The Devil's Gateway

(Author's note: This is intended for lesbians who have difficulties arising from severe church indoctrination that has affected their ability to accept their lesbianism. In Iowa, their Supreme Court opened up same sex equality. Fundamentalists launched a campaign to remove those justices who voted in favor of this, and succeeded. At the present time, an avowed lesbian pastor in the Methodist Church is to be tried for marrying same sex couples though it has been quietly permitted previously. Some lesbians have a tremendous burned within them due to the preaching of God's retrubution for disobeying his laws, and a penatly of everlasting hell to follow. This is for you if it applies, and you need help in understanding what the truth of it all is, and you wish to be free of this burden.

If you, as a lesbian, do not have this problem in you, please do not deny this information to your sisters who do have this problem.

All others, if this is in any way offensive to you, please read another story.)

Chapter 1

'The Kitten's Korner' is the club where many of my friends gather, usually on Friday nights. There are about eight to ten of us on most evenings; we set ourselves up on two or three tables, and have a ball just gabbing about this and that, yet our eyes are always looking for someone else who interests us, or is interested in us. Normally it's a newbie, a young woman who instantly stirs our sexuality to heights we want to explore. Then again maybe one not so young, but sensuous to our eyes; one that was more than a joy to behold. Each of us has our likes and dislikes in sex, and among our likes, we sometimes prefer one way of loving and being loved over another. All of humanity is that way, isn't it?

But, as far as I've been able to determine, some of us like one other thing, and that's cuddling. At least I wanted that. There's something about the closeness we sense when we cuddle with someone that we're so comfortably loving with, something almost transcendental, spiritual. It's not that high on everyone's list, but many of us love it and seek it somewhere along the line. Another thing we like—make that love—is having sex. We love to love, followed by loving some more, then again and again. At least that's how it is in our group. As far as I know, most everyone in our group is as I've said. I can pretty well say that I know because I've made love with several of them.

For myself, I've been solo for over a year. Somewhere along the line I decided I wanted permanency, having someone to cuddle with and know it's from your love of her, and that she loves me and cuddling with me, too. The knowing we're forever is what I've been craving with a ferocity that has me hoping and looking. My mind and heart won't settle for anything less, though sometimes I wonder if my pussy will scream too much too often at me, and I'll feel that I have to give in to shut it up for a while. Then again, my pussy seems to be in agreement with my heart and mind, and has settled for my fingers so far.

At first, the joy of the sex I had with some of my friends was fantastic, hard to not love the sensations my body had, how mind-blowing it all was. There's something wonderful about friends and sex as we had, a marvelous closeness that we have and sense, more with some than with others. One or two have been utterly fantastic, especially Sally, but she wanted the same thing I wanted, and like me, was always looking and hoping.

I guess I could say that having sex with close friends has a transcendental aspect to it too, but even at that, I feel myself getting antsy. I've been an active lesbian since I was seventeen, though god only knows I wanted to have sex with another woman for ages and ages. That could only be because I was born that way, but the world doesn't seem to share my opinion; some—or maybe many—lesbians are still overly burdened by what is said of our way of loving and living.

Of late though, I've been feeling a loneliness. That's the only way I can put it because that's exactly how I feel at times. These gatherings offset that for a while, but if I was to be honest about it, I think I'm coming here regularly in the hopes of finding love—real love. Us together always love! That's what I want now. Eight years of doing what is often called sowing wild oats is a long enough time as far as I'm concerned.

I'll always want my friends as friends, and I hope that whoever I find will love my friends too, and vice-versa, of course. It's a beautiful thing to share with others, and I'm not talking about love, and, or, sex in this case.

I'm twenty-five now, so that means I hit a proverbial wall at twenty-four, or a little sooner. Speaking of looking and friends, Sally's days of hoping are over. Ariel, a new girl to the club, gripped Sally's pussy like you wouldn't believe. The two are together now, and, incidentally, my two best friends. No, we no longer get it on with each other—they're exclusive with each other. Ariel has only been in our group less than a year. They hit it off after they made love once. It hit them both, and that was it. When they told us about it, I nearly cried, but because of a feeling of joy for them; that had to be from what I wanted for myself, and I was, and am, glad that my friends have it for themselves. And, boy, do they ever cuddle. They're kind of sickening with their mush and gush, but I say that knowing I'm just envious as can be.

