The Eden Project Pt. 01 Ch. 01-02

With agony, Ellie choked out, "Sorry if I um... if you..."

Hannah said, "Caught you looking at me?"

"Yeah, sorry, I try not to stare at people, it's rude. It's just... um..." How are you gonna cover this one, Ellie? "Your hair is gorgeous."

Hannah tipped her head back and laughed. The iconic curls danced on her shoulders. It's only funny because she doesn't believe you. "Thank you so much! Honestly I didn't do anything to it today," said Hannah.

"I know, I can tell. That's the worst part."

Hannah chuckled again. "Grass is always greener. It can be pretty unmanageable if I want to do anything besides curly. Not that I try much anymore. Your hair's really pretty too!"

"Thanks, that's nice of you to say," said Ellie, "It's... ugh, I can't manage it in this heat."

"Take the compliment, Ellie. You look great."

Ellie's cheeks burned again. "You're right. Thank you."

Hannah gulped down a quarter of her beer and then drummed three quick beats on the table. "So, you here by yourself, Ellie?"

Ellie thought briefly about lying. Actually no, my coworker's on her way. It would be so easy to brush Hannah off and get quickly back to her planned evening of Chinese food, Netflix, and masturbation. She wasn't sure she wanted to commit to a conversation.

Hannah's confidence was intimidating, and her hair... that body... her aura... sent an electric charge through Ellie's body, from groin to throat. A curious and frightening yearning. She hadn't felt anything like this in a very long time.

A bizarrely deep memory surfaced in the split second Ellie took to weigh her options.

Her parents sat on the couch in the dark living room, watching Titanic. Ellie was very young. She hadn't had "The Talk". It was late and she was supposed to be in bed. But she had crept out of her room to sneak a peek, and happened upon the scene where Jack draws Rose nude.

Ellie remembered feeling a novel, thrilling, shame-ridden longing sensation with absolutely no idea what to do with it.

"You know, everyone says this movie is so good. Guess it's just more Hollywood smut, as always," Ellie's mom had said to her dad on the couch.

Her Dad grunted noncommittally.

This moment, here at Luann's, was only the second time Ellie had felt that charge... Six years with Pete, not once.

Why? Had she been gay this whole time and it simply never occurred to her?

No, Ellie thought, that's not true.

It was the lack of any real connection with Peter. Ellie was confident that was the case; She'd had her infatuation with boys in school just like her classmates. She'd stolen sidelong glances at men throughout the years. She fantasized about beefy arms, hairy chests; masturbated over being taken by a hard, well-proportioned cock (not that she actually knew what that felt like. Thanks, Pete).

But the first jolt is always different.

Everybody has that experience in their pubescent youth. The alarming thrill when one has their first sexual notion without possessing the vocabulary to describe it as "sexual". The newness of the concept which is rarely experienced again after one's loss of innocence. Once sex and masturbation is a part of life taken for granted.

Horny is one thing. The first time you experience lust, and don't fully understand it, is another. And Hannah had just given Ellie a second, latent dose.

What is with this woman?

"... Yeah, I um... You know, I just had a shitty day at work and I thought I'd come have a couple of drinks and call it a night."

Hannah's brow furrowed. "I'm sorry. What happened?"

"Well, I'll save you the details but my boss kind of cornered me and screamed at me in front of everyone."

Her eyes transitioned from empathy to outrage, a response that deeply satisfied Ellie.

"What the fuck?"

"Language," said Peter's voice in her head. Ellie smirked.

"Yeah, I guess I kind of mouthed off in a meeting and..."

"I don't care what you said," interrupted Hannah, "I'm certain that it didn't justify him dragging you in public."

"Right?!" said Ellie, the margaritas and validation egging her on.

She told Hannah the details, but it certainly didn't bore her. Hannah nodded along to every word, offering a therapeutic "what a dick" and "such an asshole" at all the right moments.

