Breaking Up Pt. 02

Ilona had been in this house so many times it almost felt like a second home, although since Jodie had hooked up with Frankie she'd felt weird just visiting because whilst she got on well with her mother, her main reason for visiting had been to see Jodie. Her parents had owned a home not far from here before they sold up and moved to Coldstream.

Margaret had been home when she knocked on the door that Tuesday afternoon, Ilona had taken a few days off work to deal with the fallout from Sunday but that was mostly sorted out by Tuesday lunchtime. She only needed to visit Elaine at home to help her arrange a moving out date. Darren had offered to borrow a truck from a mate in exchange for a slab of VB. It was the cheapest house removalist fee she'd ever paid and with the majority of issues resolved Ilona had called Jodie at work and arranged to meet her after work.

"Just meet me at my joint, mum will be there and she'd love to see you again."

Margaret was pleased to see her, she'd already been told about the cancelled wedding and her advice had been amusing.

"There's plenty of fish in the sea. It's just that some don't taste so good. I always throw the young ones back."

When Ilona commented that she was now broadening her horizons Margaret had chuckled.

"You're just like Sally, nothing wrong with that. Whatever rocks your boat."

"I'm seeing a woman now, but it's early days though."

"Just take it easy," she glanced at her watch, "are you staying for dinner?"

"Um, yeah, I guess."

"All right, I've got a yoga class and Jodie should be home soon but I'll grab something on the way back. What do you fancy? Chinese? Thai? Italian? Greek?"

"Whatever you're having," she replied, "you know me. I never knock back a free feed."

"It's so good to see you again," Margaret rose, "I've missed your laid back style. You're so laid back it's obscene especially when it comes to food. Tamara has turned vegan on me and Leanne wants to know if it's ethically sourced, she can calculate the carbon footprint of a shadow," she inclined her head.

"Just between you and me though, I'm glad she got rid of Frankie. Sitting through a meal with her was like sitting with Jonathan, she was constantly niggling," she snapped her thumb and forefinger together, "like a flea in your ear. I once looked at her and said if you don't shut your mouth I'm going to duct tape it shut."

"She would've hated that," Ilona grinned.

"Oh she shut it pretty quickly. Jodie just gave her the evil eye. She gets that from me," she headed towards the door, "all right, you know where everything is and I'll see you when I get back."

Some ten minutes later she was driving away, leaving Ilona alone in a house that held so many memories for her. She'd crashed on this same couch when she and Jodie had drunk too much Bacardi, had thrown up in the toilet and spent hours watching telly.

In fact it was fair to say that she'd bonded far more with Jodie than with any of her other girlfriends and that was why Frankie's force field strategy had cut so deep. She'd known that Jodie and Ilona were best friends and so she'd undermined it, subtly at first and then overtly. Ilona's mother had referred to it as boiling frogs, you just kept heating the pot until the frog was too weak to jump out, except this time Frankie had suddenly turned it up too high and Jodie walked.

Jodie arrived some twenty minutes later to find Ilona lying on the couch playing with her phone and she smiled lazily as her best friend walked to the couch and dumped her handbag on the floor. Jodie was dressed in smart casual clothes, a pair of jeans, a cream blouse, denim jacket and black ankle boots. Her shoulder length black hair had been crimped and she flicked at it as she approached the couch. Ilona felt a slight headiness as she sat up and it was not because she'd risen too quickly, Jodie looked different and it was not so much the outfit or the crimped hairdo.

Prior to losing her virginity to Frankie, Jodie had always carried an air of innocence with lowered eyelids and a timid smile but now her sexuality was in full bloom. She radiated sensuality in a way that was most evident in the way she swung her hips as she walked, there was a studied look in her eyes as she looked at Ilona, almost wolfishly. Ilona was wearing the pussybow blouse Julie had made for her a few days ago tucked into a pair of easy-fit jeans. The ties had been left undone along with the top few buttons for a more casual look.

Jodie knelt on the edge of the couch and dumped her handbag on the floor.

"You're back in your usual place on the couch," Jodie smiled warmly, "my God, look at you."

"Hey you," she sat up and they both moved forward at the same time.

"It's so good to see you, girlfriend," Ilona threw her arms around her.

