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Is She, Isn't She?

By: HarmonyHaze



***

Author's note: This story has a plot and a decent amount of build-up, so if you're looking for a QF, you've come to the wrong place. Otherwise, enjoy! 

Obviously, don't reprint without the author's permission, and any similarities between the characters and people/events of real life are, of course, purely coincidental. 

Harmony.

***

Shrill piping sounds floated from Ashley's handbag. She fumbled within and emerged with her mobile phone.

"Hello?" she asked into it.

"Hey," a deeper voice grunted in return.

"Hi Chantelle," Ashley responded, recognising her friend immediately. "What's happening?"

"Me, Claire, Tansy and Meredith are going to Bolton's for drinks tonight, I'm ringing to invite you," Chantelle sniffed into the phone. "Bella says they've got some new, rocking little barmaid who's a real piece and we all want to go check her out."

"Sure, I'll come, count me in," Ashley told her right away. Practically all her friends were included on Chantelle's list and it had been a long week at work. A few drinks at their favourite bar certainly sounded like a plan to her.

"None of us want to drive so we're all pooling for a cab -- technically, it's Meredith's turn to be desi, but she's opting out, wants to have a few, says she's still upset about that Julia chick, and that she'll do it next time. So we'll swing by your place in the cab around seven?"

"Fine! Should be a good night!" 

Chantelle grunted again. She wasn't famous for her fantastic phone manner. "See ya then."

Ashley put the phone back into her bag, replaced it under her desk, and stretched her long body backwards in her chair. She wasn't supposed to take personal calls during work but it was nearly home time, and there was no one waiting to be served. She worked at the bank, and it had been an annoying day full of paper-pushing boredom. Usually she enjoyed her job, but the entire week had seemed to comprise of her least favourite aspects of it. It would be pleasant to take a load off that night with her friends. They hadn't been to Bolton's for a couple of weeks, which was unusual for them.

Work finished, and Ashley picked up a sandwich from the shop next-door for dinner. It was a short drive home. A coffee and a shower later, and she found herself standing in front of the mirror, humming about what to wear, her smooth, tanned skin glowing from the hot water from which she'd just emerged. 

It had been a while since she'd worn a dress. She slid on a pink one, complimenting it with soft, girlie sandals. She tied her long blonde hair up into a ponytail, and painted pink lip-gloss on her lips to match. She'd just finished applying eye-shadow to her green eyes when the taxi honked downstairs. Ashley jogged down to meet it.

"Hey!" four voices sang at her from the maxi-cab.

"Hi girls!" Ashley got in and did up her seatbelt. 

"We were just discussing the new bar girl!" Tansy grinned at Ashley, adjusting her black-framed glasses on her nose, in thick, skilfully applied makeup. "Word is, she's hot enough to set fire to something!" she giggled.

"Word is she's straight," countered Meredith, voice officious as the cab pulled away from Ashley's place. 

"Of course she's not straight!" scoffed Chantelle, her favourite green baseball cap planted firmly on shoulder-length hair. "Why would she get a job in a gay bar if she was straight?"

"Maybe she didn't know it was a gay bar?" suggested Meredith.

"Bullshit! Management would have told her when they hired her!" Chantelle blared.

"Maybe, maybe not," Meredith shrugged plump shoulders. "We'll have to find out the goss when we get there."

"It's about time they got some new talent at Bolton's," Claire declared next. "I mean, Oliver and John are sweet boys but they're so boring. Bella's a gem, and so's Tony, but it's good they've got someone ..."

"Hot?" Tansy cut her off with a laugh. 

The group of five were regulars at Bolton's and knew all the staff there, usually making time to hang out in their favourite bar at least two or three, sometimes four times a week, for drinks after work, and sometimes to party on weekends. It was their number-one haunt, a small comfortable place that played good music, had a pool table, jukebox, and relaxing atmosphere. 

It wasn't far away from where Ashley lived. Before they knew it, the cab was pulling up to their destination. Chantelle paid the cabdriver and told the girls they each had to buy her a bourbon and she'd call it even, as they all climbed out and stood on the sidewalk. 

The yellow, pink and green flashing sign was casting the street around them in multicoloured, interchanging light. The girls trooped past security, a massive broad-chested butch called Cordelia and an equally broad-chested male called Gus, who both waved them through on sight with familiar nods. 

As usual, the jukebox was going inside. A couple of women with short hair shot some pool. A few other people lingered on tables, enjoying conversation and drinks. 

"Hm, quiet night!" observed Claire as they trooped over to the bar. "It'll probably pick up when the DJ gets in. Hi Tony!" 

Tony was the manager, a tall Italian man with neat dark hair and a kind smile. He was the only one visible behind the bar when the five friends approached.

"Ladies!" he smiled. "How are you all this evening?"

"Good," was the universal reply.

"Yo, Tones!" Chantelle was clearly in a predatory mood (although, Ashley thought, that wasn't unusual. When wasn't she?). She was craning her head around everywhere while she leaned comfortably on the bar. "Where's the new meat? Word is she's an absolute number! What's the lowdown?"

Tony laughed and shook his head. "She's straight," he told Chantelle directly. "Very nice girl, her name's Jeanette. I'll get her to serve you if you like, so you can meet her. She'll need to learn what you girls drink anyway. Jeanie!" he called. "Jeanie!"

"Coming!" a voice floated back, and a second later, the girl herself appeared through the side doors.

She was indeed gorgeous. Smooth skin, dark hair that cascaded down her back, a cute fringe, faultless facial structure with even cheekbones, a sweet jaw, perfect lips and teeth. She was nice and tall, and her body was delicious. Curved hips, a tight little tummy, smooth, toned arms and killer long legs hidden beneath black pants. She had large tits that rested beneath a delicate collarbone -- her chest was unmistakably feminine.

"Mmm!" Tansy and Claire both hummed under their breaths, in unison beside Ashley.

"Jeanie, come and meet some of our favourite customers," Tony told her. "These girls are friends of mine, they come in all the time."

"Nice to meet you," Jeanie smiled easily at the five girls.

"You haven't met them yet!" Tony teased. "This is Chantelle."

"Charmed," Chantelle smirked at her.

"Tanzania," Tony moved on to Tansy.

"Hey!" Tansy complained at the nickname Tony had for her. "Tansy," she corrected.

"Claire, Mez, and Ashley!" Tony finished.

Jeanie's dark eyes settled onto one after the other, finally stopping to rest on Ashley when her name was called. She smiled, flashing even white teeth. "Nice to meet you all," she said again. 

Ashley felt the jolt of strong attraction in her chest straight away. It had been a long, long time since she'd been so strongly attracted to someone so immediately, she thought. She could feel it in her whole body, in her stomach, in her throat, as everything started responding on a deep, chemical level to this girl. Her heart started beating just that bit quicker as she returned Jeanie's smile. 

"I'll let you take care of them," Tony said to Jeanie, and she nodded.

"Vodka orange and a bourbon and coke, please," Tansy stepped forwards and ordered first.

"No worries," Jeanie flipped two glasses into her hands with the ease of regular handling, and reached upwards to use the nip-pourers. Her stretched body was hypnotic. Her flat stomach beneath the tight black shirt she wore stretched until it was even firmer as her muscles flexed. Ashley found herself gaping at her sexy cleavage, and tore her eyes away. 

"So when did you start working here?" Tansy asked, heaping a strand of brown hair behind her ear.

"Around a week and a half ago," Jeanie replied, voice friendly.

"Do you like it?" Chantelle fired at her, smiling like a shark. "I bet you do."

Jeanie lowered smiling eyes to her. "I'm not sure yet, it's only been a week and a half," she answered pleasantly. "So far, so good."

"You look like you've worked a bar before," Meredith put to her next, as Jeanie operated the drink gun and fired coke into Chantelle's glass, OJ into Tansy's. 

"I have," Jeanie returned. "I moved out of home though so I had to leave my last job -- it was too far away from my new place. I tried to keep it up for a couple of months, but the commute killed me. I think I'll like it here. Tony seems like a pretty cool boss. He's been really good and given me the hours I want, which is important at the moment -- uni exams." She winced at them good-naturedly. 

"Oh yeah, what are you studying?" Meredith asked.

"Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations," Jeanie answered. "It's a combined degree. I've got twelve months left on it."

"How old are you?" Chantelle demanded next.

"Twenty-two," Jeanie returned competently, dealing with their interrogation in an open and gracious manner, as Tansy slid some notes across the bar. "What would you like?" next, she turned right to Ashley. 

"A white wine please, a semi sav blanc," Ashley returned, electrified at the eye contact again.

"Coming right up," Jeanie turned her back to them to reach into the fridge. Chantelle blatantly checked out her ass when she did so and, more discreetly, so did Ashley. 

"So!" Chantelle pounced on the attractive brunette again when she faced the front. "Word on the street is, you're gay! We're all pleased to hear the news, obviously." And she winked at her.

Jeanie laughed. "No no no, street-word is wrong I'm afraid. I'm straight!" she stated. 

"What are you doing working here then?" Chantelle continued exacting information. "Curious about how the other half live, cutie? Want to test some waters? Because if you do ..."

"I work here because it's close to my house?" Jeanie cut Chantelle off very quickly, smoothly, and didn't look ruffled by the line of questioning -- Ashley wasn't surprised. She'd probably been getting it all week from the clientele at Bolton's. "Here you go, Ashley," now, she slid the glass of wine across the bar to Ashley, always smiling. Ashley's body jolted again at the sound of her name on the girl's lips. 

"Thankyou, Jeanie," she returned it evenly, making sure she pressed the money into her hand instead of sliding it across the counter as Tansy had, but keeping the contact quick and professional. The brief flash she had of skin on skin was still enough to keep her pulse racing. 

"Next?" Jeanie asked the other two.

"Gin and tonic, and Midori and pineapple," Meredith ordered for both her and Claire. 

"You guys are going to have to help me out the first few times I see you, it'll take me a while to remember what all five of you drink," Jeanie commented easily, as she fixed the two their drinks. 

"I'll give you the help you need," Chantelle volunteered with a smirk.

"Thankyou!" Jeanie's eyes fixed assessingly onto Chantelle. "Here you go, guys, all done."

"Thanks Jeanie, it was good to meet you!" Tansy sang, as they all picked up their drinks and moved to find a table. They found one relatively close to the bar, and sat down.

"Phew!" Chantelle looked around at all her friends. "What a total babe! I'm going to get her!"

"Chantelle, she said she was straight," Meredith rolled her eyes. "She's not going to be interested."

"I can turn the straight ones gay," Chantelle blared confidently. "Besides, I'm getting vibes from her. I reckon she could swing. God, I haven't had anyone make me this horny for yonks! She's the best looking piece of ass that's come my way in a long time! There's no way I'm going to let her get away! I'm going to lay her and lay her so well she won't know what hit her!"

Chantelle always spoke like that, but tonight it was getting in Ashley's nerves. Jealousy was starting to flourish within her. Chantelle was attractive, with her smooth pale skin and high cheekbones, and she had a famously high libido. She was overly confident and aggressive when pursuing the things she wanted, but Ashley was no slouch when it came to determination either. She set her jaw.

"Who says you've got dibs on her?" she asked her friend, making her voice slightly jokey. "And you can't use the "you saw her first" line either -- we all saw her at the same time."

"Did either of you hear her tell us she was straight?" Meredith's eyebrows were raised as she transferred her gaze onto Ashley. 

Chantelle turned to consider Ashley as well, sensing slightly more weight behind her words. "You want her too." It was a blunt statement.

"She's sexy," Ashley shot the girl at the bar another look, avoiding the question for the time being.

"I'm going to get her!" Chantelle stated, arrogant and outspoken.

"Not if I do first!" Ashley found herself retorting in irritation, before she could stop herself.

"Alright, a bit of friendly competition!" Chantelle sniggered, eyeing Ashley off. "May the best woman win, Ashley, and I'm just going to say that you can be assured it'll be me."

"Hello! Straightness!" Meredith sounded incredulous as she reminded them.

"Whatever Mez. My gaydar's never off and I sense something from tasty britches over there," Chantelle waved her friend off. "I'll have her between my legs before the month is out, be assured."

"Not if Ashley does first!" Claire looked from one to the other, grinning at their interplay. 

"Sorry Ashley, but you're going to be left in my dust," Chantelle sniffed arrogantly, draining her bourbon in one gulp. 

"You're all talk, Chantelle. We'll see what happens," Ashley returned with dignity.

"Better pipe down guys, she's coming!" Tansy warned.

A few seconds later, Jeanie appeared at their table. She smiled silently at them again, and reached down to pick up Chantelle's empty glass.

"So, gotta boyfriend, sweetie?" Chantelle leered up at her.

"I have a few, actually! I keep a harem," Jeanie joked.

"That's obviously code for "no"," Chantelle barked.

"Well, let's just call it nothing serious. Better go!" Jeanie said, then turned and made to stride off.

"Do I make you uneasy, hot-stuff?" Chantelle put to her, voice smug, obviously thinking her sexiness was making Jeanie nervous enough to leave their table quickly, and not that Jeanie was simply getting on with her job.

"Not at all," Jeanie turned back, laughing. "Last week, a chick the size of a sumo tried to put her hand on my ass! Now that made me uneasy -- actually, I freaked right out. Shiver. Catch you later at the bar for round two, guys!"

"Obviously straight," pronounced Meredith, the second she had gone.

"Obviously not into fat chicks," countered Chantelle.

"DJ's here," pointed Tansy.

The Friday night DJ had indeed turned up and set up, and as they looked, he started his first set. The music was loud -- the dance floor started to fill. More people had come in. Tansy and Claire got up right away and began grooving around and laughing together in front of the DJ's booth. Chantelle was dragged away from their table by an ex-fling who obviously had her sights set on hooking up with her again that night. 

Ashley and Meredith sat together at the table taking about Meredith's pseudo "best-friend" Julia who had been Meredith's first kiss last week, leaving Meredith confused about their relationship. Meredith was slightly younger than the other girls in their group. She'd always known she was gay, but at twenty-four she was still a virgin. She was slightly dumpy and frumpy looking, but very mature and perceptive -- when it came to other people. It sounded to Ashley as though Meredith was in love with Julia now, but Julia was just writing the incident off as "a drunk thing". She had been Meredith's best friend since high school -- Meredith was very upset about it.

As their conversation and the night wore on, Ashley found her eyes straying back over to the bar, seeking out Jeanie. The other bar staff had come out of their holes, and now there were four of them behind the bar. Two bland, personality-less boys, Oliver and John (nineteen years each respectively), were there, as was Tony. Bella had the weekend off, so Jeanie was the only girl behind the bar. Even if she hadn't been, with her striking beauty she would have stood out. Her skin was now covered in a slight sheen of sweat under the hot lights of the bar, her cheeks flushed. Ashley licked her lips. Her mind lazily entertained the thought of licking the sweat from the underside of that neck, how nice it would taste on her tongue. Jeanie's movements were liquid and she dragged bottles down and poured into glasses with precision, oblivious of the scrutiny Ashley was placing her under.

Meredith was less oblivious. "Earth to Ashley!" she tapped on the table with her glass to get Ashley's attention.

"I'm sorry Mez, I was just thinking," Ashley said quickly.

"Yeah, and I know what about!" Meredith bantered, turning over her shoulder and shooting a pointed look at the already-famous Jeanie.

"She's just so hot though, isn't she?" Ashley sighed, caught out and close enough to Mez not to be too embarrassed about the conversation. She swished the ice cubes around in her glass and took a long sip. "I know, I know what you're going to say Mez. She's straight. All the hot ones are straight!" she complained lightly. "It's just that she's just my type, you know? Physically, I mean; I have no idea what her personality is like."

"Chantelle would say who cares about personality?" Meredith commented. "You um, sounded pretty, you know. Motivated, before. Are you going to make a play for her, see if anything's there?"

"No harm in getting to know her, is there?" Ashley replied with a shrug. 

"Well, there will be if you start to get a crush on her and she's a bona-fide straight girl," Meredith was logical. "Just be careful, that's all. You don't think it will get weird with Chantelle, you both going after the same girl?"

