A Change of Direction

A Change Of Direction

by Ann Douglas

(ann_douglas@hotmail.com)

With only twenty minutes left to her shift, Isabelle Alvarez turned an experienced eye to the number of people standing on her checkout line and how many items each had in their shopping cart. The thirty-two-year-old had worked at the Stop N' Save long enough to be able to judge how long it would take to handle each customer and decided that the young mother with the two toddlers in tow at the end of the line would just about finish her for the day.

Handing the customer she had just finished with her change and receipt, Isabelle paused before starting on the next one just long enough to switch off the open light on her lane. The robust redhead knew that turning the light off before the end of your shift ticked off the kid who was now assistant manager, but he would just have to get over it. As long as she still had a customer on line when five o'clock rolled round, there was little he could say about it.

Sure enough, her timing was again perfect as the second hand of the large analog clock on the wall had just swept past the hour as she handed the young mother her receipt. Isabelle was always happy when the day was over, especially on a Friday with the promise of the weekend to come. And promise it was because she planned to spend it with someone who had become quite special to her.

It only took a few minutes to close out her drawer, after six years she could probably do it in her sleep, and she quickly carried her cash drawer over to the service desk. Patricia Brown, one of the head cashiers working the desk, took the drawer from her and began to check her tally.

"Big plans for the weekend?" the older woman asked as she added up the coupons and checks that had been in the drawer.

"What makes you say that?" Isabelle replied, her tone perhaps a bit too defensive.

"Just the way you sped through close out," the black woman answered. "It made me think you were in a hurry to check out, that's all."

"Oh," Isabelle said, realizing she had overreacted.

"You and Perry going down to the shore again?" Patricia inquired as she started counting the remaining cash. "It might be a little too cool for swimming, but then that probably won't make a difference to the two of you." She added with a knowing smile.

Since just about everyone in the store knew that she had been dating Perry Wagner, who drove one of the delivery trucks, over the summer, the question was understandable. What wasn't common knowledge was that she and Perry had come to a parting of the ways over a month before.

Their relationship had started off well enough, quickly progressing from shared coffee breaks to lunch together and then out to dinner on an actual date. Perry was careful to do and say all the right things, treating her like a lady wanted to be treated.

If anyone asked, and in a store as small as this where everyone knew everyone else's business, Isabelle could honestly say she hadn't slept with Perry until after they had been going out over a month. What she didn't need to say was that long before that, the goodnight kiss had been replaced by the goodnight blow job. She knew how to keep a man interested while she made up her mind about him.

Isabelle was hardly shy about sex, having lost her virginity to a high school classmate when she was sixteen. Not the most attractive of girls back then, she tended to be on the stocky side. Isabelle made the same mistake a lot of girls did and found popularity by letting it get out that she put out. What she only later came to understand was that, while a guy was perfectly willing to take her out and have a good time; few envisioned anything more than that with her. She wasn't, as the old saying went, the kind of girl you brought home to meet your mother.

Her love life, or more precisely her sex life since the occasions where love might have entered the picture were few and far between, seemed to follow a familiar pattern. After a while, despite hopes to the contrary, her relationship with Perry proved no different.

At first, it was dinner and a movie, then back to her place for a rumble in the sheets. After a while, it was just dinner and off to bed, until finally she was lucky if they got takeout before their Friday night fuck. As nice as the sex was and continued to be, she was long past the age where she wanted to be just some guy's fuck-buddy.

"I'm not seeing Perry anymore," Isabelle said, deciding that she might as well finally get that out there.

"Oh," Patricia said, more than a touch of curiosity in her voice. "Is there someone new?"

"I guess you could say that," Isabelle offered.

"Anyone we know?" Patricia further asked, her curiosity aroused.

"I doubt it," Isabelle replied, the brevity of her answer saying more than the words.

"Do we at least get a name," Patricia asked, as if it was everyone's right to know, "in case he calls the office looking for you."

"You're not likely to get any calls like that," Isabelle replied, "but if you have to have a name, let's just make it Jamie."

"Just Jamie?"

"Just Jamie," Isabelle repeated, knowing full well that the white haired woman was mentally running though her almost encyclopedic knowledge of everyone in town to see if she could come up with a Jamie.

"You can't give me something else to go on?" Patricia said as the look on her face said she couldn't come up with a match.

"I think I'd rather just keep it private for now," Isabelle answered, disappointing the senior cashier, "at least until I see where it goes."

"Oh I understand," Patricia said, the reluctance in her voice saying just the opposite. "Well it looks like everything balances," she added as she handed the younger woman a receipt. "Have a good time with Jamie and good luck."

Isabelle thanked her and after clocking out, slipped into the jacket she had left on the coat rack. Glancing back over her shoulder as she zipped up, she saw that Patricia had already gone back to what she'd been doing before. Nice as she was most of the time, Patricia had a long standing reputation as being one of the worst gossips in town. The juicer the secret, the more she was incapable of keeping it to herself, regardless of what damage it might cause.

A recent example, still fresh on Isabelle's mind, was the store's Memorial Day picnic over by Blue Valley Lake. Judy Myers, who worked in produce even longer than Isabelle had been at the store, had a little too much to drink. Actually, since she was quite unaccustomed to drinking in general, that little had an effect all out of proportion to the amount.

So much so that the tipsy twenty-six year-old had let her most secret urges take control and wound up with nineteen-year-old Jeffery Winters in the boat house while just about everyone else had sat down to eat. When Ira Kennedy, who had gone to the boat house to look for her sunglasses which she had dropped somewhere, came upon them, they were both in a highly disorganized state, at least clothes wise. Even more shocking was the fact that Judy was down on her knees performing a highly erotic act on the stock boy.

That both were unattached and of legal age never entered Patricia's thoughts once she was told what happened by her good friend Ira. It didn't even take till the end of the day for everyone she could corner to learn of the indiscretion. While most of them found the news titillating, the majority also felt it was Judy's business and that Patricia had been wrong to spread it. Despite that, Judy felt totally humiliated and not only did she never come back to work after that day, she moved out of town a month later. Yet even after that, Patricia couldn't break her lifelong habit.

Walking to her old Escort on the far end of the parking lot, Isabelle considered that Patricia was probably already telling people that she and Perry had broken up and that Isabelle was already seeing someone new. Imagine the field day Patricia would have, Isabelle thought as she slid into the front seat, if she knew that her companion for the weekend was not only ten years her junior, but also another woman.

-=-=-=-

If anyone had suggested to her, only a year before, that she and someone like Jamie Delgado could find enough in common to be friends, much less becoming intimately involved, Isabelle might've wondered what they were on. To anyone who knew them, it would've been hard to imagine two more dissimilar women.

Isabelle was ten years older, twenty-eight pounds overweight and seemingly doomed to never having a long term relationship. True, she had actually been engaged when she was twenty-six, but that lasted less than a month. In a rare flash of clarity back then, Isabelle had realized that the only reason she had said yes was the fact that Manuel Lopez had been the only one who ever asked. His reasons for doing so were simple enough, he was twenty years older and desperately wanted a son and heir. Not content to become just a broodmare, she had broken the engagement.

Jamie, on the other hand, was only a year out of college and almost a fanatic about physical fitness, going so far as to have been on several teams in both high school and college. She had also been in a totally monogamous relationship for over three years.

In fact, the only thing the two women seemed to have in common was that both used the gym at the same community center. Jamie, simply because it was an inexpensive and convenient way to stay in shape, and Isabelle because she was on another of her frequent quests to improve her life. She would get inspired about once a year, usually after a relationship had just turned sour, and try to lose weight. Like many other things in her life, this also followed a familiar pattern. She would lose a few pounds, then hit the wall and become frustrated by a lack of further progress. Eventually she would give up and go back to her old ways.

