Listen ...Loving Her

LOVING HER: Short Stories of Love and Life Between Women
by L.E. Harvey
Available in Print and All Ebook Formats

She lay on the futon, wrapped up in her blue chenille blanket, not moving. Her ‘80’s ballads CD played “Every rose has its thorn.” She couldn’t even count how many times she heard it today. She didn’t care. It was a dreary, cold, rainy night. She wanted to move, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t do anything. Her bruises, wounds and injuries were tremendous. No words could describe her pain and misery; no actions could take that pain and misery away.

They met at a pizza parlor, when the cute little blonde walked hurriedly by trying to attend to all her tables. It was Philadelphia, a college city, on a Friday night. Of course, it was jammed. A male college student behind the counter handed Linda her the two pies too soon. She wanted to see the blonde again, but she had disappeared into the sea of faces.

Linda handed the young guy the money, took her pies and went outside. Amazingly enough, as she walked out the backdoor, there was the little blonde cutie smoking. She didn’t reach five feet tall. Her shiny, sun colored hair was pulled back into a short pony tail. Her dark blue eyes reflected the stars in the night sky. Both girls paused a moment and smiled sheepishly at each other.

“Hi,” Linda said. Linda’s voice was deep and raspy. Not very feminine, but it was somehow very attractive to Katie.

“Hi, I’m Katie,” the little blonde spoke. Her voice was as cute and bubbly as her face.

“I’m Linda,” Linda replied. She was fishing for something, anything clever to say, but nothing came to her. ”Busy night, huh?” It was pathetic, but at least it started a conversation.

“Yeah,” Katie replied. “Fridays always are. Hopefully I won’t have to put up with this for much longer, though.”

“Oh? How come?”

“I’m a third year vet student at U Penn. Next year is all my clinical rotations and being on-call, so I can’t work here much longer. Thank God!” Katie chuckled.

Linda smiled. “Good for you. I hope – ”

The young guy from behind the counter came out and told Katie she was needed inside.

“I guess I gotta go,” Katie said hesitantly.

"Wait,” Linda begged. Quickly, she grabbed a pen out of her pocket and leaned on the pizza boxes and wrote her number on a napkin. “Here’s my number. If you ever get a free moment and want to – Uhh..Ummm – hang out, just – uhhh – call me – if you want to.” She thought she must have sounded like a babbling idiot, and she didn’t know if Katie understood her level of interest, but Linda prayed she did.

Katie’s face lit up brighter than the moon that hung over her head. “Thanks!” She took the napkin, folded it, put in her pocket, and disappeared quickly.

Two weeks later, Katie and Linda were on their first date, walking through University City District after a very filling dinner at the restaurant of the Culinary School at Walnut Hill College. The conversation had been flowing smoothly all night. It was getting late, but neither girl knew it, they were enjoying themselves too much. As they walked in the crisp October night air, Katie’s watch beeped, signaling that it was midnight.

“I should get back. I have class early in the morning.”

“Ok,” Linda said softly.

As they headed back to Katie’s dorm, Katie mustered up the guts and took Linda’s hand.

Now, silently, they walked hand in hand.

Listen ...Unbreakable Hostage

UNBREAKABLE HOSTAGE by L.E. Harvey
Available in Print and All Ebook Formats

Chapter 1

Lareina meticulously brushed and blow dried her thick black hair. She watched herself carefully in the mirror as she did so. Lareina always tended to the smallest of details with everything in her life. She also enjoyed looking and dressing well. Tonight was no exception. Tonight, she was going back to school again. She still couldn’t believe it was actually happening.

She had been teaching math at a local high school for several years now. She already had her master’s degree. She loved math – especially algebra - and she loved the idea of reaching her students, but she didn't feel that she was actually touching their lives as much as she had hoped. Her students hated math. Math meant nothing to them. Lareina couldn't even try to count the number of times her students talked back and told her what a waste of time it was. It seemed that no matter what she did; no matter what new approaches, methods or techniques she used, they still abhorred the boring but necessary subject.

Lareina fought to keep her students interested, but nothing ever worked. Day after day, Lareina felt her spirit was being crushed by the students' severe lack of interest. Lareina wanted more, though; she wanted so much more than this mediocre teaching job was giving her. She wanted to teach students who shared her passion. So, she decided to make a change. She was going to UCLA to get her Ph. D. in order to teach university level students. The positive environment, and working with students who also loved algebra would be a good change for Lareina. This was absolutely the right decision, she told herself.

