The Rehearsal

"Absolutely," Elly replied, as an ambulance screamed its way past them. "I'm the same. I'm from Warwick but we moved here last year for my dad's job. Hate it. Brexit country."

"Tell me about it. I'm born and raised and I hope I never see it again after next week. Norfolk's too flat, anyway." Elly nodded.

"Which house is it?"

"Number seven," said Grace,. "The one with the orange door."

"That one?" asked Elly, pointing.

"Yeah." Elly pulled into the empty brick driveway in front of the nondescript semi-detached house, potted cacti watching from the living room window, and shut off the engine. Grace took a deep, dramatic breath.

"I guess this is it," Elly said.

"I guess so," Grace replied, grinning. "Ready?"

"Yeah." Elly nodded vigorously. Her face didn't look that ready.

"Remember," said Grace, reaching over and taking her hand. It felt soft and dainty. "Red, yellow, green. I'm not in charge. Nothing happens without you wanting it. I know we've said we're gonna have sex but there's no, you know, contract written in blood. If we just end up cuddling and the only clothes that come off are our shoes, then it's all good. None of this matters -- it's just fun and that's it. Okay?"

"Okay," said Elly, squeezing her hand, smiling and looking just a little more confident than she had before.

"Ready?" In answer, Elly leaned in and kissed Grace again, and Grace let her take the lead this time, as time seemed to fall away and they got lost in each other, until finally breaking away and resting their foreheads together, Elly's hands on Grace's bare shoulders.

"I can't believe I get to fuck you," she whispered, and Grace laughed. She was starting to understand what that tattered smutty paperback she found when she was thirteen meant when it mentioned that the protagonist's "loins were burning."

Grace led Elly inside, so hasty she forgot her water bottle in the car's cup holder, fiddling with the uncooperative lock, and both were briefly distracted by her cat, Mason, a ginger tabby who made sure to wander down the stairs and glare at Elly for a bit. Once they were done stroking his soft fur, and had left their shoes beneath the radiator because the house had never had a proper place for shoes, Grace took Elly by the hand again.

"Come on," she said, almost breathless, worrying she hadn't put on enough deodorant, "I'll show you my room." It was funny -- there was still a part of her which felt like Elly hadn't actually figured out her intentions. Like she was navigating a ship around a thousand treacherous rocks and had to watch her every word. It felt exciting in the extreme. They went up the stairs, at least half of which creaked, and though Grace knew Elly wasn't enough steps behind her to see up her dress, she hoped she was trying to anyway.

Once on the landing, Grace's parents' room being the only open door, Grace led Elly into her bedroom. It wasn't very big -- a single bed was pushed against a corner, the window above the headboard and criss-crossed by blinds, while on the opposite side had been pushed an old wooden desk where Grace's laptop and books and mirror rested in a decidedly untidy fashion. The wallpaper was white but barely visible -- Grace had covered it in Polaroid photos of her time at university. A hundred different parties and festivals and social gatherings beamed at them -- a vision, Elly perhaps hoped, of her own future. A string of Christmas lights hung from the wall along which the bed was pressed, and Grace leaned down to switch them on. They began to, weakly, shine, in the otherwise somewhat gloomy room. This place didn't get much sun.

"This is nice," said Elly, looking around, and she even sounded like she meant it.

"It sucks," Grace sniggered. "It's the spare room. Once I moved out for uni, I had to live here when I came back for the holidays. Hopefully I'll never have to be here again once I've gone to do my master's."

"Hopefully," agreed Elly, crossing her arms, pressing her little breasts together underneath her black shirt. She was definitely braless. Grace tried not to stare. Instead, she sat on the bed -- the mattress squeaked appreciatively beneath her.

"Wanna join me?" she asked and, after a moment's hesitation, Elly did, sitting beside her.

"Should we maybe put some music on?"

"I can, if you want," said Grace, rifling through her handbag for her phone. "What kind of music?"

"I don't know. Actually, maybe no music?"

"Okay," giggled Grace, "no music."

"Sorry. I'm just really nervous," Elly admitted, trying to smile.

"Feels good, right?" She nodded.

"It's funny."

"What's it that makes you nervous, in particular?" Elly looked away, trying to put together the words, scratching absent-mindedly at her scalp, making her messy hair even messier. "Is it the idea of being naked?"

"Yeah, kinda," she admitted. "Nobody's seen me naked before. Not since I was, you know, a toddler or whatever."