That all changed, however, the night Isabelle exited the center after a late night workout and saw smoke coming out from under an Escort much like her own. At first she had thought it was her car, since it was parked in the same section, but as she got closer she saw that it was only one that had originally been the same color. If anything, it was even a few years older.

Standing next to the car, watching the engine burn out, was Jamie Delgado. Isabelle recognized the younger woman from other nights, even though she didn't think they'd even exchanged more than a few words over a couple of months. With the parking lot just about empty, Isabelle decided that she might as well see if she could be of any help. In the end, all she could really do was offer Jamie a lift home after the auto club towed away the car, but that was to prove a fortuitous gesture.

Originally, Isabelle had just considered it a good deed, the sort of thing she hoped someone would've done for her, and promptly forgot about it. So when she went back to the gym a week later, she was surprised when Jamie came up to her and offered to help her improve her workouts. A few suggestions on how she could exercise more effectively led to them having coffee afterwards, over which they had an even better conversation about what she had been doing wrong and how she could better control her weight.

In the weeks and then months that followed, Jamie was as good as her word, encouraging Isabelle at every opportunity and keeping her on track. The result being that today, Isabelle was within ten pounds of no longer being considered overweight. Most people erroneously concluded that it was her relationship with Perry that had led to the change, but it had definitely been Jamie's doing.

The friendship that grew between them soon extended beyond the gym as well. They started socializing on their days off, even going out some nights when neither had other plans. Eventually, Isabelle felt closer to Jamie than any other woman she knew.

It was about two months ago, about the time Isabelle had begun to reconsider her relationship with Perry, that she had what she would forever refer to as the great duh moment. She had met Jamie at the community center for a Saturday morning workout and afterwards they had stopped at a health food store to get some fruit drinks. They'd taken the drinks across the street to a local park and as they sat on a bench, Isabelle found herself telling her friend about her growing dissatisfaction with the man in her life.

Jamie didn't have any answers for her, and in truth Isabelle really wasn't looking for any. She just needed to vent and was appreciative that she had someone who was willing to listen. Had she chosen anyone at work, they would've undoubtedly tried to convince her that Perry was the best thing that ever happened to her, despite their growing problems. In was only at the end of her tirade that she tossed out a casual thought that changed her life.

"It's a pity that I can't find someone as nice as you to date," she said without really thinking about it.

"Then why don't you?" Jamie asked in reply.

"I guess you didn't hear me," Isabelle answered, "I said I don't think there are any guys like you out there."

"I heard you," Jamie said. "What I was asking was, why does it have to be a guy?"

Isabelle looked at Jamie with a blank look that said she still didn't understand.

"Isabelle," Jamie said after a moment, a look of realization finally appearing on her own face, "you can't tell me that you don't know that I'm gay. I know I've never brought it up, but you must've seen me with Heather at least a dozen or so times."

"Yes, but..." Isabelle started to say, then as the words finally sunk in, she had her `duh moment.'

Heather Boston was Jamie's best friend, a holdover from her college days. Isabelle really didn't know her, but she'd seen her many times when she dropped off or picked Jamie up after her car had been declared DOA by the mechanic. Evidently, they also shared an apartment until Heather was transferred by her company to their West Coast office not long after the engine fire.

Thinking about it now, Isabelle reflected that the two women had seemed overly affectionate towards each other, but she'd just assumed that was the way the younger generation was. Women their age these days just seemed more comfortable with things like that than Isabelle and her friends had been. The sudden realization also explained why Jamie had taken Heather's leaving so hard.

"I can't believe that you didn't know," Isabelle heard Jamie saying as she snapped back to the present, then her voice became more concerned and she asked if it made any difference. "Between us I mean," she explained. "I mean we're still friends, right?"

"Of course," Isabelle replied almost automatically, "why should it make any difference."

That response put a look of relief on Jamie's face. Back when she had first come out to her family and friends during her first year of college, too many of them had decided that they no longer wanted anything to do with her. One of them had been her oldest and closest friend, Pamela Rosario. The hurtful words Pam had used when their friendship ended still pained Jamie.

A short time later, after Isabelle had dropped Jamie off in front of her apartment house, the older woman found herself asking if what she had told Jamie had actually been true. Had nothing changed between them?

-=-=-=-

Over the next week, that question had still haunted Isabelle. At times, she really didn't know how she felt about it. Before Jamie, Isabelle had never even met a gay woman; at least not any that she knew for a fact were gay. The closest she could remember were two women who lived in the same apartment building she had grown up in. Several times she had heard her mother and her friends talking about the two and when she asked about the unfamiliar word, lesbiana, her mother had grown angry and said it was an evil word and none of her concern. If there was one word Isabelle couldn't imagine applying to Jamie, evil was it.

Jamie had told her two weeks before that she would be away the following week so Isabelle didn't think anything of the fact that her friend wasn't at the community center when she went to exercise. Jamie's younger sister was getting married upstate and the two of them had never lost the close relationship they'd shared growing up. Originally, Jamie had planned to skip the wedding lest her presence provoke certain other members of their family. Joanna Delgado, however, wouldn't even hear of it. She told Jamie that if anyone else had a problem with her big sister being her maid of honor, then they were perfectly welcome to stay home. She needed Jamie at her side when she walked down the aisle more than she needed any of them.

The brief separation couldn't have come at a more opportune time as it gave Isabelle a chance to sort out her feelings. That she missed Jamie was understandable, considering how close they had become. But now, once the thirty- two-year-old allowed herself to consider the possibilities, other emotions began to come into play.

One thing Isabelle was certain of. Regardless of any other decision, her relationship with Perry had run its course. Once she accepted that she wasted no time in letting him know. He didn't take the news well, insisting that they talk about it. Isabelle had said that there was nothing more to talk about, not that they had done much talking at all these past weeks. It had been fun, she'd told him, but that was all it had turned out to be.

That behind her, she considered anew the question of if she was capable of dating another woman. What would people think? What would they say? Did she care?

Elusive as the answers to these questions seemed to be, they became less important once Isabelle replaced "another woman" with Jamie. Once the question became specific, no one else's opinion seemed to really matter. The concept of being involved with the younger woman quickly became more than acceptable. Of course that didn't mean she had to proclaim it to the world right off. Better to keep it between the two of them, at least in the beginning. After all, what if she asked and Jamie said no. Or if they found that they really didn't work on that level.

Isabelle couldn't wait until Jamie came home at the end of the week so that she could ask her. It was all she could do to concentrate on her job, the dark-haired girl never really out of her thoughts. So much so that two worries began to take shape. The first was pretty far out there, the idea that while she was away Jamie might meet someone else. If she did, well there was nothing Isabelle could do about it so there wasn't any point worrying about it.

The second concern seemed much more of a possibility, at least in her mind. What if, she asked Jamie out, and she said yes, and things worked out as she hoped, did she have any idea how to make Jamie happy? It had been more years that she liked to think about since she had to ask that question in regard to a man, but what did she know about pleasing another woman? Some things would be the same, she thought, but just as many things had to be different, didn't they?

Sitting alone in the back storage room of the Stop N' Save that doubled as a break room, Isabelle considered how she handled that problem back when she was younger and inexperienced. None of those solutions seemed to apply now, well at least most of them.

The best way to learn about guys and sex, aside from actually doing it, she remembered was to compare notes with her girlfriends. Back in high school, there didn't seem to be anything too personal not to share with her friends. She had no idea what guys shared, little of the truth she always assumed, but it was different with girls.

Looking back, it now seemed amazing how much information every girl shared. Before you even went on a first date with a guy, it was a good chance you already knew what turned him on the most. Who was into breasts, who loved a round ass, and who was the rare guy who was willing to go down on you. Even Isabelle had been shocked to learn that Johnny Cage, who was probably the closest thing to a choir boy in the school, was fanatical about anal sex. That the girl who shared that information was not only still dating him when she passed on that tidbit, but eventually married him as well. It just went to show what she enjoyed.