"Do you?" Ashley wanted Meredith's advice. For some reason, she had no interest in letting her domineering friend take to the floor unchallenged on this one. 

"I think Chantelle needs to be taken down a notch, sometimes I find her too much," Meredith wrinkled her nose. "So if you were to beat her out on this, I would, hypothetically, find that funny."

"If Miss Sex-On-Legs over there prefers butch, I've got no chance," Ashley noted gloomily. "Chantelle takes the cake in that department."

"If she likes gorgeous blonde femmes though, you're in!" Meredith sucked up the last of her drink through her straw. "I personally think she's too straight for us to even be having this conversation -- but, as we both know. You never know."

"What I do know is that it's ages since I got laid," Ashley grouched. "Chantelle hooks up all the time. I deserve this more than her, it's my right," she joked with a smile. 

"Chantelle's taken her eyes off the prize already," Meredith pointed behind her.

Ashley turned. Chantelle was swapping tongues with her fling. 

"I'll get us another drink? Or would you like to go?" Meredith offered. 

"I'll go!" Ashley stuck her tongue out at her, and got up. She lined up at the bar in the line closest to Jeanie. She waved at a few familiar faces around the bar while she waited.

"What can I get you?" suddenly, Jeanie was in front of her, slightly out of breath.

"White wine please," Ashley began. "Sem..."

"Semi sav blanc, right? No problems, Ashley," Jeanie smiled at her.


Is She, Isn't She? Ch. 02



Author's note: This story has a plot and a decent amount of build-up, so if you're looking for a QF, you've come to the wrong place.

Also, it may be wise to read part one before you continue with part two.

Otherwise, enjoy!

Obviously, don't reprint without the author's permission, and any similarities between the characters and people/events of real life are, of course, purely coincidental.

Harmony.





Is She, Isn't She? Ch. 02



Jeanie leant out a hand and cupped one of Ashley's breasts. Ashley's were a handful; certainly not as big as Jeanie's, but not titchy either. Jeanie manipulated it carefully with her hand, massaging it gently with her fingers, sending tingles of pleasure into Ashley's body.

"Hmm, that feels really nice, Jeanie, I love having my tits played with," the blonde crooned to her encouragingly.

Jeanie smiled and gently pinched one of Ashley's peaks with her thumb and two fingers, delicately squeezing the ripe pink nipple.

"I don't know why you were worried about doing the "wrong thing", you're making me hot!" Ashley said huskily to Jeanie.

Jeanie smiled again, and continued gently fingering Ashley's nipple. It was slightly painful, very sensitive, and Ashley squirmed. Once Jeanie had teased it out with her fingers for a good few minutes, she lowered her dark head and swirled her warm tongue over it soothingly. Ashley sighed loudly.

Jeanie took the whole nipple into her mouth at that point and began suckling on it gently with her lush lips.

"Ah yes, that's it baby, you're making me so relaxed and horny, that feels soo nice ..." Ashley whispered to her, raising her hand and stroking Jeanie's dark hair while the younger girl sucked on her. "You're such a good girl," Ashley added tenderly.

Jeanie murmured slightly into Ashley's breast, increasing the pressure of her mouth on it, while pulsing her hot tongue against Ashley's nipple, rolling it around the sensitive pink nub. With delight, Ashley computed that Jeanie was quite versatile with her tongue! The moves she was experimenting with on Ashley's nipple were creative, sensual and electrifyingly pleasurable.

"God, Jeanie, you're so good at that!" Ashley got out in a rasping voice. "You're a natural, baby, you're ... mmm! So good ...!"

Jeanie continued to tongue Ashley's nipple, then gently took it between her teeth and exerted just the slightest pressure. Ashley hissed at the extreme sensitivity and the jolt it sent throughout her entire body, and Jeanie released it, then soothed it with soft wet licks from her tongue. Ashley sighed groaningly with pleasure.

By this time, Jeanie was laying on top of the blonde while she paid attention to her breasts. Ashley adjusted her position beneath the brunette so that one of Jeanie's long legs slipped between her own, then began slowly grinding her panty-covered pussy into Jeanie's thigh, stimulating it.

"I'm so wet, baby," she cooed to Jeanie, continuing to stroke her soft hair as the younger girl continued licking and sucking her tit.

"I know, I can feel you," Jeanie murmured back, before gently biting the underside of Ashley's breast.

Tingles from Ashley's chest caused her entire body to thrill, as Jeanie began to softly bite all around the underside of the soft orb. Ashley stifled a loud moan -- she didn't want, and knew Jeanie certainly didn't want, any of the Moronic Flatmates to hear them making love in Jeanie's bedroom, but it was an effort to swallow it down.

"Baby, you are so good, at that!" Ashley groaned quietly. "You're driving me crazy. That feels so nice."

Jeanie had begun to feel more confident under Ashley's strong encouragement, and the nervous energy that had accompanied her movements when she'd first started playing with Ashley's breasts slowly evaporated, as the younger girl relaxed and started to enjoy and get into what she was doing.

"I want you to play with my tits until I have to get up and go," Ashley whispered breathlessly to the brunette, as she continued to slowly rub her crotch against Jeanie's leg, body prickling luxuriously. She had over an hour of this in front of her if Jeanie complied, and revelled in the thought. In the past, her exes had played with her boobs, sure -- but not for such a deliciously long time in one sitting. Ashley was feeling indolent and lazy, and Jeanie was making every inch of her skin buzz with eroticism, with her gentle, artful mouth on the blonde's nipple. It would be such a treat if it could go on and on...

"It'll be my pleasure," Jeanie smiled up at her, voice husky, before dipping her head and continuing to suck.

"Mmm," Ashley sighed in complete enjoyment.

What followed was Jeanie paying every inch of Ashley's tits exquisite attention with her teeth, lips and tongue. Coupled with Ashley's undulating hips, and the whole experience was a slow burn of the sexiest proportions Ashley had ever experienced. Her whole body was singing, her breathing was deep and ragged. She was becoming more and more desperate to cum, to thrust her hips against Jeanie's thigh until she brought herself off -- but at the same time, she didn't know whether that would freak the younger girl out or not.

Jeanie had transferred her mouth to Ashley's other tit by now, and gingerly held the hard pink nipple between her white teeth again. She softly chewed and Ashley choked violently, otherwise she was sure she would have let out a ragged cry that would have waked the whole house.

Her hips rubbing her pussy against Jeanie's leg were moving quicker of their own accord, and Ashley moaned softly again at her lack of control. Her fingers were now buried deeply in Jeanie's hair, and she tried to sensuously massage Jeanie's scalp, when she thought about it -- but slowly, passion was driving everything else out of her mind and the only thing she could focus on was pleasure.

The endorphins were building, and came spilling through Ashley's body of their own accord as she came, rubbing her covered pussy against the silky skin of Jeanie's thigh. The blonde gasped, then grunted, body shaking for several long, luscious seconds, before stilling. Jeanie continued to flutter her tongue on Ashley's nipple and Ashley wasn't sure if the brunette even knew what had just happened.

The older woman lay there staring up at the ceiling, breathing hard, sweat all over her -- it was now burningly hot under the covers. Usually, Ashley couldn't stop at one orgasm -- she needed at least two, three to be satisfied. But Jeanie had been playing with her tits for ages now, and the build-up had been so slow and lavishly long, that the orgasm, when it came, had been much bigger than usual, and now Ashley lay there, sort of stunned at its magnitude -- it had, in short, crept up on her and turned into an unexpected explosion.

"Baby," she decided to let Jeanie know, as the brunette continued to happily lick at her tits, "I just came."

"I know," Jeanie sighed contentedly. "I'm not that stupid, Ashie. I mean, I might not know what I'm doing when it comes to women, but I knew about it when that happened. My thigh is soaked!"

"Ha ha, sorry!" Ashley groaned. "You're just so hot ... your mouth on my boobs is just so amazing ... it wasn't supposed to be about me tonight but I just couldn't control myself!"

"I didn't want you to control yourself," Jeanie pouted, sticking her tongue out whilst maintaining eye contact with Ashley and rippling it against the hard peak of Ashley's breast.

Ashley drowsily turned her head to check the time. She felt like cuddling with Jeanie now but it was quarter to six and she needed to get dressed and sneak out. She felt like a tea or something. She felt like lounging around in bed, and spending the next day teaching Jeanie how to make love to a woman properly, as was the original plan -- but she couldn't have any of those things because there was a chance that the Moronic Flatmates might hear them and Jeanie was in a great panic about the whole concept.

The thought spoilt her mood slightly, and she slowly sat up, pushing Jeanie with her. "I'd better get going," she murmured, stroking the side of Jeanie's face, then running her fingers softly over Jeanie's wet lips -- Jeanie's lips were shining in the gloom with her spit.

Jeanie sat on her knees in front of Ashley, and reached up of her own accord, cupping the side of Ashley's neck with a hand and leaning in, and kissing the older woman on the lips, tonguing her intimately. The two women made out for a couple of minutes. Jeanie seemed to want to keep going, but Ashley's hands went to the other girl's stomach and gently pushed her body away.

"If you keep that up, I'll never get out of this bedroom," the blonde cautioned her gently, kissing the side of her mouth.

Jeanie sighed and moved her legs to the edge of the bed, as Ashley stood and started looking around for her skirt and halter top.

"Do you want a tea or coffee before you go Ashie?" Jeanie asked now, as though remembering her manners. "I uh, I can go into the kitchen and make one for you, and bring it back in here?"

"That would be really nice actually," Ashley perked up a bit. "Thanks, baby -- a tea would be soo nice right now. Black, no sugar thankyou."

Jeanie nodded, pushing her own shirt back down over her chest, adjusting her shorts, standing and walking from the room. She returned five minutes later, as Ashley was redoing her long blonde ponytail in the mirror (her hair had been an absolute mess, scattered everywhere from the night's shenanigans with Jeanie). The younger girl handed Ashley the hot cup gingerly, and watched with her deep, dark eyes as the blonde sipped it.

Ashley knew she had to handle the situation carefully, otherwise Jeanie would pull back and shut herself off from the blonde. The older woman understood that what happened in the next forty-eight hours after sex was crucial. It would be dangerously easy for Jeanie, once left alone with her own thoughts, to start getting very scared about what she had just done with another woman, and what those actions implied to her personally.

For someone who had been leading a heterosexual lifestyle her entire existence, what had just happened was life-altering and frightening. The repercussions were that Jeanie would have to consider that it was actually very likely that she was, in fact, bisexual, at the very least. The next step, of course, was that she might be gay.

Ashley needed to give her space. If the blonde started texting her, tried to arrange another date with her, more sex with her, whatever else now, Jeanie would likely go running for the hills -- or in the direction of the nearest cock, Ashley didn't kid herself. At this early stage of the game, Jeanie would balk completely at the thought of being in a homosexual relationship -- which more than one sexual meeting with Ashley would immediately start to imply.

Ashley couldn't just abandon her either though, to no contact -- that would bruise Jeanie terribly, probably warn her off all women, and also make the girl burningly angry with the blonde -- Ashley knew Jeanie had a temper on her, she had seen the younger girl snap at work.

So now, Ashley had to ensure that Jeanie would be thinking about her, whilst simultaneously giving her non-freaking-out space and reassuring her that she was safe from being hurt by the older woman.

It was a difficult task -- but Ashley was extremely intelligent, and was confident that she knew what to do.

"Listen baby," she said now to Jeanie, while she sipped her tea. "You're gorgeous. That was so hot, last night and this morning."

"Thankyou, you're gorgeous too, and it was really hot," agreed Jeanie happily, sitting on her bed with a leg tucked up under her.

"Now baby, I'm going up to see my parents tomorrow because they want to see me for my birthday. I'm going to be there for two days at least -- I might extend it an extra day or so, we'll see how my flexibility is at work -- well, I'm just not sure yet. Anyway, my point is, that my parents' place doesn't have reception, and when I'm there, I usually just stay around the house the entire time. I won't be able to text you or call you for a least two days, maybe three."

"Oh, okay!" Jeanie nodded, sounding slightly surprised. "That's okay."

"I didn't want you to think that I'd just gone racking off," Ashley told her calmly. "As soon as I get home, I'll call into the bar and see you when you're working, okay? Are you working much this week?"

"Yeah, just about every night actually, bar Friday -- John's got some massive uni assignment he's got to finish this week, so I'm covering his shifts as well as mine ," Jeanie replied.

"Great!" Ashley drained the rest of her tea and stood up. Jeanie stood with her, and Ashley placed her teacup on Jeanie's dresser, before turning to the younger woman, reaching for her and fingering her jaw gently with fingers that were still hot from holding the mug. "I'll be thinking of you while I'm away, don't you worry about that. You're the best birthday present I've had in a long time. Thankyou for making my birthday so special."

Jeanie smiled and her arms went around Ashley's waist, and she pressed her lips forward, looking for a kiss. Ashley gave it to her, and Jeanie breathed into her lips.

"Thankyou, Ashie, for last night and this morning, I ... I was so curious ... and it was so good, with you."

"I am going to want to sleep with you again," Ashley thought the time was right to say. "There are a lot of things that we haven't done, that are really, really nice that I want to do with you."

"Hmm!" Jeanie grinned, as Ashley kissed her again. "When you get back ..."

Ashley reached for the door handle and she and Jeanie quietly snuck out of the brunette's bedroom, into the hallway as a clock somewhere struck quarter past six in the morning. The two girls padded to the front door. Jeanie slowly opened it, and stepped outside with Ashley, closing it silently again behind her.

Both women blinked painfully in the sunlight.

"God, it's bright!" whinged Jeanie. "How are you going to get home, Ashie?"

"Last night on the drive here, I noticed the corner shop down your street. I'll call a cab to come meet me there -- if I called it to the front of your place, it might honk when it got here or something and wake the Moro ... I mean, your flatmates, it might wake them up, if it did that," Ashley said, having to restrain herself. "What are you going to do now? Go back to sleep? Neither of us got very much and I don't know about you, but I'm still tired."

"I'm tired too, back to bed sounds like the best option," Jeanie agreed.

"Okay, bye baby! I'll see you in a few days," Ashley said simply, leaning in and hugging Jeanie, giving her a sensual and tender kiss on her temple to make her feel loved, safe and secure. It was with satisfaction that she noted that Jeanie's eyes fluttered closed in relaxation when Ashley's lips touched her skin.

"Bye Ashie," the brunette returned in a breathy voice.

Ashley turned and began to walk down the front path, past the broken gate and out onto the footpath. She waved casually to Jeanie, and continued to walk.

Now all she could do was hope that she had played her cards right. She needed Jeanie to be thinking about the eroticism of what they had done, and she needed Jeanie not to panic about it. If Jeanie panicked about it, the younger girl would fade immediately back into her cone of heterosexuality, and cut Ashley out at once -- and the thought of that happening caused Ashley's heart to pang. The enormity of her feelings for the young brunette were starting to become more and more apparent with each passing moment, and Ashley just didn't know how all this would pan out.

One thing was for sure. It had the potential to end in massive heartache.





Is She, Isn't She? Ch. 02



She walked through the doors -- her eyes fell immediately to her group of friends sitting in their usual seat. No sign of Jeanie, yet. Ashley approached the table but instead of sitting down, she remained standing while she greeted everyone.

She didn't have time to get caught sitting with her pals -- if Jeanie looked over and saw that Ashley had sat down without bothering to come over and say hello first, the brunette would surely think that the older woman was playing games with her, or didn't care about her -- thoughtless behaviour like that would make Jeanie angry. Besides, the reason Ashley was at the bar was not to see her friends this time round; it was to see Jeanie.

"Hey guys!" now, Ashley smiled. It was the first time she'd seen anyone since her birthday.

"Well-well! Hello, stud!" Claire teased, shaking with laughter.

"I can't believe it," Chantelle shook her green-capped head. "The hottest box in town, and you licked it!" she looked glum.

"Sorry, Chantelle," Ashley chuckled. "Good game?"

