Dirty Laundry
Posted on April 26th, 2017 by Alexis Wright and Kathryn Harper

by Alexis Wright and Kathryn Harper

Lexy was curled up in her customary corner of the couch with a sleeping Anna in her lap and a book in her hands. The book was all but forgotten, however, as she was instead focused on the source of increasingly loud banging noises and what she could only assume was swearing in several exotic languages from the next room. After listening in quiet amusement for a few moments, she called out, “Do you need help with something, love?”

Kate’s head appeared, poking out of the bedroom through the open door. “I cannot find the uniform I wore yesterday!”

With a raised eyebrow, Lexy commented, “Was it in the pile of other uniforms from earlier this week?” The hint of mild annoyance in her tone was subtle, but distinct.

“Yes, where else would it have been?” Kate replied, as if the answer were obvious.

“I got tired of tripping over them, so I dumped them for recycling while you were out playing tennis this morning,” was Lexy’s matter-of-fact response. “But—”

“You did what?!” Kate interrupted, storming into the room. “Why would you think it acceptable to throw away my things without checking with me first?”

Lexy winced as Anna dug in claws and leapt from her lap at the sound of Kate’s raised voice. Shelving her previous thought, Lexy closed her book and spoke in her own defense. “Because they’re uniforms, and we always recycle them! Besides, what makes you think you can just leave a pile of dirty laundry between my side of the bed and the door to our bedroom? As I said, I got tired of tripping over it, so I took care of it for you.”

“I have a system, and I do not need you to take care of it for me!” Kate responded incredulously. “This is how I have always done it, Lexy! It is a routine.”

Equally incredulous, Lexy replied, “And recycling them when I take them off is my routine, it keeps things tidy! And this is my home now as well, if you’ll recall, and I can’t relax properly in that kind of mess. If you absolutely must keep them—for reasons that I cannot fathom—perhaps we can at least compromise? I’ll even replicate a hamper for you.”

“Or perhaps you could just tighten up a bit and relax?” With an exasperated huff, Kate added, “Please, just please, tell me you at least had the courtesy to check the pockets before throwing away my clothes?”

After a moment of confusion at the badly twisted idiom, Lexy frowned, a tiny spark of anger igniting within her. “Of course I did, which is what I was trying to explain when you cut me off before! I assume you’re concerned about your forehead ornament—I found it, and put it in the little dish in the bathroom where it’s supposed to go!” With a helpful gesture toward the bathroom, she couldn’t keep herself from making a final jab. “Did you even bother to look?”

“No, why would it be there if I did not put it there?” Kate rushed into the bathroom to verify Lexy’s claim, and upon finding it to be true, gave a sigh of relief before noticing that this room’s floor was also conspicuously clean. With a flash of rage, she marched back into the living room yelling, “But all of my clothes are gone from in there, too!”

Lexy laid her book on the coffee table with forced calm and stood, turning to face her beloved with her lips pressed into a grim line. “Ah. Let me explain: Seeing you in your underwear? Sexy. Personally removing your underwear? Even more sexy. Stepping out of the shower into a pile of your dirty underwear? Not even remotely sexy.”

“Do you know what else is not even remotely sexy?” Kate heatedly asked, then continued without pausing for an answer, “A lack of respect for my boundaries! My favorite bra was in that pile!”

Completely dumbfounded by this outburst, Lexy stared at Kate for a moment before throwing her hands up in the air. “A lack of resp… What about your lack of respect for my boundaries? And I made sure everything was carefully washed and put away, you’ll find your favorite bra in the drawer, where it belongs!” Covering her face with her hand, she tried unsuccessfully to calm down. This irrational side of Kate always confused and frustrated her, and her heart sank as she saw her plans for the afternoon go up in flames. “Look, can we not do this? This is not how I wanted today to go…”

“Oh, really?” Kate jabbed. “Not how you wanted today to go? It certainly was not my plan for an ideal day either, so perhaps you should put more thought into how you treat others, Alexis!”

At Kate’s words, Lexy suddenly shrank as if stung. She had tried to make their home together into a pleasant space, and this was the thanks she got? “Fine. Have it your way. I’m done arguing about it.” Brushing past Kate, she walked toward the bedroom, pausing in the doorway to cut off Kate’s immediate protest without turning around. “I’m taking your advice—I’m going to my room to think about what I’ve done, Kathryn.” Her flat tone carried an edge of snark, and further argument was thwarted by her disappearance into the bedroom, the door abruptly swishing closed behind her.

Kate angrily flopped onto the couch with her arms folded over her chest, fuming over what had transpired. A few minutes later, her anger had calmed to mere sulkiness, and she reached for the pillow Lexy had been using. Intending to lie down, she instead paused upon finding a wrapped package, formerly hidden behind the pillow. Opening the attached folded tag, she read the hand-written message: “Happy Birthday to my one and only, with love -Lexy”

“Oh, fuck me,” Kate said aloud. She had forgotten her own birthday, which wasn’t unusual for her, but the realization that Lexy had a gift ready to give her during that whole argument… her face dropped into her upturned palm with a smack. “I am such a zokit jama-na!”

After a few moments of self-flagellation, curiosity got the better of her and she unwrapped the package to find a scrapbook. Opening it, she found a small collection of meaningful mementos from the past year: photographs of the parade that had been held in her hometown on Risa, celebrating her as their heroine, along with fan letters from the local children and news articles detailing the story of the first Risan woman to command a Federation starship. Although she was no longer in command and technically a fugitive, it was a quiet gesture of unwavering support from her lover that managed to make Kate feel, in that moment, utterly undeserving of such a thoughtful gift.

Turning her head to stare at the bedroom door, Kate resolved that she must atone for this. Making an effort to at least try to change almost four decades of messy habits would help in the long run, but right now, a cunning smile spread across her lips as she had another idea. Licking them in anticipation, Kate stood and moved toward the bedroom, hoping to showcase her considerable talents in delivering a lover’s apology.