I have a picture of him naked?
Who: Candy Quackenbush and Judy Martin When: Saturday afternoon Where: AA meeting, then coffeeshop. What: See the where. Rating: Teen, for talk of sex and nudity. Status: Complete!
Judy walked into the church basement, casual and resigned. She’d been to a lot of meetings, and she’d seen a lot of shlocky church basement rooms with folding chairs. She usually got something out of the meetings, but it was depressing that they were always so much the same. At least nobody knew her out here. She wouldn’t get any stupid questions from Beltway insiders. She could sit and wait for it to start and wish for a smoke.
Candy was in the building as well, pouring herself a cup of the crappy free coffee and dumping in more milk and sugar than was really needed - but still, it helped mask the crappy coffee taste. She wished she could smoke too, and she smiled at one of the people that walked in. She was a striking blonde, and Candy hadn’t seen her at one of these before.
Judy saw the young girl and snapped a finger, remembering. “I saw you on that network thing. Right?” She got up and went over toward her, figuring a cup of coffee might help the craving for a cigarette. “I’m Judy. What’s your name again, honey?”
“I don’t know if I ever told you.” Candy smiled brightly, handing the woman a cup. “I’m Candy, nice to meet you officially, Judy.”
“Candy, really. That’s a name from when I was young.” Judy chuckled, taking the cup and tipping it slightly in thanks. “I’d say it’s nice to meet you too, but I wish it wasn’t here.” The girl didn’t look wasted or like she was on anything else, which was good. She just never quite got over seeing young kids in Alcoholics Goddamn Anonymous.
Candy took a big swig of her coffee. “Yeah, nowadays you only hear it for strippers. But my middle name isn’t anything to write home about either.” Smiling at the woman’s sentiment, she shrugged. “Hey, better here than in jail or something, right?”
“Point.” Judy shrugged. “I don’t have a middle name, and I always thought it was a good thing. Ma just had to yell my full name when I got in trouble. It was enough.” She sipped her coffee; she preferred it black. “Ah, nice and shitty, same as usual.”
“Francesca. It could be worse.” Candy grinned, shaking her head. “Candy Francesca Quackenbush. And the kicker of it is that my parents wanted me.” She couldn’t help but crack up at her own joke, plus the face that Judy had made. The coffee was pretty much always shit if it was free.
Judy did laugh, shaking her head. “Francesca isn’t bad. I’m guessing, though, that you’re not Italian. I’m Judy Martin. Plain and simple.” She looked around the room at the mix of people, which was decent; young and old, male and female, a few Asian people, mostly whites. “Is this your regular meeting?”
“Nope, just a mutt.” Candy smiled, looking around the room too. “Yeah, one of ‘em. I try to go twice a week, so there’s another one near here I go to on Saturdays.” Candy took another sip of her coffee. “I’ve only been sober for a few months.”
“Eight months.” Judy nodded. “They made me detox when I got fired. At the time I was Goddamned livid, but it was smart.” She sipped more coffee, seeing a short man come in that seemed like the leader; he had papers and just walked that way, where authority or imagined authority was obvious. She smiled a little. “I worked on Capitol Hill. Loved the work, but I guess it got to me.”
“I don’t imagine there’s lots of people who aren’t addicts in Washington.” Candy grinned, cocking her head to get Judy to come sit by her. The actual meeting part was about to begin.
It was about what she’d expected. Judy actually got something out of the religious part of the meeting - old Catholic habits died hard - but she knew most people didn’t. Still, she took solace where she could, she figured. And being around other people who had to deal with the same crap helped. But so would work.
After the meeting, she turned to the girl Candy. “Do you live nearby? I’m still finding my way around.” She thought she could get back to her place, but she wasn’t sure.
“I do. Want me to drive you home? Or we could go get coffee somewhere. Real coffee, not this gutrot here.” She grinned broadly. Candy liked the meetings if only because every time she said she was an alcoholic, every time she admitted it, it was like erasing the taint of her father a tiny bit more. His fingerprints would wash away like the bloodstains he’d sometimes leave on her back.
