Freja and Jeanie Ch. 04

They both stood up and slipped off one another's dresses. Neither had been wearing a bra, and they'd both left their panties on the stage at the dinner club. Freja sat Jeanie down and then gently slid off her wife's remaining shoe and then her stockings. She kissed her way up Jeanie's leg from her foot to her thigh, showing her wife that she loved her, and that none of what had happened mattered to her. There was only Jeanette.

She leaned in while she knelt and pressed her lips to Jeanie's, kissing her lovingly while their breasts squashed together. Their tongues tangled for a few seconds before Jeanie switched places with Freja, slowly undressing her until they were both naked. She kissed her way up Freja's toned, athletic leg and then her torso, kissing her wife's small but sensitive breasts for some moments before arriving at her lips. The girls wrapped their arms around each other, kissing and letting the world fall away around them.

Jeanie pushed Freja onto the bed before standing and wiggling over to turn out the light. In the dark, she got under the sheets and they embraced each other, making out tenderly for several minutes. As promised, Jeanie soon forgot the woes of the day and lost herself in the thought of pleasuring her wife, and how radiant Freja would look in the morning when they got up and began their new lives.

There was a pause in the make-out session, an unusual silence in the dark.

"Fre?" Jeanie queried in a quiet voice. "Uh... is your hand on my butt right now?"

Another pause. "No, it is not."

"There is definitely a dead hooker in this mattress..." the brunette muttered, wondering if they'd ever be truly alone again.

***

The following afternoon...

The hotel room door almost slammed open and Freja stomped in, her face red with rage. Just behind her, Jeanie slipped into the room, bursting into tears the moment she'd closed the door. Freja paced in circles for several seconds before grabbing a pillow from the bed, falling to her knees and screaming into it as loudly as she could. Jeanie had just flung herself onto the bed, sobbing against the mattress. Freja screamed until her voice was hoarse, and then pulled her face up, tears already on her cheeks. Her eyes were red and bleary. She could barely breathe, almost choking as she fought for some semblence of control.

"How could they, Fre?!" Jeanie managed to say between sobs. "Why?! Why were they so damn cruel?! We didn't deserve to be mocked!"

Freja couldn't help herself and slumped onto the bed, breaking down crying. She gripped her hands together tight as she wept, her heart pounding in her chest. Everything had gone wrong. Everything! How had they fucked it all up so badly? They tried so damn hard.

How had it all gone so very wrong? Three separate times!

The two girls just cried, utterly devastated. Freja wept until her chest hurt and her throat was raw. She'd been clenching her hands together so hard that they were almost locked in that position. It hurt to uncurl her fingers.

"I am so sorry, yndling," Freja murmured, still staring at the far wall. "I understand if you hate me for messing all this up."

"I... no, Fre," Jeanie sniffled, sitting up and noticing that she had tears on her cheeks. Her eyes stung, and she was certain she looked hideous. "It wasn't you who fucked up, it was me. And I... I hope you can forgive me, I ruined us."

She turned and looked at her wife now, her eyes a bleary red and glistening. "I've cost us everything. We have... oh my God, Fre, we have nothing."

The Danish woman swallowed and looked at her wife, squeezing her hand. "I have had nothing before, Jeanette. I survived it to find you. And yes, this failure hurt me very badly, but... not as much as thinking that you blame me for... for..."

"I don't," Jeanie interrupted, shaking her head. "Maybe we're both to blame, maybe neither of us is, and it was just a big suck sandwich. Fre, I don't want to sound weak, here, but..."

She looked into her beloved's eyes, pleading with her own. "I need you more than ever right now. I'm so overwhelmed, and I'm so scared."

Jeanie looked at the floor, trying to not flail about with her hands. "What do we tell my parents? We can't pay for anything anymore. We're flat broke! Oh my God, Fre... what... what do we tell the profs? And Alex and Lexi? I'm used to my parents bein' disappointed in me, but... if the profs are, I'm gonna die."

"I know, my love," Freja rasped, her voice little more than a whisper as she struggled with her emotions. She felt like she'd failed her wife, worse than she'd ever let anyone down before. And it hurt so very bad. "To have to tell them, it will be so painful. To hear them say how stupid we were, how disappointed they are. I will die too."

