Rekindled

"I'm not asking you for commitment," Erika went on. "I know you're not entirely comfortable with me being attracted to you. It's just seeing you almost naked in 'Lost in Translation', and now getting to work with you and be friends —"

"Okay!" Scarlett interrupted and then made a shushing motion. Erika shut up and beamed.

Scarlett looked her up and down. You are beautiful, Erika, she thought, and what would it really hurt, sleeping with you? I've always had doubts about co-star intimacy being bad. I might as well find out whether they're justified. I'm sure you'll be as fun a bed-partner as you are a girlfriend. From the cast outings we've had to get to know one another, I've learned you can be patient and sensible. I like you. I admire your beauty and talent, and I wish I had your attitude towards life.

"If I say yes," she said, "and we do it once, will it get you off my back? I don't want this to screw things up for us on set."

Erika beamed at her. "I've told you, that won't happen. Nothing you don't want to do." She paused. "Are you serious?"

"Yes," Scarlett hissed. She looked around and felt glad no one was paying attention to them. "Meet me in my trailer, twenty minutes."

Erika grinned, stepped back, and waved her off.

Why am I doing this? Scarlett asked herself as she exited the studio and headed for her trailer. Am I giving in, hoping satisfaction will calm Erika down? Is my curiosity getting the better of me? It's not like I haven't been attracted to a female co-star before. There was Kari, and before her, there was Thora Birch. I might have tried something with Thora, but our characters were alienated from each other. Getting close to her would have been counter-productive. I wasn't accepting towards my attraction to women back then either. It took Kari, an older experienced woman, to break through my shell. Erika told me her first lesbian experiences with Geena Davis were much the same.

She reached her trailer and opened the door, then stepped inside. Scarlett took off her black leather jacket and threw it on the floor. She then walked to her cot and smoothed its sheets. Maybe Erika will chicken out, she thought. A knock on the door dispelled that hope.

"Give me a second!" Scarlett yelled. She checked her look in the mirror and wiped her heavy lipstick off with a tissue. Then she emptied her pockets and took off her boots. Okay, she psyched herself up. I'm really going to do this. No more angst, no more fear. She turned and opened the trailer door. "You're early."

"I couldn't wait," Erika said. She pushed inside.

Erika was still dressed in the black halter top, red cardigan, and jeans she'd worn on the set. Scarlett, who wore a black denim vest and jeans, looked her over and smiled. "Do you fantasize about our characters?"

"A little," Erika said with a shrug. She closed and locked the door, then turned and put a finger on Scarlett's lips. "No more talking."

Scarlett nodded and took the initiative. She put her hands on Erika's shoulders and pulled her close, then leaned in and kissed her lips. They were as soft and full of promise as Scarlett had hoped. Erika kissed back, her arms moving to Scarlett's buttons. Scarlett pushed off Erika's sweater as Erika undid the front of her vest.

The trailer rocked a little as they fell back onto Scarlett's cot. Scarlett still felt fatigued from their long day of shooting, but she put that aside. I did want this, she thought. Now I am going to enjoy it.

Erika pulled Scarlett's vest all the way open and stuck a hand in. She rubbed the violet lace bra encasing Scarlett's breasts. Scarlett shucked off her vest and reached behind her to undo the bra clasp. Erika's expert hands stopped her halfway and completed the motion, and then pushed down the straps. The bra fell off and Scarlett's large jutting tits stood revealed, pink nipples hard at attention. Erika flicked them with her thumbs.

Scarlett grabbed the bottom of Erika's top and pulled it over her head. The other girl raised her arms. She was not wearing a bra. Her breasts were just as hard and pink as Scarlett's and only a size smaller. Scarlett grinned and then moved down and kissed each one. Erika cracked her knuckles and threw her blouse across the room.

"Let's give you what you've been missing," she said. She kissed Scarlett's face and rubbed her breasts, pinching and squeezing the aureole. Scarlett giggled as she returned the caresses, her fingers traveling the landscape of Erika's back. One hand moved down and squeezed Erika's ass. The other came up and cupped Erika's chin. Scarlett moved Erika's face to hers and again kissed her lips.

Their mouths opened, and their tongues came forth to snipe at one another. Erika's tongue lashed at Scarlett's lips and tapped a tune across her teeth. Scarlett moved her hands to Erika's waist, unfastened her belt and jeans. Erika was doing the same to her.