"I'm not a bad loser, James," Chantelle said gruffly, shaking her hand. "You training her up?"

"I don't exactly know what I'm doing with her," Ashley confessed, casting anxious green eyes toward the bar again. "This will be the first time I've seen her ... since. And don't tell her I told you that we slept together, alright?" she suddenly added to everyone quickly. "She might not want me to. We didn't discuss it."

"Our lips are sealed, unlike yours," sniggered Tansy in a naughty voice.

"Very funny. Is she even here?" Ashley threw a third frustrated glance toward the bar, just as Jeanie circled back around it and into sight, up to her old trick of surreptitiously thumbing through her mobile while at work. For a quick moment, Ashley wondered if the beautiful brunette was checking for a text from her.

"Go get her, Ash," Meredith encouraged kindly.

"Wish me luck!" Ashley raised her eyebrows at her friends and used a breezy voice.

"You don't need luck when you're as hot as you are, Ash," Claire informed her.

Ashley gave her a quick grin and walked over to the bar. Jeanie raised her head when she heard Ashley's footsteps, and her face broke into a nervous smile as she shovelled her forgotten phone deep into the pocket of her pants.

"Hey, Ashie!" she couldn't disguise the relief and happiness in her voice. "How was ... how was it at your parent's place?"

Ashley leant on the bar and smiled at Jeanie. "It was okay," she replied. "Jeanie, can you take your break now, or soon? I want to be able to catch up with you properly, without being interrupted."

"Er," Jeanie looked more nervous than ever. "Uh, sure, I can take it now. Where do you want to go? Outside?"

"Yeah, maybe down the other side of the building? The carpark might get a little annoying, with cars pulling in every few minutes!" Ashley kept her voice neutral and strong. She found that if she used a directive tone, Jeanie responded to and was comforted by it, by Ashley seeming to know what to do and how it would go. In an area where Jeanie was so unsure of everything, having someone take charge seemed to be what the young brunette needed.

Jeanie quickly asked Tony if it was okay if she took her break, and Tony consented -- it wasn't busy, and both Bella and Oliver were on. Jeanie grabbed her handbag and joined Ashley, where the blonde was waiting for her, leaning against the same patch of wall she'd slumped against, drunk, that fateful night when Jeanie had given her a lift home.

The two women exited the bar, Ashley waving to her friends as they passed their table. Jeanie's eyes slid assessingly over them, and it was with an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach that Ashley observed the shit-eating grins that just about the entire table wore -- grins that Ashley was sure Jeanie would notice. The blonde also saw Jeanie swallow hard, and then they were out the side door, in the narrow alleyway that separated Bolton's from the hairdresser's building adjacent.

The alleyway contained a couple of clean steel bins down one end, and a tall stack of wooden pallets for loading empty beer kegs onto, at the other. Ashley led Jeanie around behind the stack of pallets, and leant against the brick wall of Bolton's, while Jeanie stood facing her with her arms folded tensely.

"Did you tell them?" was the first thing out of the attractive brunette's mouth, voice terse.

Ashley's stomach knotted, but she forced her tones not to waver as she replied. "I did," she told the truth. "I felt really bad the second I did, though, I just sort of said without thinking. It was wrong of me, I should have asked you first if it was okay."

Jeanie closed her eyes in embarrassment and annoyance. "Great, just what I need," she cursed, almost to herself. "I'm sick and tired of the sexual harassment that goes on in this place! It's worse here than at the straight bar I worked, honestly! And now it's going to get even worse, now that everyone knows that I slept with a chick one time ...!"

"My friends won't tell anyone," Ashley made sure that they were standing close together, close enough to touch. "I apologise, Jeanie."

"What did they say?" Jeanie asked, voice still tense with anger, eyes fixed on the ground. "I bet they weren't surprised?"

"Weren't surprised?" Ashley frowned. "That I slept with the hottest resident straight girl in the bar? I think they definitely were surprised."

"They've been ... they've known something was up. When you gave me the invitation to your party, they were all laughing at me," Jeanie was glowering.

"They were laughing because they knew I wanted you," Ashley explained gently. "They ... they suspected, and assumed, when we left the club together -- not that anyone saw us leave. What I meant was, when both you and I turned up missing that night, they all put two and two together. Look, they won't tell anyone, I promise ..."

"You can't promise that, Ash!" now, Jeanie's voice turned slightly snappish. "What if Chantelle gets drunk one night and blurts it out, in that big loud voice she's got, huh? That's not a promise you can make."

"So I take it you didn't tell any of your friends about this?" Ashley tried changing tactics, voice dry.

"Of course I didn't!" Jeanie hurled back.

"Okay, alright. I've asked them not to say anything. I trust them. Do you hate me now?" Ashley used a gentle voice.

"No!" Jeanie answered ungraciously. "I just, I'm embarrassed ..."

"Embarrassed? Why? Am I some fat, ugly, trashy slut you're ashamed of having been with, or something?" Ashley challenged her.

"No," Jeanie groaned. "I'm embarrassed because I went around singing to everyone about how straight I was and now ...!"

"And now it's none of anyone's business what you decide to do, who you decide to be with, or sleep with. My friends are the last people to judge, believe me."

"Eurgh, fine!" Jeanie stared sullenly off, obviously still mad but realising there was nothing she could do about it.

Ashley's brow furrowed. "Tell me how your last few days have gone?" she prompted the surly brunette, still gently. "How was work?"

"Fine," Jeanie muttered, still looking to the side, arms still folded.

"Uni going okay?" this was going from bad to worse; now, Ashley felt as though she sounded like the girl's mother.

"It's fine," Jeanie shrugged grouchily, arms still folded.

Ashley reached out a hand and gently ran her fingers down the back of one of Jeanie's crossed forearms. "I was going to give you a call from my parents' landline to see if you were feeling okay about what we did together, but I thought you needed some space. I ... kind of missed you," she shot Jeanie a wry look.

"Hmm," Jeanie's dark eyes settled to Ashley's soft hand as it slowly travelled the length of skin on her arm.

"Not much, or anything," Ashley continued, her fingers tracing up to Jeanie's slim biceps, sliding underneath the sleeve of the black shirt she wore before tracing back down. "Hardly at all, really."

"Hm," Jeanie said again, still slightly gruffly, as Ashley closed warm hands over Jeanie's wrists and gently pried them apart -- she hadn't liked Jeanie's closed body language. The brunette's folded arms had been a physical barrier between them and now, Ashley removed it.

"And you?" Ashley asked Jeanie next, lacing their fingers together with both hands, standing even nearer.

"I hardly thought about you," Jeanie responded, allowing herself to play Ashley's little game, both with her fingers and verbally. "Maybe, like, once in the last seventy-two hours, but that would be it ..."

Ashley gave a soft laugh and gently tugged Jeanie to her, with her grip on the brunette's fingers. "I'm so hurt," she whispered into Jeanie's lips, before pressing their mouths together and kissing her.

Their lips moved sensually as one, Jeanie's mouth opening right away, apparently used to the drill now -- and apparently eager to feel Ashley's tongue sliding against her own. Ashley gently stroked the inside of Jeanie's mouth with her warm wet tongue, then pulled back to look at the younger woman's face.

Jeanie's lashes were down, and her eyes were still fixed on the ground. She chewed on a wet lip -- she looked as though she was thinking long and hard about something. She looked very uncertain -- as though she was uncertain about whether or not she had enjoyed that last kiss from Ashley.

This facial expression frightened Ashley. Panic rose within her. Jeanie had no business looking like that right after they'd kissed. She was supposed to look completely into it, but instead it looked as though she was having second thoughts and the idea made Ashley panic!

Ashley needed to make Jeanie very, very sure that she enjoyed being with the blonde. Whatever damaging thoughts were going around Jeanie's head, Ashley needed to drive them out. And she was going to. Aggressively.

Her fingers were still laced with Jeanie's, so Ashley suddenly yanked the girl forwards again, so that she landed against the older woman's chest. Ashley caught her, the blonde's arms going around Jeanie's flat middle, before driving her back quite violently into the brick wall behind them -- they both struck it relatively hard.

The expression of surprise on Jeanie's face was priceless, before Ashley drove their lips together again and kissed the younger girl hungrily. This was not a sensual kiss; it was a raw, hungry one. Jeanie had no choice but to react to it, almost blindly, her own tongue moving as though it was in a daze as Ashley did all the driving.

Ashley breathed in through her nose with a sharp hiss and pressed Jeanie up even more intimately into the wall, hands slipping beneath their bodies and to the backs of Jeanie's upper thighs. The blonde squeezed the muscles there luxuriously with strong fingers.

Jeanie was all sweet and melty now. Ashley had turned her on with her fierce kissing, massaging hands and aggressive treatment. Jeanie's body had melted into Ashley's, contours softening as Jeanie's muscles relaxed into her lover's body. The brunette's arms sat low on Ashley's slim hips, cupping the sides of Ashley's stomach. One of her arms crept into the small of Ashley's back to hold her closer.

Ashley bit Jeanie's bottom lip quite hard, then darted her face downwards to the crevice of her neck, and began biting her there too, not gently.

"Urgh!" Jeanie gasped, the note of surprise still in her voice. "So much for hardly at all!"

"Shut up!" Ashley ordered her, tongue trailing upwards along Jeanie's throat and tasting the sweat of her neck, to the hairline behind her ear, before actually tonguing Jeanie's ear itself, breathing hotly into it.

Jeanie's head fell to one side, her eyes closed. "Mmm," she lightly groaned. "Am I allowed to say that I like making out with you?" the words seemed to come spilling from lips that, like the rest of her, were softening as Ashley made Jeanie lose control of her body and give in to her senses.

Ashley bit Jeanie's earlobe this time, holding it between perfect white teeth and snarling into the side of her face, breathing hot and heavy. "I told you to shut up!" she growled, biting hard, hands going to the front of their bodies and beginning to fumble with the button and zipper on Jeanie's workpants.

Jeanie made a strangled sound in the back of her throat, her own hands diving to the front of her stomach and trying to wrestle Ashley's away.

"For Christ's sake, Ashley, I don't care how hard you bite me, I'm at work!" she gasped, caught right in the middle of shock, outrage, adrenalin and arousal.

Ashley already had the zipper down, and her quick fingers made rapid work of the button too, despite Jeanie's physical attempts to dissuade her.

"Shut up, Jeanie!" Ashley commanded, voice ragged and harsh. "I'm just so addicted to your body right now. I just want to touch you!"

"You can't, I'm at work!" Jeanie wrestled with Ashley, their wrists, hands and arms wrangling down low at her belly.

"You're on your break! It'll just be for a minute! Just let me touch you for a minute, Jeanie!" Ashley glared at her, before pressing her nose and lips against the brunette's. "Just for a minute," she repeated at a whisper now, into Jeanie's mouth. "Just for a minute, baby, just one minute, come on ..."

Jeanie's body drained of tenseness, responding to the coaxing in Ashley's voice, and Ashley quickly slid her fingers down the front of Jeanie's pants before the younger girl could change her mind or gather her thoughts again. The blonde found the elastic of Jeanie's panties and wriggled beneath those as well, finally coming to the delicious warm cleft between the girl's thighs.

"Mmm, that's a good girl," she crooned into Jeanie's mouth now, tonguing her again as her fingers petted her between her legs, softly stroking Jeanie's bare pussy, feeling the heat radiating from the brunette's body.

"God, Ashley, someone could see us!" groaned Jeanie, as Ashley parted the girl's slit and gently slid a finger inside her, probing and exploring her heat.

"No one will see us, we're hidden behind the pallets," Ashley breathed logically as she fingered her -- it was hard to speak, the blonde was trying to concentrate on what she was doing. "Even if someone got really close, they wouldn't see what I was doing to you, our hands are hidden in front of our bodies, between our bodies -- God, you're so wet!"

Jeanie whimpered as Ashley's long fingers found her clit and fondled it, caressing it. It felt like the blonde was sliding her fingers in hot silk, as Jeanie's body temperature skyrocketed and her hips undulated against Ashley's hand.

"Hmm, are you all wet just for me, baby?" Ashley whispered hotly, tongue creeping out of her mouth and dipping into Jeanie's panting lips, as the older woman continued to diddle the brunette's clit softly. "Are you? 'Cause you're so wet, darling."

One of Jeanie's hands came up and circled around behind Ashley's neck.

"Who else would it be for?" Jeanie actually opened her passion-dark eyes to goad Ashley, slightly rebelliously, before dragging their mouths together and tonguing Ashley passionately.

Ashley's brows quirked with amusement at Jeanie's cheekiness at such a moment. She allowed Jeanie to control the pace of their mouths for a moment, then took her lips away, pulling Jeanie off the wall with the hand that wasn't forced down the front of the other girl's panties. Though she slid that hand free too, and Jeanie wasn't able to suppress the moan when she did.

Ashley moved her body around behind Jeanie's, so that her front was pressed to the brunette's slender back. The older woman slipped her arms intimately around Jeanie's tight stomach, wrapping one arm around the girl's body beneath the large slopes of her breasts and holding her in position.

She slid the other arm down, down, back into Jeanie's opened pants, cupping her sex again to the tune of a sigh and small, breathy grunt coming from the younger girl's lips.

From this new position, Ashley started licking her tongue into Jeanie's ear again while she played with the brunette's pussy, fingering her and slowly picking up the tempo.

"Are you going to cum for me?" Ashley asked hotly, her fingers gliding in and out of Jeanie's tight little snatch now, fucking the gorgeous girl with two long fingers.

"Mmm!" Jeanie gave another ragged groan at Ashley's sexy words.

"You want to cum, don't you baby?" Ashley breathed, her lips two millimetres from Jeanie's ear.

"Mm, yes!" Jeanie responded, her voice broken. "Yes Ashie, I want to cum so bad!"

"This is a bit of a naughty thing to do on your break while you're at work, baby," Ashley reminded her of their circumstances, voice wicked. "Fucking, in the back alleyway."

"Mm, fuck me Ashie, make me cum!" Jeanie threw her head back onto Ashley's shoulder, her long dark hair spilling down Ashley's back. In such a pose, the brunette's long slender throat was exposed and rippling with every shaking breath she took. Her knees had started to shake and if it weren't for Ashley's strong arm gripping her under her breasts, she probably would have needed to buckle or lean on something for support. "Mmm, I'm so close! Fuck me Ashie, please! Uh, that feels so good ... oh! Mmm, yes, right there, right there Ashie ..."

Ashley now had her right where she wanted her. "Right!" she announced, circling Jeanie's clit with warm, slippery fingers. "Every time I'm here when you're working from now on, you're going to take your break, and we're going to come out here and fuck, baby, aren't we?"

"Uh! Yes, that would be gooood, Ashie!" Jeanie moaned, head still tossed backwards onto Ashley's shoulder.

"Every time!" Ashley pressed her. "Promise me!" she stilled her fingers for a moment, teasing Jeanie out of her senses.

"I promise Ashie, I promise! Why did you stop when I'm so close?!"

"I want to hear you promise me that every time I'm here, while you're working, you and I are going to sneak out here and fuck. You're going to cum every single time -- we're going to have hot, nasty sex here in this back alleyway and you're going to love it! Say it, or I won't let you cum!"

"I already promised, I promised!" Jeanie's voice was rising in pitch as she got desperate, Ashley's skilled fingers keeping the brunette right where she wanted her, on the brink, on the cusp, on the edge of sizzling insanity, with maddening swirls in her hot slickness. Jeanie let out a high gasp, totally caught up in the passion. "Every time you come in when I'm working, I'll let you fuck me, you can fuck me whenever and whichever way you want when I'm at work, I promise, now please Ashie ...!"

Ashley smiled. "Good girl!" she teased, before adjusting the angle of her hand and sliding two fingers deep into Jeanie's body, thrusting them firmly and with a strong rhythm. Jeanie made a noise of rapture and came, her whole body shuddering violently against Ashley's, the muscles of her inner walls contracting and spasming, and sucking Ashley's fingers even deeper into her body. It lasted ... and lasted ... and finally, Jeanie slumped against Ashley's shoulder and stomach. Once again, if it hadn't been for Ashley's strong arm around the brunette's stomach, Jeanie would have sunk into a sprawl all over the pavement.

