated to think about what her drive home was going to be like. She opened the car and pulled out her work, which was wrapped in a plastic bag. She charged back into the house; Georgia was waiting for her by the front door. Georgia shut the door as if Jaz was being chased by invading hordes.

"It's cold as fuck out there!" Jaz shivered. That was the last time she was going out into a snowstorm without her coat.

Georgia chuckled. "That's an unusual expression," she pointed out.

Jaz stepped back and then thought about it for a moment. "I guess it is," she smiled brightly. "Anyway, here's my latest portfolio. Stuff I show if I'm trying to beg for a little job."

"Have you gotten a lot of jobs?" Georgia asked curiously as they returned to the living room. Jaz handed the older woman the portfolio while she went back to eating; the giantess was on her fourth burger.

"I get enough. Really, I just get jobs from people I know and want custom work on stuff. They pay me to design tattoos and stuff, which is at the front of the thing. I've designed stuff for skateboards and snowboards. I do really sick work with those because I get to work with colors. A lot of the time I get to work with bright colors because they want their boards to stand out. Just sick stuff. I like making up little characters too, but I haven't had a chance to sell any of those to anybody aside from my mom. She uses them at school."

"School?" Georgia echoed, an elegant onyx eyebrow lifted slightly.

"Oh, my mom teaches high school geology and earth science. She uses my characters as mascots for things, like science fairs, handouts, bulletin boards, and junk to try to get people more interested. I don't know if it works or not, but she thinks they're cute. Those are at the back if you want to see them."

Georgia nodded, as she slowly flipped through the book. The first dozen or so pages held tattoo designs. Most of the designs looked like "tribal" tattoos with intricate shapes and dynamic lines, mostly done in black ink. Others were pictures of various subjects, which were just as eye-catching as the other tattoos. There were plenty of sharp edges and cutting angles that carried over into her designs for skateboards and snowboards in the next section of the portfolio. This section also showed her love of bright colors and vibrant pastels easily caught the eye. Many of the designs did look "sick" in Georgia's opinion, but she knew her definition of the word was much different from Jaz's because some of the designs scared her a bit.

When Georgia got to the character section of the portfolio, she was a bit surprised. She thought that she was going to see more terrifying looking clowns and menacing werewolves, but found cute little bug-eyed critters. Gone were the sharp angles, exchanged for gentle curves. The bright colors remained, but no longer seemed to scream at the eyes. Instead, the colors gave all of the characters a somewhat impish appeal. The blending into shades made them look inviting, as if they were waving viewers into the scene. Georgia could not help smiling.

"You like the little characters, don't you?" Jaz asked without bothering to glance over to see what part of the portfolio her friend was looking at.

"They're so adorable! You're so talented, although your grinning clowns kind of scare me," Georgia replied, still smiling.

"Personally, the guy I designed the grinning clowns for scares the piss out of me," Jaz said with a teasing grin that made it clear she was joking.

"You have such talent."

"Yeah, well, I'd like to have talent and money. So, if you know anybody that needs a skateboard, tattoo, or snowboard design, point them in my direction."

Georgia laughed. "You are just using me for connections. First trying to get your brother business and now yourself. Before the night's over, you're going to be trying to tell me that if I know anyone with kids I need to send them to your mom for science tutoring."

"Hey, it would help keep food on the table!"

"I can see how that would be a plus in your house," Georgia retorted, motioning over to the half-dozen empty hamburger wrappers by her friend.

The two joked and kidded for a couple of hours until Jaz's cell phone sounded. She pulled out the phone to see that her mother sent her a text message pleading with her to come home before the snow got any worse. She chuckled a bit and put her phone away.

"Well, that's my mom telling me to get my ass home before the snow comes up to my ears," Jaz announced.

"Oh, I didn't realize it was still snowing," Georgia commented, glancing toward the window. It was still flurrying from what she could see.

"Doesn't look as bad as before. I better go, though. My mom worries about us driving in bad weather. She damn near beat me with a broom when I told her I was going out earlier," Jaz said with a laugh. "I had fun hanging out with you, though. Call me anytime, Georgia, especially if you're lonely. I like keeping you company," she said with such open honesty Georgia was dumbfounded for more seconds than she liked.

"Thank you for coming. I really appreciate it. I hope you don't get in trouble with your parents," Georgia replied, going to retrieve her guest's coat.

Jaz followed her host. "My mom is all bark and no bite. She just worries all the time. It's nothing really." The artist slipped on her coat and they walked to the door. "You're going to be all right in here by yourself?" Jaz asked her friend.

"I'm fine. I've been doing these nights alone long before I met you, Jaz. You don't need to worry about me," Georgia replied. "You just make sure that you make it home safe. Call me when you get there."

Jaz grinned. "Now you sound like my mom."

"I mean it. I would hate to think that something happened to you because you went out of your way to keep me company."

"Fine. I'll call you as soon as I get home."

"Good. Drive safe."

Jaz nodded and went to her car. Georgia watched her friend drive off and then went back into the house. She shook her head; she was friends with a nineteen-year-old kid. She felt a little odd about that, but over all of that, she was happy. She liked being around Jaz.

-8-8-8-8-

3: Sinful pleasure

Georgia whistled as she moved about her kitchen, smiling all the way. The sun was sinking and her husband had left several hours ago for another business trip. She glanced through the window and imagined that he was watching this same sunset, even though she doubted he was. She could not recall him ever appreciating a sunset.

"He's probably going over his battle plan," she muttered to herself, shaking her head. "It's always business, business, business with him lately. He says it's probably going to get worse too? or better as he put it. More trips for him and more time alone in this house for me. Even when he's here, he's always stuck on his phone, trying to get business. So, I'll continue to be alone?" A long sigh escaped her lips.

In order to avoid further thinking in regards to her husband and how long he was going to be gone, she did her favorite thing in the world-baking. She had volunteered to make cakes and cupcakes for a school fundraiser. A friend of hers had made the request and she was extremely eager to help out. Besides, she thought her friend's daughters were too adorable to deny them anything, so it was easy to bake things for their school.

By the time the doorbell rang, Georgia was a bit shocked by her progress. She looked around the kitchen and knew that she had gone overboard. It was known to happen when she was left to her own devices in a kitchen. She could not believe that in just over two hours, she had made so many baked goods.

"Well, they know I always go all out when it comes to these things. Maybe I can get Gina to take the extra? well, maybe if I offer while holding her hostage and torturing her somehow, she'll take the extra," Georgia said as she went to answer the door.

"Thank goodness, Georgia. If you would've left me out here a little longer, I would've frozen to death on your front steps!"

Georgia chuckled at her friend's over dramatic nature, especially since she knew her friend was serious. She stepped aside to let the woman in before she started to complain more, which was almost a given. Gina Chamberlain moved past Georgia with the grace of royalty and a helping of snobbery as she did not even look at the lady of the house. Georgia quickly shut the door once Gina was over threshold.

"Would you like me to take your coat?" Georgia asked, putting out a hand for the thick black fur Gina was burrowed in.

"No, I don't plan to stay that long. I have to get the girls right after this. You didn't have any trouble making the cakes, did you, hon?" Gina inquired curiously, mindlessly flicking her long, curly auburn hair off her shoulder.

"Of course not," Georgia declared with a coy smile. Chocolate eyes dipped, finding the tiled floor of the foyer to be quite interesting.

"Oh, no, hon, you went overboard again, didn't you?" Gina's voice was a cross between whining and pleading.

"I can't help it. I get into a zone. I made the girls a cake each and then I made them both a dozen cupcakes, but since you hadn't shown up yet, I didn't seem to see a reason to stop. Do you think the girls would want more than what they asked for?"

Gina shook her head. "I'm sure they would, but they're not going to be able to carry much more than that into the school. They're only ten and eight, after all."

Georgia sighed and her slender shoulders slumped. "I suppose that would be a little too much for them to carry. I'll help you take the cakes out to your car."

There was a nod from the redhead. "I'll get the carriers back to you as soon as the girls are done with them. Oh, don't forget about their play at the end of the month. They'll never forgive me if you don't show up."

Georgia giggled just a bit. "I love how they blame you for my behavior."

"They seem to think I have a remote control that makes you do whatever I say and in turn, they seem to think they have a remote control that makes me do whatever they say," Gina remarked.

"They might be onto something there."

Gina laughed a little as they went into the kitchen to get the cakes. Gina was not surprised by the mess? or the trays of cupcakes. The baked goods that she needed were secured in plastic containers. She grabbed two and Georgia grabbed the other two. They marched out into the winter evening and Georgia almost yelped as the bracing cold sliced into her. Quickly, they put the cakes in the back of the luxury sedan and Gina hopped into the car to warm up. Georgia was going to run back to the house, but Gina did not seem to be done with the conversation.

"Now, don't forget about the play again. And, please, bring Allen. This way I don't have to listen to Rick complain for the whole night. You'd think he thought we were on Broadway with the way that he criticized the last school play," Gina harped, ignoring or not noticing her friend shivering.

"I'll try my best. As far as I know, he doesn't have any trips planned, but you know how it is with him," Georgia replied, wrapping her arms around herself with the hope that it would make her warmer.

"Bribe him if you need to. Tell him Rick'll take him out on the boat for a weekend if he just comes to the kids' play. I'll make sure Rick does it too."

Georgia shrugged a little and glanced away. "Well? I'll try?"

"No, don't try, sweetie. Please, do. I really do not want to deal with Rick whining for the whole night. Allen will be a proper distraction, so make sure you bring him along."

"I'll try," the freezing woman repeated. "You know how Allen is. I'll definitely be there, though. I love seeing the girls in action." Her teeth chattered as she smiled.

"I'm sure you'll come through for us. Take care, sweetie."

Georgia backed away as Gina drove off. She then made a mad-dash for the house, slamming the door shut once she was inside. She took a few deep breaths, as if trying to warm her insides. She decided that she was never going to brave the winter in just a v-neck tee-shirt and thin sweatpants ever again.

"Now, what am I going to do with all of these extra cupcakes?" Georgia asked herself. She had gone above and beyond this time for sure because she had four trays of cupcakes. Each tray held sixteen cupcakes.

She only pondered things for a moment before she walked over to the phone, knowing exactly what to do. She dialed the number from memory and waited for the answer.

-8-8-8-8-

Jaz groaned as she heard her cell phone ringing. "Damn it, I said I was coming. Why the hell does she keep calling me?" she muttered to the air.

The tall woman scanned her room for her cell phone. A frown marred her tan features as she looked at the mountains of papers and clothes, figuring her phone might be in any one of those piles. Just when she was about to junk-dive, she noticed the phone was sitting right on the edge of her desk. She snatched it up quick, ready to let loose a stream of curses, until she saw who was calling her.

"Oh, hey, Georgia," Jaz said, calming down immediately.

"Hey, Jaz. How are you doing?" Georgia asked politely.

"I'm doing good. You?"

