There were Four in the Bed

"We have an open relationship," said Rachel with a shrug. "It's just kind of how things developed. Neither of us was looking for anything long-term, but we hooked up a couple of times and then I had a spare room and Leslie needed somewhere. We were going to the same spots, sharing taxis, and bringing various ladies back. And if I was staying home and Leslie came back with someone she thought I'd like, we'd make it a threesome and visa versa. So the 'open' really predated the 'relationship'. And over the years it just became comfortable and very co-dependant."

"It's never been fireworks...," Leslie started. "No, I take that back. There have often been sexual fireworks. It's just that neither of us has ever been particularly romantic. We just found something that works and stuck with it."

"We're just very sexual people."

Joanne felt uncomfortable with the way Rachel had looked at Bakul as she'd said that. She'd even curled a finger round in her hair.

"Right, I think the food should probably be ready," Joanne said standing up. The next few minutes went by with fetching, serving and uncorking. When the meal got underway, the conversation moved on to Joanne and Leslie's school days together and who was doing what from their class. Bakul's starters were a bit of a mess. The flavour of the aloo chaat wasn't so much subtle as it was non-existent, but they were still edible. The stuffed mushrooms had to be binned without ever seeing the dining room. It was hard to mess up bhajis though and they were a hit.

"Another glass of wine?" Joanne asked, picking up the bottle.

"I'd better not, I'm driving," replied Leslie.

"That's a shame," said Joanne.

"I tell you what," said Bakul, "if you want, you two can stay in my room tonight. Make a proper night of it."

The other couple looked at her for a moment quizzically. It made slightly more sense to Joanne, but, boy, had Bakul not phrased that properly.

"I mean," said Bakul quickly, "Technically, as far as our families and our kids are concerned, I'm a lodger here. So I've got my own room but, well obviously, I rarely sleep in it. The children are at their Auntie Darpy's so if you wanted to stay later and have another glass, it wouldn't be a problem. Assuming you don't have plans in the morning."

By way of answer, Leslie offered up her glass and Rachel quickly joined her.

The evening continued, the conversation taking in such scintillating topics as the latest movies, the weather, and the fucking Tories. It was much as any civilized dinner party held in Britain over the past twenty years, although a successful one for all that. Eventually and long after the food had actually been consumed, it was time to clean things away and call it a night.

"I'd better go upstairs and get the guest room ready," announced Bakul. Only Bakul could make a pigsty of a room she was never actually in.

"Okay, we've got an overnight bag packed in the car," said Rachel. "I'll go grab it."

"I'll clear the plates," said Joanne.

"I'll help," said Leslie grabbing the remaining half of the Tiramisu. "That was all lovely by the way."

The two old schoolmates went into the kitchen. After Leslie put the dessert away, she hovered at the fridge door studying the garish My Little Pony picture hung by fruit-themed fridge magnets.

"So, family, eh?" she said, spinning a pineapple round a hundred and eighty degrees.

"Yeah, the marriage was a bit of a disaster, but I can't look at Lucy and regret it." Joanne started running the hot water.

"And now...this," said Leslie, picking up a dishcloth and waiting for plates to arrive. "I bet it's all a bit different."

"It's the same only better, really," said Joanne. "I don't know if that's because it's all new and exciting or if it's just better because it's better."

"She's a catch, that Bakul. You've done stunningly well there."

There was a pause as they got down to serious plate washing. Then Leslie took a deep breath.

"I don't know how I should say this or even if. It's really great to reconnect with you and, believe it or not, we are able to keep our bodies to ourselves and act like normal people when necessary. However, I won't pretend that we wouldn't leap at the chance to leap on both of you and we'd be honoured if, as you continue to explore, you wanted to make us part of your journey."

"Okay," said Joanne her cheeks red.

"Sorry, I'm probably embarrassing you. This is just a thought. Have you heard of same-room play? You and Bakul, me and Rachel different sides of the same bed. I won't say anymore. Talk it over with Bakul or don't. If you're up for it, knock on our door later tonight. If not then not. We don't need to have a big long conversation about it."

"Give me the dry ones," said Joanne hurrying away from her side. She grabbed some of the wine glasses and put them in the cupboard next to the fridge. As she passed, she stopped to move all the fruit back into the upright position.

