Rachel in Retrograde

Chapter 1

Chapter 1“Where are we going?” Linda asked. She combed a hand through her dark hair. She turned to her best friend, Priyanka—Priya—Singh in the driver’s seat when she did not answer right away. “Please don’t make me guess.”

“Use that third eye.”

“That’s not opened yet.”

“Ah, then this is perfect.” Priya smiled wryly as she turned the wheel to her green Ford sedan onto another road down the Toronto suburb. Rachel knew that smile all too well. Though she loved Priya with the devotion that came with being besties s***h business partners, she was also sort of sick of her, too.

“Come on,” Rachel said. “I’m having a bad enough week, and I—”

“I know, I know. You’d much rather sit on the couch and read Cosmo until the stars are aligned again. But let me tell you, the stars are already aligned. And you’re going to love this.”

Rachel didn’t bother to ask any more questions, knowing that Priya would tell her in time. She contented herself with the beautiful late spring day in front of her. Blue sky and green grass, along with the white flowering buds on all the trees that surrounded an area known as Dawson Park just outside of the downtown core of Toronto. June was in full bloom. Though Priya’s car had air conditioning, Rachel hit the button for the automatic window so she could smell the flowers in the air. When she closed her eyes, the breeze made her feel whole. Happy. Not…annoyed and lonely like she’d felt all week, ever since her sister’s wedding announcement had been posted online.

“See?” Priya said. “You’re like my little dog in that movie. Shoot, I don’t remember the name. There’s a house. And—”

“The Wizard of Oz?”

“Yeah!” Priya hit the steering wheel in success. “I never watched it, but there’s a Bollywood version.”

Rachel listed quietly as Priya explained the new plot points in The Wizard of Oz when done by Bollywood, but she didn’t really care. She didn’t like that she was being viewed as a sidekick, and a dog at that, especially not when her Chinese astrological sign was the Dog, too. Loyal and dependable, nearly to a fault. Her Chinese zodiac was why she and Priya—another Dog, too—also got along, not to mention that Priya’s sun sign of Gemini made her an excellent friend and business partner. She was her proverbial talking head. This week, while Rachel checked-out of their shared email to be sad about her lack of date for her sister’s wedding, she’d counted on Priya to pick up the slack. Which she had, like a champ.

“You’re not even listening, are you?” Priya asked a moment later.

“Yes. Of course I am.”

“Then what did I just say?”

“That Aishwarya Rai was the most beautiful woman you’d ever seen, and you were completely heartbroken that she is in love with a Jonas brother and not yourself. Or wait,” Rachel said, correctly herself before Priya could. “That’s the Chopra actress who is with a Jonas brother now. Either way, you should have them both. Probably at once.”

Priya made an impressed face. “Damn. Okay. I stand—or sit—corrected.”

“Yep. I see and know everything, yet it gets me nowhere.”

“Okay, sad sacks. I know it sucks that you don’t have a date, but your sister’s wedding is a year away.”

“And I won’t have a date then, either.”

“Bullshit. You’ve been with so many women. Why not just call an ex?”

Rachel made a face. “There’s a reason why we don’t have s*x anymore. They’re an ex.”

“But at some time,” Priya said and gestured to the blue cloudless sky, where the moon was half visible, “the stars aligned. You got on their wavelength. So why not just—”

“Call them for a booty call?”

“Or meet someone else. Say hello to a stranger in a neat circumstance.” Priya gestured out the car’s windows to a woman in spandex shorts, her ass clearly sculpted and without panty lines. She held a pair of roller-skates under her arm in a bright shade of neon pink for the wheels and laces. Her skin was dark, like Priya’s brown hue, and her hair was that same jet-black silk that bunched over Priya’s back. The woman wore a neutral-colored top which had a logo on it Rachel didn’t have a chance to see before they drove by her.

“Damn,” Priya said as she allowed her car to slow down. “I should take her as my date. She’s hot.”

“She is but dust in the wind.”

“But I’m in a car,” Priya said. “And we’re turning around.”

“What?”

Rachel gripped the passenger side handle as Priya suddenly shifted the sedan to the shoulder. The road was four lanes, and not the busiest street, so Priya’s mad dash didn’t feel like a suicide mission like it would have in downtown Toronto. Still, Rachel felt her heart thud in her chest.

“This is a bad idea,” Rachel said. “Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to talk to strangers?”