"I'm well, thank you. Listen, I was wondering if you could do me a big favor," Georgia explained, speaking in a low voice. Her shyness seeping out put a smile on Jaz's face.

"Anything for you. What's up?"

"I was baking today for a school fundraiser, but I got very carried away. Now, I have sixty-four cupcakes sitting in my kitchen with nowhere to go and no one to eat them."

Jaz laughed. "Lemme get this straight, the favor that you want is for me to come over and eat those cupcakes?" Why don't people ask favors like this all the time?!

"Well, I know you wouldn't be able to eat them all, but I figured that you might want to take them home at the least."

"You just hold those cupcakes for me and we'll see about eating them all. So, how's everything? Husband around?"

"Actually, no. He left for a business trip today. He's not sure when he'll be back, but no more than five days he said."

"That's a lot of days. Why didn't you call me? We could've rented some movies and ate junk food until I exploded," the tall woman remarked with another laugh.

"I didn't want to take up your time. I mean, if I called you every time Allen left, you would practically live at the house. Besides, I figure you have a life outside of me. I don't want to take up all of your time."

"I don't mind. I'll be over there in a bit and be ready to hang out," Jaz playfully ordered.

Georgia chuckled. "I suppose there's no arguing."

"I wouldn't recommend it. Just make sure there's something for us to do when I get there? aside from gorge myself on delicious cupcakes."

Georgia laughed again when the call was disconnected. Jaz smiled to herself and was about to run out to hang out with Georgia when she realized what she was wearing. She flinched and peeled off her favorite black slacks, replacing them with some comfortable jeans. She unbuttoned her powder blue shirt and tossed it onto her unmade bed. She then put on a black shirt with a spider web design on it. She then charged down the stairs, thundering so loudly that she shook the photos on the wall.

"Jaz, stop running around here like a stampeding rhino," her mother scolded her.

The sound of her mother's voice stopped Jaz right in her tracks. She hunched over a little as she took the last two steps with civility. Once she touched down, she turned to her mother, making big puppy eyes.

"Sorry, Ma," Jaz whimpered, making sure to sound as pathetic as she looked. Poking out her bottom lip, she actually forced her eyes to water just a little bit.

"Don't give me that look, Jaz."

The pathetic look quickly morphed into a gentle grin as Jaz gazed up to regard her mother, Maggie Hall. Jaz did not think that her mother fit the name "Maggie," but then again, she did not think that her mother fit the name "Magdalena" either. The latter was her mother's real name, but she shortened it when arriving in the United States over two decades ago. Her mother felt like "Maggie" was more "American," whatever that means, Jaz always thought. It was a bit amusing that her mother would try to make her name more "American" while naming her children after rocks. There was nothing American about the name "Jasper."

Often people told Jaz that her mother cloned herself to get a daughter. Jaz was almost an exact replica of her mother as far as their height, although her mother was two inches taller, and their faces, except that Jaz was darker. They had the same ice blue eyes, slender noses, full lips, and oval shaped heads.

Maggie was the reason that Jaz had blonde in her hair, but Jaz was happy to inherit her father's hair texture. She just did not think that locks would look right if she had hair just like her mother's. Aside from their hair, there were only a couple of other differences between them. Jaz was leaner than her mother was and Maggie had more lines on her face.

"Why are you running through the house like you've lost your mind? I know you haven't been out with Robbie and Mitch for a while, but that's no reason to run," Maggie reprimanded the teen.

"Actually, Ma, I'm going over my friend Georgia's house. If Rob or Mitch call, tell them I'll catch up to them later," Jaz explained, going to the hall closet to get her coat.

"Again?" Maggie shook her head and her short, straight golden hair barely moved.

"What do you mean again? You make it sound like I go over Georgia's house all the time," Jaz said.

"You're over there a lot lately. Are you sure you're not underfoot? Her husband doesn't mind you over there?" Maggie asked.

Jaz shrugged. "I don't know if he does. I haven't met the guy. He travels a lot and she gets lonely. She calls me up when he runs out."

"That doesn't sound about right, now does it?" Maggie pressed.

Jaz chuckled a bit. "Uh? okay, it sounds bad that way. It's just that during the day, she has all these social obligations to keep her busy and everything, but later on when she goes home, it's just her and a big empty house." The teen rubbed the bridge of her nose with her index finger. "Look, Mom, I get along really well with Georgia and she could use a friend."

"She doesn't have any?" Maggie inquired, arching a sun-colored eyebrow.

"I'm pretty sure she does, but they're married too, so it's weird for her to entertain one couple with her husband out. Besides, Ma, I'm getting free cupcakes out of this deal!" Jaz whined, bouncing up and down and flailing her hands as if her wrists were broken.

Maggie laughed a bit. "The first woman you've met that likes to cook and she's married."

Jaz grinned. "You think God's into jokes?"

"Jaz, are you sure about this?" her mother asked with concern that only the person who gave birth to her and raised her could muster.

"Ma, Georgia is harmless. Really, I think she's just shy and polite and doesn't want to impose on her married friends. It's easier to hang out with me when it's just her. It's cool, Mom," the teen promised.

Maggie decided to give up the fight right now. She knew that Jaz was a force to be reckoned with when she had an idea in her head. Besides, Jaz really seemed to like her new friend and Maggie was not interested in standing in the way of a blossoming friendship.

"Make sure you take your long coat. It's cold out there," Maggie cautioned her daughter.

"Ma!" Jaz whined, even though she planned on taking her long coat.

Maggie laughed as her daughter grabbed the desired coat from the hall closet. They called out farewell "I love yous" as Jaz bolted out of the door, cupcakes calling her name. Maggie smiled as her daughter departed.

Jaz slid into her car and quickly turned it on. The automobile never seemed to get warm fast enough in the winter. While waiting for the car to get hot, she went into her pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. She put one to her lips and as she was going to light it, her cell phone sounded. She sucked her teeth and retrieved the device from her pants' pocket.

"Hey, Robbie," Jaz greeted her friend. "Look, I'm going to have to cancel on you. Something came up. I'll talk to you later."

The tall teen did not give her friend a chance to object. She disconnected the call, lit her cigarette, and pulled off. Pictures of cupcakes and chocolate brown eyes danced through her head all the way to the prestigious Pepper Hills neighborhood.

As she exited the car, she cursed as the chill practically slapped her in the face. She trotted up to the familiar door and knocked. Seconds later, the door opened and she was granted access to warmth.

"So, you said something about cupcakes?" Jaz remarked with a toothy grin as she stood before Georgia.

"You got here pretty fast. Cupcakes motivate you a lot, I see," Georgia countered.

"You know it! They better be worth it too!" the artist playfully threatened the older woman.

"I hope they're worth you barging into my home and not even giving me a proper greeting," Georgia said, shaking a finger at her guest.

Jaz laughed. "My mother does that finger thing."

Georgia looked at her finger as if she did not know what it was doing. "So does mine. Must be a mom thing. Here, give me your coat and I'll get you the cupcakes."

Jaz shrugged out of her coat and handed it to Georgia. The teen made her way to the living room while Georgia went about her tasks. Georgia stood in the kitchen for a few minutes, staring at the cupcakes.

"Um? Jaz?" the older woman called.

"Yup?"

"Would you mind eating the cupcakes in the kitchen? These are much more likely to produce crumbs than pizza or burgers," Georgia pointed out. She was not in the mood to vacuum the living room carpet.

"No problem!"

Jaz entered the kitchen a few seconds later and her mouth hit the floor. She had never seen a more beautiful kitchen. She knew that she should have expected the marble counters, polished wooden cabinets, huge stove, giant island with every piece of cutlery a chef could use, and every type of pot invented, but it never crossed her mind. She realized that she never thought about the size of the house once she was in it. She shrugged that off as her eyes zeroed in on the cupcakes.

"Wow, you did make a lot," Jaz chuckled. Her mouth watered just from the sight of the sweets.

"I get in a zone when I start baking and I'm here alone," Georgia answered.

"What were you baking for again?" the teen asked, walking over to a table at the end of the kitchen. The cupcakes were waiting and she was sure that she was going to leave the house with a stomachache if the cupcakes were as good as they looked.

"One of my friends has two daughters and they wanted to help out in a school fundraiser, which was a bake sale. My friend Gina has no baking skills whatsoever and her daughters don't like the way their cook makes cakes. The girls asked me to bake for them."

"You like the girls?" Jaz guessed.

A smile spread across Georgia's face and seemed to light up the whole room. "They're angels! I don't know how Gina had such sweet and adorable girls, but I'm glad she did. They make it worthwhile to put up with their parents. They both want to be actors, so they're always in school plays. I go to most of them."

Jaz nodded and smiled a little too. "That's nice of you. They must be really good girls."

"Yes, that's why I spent my afternoon baking for them. I was supposed to just make them each a cake and a dozen cupcakes. When I got to the cupcakes, as you can imagine, I got a little carried away." Georgia smiled a bit.

Jaz smiled too. "Just a little. So, what do you have for us to do while I see how many cupcakes I can eat? I think I should be able to eat at least twenty of 'em."

"Please, don't overeat, Jaz. Whatever you can't finish, you're welcome to take home. Just leave me a couple," Georgia requested. "Oh, I have a few trivia games that we can play. Is that good for you?"

"Sounds good. As long as I can eat while we do it."

Georgia giggled a bit, which brought a smile to Jaz's face. Georgia went to retrieve the games while Jaz shoved a whole cupcake in her mouth. She moaned aloud when the chocolate cake hit her tongue.

"Oh, god! I swear this is a sin melting in my mouth! If the other ones are as good as the chocolate, I might just have to kill myself and eat them all!" Jaz mumbled with a mouthful of sweet chocolate. Death by cupcakes; I'd go with a smile if it's these cupcakes!

"Jaz, you did not stuff the whole thing in your mouth, did you?" Georgia inquired in a scolding tone as she returned, holding a game box. They were going to be playing Scattergories.

"No!" the teen lied. Her mouth was still full of cake and her cheeks resembled those of a greedy chipmunk. There were crumbs circling her lips and a gob of frosting at the corner of her mouth.

Georgia only laughed and shook her head. She put down the box and started setting up the game while Jaz managed to get the cupcake down. She grabbed another cupcake, a strawberry one with a type of frosting that Jaz had never seen before. She found out that it was just as good as the chocolate and started moaning again. She closed her eyes as rich flavor played on her tongue.

"Should I just step out and leave you alone with the cupcakes?" Georgia joked because of the noises that the teen kept making.

"Don't tempt me, woman! You are some sort of cupcake goddess! Screw taking them home, I'm going to eat all of these!" Jaz declared, seeming to be quite serious. She was definitely going to leave with a stomachache.

"I don't think you'll be able to eat them all and you're just going to make yourself sick trying. Not to mention, you'll gain a ton of weight," Georgia commented. She could not imagine Jaz without her lean figure, but she tried.

Jaz waved the words off. "I've got a pretty high metabolism. Plus, I play a lot of tennis."

Georgia tilted her head to the side. "Tennis? I would've thought someone your height would play basketball or volleyball."

