Delicate Touches Pt. 02

"This?" Evie glanced at her sleeve, "I bought it in Copenhagen last year, a little shop out on Strøget," she extended her hand slightly, "it's a pedestrian mall in the centre of Copenhagen."

"I'd love to go to Europe, it's on my bucket list."

"A bucket list is something you compile if you're dying," Evie reminded her.

"I'm not dying," she pulled her hand away, "but I'm a fashion junkie, I'm only doing a business course to please my family but I've just done an audition for a modelling agency here in town, which is why I'm dressed up. I want to do part time modelling while I study and this business course might actually come in handy if I decide to go full time into modelling."

"You've certainly got the face for it," Evie replied, "and the body," she let her eyes play over her for a few seconds.

"You're not the first person to say that today," she smiled, exposing perfect white teeth.

"So, why modelling? Apart from the obvious."

Mei Lin didn't reply at first, she almost seemed reluctant as she fiddled with a ring on her finger.

"I'm honouring my auntie's wishes."

"Uh huh?" Evie's eyes shifted as Nicole approached another customer.

"Yeah, I stayed with her for six months after I dropped out of the seminary in Malaysia."

"The seminary?" Evie stared at her, "you were in a seminary in Malaysia?"

"Yeah, it's not forbidden as long as we don't proselytise the general population," she smiled, "it's why my parents moved here."

"Of course," she shifted in her seat, "so, you were going to become a nun?"

"That was the plan," she raised her cup and drained the last of the coffee, "or rather it was mum's plan, she thought it would make a woman out of me."

"Okay," Evie sounded doubtful, "but there are other ways of becoming a woman, like growing up, it happens to us whether we want to or not."

"Yeah, you can say that again," she pushed the cup and saucer away from herself, "but at the time it was a good way to get out of Australia and away from her for a while."

"You don't get along with your mother?"

"We do get along," Mei Lin looked down, "but it's difficult, she's very traditional and I'm more of a free spirit, my dad is different again and I'm closer to him than to mum."

"Where do you live, with your parents?"

"Yeah, in the outer east, Bayswater North," she replied.

The conversation moved onto other things. She seemed intrigued by Evie's travels in Europe and wanted to see her photos, which Evie was only too happy to show her once she'd logged onto the café wi-fi. In turn, Mei Lin showed Evie her Instagram pictures, and by the looks of things she'd already launched her modelling career judging by the pictures taken of her wearing new outfits and by the time Stella arrived she felt a bond had developed between them.

Stella greeted her with a kiss and Evie introduced them.

"Pleased to meet you," Stella greeted her.

Mei Lin blinked through her glasses as she came out of her reverie and looked down as Stella extended her hand. She took it a moment later, feeling the softness of her skin and a moment later the cuff of her satin blouse, she felt as if she was frozen to the spot and then it was over as Stella released her hand.

"Mei Lin is going to uni to to a business studies course," Evie broke in, "but she also wants to be a model as well."

"Now that's a powerful combination," Stella ran her eyes over her, "a model with a business degree, you look like a model," she leaned back against the back of the booth and put her hand on Evie's leg, "how tall are you?"

"Five foot six."

"Tall enough," Stella's eyes flickered to the left as Nicki brought over the cappuccino, "what do you think, Nicki? Is this woman model material or not?"

"Absolutely," Nicki grinned, "I'd love to photograph you, I'm a photographer with an expensive camera but no studio, which is why I'm cutting my costs and applying for a room at your joint," she turned back to Stella.

"My boss says I have fifteen extra minutes if I stay back to clean the kitchen."

"Bastard," Stella grinned, "okay but make sure he knows I'm a hotshot lawyer."

"Be right back, I have to get my references," she turned about and hurried towards the toilet door but did an abrupt right turn to the door leading to the back.

"You're renting a room?" Mei Lin straightened up.

"To Nicki," Stella replied, "why? Are you looking for a place?"

"I am but she's first in line," she stopped as Stella picked up the sugar stick and tore the end off it, she emptied the sugar into the cup and then picked up another stick.

"I have a five bedroom house in Elwood," she tore the end off, "and my only housemate wants to move into his parents' house now that they're both gone, it's been standing empty for nearly three months and he's anxious to move," she eyed her "and if Nicki moves in I still have three other rooms."

