Johanna and Maxine Pt. 05

She hit the bed with a groan and Linda pulled the skirt off and then undid the suspender straps and the belt, it landed on her other clothes and the older woman stared at her as if trying to work out her next move or was she just giving her the chance to slow her breathing down?

Linda undid her bowtie and the first few buttons of her blouse, she then removed her belt and tossed it onto the floor and unbuttoned her cuffs and rolled them partway up her arms as Maxine watched her. She thought that Linda was going to unbutton the rest of her blouse but instead she leaned over and kissed her on the lips and tickled her pubic hairs through the panties, which elicited a long and drawn out moan from Maxine.

She was well beyond turning back now, she just didn't know what it was going to be like and at first Linda just focused on her breasts, massaging them and sucking her nipples but she finally shifted to her belly and tongued her navel. Maxine rose and fell several times, it felt as if something was about to break free and she wasn't sure what it was but the pressure was certainly building.

When Linda peeled her panties over over buttocks to reveal the black patch of hair she propped on her elbows and looked down at herself, half expecting to see something dribbling out because she felt wet down there. Linda removed her panties and spreading her legs wider, sank to her elbows and flicked her tongue over her lips.

Maxine let out a loud moan and shivered. The older woman did it again and tickled her perineum, which caused her to shiver again. Linda did it again and again, until Maxine finally settled down, her legs parted more and she rose and fell with each pass, pushing herself into that tongue. She felt the fingertip tickling her opening sometime later and then something pushing in. She yelped and Linda withdrew but it was only a short interlude before she tried again and this time Maxine got up on her elbows and stared at herself. The finger went in a little more and she clenched the duvet but it slid out and Linda tickled her perineum again.

She slipped her finger in again and dragged her tongue over her clitoral hood, the skin slid up and her tongue pressed against her clitoris. It was the most delicious sensation she'd ever experienced and she fell back and grabbed her breasts as she exhaled noisily. Linda did it again and again, and Maxine whimpered and cried out, she couldn't work out if it was painful or just too sensitive and so Linda kept going, testing her sensitivity with broad strokes alternating with flickering across her engorged lips.

Her finger slid in a little more and Maxine began to pant, she thought she was coming apart at the seams but then the pressure eased as Linda withdrew. Her panting became heavier and heavier with every passing minute until finally she let out a load yell as a spasm hit her followed by another one. Her breathing intensified along with her moans and whimpers until finally she let herself go as the orgasm broke in several waves. It was so intense she momentarily blacked out and came to a few moments later. It was a sensation she'd never felt before and Linda grinned as she pulled her finger out and leaned over her.

"Well that was a pleasurable experience for someone."

"Fuck yeah," she giggled and wiped her eyes, "I thought I was coming apart at the seams."

"I've heard that before and experienced it," she replied.

Maxine didn't reply as she let her breathing slow down. It been such an intense experience that she was still trying to find words to describe it.

Eventually she sat up and kissed her on the lips. Linda parted her mouth and just went with the kiss and Maxine shifted to a kneeling position. She pulled back slightly and the older woman pulled the blouse out of her jeans. Maxine unbuckled her belt and her jeans. Linda rose and pulled them down over her hips, she felt a little anxious as she helped the older woman disrobe but Linda didn't seem to mind that she took her time and eventually she laid down on her back.

"Bottom drawer, grab some lube as well."

Maxine slid off the bed and opened the bottom drawer, there were several dildos in it.

"Which one do you prefer?"

"You choose," Linda looked over at her.

She chose a flesh-coloured one only because it actually looked like a cock, and a tube of lubricant and got back on the bed again.

"I've never done this before," she blushed.

"Relax, it's cool, I can do the rest."

