A Hand

Flimsy as her short, satiny robe was, Claire was glad she had grabbed it before her shower. Dee's mother was waiting to use the bathroom when she opened the door, and a towel, or (shudder) nothing would have felt even less adequate. She had not been known for her modesty at their old place. But this was not their old place.

"Oh, I'm sorry Mrs. Beck." Squeaked Claire. "If i'd have known you were waiting..."

"Ellen, Claire. Best get used to calling me Ellen." The older woman gave a genuine smile. "And it's fine. Just some touch ups and a pit stop before work." She was, indeed already dressed in her scrubs. "I knew there would be some adjustments to make and planned accordingly."

Adjustments. Right. "Still, if I'm in your way, don't be afraid to pound on the door."

'Ellen' smirked. "You have met my daughter, right? Remember; *she takes after *me. If I'm unhappy, you'll be made aware."

"That is only a little terrifying."

"I know current circumstances aren't the best, but you are welcome here. Both of you." Ellen smiled again. "We'll be tripping over each other until we get a rhythm down, but we'll work it out."

"Yeah. Yeah we will." said Claire, resisting the ridiculous urge to flee from this gentle woman down the hall to the room she and Dee were sharing. Her girlfriend's childhood room. In the same house as her mother. "I know I'm a little stand-offish. I don't mean to be but..."

"New place. New roommate." Ellen smirked again. "Living with you significant other's mother..."

"Yes. That." Claire grinned weakly. "It's a little awkward, but I do appreciate you making room for me. Us."

"Well I'm not going to turn away my own daughter. And the two of you are a package deal now so..."Ellen slipped into the bathroom. "We'll work on it." She added closing the door.

Claire felt her body relax. 'Ellen' was a delightful human being. They'd gotten along right from the start; so different from her own mother. But that was when they had their own place. Money had been tight, but they made enough to get by. Everything had been just shy of heaven until their troll of a landlady discovered that they were 'living in sin' in her building. Multiple layers of sin, turned out, and they were evicted. It had happened so fast, it couldn't have been legal, but they didn't even know how to fight it.

So with few options, Dee had called her mother. Claire's own family had a much bigger house, but were much less decent people. They might have let Claire come back (might) but Dee would have been out of the question. And the bad housing market combine with the time table had severely limited finding a new place. Even with more time, they'd been scraping to make the rent on their old place some months.

Claire made it back to her room and closed the door. She didn't get dressed right away, but she didn't shed her robe either. Adjustments. The room was empty anyway. Dee had gotten up early to work on something. She'd been furious at the 'troll woman' but this was her old home and she had slipped back into it easily. She loved having a larger kitchen, a basement, yard and garage. She was most certainly in one of those place. Claire would go search her out... once her mother left.

She sat on the bed, knees clamped together. She was uncomfortable here; not because of anything either of her housemates had said or done, but because of things that maybe they didn't say. She did not want to cause 'Ellen' any inconvenience in her own home. Like taking to long in the bathroom. Or playing music to loud. Or maybe sometimes not wearing enough clothes... She felt like she was walking on eggshells, whether or not she actually was.

Her eyes fell on the boxes they had yet to unpack. Lots of their things had to go into storage, but her computer setup had to come with. She had no idea what to do with it here, however, so packed it remained. There were corners she could probably set it up in, but she mostly used it for streaming; a small supplement to her income. But she had to find a place she wouldn't bother anyone doing it. That, and 'Ellen's' internet was not exactly the best.

She was startled from her thoughts as her phone rang. Actually rang, as in someone actually calling. Not a text or a messenger alert; a real voice call. That was weird, especially so early in the morning. She rarely got calls anymore. She blinked, taken aback before she shook herself out of it and reached for the nightstand to answer it. "Hello?"

"There she is!" Dee's voice came through the device. "Hey babe! You up yet? Did I wake you?"

"Up and showered." She replied. "Saw your mom in the hall, thanked her for putting up with me. Where'd you get to so early?"

"The garage. Working on those old chairs." Dee said. "Had mom's car pulled out to make room and just saw her leave. You don't need to worry about her. She likes you."

"So she says" Claire sighed. "And I like her. It's just... new. So what's up? You haven't called me in, like, ever. It's always been texts or shouting."

"I was gonna see if you'd come out to the garage." Dee said. "I could use... a hand... with something."

"I guess." said Claire. "What do you need? I'm not going to get dirty am I? I did just take a shower..."

"Uh, no. I don't think..." Dee stammered. "No, uh sorry, no. You should be fine. She you in a bit." Claire could hear Dee curse under her breath and fumble with her phone before she hung up.