"... And the way Marco dresses is so dumb, he wears V necks and skinny jeans and does that French tuck thing, like from Queer Eye, have you seen it?"

"I actually haven't seen it," said Hannah. Her expression changed in a way Ellie wasn't expecting. As if Hannah didn't love where this was going.

"Oh.. Well, it's like a life coaching show, and one of the coaches, Tan... he's a stylist... He makes all the guys do this French tuck thing where you tuck just the front of your shirt and it just looks really bad on fat guys like Marco."

Hannah's expression hardened further. "Well, he sounds like a dick, but we don't need to insult his looks."

Ellie blinked.

Hannah continued, "I try not to insult appearances. Marco sounds like he's very fragile and he projects his insecurities. I hope he finds a way to become a nicer person, but his weight and the way he tucks his shirt probably shouldn't be the first priority."

"Oh..." Ellie felt the sting of embarrassment. "Yeah, I know, sorry I didn't mean to offend. I was just..."

"Venting!" said Hannah, smiling again. "It's totally fine, you don't need to apologize. Just... you know." Hannah paused, considering. "My profession kind of has me conditioned to..." Another thoughtful pause. She stared across the room, finding the words. The corporate happy hour was talking louder and laughing harder. "It's... this overarching, omnidirectional 'love' thing I try to do. You know? Respect inward and outward. But sometimes that can sound like a lecture and I didn't mean to do that." She looked back at Ellie and smiled. "So who do you like at work?"

Hannah finished another beer while Ellie told her about her coworker Kathleen, which turned into detailed questions about her job, which turned into questions about her background. An hour and a half passed unnoticed while Hannah continued to ask thoughtful questions and listen as though Ellie were the most interesting person she'd ever met.

Finally, when Ellie couldn't avoid it anymore, the conversation turned to Peter. Hannah leaned over the table staring at Ellie, listening. She propped her head on her left hand while her right occasionally served herself more beer. The angle afforded Ellie a deep view of Hannah's cleavage, the allure of which still confused her. Ellie couldn't help but glance a few times while she talked. If Hannah noticed, she didn't comment.

"... So, yeah. Long story short, I saw a very bad marriage on the horizon and I jumped ship. I've been living on my own for about six months," finished Ellie.

"Wow! Well I'm sorry things didn't work out," said Hannah, "but I think it's cool that you put your foot down and took charge of your own destiny. That's really impressive."

Ellie saw the way Hannah's eyes gleamed, and knew she meant it. "Thank you so much for saying that, it means a lot."

"Seriously," said Hannah. "I admire your self actualization. Peter's an ambitious gym rat with a sexy job, and hey. Good for him. You have other priorities. We can't all be CEO's, and we shouldn't want to be. It's refreshing to meet someone who realizes that."

Ellie grinned. It was such a heartfelt, meaningful compliment. A warmth enveloped her body (owed in part, perhaps, to the tequila) that left goosebumps. She liked this girl.

"Well, I'm thinking another round. What about you?" Hannah said. She leaned back and reached around to tousle her hair idly, which lifted her chest up for the first time in awhile.

There were dark wet spots around her breasts, rendering her nipples perfectly visible through the thin cotton. Ellie stared.

Hannah's areolas were as wide as sand dollars; dark and rough, suggesting they had breastfed several children, and capped with nipples the size of marbles.

"Um..." Ellie began.

Hannah followed Ellie's gaze to her own chest. "Oh, shit!" Hannah laughed, without a hint of embarrassment. "Sorry. These fuckers have a mind of their own. Excuse me a sec."

Hannah strolled off to the bathroom with no attempt to cover herself. Eyes throughout the bar followed her see-through shirt. A few of the guys at the pool table sniggered, and Ellie heard an "ooooh, shit!"

Ellie sat there, awash in renewed embarrassment.

Jesus Christ, Ellie thought to herself. Of course. OF COURSE. She probably has a baby at home. Or probably several kids. And a husband waiting for her. And here I am, the dumb girl lusting after (lusting after? Jesus, Ellie, get a grip) this woman who's probably running out on her family.

