Poison

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters created originally by Chris Angel and are copyrighted to him, any reposting or archiving without written permission is an infringement on the copyright of this series. So in other words You damn well better ask before you steal it.

Feedback: Every author in his or her own way makes it a point to ask for feedback when posting a story, well me I don't usually. But there are several reasons as to why a reader should consider taking the time to give it. The simple fact is that giving some form of feedback is truly the most important thing a reader can do after reading and enjoying a story. Hopefully in the process providing that author with at least one viable reason as to what you liked about the story. This small amount of time spent will no doubt inspire the author to write more and possibly at a quicker pace, knowing that they have a fan base who are waiting on their next works. So thanks for the feedback and please keep it comin.

Summary: From writer/producer Chris Angel comes this intoxicating tale of lesbian lust and...love? Poison.

Original Airdate: Tuesday June 10, 2009 @ 8:00 p.m.
(followed by an ALL NEW Poison')

Story Codes: no sex

"Our first date?"

Lisa pondered. Had she heard what her stupid ears thought they did? A date? While the idea flooded into her mind the extremely beautiful way Dani was dressed suddenly made more sense. Then she looked at herself again. She was so... blah! Her blonde hair was all frizzy and unkempt, she was all cuddled up in pajamas, her toes were wiggling inside her pink slippers... and Lisa lined that all up with how Dani looked. There was no comparison.

"Yeah," Dani grinned. "I was thinking about last night... at Michael's house, and... I hate the idea that you've never been on a real date, you know? We're a couple now and the buck stops with me so I wanna make it right."

"Dani, look at me..." Lisa awkwardly combed her fingers through her hair. "I'm a mess...!"

The older girl shrugged. "I can wait."

Her saying that reminded Lisa where they were: outside on her stoop. After ducking her head through the frame to see if anyone else was around (she even took a quick peak across the street at Nicole's house) Lisa gestured for Dani to come in. There was a pashmina around her shoulders that Lisa didn't notice before. When Dani was inside she took it off inside she hung it off the Whitfield family coat rack.

"Dani, you don't have to do this. I'm okay about it."

Dani wrapped Lisa up in her arms. "Yeah, well, I'm not. I know you don't get it, Lisa, but you're so special. There's no one I've met like you. I'm not gonna let you down again. And do you know how that starts? It starts with me acting like a real girlfriend and taking you away for a night."

Lisa smiled so hard she had to bit her lip to keep from looking like a dork. She couldn't help it. It made her heart ache longingly hearing Dani speak like this, so sweetly. There was no way she'd question it anymore. A night alone and a night with Dani was never going to be a toss up.

"I don't know what to wear," Lisa admitted. "I'm not big on wardrobe."

"Like I said, I can wait."

For an instance Lisa wondered why Dani wouldn't just come upstairs with her but she quickly remembered that barrier she'd put up between Miss Cooper and her room the last time she was here. Lisa's room was her room. It wasn't just a collection of objects in a unit of space to. It was her personal chamber, a tiny little byte of this huge world of data that belonged to no one but Lisa Whitfield. It was where she'd spent so many hours crying over herself and Dani, where she crafted her written work and built her way toward the Ivy League, where she slept and ate and lived and breathed as she chose. It didn't feel right to keep Dani from it anymore. So in the spirit of things, Lisa slipped her small hand into Dani's, gave her a dazzling smile, and lead her date upstairs to her quiet bedroom. Her PC was on its screensaver. The TV was off. There a few stray report sheets for school strewn about the floor and her desk but it wasn't at all messy.

"So..." Dani folded her dress underneath her legs and sat herself on Lisa's bed. "This is your room, huh?"

"Pretty boring, right?"

"Understated," corrected Dani. She shivered when something furry rubbed up against her ankle. "Whoa! What the hell was that?"

"What the hell was what?" Asked Lisa.

Dani climbed off the bed and bent down inquisitively. Both her hands and head disappeared underneath the wood and metal of her bed before coming back with little Koenig in them. The Italian girl cradled the cat in her arms, gushing.

"I didn't know you had a kitten. Let's see," Dani turned over the medallion dangling from the pet's collar. "...your name's Koenig, huh? Hello, cutie..! I'm gonna steal your owner for a few hours. You don't mind, do you?"

Lisa smiled. Another thing she didn't know about Dani; she was surprisingly good with animals. "Looks like someone made a new friend."

"Is it a boy or girl?"

"Can't you just check?" Asked Lisa.

