Partners

Written for the 2002 Sapphic Erotica Festival

"God, that feels good," Paulette Nichols thought to herself as she stepped under the shower and washed off the thin film of sweat that had covered her body during her just completed workout.

The five-foot four brunette couldn't remember the last time she'd been so sore and tired after using the ambulance company's small gym. The reason for her fatigue though, was as near as the next stall. The long-haired blond a few feet away was half a foot taller and eleven years younger than Paulette, to say nothing of being twenty pounds lighter. It was trying to keep up with the new trainee that had exhausted the paramedic so.

Greer Slater had worked at Pierce and McIntyre, more commonly known as P & M, for almost a year now and was only a month away from finishing her probation period. In that time, she had become pretty good friends with Paulette. Despite the difference in their ages and lifestyles, they each looked forward to the days when the duty rotation called for them to be teamed up.

Paulette was the mother of two sons. One now twelve, and the other four. They were the only good things to come out of a failed marriage. Unfortunately, her ex-husband had wound up with custody of both after the divorce. She'd had the misfortune of winding up with a judge who took a dim view of a wife who replaced her husband in her bed while they were still married.

In retrospect, she realized that it had been a mistake, especially since that relationship had gone to hell soon after the divorce as well. The only positive thing about the whole situation was that her sons were happy and living well, and regardless of what she had done, her ex never stopped her from seeing the boys whenever she wanted.

With no one really special in her life at the moment, and her sons spending the month with their grandparents down in Florida, Paulette had promised herself that this was the summer she would finally lose those few extra pounds and get back into shape.

It had been a losing battle that she had been fighting since before her first pregnancy. She'd made the mistake of mentioning her desire to Greer, who had taken it as her personal mission to see that her friend reached that goal. Where they once spent free time after a shift shopping together, they now spent at least part of it in the company gym.

They were workouts that the trainee hardly needed, but she pursued with a vengeance nevertheless. Greer was the kind of woman that men drooled over, tall and slim, with a bust that drew immediate attention whenever she walked into the room. She always seemed to have a string of boyfriends, but that didn't prevent most of the men in the office from making fools of themselves over her.

"I'll meet you outside," Greer said as she shut off the water and reached for her towel on the small hook outside of the stall.

"Okay," Paulette said as she glanced over her shoulder. "I'll be along in a few minutes."

"No problem," Greer smiled as, without even bothering to wrap the towel around her, she walked naked out of the shower and into the locker room.

It was a good ten minutes before Paulette, who definitely took the time to cover herself, followed into the small locker room that had been set aside for female employees . Greer had already dressed and was probably waiting back in the gym area. Quickly putting on a fresh blouse and slacks, the short haired brunette went off to catch up with her friend.

Sure enough, Greer was standing off on the sidelines of the converted garage, watching another of the paramedics go through her gymnastics routine. Kelly Jones was about Paulette's age, but in much better shape. In fact, she was in just as good shape as Greer.

The eyes of those men also in the gym were also on Kelly. It was hard to miss her in the tight spandex pants and tank top she wore. Like Greer, she liked to wear as little as possible when she was working out, much to the delight of the mostly male audience.

Of the six ambulance services that operated across the county under contract to the State Hospital Corp, P & M was the smallest with about thirty employees. It made both for a close knit group, and an interesting mix as well. Partly as the result of a female owner, women made up a third of the work force.

"She's really good, isn't she?" Paulette commented as she stepped up next to Greer and watched Kelly finish up the last of her routine.

She remembered the dark skinned girl once mentioning that she had been on the gymnastics team in school and had even won a few awards in competition. An injury had ruined her chances to take it further, not that you could tell from the way she moved.

"She sure is," Greer said, not taking her eyes off Kelly for a moment. "And have you ever seen such a perfect ass?" the younger woman added unexpectedly.

The question took Paulette by surprise, but she still found herself automatically taking a look at the body part in question. She had to admit, it was a perfect ass. Not that she had really spent any time checking out the backsides of any of her co-workers for comparison. At least not the female ones.

