Free Lechomancer by Eric Stoffer Page B

where she was still playing on the computer, after he finished turning off all the lights.
    “Yes,” she answered without listening, and stood up and left.
    It was a warm night for October, and though she usually headed straight home, she found herself wandering the neighborhood, full of small stores and student housing.  She walked for about twenty minutes, and she found herself in front of a tiny strip mall.  Standing in front of the little laundry matt was Ashlynn, who was wearing a maroon faux leather jacket over the clothes she had been in earlier, trying to affect the same disinterest she had shown so genuinely in the library earlier.  When she saw Lisa walking up.
    “Hey, you’re the girl from the library,” Ashlynn called out.
    “Sure,” Lisa found herself saying, rather disinterested.
    “Maybe you could help me.”
    Lisa stared at Ashlynn until she continued.
    “Would you, um, would you be able to buy me a six pack of coolers?”  Ashlynn looked at Lisa a little pleadingly.  “I’m supposed to go with some friends to a party.  I’m, I’m only eighteen.”
    Lisa looked at the cramped liquor store two doors down from the laundry mat.  She looked back at the eighteen year old.
    Ashlynn reached into her back pocket and pulled out a carefully folded twenty dollar bill.  “I don’t need the change or anything.  You’d really be helping me out.”
    “Keep that,” Lisa glared at the twenty.  She walked past the girl and into the liquor store.  Instead of going to the cold room in the back, she headed to one of the wine racks, and picked out a couple of bottles of pinot noir.  She paid for them and headed back outside.  Ashlynn was watching Lisa expectantly when she returned.  “Come with me,” Lisa said, not slowing.
    Ashlynn followed.  “Did you get it?” she asked.  Lisa didn’t answer.  A half a block later, Ashlynn said “If you can’t help me, that’s cool, I’ll just …” Lisa glanced over her shoulder, and Ashlynn stopped talking, and speed up a few steps to walk beside the shorter woman.  “Where are we going?”
    “Do you always talk this much?” Lisa asked.  The younger woman looked hurt, and Lisa waited a moment, and then flashed a quick, short smile.
    “No,” Ashlynn laughed softly.  “You were just making me kind of nervous.”
    “I like you nervous,” Lisa answered.
    Ashlynn laughed again, and they continued on to Lisa’s townhouse in silence.  Inside, Lisa led Ashlynn to the living room, and motioned to the couch as she set the bag from the liquor store down on the coffee table.  She headed into the kitchen, and came back with a corkscrew and a couple of wine glasses.  Ashlynn had pulled the wine out of the bag and looked disappointed.
    “You didn’t get any coolers.”
    Lisa motioned for Ashlynn to hand her one of the bottles.  As she opened it she said, “Don’t drink coolers.  If your friends want you to drink coolers with them, find better friends.”  Somewhere in the daze, Lisa found herself amazed with the grace she displayed when she pulled the cork free.  Normally, she struggled to get them out.  Now, she poured to glasses and handed one to Ashlynn.  “Also, don’t drink out of those plastic red cups.” 
    Ashlynn was sitting on the couch, and Lisa walked around the coffee table and sat down beside her.  In the back of her mind, she felt ridiculous as she swirled the wine in the cup, sniffed at it, and then tasted it carefully, all in exaggerated motions, but the sublimation made it all feel necessary.  She watched Ashlynn copy her.
    “There, isn’t that better?” she asked when Ashlynn swallowed the wine.
    Ashlynn shrugged.
    “It’s an acquired taste,” Lisa said, “But one worth developing.”  She sat there for a while, and finished a glass of pinot, and poured them each another.
    When she finished the second glass, Lisa placed it on the coffee table, and turned to face Ashlynn.  The younger woman looked at her, and