Lareina Oliveira was a short Hispanic woman. She and her family had moved to America - to Los Angeles - when she was ten years old; and yet to this day, she still had a noticeable accent. She stood at only five feet tall. Her skin was a glowing olive color. Her hair was as black as a moonless night sky. She had mesmerizing hazel eyes.

Like many Hispanic women, she was quite buxom, but she also had a tiny waist, and great curvy hips. She was nearly perfectly proportionate. With a figure of 34-26-36, she had the ideal hour-glass body. Throughout her life, Lareina had been approached by numerous men for everything from a fun, friendly night out to one night stands. She even had limitless offers for modeling work, but she turned them all down. Her passion was in mathematics and algebra.

Her parents had sacrificed so much for her to have a good life and education here in the United States. She wanted to thank them by pursuing a good education and career. Although she was flattered that so many found her to be beautiful; math was her world, and always would be. She made sure that no one or nothing would ever change that. She finished brushing her thick, shiny, jet black hair. This was her first day towards her goal of acquiring a Ph. D. Today was her day in working towards a new, rewarding life. Excitedly, she grabbed her purse and ran down stairs.

She left a quick note for her roommate, Sandy, on the kitchen table. The University of California started classes before the local high schools, so Sandy was enjoying the remainder of her summer vacation while she could. Lareina and Sandy were an interesting, if not comical, pair. They had met through work: they both taught at the same high school. Working together and living together for several years, the girls had a tight bond. They supported each other; encouraged each other; were always open and honest with each other, and they also liked to tease each other. Lareina was the Hispanic woman who taught math; Sandy was the white woman who taught Spanish. They often joked about the irony of their teaching jobs. Even after several years, they still had a great friendship and were perfect roommates for each other.

Lareina left a short, quick note reminding Sandy that she would be in class, but that she would be home for dinner. She looked at her license plate as she walked to her truck which was quietly parked in the garage. Her license plate read, “X is 2.”

It was the closest she could get to having it say, “X equals two.” Her license plate was proof that Lareina absolutely adored algebra. Lareina chuckled to herself as she got into her black Chevrolet S-10 king cab truck and drove through the streets of Los Angeles to reach the University in time.

Listen ...Imperfect

IMPERFECT by L.E. Harvey
Available Now in All Ebook Formats - Coming Soon in Print

Chapter 1

Carol had anticipated this day for years. Just like so many college students, the day she could legally drink was a great rite of passage in her life.

Marlene, Carol’s roommate, along with other friends and fellow students, had planned a wild night for their typically reclusive friend. Carol knew it would be a long, unpredictable night despite her early class. Carol didn’t care, though. She never went out and never partied. Her social life typically consisted of long nights with her textbooks. She deserved this one night to live it up.

At around seven, there was a thunderous pounding on Carol’s dorm room door. Wearing makeup and nice clothes for a change, Carol opened the door. A herd of people stood in front of her, some of whom Carol didn’t even recognize. She didn’t mind. This was her night. Tonight was her night to live, to laugh, and to enjoy.

“Surprise!” Everyone shouted, but the surprise was on them. Marlene was floored to find Carol wearing an uncharacteristically soft, delicate, slightly ruffled black blouse and a cute asymmetrical black skirt. This was Marlene’s first time in four years seeing Carol in anything other than a tee-shirt and jeans. Her outfit confirmed her ownership of this night. Carol grabbed her winter coat and purse and the crowd left to go paint the town.

Marlene had decided on the evening’s venue. Since her roommie was openly gay, Marlene led the crowd to the best lesbian bar in town: City Girls.

Carol’s troops wasted no time in splurging on shots, beer and a variety of hard alcoholic beverages. Carol, normally introverted, drank the shots and other intoxicating spirits; it didn’t take long for her to become inebriated.

Alexandria, a 24-year old local, watched the loud, raucous group and quietly chuckled to herself. She went to City Girls tonight to people watch and she certainly got an eye-full.

Suddenly, Carol got off her bar stool to go to the ladies’ room. Carol tripped over her own two drunken feet and began to fall forward. She saved herself by slamming her hand on the table in front of Alex. Embarrassed, Carol slowly pulled herself up to find the dark beauty smiling back at her. With skin like rich, dark chocolate, eyes that were beautiful, tranquil, bottomless pools, and neatly braided jet black hair, Alexandria took Carol’s breath away. The two paused and the world around them melted away as they intensely stared at each other.

“Sorry,” Carol weakly whispered. Mortified that she had made such a fool of herself in front of this stunning woman, Carol hastily stumbled to the ladies’ room.

