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She isn’t sure why she agreed to come to this party. Maybe it was because she felt an obligation to try and salvage the relationships with her other teammates, or maybe it was because Janet told her that Amy would be there. They haven’t really talked since the dance, even though they parted on good terms. She feels an obligation to give Lucy the boyfriend talk at least once (even if she has no doubt that Amy is far happier now than she ever was in the organization).
So that’s why she’s leaned up against the wall of some sleezy house party, cradling a Smirnoff Ice and watching Janet and Scud get progressively worse at dancing. Dominique disappeared not even five minutes into their arrival. Across the floor, she can see Amy and Lucy tucked into a corner and using any excuse they can find to keep their hands on each other. It looks like Amy is trying to fix the brunette’s bangs, but Lucy has her arms wrapped low around her waist and Max is pretty sure neither of them care to admit that she should have finished by now. She huffs goodnaturedly and takes another swig.
She really hasn’t gotten the chance to observe Amy act like this before. She looks a little boyish in her collared shirt with a sweater vest and high waisted khaki shorts. It puts her long legs on display really nicely and Lucy’s wandering hands seem to agree. They are an odd pair together, with Lucy wearing a mishmash of lowriding army pants and a black tank top with a tie around her neck. The tie catches her eye and she realizes it's because it's their old plaid blue and yellow uniform tie. Max can imagine the look on Amy’s face when her girlfriend found it in the back of her closet.
The music has changed to a heavier beat and people are getting a little too comfortable for her liking, so Max finishes her drink and slips outside. She expects to still have to share space with a couple making out or a group of girls holding back the hair of their friend puking in a bush, but she is happily surprised to find just one girl smoking on the porch.
Dominique has one arm wrapped around her torso and the other taking a drag of her cigarette. There is a bit of a breeze and the smoke is wisped away as she exhales slowly. She watches her shiver with the next gust.
Max can’t imagine having put on so little for a night like tonight when they knew that it would end up with them stumbling from party to party in the cold. She has on a cropped shirt that shows off her midriff and a skirt that hits very high on the back of her thigh. It's nothing she hasn’t seen before, with their squad uniforms being just as tight and short on her. She asked Dom if she wanted a size up in her skirt after a particularly athletic pursuit and got a low chuckle and a pat on the shoulder as she shook her head.
The only warm adjacent thing she has on is a scarf, but it’s definitely fashionable and not a functional item. It reminds her of a flight attendant, though she bets it is an attempt to try and look more European.
Granted, Max isn’t wearing all that more than her. Her jeans hang low enough to expose her sides, but her top has a triangle cut at the bottom that covers her stomach. Her shoulders are out because she had a feeling the drinks would warm her uncomfortably in the house.
It's possible Max was staring for a while because Dominique turns around and raises her brow with another hit. The smell is something earthy, different from the Marlboros she’s used to.
“Just getting some air. A little too much grinding is happening in there,” she laments.
Dom hums a bit, which makes the smoke come out of her nose.
“New brand?” Max tries.
Dominique shifts over to make room for Max to lean against the railing. Her cigarette arm falls limp as she starts, “herbal cigarettes. The kind mon père smokes.” She picks it up again to observe it in her hand. “I’ve tried to stop many times” she gestures defeatedly towards her face, “but I crave the feeling of it. These help, eh, so-so. Keep my mouth busy, right?” She shrugs and lolls her head lazily back as she exhales the smoke straight up.
It makes Max follow the way her jaw and neck move as she blows out. How it's possible for one person to look so soft and yet so sharp at the same time is beyond her.
Dominique finishes by licking her lips unconsciously as she brings her gaze back to the girl next to her. There’s something heavy there, maybe from the topic or maybe from the drinks, but it makes her uneasy.
Max has never had the urge to smoke before, but as she watches each drag and how the smoke pours out of her mouth, she thinks she must have. That has to be why this is so captivating. She swallows and murmurs, “like an oral fixation,” she shifts closer. “Can I try?”
A short laugh follows. “You smoke?” She’s already offering it out, so Max chooses not to answer. She takes a little too much into her lungs on her first pass, but the taste is more pleasant than expected.
On her second, she makes it through the inhale with no problem. As she starts her exhale, she brings her eyes to Dominique.
Humor plays on her features. She goes to speak but is interrupted by shouts inside.
The door opens and a few guys she recognizes from Homeland Security file out quickly. She stubs out the cigarette and steps inside.
Clearly something went down. Lucy has her hands on Amy’s shoulders as she tries to talk her down in hushed tones. Janet intercepts her as she tries to make her way to them. “Give them a second.”
“What happened? Was it those HS guys?”
Janet nods her head. “Some of Bobby’s crew I think. They just said some nasty things about Lucy stealing Amy from him and-” she cut herself off with a shake of her head, eyes cast down. “They used some hurtful language.”
Scud is over by the DJ trying to get him to start the music back up to get people to stop prying. Lucy tugs Amy by the wrist gently over and stops at them with a quick, “Hey we’re leaving. Don’t worry about it. Just gonna head back to my place to cool off.” She pulls Amy out the door with little more explanation.
Max is fuming at this point. She follows them outside to try and catch the assholes that caused this, but they were long gone by that point. She swears and turns back to wear she and Dominique had been talking just moments ago. Dom has a new lit cigarette in her hand. She doesn’t say anything, just watches the couple walk to the end of the driveway with a solemn understanding.
They stay silent as Max paces the porch. A few minutes pass and a car pulls up. The window rolls down and she swears she sees that Russian lady they were tailing in the driver's seat. They pull off before she can get a better look.