"I get you. I felt like that my first time." Grace put her hand on Elly's -- Elly looked at it. Grace half-expected her to recoil, but she didn't.

"What was it like?"

"Pretty traumatic -- I didn't have my boundaries respected. I guess that's half the reason it's important to me now. The other half being that it's just a decent way to be."

"I guess so," agreed Elly. "Also, I'm not the biggest fan of my body..."

"That's okay, neither am I," said Grace. "Wait, no, I mean of my body." They laughed.

"I know, I know," Elly reassured her, then looking down from Grace's eyes to almost seem to assess her figure, so easily accessible under this thin red dress. "I think you look amazing."

"You do?"

"Yeah."

"Well, when you look at me and feel that way, that's how I feel when I look at you." Elly looked back up, into Grace's eyes.

"That's really nice," she said, almost stuttered, her eyes just a little wetter. "So, yeah, I don't hugely like my body. I think one of my boobs is a bit bigger than the other." Grace looked down at her chest and closed one eye.

"I can't tell with the shirt on."

"Yeah, yeah," mumbled Elly, looking away, trying to push a smile down.

"So," said Grace, inching closer, the mattress squeaking again. "How do you wanna start? If you're ready to, I mean."

"Well..." Elly hesitated. "Maybe we could kiss for a bit longer? And then just see where that takes us, like I said before?"

"Sounds good to me," said Grace, smiling. "Come here."

Their lips came together once more, Elly building in confidence, Grace just savouring her sweet taste and the rough movements someone as untrained as her made. It was great. Then, suddenly, Elly broke away.

"Do you have a strapon?" she asked, and Grace couldn't help but cackle.

"No," she laughed. "Why? You wish I did?"

"No!" Elly cried, embarrassed. "I was actually just wanting to make sure you knew I didn't want that. I don't want anything to do with dicks. I just want... girl stuff."

"Well, I don't have one, anymore," said Grace, still laughing, "so you don't have to worry, do you?"

"No, I guess not," Elly admitted, giggling, and then their lips were toying with each other again.

This went on for quite a while. It was soothing, Grace supposed, for the both of them, letting them meld into each other, enough to feel the trust and familiarity build just a little bit. Elly was leaning in, now, diving deeper into the kiss, and Grace let her, holding her arm and purring with satisfaction when she slid her tongue into Elly's mouth, toying with her lip, and felt Elly's tongue meet her. After a minute or two, Elly pulled away, but only to take off her glasses and deposit them on Grace's bedside table before coming back for more, her hand never leaving Grace's thigh.

After a time, Grace leaned forward and gently pushed Elly backwards, guiding her down onto her back -- now, Elly lay right on the bed's edge, close enough to easily fall, and Grace straddled her, constantly hoping her knee wouldn't itself slip off the edge and send her tumbling. They kept kissing, as they would, one of Elly's hands now on Grace's ribs while Grace held the other down against the duvet. Grace's free hand, meanwhile, stroked fingers through Elly's soft hair, tugging at it from time to time. Finally, they separated, their faces ever so close, and tried to catch their breath.

"We should shift off the edge a bit," said Grace, and Elly agreed, so they did, before Grace sat up and looked down at Elly, who stared back up at her, trying to gauge her intents. Grace offered a hand.

"Come here," she said, and Elly took it to be helped into a seating position. Grace wrapped her arms around Elly's neck, holding her, and kissed her again, softly, before pulling away. "You're really good at that," Grace sighed, her arms leaving her neck so her hands could run up Elly's denim-clad thighs.

"Really?" asked Elly, sheepishly. "I thought I'd suck."

"It's pretty easy to surprise yourself."

"So... what now?"

"Hmm..." said Grace, trying to achieve some air of mischief, her fingers trailing further up Elly's thighs and to the hem of her t-shirt, which she took hold of. Elly's face flushed with what could have been excitement but what could just as easily have been fear.

"I'm not wearing a bra," she mumbled, and Grace grinned.

"I know. Dangerous."

She winked and, to her immense relief, Elly's shoulders relaxed and she lifted her arms up to the ceiling. Grace pulled her shirt up and off in one easy motion -- Elly's body was pale, soft, even warm looking, and Grace took the moment in which Elly's face was covered by her shirt as a chance to glance at her pretty little breasts, her nipples pink and firm, before Elly's face returned to view and the shirt was on the bedroom floor.

" I don't think one's smaller than the other," said Grace.

