Lucinda's Last Days at Girton

Lucinda (Lulu) Bolger lay back in the bath, luxuriating in the hot soapy water caressing her body, sipping from a glass of ice-cold champagne as she reflected on her time at Girton College: a time that was all too soon coming to an end. She knew she was hogging the bathroom and that the other girls wanted to use the facility but heck, this was her time to prepare for The May Ball, or one of them anyway, and the fun she intended to have that evening.

Although Lucinda was a rural vicar's daughter, a trust fund from her maternal grandmother paid for her education. Her grandmother had been a striking but forbidding woman in her past. A woman of independent means, both before and after her marriage. A friend and confidant of Emmeline Pankhurst, and one of the original suffragettes in Manchester, taking a prominent part in the disruption and civil disobedience campaigns they organised.

Lucinda had inherited her spark, rebelliousness and joie de vivre from her grandmother; while her caring and sensitive side unsurprisingly came from her father. A kind, gentle man, who would have been shocked and scandalised by many of his daughter's antics if he knew of them.

Her grandmother had called Lucinda to her one day when Lucinda was in her early teens and had shown how academically gifted she was, saying. "Lucinda dear, times are changing; the world is changing, and not always for the better I fear. We are going to need intelligent and talented women again in the near future. I sense that not only do you have the intelligence to be part of this new movement, but also the drive and independence as well. Think about it as carrying on my work with Emmeline if you wish, but it will be in a different way.

"That being the case, I'm going to give you part of your inheritance early to pay for your on-going education. All your college fees and things like that I will pay for unreservedly. But Lucinda, there is a separate amount that I want you to use to have fun with. Don't waste this time of your youth, enjoy yourself, but I also admonish you that you must always work hard at your studies. If you don't, then I shall have to rethink this arrangement." This was all said with a little sparkle in her eyes.

"I don't know if you've thought of going up to Cambridge, but I suggest you think about it, and I feel that Girton would be the place for you to shine. I've had a word with a friend of mine you thinks you would fit in really well. I know you'll easily pass the common entrance exam.

"Lucinda, I pray that you don't ever lose the compassionate and caring side of your personality that you get from your father, but also don't forget that adventurous and rebellious side that you have, but keep hidden too much. And your joie-de-vivre."

Lucinda was struck speechless and couldn't thank her Grandmother enough, so was determined to not only get the best education she could, but also to enjoy herself. Lucinda was questioned intensely over how she was doing whenever she met her Grandmother. Not only about her studies, but about how she was enjoying life at Cambridge. Yes, Granny was truly a woman before her time Lucinda acknowledged gratefully.

Lucinda would graduate later this year, but not receive her degree. Cambridge University, wouldn't issue those to women until much later, in 1948 to be exact, but this was 1930. Although nothing could be considered an absolute certainty, Lucinda's graduation in Modern Languages and Literature was as sure as it could be; not only was she an exceptionally intelligent woman, she worked extremely hard at her studies.

Lucinda had not only thrived at college, she'd positively blossomed, turning from the pretty, but shy and reserved rural vicar's daughter she was when she 'came up,' into a confident, vivacious and outgoing young woman of her time.

Yes, it had been a great few years of her life, she'd been diligent in attending lectures and worked hard, but she had partied hard as well, and that is where she had blossomed. Lucinda went up to Girton in 1927 and knew she was fortunate to be there in time to attend the first-ever Founders Memorial Lecture in March 1928 in her first year, even though the subject wasn't in her field of study. A year that also saw Virginia Woolf, accompanied by Vita Sackville-West visit the college and speak to the ODTAA⁽¹⁾ society; a club Lucinda was a member of, and she was lucky to have a quick word with the woman, whom many of Lucinda's contemporaries described after their encounter as goddess-like.

Lucinda was simply in awe to be in the presence of such a literary luminary, falling under her spell at once and grateful to have the chance to tap her mind, if only for a few moments.

Lucinda had 'lost' her virginity, if such a thing could ever be 'lost', Lulu philosophised, during her first few weeks at college. The experience was neither good nor bad; the boy was as equally inexperienced as she was. She found it a sweaty, fumbling, unfulfilling and painful experience. But she didn't let that put her off and viewed the encounter as an opening to more pleasurable experiences still to come. Once she was non-virgo intacta there was no reason not to experiment and enjoy her social life to the full, and she did. Although not overly promiscuous, she entertained her share of lovers in the three years she was at Girton.