“Yeah, well, clearly your sister broke that rule when she got married. How else do we find the loves of our lives? Strangers are always the best matches for us. After all, don’t we all start out as strangers?”

Though Priya’s tone was teasing, her intentions were pure. Rachel had known Priya for what felt like her entire life, but they, too, had to have started somewhere. In their case, it was as awkward gawky kids in their sixth-grade class, mistrustful of one another until a shared love of the movie Matilda got them on speaking terms. Then, of course, they’d slowly bloomed into best friends and business partners. Their business, too, would not have grown to the level it had—small as it was—if they had not taken chances on strangers, especially for the in-person consults on astrology charts they did. They got to know people all the time, moving them from strange to familiar. When Rachel looked at people’s birth charts, in spite of the very different planetary arrangements, she knew we were all the same—insofar as we were all looking for love in the form of that perfect mix of compassion and passion. The perfect mix of friendliness and desire.

So why not follow the roller derby girl? Rachel shrugged and let go of the car’s handle, trusting Priya as she navigated back to their first sighting.

By the time they came up to her on the sidewalk again, she was now with another two women. The new additions were the same age, though one was white with red hair and blue shorts, while the other was Asian and had dark hair with neutral tones in her outfit like the first woman. They spoke closely and laughed at something before Priya idled the car on the shoulder closest to them. Since Rachel’s passenger side window was also on their side, she hit the button to roll down the window so she could say hello.

“Hey there,” she said. “I was wondering if we could ask you a couple questions.”

“Yes?” the woman said as she stepped forward. Now that Rachel didn’t need to squint past the sun or view her in a rush, she fully comprehended this woman’s stunning features. Her nose was almost button, her eyes dark, and her lips lined in red. Her dark hair was passed her shoulders with tapered ends, as if she’d not cut it in a long time. Her bangs had started to grow out, too, and she kept one of them pinned to the side with a gold barrette. “Are you two lost?”

“No, no—not lost. I was just wondering where you all were headed.” Rachel pointed to the skates. “Is there a place to rent those or…?”

“It’s a championship,” the girl in blue said. She gestured toward a community center in the distance. “We’re about to start if you want to watch.”

“So we can’t play too?” Priya asked through Rachel’s window. She leaned close, so close that her breasts brushed Rachel’s hand and forearm. A shiver passed through Rachel she’d not felt since she first met Priya. They’d been too young to fully understand their feelings for one another as girl-crushes, and by the time they’d entered high school and began to figure it out, they were already good friends. Too risky to do anything else. They had never once acted on whatever attraction—but Rachel had been a fool to think it was not there. It was as clear as her own moon in Aries, and she should have been more aware that she wanted her friend just as much as she wanted this new woman in front of her. With all the stress from her sister’s nuptials, Rachel had forgotten that Priya was an option for her plus one. Even just as a friend. Though if they were both single by the wedding date, who knew what would happen?

Rachel was snapped back to attention. “You can play later, if you’re up for it,” the woman said with a knowing smile. “But the court is going to be occupied by us, first.”

“And you will lose,” the girl in blue said. She and the other woman bantered back and forth for a moment. Priya had gone back to her side of the vehicle and put it in gear. She shouted a quick thank you before she drove away.

“Wait!” Rachel felt as if her stomach was nailed to the road where they’d just been speaking. She turned around and watched as the three women laughed again. She sighed and slumped in her seat. “I was enjoying that conversation. I thought we were getting somewhere. Wasn’t it you who was telling me not to be a sad sack, to not—”

“Oh, trust me. I want to go back as much as you.” Priya’s gaze flashed with desire. She peered at the group of women in her mirror, only to realize that she and Rachel were both infatuated with the same one. “s**t. You’re into her. You should have her.”

“She’s not a bargaining chip.”

“No, true, but you’re more heartbroken.”

“Maybe…”

Rachel soon realized Priya wasn’t driving away from the women, but driving toward the community center where the roller derby tournament would take place. As they pulled into one of the few empty spaces at the back, Rachel felt her stomach quake. She had butterflies. But for who? The mystery girl with a great ass, or her best friend in the seat with her? The brush of their bodies stuck with her. It made her feel so much more stable than she’d been all week, ever since she found out about the wedding announcement. Was that because Priya was Priya, or because there was something more?

“Are you single?” Rachel asked.

Priya had just stepped out of the car and slid on her sunglasses. She wore a tight, black T-shirt that exposed part of her navel and high-waisted jeans. She let out a bit of a laugh and then nodded. “I suppose you didn’t see the status change online with all your ice cream mourning.”