"Oh," she nudged her glasses, "what's the rent?"

"Two hundred and fifty at the moment but if you moved in I might reduce it by twenty percent, I need the extra income but money isn't everything," she emptied the sugar into the cup.

"You got references?" Stella picked up the spoon and started stirring the cappuccino.

"I um, I live at home right now but I can get one from a previous employer."

"Well maybe we might scratch the references," Stella regarded her for a moment, "you're in uni, so you're about what? Eighteen, nineteen?"

"Twenty," she replied, "I just turned twenty."

"So you had a break after high school then."

"Yeah," she replied as Nicki suddenly emerged carrying her laptop, "I was in Malaysia for six months and then I lived with my grandmother for another six months before I came back here."

"Malaysia," she watched Nicki coming nearer, "so, what's your residential status? I'm sorry I have to ask just in case the department of fuckery knocks on the door."

"Department of what?" Mei Lin frowned.

"Immigration, we call them the department of fuckery because that's all they do."

"I'm naturalised," she replied, "I was born in Malaysia but I came here when I was five and got myself naturalised when I went back to Malaysia."

"See that's fuckery for you," Stella leaned back and stared at her, "you've lived here for years, been educated here, your whole life is here and yet the moment you decide you might want to go on an overseas holiday they want you to get naturalised. Only a fuckwit would invent a system so fucked up that only a fuckwit would agree to it," she eyed Nicki as the younger woman sat down.

"Sorry, that's my little rant over, I've been reading up on immigration law recently, so, what's your take on the immigration thing?"

"The more the merrier," Nicki shrugged, "I can swear in fifteen languages."

She opened the laptop and tapped a button.

"Okay, I've got references here on the laptop, if you give me the email address I'll email them to you and you can read them at your leisure."

Stella gave her the email address and a minute or so later Nicki leaned back and grinned.

"As easy as that, so, what do you want to ask me?"

"It's not questions so much as conditions," she slipped a hand beneath her blouse.

"Drugs are off limits in the house and that includes the backyard, I'll condone dope as long as you don't smoke inside and stay in your room. I do some business at home and I can't afford to have the house smelling of marijuana or dirty bong water."

"Agreed," Nicki replied, "I do smoke occasionally but that's usually at Darren's joint because he's the smoker."

"Whatever," she picked up her cappuccino, "but drink is not allowed, I don't care if you come home as pissed as forty arseholes but don't bring bottles or cans home. I can handle being around alcohol but I've just passed five years one day at a time and I don't want it in the house at all."

"No worries," Nicki replied, "wow, that was something I didn't expect. Congratulations on five years without a drink."

"Thank you," she eyed Mei Lin who'd leaned forward expectedly.

"Friends in your room, are you still with Amanda?"

"I am but she won't be staying over for more than one night, it's not healthy for either of us."

"Okay, but if you bring a new woman home, introduce her to the rest of us," she glanced at Mei Lin, "assuming of course that Mei Lin doesn't feel uncomfortable having lesbians in the house."

"Not at all, I'm not homophobic," she replied, "and I don't do drugs and rarely drink."

"A good girl," Stella studied her, "huh, that's something I haven't heard in a while."

Stella tapped her phone and the screen flashed to life. She navigated to her email account and tapped the screen a couple of times until Nicki's email attachment came up on the screen.

"Okay," she finally closed the email app, "on what I've heard and seen this afternoon I'm asking you to move in. The rent is currently two hundred and fifty a month but I'm prepared to drop twenty percent if Mei Lin moves in," she turned to Mei Lin.

"I'll call you tonight and arrange for you to drop in and see the house and room for yourself, how does that sound?"

"Great," she looked down as Stella tapped her screen a couple of times to bring up a contact list.

"Punch in your details."

Whilst Mei Lin put in her details, Nicki sent a text on her phone.

"I'm telling Darren I'm moving out."

"How much notice are you giving him?"

"A week," she replied, "it's all he's asking for, he's got someone lined up already."

"A mate?"

"His girlfriend, she's as hot as hell but he's always been a bit funny about having her stay over because she's always been a bit bendable. I wouldn't touch her and I've told him that heaps of times but I respect his decision."

***

"What do you think of her?" Stella asked some forty five minutes later as she turned into her driveway.