"I'm not even sure we can make it to the airport to get outta here," Jeanie whimpered, knowing she could be weak and frightened in front of her wife. If not Freja, then who? "What do we do?"

Freja sighed, dreading what she was saying next. She shook her head. "We accept the fact that we have messed up beyond what we can repair, my love. We are going to lose our condo. We will have to sell the car, and perhaps many other things. And I hate it, but... we both know that the DeBournes, they will let us stay with them for as long as it takes until we have our feet again. And they will be so very gracious about it."

Jeanie swallowed, her eyes tearing up again. "I guess... I guess there's no point in delaying the inevitable, right? I'll call everyone and let 'em know we're comin' home with our tails between our legs. I... I don't even know who to call first, my parents or the DeBournes."

"Then get the tough one out of the way, my love," Freja said, trying to small. "Call the professors. Your family, they will seem easy after that, excepting maybe your grandparents. Alexandra, she will let me have it, but that is what I deserve. Go ahead and call, they should be up by now. It is around eight for them."

Jeanie was sniffling, tears streaking her red cheeks as she pulled out her phone and began dialing a number. She hadn't quite gotten herself under control by the time she put the phone to her ear, and she heard it ringing. Freja just sat beside her, content to let Jeanie do the explaining, since she doubted her own English was up to the task. If they'd been talking to Alexa, she might have been the one to call, and explain in Danish, but she knew better. Alexa would let her have it both barrels. And she wouldn't have been wrong to.

"Hi, Lady Prof," Jeanie said finally, trying not to cry and doing a poor job of it. Her voice trembled while she talked. "We're... not good, actually. We have something of a situation on our hands. Well, really more of a shit-uation..."

She listened for a moment and then took a deep breath. Now came the awful part.

"So like, remember the kinetic makeup? Yeah. Fre'n me came down- sorry, Fre and I... came down to L.A. to sell and license the stuff, make a bundle, right? Easy-peasy, product sells itself. N-no, we fucked it all up. Everyone in L.A. hates us, and we're so completely flat broke that we're not even sure we can make it out to the airport and come home. They hate us so much that even the dead hooker in our mattress won't touch us. We're... we're really scared. What do we do? We've lost everything and even getting' home is gonna be a challenge."

Jeanie had finished her initial explanation, but now she was starting to panic, Freja could tell. She was starting to hyperventilate, her eyes squeezed shut as she waited for Karen to explode, tear her head off and scrape out what few contents she could find to eat. Freja closed her eyes and held Jeanie's free hand. It was all she could do for now.

"You'll... you're gonna call back in a few minutes?" Jeanie queried to something said on the other end of the line. "Well, okay. Not like Fre'n me have anywhere to be right now. We'll wait for your call. Yeah. 'kay, bye."

Jeanie ended the call and stared at her phone, saying nothing. Freja looked at her curiously and finally wiggled her hand on top of her wife's. "So?"

"Well, you heard," Jeanie replied. "She said she'd call back in a bit. And she didn't sound furious. She actually ended the call with that 'Ta!' thing she says when she sounds all sophisto and everything. I... Fre, she didn't kill me, and... I'm kinda worried. I expected her to come through the phone, rip my head off, and fuck the neckhole with a strap-on, but... no, she just said she'll call back, as if she wasn't bothered by it."

"I do not know what to tell you, my love, but it makes me paranoid also," Freja agreed. If Karen hadn't come through the phone and killed them on the spot for being the two stupidest and most incompetent girls to ever live, then what did she have in mind for them? The thought almost made her wet herself in fear, and she clenched her Kegel muscles a little harder. "I am guessing we wait. What else is there to be done?"

They both just stared silently at the floor or the wall for nearly half an hour. At one point, Freja got up to go to the bathroom, but that was about it. Jeanie gave herself the easy task of trying not to think, just letting her mind go blank.

"My persuasion

Can build a nation

Endless power

With our love we can devour

You'll do anything for me!"

They both looked down at the cellphone as it announced Karen calling back, her personalized ringtone leaving no doubt as to who it was. Jeanie was slow to pick up, swallowing and trying to steady her trembling hand as she reached down to the phone...

"Hello?" she said with hesitation, trying not to wince in anticipation of the hellstorm she expected. "Yeah, we're... we're here in our hotel room. No, our ticket isn't set to leave for another like, five days'r so. But we're gonna starve before then."

