Throwin' Pennies in the Bay Pt. 01

This is Part 1 of a two-part story.

The following events took place in 1981, long before the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy was in place in the military. Being an active lesbian was risking your career, especially for an officer.

In 1971, President Richard Nixon formally certified the 26th Amendment to the US Constitution, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18. In response, most states reduced the legal drinking age to 18. Georgia reduced the drinking age to 18 in 1972, before the events depicted in the flashback scenes.

© 2020-2022 Candy_Kane54

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June 1981

I was traveling on a commuter turboprop from Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport to Houghton County Memorial Airport. Like me, most of the other 15 passengers on the plane were military officers. Michigan Technical University (MTU) was hosting a Symposium on Infrared Sensors sponsored by General Motors Tank Division. MTU was located in Houghton, MI, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (the UP). This was the premier IR sensor conference for the DoD, and I was really looking forward to attending it. This would be for eight days, running from Tuesday through next Thursday.

With me were four other officers (three Captains and one Major) from the Low Altitude Navigation and Targeting InfraRed for Night (LANTIRN) System Program Office (SPO) at Wright-Patterson AFB. I am a 1st Lieutenant and the only female in the group. They could double up on hotel rooms and save money. I didn't have that option. My per diem here in Houghton, MI, was $35, as was theirs. Out of that, I had to pay for my meals and my hotel room. I did manage to score a rental car for myself, so I wouldn't have to share with the men, so I was getting an extra $25 a day for that. However, any gas money would come from my already stretched per diem.

Before leaving for this TDY, I was informed I had received a line number for promotion to Captain. While making Captain was not guaranteed, you had to screw up pretty badly to not make Captain. One likely reason for not making Captain would be drunk driving. I knew one 1st Lieutenant who had done that, and he was passed over. He still had one more chance to make it, but it definitely wouldn't look good when going for any higher grade.

The civilian sitting next to me had tried a couple of times to talk me up, but I politely made it clear that I wasn't interested. Not because he was a jerk or anything, but because he was a man. I'm a lesbian and have been since high school. I did date a few boys, mostly jocks, since I was a jock myself, but nothing ever clicked, and there were never any second dates. The first time I kissed a girl, it felt like a lightning bolt went straight to my pussy. There was no going back to boys after that. As I sat there, I reflected on one such affair I had in my freshman year at Georgia Tech ...

September 1973

... I was on a volleyball scholarship working on my BSCS with a minor in Electrical Engineering. Her name was Judy, and she was on the volleyball team with me. During our first practice, I went up to spike the ball, and Judy went up to block. Judy got her hands up enough to stop my shot, and as we came down, I didn't land cleanly and stumbled forward far enough that we collided chest to chest under the net. Luckily we avoided cracking our heads together, but it did stagger both of us. I put my hands on her hips to steady us, and I noticed that Judy didn't immediately pull back. Her eyes were dilated, and she had a cute little smirk on her lips. Before anybody could make a snarky remark, we separated and returned to our positions. We held our gaze long enough for me to give her a wink and a smile.

After practice was over and we were all back in the locker room, showering and dressing, I looked over to Judy and noticed she was eyeing me. Instead of looking away as if she didn't want me to know she was looking, she held my gaze and winked back at me. I felt the heat in my pussy as I smiled at her. She nodded her head towards the shower room, picked up her shampoo bottle, and started walking back to the showers. I grabbed my shampoo and headed there myself.

I followed her, and I liked the way her ass moved. I enjoyed how the bottoms of her cheeks were peeking out from under the edge of the towel. She stepped into a shower stall, and I stepped into the shower stall opposite hers. Before pulling my shower curtain closed, l looked over to see what Judy was doing. Instead of immediately pulling her curtain closed, Judy turned to face me. She unfastened her towel, revealing her long, lean athletic body as she hung it on the hook outside the curtain. Before Judy could pull her curtain closed, I did the same, allowing Judy to see my entire body as I hung my towel up. We both stood there for a beat, running our eyes over each other's bodies. Our gazes locked on each other long enough for me to smile. I then pursed my lips as though whistling at her before we simultaneously pulled our curtains shut.