4.

Forty minutes later and Joanne was in the bathroom. She'd managed to clean her teeth and wash her face even though her heart was beating through her chest and her mind was racing.

She stood in front of the bathroom mirror trying to calm herself.

Lesbian Leslie from school had made a pass at her. Well, at them. Whatever. Leslie was sexually interested in her.

Bakul had got the other room nearly presentable, they'd said their good-nights, and then her phone had gone off and she'd rushed downstairs to take some call about an urgent family matter. She'd be up soon and Joanne needed to work out what to do.

Normally, she'd make a list of pros and cons for any big decision. She didn't see much point for this one. She didn't know what the hell would happen if they went through with this, and that was surely reason enough not to do it. She obviously had to mention the offer to Bakul, which needed care in its presentation in its own right. After that, she saw two possibilities. She said no, Bakul argued, she put her foot down and that was that. Or, she said no, Bakul argued and she caved.

There was, of course, always the wild card choice.

She went into the bedroom, Bakul was only thirty seconds behind her.

"Well, that was kind of awkward," Bakul said in a low voice.

"How do you mean?" Joanne asked.

"Shh, they'll hear," said Bakul conspiratorially. "Well, I got them all settled in and then went to check my phone messages and there's a major family drama blowing up over Sumati and Kevin's wedding. Anyway, they were asking if I still had the sari that I went to Mitri's wedding in and if I thought it would fit Bhumi. And they wanted an answer now since otherwise Bhumi would have to take a day off work tomorrow to go to a fitting. Long story short, I had to go back into my room to check and...well, they were being kind of weird."

Joanne had a sinking feeling, "Weird how?"

"Like they were really happy I was coming back to bother them. And Rachel was lying in kind of a sexy way, except, once I was in the room if anything her pose got more sexy. I swear she was shifting up to make more room. And Leslie was asking if you were going to be joining them. But then I explained that I just needed the wardrobe and they got really quiet all of a sudden. Did they say something to you?"

Joanne put her head in her hands. "Only that we should knock on their door if we wanted a foursome."

"Get out of here!" exclaimed Bakul then remembered she was being quiet. "And you didn't tell me?"she whispered.

"I was going to. I thought that the knocking on the door would be more a middle of night thing, not a before I've finished brushing my teeth kind of affair."

Bakul got into bed. They looked at each other for a second and then burst out laughing. "Made a deep enough connection with the community yet?" Bakul said.

Joanne bit her lip. "I was going to suggest we take them up on the offer."

"What?" said Bakul. "I mean, sure, they've been dropping hints all evening. I was going to tease you relentlessly about it before bowing to your inevitable refusal. I was so certain about it, I haven't even actually thought about what I actually want to do."

"They were talking about us staying with our partners, just being in the same room together. I thought that might work."

"Okay," said Bakul. "You're the boss."

"No! No, I'm not," replied Joanne. "We should make these decisions together."

"Yeah, and my decision is always to do whatever you tell me," smiled Bakul. "Miss-ter-ess,"

"Knock it off. This is serious. You said before your husband had asked for an open relationship and you turned him down flat."

"Yeah, because he asked at the wrong time for the wrong reasons. An open relationship makes a bad marriage worse. I'm betting it can make a good marriage better. And he wouldn't have stuck to just being in the same room, not for long anyway."

"Actually..." said Joanne.

"Oh my God! No way!" cried Bakul.

Joanne's shushed Bakul.

"No way!" whispered Bakul.

"I think...," said Joanne picking her words carefully. "I think that two months ago, I didn't know I was a lesbian. So, how do I know that I'm...that we're not swingers as well? It seems to be working out wonderfully for Leslie and Rachel."

"Looks can be deceiving," said Bakul. "How do we know they're not one misplaced spoon in the fork section away from all-out total nuclear divorce and just putting on a good face for this party? I've seen it happen with too many couples."

"Okay, okay," said Joanne. "But I mean, neither of us has much experience with other women and we could treat this as a bit of a mad time where we can sow our wild oats before setting down together properly. And if it's a disaster we can chalk it up to inexperience."

"So what are we actually going to do when we get in there?" asked Bakul.

"Just the same room stuff, I guess," said Joanne. Bakul's face fell just a tiny bit.