Despite that however, Maxine couldn't help but kiss her breasts because that seemed a good place to start while Linda covered the vibrator in lubricant. It took awhile though before she ventured to her pussy and by then the older woman was sliding the vibrator in and out of herself. She watched in awe as it went all the way in and when Linda pulled her clitoral hood back Maxine went down on her and was rewarded with a load groan. The rest seemed to happen remarkably quickly in her mind but perhaps that was just her imagination and as they laid next to each other Linda locked her hands behind her head and let out a sigh.

"That was a pleasant way to spend an hour or so."

"Shit, has it been that long?"

"More or less," she glanced over at a clock radio, "yeah, fifty eight minutes."

"So, what happens now?"

"That depends on you, sex doesn't mean you're committed for life. It just means you've had sex," she stared at the ceiling.

"It could be a second date though, take it easy that's my motto," she glanced at her, "do you want a shower?"

"Maybe," she rolled over onto her stomach, "I have to see Johanna tonight."

"I like Johanna," she stroked her back, "I'm surprised you didn't go out for dinner with her."

"I still might," she mused, "is that wrong?"

"Fuck no, weren't you listening? We've had sex, now we part company and think about it, I'm not the green eyed troll. If you come back for a second date then we can talk more."

It seemed an odd thing to say after what had just happened but it made sense she reasoned an hour or so later as she stepped out of the shower. There was no rush to judgement but Linda had put her best foot forward.

So where did that leave her?

She still didn't have an answer when she left half an hour later.

***

Maxine wasn't the only one struggling for an answer. Johanna was standing in the shower about the same time wrestling with the situation she now found herself in. Shona had 'dropped in' just before work and they'd had sex again, it was a quickie and afterwards she'd changed into her work clothes and left. Johanna had decided to have a shower and as she let the water cascade over her she tried to make sense of it all.

Åsa's advice last night had been remarkably unbiased.

"There's nothing wrong with rekindling the flame but you've both changed. She stopped drinking and you've moved on too, just be sure that you like the changes but be aware that you could just be trying to relive old glories. I could go back to my ex husband in a heartbeat, he even mentioned it the other month but we can't live in the past, it would take a lot for me to go back to him."

Had she really changed that much? Johanna frowned as she turned the taps off and stepped out of the shower. In one way it had. Shona was sober and a little more honest but on the other hand she was still dropping in for a quickie and then there was that thing she'd said as she walked to the door some fifteen minutes ago.

"We should talk about something more permanent, now that I'm sober."

It was something that irked at her. Shona had said the same thing over eighteen months ago, there were always vague comments about something more permanent. Granted, she'd been reticent but that was because she was hiding her drinking. Was this the real Shona or a new version?

It was a question without an easy answer and once she'd gotten dressed she rang Susan and told her about the last twelve hours. Susan's advice however was more partisan.

"Well, it's great she's sober but do you want to go back to sleeping with her? There's nothing wrong with a quick fuck, more power to you but she's still changing."

"I know, it's something that bothers me, she's stopped stealing shit and she's not drinking but as to whether I want to restart this? I'm not sure."

"There's another thing you might want to consider as well," Susan replied.

"What's that?"

"You're her old environment. My brother was sober for a few years and then he went back to his old environment, which for him was the racecourse. At first he was okay because he was drinking Coke or lemon squash while punting on the horses but then one day he won a lot of money and he decided to celebrate with a shandy. He didn't get the urge to drink until the next day and then he just dropped into the bottle shop on the way to work and bought half a dozen cans of beer."

"Oh shit," Johanna frowned.

"He remembers the first four cans but not the rest. He left the building site before lunch and went to the bottle shop to get some cans to replace the ones he'd drunk and had a blackout soon after. He woke up in a police cell eighteen hours later, he'd run down a woman crossing the road and drove off, the cops just tracked him down from his rego. The woman survived but he got eighteen months in the nick and a three year suspension. He's been sober for five years now but he never goes near a racecourse or the TAB."

"So, you're saying that I could be her old environment?"

