Nemesis Visits

I phoned John O'Neill on the following Monday morning. He asked me some questions which I must have answered satisfactorily because he asked me to come to the office that afternoon; he desperately needed someone to sort out their office accounting, which was almost all on spreadsheets. Unfortunately for John, the office manager had left last week on maternity leave and the secretary who had tried to do the work had screwed up some of the spreadsheets.

So, leaving Harri to amuse herself, I head off by bus to O'Neill's Construction Contractors (Rotherhithe) Limited as the sign by the entrance declares it. Fortunately, John doesn't care about qualifications, just the ability to do the work and, with Tom's recommendation, he offers me a one month trial, starting tomorrow. The salary is a tiny fraction of Max's but after a waitress's wages, it seems like a fortune.

I head home ecstatic and bursting to share my news with Harri. I bounce through the door calling her name and see her sitting on the sofa dejectedly. I suspect she's been crying. "Harri, what on earth's the matter?" I ask, full of concern, but inside I worry that she's found out that I'm Max and knows what I did. She holds up a piece of paper.

"While you were out a woman knocked on the door and gave me this," she sniffs. "I'm sorry I opened it but I was curious." My heart is now hammering in fear and dread as I take the paper and read it:

NOTICE TO QUIT

Ms Maxine Thomas,

In accordance with the agreement with M Thomas, the apartment owner, we would like to remind you that the allotted period of your residence in the apartment is now approaching its expiration. You should, therefore, ensure that the apartment is vacated on or before 20 July.

We trust that you have been successful in locating alternative accommodation for yourself and any guests, lodgers or cohabitees.

Respectfully yours,

N E Mesis

on behalf of

ELESIUM PROPERTIES

"Fuck!" I swear. Fucking Nemesis again! "I forgot about this, I'm sorry," I tell Harri.

"But I don't understand, Maxie. It says M Thomas is the owner but you're M Thomas aren't you?"

"No, M Thomas is my brother, Max. He said I could stay here for three months and now that time's over. How was I so stupid that I forgot this? And it's not only me: I promised the hospital that I would take care of you. I'm such an idiot and after I swore to myself that I'd look after you. I meant for you to stay here, at least as long as you need to get better."

"Maxie, there are ten days left to find somewhere. And, you know, you're not responsible for me; you've been so good to me but I can find somewhere, I'm sure."

"No! I mean, of course, if that's what you'd rather do..." I tell her. She looks at me with a frown.

"Of course I wouldn't. You've been so good to me and you're my good friend: why would I not want to share somewhere with you? I just feel bad that I can't help pay rent," she sighs. "Is now a good time to ask how the job interview went? You looked happy when you came in."

"I got the job, one month's trial, anyway," I try to smile. "I could afford rent on the salary I'm sure, at least for somewhere small."

And so we start looking, scouring small ads in the local paper and searching online, but the initial results are not good. There are places out there but not in my price range. The few that are even close are all one bedroom, which is no good for the two of us.

We settle into a routine: I go out to work each day and Harri starts hunting round, walking the area to see if there are any notices up advertising properties. She finds none. The evenings are nice, though: we eat, we talk, we watch TV. Harri finds an old Scrabble set in the back of a cupboard and we play that one evening. This time spent together, what we've shared and the search for a new place binds us as firm friends and there are an increasing closeness and affection between us.

Nevertheless, by Friday, with only five days left in the apartment, we're beginning to feel both desperate and depressed. I bring home a cheap bottle of red wine and a large readymade pizza on the basis that, well, it's Friday and this is cheaper than dining out.

We eat and drink, sitting on the sofa together to watch some anonymous rom-com on the telly while the wine gradually mellows and relaxes us. Harri leans against me, her head on my arm, as she tends to do when we sit together. I think it helps with the pain in her ribs and I like the feeling of togetherness. Maybe she does too.

"I wonder why romances in films are always between a boy and a girl," she wonders aloud and unexpectedly.

"I don't know; it's what sells I guess. There was that cowboy one with the two men wasn't there?"

"Yeah, that's true." She lapses into silence as the film rolls on. However, I'm intrigued as to what she's thinking.