She listened again to something. "How much money do we have? Like, in our account?"

Jeanie looked at her wife, who hurriedly pulled out her own cellphone and logged into their bank account. She displayed the screen to Jeanie, her own expression nothing short of grim.

"Ummm... we have exactly one hundred and eight dollars and eight cents to our name," Jeanie said, feeling a cold sweat on her forehead. "That's literally all the money on earth the two of us have, to last from now until we die. Uh-huh..."

Jeanie listened for some moments before her eyes went wide.

"What?" she asked in disbelief. "I... uh, okay... yeah, we'll... we'll do that. Uh, okay... yeah, I... see ya..."

The brunette ended the call and then stared dumbly at the wall for several seconds. Freja, determined to be in the loop, clasped her wife's arm. "So?"

Jeanie turned to look at Freja, her eyes rather blank. "Tomorrow morning, we've gotta go to Napa."

"How?" Freja queried. "What is a Napa?"

"It's a place here in California, I think. We rent a car and go to Napa," Jeanie said.

"But this will eat up all the rest of our money," Freja almost protested.

"I know, Fre, but... Lady Prof instructed us to go to Napa. No arguments."

"Why?" Freja asked in confusion.

"Because that's where they're meeting us tomorrow afternoon..." Jeanie said, her mind still whirling.

***

Early the next morning...

Both girls were looking and feeling very morose when they finally got up. They'd spent the night crying together and holding one another, not attempting to console each other so much as share their grief. Their sure-fire success had ended up being a disaster, and now they had nothing. They were virtually penniless, and far away from home in a foreign country that was less than hospitable to them.

There was no customary morning kiss, no whispered words of love, no spontaneous make-out or heated sex session. They both sat on the side of the lumpy bed, staring blankly from red-rimmed eyes. Crying aside, they barely slept at all, either. Jeanie's hand rested on Freja's, but that was the limit of the contact they shared at the moment. They were not at all mad at one another, they both just felt very... withdrawn and insular at that very moment. Emotional and physical expressions were almost beyond them.

By silent consent, they stood up and went into the shower together, cleaning themselves off. The ablutions had been quiet and efficient, with none of their habitual playful caressing and lovemaking. They dried themselves and started getting ready, knowing they had somewhere to be and fighting the feeling of lead in their limbs. They were informed by the front desk that they would not be receiving a refund for the days they weren't using if they checked out early, they'd just have to eat the cost. Even Freja didn't have the energy or will to contest the absurdity of the claim, and they left the hotel behind, heads hung in defeat.

An few hours later...

They were heading north now, in a rented car. All their possessions that they'd brought with them were in the trunk, and they were rationing out the granola bars they'd bought. At this point, their bank account was running on fumes, and if they needed more gas for the car's tank, they hoped blowjobs were an acceptable form of barter in California gas stations.

They hadn't brought their Garmin with them, so Jeanie was watching the instructions on her phone as it directed them about how to get to Napa from the tangle of settlements that made up the greater Los Angeles area. It seemed like they were doing okay for now, having found Interstate 5 heading north. Jeanie just hoped that her phone wasn't lying to her, because there was no room for error.

"How long does it say the driving will take?" Freja asked, her hands on the wheel. She agreed to drive them out of the city, since she wanted to snooze briefly before they reached this placed called 'Napa'. Even with the aid of Jeanie's phone, getting out of the city had been rather nightmarish, and the hoped against hope that their gas would hold out.

"Uhhhh..." the brunette replied, fiddling with her phone. "Assuming nothing goes wrong? Five and half more hours."

"It already took us almost three hours to get out of the city," Freja said grimly. "We will be needing more of the petrol, ja?"

Jeanie nodded. "Gas, too. I think we've got like ten bucks in coins, we can use that. Hopefully it's enough. Want me to take over driving?"

"If it means that I can get an hour or two of sleeping in, then yes, please, my love."

They pulled over onto the shoulder of the freeway and switched positions. Jeanie began driving while her wife settled into the passenger seat and passed out almost immediately.

Poor Fre, Jeanie thought as she eased them back into the stream of traffic heading north. We came down here thinkin' this couldn't fail, and I fucked everything up. She must really love me if she can forgive me for being this stupid. A five-year-old could've sold this stuff!