"...I could, but I don't normally make a habit of searching animals for crotch spikes."

A sigh. "He's a boy."

That made Dani chuckle.

"What?" Wondered Lisa.

"You're the last person I'd expect to find sharing a room with a guy."

The blonde rolled her blue eyes at that and strode off to her closet. While Dani played with Koenig she sorted through her wardrobe to find something suitable. Nothing popped out as good. Lisa glanced over her shoulder at what Dani was wearing. She didn't just look mouth-wateringly sexy in it, she looked astoundingly elegant. Clearly they weren't going anywhere that suggested a casual dress code. The closest thing Lisa had to that was a strapless lavender evening dress her Mom gave her the money for last year. Lisa bought it from Bloomingdale's online with a steep $450 price tag. It was for an impromptu fundraiser her parents were invited to and they made a point of bringing her along with them. It was the best piece of clothing she owned but it was so damn expensive... if she ripped or stained it and her Mom found out...

Lisa sighed.

"What's up?" Asked Dani, setting Koenig down.

"I have nothing to wear," she complained. "My clothes are just... ugh."

"Lisa, I'm not Jimmy Carter. You don't need to bust out the good china for me."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. As long as you're comfortable."

Well at least that was one less thing to worry about. The studious teen exhaled once more then began the search again, this time with lower standards. In a few moments she found an outfit that... kinda worked; a fluffy snowflake blouse and a denim mid-thigh jeans skirt. She found a headband and a pair shoes to go with it. While it still seemed dorky in comparison to Dani's dress Lisa figured their clothes would clash less if one of them wore a jacket. So she planned on taking one of those too.

Lisa was just about to change when she remembered who was in the room with her. Her cheeks flushed red as a tomato just thinking about it -- Dani seeing her naked. Strange thing was Dani had seen it all before. Every freckle, every curve, every dimple and every pucker. It seemed different now though. As comfortable as they were around each other it was like they'd hit some kind of reset button and they felt new to each other -- or at least that was how Lisa felt.

"I need to get changed," hinted Lisa.

"Don't I get a peep?"

"No, you don't."

"I could close my eyes," She did just that. A wide, lusty grin slowly tugged at the corner of her lips and curled up. With her eyes shut tight a grinning Dani purred sultrily, "Oh wow..."

Lisa stared at her. "...What is it?"

"Well I've seen you in the nudie-nude before so all I have to do is close my eyes and... there you are. Every little bit of you... mmm! Makes a girl wanna-" She was stopped in her tracks when Lisa shoved one of the pillows in her face.

"I'll change in the bathroom," said the studious one.

She didn't take long. When she came back she was fully dressed and waited bashfully in the doorway for Dani's approval. Of course she more than approved. Lisa could tell just by gazing into Dani's widened eyes and her appreciating smile. She knew she looked okay. Just about good enough to stand side by side with Danielle Cooper -- who God knows has never had any trouble pulling off beautiful.

Lisa grabbed her keys, cell and wallet. "Should we go?"

"Yeah. Lets."

It was reassuring in someway that Dani's eyes never her on the way down to her car. She locked up and followed her girlfriend to her ride where she climbed in and buckled up. When they drove off Lisa paused to wonder where Dani would take her. She hadn't asked all evening. The funny thing was that they didn't share many interests -- nor had that spoken much about them. That was why she was absolutely stunned when fifteen minutes later Dani's car pulled up in the car pool of a sprawling arts centre. It reminded her of an article she'd read online about a new exhibit cataloguing replicate Byzantium-style gold and ceramic works.

"What are we doing here?"

Dani put it in park. "I know you like art. You don't talk much about it, but... I know you like art. I wanted to do something special too, so... here we are. Is this okay? If you're not interested we can always go somewhere el-"

Lisa silenced her with a tender kiss.

"It's perfect," she whispered. "Thank you."

"...No problem."

No matter what theme or ideas you drew from the term 'Art' you likely had a specific taste for it or not. You either knew the academic culture, snobbery, champagne parties, unveilings and theory behind it or you didn't. Dani didn't. She never would. It was just that the very idea of Dani putting her own interests aside for Lisa's sake... something about that moved Lisa. It made her heart throb pensively in her chest for this girl. Without even thinking to do so Lisa reached for Dani's hand (gripped to the stick shift) and held it softly with just a casual stroke of her thumb. They exchanged joyful glances and smiles on their way.