Claire blinked again. That was several shades of strange for Dee. Calling, and stammering? And hanging up so abruptly? Part of the reason she didn't call, was that she was a talker, and would stretch out conversations. She stood, looking around for clothes before glancing down at her robe. It was brief, but it covered all the important stuff. She smirked to herself. The garage was not connected, but it wasn't far. As long as she wasn't going to get dirty, it would do fine. And Dee might get a kick out of her coming out in so little.

She left the room and headed down stairs, realizing as she did, she would have to be careful with the stairs and this robe when Ellen was home lest she flash Dee's mom. She slipped on some sandals at the back door and went outside. The garage was actually only eight or ten feet from the house. There was a passage door right near the portal she came out, but she bypassed it and went a little further around to the front where the main door was standing open.

Dee was standing inside, leaning on the trunk of her can, propped on her left arm while her right held her cell, her ankles crossed. She was wearing a set of coveralls, though they'd been shrugged off her shoulders, the sleeves tied around her waste. Underneath was only a black tube-top like sports bra. A pair of work boots complete the ensemble.

Claire took a moment, admiring the view. It was something of a joke between them, that with her fair skin, small frame, and dirty blonde hair, Claire looked more like Dee's mother than Dee herself and maybe they were switched at birth. Dee was much taller that either of them, with darker skin, hair and a solid athletic figure. The only parts she seemingly got from her mother was in the bust area, as both were quite well endowed. The smaller girl shot a smile to her partner. "Yoouu raanngg?"

"I did!" Dee grinned back. "Hey, come in and pull the overhead down will you?" She gesture with her cell.

Claire complied. stepping forward and grabbing the rope to close the big front door. The overhead lights were already on, but without the morning sun, it got quite a bit dimmer. "Ooo, alone in a dark garage." cooed Claire. "All right, so you needed help with something?"

"Help is such a strong word." replied Dee. "But yeah, anyway so I was sticking the legs back on those chairs." She gesture again with her phone to some chairs lying on the floor behind her. "When Nana called..."

"So early? Is she all right?" Claire frowned. Nana was Dee's great-grandmother, and they were quite close.

'Oh, yeah." Dee said. "Fine. She'll probably outlive all of us. She just saw I was up on Face-App, and thought she'd give me a call. And you know how she likes to talk."

"Runs in the family." smirked Claire. "Go on."

"Yeah, well, she talked me ear off for a while, and when she was done and hung up, I realized the glue I was using had started to set." She wave again at the chairs.

Claire's eyes followed the wave. "Okay? I mean they all look straight to me."

"I know, right?" Dee agreed. "About that same time though I realized I must have got some glue on my hand." She uncrossed her ankles and straightened up, pulling on her left arm. Her palm, not only stayed flat on the trunk, but the entire vehicle jostled a bit.

Claire snorted. "You glued yourself to the car?"

"Seems like it, doesn't it." Dee scowled. "And, I mean it's really on there. It won't budge. And the car is heavy, turns out. But fortunately I still had my phone. Unfortunately though, I still had my phone..." She gave a violent shake of her right arm that should have sent the device flying. It, however, stayed where it was, as did all five of the fingers gripping it.

Claire burst into a fit of giggle. "What were you doing with that stuff, finger painting?" She managed to get out. "Oh, I get it! You need a hand!" Which started her giggling all over.

"Yeah, yeah." growled Dee. "It was out before I realized what I said."

"And you called because it was easier than texting." gasped Claire.

"Yes. One button with my nose instead of trying to type with it." confirmed Dee

"Could have just used voice." grinned Claire. "You know, "Hey Siri, message Dee." At the words, the front pocket of Claire's robe lit up and muffled words issued forth.

"Hey, shut up." replied Dee. "Anyway, I can't pull myself loose at the moment, and 'car is heavy' means I can't reach anything to try and dissolve this stuff. And even if I could, my other five fingers are only good for holding my phone right now, so... a hand?"

"Of course, Babe." smiled Claire. "If you need help, I'm happy to..."

"I don't know if I *need help." grumbled Dee. "I could get free on my own. It's just going to be a little work and it will be faster if you lent a hand."

"Oh, really." Claire rolled her eyes. "Were you stuck here when your mom left? Why didn't you ask her for 'a hand'?"

"Didn't want to make her late for work." said Dee. "On what, the second day I'm back home? So I just waved and said 'have a good day.'"

"I see." said Claire, and she stepped toward her trapped girlfriend. It was really more of a slink, and, as she circled around the immobile Dee, the slight shift in posture did not go unnoticed.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Dee questioned. "If maybe you could go and grab something; acetone, paint thinner... I m-might have even seen a specific solvent for this stuff. I wasn't really looking..."

