Chapter Text
The idea of going to a sex shop with anyone she knew would normally mortify Gail. However, after a few double whiskeys and a couple of beers she found herself laughing at the names of porn parody movies with Dov and Chris. Normally they wouldn’t already be plastered at ten at night but after a long week of surveillance, they decided to treat themselves to a night of being absolutely stupid. Although, when Chris started honestly considering buying a Star Wars porn Gail had to walk away. The production didn’t even look decent enough for a good laugh. It would just be people fucking in robes.
Gail looked around the store and spotted the wall of sex toys over in the corner. She had always toyed with the idea of buying something but never actually brought herself to do it. When she was younger she had a vibrator but then she had boyfriends and it didn’t matter. Not that they were good at getting her off; they were just jealous of battery powered silicone. Now, she lived with two idiots who constantly opened her mail and the last thing she needed was Chris and Dov knowing anything about her sex life. Or lack thereof, really.
Bad blind date after bad blind date had left Gail with a sour taste in her mouth for men. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Some of them were nice. A few of them also seemed like guys who she’d date regularly under different circumstances. It wasn’t their fault that they didn’t know they were in a race where the competition already had a head start. It’s not like she had told anyone about her feelings.
Let alone her growing feelings for...
“Holly?”
Gail stopped in her tracks as she looked at the woman standing in front of her. Doctor Holly Stewart, the forensic pathologist and all around Queen of Nerds, had been perusing the wall of vibrators. She had been reading the back of a box when Gail said her name and immediately shoved the box back on the wall and looked around. When she spotted Gail she crammed her hands in the pockets of her Senators sweatshirt and tried to look nonchalant. She obviously hadn’t wanted to be caught shopping for a new adult toy because she had her hood pulled up. But Gail would recognize Holly anywhere.
“Hey,” said Holly and she pushed her glasses up her nose and tried to sound like they had just met at work rather than in a sex shop.
“Hi.”
“Hey.”
“You said that already,” said Gail.
“I did,” said Holly with a small, nervous, smile. “Normal conversation openers like ‘what are you doing here’ popped into my head and then I realized that it’s kind of a weird question for this situation.”
“Holly, that is way too many words and way too fast,” said Gail as she moved to stand next to Holly and turned to look at the wall of fun in front of them.
“How was the Penny?” asked Holly with a laugh.
“Good. You should have come,” said Gail before it dawned on her what she said and she snorted. “Though it looks like maybe you’re having a problem doing just that.”
As Holly laughed, Gail swallowed at the knot in her throat. Even though she was drunk enough to be passed the embarrassment of the situation, she didn’t think there was a level of drunk that would stop the shiver that went down her spine as she thought about Holly orgasming. Trying to busy herself she picked up the package that Holly had been looking at.
They had only been friends for a couple of months but Gail felt closer with Holly than she did with anyone else in her life. However, when Holly kissed her at the Best wedding the amount and subject of her thoughts about Holly shifted dramatically. Gail wasn’t sure how she felt about acting on her feelings though because she knew that just because Holly was a lesbian didn’t mean she was automatically interested in Gail and she honestly wouldn’t blame her. Gail was a mess. And she had only ever been with men. She didn’t know much about lesbians but she knew that kind of thing caused contention.
“Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you wished you would just burst into flames?” asked Holly as she watched Gail. “Yesterday, I would have thought it was seeing the recording of me drunkenly singing along to Total Eclipse of the Heart at my brother’s wedding the next day.”
“Pffft,” said Gail. “This isn’t embarrassing. I mean, who doesn’t need a friend with 12 speeds and 8 different sensations? Embarrassing is a man asking if you’d like to go back to his place after you told him he reminds you of Ted Bundy.”
“Another bad date, huh?”
Gail nodded as she put the box back and picked up another one. Even though Gail’s attention was turned toward the wall in front of her she could tell that Holly was facing her. She didn’t know how she felt about being the center of attention in a sex shop. There were so many more interesting things to be looking at.
“Why do you keep agreeing to them? You’re obviously not interested.”
“It doesn’t matter to Elaine Peck if I’m interested or not,” said Gail with a shrug. “All that matters is that I show up and give them at least twenty minutes of my time.”
“That’s awful,” said Holly as she finally turned to look at the wall though Gail could feel her eyes still on her.
“Here Lunchbox, this one claims it can hit your g-spot,” said Gail. She handed the package over to Holly and wiggled her eyebrows.
“Just what I always needed,” said Holly as if she’d rather be on a rocket to the sun than standing next to Gail in a sex shop.
