The Oracle Pt. 02

Maria awoke in Ellie's bed, feeling the other girl's arms warm and comforting around her. Ellie was gently stroking her breast, and Maria's nipple hardened under the touch, and she gasped.

Sensing that Maria was awake, Ellie started to kiss her neck, making her tickle and squirm with delight. A year ahead of her in college Ellie had that much more experience at this, and she played at Maria's teenage libido with ease.

Ellie's fingers danced over her skin, tracing lines like a figure-skater on ice. When Maria could not lie still any longer, she took Ellie's hand and brought it to her belly, guiding it down from there, parting her legs for the other girl to feel her wetness, her readiness.

Before long, Maria lay on her back, with Ellie's mouth doing wondrous, rapturous things to her slit. It wasn't long before Maria trembled through one orgasm, and Ellie had a finger inside her, rubbing just there, bringing her closer, ever closer, to a second, more intense climax. Maria was glad to take Ellie's generous oral pleasure; she had returned the favor sometimes, but she didn't have the skill that Ellie did, and didn't get off on giving head the way Ellie did.

Maria knew she still had a future of child-bearing ahead of her. She still got visions sometimes of her life with a newborn. Trying to coax it to eat carrot mush, and dealing with the output in a diaper. She didn't know yet if that future was inevitable, or if the visions were a warning she could heed. Regardless, she could at least get through college first, couldn't she?

When she first arrived on campus, it had been a hedonic rush to be dormed with so many others her age, without parental supervision. Many, like her, had left behind the relationships they'd had in high school. For Maria, Toby was ancient history now. He had only ever been a means to an end anyway, and their whole affair had been a mistake.

In those first few weeks on campus, Maria had made out with so many boys that it scandalized her to think of. With a few of them, she'd gone so far as hand jobs and blow jobs, perfectly safe ways to get each other off. But none of them had been content to stop there; they would always pressure her for more. And that, she could not do. Between her intolerance for birth control pills, her latex allergy, and her proven fertility, intercourse was inherently risky for her. She'd already aborted one pregnancy, and while she'd never blame anyone else for making the same choice, she didn't want to have to do that again. Why couldn't boys see that?

Out of frustration with the entire male gender and sexual curiosity, Maria made out with Ellie at a party, and things progressed quickly from there. With Ellie, sex was available and uncomplicated. Either of them could get off whenever they liked, without consequence. Maria suspected she couldn't make it to graduation if she tried to stay celibate. But this was a safe plan, if she could stick with it.

She didn't go to Ellie's room every time she got horny. Sometimes Maria would rub one out herself, and in those moments alone, she would often find herself reminiscing about the sex with Toby. They'd foolishly thought that was safe too, at the time. But in retrospect, she'd replay the moment she felt him push his penis deep into her one last time, how it swelled up in anticipation, how the nerve endings in her vagina, well-stimulated and sensitive, had registered the feeling of his semen pouring into her, knocking her up. How she had climaxed at the time, and by her own hand now, she'd climax again at the memory of it.

Now, as Ellie tongued at her clit, Maria could feel the edge of that climax approaching like a cliff, and she was ready to fall. But something else happened instead. A vision came to her.

In this vision, Maria was on her back, staring up into a boy's dreamy, distracted brown eyes. His angular face was framed with curls. She recognized the boy. David was in her anthropology class, though they hadn't really said more than a couple words to each other so far. No, thick plain girls like her didn't talk to guys like him.

She could feel the weight of him on top of her, and his cock pressed deep inside her. It was a sensation more exquisite than she'd remembered. He was thrusting into her gently, but she could see the concentration in the set of his jaw, and feel the tension in his movements.

"I'm...about to cum...You'll pull out, right?" she asked. Maria wasn't sure if it was her in the vision saying this, or her present self. It was the one question her mind had space for either way.

"I told you I would," he said.

And then she lost control, letting her voice cry out, her hands digging into his buttocks, everything inside her spasming around him.

"Oh god," he said, in a tone that could only portend one thing.

