Bets

“Have a seat,” Chuncy said, indicating the sofa with a sweep of her hand. “Wine do for you? Or something harder?”

“Wine would be fine,” Beth said automatically as she took a seat on the sofa. She barely noticed Chauncy disappearing into the kitchen. On the coffee table was a copy of The Herald. She picked it up and thumbed quickly through it, this one was her freshman year. She put it back down and tried to calm her nerves. This should be a wonderful reunion and instead she was as nervous as she had been on her first date.

“So when did you realize it was me?” Chauncy asked as she walked back into the living room with a bottle of wine and opener.

Rather than answer, Beth just picked up the old yearbook and smiled. Chauncy smiled too and poured a glass of wine before filling her own and putting the bottle on the end table.

“When did you stop going by Beth?” The redhead asked as she sat and offered Beth her glass.

“Long story,” Beth said, accepting her glass.

“We have time,” Chancy said with slight grin.

“Well, I ended up marrying John. I guess that’s not a surprise?”

“Mom sent me the paper.”

“We did all right. No kids, nice house, two cars, vacation in Nassau every winter. John was doing well with his company and I guess I wasn’t paying enough attention or maybe I just didn’t want to see.”

“See what?”

“That we were spending way more than he was making. Living well beyond our means,” she said taking a sip of wine.

“Embezzeling?”

“Yes and worse, it was quite a shock when the FBI showed up on the door step. They were polite, but took everything that wasn’t nailed down. Had all kinds of warrants, including one for my arrest.”

“Your arrest?” Chauncy exclaimed incredulously.

“Oh yes. I let John handle everything, so when he asked me to sign some papers I didn’t think twice. Turns out he put a lot of our assets in my name to hide them. In fact, almost everything was in my name including the boat and apartment in Miami that I knew nothing about. It took two months and a good lawyer to finally convince the feds I was just an innocent twit. Even then, I only got out of it by turning state’s evidence against John and his partners in crime.”

“You testified against him?”

“Without a second thought,” Beth declared. Chauncy seemed to be looking at her with new eyes or perhaps with more respect.

“We hadn’t been more than acquaintances who shared the same house for several years and he set me up to take the fall. My lawyer got me a good deal from the state. Easy divorce, all of our assets they couldn’t prove were stolen and a new start. I started using Elza after the trial to make sure I was able to put everything behind me. John is serving a twenty-five year sentence, but some of his partners got off light and I received a few death threats. Apparently he was mixed up in more than embezzling. The boat and apartment were part of a drug operation.”

“That’s awful.”

“It was at first,” Beth replied, but she hesitated before she continued. She searched her mind for the right words.

“In some ways it was a blessing. I was dying a slow death but was afraid to leave. We hadn’t been intimate in a very long time, but things were comfortable and I just didn’t have it in me to start over on my own again.”

“I guess I can see that,” Chauncy said as she took a sip of wine.

“How bout you? Chambliss? I never imagined you would be getting married.”

“Married, a kid, stay at home mom, hell on earth,” she said with a derisive snort.

When Beth said nothing and it became obvious she was waiting for more Chauncy killed her glass of wine in one swallow.

“I did good in the City. People didn’t care I was gay. Hell, it was dyke heaven. I had a different girl in my bed every night. But it got old, ya know? I got tired of the games and being a player. I wanted something more stable. Sounds ridiculous now, but at that time I really felt like it was what I wanted. I told all my friends I was done with the lifestyle, got a job with a temp company, a feminine wardrobe and was married to a stock broker inside of three months.”

“That fast?”

“I said I wasn’t thinking straight,” she said with a scowl, then her expression softened.

“Things haven’t changed Bets. I still can’t stay mad at you,” she said with a self mocking smile.

“So anyway. I hated the sex, but tried to convince myself I loved it. I was pregnant within two months of the honeymoon. Can you imagine it? Me? Fat as a hippo, craving salt and sugar, crying then laughing for no goddamned reason? I realized long before I delivered that I had made a huge mistake. By the time Lane was born I was depressed and felt trapped. Then came full blown post-partum depression. I tried to kill myself.”

Beth said nothing, but scooted closer to Chauncy and put a hand on her shoulder.

“I was in crisis for three months. I lasted about two at home after they discharged me before I emptied our savings, loaded up in the ‘vette with three cartons of cigs, half a key of weed, some coke and a case of Cuervo Gold.”