Some women did check out other women, if only to see how they compared. With a body like Greer had, Paulette assumed that the younger woman fell into that category. However, her next words totally blew away that assumption.

"Do you think she's straight?" Greer asked in a voice only loud enough for Paulette to hear.

"What?" she replied, sure she had heard the question wrong.

"Do you think I might have a chance with her," Greer expanded, leaving no doubt as to her meaning. "Or is she only into guys?"

The older woman had no idea what to say. Up until that moment, she would've assumed that Greer was only into men as well. In fact, it was her casual attitude about sex with men that shocked Paulette the first time they'd had a discussion about it.

While the brunette was as sexually active as any single woman her age, she found the fact that Greer viewed oral sex as just another part of making out and had no problem doing it on a first date somewhat disturbing. Had dating really changed in the short time since she'd been Greer's age?

"I think she has a boyfriend," Paulette finally said when she realized that Greer's question hadn't been rhetorical.

"That doesn't mean anything," Greer replied in turn. "Some women like a little variety in their lives."

The statement, Paulette realized, said as much about Greer as anyone else.

"I don't think that applies to anyone who works here," Paulette said, thinking a moment after she said it that ten minutes ago she thought it applied to Greer as well.

"Oh I wouldn't be too sure of that," Greer said with a knowing smile.

Before Paulette could ask what she meant, the blond looked down at her watch and said that she was running late for an appointment. To Paulette's disappointment, Greer wished her a happy weekend and told her she'd catch up with her on Monday.

Looking at her own watch after Greer had left, Paulette decided that she had better get going as well. She had a date with Phil Larson, a man in the neighborhood she had been seeing. He was supposed to pick her up at eight and they were going out to a movie.

-=-=-=-=-

The movie had been the latest comedy and Paulette enjoyed it immensely. With all the pain and suffering she encountered on her job, one thing she appreciated was the chance to laugh.

After the film they went to a small Italian restaurant for a late night dinner. The food, and the company were equally entertaining. Over the course of the meal, it occurred to her that they were reaching a point where she soon had to give some serious thought as to where, if anywhere, this relationship was going.

Phil was a really nice guy, two years older than her and divorced as well. She enjoyed his company when they went out, and after their last date she had enjoyed his company when they'd stayed in as well. While not a terribly imaginative lover, he had made her feel good. At least better then she felt when left to her own devices.

After dinner, they found themselves back at the door to her apartment and when Phil kissed her goodnight, Paulette felt his hand on her left breast. As the kiss deepened and he pressed against her, she could also feel the hardness of his erection as well.

Since they had slept together the previous week, Phil had a reasonable expectation that she would invite him in for a repeat performance. Yet the sexual aspect of their relationship was still new enough for him not to take it for granted.

"Phil," Paulette said as she broke their kiss and eased him back just enough to put some space between their bodies, "it's been a really hard day and I'm pretty tired. I think we should call it a night."

"Oh, okay," Phil said, trying to hide the disappointment in his voice.

Paulette caught the regret in his voice and considered changing her mind for a moment. At the very least, she could give him a quick blow job and send him home happy.

Then she thought better of the idea. If this relationship did go anywhere, she didn't want it to fall into a pattern of dinner, a movie, and a trip back to her apartment for a late night fuck.

So instead she have him another kiss goodnight, pressing her tongue deep into his mouth and let him feel her up again. Then she sent him on his way, sure that he'd be taking care of his hard-on before he went to bed. As she opened the door and stepped inside her apartment, Paulette wondered if he would be thinking of her when he did.

-=-=-=-=-

Paulette used the cool night to catch up on her sleep and didn't wake up until mid-morning. After a leisurely breakfast, she picked up the pile of mail that had accumulated the last week and started to sort through it.

Ten minutes later, she dropped the stack of envelopes back onto her work desk. Her mind kept wandering too much for her to concentrate on it.

Curiosity had taken hold and Paulette couldn't get that brief conversation with Greer yesterday out of her mind. The revelation that her friend was bisexual would've been a surprise in of itself, but her statement that someone else she worked with was also had been stunning.