The amazon laughed and shook her head. "I'm terrible in both sports. In high school, they tried to recruit me. Basketball, they didn't think it would be so bad. All they told me to do was grab the ball when it was coming toward me. You know, get rebounds and crap? Ball was always hitting me in the head. Same thing with volleyball. My parents were so embarrassed! I was ruining both of their sports!"

"They played?"

"Yeah, my mom played volleyball for a little while and my dad played basketball through out high school. I don't get why I suck so much at both of them. Even my brother is good at basketball, but I completely suck. I feel like I have a magnet in my head and it attracts?" Jaz trailed off as she realized what she was about to say. "Anyway, I'm pretty decent at tennis, though."

"Maybe we can go play sometimes," Georgia suggested.

"If it ever stops snowing, yeah."

The older woman smiled and nodded. As Jaz shoved another cupcake into her mouth, Georgia set up Scattergories. Jaz continued eating, even as they began playing. They were interrupted by the sound of Jaz's phone going off, more than once. After the third call, Jaz decided that she better answer.

"Robbie, you gonna harass me by phone the whole night?" Jaz inquired, sounding as if she was annoyed, but the smile on her face belied that.

"Cocoa is crying that you played us, yet again!"

Ice blue eyes rolled. "Look, I'll see you guys later. Tell Cocoa to calm down."

"Jaz, man, you can't keep blowing us off like this. Don't make me have Mitch get on this phone!"

"Oh, god, don't do that to me! I promise I'll see you guys later."

"I'm holding you to that, beanstalk."

Jaz chuckled and disconnected the call by closing her cell phone. Georgia regarded her with a tilted head. Jaz was starting to recognize the move as something that Georgia did when she was curious. Jaz decided to wait and see if her friend was going to say what was on her mind or if she was just going to sit there.

"Um? that was your friend?" Georgia asked in a low voice with her eyes focused to the left. The fact that she had the courage to make the inquiry was amazing to her, but it was something that came out a lot when she was around her young companion, she noted.

"Yeah. I was supposed to hang out with them, but you had cupcakes!" Jaz grinned and grabbed one of the aforementioned snacks. "I'll see them later, like always."

"Are you sure?" Georgia inquired. Her voice was still small and her eyes were down. A trickle of fear could be heard in that question.

"Totally! We're always doing stuff and we see each other at school all the time. Now, let's get back to this, so I can keep kicking your butt!"

Georgia laughed, even though Jaz was, indeed, kicking her butt. "You're really good at this game, especially for someone that never played before."

"What can I say? I know a lot of useless junk. It drove my parents crazy when they were trying to help me figure out what to major in," Jaz commented.

"What do you mean?" An onyx eyebrow arched.

"I was always really good at school, despite being a little nuts. So, when I applied for college, my parents were trying to help me decide what programs to pick. They were reaching high, physics and engineering and junk like that. They didn't realize that just because I was good at something meant I liked it."

"What subjects were you good at?"

"Hmm? All of them, I guess. School always came pretty easy to me. Well, except music. I always sucked at music. Apparently, I'm tone deaf or something. And, of course, in gym, if we were playing volleyball for most of the semester, I would be lucky to come out of it with a seventy-five."

"I didn't know they graded on ability," Georgia said. It did not seem fair to her that gym would be graded on ability alone. Some people just were not athletically inclined after all.

"My teachers always thought I was faking because I was so damned tall. So, they would take points off my grade, saying I lacked effort. Heaven forbid the tall chick just can't play a goddamn tall sport!" she declared with a good-natured laugh.

"Well, at least you don't seem to let it bother you," Georgia pointed out. She was genuinely impressed by Jaz's attitude.

"Nah, things like that don't bother me at all. It's in the past for one. Plus, I hardly worry about other people's expectations of me, except for my family and they tend to understand what I can and can't do. There's only been a couple of times in life where they didn't," Jaz replied.

"The thing with your major?" Georgia guessed.

"There was that, but eventually, they come around. My family is pretty good with stuff. What about yours? You don't talk much about your family," Jaz noticed.

"There's not much to talk about. I'm an only child. My dad works a lot. Did I tell you that he owns a small chain of restaurants?" she asked and a shake of the head was her response. "Well, he does. He started this Chinese restaurant when he was younger and now it has four brothers and sisters."

"Your dad Chinese?" Jaz surmised. She had a feeling that Georgia was Asian, but it was a little hard to tell.

"Yes, my dad is Chinese and my mom is pretty much as Anglo as you can get. They met in college. They're one of those couples that you're pretty sure are going to forever be disgustingly in love with each other," Georgia remarked with a fond smile.

"Sound like my parents."

A surprisingly teasing smile worked its way onto the older woman's visage. "Really, your dad is a short, Chinese guy too?"

Jaz could not help laughing at that. "Yeah, can't you tell?"

"You're so silly. Tell me about your parents," the older woman requested.

"Not much to tell. They met when my dad was in the Navy about a million years ago. He bewitched my mom and got her to immigrate to the United States. They got married a little while after that with my mom's parents begging them to move in with them. My parents declined and found a little house to raise their own crazy kids in."

"That sounds like there's a lot more to that story."

"Nothing really important happened until I was born," Jaz remarked, earning a giggle from her hostess. "So, what about your parents beyond being disgustingly in love?"

"There's not much else to tell. They spoiled me rotten. In fact, they still try to do it to this day."

"I wouldn't say they spoiled you rotten. You're just as sweet as this cupcake," Jaz commented right before she stuffed another treat. She shoved it in her mouth and was rewarded with a blush from her friend.

Shaking away the flush to her face, Georgia snorted, but laughed too as they continued to play their game. Halfway through playing, Jaz was still shoving cupcakes in her mouth. Georgia winced as she watched the amazon bite into what had to be her thirteenth snack.

"Jaz, maybe you should slow down a bit. You're going to make yourself sick," the ebony-haired woman cautioned her guest.

A tan hand waved the advice off. "I can't stop. They're so good!" She then took another big bite.

It seemed that Jaz could not stop eating because she ate them through out the game. With a hand on her stomach and a tremble in her gut, she tried her best to grin because she won by two points. Georgia shook her head as Jaz put her head on the table and moaned.

"My stomach..." the artist griped. A grimace twisted her features, making her appear quite miserable.

"I told you so. Now, look at you. Maybe you should go home. It's pretty late anyway," Georgia pointed out.

Struggling to lift her head, blue eyes turned to the clock on the wall. It was late. Her mother would be calling for her soon.

"Yeah, you're right. My mom is going to be looking for me in a little while anyway," Jaz said, making it clear that she had to leave.

"Let me put the cupcakes in a container for you."

Climbing to her feet, Georgia yawned a little. She made quick work of the cupcakes as Jaz struggled to stand. By the time, the giantess was on her feet, Georgia put the cupcakes in her arms. They both stepped out of the kitchen.

"Thanks for staying with me," Georgia said, walking her friend to the door.

"No problem. We're pals and I like hanging out with you," Jaz replied. She wanted to lean down and hug the smaller woman, but her hands were full with cupcake trays. "Thanks for the sweets too."

Georgia nodded and with that, Jaz was off. She returned home and put the cupcakes away. The house was dark, so she knew that her parents were asleep. She figured that she would explain why they had over four-dozen cupcakes tomorrow.

-8-8-8-8-

4: Part of the crowd

Jaz hissed and cursed under her breath nearly dropping the cigarette hanging from her lip, as her cell phone went off. She secured her cigarette with one hand and put the pizza that she was holding on the hood of her car. She fished the phone from her pocket, knowing that she only had one more ring before it went to voicemail. She flipped the phone open and put it to her ear.

"Yo, Rob," Jaz answered.

"Oh, you mean you still remember me?" the sarcastic voice was delivered in an irksome high-pitch wail that made Jaz wince. She considered the tone might have actually been a punishment for something that she had done? or failed to do.

"C'mon, don't be a bitch. What's up?" Jaz asked, grabbing the pizza. She marched up to the door that she was delivering to and knocked.

"We wanna go bowling tonight. You up for it?"

"Uh?" Jaz made a face just before the door opened. She was able to keep from making a face again, hoping to preserve her tip, but this was because of how the man of the house chose to answer. He was wearing just his robe and boxers, showing off the hairiest chest that Jaz ever had the displeasure to see along with a very large beer-belly. It took all of her willpower to avoid wincing again.

"You're gonna play us out again, aren't you? What the hell? You hanging out with Georgia again?" The name was said with venom dripping from each letter. "That bitch must be the sweetest fucking lay ever!"

Jaz grimaced, moving the phone from her ear for a second. She hoped like hell her customer could not hear her loud friend. She quickly concluded her business with him and almost ran to her car, but stopped herself since she had no desire to bust her ass in front of anyone because of the icy sidewalk. I can't wait for spring! She walked calmly and continued to converse with her friend.

"Rob, I told y'all I ain't fucking Georgia!" Jaz hissed in outrage.

"Then you have to be trying to screw her because you're always with her! It seems like every spare moment you have after school, you spend with Georgia. It's been that way for the past two months!"

"I don't spend that much time with Georgia!" the giant objected, jumping in her car and starting it.

"You do! We hardly ever see you anymore because every time we call you, you're hanging out or on your way to hang out with her."

Jaz wanted to counter that, but found herself pausing to think before opening her mouth. For the past couple of months, she had been ducking her friends outside of school in favor of hanging out with Georgia. She thought that Georgia needed her more since Georgia was pretty much alone on those days. At least her usual crew had each other and most of them could make friends on their own without much trouble if necessary.

"Jaz, you know you could just bring her with you."

The artist blinked hard. "You're right!" she declared and slapped herself in the forehead for never thinking of that. Then she thought about it again, which seemed to deflate her just as rapidly. "Wait, I'm not sure she'll go for that. She's kinda shy, so I don't know how she'll react to meeting all of you guys at once. I mean, c'mon, you know we're a heavy bunch."

There was a loud scoff. "What is she some kind of snob?"

"No! How could she be a snob hanging out with me? Anyway, she's just kinda shy. Okay, actually, she's a whole lot of shy. Also, I don't know she might be embarrassed to hang out with a bunch of college kids."

"What do you mean? She hangs out with you all the time and you're a college kid last time I checked!"

Jaz shrugged, like her friend could see that. "I know, I know, but she's used to me. Besides, at first, she was a little weirded out with hanging out with me."

"I would be too. I would think you're going to eat me and not in your second favorite way."

Jaz laughed. "Shut up! It's not my height that was the problem or even my bottomless pit of a stomach. She's twenty-six years old. She thinks it's a bit weird for her to hang out with a nineteen-year-old. I doubt she'd feel any better about herself by hanging out with five nineteen-year-olds," she reasoned.

"Why? It's not like we're gonna do something that's only for nineteen-year-olds or anything. Okay, look, how about you bring her this one time and we see how it goes from there? If she doesn't like it, she never has to see us again. If she does like it, we get our Jaz back!"