"At first," Joanne added. "I was thinking we should have like a safeword only, like the opposite."

"A danger word?"

"A word to indicate that we're okay with it going further. As far as they're concerned we're going to stick with same room and they won't even know we've discussed it, unless..."

"So what's the safeword?"

"Oh, damn it. I guess we can just go around saying 'aubergine' in the middle of it all. It'll have to be something fairly subtle. Hmm. Okay, what about using birds as pet names."

"Sorry, what?"

"I mean, if we're really enjoying things call me 'your little bluebird' or something as a sign of affection and I'll know we can proceed," said Joanne.

"Hmm," said Bakul. "It's crap but it'll do."

"So, we're actually going through with this?" said Joanne.

"I guess," said Bakul. "How are we doing this? We donning sexy underwear and bursting in with our manacles and sex toys."

"For the moment, let's just go over in dressing gowns and test the water."

They went into the hall, Joanne leading Bakul by the hand. She knocked on the guest room door.

"Come in," said a voice that sounded like Leslies.

They went a foot into the room. Only the light from the hall was on. The two other women were lying flat in their beds.

"Hi," said Joanne.

"Hi," replied Leslie cautiously. Once bitten, twice shy clearly.

Joanne hesitated for a moment to find the best way to express her meaning. "Perhaps you'd both like to come into the main bedroom," she said eventually. "There'll be more space there."

5.

The four women entered the room together. The two guests were in simple nighties and they took them off straight away. The two hosts looked at each other for a second and then followed suit, standing naked at the foot of the bed.

Leslie sat down and Rachel came to sit on her lap. The two women kissed long and deeply.

Joanne looked away. Then realized that was contrary to the whole point of the invitation. They were clearly wanting her to want them. She looked. Kissing, proper kissing, was hot, she quickly decided. It didn't matter who: woman with man, woman with woman, man with man, as long as a couple were eating each other faces, she was hot for it. After a good gawp, she turned to Bakul who was no less engrossed than she was.

"Wow," said Bakul, running a theatrical finger through the collar of her dressing gown. "Does anyone else hear an owl?"

"It's still a bit early in the evening for owls, I think," said Joanne with a scowl.

"Nah, I heard one just now, clear as anything." She grabbed Joanne by the hand. "Come on let's join them on the bed. I don't want to have to crane my neck to see what's going on. I want to have a proper gander."

Joanne didn't move. "Knock it off."

"What's the matter, chickening out already?"

Leslie broke off her kiss and looked up "Is everything okay?"

"Sorry, I know we're both acting a bit cuckoo. It's just nerves. Oh my God, great tits!"

Joanne resorted to her usual strategy for shutting Bakul up and kissed her. When their lips parted, Joanne looked across and saw Leslie already lying flat on the bed and Rachel pressing her face between her partner's legs.

There was the question of precedence, then. Should she service Bakul's needs first or have Bakul service her own? She was the boss, apparently, so it was her call. She pushed her lover down onto the spare bit of bed and positioned herself at the foot of it. A moment later and she was buried in pussy.

They hadn't done proper foreplay. That felt wrong, but she'd been in monkey see, monkey do mode just now and besides, being down here gave her a task to focus on. She'd wanted to do this but now she was here, she was also embarrassed. As always, Bakul was appreciative. Joanne had learned a lot over the past month and a half and had no problem in satisfying her partner. For the first few minutes, she was able to blot everything out except the task at hand, and pretend this was a normal tryst.

When she looked up, Bakul was holding Leslie's hand. It was a passive gesture, their arms were side-by-side and they'd just locked fingers. She smiled at Bakul and Bakul smiled back.

Leslie moved her left leg over Bakul's and they locked their ankles together. When Joanne went back to the well, she was aware that one thigh was the beautiful golden brown colour that she was used to and the other was an ivory white.

She felt a weird twinge of excited jealousy as if Bakul's was hers to keep or give away. She could be magnanimous but she should also be careful.

There was a subtle shift of Bakul's body, her pussy moving slightly at an angle. The two women above had twisted round slightly so they were looking at each other. They were both letting out low gasps of pleasure at irregular intervals.