Lucinda eschewed the tweeds and brogues of the time, even those of her favourite couturier, Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel, favouring lighter, more floating styles of clothes, revelling in the flapper style that suited her so well. Especially dresses with a handkerchief hemline. Daringly she wore trousers, not only socially but to lectures as well. During the summer months, she enjoyed tennis and wore scandalously short skirts when she played.

"Come on Lulu, you're hogging the bathroom and will have used up all the hot water." Lucinda's best friend and confidant, Ethel Pickford-Jones shouted through the bathroom door.

"No I'm not. Anyway the doors not locked, grab a bottle of bubbly and join me. Maude's daddy delivered a case for her earlier and she said to help ourselves."

Ethel didn't baulk at this seemingly strange request, but quickly found a glass and bottle of the chilling champagne and joined Lucinda in the bathroom, where she unhesitatingly undressed and slid into the bath with her friend, who was just topping up the hot water in anticipation of Ethel joining her.

Ethel didn't sit at the opposite end of the bath facing Lucinda as might be expected, but snuggled in at the same end, lying back into her best friend, feeling Lucinda's breasts pressing into her back as she let her head fall back and smiled. Lucinda lowered her face to meet the parted and inviting lips of her friend. The kiss that followed was loving and confident; open-mouthed, filled with longing, but also with restrained passion. It was a kiss filled with the confidence of past lovers. Lovers who are no longer together, but still share a deep affection for one another.

"What you thinking about, Lulu?"

"Nothing important. Well, yes it is important to me, but not an earth shattering or world changing moral thesis. I'm reflecting on my time here and the fun I've had, and now it's all coming to an end."

"Does that fun include me?"

"How could it not, I mean..." Lucinda didn't finish the sentence; both knew what she was intimating.

"Do you remember our first time together?" Ethel asked.

"Should I?" Lucinda teased, playing the flirt to her friend, who pouted in mock displeasure.

"God you were so annoyed."

"And why not, that bloody old dyke Agatha had propositioned me again."

"Well, you were, are, the most beautiful girl on campus."

Ethel was correct, Lucinda had an ethereal beauty about her: tall and slender, with the lithe, androgynous body shape that was so fashionable at the time. Her long legs allowed her to move with a languid sensuous grace. She had a classically attractive face with an English rose complexion, framed by silken blonde hair cut in a fashionable bob. Her nose was slim and had a cute little upturn at the tip. An upturn that was mirrored in her small to medium-sized breasts; breasts which very rarely needed the support of a bra. All finished off with the pale blue eyes that drew you in and entranced you. And full lips that begged you to kiss them.

It was a couple of months into their first term. Lucinda had already lost her virginity, as had Ethel. Although lesbianism wasn't openly rife, it was fairly common and tacitly accepted amongst the staff and students. The mere situation of many young women experiencing a freedom most of them had never come across before, whilst living in close proximity together made encounters more than possible, and there were several predatory women around, both students and staff.

Ethel was alone in the common-room, toasting crumpets by the fire and listening to some jazz records on the communal HMV gramophone when Lucinda burst in, fuming.

"That bloody woman!"

"What woman, and whatever do you mean, Lulu?"

"Agatha has made yet another approach to me," Lucinda confessed to Ethel, "God, will she never take no for an answer?"

"Not where you're concerned, and I can understand why. You do know how pretty you are."

"Oh Lord, not you as well!" Lucinda cried out in exasperation, missing the joking nature of her friend's remark.

To tease her friend even more, Ethel said, "As a vicar's daughter, one who might be in line for a bishopric from what I've heard, do you think you should be blaspheming so much?"

Lucinda burst out laughing, threw herself into a chair next to Ethel, and stole the next crumpet off the fork as soon as it was toasted to a light brown colour, slathering it in butter before crunching down on the soft inner of the confectionery, Ethel doing the same to one she had toasted earlier.

They shared another couple of crumpets each before Lucinda spoke again, "Am I so wrong?"

"Uh?"