Another laugh. "Okay. I'll do it. Now, get off the phone before you get me fired! You know I'm working."

"You're delivering pizza, not performing brain surgery. If you can't talk and drive, you shouldn't have a car."

"Shut up. Okay, seriously, I gotta go. What time is this bowling thing?"

"We're gonna go at about nine. Cool?"

"Bet. See you there."

The call was disconnected and Jaz went back to work. She wondered if she should call Georgia and tell her about their change in plans. She decided against it since she was hanging out with Georgia that night no matter what, so she would just run the idea past the older woman when she went to Georgia's house.

"We'd probably have a good time if we went. I'll try to talk her into it if she doesn't want to go at first," Jaz decided. "After all, it'll be fun and she needs to get out anyway."

From what Jaz could tell, Georgia did not have much of a "night life." It seemed like once the sun went down, Georgia was in the house for the night. That was where they hung out all the time, after all.

"Oh, no, it's definitely time to get out."

The more Jaz thought about it, the more it put a smile on her face. She expected that Georgia would probably put up a bit of a struggle and not want to go. Of course, she would probably shy away from meeting new people, but Jaz was not going to take "no" for an answer. Georgia needed to get out more and she would more than likely have a lot of fun bowling. So, they were going to go out.

By the time she got to Georgia's house that night, she was grinning so wide that it looked like she might split her face open. Georgia arched an eyebrow at the expression, but did not say anything as she closed the door behind Jaz. The teen was so pleased with herself that she just jumped right into the idea without even greeting her friend.

"Georgia," Jaz said, turning around to face her friend. She clapped her hands together and rubbed her palms against each other.

"Yes?" Georgia replied, eyebrow still high. She stepped back a little, as if she was suspicious of her friend. The trepidation that shook in deep brown eyes went unnoticed by the taller woman.

"We stay in all the time and it's fun and all, but I was thinking that we go out tonight. My friends want to go bowling and I think we'd have a blast with them," Jaz explained with a nod, showing that she-at the least-agreed with her plan.

Georgia blinked hard and took another little step back. "Uh?" Her eyes went to the floor and she placed her hands down by her bellybutton. She twiddled her fingers together.

"Georgia, I promise you it'll be a blast. My friends are cool. They'll love you! And you'll like them if you give them a chance," Jaz promised, still smiling. She knew that if she kept her enthusiasm up and her expression bright, it would eventually ease her friend into the idea. She did not think of it as being manipulative, but just helping Georgia open herself up to new opportunities and possibilities.

"Uh?" Georgia hesitated again, eyes still looked on the floor and fingers working overtime.

"Georgia, it's not going to be something bad. I mean, it'll be like when you hang out with your friends, but in a bowling alley." Jaz threw on a goofy grin and shrugged, as if that was going to help her case.

Georgia yelped and frowned. Her brow furrowed from the expression and she actually appeared slightly insulted, but more worried than anything else. She and her friends did not hang out in bowling alleys! Worse yet, her friends did not hang out with a group of teenagers. She could only imagine how her friends would react if they found out that she was even entertaining the idea to go.

"Georgia, I'm not trying to shake you up or anything. I think we'd have a lot of fun. Have you ever gone bowling before?" Jaz asked, reaching out and taking one of Georgia's animated hands into her own. She figured it was a safe bet that Georgia had never been bowling based on the fact that when they met, Georgia said that she had never had "real" pizza before. Jaz figured there was a chance that her friend had missed out on other things.

"I haven't?" Georgia admitted, eyes now on the hand holding hers. Discreetly, she swallowed a lump in her throat as a gentle tan thumb massaged the center of her palm. Slowly, she could feel her anxiety levels dropping.

"It's a lot of fun. What's one night going to hurt?" Jaz inquired in a soft tone and then she threw on a face that she often used to get her way. Big puppy eyes and her bottom lip stuck out in a pout; she actually looked ridiculous pouting like that considering how tall she was.

Georgia could not help laughing. "Put your lip back! What sort of sick face is that?" she teased. Her face now lit up and the apprehension in her eyes dissolved. Her body relaxed a bit and she leaned forward a little to swat at her young friend.

"It used to get my parents to cave in to everything I wanted! How could you call it sick?" Jaz tossed her head back, wanting to feign hurt. Unfortunately, her hair was not tied back, so a lock whipped her right in the eye. "Aw, damn it!" A light caramel hand flew over one stinging, pale blue eye.

Georgia laughed even harder. "Serves you right! Trying to manipulate my feelings!"

"God, I knew one day the locks would be my undoing," Jaz joked, standing properly now. "Look, Georgia, I think it would be fun. You should get out and experience new things, instead of sitting in here and bugging out with me while waiting for your husband to come back. Do you really think Allen wants you sitting in here all night just because he's gone?"

"Well? he hasn't said anything about it," Georgia replied, which struck Jaz a little odd, but she did not say anything about that.

"What's one night going to hurt?" the amazon asked, her voice softening again. Her thumb continued drawing circles in the smaller woman's captured hand.

"Your friends? they're mad at you for spending so much time with me, aren't they?" Georgia asked in a small voice. She ducked her head for a moment, hiding behind her curtain of black hair.

"They're not mad at me, per se."

"Are they mad at me?" Georgia's voice was even smaller now. Her eyes were studying her feet as if there would be an exam on the attachments later.

"No! What? They don't even know you! They just think I'm blowing them off all the time, which isn't true. It's just I have work and I have these damn English papers to do. It has nothing to do with you," Jaz lied, letting go of Georgia and moving her arms like a hyper duck as if that made her more believable.

Georgia gave the youngster a stern look. "I've heard the phone calls, Jaz. They're upset that you spend all your time here."

Jaz sighed and her shoulders slumped. "Not exactly. It's just that I make it seem like it's you or them and so far, it's been you. But, it doesn't have to be that way!" she insisted, a grin back on her face.

Georgia stepped back, continuing to give the younger woman a severe look. "Jaz, you don't have to keep me company every single night my husband isn't here."

"If you didn't want me here, you wouldn't call me," the teen argued. Her smile fell away because now she was confused. It sounded like they were about to have an argument.

"You call me just as much," Georgia countered.

"Well, excuse me for wanting to make sure you're okay!" Jaz declared and then her face scrunched up. "Wait, are we fighting over being good friends?"

Georgia blinked and then her forehead wrinkled. "Are we?" she asked, sounding just as bewildered.

Jaz shook her head and waved it off. "Doesn't matter. We're not fighting anymore. Just come on out with me. Like I said, it doesn't have to be a you and them thing. It could be all of us. You'll like my friends and I promise they'll be fine with it. They're a nice bunch. Weird as hell, but nice. I think you'll really like them and I think they'll really like you," she insisted. I hope anyway.

Mocha eyes went to the floor again. "You sure they'll like me?"

"Hey, I like you and I like them. You like me and they like me. Logically, you all should get along just because of me," Jaz commented, as if that made any sense.

"You think highly of yourself, huh?" A small, teasing smile tugged at Georgia's pink lips.

"Well, I am damned cool," the teen remarked. She stepped closer to her friend and put her arm around slender shoulders. "Look, I figured that it would be good for you to get out and try some new places. I know you're adventurous, underneath all of that shyness. I mean, if you weren't, you wouldn't have let me in the house that first time I came by here looking like a moron. I'm not asking you to go out with us every night, just tonight."

"Just tonight?" Georgia asked, glancing up at the teen, looking at Jaz through her eyelashes.

For a moment, the blue-eyed artist could not remember what they were even talking about. She was caught just staring at the coy expression on her friend's face. It was not the first time that she got stuck-on-stupid when it came to Georgia and she had to blink a few times to recover. She kept the conversation on point and hoped that Georgia had not noticed her little lapse.

"Just tonight and I promise it'll be fine. They'll probably rib you a little bit, but they're not doing it to be mean. It's just them accepting you as one of us. If you don't like it, I'll never ask you to come out again," Jaz vowed.

"Thank you, Jaz?" Georgia muttered.

"Don't thank me yet. You haven't seen the bowling alley yet!" the teen joked.

"Um? what should I wear?" Georgia asked.

"It's a bowling alley, not the opera. Wear whatever you usually go out in. You don't leave the house in an evening gown every morning, do you?" Jaz teased.

Georgia chuckled. "Of course not! It's just that I'm meeting your friends?" Butterflies started fluttering in her stomach just from the thought.

"Who are average bums like me. You'll be fine in whatever you wear." Ain't that the truth! Jaz shook her head a little to rid herself of those distracting thoughts, which she blamed on a certain pair of milk chocolate eyes.

"Are you sure?" Georgia asked, pouting now.

"I swear. Have I led you astray once?" Jaz flashed a reassuring grin. She still could not believe how shy her friend really was.

"You mean aside from when you talked me into watching that monster spider movie and left right after that?" the older woman retorted with a half-smile.

"Hey! I stayed on the phone with you all night after that. How was I supposed to know you're scared of spiders?"

"You mean to tell me my saying, 'I'm really scared of spiders' at least a dozen times didn't clue you in?" Georgia asked, poking her friend in the arm several times.

The younger woman just gave another lopsided grin. Georgia shook her head and then trotted off to change her clothes. Jaz checked her watch and saw that all they really had time for was Georgia changing. She stretched and yawned to pass the time while wishing that she had eaten something when she was at work, but she never wanted to stick around that place longer than necessary. Her boss had a habit of needing little chores done whenever employees hung around after they punched the clock, even if they turned into paying customers after that.

Jaz's thoughts were torn away from her grumbling stomach to the sounds of footsteps as her friend returned. When she caught sight of Georgia, once again she found herself stuck-on-stupid. Jeans should not hug a body like that!

Georgia did not seem to notice the teen's blatant, mindless gaping. "Jaz, is it really cold outside?" she asked curiously. No answer was forthcoming. "Jaz?" she repeated as she stepped off the final stairs.

"Huh?" Jaz asked, shaking herself out of her daze. Whoa! What the hell is wrong with me?!

"I asked if it was really cold outside. Are you all right?" Georgia inquired, her tapered eyebrows drawing together in concern.

"I'm fine! It's not that bad outside. I think winter's finally getting out of here," Jaz answered.

Georgia sighed while going to the closet. Jaz thought that was a curious noise. Most people were happy that winter was moving along and making time for spring.

"What's wrong with you?" Jaz inquired with concern.

"What do you mean what's wrong with me?" the pale woman countered.

"You usually only make that noise when something's wrong."

"What noise?"

"It's sort of like?" Jaz imitated the sigh, thinking that she did a pretty good job. Georgia looked like she had no clue what the artist was talking about, though.

"I do not!" Georgia insisted. She never noticed that she did and no one ever mentioned it until Jaz. She figured that the younger woman was making a bit of a mistake, but she doubted that Jaz would admit to such a thing. After all, Jaz always seemed to think that she was right.

"You do. So, what's the sound for? You got something against winter finally leaving?" Jaz inquired.