"Um, she seems really nice."

"I'm not talking about Nicki," she slapped her leg, "don't drool, I don't actually own the house."

Evie glanced at her momentarily and then looked at the house. It had a partially enclosed front porch extending the length of the front, the cream rendering a marked contrast to the red brick dwelling, which had white trimming at the top in the form of faux cream bricks. Cacti and other small shrubs grew in front of the porch, the houses on either side were similar but on the other side of the street two apartment blocks loomed over the houses.

"Nice house."

"It is nice, I have a guy renting a room but I don't own it yet," she turned the engine off.

"What do I think of Mei Lin?" Evie asked her.

"Yeah, I've known Nicki for a while and she's a good sort but I don't know Mei Lin at all."

"Neither do I," she reached down for her handbag, "but she offered me the table after Nicki told me that every table was taken. She didn't know who I was at the time either, but she said that as we walked past Mei Lin's table. When I came back through she actually stopped me and asked if I'd like to sit down too," she opened the car door.

"So, just on that I'd say she's intuitive and compassionate."

"She's also a Catholic although I don't know if she's a practising Catholic or a lapsed one," she pulled the keys out of the ignition.

"She was wearing a confirmation ring."

"I noticed the ring but didn't say anything about it," she flicked at her hair, "although she did go to some seminary in Malaysia for six months but then dropped out and moved to her auntie's place in Singapore for six months."

"Hmm," Stella stared past her, "food for thought, come on, it looks like she's dabbled with the dark side and been turned off. I went to a Catholic high school."

"Now that's something I didn't expect."

"My stepmother, Michelle brought money into their civil partnership," she replied, "so I got the private education but I also got plenty of secular education at home," she inclined her head, "come on, I'll give you the tour."

The interior turned out to be just as nice with two separate living rooms, one at the front and an alfresco style room at the rear, the fourth bedroom had been converted into a study.

"There are actually five bedrooms but the fifth one has become a study of sorts," she opened the master bedroom door, "and this is my room."

Evie stood on the threshold and peered inside at the large queen size bed complete with a solid oak bedhead and footer. The bedspread was a soft pink and matched the pink and cream pillow cases. The carpet was also cream and as she stepped into the room she saw why it was so light, large floor to ceiling wardrobe doors faced the window on the other side. A row of wall-mounted lamps on the wall opposite her caught her attention as Stella flicked a switch and turned the dimmer switch, she moved further into the room and turned around at the same time.

"It's nice," she took in the tallboy to her right and the dressing table on the other side, "very," she smiled, "feminine."

"Yeah, I don't do leather and chains," Stella moved past her and dumped her handbag on the bed.

"Neither do I," she moved to the bed and sat on the edge.

"And I thought I was the only one with that kind of wardrobe," she stared at her reflection.

"Imagine how I felt in your room last night," Stella turned and then threw herself onto the bed and spread her arms out wide, "I like your room, I loved being with you last night but fuck I love this bed," she grinned and then sitting up, pulled herself against the bedhead.

"Sit down already, make yourself at home while I make myself presentable," she bent her leg and unzipped a boot.

Evie knelt on the end of the bed and smoothed out her skirt as Stella dropped the boot on the floor with a soft clunk and then bent her other leg,

"Is that making yourself at home?" Stella unzipped the other boot,

"I'm not about to ravish you before dinner," she pulled the boot off and tossed it to the floor, "but we need to talk about last night if there's going to be another night of sin and debauchery," she pulled the jacket off her shoulders.

"Yeah, we do," Evie reached back and undid the strap on one of her heels, "I wasn't intending on going that far on a first date, this is a first for me."

"Along with sex with a woman?" Stella slid her arm through the sleeve.

"That's another first," Evie dropped the shoe on the floor and then turning her back to Stella, undid the other strap.

"Two firsts in a row," Stella finished removing the jacket and hung it over the end of the bedpost, "are you trying for a hat trick?"

"Kind of," Evie dropped the shoe on the floor and then turned and crawled on all fours towards her, "and I've never been in a relationship with anyone, ever," she reached Stella and then put her back against the bedhead.

"The guys I was with lasted a couple of weeks, some kissing, some hand holding but that was about as far as it went. I never wanted to let them get that far, which is why last night has given me plenty to chew on," she looked at her.