"Who me?" said Claire, addressing Dee's original question. "I'm just lending a hand." As she spoke, she reached under Dee's arms and slipped the loose knot in the arms of her coveralls, causing the baggy garment to slide down her legs, and bunch around her ankles.

Dee made a vain attempt to catch them on the way down, but without functional fingers, even if she had hooked it with her phone, what was she going to do? And underneath was very little; a black thong with a skull and crossbones printed in the front.

"Oh my." said Claire. "Your 'Jolly Rogers'... What did you have planned for today?"

"Mom's got a twelve hour shift today." breathed Dee. "We have the place to our selves. And it's been a stressful week. Get me outta this and we can..."

"Are you sure?" Claire hooked her thumbs in the waistband of Dee's thong.

"Not what I meant and you... ah fuck." Dee gasped as she felt the thong pushed down. Once it passed her thighs, it slipped free and joined her coveralls at her ankles. Dee twisted jer trapped arm in a failed attempt to regain her modesty, but it remained fixed in place. "Dammit, Cee." She moved her mobile arm down in front of her now bare crotch.

"Better?" asked Claire, her hands caressing her girlfriends hips.

"Not... in the way I intended." said Dee, squirming in Claire grasp. "This isn't fair..."

"It certainly isn't." agreed Claire. "But I didn't glue you to the car. Here, I have an idea the might help." She withdrew her hands from Dee's body and stepped back.

Dee could hear Claire moving behind her, and looking over her shoulder, catch vague glimpses. After a moment, her partner returned; Dee felt Claire's hands on her shoulders and the shorter girl's body against her back. but... just her body. The robe that had covered it was absent. "Oh, fuck, Cee..." Dee moaned.

"Is this better?" Claire said into her ear. "Oh. but now I'm at a disadvantage. My boobs are out and yours... aren't..." Her finger slid down to toy with Dee's skimpy bra, finding her hard nippled pushing at the front. "And it feels like they really want to be."

"Maybe... but.." Dee fumbled. We're in the garage! I'm superglued to the car! We could go in the house, climb into bed. Just give me a..."

"Mmm, no." Claire moved around to Dee's front, wearing only sandals, and looking her in the eye. "I will not 'give you a hand', I've decided." A few of her fingers hooked into Dee's bra. "I will 'help' you. I will 'rescue' you." She pulled down, freeing Dee's breasts, which literally sprang from the garment. The stretchy bra clung to Dee's ribs upon release. "But you haven't asked me to yet."

"Come on, Cee..." Dee groaned. "Get me hah... outta this." Dee's breath caught as Claire's hands found her body again. "The glue bottle is by the chairs. There, ah... has to buh-be some, uh... stuff on there."

"Why don't you look yourself?" Whispered Claire. "It's right there."

"Because... I'm... stuck." Dee breathed out. "To the... car."

"Oh! You're stuck?" giggle Claire. "I thought you could free yourself."

Dee growled, dropping her face to Claire's shoulder. She tried tho work both her hands again, but literally could not lift a finger. Also, lowering her head had opened up her neck to her partners lips..."Please. Just get some solvent."

"Better, but you know what I want to hear." said Claire in a husky voice. "Say the words."

Dee groaned but relented. "F-fine..." She raised her head, looking Claire right in the eyes. "Claire, p-please help me."

"With what?" Claire asked innocently.

"I glued myself to the car." Dee gasped. "And I n-need your... help to get free."

Their faces were inches apart. Claire smiled, saying,"That's my girl." Slide he hards around Dee's body, she pulled herself into her trapped partner for a deep and long lasting kiss.

And it did last for an unregistered amount of time; seconds or hours, before Dee turned her head away. "All right, Cee, this is hot. I mean, like really, super, freakin', bonanza hot! B-but before the last of the blood rushes out of my brain, I have no idea how hard it's going to be to actually get me out of this. So, please, if you can get me... help me get out of this, I will streak back to the house, and we'll find rope, belts, duct tape, I think Mom's even got some handcuffs kicking around..."

"Why does... you mom... have..?" Claire asked, her breathing getting a little ragged.

"Do not ask me that." Dee replied. "Anyway, I'll be naked and you can tie me down in a way I'm sure I can be freed from."

"All- all right." Claire released Dee and stepped back, concentrating on keeping her hands clear of... problem areas. "Wh-what if we can't find a solvent?"

"Then please fix my clothes so I'm not naked when the fire department gets here."

"Well let's hope it does come to that." Claire circled around Dee to a shelf with rows of bottles on it. "Don't worry lover. I wouldn't leave you high and dry."

"Oh, I know." groaned Dee. "Believe me, That ship has sailed."