Even if Isabelle knew other women who were into their own sex, and looking at her co-workers scattered across the room she considered that somewhere among them that might be at least one, her days of casual sex were long behind her. That left one last idea, one that seemed an excellent choice the more she thought about it.

Back in high school, one of her girlfriends, Maddie Friedman, had access to her father's collection of 8mm adult films. Once a week, when her parents went out on their bowling night, she would invite some of her closest friends over and screen them. Isabelle had to admit, she learned a lot on those nights. Today, with adult films a lot easier to come by, it should be easy, Isabelle reasoned, to find some about girlsex.

A visit to her local video store proved the truth of that assumption, but presented another problem that she hadn't considered. Unable to afford what it would've cost to have cable in her apartment, Isabelle usually rented a movie once or twice a week from the store. The last thing she wanted to do was have them remember her renting a porn film.

Checking the phone book for other options, she found a store just outside of town called Femme Views that seemed just what she was looking for. Driving out to the address listed in the book, she found a small store at the end of a roadside strip mall. Quite non-descript; only the name on the door told her she was in the right place.

There were only three other people in the store, two customers and a clerk behind the counter – all of them women. Stepping though a cloth curtain to the video section, Isabelle was presented with a surprisingly wide variety of DVDs, ranging from romantic love stories to outright porn. So much variety in fact, that she was at a loss at what to pick.

One at a time, Isabelle picked up a few boxes whose titles caught her attention and read the descriptions on the back. None seemed to be exactly what she wanted, although the accompanying imagery was certainly interesting. Finally she found one labeled "Lesbianism for Idiots" that seemed to be the kind of thing she needed.

"Need some help?" a quiet voice unexpectedly said from behind Isabelle.

Isabelle turned and found the clerk from behind the counter standing there. In her late twenties, the woman had blonde hair cut quite short and an athletic build that nicely filled out the black jeans and sleeveless white t-shirt that she was wearing. The latter pressing so tight against her breasts that it left little to the imagination as to what was underneath.

"Excuse me," Isabelle said.

"I asked if you needed some help," the young woman said, a warm smile filling her face. "Are you looking for anything specific?"

"I'm not sure," Isabelle replied.

"You're curious, right?" the clerk, who introduced herself as Sue, asked as she saw the title of the box in the older woman's hand.

"Something like that," Isabelle answered.

"Is this just a general curiosity or is it the result of a more personal interest?" Sue asked.

"I guess you could say a personal interest," Isabelle said, blushing slightly.

"Excellent," Sue said, her smile suggesting a hidden pleasure at the answer. "But I'm afraid that one definitely isn't what you're looking for." she went on, taking the box from Isabelle's hand and putting it back on the shelf.

Isabelle watched as the young blonde bent down and ran her fingers across the bottom row of boxes. She stopped at a small selection near the end which were identified as instructional by a small sticker almost invisible unless you bent down as she was.

"Ah here it is," Sue said in a small voice of triumph, "I was sure we had one more left in stock."

Sue rose back to her feet and handed the nondescript green box to Isabelle. Unlike the others she had looked at, there where no pictures or descriptions on it, just the title in simple white letters, "A Good Girl's Guide to Lesbian Sex."

"Don't worry, it's not as clinical as it sounds," the blonde clerk smiled. "In fact, it's actually one of my favorites."

"Thank you," Isabelle said, the warmness expressed by Sue causing her to lose some of the embarrassment that she initially felt.

It was however replaced, if only momentarily, by a concern about the price sticker that she finally noticed on the bottom of the box. She had expected that actually buying a disc rather than renting one would be more expensive but not this much. Still, it was important and hoping she hadn't let out too much of a sigh, decided that she could do without any rentals for a week or two to make up the difference.

"I'll take it," she told the salesgirl.

"Great," she replied, "just follow me back to the counter and I'll ring you up."

Stepping back to the front counter, Isabelle noticed that the other two women who had been in the store when she came in were gone. This of course, she realized, was why Sue had been able to give her personal attention. Remembering that both of them had been looking at the same book shelf when she'd come in, Isabelle wondered if they had been a couple.

"This'll just take a minute," Sue said as she took the bills that Isabelle had given her and rang up the purchase.

Isabelle took the short wait to turn her head and look around the store. A glass case perpendicular to the sales counter held a collection of sex toys. Curious about them as well, she wished she had time to take a better look at them. That, and the thought of how far she had come in the last few weeks, made her blush once more.

"Here you go," Sue said as she handed over the change and receipt, along with a small, unmarked white plastic bag containing her purchase.

As was her habit, Isabelle checked the cash and then the receipt, immediately realizing that they were wrong. The total on the bottom was not was it should've been.

"There's been a mistake," she said, holding up the paper for Sue to see. "This is only half the price that was marked on the box."

A lot of people, Isabelle knew, would've just be glad that the salesgirl had made a mistake and kept their mouths shut, but she had worked as a cashier far too long to take advantage of it. Especially if the owners, like Stop N' Save, held employees financially responsible for undercharges.

"No mistake," Sue grinned, "that's the price after you apply the employee discount. The owners are pretty generous with that."

"But I'm not," Isabelle started to say but was cut off.

"I used my code, don't worry about it," Sue said. "It's alright, really."

Evidently, Isabelle realized, the younger woman had caught her surprise when she'd seen the sticker's price.

"Thank you," Isabelle said, and then dropped the change back into her purse.

"Enjoy the film," Sue said with an even broader smile. "And just in case it doesn't answer all of your questions, I'm usually here on Tuesdays and Friday afternoons."

"Thank you again," Isabelle said as she turned and headed for the door, not noticing that the salesgirl never took her eyes off of her until she was out of the small shop.

It wasn't until she was back in the car that Isabelle realized what had just happened.

"Oh my gosh," she said to herself, "that girl was actually flirting with me."

Coming from another woman, it seemed strange indeed, but not so strange that it didn't leave a warm feeling between her legs on the drive home.

-=-=-=-

Isabelle resisted the temptation to watch the DVD as soon as she got home. Instead she spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening giving her apartment the good cleaning it needed. Ever so often, her eyes would dart to the video sitting on her coffee table, but she would remind herself each time, not yet.

Finally, she made herself a simple dinner and sat down with it and a cold bottle of beer in front of the television. The DVD was already in the machine and Isabelle hit play on the remote before setting it aside. Then, just as the film began to play, she picked up the control and lowered the volume as not to advertise too loudly what she was watching.

Ten minutes into the video, A Good Girl's Guide turned out to be just as good as Sue had promised. It was quite explicit, but not in a porn film sort of way, not at all like those 8mm flicks they had watched in the Freidman basement. Divided into four segments, each followed two women of various ages and ethnicity as each explored different aspects of lesbian sex. Along the way, Isabelle also learned a great deal about the various toys she had see at Femme Views as one couple, two middle aged white women, seemed to share a particular passion for them. After watching one of them please another with a strapped on manhood, Isabelle found herself remembering a T-shirt she had also seen at the store that now made a lot more sense. It had read, "Tell me again why I need a man."

When the film ended an hour and ten minutes later, Isabelle put away the dinner dish and brought back another beer from the kitchen. Then, she sat back and hit the play button a second time. The guide proved to be just as interesting the second time around as she noticed some things she had missed on the first run. The girls in the last episode were Hispanic and she found herself imagining herself and Jamie in their places.

Closing her eyes, she put down the bottle of beer and, slipping them under the T-shirt she had changed into, brought her hands to the underside of her breasts. Her skin was quite warm to her touch and her nipples hard. She squeezed them between her thumb and forefingers, producing a pleasing sensation.

Leaving one hand to continue to play with her breasts, she dropped the other down between her legs to feel the damp spot on her panties. Brushing her fingers against it produced a similar if more intense reaction. Feeling like a high school girl again, she slipped her fingers beneath the elastic waistband and fondled the lightly haired mound directly.