"It was out of character and I can't say I was drunk because we were both sober."

She fiddled with her cuff, "so, if you think I'm going to move in then think again."

"Hey," Stella patted her leg, "the only one who's definitely moving in is Nicki and if Mei Lin passes the litmus test then she's in too but asking a girlfriend to move in is an entirely different thing. I've been there before, plenty of times and been burned, although towards the end I lit the first match," she stared straight ahead.

Nothing was said for a few seconds and then Evie rubbed Stella's leg.

"So, it's like dating regularly?"

"Yeah," Stella looked down at her hand, "weekends, a couple of week nights," she stroked her hand gently, "a guy in the fellowship talks about being married one day at a time, he got married a couple of years ago after a string of failed relationships. I don't know if his marriage is stable but he still says that he's married a day at a time," she traced a line down Evie's leg.

"So, with that in mind, maybe we're girlfriends just for today. There's no commitment, no promises in the dark and if we decide we'd like something more concrete," she reached her pussy.

"Then we'll have ourselves another talk."

"Deal," Evie exhaled, "God, I was so fucking worried about this talk," she looked past her at their reflections in the mirrors, "I thought you were going to ask me to move in and while I like you, I also like living with Diane. It's close to my parents' place and my old friends."

Stella burst out laughing and slapped her leg playfully.

"It's called projecting," she leaned forward and started pulling her blouse out of her trousers, "my sponsor calls it the projection spiral," she leaned back and undid one of her cufflinks.

"She's going to say this," she dropped the cufflink onto her leg, "and I'll say that," she undid the next cufflink, "and then I'll say this," she grinned, "and before we know it," she picked up the two cufflinks and leaned over to put them on top of one of the bedside drawers.

"We've met the love of our life, gotten married, and then fallen out of love and now we're divorced and that's in the space of two hours," she leaned back against the bedhead.

"Most people project but we alkies have turned it into an art form."

"I guess so," she looked at the door as they both heard someone opening the front door, "who's that?"

"John, I hope," she undid one of her buttons, "otherwise I'm about to get burgled," she paused and then shouted out, "is that you, John?"

"Hiya," a man's voice shouted back, "it's only me, and a friend."

"Told you," she undid the next button, "come in and meet Evie," she undid another button.

Evie straightened up as the footfalls sounded in the hallway and then the door opened wider and an attractive man with bleached blonde hair stepped into the room. Stella didn't even stop unbuttoning her blouse as she introduced them.

"Evie this is Gay John, Gay John, this is Evie, my um girlfriend."

"Oh wow," he fanned himself, "you finally took the plunge," he approached the bed, "it's so nice to meet you," he knelt on the bed and held out his hand.

Evie shook his hand as she ran her eyes over him, he was dressed in a white, open necked shirt and blue jeans that looked a little tight on him. He released her hand and shifted back off the bed.

"I've been trying to convince her to dip her feet in the dating pool again for ages," he grinned.

"Well I certainly dipped more than my feet last night, I jumped right in," she leaned back against the bedhead, "so, you've got company? Is he staying the night?"

"Oh no, we're heading down to Sorrento for a couple of nights," he glanced over his shoulder as they heard someone approaching, "I'm in here, honey."

The man who entered a few seconds later was the complete opposite, where John was tall and broad, the other man was short and skinny with green hair. He wore a tank top with the rainbow flag on it and a pair of board shorts, he glanced around the room and when he saw Stella with her blouse hanging open he averted his eyes.

"Sorry," Stella pulled the blouse closed.

"Oh don't worry about Frank, he's just a little uptight sometimes," he glanced over his shoulder, "why don't you wait in the living room?"

Frank backed out and John grinned.

"Sorry about that."

"There's something we should talk about," Stella let go of the blouse, "I've got one boarder who's going to move in here in about a week and another possible one coming as well."

"Oh, okay," he cocked his head to one side, "male or female?"

"Female, you remember I mentioned Nicki?"

"Uh huh, she's moving in then?"

"If all goes to plan," she pulled her legs up in front of her, "so, if you are planning on moving out then you're free to go."

"Fabulous," he patted his chest, "I'm so happy, I was hoping I wasn't going to have to tie you to the bed and force you to make me go, figuratively speaking of course," he smiled.