"No panties," Scarlett remarked as she shoved Erika's jeans down.

Erika kicked her shoes off and nodded her head. "I thought I might get lucky today. I did." She licked Scarlett's cheek.

They lay down on the cot and continued their exchange of fondling. They pushed their jeans off their bodies and away. Erika squeezed Scarlett's cunt through her lavender panties.

"Wet," she said with a grin.

Scarlett chuckled and put a hand on Erika's crotch. "You're wet too." She stroked the lips of the other girl's slit and then stuck a finger inside. Two sharp quick motions up and down, then Scarlett flicked Erika's clit. Erika gasped as she repeated the movements. Good, Scarlett thought. I haven't forgotten how to do this, even though it's been almost two years since I've done it to any woman other than myself.

"Yes," Erika said with a sigh. She kissed Scarlett's nose, then leaned down and ran her tongue across the other girl's neck. Scarlett kept fingering Erika's pussy as her new intimate friend nipped at her chest. One of Erika's hands was rubbing her legs and rear, and the other was still caressing her cunt through her panties. Scarlett stroked Erika's neck and grabbed her locket. "Leave that on," Erika said.

"Okay," Scarlett replied. She moved her hand down and took Erika's left breast in her hand.

The two of them moved their bodies up and down against one another for several long moments, their hands and tongues roaming. They licked at each other's breasts and fingered one another's clits. Erika's digits went under Scarlett's panties, entered her tunnel and stroked it. Scarlett moaned, feeling her juices increase in volume. Her underwear was getting too wet, so she stopped Erika and pulled it off.

Erika resumed kissing her, and then pushed her towards the wall. One of her hands rubbed Scarlett's breasts and back, while the other returned to her pussy. Erika also resumed kissing Scarlett's nipples, which had grown very hard under her attention. Scarlett returned her gestures with several deep sighs.

Her pleasure was taking off faster than she thought it would. Scarlett pushed it down. It had been a long time since she'd done this with a woman, but that was no reason to go crazy. The light coming through the trailer's opaque windows and air slits was playing off their bodies, she noted in an effort to distract herself. Color was flowing into their pale skin, Erika's blonde hair mingling with Scarlett's red. Erika paused and looked up at Scarlett, who blinked under the intensity of her stare.

"Let me love you," Erika said. She moved her fingers up inside Scarlett and kissed her mouth.

Okay, Scarlett decided. I might as well let things happen as they will. After all, this may only open happen between us once. She smiled and nodded at the other girl. She then increased the speed of her fondles on Erika's breasts and snatch.

Erika responded in kind, laughing as she kissed and rubbed Scarlett. Her hands moved to Scarlett's ass cheeks and squeezed them. Her mouth licked Scarlett's cleavage and teats. Scarlett gasped, letting her pleasure train speed up again. Erika moved faster and faster on her body, getting more aggressive with every stroke. Scarlett tried for a while to hold her back, but gave up as it became too hard to predict and counter the other girl's movements. She relaxed and concentrated on returning Erika's petting, sighing and entangling her fingers in her friend's long blonde curls.

Chuckles answered her sighs, followed by sharp jolts as Erika bit her nipples and pinched her vulva. Scarlett surrendered to the sensations and came, a sweet smile forming on her features as she let out a moan.

"Ahh!!" Erika yelped in victory, and then kissed the space between Scarlett's breasts.

"Your turn now," Scarlett said. She rolled Erika over and pushed her down. A fantasy brought on by their movie came into her mind. "You're not the valedictorian. You're second."

"I am?" Erika asked, going timid. Scarlett nodded and pushed her face into the mattress. Her other hand moved down and swatted Erika hard across the ass. "Augh!" Erika screamed.

Scarlett grinned and spanked her again. "Are you scared of me?" she asked. "I'm the rebel you want to be, right? Well, this is your initiation. Get ready, brainiac. It's time to change!"

"Yes!" Erika whispered. "Take me. Change me." She gasped out further encouragement as Scarlett held her down and spanked her twice more. Erika's body shook, and Scarlett pulled back her hands. She had just been playing. She didn't want to hurt Erika.

The other girl's grin told her she hadn't. Erika turned around and embraced Scarlett. She then kissed her lips and fondled her breasts. Scarlett pushed Erika away from the sensitive globes, and then moved her back into a prone position. She kissed her way down Erika's body, lingering on her neck. The cold chain of the other girl's locket was a nice counterpoint to her warm skin.

