Anna from Ukraine Ch. 08

"But I do know how to peel a shrimp!"

"Of course you do, beautiful," Valentina smiled. "But didn't I promise you the princess treatment?"

Anna sighed and guessed it was just the Valentina way. Ever since she'd arrived at the airport in Pisa five days ago, every minute had been like a dream. First day, visiting Valentina's friends who operated a small vineyard in the Tuscan countryside. Then by car to the hypnotizingly beautiful hillside town of Siena, where of course Valentina knew the owner of a local pizzeria who made Anna the most mindblowing Quattro Formaggi she'd ever had. She'd hardly had time to flush it down with a bottle of local red wine before they were off to a cocktail party, where Anna found herself sipping fragolino until the early morning, enjoying the spectacular view of the valley and the attention heaped upon her by Valentina's friends. The days flew by like that, until two days ago they had finally arrived in Follonica, a small, lazy seaside resort catering mostly to Italian tourists. Valentina owned a bungalow here. It was mid-October and the season was practically over, so most places were less than half-empty and the atmosphere laidback, everything happening in slow-motion.

Yesterday they were walking on the beach when Valentina pointed to a small wooden cabin some 100 meters in the distance.

"Let's see if Giovanni is at home."

Giovanni, it turned out, was a retired fish merchant in his early 70s, but apparently still capable of getting hold of the goods, as demonstrated by the delicious meal he made them. Downing another glass of white whine poured her by the friendly old Tuscan, the Ukrainian tried her best to catch the drift of the two Italians' conversation. It was not easy - Giovanni seemed to be speaking some kind of local dialect - but Anna listened attentively. As another mug of wine was placed on the table, it struck Anna that life really couldn't get any better than this. And - just a moment later - that it was past 8 pm and she hadn't been thinking about Mona the whole day.

That night, with Valentina gently snoring next to her, Anna coudn't sleep, despite being exhausted after a day of walking and an evening of love-making. The Ukrainian wanted to phone Mona, but that was not an option: her girlfriend had an important run tomorrow and needed to sleep.

When Valentina had invited her to Tuscany, the Ukrainian had not said yes right away. True, she and Mona had an open relationship and in the past Anna had spent weekends at Julia's, her Polish lover's place. It never filled her with guilt because Julia was just that - her lover. Just like Kristine was Mona's. With Valentina it was different. It is true that whenever they met with people, the Italian took care to underline that Anna was "una mia amica" and not her girlfriend. But for some reason people still seemed to assume she was and treated her accordingly. At the cocktail party in Siena, Anna heard from everybody that they'd never seen Valentina this much in love. And then there was the fact that the Italian had broken up with Marta only a few days after she and Anna's first night together. Valentina, of course, tried to explain it away: "Marta wanted kids." "It wasn't working between us." Then almost immediately the invitation to spend a week with her in Tuscany. It so happened that Mona had track & field event in Northern Norway at the same time so the redhead did not voice any protest.

"Baby, I know you want to go to Italy. Of course I'm not gonna stop you. Just promise to come back to me, OK?"

So Anna had decided to go. And decided to just go with the flow, let Valentina take her to amazing places, treat her like a princess. And not to think too much about what all this meant. But now, as one of the most fantastic weeks in her life was slowly coming to an end, she found it increasingly difficult to push away certain questions.

Anna quietly left the bedroom and found her sister's name on her contact list.

"Tanya, sorry to wake you up."

"That's okay, Anya," her sister yawned. "What is it? Have you overdosed on ice cream?"

"I think Valentina is in love with me."

"Wow, you don't say, Sherlock! From what you're telling me she couldn't be more obvious if she started writing poems to you or something. I told you this would end with at least one broken heart - Valentina's or Mona's."

Actually, Valentina had written a poem to her, in Italian. The Ukrainian decided to keep it to herself.

"But she's so nice! I really don't want to hurt her. And besides, she knows I'm never gonna leave Mona. I don't understand what is her game."

"Maybe she doesn't have one? Everybody who ever sees you and Mona together knows how tight you are. Julia saw that and never allowed any illusions to get the better of her."

That was true. Julia once told her that trying to come between her and Mona would be like meddling with the forces of nature.

„I think your Italian admirer just couldn't resist the chance of spending one week in paradise. She knows it's gonna end in tears, but at least for a few days she can pretend that you're her girlfriend."