It humiliated Ellie to recognize that she had started to feel things for Hannah... Wanted to spend more time with her... And was enough of a fool to be disappointed that she had a family.

You sat here and yammered about yourself for two hours. Didn't ask a single thing about her. Getting all worked up over a fucking MARRIED WOMAN. This is low.

Ellie sat alone, marinating in self loathing, for fifteen minutes. She nearly stood up to leave several times. Embarrassed? Angry? She wasn't sure. However, curiosity (and lust, Ellie thought with shame) kept her glued to the spot. The tequila was certainly doing its part to inure Ellie to red flags.

Before she could talk herself into leaving, Hannah came back with another beer and another margarita for Ellie. Her shirt was still damp but no longer translucent. Hannah was as cool as if she'd merely gone to pee.

"Sorry about that," Hannah said. "Just had to relieve some pressure. Didn't expect to be out this long."

Ellie didn't know where to start. "That's... okay... So... I'm sorry, that made me realize I haven't asked you a single question about yourself... You have kids, right? Are you married?"

"I've... had kids. No, I'm not married." She held up her ringless left hand with a smile and took another sip of beer.

Ellie just sat there, perplexed, fidgeting with the pool of condensation under her margarita glass. Hannah didn't offer to expound, so she wasn't sure what to ask next.

She's "had" kids? What on Earth could that possibly mean?

Hannah gave her a second to try to piece things together and then sighed. "Look." She reached right across the table, grabbed Ellie's hand which Ellie allowed (another shock of electricity) and fixed her gaze. "I am not attached to any kind of romantic partner. There are no children waiting for me at a house in the suburbs. I can tell I've confused you. I'm having a really good time with you tonight, and I would like for it to continue. Would you be open to that?"

Ellie's breath caught in her throat. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a line from The Office played: "What kind of person just tells you exactly what they're thinking? What kind of game is that?" It made her smile.

In whatever way Hannah chose to interpret Ellie's smile, it seemed to reassure her that Ellie was okay. She let go of her hand. "Thank you."

After Ellie took a moment to gather her thoughts, she settled on a change of subject and asked, "You mentioned your profession earlier. What do you do?"

"Um...." said Hannah, fondling her beer glass. "It's government work."

"Oh yeah?" said Ellie. "What kind of government work?"

"It's defense department stuff. Tell ya have to kill ya."

Ellie blinked. She didn't think she'd ever met someone who looked less like they worked for the military.

"Well... not kill ya. That was a joke." Hannah smiled. "But suffice it to say there's paperwork before I tell ya." She flashed Ellie a playfully crazy look, chuckled to herself, leaned back in the booth and gazed lazily around.

At least I'm not the only tipsy one, Ellie thought. "So..." she began. Okay, try to match her energy. Confidence. Ellie leaned forward. "You gotta give me something. Lactating but no baby, hot outfit, carefree attitude, can't tell me what you do for a living besides that it's some big scary defense job..." Ellie waved her hands on the sides of her face to emphasize the spookiness. "What CAN you tell me about yourself?"

Hannah beamed at her, delighted that Ellie seemed to be coming out of her shell. "Well... I'm 35... I'm from Texas... Dallas originally. Austin for a while."

"Do you live in Phoenix?"

"Nah, I'm here for work."

"Scary secret work?"

"No." said Hannah. She winked. "Well, not the scary part. It's actually pretty fun work. But that's all I can say." Ellie rolled her eyes in playful exaggeration. Hannah ignored this. "So anyway, I waited tables for a while in my twenties until I scored a job in tech that I thought I wanted, which got me out of Dallas and down to Austin. Did that for a couple years..."

"Tech? Like what?" said Ellie.

"Software development at Google."

"That sounds really cool actually!"

