Beginnings - SF2

by Susan X Meagher

  "Mine misses you too," Ryan agreed. "It's gonna miss you tonight for sure," she added.

  "I was going to bring that up," Jamie said, sitting up completely to order her thoughts. "Do you have to study all weekend?"

  Ryan thought for a minute and slowly nodded her head. "I've got a good ten hours to slog through each day. Why?"

  "Let's just stay here," she urged. "This is working for you, isn't it?"

  "Well, yeah," Ryan agreed. "It's actually been idyllic. I don't have to make meals for myself; I don't have to exercise Duffy. I'd say it's been the most productive studying I've done all year."

  "Then why not stay?" she reiterated.

  She pursed her lips and considered her reasons, finding that they were purely financial. "I hate to have you spend this kind of money," she explained. "I know you say you'd do it anyway, but it still feels like you're doing it for me. I just feel like I'm taking advantage of you," she said rather shyly.

  Jamie carefully placed her coffee on the nightstand, and yanked the sheet from its moorings to carefully wrap it around her bare body. She carefully scooted across the bed to climb into Ryan's lap. "Why won't you let me spoil you once in a while?" she begged as she trailed her fingers down her partner's smooth, warm cheek. "I can easily afford it; it makes me happy; and it's allowed me to study without interruption. I've almost got my big paper done, and if we stayed, I could finish up everything by Sunday."

  Ryan could feel her resolve weakening, as it so often did when Jamie was astride her lap. But she felt like she needed to hold out for at least some concession. "Could we go to my house for Sunday dinner?"

  "I wouldn't miss it for the world," she promised as she bent to kiss her grinning mouth.

  Jamie's businesslike mind could not rest until she called down to the front desk and asked to speak to the manager on duty. After a brief conversation she hung up and smirked at her partner. "He cut the room fee by 50% if we stay for another week," she said with a waggling eyebrow. "That will take us through finals for only the cost of the weekend!"

  "That's amazing!" Ryan cried. "Especially since we were already here."

  "I think he took a peek at how much we've spent on room service and quickly decided that he could give us the room for free and still make a profit," she teased as she patted her partner's perennially empty stomach.

  The weekend was spent in rapt concentration for both women, with an intense hour-long run through the hills on Sunday as the only break. By late Sunday afternoon, they both felt good about their upcoming finals. Jamie actually only had two tests now that she had finished her final papers, but Ryan had five finals in classes that Jamie could barely pronounce, and her two hardest ones were both on Thursday. The good news was that by Thursday evening they would both be finished for the term.

  They drove over to the O'Flaherty home, pleased to find that Maeve would be joining them. They related their adventure of the past few days, causing quite a few laughs when Jamie related how much they had spent on room service. Ryan, of course, got her back when she told of Jamie's negotiations with the manager.

  They decided to take Duffy for a long walk in the neighborhood since he was nearly wild with excitement to finally have his mistress home. Ryan spent an extraordinarily long time letting him lick her thoroughly before they left, but it was obvious that the intelligent dog knew his fate. "He knows we're leaving again, doesn't he?" Jamie asked as they bid the family goodbye.

  "Oh yeah, he can definitely tell," she agreed, looking at his sad brown eyes. "He's gonna have a tough summer," she said wistfully, anticipating their absence for the AIDS ride as well as Pebble Beach.

  "He's just a love junkie like his mommy," Jamie whispered for Ryan's ears only.

  "Look who's talking, Cuddle Junkie," Ryan laughed. "Let's get back to our hideout so you can get your jones."

  "Mmm, I might be a junkie, but I can only get my fix from you," she purred.

