"Wake up, sleepyhead."
Carrie rolled over and covered her eyes with her elbow, knowing what was coming next. Sure enough, the rustle of curtains was followed by the warmth of sunlight flooding the room.
"Five more minutes..." she mumbled, tugging the blanket over her head.
Sara usually woke up early to jog. Carrie envied her strict exercise schedule sometimes and wished she could have that kind of self control. Sara always let her sleep in while she ran, but still woke her up before breakfast even on the weekends or during the summer, like now.
Carrie rolled over and tried in vain to return to sleep; the drowsiness receded slowly but steadily. With wakefulness came memories of the previous night. She cautiously reached down and was relieved to feel Sara's cotton panties still dry.
She sat up and rubbed her eyes while stifling a yawn. Her friend had already gone downstairs; she could already hear the telltale cackle of bacon to accompany the usual eggs and toast.
After brushing and changing (and tucking the borrowed underwear at the bottom of the dirty clothes pile) Carrie stumbled down the stairs to plop down at the kitchen table. Sara was scraping a frying pan onto two plates.
"How'd you sleep?" Sara asked as she reached over to spread jelly on the toast. She knew which toppings her friend liked so didn't bother to ask anymore.
Carrie shrugged, then remembering that Sara's back was turned said aloud, "Fine."
Sara brought the plates over to the table and sat down to eat. Carrie picked up some toast to nibble while the other girl shoveled down her scrambled eggs.
"So." Sara said between gulps. "I have something to show you after breakfast"
Carrie had to suppress a brief image flashing through her mind, of Sara slowly unbuttoning her shirt. "What is it?" she asked, trying to feign nonchalance.
"You'll see" Sara winked. She hadn't taken a shower yet, still wearing her running shorts and sports bra.
Carrie rolled her eyes and continued to eat.
"Hey girls". Carrie looked up to see Miss Jackson walk through the door, still barefoot and swaddled in a lavender robe. The teen had always thought of her friend's mom as "cool" - definitely cooler than her own strict mom - but since last night she felt a much deeper appreciation for her kindness. Carrie smiled warmly at her. Miss J winked in return as she poured herself a coffee. "What are your plans for today?"
"Imph gnaanhn shzzyr chrreh..." Sara swallowed and gulped down some orange juice then tried again. "I'm gonna show Carrie something I saw on my run. Then after that, I dunno, we'll probably just hang around."
"That's nice. You know you're welcome to stay here as long as you like, Carrie". Miss Jackson disappeared into the laundry room, appearing a moment later as if nothing had happened. She patted a slight bulge in her pocket and nodded to Carrie, who ducked her head and blushed before nodding back. She understood and once again appreciated her friend's mom just a little more.
Sara finished first and washed her plate, then bounced around energetically waiting for her friend. Carrie took her time though, sipping her OJ and nibbling her toast while reading the advice columns in the paper. She wondered fleetingly whether Dear Abby would know what to do here. Probably not.
Miss Jackson took her coffee upstairs, and Sara eventually gave up and flung herself on the living room couch to fiddle with her smartphone. "Come onnnn" she whined. "You're taking fucking foreverrrr" Carrie smiled. Sara could be so immature sometimes.
Finally Carrie finished and took her plate to the sink. When she turned around Sara was there waiting, bouncing on her heels. "Come on! Let's go!"
Rolling her eyes, Carrie followed her, slipping on some nearby flip flops on her way out the back door onto the porch. The monotonous droning of lawnmowers mixed with birdsong in a familiar suburban symphony. She put up her hand to block the sun, looking out across the field behind Sara's house. She could see to the creek in the distance and across the empty field of a neighboring farm. It didn't even feel like that stark a contrast from the nearby houses, more like a natural extension. It was so different from her dad's city apartment or even her mom's in-town suburban house. It was relaxing.
Sara was already off the porch, unlatching the wooden gate to force it open. Carrie approached along the path worn by Sara's morning runs, and Sara turned.
"You ready?" She reached out her hand. Without thinking Carrie took it and soon was pulled out into the field at just-slightly-fast-than-walking pace.
The unkempt grass tickled her bare legs as they navigated the field. The sun was bright and for a moment Carrie envied Sara her $5 Walgreens sunglasses. But it wasn't long before they were in the shade of a solitary oak and Sara slowed them to a tiptoe. She put a finger to her lips and lead them around the trunk. There on the other side atop a low-hanging branch was a birds nest and three tiny sleeping chicks.