"No, I like the spring as much as the next person. It's just that when the weather gets better, I think Allen's going to be traveling more since it'll be safer and with less delays. Business just seems to pick up when the weather starts to get nice. It'll just be more nights alone," Georgia explained with another sigh.

"Alone? You'd think I'd at least register considering how big I am!" Jaz remarked with a monster grin, tapping herself in the chest with both hands.

"Oh, you know I didn't mean it like that, but I can't take up all of your time anymore than I could take up all of the time of my other friends," Georgia pointed out.

"How many times do I have to tell you, you're not taking up my time. I'm freely giving it. I like hanging around you, Georgia. You're funny and smart with a wicked taste in movies. Not to mention, you're the only real competition I have at trivia games!"

Georgia smiled a little. "Still, you can't come over every night."

"Actually, I might be able to. Spring break is in a couple of weeks and then after that I only have a couple of weeks of school left. So, I'll be open to hang out with you," Jaz explained. She figured that if Georgia hit it off with her friends that would be even better.

"We'll see what happens," Georgia said, hoping to avoid having a strange argument like earlier.

"Well, let's get going. We can take my car," Jaz proposed.

"That's good since I don't know how to drive," Georgia commented with a teasing smile.

If it was physically possible, Jaz's face would have been in the basement of the house at that moment. "You don't know how to drive?! What does that even mean?" she asked quite seriously.

The ebony-haired woman frowned a bit and her tone became defensive. "It means I don't know how to drive. I never needed to know. My parents would drive me places when I was younger and as I got older and my friends learned how to drive they would pick me up and take me home whenever they invited me out. There are people out there that don't know how to drive."

Jaz shook her head a little, successfully ridding herself of her shocked expression. "You're right. Sorry about that. You just caught me by surprise. I mean, I figured everybody over the age of sixteen knew how to drive, but my bad. I was wrong." She held her hands up in surrender.

Georgia was about to retort, but then she realized that she had basically won the argument. Jaz had conceded and admitted fault. They were not going to have a fight about it. I wish arguments with Allen went this smoothly.

"C'mon, let's get moving," Jaz said, opening the door for her friend.

Georgia nodded, moving to set the home security system, and then she locked the door behind them. They made their way down the sidewalk to Jaz's hatchback. The car owner unlocked the passenger side door for her friend before trotting over to her side. They both let out shivers as Jaz quickly worked to turn the car and hoped that the heat would not have one of its many "diva" moments where it was going to come on when it damned well ready and not before.

"The heat might take a? millennium or two to kick in," Jaz informed her passenger, earning a chuckle.

"I don't mind the heat, but I would like to still be able to hear when we get to the bowling alley," Georgia remarked. As soon as Jaz had turned on the car, her music came blaring out of the speakers to the point where Georgia would not be surprised if her ears were bleeding.

Jaz threw on a sheepish grin as she quickly turned down the music. "Sorry. I genuinely don't mind the idea of being deaf. It would give me an excuse to not listen to a lot of people," she quipped.

Georgia laughed a little and shook her head in a teasingly disapproving manner. Jaz decided to get moving before Georgia found something else about the car to tease her about, like the fact that even with the seat all the back, her knees were still slamming against the dashboard. Georgia was silent as they started out, glancing around the automobile.

She was not surprised that the backseat was loaded with books and art equipment. Other than that, Jaz did not seem to keep anything else in her car, not even loose change. There was one odd item, but it did explain a lot. There was a cigarette butt in the ashtray. She often wondered why Jaz's coat and hair smelled like smoke and cigarettes, so now she had her answer. It would seem that her friend smoked. Blah.

Blue eyes spied Georgia just in time to see her nose wrinkle. Jaz gathered that the evidence of her last cigarette was being judged. She had a feeling that Georgia was against smoking, which was why she never bothered to ask if she could smoke while she was in Georgia's house. As long as it did not become a problem, Jaz did not care much about her friend disapproving of her vice.

"So, is there anything I need to know before meeting your friends? I'll make sure to keep the fact that I can't drive to myself," Georgia remarked with a small smile.

"Just be your usual charming self. You might not know it, but you've got a lot of charisma," Jaz replied.

As expected, pink lips turned up and chocolate eyes flashed with disbelief. Jaz decided not to cite evidence and would just let her friends be the judge. The teen did smile in return, which only caused Georgia to roll her eyes.

-8-8-8-8-

"Are you sure she's coming?"

"I swear if she stands us up for this bitch again?!" The declaration was punctuated with a fist slapping into an open palm.

"Hey! There's no need to call her that. You haven't even met her yet. And, let's be serious, unless you have a bat in your back pocket, you're not going to do much to Jaz outside of kicking her in the shin."

"Don't disrespect the shin moves. They work." The confidence in the deep voice earned the owner quite a few frowns.

"Why are we talking about shins?"

"Good point, why are we talking about shins? We should be talking about kicking Jaz's beanstalk ass if she stands us up again. Pussy is not more important than friends."

"Could you be anymore vulgar?" Outrage and shock laced the voice. "Be respectful to Jaz and her friend when they show up. If you put on this act, she might never come around us again because we scared her new friend."

"Why do we keep saying friend? The only female friends Jaz has ever had in her life are you and Mitch. Although I'm still not certain Mitch isn't a guy. Maybe Cocoa is her other female friend."

"Hey!"

"Keep it up, little man, and I'll be feeding you that damned skateboard you love so much!"

-8-8-8-8-

"They have no clue we're watching them, do they?" Georgia asked Jaz while they watched four unaware and very mismatched people go back and forth with each other several yards away.

Jaz sighed and covered her face with her hands. "We have got to be the dumbest bunch you'll ever meet. I mean, dumber-than-a-sack-of-doorknobs dumb too. I might as well get the introductions outta the way since you've already had the pleasure of seeing them make asses out of themselves."

Georgia chuckled and followed behind Jaz as they approached the group of four, amongst them a blonde that looked like she was ready to choke the life out of a short man in a cap. As they got closer, Georgia gulped and started easing behind her much taller friend while continuing to watch the animated group go back and forth with each other. It certainly was a motley crew, she silently noted.

"Mitch, could you not be a psycho for like two fucking minutes of your life?" Jaz inquired, causing four heads to turn simultaneously in her direction.

"Jaz, you actually showed up!"

Jaz grinned, as if she was proud of that shot the blonde just took at her. The foursome turned to their tall friend and Georgia got to see that Jaz was not the tallest among them. A young man towered over them all and Georgia was actually surprised that the floor could support him.

"I told you guys I would. I also brought Georgia with me," Jaz informed them and she stepped to the side very suddenly, leaving Georgia on display.

Georgia's eyes immediately went to the floor and her hands found each other, so that her fingers could twiddle together. Jaz smiled and put her arm around her friend. Brown eyes turned upward to see a warm face smiling down at her. Fingers ceased their movement against each other and eyes focused toward the group.

"So, Georgia, let me introduce you to these mental patients. First is Cocoa," Jaz said and she pointed to the giant.

Georgia blinked, shocked that such a large young man would be named "Cocoa." He had to be at least six and a half feet tall with long, jet black hair that was pulled back into a tight braid. He had smooth creamy skin tone was a little darker than Jaz's. He was clearly of Polynesian descent, but Georgia did not want to assume anything about him, even his ethnicity. He had expressive, almost puppy-like brown eyes and a boyish face despite his massive size. Georgia got a good vibe from him, more than likely helped by the fact that he just seemed so adorable.

"Then there's Robbie. She's probably the most normal one out of all of us," Jaz explained and motioned to the young woman standing next to Cocoa.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet the legendary Georgia," Robbie said with just a hint of a Spanish accent. She extended her hand, which was the color of milk chocolate mixed with bronze, and graciously shook Georgia's hand.

"Legendary?" Georgia echoed, once again getting a good vibe from the younger woman.

"Beanstalk doesn't shut up about you," Robbie informed the older woman, smirking at her friend.

Georgia turned to look at Jaz, who wished the floor would swallow her whole. Since the floor did not seem to be answering any wishes, Jaz tried her best to look innocent. She had yet to perfect that innocent look, though.

"Fine, I often regal them with tales of your sophistication," Jaz said, throwing her hands up in surrender. "They were threatening to slit my throat when I first started hanging out with you. They thought I made you up! They kept going on and going about how 'the artist had finally cracked.' I thought they were gonna have me committed. Once I got started, I couldn't stop and I talk about you a lot. I had them both drooling and ready to beat the crap outta me when I told them about your trip to that exhibit opening a couple of weeks ago."

"You'd think she was there!" Robbie proclaimed with a laugh. Her hazel brown eyes danced with amusement; she did not really hold a grudge against her tall friend.

"I was there vicariously through the worldly Miss Georgia," Jaz remarked with a grin. She then turned her attention to her two friends that she had not introduced yet. Light aqua eyes fell on the blonde. "That's Mitch. The angriest woman in the world because she's Irish and Italian? or at least that's the lie we tell everyone to account for her multiple assault charges."

Mitch-if that was her real name-snorted and rolled her green eyes, which made it plausible that she was Irish at the least. Her hair was cut short, but styled nicely. She was frowning and had her arms folded tightly across her chest. Georgia quickly decided to steer clear of her.

"Last but not least, little man over there is Peach. We usually just call him little man, though," Jaz said, pointing to the shortest amongst them.

Georgia blinked as she had to look down to see a young man named Peach. No, it was just too unbelievable; that definitely is not his real name. He looked like a regular kid; one of those skaters-this was given away by the skateboard strapped to his back. He had on baggy jeans with low-top sneakers. His arms were thrown over his chest and his brown eyes were hidden thanks to a visor that he was wearing.

"Let's just do some damn bowling!" Peach huffed in a voice that was really not suited for his size. His voice was so deep that it seemed like it should have been coming out of Cocoa's mouth.

Georgia groaned as she realized that she might have to actually call those young men by those names sometime during the night. She could not picture it and she sincerely hoped that she did not have to say anything to them. She allowed Jaz to lead her away for them to go to the counter to pay and get shoes. It was going to be a long night.

-8-8-8-8-

5: Share and share alike

The loud thunder of bowling pins being demolished, scattered by a heavy ball echoed through the large, crowded bowling alley. Georgia was surprised by the noise, but did her best to hide it. She was not doing the best job considering how tense she was sitting. It was like she had a steel rod in her back, but a sudden, familiar presence sitting next to her helped her relax. Jaz put her arm around Georgia to help keep the older woman calm.

"Relax, despite what they look like, my friends aren't that crazy," Jaz promised her shy companion.

Georgia nodded and took a deep breath to calm herself down. "Okay," she said in a breath. She put her hand on Jaz's leg, the contact helping to calm her down. "Tell me about your friends. How did they get such usual names?"

"Hey, guys, Georgia wants to know how you got your weird names," Jaz informed her four friends. Chocolate eyes opened wide with shock and embarrassment and then the older woman glared at Jaz while hoping that the hard chair that she was sitting in would swallow her whole.