It wasn't even so much Greer's words as the look on her face as she said them. Paulette had seen that expression before. If there was another woman at P & M that was into women, Greer knew it from first hand knowledge.

It wasn't that Paulette thought the possibility detrimental in any way. After all, she believed everyone was entitled to live their own life however they pleased. It was just that she found the possibility so fascinating.

Picking up her copy of the company roster from another cubbyhole, she began to consider the possibilities. There were ten women at P & M, eight when you eliminated Greer and herself. She also figured that she could eliminate Kelly as well since the question about her sexuality was what started it all in the first place. That left seven to pick from.

"Hmmm," Paulette hummed as she wondered which of her co-workers swung both ways. "Who could it be?"

The problem was, it wasn't like the woman in question went around wearing a sign. In fact, Paulette would've had to be pretty naive to think that there was any physical characteristics she could look for that would tell her which woman had gotten to know Greer a lot more intimately than she ever did. No, if there was a clue it had to be in their actions.

Based on sexual morals, or the lack of them, the most obvious candidate would have to be Stacy Moskowitz. The twenty-nine year old redhead had, up to thirteen months ago, worked for the number one service, Anderson & O'Dea. She had been fired after Mr. O'Dea had come into the office one night on the late shift to retrieve some papers he'd forgotten to take home.

The sixty-two year old had been surprised to find the door to his private office unlocked, and even more surprised to find Stacy inside and on her knees in front of one of the new trainees. The young man had his pants down around his ankles and his cock deep in the senior EMT's mouth.

The owner, who sat on the board of Saint Andrew's Church, was totally speechless. Not so Stacy who let the young man's member slip from her mouth and told her boss that she was a little busy at the moment, but if he wanted to come back in a half hour or so, she'd be happy to take care of him too. It had taken her less time than that to clean out her locker.

Janet McIntrye, who owned Pierce and McIntyre, didn't hesitate a single day to offer the fired worker a job. Her sexual habits, as far as Janet was concerned were no one's business but Stacy's and mattered little when measured against the fact that the paramedic, who had served as a medic in the Israeli Defense Force when younger, was the best EMT at a crash site Janet had ever seen. Since she had crossed over to P & M, Paulette knew of at least six male employees who also knew a few other things that Stacy was considered the best at.

Since Janet McIntyre was in her mind, Paulette had to consider the idea that she could be the one as well. The only disqualification she could thing of was that Janet was almost old enough to be Greer's grandmother. Still, that turned on some people. Paulette had a girlfriend who married a man older than her father. It stood to reason that a bisexual woman could be attracted to someone older as well.

Janet McIntyre had been married twice, having outlived both of her husbands. The first of which had been her partner, Ben Pierce. Now she was at an age where she only wanted relationships that didn't interfere with the way she lived her life.

Heather Willis was the next name on the list. In her late thirties, the heavy set woman had been the office clerk for the last four years, handling payroll, billing and the like. Single, she was an incorrigible flirt and Paulette couldn't remember a single day that the dark haired woman hadn't gone braless. This despite the fact that her breasts were both large and heavy. In fact, she seemed to go out of her way to wear outfits that were either low cut or tight enough to give everyone a very good look at her endowments. Despite that, Paulette had never heard of anything ever happening between Heather and anyone else in the office.

The same couldn't be said of Maria Hernandez. One of three married woman in the office, the other two being Cynthia Ford and Faith Rosenberg, Maria was the only one of them who made no secret of the fact that her union wasn't a happy one. That Maria was having an affair with Kirby Marshall, another EMT, was pretty much an open secret. The two of them took every opportunity they could get to get horizontal. That Kirby was also married didn't even seem to enter into the equation.

Getting back to Cynthia and Faith, both were faithful to their marriage vows in every way, or as far as Paulette could tell from what she knew of the two of them. Yet when she thought about that, it really wasn't all that much. The two of them could be gang banging the rest of the staff and she'd never know it.