Will this night be any different than the rest for me? I have no idea, but I know that I'll keep looking till forever, but I hope it doesn't take near that long. With that, I walked into The Kitten's Korner. I don't know which of the two partners thought up that name, but I smiled every time I saw it, and shook my head a bit. Okay, it isn't that bad a name, but I think they could have come up with something better. And no, I didn't have a suggestion, and if I did, I'd keep it to myself. Jade, one of the owner's, might not like it, and that's good enough for me. I liked Jade on my good side; Evelyn too, but she's not as imposing as Jade.

Entering, I saw Sally waving me over right away, a huge smile on her face as usual.

"Hey, babe, bout time," she said, getting up to exchange a hug and kiss with me, as did Ariel. Ariel was kind of unusual. I mean that in the way of a personality that just draws everyone to her, she's so friendly, but a bit sedate as opposed to Sally's ebullience.

Swapping hugs and kisses with everyone else could take all night, but it was one of those long, drawn out pleasures that we loved.

"Wacha been up to?" Sally asked.

"Not much, the usual. How're you two?" and on it went for a while, as always.

We all danced, drank a few drinks, and did a lot of kidding, laughing, and mild gossiping. All the while I did what I had been doing for what seemed ages now, and that was looking over the crowd, and eyeing everyone that came in after me. Ariel caught me once.

"Don't see anyone yet?" she guessed right.

"Nope. Since Sally found and claimed you, the pond has been dry," I said with a good-natured smile.

"You're a fabulous liar," she said in her quiet voice, a mild coloring coming to her cheeks.

"Maybe that's true, but you're one of the finest fish to come out of the pond, right Sally."

"Right, and quit makin time with my girl, hear?" she hammed it up with a huge grin.

The way Sally talked, you'd never have guessed she was a college professor, of English, no less. Actually, she kept from that style of talking when she was away from those hallowed halls.

"Someone will come in one of these days," Ariel picked up where she left off. "Don't you ever give up, Penny."

As I said, she was something else, and in a good way—in the best way ever. Sally was one lucky girl to have found Ariel.

"So, what's comin up for ya?" Sally asked, determined to use all the bad grammar possible. She'd always been a smart girl, having marvelous, envious grades in whatever classes she took.

"Going to a company class to get smart starting this weekend, then going to see the folks for a while—if my father will talk to me. Sometimes he still won't."

"Hell of a thing, huh, babe? Why the fuck do things have to be that way?"

That got a general conversation going about how it is with a lot of our parents and friends, not to mention all of those that don't even know us, but don't care for the way we live and love, and ruining their idea of their society, or so they say. Just something we had to put up with, at least that about seemed all we could do.

A few organizations were working to change things, and it helped a bit that the former vice-presidents daughter was a lesbian. At least it brought it out that we do happen in the best of families, and thinking that, I heard my mind snort loudly in my head. And wouldn't you know it, someone said that, and did snort loudly.

"I've never heard of her standing up for us," one of the girls said.

"I've not heard anything bad about her," Sally opined, "but I haven't looked her up either. Hell, she's one of us, so let her live is what I say."

A general consensus was reached that Sally was right. The former vice-presidents daughter was safe from us for the moment. I did say that after I thought of it, and got some good laughs.

Chapter 2

Having missed three weekends, I was pretty anxious to be with my friends again. The gatherings somehow lifted my spirits in a different way. Habit, I guess. Saying "Hi" to Evelyn, I went to where our group was. I didn't get much of a chance to say anything.

"You missed it, babe," Sally said.

"Missed what?" I asked as we did our usual hugging and kissing, then doing the same all around as I wondered what it was that I'd missed.

"The sweetest girl," Ariel said right off as I sat down.

"Yeah, and Attila ran her off the second time," Jane said with a smirk.

Attila was what we called the most obnoxious girl that came here regularly. She was about the size most of us generally didn't like, which was fairly good sized, though more than sloppy looking, which is what we didn't like the most, and a general pain in the neck, not to mention the un-polite pain in the ass. She had her group of friends, but not many people liked any of them, with Attila being the least liked. I didn't know what her real name was, and I'd never asked if anyone knew, I simply avoided her, and she caught my vibe and stayed away too.

