“I don’t think so.” When I went to college my parents admitted to me and themselves that they couldn’t control where I spent the night. The only rule was if I wasn’t coming home when they were expecting me that I let them know.
“You’re going to be safe, right?”
“Yeah dad, I’m very safe. Here’s the address.” I didn’t have to give it to them, but it made them feel better. They also could track the location of my phone and my car was lo-jacked, so hopefully that helped with their anxiety. As weird as it was to have your parents know you were planning to get laid on a given night, they really did try to stay out of my business. And if something ever did happen, I’d want them to be able to find me.
Finally it was time. I climbed into my Mini Cooper, dropping my bag into the front seat and punching Taylor’s address into the GPS. Concentrating on the directions helped distract me from where I was going to end up.
Eventually I found myself turning into a nice neighborhood with mature trees and interesting, non-cookie cutter houses. The lady that lives in my GPS announced that I had reached my destination, and I turned into a short driveway before a three-car garage. I parked on the far left, just like Taylor had instructed, and found the exterior stairs on that side.
As I climbed the steps, it felt like the air was getting thicker, and I held my breath as I reached the top landing. I pressed the button, hearing the chime inside. Footsteps, and the door opened, and I couldn’t help the silly grin that spread across my face as Taylor’s handsome visage appeared in the doorway. Her normally messy hair was styled and parted on the left. The look made her blue grey eyes just pop, and I felt my breath catch as they traveled over my body.
“God, Aly, you look incredible.”
Hearing her voice snapped me out of my trance and I posed for a moment. “All for you.”
She smiled, a real, happy smile instead of that mischievous smirk. I really loved them both. Finally she stood aside. “Please come in, dinner’s almost ready.” I picked up my bag and stepped inside, setting it down just inside the door. Taylor’s eyes traveled over it but she didn’t say anything as she closed the door behind me.
She was wearing an “Artists do it with Flair” apron over a silky patterned button down shirt and what looked to be a nice, tight pair of black jeans. She put her palm against my cheek for a moment before sliding her hand behind my neck and covering my mouth with hers. If I’d thought any of the magic of last night’s kisses had been due to alcohol, or the lateness of the hour, that idea was wiped away as the energy of her flowed through me as her lips moved over mine.
I stepped away. “It’s good to see you.” I could see the lust in her eyes, and the way she was looking at me made me almost shudder with pleasure. But I was hungry, and as I inhaled, the smell of turmeric and other spices filled my nose. “That smells incredible Taylor. You are going to feed me, right?”
She shook herself out a trance. “Oh, crap!” She dashed back into the kitchen, and I followed her, smiling. Her apartment was painted in a light, sea blue with white accents. There were a couple of small metal sculptures around, a few pieces of art on the walls, mostly showing seascapes. There were no pictures of other people that I could see.
I followed Taylor into the little galley kitchen, where she started frantically stirring a skillet. I giggled at her and sat up onto a barstool by the counter. “Can I help at all?”
“No, I got it.” She scooped a golden yellow concoction into a blue ceramic bowl, and took another pot off the back burner and lifted the lid, allowing steam to escape into the room. That turned out to be rice, and she put lids on both as I followed her over to a small dining table that had a salad bowl already sitting on it.
She pulled out my chair for me, so chivalrous, and scooped me up some salad as I placed my napkin in my lap. “Cool apron.” I smiled up at her, and she looked down, embarrassed.
“Sorry.” She stripped it off and hung it up before taking her own seat.
“It’s okay, I kind of like you all domestic. The big, bad, butch in an apron. It’s sexy.”
She smirked at me and served herself some salad. “So when do you go back to school?”
“Move in day for officers is Monday. My best friend will be here Sunday, she’ll stay the first night with me at my house, then we’ll go over in the morning.”
“Officer?”
“Yeah, I’m the vice president this year. Sadie’s the recruitment leader.”
“So you live in the sorority house, bra and panty pillow fights and all?”
Now it was my turn to smirk. “I’ve been in the sorority for three years, and would you believe I’ve never been in a pillow fight, underwear clad or otherwise?”
“You’re ruining the fantasy of millions of frat boys, you know.”
