Angela's Present

Still, there was a bit of an edge now to their relationship, but it wasn't really because of any residual awkwardness over the kiss. No, it was more due to the fact that more Zoey thought about it, the more she realized just how much she enjoyed having Angela in her life the more she began to realize just how silly her thinking had been about the whole incident. Not just the incident, though, but about the whole damn thing, the way she viewed their friendship, they way she seemed unable to let go of her preconceptions and all the rest of it.

Honestly, the more she thought about everything the dumber she felt, and, even worse, she began to think that she may have passed up something that could've been great. Sure, Angela didn't seem to think so. She even started making jokes about it and still kept right on with the flirting touches and playful teasing plainly letting Zoey know that she was more than willing and that she knew Zoey was as well. It was definitely not what they'd agreed to, but, again, Zoey was really starting to not care about her age and other silly issues.

Once again, however, doubts and other silliness won the day. This time though it was more out of embarrassment than anything else. She just felt so dumb for denying the feelings that both of them were sharply aware of that she just couldn't bring herself to come out and admit to Angela that she had finally realized her mistake. It was stupid, but Zoey was so used to disappointment that it almost seemed like she invited it in. Luckily for her this time would be different.

Of course, at the time she didn't know that and even if she had there wouldn't have been much she could have (or would have, really) done about it. Her life was just way too busy. Work was pure hell all week long thanks to another one of the younger girls quitting and being replaced by a girl who was so slow, so dumb and so overall annoying that Zoey found herself wanting to strangle her after about an hour after she started. She eventually got better, but frankly Zoey didn't care. She was just getting sick of training a bunch of idiotic girls who couldn't pour a cup of coffee properly just because her boss thought they were cute. She thought he would've learned his lesson by now, but no. He kept right on hiring pretty, stupid girls that were so bad at their jobs that most of them didn't even last a month.

Her daughter had also been sick for most of her week with her. In fact, she'd been so sick that Zoey's babysitter simply refused to take her because she didn't want any of her other children getting sick. It was a good reason and Zoey really couldn't argue with it at all, but it still pissed her off. Sure, Angela was happy to watch Jennifer when she could, but since they were still technically shorthanded at work that meant even she was working a couple of extra shifts.

Luckily Jennifer's stepmother was always an option, but Zoey seriously hated bothering her. Not out of any residual bitterness or any thing like that. No, it was just that Derrick and Melanie lived in the middle of nowhere and Melanie was down and out with a bad back. Zoey simply couldn't ask her to come pick Jennifer up at six in the morning. She would have asked Derrick, but at the time he was working twelve hour shifts at the plant that started at about an hour before she had to be to work herself. Basically that meant that Zoey had to wake up an hour earlier than she wanted to all week as well as waking up her poor, sick little baby girl an hour before she needed to be up as well. Still, it was better than not going to work at all, so that's what she did.

The topper, however, was the fact that Zoey's big plans for her birthday had gone to shit once the new schedule was up and Zoey and Angela learned that there would be no weekend at the casino after all. Oh, Zoey got her weekend off without a problem, but Angela hadn't been so lucky. She didn't even get one extra day off. Oh, Connie did even though she had no special plans and hadn't even put in for the time off until a day before the schedule came out, but not Angela. Sadly, there was a good reason for it that Zoey couldn't even be mad about: Angela didn't get that weekend off because she (and Zoey as well) were going to get the next weekend off. Why? Because she'd asked for it off over a month before so she and Zoey could go to a concert together. A concert that Angela had been excited about almost as soon as she'd read about it on the internet.

Still, Zoey, wanted nothing more than to be allowed to be pissed about it all, but, she couldn't. Honestly, she realized that even though she had earned her right to occasionally get some good, choice time off Angela hadn't. Besides, the weekend at the casino had been a spur of the moment kind of thing unlike the concert which Angela had been talking about two months before she even bought the tickets. Hell, as far as their boss was concerned he was doing the best he could with what he had.

