The Third Date 02: Dazed by Dizraeli

Dearest potential readers

This is Part 2 (incase you hadn't noticed), so I strongly recommend you read Part1 first if you haven't. Apologies for the lack of bedroom action so far: there is some coming, I promise!

Once again, a massive "you're wonderful" to KES and the brilliant Broken Spokes for their feedback and guidance. All remaining errors or flaws are entirely my fault.

If you do make it to the end, any feedback would be gratefully received.

All characters are over 18 and bear no resemblance to real people.

Happy reading.

T

Kate:

Well this was going better than I'd imagined.

Firstly, it had taken Melissa a while to realise we were in a gay bay - the place was midway between her office and my lab, so I guess she'd thought nothing of it. Then when she'd realised she'd taken the fact that she hadn't noticed as a good sign. Like it was all normal and natural. Then, I spotted somebody I recognised from the University and used this as an excuse to leave her by the bar in the place the barmaid assured me was a clear signal she was single. Sure enough, she was soon being chatted up by a very striking lady with beautiful dark skin. Melissa's body language looked interested, and so I stayed chatting with my colleague Casey who worked in Biochemistry.

When Melissa's would be partner got up to go to the loo, I decided to just check in.

"Hey girl, all good?"

"Yeah, yeah. It is."

"She seems keen..."

"Yeah, she is. And she's fucking hot. But I don't know. I don't want to fuck her around while I'm clearly in love with a fucking straight chick. It doesn't seem fair."

"So be honest. Tell her: she's an adult, she can make an informed choice. Maybe she's just looking for a one night thing?"

"You make it sound so fucking easy."

"Ok, allow me. What's her name?"

"Chas."

I turned and headed to the bathroom. I caught Chas as she came out.

"Hi! Chas?"

"Yeeess." She had a gorgeous, earthy voice and intense eyes.

"Hi, I'm Kate, Melissa's friend. Can we talk quickly?"

"Oh, sorry am I...?"

"No, no! Nothing like that. I just wanted to let you know that a) Melissa is a complete newbie. Like a total newbie. She's never been with a woman," her grin spread at this, "and b) she's almost certainly in love with a straight friend."

"Oh, the poor baby! Well, we've all been there, haven't we darrrling?" she purred back.

"Yeah, tell me about it. Anyway, I'm going to back off now. But we both felt it was only fair you knew. She knows she's in a state, and she doesn't want to screw anyone around."

"Shame. I'd lurrve to screw her right round, mmmm, mmmmm, mmmm," she hummed.

"Well, she might be up for that. I think she wants to see if she can actually... you know... do the deed with a woman..." I blushed.

"Oh, you're too cute. Threeway?"

"What!? No, that would be a terrible idea!"

"Just teasing, gorgeous!" Then suddenly she went serious, the seductive persona tucked away somewhere. "You're a good person, a good friend, and thanks for warning me. As it happens, I don't live in Bristol, only come here for work a couple of times a year, so I'm not looking for a long term thing. I won't push." Then the purr came back, "But if she wants me to show her the ropes tonight, I won't say no. Bye beautiful."

And with that she sashayed (no other word for it, though I'd never seen anyone walk like that in real life before) over to Melissa and started whispering in her ear. Within moments, Melissa was gathering her bag and dashing over to me.

"She's taking me for dinner and then..." she coughed, "well, we'll see. Thanks Kate." She gave my cheek a kiss and then followed Chas out the door.

Well, my work here was done. I was tempted to stay out and see if I could meet somebody that might help me shake off the hold Priya had over me, but I had a train to catch tomorrow. Plus, I wasn't sure I wanted to anyway.

I said goodbye to Casey, then headed home feeling mostly pleased with myself.

Priya:

"Look Priya, let me lay it out for you," Jenny sighed, holding my hands over the kitchen table, Nadine washing up our mugs. "All of your relationships with men have been crap. Like really crap. On the other hand, you can't stop talking about Kate. You love spending time with her. It sounds like you can't stop thinking about her either. So why not give it a try?"

"But what if..."

"Shhh! Stop. Not this again. Uh!" She paused. "Ok, close your eyes. Close them! Right, now imagine you're dancing. Nade - set the scene, put some music on - ok...." Dua Lipa's "One Kiss" started playing "ok - nice choice - so you're dancing. You picture that?"

I nodded.

"Now imagine Kate is dancing with you. Just work that image."