Ashley readjusted her body slightly, and pressed her cheek to Jeanie's from behind, while Jeanie was calming down from her orgasm, Ashley's arms securely around her and holding her. The brunette's smooth cheek was hot and flushed -- Ashley turned and pressed her face into it, smiling, ego swelling as it always did whenever she proved she was a fine lover by driving her partners to such bliss.




Is She, Isn't She? Ch. 02



Jeanie's breathing was out. She allowed Ashley to hold her, and the blonde's cheek pressed to hers from behind seemed to be acceptable to her too. Ashley grinned and kissed Jeanie's cheek now, gently letting her go and standing back from her. Jeanie leant against the brick wall, and turned to face Ashley, just as the green-eyed beauty sucked her fingers into her mouth, tasting her young lover. Jeanie's eyes flickered and her mouth opened as she stared at the erotic sight.

"Mmm, you taste so yummy, baby," Ashley groaned, before fixing her gaze on Jeanie's still-opened pants. A wicked idea formed in her mind. "I need to taste more of you." She pinned Jeanie to the wall, running one of her hands down the side of the brunette's still-flushed face, then sank to her haunches in front of the girl.

"Now ... now wait just a second Ashie ...!" Jeanie swallowed weakly, as Ashley began pulling the brunette's pants and panties down now, sitting them midway down the length of her thighs.

"You're very wet, darling. I'm not going to let all that go to waste. You taste so good. You're going to let me just ... clean you up down here a bit, that's all ..."

"Ashley!" Jeanie gasped, as Ashley cupped her ass, held her hips firmly in position and gently began licking her slit, giving her head. "Shit, someone is going to see us for sure!"

"Mmm ... no they won't," Ashley managed to get out, tongue sliding in and out of Jeanie's sweet-tasting pussy with delicate wet sounds.

Jeanie's breathing threw itself out again really quickly, and she was rasping for air. "God!" she choked out.

"Tell me it doesn't feel good?" Ashley goaded her, kissing her clit sensuously, dragging her tongue along it, sliding between Jeanie's warm, wet lips liquidly, licking her all up.

"That's not the point, I'm going to be so fucking late back from my break ...!" Jeanie gasped.

"Nice choice of words," Ashley smirked, wetly suckling her clit and just below it now. "What would you rather be doing: working? Or getting eaten out by me?"

Jeanie's head tipped backwards so that it was leaning on the brick wall behind her, eyes closing in ecstasy as the demands of her body overrode her brain in two seconds flat. One hand lay flat on the wall, the other rested gently on the top of Ashley's blonde hair. "I'd rather you, I'd rather thisss ..." she hissed up a breath as Ashley rewarded her positive response by sliding her tongue deep inside the younger girl's pussy, as far as it could go, and fluttering it. "Oh my God!" Jeanie got out brokenly. "You're soo good at that Ashie, I ... oh my ...! Ohhhh ... this is soo bad, I'm supposed to be ... mmm ... I ... oh yes. Oh yes-yes-yes ... mmm ... oh Ashie ... mmm ... Ashie ..." her voice was only a tortured whisper now, her body shaking with need and quivering in response to Ashley's warm, probing tongue, sliding and wriggling deep within her heated centre.

"I love going down on you, baby, you taste so nice," Ashley whispered into the brunette's body, using her fingers to lightly pull Jeanie's sweet, wet lips apart and licking inside her again, sliding her tongue sensually over her clit and swirling it there, mouth flooded with Jeanie's rich taste.

Jeanie shrieked at this, and it wasn't quiet. Ashley smiled.

"Shh baby," she cautioned her. "Are you going to cum again?"

"Mmmm!" Jeanie groaned. "Ashie, please keep licking me, don't stop, don't stop, I love it when you lick me, mmm ...!"

Ashley had no intention of stopping until she'd driven Jeanie to her second orgasm. She stroked the girl's clit quickly with her tongue, and felt the tension in the brunette's muscles start to build, higher and higher until, with one last flutter from Ashley's tongue, she crashed over the edge, groaning and trembling and gasping.

Ashley suckled her through it, drinking greedily from Jeanie's pussy -- she admitted to herself that she was hopelessly addicted to the way Jeanie tasted already by this, only her second oral encounter with the girl.

Jeanie gave one last flinch, and Ashley gingerly slid her mouth free, licking her lips carefully while standing up. Jeanie was definitely leaning against the brick wall for support now -- she was lolling about all over it, her face bright red, her hair in tumbles from the amount of times she'd thrown it back in rapture.

Ashley bit her lip to stop the involuntary giggle escaping from her mouth -- she'd been a bit zealous, this time, when she'd been making out with Jeanie -- the younger girl had loud red marks all over one side of her throat, and down one side of her face. Ashley pressed her lips together, hard, and gently reached out to pull the girl's pants up for her, and reseal them.

Jeanie just stood there and let her do it, unmoving. Ashley gave Jeanie's flat stomach a gentle pat with the palm of her hand when she'd finished.

"All done," she smiled at the girl, happily.

Jeanie lethargically raised her wrist to her face to look at the time. "I'm screwed," she pronounced, voice dead.

Ashley burst out laughing, and leant against the wall with her, standing next to her. "Sorry you're going to be a bit late, baby," she apologised sweetly.

"A bit late? I'm going to be twenty minutes late!" Jeanie groaned. "More than, because I need to go to the bathroom to straighten up ...!" she winced.

"But you feel good though," Ashley grinned. "Think about how much nicer work is going to be for you tonight -- you'll feel all serene and relaxed ..."

"I'm going to be in trouble with Tony," Jeanie sulked.

"Is that all you can think about? Tell him you were caught in traffic!" Ashley laughed again.

"Okay," Jeanie finally had the strength to lean up from the wall, and dragged her fingers through her dark hair in an effort to comb it straight. "How do I look?" she presented herself to Ashley.

"You um ... you er ..." Ashley giggled again. "You look beautiful baby! Did you bring makeup?"

"Yes, why?" Jeanie asked suspiciously, before her face cleared and her mouth opened in horror. "Oh my God, my neck!" she slapped a hand against it. "You've given me hickies all over it, haven't you?"

Ashley merely shrugged at her, still giggling.

"Aw shit, Ashie!" Jeanie massaged her temples. "I bet my face is all red and sweaty too. Now what am I supposed to do? I'm trapped out here!"

"Trapped out here?" Ashley fixed her with a dark, wicked look. "Better not be saying things like that, sexy. If you're trapped out here, and there's nowhere else for you to go, I might just start to get some more ideas ..."

"Ashie, I'm serious! I can't just waltz through the bar to the toilets looking like this! Everyone in there will see me when I walk through, and I look like ... I look like ..."

"You look like you've just had sex?" Ashley supplied for her. "That's because you have, baby," she reminded the girl sensibly. "Look, no one will look at you. Just go back inside and walk really quickly. It's not like you have much of a choice, do you? You have to get back to work at some stage -- like you said, you're already very late."

Jeanie glared at her. Ashley fixed her with a smug look back. The expression on Jeanie's face changed -- now, she looked quite entertained at Ashley's obvious, naughty enjoyment of the brunette's predicament. The younger girl reached out a hand and took Ashley's, slipping her fingers through Ashley's, and swinging their arms together for a little bit.

"You're a bad influence on me," she said then, starting to smile at her lover. "You ... you're cheeky, Ashie."

"You're stalling," Ashley reminded her, laughing, pulling her into a hug and cradling her dark head in her shoulder. "I know you enjoyed that, I don't care how much you choose to whinge about being "late" back to work now. You're beautiful and sexy, and I've missed you."

"I missed you too, Ashie," Jeanie confessed over her shoulder. "So much," she added. "Maybe we shouldn't go back in together?" she suggested now, pulling away from Ashley and thinking about it, with an adorable frown written across her perfect features. "If people see us walk back in together, they might suspect ..."

"Babe, we left together," Ashley rolled her eyes. "It makes sense for us to walk back in together -- besides, if we make a big deal about coming in separately, how obvious is that going to be? -- oldest trick in the book, the one you just suggested, darling. I think we should just walk in like we've got nothing to hide, and you just quickly duck into the bathroom and put some concealer on your neck." She sniggered. "Try not to full-on sprint for the bathroom when you get inside though, baby -- that's going to make it pretty obvious too!" she added.

Jeanie glared at her and poked her in the stomach, hard, with one of her fingers. "This isn't funny, Ashie!" she lectured.

"Ow!" Ashley laughed some more, buckling. "Oh baby, yes it is!" she pulled Jeanie to her again and kissed her on the side of her mouth.

"Whatever!" Jeanie stated, high-handedly. "We'll walk back in together, but it's going to be so obvious what we've been doing -- you don't look all clean-sheen-squeaky-clean either, Ashie, if you want to know," she added, pulling away and raising her eyebrows at Ashley. "I know I must look like I just got royally fucked, but your face is all red too, your hair is on your face, your ponytail is coming out, and your nipples are hard." She started smiling herself at her last statement, dark eyes falling to land on Ashley's chest. "Well-well, now how do you like it? You're going to have to go back inside in that state as well!" she smirked.

"I can live with it," Ashley flirted, green eyes flashing with enjoyment at their banter.

Jeanie wiped the smirk off her face. "Eurgh!" she grouched. "Have you no shame, woman?"

"What do I have to be ashamed about? Sex with you is so natural -- it comes so naturally," Ashley practically sang, stretching her arms backwards relaxedly.

"You are so bad, Ashie," Jeanie shook her head.

"You love it," Ashley smiled comfortably.

"Whatever!" Jeanie told her again. "We'll walk back in together; just don't make it even more obvious than it already is by slapping my ass when we get inside, or something."

"I wouldn't do that!" claimed Ashley. "I'm not a guy!"

"I know that," Jeanie raised her brows at the blonde again, as she pushed open the side door and they both walked back into the bar.

Jeanie put her head down and rapidly shot off. Ashley strode back over to her table of friends, and gracefully lowered herself back into her seat.

They were all looking at her with raised expressions on their faces.

"You were certainly gone a long time," commented Claire.

"Ash -- you're a mess! Just what were you doing with her out there?" Meredith was staring, laughingly. "Did you make out?"

"Did you fuck?" Chantelle, typically, was much more blunt.

Ashley merely flashed them all a million-dollar grin. "Phew!" she said. "I could certainly use a drink after all that."

"Did you and Jeanie just ... outside?" Meredith gaped.

"It was merely an intense conversation," Ashley replied innocently.

Meredith's mouth was open, Tansy and Claire both wore shocked grins and, at Ashley's last statement, Chantelle snorted.

"Cream-Jeans looked fucked when she walked in with her head down like a hockey player," she blared. "And she seemed to have developed this weird rash on the side of her neck, Ash, now what could that be I wonder?"

"So you two definitely did some necking," Tansy watched her blonde friend, desperate for more details.

"They fucked," Chantelle shrugged bluntly, making it a definite statement.

"Alright Chantelle, keep it down. She was upset at me for telling you last time ..."

"Confirmation! "Last time" -- it's now happened more than once, and Jesus Christ, Ashley! You are one risqué bitch! Anyone could have seen you two going at it out there!" Claire exclaimed, eyes shining with eager delight at the raunchy piece of information.

"No they couldn't, we were behind something," Ashley replaced a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

"God!" groaned Tansy. "That's so sexy, the thought of you two doing it right next-door -- the thought of you two doing it at all is hot off the scale! Both of you are stunning!"

"She'd be a bottom, right? You'd be playing top, I'm right aren't I?" Chantelle smirked at Ashley.

"I shouldn't be talking about this," Ashley suppressed a smile. "She'll get upset and embarrassed."

"And how do you expect us to talk about anything else, now that we know that our gorgeous friend just had hot sex with the steamy barmaid?" Tansy protested.

"Cream-Jeans not so straight now, is she Ash?" Chantelle wore a self-satisfied grin.

"She's more, zig-zag shaped," Claire giggled.

"I told y'all, didn't I?" Chantelle trumpeted arrogantly. "I told you all I could pick 'em! My gaydar is never out, it's the best in the business. I picked her for a pussy-hungry bitch and look what happened? She started hungering after Ashley's blonde pussy! Ha ha ha!"

"Chantelle, please!" Ashley reprimanded her primly.

"I seriously don't know how we're going to be able to talk about anything else," Tansy said again, shaking her head. "I mean, seriously Ashley, that is totally wow ..."

"Maybe we should leave then?" Ashley put to the table immediately, voice firm.

"What? Ashley ..." Claire stared, but Ashley cut her off.

"No, guys, I really think we should go. I don't want to risk this ... if she hears ... if she misconstrues any of our conversation ..." she got a bit caught up in words, not sure how to articulate her fears to her friends.

"Whoa, Ash!" Chantelle was staring at her. "Calm down!"

"No, Chantelle, you don't understand," Ashley told her, brow furrowing as she frowned down at the table.

Her four friends shared looks with each other.

"Do you love her, Ash?" Claire breached gently.

"No," Ashley's green eyes slanted shiftily off to one side.

"Ash," Meredith pushed her. "Are you in love with her?"

Ashley ran her tongue over her lips frustratedly, and raised her eyes to the ceiling. "I don't want to ruin anything with her," she clarified. "If I do anything wrong, she'll back away from me."

"That's ridiculous, Ash!" Tansy stared at her, angry at Ashley last words. "What hold does she have over you? Why should you have to be scared about putting a foot wrong? If she wants to back away from you for some random, stupid reason, she's not worth it!"

"You're usually so strong, Ash," Claire's voice was quiet; she sounded surprised with her blonde pal.

"I'm not being weak!" Ashley rolled her eyes. "Listen, I'm trying to play this a certain way."

"What way?" Chantelle wanted to know.

"I'm trying to get her to care about me, she doesn't care about me yet," Ashley shrugged matter-of-factly.

Tansy screwed up her face in annoyance. "If she doesn't care about you, she can piss of!" she declared with venom, protective. "Ash, you're beautiful -- she's a thousand times lucky you even looked in her direction! I know maybe three, four dozen women who would knife Jeanie in the back or push her off a staircase, just to get her out of the way so they'd have a shot with you!"

"Tans, that's beside the point if I only want her," Ashley reminded her friend gently.

"Here is the girl of the hour, makeup and hair redone," Claire nodded now at the bar.

All five girls turned to look. Jeanie, looking completely neutral again, walked back around the bar and began placing dirty glasses from a stack into a tray, ready for the dishwasher. She glanced up at Ashley's table, presumably to check for her blonde lover -- and saw all five girls staring at her.

Abruptly, the brunette's face darkened to a thundercloud, and she started slamming the glasses into the tray with loud clatters and clashes, her movements furious and aggressive, jaw set, eyes firing up a storm.

"Oh god!" Ashley muttered under her breath, heart rising in dread even though she knew it was stupid. "All five of us are looking at her at the same time -- she's thinks I've told you again."

"What a little tantrum-thrower!" Claire sounded both surprised and amused with Jeanie's juvenile display.

Jeanie narrowed her eyes at Ashley across the room, grabbed the fully loaded tray and disappeared from sight, carrying it over to the dishwasher, which was on the far side of the bar. They couldn't see her anymore, but they could certainly hear her -- when she went to close the dishwasher door, she didn't just push it nicely. She banged it shut as though it was a door. The loud crash sounded out around the entire bar. A few people looked mildly around to see where the noise was coming from. Jeanie didn't reappear. Ten seconds later, Ashley's mobile phone started piping -- her inbox was singing to let her know that she had received a new message.

"Let me guess?" Meredith raised her eyebrows.

Ashley rolled her eyes -- she knew it was from Jeanie before she even flipped it open. And there it was, the furious accusation. 'Did u tell AGAIN?'

Jeanie appeared back around the front side of the bar, and stood there with her hands on her hips, dark eyes glowering across the room as she fixed them solely on Ashley.