"Think so? Fuck, I'm so stupid!"

"No, you're not, sis. Deep down of course you knew this, it was blindingly obvious. You just couldn't resist it either - the prospect of spending a week in your beloved Italy with a gorgeous Italian woman who

openly adores you. And I don't blame you - probably would have gone myself given half a chance!"

Tanya continued.

"Anya, don't feel too bad about this, ok? At least you gave her one week in paradise. That's more than most people get! Valentina seems like a true romantic so she can probably sustain herself for a long time just on the memories. And then, eventually, she will fall in love with someone else."

A true romantic, that was Valentina! Anna remembered how Julia, Anna's ex-lover and unreformed Marxist, had warned her against studying Finance.

"Those people are completely soulless, Anna, they are only driven by greed. I don't want you to become like them."

Whoever "they" were, they were certainly not like Valentina, who read her romantic poems, placed freshly picked flowers at her bedside every morning - and seemed to be entirely incapable of practicing sex without having her favourite music playing in the background. Whenever there was love-making in the air, the Italian would produce a vinyl and carefully put it on the turntable before any garments could come off. She was delighted that Anna had taken such a liking to her favourite singers and had already figured out which melodies were Anna's favourites.

"So you don't mind listening to Mina again?"

"Of course not! Play that 'Ancora'-song."

"Perfect choice," Valentina replied with a smile, putting an old 33 on the turntable and turning up the volume a little bit, before removing her blouse and jumping into bed with Anna, her gorgeous naked breasts pressing against the Ukrainian's, her wet, delicious tongue sliding thirstily into her mouth.

"Io ti chiedo ancora, la tua bocca ancora..."

Agonizing over breaking Valentina's heart was slowly turning into reliving all the romantic and erotic moments they'd shared since Anna's arrival in Italy six days before. The Ukrainian slowly brought her hand down to her panties and quietly brought herself off. She moved her fragrant, sticky fingers to her face and wrapped her lips around them - falling asleep with the taste of herself in her mouth had been a favourite thing of hers ever since the first time she played with herself many years ago.

***

Saturday morning was spent intensively in bed. Valentina's niece, Luna, would be arriving in the afternoon - she was on her way from Puglia to a friend in Firenze and would be staying the night. Obviously, with an 18-year old relative in the cabin there would be no talk of love-making tonight. Anna realised this might well be their last love-making ever, but tried not to think about it, immersing herself in the sights and smells of Valentina's delicious body.

Three hours and twice as many orgasms later everything was so soaked in sweat that the bed sheets were practically glued to their naked bodies. They put on their bikinis and sprinted the 100 meters down to the beach. It was mid-October and the water was chilly, but in their current state it just felt refreshing. Realizing that they still had a couple of hours before Luna's arrival, the two women just lay on the beach for a while, cuddling and giving each other massages. Anna wondered if it was time for some kind of serious talk or something. Valentina though seemed very determined just to live in the moment so Anna decided to let it go. With all the grapes Valentina was feeding her mouth it would have been difficult to start a conversation anyway.

***

"She's a smart girl, very opinionated and more than a little bit frustrated - like many teenagers I guess."

They were having a cold beer in the bar outside the railway station and Valentina was telling Anna about her soon-to-be-arriving niece.

"My sister and her husband are religious and conservative and I don't think Luna's too happy with that. She confided to me once that she is bisexual - her parents wouldn't be overjoyed to hear that, if it's really the case."

"Why shouldn't it really be the case?" Anna wondered.

"Of course, you're right, why shouldn't it? Well, anyway, she doesn't feel too much at home in her conservative small hometown. Luckily, in just one year she'll be going to Firenze to study, she can't wait for that!"

"Hmm..." Anna thought. Seemed like an interesting one, this Luna-person.

"And one thing. I don't want her to think I'm sleeping with a girl her age."

"But you sort of are."

"Yes, but we're gonna tell her that you are the daughter of a colleague of mine. You have been visiting a friend in Milano and you're just staying over for a couple of nights your way to Rome, where you will hook up with your father."

"Yawn!" Anna protested. "What a boring story. Can I not be something interesting? A consigliere for the mafia who turned snitch? Or a poor girl who got kicked out of the house by her two gay dads after she refused to watch Eurovision with them?"