"About Agatha, and what she's suggested. Have you ever done it? Been with a woman?" Ethel snorted and paused, crumpet midway on its journey to her open mouth. A mouth that could have been open to receive the crumpet or in shock.

"No..." The hesitation before she continued telling. "No, but I've wondered."

"So have I. I know I'm being hypocritical over Agatha, but she doesn't excite me, you know sexually. I mean she's such an obvious dyke, and bloody ugly, but..."

Electricity was crackling in the air, the tension between the girls palpable as they looked at one another, knowing the unsaid words; and what they meant. If asked, neither one could honestly say who reached out to whom and instigated their first kiss. A kiss that altered both of them forever and put them on another course of enlightenment and learning, one neither had expected.

Lucinda sighed as her lips brushed Ethel's, tasting the soft sweetness of them. That first kiss was brief and exploratory but soon led to more intense and demanding ones. As their mouths met again, Ethel's lips parted, and her tongue forced its way into Lucinda's mouth, finding Lucinda's own tongue and playing with it as each wrestled for dominance.

The two women kissed for minutes, minutes that seemed like hours before breaking off, both panting for breath. A look of understanding and longing flashed between them as they gathered their breath. Lucinda stood, offered her hand to Ethel, pulling her to her feet, and the pair made their way to Lucinda's room, immediately clawing at one another's clothing before they fell together on the bed.

Naked, they looked at one another self-consciously, each examining the other's body. Ethel was a beauty in her own right, shorter and heavier, but not by much than Lucinda. Her breasts were fuller. Hips wider and legs stronger. The other main contrast to them was Ethel's bobbed hair was raven black.

Ethel reached out and caressed Lucinda's breasts, stroking and feeling them, rubbing the hardening nipples in her palms, making Lucinda moan quietly. Lucinda bent her head to Ethel's breasts, kissing them each in turn, covering every morsel of the sweet, soft flesh with loving kisses, before sucking one nipple into her mouth, flicking her tongue over it and nipping it between her pearl-white teeth.

Ethel jerked as the sensation, which starting in her breast, transmitted itself via overstimulated nerve endings to her pussy, which was already wet. No man had got her this wet this quickly.

The pair continued to kiss and touch one another, increasing in passion, then easing things back to a gentle, loving teasing. They happily accepted what was happening between them, and were willing to let it take its time to reach its conclusion.

Once again, it was the initially reluctant Lucinda who made the next and final move to them becoming full lovers as she kissed her way down Ethel's body, pausing at her belly button to plant a playful kiss on it, then moving ever lower.

As her face came level with Ethel's private area, her legs were already parted, allowing Lucinda easy access to her wanting pussy. Lucinda paused for a second, her face a fraction of an inch from her friend's sex, taking in the sight, and drinking in the slightly musky aroma. Parting the folds of Ethel's labia, her tongue reached out tentatively and licked the soft, moist flesh between them, delighting in the delicate, sweet flavour that assailed her taste buds.

The tentativeness didn't last long, as the next lick was more confident and demanding. Soon Lucinda was licking and slurping on Ethel like a parched man finding a bottle of water in the desert. Her tongue powered away, delving into every nook and cranny it could find, while her lips pressed on Ethel's lower ones as they were forced open.

As she pressed a couple of fingers into Ethel, Lucinda's mouth found her clitoris, sucking the prominent nub between her lips. Ethel screamed out, and her body began to shake as she came, flooding Lucinda's mouth with her creamy juices.

Lucinda continued to lick and suck on Ethel until her shaking subsided, and she returned to some semblance of normality. Lucinda crawled her way back up Ethel until they were face to face, and once again, they kissed. Ethel tasted her own sex and juices on her friend's lips and tongue. They contentedly lay together, Lucinda resting her head in the crook of Ethel's shoulders until she was rolled on her back.

Looking up at Ethel, Lucinda noticed a spark and fire in her friend's eyes as she kissed her lips before the kisses trailed their way down her body, Ethel's teeth nipping at her flesh as her head went lower and lower. Lucinda shivered in anticipation at what she knew was to happen. Her legs were involuntarily parted in blatant invitation.