"Hmmmm," Isabelle said to herself as she felt the tips of her fingers caress her inner walls, "I don't do this enough."

That might have been true, but she had hardly forgotten the how of it. In no time at all, she had worked herself into a pleasant frenzy, the glow of her efforts spreading across her body. Repeatedly she plunged two fingers deep inside herself, rubbing her clit at the same time with her thumb. It didn't take long before a familiar joyful pressure reached its limits, and she exploded in a rush of fulfillment.

"Oh yes, that was nice," she smiled as she opened her eyes, "very nice indeed."

What had made it all the more pleasing was that in her mind's eye, it had been Jamie's hand, not her own, that had brought such a happy release. Closing her eyes once more, she tilted her head back on the cushion and fell asleep right there, enjoying her fantasy one more time as it replayed in her dreams.

-=-=-=-

Turning her car into the street traffic outside of the parking lot, Isabelle mentally checked he contents of the suitcase in her trunk. It had been hard to pack when you didn't know where you where going, but Jamie had said just to bring some nice things. Nothing too special, but nice enough to go out to dinner in.

It only took fifteen minutes to get to Jamie's apartment house and Isabelle was happy to see the dark haired younger woman waiting out front with her own suitcase. Getting out of the car to open the trunk, she apologized for being late.

"Not a problem," Jamie smiled as she dropped her bag into the back of the car, "I just came out a few minutes ago myself."

"Are you going to tell me where we're going?" Isabelle asked as she leaned over and kissed Jamie on the cheek.

"No, I'm not," Jamie said with a touch of conspiracy in her voice.

"Then I guess you'd better drive then," Isabelle replied, handing her the keys.

"That would make sense," Jamie laughed as she took them.

Isabelle moved around to the passenger seat, while Jamie slipped into the driver's side. They had only gone a short distance before Isabelle again asked for some clue to where they were headed.

"My aren't we being the curious cat?" Jamie grinned. "But like I said, you're going to just have to wait and see."

"Can you at least tell me how far we're going?" Isabelle asked.

"Not that far," Jamie smiled as she turned in her direction for a moment. "If the traffic is not that bad, I figure we should be there in about forty minutes or so."

Resigned to the fact that was all she was going to get out of her, Isabelle turned on the radio and sat back to enjoy the music. As they left town, their path took them up past the old North Ridge Canal. Built in the late 1800's, the canal had once served as the area's link to the rest of the country, but with the advent of mechanization it had slowly fallen into disuse less then two decades later. Nowadays it was used for the occasional recreational craft, as well as a make out point for the town's young and not so young.

In her high school days, Isabelle had visited the Canal more times than she could now remember, with a number of boys whose faces she also could no longer recall. What she did remember was spending more time in the back seats than the front, or totally on her back if the boy had a station wagon or van. Thankfully those days were also far behind her as well.

The Friday after Jamie had come back from her sister's wedding, she and Isabelle had gone out to see a movie at a small, out of the way movie theatre on the north side of town. It had been one of those independent films, the kind that no one ever really hears about and both of them had enjoyed it immensely. Going for a ride afterward in search of an open diner for a late night snack, they had instead come across the canal and spotted quite a number of cars parked along its perimeter at wide intervals.

"Is there something going on here?" Jamie had asked as she counted off a number of darkened cars.

"Oh there's something going on here alright," Isabelle had laughed.

From the look on Jamie's face, it was obvious that she didn't get the joke.

"Submarine races," Isabelle said, remembering how often that term had been used by a number of the boys.

"Submarine races?" Jamie said as she slowed the car down, not getting that reference either.

Isabelle finally explained it as plainly as she could, adding that she was surprised that Jamie had never heard of the canal since just about every girl who ever grew up in Blue Valley had to have been up here at least once in her life.

"Well I didn't grow up in Blue Valley," Jamie said as the car came to a complete halt. "And even if I did, it would've been quite doubtful that I ever would've come up here with a boy."

"Well, then maybe you should make your visit with a nice girl," Isabelle said, "or better yet, maybe one not so nice."

The two of them laughed as Isabelle further suggested they park for a little while, if only to enjoy the full moon and the soft music on the radio. Deciding that wasn't a bad idea, Jamie steered her car over to a deserted spot by the water's edge, beneath a grove of trees.

They sat there for a while, listening to the song on the radio, making jokes about what might be going on in the other cars. Jamie was surprised when she felt Isabelle's hand close around hers, her fingers interlocking with Jamie's own.

"Belle?" Jamie said, using the diminutive of her name.

In response, Isabelle lifted their joined hands to her mouth and kissed Jamie's just above her knuckles.

"Are you sure?" Jamie asked, knowing full well that up until now, their relationship had been purely platonic, and that she had no reason to think that was going to change.

"This isn't a rash decision," Isabelle responded, explaining that she had been giving it a lot of thought while Jamie had been away. "I'm ready for us to take it to the next level."

As if to punctuate her words, Isabelle leaned close and kissed her with all of the intensity of a teenage girl on her first date.

The canal now far behind them, Isabelle took just a few more moments to remember what it had felt like that night. The feel of Jamie's lips against her own, the touch of her friend's hand against her bare skin, and how Jamie's body had felt to her. Finally, of how they had brought themselves to mutual orgasm, their bodies pressed tightly together, their fingers buried deep inside the other.

"What are you thinking?" Jamie asked as she noticed the far away look on her face.

"Just happy thoughts," Isabelle smiled.

The next twenty minutes passed quickly, with little traffic to slow down their progress. They made such good time that, ahead of schedule, Jamie announced that they were just about there.

All Isabelle saw was the same countryside that she had been watching for the last twenty miles. She was about to ask the obvious when Jamie surprised her with an unexpected request.

"Close your eyes," she said.

"What?"

"I said to close your eyes," Jamie repeated. "Come on, you've humored me so far."

"Okay," Isabelle answered, adding that it was a good thing that she wasn't the one driving.

Even with her eyes closed, Isabelle could feel the car moving down what had to be a curving road, maybe even a driveway. Two more turns followed as the sounds of people around them grew louder.

"Okay, you can open them now," Jamie said, then added after a pause, "surprise!"

"Oh my God!" Isabelle exclaimed at she saw the large sign in front of the building that read "Couples Only."

Couples Only was a high end resort for lovers, situated on the shores of Lake Jefferson. Originally started as a honeymoon haven back in the sixties, it had grown over the years to include long married couples looking to recapture the magic as well as unmarried couples just looking to enjoy private time with each other. Isabelle had remembered reading that they had recently expanded their clientele to include same-sex couples too. There had been an uproar over that, she'd read, but any loss of business from straight couples had quickly been made up by those not so straight.

"I've always wanted to come here," Isabelle said, remembering that she had once mentioned it to Jamie some weeks back. "but it's so expensive. Jamie, we can't afford this."

"Don't worry, it's not going to cost that much," Jamie assured her. "I used to work here as a maid while I was in college and have a great relationship with one of the owners. She's going to give us a really great discount rate because the room we're staying in is being renovated."

"Are you sure?" Isabelle asked.

"Trust me," Jamie smiled. "Nothing is too good for my babe." she added, leaning over to kiss Isabelle on the mouth.

Pulling their car into one of the spaces reserved for check-ins, they left their luggage behind and headed into the office. Like many resorts of this kind, the facilities were spread over a large area, populated by small buildings, each housing one to ten sets of guests. The rooms ranged from just above average to opulent, with the price tags to match. Even the low end rooms tended to run in the range of over two hundred dollars a day.

It took a few minutes for the clerk at the counter to finish with the couple in front of them, a young man and woman who were checking out after a week long honeymoon stay. Finally, Jamie stepped up and presented a small manila envelope to the friendly girl behind the desk.