"Never heard of a romance film with two girls, though," I say. I feel her head move and I look down to see her looking at me. My gaze is captivated by her. I'm dimly aware that part of me, that memory of the Max I was deep inside me, judges her and finds her wanting: her chin rather too pointed and lips a little too thin, her nose slightly crooked, her body not voluptuous enough to meet his standards of true beauty...

"Would you watch a film like that?" she asks.

"Yeah, sure I would," I tell her, unblinking. "It would be interesting to see how the love between two women would work."

"How they could fall in love, you mean? Or are you thinking of how they would make love?" she smiles impishly. I study her face: most of the swelling has gone, just leaving the brown-fading-to-yellow bruising. Despite the bruises, I think she's pretty. No, more than pretty because it is not Max looking at her but me, Maxine, and what I see isn't just her pretty face or cute body but an inner loveliness and amazing personality that radiates out, transforming 'pretty and cute' to 'utterly beautiful'. "Maxie?" she asks, breaking my adoring trance.

"Uh? Oh, I think I can work out the making love part," I smile back and gather my scattered thoughts. "No, it's... it's how do two women find out that they're each attracted to the other; how do they know the other woman is a lesbian? I mean, even if you suspected she was gay, how would you find out for sure? I mean, without risking losing her as a special friend."

"That's definitely the hard part," she replies softly. Our eyes are locked together. Is she trying to tell me something or am I just wishing for it? "I suppose you could see how she reacts to you, to your naked body. Try to judge her reaction when, for instance, she sees you in the bath," she suggests, a shy smile on her lips and I feel my cheeks getting warm.

"Yes, I suppose, especially if you had a beautiful, cute and sexy body." I watch her intently, trying to read the emotions behind her wide eyes whose pupils have grown large. "I guess you could also see if she likes to be touched and held by you... or to snuggle up to you."

"Very true," he says as she very deliberately wriggles a little closer into me. "You could also listen to what her female friends say about her when they're on a girl's night out; whether they think she's a lesbian because they've noticed the way she looks at other women sometimes..." My mouth goes dry. Harri reaches up and softly cups my cheek; I place my hand over hers and hold it as her thumb rubs gently.

"Who..?" I ask, a slight tremble in my voice.

"I think most of them, actually," she replies softly. I feel a little light-headed and my pulse is very fast.

"Harri, we're not talking hypothetically any more are we? Are you saying..?"

"I'm gay, Maxie, and I think, well I really hope, you are too." My heart misses several beats: did she really just say that or did I imagine it? In the midst of Nemesis's retribution can this gorgeous, wonderful girl of my dreams really be attracted to me, hoping that I'm gay too? "Maxie?" she asks nervously, worry clouding her face.

"Yes, I am," I tell her, unable to stop the grin that I feel stretching my mouth. "That is, I'm attracted to women but I've never," I cannot say 'never slept with a woman', because that's not true since I, or at least Max, has, "never had a, a lesbian lover."

"Would you like one?" she asks, grinning back, relief and excitement in her eyes. "Maxie, I have had such a crush on you since I woke up in the hospital and found you asleep holding my hand."

"I think I fell for you when you kept joking even though you'd just been beaten up. I thought you were, are, amazing; and then when you stripped in the hospital cubicle, it was so hard to behave..."

"Thank god for that! I thought my being naked seemed to affect you, I could see it in your eyes and the pink in your cheeks, but you behaved so perfectly. Even when I had you come in while I was in the bath and shave me," she chuckles. "I thought then that you might be straight or, more likely, one of those women who denies their lesbian feelings."

"Oh no, I really, really wanted you physically but... I wanted to care for you and be a good friend to you more."

"You are a good friend to me; a very kind, wonderful friend," she assures me as her hand slips behind my head and she pulls me down. "Kiss me, Maxie," she pleads and I bring my lips to hers.

The kiss begins softly. However, it has an intensity and passion that I have never experienced before. I have such care and affection for this girl, this woman, and this is my chance to share these feelings with her. I know she is still sore from her bruises so I do not press or force, entirely happy to respond to her needs and urges. Her lips open and she sighs into my mouth before her tongue caresses my upper lip.

I feel like a teenager experiencing their first kiss as each moment seems completely new and magical. I have kissed hundreds of times before but, I realize, Max always wanted to take: take what he wanted, take his pleasure and fulfil his urges. Never before have I so wanted to share myself with the person I am kissing; to give myself, body, heart and soul. I feel sure that I would be content even if I was left empty and unfulfilled so long as I saw joy and happiness in Harri's eyes.