  Chapter Eleven

  On Thursday morning they checked out of Chez Cram, as they had nicknamed their hideout. Since Ryan's first test was at eight a.m., they left much earlier than Jamie would have preferred, but Ryan made it up to her by delivering coffee and Danish one last time. Jamie's last exam was from 12:30 to 3:30, and since she had an easier time than she had expected, she was ebullient when she returned home at four p.m. Ryan had to work at the gym that night, since she had been forced to move a lot of her private clients around to accommodate the study period and her exams. It had been more than a little difficult for Jamie to hold her tongue at Ryan's decision to work that afternoon, but she realized that Ryan followed her own muse on such matters. It just seemed masochistic to Jamie for her partner to have two tough exams in subjects too obscure to pronounce and then squeeze a couple of hours of work in. But Ryan had an iron will when it came to her obligations, and Jamie knew that she had to give her friend support rather than advice. Even though she was sorely tempted to go to the gym just to watch her work, she thought better of it. Give her a minute's peace, Jamie. Remember life before Ryan? You actually had other friends.

  She was a bit surprised, but pleased, to find Mia at home when she arrived. She felt very guilty about her lack of time with her old friend. People who gave up their friendships when they got into a new relationship had always annoyed her, and she decided that she had to stop being one of those people immediately.

  She jogged up the stairs and poked her head into Mia's chronically messy room. The curly haired woman was lying on her bed in her underwear reading a magazine, and she gave Jamie a big smile when she saw her. "Hey girlfriend! Long time no see! How did your week at the Claremont go?"

  "Absolutely perfect," Jamie beamed. "Are you all finished with exams?"

  "Yep. I had my last one this morning. How about you?"

  "I'm done too. Do you want to go out tonight to celebrate?" Mia sat up abruptly and tried to see around Jamie's shoulder. "What are you looking for?" Jamie asked as she turned around to determine what her friend was searching for.

  She laughed as she replied, "I was looking for Ryan. I haven't seen you two apart for months," she said pointedly.

  "I know, I know," Jamie replied guiltily. "I was just thinking about how much I miss spending time with you. I promise I'll be better next year."

  "It's okay, Sweetie. I want you to be happy, I just wish you'd save a little time for me. But I know what it's like to fall in love, so I've cut you some slack for this year."

  "Well it's either love, or I've turned into a stalker," she groused. "I've never been this way about another human being, Mia. Sometimes it actually scares me," she admitted. "I used to pride myself on my independence. I really liked the fact that Jack lived almost an hour away, and I had my week to myself."

  "And it's not that way with tall, dark and gorgeous, is it?" she asked knowingly.

  "I swear I'd switch to MCB as a major if I had any idea what the hell she talks about when she tells me about her classes! I'm so hopelessly stuck on her it's pathetic."

  "I still don't understand how anybody could major in molecular and cell biology," Mia said with her faced scrunched up into a grimace. "Did somebody make her do that?"

  "No, silly, she just likes it. And just to make you sicker, she's a double major in math and MCB."

  "That's not human," Mia said, sitting up carefully. "Have you ever seen her bleed? Or sleep? I think she must be an alien of some sort."

  "No…well, now that you mention it…" Jamie mused, playing along for a while. "She does breathe under water…"

  "Ah ha! Just as I thought!" Mia cried. "I saw a creature just like that on the X-Files!"

  "I don't care if she is an alien," Jamie said dreamily. "I'd follow her to any planet in the universe."

  "Is she as goofy about you?" Mia asked, fervently hoping that Ryan was.

  "In a way she is, but in another way she's so mature that I think she can turn it off easier than I can. Still, sometimes when we're studying together I see her just staring at me like a lovesick
sixteen-year-old. It's soooo adorable," she gushed.

  "You've definitely got it bad, girlfriend."

  "Let's go to dinner and then go have a few drinks so I can bore you to death talking about her," she said with a chuckle.

  "Sounds great to me. We can go anywhere you want, since you're buying," she informed her with a laugh.

  A few hours later, the roommates were sitting outside in the surprisingly warm night air, sipping rather potent martinis as they talked about the just-completed school year and their plans for the summer. Although Jamie did her very best not to talk about Ryan the whole time, Mia realized that she was intentionally not talking about her and after a while suggested, "Why don't you ask your beloved to come join us when she's off work?"

  Jamie's eyes lit up immediately, but she said, "Are you certain you don't mind?"

  "No, I like Ryan, and if we're all going to live together next year, I might as well get used to seeing you two together constantly."

  "When did I say we were going to live together next year?"

  "Well, aren't you?"