The blonde haired girl opened the envelope, took a few moments to read the contents, then picked up the phone on the desk and dialed a single number. Hanging up the phone, she told Jamie that if she would have a seat, someone would be with them in a few minutes.

As it turned out, Jamie didn't even make it to the row of chairs where Isabelle had already sat. The door to the office adjacent to the check in counter swung open and a middle aged woman with short white hair came bounding out. Pushing open a swinging section of the counter, she made a beeline for where Jamie was standing.

"Jamie, darling," she cried out as she threw her arms around Jamie and pulled her to her, kissing her on the cheek as she did, "I can't tell you how happy I was to get your call last week. This place hasn't been the same since you left."

The affection in her voice toward Jamie was so obvious, Isabelle wondered just how good a relationship Jamie had had with the woman now finally releasing her. It was doubtful that all former maids got this kind of reception.

"Doris, this is Isabelle," Jamie said as she turned and pointed out her companion, "Isabelle, this is Doris, the one I told you about. Doris is the owner of the resort." she added, turning her attention first to the white haired woman, then back to Isabelle.

"Only half owner," Doris smiled as she took a long look at Jamie's guest. "Father left the business to both my brother and I."

It didn't take a genius to realize that Doris had been the reason for the resort now hosting same-sex couples in addition to their tradition clientele.

"My, she is the attractive one," Doris said, her appraisal of Isabelle completed. "You better keep a good eye on her, Jamie dear, else even an old lady like me might be tempted."

That confirmed what Isabelle had just guessed, Doris was definitely into the ladies. As to the question of if she and Jamie had once been close, she quickly decided that it was none of her business. With her own sexual past, who was she to judge anyone else's.

Doris said something to the girl behind the counter and she handed her one of the electronic cardkeys. Doris in turn handed it to Jamie, saying she was sure she remembered how to get to the room it opened.

"Wait a second," Jamie said as she took the key and looked down at it, "this isn't the right key."

"Oh yes it is," Doris smiled.

"That's not what we agreed to on the phone," Jamie said, slightly perturbed.

"So I lied," the older woman smiled. "My dear, did you really think I was going to put you in a room where the walls were half plastered and paint buckets are scattered all over the place."

"Then at least let me pay for ..." Jamie started to say but was then cut off by Doris.

"We both know that's not going to happen," Doris said with the same affection she'd exhibited before. "I never got the chance to get you a graduation gift when you got your degree, think of this as it."

"Thank you," Jamie said, accepting the futility of arguing it further.

"Now you and your friend go get settled in," Doris said as she turned and smiled at Isabelle again. "I hope the two of you can have dinner with me tomorrow night."

"Why not tonight," Jamie asked, "you still have the late dinner at nine, don't you?"

"I just assumed you'd want tonight for yourselves," Doris smiled conspiratorially. " No, tomorrow night would be fine."

"Don't worry, we'll be there," Isabelle answered for the two of them.

-=-=-=-

Once back in the car, Jamie drove them to a small duplex by the lake. It had two identical Suites, mirror images of each other with a small porch overlooking the water. Suite A was the one listed on the key, but it was Suite B that Jamie headed for. The door was slightly ajar and she opened it and stepped inside.

Just as Doris had described it, half the walls were unfinished and a small pyramid of paint cans filled one corner. A glance into the bathroom saw that some of the piping had also been disconnected. No, this wasn't the place she wanted to bring Isabelle.

"Our Suite is next door," she smiled to her companion who had been waiting by the open door.

Isabelle stepped aside as Jamie exited the Suite and used the key to unlock the door to Suite A. She stepped inside, then paused in the small alcove to let Isabelle enter first. After all, the younger woman already knew what the Suite looked like, having cleaned it so many times after others had stayed in it.

"Oh my, this is lovely," Isabelle said out as she entered the other room. "It looks just like the photographs in the brochures."

"I'm glad you like it," Jamie replied as she followed Isabelle into the main room.

Composed of three rooms, the largest of which centered around a large rectangular oak bed. A long L-shaped dresser filled the far corner, on top the highest section of which sat a twenty inch television, complete with a DVD player. The opposite wall was almost totally mirrored, as was most of the ceiling. In between the mirrored sections above were twin rows of small lights that could illuminate the bed, the controls of which were within easy reach just to the left of the headboard.

The second room was the bathroom, only slightly smaller than the bedroom. Aside from the necessary fixtures, which were housed behind a closed door to afford privacy, the room held both a glass enclosed stand alone shower and a Jacuzzi built for two.

The last room was the smallest but also the most intimate, about half the size of the first two. Heavily carpeted, the only furnishings were a small table of a height easily reachable to someone sitting, or lying on the carpet. Opposite which was a small fireplace, with a supply of easy light logs piled next to it.

"Oh look, there's even a refrigerator," Isabelle called out as she pulled open the door of the small built in unit that was in the bedroom, "and it's already stocked."

Talking a look for herself, Jamie recognized the contents as a selection of the various chocolates and cheeses the resort offered as well as several bottles of wine. She'd also noticed a couple of bottles of body wash and bubble bath in the bathroom. All gifts left by Doris she knew, mentally adding up what was normally charged for such things.

"What shall we do first?" Isabelle asked.

"Well, getting the bags out of the car would probably be a good start," Jamie smiled.

"Funny girl," Isabelle smiled back. "I mean after that."

"Well, we can go out to eat, they have that late dinner I mentioned before," Jamie offered, "or we can hop over to the snack bar and get something to bring back to the room."

"I'd really like to go out," Isabelle answered. "I want us to go out."

"Then out we'll go," Jamie replied. "We can even go dancing if you like; the resort has its own nightclub."

The look on Isabelle's face told Jamie that she'd said exactly the right thing. There would be plenty of time over the weekend to make use of the room's privacy, right now it was more important for them to be out in public together.

Dinner was as excellent as one could hope it would be. It was buffet night and the only problem was deciding what to try next. That and the worry that you were taking more than you needed to eat. But Jamie quickly assured Isabelle that it was okay to go crazy once and a while and she was sure they'd burn enough calories to offset the rich food. It took Isabelle a few moments to get the joke, but when she did she burst out laughing. Jamie loved to see her laugh and promised herself again to do everything to make the weekend perfect for the two of them.

The other two couples at their table didn't seem put off in the least by the fact that the two women were together. One couple, Jim and Sally Rhoades, were in their early twenties and on their honeymoon. The other couple, Donald Mason and Penny Riley, were closer to Isabelle's age and fell into the category that the activities director like to refer to as business trip/shacking up. The over dinner conversation proved to be as good as the food.

After dinner, they went to the night club where a local band was playing. They had a few drinks but spent most of the time there out on the dance floor. It was hardly the first time that Isabelle had danced with another woman, that had practically been a standard at numerous weddings and social events while growing up. This time however it felt so different, because of the deep emotional and physical reaction she had to the woman in her arms. It felt so right for Jamie to be there and for other people to see her there as well.

"Are you enjoying yourself?" Jamie asked, her lips just about brushing against Isabelle's ear as they held each other tight during a slow, romantic dance.

"Immensely," Isabelle replied as she tilted her head so that their lips met and they shared a kiss.

The music ended just as their kiss did, and Isabelle found herself quickly looking to see if anyone was staring at them. If anyone had been, she couldn't see it. She knew that this was a controlled atmosphere, but still it felt good not to have to hide what she was feeling.

"What would you like to do next?" Jamie asked.

"I'd like to go back to our room," Isabelle answered, delighting in how nice the last two words sounded.

There was a small bus that carried guests along the half mile road that circled the resort but it was such a nice night that Isabelle and Jamie decided to walk back to their room. It only took about ten minutes and hand in hand, they counted the stars in the clear night sky. On the way, they passed a few other couples with similar ideas in mind, exchanging nods and smiles as they passed each other along the paths.

"I love you, Jamie Delgado," Isabelle said as they reached their room. "It's been a long time since I've said that to someone and meant it so much."

