Katherine's Friend

"Oh, yeah," Lyonesse replied her. "I know a bunch of them myself. You have a very nice body, you know that, right?"

"Thank you, Lyonesse. That's very nice of you to say," Kat answered, and turning to face her, she posed a question, struggling to keep the shakiness out of her voice. "Lyonesse? Honestly, do you want to fuck me? I mean really. All jokes aside. Do I arouse you?"

Kat noticed that Lyonesse squirmed a bit at the question as she drove by La Fontaine, an incredibly fancy restaurant she'd always dreamed of visiting. Kat followed her eyes, and made a mental note, while Lyonesse looked her directly in the eye. She flushed crimson, but nodded slowly, realizing for the first time that she never considered that Kat might not be a lesbian. In her fantasies, the celebrity had a legendary love of women, but this was real life. She felt anxiety creep across her bones. She liked Kat more than anyone she had ever known, and now there was a chance her sexual preference would become a wedge between them.

"I do want to fuck you," she admitted quietly. "For a long time now, too. You're incredibly sexy. Especially those long legs of yours.I've imagined...well, you can imagine what I've imagined...this isn't going to be a problem with us, is it?"

"I...I don't know," Kat answered honestly. "I like you Lyonesse. I really do. Meeting you has been the best experience of my entire life. But I've never been, you know, with a woman before. I mean, sure, I joke about it a lot, but it's never actually happened before. And I don't know if I want it to or not, you know? Whether I'd like it or it would be weird, or..I don't know. Is this making any sense, Lyonesse?"

"Yes it is, Kat, and I understand. I want you to know that I will never try to make you do anything you're uncomfortable with. Never. But please don't let this come between us," Lyonesse quietly pleaded as she pulled up to the hotel.

"I have no intention of letting it," Kat assured her, and she meant it more than anything she had ever said in all her years on the planet. Looking grateful, Lyonesse parked the SUV, and the pair of them headed inside.

For obvious reasons, neither of them stopped to talk to anyone, But Kat did wave slyly to the receptionist from the night before. She didn't recognize Kat in her zookeeper getup, but she was a friendly sort and waved jovially back at the celebrity, wearing a wide smile.With heavy hearts and minds, each headed for the elevators, where they fortunately found themselves nearly alone. While they pushed the button and waited for their car, Lyonesse chose to introspect.

The Aussie could never have admitted it to anyone, but Kat's visit the other day, at the auction house, had affected her greatly. It sometimes felt as if people barely noticed, let alone cared about her, except when something was needed, or someone believed she was in the way. Kat, however, felt different. It seemed like she always cared. It seemed that her spirit, if such a thing existed, and Kat's were bound together against the world's sea of troubles.

She had taken time to find her, not because she had to, not because she wanted something, but because she'd wanted to be supportive. Lyonesse had learned about relationships very many years ago, but she'd never had one like this in all that time. She had had high hopes that their dynamic would never be changed, but go on through the night, and possibly for always. Now, she realized, was a prime opportunity for her to find out if such a thing was possible. She knew it was likely that Kat was still on board, but her heart refused to let itself be consoled.

For her part, Kat was also steeped in thought at the elevator bay, so much so that by the time she got to Lyonesse's hotel room, her mind was its own deep bank of fog. With Lyonesse's permission, she slipped into the shower first. Once there, she stripped naked quickly and efficiently. Her heart pounded in her chest as she considered what she'd been told. Lyonesse was out there waiting for her, but, Kat knew, she wanted to be in the bathroom with her. Lyonesse wanted to caress her supple curves, draw kisses from her lips by the roots, and slip a finger into her most precious and secret cavern.

How do I feel about that? Kat wondered for the hundredth time, as she ran the rapidly warming water over her legs. The idea feels...weird. I'm not a lesbian. I know that for sure. But...I've never met anyone like her. I mean we talk for hours. About everything! And nothing at all! She's gorgeous, too. I always feel like a star is blooming within me when she's near. But can I...posing in a studio is one thing. Feeling her fingers, sensing her heat, tasting her tongue...

On and on, Kat thought as she washed herself, trying to analyze her shyness around Lyonesse, going through each of her emotions, combing over her lusts, endlessly arguing with herself over what she felt inside at any given moment and why. By the time she dried off, and rubbed the stinging soap out of her eyes, the celebrity had arrived at a firm decision. Instead of dressing in the bathroom as she had planned to do, Kat sauntered out shakily in her bra and boy shorts.