  "Yeah, but I didn't say it," she laughed. "Ryan and I haven't even discussed it yet, but that sweet little thing is going to be in my bed next year, no matter what!"

  At 9:15 Ryan roared up on her Harley, which she had brought over to the East Bay on Sunday night. She circled the bar three times before she reminded herself that there was no parking whatsoever at any time of day in Berkeley. Ryan had often thought that the cars in front of every meter were really just an elaborate art installation, even insisting to Jamie that they were all papier mâché. Eventually, she gave up and wedged her bike into the tail end of a space occupied by a new lime green Volkswagen. Boy, the artist did a nice job on that one, she smirked as she walked away. Very realistic. She was just beginning to cross the street in front of the bar when she heard a rather loud whistle coming from the outdoor dining area. She ignored the sound, but as she was about halfway across she heard it again. This time it was followed by a loud, "Hey, baby," in a familiar, but strange-sounding voice. She followed the voice and came upon two very drunk roommates, both ogling her. She stood with her hands on her hips and an amused smirk on her face. "What have you two been up to?" she asked sternly.

  "We were celebrating!" Jamie slurred. "School's out for a whole summer!" She finally seemed to focus on Ryan as she added, "C'mere and give me a big wet kiss, you gorgeous hunk of woman."

  Ryan just shook her head and gracefully leapt over the small wrought iron fence that separated the diners from pedestrians. She pulled up a chair and picked up Jamie's glass, making a face as she sniffed it, then patiently asked, "How many of these little beauties did you girls have?"

  "Four, I think," Jamie said. "Those nice men over there bought this last one for us." She turned in her chair to wave at three frat boys. "Thanks again, fellas!"

  Jamie turned again to Ryan and leaned in close as she asked, "Where's my kiss?"

  "Yeah," Mia chimed in. "Give her a big one, Ryan."

  "Come on, Ryan, don't you love me anymore?" she asked pathetically.

  "Of course I love you," Ryan soothed. "But won't your new boyfriends get jealous if I kiss you?"

  Jamie looked at her with a completely puzzled expression. "Boyfriends? We don't have no stinking boyfriends." She howled with laughter at this statement, for reasons that escaped Ryan completely.

  "Then why did you let those boys buy you drinks?" Ryan asked logically.

  "I don't know," she said slowly. "Was that a bad thing to do?"

  "Well most of the time when you buy a woman a drink, you expect her to at least spend some time getting to know you. I assume they think you're cute, which you are, and they want to go out with you."

  Jamie turned around immediately to straighten out the matter. "Hey, boys! We don't want to be your girlfriends. We're lesbians!" she said the last word in a loud stage whisper. "Well, she's not," she pointed at Mia. "But this one and me are," she said as she helpfully indicated Ryan.

  Ryan took this opportunity to find the check and quickly settle the large bill. She guided both of them to their feet and tried to wrangle them out of the restaurant. "Did you drive or walk?" she inquired.

  "Drove!" Mia stated confidently. "Walked," Jamie declared, just as confidently.

  "Well, whichever one it is, we're walking home," Ryan said decisively.

  She walked as best she could, standing between the tottering roommates. She had a strong hand around each woman's waist and was constantly grabbing one or the other of them by the waistband of their jeans to keep them on the path.

  After an interminable time, they finally reached the house. She was relieved to find the Boxster still in the drive, but seeing Cassie's car caused her to roll her eyes heavenward in supplication.

  She had to perform a thorough pat down on Jamie to find the house keys, a procedure that was made more difficult by her intense ticklishness. She giggled and yelped and fought to keep Ryan from her pockets. Ryan persisted even when she was caught in the eye by a flying elbow.

  She got the key in the door and pushed both of her charges through, spying Cassie in the kitchen as she did so. Swallowing her ire, she forced herself to be as pleasant as possible and asked, "Cassie, could you come here for a minute?"

  With a scowl, Cassie strode into the room, staring at the sight before her. Jamie was draped around the right side of Ryan's body and Mia held onto her just as tenaciously on the left. "Um, they got a little drunk, and I don't think I can get both of them upstairs. Will you take Mia?"

