Diane's Fall Ch. 08

Handing the blue-eyed beauty her soft drink, Diane sat the wine glass on the coffee table and picked up the open bottle, filling the glass about halfway.

"You look like you could use a drink, Dana."

Diane sat opposite of the pair. She felt remarkably composed considering the path she'd traveled in the last several months. The Domme's claiming of young Ah earlier that day had done a lot to successfully reconstitute much of the confidence Diane had lost during her tumultuous travails. She just stared across at the two submissives as she waited for them to speak.

"Why?"

"Why what, Dana?" Diane responded coyly.

"Why do that to Kayla?" Dana asked, her voice full of frustration. "Are you just trying to make things worse?"

Diane again didn't answer. She just stared across at her sister with a look that was flat and measured.

"Are you not even going to bother with an explanation?"

"I don't owe you an explanation, Dana, but I assume you're talking about Ah?"

Diane's measured tone seemed to cool her sister's attitude. It was almost like a warning and a dare at the same time.

Dana simply nodded her head.

Diane took a sip of wine, sitting back in her chair and crossing her legs.

"Ah had some information I needed to hear, and I could give her something she desperately craved. It seemed a useful exchange."

Dana started to say something, but Celeste grabbed her hand. The blue-eyed beauty sent her girlfriend a look of warning that cautioned her to gauge what she was about to say.

"It's just that Kayla wasn't at all happy when she found out what happened, and I'm afraid now that she might put an end to everything," Dana added after a moment.

Diane squinted her eyes, not sure what her sister meant.

"She was saying things after she found out that Ah had told you everything. Things that didn't sound at all like Kayla. By the way, she was absolutely livid with Ah."

Diane felt a pang of guilt at the thought she'd placed a wedge between the two friends. But she'd been caught up in the moment, and there was little that could be done to rectify things right now.

"What do you mean Kayla was saying things? What kind of things?" Diane asked.

"She was talking about maybe rethinking her options. Maybe going away for school or even taking a gap year and traveling," Dana said with fear in her voice.

The realization as to why Dana was so angry finally hit Diane. She was afraid that Kayla would forgo opening the business, costing Dana the job she needed so badly.

"She's not going to cancel the business, Dana. She's already invested way too much money in this thing. Kayla is too smart to throw all that cash away."

That was when Celeste spoke up. Diane had been so caught up in the verbal joust with her sister that she'd almost forgotten the dark-headed young beauty.

"Maybe not, Diane. But there was definitely something different about Kayla tonight. I don't know her the way you two do, but even I could see that."

"How so?" Diane asked, feeling the first hint of something building in her gut. Almost like something was burning at her insides, or maybe trying to gnaw its way out.

Celeste shrugged her shoulders and said, "She's been sad ever since I met her. I didn't know her before the two of you ended things, but from what Dana and Beth have told me, Kayla was always confident and in control."

Diane nodded her head. That description did fit her former girlfriend perfectly.

"That wasn't the young woman I saw tonight," Celeste continued. "That woman tonight was unsure of herself and lost. Kayla looked like her world was spinning out of control, and was desperately grasping for something to hold onto."

The gnawing in Diane's center became more pronounced, and for the first time, the beautiful blonde realized it for what it was.

Fear.

Before tonight, Diane had only known sorrow, anger, depression, and regret when it came to her thoughts of Kayla. There had never really been any fear because she felt as if their relationship had already been lost. More accurately, before today, Diane had felt as though Kayla had thrown it away.

Diane could admit to herself now that maybe there had always been the faintest of hopes that their love could be healed and repaired. Perhaps that spark had remained alive, because, up until now, Kayla had been just across town. She'd still been sending people to beg Diane for a chance at reconciliation.

If she left town now, did that mean she was giving up?

"You two do realize that she's the one that did wrong, and not me?" Diane asked them, sudden indignation boiling over inside her.

Ever the bratty little sister, Dana said, "Great, well enjoy cuddling with your wounded pride at night. I hope the two of you will be really happy."

Diane felt as is she'd been verbally slapped. She even noticed Celeste flinch at the directness of her lover's words.