" No?" asked Elly, arms instinctively mov ing to cover herself, her face full of surprise as if she hadn't expected losing the shirt to mean losing modesty, but Grace was faster and her mouth was on Elly's breast. E lly squealed, flinching, jolting with surprise at the absurdity of the moment and unexpected pleasure, as Grace sucked her hardening nipple and squeezed the other. Elly held Grace's head with both hands, holding her against her chest, trying to suppress the whimpers and failing dismally, her fingers almost clawing at Grace's scalp. Grace pulled away, admiring Elly's body for a moment, then looked back up at her.

"You like that?" she asked, rhetorically, and Elly nodded, quickly.

"I didn't expect to," she said, her voice soft and cracking, trying not to bite her bottom lip, her hands holding Grace's shoulders. They kissed again, before Grace slid off the bed and stood next to it, looking down at Elly. Elly just stared up at her, no longer trying to cover herself, her legs crossed and pretty pale tits on display.

" God, you look so good," Grace murmured, and Elly grinned.

"You sure?" she asked, sitting back a bit, letting Grace see her properly. Her belly had an attractive bit of chub to it, trying to roll over the waistband of her jeans, but her ribs still pressed against her skin, her necklace glinting in what afternoon sun managed to get through the blinds, and, as Elly watched Grace's reaction as if hoping for approval, Grace felt a renewed purr of longing.

"Definitely," she said, all the certainty in her voice that she could muster, as she flicked her dress' spaghetti straps off her shoulders and let it fall off her body into a crumpled clump around her feet.

Elly, just like Grace, tried not to stare, doing all she could to maintain eye contact, as the cool air rushed over Grace's body. She stood there in her underwear, a black bra and very much not matching white knickers, tight and lacy along her waist, peeling off her socks with her feet, trying to keep her balance. If she fell, well, maybe it'd be charming, but she'd still rather not.

"Fuck, you're so hot," Elly said, practically whimpered, as she watched and Grace grinned, flicking the second sock off her foot.

"Thank you," she replied, trying to be all 'sweet as honey,' as her friend Tabitha would say. "I was thinking about putting on some proper lingerie for you, but I thought you might prefer seeing what I normally wear."

"I think you made the right choice."

"Yeah? Enjoying being with a girl so far?"

"Mhm," said Elly eagerly, nodding. "You smell way better than any boy I've been near." Grace laughed, sitting back down on the bed.

"I thought I'd smell all sweaty."

"Nuh-uh," said Elly, shaking her head. "You smell perfect."

"Thank you. You smell better than any boy, too." Elly looked surprised.

"Really?"

"Taste better, too," Grace added, leaning in and kissing her again. Was that a bad line, she pondered? Probably not.

They kissed for some time, their rapidly warming bodies pressed together, Elly making Grace proud by daring to reach round and, after a couple of false starts, unclipping her bra. Grace pulled it off her body and tossed it onto the floor, their lips never parting, as her hand played almost absent-mindedly with Elly's nipple, luring out more moans which added some extra energy to their kiss.

When they did part, Grace wordlessly sat back, and let Elly copy her, her mouth on Grace's breast and sucking, even having the gall to bite at one point, still trying to figure out how this little dance worked. Grace let the moans come, not bothering to fight them, wanting to hear the same from Elly but knowing she had to show it was okay to sound like this. Stroking her hair, resting her cheek against her head, she felt the pleasure dart through her body as Elly's mouth played with her nipple, felt herself become wetter beneath her underwear's thin fabric, especially when Elly's tongue joined in with the festivities.

"Oh, fuck," Grace hissed, her fingernails running up and down Elly's bare back, trying to leave marks faint enough to not be painful but bright enough that she'd see them in the mirror this evening and think of her. "Good girl." Elly murmured a little note of pleasure in reply, now sat on her knees, switching to Grace's other tit and playing the same eager games. A jolt of warmth shot through Grace's nether areas and, in an instant, she shoved Elly away. Elly fell onto her back and stared at Grace, a hint of confusion on her face, even worry, as if she'd maybe got it wrong. She hadn't -- Grace crawled over her, kissed her roughly in the way she'd already figured out Elly enjoyed, then worked her way down her bare torso, kissing her chest, teasing her nipples, running her tongue down her belly, before reaching Elly's jeans.

"Let's get you out of these," said Grace, and Elly craned her head to watch as the buttons, one by one, came undone. "You okay so far?"

"Yeah, definitely," said Elly, a bit breathlessly. "Green. Very green." Grace sniggered and Elly laughed, too, while her jeans were opened up and Grace hooked her fingers underneath, yanking them.