I did. I pictured Kate shimmying with me. Her long limbs smoothly moving, her torso swaying, her breasts moving under her shirt as she smiled at me, her eyes flashing. I imagined her hands going to my waist. In my head she did indeed look like all I needed.

"Now," Jenny's voice came lower, "imagine she's dancing closer, her arms around you."

"I'm already there," I murmured somewhat dreamily. I imagined Kate's hand trailing up my back to my neck as we swayed to the beat.

"Good, good... now imagine she's leaning in for a kiss..."

"Mmmmmmm." God how I wanted that. Oh God. How have I been so blind? I've wanted this from the first!

"How would that make you feel?"

I didn't answer at first, still dreamily swaying.

I heard a giggle from Nadine. "I think we know Jen. Chalk one up for you and Mel."

The song ended and I opened my eyes. "But then what? What happens after, after kissing? How do I know if I can.... You know?" I blushed. "What if I can't? What do girls even do?"

"Seriously? I thought you finished Fingersmith?"

"Well, yeah, but it wasn't particularly graphic."

"Got you covered babe," grinned Nadine. "Leila sent you a reading list. Check your whatsapp later."

"What?!"

"Sweetie, stop stressing," Jenny said, squeezing my hand before getting up. "Look it's late - gosh, it's after midnight - I've got to go to bed, school tomorrow. But honey, if you want to be with Kate, you can be."

"You make it sound so simple..."

"Oh but it is - you still need to go on my date remember!"

"You wouldn't!"

"Oh yes I would! Night babe." She kissed me on the cheek and headed upstairs.

"Come on Priya, we should go up too babe. Look, it's going to be fine. Trust. We're all with you in this. I don't think you realise how much the three of us love you fam."

I dragged myself up to bed and washed up in a daze, my mind a whirr. Was I gay? Bi? Suddenly, so much potentially made sense, though how much was I just overthinking? My closeted gay boyfriend and flings had been rather effeminate. And Kate. I'd had a tendency in Uni to throw myself at boys on the dancefloor, but it had been after I'd worked myself up dancing with girls - was it really them I'd fancied? Or the girls I'd been dancing with? And Kate. There had never been fireworks in the bedroom with any boys. Even my reaction to my cello took on a new light. And Kate, always my mind kept circling back to Kate. The way she smiled, the way she laughed, the way she listened, the way she moved. Oh my God. Maybe this was it! I was never going to sleep like this.

I needed to read something, but I'd just finished a book Jenny had lent me called "The Henna Wars" and... oh, the sneaky little minx! She'd been feeding me lesbian texts for the past few weeks and I hadn't even noticed what she was up to!

Wait, I had a reading list, didn't I? I pulled out my phone and checked the forwarded messages from Nadine. They were all links to a site called "literotica". God! Had I been sent porn? The thought made me cringe a little. But instead they were all links to stories: "A girl named Mitch", "Wheels in motion", "Her", "Could you be mine?", "Roses for Erin", "My dearest Nicole", "Evergreen kiss", "The case of the sneaky valentine", "A blind date for the holidays." I opened the last one and started reading.

I gave into exhaustion, emotional and physical, sometime around 4, surrounded by a pile of crumpled tissues, my eyes red from all the joyful tears I'd been crying.

I didn't do much at all with my day off, not that I'd planned to, so I spent the day immersed in the stories, pausing only to Whatsapp grateful thanks to Leila, Nadine and Jenny. I was tempted, very tempted to message Kate too, but I didn't know what to say and I'd quickly realised from reading these beautiful tales that there were things I needed to do and work out before I said anything that led her on. Thankfully, she was away at a conference in Canterbury then spending Sunday with her parents on the way back. That gave me time before I had to see her. There were things I needed to do, and the stories were making it clear what they were.

Finally, in front of me, were characters I saw myself mirrored in. The fantasy land of time before with men who were patient, noble and strong was revealed as precisely that - a fantasy. Unobtainable, irrelevant. Here was a template for my life, a roadmap for what I was feeling and where it might lead that both thrilled and scared me. But I was not going to make the same mistakes that these characters made.

Replaying conversations with Kate in my head as I started on supper, I realised that the girl who Anastasia had left rather than come out to her parents must have been her. That must have been heartbreaking. I could see how, even if she was as into me as Jenny assured me she was, she might be reticent about going out with a girl who wasn't out to her friends and family, or, worse, was merely bi-curious. I'd need to convince her this wasn't the case. If anything happened between us, we needed to be on an equal footing.