"Easy, baby," Celeste said as she placed her left hand on Dana's shoulder, her right hand rubbing her girlfriend's knee.

Looking at Celeste, Dana said, "I can't, not anymore. I know that Kayla hurt her. I do. But I also know that Diane still loves her."

Turning back to Diane, the younger of the two sisters, said, "Right now, you still have the chance to forgive her and rebuild what the two of you had. Maybe it takes a long time for you to be able to trust her again, and perhaps you'll discover that you can't. But you will never know unless you give it a shot, Diane. And you'll always wonder what you might have had if only you'd been brave enough to try."

Diane stared down into her wine glass as she ran a finger around its rim. She knew that Dana was right. If Diane continued to repulse Kayla's efforts to sit down and talk, the Native-American beauty would have to eventually move on. Wouldn't she?

"I can't believe you won't at least hear her out. Even if you choose not to forgive her, that at least you'll know for sure," Dana said, with a hint of pleading in her voice.

Diane let out a deep sigh, her bottom lip trembling as she fought back the urge to cry.

"You're scared. Aren't you?" Celeste asked as if the sudden insight had just struck her. "You're afraid that you won't be able to stop yourself from submitting to her."

Diane's chest heaved at that, hot tears escaping her eyes as her emotions boiled over. She could only nod her head in response.

Dana and Celeste sat quietly and allowed Diane to work through the anguish she was feeling. The older woman appreciated the space.

"I'm terrified that I'll take one look at her and want to fall to my knees. She's like catnip, and I'm a wayward tomcat. I don't think I'd be able to resist her."

"Then why try?" Dana asked

Diane groaned at through her head back, staring up at the ceiling.

"Because if I make it that fucking easy, what's to prevent her from doing it again? And maybe next time she meets someone that she wants more than me."

Dana crossed the short distance between them and settled down on one knee in front of her sister. She grabbed Diane's hand and squeezed it to stop the trembling she found emanating though it.

"I don't have an answer for you, Sis. I wish I did. I just know that I want you to be happy, and I've never seen you as happy as you were with Kayla."

Diane knew that Dana was right, but it didn't change her fears. How could she risk becoming trapped in Kayla's allure again?

"Maybe it's just a matter of where you choose to sit down and talk to her," Celeste said.

"What do you mean?" Diane asked, not really sure where her sister's girlfriend was headed.

Celeste dropped down on her knees and crossed the distance until she was kneeling next to Dana. "Well, it would need to be somewhere public and in an environment that was utterly asexual to you both. I mean, we're talking libido killing."

"What, like a church?" Diane asked.

Celeste shook her head and said, "No, the two of you ladies having such a personal conversation in a place like that would stand out. Anyone watching the two of you would likely be able to tell from body language alone that there was something between you."

"Then, where?" Diane asked.

Celeste considered the older woman's question momentarily before saying, "Somewhere public with a lot of commotion. The type of place where two attractive women could sit and talk without anyone really taking notice. The type of place where the two of you could just fade into the background."

Diane and Dana just stared at Celeste as she ran through the criteria in her mind. It was apparent when she hit on the spot she thought was perfect. The dark-headed beauty instantly flashed a brilliant smile, and then she gave a little laugh.

"Oh, God," Diane said, rolling her eyes at the look on Celeste's face. "I"m almost afraid to ask."

Celeste held up a hand and said, "Okay, just promise that you'll let me explain my choice..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was almost eleven o'clock before Dana and Celeste had left Diane the night before. It took that long for the younger mother to convince Diane that there was validity to her location choice. As off the wall as her selection was. Diane had to admit that it fitted every single one of the criteria that Celeste had initially laid out.

Diane had said goodnight to both women with the location set before finding her purse and locating the cell phone she kept inside it. She'd contemplated making this call a thousand times since breaking up with Kayla. Not really to repair their broken relationship, but to hear the sexy Domme's voice. The raven-haired beauty's sultry tones had always driven Diane to distraction and made her legs feel weak.

She brought up her contacts list and selected Kayla's name. A picture of the Native-American seductress came up on the screen. Just the sight of her brought a mixture of feelings boiling to the surface inside Diane. She knew that for better or worse, she needed to sit down with Kayla. The state of limbo both had been existing in was no good for either one of them.