“My apologies. Reality is, our sorority isn’t one of the crazier ones.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Well, academics are really important, everyone has to maintain a two point eight to be active, and most of the girls have well above a three. No guys overnight. It’s pretty diverse too, not lily white like some of them.”
“Any lesbians?”
“You mean other than me?” That got a look from Taylor while I thought about it for a moment. There weren’t any that I was aware of. I’d be hopelessly naive to think we’d never had one, or at least someone who came out later, but would we accept a pledge from an out and proud lesbian? I think the answer might be no. I poked at my salad. “No, I don’t think so. Were you in a sorority at school?”
“Me? No. The team was like a sorority, I guess, we kinda all lived together in the dorms.”
“Is that how you met your girlfriend?”
She shook her head. “There was an LGBT group on campus. I’m not even sure they were official, Pepperdine is a Catholic school. Anyway, when I was a sophomore I finally plucked up the courage to go. She was there, kinda took me under her wing.” She heaved a sigh. “Why do I always end up telling you my life story?”
“Because I’m adorable and disarming. And I’m really interested in you.” Her face was inscrutable for a moment, before breaking into a wide smile that melted my annoyance.
“You’re something, you know that?”
Taylor
She’d called herself a lesbian. Sort of, at least, I guess. Some part of me was doing a little happy dance, but I didn’t want to read too much into one sentence. “So what would your sorority sisters say about where you were last night? Dancing with a butch at a lesbian club. Letting her put her hands on you.”
“I’d have them gathered around, that’d be sure.” Aly blushed and looked down. “Some of them would be titillated, I think, but I don’t know. It’s one thing to have a crazy experiment or a wild night. It’s another thing to, well….”
“To what?”
“You understand that you’re not just an experiment to me, right?”
“Sure I am.” It’s all I ever am. “But sometimes experiments go right.” I smelled the air, where the curry hung heavy. I reached over and grabbed the serving spoon. “Speaking of experiments.”
The curry was amazing (thank you, Vicky) and the conversation got less intense as we ate. God, it was so easy to talk to her. Her gentle smile, her easy blushes, they put me so at ease. I’d never met anyone who felt so genuine. She told me about family vacations to Glacier or Yosemite, and I told her about hiking through the mountains, kayaking on the whitewater. She was getting more perfect by the minute. A rich girl who loves the outdoors? Most of the girls like her I’d met thought the outdoors were the places you had to go to get to the next boutique in an open air mall.
Aly scooped up the last bits of rice and sauce from her plate and licked it off her fork, her eyes closed, which was insanely hot. “That was amazing Taylor. A girl who can cook? Be still my heart.”
I smiled at her, which made her blush, but not look away. She stood up and picked up her plate. “Can I help you clean up?”
I rose and stepped toward her. “In a minute.” I took away the plate she was holding and set it back on the table. My hand went around her waist and I pulled her to me, capturing her lips with my own. She gasped as I did, but she kissed me back almost immediately. I let the kiss deepen, our tongues dancing together. Her hand was soft on the back of my neck as she gave herself over to our embrace.
I released her a moment later, and the look of disappointment and longing in her eyes almost melted my heart. This girl wanted me, and God help me, the feeling was mutual. “Come on, dishes.” I nodded toward the kitchen. We spent some time cleaning up. It was odd, a simple domestic chore, and we did it together, handing things to each other, her hand on the small of my back as she passed by. I loved it. Once the dishwasher was humming merrily away I felt two lovely arms wrap themselves around my waist from behind.
“All clean, what now?” A soft head rested on my shoulder blade, and I covered her hands with mine.
“Find something on Netflix? Cuddle on the couch?”
“Mmmm, that sounds nice.” She squeezed me once and let go.
I walked over to the living area and sat down in the corner of the couch with the remote.
We settled on an action flick, the latest Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible movie. I pulled out a bag of microwave popcorn, and soon we had a brimming bowl of cheap, buttery goodness. I set it on the side table by the couch and settled in, Aly insinuating herself between my legs and leaning back against me. My arms slipped around her middle and she snuggled in, her eyes were bright and happy. And I was staring at her.
She looked back over her shoulder at me, blushing a little. “What?”