Goalposts Pt. 02

The breeze blew unchecked, rattling the few dry leaves still clinging way up high, where the twigs tickled the sky.

Looking up again into the dark mesh of tree and pale sky, she chanted the words out loud.

"I seriously don't believe this!"

She laughed, wiped an errant tear from her eye, drew a deep breath and floated towards the changing rooms.

* * * * *

"Welcome to my little home," Leah breezed, standing aside to let Vicki past.

"Well, this is cozy. Is it yours?" Vicki asked as her host pushed the front door to behind them.

"It's actually owned by the FA, for players, so I pay a small rent. I've had it for the last 18 months. It's okay isn't it? Nothing fancy but everything works."

Leah took Vicki's bottle of wine and they turned towards the kitchen.

"Here, I opened this earlier." Leah filled their glasses and handed one to Vicki. "To the game and the people who play it."

"I'll drink to that. Cheers, Leah." Vicki raised her glass.

"You said Thai was okay, so I'm doing Basil Chicken. It's the only recipe that I can reliably cook without fucking up."

"Can I help at all?" asked Vicki.

"Yes. You can talk to me while I cook. Pull up a stool. I've got everything prepared so it won't take long. Hungry?" Leah asked, fiddling with the gas hob and setting a wok to heat.

"Ravenous!" Vicki smiled, perching on the stool and taking a sip of wine.

"Excellent. So we can have pud too! Though I must come clean and confess I bought it."

Leah was on the point of serving when the doorbell chimed.

"Oh what?" she cried. "It's not bloody Halloween is it? No one ever calls here."

"Do you want back up?" Vicki asked, barely able to keep a smile from her face.

"Nah, it's good. I'm sorry Vicks, I'll just be a moment."

Vicki turned in her seat watching Leah stomp across the room and felt the rush of cold air as the front door opened. There was a man's voice outside.

"Hi love. You Miss Wilkinson, yeah? Okay, I got a delivery for ya, if you wouldn't mind signing here, kay?"

"Oh. Right. Well thanks. Who are these from?" Vicki heard Leah ask.

"S'all in the card yeah? So best wishes from Blooms and have a smashin' evening."

Leah appeared carrying a bouquet of roses and carnations, red and white for Arsenal.

"Oo those are nice," Vicki commented, playing innocent.

Leah set the flowers down on the worktop and plucked the little card from the cellophane with a frown.

"I'm sorry, Vicki. I've no idea who these are from. Gorgeous though ain't they?" Leah opened the card. Her eyes flickered momentarily to Vicki, seeing her guilty smirk.

Leah swung away, her hand at her mouth.

"Leah? You okay, honey?" Vicki asked, rising from her seat.

Leah face was flushed as she turned back, her lips trembling with emotion. She threw her arms round Vicki, hugging her tight.

"Oh bloody hell, Vicki," her sob turning into a laugh.

Leah's expression swung between sobs and laughs as Vicki rocked her.

"Wow. That's so kind. Oh my god. I don't know what to say. Thank you!"

"Your face says everything I need to hear. Happy first date, Leah," Vicki crowed. "Find me a vase and I'll sort them out while you finish cooking."

"Is this the kind of prank I'm going to have to get used to with you? No one buys me flowers. Honestly Vicki, I'm welling up here," Leah cried happily, watching Vicki fill the vase and arrange the flowers.

When Vicki had done primping the blooms, Leah finger wagged her over. Vicki stepped forward and into Leah's arms. No words were necessary. Leah cradled Vicki face to kiss her once, then again, as her hands searched for bare skin, warm under her fleece.

The room was silent save for the click of the cooker and whir of its fan as they embraced.

They leaned back to examine one another's happy face, hips pressed close, arms straight, their eyes sparkled and danced.

"Food?" Vicki broke the spell.

"Food!" Leah replied.

"Food now, eat later?" Vicki asked, feigning innocence.

"Vicki Hadley! If your Mum could hear you now," Leah teased.

They ate at the table that Leah had already set out. She insisted they should have candles "Not just for romance, but for a bit of class!"

After their meal they moved to the more comfortable lounge with hot drinks and relaxed on bean bags lying on the soft white carpet.

"Is this a normal routine for you? Supper and sprawl?" Vicki asked.

"Pretty much, because I have hot girls over most nights! Nah, normally I'd be at my laptop swatting on my accountancy course, though to be honest I've put it on hold for now. How long was your degree?"

"Three years. I studied at Oxford Brookes and commuted from home."

"Was physio something you'd always wanted to do? Sorry, let me rephrase. Was it an interest besides football?"

"It's probably similar to your accountancy. I mean if you love the game that's one thing, but you never know how far it'll take you or how good you'll be up against other players."

