[Girl_On_Fire]

"Hello babygirl."

She closed her eyes, swallowing a lump in her throat. Gripping the doorknob so hard her hand hurt, she forced herself to speak.

"Don't call me that."

A wave of nausea hit her full in the gut. She remember the first time hy had called her that and what it had done to her body, her mind, and her soul. It was as though somebody had turned on a switch and the world went from black and white to color. Then hy was gone. Just gone. Like someone had pulled her out of the sunlight and shoved her naked into a snowbank.

"I'm sorry."

The gentleness in hys voice made her open her eyes. She stared at hym.

"What are you doing here? What do you want?"

"You."

Her eyed widened.

"Please don't say that."

A small smile tugged at the corner of hys mouth.

"Apparently, I'm not allowed to say much." Hy looked up and down the sidewalk. A couple passed arm in arm, laughing on the way to their car. "Can I come in?"

She sighed, hesitated, then stepped back to let hym in.

"Do you um...want something to drink?" She was never good at playing hostess. She was a loner and she liked it that way.

Hy asked for a soda. She got one from the fridge.

"Want to sit down?" She indicated the sofa with an awkward gesture. As hy passed her (a little too closely), she got a whiff of hys cologne. It hit her like a punch to the gut. Leather and that cologne. That smell was nothing else like on earth.

They sat.

"Angie, I'm sorry. Very sorry."

She looked hym in the eye. "How could you do that to anyone? I didn't even know myself back then. I didn't even know I was queer when I met you! I know it was just one weekend but it was the most incredible experience of my life."

"We never even had sex."

She shook her head. Hy looked genuinely baffled.

"Why do you think I never got over you? You started a fire you never put out."