The real giant amongst them, Cocoa, turned to the pair. His kind eyes focused on Georgia and smiled at her, which helped ease her discomfort. He yawned and stretched a little before explaining his name, as if it were an exercise.

"We've all known each other for a while now, getting each other through some tough times in childhood. When I moved here, we were all in the sixth grade. I don't know about your junior high experience, but from what I can tell almost everyone is a butthole at that time. I got made fun of and the kids always called me 'Coconut.' They thought it was funny because they felt like they were being clever since my name is Kupe. You know, they have the same sound at the beginning, so the kids thought this was too funny. Plus, they seem to think that coconuts just fall out of the sky in Hawaii. Now, never mind the fact that I'm Samoan and I'm from California. So, in comes Jaz, who the kids just love to tease because she was damn near six feet in the sixth grade and about as threatening as a box of kittens. She is funny and friendly, though. She befriended me almost immediately and made the name 'Coconut' one of affection, eventually shortening it to 'Cocoa' once the rest of this lot got into it. It's stuck and everybody still calls me that, but they're not doing it to be mean or anything thanks to Jaz." He flashed a smile at their mutual friend.

Georgia chuckled and nodded a little. "She is friendly and funny for sure."

"Robbie and Mitch are easy, so Peachy-pie, why don't you tell her how you got your moniker," Jaz remarked with a lopsided grin.

Peach snorted at the amazon for the taunt. "My name's easy too," the skater scoffed. He turned to Georgia and shrugged. "I eat peaches like every day. Fresh, ripe, canned, it doesn't matter. Peaches are my junk," he commented with a laugh, pounding his fist on his chest twice.

"That's not it and don't even lie," Robbie objected, looking up from her task of filling in their names on the bowling score screen, so that they could get to bowling. "And tell her your real name, man. Try being friendly and act like your parents taught you some damn manners."

"So says our den-mother," Jaz whispered to Georgia, who smiled a bit.

Peach rolled his eyes and sucked his teeth. "Fine, fine, fine." He turned his attention back to Georgia. "I'm Naren? or at least that's the name on my birth certificate. My parents don't know, but one of these days I'm changing that. Anyway, aside from the fact that I love eating peaches, the reason I got the nickname has to do with an unfortunate incident when I was little. I challenged Jaz's big brother Flint to an eating contest. Not a smart move considering the fact that he's got a bottomless stomach just like the freaking amazon here." He motioned to Jaz.

"Just get to the good part," Mitch huffed, ocean blue eyes cutting into the skater.

Peach frowned and cut the blonde an angry glare. "Anyway! I made it through a couple of sandwiches, a piece of cake, and a hot dog with everything on it. My stomach wasn't liking that too much, but I wasn't going to give up to some jerk that liked referring to me as 'the shrimp.' Then came what looked like a very harmless cup of peaches. To this day, I think Jaz spiked 'em."

It was Jaz's turn to roll her eyes and she scoffed. "Why would I? I didn't care if you lost the stupid thing. The point is, he ate the peaches and threw up all over himself, the table, and my brother. We thought this was the funniest thing ever. So, after that, he was the Peach."

"I was going to finish telling it," Peach snorted. He then turned his nose up as if he was offended. "Mitch got her name because we all thought she was a dude when we met her," he added with an amused smile.

"You mean, she's not a dude!" Jaz shouted, dramatically gasping afterwards. She then turned to the blonde. "You totally lied to me!"

Mitch gave Jaz a one-finger salute while Robbie threw her hands up to signal that she was done. "Okay, guys, we're ready to get going. Jaz and Cocoa, you're up first as usual," Robbie informed them.

Jaz and Cocoa jumped to their feet; Georgia was surprised that their combined weight moving at that speed did not cause an earthquake. Georgia's eyes were glued to Jaz, wanting to laugh at the ridiculous multi-colored shoes that were partially covered by tattered blue jeans. The only thing keeping Georgia's laughter at bay was the fact that she had on a pair of her own ridiculous bowling shoes.

"So, Georgia, just to keep you from wondering about myself and Mitch, I'll explain that we don't think we're guys or anything," Robbie remarked with a smile. "They usually call me Rob. My real name is Robin and the reason I shortened it was because I thought my baby brothers would be able to say it. Had I known when they grew out of being cute, they would come up with their own nasty nicknames for me, I wouldn't have bothered with the little punks," she said, the smile on her face belying her words.

Georgia smiled a little too. "I don't have younger siblings, but I understand that they can be quite the terrors."

"They can." Robbie nodded sagely and then tilted her head toward Mitch. "She goes by Mitch just because it sounds tougher than Michelle."

"Hey! I didn't ask you to go around telling my name!" Mitch huffed, glaring at Robbie as if she committed a real crime.

"And Jaz?" Georgia asked curiously. She wondered what story was behind that name.

"No clue actually. Jaz, how the hell did you get your name?" Robbie inquired just as Jaz rolled the ball down the lane. Cocoa had already gone, bowling to the left of Jaz, and he hit a strike.

"Uh? my mom gave it to me," Jaz answered, as if she thought that was obvious.

"Not Jasper, you idiot. How'd you get the nickname Jaz?" Mitch inquired.

The artist rubbed the bridge of her nose with her index finger and glanced off. She then shrugged. "As far as I know, my mom gave me that too. I've been hearing it for as long as I can remember."

Everyone shrugged and dismissed the topic. Jaz managed to pick up the spare and the bowling session was on. It was smooth until Georgia had to go. The older woman had never bowled a day in her life and it showed just from the fact that she was holding the ball with two hands and stood on shaky knees. The teens had to hide their grimaces while Jaz trotted over to help Georgia.

"Hold on, hold on, hold on," Jaz said to the pale woman as she came over.

"What?" Georgia inquired, chocolate eyes laced with curiosity.

"First of all, is that ball too heavy for you?" Jaz asked, even though she could guess. After all, Georgia was using the ball that Jaz had rolled on her turn.

"It's a little heavy," Georgia admitted with a nod.

"Hold on. Don't do anything yet." Jaz went through the balls and grabbed an emerald one.

"Hey, don't use my ball!" Mitch complained, pointing a threatening finger at her tall friend.

"I think these belong to the bowling alley, but I could be wrong," Jaz teased, grinning at the angry blonde as she put the ball down. "Georgie, give me a second to get you a ball that should work for you."

Georgia nodded and wondered if Jaz realized what she just said. The amazon was gone before Georgia could say anything. Jaz was only gone for a minute, returning with a green ball. She passed that into Georgia's hands.

"Okay, better?" the taller woman asked.

"Yes," Georgia confirmed.

"All right, this is real simple. You put your fingers in the holes," Jaz informed the older woman. She paused for a moment to stare back at her friends. The group was looking entirely too innocent; Peach even had the nerve to be whistling.

"Now what?" Georgia inquired. She had her digits secure inside of the large holes.

"Everything fit all right? Doesn't feel like your fingers are going to get ripped out once you throw the ball?" the artist asked. Georgia nodded to confirm that everything was all right. "All right, now the easy part. I'm gonna line you up with the arrows on the floor and get you to aim for the center pin."

Georgia nodded again, even though she did not have any clue what the taller woman was talking about. Jaz indicated everything that she was referring to as she stepped up to the line with Georgia. She glanced over her shoulder again because her friends were suspiciously quiet. Again, they looked very innocent-too innocent, like butter would not melt in their mouths.

Jaz then turned her attention back to the task at hand. She set herself up next to Georgia to show her the proper form. Georgia nodded and then she went through the motions. The ball labored slowly down the lane and the older woman pouted until the ball made contact. It rolled through the stocky pins with enough force to take out seven of them. Georgia grinned while Jaz cheered, as if Georgia had just done something completely amazing.

"You're a natural!" Jaz said, gently patting her friend on the back. "Now, when the ball comes back up and you step to the line again. Aim between the first and second pin to get them all to fall."

The older woman nodded and Jaz backed off. She went to go sit down and she noticed that her friends were eyeing her, but still trying to act like they had halos over their heads. Peach decided to break the silence.

"Jaz, I can see why you kept ditching us for her. She has got one sweet ass!" Peach cooed.

"Shut up! Don't talk about her like that!" Jaz commanded in an angry hiss, making sure that she was speaking low enough for Georgia to not overhear. She then pointed a rigid finger at each of her friends. "It's not like that between me and her. She's happily married and you'll treat her with some fucking respect!" she ordered.

The friends all went stiff and tense. Wide eyes regarded Jaz; none of them could recall when the artist ever raising her voice like that. Mouths opened to say something, but no one knew what to say. The dumbfounded shock was broken when Georgia suddenly cheered and the remaining three bowling pins dropped.

"I did it, Jaz!" Georgia declared as she walked back over to the teen and sat down next to her. "Did you see that? I did it exactly like you told me to and I knocked them all down!"

Jaz grinned widely and patted herself proudly on the chest. "That's because I'm a damned good coach. Now you're beating Mitch and Peach." She glanced over at the blonde. "You shoulda let her use your ball. She might've rubbed some luck on it."

Mitch almost missed her cue. "It's only the first frame. I'll kick your ass yet," she proclaimed with a cocky grin.

Jaz laughed loudly, obviously playing it up. The game was underway and everything was going as expected, with teasing and trash-talking. The teasing stepped up a notch when Robbie noted where a pair of ice blue eyes were during the fifth frame.

"She's married," Robbie whispered into Jaz's ear. The artist jumped when she felt warm breath on her ear.

"Holy crap! How'd you get behind me?" Jaz inquired, even though Rob had always been silent as a cat whenever she wanted to be.

"Doesn't matter. Now, why are your eyes glued to that married woman's fine ass?" Robbie asked.

"I'm watching her form to help her. I'm not checking her out," Jaz argued, speaking out of the side of her mouth since Robbie was behind her. It did not seem to occur to her to just turn her head.

"Then tell your eyes to stay off her ass."

Jaz snorted, but did not say anything because Georgia's turn was up. She cheered for Georgia for being able to knock down eight pins that go. Robbie chuckled a bit and shook her head. She was not done for the night. The others were not done by far either. They just made sure not to talk loud enough for Georgia to hear. They did make an effort to include Georgia, though.

"You sure this is your first time bowling?" Cocoa asked Georgia, smiling down at her.

"I'm positive. I think I would know if I had done something like this," she replied in a somewhat unsure tone. She could not even look him in the eye.

"She's probably conning us!" Peach remarked.

Georgia hunched over and seemed to retreat into herself. Jaz's laughter brought her back, though. They were not being mean, Georgia reminded herself. They were just playing around, like Jaz did. As Jaz had taught her to do.

"Good thing there's no money on the game or she would've hustled you good already," Robin quipped, speaking to Peach, but smiling at Georgia. The older woman managed a smile in return.

They were all friendly with Georgia, making her laugh and trying to get her to tease others. They did not say anything offensive about her, but they did try to show her that she was one of them by taking little shots at her.

"Hey, Georgia, watch this," Cocoa said to her, pointing to Jaz as she was lining up her next shot.