Hannah crinkled her nose. "It was fine. But trust me, the ball pits and plastic slides for adults and the beer in the office and the expensive chefs cooking you lunch... This is gonna make me sound so entitled, but it really does get old when you're just..." She sighed. "Beaten down by the fact that the work you're doing isn't helping anybody, or... I don't know... making any kind of difference."

"What was the work?"

It was Hannah's turn to roll her eyes. "Optimizing ad targeting for better clickthrough rates." She said it in a mock robo-corporate voice.

Ellie cackled at this. "Well you sound like my best friend then!"

Hannah smiled. "Yeah, if I was still in the field, we could talk a lot of shop. Anyway... Yeah, I did the corporate thing, I had my fun. And then I was... approached by a recruiter for my current job. It turned out my software development skills were somewhat useful, and... yadda yadda yadda... I wish I could tell you more. But I really do like it."

"I'm glad," Ellie said. "Can't argue with someone who loves their job."

"Oh, plenty of people would. Lots of people might object to what I do," Hannah said, "but that doesn't matter in the scheme of things. My priorities have been adjusted and I can't afford to be preoccupied with what other people think of me."

"What do you mean, 'priorities'?" Ellie asked.

Hannah thought for a second, and then sat forward, giving Ellie a front row seat to her artistically freckled tits again. "I would like to keep this going, but my boobs are about to burst and I don't want to milk myself in a public bathroom again. I have a pump back at my hotel. It's right next door. Would you like to come with me? Absolutely no pressure." She smiled. "No pun intended."

The joke disarmed Ellie somewhat. She laughed. "Um... I would... honestly really like to do that, but..." She thought this was probably a horrible idea, but three margaritas and Hannah's rich magnetism said otherwise. She was coming to accept her own desire to pursue any chance of seeing more of Hannah... of finding out what those freckles felt like to the touch... of getting close enough to smell more of the scent that made Ellie feel nostalgic for reasons she couldn't pin down...

Oh, God... Am I really dumb enough to do this?

"Is there any chance you're going to murder me?"

"Text Kathleen," Hannah said, not missing a beat. "Tell her you met someone, and that you're going to the Holiday Inn on I-10 next to Luann's, room 217. Tell her to call the police if you don't answer the phone or she doesn't hear from you by midnight."

Ellie considered this. "... Uh... yeah that actually would make me feel better," she chuckled nervously. Then she picked up her phone and did as she was told.

Kathleen, for her part, was supportive.

"ooooOOOoooh Ellie's gettin LAAAIID ok Ill call you love ya babes be safe!"

Ellie smiled at Hannah after Kathleen's response. "Ok, I'm ready."

Hannah beamed. "Let's go."

She followed Hannah out of Luann's, ingesting her first uncompromised view at hips and a butt that (Who am I?) she very much wanted to submerge herself in. A shiver ushered with it a warmth pulsing between her legs. Ellie imagined wrapping her arms around Hannah from behind... Inhaling the scent around her neck... Filling her hands with Hannah's engorged tits... feeling Hannah press into Ellie's embrace...

She was in deep now, and the tequila drove her forward. Ellie suspected that she might learn a lot about herself in the coming hours.

On their way to the parking lot, they passed a group of guys smoking out front -- the same ones from the pool table earlier. The tobacco stung Ellie's nostrils. One of them cat-called Hannah.

"Hey sweet thing, I saw them mommy milkers in there, why don't you give daddy a taste?" The other guys chuckled.

Ellie was surprised to see Hannah smile at him as she walked. "Sorry dear, not tonight. But feel free to rub one out to this when you get home." She opened her shirt, wrapped her hands around her breasts, and squeezed. Two jets of milk sprayed the pavement in his direction. Then she closed her top and kept walking.

Ellie stopped dead in her tracks.

The cat-caller stood there with his mouth agape, completely gobsmacked by what he had just witnessed. It perfectly mirrored Ellie's own shock.

Hannah's hypnotic ass kept on swinging. The distance between her and Ellie grew. Red curls whipped around as she looked back at Ellie, smiling. "You coming?"