"Our Ariel went right out after her, and they talked a while. Her name's Caryn. Maybe she'll be in tonight."

"Are you guys matchmaking?" I had to ask, and hoped they weren't.

"I never mentioned your name, hateful," Ariel pretended to be snippy with me, but her smile belied that instantly. "I told her that most of us were pretty friendly, but we couldn't keep the bushel empty of the baddies, few though they are. Anyway, she was nice, and we talked a bit. I did invite her to come back, but you're strictly on your own, meanie."

"Wasn't Jabs here?"

"You mean to take care of Attila? Nope. Like tonight, she was a no show last week. Don't know what she's been into," Sally said.

Jabs was Eleanore Jablonski, about the best built of the really big girls here, and a super looker too. She had a fair dislike of Attila, we all felt, but she never let it show outwardly. She did make her back off, and put her in her place once. Attila pushed it, and we all got a whale of a laugh out of Jabs' cool, not to mention her huge tits. Mercy, they're amazing! That was a few months before Ariel came here.

The short of it is that Attila, after pushing her luck, decided to challenge Jabs to an arm wresting contest. Jabs, not fazed a bit, simply agreed. As they measure arm lengths to make sure no one had an unequal advantage thereby, Jabs got the best idea ever.

"You know, it's hot, this arm wrestling thing. I don't want to get all sweaty here, and maybe try to pick up a girl. Ugh! No way, huh? Let's take our tops off," she said, and took her top off instantly—and no bra either. she didn't need one.

Talk about some mammaries with some luscious nipples, she had them, and all of our eyes popped out of our heads at how they stood up so full and straight. I mean she had us all drooling. While we drooled, we were also stifling our laughs for Attila just gazed at those huge boobs of Jabs', her mouth open with wanting to get at them. I'm not sure we all wouldn't have liked a turn at them.

"Aw, come on, girl. Yours are nice and big, so show 'em, huh? Besides, you might get lucky too, if you're not all sweated up," Jabs prodded her casually as if they were the best of friends just playing around.

Worse, Jabs, standing, leaned over a bit, letting them dangle salaciously in Attila's face. She was embarrassed to not show what she had, especially since Jabs challenged her the way she did. Dumb thing took the bait, and doffed her top, then her bra. Attila's huge boobs flopped out, and down near her navel. Her face turned red as a beet, but she bluffed it out. We all knew who'd win.

Jabs played with her a while, but in the end, Attila's hand slammed against the table from Jabs' superior strength. Jabs made out as if it was all in fun, and that Attila had been a good sport, so we all had to wait until we were outside to get our laugh over with; the only thing is that we kept on laughing and laughing, it was all so damned funny. That's Jabs, and I was sure Ariel wouldn't have had to do a thing as she said she did if Jabs had been around. In fact, Attila probably wouldn't have tried anything knowing Jabs' penchant for being kind to other girls.

Jabs was also our resident brain. We called her that because she was so learned, knew about most everything under the sun, and as her nic implied, she did talk a lot, but was never a total hog. When she talked, we listened, and sometimes tried to figure out what she said. That didn't happen much.

Ariel, though, put on her mild show of displeasure with me again, but the girl just didn't have it in her, and was quickly smiling. For sure, Sally made a real steal when she made off with Ariel. It was comical how she did it, too. We all heard her when she approached Ariel for the first time. 'Hi, I'm Sally Harriman of the Harriman's of nowhere and nobody's ever heard of us. What's your name, and may I have this dance?'

They finally danced, but it took a while for Ariel to quit laughing. Laughter is good for body and soul, and for pick ups too. Sally came up with a dozy with that line, but then she was good at that.

As we chatted on and enjoyed each other's company, I saw a girl come in, and she riveted my eyes, my heart, and everything else in me. Good god, she was amazing. I watched her move tentatively, then waved in our direction. My peripheral vision saw Ariel had been waving at her, then making sure she came over.

She was red headed, slender with nice everything, and when I was introduced, there was no way I could miss her greener than green eyes. I nearly stuttered, but got by with it—I think. She said hello to everyone, then sat opposite of Ariel, and next to Ginny. Me? I was on the other side of Ariel next to Sally.