"And I love you, Isabelle Alvarez," Jamie replied, moving closer to add a long, deep kiss to her words.

-=-=-=-

The light of the fireplace, designed more for effect than warmth, reflected off the two women as they sat on the floor before it. Scattered around them were the half finished contents of the gift baskets and on the low table sat a half empty bottle of wine, along with two glasses.

They had changed out of the clothes they'd worn for dinner and dancing, replacing them with the outfits each had carefully selected for tonight. In Jamie's case, it was a flowing blue silk camisole, coupled with a tiny G-string. The top draped suggestively over her well developed form, highlighting her not inconsiderable charms.

For Isabelle, her choice of nightwear hadn't taken any thought at all. Months ago, when she had still been seeing Perry, she had seen the most erotic, fire engine red corset with matching panties and stockings in the window of the lingerie shop in the mall. She had pointed the outfit out to him, dropping a hint as to what she'd like for a birthday present. It was a little on the expensive side, she agreed, but he would have been the one to get the benefits of seeing her wear it. Perry hadn't taken the hint, settling instead on taking her out to dinner and buying a more inexpensive and already forgotten trinket as a gift.

When Jamie had told her they were going away to spend their first night together, she knew she had to have that outfit, price be damned. When she saw Jamie's reaction to it when she walked out of the bathroom, she knew it had been worth every penny.

"You are so beautiful," Jamie said as she ran an extended finger down the side of Isabelle's face, brushing the edge of her lips as she did so.

"That should be my line," Isabelle smiled.

"I'll be happy to share it," Jamie said as she moved in for another kiss.

As their lips met again, Isabelle considered again how each kiss was like their first, a feeling that she had never felt with any man. It wasn't a matter of gender, she thought, as much as the fact that what was passing between them was more an act of love than simple desire. Not that the latter was lacking in any way.

Excited hands moved up and down their bodies, exploring all the soft places that had become so familiar to both of them these past few weeks. Slowly, carefully, Jamie began to undo the small hooks on the front of Isabelle's top, exposing the ample flesh beneath.

Much to Isabelle's delight, Jamie leaned down and kissed each bit of skin as it became visible. The younger woman was in no rush, preferring to savor the sweetness of her lover's breasts as more and more of it became available. Finally, the last clasp undone, the bright material fell by the wayside as Isabelle's bounty bounced free.

Running the tips of her fingers across the dark areola, squeezing the hard nipples between them, Jamie produced a soft and pleasing moan from the woman before her. Her fingers glided downward until she could cup each mound, then lifted each just a bit, dropping her head at the same time until both met somewhere in the middle. Then, after teasing them for just a moment with her tongue, Jamie took the closest nipple, and as much of the flesh around it as she could manage, deep into her mouth.

"Oh yes," Isabelle called out, delighting in the warmth of the wetness now wrapped around her.

With the same enjoyment they shared only minutes before as they fed each other the contents of the gift basket, Isabelle pressed more of her flesh into Jamie's mouth, a treat she eagerly accepted. Her darting tongue caressed the sensitive flesh, even as her teeth added just a tinge of hardness to the mix. The combination, repeated back and forth between each breast, was beginning to drive Isabelle wild.

On and on it went, until Isabelle couldn't wait any longer to do the same to Jamie, whispering that desire into her ear. The dark haired girl released her grip on the redhead's breasts and, with a quick motion, grabbed hold of her own top and pulled it up and over her head.

Isabelle had lost track of the number of times she had seen Jamie topless at the gym, marveling at the perfection of her breasts. But this time it was different, because this time she was going to be able to do more than admire. Pressing her face between them, she immediately became to shower them with the same loving affection that Jamie had bestowed upon hers. With equal effect, both physical and vocal.

They quickly developed a rhythm, trading kisses on mouth and flesh, their hands massaging each others skin as well as rubbing flesh against flesh, nipple up against nipple. Climbing out of their sitting position, they stretched out in front of the fire, with Isabelle on the bottom as Jamie climbed on tip of her.

Starting again at the top, Jamie began to work her way down Isabelle's body, marking her way with the soft touch of her hands and the even softer touch of her lips. Each was rewarded by a pleasing sigh from Isabelle as they hit all the most sensitive areas.

"God, girl," Jamie grinned as she paused for a moment, "you have a really beautiful body."

"Liar," Isabelle laughed, still sometimes finding it hard to believe the changes in her over the last few months. "But it is a lot better because of you," she admitted.

"Then I guess its right that I get to enjoy it," Jamie laughed as well as she went back to the task at hand.

Down across her stomach she went, her tongue producing even more laugher from Isabelle as it curled around, then tickled the inside of her belly button. Reaching the still covered mound between her legs, Jamie paused just long enough to kiss the center of the dark stain on cloth, savoring the appetizing fragrance Isabelle's wetness had produced.

A hand moved down each leg, working its way down the outside on the downward journey, then the inner reaches on the return trip. Warm, wet kisses alternated between both in each direction.

"Turn over," Jamie said, actuating her request with the motion of her hands.

As Isabelle did so, Jamie started this time from the bottom, working her way up the older woman's legs until she reached the barely covered cheeks of her ass. A kiss graced each soft globe, followed by outstretched fingers with traced the outline of each, then met in the deep recesses of their convergence. A meeting that sent the loudest moan of satisfaction yet spilling from Isabelle's lips.

The erotic dance of Jamie's fingers continued up Isabelle's lower and upper back, again accented by the soft wetness of her mouth. This time, the press of flesh against flesh made reappearance as the black haired girl lay across the woman beneath her and massaged the tips of her nipples into her back.

Finally, Jamie reached the back of her neck which, after covering it too with kisses, she tilted Isabelle's head just enough so that she could finish her little trip where it had began. As before, this kiss was just as sweet as the first had been.

"Oh I could just lie here forever," Isabelle said softly as she kissed Jamie again.

"If you want, we can spend the rest of the weekend doing just that," Jamie replied, also with a kiss.

"On second thought, that might not be such a great idea," Isabelle said after a few moments' consideration.

"Why is that," Jamie said, softly stroking the body now next to her.

"Because then I'd miss my chance to do the same to you," Isabelle laughed. "It's not like I haven't been thinking about it for over a month now, if not longer."

"Really," Jamie smiled, "and would you care to share just what you've been thinking of doing to me all this time?"

"No," Isabelle said, a touch of defiance in her tone, then adding after a momentary pause, "I'd much rather show you."

With that, she lifted Jamie to her feet and placed the younger woman's arms high into the air. Isabelle didn't want to simply repeat Jamie's performance, she was determined to improve on it, or at least give it her own flavor.

Standing behind Jamie, Isabelle brought the younger woman's hands into her own, high above both their heads. She squeezed them tightly, sharing the strength of the bond they now shared. Then, releasing her hold, she caressed her way down their length, moving across the back of her neck and shoulders until they traversed a path around to her sides of her breasts and on to the soft pink nipples jutting out from them.

Spreading her hand out as far as her fingers could stretch, Isabelle engulfed Jamie's smaller, but more rounded mounds, squeezing them tightly. Jamie responded with a soft cry and a backward tilting of her head as to share a kiss of appreciation. A kiss that led to three and more after that.

Finally, Isabelle moved on, bending her legs to keep pace with the downward motion of her hands. Reaching the knots of Jamie's G-string, she gave each a tug and the knots collapsed into themselves, the string coming apart in Isabelle's hand. She glanced down at the flimsy garment for a moment, then tossed it aside.

Dropping to her knees, moving now in front of Jamie as she did, Isabelle ran her hand across the totally bare mound that was now exposed, an extended middle finger running down the length of the moist opening. From glimpses in the shower and locker room, as well as the feel of her hands against it that night by the canal, Isabelle knew that Jamie usually kept her hair tightly trimmed. So it was a surprise now to find that she had shaved it totally, one that let to a surge of excitement in the knowledge that she had done it for her.

