Each & Every Corner Ch. 04: Awake

"Have either of you seen my good green top."

Lizzie rushed into the living room wearing only her knickers and bra. She scanned the surfaces then made a more detailed search of the clothes horse in the corner of the room a without luck. Turning back she saw Ray, seated in one of the armchairs and gazing at her with amusement, eyes scanning appraisingly across her body. Lizzie flushed slightly at the attention but stood her ground and even struck a quick pose with one hand on her hip and a leg cocked.

"And what exactly are you doing still sitting there. Haven't you got to get ready as well."

Sarah walked in brandishing the dark green garment on a wooden hanger.

"Don't worry about her, she'll take five minutes to change and fix her hair while we're waiting for the cab, it's very frustrating. Here you go, I borrowed it the other day. Worn once, hung it up after, so it should be good for another go. Sorry I should have asked."

"No problem, anytime you want, thanks Sarah."

Lizzie grabbed the hanger and raced back to her room. As she did so she reflexively brought the cloth up to her face and inhaled deeply to give it the standard check for acceptable cleanliness. She could still smell the detergent from the last wash on it so it passed the test, and beneath that there was the tantalizingly exciting little hint of Sarah which was an added bonus. Without thinking she took another long sniff, focusing on and enjoying the intimacy of the other woman's scent. Just below the level of her full awareness now (she'd have had to figure it out if she was challenged but she still wasn't quite up to admitting it to herself on her own) she was finding the idea of wearing something steeped in the flavour of Sarah next to her skin unaccountably exciting.

"That, will do nicely," she purred under her breath, not really endowing it with any particular meaning, just because it was the first thing that ran through her mind.

Back in the living room Sarah was grinning at Ray mischievously. Very softly she said, "You were definitely checking Lizzie out and she definitely caught you at it. Do try to have some discretion darling."

"What can I say," said Ray holding her hands out, palms up. "I'm enjoying the new casual dress code, and you know as well as I do that she's an absolute knockout."

Sarah sat down on the sofa next to Ray and let out a long loud breath, "You are seriously not kidding. But don't go making her feel awkward, she's not just there for your entertainment you know."

"Sarah I really don't think she was feeling in any way awkward - she was showing off."

"Well ok then, and it's good to see her starting to come back out of her shell and acting a little playful, she's been far too serious recently. But be careful with her anyway alright. And it really is time for you to get ready now, so hop to it."

The three of them had been invited over for the afternoon to Andy and Angela's house where the couple were holding what had to be one of their last summer barbeques of the year. Technically Autumn had long since arrived by now but the previous season was encroaching deep into her territory, so though the nights were drawing in, the weather was still hot. Lizzie had been uncharacteristically lukewarm about coming along when the subject had first been raised. Eventually though Sarah had figured out the problem and then Ray was able to set her mind at ease. She had made a tactful enquiry and unsurprisingly Angela had already thought things through - Amy wouldn't be on the guestlist today.

With this potential stumbling block cleared out of the way Lizzie had switched around completely and had become the most enthusiastic of the three of them. Going over to see Andy and Angela wasn't that big a deal for Ray and Sarah but for Lizzie it was a bit of an occasion; she demanded that Sarah at least should join her in dressing up properly for it. She made no headway at all on that front with Ray though - Ray wouldn't be convinced there was a good reason for any more formality than her everyday clothes. Eventually even Lizzie had to give up and concede that it was hard to imagine her turning up wearing anything else.

*****

When they arrived at the house Angela met them at the door, handing out appropriate compliments in recognition of the effort Sarah and Lizzie had made and receiving her own in return, as well as the gifts the three of them had brought - cut flowers and sparkling wine.

"Come on in ladies," she said. "How's it going Ray. Seems like only yesterday I last saw you and you haven't changed a bit."

"Very funny," said Ray. "I suppose I deserved it though."

Angela kissed her on the cheek. "You know I'm only kidding, and we wouldn't want you any other way even if we did have the choice."

She hadn't seen Lizzie for a while and on the pretense of wanting some help preparing the flowers she pulled her aside for a chat almost immediately. Word had reached her by way of Ray that the younger woman was looking for some basic career advice and she had decided she'd have a better chance of giving Lizzie some useful direction while both of them still had clear heads.