  Cassie just shook her head in disgust at the three of them. She started to remove Mia from Ryan's control, but Mia looked at Ryan with big brown bloodshot eyes and begged, "Can I have a kiss?"

  Ryan was mortified, but she knew that Mia would persist. So she leaned over and gave her a peck on the cheek.

  "C'mon," she urged as she remained in her kissing pose. "You can do better than that! I've heard that you can…"

  Ryan stopped her story the only way that she knew how. She leaned over and really let her have the kiss she sought. Cassie stared at her in horror, but Ryan figured that Cassie's opinion of her could not go much lower, so she didn't have much to lose on that front. She was afraid that Mia might start blabbing about her and Jamie, though, and that's why it was important to her to keep Mia's mouth occupied. If the kiss shocked Mia, she did an admirable job of hiding her feelings. Ryan was just about ready to release her when she felt Mia's tongue dart into her mouth and start exploring. Ryan couldn't pull away at that point and let Cassie and Jamie see Mia's tongue hanging out, so she stayed right where she was and let Mia investigate to her heart's content.

  With a sexy little moan Mia returned her tongue to its home, and Ryan quickly straightened up. Mia, however, stayed exactly where she was. Her lips were still puckered up and her eyes were tightly closed. She was swaying back a forth just a bit and she clearly looked like she wanted more. Ryan stood her up and handed her over to Cassie, who fumed, "I will never, ever, understand the hold you have on women!"

  Ryan smirked at her departing form and then focused her attention on Jamie, who had a look of abject sorrow on her face. "Why did you kiss her but you won't kiss me?" she asked as she began to wail plaintively.

  Ryan just stooped and picked her up gracefully, carrying her up the stairs and into her room. She performed her all-too-familiar ritual of undressing the relatively helpless woman, averting her eyes as much as possible.

  Once she'd dressed Jamie in a long t-shirt, she guided her into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She got the toothbrush ready, but the blonde was not up to the task and, sitting on the edge of the tub, just opened her mouth and let Ryan perform the duty for her.

  Then Ryan squatted down beside her and asked, "Do you have to pee?" Jamie just nodded her head. "Do you want me to help you?" A shake that almost knocked her off the tub was the answer. "Okay, can you do it yourself?" Another violent shake. "Then I'll have to help you," was the logical reply.

&
nbsp; "Nooooo!" Jamie protested vehemently. "I don't like anybody to watch. It's private!"

  "How about if I sit you down and then leave. Is that okay?"

  "You won't watch?"

  "I promise I won't watch," Ryan said as she crossed her heart.

  "Okay," she replied warily. "But don't watch, 'kay?"

  Ryan lowered her panties and got her situated. "I'll be right outside. Call me when you're done, okay?"

  "Okay," she replied sweetly. "I love you, honey bunch," she said as she blew her a big kiss.

  Ryan blew a kiss back as she went outside and closed the door. She ran to the bedside table and quickly called home to tell Conor that she was staying over. Then she dashed back to wait by the door. Long quiet minutes passed before she finally knocked. "Jamie?" No answer. "Jamie," louder this time, but still no answer. She opened the door to find her lover leaning against the back wall, sound asleep. Once again she stooped to pick her up, grunting with the effort. When she got her on the bed, she removed her panties to avoid the struggle of getting them back into place and slipped her under the covers.

  She went to the dresser and found the new underwear that Jamie had purchased for her, changed into them and got into bed behind her friend. Moments passed as she tried to relax when she was startled by a very insistent, very annoying snore.

  Just before dawn Ryan woke from a deep sleep to the sound of a soft, low moan. She struggled to get her bearings, finding herself alone in bed. She got up and, following the sound, discovered that the bathroom door was open. She poked her head in to find Jamie sitting on the edge of the tub, holding her head in both hands. She walked over and sat down next to her, bending her head down to closely observe her face. "Don't feel so good, huh?" she asked softly.

  The tousled blond head slowly lifted, revealing a pasty white complexion and red-streaked green eyes. "Very observant," was the surly reply.

  Ryan was a little taken aback by this attitude, but she maintained her compassion. "Can I do anything to help?"