"Wow. She's certainly a spitfire when she's angry, isn't she?" Tansy sniggered, watching her.

"She is a lot younger than us," Claire reminded them. "As we can see from this exceedingly immature exhibition."

"She needs someone to beat the shit out of her," Chantelle sniffed. "I could teach her her place -- you need to spank the bejesus outta her, Ashley, show her who's boss. She'll respond to that, trust me."

"Chantelle!" Ashley snapped, even while her thumbs worked as she texted Jeanie back, 'No, i didn't tell them anything.'

'R u sure?' Jeanie had her mobile out of her pocket in two seconds and was checking it, then replying to Ashley's message.

'Yes,' Ashley wrote back, sending her message across the room.

Jeanie read her phone, then raised her head and looked right into Ashley's green eyes. The younger girl's face had softened. She cast her gaze downwards as she texted Ashley again. 'Sorry ashie, i got scared.'

"She got scared?" Tansy scoffed, reading over Ashley's shoulder.

"Hey!" Ashley clasped her phone possessively to her chest. "Tans!"

"Sorry Ash, sorry!" Tansy sighed, leaning backwards in her chair.

Ashley lowered her head back to her phone again and started texting Jeanie.

"Jesus, girl," Chantelle was staring at her. "Shit, you've got it bad! Look at you!"

"Huh?" Ashley asked distractedly, as she sent Jeanie her message, 'I would never do anything to hurt u, ok?' "Sorry, what?"

"Oh Ashley!" groaned Claire, astonished acceptance in her voice.

"She'd better not treat you badly, that's all," Tansy neatly adjusted her glasses on her nose.

"Now listen, you lot, you're getting way ahead of yourselves again and jumping to conclusions about me that just have no merit whatsoev..." she trailed off as her phone sounded off again, and she quickly flipped it open to read it. 'Ur beautiful Ashie.'

Ashley raised her eyes to the bar. Jeanie was standing there, smiling uncertainly across the room at her. Ashley rolled her eyes, shook her head and smiled back. Jeanie's smile increased, and she turned away to serve a customer.

"Um, excuse me, but would you mind not having eye-sex in front of us, James?" Chantelle blanched at the display.

"Chantelle!" Ashley rolled her eyes again. "Anyway, as I was saying. I want to play this a certain way. I like her. She's still freaked out by everything, so if I play this wrong she'll pull away from me. I've got to treat her with kid-gloves..."   "Because she's a kid?" Claire broke in, laughing.




Is She, Isn't She? Ch. 02



"Because," Ashley continued, "otherwise I'll lose ... the opportunity to see what this whole thing with her is ... exactly."

"Right. So just to clarify, you're not in love with her?" Claire put Ashley in the hot seat.

"Girls, lay off!" Ashley complained. "I'm trying to figure a lot of stuff out here -- I'm trying to figure her out, this out, everything out! I don't need any undue pressure from you my friends."

"How do you think she feels about you?" Tansy asked closely.

"I don't know, Tansy!"

"You said she doesn't care about you yet."

"I think she ... there's evidence to suggest that she might be starting to."

"Such as?" Chantelle wanted to know, voice derogatory.

"Well ... I don't know. She calls me "Ashie", she ... look, I don't really know. Just little things, here and there."

"I don't buy it. I think it's all a load of garbage. I'd love to be proven wrong, but I think that bullshit about how she might be starting to care about you is just that; bullshit." Chantelle was brutal.

"Chantelle!" Meredith and Claire both rang out angrily at the same time.

"You should have just played it like I was going to play it, Ash -- like she was a hot piece of ass I wanted to shag, full stop. Then you'd be cool. You would have got your rocks off, laid a babe, had a wild ride and a good time, and been fine. All this intense stuff is going to make this a bad experience for you."

"Ash, don't listen to her -- Chantelle, shut up! You don't know that!" Tansy ordered her.

"Ash, your fairy-friends here are going to tell you that life's fairytales and rainbows, and peachy little Jeanie up there is going to fall deeply in love with you and reject her straight lifestyle, come out to mummy and daddy as a full-blown dyke, and live with you happily ever after -- and you'll get fuckin' married in Canada, and all that shit."

Ashley raised her eyebrows questioningly at Chantelle (inwardly annoyed at her butch friend for unknowingly referencing one of her private fantasies -- the mention of Canada was irritating, and slightly jarring -- was Ashley that transparent?). "And what do you think, Chantelle? Enlighten me with your realism, please," she challenged her.

"She's using you to get a bug out of her system. In ten years' time, she'll be a suburban mum, and her husband will coach her son's football team, and she'll always remember how wild she once was in college. I've looked into Jeanie's crystal ball and that's what I see, sorry Ash."

"I was having similar thoughts myself," Ashley admitted. "Thoughts that I could just be her outlet for experimenting, I mean, for a few wild night of girl-sex for her spank-bank and nothing more."

"Isn't that the case a lot of the time though?" Tansy's voice was slightly irritable. "Us gay girls get the raw end of the deal -- floozies like Jeanie mess with us just because they have a selfish need to experiment, and screw our feelings, as long as they get what they need from the situation!"

"Maybe she'll be different, maybe she's just figuring stuff out, and maybe you're not a realist at all, Chantelle, maybe you're a pessimist masquerading as a realist?" Claire sighed. "All we can say for certain at this time is that we simply don't know. We'll have to wait and see what Jeanie will do."

"I agree, of course -- except I don't believe in taking a passive role in the whole situation. I hope to guide her in a certain direction," Ashley smiled wanly at her friends. "Okay, well, on that note, I think I might head. I'm worn out."

"I'll bet. You've had a strenuous afternoon, eh Ashley?" Tansy said slyly.

"Not that strenuous, Tans, I can assure you my stamina is better than that!" Ashley threw back, smirking at her. "I'll just go say goodbye to Jeanie."

"You should just take on out of here without saying anything to her, give her something to think about for a bit," Chantelle advised, one-hundred percent serious.

"Chantelle ... I'm not interested in those tactics at this time, thankyou," Ashley rolled her eyes.

"Sometimes they work," Chantelle shrugged.

"Right, well, I'll see how I do on my own first, then if I have to start playing dirty, I will," Ashley said. "Until then, I'm working the good-girl angle. Goodnight, girls. Please, if you're going to stay here for a bit, don't ... don't talk about it, she could hear you. Then I'll cop the blame. This is important, alright? I don't want to lose her now, when things are so ... up in the air."

"Alright Ash!" Tansy rolled her eyes. "I don't think you should be pandering to her so much, it seems as though she requires more attention than a small infant at the moment! But whatever, I think it's probably time we headed anyway -- besides, I don't think I'm going to be able to resist the temptation. You're all I want to talk about -- this is all so intriguing and exciting!"

"I'm so flattered I can provide you with entertainment, Tans," Ashley replied dryly. "Goodbye girls, see you all soon I'm sure." She approached the bar, and waited.

Jeanie was serving a couple of people. The brunette's dark eyes flickered onto Ashley, and she sped up her service, disposing of her customers as quickly as she could before approaching her blonde lover.

"Hi there, can I help you?" she flashed Ashley her perfect set of teeth, giggling.

"I don't know, can you?" Ashley flirted back.

Jeanie giggled again, then sobered up. "I'm sorry about before, Ashie, I just saw them all looking at me and I thought ..." she trailed off.

"They pushed me for details but I didn't give them any," Ashley said. "They were staring at you to get some clues."

"I guess I gave them plenty, didn't I, by having a tantrum?" Jeanie's voice turned glum.

"Nothing conclusive, baby," Ashley smiled at her. "Want to come over to my place tomorrow night, after you've finished work?"

"Yes," Jeanie smiled. "Oh wait, but I can't! I've got plans -- I'm taking a couple of classes at the gym with Red."

"That's okay -- it's Thursday tomorrow, it's probably not good to do it on a weeknight anyway -- I've got to get up early for work the next morning. What about Friday night then? Would that be better?"

"Yes," Jeanie smiled again. "I'm not working."

"Great, so I'll see you Friday?"

"Yes," Jeanie nodded her head again, more definitely.

"Can't wait, beautiful," Ashley winked at her.

Jeanie giggled. "Me neither, Ashie," she returned.

"Shall I call you tomorrow?" Ashley asked her.

"Yeah, that would be nice," Jeanie nodded. "Speak to you then, Ashie."

Ashley turned and left the bar, with her spirits considerably inflated.





Is She, Isn't She? Ch. 03



Author's note: This story has a plot and a decent amount of build-up, so if you're looking for a QF, you've come to the wrong place. 

Also, it may be wise to read parts one and two before you continue with three. 

Otherwise, enjoy! 

Obviously, don't reprint without the author's permission, and any similarities between the characters and people/events of real life are, of course, purely coincidental. 

Harmony.





Is She, Isn't She? Ch. 03



"I did care! I didn't want to hurt you, I just ..." Jeanie stuttered, but Ashley cut her off again.

"You didn't actually hurt me," she told the younger girl. "I was surprised. Then I was angry. Nothing more. I don't like being used, Jeanie, and I'm angry!"

"I didn't mean to make you feel like I'd used you," Jeanie's eyes fell to the ground. "I did want to experiment and I ... but I ... I wasn't using you for that!"

"Why did you just take off once you'd got what you wanted then?"

"I didn't!" Jeanie protested. "I still wanted to be your friend! I just can't date you because I'm straight."

"You're straight, are you?" Ashley rolled her eyes. "You've said and done things during sex with me that indicate that you've had better sex with me, than you've had with any of your male lovers; deny it."

"I'd never cum during penetration before, if that's what you mean," Jeanie's voice was sullen. 

"Amongst other things," Ashley raised her eyebrows at her, and walked over so that she was standing a whole lot closer to Jeanie. "I think you've called out "it's never felt so good, Ashie" a few times, as well as the little penetration fact, yes."

"You're the oldest person I've ever slept with; you're the most experienced, so you're probably the ... the best I've had just for that reason," Jeanie's eyes dropped to the ground and stayed there.

"Oh, is that it?" Ashley reached a warm hand up, laid it flat on Jeanie's upper chest, and pushed the girl backwards into the white wall. She began gently stroking the bare skin at the base of Jeanie's sexy throat. "I'm old?"

"No, Ashie, just more experienced," Jeanie finally looked into the blonde's green eyes, voice sincere.

"What, so you're trying to be sweet to me now?" Ashley's hand slid down Jeanie's neck, until it cupped a cloth-covered breast, and began fondling it gently.

"No," Jeanie replied with a swallow. "I probably shouldn't be letting you do that, Ashie," she added, her eyes darkening already with passion. 

"Your body can't help itself, hun," Ashley told her bluntly, hand moving down further and sliding down Jeanie's flat stomach, fingers entering her pantline. The blonde's free hand unsnapped the catch on Jeanie's jeans, allowing her fingers to roam. The zipper fell down seemingly by itself, as Ashley's hand in the front of Jeanie's pants began to wriggle and dip into Jeanie's underwear, in order to get to the girl's bare pussy.

She gently parted the girl's slit with a curled finger, and began stroking Jeanie between her legs. Jeanie's breathing turned deeper right away. 

"I told you there'd be no screwing," she groaned, hands going to Ashley's shoulders and gently resting against them, before one hand crept up and cupped the side of Ashley's neck.

Ashley smiled slightly. Jeanie was powerless under the blonde's skilled hands. 

"We both know you can't help yourself around me," she stated, keeping her head back and away from Jeanie. There was to be no kissing right at that moment, even though Jeanie's dark eyes had flown open and were staring longingly at Ashley's mouth.

The older woman's fingers kept stroking Jeanie lovingly, diddling her clit softly at the top of her slit before sliding back down again, slipping between the sweet pink lips and probing, exploring. The gorgeous blonde femme was pleased that she'd simply been able to pin the younger girl to the wall and start fingering her with such ease, despite the brunette's statements before the event that it wasn't going to happen. Jeanie had major weak spots, it appeared, when it came to Ashley.

Jeanie was now very wet. The brunette opened her thighs even wider to give Ashley better access, a soft little sigh falling out of her mouth, giving in completely to the pleasure her body longed for, and letting Ashley have her way with her. 

Ashley cocked her head and observed the younger girl knowingly. Sexually, Jeanie belonged to Ashley now, that much was obvious. The dark-haired girl couldn't help herself, she melted every time Ashley touched her. 

Emotionally, however, she was still light-years away and the thought frustrated Ashley. It wasn't fair. They were perfect for each other – why couldn't Jeanie see it? 

Because the girl was a close-minded self-absorbed homophobe, that was why. 

Ashley's index finger slid deep into Jeanie's pussy, plunging all the way in with an audible wet sound, and Jeanie groaned when the blonde crocked it at the tip, and stroked her curled finger deep in the gorgeous brunette's body, coaxing more pleasure from her.

"Oh God, Ashie ...!" Jeanie breathed reverently. 

"Tell me now," Ashley said casually, mechanically beginning to plunge her finger in and out of the delicious cleft between Jeanie's legs, to the tune of high gasps from the brunette herself, "how many people have touched you since you and I started fooling around?"

"What?" Jeanie gasped, eyes wide and staring at Ashley, as the blonde's finger fucking in and out her tight snatch made her whole body shake with need. "Ohhhh Ash, mmm ..."

"How many people, have touched you, since you and I started, fooling around?" Ashley repeated forcefully, shoving her finger in Jeanie quite roughly, causing Jeanie's body to lurch against the blonde's tall, slim frame.

"Oh God!" Jeanie got out, body rippling with pleasure. "Well ... well, Matt, obviously ... the stripper."

"And?" Ashley demanded, one hand cupping Jeanie's jaw and making sure the younger girl couldn't get close enough to kiss her until they'd talked this out, the other fingering the brunette half near out of her young mind. "I know there's been more."

"And ... and ... and ... mmm, Ashley, your fingers just ... ai! Ahh ... mmm ... I can't think ..." Jeanie swallowed hard, her eyes flickering in and out of focus with dizzy pleasure as Ashley softly diddled the brunette's little clit again. 

Ashley was being very gentle with Jeanie's clit, knowing how sensitive it was – contrary to the comparatively rough motion of her fingers plunging inside Jeanie's hot body. The blonde stilled her fingers for a moment, then raised her brows commandingly.

"Tell me!" she ordered.

Jeanie whimpered. "I let ... I let Jermaine finger me ... two nights after the first time we ... we ... after your birthday party ..."

"I see," Ashley's fingers began working again, slick wet sounds providing a backdrop to their conversation as Jeanie's juices coated the blonde's long, gentle fingers. "Who is Jermaine?"

"No one!" Jeanie moaned as Ashley left off Jeanie's clit for the time being, not wanting the younger girl to cum, and slid her middle finger into the girl's creamy centre again, swirling it back and forth as though she was mixing something in the younger girl's body. "No one ... important," Jeanie continued, voice rasping. "A guy I slept with twice before we met, Ash ... I was considering dating him ... but I won't because ... I don't like him ... uh! Oh yeah, that feels so good Ashie, mm ... but ... but that's all, just Matt and him and you ..."

"Three? That's a little bit slutty, Jeanie!" Ashley reminded her, curling the finger that was shoved deep between Jeanie's lips as though she was calling someone. 

"Ashie, I ... I'm just really messed up, I got scared, I freaked out about what you and I ... uh-uh-uh god mmm ... what you and I did together ... it shook me up, you know?" Jeanie admitted, breathing heavy and heavier. "So I got with a guy really quickly after but ... but ... mmm ... but it didn't come from a slutty place it ... ah ... came from ... a scared one ... God, you're driving me wild!"

"Who was better at fingering you?" Ashley asked, green eyes fixed on the brunette's rapidly flushing face knowingly.

"You ... oh, you, Ashie ..."

"Who was better at going down on you?" Ashley queried, leaning in closer to the girl this time and whispering it huskily into her small ear. "Who was better at licking your pussy, sweetie? The truth now."

"You!" Jeanie moaned. "Hands down. It was soo good when you did it to me," she added, body shuddering as Ashley slid her finger out, with a slight sucking sound. 