Leaving them to it Ray and Sarah strolled out to the garden arm in arm. They had spent more than enough time here to feel very comfortable making themselves at home. Looking back toward the house from the lawn Ray said to Sarah, "Maybe we ought to think seriously about moving at some point. We're earning more than enough to afford somewhere bigger now, and it would be nice to stretch out a bit."

"If we're going to do that we should talk to Lizzie," said Sarah. "See if she would like to come in on it too."

"She'd be great to have along," Ray agreed. "But you're right, it is hard to predict how it would fit with her plans. I suppose if we moved she might take the opportunity to go her own way."

"I hope not, "said Sarah. "I'd miss her a lot I think."

Sarah continued to turn this over in her head, viewing it from various different angles. There was something she'd been meaning to bring up and maybe now was the time.

"Ray, does it ever surprise you, how quickly Lizzie has just become one of us?"

Ray thought about this.

"She seems to fit I suppose," she said. "As if there was always a gap her shape but we couldn't see it until she had arrived."

"I wonder what it means," Sarah said, nodding in agreement.

Wandering back toward the house they found Andy holding court by the grill on the patio. Here he was undisputed king of chops and charred sweetcorn - nobody was going to take that away from him. This was all part of the show though for Andy, the whole reason he enjoyed playing host was for the satisfaction of making sure everyone was well looked after. He filled plates for the two of them while he and Ray did some catching up.

The two of them had started off as colleagues, he the mentor and she the protege, some years before. Since then Andy had moved on to a different firm though, and Ray had made her way up a few rungs of the organisational ladder, eventually taking on his former role. These days the dynamic had changed and they spoke more as equals, although Ray still granted him the unique respect she felt was his due.

Angela and Lizzie had found their way out here too in search of drinks and were talking to Emma who was a junior on Andy's team at his new place. Ray had met Emma a couple of times before and liked her. Lizzie seemed to be getting on very well with her too she noticed and there was something about that which was making Ray a little uncomfortable. A physical sensation almost the same as vertigo when she looked at them. She concentrated as she tried to put a name to the feeling, but before she could do so Angela was making her excuses to the other two and coming over to join them.

"Well I've done my bit as custodian of all office management knowledge for what it's worth. Now I'll have a well deserved glass of wine I think, can I tempt either of you?"

"It's good of you to have taken the time Angela. It's important to us that Lizzie should be happy," said Sarah. "I'm going to pop off to the loo. I'll grab a drink when I get back."

Ray dug herself a beer out of the icebox while Angela poured some wine, Lizzie and Emma had disappeared into the house as well so the two of them sat at a table on the lawn. The golden light of the afternoon sun cast dappled shadow through the trees across the short grass, but out of the shade it was still strong enough for them to appreciate the heat on their skin.

"Thanks for inviting us. We've not been getting out much recently, especially Lizzie. And I think it's probably a bigger deal for her too because she used to go out pretty much all the time."

"It's a pleasure Ray. You know we always like to have you two here, and it is good to be able to have Lizzie come over as well. She dotes on you and Sarah you know, I could hardly keep her focused on the task at hand earlier on, all she wanted to talk about was how great you two were."

"We're very fond of her too. It would be wonderful to see things work out well for her. And on that very subject, did I notice her and Emma getting rather friendly just then?"

Angela laughed, "Unusual for you to pick up on something like that, you're generally happily oblivious. So I'm sorry to have to tell you that your moment of insight is slightly misplaced. No, that's just what Emma's like - flirty with girls but completely straight. From what Andy says the poor dear has no idea how to switch it off and spends half her life being very polite to hopeful lesbians."

Ray switched cleanly between two mental states, moving from relaxation to high alert in the space of a heartbeat. Angela blinked, astonished, as she watched it happen. "Ray, what the fuck? What's wrong hon?"

"Um, I'm not sure. I think I'd better go and check on Lizzie. If she's got her hopes up and Emma's turned her down she might need, I don't know what, but maybe something. I just need to check in with her ok."