I turned back to the water, letting it cascade down my body as I reflected on what I had just seen. Judy had curly brown hair down to her shoulders, expressive brown eyes, and a beautiful face. She had a long, lean athletic body that was well-toned but not muscle-bound. She had small perky breasts with nice dark pink nipples surrounded by quarter-sized areolas. Her brown pubic hair was neat and trimmed, and her long, toned legs ended with slim feet.

My right hand slid down to my pussy as I thought about her. I started running my middle finger up and down my slit. I could feel the wetness that was not from the cascading water of the shower as I worked my finger between my lips. My left hand slid up to my left breast, and I cupped it, my hardening nipple nestled between my thumb and index finger.

I imagined the hands touching me were hers as my finger plunged into my hole, and I rolled and pinched my nipple. I imagined Judy's breath gently flowing over my right ear as she increased the tempo and the depth of her stroke into my pussy. Judy added her ring finger and curved her fingers as she found my g-spot, eliciting a low moan in the back of my throat. The base of her thumb stimulated my enlarging clit, sending sparks throughout my body. I imagined that I heard her whisper in my ear, "Come for me," as she sped up even faster, plunging her fingers all the way in. I gasped one last breath, holding it until I crashed over the edge, spasming hard enough that I had to support myself with my left hand on the tiled wall of the shower cubicle. "Oh, god," I thought to myself, "I wonder if she's fantasizing about me...?"

June 1981

... My reverie was interrupted by the pilot announcing that we were descending to the airport to land. With a sigh, I made sure my tray was up and locked. I ensured my bag was secured under the seat in front of me. I turned to the window and looked down at the water of Lake Superior under us as we approached the airport from the northwest. I could see the wooded land coming up as we descended, and we eventually reached the airport and landed.

We deplaned and picked up our luggage on the tarmac before entering the terminal building. I went to the car rental car counter and stood in line with six other people. As I waited, two other planes disembarked, and I saw several more Air Force officers walking past, heading for the shuttle. I eventually got my car, a two-door hatchback Ford Escort. I rolled my luggage out to the car and put it in the back. I drove down US 41 into Hancock and stopped at the Magnuson Hotel to check in and drop off my bags.

I crossed the Portage Canal Lift Bridge into Houghton and followed the signs to MTU. I parked in the Visitor's parking lot and walked in the front door of the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts. There were already many people lined up to get signed in.

I joined the large group of people at the sign-in table, many of them in military uniforms. While waiting, I looked around at the other attendees lined up to sign in when my eyes were drawn to the most beautiful pair of sapphire blue eyes I'd ever seen. They captivated me as the owner of those eyes held contact. I must have been staring for a while because I suddenly realized I was being tapped on my shoulder, and a voice said, "Excuse me, you're next."

I tore my gaze away from those eyes and muttered, "Sorry."

I realized I hadn't even noticed who the eyes belonged to as I moved up to the table and showed my Military ID to the girl working there. She must have been one of the student volunteers working at the conference because she looked young and perky. Her name tag read Becky R. Gathering myself, I said, "Hi, Becky, I'm Lieutenant Summers."

Becky smiled at me in appreciation of my calling her by name. She rifled through a file folder until she found my packet, pulled it out, and handed it to me, saying, "Here you go, Alexis. Here's your name tag, meal vouchers, and schedule for the conference."

"Thank you," I said, flashing a smile in return for using my name, and turned away from the table. As I left the table, I looked around to see if I could find those incredible eyes again. I wasn't even sure if those eyes belonged to a woman or not, hoping that they did. I wandered around the periphery of the gaggle until I once again spied those incredible eyes. My heart leaped when I realized they belonged to a beautiful blonde staring back at me in a frank appraisal. Like me, she was an Air Force officer and a 1st Lieutenant.

"Oh, my god," I thought to myself as I devoured her with my eyes, my pussy getting hot and wet, my nipples hard and aching. She looked to be about 5' 2" and wearing 3" heels that made her legs and ass look amazing.

Calming myself, I walked up to her. I was wearing 3" heels myself and had to look down at her from my 5' 9" height as I smiled my best smile and introduced myself, "Hi! I'm Alex Summers."