"And we already know who was better at fucking you, if you've never cum during penetration before me," Ashley said, more to herself this time. "Did you like it when I fucked you with the dildo, darling?"

"Mm, yes, I like it when you do anything to me," Jeanie confessed, words spilling from her lips. Her clit was being petted and fondled again – Ashley was rubbing wet fingertips lightly all over it, keeping Jeanie nice, poised and ready to cum, but not allowing the brunette the pressure she needed to achieve the act. 

"What did you like doing best with me?"

"I like it when you ... uhhhh ... lick and finger me – yeah, like that Ash, just like that, mmm!"

"Hm, interesting. So you liked penetration but it wasn't your favourite thing?"

"N-n-ohhh, Ashie harder, please ... just up a bit, a tiny bit ...!"

"So, just to clarify one last time, who is better at pleasuring your little body, Jeanie?"

"You Ash, you, you, you!" Jeanie's voice rose in pitch, in frustration. 

"And I'm a girl and all? Funny, that," Ashley made her point.

"Just fucking kiss me, Ashley!" Jeanie screwed her face up, breathing searing her lungs as Ashley's fingers wrecked havoc with her soaked pussy. 

"No," Ashley denied her casually. "We haven't finished talking yet."

Jeanie's head tilted back and lay against the white wall frustratedly, as Ashley's fingers pinched the brunette's pussy lips together and held off from stimulation for a few long, long seconds, to prevent Jeanie from cumming. "God Ashley, you're driving me crazy," Jeanie moaned, her hands gripping fistfuls of Ashley's blue top. "I said I wouldn't let this happen."

"Shall I stop then?" Ashley made to remove her hand.

"God no please!" Jeanie grabbed desperately at Ashley's wrist and held it in place down the front of her panties. "God Ashie, please, please let me cum ..."

Ashley quirked her lips. It seemed she always had the brunette begging for it. 

"For the record, baby, if ever you need something shoved up your tight little pussy, I can oblige. You don't need a guy for that," she told the younger girl now.

"I know, I know that now," Jeanie writhed, as Ashley's index finger sank home between the brunette's lower lips again, and into the wet, warm, yielding tissue that was between them.

"I can be there for you in every way you need, sexually, baby, do you understand me?" Ashley slipped her index finger out yet again, and softly circled Jeanie's clit.

"Oh yes Ashie, yes!" Jeanie groaned, tossing her head back into the wall again. 

"Tell me you're close!" Ashley goaded now, finally sliding her lips right up close to Jeanie's, and sharing air with her. "Tell me you're close, darling ..."

"I'm so close, I'm closer than I've ever been Ashie!" Jeanie's sweet breath flooded Ashley's lower jaw, as the brunette groaned and gasped. "Oh God, Ash ..."

"Kiss me," Ashley told her, opening her own mouth, green eyes settling darkly onto Jeanie's lips.

Jeanie wasted no time, bringing her face close to Ashley's and kissing her passionately, tongue sliding between her lips, roaming around her mouth hungrily as though she'd been absolutely longing to do it. Ashley's mouth was still warm from the tea she'd been drinking before Jeanie's arrival. Jeanie's tongue swirled energetically around Ashley's mouth, entwining intimately with the blonde's pinker tongue.

"Oh Ash ..." the kiss broke, and Jeanie whispered rapturously into Ashley's lips. "I ... what ... what?" her voice spiked in raw shock.

Ashley had slid her hand free.

Completely.

And had walked backwards, away from Jeanie, leaving Jeanie where the blonde had pinned her to the wall. Jeanie's mouth fell wide open. Her eyes were wide, her skin was red and sweaty. She was panting as though she'd been running a marathon, and an expression of the purest shock sat on her pretty features.

She hadn't cum. Ashley had withdrawn before she'd let her. Jeanie stared at Ashley.

"What are you doing?" she asked her lover brokenly. "Come back here."

"No," Ashley said calmly, sliding the warm fingers she'd just been using to fuck Jeanie into her own mouth and sucking on them lightly. Jeanie's addictive, heady taste flooded the blonde's tastebuds. "I'm afraid I have to make a point, hun."

"What?" Jeanie sounded devastated. "What point?"

"I'm refusing to let you cum because you messed around on me. It isn't acceptable and you don't treat people you really care about that way. I don't let anyone treat me the way you treated me, Jeanie, I'm stronger than that."

"I didn't treat you like anything!"

"You used me!"

"I did not!"

"Yes you did! You're too immature for me, hun, you need to go away and do some serious thinking. If you really like me, and want to be with me, then that's fine – we'll be together in a monogamous, committed relationship." 

She watched grimly as Jeanie flinched at the thought, and the blonde's stomach plummeted. Jeanie was such a homophobic little ...! 

"If you're too juvenile and homophobic to handle it, which I think you are, then you've lost me," Ashley concluded, voice turning harsher. "And if you decide to do the former, and be with me, I don't mean for a dishonest few weeks or months, or maybe even a couple of years, before you go running off back to men. I mean you enter into this relationship with me with the view that we're going to try to make it work. As in, work. For the long haul."

Jeanie flinched again, as though Ashley was hitting her. The brunette's reaction cut Ashley like a knife. Maybe the brunette was just flinching at all that the decision to be with Ashley entailed – the coming-out to her parents and so forth. Surely not because it was so repulsive to her? Ashley was burning. 

"If you want anything more to do with me, Jeanie, you will apologise for sleeping with that guy, which you refused to do the morning after it happened, and you'll grow up and quit being so immature," Ashley finished with finality. "There's the door. Come round again when you're ready to have another talk."

"Ashley," Jeanie had reigned in her breathing now, doing up her pants casually and leaning up off the wall, eyes flashing with rage at what Ashley was trying to do to her. "That's just not going to happen."

"So be it," Ashley shrugged.

Jeanie shrugged back. "Goodbye," she said calmly, turning and walking down the hall, straight-backed and graceful. "Oh by the way!" she paused in the doorframe.

"What?" Ashley snapped ungraciously. 

"We're ending this on good terms, aren't we?" Jeanie asked. "You know I didn't mean to make you feel like I was using you. I thought we could just be two friends who had an experience together. I really want to be friends with you, Ash."

"Sure, whatever," Ashley waved her off. "I don't want to be social with you again though – we'll just be friendly when we see each other at the bar, and so forth."

"You've been an important part of my life, Ashie," Jeanie added. "And you know I really care about you a lot, right? I just don't like you romantically, like, I could never, you know. Fall for you."

"Yes, yes!" Ashley rolled her eyes. "You've made your point, hun. I'm glad we had this talk. We've both got some closure now."

"Yep," Jeanie nodded. "Hope it's not going to be too awkward."

"I can handle myself if you can," Ashley stated heartily.

"And one other thing?" Jeanie's eyes hardened now as another thought popped into her mind. "I don't appreciate the way you just tried to manipulate me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like, you know what! Fingering me and stuff."

"You wouldn't be complaining about how manipulative I was if I'd let you cum, sweetie, we both know that. And I was proving a point."

"Congratulations," Jeanie's voice abruptly turned icy, "because it didn't work."

"Oh well," Ashley shrugged. "Plenty more where you came from, hun. See you later."

Jeanie slammed the door.





Is She, Isn't She? Ch. 03



Nevertheless, after Jeanie's numerous rebuttals, and statements about how she could never fall for Ashley, and didn't like her romantically, and all the rest – Tasha's love was sounding much sweeter than it had six months ago. Ashley began to think that maybe she just hadn't appreciated it when she'd had it, the first time round. This time, after having had her ego bruised by Jeanie, maybe she and Tasha would have something? Because maybe Ashley would have learnt the lesson; to appreciate the things you do have, and not to long after the unhealthy things you don't, i.e. Jeanie.

"Bella says Jeanie's not working. I checked for you because I knew you'd be too dignified to ask, when we first decided to have a big one this Saturday," Meredith said now. 

"Perfect," Ashley then smiled at her with her faultless white teeth, and took a sip of her drink. "The last things I need are reminders of what happened with her!"





Is She, Isn't She? Ch. 03



"Quit it, Shim!" Jeanie snapped. 

Ashley's eyes flew open this time at Jeanie's impudence – the girl had a mouth on her that could incite World War Three! Tasha's eyes blazed and she shoved Jeanie in the chest again hard, then grabbed her with a hand around her throat, knuckles bending visibly as she squeezed. 

"You'd better apologise, whore, before I give you a black fuckin' eye ...!"

"Get—off me!" Jeanie brought her right arm, the arm that was holding the glass of water, back and struck. Her head was tilted back by Tasha's hands, so she didn't really have a good view – not that one could tell, that she wasn't aiming. She brought her arm whipping around her head, to get Tasha to let go of her, and the glass hit Tasha square in the chin and broke with an ugly sound. Tasha let go of Jeanie at once and fell off to one side, clutching her lower face. 

Dark blood began trickling through her fingers, dripping in long, frightening strands.

Jeanie's eyes widened as she witnessed what she'd done. Shouts began ringing out as other people around the bar began noticing it too. Several people ran to Tasha and helped her stand up. Security ran from the door. Gus the security guard gripped Jeanie by the shoulder, a little roughly.

"What the hell, Jeanie? You're in a lot of trouble," he grunted down to her.

Ashley unfroze herself, with effort, and darted for the bar. She arrived back with a bar towel in her hands. Hoards of people were now swarming all over Tasha, and the cries of "call an ambulance!" had gone up. Ashley couldn't even get to her.

Jeanie stood there with wide eyes, blood all over her own hand. She'd cut herself when she'd hit Tasha, on the broken glass – not that she looked like she realised. Ashley approached her, reached down and grabbed Jeanie's hand, wrapping it in the bar towel and applying pressure. 

"You can let go of her, Gus, she's obviously not going anywhere!" she snapped at the burly man, disliking, for some reason, the way his fat fingers were digging into Jeanie's shoulder hard enough to leave marks. 

Jeanie was like a robot. 

"Oh Jeanie!" Ashley groaned, gazing at her, concern written all over her face. 

Jeanie swallowed hard, face continuing to pale.

"The police are on their way," Cordelia, the other security guard, came over and had a word to Gus.

"Police?" all remaining colour rapidly drained out of Jeanie's face. "Oh my God!" she started panicking, as her breathing threw itself out, and she began taking deep, panicked breaths. "Oh my God, I, I can't do this, I can't be arrested, I ... I just can't, I can't ..."

"Jeanie, just calm down," Ashley held tightly onto her bleeding hand. "Just breathe, it's going to be okay, alright?"

"Oh my God," Jeanie was rapidly becoming a mess. "I can't afford a lawyer! My parents are going to kill me! I can't ring them, I can't, they'll be so upset, what do I tell them, I ...?!" she had started to shake slightly.

"We don't have to ring your parents, Jeanie, you're an adult now, they don't have to find out," Ashley talked her down, voice slow and clear. "It's going to be okay!"

She shot a look over her shoulder at Tasha. The ambulance had arrived already – close-to-hand around the pubs and clubs on a Saturday night. They were fussing over the injured girl and Ashley could barely see her.

Ashley felt completely guilty, standing there with Jeanie like that when she'd been making out with Tasha all night – but Tasha was being looked after, she reasoned, and Jeanie had nobody, and now Jeanie was in trouble, and scared. Ashley just couldn't leave to deal with this alone.

Also close-to-hand on a Saturday night were the police, who walked in and gripped Jeanie, once she'd been identified by Gus and Cordelia, by the upper arm.

"You're coming with us, Miss Gershaw," one stern-looking cop told her. 

Jeanie was as pale as pale could be. "What's going to happen to me?" she asked, voice frightened.

"You've just assaulted someone. We're taking you in and we'll be filing charges," the officer answered gruffly. "You'll be thrown into lockup for the night."

"Can I come with her?" Ashley demanded, as the officer began leading a shell-shocked Jeanie away, whilst simultaneously droning on about her rights. 

"Jeanette Gershaw, you are being arrested for assault, if you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed to you by the state ..."

"Who are you?" his partner demanded Ashley.

"I'm her ... friend," Ashley replied.

"I'm sorry," the policeman began to turn away from her.

"I'm her girlfriend!" Ashley amended quickly. 

"Sorry, madam," the officer refused.

Ashley cursed as the two cops escorted Jeanie from the premises and out into the night. Now, the blonde was trapped in the bar with no car (she'd been drinking and had arrived there by cab anyway), and Jeanie was gone... 

A few other officers were around gathering witness reports, and Ashley could see Tony giving them security footage of the incident already. Tasha had been taken away by the ambulance. 

Ashley made a beeline for the bar and asked for a large water, tipping her head back and practically skulling the whole thing. She wasn't very drunk, she'd been too busy making out with Tasha all night to drink much, but she needed to sober up, get home, collect her car, then drive to the police station to find Jeanie ...





Is She, Isn't She? Ch. 03



Ashley groaned aloud in pure frustration. She gladwrapped Jeanie's abandoned plate and rammed it aggressively into the fridge for later, threw the pot into the sink with a clatter to be washed up tomorrow, stormed into the shower, and tried to calm herself down under the hot water. It was now almost three in the morning and she was physically, emotionally and psychologically exhausted. 

How had this happened? she asked herself. What was wrong with this picture? She, Ashley, was supposed to be having sex with someone that night! But Tasha was gone and so was Jeanie.

Damn Jeanie to hell. Again. Tasha didn't answer her phone when Ashley called, so the blonde left a voicemail saying she hoped Tash was okay, then cleaned her teeth and climbed into bed. Damn Jeanie, damn Jeanie, damn Jeanie! Little bratty witch!

"No, I don't want to be with someone who's unsure if they want to be with me," she murmured sleepily into her pillow, as she got tireder and tireder, closer to the edge of sleep. "She couldn't even touch me anyway ... I need someone who needs me ..." after giving herself the pep talk she needed, she closed her eyes and drifted off into a deep, if unhappy, much-needed sleep.

Only to be woken forty minutes later by a hammering at the front door. She moaned, loudly. What was this? It was like the day that never ended! She slowly sat up, eyes aching as they opened. 

The knock sounded again, slightly more timidly this time. Ashley groaned a second time, swung her legs out into the freezing cold of her bedroom, and walked like a zombie to the front door. She pulled it open.

Jeanie stood there, looking miserable. Ashley hadn't buzzed her into the building, the brunette must have been sitting downstairs in the lobby for the best part of the last hour, thinking. She had her arms folded tightly across her stomach, and was looking at Ashley yearningly, with panicked tears brimming in her eyes.

"Ashie, I'm sorry ..." she started to say, a catch to her voice, but Ashley just reached out an arm, grabbed a handful of Jeanie's shirt, and yanked her into her arms. 

Jeanie's whole body was chilled from sitting out in the cold lobby of Ashley's apartment block. Ashley's, in contrast, was toasty warm from bed. Jeanie was struggling not to cry over Ashley's shoulder. Her small nose was pressed into the fabric of Ashley's pyjama top and she was sniffling, hard. One of Ashley's hands went to the back of Jeanie's dark hair and cradled the brunette's beautiful face into her neck. 

"It's okay baby," Ashley crooned tiredly, reaching around the girl with her spare hand and closing her apartment door again, with Jeanie safely inside with her. "Come on." She held Jeanie's hand as she took her back to the kitchen, and sat her down again. Then the blonde dragged her feet to the fridge, pulled out the omelette she'd made earlier, threw it into the microwave, programmed it, and stood back, wiping wisps of blonde hair from exhausted green eyes. 

"Ashie, I don't want to eat," Jeanie mentioned, beginning to slide off the stool again, but Ashley simply walked back around the island bar, placed a hand on Jeanie's shoulder and set her gently back down.

"You need to, it'll be good for you," she droned tiredly, as the microwave beeped. 

She retrieved the plate and set it in front of Jeanie, with a knife and fork. Then she leant on the other side of the counter tiredly, to make sure Jeanie ate it. Jeanie placed a tiny mouthful in her mouth, by the looks of things unwillingly, and just to please Ashley – then took a second, larger mouthful, and then a third, then a fourth. Apparently, she liked it.