Jamie parted her legs to give Isabelle both greater access and a better view. Aside from pictures, this was the first time she had ever seen another woman this close and she couldn't help but take a few moments to be fascinated by the view. Gently, she parted the folds of Jamie's sex with her fingers, revealing the glistening wetness of the inner walls. Running her thumb up above, she quickly exposed her excited clitoris as well, marveling at how different, and at the same time similar, it was to her own. Of course the view from a hand held mirror in no way compared to the one before her.

Taking one more moment to think about all she had learned and fantasized about in the last few weeks, Isabelle pressed her hand just a bit forward and slipped her middle finger inside Jamie, followed quickly in turn by the two fingers on either side. There was only so much you could learn by watching and reading she knew, so from this point on she could only rely on her own experience.

But for a girl who first learned to masturbate long before she'd ever heard the word, that experience was considerable in certain areas. And if all else failed, she could always fall back on that old but certainly true maxim, "just do to someone else what you know feels good to you."

It didn't take long for it to become apparent that what felt good to Isabelle also felt good to Jamie. Of course this was hardly news since she knew she had brought her to orgasm with her hand that night in the car. The real test was about what happened next.

Moving her face closer as she parted the way with her fingers, Isabelle felt far less hesitation in going down on a woman than she did the first time she had done so with a man. Of course the latter had been many years and lovers ago, but as she ran her tongue deep inside the crevice of Jamie's womanhood, Isabelle liked to think the lack of restraint was more due to what she felt in her heart and not because of anything else.

That night in the car, after they were clearing themselves up with the handy- wipes in from the glove compartment, Isabelle had resisted the curiosity to sample what Jamie's orgasm had left on her fingers. She wanted her first taste of the woman she was falling in love with to be from the source. Now, with that sweet honey filling her mouth, she was hardly disappointed.

Nor was she disappointed by Jamie's reaction to her efforts as the dark haired woman mouthed words of encouragement, interwoven with cries of various intensities. Hands locked tightly against Jamie's ass, Isabelle pressed her face deep between her lover's legs, her tongue buried as far as it could possibly go.

Curiosity enough, Isabelle had never even tasted her own nectar, save for the brief remnants left on a man's cock after they had made love. For some strange reason, she had always associated the act in the same way that most men viewed tasting even their own climax. Delighting in the taste of Jamie's excitement, she now realized that it had been a definite lapse on her part.

Tongue and fingers did all they could, bringing Jamie to a state of arousal that left no doubt that she was well on the road to orgasm. That thought only encouraged Isabelle more, redoubling her efforts until the words fled Jamie, leaving only the moans of desire.

She could feel the woman in her arms begin to quake as mini-tremors raced up and down her body. Jamie could no longer articulate, but she let her satisfaction be known by actions if not words. Isabelle hardly needed the press of Jamie's hands against the back of her head, holding it tight against her sex, to encourage her. Still, it was nice to know she was exactly on the right track. Subtle changes in the feel of Jamie's body, again so similar to those she usually felt in her own, told Isabelle that she was close to her goal. Actually, she was a lot closer than she realized.

The explosion of Jamie's sex against her mouth was as unexpected as it was satisfying. As was the echoing cries that filled the room and, had there been anyone there to hear it, the adjacent one as well. Isabelle held on to Jamie as hard as she could, never pausing in her ministrations until she felt the woman in her arms begin to relax. Even then, she was reluctant to give up the prize she had so energetically sought. As she finally released her hold, one thing she was definitely sure of. The ambrosia of the goddess that she had just savored would never be far from her plate in the future.

Released from Isabelle's tight grip, Jamie found herself unsteady on her feet for the moment. So much so that she found herself leaning against the edge of the table that faced the fireplace. It took another few moments for her to find her voice.

"Madre de Dios!" Jamie said when she did find it, "you're not going to honestly stand there and tell me that was the first time that you've ever done that." Then after a pause to catch her breath added, "Not that it matters but, girl you could've warned me."

"But it was," Isabelle replied, "I swear!"

Jamie looked at her for a very long minute, deciding if she was telling the truth. Isabelle didn't know what else she could say, thinking that all her life, men had been telling her that she was a natural born cocksucker. Evidently, she wasn't too bad a pussylicker either.

"Honestly," she finally added.

"Damn," Jamie replied, in a tone that said both that she believed her and than she was happily surprised.

-=-=-=-

The last embers of the small log that had been in the fire began to fade as the two women watched the glow fade. Isabelle was still wrapped up in the glow of her triumph and content to let Jamie relax a little while before they started again. This was another difference than being with Perry, she thought. If he got his first, the odds were that it was unlikely that she was going to get a second chance and she'd usually go to sleep disappointed. She doubted that was going to be the cause with Jamie but even by some unlikely chance it turned out that way, she didn't think she'd mind. Not with the feeling of contentment still warming her inside.

Leaving her disappointed was the last thing on Jamie's mind at the moment, however. In fact, while they had laid there in each other's arms she had been rehearsing her plans for the rest of the evening in her mind. Kissing her softly, she suggested they head back into the main room and the comfort of the large bed.

"Do you think we should take a quick shower first?" Isabelle asked as they passed the bathroom.

"Nah," Jamie replied with a mischievous glint in her eye, "there's be plenty of time for that later. Besides, I think you're a lot sexier when you're hot and sweaty."

"I guess that was why you spent so much time helping me work out," Isabelle noted as she helped Jamie pull off the comforter from the bed and deposit it and the blanket beneath on the floor.

"Gee, was that the reason?" Jamie laughed as the two of them climbed on the bed.

They met in the middle, sharing yet another kiss before divesting themselves of what was left of their lingerie. Leaning Isabelle back on the bed, Jamie gently stroked her fingers across her breasts, running her middle finger across the deep valley between. She kissed each softly, taking the dark nipples in her mouth and swirling her tongue around them.

She pressed Isabelle all the way back and once more began to mark her way down her body with a trail of soft kisses and even softer licks. This time, there was no obstruction, however meager, between her and the treasure between Isabelle's thighs. Unlike herself, the redhead still had a small patch of hair, but in a whim of fancy, it had been carefully trimmed into a small heart just above her clitoris. Later she would learn that a woman in the lingerie store had suggested a place where Isabelle might have it done. Also to Isabelle's, but not Jamie's surprise, the woman had also given her a business card with her private number, just in case things didn't work out with her friend.

Planting one kiss after another on the smooth mound, her tongue just teasing the inner edge, Jamie also reached up with one hand and continued to play with Isabelle's breasts. Skilled fingers tweaked her nipples, keeping them in a constant state of hardness and sensitivity.

Hardness and sensitivity also being apt descriptions of her tongue as ever so slowly, it penetrated past the barriers of Isabelle's sex. Gently at first, then quicker and more forceful as her own, much greater experience in this area quickly became evident. Isabelle might well have a natural talent, but Jamie had been doing it since she was fourteen years old, taking full advantage of several high school girlfriends to save themselves for the right guy, while still getting off as much as they could.

Their indiscretion once discovered by a female teacher who Jamie had been sure was going to take the matter straight to the principle if not their parents, had instead resulted in an expansion of the women she could practice on. Evidently the teacher, and a few friends, were also looking to get off regularly, if for different reasons than her girlfriends. With one exception, all had been married, but weren't getting satisfied by their husbands in bed. At least not when it came to cunnilingus. In some ways, Jamie had almost been as promiscuous as Isabelle had been, except that no one outside the circle had any idea of the fact and that it had stopped when she'd reached college and met Heather.

Experience won out over natural talent and it wasn't long before Isabelle had her head tossed back, moans filling the air and hands gripped tightly around the sheet beneath her which she had balled up into clumps in her hand. If Jamie liked her hot and sweaty, she was certainly doing her utmost to keep her that way.