“You ran out on them?” Beth asked.

“Yeah. I’m not proud of it, but I ran. Came out here and shacked up with one of my brother’s friends. She got me into diving and before long I had my dive master certification. Started working as an instructor to support myself. I fell in love with it, but I hated working for someone else so I opened my own shop. For the last three years I’ve been doing really well with it, opened my second shop down in San Diego last month as a matter of fact.”

“And your child?”

“Life’s funny, ya know? David was absolutely fabulous. When I finally called him he admitted to being uneasy too. We had both rushed into it, for different reasons, but he was happy to put an end to it. We got an amiable divorce and although he’s remarried we still talk occasionally. He never tired to keep Lane from me. She comes out every spring break. Brings her girl friends and they eat me out of house and home, get tans, and oh and ahh over the surfer dudes. She’s thinking about Cal Berkely and David and I can afford it, if she decides to. I’m hopeful. I’d like to get to know her better.”

A long silence followed. Eventually Chauncy looked up and smiled.

“So why did things go wrong with you and John? Everyone figured you two were meant for each other. I mean, before the embezzlement.”

Beth looked down at the floor. Life was full of opportunities, but so stingy with second chances, she thought. She bit her bottom lip, then looked up and began before her courage abandoned her.

“Have you ever sat down and looked at your life? Stared at the decisions you have made and imagined where you would be, what life might be like, if you had just done something differently?”

“Sure, who hasn’t?” Chancy replied, giving Beth a quizzical look.

“I used to do that a lot. One choice I made in particular haunted me. I guess the regret turned to resentment at some point, and resentment faded to indifference. It wasn’t anything John did. It was all me.”

“What decision was so important?” Chauncy asked.

“On my sweet sixteen, when you told me you were leaving.”

“I’m sorry about that, Bets,” Chauncy interrupted. “I should have let you say something. I was…upset about some things and it wasn’t until I was halfway to New York that I realized how unfair I’d been to you.” “I didn’t regret not speaking,” Beth said hesitantly. She looked down at her feet, licked her lips then looked back up.

“What I have bitterly regretted is not climbing into the car and making you take me with you,” Beth said in a near whisper.

Chauncy’s head came up and her eyes locked with Beth’s. The small woman was shaking, but she refused to look away. So much more than words passed between them. Beth never could remember Chauncy embracing her, but she would never forget the kiss.

Chauncy was hesitant at first, her thin lips barely brushing Beth’s full ones. Her eyes searched Beth’s, seemingly waiting for some sign. Beth would never know what the tall redhead saw in her eyes, but suddenly her arms crushed Beth to her hard body and her tongue probed at Beth’s lips. Beth felt like she would explode. A first kiss, twenty odd years in the making, and infinitely better than she had ever imagined.

Beth hugged Chauncy back fiercely and parted her lips, accepting the redhead’s long tongue. Beth could feel it gently probing, searching out every corner of her mouth. She sucked eagerly, caressing Chauncy’s tongue with her own. Their passion escalated quickly as their tongues battled, pushing and sliding against each other as they each tried to appease so many years of wanting with a single kiss.

Chauncy moved suddenly, twisting Beth’s body and drawing Beth down into her lap without breaking the kiss. The passionate investigation of each other’s mouth slowly gave way to a more languid and unhurried exploration. Beth was lying on her back, with her head in Chauncy’s lap and her legs still on the floor. Her hands were free, but she couldn’t seem to decide what to do with them. Chauncy’s hands cradled her face in a way both firm and tender. Beth felt her nipples stiffen and the familiar rush of blood to her pussy that sent tingles down her spine.

Sex with another woman wasn’t new or alien to her. She had taken several lovers during the long months John was away, but this was wholly new. A feeling of excitement and tension swept through her, hearkening back to the back seat of his car at the drive-in. It was a feeling she had never experienced with a woman. And now that she was experiencing it with the right woman, she realized it bore no more resemblance to the furtive groping in the backseat of John’s car than a firecracker did to an atomic bomb. The rush of pure desire and longing was both exhilarating and profound. If anything in her life had ever felt right, it was this kiss.