After another period of attention, Joanne looked up again and saw Leslie's hand on Bakul's cheek. For a moment she thought the two were going to kiss, but there was only the tender caress. She realized suddenly that she wanted them to kiss. It seemed natural for them to kiss. She became impatient. Why won't they just kiss already, she thought to herself.

But, of course, that wasn't the agreement. Joanne tried to think of a way to signal to her lover that it was okay, no, that it was required. Just kiss her. Peck her. Would you peck her already? No, it didn't quite work. The birds had been a terrible idea.

She focused back on her partner. She'd thought she'd been pretty good, but it was the other pair that reached climax first, the outer thigh by her face quivering with the unmistakable signs of orgasm. Joanne redoubled her efforts, but even so, Leslie reached a second orgasm only moments after Bakul found hers.

There seemed now to be a natural lull. Both givers sat up on the bed to take a breather. "Change ends?" suggested Bakul.

"Actually, I have a suggestion," said Leslie. "I don't want to cross any boundaries, but perhaps Joanne would like to try a six-hand massage. I can do your neck and shoulders, Rachel can do her feet and you can see to the...er...bits in between. We wouldn't be doing anything sexual exactly, not exactly, so..."

It was a pretty darn hot suggestion as far as Joanne was concerned. She looked to Bakul to gauge her attitude.

"Sounds like a lark," said Bakul with a grin.

"Back in a second," said Rachel. She disappeared into the other room and returned with a bottle of massage oil.

Leslie put a pillow against the headboard and sat bolt upright against it. "Come and lie here," she said. Joanne moved into position sitting between her friend's open legs. There was definitely nothing sexual about lying back against the other woman's bare breast, of course. Oh, no.

"Close your eyes," Leslie instructed.

"Wait," said Bakul. "We've got just the thing."

Joanne heard footsteps and a moment later she felt the industrial-strength blindfold slip over her eyes. When Leslie started doing her neck, she realized immediately it was going to be a good massage, the sort you might actually pay a professional for. No one else was doing anything yet, but already Joanne could feel the week's stresses fading away -- the school run, the temper tantrums, having to prepare a dinner party...

She heard the sound of oil being rubbed onto hands and then felt the cold sensation of her feet being rubbed. Joanne had never had a proper foot massage before. After the oil was applied from her toes up to her ankles, the hands began to forcibly squeeze portions of her sole. It made her squirm but also felt great.

The hands picked one of her legs up by the ankle and firmly moved it to the side. Then it grabbed the other one and did the same. Now the hand only focused on the left foot, but she again felt movements on the sheets and a warm tongue suddenly reaching into her pussy. The technique was familiar but felt so much better now that her body was being stimulated from head to toe.

"That's nice," she said, although it was more than nice.

Before long her whole body was tingling. It was unlike her normal orgasms, big and showy. Instead, waves of pleasure crept up on her and subsided. She felt like she was both on the edge and also crashing through her climax at the same time. The feelings would subside for thirty seconds or so and then another wave would come.

This had been a good choice, she decided. She felt safe, comfortable, loved. In truth, she felt spacey. As the pleasure rolled across her, she wondered how much she could get away with.

"Hmmm," she said. "You're like a little hummingbird down there."

The tongue between her legs paused.

"Don't stop," she said quickly.

When it returned it was different. It moved with more purpose. It was, maybe not quite rougher, but certainly quicker, and as well as playing around her labia and clitoris it also darted inside her, teasing her from the inside.

She found herself gently sliding down her body pillow. Her head tilted up and a new set of lips met hers. Her hand went to her blindfold.

"Shh, shh," said Leslie, reaching up to pull Joanne's hand back down. "Keep them closed."

"Oh, fuck," Joanne moaned. She didn't need sight to know it was no longer Bakul down there.

She was still experiencing the tingling sensation and the waves, but on top of that, something else began to build. It didn't come at once, but she found herself curling her toes even in the early stages. She reached out and found a hand to hold. She didn't know whose. When the full force of it hit her, her legs jerked out, lifting themselves high off the bed. She squeezed the hand for dear life.

By the time it had finished, she was laughing.

"That was fucking amazing," she found herself saying as Leslie took the blindfold off her.

"Too right it was," she heard Bakul saying from what sounded like far away. She sat up. Her girlfriend was sitting in the big chair in the corner, her hand on her own pussy.

"You were just watching," said Joanne. "I'm sorry."