The hotel room, which was relatively large, felt densely packed with a myriad of things. A chest of drawers took up most of one wall, while a decent sized flat screen dominated another. Lyonesse was sitting on a large, newly untidy bed, which stood next to a cluttered nightstand. She still wore the zookeeper outfit she had put on that afternoon, but she'd taken off her top and tossed it beside her.

"So, my dear Spider-Gwen, where are you taking me for dinner?" Kat asked facetiously, in a transparent effort to lighten the mood.

"Huh?" Lyonesse replied distractedly, staring up from her phone. "Oh, um, well, I was so stuffed from lunch, I thought we might just stay in tonight," she said, blushing slightly, while looking down and away from her. Kat considered the woman she loved for a second, and a sudden flash of light filled her head with the intensity of a solar flare.

Every time money's been spent today, she's been on that phone. Poor girl. She's been shifting money out of her accounts. She's driven herself broke trying to make me happy, Kat thought, feeling so touched by what Lyonesse had done for her it was hard to keep from crying. Our breakfast alone was like forty-five bucks. Lunch was another twenty. The zoo was nearly a hundred. And the climb...five hundred forty dollars for the both of us...she's gone through seven hundred dollars! She needed that for something...my God..

Brimming with emotion, Kat closed the distance between them, cradled her head gently, and kissed Lyonesse deeply, drawing her tongue into her mouth. The celebrity stroked the Aussie's blond hair, tenderly smoothing her silken tresses. Currents of electricity surged through her body, and it was clear to Kat she made the right decision in the shower. As she reluctantly broke the kiss, Lyonesse looked positively stunned. More boundless excitement coursed through her than the day she won the contest.

"I..." she stammered softly. "But...I...I...thought..."

"I know. But I've been thinking about it all this time, and I know how I feel now. Lyonesse, I love you. Look, I've said that a lot in my life, but I've never meant it more than I do now. I never want to leave you. That's all I know for sure."

"I love you, too," Lyonesse almost whispered, trembling softly and shutting her eyes against the tears.

And she pulled Kat back into a deep and tender kiss, the kind she had always fantasized about giving Kat. As her lips caressed her lover's warm tongue, Lyonesse tried not to ruin things by focusing on Kat's underwear. She wanted to let Kat go at her own pace, as slowly or quickly as she pleased, because nothing in the world was more important to her in that moment than the bond between them. She broke the kiss eventually and Kat shoved herself into a robe.

"I wanted to talk to you about all this," she said happily, "But somehow, we're both on the same page. God, I'm happy about that."

Lyonesse simply nodded. "Me, too."

For the next half hour, they talked about dozens of things, each other most of all. By the end of their dialogue, Lyonesse felt like she'd been dating Kat since her formative years. The Aussie knew her intimately, her every tic, her hopes, and her whims-Lyonesse knew them as well as she knew the folds of her slit or the fingers of her hand. Kat had told Lyonesse about her family, and how she came from a long line of stubborn people, and how her great, great, grandmother had once mooned an entire playhouse during a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Lyonesse listened with great interest, only interrupting Kat to have her explain how things like that happened. Lyonesse had just decided to confide more of her own adventures when Kat leapt to her feet, and dashed toward the closet door.

"Hopefully, you aren't still full because you've held up your end of the deal and gone all out for your girl. And that was very sweet of you, Lyonesse. No one's ever done anything like that for me before, but now it's my turn if you feel like running off to get dressed.

"I do," Lyonesse asserted, hugging her lover tightly and charging off to the bathroom. The second she did, Kat pulled out her smartphone and made a call.

She finished a long and animated conversation just as Lyonesse returned, looking and smelling like a million dollars. She held a sultry red dress over her black, lace bra. Kat took the picture in appreciatively.

"What do you think?" Lyonesse asked, striking a pose. Kat started at the question for a moment. Then she smiled.

"I think it'll look incredible on you. Hurry up and get dressed. I've got a few surprises for you."

"Ooh," Lyonesse exclaimed excitedly. She pulled on the stunning dress and a sexy pair of red heels.

Kat knew at that moment that everything was going to go well from that moment on. Thinking that was, of course, dangerous, as the celebrity well knew, but she couldn't help it. She could feel the whims of the universe in her guts. She dashed for the elevator banks, going mercifully unseen, with Lyonesse close at her heels. The celebrity knew just where her Aussie friend would like to go best. When they reached the lobby and entered the SUV, Kat turned her wheels towards La Fontaine.