Even though Holly’s skin was tan, Gail could see how red her cheeks were. There was something exciting and fun about making Holly blush while talking about sex toys. It was only fair. Holly’s presence meant that Gail wasn’t going to be able to stop thinking about Holly fucking herself for a least the rest of her life. So, why shouldn’t she at least have a little fun with the situation? Hell, maybe she’d learn exactly which one Holly liked and her fantasies could at least be based on reality.
“I don’t know. The last time I had a vibrator it was just a standard piece of plastic. I mean, look at this thing.” Gail held the box up for Holly to look at. “There’s so much extra shit attached.”
Holly looked like she was about to say something before shutting up and just staring at Gail holding the toy up.
“What? Come on, I know you were about to say something about this swiss army knife of vibrators.”
Holly smiled and rolled her eyes.
“Rabbits are one of the most popular types of vibrators,” said Holly in her usual encyclopedic tone. “And that extra bit is for the clit not popping open beer bottles so I don’t think swiss army knife is an apt description.”
“Hmmm. Alright, smarty pants. So, what do you recommend?” Gail put the vibrator back and waved her hand over the wall. “You obviously know so much.”
Gail watched Holly’s face as her features gave away her confliction. She was obviously a little uncomfortable running into a friend and coworker at a sex shop but Gail knew she was also a sucker for showing off how much she knew about things. One of Gail’s favorite things to do was pick a random topic, ask Holly about it, and listen to her ramble on and on about it. She was fairly certain she could listen to Holly talk about paint drying and she’d still manage to find it interesting.
The way Holly narrowed her eyes and bit her lip set a murder of crows lose in Gail’s stomach. Butterflies would have been more gentle with their presence. Gail took the opportunity to slide her attention back to the wall.
“I’m already going to drink myself into a coma later, why not?” said Holly more to herself than Gail. “Alright, Gail, what do you like more: clitoral stimulation or penetration?”
Gail snorted.
“Why do you make it sound so official?”
Holly just looked at Gail, waiting for an answer.
“Okay, okay,” said Gail as she rolled her eyes. “I never really think about it. Let’s go with the clit since penetration is getting me nowhere.”
Gail said that last part to herself but she knew Holly heard because of the way her eyebrows raised. After a second thought she was looking at the wall. Then Holly reached up for a small toy near the top of the merchandise wall and held it out for Gail to take.
“I had one in college,” said Holly. “Waterproof, lasts long, and isn’t loud. Enjoy.”
Reaching out, Gail made the split-second decision to overshoot her grab and slide her fingers along Holly’s hand as she took the plastic packaging from her. She could have sworn she heard Holly sigh but she had been looking down at the toy and wasn’t sure. Gail wasn’t really looking at the toy though. Her thoughts were elsewhere.
“So, what’s your poison then?”
“What?”
“What do you like?” asked Gail before looking up and meeting Holly’s gaze. “Clitoral stimulation or penetration?”
Gail actually saw Holly swallow before the one corner of her lips curled up into that beautiful crooked smile that Gail loved.
“Both.”
There was something jarring about the feeling of a heartbeat stopping abruptly and for a fraction of a second Gail was fairly certain she had died. Then she was brought back to life through the power of disappointment when she heard Dov calling her name.
“Gail!” Dov called out from across the store. “Gail, Chris is trying to buy some weird shit. We gotta go.”
“Well, doctor it’s been fun. I’ve got to get two drunken idiots home now before I end up with an apartment full of fetish porn,” said Gail as if her heart hadn’t just been firmly planted in her throat and strangling her.
“That sounds like it could lead to a sticky predicament,” said Holly and Gail groaned at the pun.
Then Gail looked down at the package in her hand and shrugged. Nothing wrong with trying new things. She looked up at Holly, who was still watching her, and wiggled her eyebrows.
“At least I have something to look forward to when I get home,” said Gail as she headed toward the cashier.
As Gail was on her way out the door to meet Dov and Chris who were standing just outside, she glanced over at Holly who was looking at the wall until Gail passed.
“Enjoy your night, officer,” said Holly.
“Thanks for the help,” said Gail as she waved her bag.
Holly just smirked and ran her eyes over Gail before turning back to the wall of toys. As she left the store and dodged questions about what she bought by shoving the toy in her jacket pocket before they saw the bag, Gail couldn’t stop thinking about Holly. The doctor might have helped her pick something out but she could think of a thousand different ways she’d prefer for Holly to help and about ninety percent of them involved her mouth, not vibrating plastic. However, she had to admit she was pretty excited about trying it out.