"You should still be playing. From what I've heard, nothing about that was fair," Leah grumbled.

"It's brought me here, hasn't it?" Vicki reached a lazy hand into Leah's lap.

Leah lifted the hand and put it to her face.

"Thank you for my flowers," Leah toned, kissing the palm of Vicki's hand.

"Come and lie here." Vicki patted her shoulder and Leah crawled across, curling herself into Vicki arms. They lay comfortably for a few minutes.

"Shall we just go to bed?" Leah yawned.

"You're tired, huh?" Vicki answered, kissing her answer into Leah's hair and finding herself stifling a yawn too.

"I missed out on a nap today. Life is cruel," Leah mumbled into Vicki's shoulder.

Vicki's giggle shook them both, but soon Leah was quite still.

"Leah? I can't very well find my own way to your bed. Wake up! You have to show me."

"You're not the sort to be fussy about a mess are you? I mean, everything's clean and I know where it all is, but by mother standards it's a case of 'tidy your room'." Leah frowned as she spoke, raising herself slowly to her feet.

Vicki smiled and accepted the offered hand.

"Up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire," Vicki chanted as she plodded up the stairs after Leah, patting her bottom.

"My gran says that," Leah said, turning to smile.

"I'm not your gran, Leah!" Vicki answered.

Leah had stopped and let Vicki step up to her level. She bent to kiss Vicki's upturned lips. A long lazy kiss. A comfortable kiss. One that said 'You're gorgeous and I'm so glad you're here.'

Vicki closed her eyes, feeling the warm breath on her cheek and the long hair that tickled her face. 'Me too,' her kiss replied.

Leah's bedroom was not the disaster she'd claimed. The two women circled gently in a sleepy dance, removing make up, pepper-minting the sink, brushing each other with affectionate hands, unwilling to be separated for even a moment.

Vicki noticed a framed photo of Georgie and Leah, smiling happily at a table somewhere stylish.

Vicki turned to see concern on Leah's face and reached out a hand.

"You look so happy together. It's sad when we move on isn't it?"

"I'm sorry. I ought to take it down." Leah tried to sound nonchalant.

"Don't you bloody dare!" Vicki gently admonished her. "Those were good times, weren't they? She's almost family. We shouldn't deny our past or where we've come from."

"You're a kind person, Vicki. I wish I could be so generous. I don't know how you do it given all the shit you've been through. I'd be so angry all the time."

Vicki sighed as replies crowded her mind. Instead she dismissed them, pressing a kiss into Leah's hair. "You get weary of anger."

"You all set for bed, sweetie?" Leah asked, pulling her t-shirt off.

"I just need the loo. Warm the bed for me. I'll try and guess which is your favourite side."

When she came back into the room, Leah was watching from the bed.

"Do you tuck all the time? Doesn't it hurt?" Leah asked, seeing Vicki in just her knickers.

"No, I'm used to it. I'm just not comfortable with it waggling around. I wear tight trunks when I'm working," Vicki replied peering down at herself.

"Have you ever wanted surgery?" Leah asked as Vicki slipped into her welcoming embrace.

"I would do, but I'd have to stop working for a year at least. I can't afford the time off."

"Is it... I don't want to say the wrong thing. I mean, when you make love to someone, do you...?"

"We should talk about that shouldn't we?" Vicki replied. "I can take Viagra if we decide we want penetrative sex, or leave it be. I can come either way. Think of it like an oversized clit. It only ever gets half hard but not for long without help."

"Show me," Leah whispered, her lips brushing Vicki's face, pinching her skin in their soft grip. She ran a finger over Vicki's lip, pressing gently to find the wetness inside her mouth and a circling tongue to greet it.

Vicki wriggled out of her underwear but held back, uncertain.

Leah came to her rescue, pulling her close and rolled Vicki onto her back, their thighs entwined.

Leah didn't hesitate but ground her pubis against Vicki, feeling the soft mound of her penis lying upright on her tummy. Leah reached between their bodies, furling her fingers around Vicki's sex.

"Oh, you don't have balls," Leah purred.

"Nopes. Some girls have them, but not me. You're quite safe," Vicki replied.

Leah's smile grew into a grin of pure wickedness.

"In that case..."

She offered no further words, but placed her lips to suck at the pulse of Vicki's neck as her hand rolled the soft flesh in her grip, pulling back the skin, making her lover shudder.

Her lips trailed lower, the wet tongue leaving a trail to Vicki's nipple, where her lips closed to pinch the coral pink, the rose of her breast in a tight bud.