“Lucy should have been more careful. Picked a more secure house. What kind of— of a felon doesn’t scope out a place?” Max vents.
“I just wish I understood what she gains from this,” her softer tone indicating she’s talking about Amy. “How this isn’t blowing up everything she’s ever worked for and wanted. I’m trying so hard to be supportive of their relationship but…” she lets her hands fall dejectedly.
“Freedom. And, how you say, clarity. This is the first time she’s had real attraction and romance in a relationship. The first always burns bright.” Dom takes a sharp inhale of her cigarette that emits a glow much like she mentioned.
Max considers this. “You don’t think she loved any of the guys she was with in the past?”
Dom shook her head. “She stayed with them as long as she could bear, and not a moment longer. There was no spark in her eyes when she was with them. She cast them aside without a care.” She taps and lets the ash fall into the breeze.
In terms of rate, Dom certainly couldn’t speak. She hasn’t had a consistent hookup since moving in with the others, with a different face starting back at Max every time she has had to wake her up late. Max bets she’s starting to exhaust the list of guys she doesn’t know at LA parties. “You’re not one to talk about burning through guys.”
Dominique chuckles. “But it’s different. I enjoy every moment I am with them. There is excitement, passion. I make love to them and savor it. If you saw her after a night with him… she looked drained. Bored, even.”
“Still. There could have been a guy out there she could have settled with and liked. She made the choice to run off with the first person who made her heart flutter and abandoned everything else. I think she’s happier short term, but to give up her job, her thesis, even her team? No relationship can be worth that,” she mumbles the last sentence.
Max grabs the cigarette from her, feeling self conscious.
She feels eyes on her. She’s not being homophobic. It would be the same if it was a guy, she thinks, and takes a long drag.
“Have you really never kissed a girl?” Dominique’s voice cuts through the silence.
Max sputters. She continues trying to clear her lungs and wrap her head around what was just asked. Of course not, why would she? Why would she even ask that, the D.E.B.S. know her romantic experience, and she’s positive she has never given any indication of having kissed or even wanting to kiss a girl. The insinuation here, clearly, is that she has somehow missed out on this experience.
Dom swiped the cigarette back during this and now has smoke billowing out of her open mouth. At the last second, she blows it at Max and laughs. It’s like she can see the mental gymnastics land each realization on her reddening face. “A girl in Denmark. Not such a big deal in Europe. Less rigid in their sexuality. Here, I am shamed for having so many lovers, for taking a woman as one, for wearing revealing things.” Another exhale. “Ridiculed at parties for not following their standards.”
Max furrows her brow. “But you like guys, don’t you? Why did you kiss her?”
“It was as simple as wanting to. She was charming, and I thought to myself, ‘Qui ne risque rien n’a rien.’ If you never risk what you have, you will never know where you could have been. I didn’t want to live in a world where I had doubt.”
“You weren’t scared of what you could find out? That your life could be irreversibly different?”
“Why would I be scared of a more true version of me? It would still be who I am and who I always have been. Le monde continue de tourner.” The way that the language curls compliments the tone of her voice. Dominique only ever speaks a few words of French at a time in front of them and only in full sentences quietly on a phone call she always steps out of the room to take.
Max gestures to take it back and inhales one last puff for courage before stubbing it out with at least half left. Dom furrows her brow.
“Le monde continue de tourner, huh,” her mouth flubing through the last word.
Poor pronunciation, but Dominique’s face warms at the attempt. “Eh, not bad for an American.” She gestures to the stub, “I wasn’t done with that.” She reaches for her side pouch of cigarettes and flicks the clip open. Max reaches to stop her and grabs her wrist where it lays over the container.
Dominique is surprised and her eyes are wide as she brings her head up to meet Max’s face. She has her lip caught between her teeth and eyebrows together in thought as she lets out an um. “Would you, uh like…um, what I’m trying to…” she swallows and struggles to make eye contact. When she does bring her eyes back to hers resolutely, Dom’s are on her lips.
She has a spike of anxiety that makes her face heat up and take a few steps back to sit against the railing. Dom was going to say something but shifts in next to her instead to let her gather her thoughts. Max at this point tries to backtrack “you can light another, that’s not what I was trying to…” she trails off and drops her head.
Dominique waits to see if she will continue and looks forward to give her the illusion of privacy. Max shivers, but not from the wind.
“If you want to know, I will not turn you away.” She waits and adds, “Qui ne risque rien n’a rien. He who risks nothing, has nothing.”
She turns to look at Max, who in that time has brought her hand and placed in on the connection between her neck and shoulder and moved quickly to press their lips together. Dom reaches for her waist and brings the other up to her cheek to draw her closer. Max relaxes and opens the kiss.
Dom tastes vaguely like green tea and a bit heady from the smoke, which has Max letting out a little hum. They trade a few more kisses before Dom starts smiling and has to pull back. She exhales a laugh and starts with her voice a little lower, “well, you’re helping soothe my craving.”
Max lets out a huff but smiles despite herself. She slides her hand down her neck to her shoulder and lets it fall down and grab Dom’s hand.
“C’mon. Let’s go back to Lucy’s and finally beat them at beer ball. They could use some good company and I could use another drink,” Max jerks her head towards the empty street and pulls at Dominique with a teasing smile.
There’s a fond expression on her face. She replies, “Je te suivrais tant que le monde continuera de tourner.”
Max prods her for the translation and they bicker happily in the driveway as they wait for a taxi to take them home.