"Yummy?" Ashley asked, trying unsuccessfully to rub the sleep from her eyes. 

"Yes, it's really good!" Jeanie sounded surprised, as she began putting it away quite speedily. "I didn't realise how hungry I actually was!"

"Mm," Ashley gave a tired smile. "I knew that would be the case, honey." She leant her elbows on her bench and her chin on her hands, and closed her eyes, dozing softly while Jeanie ate. She really was totally exhausted, and her sleep had been interrupted. 

Jeanie looked at her while she swallowed, and when Ashley opened her eyes to check on Jeanie's progress, she saw the brunette looking intently at her, with overflowing affection in her eyes. 

"You're tired Ashie, you should get to bed," she murmured.

"I'll wait for you, love," Ashley mumbled without thinking, shutting her eyes again.

Jeanie cleared her plate, licked her lips, and continued looking at Ashley – whose eyes remained closed sleepily. Jeanie continued staring at Ashley for a good thirty seconds, then quietly got down from the bench and put her plate in the sink. The small clatter it made as it hit steel jolted Ashley awake, and she straightened. 

"Want to use my toothbrush?" she asked Jeanie, blinking rapidly.

"Yes please," Jeanie nodded. "Can I borrow some of your pyjamas too?"

"Yes," Ashley floated off like a ghost down the hallway. "Just help yourself in the bathroom, baby. I'll be in my bedroom, I'll put pyjamas on your side of the bed."

Five minutes later and Ashley was crashed out in bed, body groaning for sleep. Jeanie walked in, changed, and slipped under the covers beside her. 

"Thankyou for letting me come back in, Ashie," she thanked her, voice shaking again. "I ... I ... I'm so sorry, about the mess I made of your night, I truly ..."

"Hush baby, sleep now," Ashley murmured, fading fast. "We'll talk in the morning. I'm glad you came back. I just want you here with me."

"Ashie," Jeanie slid closer to her in bed, her voice just a whisper, until her head was sharing Ashley's pillow. A hand came up and gently traced down the skin of Ashley's cheek. "You're so precious. You're so beautiful."

"Hm," Ashley murmured, barely there. "That's nice, darling ..."

And then she was asleep.





Is She, Isn't She? Ch. 04







Is She, Isn't She? Ch. 04



Ashley didn't bring the parent-lie up anymore. Jeanie had shot her waspish looks the few times she'd tried to.

"You don't understand and my relationship with my parents is my business. I'll handle it the way I see fit."

That was it, and Jeanie expected Ashley to wear it. Ashley wasn't happy.

Now, Jeanie was all drowsy on Ashley's shoulder. 

Ashley sighed. "Come on Jeanie. Shower then dinner?"

Jeanie merely moaned in response and cuddled Ashley closer.

"Do you want to have a nap on the dining room table, do you?" Ashley asked pointedly.

Jeanie lethargically picked up her head. "No."

Ashley looked down at her and smiled. She couldn't help it. The brunette was just so adorable. "I love you, you know," she said tenderly. 

"I love you too, Ashie," Jeanie returned, letting Ashley go and sliding off the table. "I'll jump in the shower."

Ashley considered getting in with her – they hadn't had a shower together yet, surprisingly. However, she had to think about dinner.

"Pizza tonight hon?" she asked the departing Jeanie. 

"Yeah sure, whatever!" Jeanie called from down the hallway. 

Pizza was actually Ashley's favourite; her guilty pleasure. She tried not to have it often and she had the body to show for it. However, she intended on having an extended session of cardio with Jeanie afterwards to burn off the carbs so she felt that tonight, she could justify it. 

Maybe she'd wear her strap-on and fuck Jeanie that way. Jeanie would need that every now and again just so Ashley could remind her who was boss. Maybe she'd tie her up – that would drive the girl crazy. They hadn't tried that yet either. Hmm... 

Ashley finished the last of her beer, then organised dinner. A few hours of sex would remind Jeanie just what, and who, was important. Ashley would make the brunette cum so hard that she wouldn't want to go out with her friends for weeks. 

The pizza was sitting on the table ready to go by the time Jeanie emerged from the shower. Ashley looked up from finishing her crossword, and frowned. 

Jeanie's hair was done, fresh make-up on, in silk black short-shorts and heels and a daring white top. She was standing there, all legs and flashy good-looks, head down while she busily thumbed through her mobile phone.

Anger rose in Ashley's throat as she realised what Jeanie's outfit meant. "Going somewhere, hun?" 

Jeanie flipped her phone closed and strode over to the table. "Yeah sorry, I forgot it's my friend Sam's birthday party tonight at Key Bar. My friends just texted me to remind me. What pizza did you get?"

Ashley wrestled with her temper. "I thought you were supposed to be spending the night with me."

Jeanie was absorbed in the pizza. She picked a piece of mushroom from the topping and popped it into her mouth. "I thought I could but I didn't realise I had this on."

Ashley snapped. "I'm not surprised you didn't realise. You're out almost every night. I couldn't keep track of a social calendar like that either."

"What? Are you angry?" Jeanie continued to pick topping off the pizza – pineapple this time. "I won't be going out much next week. We can hang out then."

Ashley glared at her. "Next week you have assignments due."

"You have a good memory." Jeanie smiled cutely at her. The stony look on Ashley's face apparently finally made the brunette realise that her blonde lover was not impressed. "What, Ashie? We hung out this afternoon."

"We had sex for twenty minutes!" 

Jeanie shrugged cheerfully. "And we had a quick beer."

Ashley was desperately trying not to become incensed. "Are you serious? Jeanie, that's not proper time."

"Ash, what do you want me to say?" Jeanie turned back to the pizza box. "I clicked 'yes' on the event page."

"Oh well, excuse me." Ashley's voice was incredibly icy. "I didn't realise you clicked 'yes' on the Facebook event page. That's almost as serious as signing the Treaty of Versailles."

Jeanie rolled her eyes. "Ashie, my friends expect me to be there. I was so pissed off at work that I forgot about it – I should have texted you. Anyway, I really want to go. I've had an annoying day, I wanna blow off some steam with my mates."

Ashley's stomach sank. She'd just given the girl hot oral sex on the table, but it appeared that it had meant nothing to Jeanie. That, or she had already forgotten about it because her attention was being sucked up by her good-for-nothing friends. 

As angry as Ashley was, she was starting to hurt too. Why was Jeanie being so thoughtless? "When are we going to spend quality time, Jeanie?" she demanded. "Next week you'll be too busy with your assignments to hang out with me."

"Well, probably yeah." Jeanie stared back. "I'm not prioritising you over uni, Ash."

"I'm not asking you to!" Ashley hissed. "But your stupid friends?" 

"They're not stupid." The fire started to come back to Jeanie's eyes. "I don't see what your problem is. I hang out with you all the time. I'm always staying over here."

Ashley snarled "You sleep here, Jeanie, and you're too exhausted from work or hammered from partying to even open your mouth half the time. It's not good enough."

Jeanie cocked her head, dark eyes arrogant. "Too bad."

"Too bad?" Ashley's eyes narrowed dangerously at Jeanie's impudence. "Are you taking me seriously? You'd better be."

"Oh what, is that a threat?" Jeanie scoffed. "I don't know what you want me to do. I have uni, work, and I'm like totally popular so I have a lot of friends. I'm not apologising for having a life. If you want a girlfriend who stays in all the time, date a grandma."

Ashley saw red but her self-control kicked in and made her stern instead of scream. "I'm not complaining about you having a life, Jeanie. What I have a problem with is you making plans with me and then changing them at the last minute."

"That's not what I'm doing here," Jeanie retorted. "Sam's birthday was organised a month ago, before I made plans to spend the night with you."

Ashley frustratedly threw her newspaper to one side. "That's not the point. You're always doing this." 

Jeanie merely sniffed in her direction. "No I'm not."

Ashley's rage increased. "You're not listening to me."

Jeanie rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'm so sorry I've got friends and that I have a life and that you want me all to yourself."

Ashley's green eyes blazed. "That's not even ... you're just so far off the mark it isn't funny." 

Jeanie turned back to the pizza. "Sure I am."

"That does it." Ashley straightened on her cream-coloured couch. "Come here."

"I've got to go," Jeanie said carelessly.

"Jeanie. Come the fuck here now."

Jeanie grinned and walked over to Ashley. She looked down at her. "Are you really angry?"

"Down here." Ashley took a handful of Jeanie's white shirt and pulled the brunette down onto the couch with her. 

(INSERT HOT SPANKING SCENE HERE) 

;)





Is She, Isn't She?



"You remembered!" Ashley smiled back.

"I might not be so cerebral tomorrow," Jeanie sighed, getting the bottle and pouring into a glass. "I've got to back up tonight with a day shift. I'll be a zombie, and I'm sure I won't remember anything."

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Ashley assured her, going to hand the money over. "Oh! I almost forgot!" she remembered she was supposed to be buying Meredith a drink also. "A gin and tonic as well, please."

"Are you going to have a big one tonight?" Jeanie asked jokingly.

"Not too big," answered Ashley. Last thing she wanted to do was get too tipsy and do something silly in front of Jeanie on the first night of meeting her. 

"That's very responsible of you," Jeanie grinned. "There you are."

Ashley paid her again, left her a generous tip and walked off. She was impressed with Jeanie's friendly, easy-going manner. It made her even more attractive. Everything about her was attractive.

She got back to the table, and Meredith was sitting there with tears in her eyes.

"Mez, what's the matter?" Ashley asked, alarmed.

"It's just ... I was thinking about Julia ..." Meredith sniffed hard.

"Oh shit," sighed Ashley. "Do you want to go, hun?"

"No no, I'm alright," Meredith insisted, but half-an-hour and another drink later, and the only thing she could talk about, in an increasingly miserable voice, was Julia. Ashley was sober, bored, didn't feel like dancing, and had had enough.

"Meredith!" she cut her friend off. "I'm feeling kind of tired, it's the end of the week -- I think I might just head. Do you want to pool a cab with me? We'll just say goodbye to the other girls."

"You're leaving me already?" Jeanie's voice said from right behind them.

Ashley turned, and Jeanie stood there, a tall column of glasses in her arms, obviously on a glass run.

"Yes, we're tired," Ashley smiled and shrugged. "But it was really good to meet you, Jeanie. We'll see you again really soon!"

"Oh good," laughed Jeanie. "Have a safe trip home!"

"She's lovely!" Meredith told Ashley when they got outdoors. "But seriously Ashley. I'm really quite hurt and confused about Julia right now, and hypothetically, the same thing could happen to you with this one, so just be careful, okay? That is if you do decide to do anything."

"I haven't decided anything yet Mez, and I appreciate the advice," Ashley told her gently. "Come on, this cab's ours ..."

***

Of course, Ashley had decided to do something. She was so attracted to Jeanie, she knew she would always wonder and regret it if she didn't get to know her better, at least. If she came up against the brick-wall of heterosexuality, she could always walk away again very quickly, but you never knew unless you tried. And she planned on trying. Very hard, to get into Jeanie's pants. Ashley was twenty-eight, going on twenty-nine. She was sure she had some things to teach Jeanie. If Jeanie had any inch of bi-curiosity whatsoever (and from her experience, most girls did), Ashley was sexy, smart and confident enough to feel sure that she could use it to her advantage.

Knowing that Jeanie had the day-shift the next day, Ashley decided to go for a walk and get a drink from Bolton's. She often went for walks during the weekends for fitness anyway, so she ponytailed her long blonde hair, wore a tight grey exercise shirt and black running shorts, and off she went.

It took her about half-an-hour on foot to get from her front door to Bolton's. It was a stiflingly hot day. The sun beat down from clear blue skies. By the time Ashley reached the bar, she had worked up a sweat, and her normally pale cheeks were pink. She pushed through the front doors, swigging from her water bottle, and approached the bar.

"Hey Ashley!" called Bella, a short little elf of a girl with a glossy brown pixie cut. She was the only other female bartender at Bolton's.

"Hi Bella," Ashley returned, continuing to the bar. Bella was collecting glasses, which meant that Jeanie should be right where Ashley had left her last night. 

Indeed she was, in the corner of the bar, sneaking a look at her mobile phone while at work. Her glossy dark hair shielded half her face as she cast it down, thumbing through text messages and whatever else, which was why she didn't notice Ashley's approach. Ashley leant her forearms casually across the black surface of the bar.

"Busted!" she teased.

Jeanie's head snapped up. "Oh! Damn it!" she laughed. "Hi, Ashley, how are you?"

"I'm impressed, actually, that you remember my name," Ashley commented, inwardly very pleased with this fact indeed -- obviously, she had made some sort of impression on Jeanie, enough for the girl to remember her name out of the hundreds of faces she must have seen in the past fortnight at her new job, at least.

"My memory operates under the "you-win-some, you-lose-some" system. Sometimes I remember people right away, other times it's a struggle," Jeanie slipped her mobile back into her pocket. "I can't remember what you drink though, I'm sorry. Was it vodka coke? No, that doesn't sound right ..."

"I just want an orange juice today, I was just out on my walk," Ashley told her. "I go walking every weekend and it's a non-alcoholic event."

"Fair enough!" laughed Jeanie, starting to fix her the orange juice.

"Tired, after last night?" Ashley asked her.

"A little," Jeanie admitted. "We didn't get out of here until late last night. Your friend is quite a character, by the way." She added, almost as an afterthought.

"Which friend?" Ashley enquired pleasantly.

"Green cap," Jeanie answered, a cute frown furrowing her brow as she remembered details. "Can't think of her name. Um, very deep voice ..."

"Chantelle," Ashley deadpanned. She'd forgotten that she'd left Chantelle in Bolton's the previous night. True to her word, she was sure Chantelle had started to turn her heat onto Jeanie already. "Why? What did she say to you? She likes to stir, Chantelle."

"Hm, I can tell! She um, had company ... she was making out with another girl, and when I came by on my glass run to grab their empties, she turned and told me that she wanted to kiss me like that, and that I didn't know what I was missing and all this. I think she was just drunk," she laughed nervously.

"No, Chantelle is usually like that," Ashley corrected.

"Erk," Jeanie laughed again. "It was quite ... off-putting. Nothing I can't handle though, I'm sure it was all in good fun. Let's make the straight girl sweat, right? It's probably some sort of test because I'm new, and I can deal with it. I've been hazed worse at uni!" 

"Tell me about that!" Ashley goaded, sipping from her orange juice. The bar was very quiet on a Saturday afternoon, and Jeanie didn't have any other customers to serve, or anything else to do. In fact, she'd been wearing a bored expression when Ashley had come in, and now looked as though she was appreciating having someone to talk with. 

"Well, it was very embarrassing but not in a particularly degrading way, I don't think -- it involved a lot of alcohol and ... well, that's all I really remember, really. Apparently, it was an ordeal!"

Ashley laughed. "Obviously you passed."

"That was the main thing," agreed Jeanie. "Did you go to uni?"

"No, sadly! I work at a bank, and the training was all in-house," Ashley explained.

"I see! You must be good with numbers, unlike me. I dropped maths in high school."

"I do okay. If ever you need some numbers crunched, it would be my pleasure. Doing addition and other arithmetic in my spare time helps me, I believe, stay professionally current. Sort of. On one lone level." They were both laughing together again. 

They kept chatting, and kept laughing. Jeanie was outgoing and fun, and Ashley was quick-witted and good-natured, and it was rapidly apparent that they were perfectly situated to become friends. After she finished her orange juice though, not wanting to rush things or overplay her hand, Ashley bid Jeanie farewell. She was pleased to see an immediate flash of disappointment in Jeanie's eyes. 

"It was nice to see you again," the dark-haired girl said sincerely. "It was good to have a quick chat!"

"It was nice to see you again too, Jeanie," Ashley told her. "I'll see you around pretty soon, I'm sure. Enjoy the rest of your shift."