She looked up at me, and a big smile spread over her face, the kind of smile that lights up the room like the sun coming out from behind a cloud, her blue eyes boring into my soul. She replied, "Hello, Alex. My name is Virginia Hanratty."

Virginia put out her hand, and I took it in mine. A pulse shot up my arm and straight to my pussy as I did. My breath hitched, but I squelched any other reaction as I gave her hand a quick squeeze. I'm sure my eyes were dilated, and I noticed that her eyes went nearly black as her eyes widened too. I couldn't believe how good her hand felt ... how it fits perfectly into my hand. I didn't want to let go. I noticed that Virginia was in no hurry to let go either. I squeezed it again before reluctantly letting her hand go, trailing my index finger across her palm as I pulled my hand back. I noticed that her breath hitched when I did that.

"What brings you to this conference?" I asked, not willing to let things end there.

"Actually, I'm between assignments. I'm attending this conference while on my way to my new assignment at the Foreign Technology Division at Wright-Patterson AFB. My old assignment was at the Air Force Weapons Lab at Kirtland AFB," Virginia volunteered. "My new commander authorized this so I can get more knowledge about infrared sensors. What brings you here?"

"I'm here from the LANTIRN SPO at Wright-Patterson AFB," I replied, greedily drinking in her beauty with my eyes. "I have a lot of interest in the targeting aspect of IR sensors because I'm working on the missile bore sight correlator part of the software suite. So, what did you do at the Weapons Lab?"

"I worked on several high-energy laser projects and the IR sensor systems we used for aiming them," said Virginia. Her eyes ran up and down my body. "I also worked on a deformable mirror project that modifies the laser beam to counteract changes in the atmosphere to keep the laser beam from spreading."

As Virginia finished, our eyes locked again, and I fell into those beautiful pools of sapphire blue. After an almost awkward pause, I replied, "Those sound like exciting projects to work on."

"Yes, they are," Virginia said, "but what exactly is a missile bore sight correlator?"

"Well, the targeting pod is on the center-line of the aircraft while the missile is on the wingtip of the aircraft," I said. I unconsciously licked my lips as I stared at Virginia's luscious, eminently kissable lips before continuing. "When the targeting pod hands off the target to the missile, you must ensure that the missile sensor sees the same thing as the targeting pod. Because of the lateral distance between the two sensors, the angle that the sensor on the missile needs to slew to will be slightly different than the angle of the sensor on the targeting pod. The correlator does the calculations to make the necessary angular correction so that the missile's sensor looks at the right spot to acquire the target."

Virginia listened intently to my explanation, and I was pleased that she instantly grasped what I was talking about. She had a brain, and I found that sexy as hell. On top of her drop-dead gorgeous body and incredible eyes, I found I was falling in lust with this woman.

"So, how does a deformable mirror work?" I asked, wanting to keep her engaged.

"The deformable mirror is a flexible concave mirror that has several actuators attached to the back of it that can be used to change the shape of the mirror," Virginia explained. A sparkle appeared in her eye, showing that she appreciated my interest in her work. "By changing the shape of the mirror, you can keep the laser beam from spreading due to subtle changes in the atmosphere. Those changes can cause the light waves to refract from the path you want them to travel. An off-bore sight sensor monitors the laser beam, and the software senses the change in the laser beam and sends commands to the actuators to change the shape of the mirror in response. This helps keep the laser beam from spreading. All the energy is focused on as small an area as possible."

Listening to her explanation made me realize that our assignments had a lot in common. I wanted to learn more about this incredible woman, and it seemed she was just as interested in me and my experiences. I smiled again and asked, "So, what hotel are you staying at? I'm staying at the Magnuson Hotel over in Hancock."

"Me, too," Virginia replied, her smile just enchanting. "We'll be able to share the shuttle here in the morning."

I was encouraged by her interest in continuing to interact with each other. I said, hopefully, "If you don't want to mess with the shuttle, I was able to get a car rental, so I could give you a ride."

"That would be great," Virginia said, lightly placing her fingertips on my arm. The sensation of her touch on my arm caused shocks to shoot up it as my breath hitched and my eyes dilated. I think Virginia felt it, too, since I noticed that her eyes were again nearly black. "Oh, god," I thought to myself, "Is this what I think it is?"