However, Harri evidently wants to give to me the same pleasure and happiness, her fingers slipping through my hair as her tongue explores my mouth. One of my arms is trapped, pinned against my side by Harri, and all the other one can do is to caress her shoulder. I edge my tongue forward, entwining it with hers and I hear her give a little moan and this is such a thrill that I tingle deep inside.

Our mouths separate spontaneously and the smile on her face echoes my own. I stare into the blue depths of her eyes and she stares at me. "I never knew kissing could be that good," I tell her. "Let me move so I can hug you properly." She kisses the tip of my nose.

"Or we could go to bed together. I want to make love to you Maxie and I want you to make love to me. I feel so... close and connected to you that I want us to share every part of ourselves." I feel a stinging in my nose and the hot trickle of tears on my cheeks. "Oh Maxie, my love, what's the matter?" Concern brings a frown to disturb her beauty.

"No, nothing... it's just that, what you said, it's exactly what I feel too. I've never felt like this about someone before... I didn't know you could feel like this! I feel so much for you that it hurts."

"I think it's called love, Maxie." Ah, so this is what love feels like: a delicious, aching, wonderful pain that fills my heart with happiness. She kisses my lips again. "Take me to bed, my love."

She stands and holds out her hand; I take it as I rise and we walk to the bedroom. We stand by the bed facing each other and, without a word spoken, we unbutton each other's shirts and help slip them off. We cuddle, each reaching around to unclasp the other's bra, both fumbling and both giggling. This is something else utterly different from any sex I've ever experienced: the simple good humour and feeling of shared fun. I should be feeling nervous, this is my first experience of lesbian sex after all, but as I undo the button on Harri's cargo pants and push them down, all I feel is excitement, which only increases as Harri manages to unbutton my skirt and it falls to the ground.

Clad only in panties we fall into each other's arms once more to kiss and savour the feel of soft warm flesh against warm flesh. "Why are you not naked?" Harri breaks off the kiss to demand, grinning.

"I thought that was your job?" I reply, smiling back.

"Okay, then why aren't I naked?" she asks and I immediately lean forward and tug her panties down. "Mmmm, that's much better... and now you..." she does the same to me and she steps back to look at me. I hold my arms wide and slowly turn full circle and this act of displaying myself completely to her turns me on like crazy. "You're so lovely," she tells me quietly and it makes me both bashful and proud. "But now I think you need to stop twirling and get into bed before I burst with impatience: go!"

The novelty of being bossed around is unexpectedly pleasurable. "Yes, Miss!" I reply teasingly and climb onto my bed, holding my arms out for Harri to join me.

Time passes, somehow; each moment lingers but is gone too quickly. We explore with hands, cuddling and caressing and gradually with lips and tongues, kissing and tasting. There is some trial and error as we find how we fit together and how to accommodate Harri's still-healing ribs.

I am determined to give her as much love and pleasure as I can and I tell her so, asking her to help me. I cannot explain how incredible it feels that first time I bring her to orgasm: the sensation of her cunny muscles convulsing on my fingers; the warm, wet flow of her juices and the look of ecstasy on my lover's face make it perhaps the most perfect moment of my life.

The first time Harri enters me, her fingers parting my cunny lips, is a moment of simple, intense pleasure. She slips deeper and she looks up and our eyes lock. "Thank you, darling," I breathe before gasping as he fingers find a sensitive spot. She arouses me, then eases off, teases me higher, then lets me calm. It is exquisite torture, one that I want to continue but I'm becoming, increasingly desperate for the release of climax. When it comes it hits me like a juggernaut: a white-light wipe-out of my senses as they are overwhelmed by wave after trembling wave; my self-induced orgasms never prepared me for this!

When awareness returns it is to find Harri holding me, her body pressed to mine. "I love you," I tell her. Three little words that seem so inadequate and yet they say everything because this time, for the first time ever, I really mean them.

"I love you, too," she replies and I know that she also means it. A wicked gleam appears in her eye. "And because I love you so much, Maxie, I want you to eat me!"