Angela started in along the lines of, 'I'm sure it will be fine...' but she was talking to the air. She got up, her interest well and truly piqued, and walked slowly after Ray into the house.

Ray had caught up with Lizzie coming the other way in the hallway off the kitchen.

"Lizzie. Hi. Is everything ok."

Ray was being very jumpy and intense, not at all her usual self. It was brushing straight off onto Lizzie and already halfway toward convincing her there must be something wrong which she just didn't know about yet. After a moment of speculation she leapt gracefully to entirely the wrong conclusion.

"I thought it was," she said carefully. "You're acting pretty strangely though. Do you want to tell me what this is about Ray. Oh fuck, She's not here is she."

"Who? Oh you mean Amy. No. I don't think so anyway. That isn't it, I just wanted to make sure you hadn't got the wrong, impression, with Emma I mean."

Ray was very much out of her comfort zone here. Her urgency faded and she tailed off. She started to realise that besides her intense drive to look after Lizzie she'd been acting in a panic and had developed no specific idea of what she had wanted to do or say.

Amused realisation dawned on Lizzie though and she smiled very happily indeed, suddenly loving the unexpected attention from Ray. Feeling bigger, more solid, racing with electric energy.

"Oh darling, there's no problem there. Emma and I were just talking. I did think she might be chatting me up yes, but it turned out she wasn't and we sorted that out. We could end up being friends though which would be nice wouldn't it."

Ray suddenly felt terribly foolish, what had she been thinking. She rubbed the tight pelt of hair on the back of her head with one hand while the word darling kept echoing around inside her mind.

"Ok good, and that's all alright, you're fine?" she mumbled.

Lizzie leant up cupping one side of Ray's face in her palm and stood on tiptoes to kiss her on the opposite cheek. Then letting the hand drop to Ray's shoulder she stroked it softly down her arm before it fell away entirely.

"We're fine," she repeated back reassuringly. "And it's very sweet of you to be concerned, but I'm really not quite that delicate. It's part of the deal isn't it. Discovering that most of the girls we find interesting aren't interested back, one way or another."

She smiled enigmatically.

"Or maybe you don't know, you've been very lucky on that score haven't you, but I'm used to it Ray. Now I'm going to go and hit Andy up for some food and another drink OK."

She turned and walked away leaving Ray standing frozen in the corridor, body on standby. Her hand touching her face where the creeping radiation of Lizzie's kiss was spreading out from ground zero on her skin, laying waste to her nerves as it did so, while her mind raced.

From where she was leaning in the kitchen doorway, Angela had been watching this exchange, captivated. Quietly putting two and two together for herself and coming up just slightly short. She spoke now, making Ray jump.

"What on earth are you three up to. The level of attention you've all been paying to each other since you got here is completely off the scale. It's like you're trying to build a brand new world all of your own and the rest of us are just painted onto the background."

Ray looked around at Angela. "Well she is a very good flatmate, we've all been getting on really well."

Angela sighed, "Right, well that all sounds a teensy bit familiar doesn't it. Just fasten your seatbelt and try not to have a fully fledged nervous breakdown this time around hon', ok.

"Look why don't you go and catch up with Lizzie and I'm sure the two of you can have a very confusing conversation which you'll both enjoy immensely for reasons you don't quite understand. And while you do that I'll go and find Sarah and make her tell me what exactly is going on with you lot."

*****

"Angela was especially confusing today, even for Angela," said Ray quietly to Sarah as they lay in bed at the end of the evening. "All hints and cryptic language and you know how bad I am at deciphering her when she's being like that. I'd swear sometimes she just does it for her own amusement so she gets to see the look on my face."

"There's probably an element of that," said Sarah. "But she means no harm by it. What were you thinking of in particular anyway."

Ray walked through some highlights of her conversations with Angela earlier in the day. "She seemed really interested in how we were getting on with Lizzie if you see what I mean. What was she getting at do you think?"

Sarah snuggled in to Ray, claiming her nearer arm in particular as her own. She traced her fingers across the familiar planes and contours of the smooth muscles.

"Well that is definitely a question with an interesting answer darling. She spoke to me too, about the same thing. Ray, there's no easy way of saying this - Angela thinks we are falling in love."