Still, she was a more than a tad frustrated and Angela quickly took note of it and even apologized for it multiple times until Zoey took pity on her once they were hanging out in her living room after putting Jennifer to bed and told her to shut up. After all, it wasn't like it was a big deal. They could still hang out on her birthday they just wouldn't be able to blow a bunch of money at the casino and get drunk and flirt with waitresses while testing out Angela's new fake ID. Zoey even smiled as she said it, but Angela wasn't fooled. She knew Zoey was bummed and she promised Zoey that she'd make sure she had the best birthday ever. Zoey just smiled and said "It's really okay. Don't worry about it. Just don't let me whine about getting old and everything will be cool."

"Dude, don't worry. I'm seriously going to make sure this will be the best thirty first birthday anyone as ever had in the history of the universe. Swear to god," Angela with an odd look in her eye that Zoey instantly took note of.

"What are you planning?" Zoey said after examining her friend's odd expression for several seconds with narrowed eyes.

"Can't tell you. It's a surprise. Trust me though, you won't be whining about anything." Angela said still smiling evilly until she managed to change the subject to the new waitress at work. Zoey noticed this, too, but didn't say anything until Angela was leaving an hour later when she again asked her what she was planning. This time Angela only pretended to zip her lip shut and throw away the key while Zoey shook her head and rolled her eyes before hugging her good-bye.

The next couple of days were more of the same with Angela teasing Zoey about how she was going to make this Zoey's best birthday ever when they weren't busy talking shit behind the back of the new girl (who was begin to regress pathetically even after she had just started to show some promise) just so they wouldn't have to say it to her face. Even after work on Thursday when Derrick came to pick up Jennifer a few days earlier than usual since she was pretty much all better and he was, after a month of twelve hour days, six days a week, at last getting his week off for a trip he'd been wanting to go on for months now and Zoey finally felt free to smoke without shame Angela refused to give any details. Even when she was so stoned she could be barely doing anything but laugh at some cartoon that Zoey didn't even know the name of she remained cagey.

It wouldn't be until Friday night, the night of her birthday and the first night where she didn't have to go bed early in a week, that Zoey would finally learned what Angela had been planning, but at the time she wasn't even thinking about it. No, she was more worried about how shitty her day at work had gone in Angela's absence. Shitty wasn't even the right word for it. It had been absolutely terrible as Angela learned after she got out of class and met up with Zoey at her apartment only to find her in a terrible mood a full hour after getting out of work.

Apparently it was just a normal bad day, really. At least it would've been if Zoey wasn't still dragging along the dead weight that was the new girl. The new girl who was supposed to trying to get by on her own. The new girl who was supposed to be able to handle her incredibly small selection of tables without constantly bothering Zoey with her much larger collection of tables full of impatient customers who wanted their food and wanted it five minutes before they walked in the door and who had no problem stiffing her on the tip if her smile wasn't bright enough, if her voice didn't sound cheery enough, if she didn't refill their drinks just the right amount of times to suit their individual taste and who did just that all day long. Not all of them, but enough them showed their frustration in Zoey's work that by the end of the day, a day which she usually earned at least one hundred dollars in tips if not much more, she had a mere forty five bucks to show for her sore feet and back.

That was it. Nothing terrible, nothing earth shattering or soul crushing. No, just a shitty, unrewarding day at work. Even as she told Angela the story of her day Zoey felt as if she was whining about nothing and she admitted it and Angela politely agreed much to her visible chagrin. Of course, Angela then punched her gently in the arm for giving her a dirty look and called Zoey a whiner before she got to business.

"You know what you need?" Angela said as she sat up on the couch where she'd been slouching with her melancholy friend and made to open her backpack.

"A good hard fucking and a nice fat joint?" Zoey came back absent mindedly as she started to relax. Even though Angela gave her a lot of shit at times just being around her made Zoey feel a hundred times better. She wasn't even thinking about her friends promise to make sure she had the best birthday imaginable. She was just glad that she was there to keep her company.

"Well, yeah, but maybe later on the fucking," Angela said in her usual flippant manner as she unzipped her backpack and then added before Zoey could react, "Why don't we just see how the joint goes and then we'll work on that." And with that she pulled out a Ziploc baggy stuffed full of some the most beautiful weed Zoey had ever seen. It was so beautiful that she could actual feel all her troubles melting away as Angela, still holding the bag up at eye level, let it fall in Zoey's lap and said "Happy birthday!" in a loud, sing-songy voice.