The last woman on the roster was Kim Lee, who was also the youngest next to Greer. The twenty-three year old Chinese woman seemed to have no interest in anything except work. She had plans to one day become a doctor, but had taken two years off from school for some real life experience. If all went according to plan, she would be leaving in the fall to go back to school. Considering how single minded Kim was, Paulette had no doubt that she would reach that goal.

Her own immediate goal, however, looked like it was going to fall short. As interesting as her conjecture had been, it had gotten her absolutely nowhere. The only way she was going to satisfy her curiosity was if she could get Greer to tell her who in the office she had slept with.

-=-=-=-=-

Putting her curiosity behind her, Paulette carried the breakfast dishes into the kitchen, dropping them into the dishwasher. Then she headed into the bathroom and bedroom where she quickly showered and dressed. It was her first weekend off in over a month and she promised herself that she would take advantage of it. A nice walk along Mullany Street where they held the flea markets sounded just about right.

She was just about to head out the door when the phone rang. With one foot already in the hall, she was tempted just to let it ring. Then she admitted to herself that she knew she would spend the rest of the day wondering who it might've been. Hoping it didn't turn out to be some annoying telemarketer, she stepped back into the apartment and picked up the phone. It didn't take ten seconds for Paulette to regret not having listened to her first impulse.

"Paulette, I'm so glad I was able to catch you," the highly recognizable voice of Janet McIntyre said through the receiver. "I beeped you twice but something must be wrong with your pager."

There was nothing wrong with Paulette's pager. Despite the insistence of P & M that their employees wear them all the time, the brunette refused to do so. Her days off were just that and the minute she got home the beeper was tossed aside.

"What can I do for you, Janet?" she asked, hoping that she had just forgotten to fill out some form.

"I just got a call from Kirby Marshall," Janet said, causing the hairs on the back of Paulette's neck to stand on end. "He's not feeling well and won't be in for his shift tonight. It must be some kind of bug going around because Maria called in last night with the same symptoms."

"I'll just bet they're sick," Paulette immediately thought. "More likely one or both of their spouses are away for the weekend and they decided it would be a good time to shack up somewhere."

"So I'm left with one less crew for tonight," Janet continued, "and with the number of people we have on vacation this week, I'm really in a bind."

Paulette, like all the employees of P & M knew that the contract with the State called for them to field a certain number of units every shift. If they didn't, the contract could be canceled and they'd all be out of a job. Twice already this summer they had received fines for not having the minimum requirement. Some of the bigger firms had no problem keeping tabs on the competition and turning them into the state regulator, knowing that they'd pick up additional business if the smaller outfit folded.

"Who am I going to be riding with?" Paulette said in resignation, knowing where the conversation was going and deciding to cut right to the chase.

"I'm still working on that," Janet replied, "but I should have someone by the time you come in."

"Okay," Paulette simply said, thinking that the flea market would have to wait for another day.

"I really appreciate this, Paulette," Janet said as she brought the brief conversation to a close. "I'll make it up to you, I promise."

As Paulette hung up the phone, she knew that was a promise that would never be kept. By Monday morning, Janet would have forgotten all about it and be faced with a whole new set of problems in keeping P & M a going concern. That was all right, she told herself as she headed back into the bedroom to change into working clothes. She knew the pluses and minuses of this job when she took it.

-=-=-=-=-

"I'm sorry you were the one Janet caught in her net," Jim Parks said as Paulette stepped into the office for the keys to her rig. "I know you haven't had a weekend off in a while."

"Those are the breaks," Paulette grinned as she lifted the key ring off the wall. "So who did she get to ride with me?"

"Pete Lowery," Jim said, looking down at the sheet on his clipboard as not to have to look her in the eye when he said it.

"Fucking wonderful," Paulette said under her breath.

If there was one person that exemplified the disadvantage of working for the lowest ranked company, Pete Lowery was it. The man was more than crude. Bad enough that he took almost every opportunity to brush up against a woman, if not actually put his hands on some part of her body, the aging medic thought women were always after him.