"Yes!" Erika gasped out again. Scarlett squeezed her right breast with one hand while tonguing the other. She fondled Erika's ass with her other hand, then moved it back to her cunt. Erika's passionate chorus increased in volume as Scarlett switched her hand and mouth back and forth on her friend's breasts while pinching her clit hard. Scarlett waved at her to keep it down. The trailer wasn't shaking now, but she didn't want someone to walk by and wonder about the noise.

She licked Erika's cleavage and moved down across her waist. Next, she kissed Erika's navel. Erika gasped and rubbed Scarlett's hair. Scarlett took her fingers out of the other girl's cunt, pushed open her labia, and stuck in her tongue.

"Augh!" Erika screamed in climax. Her juices gushed out of her pussy, salty and sweet. Scarlett gathered them up with her lips and tongue, then moved her head back to Erika's and kissed her to share the taste.

Erika licked at her lips, savoring the feeling. "You're second to get licked," she said. Scarlett nodded in anticipation.

Her new intimate friend pushed her down and licked her face again. Erika's lips then traveled over Scarlett's torso, lighting just above her channel. Erika thrust three fingers inside Scarlett's pussy to open it, checking the lubrication and sensitivity. She nodded and then inserted her tongue.

Scarlett bit her lip as the muscle flicked hard inside her. She took hold of the cot's sheets, trying to control her spasms. Erika was caressing Scarlett's thighs and bottom as she licked her pussy. The sensations were pouring gasoline on her inner fire. I've only had men give me oral sex the last two years, she thought. I've forgotten that women are much better at it, or so Kari told me. I'm certainly getting proof of her words now. Erika is so much better at this than Jared.

"Jared!" she cried out, vowing at that moment to dump her boyfriend as soon as she could.

Erika stopped and looked up at Scarlett with a frown. Shit, Scarlett thought. I did not mean to do that.

"I'm sorry," she said, making a dismissive gesture. "Please, continue."

Erika nodded and resumed her licking. Scarlett moved her thighs in rhythm as she moved her hands to touch Erika's. Erika's attentions increased in fervency, and Scarlett found herself approaching a second orgasm.

"Yes!" she cried as it hit her. "Do that! Do me! Augh! Fuck you, Jared! Fuck me, Erika! Ahh!"

Erika paused for an instant, but then blinked and resumed licking again. She also turned her body around and moved her cunt over Scarlett's face.

Scarlett put her hands on Erika's thighs and pulled them open. She explored the fertile jungle of blonde curls between the other girl's legs with her tongue as Erika continued lapping her shaved loins. Erika's salty juices were still squirting out heavy, and Scarlett let the hot tide flow down her throat. "Yes!" Erika wailed as she came. Scarlett chuckled and slapped her butt.

Their lovemaking lasted another three hours. Finally, they collapsed in each other's arms and fell asleep, tired from all they had done. They woke up in the trailer the next day, drank coffee, and spent time becoming as intimate emotionally as they had physically. Their co-stars and director later raised eyebrows on the set, surprised at the level of ease in each other's presence they now displayed. Scarlett and Erika were the only acting veterans in the movie. Their on-set relationship had been full of much tension and competition. After they slept together, it all quickly faded away.

***

October 2008.

Now here she is again, Scarlett thought, blinking in the present. Sudden and unexpected, she's back in my life.

She took off her sunglasses and looked at Erika's costume. "Joanna Dark?"

"Yeah," Erika said. "I felt like going as a video game babe this year. It was Joanna Dark or Samus Aran, and I couldn't find a spacesuit." She pointed at Scarlett's fangs. "You're a vampire."

"Only till morning," Scarlett replied, touching her lips. "Then I have to hide from the sun."

She stepped closer to the other actress, staring at her. It had been over five years since they last saw each other. Things had gotten so great between them near the end of filming their movie, but then they had soured. Erika didn't talk to her much after their one wonderful morning and night together, and had never again made any offer of intimacy. Scarlett hadn't made such an offer either, as she was waiting for Erika to take the lead.

They had both bonded with their male co-stars, after Scarlett broke up with Jared, but never again with each other. Scarlett had regretted this, especially when she joined Erika and the others' nude swims and games of Marco Polo. She got close to and enjoyed being with all the guys during those games and their other friendly outings, but Erika never approached Scarlett. This left any liaison between them as something suspected by the guys, but never confirmed.

