by Lexie X
The caravan outside went smoother than Piper expected, and she found herself stuffed in the back of the van with her girlfriend. Isabella climbed into the seat next to her and buckled up without a word or a glance, at least at first. As Frank drove, and as the family chattered, she seemed to shiver and grow pale for a moment.
Finding her hand suddenly grasped, Piper returned her girlfriend's grip. "What's up?"
Isabella squeezed. "I know I've been pretty brutal lately," she whispered, without looking over.
Her heart leaping at one of the blonde's rare moments of unguarded emotion, Piper leaned a little closer. There was only one thing she could think to whisper back—the truth. "You're hurting me too much."
"I know, I know," Isabella said quietly, finally looking at her with worried green eyes. "I have no idea why you put up with me."
"I love you, that's why."
Looking genuinely apologetic, Isabella moved an inch closer on her seat to whisper further. "I can be here today. I can love you back today."
"You can?" Piper asked, fixated on a sudden ray of hope.
"Yeah. But I hope you know that it won't last, and tomorrow I'll be mean and distant again." She let her head hang low for a moment. "You've broken through my barriers and saved me from myself so many times. I really need you to do it again one more time."
"You do?" Her lip began trembling, and she suddenly felt on the verge of crying. It was hope, and a cry for help, and a sign that she'd been reading her girlfriend all wrong. "I've been trying."
Her eyes on their clasped hands, Isabella made almost no audible sound for the rest of her words: I love you so much… I'm sorry…
"Hey, get a room you two!" Sam yelled from the front.
The twins mimicked her mocking laugh. "Get a room, get a room!"
Isabella straightened, moved to the center of her seat, and gave a gracious smile.
Finally getting settled around a series of tables the servers had pushed together to seat all of them, the family ordered and then got down to the business of conversation.
"So, Isabella, how are your studies going?" Angela asked, her tone polite but intent in the manner of a parent grilling the significant other of one of their children. "Still doing a physics major?"
"Yep. Things are going well. It's tougher this year, but I enjoy it."
Piper wondered if her girlfriend's grades were suffering thanks to all the late-night drinking, partying, and irregular behavior. Isabella had always been an ace student. Was her unknown emotional pain going to threaten her college career?
"What kind of jobs does a physics major make you a good candidate for?" Angela continued.
"Mom!" Sam countered. "Lay off!"
The older woman shrugged diplomatically. "I'm just asking what her career plans are."
"Have you got any new makeup tricks you can teach me, Izzie?" the younger girl asked, turning to grill Isabella in her own manner. "High school is going to be some serious sh—" She paused. "Stuff. I want to look good."
Isabella laughed. "You're already very pretty. You shouldn't worry about it."
"Oh come on, you sound like Mom."
Piper watched as her girlfriend started coming out of her funk and captivating her family once again—dispensing makeup advice to Sam, telling Brian how to talk to a crush, entertaining the twins as they played, and carefully dodging her mother's evaluating questions.
She knew that her mom was only asking those questions because Isabella had been in her daughter's life more than a year now, so the relationship was clearly serious, but she still wished she had more time to talk to Isabella herself. If she only had this single day of restored closeness to tide her over through the dark times, it was being burned sitting in a restaurant—but she didn't want to miss talking to her family, either.
"Yeah, this is where Piper took me on our first date," Isabella replied to something.
She immediately tuned back in to the conversation.
"Is that true?" Angela asked.
"Yeah, mom," she replied, face burning.
"Why didn't you tell us? That's so sweet! When was it?"
Isabella answered for her. "Almost exactly a year ago today. Tomorrow's our anniversary."
Piper couldn't help but smile. "You remembered?"
"Of course," the blonde laughed. "What am I, a guy?"
Sam and her mother both giggled, but Frank only grumbled.
"I'd remember anniversaries," Brian added.
"And some girl will be lucky to have you," Isabella told him. "People say nice guys finish last, but don't believe it. Girls like nice guys."
"Do you like nice g—" He stopped mid-sentence and turned beet red.
Gracefully moving on from his sheepishness, Isabella nodded. "Piper's probably the nicest person I've ever met."
Piper did not miss a curious look of approval on her mother's face in response to that statement.
"We're going to head back to the hotel, honey," her mother told her as the two college students exited the van back at their apartment. "Good to see you again, Isabella!"
"Likewise, Angela."
"You girls want to go shopping tomorrow?"
Isabella answered first. "I've got to study most of the weekend."
"How about lunch, then?"
"I've really got to get an early start."
"Alright, dinner it is."
Piper silently cheered for her mother refusing to take no for an answer. Isabella was forced to gracefully accept plans for dinner with the family the next day. Saturday would certainly be interesting if the blonde went cold and distant in the morning and back to warm and open at dinner again. Was it the presence of her family that allowed her to open up temporarily?
Calmly evaluating Isabella's behavior, it was clear to Piper that the blonde kept a strong line between her emotional issues and the world outside their relationship. No matter what was happening between them, Isabella put on a strong face for her girlfriend's family and any mutual friends. Their roommates still had no idea there was anything going on. That reassured her in some indescribable way. Isabella had always kept very strong boundaries for their relationship. Even if those boundaries were never explicitly stated aloud, they were definitely there.
