As I entered the brunette's apartment, type triggered a recall of Coral and Ruby at a fundraising car wash.
The breadstick and jam lay on the kitchenette table, and I boiled the kettle for a coffee. My memory drifted to the week before Christmas '74 — a Coral-organised car wash aimed to raise funds to buy new netball uniforms.
The golden girl threw herself into everything to avoid thinking about Josh. An ideal organiser, she stayed practical because the more help, the more dollars for the club.
Coral invited me to help. I thought, great! I hoped Coral might talk through our boathouse sex fiasco. Retry dominated my mind.
The car wash bustled with a regular stream of sedans to clean, hose, and wax all day. Coral secured the shopping centre's permission to organise at the fringe of their outdoor car park. Besides cleaning station wagons and hardtops, I spent the entire morning searching for a Coral smile in vain.
Her delightful beam spread at everyone except me as she value-added to every customer. The summer sun shimmered over her golden locks. Winsome wearing a white pleated skirt, even as the lead cleaner at a car wash. No smudges on it before lunch or on her tight-fitting canary yellow t-shirt. The girl's honeyed mane flounced, and her shaved calves gleamed with sunscreen.
An hour after the start, the brunette arrived and entered the frenetic mix of grime and suds. I surmised Coral decided Ruby wouldn't flirt today. So the pixie participated as another handy netball helper, cleaning and polishing cars. And Ruby focused on efficiency.
Coral, I assumed, confident her girlfriend's words or hands would not stray in public. She excluded leeway, Ruby being her flippant self. The pixie could wait - like me - if the wait proved worthwhile. Ruby's pursuit of Coral appeared bolder since Halloween. Though, the girl's storeroom pirate incident remained a mystery to me. Ruby emerged from the closet chasing Coral, utilising her signature derring-do bravado. I envied her confidence in capturing Coral's panty gold. The brunette's path to Goldilocks seemed unblocked as her opposition was only my timid self.
Dog-tired, we rested as it approached five o'clock. Coral's helpers either drifted off to obligations or excused themselves as plain worn–late in the afternoon. Ruby and I passed exhaustion but stayed on the same agenda, snaring Coral. Finally, the official car wash ended, and we packed the gear. Coral's mum arrived in her sedan.
"Last one," she offered, unaware we had quit.
Of course, we cleaned it as she shopped. Coral retained high energy from the day's success as she roped Ruby and me to the task at hand, sprucing her mum's Falcon.
We scrubbed dusty grime, wheels and arches first. Coral washed one side, and Ruby and I were on the other. Next, the brunette grabbed the hose. Coral and I used sponges to wipe the body. Ruby held the jet spray nozzle to clean the roof, the bonnet, and the boot while we sponged. The brunette next focused us on the side panels.
Ruby suggested I get the dry chamois clothes for the final wipe and polish. I scampered a couple of metres away, leaving the girls alone. The brunette had what she craved and only required a few seconds to achieve her goal.
I grabbed the last fresh wipes and pivoted, two chamois in hand, to rub the car.
Unreal, as my eyes caught a saturated Coral and Ruby.
The scene — wet t-shirt heaven. Coral's pert, water-glazed nipples stuck to the yellow cotton of her t-shirt through her bra, and a clingy pink t-shirt defined Ruby's hot shape.
Coral's white skirt smudged, and water dripped, drop by droplet, at the edges of her pleats. A soggy mess, my bestie looked hotter than her usual becoming self.
Ruby stated nonsense to Coral; "Petal, I lost control of the jet spray."
The minx had no current problem closing the nozzle and securing the hose.
Drop-dead gorgeous — their nipples peaked firm.
Coral looked at Ruby's drenched chest as my bestie moved her hands to her bosom to reduce the wetness across her chest. However, the brunette eased into her space before she could.
Ruby repeated, "Sorry, sorry," as she snatched a chamois from my hand and patted Coral dry.
My eyes flared, and I twisted the other chamois on seeing the pure buzz of enjoyment in Ruby's eyes. Coral's fingertips fidgeted at her pleats, and I admit the pony-tailed minx's shrewd approach exemplified spot on.
She rubbed Coral's rounded breasts; she caressed, harnessing her feminine guile. And using deft, fast fingers, she touched her girlfriend's nipples. The brunette did this through the chamois, a cotton t-shirt, and my bestie's soaked bra. Then, with self-assurance, she petted Coral's teats, wielding noticeable aplomb, as the golden girl squeezed a tear of surprise or happiness!
"Geez, Ruby, you don't give up, do you?"
Coral focused on wringing the bottom end of her t-shirt.
"No, never," the brunette responded, squeezing her sodden top.
"Go, please - I don't think I'm your type of girl. I may never be; please go," mixed tremor and firmness in Coral's voice.
The brunette occupied herself, double-handed, wringing the end of her ponytail.
She finished and responded, "Sure."
The brunette, swishing her ponytail, departed with light steps. A girl whom I believed had no doubts. Next, she leaned on a phone in a booth outside the shopping centre, ringing her mum to come and take her home.
Sandy returned, shopping in hand, and saw my final rub of her car.
She asked, "Where were the girls?"
I explained the chaos as an accident.
"Coral will be back soon. She's drying off in the shopping centre washroom."
Her mother pressed me about Ruby, concerned for the wet pair.
"Ruby drove off a minute ago," I said, my head focused on the hubcaps.
Coral returned with wet patches here and there but no longer dripping. The white skirt sported three greyish-black smudges. She deflected her mum's attention by chatting non-stop about the day's success.
Sandy shared her pleasure on a productive day. Coral and I packed the cleaning gear in the boot. They offered me a lift home, and throughout the suburban drive, Coral talked non-stop, except for the Ruby splash out.
After the boob splash unfolded, I mulled over Ruby's fleetness and her self-assured impact on Coral.
Yet, I hoped to charm my bestie into my girlfriend. As Christmas and the New Year approached, I daydreamed of an opportunity to sway Coral in my direction.
However, broader national events stalled my narrow view of the world because a natural disaster opened my eyes. On Christmas Day, 1974, Cyclone Tracy devastated the city of Darwin. The impact made an entire country pause and help—a sad radio and television Christmas story. The havoc in their lives was lifelong. And the seventy-one souls who perished, their shadows swept from the earth. The cyclone calamity tempered fancies of copycatting Ruby's deed to win Coral. My vague desires to retouch Coral's body were held in check as the nightly news showed a city desolate after death and colossal destruction.
As I loitered in the holidays, the future repercussions of Ruby's full-frontal approach to Coral sunk in. I lacked the brazen brunette approach to the golden girl. While over the top of my fantasy mulling, complete relief, no natural or man-made disaster, affected my life. In the aftermath of Cyclone Tracy, I volunteered to support my parish. Practical help was something I understood. As a teenager, I couldn't comprehend the force of nature blowing away lives. I held onto the broader community's response to an awful loss for several days.
It helped me through the days till the New Year without fretting about my next step to clinch Coral's heart. The church I attended organised a white elephant sale to support the cyclone victims in the new year. I told my mother I wanted to help. I made a silly New Year resolution to be bolder in pursuing Coral. My opportunity emerged a week into 1975 as I pressed Coral without effort by phone to help sort the donations for the charitable event. However, controlling Ruby's presence milled beyond my control. The brunette weaselled her way into the church hall.
Cold coffee was no comfort in Ruby's Paris kitchenette as I decided on bread and strawberry jam.