"You too, I've missed you," Jodie reciprocated.

Ilona felt the inner tension shifting as she drank in her warmth. Jodie was rubbing her back gently and she let out a low sigh as she rubbed Jodie's back.

"I love this blouse," she released her and pulled back slightly, "where did you get it?"

"Julie made it for me."

"Wow, you really stepped out in style," she smiled slyly, "about the only talent Frankie had was clit licking," she tugged at one of the ties playfully.

"I've done a bit of that myself the last few days," she felt the colour rising in her cheeks.

"Ooh," Jodie winced, "now that's my idea of a good night in."

"I like what you've done with your hair," Ilona tugged lightly at it, "it's been a while since I saw you with crimped hair."

"I haven't crimped it for a couple of years," she ran a hand through her hair, "Frankie thought it made me a target but my bestie was coming around tonight so I tarted myself up. It's been kept this length for the last twelve months or so, it's gotten quite thick now."

For a few moments neither woman said anything and then Ilona eased back a little and looked down at Jodie's handbag.

"So, you and Julie, huh?"

"Yeah, but it's just early days."

"A bit like me with Frankie a couple of years ago."

"Kind of," she looked up, "some things are familiar but other things are strange."

"Well I know about the strangeness," she patted her leg, "and you're staying for dinner?"

"Yeah, your mum's bringing some takeaway back."

"Sweet," she straightened up, "what is she bringing back?"

"I left it up to her."

"Whatever," she rose, "I gotta go for a piss, meet me in my office. I'll have a Jimmy and Coke," and with that she was moving away.

"Unless you'd rather stay here?"

"The bedroom's fine," she also rose.

Jodie's bedroom had been referred to as her office for years because she'd used it as an office even after she moved in with Frankie. It was the only place she could go to when she was studying at Tafe and then university. Jodie was now a fully qualified teacher at a Primary school in Ringwood, Ilona had attended her graduation ceremony a couple of years ago. One of the smaller pictures on the wall beside the larger one of Jodie showed them both standing together, Ilona had an arm draped around her shoulders while Jodie snuggled in against her. Another picture just below it was a group photograph of Jodie, Ilona and their other girlfriends. That particular picture held her gaze for a minute or so because of the memories it evoked.

"A trip down memory lane?" Jodie stepped into the bedroom a moment or two later.

"Sure is," she glanced again at the picture of Jodie and herself, "I've put on weight since then and I had less worry lines."

"We've both put on weight around our arses," Jodie slung the handbag from the back of a chair, "but I like a bit of meat on an arse," she took off her jacket and draped it over the chair as well, "gives me something to hold onto."

Ilona flinched at that and moved towards the bed. Jodie was unbuttoning a cuff and as she folded it partway up her cuff she exposed a familiar tattoo, a rose with a scroll that had Ilona in calligraphic lettering. Ilona had the same one on the back of her left shoulder with Jodie in the scroll.

"She didn't make you change the tattoo?"

"Hah," Jodie rolled her eyes as she unbuttoned the other cuff, "she did try but I refused point blank, she nearly left me for that but I agreed to get her name on my arse," she folded the cuff.

"She said that you might have my right hand but her arse belonged to me," she unbuckled her belt and then undid the two snap buttons, "little does she know it's getting changed," she unzipped her jeans and then pulled the jeans and panties down to reveal the much larger rose.

The tattoo had two scrolls for Frankie and Jodie.

"What are you going to change?"

"Her name gets taken out, the tattooist I saw in Upwey can add shading over her name and then put a new name over the top. I'm booked in for next Saturday."

"Whose name is going in?" Ilona touched the tattoo.

"Yours of course," Ilona glanced over her shoulder, "just to spite the bitch."

"I was happy for you at first," she stepped back and sat on the bed, "but then it all changed."

"I know," Jodie pulled the jeans back up and tucked in her blouse, "it was slow at first," she pulled the zipper up, "just snide comments about what you were wearing," she fastened the snaps.

"She said the same thing about the others too, but Frankie seemed fixated on you, I sometimes used wonder who she obsessed about the most, me or you," she fastened the buckle again and ran a hand through her hair.