"Come on, we can't just tell her anything."

"Oh yeah, and the story that I am your colleague's offspring and just happen to be staying over, that one she's gonna buy?"

"I don't know!" Valentina sighed. "Either way, that's the story we'll be sticking to. There's no way I'm gonna actually admit to my 18-year old niece that I am having sex with a teenage girl!"

Something was announced over the speakers.

"That's the train from Pisa!" Valentina said. "No need to rush to finish your beer, she can see us from the platform."

Anna spied intensely. She had become very curious about what Luna might look like.

"There she is," Valentina smiled. "LUUUNAAA!" she shouted, waving at her niece. Anna spotted a medium-height and not too happy-looking dark-haired girl dragging her suitcase across the platform.

"Fanculo!" was the first thing Anna heard Luna utter, followed by something else in Italian that the Ukrainian didn't get.

"Luna is very unhappy that she had to sit next to a smelly guy all the way from Rome," Valentina explained.

Anna noticed the moody young Italian's face fill with interest as she spotted her aunt's new young friend.

"Well, at least you had no delays," Valentina tried to console her niece.

"Meno male! I wouldn't have survived another minute next to that fucking stinking stronzo."

The newcomer stretched out her hand to Anna.

"Ciao! I'm Luna. Nice to meet you!"

"Ciao!" Anna responded. "Sorry about your smelly ride."

"Don't worry, just my usual luck!"

"Luna is on her way to Firenze," Valentina filled in.

"I'm thinking about studying there when I finally - finally! - finish high school next year and can leave the dump I'm currently stuck in."

"Luna, don't exaggerate. It's not a dump!"

"Easy for you to say, Zia, you left that hole 15 years ago! Why don't you go back then? You could start by taking over the local bank. The bank manager is a daily guest in our trattoria and a complete moron."

"I work in investment banking," Valentina smiled. "That doesn't qualify me to run a local savings bank."

Luna was not convinced.

"If that idiot can run it, then why can't you? And just because he lent my parents money to extend their stupid trattoria they feel obliged to give him extra nice service and all kinds of shit on the house whenever he turns up. Which is like every fucking day because he eats like an elephant."

Luna took a large sip of beer.

"And he's like constantly checking me out in a super-obvious way. What a creep!"

"At least he's not, like, patting your ass and stuff like that," Valentina said.

"No, he's not, because he knows that if he ever touches me I'm gonna fucking pour the contents of his obscenely big pasta tray all over his big bald head and tell his ugly fat wife to lick up all the tomato sauce."

She looked Anna into her eyes.

"Whatever you have to do for a living, Anna, don't ever wait tables. It is the absolute worst shit job ever. I swear, as soon as I leave my hometown and my parents' braindead trattoria I'm never gonna wait a table again in my life!"

"Their seafood pizza is a work of art, though," Valentina said dreamily.

"Yes, the pizza is good. And so what? Any idea how delicious their pizza would have to be in order to justify that level of backwardness and stupidity? And stop defending my mother. Although you're successful, beautiful, loaded and 200 times as intelligent as she is, she is still embarrassed to have a sister who's a lesbian."

Luna mumbled something angrily and went to the bar to get a beer.

"Well, that's Luna for you," Valentina sighed. "She usually becomes slightly less misanthropic after a beer though."

"I like her," Anna said. "She's cool."

And absolutely gorgeous, she wanted to add, but decided not to. Everything was complicated enough already and raising Valentina's suspicions that she fancied her niece would probably only add insult to injury. But fuck, she was hot! As Luna sat down with a 0.66 Birra Moretti in her hand, Anna's eyes surveyed her features. She had long dark hair, the same type of nose as her aunt and the blackest eyes Anna had ever seen. Where Valentina's eyes were hazy and dreamy, her niece's gaze was intense and penetrating. And that temper of hers - imagine what it would transform itself into in bed! Under normal circumstances, Anna would already be plotting fervently to seduce this exquisite piece of Mezzogiorno ass. Instead, she held back and tried not to return the more and more frequent gazes coming her way from the Italian youngster.