Ray managed to remain genuinely bewildered, despite the growing evidence. "Angela knows we are in love already though, more than anyone else probably. The wedding, for example, would have been one of several clues. Not to mention that she was the first person I told when I found out."

Sarah laughed deep in her throat and reached further over her wife, hand flowing onto her torso, following the shallow curves of her, down to the soft inviting warmth of her belly.

"I don't mean with each other Ray, of course she knows that, and that's never going to change. She means we're falling in love with Lizzie. She says she's pretty sure Lizzie's in love with us as well. Really in love you know - not just like friends."

Ray snaked her hand over the top of Sarah's leg, laying her palm onto the most delicate sensitive flesh of her inner thigh. "She could have a point I suppose. It seems so right when we're all together, in a way I've only ever felt with you before. Lizzie's really very special, and I know you feel that too. What should we do about it though."

Sarah absentmindedly used the tips of her fingers to set off a firework display of nervous explosions across Ray's stomach and thighs while she assembled her thoughts.

"Well when it comes down to it we can do whatever we can all agree on can't we. As long as nobody gets hurt. But don't doubt it Ray, we'd be taking her to bed if we really wanted to keep her. Lizzie needs that, doesn't everyone, we'd have to be able to, provide for her. And let's face it that would hardly be a chore.

"So if we wanted to go that way, well there's no denying we are growing very close already. We'd all have to be very careful, to be very kind with each other, but isn't that what people who are in love do all the time."

She ran her own hand down over Ray's mons, cupping her hot damp lips and feeling her excitement wetter and slick against her middle fingers.

"Yes, I think it could work," she repeated softly. "If we all really do feel the same way."

Ray's hand reached her own goal, found Sarah hot and soaking, slid her fingers gently inside, slowly, ever so carefully, parting slick folds, and seeking those particular places she loved.

"If Angela's right and Lizzie is in love with us," she said. "It would be a real shame if we couldn't find a way to show her we love her back. And there is already a space for her in our lives isn't there so why wouldn't we let her further in." Ray emphasised her words with a steady push of her fingers twisting into Sarah's depths.

"When you think about it we'd just be sharing everything with Lizzie like we already do, except more so." And another long thrust impaled Sarah.

Sarah voiced a deep luxurious moan before she drew breath to speak, "That would be so beautiful, if we could all share ourselves with each other. I think I could like that. So do you think we might love her together, you and me. And that the two of you might share me. That you could lie here in our bed while Lizzie and I had sex with you. Or that you could happily come home to find the two of us fucking together. Because that would be the deal you know, there couldn't be any holding back. Is that really what you want."

Ray spun suddenly, covering Sarah with her body and clamping lips urgently onto her mouth. Sarah felt fingers pushing faster, more insistently now, deeply and quickly into her, and she was wide and wet, spreading her legs as far apart as she could, ready to receive them. She moaned deeply into her wife's kiss, thrilled by her willing helplessness in the face of this ever welcome onslaught.

Ray leant back, towering high and powerful above Sarah, face masked with desire. Her fingers still pumping, quickly, smoothly, relentlessly. Plunging frictionless into sweet infinite softness. Thumb perfectly positioned and pressing against Sarah's clitoris in exquisite counterpoint while she held her wife's head cradled in the palm of her other hand.

Ray looked down at the dark shadowed figure below her, almost silhouetted against the white bedsheet, writhing and panting in the dim glow of the streetlight through the window, chest heaving. The explosion of dark hair suddenly bursting into a pooled liquid rainbow in her mind.

"I do want this," she said quietly and intensely. "I want us to have her with us, if she will."

And Sarah seized and shuddered, and came into her hand.

*****

Lizzie lay in bed in the dark. She could hear the distant murmur of the two women in the next room talking quietly to each other, clearly enough to recognise each of their voices distinctly and to infer a basic meaning from the slow cadence of their speech. She couldn't make out exactly what it was they were saying, but something in the tenor of their voices told her that whatever they were talking about mattered to them very much. Even had she tried she couldn't have made out the words themselves but the sound was very familiar and reassuring, the glorious mundanity of acceptance and home. It was lulling her slowly toward sleep.