Would that same strength extend to any children they raised together? Would the kids go about their play with no idea anything was wrong between their mothers?
Piper found herself thinking that, yes, that would probably be the case. Despite Isabella's pains and past, she was tough in certain very important ways, something she probably didn’t give herself enough credit for.
Not only that, but, in the long-term sense, Piper began thinking that this month of chilly distance might just seem like a blip someday. It seemed like hell now, but maybe this, too, would pass. Would she even remember this month five or ten years from now?
Assuming they were still together then.
Isabella seemed quiet now that the family was gone, but they entered the apartment hand-in-hand. Within, a variety of strangers sat along the couches and on a few chairs talking with Maisy and Savannah.
Piper watched her roommates' eyes. Savannah looked up at Isabella, smiled, and introduced her roommates to her family. Maisy looked down at their held hands and raised both eyebrows briefly. She had to know, or at least suspect.
Letting go of Isabella's hand, Piper waded through a series of awkward introductions to both families, and then she and her girlfriend split and went to their respective rooms at the opposite end of the apartment. A split second after she closed her door behind her, Piper's phone lit up.
It was from Isabella. "Hi"
"Hello," she wrote back, unhappily awaiting a return to her girlfriend's cold commands.
"Want to do something together?"
Surprised, she typed back a quick response. "Sure, what?"
"Anything you want. It's your night."
That was not the answer she'd been expecting. "Alright. Sneak out, let's go for a walk."
"Ok, I'll go first. You follow in five minutes"
Piper listened through the door as Isabella made her way past the chatting families and out into the evening at large. Five minutes later, her heart pounding, she also made her way out. Nobody really cared much, but her cheeks still burned, and she felt as if Maisy could see right through her. The black-haired girl watched her entire journey across the crowded living room with a curious but otherwise unreadable expression.
Out in the surprisingly chill night air, Piper shivered and wandered around the corner until she found her girlfriend.
"You didn't bring a coat?"
"No. I guess I wasn't thinking about it."
Isabella began taking off hers.
"It's fine, really."
"I want you to have it," the blonde insisted.
Desperately wanting the affection the token represented, Piper took the banded white jacket. "Alright."
Isabella smiled lightly, and they walked together through the cold arm in arm. She gave no indication whatsoever that the chill was bothering her. "So, where are we going?"
With last year's weekend still on her mind, Piper knew there was one place and time she wanted to go back to more than anything. Genuinely smiling for the first time in weeks, she picked up the pace a little bit and dragged her confused girlfriend along for the ride. "You'll see."
Walking the familiar campus streets, she led the way to the club they'd visited the year before and the place where she'd had one of the best nights of her life. She could tell Isabella was absolutely freezing, but the cool blonde still refused to shiver or complain.
Isabella looked up, saw their destination, and gave another light smile. "I was thinking about this place, too."
Inside, it seemed like nothing at all had changed. The décor was exactly the same and the place was still filled to the brim with drunk college students.
"Are we drinking?"
Piper nodded grimly. "Hell yes."
With a small laugh, Isabella pushed her way up to the bar and almost immediately ordered four shots and two drinks. A male customer waiting on the other corner threw up his hands in defeat and Piper couldn't help but grin.
"Shots!" Isabella shouted over the music and nearby conversations.
With a deep breath, Piper took the two offered shots and downed them. She wasn't sure when she'd last had alcohol, but it'd certainly been awhile; still, she desperately needed this time with her girlfriend, so she wasn't about to back down. And, with Isabella, truth often followed liquor.
After depositing the white jacket somewhere safe and carrying their red-and-yellow drinks in hand, they hit the dance floor just in time to claim a small nook in the crowd. Last time, the stream of guys hitting on them had been endless—but, tonight, without makeup, without dresses, and so obviously together, nobody paid the two girls any heed.
Clutching hard as they moved slowly to the music, Piper tried to clear her mind and simply enjoy her girlfriend's soft warmth and reassuring presence. For her part, Isabella clutched back just as hard, her cheek pressed close. Letting the liquor creep into her consciousness, Piper closed her eyes and moved with her girlfriend for several songs. No words passed between them, but she could feel fear, pain, and relief in Isabella.
Relief? It occurred to her that this day might be a much-needed break for Isabella just as much as it was for her, and her heart immediately went out to the pained blonde. She realized with a subtle shock that this month of distance and torture only seemed horrible and unfair because she didn't know what was going on. Isabella had never been one to open up, and she'd always tried to hide her feelings and put on a brave face to the last.
Piper knew that every single obstacle they'd had to tackle had been tackled by her first breaking through the headstrong blonde's barriers. This life, this relationship, was exactly what she'd signed up for. Why would this time be any different?
It was the same, really, with two important exceptions. One, it was clearly the most tremendous issue they'd ever faced, and, two, Isabella's loving commitment was clear—in her own unique ways, at least. Her drunken admission of a problem, her adamant boundaries on the drama's privacy, and this day, this night; these things were all Isabella resisting her own stormy nature to protect their relationship in what ways she could.