“Sure, why not.” Judy went to get her purse from the cloakroom. “That’s one addiction that I’ll never kick, and I’ll take caffeine over booze right now anyway.”
“Same here. I’m lucky the boyfriend doesn’t yell at me for smoking. I’m working on booze first, then when that settles out, maybe I’ll handle cigarettes.” She grabbed her own purse from the cloakroom and started to walk with Judy toward a little indie coffee shop around the corner. “This place is why these are my meetings. Amazing scones.”
“Oh, that looks nice.” Judy liked the smell. “So is your boyfriend a puritan, or is he just lucky enough to not start smoking and drinking?” The last relationship she’d had was with a great guy, a little younger than her, but he’d split when he found her lying in the stairwell going up to her condo, reeking of Captain Morgan. Judy couldn’t blame him.
“He still smokes around me, and he drinks only when we’re out and I can get a virgin. Two drink maximum.” Candy blushed, moving to sit down with Judy, pulling out her phone to find a picture of her and Remy in Mexico. She handed the phone over, shrugging. “I don’t know, I think I just got really lucky. I met him before I decided to get sober, and he’s been amazing.”
Judy couldn’t help but whistle. “God damn. You did get lucky, honey.” The man in her photo was handsome, twenties, with brown hair and a roguish grin. “He sounds like a sweetheart, and looks like a sex god.”
“He’s Cajun, too.” She sighed contentedly, shaking her head. “And he doesn’t mind my scars. God, I was scared when I met him.” Candy still remembered hoping against hope that the hot, funny guy wouldn’t think they were gross.
“Oh, so the French accent. Nice.” Judy smiled. She didn’t talk about the scars; she could see a few on the girl’s arms, but they’d only just met. There were things one didn’t talk about. “There are still a few men like that. I’m glad you found one. I could use a gentleman caller or two, but being an alkie kind of gets in the way.” She laughed as they ordered scones and coffee from the passing server. “Though I did have a cute drunk man text me on Friday night.”
Candy raised an eyebrow. “Was his name Oliver Queen by any chance? Ollie’s good people.”
“Now that you mention it.” Judy went into her purse, looking for her phone. She pulled it out and showed Candy the text messages. “I figured it was just a young man getting drunk. I doubt he’ll actually call. Funny, though. I hope he didn’t text you, your boyfriend might have to get rough with him.” She chuckled.
“Oh, of course he did. Remy and I both have crushes on him.” Candy laughed brightly, shaking her head. “Remy and I are ... we know we’re devoted to each other. But seriously, less about me and more about you. When did you move out here?”
Eh, she’d risk it. She didn’t have anything to hide, really, she just didn’t get asked about herself beyond the neat political biography. “Only about a month ago. I tried living with my brother back east after I got axed, but that didn’t work out. Both my nephews asked me to move in with them, but there was no way in hell.” For a lot of complicated reasons. “I didn’t want to keep seeing ex-Washington insiders at the grocery store, so I figured I’d move.”
“Plus they’d treat you like an infirm?” Candy chuckled. “I moved out here because my father’s a tyrant and my mother’s got no spine. I didn’t want my brothers mollycoddling me, so I just took the fifty bucks I had and drove out here without telling anyone. I get it.”
“I’m an alcoholic, not an Alzheimer’s patient.” Judy nodded, grinning. She also didn’t want her nephews, who she adored, to see her brought low, so to speak. “You’ve got guts, I’ll say that. It can’t have been easy.”
“Liking the bottle doesn’t make you stupid, it just means there’s other shit in your life that sucks.” Candy chuckled, glad when the waitress brought out the scones. They were fresh and had raspberry jam on them. Candy sighed contentedly as she nibbled one.
“Actually, leaving’s the easiest thing I've ever done.” Easier than staying and jumping between her father and her brothers again.
Judy did make a happy noise as she tried one. “That’s great. Wow.” Light and fluffy. “Wish I learned to bake sometime. My ma said it would help me get a husband, but I never got one of those, either.” She laughed, but it was half amused, half unrepentant. A man would be nice, but she didn’t need one. Never had.
