SS NYM Ch 3

The old Meri might have taken this opportunity to explore Athena’s space, but she’s too focused for that now. She rushes into the bathroom; there isn’t much time for her to get ready. Colby leans on the sink, watching her shower.

“You got this?” Meri calls from under the hot water.

Colby takes a long, deep breath, then scowls at her reflection in the mirror.

“You sure about the timing?” she replies.

“Course I am,” Meri says. “She’s always late. Always.”

“I guess you’d know,” Colby says tiredly, examining her fingernails. Meri talks to Athena almost every night for at least half an hour. She looks up to see Meri emerging from the shower, water streaming down her slim, smooth, brown body. Colby loses her train of thought, but gets it back as soon as Meri grabs a towel and starts drying briskly.

Colby helps her, and in less than twenty minutes, Meri is dressed in her brand-new, navy-blue pantsuit with a satin, scoop-neck top underneath. Her hair isn’t dry, but that’s life.

“How do I look?” Meri asks in the bedroom, using the mirror on Athena’s dresser to check herself out from different angles.

“Really good,” Colby says.

“Might’ve overdone it,” Meri says distractedly, trying to breathe. She had the tailor bring the suit in tight to make herself look thinner and more like, well, like Athena. But it’s just hard to breathe.

“You were already skinny, dummy,” Colby mutters.

“I’ll be fine. If old-timey women did corsets for love, I can do this,” Meri says.

Colby’s eyebrows rise, but Meri doesn’t correct herself, or even notice what she just said.

“They didn’t do that for love,” Colby says, irked. “They did it for the patriarchy. Athena doesn’t give a shit what your waistline is.”

Meri glances over, that look on her face. It’s a new look, relatively. Colby never saw it on Meri before the con, and everything that happened then. Meri looks smug, but not cocky… not like a proud jock. She also looks wise.

Whatever it is, it annoys the hell out of Colby and always has, because Meri is anything but wise.

“I know she doesn’t. It’s not for her,” Meri says.

Colby rolls her eyes.

“Anything you need before I go?” Meri asks, checking her wristwatch.

Colby considers all of the things that she could possibly say.

“Nope,” she says.

“OK. I love you.” Meri is there in one long step, pulling Colby close by the waist and kissing her on the lips. It’s a good kiss, at least. Long and firm. “Stop pretending to be jealous. I know you’re just nervous. Don’t be. We got this.” She pauses and looks around. “It’s cute, isn’t it?”

“It’s small.”

“But you like it.”

Colby shrugs neutrally.

“She looked good, didn’t she?” Meri asks cheekily.

“Oh my God. Go.” Colby shoves Meri toward the front door.