Caryn! God, she was so lovely. I'd had it! I was smitten! How to approach her was the only thing in my mind, and hoped that I didn't blow it if, and when, the time came. Maybe she wouldn't like me, then again, maybe she would, or at least give me a chance, but I was sure the other girls hoped for the same. I bided my time, but too long became too long. After being too quiet, which I'm sure Sally and Ariel noticed right off, I asked her if she'd like to dance.

"Yes, thank you," she said, and smiled warmly enough to melt everything, including my knees and pussy, as well as my heart.

Miraculously standing up okay, I took her hand and led her out to the dance floor, happy as could be that a slow number was playing.

"Ariel said you came in a couple of times. Sorry you had a problem," I opened it up. "Most of us aren't that way."

"That's what Ariel said. She's so sweet. I loved her instantly." She didn't mean it as wanting to steal her from Sally, thank goodness.

"She's a real doll. Sally's crazy about her."

"And I think she's crazy about Sally, from what little she said about them. We sort of talked about how to ease my discomforts," she said with a bit of a blush. It looked fantastic against her skin, kind of blending with her freckles and making a different color on her face. They weren't too many, but perfect as far as I was concerned.

"They're great friends to have," I said.

She had on a dress with a bit of a flare to the hem, and with her high heels, she was a sight and a half. I marveled that I wasn't stuttering, she was affecting me so, and I do mean that my pussy was tingling in hopeful anticipation.

"Do you come here often?" she asked.

"This is our home away from home," I said. "We've been coming here for quite a while. Most of us have been together as friends since forever, save for Ariel."

"I guess Sally moved fast on her, huh?" she seemed to ask.

I told her about Sally's introduction. We had to stop dancing because of her laughing so much.

"Oh, mercy, that's so rich," she barely got out.

"She's good with words, though you'd never know it outside of her class."

"Yes, Ariel told me she was a professor in college."

"How about you? Where do you work—uh, if you do, that is, and don't mind me asking?"

"I don't mind. I'm a supervisor for the phone company here. Transferred not to long ago. I was on staff at headquarters, and they asked if I'd move here, and I said yes, so here I am. How about you?"

"Hospital records department; and assistant supervisor."

It was Kismet. Magical. We talked while we danced through several numbers until they hit a fast one. She stopped.

"Too fast?"

"No. I just thought that we haven't gone back, just..." she blushed. It hit me then that we'd rather ignored the others, and she'd just met them.

"I'm sorry, I didn't even think..."

She smiled sheepishly. "Neither did I. Thank you, it was nice," she said.

We went back, and I got the fish eye from Sally, and a look of 'I-told-you-so' from Ariel. It didn't bother me, I was mentally busy wondering if I could sneak any more dances with Caryn. She danced with some of the others, including Jabs, but single ones only. Jabs seemed very respectful of her, but that was Jabs. Everyone seemed to like Caryn, and a few—if not all of us—were wondering how far we could go with her, or if any of us tickled her fancy. Finally, after being polite with the rest, I eyed her at the same time she looked at me. I mouthed 'dance' to her, and her eyes lit up as a smile crossed her full, beautiful lips.

"Penny—is that it, or short for Penelope?" she asked right off.

"Penelope," I answered.

"Can I ask you something? Kind of personal, I guess."

"Sure."

"Do your parents approve of you being..." she tried to find a good way to say it as if it weren't a bad thing to think about.

I kind of sniggered. "Not really. I have more trouble with my father, but my mother isn't too happy about me liking women. 'It's not natural,' says my father, when he does say anything, that is. You?"

Caryn's face flamed like crazy, and more, she was flustered too, something I'd not seen from her yet.

"That bad, huh?" I asked.

"I'm not sure, but I think so. If I ever tell them, that is."

Not sure what I could, or should, say, I was quiet for a moment.

"They'd disown me, I think," she said as if she was wanting me to know, and not just to break my silence. "That's why I took the transfer," she admitted, her voice dropping to where I barely heard her.

"I'm sorry, Caryn. That has to be rough on you."

"Yes, a bit. They're pretty much church people—Baptist, but of the real hell-fire variety. I understand all Baptists aren't as vocal as some, but I don't think I've heard of any being tolerant about lesbians," she lamented.