The drive there didn't take very long, but when the building came within eyesight, Lyonesse was amazed.

"How did you know I was just thinking of this place, Kat?"

"Because, like that one Sherlock Holmes story, I followed your eyes. Holmes could reason out Watson's entire train of thought that way. In the same way, I worked out yours. I guess what I'm saying is Hollywood needs to cast me in a Sherlock Holmes movie," she chortled, pulling up and preparing to hand her keys to a valet.

"Holmes, you amaze me," Lyonesse replied with a snicker, watching the valet struggle with his confusion. He seldom parked this kind of SUV, and on top of that, he'd never seen anyone as uniquely famous as Kat step out of that kind of SUV.

As the gentleman came round and accepted Kat's keys, Lyonesse took a moment to consider. La Fontaine was a sprawling, elegant building, distinct among the many nightclubs and restaurants of Sydney. It was quite possibly one of the most exclusive five star restaurants in that part of Australia. People came from all over the country and the world to sample the cuisine on offer, especially wealthy immigrants from America longing for a taste of home. It was the type of place one heard about all the time but usually only saw the inside of once in a lifetime. Even with Kat going on before, like a soldier in a Christian hymn, she was tempted to pull out her phone again.

She was, however, by no means surprised that Kat had chosen an American restaurant for their encounter, and she was thankful she could consider herself something of a fan of the fare that was most likely to be on offer. The valet came around and let her out, allowing her to see the magnificent structure properly. The building was made of gold-flecked, black marble and took up a huge part of the block. There was an exquisite outdoor café area that was cordoned off by artful, intricately fashioned, wrought iron gates. Each bar had thin, delicate, vines twisted around it, and these were decorated with all manner of flowers. The red carpet extending from the massive entrance felt richer than anything she'd ever seen. In short, Lyonesse's attention was quite properly arrested.

Lyonesse guessed that the restaurant she beheld was at least three stories high, and she could see a lavish balcony area above her. To the right of the building was a star shaped field filled with tiny holes and surrounded by small, colored spotlights. Every few moments, water would jet out of the said holes in different patterns, and the lights would make the streams change color. The doors were made of heavy oak, and the top half of each one bore a circular painting of a pastoral, Southern, neighborhood. It was all very breathtaking, and Lyonesse had to admit to being impressed. Apparently, Kat was going all out for her girl, too.

The valet passed the both of them, and with more of an effort than Lyonesse would have thought necessary, pulled open La Fontaine's door. She stepped inside and beheld the vestibule with awe. It was larger than she expected, and lit with a massive chandelier. On the wall to her right, in engraved, golden, letters, were quotes from several of the United States' most famous philosophers and statesmen. On the wall to her left was a skillful rendering of Mount Rushmore and the Founding Fathers that commanded Kat's attention for a moment.

Beyond the vestibule was the restaurant itself, a massive area that was nonetheless lit to feel intimate and private. Thirty four circular tables bore starched, white cloths, fine china, and horns of plenty. Along the far wall an intricately decorated staircase carried one to the upper floors. Lyonesse was taking everything in, when a sudden, magnificent, sharp cough, rocked the restaurant.

"Welcome to La Fontaine, ladies," a sleek, austere, middle aged, man standing at a podium opened stoically. "Do either of you have a reservation?"

"Yup," Kat replied. "Right under 'Let her have it. It's not wise to upset a McNamara'. See it there?" she asked breezily. "Right beneath 'an epic shitstorm on Twitter is not what anybody wants today'?"

"Indeed I do, Miss McNamara," came the gentleman's stiff, somewhat spiteful, reply. "Right this way please."

"Thank you," Kat replied confidently. "And when the packages comes, could you send that to our table please?"

"Yes, miss," he replied at once, not bothering to work out what Kat meant by that.

He led them past a collection of wealthy diners to an amazing table on the second floor. When they were seated, he made a bow and vanished.

"When did we become a fucking delivery service?" the gentleman asked no one in particular, mumbling so as not to be heard by anyone other than himself.

A small, clear, "ahem" suddenly rang in Lyonesse's ears. She turned at the sound and beheld a thin, Indian boy, about eighteen years old, with an eager face, wavy hair, and a pencil thin moustache.