Her phone beeped, shaking her out of her self-castigation reverie and reminding her to peel off onto a ramp. She sighed and kept her eyes on the road, wondering what on earth they were going to Napa for. She tried to recall if she'd ever heard anything about the place, but nothing came to mind. If she'd ever been told about it, it hadn't penetrated or stuck, so she hadn't considered the information relevant. Given how small her hard drive was, she didn't really have a lot of room for info that didn't matter. If it wasn't about fucking, food, or making her friends happy, she was unlikely to remember it.

Karen had told her that they were coming to meet Freja and Jeanie, and all the pair had to do was make it to Napa. Jeanie guessed it was cool that they were coming down, but why didn't they just come to L.A.? She'd told them that they had absolutely no money left. Was Karen making them drive somewhere just to let them sweat it out before she tore them apart for being such absolute idiots?

No, while Lady Prof might kill them, she doubted that she'd fly to another country just to do it. Jeanie had fully expected her and Freja to slink back to Toronto, and then have to visit the Manor, their heads hung in shame, while they were allowed an audience in one of the studies, where they would explain their situation, explain how stupid they'd been, and then beg for help, for a place to stay, so that her wife wasn't forced to sleep on the street now that Jeanie had fucked everything up so badly.

It made her face warm, knowing that after this farce, they'd be living in an even more luxurious environment than what they were already used to. They'd be treated with the utmost respect and diligence, but they'd have earned none of it. They deserved... no, Jeanie deserved... the exact opposite. She deserved to be sent to Collingwood, where her parents would criticize her and shit all over her for being a screw-up who thought with her cunt before anything else. And then she'd be sent to her grandparents, who would finally treat her with the cold disdain she deserved.

She bit her lip and felt a tear on her cheek as she thought of how painful this all was. Why hadn't they stopped to think this through? What could they have done different?

No, wait... different-ly. Lady Prof insisted she get that right.

Fucking up was so easy. Why did succeeding have to be so difficult?

Because you're an idiot, LeTourneau, a fucking moron. You're impulsive and it's finally cost you everything. You've run outta excuses and horseshoes. You're officially living on everyone else's charity. The DeBournes... your wife's...

How would she make this up to everybody?

Apparently heading to this Napa place was how it began...

***

Three hours later...

It was early evening, and they had switched positions once again. Freja had gotten some sleep, feeling not exactly refreshed, given how stressed and defeated they both were, but she was in better shape than Jeanie.

"Sleep, yndling," she said soothingly, noting how red-rimmed her wife's eyes were, and that she kept blinking as she watched the road. Jeanette had gotten even less sleep than she had the night before. "I will awaken you thirty minutes before we get to this Napa airport."

"The rate we've been driving, that'll be tomorrow night," Jeanie grumbled, trying to settle in and get comfortable. Even the 401 traffic back home wasn't this bad on the reg. "Okay, I'll try to get some sleep. Y'sure you're okay with the phone's instructions, Fre?"

The Danish girl smiled. "My comprehension of English is fine, Jeanette, it is only my speak what does the strange things occasionally."

"Sorry," Jeanie mumbled, turning onto her side as much as she could without the seat belt digging into her ribs. "Lemme know."

Freja nodded and watched the road intently. She may have still been stressed and tired, but Jeanette needed her. It was the least she could do after destroying their dreams by not being prepared and not thinking things through. She knew Jeanette did not trust her own judgement or her judgement, and that she relied on Freja to be sensible in their decisions, to guide them down the right path.

This sin, this transgression, this lapse in Freja's sensibility... it had cost them everything. She had been so thoughtless, rushing forward recklessly, convinced that the product would sell itself, with virtually no effort on their part. Roadblocks she couldn't have imagined were thrown up in front of them, and the sheer, blood-boiling mockery she'd endured... that her wife had endured, at the hands of these corporate executives...

Had she deserved it? Had she been so naïve that she deserved it? Jeanette didn't, no. She was so kind-hearted and innocent, she just wanted them to be financially independent of her overbearing parents. Jeanette couldn't possibly have deserved that. Didn't she love Freja, despite how broken and fucked-up she could be? Always defiantly choosing the simplistic or wrong way to do things, calling the universe out, daring it to disappoint her. Which it did, because she deserved what always happened.