Chauncy broke the kiss, but still held Beth’s head in her hands. She gently kissed her cheeks, eyelids, nose and chin, before nipping her lower lip and starting another long, deep kiss. Beth felt a thrill pass through her when the tall woman’s hands slipped from her face, down her neck and to her shoulders. She arched her back in anticipation of those hands caressing her aching breasts, but Chauncy’s hands moved instead down her arms. Passing the edges of her short sleeves, Beth gasped at the contact of Chauncy’s hands on her bare arms. Chauncy’s hands slid down her arms, with feather soft contact and then came back up, dragging her short nails along Beth’s skin and raising goose pimples.

Chauncy unexpectedly broke the kiss and sat back, her hand now toying with a lock of Beth’s long black hair.

“Do you remember when we first met?” She asked in a hushed voice.

“Yes, of course I do, why?” Beth asked as she pulled her feet up onto the sofa and wiggled her shoulders until she was comfortable.

“Just wondering. I’ve been in love with you since as far back as I can remember. I’ve been in lust with you since I hit puberty. Through all the years and all the lovers, I’ve never forgotten you. I can still see you peeping out from behind your brother’s back.”

Beth didn’t say anything. She wasn’t sure how, but she somehow knew that now wasn’t the time to speak. Something in Chauncy’s voice was different, almost like it was coming to her across vast gulfs of time and space, rather than here and now.

“I used to watch you at baseball games. I always had this dream of striking out the last batter and having you run out and jump into my arms. It’s so odd to think of it now, but you were going to be my girl. And you would come with me to the movies or the fish house, and hold my hand, just like my brother’s girlfriends did with him. Everything was so innocent back then, when you didn’t have any idea of what went on behind closed doors or in the back seats of cars at the drive-in.”

“I only came to see you play,” Beth said.

“Really?”

“Yes. You were my hero. Even more so after you beat those guys up at the bus stop.”

“It was all so simple back then. Life sure threw me a curve after that. I was so proud of myself. Told my mom about how you were going to be my girl.”

“Really?” Beth asked, surprised at how the conversation was going.

“Oh yeah. She read me the riot act and gave me the birds and the bees speech all in one.”

“Oh God, that must have been awkward. It was horrible with my mom and I had never even mentioned liking girls.”

Chauncy laughed and kissed the tip of Beth’s nose before sitting back again.

“I think mom always felt like she failed me somehow. We had enough go rounds over it before I split.”

“Did you ever work it out? I was already in Florida when she passed away and couldn’t make it back for her funeral.”

“No, we never really worked it out. Dad disowned me, so it made talking hard while he was around. After he passed away, Mom and I sort of got back together, but my sexuality was always an issue that we avoided. Rich was the only one who never seemed to give a damn one way or the other. He lives out here now. In fact, he’s managing the San Diego shop for me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’ve had enough of people being sorry over it. My teachers were sorry, the preacher, just about everyone. Dad was sorry he’d raised a dyke. Mom was sorry she’d let me down. I swear you were about the only one who wasn’t sorry.”

“I never knew.”

“Oh, come on. You had to know. Everyone in school knew.”

“No, I never did. You were just you, the same girl I had idolized since I was a kid. I never heard the rumors. I was really sheltered.”

Chauncy leaned over. Her green eyes were a strange shade and seemed to glitter like a cat’s, with an incredibly earnest expression on her face.

“If you didn’t know, how can you say you regret not asking me to take you with me?”

Beth laughed out loud, struggling to contain her mirth as Chauncy cocked her head and gave her a quizzical stare.

“Just because I didn’t know you liked to eat pussy doesn’t mean I didn’t have my own little girl fantasies too. I was still a virgin when you left. I didn’t realize I was gay as early as you did, but I swear, if you had ever asked I would have jumped at the chance to be your girl.”

For a long moment, they just stared at one another.

“You know as well as I do that wouldn’t have worked out. I was far to naïve to understand what it would entail, the kind of persecution it would bring. I would have folded under the pressure in no time. It wasn’t a good time or place to be gay.”

“And now?”

“It’s been a long, twisting road, but if you really want to know…I’d jump at the chance to be your girl just as quickly now as I would have back then.”

“Even though you know it means eating pussy?” Chauncy asked with an impish grin.

“Especially because I know,” Beth replied with a barely suppressed giggle. Chauncy’s face became serious once again.