And then the vision was gone, but the ecstasy wasn't. Instead of David's buttocks, it was the back of Ellie's head that she gripped against her crotch, her hips bucking, her cry spilling out of her mouth with a string of curses. Curses at how good it felt. Curses at being torn from that vision a moment too soon, when she needed to see what happened next. Needed to feel it too.

"Wow," Ellie said eventually. "If our neighbors had any doubts about what we've been up to..."

Maria was still struggling to breathe, but she laughed at that.

"Come on, the dining hall closes in an hour," Ellie said, giving her a hand up.

Maria didn't care that she probably smelled of sex and sweat. She didn't care what anyone thought of them, as they walked to the dining hall while holding hands.

David was there, across the large room. She must have been staring, because he saw her looking and smiled back, but didn't approach. It made her feel warm and nervous, in ways Ellie never could.

Then Ellie was there next to her, with a tray full of mac and cheese and muffins and bananas. Ellie leaned in to kiss her, and Maria found herself caring who saw, for the first time. She kissed Ellie back, but her heart wasn't in it.

She hadn't really had a chance to process her vision yet. It meant that she had a real chance with David, something she never would've expected otherwise. It meant that the two of them were going to end up having sex.

On one hand, she wasn't sure she could take that as guaranteed. Maybe there was still some way she could mess things up irreparably. But the vision wouldn't have come to her if it was impossible or even unlikely.

In the lecture hall on Monday, David took the seat next to her. Maybe it was coincidence--there were no assigned seats, and the hall got pretty full--but it felt like fate, and Maria's stomach fluttered at just being near him. He was such a specimen.

"Are you as ready to move beyond the Bronze Age as I am?" he asked, and it took Maria a moment to realize he was talking to her.

"Spoiler alert, but it's the Iron Age next," she said with a smile.

But even so, she knew she shouldn't be flirting with this boy, no matter what a catch he was, no matter how interested he seemed to be. She was with Ellie. She was in a relationship. That ought to be enough for her. It had to be, if she was going to stay safe. If she was going to stave off her future as a mother. But sitting next to David, all she could think about was her vision. She was getting short of breath in her seat, desperately hoping no one would notice.

As the lecture ended, David said, "Maria, right? I'm having a party on Wednesday, if you want to come."

"A party on a Wednesday?"

"Eh...not a rager. It'll be chill. You can bring your girlfriend," he added quickly.

So he knew. Of course he knew, he saw them kiss. And this wasn't a date or anything, probably; he considered her taken.

"Sure, sounds like a good time," she said. "Text me the details?"

And just like that, they exchanged numbers, and started a chain of texts that Maria couldn't stop thinking about.

That night, she was in her dorm room pleasuring herself, thinking of that vision. Thinking of Wednesday. Could it happen then? She knew it wasn't a good idea. Any penetration was risky. The withdrawal method was for the ignorant or the religious and optimistic, she thought. But even so...

She didn't want to be in a relationship with Ellie anymore. Just like that, it'd gone from liberating to constraining. She texted Ellie, asking her to meet her at the woods just off campus.

Maria was relieved that no one was around when the two of them met there. Ellie moved to hold her hand, but Maria pulled away. "I brought you here to...We need to talk, El."

"Oh," Ellie said. "Oh well."

"Oh well??" Maria asked.

"It was clear from the beginning that you were just a tourist to my side of the fence," Ellie said.

"You haven't even given me a chance to say it," Maria said.

"You don't have to. I've been here before," Ellie said. "It's what I do. I show straight girls what they're missing. So anyway, if you ever find that your guy isn't getting you off, you know where to find me."

Maria hadn't realized how much she'd depended on Ellie until they'd broken it off, and Maria was left to her own devices, as it were. She could get herself off, but it wasn't the same. By the time Wednesday night came, the sense of freedom that Maria felt from being single again was already tinged with teenage desperation.

What if David wasn't into her after all? Maria put some stake in her visions, but she wasn't sure they were guaranteed to come true. Even if they did, what lengths would Maria have to go to, to be with him?

For the party, she put on a dress that hugged and accentuated her curves. It wasn't easy to get in and out of, but maybe that was a plus. Yes, she knew she'd end up having sex with David eventually, but she knew she shouldn't yet, if she could help it. She hardly knew him yet, after all. Even so, the knowledge made her nervous and aroused. She dabbed on a little essential oil, to hopefully cover her scent. She didn't want it to seem like she was throwing herself at him, like she was a woman in heat.