"So, are you ready to go?" I asked.

"Yes, I've checked in here, and I have my conference package, so we can go anytime you like," Virginia replied. "I only need to get my bags over there against the wall. I came straight here from the airport on the shuttle."

We got her luggage and went out to my car. After putting her bags in the back, we drove back to the hotel. While on the way to the hotel, we talked about our careers. We discovered that we both had received our line number for Captain. We decided to get together and go out and celebrate our good fortune this evening.

We got to the hotel, and I went to the lobby with Virginia to get her checked in. We exchanged room numbers and planned to meet in the lobby at 5:30 PM to go out and get dinner.

I retired to my room and started unpacking my luggage. As I did, I reflected on what had happened and the feelings I was getting about Virginia. I had to be careful because being an active lesbian in the military can ruin your career if found out. Of course, I had been aware of that when I decided to become an officer. I had been prepared to remain celibate for as long as my career flourished. I had met several women who were lesbians during my military career. I had never dared to act on it. Of course, they were all civilians, while Virginia is another military officer like me. The danger there is higher, especially if I'm misreading her interest.

For now, I decided I wasn't going to try to pursue anything with Virginia. I would only try to enjoy her company for now. A little flirting probably wouldn't hurt. I can be happy with just her company if Virginia doesn't reciprocate. If she does return my banter, I may have to reconsider my decision. If Virginia initiates flirting with me, I'll flirt back and see how far she wants to go.

With that decided, I planned what I would wear for this evening. This far north in June, it's going to get chilly in the evening, so I decided I would wear jeans and a cardigan sweater. A jacket to top it off should keep me warm enough. In case we decided to stroll along the waterfront afterward, I wore flats.

We met in the lobby at 5:30 PM. Virginia must have been thinking as I was because she was wearing jeans, a sweater jacket over a tank top, and flats. She had her hair in a low ponytail, threaded through the hole in the back of her cap. I complimented her on her outfit, and she said I looked good too. While we were in the lobby, a couple of the officers I was traveling with, Jim and Tom, walked by. They asked me what I was doing. I just told them I already had plans for the evening. I noticed that they both eyed Virginia before taking off. I couldn't blame them ... she was a looker. After consulting with the clerk on what local eateries were available, we decided to go to the Ambassador Restaurant in Houghton for pizza and beers. It turns out that Virginia is a beer drinker like me. While I would occasionally drink some wine, I really enjoyed drinking local and regional beers. Bud was okay, but I liked trying different beers whenever I traveled.

I drove us over the bridge into downtown Houghton and found a parking spot about a block from the restaurant. We got out and strolled down the street, window-shopping until we got to the restaurant. We went in, and the bar was to our right, running all the way to the back of the room.

The hostess asked us if we wanted to sit at the bar or get a table, and we decided to go up to the bar. We found a couple of empty bar stools together near the far end of the bar. We sat, and the bartender came over to get our orders. She was tall and curvy, with auburn hair and hazel eyes.

"Hi, I'm Tracy. What can I get you, girls," she said, giving both of us a perky smile.

Virginia and I exchanged amused glances, and I turned back to Tracy and asked, "Tracy, what kind of local beers do you have in bottles?"

"We have a nice Special Pale Ale brewed by the Lake Superior Brewing Company," Tracy replied. Her eyes darted between us while her tongue flicked out to wet her lips.

"I'll try one of those," I said.

"I'll take one, too," Virginia said.

"Okay, two SPAs coming up," Tracy said, turning away to fetch them.

While waiting for Tracy to return with our beers, we grabbed a menu to see what we could order to eat. The pizzas looked good, so we decided on a Caprese pizza to split between us.

Tracy bounced back to us with two bottles and placed them in front of us. She noted the menu in my hand and asked, "What would you like to eat?"

Virginia ordered the pizza, and Tracy left to put our order in. Virginia and I picked up our beers, clicked the necks together, and took a swig. I liked it and made a mental note to order it again if I got the chance.

While waiting for our pizza, we engaged in some small talk. We discussed the Space Shuttle's first flight and how awesome it was. After a bit, wanting to test the waters, I nodded toward Tracy and said, "She seems perky."