"I used to always jump to your defence," Jodie sat on the bed and leaned down to unzip a boot, "but it became exhausting," she pulled the boot off, "sometimes she'd just refuse to even look at me for a day or so," she unzipped the other boot and pulled it off too.

"Frankie certainly taught me how to make love to a woman, but she came close to putting me off women altogether," she stared at the glass of Jim Beam and Coke on the bedside drawers.

"It was Auntie Sally who saved the day," she picked up the glass.

"There's plenty of fish in the sea but some don't taste so good."

"Your mum said the same thing just before," Ilona looked down at her own boots, "but she also said something about throwing the young ones back."

"She did have a toy boy for a while," Jodie chuckled, "I swear to God, he was only a few years older than me. I walked into the house one afternoon to find her snogging this guy on the couch," she took a sip.

"I don't know who was more embarrassed, me or him," she slid back across the bed and put her back against the bedhead, "it was weird coming through in the morning to find Brad standing in the kitchen just wearing his jeans and he'd look at me and I'd look at him," she stared at the ceiling and then chuckled.

"It was like something out of the Graduate, I half expected him to make a pass at me," she patted the bed, "but enough of my mum's love life, tell me all about yours."

Ilona took off her boots and then settled down beside Jodie.

"Where to begin?"

"Start with the stuff I already know, like Nick," she patted her leg.

Ilona let it all out. Jodie already knew how they'd gotten together but she was puzzled as to why her best friend had put her unit onto the rental market and moved in with him. Ilona admitted that she'd just been too maternal, thinking that all Nick needed was the right motivation and some support. However it had gone downhill in fits and starts at first before building up to a decline until finally she'd realised that unless she did something drastic she was going to end up barefoot and pregnant to a man with no sense of responsibility and that led to her Julie.

"At first I thought it was just a quick and dirty way of getting out of something without having to come up with some complicated excuse," she frowned.

"But I've been thinking hard about it ever since Sunday morning and there were signs that I missed along the way."

"Such as?" Jodie pulled her feet up in front of her.

"The way I was with you," she replied, "I told everyone you were my girlfriend even though we weren't like that with each other. The question that's bugging me is why? It's not like I had to even lie like that. I could've just said you were my bestie or even my girlfriend without putting that kind of spin on it."

"I wondered the same thing too," Jodie swivelled around to face her, "I actually thought for a few weeks that you and I might, you know but then I realised that you weren't gay and that's when I told you not to say that kind of thing."

"The truth of the matter is," Ilona put the empty glass down, "is we could have. I know there were times we were sitting on the couch and there was no one else around, if you'd touched me I don't think I would have pulled away."

"I didn't because I didn't want to fuck up a friendship," she replied, "you meant everything to me and while I had the hots for you I also had enough common sense to know that trying to turn it into something else wasn't a good idea."

"And now here we are a few years later, you're out and proud, and I'm out but still sitting on the edge of the pool."

"Have there been other times when you've looked at other women?"

"Yeah, there has," she closed her eyes, "although most of them were similar to you in some way, it was either their personality or their looks. Julie has the first one but not so much the second one," she opened her eyes.

"I'm falling for her, I know I am. When I look at her I feel small and vulnerable but there are times she comes across as vulnerable as well. For the first time since high school I feel like I'm hanging on waiting for something to happen but it's different. I almost always knew a guy was going to call even if he was pretending not to notice me, but Julie has so much more experience."

"Like Frankie?"

"Kind of, although she's told me she wants us to have our own friends."

"So, not like Frankie then," Jodie turned away and slid off the other side of the bed, "Frankie was dirty on you from day one."

"I've told her about you," she replied, "I just haven't told her I was coming here."

"Are you moving into her joint?"

"No," she glanced at her phone, "Elaine and Keira are moving into the upstairs bit and I'll go back to my unit. She wants us to get to know each other without the hassle of setting up house."

"Definitely not Frankie," Jodie opened the wardrobe door and took out a red, off the shoulder dress and turned around, "what do you think?"

"Was that what you were going to wear to my wedding?"

"Yeah, although now it's just a pretty red dress for a night out. This is what Frankie hated the most, me getting dressed up in my party clothes while she dressed in men's clothes," she draped the dress on the bed beside Ilona.

"Fantastic dress," she ran her hand over the material, "be a shame to waste it."