A soft moan escaped Vicki's mouth from behind the fist she held there, hiding her grimace of pleasure. She sighed in limp objection to the wicked lips assaulting her nipple, to the soft grip on her waking sex, her rising hunger further betrayed by the involuntary rock of her hips.

Leah breathed hot onto Vicki's belly, her nose dragging across the taut flesh, her tongue dipping into the ticklish shell of tummy button.

She was nearly there. Leah's wet mouth hovered over the penis, cradled soft in her fingers.

"Consent needed, Vicki! Sucking okay with you?" Leah voice was muffled under the bed clothes.

"Fuck yes!" Vicki gasped.

"Woohoo!" Leah hooted in reply.

Vicki laughed at Leah's candour. She now felt so much at ease with her. Where once she was confused by her shyness, she was now overwhelmed by her compassion. Where once she thought her cold, she was inflamed by her desire.

Her laugh turned into a gasp. The liquid heat of Leah's mouth enveloped the head of her sex, the tongue explored her sensitive glans, as a finger pressed the tight ring of her bottom.

Vicki gripped a handful of Leah's blonde hair, twirling it into a silken rope. She wanted to shout out loud, to scream to the world, but only half words escaped her lips in a staccato of growing tension. She was holding her breath, her stomach tightening as the thread of ecstasy rose from the busy tongue into her head.

"Oh god, I'm coming Leah, I'm coming!"

Leah clung to the writhing body, her curled fingers wet around the stiffening shaft. Too large now for her mouth alone, she swirled the wet rasp of her tongue under the swelling head as it filled her hungry mouth.

When Vicki's hips jerked from the mattress, Leah's tongue was bathed in salty sweet, then again and again. The soft stabs of Vicki's orgasm spilled into her mouth.

Leah swept aside the bedclothes, eyes sparkling with mischief, to witness the squirming limbs and ravaged surprise in Vicki's face.

"Mmm. Mmm." Leah pointed to her closed mouth and hamster cheeks. She leaned forward and pressed her guilty lips to Vicki's and with open mouths they shared the sensual seeds of bliss, swapping the salt and saliva on their tongues.

Leah rolled to one side, scooping a drift of hair from her face and laughing.

Vicki was still wreathed in the mist of her orgasm, too startled to know how to react.

"You didn't expect that, did you?" Leah continued to giggle, enjoying the expression in Vicki's face.

"No. Can't say I did," Vicki chuckled, wiping a finger to her lips to inspect the residue she found. "Did you plan that? It was kinda weird, but actually fucking hot."

"I just thought I'd get you back. I mean, you filled my mouth with your lurv juice baby, so I thought we ought to share."

"I'm sorry. Did it gross you out?" Vicki asked concerned.

"Of course not. It was... actually fucking hot."

"I can't let you get away with that. I demand an equaliser. Extra time if necessary. C'mere you," Vicki forcibly pulled Leah into her arms and they kissed.

Leah smacked her lips as the kiss broke.

"Sticky licky Vicki," Leah sniggered at her own pun.

"Queer Leah's ... all wet down here," Vicki knocked the joke back, reaching a hand to Leah's sex.

"God, I love you, Vicki Hadley. Where have you been all my life?" Leah ran her hands through Vicki's hair and pulled her closer to kiss her forehead.

"I was here, biding my time until the right girl came along. Now she's here, she's deliciously wet and needs my attention," Vicki bopped Leah's nose.

"How to you propose to do that?" Leah smirked as she asked.

"I thought I'd start on your Kings," Vicki purred in cockney slang, kissing Leah's ear.

Vicki placed a finger to Leah's lips, feeling them open and the wet welcome of her tongue. She placed a garland of kisses to the shell of her ear, to where a gold sleeper lay pillowed in the soft lobe. She sucked the soft button of flesh into her lips, her breath hot on Leah's skin.

There was no sound but for their shallow breaths and the wet clicking of Vicki's lips as she explored. Down the flute of Leah's neck, where the elegant curve of muscles met in a graceful bow, crowning her chest.

Her warm hands massaged the gentle mound of Leah's breasts. Her hands spread like the wings of a rising bird, caressing the silky skin, pinching the taut crinkle of her pale nipples in the crook of her thumbs. Her tongue brushed them gloss, slippery on the pads of her fingers, tempting her teeth as she heard the sharp intake of Leah's breath.

Vicki cupped Leah's sex, feeling the soft fur already slick. She turned her head, lying in the hollow of Leah's tummy, to watch her fingers dip and slide down the furrow of plump flesh.

She felt the firm grip of Leah's hands in her hair, pushing her down, demanding her mouth and kisses. Leah flexed her thighs, opening them to Vicki's head as she leaned into her task. Her nose became a plough, cleaving Leah's labia, her open mouth and its slithering tongue testing and teasing her secrets.