"What?" Georgia asked, turning her attention to the amazon.

"Wait for it," Cocoa said as Jaz swung her arm back. Opening his mouth, it was clear that he was about to say something. But, Mitch beat him to it.

"Skkkkiiii-eyyyyyoppp!" the blonde called and Jaz fumbled the ball.

Jaz groaned. "Goddamn it," she muttered as her ball traveled down the gutter. She turned to her friends. "That's so immature, guys!" she pretended to huff. She then marched over to the rack and grabbed another ball to do another shot.

"You guys made her mess up," Georgia noted with a somewhat troubled expression. "Why?" she asked curiously.

"That's part of the fun. Plus, you have to keep her humble. She bowled two strikes, so she would've started bragging. We do it for all of us? except Mitch, who just plains sucks at bowling," Cocoa explained.

"Hey!" Mitch shook her fist at him.

Georgia was skeptical until Jaz did the same thing to Robbie a couple of frames later. Robbie retaliated by charging Jaz and tickling her. Jaz slid out of her seat.

"You messed up my spare, Jasper!" Rob said, keeping the artist on the floor.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Jaz apologized.

Rob seemed to believe her, pulling away from her friend. Jaz did not learn her lesson and went so far as to distract Georgia on one of her rolls. Georgia was not sure what to make of that, but was even more surprised when Robbie and Peach punished Jaz for her. They tickled Jaz again and urged Georgia to join in. Hesitating for only a moment, Georgia decided to let loose, knowing that was really why Jaz had distracted her. Once Jaz was properly disciplined, Peach and Robbie gave Georgia high-fives, which she returned. Georgia laughed and Jaz smiled up at her.

-8-8-8-8-

"You have to bring Georgia around more often. She's a hoot and she keeps you in your place," Cocoa said to Jaz as the group walked out into the parking lot. He patted Jaz on her shoulder.

"No one keeps me in my place. I have no place! I've out grown all places!" Jaz declared with dramatic flare. "But, anyway, if she wants to hang out with us, I'll definitely bring her around more. She seems to like you nuts." An easy-going grin sealed the deal.

"It's good because we like her," Robbie commented, coming up behind the older woman.

Robbie hugged Georgia around the shoulders and smiled at her. Georgia did her best not to flinch from the unexpected touch, but she could not help herself. The younger woman did not let it make things awkward and kindly slid away from Georgia, pretending to not notice how she had stiffened.

"Please keep bringing the loon around," Robbie said to Georgia, motioning to Jaz. "We might not act it, but we like her a lot."

Georgia smiled. "Sorry I've been hogging her. I enjoyed tonight. I hope you invite me more places."

"Yeah, we just need to think of other activities for the guys and Jaz to ogle your ass," Mitch remarked with a smirk.

"Don't get mad because her ass is way more fine than yours!" Peach countered.

When Georgia started blushing, Jaz knew it was time to get her friend out of there. "You guys are idiots. Come on, Georgia, let me get you home at a reasonable hour."

Jaz led the shorter woman toward the car. She did turn around to glare at her friends, mostly Mitch, for a moment. They threw up their hands in surrender, but they were all wearing smirks on their faces. Jaz shook her head and then turned her attention back to Georgia, pausing when they got to the car in order to open the passenger side door.

"Your friends are a hoot," Georgia commented with a bright smile as soon as Jaz sat down in the car.

"Glad you think so. They like you too," Jaz replied, starting the car.

Thin ebony eyebrows curled up and brown eyes appeared troubled for a moment. "Do they? It was hard to tell. I thought they were just being polite."

"The fact that they were being polite is one of the hints that they like you. But, they were trying to include you in everything and they want you to come out again. You don't mind, do you?" Jaz asked.

"No, I had a lot of fun. I would love to go out with you all again!" Georgia declared with a smile. "That was so different from what I'm used to when I go out."

"Well, stick with us and you'll have a blast!" Jaz proclaimed. I just hope the guys don't keep going overboard with things. I don't think Georgia would take that news well. She glanced over at her friend as they started out for her home. They are right about one thing-she does look good. A smile settled on the artist's face.

"What're you smiling about?" Georgia asked curiously.

The smile instantly disappeared. "Nothing!" she squeaked. Where the hell did that voice comes from?!

Georgia chuckled a bit. "I doubt it was nothing, but you can have your little secret. I was wondering something, though."

"And what's that?" Jaz asked.

"Did you notice a couple of times tonight you called me 'Georgie' instead of 'Georgia'?"

Jaz rubbed the slope of her nose while her brow wrinkled in thought. "Did I? I didn't really notice. I guess I was just giving you a nickname like everyone else in the crew," the artist replied with a giant grin.

A light laugh escaped the smaller woman. "I thought it would be embarrassing to have a nickname like that. I used to worry that people would call me something like that, but when you did it, I realized that it was? cute."

"Yeah? Okay, Georgie it is then!" Jaz proclaimed.

Georgia blinked, but decided not to object. She had a feeling that once Jaz gave out a nickname, it was going to get some miles on it. After all, Cocoa was still walking about with his and he was a six-and-a-half foot giant. A smile settled on her face as she thought about the fact that, yes, Cocoa still bore a name Jaz had give him, but they had known each other for almost half their lives. She hoped that she would be able to say that at some point.

-8-8-8-8-

"So, Jaz, you gonna pick up Georgie, so we can go play mini-golf?" Rob inquired.

Jaz was sitting in her cluttered room at her art desk with an unlit cigarette hanging from her lips. She had her cell phone in one hand and a black mechanical pencil in the other. The pencil was working over a sheet of paper much more efficiently than the ear was listening to the conversation.

"Why are you calling her Georgie?" Jaz asked.

"I heard you call her that. I thought it was cool. I guess I need to tell the guys it isn't."

"No, it's totally cool. I guess I called her that more than I meant to. Not that I meant to do it once."

Rob laughed. "You sure you don't have a thing for her?"

"I'm positive. She's just my friend, like you're my friend and like Mitch is my friend. Okay, Mitch is a bad example since we all know she's actually an alien sent to destroy the Earth."

This got a comical chuckle from the shorter teen. "Mitch is a bad example of everything. But, anyway, we want to go mini-golfing. Can you get Georgie to tag along? She was fun to have around." Rob left out that they all knew that Georgia already had dibs on Jaz, so they would be left without the company of their good friend unless she brought Georgia along.

"I'll ask tonight. Her husband is out of town again, so we're having a monster movie marathon complete with pizza and root beer."

"Root beer, huh? Since when do you drink root beer?"

Jaz blew out a breath. "Look, George found out that she likes root beer more than cola and I don't want to waste money buying a liter cola and a liter root beer when I could just buy a two-liter root beer, okay?" she huffed.

"Hey, I didn't say anything. Anyway, you'll get back to me on the mini-golf, right? It's supposed to be nice tomorrow, so we need to hop on this."

"I'll call you tonight after I get back from George's place."

"If you get back at like four and call me, I swear I'm going to tell everyone that you are fucking this woman."

"Rob!" Jaz huffed and drew a line much darker than she intended and, making matters worse, it was way off the mark.

Rob laughed, as if she knew the havoc she just caused. "Nah, but seriously, Georgia's cool, so bring her along and bring yourself along. Don't call me too late. This house has a curfew, unlike yours."

"Look, day-walker, don't be mad because we're night owls over here."

Robbie laughed, but that was the end of the conversation. They disconnected the call and Jaz checked the time. She had a few minutes left before she really needed to leave, but she decided to call it a day right now. She told herself she was leaving early because she wanted to smoke her cigarette and her mother hated smoking in the house. It had nothing to do with the fact that she wanted to see Georgia.

She made sure to grab her jacket on her way out or her mother would bite her head off. As soon as she hit the outside, she lit her cigarette before anything else. She hopped into her car and was on her way.

A whistle was trying very hard to escape Jaz's lips as she pulled up to Georgia's house. The sound stayed in when the chilly air hit her as she got out of the car and grabbed the food. She trotted up to the door and knocked. Seconds later, she was inside a nice, warm home.

"Hi," Georgia greeted her friend.

"Hey. So, what movies do you have?" Jaz inquired.

"You'll have to go into the living room and see," Georgia replied, taking Jaz's jacket off of her shoulders. For a moment, a thought flashed through her mind that this was the exact motion that she did for Allen when he came in. But, just as quickly as it came, it was gone.

"Okay. Oh, before I forget, are you free tomorrow?" Jaz asked.

"Why?" Georgia countered.

"The crew wants to go play mini-golf and I've been ordered to invite you," the artist answered with a grin.

"Oh, that sounds much more fun than what I had on my day-planner," Georgia commented. "What time?"

"I actually don't know. Sometime in the afternoon, I would guess. It's no fun playing mini-golf at night since the place barely has outside lighting. What did you have planned?"

"I was just going to get together with my friends and plan out gardens for next year," Georgia replied.

Jaz blinked hard. "Wow, that sounds really boring!" she laughed.

Georgia mock-glared at her young friend. "Don't you dare laugh! I take a lot of pride in my garden!"

"Seriously?"

Georgia giggled. "No, not really. It is something that I can do with my friends, though. Allen likes how the garden makes the house look. He always brags about how our house is the nicest on the street whenever our garden finally comes in and he tells everyone about the green thumb that I have. It makes him smile, so I make sure to keep up the garden. I'm sure you do things with your friends, even if you don't really want to."

"Uh? not really. We usually get together to do fun things that we all like. The only time we get dragged into doing something we don't wanna do is when one of us has to run an errand and wants company or something," Jaz replied with a shrug.

"Oh, so you have the perfect friendship?" Georgia snapped, all playfulness gone in an instant.

"I didn't say that," Jaz answered. She held a flinch at bay, not wanting to show how shocked she was by this sudden change. It was not something that she had never seen before, but she did not understand how the smallest things turned into arguments with Georgia.

"You implied it."

"George, I'm not going to argue with you about a perceived implication. Why do you do that? You know I'm not trying to pick a fight, but you make a fight out of it anyway," Jaz pointed out.

Georgia's eyes and head went downward in shame immediately. "I'm sorry. It's just?"

"Yes?" Jaz pressed. "Is it something about me?"

"No! It's Allen. Sometimes? sometimes it seems like we're having a civil conversation and then he'll just start arguing with me over something. I guess I'm just anticipating arguments now," Georgia explained, her eyes still on the floor.

"Well, I don't like arguing. Never really seems to get anywhere. Now, if we do have a problem, I would like to be able to talk it out. You know, have a discussion and hopefully solve the problem or at least compromise."

Georgia's smile could have put the sun out of business. "That sounds really nice. I'd like that too."

"So, no more weird arguments?" Jaz asked, just to be sure. She knew it would take more than an agreement, but it was a start.

"Deal."

"And mini-golf?"

"I would love to go. Allen won't be home for two more days, so I need something to do. I'm sure the garden club is going to meet somewhere around eleven or twelve since we always meet around lunch. So, I should be able to make it since I doubt you guys are going to get started at noon."