I considered myself. That my friends would support me wasn't ever in question: I knew that in the heart of me. Work: Paul wouldn't care and neither would our clients - there were plenty of LGBTQ+ people in the film and television industry. It wouldn't even be a thing.

My family. Well, while they were solidly middle-class, they weren't religious, so I doubted they'd have any objection on those grounds. It had been May's immigration rules, not Cameron legalising gay marriage that had finally put them off the Tories. My parents had been to at least one gay wedding, one of my Dad's colleagues, that I was aware of, so presumably were fine with it in principle, though I'm sure it was always different when it was your own daughter. At least both my older siblings had already provided grandchildren, so I wouldn't get any guilt-tripping on that score. What about my brother and sister? Veena was 12 years older than me, Jay 10 - I was the unplanned accident my parents had in their late 30s. They'd both moved out before I'd turned 10, so were distant figures, more like an aunt or uncle: I doubted they would care, but it wouldn't matter to me if they did. It wouldn't affect my life.

No, it was my parents I needed to talk to. I loved them dearly, even if we didn't see eye to eye on some things. Would their disapproval put me off? I pondered that. Hard to know; it would definitely hurt, but would it really change anything? Still, if I was going to have a wobble, it would be better to do it before anything happened. I briefly entertained the fantasy of calling them up on speaker and coming out to them while Kate held my hand, perhaps in response to some comment from her that she couldn't date a girl in the closet, but then dismissed that as ridiculous grandstanding that could so easily backfire.

Well, waiting wouldn't make it any easier. It was 5:30 pm on a Friday. Hopefully, they'd be home.

Deep breath. She answered after the third ring.

"Hi Mum."

"Priya darling. How lovely. How are you? Let me call your dad. I'll put you on speaker."

We chatted easily for a while, talking about work and my housemates. I asked after Mum's book club and Dad's volunteering. I spoke to them most weeks, even if I didn't make it up to Birmingham as much as they'd like. I hadn't seen them since February, when I'd gone up with Nadine and they'd come to the concert. They were busy Grandparents and spent most weekends with my nieces and nephews. I realised I was stalling and needed to just, ah, come out with it.

"Mum, Dad, I need to tell you both something."

"Ok."

"So, I made a new friend recently, her name is Kate, she's a researcher at the University and I really like her, and I think I might be falling in love with her." The words just tumbled out of me.

"Oh lovely. What's she researching?"

My mind went blank. I couldn't say anything. Had they heard me right?

"Priya? Are you there darling?"

"Yes, yes," I squeaked, "I'm here! Um.... did you hear what I said..."

My dad's slightly singsong cadence came over the phone.

"Yes, Priya Beta, you mother and I heard you. You are in love with a woman called Kate. Does she love you? When will you be bringing her to see us?"

"Um.... errr," oh God, this was not how I envisaged this conversation going. I couldn't decide if it was better or worse than I'd imagined.

"What star sign is she, Priya Beta? We have to know if the two of you are compatible. I will consult my friend Ravi for an astrological reading before..."

"Oh Raaj, stop teasing her! Priya, darling, ignore your father, he's winding you up! Sweetie, I hope you haven't been getting worried telling us about this?"

"Um... a little..."

"Well, don't. I just hope she feels the same way about you. Is she... er... what do they say... out herself?"

"I think so. We haven't really talked about it."

"Then isn't this all a bit premature Beta?" my Dad again, "we don't want you getting hurt when maybe she doesn't feel the same."

"Thanks Dad. You're right. It's just I wanted to do this before, just so... well just so I'd know."

"Oh darling, you didn't think we'd mind, did you?"

"Not really Mum. But I wanted to make sure, you know. Thank you. I love you both."

"And we love you Priya Muuna."

"Yes, darling, always. Besides it's not like we didn't know about you and Melissa. How is she taking this by the way?"

"Whaaaaa....?" I was so surprised my brian stopped functioning.

"Well, oh, weren't the two of you together? You father and I just assumed that's why you'd decided on Bristol over Oxford, so you could follow each other there."

"We're friends Mum! We've never.... No! And, anyway I was with Jordan at school!"

"Oh come on Priya, that sweet boy was camper than the boy scouts! I thought you were each other's patsies? No? Oh well, I got that wrong then."

My mind was struggling to take this in. Clearly, my parents had thought I was gay for ages.

"What, so you thought.... Mum, Dad, how long have you thought I was gay? Why didn't you say anything?"