Carol leaned onto the sink and held on to it with all her might in fear she might fall over again. She took in a few deep breaths as she stared at herself in the mirror. Carol’s beauty was her simplicity. She had brown hair to her shoulder in a simple style, but there was a special charm to it. Her skin was fair and delicately painted with tiny freckles. Her face seemed plain, but it was brilliantly symmetrical. The very tip of her nose turned upward in a playful manner. Her deep brown eyes sparkled like jewels. She had a slight gap in between her front teeth; Carol was embarrassed by it, but her father had always compared her to model Lauren Hutton. He told his beloved daughter that the imperfection made her unique and beautiful. Carol sighed thinking of her father’s words. She pushed the faucet on for cold water and took a few handfuls to sip with the unrealistic hope she would miraculously sober up. She really wanted to go back and talk to that gorgeous mahogany queen. Focusing on her father’s words telling her that she was pretty, Carol mustered up the courage to go back out and speak to the woman who currently occupied every thought in her mind.

Carol took a step slowly and then stepped again. She focused on each step and she walked back out to the bar, this time with a bit more grace.

As she turned the corner, she saw the beautiful black woman still sitting at the table. Carol’s crowd hadn’t even noticed her absence.

Alexandria happened to look up at just the right moment, and saw Carol carefully approaching her. Alex’s dark eyes lit up and she smiled a big, beautiful, wide smile at the birthday girl.

Carol carefully sat across from the intriguing woman. “Hi,” she said feebly. “I’m so sorry about before. I normally never drink, but today’s my twenty first birthday.”

Alex began to laugh lightly. “It’s ok. I understand.” Her voice was smooth and rich. Carol was becoming more intoxicated on this woman than she was on the alcohol. “I’m Alexandria. My friends call me Alex.” The dark beauty extended her hand to Carol.

Carol grasped her hand. Alex’s skin was soft and as smooth as silk. “I’m Carol,” she replied. “My friends call me Carol,” she joked as she gently shook Alex’s hand. Alex couldn’t help chuckling at Carol’s wisecrack.

Suddenly, a large wave of cheers and shouts sounded from the bar. Both Alex and Carol looked over. Carol’s group was intently engaged in a drinking game. The team of people who had come with her were busy celebrating, having completely forgotten the cause of the celebration. They did’nt appear to be slowing down either. It didn’t matter though, Carol was enjoying this quiet time with Alex more than anything. Alexandria’s company was an exceptional birthday present for Carol.

Alex stole a glance at her watch. “Well, it was nice meeting you.”

Carol looked up at Alex, startled.

“It’s 11:30 already. I need to go.”

“I should go too. I have an 8 o’clock class,” Carol replied.

“Do you want a ride home?” The question was unexpected. Carol wasn’t sure if she should trust this woman she had just met. Whether alcohol induced, or caused by infatuation, she accepted the offer.

The two ladies quietly left City Girls and walked to Alex’s white Camry. Alex opened the door for Carol. Even in her drunken state, Carol thought about A Bronx Tale, and quickly unlocked the door for Alex.

“Thanks,” Alex winked as she got in. “So, where to, birthday girl?”

Carol blushed. “I live at the Martin-Haagen dorm at the University.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Alex enthusiastically answered. “What are you studying?”

“I’m a computer science major with a history minor.”

“That’s an unusual pairing.”

“I know. I’d love to be an historian,” Carol admitted, “but I know I’d have a better career in computers.”

“Smart plan. I’m impressed.”

“Thanks.” Carol blushed again. “What about you?”

“I’m a paralegal.”

“That’s really interesting,” Carol said sincerely.

“It’s ok. It’s a living.” Alex pulled up to the front of Carol’s dorm. “Well, I guess we’re here.”

“Oh,” Carol said, surprised that the trip had seemed so quick – too quick. “Thanks.” She began to open the door.

“Wait,” implored Alex. Carol turned to look at the striking woman again. “Did you get what you wanted for your birthday?”

Carol paused for a moment. “Yeah – I spent my birthday with great company,” she answered flirtatiously.

“How about something sweet for your special day?” Carol looked at Alex, puzzled. Alex slowly leaned in and gently kissed Carol. Her lips were warm, soft, and inviting. It was the sweetest birthday present Carol ever had. Slowly, Alex pulled away and the two women just smiled at each other. Alex took Carol’s hand and placed something in it. “Here’s my card,” she said tantalizingly. “Feel free to call me – any time.”

Carol sat in the car staring at this amazing woman. “Thanks,” she quietly replied. Reluctantly, she opened the door and slowly stepped out.

“Happy birthday,” Alex called through the open door. Her smile seemed endless now. Carol gleamed back as the car door closed.

Carol watched Alex pull away. This was definitely Carol’s best birthday ever. She looked forward to seeing Alex again.