Zoey was stunned. She may not have smoked as much as she had when she was Angela's age, but she knew enough to know that this was quite a present. There was good chance that the weed cost Angela at least a hundred bucks (and quite possible a good deal more) because it was not your garden variety smoke. This was what back in she was young she would've been called kine bud. She was so stunned that she just had ask how much it cost even though she knew full well how rude that was.

"Tsk, tsk," came Angela's teasing response. "I'm not going to tell you that. Besides, don't worry about it. I totally intend to smoke as much of this with you as possible, so it barely counts as a gift anyway."

"Oh my god," Zoey said, still way too excited over the unexpected gift, as she hugged her young friend tightly and was pleased to feel the hug returned in kind. "You are so fucking awesome. It's like you're psychic."

"I know, right?" Angela came back as the hug ended and then she added "So... you got wraps or what?" When Angela said that Zoey went into action, but instead of getting rolling papers she put the baggy on the coffee table and almost ran to her hall closet where she dug out a box that was tucked way in the back under some sleeping bags. Angela was giving her a funny look until Zoey opened the box and pulled out something that she hadn't used in years: a beautiful and very expensive glass bong that brought a gasp from her friend followed by "You bitch! How come you never told me you had that?"

"Because," Zoey said as she headed to the kitchen and began filling the bong with water, "This only comes out when I have something good to smoke and, frankly, the shit we've been getting lately just hasn't been good enough to risk having this out. Hell, some times I don't even know why I still have it."

"Okay then hurry up," Angela said as she grabbed the baggy and began ripping off chunks from a rather large bud in preparation which she then stuffed into the bowl piece once Zoey rejoined her on the couch. What followed was several hours of giggling, laughing and relaxing conversation as Angela and Zoey got absolutely and completely bombed. So bombed that Zoey completely forgot about all her problems and the shitty way her day had gone as the two of them just chilled out on the couch and pretended to watch several movies that were forgotten almost as soon as they went in.

It was really kind of a lazy way to spend a birthday, but Zoey didn't care. It was just what she needed. Just a nice relaxing night at home away from the pressures and stresses of her life. They'd both even put on their jammies by eight o'clock once they realized there was no way in hell they were going anywhere. Honestly, she would have been happy if that's all that was destined to happen that night. It wasn't, though. No, Angela's promise wasn't even half way to being fulfilled.

Not that Zoey knew that. As far as she was concerned this low key little sleepover was the perfect birthday present she'd been promised. Sure, in a lot of ways it wasn't, but it was great to be able to just zone out and forget her cares for awhile. Really, though, those much more to come and it was simply destined to get better in ways that Zoey just couldn't allow herself to imagine.

It took awhile, though, because the weed really was quite good. From six in the evening when they started smoking to about ten at night they'd really barely smoked anything, but they were both extremely stoned. So stoned that Zoey was actually beginning to nod off on the couch despite the fact that she usually stayed up until at least two in the morning when she had the weekend off from work and being a mother. She didn't really care though. That just wasn't possible. She was just way too stoned for that.

Luckily, she had Angela there to keep her conscious as she found out only seconds after she'd started to nod off when she awoke with a start at the sensation of something tickling her feet. Not that she knew what was going on right away. No, for a moment she had no idea what was happening and was actually planning on ignoring whatever woke her up and go back to sleep when it happened again just as she was starting to doze off once more. This time she almost squirmed her way off the couch before catching herself by putting her hand on the floor as Angela try to hold in a laugh.

"Stop tickling me!" Zoey said grumpily once she realized what was going on and made to lie back down. Angela said nothing, but a moment later when Zoey had finally relaxed again Angela's fingers once again found their way to Zoey's feet to teasingly tickle them. This time, however, Zoey was prepared and kicked at the hand sleepily while repeating "Stop tickling me, damn it."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Angela said in a badly faked approximation of bemused confusion and then, of course, she did it again and laughed loudly when Zoey threw a pillow at her and missed completely.