"We thought you would talk to us when the time was right for you Priya Beta, as it now seems to be."

"My God, I don't know what to say..."

"Well, don't worry about it, no harm done, and perhaps it's made this conversation easier than it might have been. How is Melissa by the way?"

"Oh, she's fine, thanks."

"Has she got a boyfriend then?"

"No, no, she hasn't."

"Hmmm."

Wow, this was going in an odd direction.

"Listen, um, thank you, I'd better hang up as I need to finish cooking, but, thank you."

"Call us soon love. Please. Let us know how it goes."

"Yes please Priya Beta."

"Ok will, I promise. Love you both."

I'd barely hung up when the front door opened and Jenny and Melissa came in. "Mmmmm something smells good..." came Jenny's voice as they walked into the kitchen, stopping when they saw me standing there, a little shell-shocked, clutching my phone.

"You alright Priya?" Melissa asked.

"You look a bit strange sweetie," Jenny added.

"I just told my parents about Kate."

Jenny jumped up and down and gave a little squeal. Melissa raised an eyebrow: "And...?"

"They thought you and I were a couple."

We all looked at each other in shock for half a second, before dissolving into laughter.

"Oh that's fucking brilliant. This calls for wine."

"Yes, definitely!" All the tension was gone. This was as weird as hell, but it was all good.

"Listen you two. I love you both so much."

We came together in a huge hug, rocking back and forth.

"And I'm totally going to need your help. I want Kate to have a date to remember when she gets back. I've been blowing hot and cold with her, and I need to show her I'm serious."

"What did you have in mind?"

So I explained my plan to help convince Kate I was genuinely interested and not some curious girl wanting to experiment. They chipped in with ideas and started making calls while I finished cooking. They really were such wonderful friends.

Nadine came back, all done at the studio and buzzing, her enthusiasm helping to quell my nervousness. They were all taking it so well, but they were all a bit blasé, just assuming it was a done deal, when that was far from the case. Flirting was one thing, but sex another. I felt I needed to make this point.

Moving the food bowls out of the way, I grabbed the empty bottle of wine we'd finished off and put it sideways on the table. That got their attention.

"So," I began, "thanks so much, all of you. But I need to ask another favour. I'm fairly certain I fancy Kate and I can imagine doing all kinds of things with her, but I'm so scared I'll get to it and just wimp out, which won't be fair to her." I looked at each of them in turn. "I need to know I can go down on a girl." I lent over, holding the bottle, making as if I was about to spin it. I paused, enjoying the looks of shock on their faces. I struggled not to laugh. "Jenny, if it lands on you, then Tom can watch but he can't touch me or..."

It was too much. I creased up in laughter. "Your faces! Oh, oh, I'm sorry..."

"Priya you cow!"

"You fucking... ah! Priya!" Melissa nearly shoved me out of my chair.

Nadine nearly wet herself laughing, as the blush on Jenny's face crept up.

"Nobody, nobody, repeat this conversation to Tom," she gasped, fanning herself. "The poor boy would pass out."

"You have been reading entirely too many of Leila's porn stories, trust," Nadine said, wiping her eyes.

"What the fuck? Priya's got a porn stash? You need to share, girl!"

"Any time Melissa!" I grinned.

"Right, for real, stop distracting us with offers of oral sex babe. There's totes something else we need to do together," Nadine winked.

"Really? Now?" I groaned, "Shouldn't we wait until the others come on Sunday?"

"Come on fam, it was your idea!" insisted Nadine, standing up and taking my arm.

"Besides babe," Melissa purred, "if you can't perform for the three of us, how will you be able to perform for Kate."

"Err... we're still talking about the plan for the date, right?" asked Jenny, "This isn't another line from a porno?"

"Come on. Living room."

Kate:

It was Friday night, the mid-point of the conference, and I was trying to keep the two text conversations going. It was tricky not to muddle up who I was replying to and accidentally start flirting with Melissa or plotting with Priya. Melissa was coaching me on my forthcoming blind date with Priya, that was going to seem like an accident:

Melissa: Make it seem like a coincidence. Like you're just there, and you come to her rescue.

Me: Ok, you got it. Knight-in-shining denim mode, to rescue a stood-up damsel.

Melissa: Yeah, and don't let on that you're Jenny's choice of date.

Me: Ok, but eventually I have to tell her, right?

Melissa: Take her dancing, tell her then. Dancing makes her super horny.