"They were awake and chirping as I ran by," Sara whispered. "I think they're bluejays"
Carrie had to resist the urge to pick them up and cradle them. They were the most adorable thing she had ever seen. She turned to look at Sara who was smiling at the chicks, haloed by green sunlight filtering through the boughs above her. In that moment Carrie realized she was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
Without giving herself time to think she tugged Sara towards her, using her free hand to pull her friend's head down to her level.
Their lips met a little too quickly and she felt pain in her upper lip but she didn't care. Sara was at first tightlipped in surprise but soon her arms were snaked around Carrie's waist and she was returning the kiss.
Neither one wanted it to end. Before this moment they were friends and after that moment things might never be the same. She might pull away awkwardly and avert her eyes after the rush of hormones had subsided. But as long as their lips touched there was nothing in the world but them.
Carrie felt Sara pulling down until they were kneeling, then she pushed her over until both were on their sides, legs intertwined. Something jabbed into Carrie's ribs making her gasp in surprise and pain. Seeing an invitation, Sara gracefully led out her tongue and kissed even harder than before.
It might have been 5 minutes, it might have been an hour, but all too soon Sara pulled away and snuggled herself into Carrie's bosom. Carrie laid back and ran her fingers through the other girl's hair. While Sara ran a hand gently along her thigh. Carrie let her friend's light scent of exercise sweat wash over her.
"So what brought that on?" Sara said, breaking the silence but not moving.
Carrie inhaled deeply. "I dunno. Are you mad?"
"Do I look mad?" Sara giggled. "So um...how long have you been..."
"Been what?"
"Gay?"
"What? I'm not gay"
Sara sat up and smiled at her friend. "Oh really?" She leaned forward and planted a kiss, then began to kiss her way gently down Carrie's neck. "Could have fooled me"
Carrie sighed. "I won'd even want to think about what I am right now. Isn't this enough? Do I need a label too?" To be honest the idea scared her. When she left the shade of this tree her life might never be the same, but she didn't want to think about that right now.
"Fair enough. But what made you think I wouldn't freak out?"
"Well I didn't really plan this."
"Yeah, but what made you think of it in the first place?"
Carrie smiled. "It was your fault, really." She explained about the story she'd found and how it had made her imagination run wild. She left out the other events of last night, especially as it related to Sara's mom.
"Man" said Sara, snuggling back into place. "I need to learn to clear my browser history better."
They both laughed, then sat in silence a little longer, before Carrie said, "So are you...you know-"
"Gay?" Sara paused in thought a moment. "I guess so. I mean, I've been visiting that site for a while now. At first it was just for the stories, but after a while it became all I thought about whenever I was..."
"Pleasuring yourself?"
"I was gonna say fucking myself, but sure, let's go with that" Sara gave Carrie's leg a little squeeze. "I'm sure I'd still fuck a guy if the opportunity presented itself, but girls just turn me on so much more. Not sure what that makes me."
"Who cares?" Carrie scooted down until they were face-to-face and pressed their foreheads together, their lips barely touching. Everything was perfect.
Sipping coffee, Diana Jackson smiled at what she saw in the distance. Young love.
She noticed absently that she had begun rubbing between her legs lightly and had to make herself stop. Idle fantasies were one thing, spying on her teenage daughter making out was a whole new territory of wrong. She stood and tried to not let images of the two laying intertwined flash through her mind, using all her willpower to resist running to her bedside table and flinging open the drawer to yank out her vibrator.
"Fuck me," she said aloud, immediately regretting her choice of words. She needed to be a good mother here to both her daughter and to the girl she treated as one, not wildly indulge in insane fantasies. Pacing around eventually brought her to lay down in her bedroom and flip on the television.
She idly flipped through channels but took in none of it. She was too turned on. Turning off the TV Diana began to pace around taking deep breaths. This had never happened to her before. Getting turned on by a woman, yes, but by her own daughter? She needed a distraction. Yes.
First the door lock, then the top shelf of the closet to bring down a very battered and unassuming shoebox. She dumped the contents on the bed then began to lovingly paw through them.
She picked up the vibrator and began to stroke it along her inner thigh. Then she reached past the classic Polaroid camera for the photo album and opened it, as she had so many times before.
Insider were chronologically arranged pictures of every girlfriend she'd ever had. She smiled as she remembered.
Cynthia, eating ice cream on the sidewalk after school. Not pictured: a stolen kiss in the bathroom during geometry class.
