International Monopoly

Chapter 8:
Lucy and Carlos hung out with the English couple at their favorite café. They crowded around a small table near the window. They drank too much coffee and played Monopoly for hours on that lazy Sunday.

Emma felt irritated with Andy for dominating the game. "No! How cruel! You can't buy my hotel! It's the only property I still have left after you stole all my other real estate."

Emma punched Andy in the arm. He grimaced, but was not deterred from the macho battle of winning at a board game.

"Ha! I just bought your pathetic hotel and now I'm king of the forest!"

Lucy looked pensively at the board. "Wow, now we're all homeless and Andy's serfs."

Carlos sipped his coffee and leaned back in his chair. He examined all the properties on the board and shrugged. "I don't like this game."

Lucy giggled and kissed Carlos. "You might have liked it if Andy wasn't so greedy."

Andy smirked at Lucy and then he collective his Monopoly money from the board. "Capitalism is the name of the game. I thought that you Americans like that sort of thing."

Lucy reminded Andy, "I'm Japanese."

"Ah, same deal, no?"

Emma glared at Andy. She wondered why he was behaving so badly. She turned to the others. "Hey, Ice Cream is playing down the street tomorrow tonight. Does anyone want to go?"

Carlos cleared the empty cups from the table. "Who's Ice Cream?"

Emma beamed, "Lucy's favorite band. I'm shocked that you don't know that."

"I thought her favorite band was Perez Prado."

Emma giggled while Lucy covered her face with her hands. "No, Carlos, that's your favorite band. I enjoy dancing to Cuban music, but I prefer Ice Cream and the Sugar Bums."

Carlos snickered, "Who are the Sugar Bums?"

Lucy shook her head and giggled. "Didn't we meet at a rock music club?"

"No, I met you in a phone booth."

Emma leaned forward. "Do tell. I don't know this version of the story."

Andy added, "And don't leave out any of the steamy details."

A case of shyness overtook Lucy. She bowed her head and blushed. "I prefer not to."

Carlos nudged his reluctant girlfriend. "Come on, Lucy."

Lucy rose from her chair and she sauntered to the back of the café. After she left the table, Emma and Andy leaned forward in anticipation. "Well?"

Carlos realized he was now the center of attention, but did he really want to embarrass Lucy again? "I won't say anything."

Emma nudged Carlos. "I'm curious to how you met in a phone booth."

Andy chipped in, "I’m assuming sex was involved, otherwise Lucy wouldn't have felt so uncomfortable."

Carlos fiddled with pieces on the board. "She would kill me if I embarrassed her again."

Andy laughed, "Aha, so there was sex involved."

Emma wondered out loud, "But how good is phone booth sex?"

Carlos placed the pieces and the board back in the box. He took the box to the back of the café. He bumped into Lucy and tried to hide his sheepish grin. She covered her face with her hands.

"You told them!"

Carlos reached out to Lucy, she shrugged him off. "No, they figured it out on their own besides, they were going to find out sooner or later."

"Yes, but I prefer later."

They sauntered back to the table and noticed that their friends were zipping up their parkas. Emma glanced at Lucy. "So, are we on for tomorrow tonight?"

Lucy looked sheepishly at her friends. "I don't know. I have to think about it. I saw Ice Cream play last week so…"

Lucy decided that she wanted to spend the rest of the day alone wandering through the leaf covered streets. She had enough of Andy and Emma's constant teasing. If only they knew that she could not stand it when they teased her, especially about private matters such as sex. But then she did involve herself in a public act, engaging in sex in a phone booth. What made her do that? Part of her was rife for adventure and another part of her just wanted to hide somewhere away from the crowd.

She strode by her favorite music shop and she saw that the blue Telecaster was still in the window. What could that mean? Was it waiting for her to buy it? Oh, but she did not know how to play guitar and what would Carlos have said about that? He already thought she was too unconventional.

She entered the shop and ambled past a row of Fender guitars. She picked up the blue Telecaster and she strummed it. She felt it would be cool to play guitar in a band. She noticed that the bands around town weren't good musicians and people loved them anyway. And at least Lucy had music lessons as a child, but…

The salesman approached Lucy. She blushed and put the guitar back on its rack. She rushed out of the store, thinking she should have never been there in the first place.