Before she could lose her nerve, Diane hit send to connect the call.

Each ring of the phone resounded in Diane's ear, seemingly taunting her that Kayla had moved on. Dana had said she was considering taking a gap year to travel. Maybe even now, she was planning a trip to Ireland to visit a certain redhead.

"Diane?" said a voice on the other end of the line. And though it was rough and scratchy, as if from disuse or sleep, the mother of two still recognized it as belonging to the woman she loved.

"Hey," was all that Diane could get out, biting at her bottom lip in frustration. She wanted to say so much more, but just hearing Kayla say her name had stoned her into near silence. Without the anger to act as an insulating buffer, Diane could feel her innate tendencies towards Kayla wanting to kick in. Despite her dominant nature's discovery and refinement, the natural switch new that she was wholly submissive when it came to the raven-haired beauty.

The phone was silent on both ends for what seemed an eternity to Diane but was likely only a few seconds. At last, remembering the reason she'd called, the mother of two forced herself to speak.

"I think we need to get together and talk, Kayla."

There was a brief pause on the younger woman's end of the line. Diane began to wonder if their call had dropped when she heard Kayla sigh.

"Do you want to come here? Or do you want me to meet you at your place?"

Diane felt a momentary sense of disorder in her mind, a brief hint of mental chaos. Her typically organized and structured conscious swooned for a moment before she realized the cause.

Kayla was leaving the choice up to her.

During their time together, the young Domme had made nearly every choice and decision affecting the couple. There were some minor details she'd left up to Diane to decide, but otherwise, Kayla dominated every aspect of their relationship.

Diane had fully expected to have to argue that if Kayla wanted to save their relationship, the Native-America beauty would need to give in to her demands. The fact that her domineering former girlfriend had easily capitulated to her desires was offsetting.

"Neither," Diane said, finding her voice again. "I'm want to meet tomorrow at noon at a neutral location, somewhere that I feel comfortable knowing that you will be content to hear me out without... well, without imposing your will on me."

"Diane, I would never..." the Domme started to say, but Diane quickly cut her off, though her tone wasn't angry.

"Yes, you would, Kayla. You always have, and it's one of the many things I love about you. I crave it like a drug in all honesty. But I need to be able to be heard without fear that you will seduce me. I need to feel safe in the knowledge that you won't take advantage of my submissive desires. I need to know that I can lead the discussion for just this once and believe that you will answer me truthfully."

Diane heard several indistinct noises from Kayla's end of the line while waiting to reply. It was several seconds before the sexy blonde recognized them for what they were.

Sniffles. The usually self-assured and confident Domme was crying.

Fighting her natural inclination to comfort the woman she was still in love with, Diane bit at her bottom lip and waited to hear Kayla's answer.

After almost thirty seconds of silence, Kayla said, "Of course, Diane. Whatever it is that you feel you need to be at ease."

"Thank you," the older woman replied, a sudden sense of relief flooding her being. "I will text you the location sometime after eleven in the morning."

"Diane?" Kayla said, her voice still not sounding as it typically did. It was forced and strained as if the Domme was struggling to maintain her emotions.

"Yes?"

"I love you."

Diane felt her heart swell and tears of her own start to flow. She'd longed to hear those words every minute of every day since breaking things off with Kayla. Yet as much as the blonde switch wanted to affirm to the raven-haired beauty that she felt the same way, Diane knew that now was not the time. She had to believe that she could rebuild a sense of trust with Kayla. And she couldn't say that until she could look into the gorgeous young woman's dark eyes and believe that she'd told her everything.

Almost wincing at her own response, not for what it said, but what it didn't, Diane said, "I'll text you in the morning and see you at noon. Goodbye."

Hanging the phone up quickly and tossing it aside as if she was afraid it might burn her, Diane collapsed onto her couch and cried.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Diane made sure to arrive early and find a seat inside the noisy establishment. Looking around, she couldn't help but laugh. Celeste was so right; if this place couldn't instantly dampen any natural arousal, she had issues.