The exhibit was amazing. It was basically the progeny of a group of art historians who got together to create a collection of pseudo-relics and put them on display as a kind of museum exhibition. They crafted pots, shaped golden jewellery, forged swords and wove tapestries; all of which were then beaten, cracked, withered and abused to simulate the process of aging. Everyone who came to see the 'exhibit' were lead through a linear corridor delimited by numerous pieces of this artwork by a sort of tour guide. The exhibit itself was the actual piece, though, in totality. At the end of it was a plaque that explained that some of the relics on exhibit were genuine Byzantine pieces -- and challenged the viewer it surmise which pieces had been real and which ones had been fake.

In this way the whole exhibit was the artwork -- the point was to highlight the significance of perspective. What was real? What wasn't? How do you determine the gap between the two? It certainly provoked Lisa's thoughts, which was why she strolled contemplatively through the display. In the corner of her mind she knew that Dani was less enthused about the whole thing.

Bless her heart, she tried to act interested. She asked Lisa what she thought of certain pieces, or how much they might be worth, but most of the time she simply followed the younger girl's lead and let herself be directed around the foyer with a sigh in her throat. Lisa went on to explain the point of the exhibit and remind her that beyond the aesthetics art was primarily a statement, but her dark-haired girlfriend just about grasped it. No commitment was involved.

It took a full two hours plus fifteen minutes in change for them to complete their exploration of the exhibit and by that time Lisa was thoroughly satisfied. Dani looked half-ready to fall asleep. The kiss she got back in the car that woke her ass up.

"Did you like it then?" Dani wondered whilst adjusting her mirror.

Lisa couldn't wipe the grin off her lips. "Very much, thank you. How'd you find it?"

"Uh... it was... yeah, it was... interesting... never thought of a Crusade operating like... Iraq, you said? So yeah, the whole thing was kinda-" she didn't get the chance to finish her rambling sentence... mostly because Lisa was too busy jamming their lips together. The cornflower-haired youngster worked her thin fingers underneath Dani's statuesque jaw and kissed her with more passion either one of them knew possible of her. Dani was earnestly taken aback by it -- but she couldn't resist it -- and wound her loving arms around her dream girl in return. They didn't stop exchanging lusty kisses until a tell-tale fogginess clouded up the car windows.

Lisa bit her lip. "Sorry..."

"Don't apologize," leered Dani. "I like it."

"I just wanted you to know... I appreciate what you're doing. I know you don't like that kind of thing. It means the world to me that you're willing to try."

Dani shrugged. "It's no biggie. I'm just trying to show... you know, that I'm thinking of you. But you know what?"

"What?"

"You keep kissing me like this I'm gonna get ideas," purred the lavish Italian.

All this talk flowered Lisa's cheeks. "Sometimes you can't help it, I suppose. I'm having so much fun with you.."

She knew that Dani didn't feel the same way about the arts centre and it made Lisa like her all the more, knowing that Dani was doing things for her for a change, rather than herself. That sole gesture might've been a rudimentary one if seen by another light -- but as far as Dani's relationship with Lisa went... it was such a good sign. It felt like Danielle Cooper was finally living up to the wonderful girl she truly was inside.

"So where to now?"

Dani hooked her arm around Lisa's seat, threw her head over her shoulder, then guided her car out of their parking space. "I was thinking that after this we go get a bite to eat. What do you fancy?"

"Something light?"

Dani drove the car back into the streets. "That excludes Chinese I guess. There's a little diner I know by the beach. How about it?"

"I'm game if you are." She replied.

So it was settled. Dani took to the wheel and drove them across town. The vast and sprawling skyscrapers of central suburban Los Angeles gradually melted into the palm trees and sandy roads that marked the beach front. Street lamps lit up the view that collapsed from the expressway into the shore line. The roar of the engine did nothing to drown out the soothing course of the waves that crashed in the distance. Lisa never came to beaches much so she never developed an affinity for the sound. But when she noticed it she couldn't help but note how relaxing it was.

They pulled up in front of the diner Dani spoke of earlier (called Katie's) and happily made their way inside. It wasn't crowded. Of all the circular chrome tables and chairs there were plenty free so Dani drew them over to a good window spot in the corner. Katie's being built upon a hill gave it had a attractive view of the outside. From there you could see the freeway carve its way into the darkness and beyond it the sandy slopes of the beach caressed by the sea's waves. The night had turned its waters a vivid black.

"May I take your order?"