“No, I didn’t. So, you’ve now shifted from It’s complicated to Mercury in retrograde?”

Priya chuckled. “Nah, nothing that dramatic to keep exes away. But yes, I am single. Perhaps that will change today. The blondie was sort of cute, right?”

“A little.”

“Well, the world is my oyster.” Though Priya still wore the sunglasses, it was clear she was now ogling some of the other skaters as they filed out of their cars and readied themselves for the match. There was a clear team-color system now: the blues and the pinks. Sometimes it was the shorts that were the team colors, other times it was just the laces, but each participant had the overall sport league listed on their tank tops, along with their team’s name. When Rachel looked at the marquee for the community center, she saw that the Women’s Roller Derby Championship was supposed to go on all afternoon.

“This is perfect,” Priya said when she also noticed the sign. “The best thing for a broken lesbian heart is to watch women wail on one another.”

“Uh-huh.” Rachel shifted. Her stomach was still tight with anticipation and arousal. Maybe Priya was right. This event would cool her libido, and maybe, just maybe, she could find something more here, too.

The charged atmosphere of the parking lot only grew once they were inside the community center. One of the hockey rinks had been repurposed for a roller derby ring. Wood lined the perimeter and surface area of the rink in order to give the women some hills and ramps, along with protect them from colliding directly into glass. A referee in green and black sat in the center of the area, along with the sound equipment which blasted a steady mixture of riot grrl tracks and nostalgia-fueled pop tunes of the 1990s. Priya was already swaying to the beats of Britney Spears’ “Baby One More Time” by the time they found their seats.

“Oh, this is great. Better than Bollywood.”

Rachel could only nod. Her gaze was fixated on the woman with the button nose and stellar body from before. She now had a helmet on over her dark hair, and padding obscured most of her body, but Rachel knew it was her. When the announcer went through the team names, he also did a roll call for each individual skater. The blue team, The Serious Killers, went first. Their individual names were comical, clearly not on anyone’s birth certificate, and meant to be pure theater. When the announcer moved to the pink team, called When In Rome, the Asian girl from before stepped forward first, and was called by Romulus, or Romy for short.

“Romy?” Priya asked. “Like Romy and Michel’s High School Reunion?”

“No, like the founder of Rome. Romulus and Remus.” Rachel had this confirmed when the other woman stepped forward and said her name was as such, but went by Remy. “It’s all about myth, I think.”

“Oh. I wonder if our girl’s gonna be Cupid, then.”

Rachel shuddered. Priya had said our girl. She was still into her, and now, it seemed like they didn’t have to share—from afar, at least. It also meant that Rachel didn’t have to decide. Was the feeling between herself and Priya where she should put her energy, or should she focus on her mystery girl in front of her?

It didn’t matter. She realized she could have, and she wanted to have, both.

“And now we have Venus,” the announcer said as he gestured to the girl who had caught both of their affections. She stepped forward and waved. Her gaze landed right on Rachel, and then, just as quickly, onto Priya.

“Of course it’s Venus,” Priya said.

“I know,” Rachel echoed. “Goddess of love and sex.”

Rachel and Priya’s gazes now met one another. A wave of attraction rolled through them. They wanted the same girl. And, just as Rachel realized she didn’t have to choose, so did Priya. She smiled softly and scooted closer to her. She placed her palm over Rachel’s.

“I don’t—” Rachel began, but Priya cut her off with a quick kiss on the mouth.

“We will figure out the details alter,” she said with a wry smile. “There are so many details.”

“I thought that was what you liked?”

“Oh, yeah. I do. But business and friendship and pleasure…don’t always mix.”

Rachel shuddered. Maybe this was a bad idea. What was more important to her—her career or her friend or her aching and still a little jealous p***y? She didn’t want to answer. She couldn’t.

But once again, she didn’t have to choose. Priya squeezed her hand tightly, letting her know that no matter what happened today, they would still be in this together.

But maybe Venus would be, too.

Rachel opened her mouth to say something else, but only felt another kiss. This one lingered. Priya licked into her mouth, and then remained next to her tongue in a coaxing manner. Rachel was sure this could so easily fall into making out, but the music cranked to a higher decibel. The grungy guitars of Bikini Kill’s “Carnival” came through the speakers. The crowd cheered. The game was about to begin.