Lucy and Carlos decided to go to Ice Cream's show. Lucy did not mind seeing her friends again and Carlos was curious to the type of music his girlfriend adored. Although he thought it would not be very good. They saw their friends hanging out by the lip of the stage and staring up at what could only be called a loud spectacle. The singer, a boyish man of say, between twenty-five and thirty years of age, skipped around stage and sang off key. The guitarist and organ player weren't bad though, but Carlos thought the singer could use some training. At least he appeared to enjoy what he was doing even if it was grating on Carlos' nerves.

Carlos snarled and shook his head in frustration. He could not believe he paid good money to watch an over-grown five year old sing childish tunes. "What the hell is this? The singer can't even sing in tune. No comprendo! And he looks like a real idiot."

Lucy ignored her partner's diatribe and grinned fondly at the band.

Emma shouted over the singer and guitar feedback. "This is alternative rock. They don't need to sing in tune and people still like it."

Andy also shouted over the noise, "The point is that these bands don't need a big label deal because they do it all for themselves."

Carlos mumbled, "I can see why the labels stay away from them."

Lucy and Natalie visited the ladies room.

Lucy yelled to Natalie from her stall while Natalie checked her make-up in the mirror.

"So, Nat thanks for coming to the show tonight."

Natalie shouted back. "I'm surprised that you and Carlos are still speaking to one another. And I wonder how you got him to come to see this band."

"I'm glad that we're no longer fighting too, but I can't commit to him."

Lucy squeezed out of the stall and she washed her hands. She studied her reflection in the mirror. Lucy wondered if she should have told Natalie about Belinda again. Her psychology major friend was so stuffy about alternative lifestyles and she did not treat Lucy’s sexuality seriously. Yet, she needed to confide in someone. Perhaps Natalie would talk some sense into her. After all, Natalie knew a lot about human sexuality, at least more than Lucy.

Natalie stared at Lucy's reflection. "Have you met someone else?"

"No, but I keep seeing Belinda around.”

The two women had discussed Lucy’s crush on the riot girl previously, but it was not something Natalie took seriously. She considered that Lucy was just acting out because she had seen so many hip lesbians on campus. Surely she would not have been exposed to this lifestyle nor riot girls in Japan so it must have seemed novel.

"Are you really interested in women?"

“I'm not sure that it is about sex, but I like her."

"Why?"

"She leads a rock band. And she plays guitar. I think she's cool."

Natalie glanced at her friend who was now appearing in a different light. "So you're looking for an adventure."

Lucy frowned not knowing what to think. Natalie had said the words that she wanted to hear, but the words felt empty and false. Why on earth was she attracted to Belinda? Lots of women played guitar and lots of women led rock bands so why was she so hot?

The two women joined the others at the front of the stage. Lucy spied Belinda entering the club. The rock Venus stood in a distance, aloof staring at the band. She appeared passionless and too nonchalant for someone whose favorite band was performing on stage. Lucy did not mind and her heart felt like it would crash into her intestines. She suddenly felt a wave of love sickness that she had never felt with Carlos.

Carlos turned to Lucy. "I don't like this band. I'm going home. Are you staying?"

Lucy yawned. "No, I want to go home too. I don't feel well."

Lucy tapped Emma on the shoulder and mouthed words to her. Emma frowned. Lucy turned to leave with Carlos, but then she caught a glimpse of Belinda heading to the ladies room. She froze. She knew that she needed to act quickly or miss an opportunity.

Carlos tugged on Lucy's coat sleeve. "Hey, let go!"

"Come on, let's go."

Belinda disappeared behind the ladies room door. Lucy shuddered. "Wait, I have to go pee."

Carlos shook his head in disgust. "Man, you should do something about your bladder problem. Didn't I tell you to cut down on coffee?"

Lucy bolted to the ladies room, but she could not get past the door so she waited outside pacing back and forth like a total fool. She recited a speech.