"Good evening, ladies," he said politely, making each of them a tiny bow. "My name is Ravi. I am going to be your server this evening. Might I start you off with something to drink?"

"Cocktails," Kat replied at once, taking the lead as Lyonesse had earlier. "Raspberry Orange Sunrises."

"Yes, miss," Ravi replied, writing it down. "And what about appetizers?"

"Bacon-wrapped, roasted, scallops," answered Kat.

"That actually sounds incredible," interjected Lyonesse excitedly.

"It's an excellent choice," Ravi agreed.

The boy seemed genuine in his praise and she found herself looking forward to the food's arrival. Her eyes followed Ravi as he glided away. He wore black slacks and a vest. Eventually, he vanished down a long hallway at the very rear of the restaurant.

"Look who's here!" Kat cried, calling her attention back.

Lyonesse turned just in time to see the gentleman from the podium walking toward them. He was carrying two large packages. One was a black garment bag a man might store his suit in while he travelled, and the other was a large, square, box wrapped like a present.

"What are those, Kat?" Lyonesse asked, full of wonder. The beautiful Aussie adopted the demeanor of a child at Christmas.

"Open them and find out," Kat replied, giggling excitedly. Lyonesse peeled the blue wrapping paper with golden stars away from the square package. What she saw inside made her squeal, unable to trust her eyes.

"My goddess, Kat! How did you get this? This is amazing!" she cried, looking at the Animal Crossing label on the box. It was the Gamecube she had seen at the auction house the other day and coveted with all her heart.

"If you think I didn't bid on it the second I knew you wanted it, you don't know me very well," Kat replied with a sly smile.

"I love it!" Lyonesse cried happily. "Thank you so much!"

At Kat's insistence, she opened the travel bag to reveal a killer, black, strapless, dress and incredibly sexy heels. Lyonesse wanted to don it right away, and the gentleman could think of just one way to make that happen.

"There's a staff room down that hall, across from the kitchen, miss. You can change in there without much of a problem."

"Thank you," Lyonesse said, dashing down the hall. Kat was highly tempted to follow her, but she remained behind instead.

The further in she walked, the hotter it got and the more Lyonesse heard the banging of pots and pans. She arrived at a pair of padded, swinging doors.

"Just through there, miss," the gentleman called, and Lyonesse charged through them cautiously.

She thanked him as well as she could over the noise of the pans. As the gentleman went back toward the front, she plunged through a second set of doors, and there, on her left, was a door marked Staff Only. Battling back a cloud of smoke, she dashed inside, and slipped off the dress she was wearing, folding it up neatly. Standing there in her undergarments, she wished Kat had come along. The urge to kiss and caress her lover was uncommonly strong. Struggling to ignore it, she slipped into the black dress, smiling as it hugged her breasts like a glove. She donned the heels and charged outside, When Kat beheld her, she let out an audible gasp.

"You look incredible, Lyonesse. It looks like it was made for you."

"Thank you, Kat," Lyonesse said, taking her seat. "Have a scallop," she said with a naughty smile, picking one up and feeding it to her.

It was incredibly hard to fight her desires, but she kept them at bay for Kat's sake and for the sake of their relationship. Kat, for her part, took the offering with playful eagerness, smiling sexily as she fed Lyonesse in turn. The exchanges continued, each woman expressing her affection in subtle ways, with brushes of a hand or longer stares than usual, but it was Lyonesse who took things to the next level when she discovered her new Gamecube came with a portable screen.

When Ravi arrived with the entrees Kat ordered while Lyonesse was changing in the staff room, it was to find the celebrity sipping her fourth cocktail and happily flirting with Lyonesse, who was holding a controller in her hands. She was designing her own fabric pattern, which featured the letters K, M, and N. Every few moments or so, Kat called out a suggestion. The boy didn't like intruding upon the scene, but he did have a job to do.

"Confit duck leg, fregola, and arugula and fig salad," Ravi announced, setting everything down.

It all looked amazingly fancy and smelled like ambrosia. The little beads of pasta were coated in a sauce that sang with half a dozen fresh herbs and spices. The duck was crispy at the edges, but tender in the center, full of juiciness and flavor. The greens were lightly dressed in a citrus vinaigrette that gave life to the rich, earthy, flavor of the salad. Lyonesse laid down her controller and picked up her fork. As soon as the first fig touched her lips, she knew Kat had made an excellent decision.