"It will be my pleasure, Miss," I tell her, smiling, as I begin kissing my way down her body, "it really will..."

I do not hurry but work steadily down. I kiss and lick her wonderfully sensitive nipples before sucking them gently. Her sighs and moans are music to my ears but I feel I have been commanded to duties lower down. It is only as I begin kissing the soft, smooth skin of her tummy that Harri speaks. "Just for future reference, Maxie my darling, if my nipples are in your mouth then I think that can count as eating me too!" I glance up to see her smiling happily. "You're doing great, though," she reassures me.

My lips brush the neat V of her pubic hair and the scent of her sex fills my nose making me light-headed with desire. However, this is all about Harri and her enjoyment. My fingers trace the line of her swollen cunny lips, feeling her wetness and arousal. I want this to be perfect for her as my tongue now laps delicately at those swollen lower lips, tasting her exquisite nectar.

My fingers gently ease her labia apart, allowing my tongue to explore more deeply, exploring the soft folds of her most intimate flesh. I hear her soft moans of appreciation as I strive to pleasure her. Max has often been in this position: he enjoyed the taste of women and could boast of how he was always willing to go down on a woman, flattering his own ego as a great lover. The truth was that the aim was to ensure his own comfortable entry and the real goal was his own ultimate gratification.

"Mmm, yes my darling, you're doing excellently, don't worry!" Harri tells me happily. I suspect that she is mistaking my slow, careful treatment for nervousness and inexperience, which is probably no bad thing.

I slip my fingers inside my lover, my heart's desire, and to feel the muscles and textures within her, how the walls of her cunny squeeze my fingers as she trembles inside, is wonderful. There are so many marvels that Max never noticed in his careless haste and roughness. I focus all my attention on Harri, her responses and her enjoyment. As she did to me, I seek to draw out her pleasure, building it slowly. It is a great thrill to me to hear her demanding me to bring her to climax but she cannot see the gleam in my eye as I deliberately ignore her.

I would love to have drawn her out for another quarter of an hour or more, bringing her to the edge and keeping her there. Maybe in time I will have the skill to do this but I manage just a few more minutes, though during this time she asks and then pleads for her climax. Too soon, however, I misjudge how close she is and, with a shout, she is trembling and shaking as her orgasm takes her. Oh, how I love this woman.

As her orgasm passes she reaches down to draw me up into a cuddle. "Maxie, my love, I told you to let me cum and you disobeyed me, you naughty girl," she smiles.

"Sorry, Harri, did I do wrong? I ask mischievously.

"Oh, no: you did very right indeed!"

CHAPTER 14: Girls Together

I wake and find I am entwined with Harri. I look down at her beautiful, sleeping face: Harri my friend, Harri my girlfriend, Harri my lover, my lesbian lover. I can smell Harri's cunny juices on my skin, as she smells of mine. It is wonderful, proving the passion we shared last night.

I am, in this body, a lesbian, a dyke... Am I 'nothing but a fucking rug-munching perverted slut'? No, I'm not; but then, neither was Amber. She was a beautiful, kind and loving girl who found a wonderful friend and lover after I, well Max, treated her like shit. I wonder if she and her girlfriend are still together after these, what, ten years?

I kiss Harri on the cheek and one eye opens sleepily. "Morning my love," she yawns.

"Morning darling and how is my girlfriend this morning?"

"A little more sore than I was yesterday but it's worth it," she smiles and we snuggle together contentedly.

"You know, I think we have just solved our housing problem," I say after a while.

"How's that?"

"Well, we only need one bed now!" I laugh.

"It's so lovely hearing you say that. It would have been a horrible disappointment if last night was a one-off. So, did you mean it: can I call you my girlfriend?"

"Absolutely; I want us to be girlfriends. I wonder how Mary will react when we tell her; and the others too, of course."

"As I said last night, I think most of them suspected. I think Mary, and Alison too, will be fine with it. I'm not sure about Jo and Wendy but, well, Paula definitely won't like it. She, Jo and Wendy were, er, talking about you and she, well, she said it was bad enough you being some sort of pagan but being a lesbian would be worse. Jo did say something about not going to the Ladies alone with you, but it may have been meant as a joke," she says, though she doesn't sound convinced. "Coming out can be hard and you might well lose friends; family too."