"I see you," Piper whispered in her girlfriend's ear, their first exchanged words in many songs.
Isabella nodded against her cheek. "I know, and it scares the hell out of me, but I love you for it."
She wanted so much to ask Isabella what was wrong directly, but she knew that question would only ruin their temporary reprieve. "I need another drink," she commented, raising her empty glass.
"Me too."
Together, they finally unclasped one another and left the floor. Rather than head for the bar, Piper tugged her girlfriend toward the bathroom. For once, there was no line to get in, and she pushed through the light crowd and into a certain stall.
Closing the stall door behind them, she turned. "Do you remember this place?"
Isabella gave her a wan smile. "I do."
Stepping closer, Piper carefully approached the girl she loved and lightly touched her arms. A moment later, they embraced. A moment after that, she moved her face, and Isabella responded to her.
The kiss came as an incredibly deep relief; the temporary abatement of an endless time of distance and cold between them. Piper sank against her girlfriend's soft body in a way that she'd been denied for far too long. Kissing more forcefully and feeling Isabella warm to her presence, she wondered: if this was the place the blonde had first touched her back, could that safe and private memory be used a second time?
Isabella pulled her closer.
The pounding music of the club and the sounds of laughing and chatting girls echoed through the bathroom, covering their desperate and passionate reconnection. Gripping the soft blonde by her sides, Piper pushed her further up against the wall, and Isabella's hands grasped at her back, trying to pull her ever closer and tighter.
Her heart soaring, Piper managed to get her leg in close between two thighs despite the cramped dimensions of the stall. The pressure brought forth a subtle hungry thrusting, and they both clutched one another harder.
A hand began moving down her tummy and she froze, electrified by hope. Isabella's fingers played with the waistband of her jeans, undoing her belt and zipper before slipping under.
She shuddered as delicate fingers inched their way under her panties to relieve pent-up heat and humidity. Breaking off their kissing to lay her face against her girlfriend's cheek and neck, she breathed deep with expectation. Isabella held her tight with one hand and gently explored her private regions with the other.
For a time, Piper forgot the music, the talking girls, and the bathroom altogether. There was only excited breath against her ear and eager fingers rubbing her aching mound. She remained in quiet bliss for as long as she could, enjoying relief from the weird pain of the last few weeks. At some point, unprompted, Isabella suddenly pushed her back, but it was not a rejection. To get some space, the blonde made her half-lean against the toilet, and then she began tugging her jeans down.
Holding herself up somewhat awkwardly against the corner of the stall, Piper tried to guess what she was supposed to do—but Isabella handled it all, subtly directing her pose by opening her legs with guiding hands. Was she really going to…?
Yes. It was a rare moment when the straight and dominant blonde wanted to do it of her own accord, but Piper wasn't about to say anything. Isabella had always understood how good it felt, and she'd even really gotten into doing it at times, especially during their summer together—but Isabella had never craved it like she did.
Yet, this time, the gorgeous blonde seemed driven by a similar force. Her skin was flushed, her manner animalistic, and she fell to her knees and fixated her green eyes on the waiting mound before her. As she grew nearer, she closed her eyes for just a moment, slid out her tongue, and pressed
it forward—hard.
Piper caught her breath to keep from gasping, and she adjusted her arms to keep from slipping from her position. The firm tongue against her aching need gently split her glistening lips and moved deeper before flattening and sliding up.
Looking down as a sharp and high pleasure rapidly built within her, she watched Isabella lapping between her legs. That soft beautiful face, those elegant cheeks, and such gorgeous eyes—locking gazes, Piper began to understand what was happening.
This stall was their special spot, however weird that might be, and it had certainly brought forth a new step a second time. She herself might have come to understand and accept her own sexuality over the past year, but all this was still, at times, a crazy and surreal thing to the straight blonde.
Piper remembered that feeling well: it was like trying to fit an idea that was too large and too unexpected into one's head, like jamming a car into a can of soup, and somehow the act of trying to comprehend it all but failing was arousing, scary, and utterly alluring all at once. For the longest time, it would hit her randomly: I'm dating a girl, I'm in love with a girl; concepts her past selves had never expected.
And she was sure Isabella still had those moments of surreal arousal. The exquisite blonde wasn't with her because she was a girl, but rather in spite of it. They were together because of the impossible-to-resist dynamic they shared, mutual and opposing twisted sexualities that complemented one another perfectly. She just happened to be a girl, and a lesbian. Would their relationship have happened the same way if she'd been straight like Isabella? She had the oddly arousing sense that, yes, it would have. There were probably straight girls out there in the world right now that were together sexually purely on the strength of their personal bonds.
Driven by that thought, and by her girlfriend's insistent tongue, she began tensing up. Her insides clenched in anticipation and she fought to keep from moaning. Between her legs, Isabella watched her reactions eagerly and brought a finger between slick folds to aid in her efforts. Her other hand went down into her own pants to begin rubbing.
Was all this what the blonde had been silently freaking out about since the end of summer? Something to do with the fundamental difference between them?