"Belinda, you don't know me, but…"

Belinda glided past Lucy like an apparition. Lucy collapsed onto herself and she chastised her missed opportunity.

"Good job, smooth."

Carlos approached Lucy. "Are you ready yet? I cannot stand another minute of this noise."

She nodded her head then the couple exited the club.

Meanwhile, Julia and Mark lounged on a couch near the stage watching the band pack up their gear. They chatted quietly and waited for their ears to stop ringing. Mark realized his days were numbered as far as enjoying alternative rock. He had already grown bored with Ice Cream and similar bands, not that he ever was interested in the first place. When he gazed into Julia's eyes, he saw mortgage and children. He had never felt so domestic before and found he did not mind feeling like an adult.

Julia caressed Mark's shoulder. "So, have you told Lucy yet?"

Mark shook his head. He ran his fingers through his hair and he felt tension starting to build in his body. Why did Julia mention Lucy?

"I haven't had a chance and it's not as easy as I originally thought."

Julia couldn't believe that Mark had not told his housemates that he was moving out. How hard could that be? He was never at the apartment anyway and would be used to pay a third of the rent. His apartment mates would cover the rent without him. After all, they were both gainfully employed so what was holding Mark up? Was it true that he was attracted to Lucy? And if that was true, then what was she doing with him?

"When are you going to tell them?"

Mark wished Julia would drop the subject. Couldn't the woman just mellow out and enjoy herself? Why did she need to bring up a touchy subject when they were just having such a good time?

"I will tell them this weekend. I promise."

Julia wondered why Mark was so tense. She only asked him a simple question and about something she needed to know. "Do you still want to move in with me?"

Mark grabbed Julia's hand. "Of course."

Lucy's friends held a council near the empty stage. Andy felt as empty as the stage and he did not like hanging out in clubs long after the music had ended. In fact it was one of the things that depressed him the most, like the circus leaving town. He felt testy and wanted to go home, but Emma liked to hang onto everything to the last minute as if she was savoring every moment, for what, he hadn't a clue.

He turned to Emma. "I'd like to go home now. I have to rise early tomorrow and write this review."

Emma glanced at Natalie, "Are you staying?"

Natalie frowned. “No, I would like to call it an evening. She wanted to test out the probability of Lucy being a lesbian. "I had a very strange conversation with her."

Andy sighed, "So, what's new? Lucy is a strange one."

Emma leaned towards Natalie. "What about?"

Natalie wrestled with her conscience. Should she tell the English couple about Lucy's dilemma? Natalie did not wish to carry that burden alone and Lucy’s intent for Belinda seemed more real than ever.

She decided to pry her tongue loose. Loose tongues sank friendships, but the way things were going, surely a friendship with Lucy was ending. After all, Natalie had her heart set on Carlos and she was not too fond of lesbians. They seemed immature as if they were constantly fighting off father figures or at least that was how Natalie saw them.

"Has she ever mentioned being bi?"

Emma and Andy shook their heads. "Not to us. Why are you asking us such a question?"

"Well, it's really strange because she's hung up on a woman that she has seen around town. She's suddenly obsessed with the riot girls revolution and women-lead rock bands."

Emma frowned. She felt disappointed that Lucy confided all of the good stuff to Natalie. Why had not she told her about any of this riot girl stuff? Sure, she saw Lucy getting interested in alternative rock lifestyles which could lead to an interest in women rock musicians. It seemed like the Japanese thing to do as far as Emma knew.

"She hasn't told me anything and we've never talked about riot girls."

Natalie regretted confiding Lucy's secret. She had really blown it. "I should keep my trap shut."

Andy felt rather anxious to leave the club. He zipped his parka and gestured to Emma.

Emma took Andy's hint and she whispered to Natalie. "I'll ring you tomorrow."

Andy hoped they would not talk all night. He felt tired of hearing about Lucy's antics and certainly he didn't want to spend his time listening to women gossiping. "Yes, you do that."

Emma wondered about her partner's impatience and why he did not show an interest in Lucy’s little surprise. Emma felt intrigued with her friend's new image. Who would have thought of Lucy in that light?