“Are you sure Bets? I’ve had crappy luck with relationships and I don’t want to risk a fall out with you. I cherish the memories too much to risk ruining them.”

“I’m sure.”

“It’s been twenty years. You don’t even know me for Christ’s sake. How can you be sure?”

“I fell in love with you a long time ago, and I have never fallen out. My head is making the same arguments yours is, but my heart knows different. I’m going to do now, what I should have done then. I’m going to follow my heart.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then you don’t. But I won’t spend the next twenty years regretting something I didn’t do.”

“Ouch.”

Chauncy eased Beth’s head out of her lap and stood up. She grabbed the wine bottle and took a deep swallow before walking to the window and staring out at the lights. Beth sat up and stared at her back for a while. This was not at all what she had expected. She wasn’t sure what she had expected, but this wasn’t it. That kiss. Now that was more along the lines of what she had expected, or at least hoped for.

She growled in her throat. A girl could drive herself crazy with this line of thinking, she mused. She looked again at Chauncy’s back. The long legs, tight ass, trim waist, muscular arms, and elegant neck.

“Fuck it,” she said aloud. She stood and moved quietly behind Chauncy, slipping her hands around the tall woman’s waist. The tall woman seemed to be graven in stone, she gave no indication that she even knew Beth was there. It was almost enough to daunt her, but Beth screwed up her courage. She wasn’t a bold woman, nor was she forward, but tonight, she wouldn’t let anything stop her from seizing that second chance fate seemed so loath to render up.

Beth’s normally soft face was set as her hands found the buttons to the shorts and began to work on them.

“What the fuck?” Chauncy exclaimed but did nothing to stop her.

“This isn’t going to end in silence this time. You can tell me to stop. You can tell me to go. But you aren’t driving off into the sunset on me again,” Beth said as her hands defeated the last button. She pushed her hands into the open fly and cupped Chauncy’s mound through her panties. Her fingers began to gently massage and Chauncy moaned softly.

Beth’s fingers found the taller woman’s slit and pressed the silky material inward, until she felt Chauncy’s lips part. She pressed her body against Chauncy’s back and increased the tempo of her stroking. In no time she felt the tall woman’s hips begin to buck, rotating against her pelvis. Beth was beside herself and bit the tall woman’s shoulder.

Chauncy cried out, her hips flailing madly. She dropped the bottle of wine, which shattered on the marble entranceway and pressed both hands against the glass to hold herself up. Beth continued the ministrations, long after the aftershocks had ceased to rock the taller woman’s lithe frame.

Chauncy eventually pushed off the glass, making Beth stumble back a few steps. The redhead turned and faced Beth. Her cheeks were flushed and her nipples were clearly visible through her top. The shorts had fallen, but were still around her left foot. The look in her eyes sent a shiver through Beth. Neither cool, nor aloof, they were wild, as wild as that night when she drove off without saying a word.

Three quick steps, then her body dipped and her shoulder butted Beth’s hip. Before the small woman could respond Chauncy drove upward, lifting Beth off her feet while bending her over the redhead’s shoulder. The world was upside down, but Beth had precious little time to make heads or tails of it as Chauncy strode down the hallway, kicked open the door and tossed her onto a king-sized bed.

Chauncy said nothing as she grabbed Beth’s foot and tore her shoe off, tossing it away as she grabbed the other. Beth unbuttoned her jeans, raised her hips and Chauncy pulled them down her legs, tossing them on the floor. Beth was a little anxious now. Chauncy’s stony silence was intimidating enough, but showing off her body was even more daunting. She wasn’t sixteen any more and while she had stayed in reasonably good shape, she wouldn’t be confused for a supermodel. She didn’t really have time to worry. Chauncy grabbed a handful of material and literally ripped her panties off.

Beth was too shocked to protest, and by the time she found her voice Chauncy had thrown herself onto the bed between Beth’s thighs and was peeling apart her outer lips.

“Fuck,” she gasped as the redhead’s tongue began to lap at her clitoral hood. Before she could even assimilate the electric shocks that soft tongue was sending into her system, Chauncy introduced a stiffened finger into her pussy.

Chauncy wasted little time, only going slow till her finger was coated in Beth’s juices before beginning a driving rhythm. Beth groaned and tried to squeeze her thighs together, but Chauncy was having none of that. She pushed her body forward, using a shoulder to carry Beth’s left leg up and back.