A keener observer of the female form in ecstasy, Jamie would bring Isabelle to the edge, than back off just enough to keep her from achieving climax. By the third time she had done this, Isabelle was screaming her name as she implored her to let her come. The fourth time proved the charm as, like a damn giving way to a flood, the quivers that had been racking her body exploded with intensity she had never felt before. At least not at the touch of just someone's tongue and hands. Certainly it was a climax that no man had ever given her in that way.

"Good?" Jamie asked when she was sure that Isabelle was finally finished.

"Very good," she smiled back.

"Everything you'd thought it would be?"

"And then some."

"Not missing anything?"

"What would've been missing," Isabelle asked.

"Oh nothing I guess, I just thought you might've wanted something more familiar."

"I don't understand," Isabelle replied.

"Well just in case, I had brought a little surprise in case we needed it."

"What kind of surprise?" Isabelle asked.

"What does it matter since, as you said, everything was perfect."

Isabelle had the look of wanting to ask the question again, but held her tongue. The younger woman let her dangle for a few moments more then let her off the hook.

"Well if you're that curious, its in the vanity bag by the side of the bed," Jamie smiled.

Unable to resist her curiosity, Isabelle looked over and picked up the pink bag, undoing the zipper once she had it in her lap. Her reaction when she looked inside was once that made Jamie laugh out loud.

"Oh my God!" Isabelle exclaimed, then reached into the bag and took out the surprise.

There in her hand was an anatomically correct replica of a man's cock and balls, complete right down to the veins on the side. It wasn't so much the appearance that had given Isabelle pause as much as the size.

"Who'd then get to pose for this, John Holmes?" she said as she held it up to examine both it and the harness it was connected to.

"Who?" Jamie asked.

"Never mind, he was before your time," Isabelle explained. "Actually he was pretty much before my time too, but most of the adult films we saw back in high school were a little old."

"Okay, if you say so," Jamie laughed.

"You really wouldn't have minded if we used this?" Isabelle asked, remembering the similar toys she had seen at Femme Views and how they had been demonstrated on the DVD.

"I wouldn't have brought it if I did," Jamie replied, "but seeing as you said we didn't need it."

A look of disappointment flashed across Isabelle's face, one that was quickly put away for fear that it might offend Jamie.

"Oh I can't do this to you any longer," Jamie laughed. "Of course we're going to use it. I'd do anything I had to do to make my sweet baby happy."

With that, Jamie took the strap-on from Isabelle and proceeded to put it on. With the ease with which she adjusted the various belts, it was clear to the older redhead that it wasn't the first time she had ever put one on.

"Now, baby," Jamie grinned, "I want you to just lie back and see what it's like to be really fucked by someone who also knows how it feels."

The look on Isabelle's face was that of eager anticipation.

Before tossing the vanity bag off the bed, Jamie took a small bottle of clear liquid out of it. She squirted a generous amount of it into her hand, then smeared it all over the head of her cock.

"I know you're wet enough," she said as she capped the bottle and dropped it on the dresser, "but it doesn't hurt to add a little something to make it easier."

Taking account of the size of the rubber cock, and mentally comparing it to just about every man who had done where it was about to go, Isabelle was hardly going to complain about a little more lubricant.

Laying back on the bed, Isabelle spread her legs as Jamie moved between them. Cock in hand, Jamie pressed the head against the opening of Isabelle's pussy and ran it up and down, spreading the glob of gel on it across and into the passage. Then, with a slow, deliberate move, she pressed forward and into Isabelle.

"Oh wow," Isabelle gasped as she felt the largeness fill her, even though it was only halfway inside. It wasn't uncomfortable as she had feared, just slightly overwhelming.

"Just relax," Jamie said as she slowly eased the cockhead in and out of Isabelle, letting her get even more used to its dimensions. "Remember, I know what you're feeling and I'd never hurt you."

"But?" Isabelle started to say, but then paused, the memory of Jamie having told her that she had always been into woman coming to mind.

"I just said that I'd never been with a man," Jamie smiled as she eased her temporary manhood deeper into Isabelle, "not that I'd never been fucked. This toy was one of the things I kept when Heather and I split up our belongings."

That mystery solved, Jamie began to slip into Isabelle with an ever increasing pace, the full length of her toy now disappearing within her. Isabelle's amazement that she actually could handle it all soon vanished, to be replaced by the familiar and not so familiar feeling its thrusts were producing in her.

Jamie braced herself with outstretched arms, continuing to pick up her tempo of her actions, even as Isabelle felt her body beginning to respond to each push forward with one of her own to meet it. Her hands came up to Jamie's body, closing around her breasts to hold her steady. That the cock inside her was made of rubber mattered little, as she now only saw it as a connection between the two of them, one that was producing every increasing waves of pleasure for both of them.

Lifting Isabelle's legs, Jamie tossed them over her shoulder, gripping them by the ankles as she nearly doubled the force of her fucking. An increase that was now only appreciated but loudly encouraged by Isabelle. The tiny shivers that been rippling across her body were quickly growing into large tremors, centering in the core of her being.

"Deeper, harder!" she heard herself cry out.

A challenge Jamie was quite willing to take on as Isabelle lifted her legs off her shoulders and brought them high over her own head, holding them in place with outstretched arms. Jamie arched back and began even deeper penetrations, pulling nearly all the way out before driving forward once more with all the force she could bring to bear.

Back and forth they rocked, racing down the road to orgasm as the base of her toy rubbed against her own clit as well. Once great advantage she had over a man was that the artificial nature of her cock precluded any premature climax that might leave Isabelle unsatisfied.

Beads of sweat ran down both their backs as Jamie and Isabelle again changed position, with Jamie now laying atop the redhead as the latter wrapped her legs around the former's ass, holding them together. Their mouths were now close enough to kiss and they did so again and again, even as their breasts mashed together in a slippery mess. They had achieved an almost perfect symmetry, each of their motions bringing joy to the other.

Soon they were close enough to the edge for both of them to feel it and Isabelle suddenly decided to take a more active role in bringing them over that edge. Reversing their positions, she climbed on top of Jamie and began riding her just as she would a man. With one hand massaging the younger woman's breasts, she reached back with the other and slipped her fingers under the top of the hardness, stroking her clit for a few minutes, just long enough to bring her past the point of no return.

Then, with an unexpected swiftness, she grabbed Jamie's arms, pressing them down against the bed, their fingers interlocked. Still riding her cock with wanton abandon, Isabelle brought her mouth down to Jamie's and kissed her fiercely. Their sudden embrace was enough to hurdle the short distance still beyond.

The bodyquake which had begun deep inside with Isabelle soon reverberated inside Jamie as well, their bodies pressing tightly together as two became one. Each wave of delight that they shared was more forceful than the last, washing against the periphery until finally the surge was enough to shatter the shoals, flooding both bodies with the rapids of their orgasms.

-=-=-=-

"Was that better?" Jamie said later as they rested side by side on the now soaked sheets.

Isabelle looked over at hand, her hand reaching out as she ran her fingers up and down Jamie's permanently erect cock.

"Not better," Isabelle replied after giving it a playful tug, "just different."

"Which do you prefer?" Jamie asked. "Not that it matters, I'm just curious."

"What I prefer," Isabelle answered, "is the person whose brought me so much pleasure, not how she did it."

"Good answer," Jamie smiled.

"Now can I ask you a question?" Isabelle countered.

"Of course."

"Are you going to let me try wearing this too?"

"I was actually kind of counting on that," Jamie laughed as she reached to undo the clasps that held the harness together.

By the time they'd finally finished some two hours later, they defiantly needed a change of linen, along with that long delayed shower. Neither one, however, seem to really mind. The weekend, like the life together they would begin once they returned home, had only just begun.

END

Copyright 2008 Ann Douglas. All Rights Reserved.

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