“Eh, who needs one?” Candy smiled. “They’re like jewelry, I figure. Nice to have, but who the hell is going to die if they can’t have earrings?” Taking a sip of her coffee, which was also perfect, Candy smiled. “I can sort of bake? But not this well. These scones are amazing. But ... you don’t need anything but you, I’d wager.”
“I don’t think so.” Judy shrugged. “Ma died young. Dad left. Guess I needed booze for a while.” She laughed. “Eh, you do what you have to do.” This girl seemed to get that. She had balls.
“Whatever gets you through the night. Hell, I wonder how many of us are situational alcoholics?” Candy had mostly drank to blot out the fear of her father figuring out where she’d ran to. “You got through it, you got safe, you’re good.”
“Good question.” Judy took another bite of scone. “I still dream about Bloody Marys, but I haven’t fallen off the wagon yet. That Oliver tried to get me to come to a party that night, but I told him no.” Only partly against her better judgment.
“I only went because Remy went with me.” She smiled at the memory. “He makes sure that I stay honest. It was pretty fun. Oh! I have a picture of him naked, do you want it?”
Judy raised an eyebrow. “A picture of your boyfriend naked?”
“What? Well, yeah, but I meant Ollie.” She laughed brightly before pushing the phone over.
What the hell, not like she’d never seen a naked man before. Judy took the phone and her eyebrows shot up. “That’s … nice.” She laughed. “Not bad at all!”
“He’s gorgeous. Remy and I both are really sad that we can’t have one.” Candy chuckled, shaking her head. “If you do, please let me know how it is.”
Judy laughed. “Oh, honey, I’m not thinking he’ll call when he’s sober.” She didn’t think that ill of herself, but honestly, someone who looked like that wasn’t about to call her.
Candy shook her head. “If he told you he will, I think he will. He’s a man of his word.” She leaned back, smiling. “Lucky woman.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it.” Judy laughed. “I gotta think about finding a job, never mind a man. If I sit around the condo all day thinking about a Bloody Mary, I’m gonna fall off hard.”
“I used to tend bar, I’m going to school now. What’re you good at? I mean, I doubt you could do the same thing here,” Candy nosewrinkled.
“I’ve worked in politics since I was about your age.” Which was too many years ago, but oh well. “I could do a lot of stuff - events or working for a city, or maybe a chamber of commerce. Maybe a university.” Judy shrugged. “I even thought about corporations. I could be a good secretary for a CEO or something. I used to keep angry lobbyists out of a senator’s office.” She chuckled at a particularly good memory.
“I’m sure you’ll find something. This town is always growing, and fuck. You could even work outside of the county.” Candy sipped her coffee again. “Hell, if I can get a job tending bar at eighteen, you can find anything.”
“Have to be nearby, I don’t want to move, but hopefully I’ll get lucky.” Judy laughed in spite of herself. “Maybe in more ways than one.”
“You could probably drive, and yeah, I hope so too.” Candy smiled happily, glad that she’d met this woman. Awesome people trying to stay sober too helped kick Candy’s self esteem in the ass. Even awesome people drank too much.
Judy finished off her scone, sitting back. “I should probably get going. But this was a good meeting. I’ll be back.” She took Candy’s phone off the table and started putting her number in. “Is it ok if I call if things get really bad? You can do the same for me.”
“Of course.” Candy grabbed Judy’s phone and did the same. “And even if it’s not bad, we should do this whenever we run into each other. I like you, and lord knows I need more sober friends.” She smiled, but it looked almost shy.
Judy had always done well enough with young people, and she liked this girl. “Sounds fine to me.” She smiled. “Coffee date after meetings?”
“Every time,” Candy smiled. She put down enough money for all of the coffee and scones, standing up and stretching. “It’s pretty awesome here, and I like being around you. So there.”
Judy would have slipped money to cover her share into her purse, but the girl picked it up. “Next time I’ll get it,” she said, smiling as she turned to go.