David's gathering was very chill. Conversation and hors d'oeuvres. A little tasteful background music. The wine wasn't really the kind of thing to binge on. Maria talked to a lot of people, but her eye always kept finding David's across the room. Making eye contact, being near him, any touch at all, made her nearly gasp. She wondered how obvious it might be to the others.

She didn't mean to be the last one there, but once things started winding down, a couple people started to help clean up, and Maria pitched in, and then somehow it was just her and David, and the dorm room didn't seem all that big anymore.

"I'm glad you came tonight," David said. "But...I feel like we didn't get much chance to talk."

"Talk?" Maria asked, thinking of other things they could do instead, then chastising herself for thinking it. She hoped he wouldn't catch on.

"I mean, get to know each other," David said.

"Right. Yeah," she replied, to fill the air. If she didn't say something, it was either going to be unbearably awkward, or the sexual tension was going to crush her. And she still didn't know for sure if he felt any of it yet.

"Maybe you and I could hang out sometime," David said.

"I...I'd like that," Maria said, though it was a struggle.

"How about Friday?" he asked.

"Yeah, Friday's good," she replied, feigning nonchalance.

She was practically skipping on her way home. He had to like her, if he was inviting her over to hand out one-on-one. And she'd managed to get through the party without throwing herself at him, without making a fool of herself, without rushing to fulfill her vision and destroying it in the process.

Tonight would've definitely been too soon. Friday, though? Now it was Friday on her mind all the time. She wondered if this was all moving too fast. Or maybe she was reading too much into it, because of where she knew things could be headed.

Friday night, she skipped out on her friends' group trip to the dining hall, to get ready. She showered and shaved and waffled between dressing up again vs. being her more casual self with him. Ultimately she settled on some tight-fitting jeans and a soft sweater.

Maria showed up at David's door, expecting to hang out, but answered the door in a suit jacket.

"Are you doing job interviews?" she asked.

"Come on, we've got a reservation," he said, ushering her back out the door.

So much for snuggling in front of a laptop screen or whatever, she thought. But then again, he was signaling that this was a first date, and he was trying to impress. She'd never much been one for dating per se, but she appreciated the gesture.

They went to a fancy Lebanese place, and her only regret was that she wanted to overindulge, and knew she shouldn't. Sitting across from this beautiful boy, in a tastefully lit restaurant, it made her think about what they could get up to after, and somehow, the wait only heightened her anticipation.

Walking back to his place after, the butterflies in her stomach were just about to burst out, when he stopped by a lamp post and pulled her in for a kiss.

"Sorry, I resisted that as long as I could," he said.

"You didn't have to," she teased. "How many lamp posts did we walk past already?"

And he kissed her again, slower this time, knowing that he could. By the time they returned to his place, kisses were no longer enough, but he was patient in waiting for her to warm to him by degrees. It made her wonder how many times he had done this before. A guy like this. Surely more times than she had.

When they were naked on his bed, she loved how he felt against her. She could feel the stiffness and warmth of his erection against her thigh. It would be so easy to align themselves, and then...

She thought of her vision of him inside her, unprotected. She thought of her visions of pregnancy and raising a child, the good and the bad. Her pulse raced at the thought. The terror and exhilaration and excitement of it all.

But she couldn't. Not yet. So she reached down for him, taking his shaft in her hand, stroking it. She repositioned herself to bring her mouth to it, and David followed her lead, kissing her stomach, following the lines of her abdomen down to where they met.

Maria took him into her mouth, but it was hard to concentrate over what he was doing with his. Sorry, Ellie, she thought. This boy knows how to give a girl head. He explored her folds tentatively at first, waiting for her to push her hips against his fingers, his tongue. Meanwhile she licked his shaft top to bottom and back again, wondering how it would fit inside her. She could feel her intensity building up quickly, and she guided his tip into her mouth again, her hand caressing the skin of his shaft, cupping his testes. He moaned into her slit, and she could feel the vibrations of his deep moans through his tongue.