Only one man had gone down on Lucinda in the past, but she knew what it felt like to have a tongue playing with her clitoris, and soon that experience was not only repeated, but completely surpassed. Ethel didn't hesitate or tease, her mouth went straight to Lucinda's clitoris and rolled around it. Lucinda gasped out loud at the touch, and her legs slammed shut, holding Ethel in place for a few moments of delightful pleasure before parting again.

Ethel shifted position slightly to allow her better access to Lucinda and pressed three demanding and intrusive fingers deep into her pussy, quickly working in and out, as her mouth continued to stimulate Lucinda's by now very sensitive clit.

Lucinda felt herself growing hotter as her legs wrapped over Ethel's shoulders, her heels banging on her back.

"Cum for me," Ethel whispered lovingly, her words contrasting the power of her fingers and tongue as she drove Lucinda to her climax.

The words were so exciting and unexpected that they tipped Lucinda over the precipice, and she climaxed, her body shaking and spasming, her nerve ends stimulated beyond endurance twitching as they fired. A long, low, keening moan erupted from Lucinda's partly open mouth as she orgasmed.

Once again, the pair lay together, bodies entwined in a loving embrace as they contemplated what they had done.

"That was..."

"Unbelievable." Lucinda interrupted.

"I was going to say different. But I suppose unbelievable will do just as well."

"I never thought it would be like that. You know." For once, the usually very erudite Lucinda was lost for words to express how she felt.

"Umm. God, I feel so like a man when I say this, but was it good for you?"

"Better than good. You?"

"Oh yes. Would you like to do it again?"

"Do you mean now, or at some other time," Lucinda replied with a glint in her eye.

"Both!"

The two friends spent the rest of the night together, making love and experimenting, discovering things about themselves and their bodies that they never imagined existed.

Next morning at breakfast, everyone seemed to know that they had become lovers, nobody made a fuss about it, except that Agatha stormed out of the dining room and blanked the pair for the next few weeks. A cause of gossip and speculation amongst the other women.

Lucinda and Ethel remained lovers for the following two terms before moving on. But they remained best friends and occasionally slept together when they felt inclined.

The two of them were the principle members of a group of girls who became known as The Girton Girls. Never a formal arrangement, simply a flexible group of girls who were guaranteed to make any party a success. Not only were they pretty and easy on the eye, they were also intelligent and good conversationalists.

The bathwater had gone cold now, so both women got out and dried themselves, completely unselfconsciously about being naked together in the small confines of the steam-filled bathroom.

Lucinda was wrapped in a silken robe when Ethel walked into her room. "Aren't you ready yet?" She exasperatedly exclaimed as she saw Lucinda wasn't dressed.

"I'm just wondering what perfume to wear. You know I love Shalimar because of its lemon fragrances, but I also adore Arpege for its Jasmine almost as much. Then again I do so like to tie things together and the gown I'm wearing is by Chanel. I thought about pairing it with No. 5."

"Ohhh, Shalimar, so exotic and mysterious. Arpege for its Jasmine scent, Lulu, you are such a snob over perfume, you know. You sound as though you're writing a review for a fashion magazine."

"I am not, they have all been created for the modern woman, and I'm nothing if not that. A very modern woman."

"Why is it called No. 5?" Ethel asked her friend, who was more into fashion and things like that than she was, as she perched on the dressing table and watched Lucinda prepare for the night, her eyes wandering wistfully over Lucinda's by now naked body.

"The rumour has it that when Coco wanted to launch a perfume, back in '21 I think it was, the perfumier gave her 10 examples to choose from. She chose bottle No. 5, and the name stuck. A classic tale for a classic fragrance, just like me."

Having made up her mind, Lucinda sprayed her body generously with the scent, allowing the perfume to cover every inch of her naked body, but the aroma wasn't overpowering.

Reaching into the small wardrobe against the back wall of her bedroom, Lucinda brought out a shimmering silver gown and shimmied her way into it. Ethel gasped at the sight. The dress followed the slight curves of Lucinda's body, enhancing them but not clinging. It kissed and caressed her hips but hugged slightly tighter on her rear. The front was slashed to her navel, but the cut and fit were so exquisite that there was never a chance Lucinda would have a wardrobe malfunction and expose her breasts. Still, the effect was stunning, sexy and provocative, and from the right angle, there was just the hint of the underside of her breasts. The dress was backless until just above the swell of her hips, and there was no way that she could have worn a bra.