"You are such a bitch," Zoey said as she rolled onto her back and look at her still giggling young friend. "Why can't you just you let me sleep?"

"Duh," Angela replied as she slapped at Zoey's feet playfully and then continued, "Because it's not even eleven o'clock, you jerk. I'm not even tired. Besides, it's your birthday. You aren't allowed to go to bed early on your birthday. Only old people do that."

"Well, I am old and I, unlike you, actually worked today. My feet hurt, my back hurts, I slept for crap last night and thanks to you I'm stoned, so fuck off and let me sleep."

"Ahh, poor baby," Angela said teasingly and then tickled Zoey's foot again and laughed when Zoey kicked her. "Pfft, if your feet hurt you wouldn't be kicking me, you cry baby."

"Oh, shut up. I'm kicking you because my feet hurt and because you keep tickling them."

"I can't help it. They're too cute." Angela responded and then, of course, she tickled Zoey once again.

"Stop it! God, if you're going to touch them you could at least be nice and give me a foot rub or something," Zoey said teasingly, but Angela didn't seem to notice her tone.

"Okay, but only if you promise not to go to sleep again. If you do I'll bite your toes off." Angela said as she turned on the couch and looked semi-serious for a moment.

"I'll go to sleep if I want to," Zoey said still playing around only to have Angela ignore her as she shifted her body so she could put Zoey's feet in her lap. Zoey thought she was still playing so she pulled her feet away once Angela reached out to put one on her lap. For that she received a stern look from her young friend who then reached out and grabbed the foot she'd been tickling and urged Zoey to let her bring it to her lap. "You're serious?"

"Uh, yeah," Angela said mockingly as Zoey began to relax and let Angela get to work. Then Zoey really began to relax as she quickly discovered that Angela had an experts touch when it came to foot massages. Soon she was sighing as a feeling of complete relaxation began to flow from her feet to her brain. She was so at ease that she could actually feel herself beginning to drift off into sleep again even as she felt her foot being raised ever so slightly and then she was suddenly awake again as she felt Angela's teeth sink into her little toe with just enough pressure that Zoey was startled back into consciousness with a shocked grunt as Angela laughed at her before saying in that teasing, little sing song voice "I warned you."

"You're so mean," Zoey said in a dreamy voice as Angela got back to work almost immediately. Seconds later she was singing a different tune as she said quietly "Where did you learn to do that?"

"Like it?" Angela said with a prideful smile tattooed on her face.

"I fucking love it," Zoey replied truthfully.

"Marcy loved it, too," Angela said quietly referring to the one girl that Angela had ever really had anything of relationship with. A two month relationship that ended when Marcy went back to her boyfriend, but it was a relationship nonetheless and it was more of a relationship than anything Zoey had had recently. "I used to do this for her to get her in the mood. Worked every time."

"I can see why," Zoey said absent mindedly trying to ignore the seductive quality in Angela's voice. It was hard. Angela's fingers were working wonders on the nerve endings of her feet.

"Good," Angela said in a way that made Zoey look at her a little oddly. This was all starting to sound very familiar. This was very much how their drunken make out session began. Oddly, though, while Zoey was definitely starting to feel a little nervous there was hardly any fear in her mind. No, the nervousness she was feeling at that moment was more about anticipation than fear. Secretly she was actually hoping that this was going where she thought it might be going as Angela continued "If you like this you should let me give you a back rub. I totally rock at those."

"Maybe later," Zoey said, still trying to ignore the seductive quality that was now apparent in Angela's tone and so much more. It was becoming harder by the second as the younger women's soft, but firm touch was sending some very erotic signals to her smoke clouded mind. For a moment the fear started to come back. A part of her was beginning to get worried, but it was small part of her that, though hard to keep complete silent, was also very hard to hear. It was really barely a whisper that easily drowned out by her anticipation. It was so weak that even as it started to gain a little strength her body just accepted Angela's wonderful touch and enjoyed every gentle caress without a worry until she began to feel herself again drifting off despite herself and once again she felt her foot being lifted to Angela's mouth.