Lisa glanced up. A disinterested waitress stood over their table with a pad in hand and a pen behind her ear. Across the table Dani already had her nose in a laminated menu. She mulled over her choices for a second before answering, "Uh, yeah... I'll have a double cheeseburger with a side order of chilli fries... plus some ice water to wash it down with. What about you Lisa?"

"Oh, uh..." She quickly cracked open a menu. "...Um... can I have the... uh... the garden salad, please? And maybe a glass of orange juice?"

The waitress yanked the pen from her braid-enfolded ear and scribbled their orders. "Anything else?"

"...Um, I don't think so."

"What about dressings?" She asked dourly. "Want any salad dressings?"

Lisa thought about it. "...Do you have Thousand Island?"

"Yup. Okay, so that's one cheeseburger, chilli fries, salad with Thousand Island dressing, ice water and juice. It'll be about twenty minutes, okay?"

They both nodded that that was fine and she went off to wait on other tables. When she was gone Lisa found herself staring out the window again. She knew that she was on a date and that she ought to be paying her girlfriend more attention than this but she couldn't help it. It was weird. Los Angeles was her city and she'd been living here a while but she'd never gone to the beach often. It was more than being conscious of herself in a swimsuit (which she undoubtedly would've been). She often associated the beach with the kind of crowd that she always longed to be away from; the trendies and beach bunnies and whatnot. But in this lush dark night when almost everyone was gone it looked absolutely beautiful. Yet it was something right in her own backyard. It made Lisa wonder how much of the world she'd been missing out on by keeping herself to herself. It took Dani's warm hand squeezing her knee to break her out of the reverie.

"Hey," she whispered. "We can go there later if you'd like."

Lisa nodded "yes, please" to that. Shortly afterward the waitress came back with their drinks, the ice water and the orange juice. Between that and the meals that were served eighteen minutes later Lisa and Dani got to talking. Mostly it was just inane stuff like what assignments they had to finish, who at school had been acting extra annoying recently, what they might do on future dates and so on. While they ate Lisa brought up Nicole and the others, wondering if Dani might like to hang out with them again sometime. She seemed genuinely open to the idea, if not a little frosty on the issue of Nicole.

"She hates me," Dani quipped, gnawing off half a chilli fry.

"Nicole doesn't hate you," Lisa argued. "She's just a little set in her ways. As long as you two don't stir each other up I don't see why you can't be good friends. It's not like you don't have anything in common."

Dani rolled her eyes. "Yah huh. We both like you. Anything else?"

She crunched a slice of iceberg lettuce between her teeth before answering. "You're both tough, confident, strong-willed, funny, and intelligent. You both love your families very much. You both go to the same high school and you both get on well with others. I can't think of a reason why you two shouldn't be friends."

"Oh no? Well I can. She hates me."

"Now you're just going around in circles."

Dani frowned, fist propping up her chin, and popped another fry into her mouth. "It's not like I'm not trying to be nice to her now, you know. I apologized for what I said."

"And I appreciate that," smiled Lisa. "Just give her more time and I'm sure she'll come around."

Another thing Danielle didn't want to do that she was still prepared to do all for Lisa's sake. When they were done with the eats and split the bill (something Lisa insisted they do) they left Katie's and headed for the beach it overlooked. It was very quiet tonight. There weren't that many beaches that opened at night because the glory of it always seemed to shine through during the day. That was when all the surfers, sunbathers and kids came out for fun. For Lisa the ocean was more scenic pitched in nocturne and showered in starlight.

Her shoes dangled from her hand as she walked barefoot over the sand with Dani at her side. It was warm and velvety between her toes. Together they found a spot that inched just shy of the shoreline, close enough to smell the waves' aqua fragrance without getting their feet splashed.

A reflective Lisa gazed out into waters unknown. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"When I was a kid," the younger girl's voice had a wistful tint to it. "I used to love sea animals. Fish, turtles, whales... especially dolphins. I even thought about becoming a marine biologist when my Dad and I first spoke about colleges. I changed my mind after a while, but... back then I was happy thinking about it. Swimming with dolphins. Playing with seals. Researching whales. That made me happy."

In the corner of her eye she noticed Dani staring at her, quizzically, probably wondering what point she was driving at here. Lisa didn't keep her long waiting;

"I didn't remember being happy since then," she explained. "...I felt lonely... and screwed up for so long... and now, it's like... for the first time in ages... I feel like that again," she turned to her girlfriend and smiled with all the cheer and devotion in the world. "You make me so happy, Dani."

"I know," She smiled back. "I really wish I could kiss you now."