Kids roamed everywhere inside the Chuckie Cheese, squealing with delight as they wandered from game to game while their parents quietly followed them or watched from their booth's safety as they dined on soft-drinks and cardboard pizza. Diane found herself caught up in watching two little girls of pre-school age as they wielded mallets at a wack-a-mouse game and failed to notice Kayla's arrival until the raven-haired beauty slid into the booth across from her.

Diane felt her heart rend at what she saw.

Kayla's inherent natural beauty hadn't changed. The long and shiny dark hair and naturally smooth and tanned skin were still there. But the casually seductive air and aura of confidence she typically carried weren't present. What's more, she looked tired and worn down.

Diane watched her, a faint smile nestling onto Kayla's face as she looked around at the childish anarchy around them. Diane yearned to have those black eyes turned onto her, but she didn't try to force it into happening.

"You look tired," Diane said, just stating the obvious without implication.

"I haven't been sleeping very well," Kayla replied as a little boy of four or five stopped next to our table to stare up at her. She gave him a big smile and a wink causing the little boy to blush before running off.

When he was gone, Kayla finally turned her gaze towards Diane. Though the hint of a smile remained, it didn't reach her eyes. The only things present there were sadness and perhaps a trace of despair.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Kayla."

"Are you really?"

Kayla's question stung. Despite the hurt, sadness, and betrayal she'd felt, Diane had never wished anything negative on the woman she loved.

Never.

"Of course, I am. How could you even question that?"

Kayla shrugged her shoulders, her posture slumping back against her backrest. "That day that you stormed out of the house, you sounded like you hated me. Then when you refused to talk to me no matter what I tried, I just assumed."

Diane felt a bit of anger rise in her. What right did Kayla have to play the victim? She had been the one to lie and cheat.

"I had other people in my life that I needed to focus my limited energies on, and I also had a marriage I had to end. During the two days after I discovered your little dalliance, it occurred to me that I couldn't justify being hurt over you cheating when I had done the same thing to Jerry. If I didn't deserve it, then neither did he."

Diane noticed Kayla flinch slightly, almost seeming to recoil when she mentioned the raven-haired beauty's affair. That told Diane a story that she didn't really want to know. It said that Kayla was ashamed of what she'd done, and if she felt shame, then maybe her activities hadn't been as innocent as she'd proclaimed to her friends.

Diane set the gut-punch she felt at Kayla's reaction aside. Instead, she embraced the indignation she felt at the Domme's seeming ploy for sympathy.

"If you think it is hard having your girlfriend break up with you because you repeatedly lied to her and cheated on her, then you should try telling a husband you don't love him anymore and no longer want to share a bed with him. Then you'd also have to deal with that fallout and all the disturbing things it does to your teenage daughters. It's strained my relationship with Dana because I didn't want to risk her deciding to stay loyal to me and, as a result, lose the job you offered her. I was then forced to point out to poor Beth that her spending so much time with the woman who'd just given her brother the boot was a bad look. Once news of my sexuality leaks out, and the leaking has already started, it would only be a matter of time before Jerry's parents started asking questions about Beth. I couldn't do that to her."

Kayla's eyes had misted over with tears, the dark orbs glistening with a wet sheen. Again, Diane was bothered at seeing her reaction, but just because she didn't want to see her in pain didn't mean that she would comfort her.

No matter how bad she wanted to.

"So, I hope you didn't come here expecting me to feel sorry for the emotional distress you've endured because my sympathetic reserves are depleted," Diane told her, finishing her mini-rant.

Diane felt drained after delivering her emotional diatribe. Of course, the two hours of sleep she'd successfully gotten the night before likely hadn't helped much either.

Both women were quiet, their eyes never leaving one another even as a large grouping of kids noisily wandered by their table, bumping against it hard enough to cause the drink in Diane's glass to slosh about. Kayla seemed on edge, fighting to hold back tears as her bottom lip quivered.

Diane felt a bit dismayed at how things had played out so far. She'd wholly expected a contrite yet confident Kayla to show up, admit her failings, apologize, and then try to win her back. She'd almost been counting on things playing out that way, and now that they hadn't, she was at a loss as to where to go next.