"Lift your butt up for me," she said, and Elly complied with a giggle, raising her bony hips so her jeans could come down her pretty, milky thighs. Grace pulled them all the way off, almost businesslike as she knelt there, the jeans turning inside out as they came past Elly's knees, and dropped them onto the floor. She did the same with Elly's socks, cute little white things with pink stripes, and let them fall onto the floor, too.

Now, the two of them were, in a way, matching, being undressed to the same degree. Elly, laying there, perched up on her elbows and watching Grace with anticipation sketched all over her increasingly pink face, was covered only by black briefs, thick lace trim running along its edges, dotted with little cartoon lips of pink, lilac, and scarlet. Grace stood on her knees, between Elly's feet, regarding her for a moment.

"You look so good," she sighed.

"Really?" asked Elly, shifting a bit, her hands covering her groin as if by force of habit, a stripe of yellow light coming through the blinds and slashing across her delicate body. " I'm not sure about these knickers. I usually wear boxers. "

"A hundred percent," said Grace, falling forward and crawling back over her, kissing Elly again, their tongues dancing together. They were kissing a lot but, to be fair, Elly was hot as fuck, so you couldn't really hold it against her.

When Grace pulled away Elly, looking up at her with warm eyes, sighed, and Grace cocked her head again.

"All good?" she asked.

"I just can't believe this," Elly whispered.

"What can't you believe?" asked Grace, grinning like an idiot.

"How good my first time's turning out to be."

"And this is just the foreplay."

"You mean there's more?" asked Elly in a mock-serious voice, and Grace cackled with laughter, putting a hand over her mouth to try and hold in the unflattering noises. Elly's hand stroked her shoulder, which burst with goosebumps, and Grace closed her eyes for a moment, letting the feeling linger, before falling back onto Elly and kissing her once more. Elly's fingers toyed with Grace's hair, pulling it at times, eliciting little squeaks of pleasure, and Grace's revenge came when her own fingers teased Elly's hard nipple, making her almost jolt like she was being very gently electrocuted. She bit at Elly's soft neck, inviting more whimpers, her fingers not letting up, until she sensed a change in the weather, a heightening of the notes coming from Elly, whose eyes had closed and who was softly whining. No, not whining. Pleading.

"You like that, pretty girl?" Grace asked, and Elly didn't answer, so Grace moved her mouth to Elly's free nipple and kept her eyes open, watching this newbie whine until, suddenly, her hips started to rise again and her whimpers became wails and her breathing faster and then, slowly then all at once, pleasure crashed over her in an awesome wave. Grace freed her victim and waited, just waited, for Elly's breathing to normalise and for her eyes to open. When they did, they almost looked confused, like she didn't know where she was, before regarding Grace with something which wasn't quite adoration but might as well be.

"Wow," Elly murmured, her breaths still trying to catch up with her, and Grace just smiled in reply. "I didn't know that could happen."

"Really?" Elly nodded.

"I, you know... play with myself, sometimes, but I never thought to touch my nips. I guess I'll be doing that from now on." Grace giggled, noticing in her periphery how Elly was slowly rubbing her thighs together.

"I like how sensitive you are."

"It all feels so good," Elly sighed, her head falling back, and Grace saw how, with no pillow, that might be straining her neck a little.

"Do you wanna switch?" she asked, and Elly looked up, staring at her. "No, I mean..." She laughed. "I mean do you wanna put your head on a pillow? You might hurt your neck like that."

"Oh," said Elly, realising the truth to this now she was thinking about it, "yeah, yeah I guess I ought to."

Grace pulled back and climbed off Elly, letting her push herself into a seating position and crawl to the other side of the bed, giving Grace a wonderful view of her pale, undie-clad rear as she did, her cheeks mostly on show given how little her underwear covered in the back. Naturally, one of those cheeks got a well-aimed slap, and Elly yelped in surprise as the crack filled the room.

"A perfect hit," sniggered Grace, and Elly looked back, still on all fours, and wiggled her rear a little. Grace slapped it again, and Elly's eyes closed, a murmur of approval emanating, before she carried on down the bed, turned over, and lay with her head perched on two soft pillows. Grace wondered if she could tell they were freshly laundered as Elly broke into a fresh round of giggles.

"What?" Grace asked, grinning.

"I can't believe I just did that," Elly laughed, covering her face with her hands. "Just shaking my arse at you like that. I don't do stuff like that!"