Elisa, her foreign exchange student. A stolen picture of her with her family in Germany. A snapshot of her wrapped in a towel stepping out of the bathtub. Not pictured: spooning only in oversized T-shirts every night in their shared bed, never kissing but "innocently" running their hands along each others bodies.
Kathryn, from summer camp. Them both in bathing suits running through a sprinkler. Turning the page, Diana smiled through the memories. She had become more daring during summer camp, and Kathy more willing to experiment. You could see the empty bottle of vodka in the background of this topless photo of Kathy. And here was a pair of photos hard to understand out of context: one of a tangle of red hair, and the other of the moon as it appeared out of the skylight of their cabin in the woods. Both were taken by Diana herself as Kathy orally taking her virginity. Diana remembered feeling on top of the world and how the next day Kathy had to try to explain getting poison ivy on her face while Diana used all her self control not to scratch her inner thighs.
Danielle. Diana's smile slipped as she flipped through a hefty chunk without looking. It was still painful even to this day to remember her first real lover, but she couldn't bring herself to toss them.
College. Sorority. Here were her favorites. She lightly twisted on her toy as she stroked the pages.
Nora, from Ghana. An entire set of striptease of her changing out of her traditional Ghanan outfit she wore for World Day. Diana remembered her screaming in French whenever she came.
She stopped on one page dedicated to a road trip from Boston to Cleveland. The first page showed Samantha, and the twins Suzanna and Mary, singing along in the car. The second showed the aftermath in some interstate motel room.
Diana laid back and remembered the scene, pulling aside her underwear to rub the vibrator on her exposed clit. While Mary was in the shower Sam brought out the alcohol and they had each taken a few shots. Conversation had drifted until somehow they had decided that fuck it they needed to rent a porn on the motel TV. Stealing the remote, Diana made sure it was something very girl-oriented. Sam kissed Diana, then both had asked Suzy whether she'd ever wanted to fuck Mary.
Diana still to this day couldn't believe what had happened next. Suzy had walked over to the bathroom door, flung it open, then over her twin sister's protests she had stepped fully clothed into the shower and pulled the curtain closed behind her. Diana and Sam had watched in awe at the skin-toned silhouettes through the translucent shower curtain as Suzy pushed her sister against a wall and began to kiss her.
Mary's sober protests had dived away and eventually, grinning giddily, they both stepped out of the shower and over to the bed. What followed was the best night Diana had ever experienced. It was after 3 AM before they had all made each other scream and were lying naked and exhausted on the bed. Mary and Suzy were cradled in each other's arms while Sam lay splayed out at the foot of the bed when Diana had quietly snapped this photo.
Closing the photo album, Diana turned her toy to full and let it slip inside her. Soon the bedsprings were creaking noisily as she pushed it in and out more and more quickly. Then, with an image in her mind of the twins kissing each other over her nude body, both reaching down to rub Diana's exposed clit while Sam licked it, she bent over and felt an orgasm rock through her in waves.
Putting everything back into its proper place and tucking the shoebox back into her closet and/or memory, Diana allowed reality to slowly set back in. After that night things had never been the same between those two sisters, eventually one left to go to a different university. Diana never found out if they were able to patch up all the harm caused by one night of passion.
But Sam's story was even sadder. She came out to her family that very weekend and was put in the hospital by her father. When she woke up the next day she was completely cut off from her family.
Diana stepped into the shower and let the water wash away her single tear. She knew she could never do that to her daughter, no matter what Sara told her. "Oh, you're a Nazi? As long as you keep your grades up".
But she sobered to think about Carrie. Such a sweet little girl from such a...strict family. Would her parents understand?
After rinsing and toweling off Diana made a decision. Carrie may not be her daughter but should be protected as if she were. She'd just need to do a little investigation first. She rooted around until she found Sara's school directory then fingered through it until she came to "Patterson, Carrie". Mother - Patterson, Samantha. Diana felt a little thrill of memory run through her but quickly suppressed it as she dialed the cell number shown and let it ring.
"Hello, you've reached...". Voicemail. Diana hit 1 to skip the menu then left a small message. We've never really met, our daughters are friends, lets get to know one another, let me know your schedule, etc.
Standing up to pull on some clothes Diana allowed herself to smile. Just a few innocent questions and her conscience could be clear. And if Sam - Samantha, she corrected herself harshly - turned out to be a poor mother then at least Carrie would always have a home here.
Comments and feedback still appreciated! Samajasan@yahoo.com!