She would have gone on forever like this, but she needed the release. She pressed her hips against his mouth in time with his tongue, until all at once she started to tremble violently. Her leg fell across his face, but he still didn't stop. In fact, he started to thrust back against her, pushing more of himself into her mouth. And then she felt him turn rigid, and swell up in her mouth.

Maria struggled to keep up with the flood of seed into her mouth, but eventually she got it all down. In that moment, the option not to didn't occur to her. It was hers. He was giving it to her because she had brought it forth.

Afterward, they panted, and he shifted to be able to kiss her deeply, not caring that they had each other's juices on their tongues. When it did occur to Maria, she realized that if she had his seed in her mouth, then it was in his now too, and that meant he couldn't go down on her again that night, not if she was going to stay safe. Her visions had showed her having risky intercourse with him sooner or later, but she didn't know whether that would be the time she'd get knocked up or not--it could be sometime later, or she could be already pregnant in her vision but unaware of it. Maybe it wasn't a rational fear, but they'd gotten this far without taking any risks, and she didn't want to ruin that now.

It was a lot to think about, and she was struggling to think it through with David around. Naked, next to her, available for more. God, he was cute. But she had to stop it there, while she had the chance.

Maria got up off the bed and started to dress--hurrying but trying to not obviously hurry.

"You don't have to go, if you don't want to," David said. It was as close to a plea as she could expect from a man who never had to beg.

"I...uh...forgot, I have this big paper due on Monday," she said.

It was true, even if it wasn't truly the first thing on her mind. Now that she thought of it, it would have been more responsible to have started the research that night instead of spending the evening with David.

That thought added on a layer of anxiety. The truth was, she loved college. She loved academia. She was flourishing here, and she could see herself pursuing it for live, the bottomless well of curiosity and knowledge. She didn't want to do anything to risk that future. And yet here she was, letting her pussy get her distracted and boy-crazy.

Yet, even while walking home, she was reminiscing about being in David's embrace, the feeling of his tongue delving into her slit, how he pulsed in her mouth before she came.

And then, out of the blue, a vision. A new one. She was in the park on a chilly late-winter day. Her daughter was on a swing at a playground. Daughter? That was new. Maria hadn't known the baby's gender before, but indeed, her daughter's dark braids were hanging out the back of her little coat. Whenever the swing swung back toward her, Maria gave it a gentle push. Her daughter let loose a peel of giggles, and it made Maria smile from ear to ear.

The vision ended abruptly, the daylight replaced with night again so fast that Maria had an after-image of it on her eyes. Gone too was that intense, unexpected joy.

So parenthood wouldn't be all sore breasts and sleepless nights and soiled diapers. Someday she would even come to enjoy it. Cherish it. It was a crack in her defenses. A crack that could bring the whole wall down, if she wasn't careful. She tried to remember all the earlier visions, to make the exhaustion and drudgery real for herself again. She couldn't let herself get carried away by a vision of one idyllic moment.

At the same time, why now? Her hands were shaking when she got back to her room. Was the universe trying to tell her something, by showing her this just after she'd been with David? Was this a sign that he was the one? She knew she shouldn't read too much into it. Her visions had always been pretty random, and easy to misinterpret. And she and David had just hooked up the once so far, though she knew they would hook up at least once more.

She ran into him on the way to the dining hall the next day.

"Are we still good?" he asked. "I mean, because you kinda bolted last night."

"Sorry," she said. "Even after...I guess I got a case of nerves. Yeah. We're good."

They went inside and had brunch together, and the conversation reminded her that not only was he cute and good in bed, he was also smart and funny, and it seemed like they got along really well, and he must have some really good genes, and--hold on, that was a new one.

Maria was struggling to keep up her end of the conversation, because her mind kept wandering back to what a baby--their daughter--would look like. Even though, as she had to keep reminding herself, it was definitely not going to happen. At least not anytime soon.

While on Saturday it was just a lunch date, it wasn't long before she found herself in bed with him again. And kneeling down in front of him in the shower. And spreading her legs on his desk, for him to eat her out. She even slept over once, and found that, to her relief and unacknowledged disappointment, she did not get woken up by a penis between her legs.