Vicki wanted the taste of Leah's wetness to fill her mouth, for the sharp bristle of her pubis to pepper her chin and to hear her lover's cries.

She curled two fingers forward to roll and tip the velvet of Leah's core and saw them emerge slick. Her lazy fingers dipped again, tormenting with ever slower whirls in the oily grip. Her tongue teased the shy pearl in its softer crown, in pink circles, ring a roses, waiting for her to 'all fall down'.

Leah's legs began to shake, her muscles contracted round Vicki's fingers, her stomach arched and with white knuckles, her hands clenched Vicki's hair.

Leah begged her not to stop. Moans and curses flew from her mouth, her eyes squeezed shut as Vicki's fingers curled again, her thumbnail raking her shrinking jewel as the wave crashed and Leah's head was filled with noise and flame.

Vicki continued to press firmly, watching Leah ride out her storm with gasping breaths. She looked into her lover's eyes, dark with lust. She saw them grow larger still as she slowly withdrew her wicked fingers, sucking them one at a time.

Her prize, licked slowly.

Leah drew Vicki's greedy hand away so she could pull her into a kiss. Slick chins and tongues sharing their bliss. Side by side in a tangle of limbs and bedclothes, their hot faces flushed in joy.

Leah closed her eyes and made a little hum in her throat, the single note turning to a gurgle of happiness as Vicki watched, content.

Leah blew out her cheeks, "Phew, I'm hot."

Vicki simply nodded a smile in reply, 'You are'.

* * * * *

Leah held a bath towel to Vicki as she stepped from the shower, swaddling her pinkness and hugging her tight.

Vicki kissed her lightly and they turned to dry off and dress.

"What do you have for breakfast, Vicki?" Leah asked, wriggling into leggings. "I can offer whole grain cereal with yoghurt or there's some fruit."

"I'll hoover up whatever you've got. Yoghurt sounds good though. Is there coffee too?" Vicki asked, pulling on last night's clothes.

She caught sight of her reflection in the mirror. "Oh Christ. Talk about the walk of shame! Maybe I could jog home in these?"

"I'll run you home. In the car," Leah reassured her.

They made their way to the kitchen and as Leah set out some plates, her brow was furrowed in thought.

"Penny for them," Vicki asked, noting how preoccupied her friend had become.

Leah stopped and looked at Vicki directly. Vicki was beginning to recognise this unsettling expression as Leah's thinking face.

"Okay. You know this whole business of the FA and how they treated you?" Leah asked, absent-mindedly waving a bowl in emphasis.

"Uhuh..." Vicki looked down. She hoped they'd avoid further discussion.

"Was there nothing else you could do? Sorry, I'm trying to figure it out," Leah asked.

Vicki gave a sigh and paused to gather her thoughts.

"To be honest, Leah, it came at the end of a series of hits. There was a bunch of haters in the terraces that used to chant songs and shout abuse. There were even a few people in the management who asked questions, but Max was behind me. He wanted me to play - you know, the Chairman back then?

"When the FA made their ruling about transgender players it was the final straw. It didn't take me long to decide. I just woke one morning and said 'Fuck it. Fuck football. They don't deserve me if this is the thanks I get.'

"I'm just one person, Leah. There comes a point where you've got to think about yourself and I'd had enough. The girls were supportive, Lotte especially - she's such a brick, but there was no way they could change things either."

Vicki fell silent, her head full of unhappy memories.

Leah recognised the change in Vicki's mood and wrapped her arms around her.

"I think you're one of the bravest people I've met, Vicki. No, no hear me out. I wish you could hear the conversations in the changing room. The girls have been quizzing Lotte, asking her what happened and why you got pushed out of the game. Most of them had never heard about the ruling until you showed up.

"Would you give a talk to the squad? It would be much better for them to hear it straight from you rather than second hand chit chat.

"You've heard Sarina's press conferences about how the game should reach further than the touchline and the TV set. We're all talking about diversity and inclusion but we're ducking a real issue right in front of us."

Leah hugged Vicki tighter, pressing a kiss to her hair.

Vicki leaned her face against Leah's arm, a tear itching its way down her cheek. She shook her head.

"I don't know if I could do that, Leah. I understand what you're saying, but I'd feel a fraud standing up to preach at everyone like that. I'm just a physio, not a politician," Vicki spoke with a quiver in her voice.

"You're one of us, Vicki. We're a team, so we look out for each other. Would you at least think about it? Would you mind if I asked Sarina and see what she thinks? If she doesn't feel it would be right, we can drop it." Leah kissed her again and turned to pour their coffee as Vicki hung her head, lost in gloomy thoughts.