"Oh it's not going to waste I can assure you," she slid back onto the end of the bed and sat on her legs, "Julie doesn't sound like Frankie unless it comes down to experience."

"No, but there is a part of me that worries she might become possessive."

"Do you have any evidence to support your suspicions?"

"I haven't known her that long," she bit her lip.

"So, what are you going to do? Jump in or stay out of the pool?"

Ilona stared at Jodie for the better part of a minute, her reverie was only disturbed by the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. Jodie also noticed it but merely smiled.

"I'll make my offer," she crawled across the bed towards her, "you and I can do what comes naturally and if I know you the way I think I do then it might be great sex. We could even be the perfect match," Jodie sat on one of Ilona's legs and slid the belt out of the buckle and pulled hard against it, the prong sprang out with a light click.

"But we could also just fuck up a friendship and lose not just a lover but a best friend. It was why I never tried to come onto you in the past," she slid the belt right out of the buckle.

Ilona's eyes fell to her crotch as Jodie went on.

"Or, I could stay as your best friend. You're going to need someone else to talk to," she undid one of the snaps, "someone who understands what it's like to be with a woman," she paused and then undid the other snap.

She looked down at herself for a few moments as she unzipped herself. Ilona's pulse quickened as she stared at her blouse and panties behind the jeans. A slew of memories cascaded through her mind and as they faded Ilona acknowledged the fact that she'd been drawn to the shy English girl for deeper reasons. Albeit she'd bluffed her way through but seeing Jodie sitting astride her leg in a position that evoked both vulnerability and desire made it all the more potent.

I am attracted to women.

Jodie's eyes flickered to the bedroom door as they heard the front door opening downstairs. A moment later they heard her mother calling out.

"I'm home, honey."

"We're upstairs," Jodie shouted and then she lowered her voice, "she won't come in here unless there's a fire," she rested her hands on her legs.

"We can stay friends forever or take a chance on something else but if that doesn't work, if we find out we can't be lovers then we'll lose everything," Jodie went on.

Ilona stared at her crotch. She'd seen her in the nude more times than she could care to remember, and now it was there for the asking, she stared at Jodie. She was the best friend she'd ever had, she even valued her more than her other friends, and then there was Jodie's mother, auntie Sally and Jodie's sisters. She swallowed and then reaching over, tugged at the collar of her blouse as a wistful smile nudged her lips. Jodie grabbed her ties and then Ilona swallowed.

"It would be nice, for a few weeks, a few months or maybe years but you're right. Maybe we're risking too much especially the way my head's been lately," she let go of her blouse and dropped her hands down to Jodie's waistband.

"I need you as a friend. You're the one I'd be talking to if things aren't working out," she pulled it together and fastened the snaps, "and it's not just you, it's your family as well."

"I want you to be free to just drop in at Julie's joint, whether I'm there or not," she found the zipper and pulled it slowly upwards, "and I want to be able to go out dancing with you in that red dress without her," she fastened the buckle again.

"I want to be able to tell you things I may not feel comfortable telling her," she let go of the belt and stared into her eyes.

"And what if she refuses?" Jodie's eyes narrowed.

"Then I guess we'll have this conversation again because when it comes to women, my options are limited for now."

Jodie nodded and then her eyes softened and she smiled warmly.

"Good decision," she grabbed her ties again, "none of my girlfriends is ever going to come between us ever again, you're my other woman and I'm yours."

"Guardian angels," she poked her in the belly.

"Guardian angels," she repeated, "now, close your eyes."

"Why?"

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course," Ilona replied.

"Close your eyes if you trust me."

Ilona closed her eyes.

"Keep your mouth closed," Jodie murmured.

A few seconds later Ilona caught the scent of bourbon and Coke followed by the feel of Jodie's lips pressing against her own. She held them against her for a few seconds and then pulled back. Ilona opened her eyes.

"That's something you can't tell her, okay?"

"Deal," she smiled, "but you took a hell of a risk."

"I learned from the best friend I've ever had," Jodie slid off her legs, "do you think she could make me a blouse like that one?"

"Of course she could, she makes all kinds of clothes, even suits."

"I could use a good tailored suit," she slid off the bed, "come on let's go downstairs before mum thinks we're tonguing each other out."