"Yeah, and it's not like you'd buy her booze but in her mind she's relapsing. My brother relapsed in his mind long before he picked up a drink because he was in a place where he'd always drank. She could be thinking along the same lines."

It was food for thought she reasoned as she pulled into Maxine's driveway a few hours later. It was a case of once bitten twice shy, but should she confront her about that or leave it?

It all circled back to intimacy, a word Susan had mentioned earlier but her definition was a unique one. It wasn't something you did between the sheets, it could develop in a platonic relationship without ending in sex, allowing the other to see you as you really were. She'd always been against exposing herself like that, it felt threatening, unless it was with a therapist. Not that she'd been big on therapy but being intimate with a partner felt a step too far. However, she'd been intimate with Penny and Robyn the other night and she barely knew them and she trusted Susan and Jodie and there was never a chance things might develop there. Intimacy with Maxine however was a totally different thing because that might evolve over time and she wasn't sure about commitment to her or any other woman just yet.

The front door opened before she got to it and Maxine greeted her with a smile.

"Hey, I was just about to send you a text, come in."

She looked different from yesterday and it wasn't her attire. There was something else, a glow? Was it her eyes? She couldn't pin it down but something had happened but she didn't feel like asking the question and so she followed her into the house.

"How was your day?"

"It was interesting," Johanna replied, "my ex girlfriend came around today."

"Your ex?" Maxine frowned, "you told me her name once but I've forgotten it."

"Shona," she replied, "she's making amends."

"Oh, so you and her?"

"Ah, now that's a touchy subject at the moment, things have happened but I'm still trying to work it out for myself."

"No worries, I'm in the same boat with Linda."

"Is that right?" Johanna turned as Maxine shut the door, "how is Linda?"

"She's," she looked past her, "she's an interesting woman."

"In what way?" Johanna asked.

Maxine hesitated before answering.

"Let's just say she's got a certain depth to her character. I went around after church to talk about Mark. She's a member of Alcoholics Anonymous."

"Is that a fact? Wow, Shona has been going to meetings herself, I knew she had a drinking problem but wasn't about to accuse her of being an alcoholic," she followed her to the couch.

"Maybe they know each other?"

"Maybe I'll ask Shona the next time I see her," Johanna replied.

"I doubt she'd tell you, it's an anonymous program, the clue's in the name," she sat down.

For a few moments neither woman spoke and then the conversation moved onto other matters, their upcoming trip to Albury. Maxine spoke Swedish but reverted to English when she ran out of words. That set the tone for the night as she made dinner. Rowena and Dave had gone out for the night and towards the end of the night Maxine became distracted by her phone and when Johanna asked if she was all right, she looked past her for a moment or two.

"Can I ask you something personal?"

"Of course."

"Are you with anyone at the moment?"

"No," she frowned, "I'm single, why?"

"Would you like to go out for dinner on Friday night?"

"Dinner?"

"Yeah, it's a meal eaten at night," she smiled nervously, "it's just dinner."

"I um... yes... okay."

"Look, if you're not sure then it's cool. If you think it's crossing a boundary I understand."

Johanna looked down at the floor before asking her question.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just that now that I'm out I think maybe I should start seeing women instead of men if you know what I mean."

"I do, but don't you have your eyes on anyone else?"

"Maybe but you're one of the only single gay women I know."

Johanna looked down at the floor as she reconstructed the conversation. Maxine had been a little on edge or was she still getting over her ex boyfriend? She chanced a look at her as she tried to come up with a reasonable answer but eventually she shrugged.

"Okay, we'll go out for dinner on Friday, where would you like to go?"

"The pancake parlour?"

"Okay, sure."

Maxine seemed to brighten up after that and the conversation continued in Swedish but as she was farewelling her at the door an hour later she stepped across the threshold and threw her arms around her and held her tightly.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For being my friend."

It seemed an odd thing to say but as she got ready for bed a little while later Johanna was sure that she'd missed something vitally important but what was it?

To be continued...