They proceeded from the railway station towards the beach, beer gradually ceding the way to prosecco as the evening set in. Valentina was right, Luna was a really nice person, although merciless in her judgement of everybody she considered to be 'lame' or 'a complete loser'. As the evening went on, the glances coming from Luna got more and more obvious. Whenever Valentina was not watching, the Italian teenager's dark eyes would be staring straight into Anna's with a burning intensity. And not let go until her forgetful aunt returned her attention to the youngsters. No touches, even light ones, just those intense eyes.

It was only around midnight when Valentina, who had seemed increasingly absent-minded as the evening had proceeded, excused herself and went to bed.

"You two can stay of course. There are still a couple of prosecco bottles in the fridge."

She gave Anna a warm hug - no kissing in front of Luna, of course, but the embrace was just warm and long-lasting enough for most normal people to suspect Anna was not just some stranger staying over.

"This is so lame," Luna sighed as soon as her aunt was gone. "I am still supposed to believe that you're her work colleague's daughter? Does she think I'm as thick as my mum?"

She poured herself another glass of prosecco.

"It's always been like that with her. I mean, I figured out she was a lesbian when I was like 11 or something. But still whenever she appeared with another girl, the official story was always that this was just her new best friend or something like that. Yeah, right, and all her friends just happened to be super-hot? Then when I told her that I know she's a lesbian and think it's super-cool, she kept on insisting that I don't tell my parents that I know. Because apparently they wanted to protect me from that ground-breaking piece of news. It was only this year that my parents sat down with me for this big, super-heavy conversation and revealed that Zia Valentina is a lesbian. Not doing much to hide their sense of shame, 'cause they're both as homophobic as they come."

Luna decided to change the topic.

"So what's the story here? You must certainly have made an impression on Zia, 'cause I haven't seen her like that with any of her previous lovers."

She helped herself to an olive and flushed it down with another sip of prosecco.

"But it's a little bit complicated, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," Anna replied. "I already have a girlfriend and don't want to leave her. But, like, your aunt knew about all that already."

"That's why she looked so sad when she said goodnight."

"But she's gonna be fine, right?" Anna was eager to know. "I mean, you know her."

The youngster didn't seem too concerned about her older relative.

"Yeah, she'll be fine, don't worry about her. It's just gonna give her another excuse to play all her favourite sad songs once more. She really should know better than to fall for someone who's already happily in love with someone else."

"Well, emotions are hard to - "

Luna interrupted her.

"I on the other hand..."

Those intense dark eyes were penetrating her again.

"I hereby solemnly promise I'm not gonna fall in love with you if we have sex."

"Luna..."

"No, seriously. I know I'm inexperienced, but I'm not stupid."

"But Valentina - "

"- will never know. She sleeps heavier than a hibernating grizzly. When I was a kid I used to sneak into her bedroom and paint her face with lipstick while she was snoring away."

True, Valentina was a heavy sleeper, just like Mona.

"You can do anything you want with me, Anna. I promise I have an open mind."

The Italian teenager looked like she meant it.

"Anything."

Anna didn't believe much in God, but this felt like some higher force was putting her to a test. She tried not to look at the Italian youngster, she couldn't bear being reminded what she was about to miss out on.

"Luna, I'm sorry, but I just cannot do that to your aunt, even if she wouldn't wake up. If the circumstances were different..."

"Cazzo!" Luna burst out. "I'm such a fucking loser. I'll probably die a virgin!"

"But you are unbelievably gorgeous. I mean, what half-lesbian girl in her sane mind wouldn't like to have sex with you?"

"You don't understand the place I come from. Girls there are just too fucking stupid and boring to become lesbians."

"But Lecce is not so far away, right? And it's a fairly big city? I can absolutely assure you that there are plenty of hot lesbian girls there who would be dying to go to bed with you, or have a relationship too, if you'd want that. I mean, what do you have to lose? You don't seem like the kind of person who cares what others think about her anyway?"

"Fuck, I don't know how to explain this. It's so lame!"

Luna looked embarrassed.

"Promise me you won't laugh, Anna."

"I promise, Luna."

"Ok, so there's this girl Paola. She's been like my best friend since we were 12 or something. I'm not in love with her or anything - maybe I was for a while but I'm over that - but I'm definitely attracted to her. Now, we go to the same parties every weekend and almost every time when everybody gets sufficiently drunk and horny the guys start challenging us to make out with each other."