We finished the movie all right, Scarlett recalled, and it did okay for a January release. But I haven't seen Erika since the premiere and its after-parties. Even there, she was so distant. She turned cold to me, and she never explained her reasons. She threw away everything we had, not seeming to give a damn. Before I knew it, our relationship was gone with the wind.

"How've you been?" she asked, stepping closer to Erika now. Was this meeting really the chance event it seemed?

I haven't been longing to see her again, Scarlett thought, though I always remembered her. I hated that she left me like she did, but it was just fine that we were no longer close. I found two more steady boyfriends after I dumped Jared, and I was with the last one for two years before our busy lives made us grow apart. Now I have another boyfriend, and this one actually wants to marry me.

I also got to know Keira Knightley after we posed together for the February 2006 Vanity Fair, she recalled with a smile. Keira was just as brazen as Erika, but she had been willing to hang around with Scarlett after their first intimacy and teach her how to also be daring. Both Scarlett and Rachel McAdams had become eager students of the English beauty. Scarlett knew she was welcome to visit Keira and Rachel whenever she wanted, and have fun with them and their significant others. Rachel's boyfriend had broken up with her when confronted by her sexuality's new side, but they were back together now.

I have so many other friends too, Scarlett added. Since Keira taught me to fully accept my sexuality, I've become more intimate with many of my co-stars, male and female. There was Hugh Jackman during 'Scoop', Natalie Portman during 'The Other Boleyn Girl', and Eva Mendes and Jaime King among others during my upcoming comic book film. Woody Allen noticed my regular intimacies with co-stars while we were editing the second movie I did with him, and tried to break me of it by toning down my love-scenes for the third, but that didn't work. I got with Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz on and off screen while making the film. Rebecca Hall and I were best friends on-screen, and became intimate off. In your face, Woody! The recollection made her laugh.

She hadn't seen too much of her 'Perfect Score' co-stars in the years since that film wrapped. Chris, who went on to play her boyfriend in 'The Nanny Diaries', had been the one exception. Scarlett hadn't seen Erika at all.

"You look good," she said to Erika, putting a hand on her arm to make sure she was real.

"Thanks," Erika replied. "You look good, too. I've been doing fine. What about you? I hear you're with Ryan Reynolds now."

Scarlett nodded. "I guess you're still not finding time for boyfriends?"

Erika chuckled. "You know me." She extended her hand, and Scarlett took it. "I'm glad I found you," Erika said. "It's been too long. I wanted to see you again."

"You just suddenly decide that?" Scarlett shook her head. "You were following me. I saw you in the restaurant. What's going on here, Erika?"

"Nothing!" Erika insisted. She released Scarlett's hand. "I just decided to end our disconnection."

"Disconnection? Is that what you call it?"

"Yeah." Erika frowned. "I thought about you and me, and I decided we were too different. I liked you, but I didn't know if I wanted to be with you again. I broke off communication with you to only the necessary, and we — we drifted apart." She finished with a sigh.

Not much of an explanation, Erika thought, but it's what I rehearsed. It has to work. I can't blame her for what happened between us. I can't even bring up specific problems, like that name she screamed that I've been pretty sure I misinterpreted all these years. I don't want her getting mad at me. Okay, she's nodding. I think it worked. Good.

"Big mistake," Scarlett said.

"Yeah," Erika agreed. "It was a real blonde moment."

Scarlett laughed. She'd had a few such moments herself. "Is that why you changed your hair?"

"This?" Erika fingered one of her dyed tresses and laughed along. "No, I put it back like this for my costume. I've been experimenting with different hair colors."

"It looks good on you. I've gone back to my natural color."

"I noticed." Erika patted her head. "I saw you in 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' last month. You were great."

Scarlett smiled. "I have 'The Spirit' coming out at Christmas. I think you'll love it."

"I'm waiting for it." Erika returned Scarlett's grin. After swinging, pulp comic books were her favorite secret vice.

"You have anything new coming out soon?"

"Yeah, 'Veronika Decides to Die.' It'll be out in the spring of next year, probably."

"What?" Scarlett gaped, recognizing the title of one of her favorite psychological thriller novels. "They made a movie of that? Why didn't I know about it? Did you get the lead?"

Erika shook her head. "That went to Sarah Michelle Gellar. I'm the girl who suffers from depression and panic attacks."

"I see," Scarlett said. "I'm betting you and Sarah are good friends now."