Jaz scoffed. "Hell, no! We'll probably go at like four or five. I've got work in the morning anyway."

Those words caused Georgia's forehead to wrinkle. "Since when do you work in the morning?"

"My boss is getting his jollies off by screwing around with our schedules now. I think he's trying to get us to quit, so he can give his brats our jobs now that one can drive and the other can legally work."

"That sounds awful."

Jaz waved it off. "No one's trying to work there forever anyway. Hey, let's get to some monster movies!"

Georgia nodded and turned on the television and DVD player. The movies were cheesy, as expected. The pizza and company were good, though.

-8-8-8-8-

Mini-golf could not come fast enough for Georgia; she had practically ran out of her friend's house when their garden meeting was done. Jaz picked her up right on schedule and they met up with Jaz's friends at the mini-golf course.

"Have you ever played mini-golf, Georgie?" Cocoa asked curiously as they stood in line to pay. There was a couple in front of them.

"No, but I imagine it's just like putting on a golf course and I have done that once or twice," Georgia answered.

"Well, if you've ever had to putt past a clown wielding a chain-saw, then yes, it's something like putting on a golf course," Rob remarked with a smile.

"Chain-saw wielding clown?" Georgia echoed in a puzzled voice, turning her mouth a little in confusion.

Peach nodded. "Not the worst of it, but it gives you an idea of what you'll be working with."

Georgia nodded, thinking that she would see what they meant when they started the course. They paid; Georgia tried to object when Jaz paid for her, but the artist was not listening. They all took their putters and picked different colored balls.

"One day they'll make one of these things long enough where I don't have to break my back to use it," Cocoa remarked with a good-natured grin as he lined up for the first hole.

"I'm sure everyone around here just hopes you don't get upset and bend the club into a pretzel," Jaz commented.

"Now we know why Mitch didn't get the height out of our crew," Peach joked.

"And what's your excuse, little man?" Mitch sneered at the short skateboarder.

Georgia snickered a bit before turning her attention to this first hole. It did not seem like such a big deal. It was a straight-away putt-no chain-saw wielding clown in sight. They went through that with no problem. The next hole was only slightly more difficult because it had a curve to it. At the third hole, things got a little more complicated. There was a curve, a hill, a little pond, and a clown with a chain-saw by the cup as promised. The toy chain-saw swayed over the cup every few seconds to knock away any ball that was not hit at the exact right moment.

"What sort of sick mind thought of this?" Georgia muttered out loud.

"You remember the clowns in my portfolio?" Jaz asked.

"Of course," Georgia answered. She still had nightmares about those things.

"Well, the guy I did that design for owns this course. Most obstacles around this course have creepy clowns doing crazy things," Jaz explained.

"Wait, you showed her your portfolio?" Peach inquired, pointing to Georgia, but speaking to Jaz.

Jaz nodded. "Yeah? Why?"

"Did you show her the wicked art you did on my board?" Peach quickly turned, so that his backpack with his skateboard attached to it was facing Georgia. The board's underside was covered in peaches with thick outlines and sharp edges that Georgia knew were common in Jaz's work.

"I don't think this one is in your portfolio," the older woman said to Jaz.

The artist snorted. "Peach is not that important and that's not my best work," she replied with a shrug. A smirk tugged on her lip as she watched Peach pout.

"I thought you gave your friends your best!" the short fellow complained.

Jaz laughed and ruffled his hair. "Of course I do, buddy! Actually, I didn't keep the original of that, which is why it's not in the portfolio. Besides, it's a little plain anyway. I probably could do a much better job today."

Peach was not sure what to say to that and held off on requesting if Jaz would design him something new because he did not have the funds and she did not have the time-both thanks to school. They continued their game with Jaz offering Georgia tips since she was the only one out of them that had not played the course a "billion and one" times as the teens liked to put it.

While Jaz offered hints on a hole, her friends stood back and just watched her with Georgia-for a few seconds anyway. They watched the large hand molded on Georgia's shoulders while Jaz pointed out the places that Georgia should hit the ball; Georgia would not even stand close enough to the rest of them where there was a danger that they might touch. They could not believe how familiar Jaz was with the obviously shy woman after only knowing her for two and a half months.

"Hey, Jaz, why don't you just hit the ball for her while you're at it?" Mitch teased, a lopsided, mischievous grin on her face.

"Or at least wait until we're at a really hard hole before you start pulling out your compass and protractor and the geometry of the game," Peach chimed in.

"I'm sorry," Georgia apologized, realizing that she was holding up the game. She glanced back at the group and then ducked her head.

"Whoa, hey, we're just ribbing you!" Peach promised, stepping up to her. She pulled away just a little, basically curling into Jaz's body.

"George, remember, these are the same nutcases we went bowling with. They're just teasing and there's no harm in it," Jaz assured the smaller woman.

"Sorry. I'm not used to this yet." A sheepish smile and blush tainted Georgia's cheeks.

"You're going to have to get used to it. We've decided to keep you, after all," Rob remarked with a good-natured smile.

"You're already better behaved then our last adoptee," Cocoa joked, nodding toward Mitch.

"Oh, to hell with you, Mauna Kea," the blonde shot back.

Cocoa rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah, that was real original."

The little display helped Georgia relax because it reminded her that they did make fun of each other. So, when they did it to her, they were trying to include her. They were not purposely being jerks, except maybe Mitch. The jury was still out on her.

The rest of the day was spent peaceful, as peaceful as things were for friends that liked nothing more than to tease and taunt each other. Georgia eased into it a little, just like when they went bowling. She did tease Jaz a little; Jaz, of course, took it with a grin.

"Guys, we should go get something to eat," Peach suggested as they all lined up for the eighteenth hole.

A sign nearby proclaimed that anyone that got a hole in one would win a free game. The catch was that the cup was at the top of a wide, steep incline with several hazards and sitting in the middle of a short plateau with a pit behind it in case anyone had the idea of trying to bank the ball in. Making things worse, there were three false holes up the hill on the small platform and if the ball went into one, it dropped out of reach into a bucket underneath the hill and the game was over for that player.

"Food always sounds good to me," Jaz remarked, earning a high-five from Cocoa.

"Then let's get through this waste of money and go down the street already," Mitch complained, purposely smacking her ball way too hard. She watched with a certain amount of glee as it fell into oblivion behind the cup.

"Hey! Watch where you're swinging that thing! You almost took my head off!" Peach huffed. He had had to duck to avoid taking a putter to the skull, but Mitch did not look too concerned over it. In fact, no one looked too concerned over it, as if it happened all the time; Georgia suspected that it did. She was right.

"Waste of money, yeah, when you hit like that," Rob muttered. She stepped up and took her shot, missing as usual. She let loose a string of curses in Spanish.

"Okay, guys, I got this. I'll win the free game," Jaz boasted as she stepped up.

"We've heard that lie several times already," Mitch commented.

Jaz rolled her eyes and then proceeded to put on a show before taking her shot. She rolled her shoulders and her neck. She cracked her knuckles. She stretched, going as far as bending down to touch her toes. She then went into her pocket and pulled out a cigarette, putting it to her lips, but not bothering to light it. Her friends all groaned.

"What? It's my lucky cigarette," Jaz insisted. The giant grin made it a little hard to believe her.

"We've also heard that lie before!" Mitch pointed out. "Just hit the damn ball already. Like you'd have a lucky cigarette anyway."

The cigarette turned out to be so lucky that Jaz's ball suffered the same fate as Mitch's. The group got a good laugh out of it. Cocoa ended up hitting into one of the false holes. Peach followed right behind him and did the exact same thing.

Georgia was the last to go and when she hit the ball, the friends held their breath. It looked like it was going the right way. It made it up the hill and circled the rim of the cup; the teens all leaned forward, thinking a free game was coming. Suddenly, the ball lost direction and gravity took over. The ball was pulled into one of the false holes. They all groaned.

"You got cheated, Georgie!" Peach shouted.

"Yeah, this damned hole is a rip-off. You almost had it, though," Mitch said.

"You did a good job keeping up with us, though, even though you've never been here. You actually beat beanstalk here," Rob commented, jabbing her thumb over at Jaz, who only let loose another grin.

Georgia smiled as they walked off to return their putters and Rob informed everyone of their scores. As it turned out, Peach won; he was definitely better at mini-golf than bowling, which he had come in dead last. Mitch seemed to be better in mini-golf also, finishing second, whereas in bowling, she had only been able to beat Peach and that was not by much. Jaz and Cocoa fared the worst, which Georgia suspected had to do with the putters not being an adequate length for their heights.

As they returned the putters, Georgia glanced over at Jaz. She noticed that Jaz still had the cigarette in her mouth, but no one said anything. Everyone returned to their cars, agreeing to meet up at the restaurant.

"So, you okay?" Jaz asked Georgia when they were along.

"I'm fine. Sorry I freaked out there a little in the middle. I'm not used to this yet," Georgia explained.

Jaz reached over and patted the slim thigh of the older woman. "Hey, it's okay. I know you're not used to it. If you want to go home, say the word. I'll drive you there right now."

"No! I'm having fun. This was a great activity and I hope we do it again someday. I will tell you what is not fun, though," Georgia commented.

Jaz arched an eyebrow. "What?"

"This." Georgia snatched the cigarette out of Jaz's mouth. "This is not cute or cool. What are you doing smoking?"

"Well, technically, I only had a cigarette in my mouth. I wasn't smoking it at all."

"You know what I mean!" Georgia huffed and then she suddenly gasped. Her eyes went wide and she covered her mouth with both hands. A few heartbeats later, she moved her hands just enough to talk. "I'm starting an argument, aren't I?"

Jaz smiled. "No, this seems like it would've been more a debate. I'm glad you caught yourself, though."

"I am so sorry, Jaz. I'll keep my opinions to myself." Georgia handed the cigarette back.

"I hope you don't. I think you have some very intelligent and well thought out opinions. If it makes you feel any better, I will continue to not smoke around you," Jaz promised with another lighthearted smile.

Georgia looked down and put her hands in her lap. "Thank you."

Jaz grinned and that got a smile out of Georgia. They went to eat with the group, keeping up what were obviously their usual shenanigans. There was teasing, joking, funny stories, and anything else to draw smiles out of the people at the table. While Georgia did not jump in often, she did speak every now and then. She smiled the whole time.

"Whoa, look at the time," Cocoa muttered, glancing down at his watch. The others did the same.

"Oh, it is late. I need to get going," Robbie informed everyone.

"Me too. I was supposed to meet my cousins almost an hour ago," Peach reported.

As goodbyes were exchanged, Jaz could swear that Georgia was almost pouting due to the sudden departures. It went from "almost pouting" to full-fledged pouting as teens went their separate ways. Jaz put her arm around the smaller woman.

"Don't worry, Georgie. I promise we'll get together with them again and do something," Jaz said and that put a bright smile on Georgia's face.

-8-8-8-8-

Next time: meet Georgia's husband, Allen Blake.