***

From then on, Ashley and Jeanie quickly built up a rapport, which quickly turned into the semblance of a friendship. They were both bright, and their dialogue bounced. It was very apparent to Ashley that Jeanie enjoyed her company immensely. Her eyes brightened whenever she saw her. Ashley came back often just on her own for "walks", citing a new fitness regime. She'd always have an orange juice and a chat to Jeanie. Ashley found herself liking Jeanie more and more. Sometimes, when she visited, Jeanie was busy at the bar, so Ashley would choose a quiet table, drink her juice and read from a packed book until Jeanie was free, then would re-approach the bar to return her glass, or to have another drink -- any excuse to chat to her. 

It got to the point where Jeanie would join Ashley at a table if she was allocated her break when Ashley happened to be there, and the two women never ran out of things to talk about, and did some more laughing. 

Ashley flirted with Jeanie, as subtly and as often as she could. During one particular conversation, where Jeanie was describing a boy she was no longer friends with because he tried to kiss her once and now it was just too awkward, Ashley smiled and told Jeanie she was gorgeous, and the poor guy probably hadn't been able to help himself. Jeanie had smiled with genuine pleasure at Ashley's compliment, and had returned it in a rush with "It takes one to know one, Ashley!", accompanying it with a brilliant smile.

Jeanie was a chatterbox, bright and chirpy. Ashley enjoyed listening to her witty speech. Ashley was more composed, stronger; her sense of humour was dryer. She didn't talk as much, preferring to ask Jeanie questions.

The question of Ashley's sexuality never came up. Ashley just assumed that Jeanie knew she was gay from the company Jeanie had seen her keep, and the bar she chose to hang out. Jeanie chatted occasionally about past trysts with previous lovers, flings or boyfriends, but their conversation never dwelt on them for long -- Ashley never mentioned past dates. 

"Are you flexing the ruler yet?" Tansy asked Ashley over the phone one night when they were catching up on the events of the week, about three weeks after their first meeting with Jeanie.

"Pardon?" Ashley asked.

"Ashley, everyone knows. Bella's told people, and girls we know have seen you -- you're spending a lot of time with Jeanie lately, during the day when none of us are around! You sneak! You never mentioned anything!"

"There was nothing to mention! We've just been talking when I go up there on my walks."

"And?" prompted Tansy.

"And what?" Ashley twined the cord of the old telephone around her finger.

"Are you flexing the ruler yet?" Tansy laughed. "Are you bending her straightness? Any hint that she could be bi?"

"I haven't really pursued that with her," Ashley returned unwillingly. 

"Are you planning to? You are, aren't you? As if you don't have an ulterior motive for this friendly "friendship" with a dish like that!"

There was an embarrassed pause on Ashley's end of the line.

Tansy just chuckled. "Well," she said, "are you coming out with us tonight? Because I was talking to Bella and apparently your sweetheart will be working."

"Yes, I'm going to be there, and she's not my sweetheart." There was a pause. "Yet," Ashley finished.

"Ah, so you do have plans to nab her! You must have some evidence, or hope, or both, that she swings both ways -- otherwise I'm sure you would have ditched it by now?"

"We're friends," Ashley said stoutly. "It's only been three weeks or so but she's really fun to talk to."

"Yeah, like talking is all you want to do with her."

"Well ... that's beside the point right now! We get on so well, she's ..." Ashley faded off, realising how lovesick she could be in danger of sounding.

Typically, Tansy picked up on it right away. "You sound like you could fall for her. It sounds like it might be a slippery slope from here, Ash, with all your "getting on so well"," she teased.

"It's just a friendship, Tansy, really. I'm just ... I don't know what will happen. I like her, yes. But nothing has happened. I don't want to put a move on her yet, I don't want to scare her away. It's not like we socialise out of work. Like, I visit the bar -- and we chat, and sometimes she spends her breaks with me, having a chat ..."

"Sounds like she likes you. Apparently, she won't go near anyone else in the place. I mean, Bella says she's polite and friendly with all the customers and banters with them and so forth. She's really popular, they all love her. But you're the only one she spends her breaks with! If you're not around, and she gets her break, Bella says she scampers for the nearest door!"

"We'll see how we go," Ashley said, not wanting to get her hopes up too much, but feeling a warm flush of pleasure at Tansy's words.

"Right, so I guess then that this is going to be a case of the Tortoise and the Hare?" Tansy put to her next.

"What?" Ashley frowned laughingly over the phone. "What do you mean?"

"Well, word of your progress with Little Miss Hot-stuff has, obviously, reached Chantelle, who is very irritated that you've slipped in under the radar like that -- apparently, she wants Jeanie bad, has been bragging to everyone about how she's going to make her scream -- the usual, when she finds a target. Apparently, Chantelle is going to go after her hammer and tongs tonight when we get there, to try to win some ground back. She's going for the wham-bam approach, you're going for the slower, more subtle strategy, sounds like. So she's the hare and you're the tortoise. Should make for an amusing show this evening, at any rate."

"I don't think Jeanie digs Chantelle," Ashley's voice turned firm.

"Then you have nothing to worry about, do you?" Tansy sounded as though she was smirking on the other end of the line. "See you at seven! Mez is driving. Don't be late down, I want to get my drink on!"

Ashley was slightly irritated at Tansy's last words as she hung up the phone. She didn't particularly want Chantelle to hit on Jeanie -- she felt possessive, she realised. She knew that already she was developing very real feelings for Jeanie. She thought about her all the time. She wanted her all the time. 

Grumpily, she pulled into a pink shirt and hipster jeans for the evening. As usual, she tied her long blonde hair up, and surveyed herself in the mirror.

She was beautiful. Her body was sexy, curved and toned. Women hit on her all the time, but Ashley was fussy and rarely settled for the easiest option. Although maybe this was a bit ridiculous -- Jeanie was the hardest option, surely, that she could have gone for? Jeanie had given her no indication that she was interested in girls in the slightest. Their connection had been purely verbal and platonic, and in none of their conversations had Jeanie ever indicated even the slightest curiosity. And Vin Diesel was on her keychain. That wasn't a very good sign.

Within the hour, her group of five friends were walking through the doors at Bolton's. Chantelle's eyes were flashing with the thrill of the hunt already beneath her green baseball cap. Ashley had been friends with her for years and knew that look all too well. She watched it, trying not to get too annoyed.

They all approached the bar.

"No orange juice tonight, Jeanie," Ashley smiled at her.

"Right, a semi sav blanc?" Jeanie grinned.

She quickly fixed everyone their drinks, but Ashley didn't have time to talk to Jeanie -- the other girls were monopolising all of her attention with small talk. They carried their glasses over to the table nearest to the bar, but Chantelle, who was obviously planning on having a big one, had barely touched her seat before she was up again, having drained her entire bourbon in just about one hit. She prowled back towards the bar and leant against it.

"Hey, sexy!" she barked at Jeanie.

"You rang?" Jeanie turned and smiled politely.

"Another, make it a double."

"Coming up."

"Has anyone told you that you look delicious tonight?" Chantelle looked her up and down. "Absolutely eatable."

"Ha ha!" Jeanie's lips quirked and just the faintest trace of colour appeared in her cheeks at Chantelle's sexual innuendo. "No, you're the first. Here's your bourbon."

"Cheers, darling," Chantelle took it from her and joined her friends. 

Their table was the closest to the bar, which had allowed them all to hear Chantelle's conversation with Jeanie. As a result, they were all shooting looks at Ashley now to see how she was reacting to Chantelle's deliberate flirt. In response, Ashley schooled her features into a calm, composed and relaxed mask, despite her agitation and annoyance at Chantelle's actions.

"Having a big one tonight, Chantelle?" Claire asked now amusedly.

"Yep!" Chantelle grunted shamelessly in return, eyes never leaving Jeanie.

Now Ashley was downright angry at the butch's blatant behaviour, then remembered that she hadn't exactly said no when they'd "challenged" each other some weeks ago. She took a long gulp of her drink frustratedly.

"You too, Ash?" Claire turned laughing eyes onto her.

"Maybe, I haven't let my hair down for a while," Ashley responded with dignity.

They changed topic, talked about other things. Ashley noticed that Chantelle's eyes never strayed from Jeanie for more than a minute at a time, and she was putting all her bourbons away to a safer place. It appeared that Tansy was correct when she'd told Ashley that Chantelle was planning on upping the ante in her pursuit of Jeanie.

Still, although she couldn't deny she was annoyed, Ashley wasn't too worried. Jeanie had been polite but distant to Chantelle since meeting her -- was on much more intimate terms with Ashley, and was merely polite yet distant with the butcher woman. If anyone female was going to succeed with the pretty bargirl, Ashley was fairly confident it would be her. Her mood became quite breezy.

She continued to believe this until things reached a head during the night, around one hour later. Chantelle had had quite a few drinks by this stage, although she could hold her alcohol like a horse. She wasn't slurring, or stumbling. Her eyes, if anything, were even brighter and more alert. She stood up from the table, cutting whatever Claire was saying right off.

"Where are you going?" Tansy asked her.

"I'll be back!" Chantelle joked, waggling her eyebrows at them. She turned and strode over to the bar with that prowling walk she had. 

The other four girls all watched silently. Chantelle leaned against the bar, on the side closest to the girls' table, and waited. Sure enough, since Bella's designated serving area was on the opposite side of the bar, Jeanie appeared after a few minutes.

"Chantelle?" she asked her, grinning. "Don't tell me, another double? Aren't you feeling it yet? You're a machine, woman!"

"Okay, now seriously, dolly girl, level with me." Chantelle's eyes captured Jeanie's and didn't look away. "Haven't you ever wondered what nasty sex with a woman would be like?"

"Uh, Chantelle, I don't think this is an appropriate conversation to be having while I'm at work, or at any other time really ..." Jeanie pursed her lips together.

"No, look at me!" Chantelle's voice turned slightly commanding, and Jeanie suddenly couldn't turn her neck for some reason. Ashley thought irritably that Chantelle had that effect on a lot of people.

"Have you ever wondered, baby?" Chantelle asked again, voice crooning.

"No," Jeanie said at once, a bit too quickly, cheeks starting to discolour slightly.




Is She, Isn't She?



"I bet you've got a lovely pussy, babe," Chantelle said next, her voice turning husky. "I can just imagine it. I bet it looks really good. A lovely little tight pussy just begging to be licked. Men don't know how to take care of sexy little pussies the same way a girl does. I know exactly how to make you scream, girl, with my mouth. You should do your pussy a favour and show it a good time by showing it to me."

"Ch ..." Jeanie started to protest, but Chantelle cut her off again, and Jeanie's eyes darted quickly to the floor, cheeks definitely hot by now -- but she didn't walk away.

"Your nice little pussy needs to be stroked by someone who knows how. I want to put my fingers into you, and pet your pussy til I make it nice and wet and happy. I bet your pussy is hungry. It needs a tongue in it to make it feel nice. I'll squeeze that lush ass of yours with my hands while I suck on your sweet pussy for you tonight, babe, if you come home with me. I'll fuck you all night long. All you have to do is spread your legs and let me lick. Let me lick your hot, tight little snatch. Your delicate little puss. Come on, say yes."

Jeanie finally raised her eyes from the ground -- and, with a shock, from her seat at the table, Ashley registered that they had darkened with lust. Her pupils were slightly dilated, her lips parted, and she looked aroused. Very aroused, as she fixed Chantelle with murky dark eyes. 

"No," she said, her voice controlled and relatively neutral. "That was really inappropriate, Chantelle. I'm going to get your bourbon, and that's enough of that, alright? Cut it out." She leant off the bar and walked away, dark hair streaming down her back, looking a vision.

Meanwhile, Chantelle smirked after her, unperturbed by the younger girl's telling off. When Jeanie came back with the drink, Chantelle winked at her.

"Babe, you look like you need it. And no one can give it to you better than me. I'm the best. You'll never have better. I'll spoil you for all men. That's all I'm going to say."

"And already, you've said too much," Jeanie's eyes fell to the floor, voice firming. "That really is enough, Chantelle. Don't make me have to go to Tony, now."

"I bet you think about me next time you play with yourself," Chantelle shot naughtily, then spun on her heel and strode back over to her table, leaving Jeanie gaping incredulously after her. 

Chantelle slid back in to their table and chuckled at the stupefied expressions on her friends faces.

"Never knew you could talk dirty so well, Chantelle, that was pretty hot!" Claire exclaimed. 

"I certainly know Jeanette thought so," Chantelle sniggered, radiating arrogance. "The vibes I got from her just now were hot, hot, hot! She wants me. She won't admit it verbally yet, but her body is starting to kick up a fuss and complain about how much it wants me."

"You're too much, Chantelle!" Meredith told her, laughing helplessly.

"That should even the playing field somewhat, wouldn't you say Ash?" Chantelle turned dancing eyes onto Ashley. 

"Maybe," Ashley liked to think she was an iron-willed person, a person that exhibited excellent self-discipline and self-control. So she forced her voice to be unruffled. However, inside, she was a different thing entirely.

Having to listen to Chantelle play for Jeanie like that, and talk dirty to her, and watching Jeanie's positive reaction to the whole scene, made Ashley realise very suddenly that she liked Jeanie a whole lot more than she'd previously realised. 

She'd known she was very attracted to her, known that she enjoyed the brightness of her company, but the level of anger and upset that was suddenly increasing within her at Chantelle's exchange with the young brunette indicated very real feelings that now, as a consequence, Ashley was going to have to deal with. 

What Ashley now realised she had to face was the fact that Jeanie had never looked at her like that, with her mouth parted as though in a light pant, and her eyes dimmed with sexual heat. In all the time they'd spent chatting together, laughing together, not once had Jeanie ever fixed dark eyes filled with want or need on Ashley. That look, apparently, she saved for Chantelle. Chantelle had "it". Chantelle had charisma, Chantelle always pulled any girl she wanted. And now, Chantelle would pull Jeanie. Jeanie, eventually, would succumb to Chantelle's charm -- she'd already exhibited strong first-signs of doing so.

And Ashley was upset. The more she thought about it, the more upset she became. God, she hadn't felt this strongly about a girl for a long time. Her blood heated up whenever she cast eyes onto Jeanie's sexy, slender curves. Her heart thudded uncomfortably behind pale, schooled features, whenever her eyes fell on Jeanie's perfect face.

She sat there in a daze, only listening with half an ear to the conversation of her friends, distressed about Jeanie's attraction to Chantelle, and taking frequent sips from her drink. Whenever she'd drain her glass, one of her friends would replace it for her. Next thing she knew, Tony had sent Bella over to their table with a tray full of free shots for them -- she downed them without thinking, and returned to her wine and the girls' conversation.

Then proceeded a blur. Ashley was drunk. They all were. Tansy and Claire got up to dance again and dragged shy Meredith with them -- the shots they had all consumed seemed to make Meredith brave enough to dance, which was unlike her! Chantelle got up and started flirting with another one of her past conquests, to see if she could get lucky that night, and Ashley excused herself to the bathroom. 

Once she was in there, the room started spinning. She sat with a bang on the toilet seat, trying to regain her composure under the white lights of the ladies' room, breathing hard.

She didn't know how long she was in there, but it only seemed like five minutes. She remembered vaguely checking her mobile phone and seeing drunken, misspelt messages from her friends asking her where she was. She clumsily texted back to all of them the words "I'm all fine hun", while desperately willing herself sober. She didn't think she could walk straight if she stood up.

Eventually, she decided she had to go out and find one of her friends, tell them she was leaving. She let herself out of the cubicle, out of the bathroom. Back at the bar, the music was thumping, filling her head. She stumbled very unsteadily through the room, hazy eyes blinking as she searched for Tansy, Claire, Meredith ... perhaps not Chantelle, she didn't want to see her at all ... but she couldn't find any of them. She groaned and leant against the wall for support. She didn't feel very well. It had been a long, long time since she'd drunk to drink, and her body wasn't used to it. Lightweight, the rational part of her brain thought, through the curtain of her intoxication. She groaned again.

"Ashley!" exclaimed a voice, a sweet voice, a beautiful voice, a voice belonging to the gorgeous girl of Ashley's dreams ... 

Ashley turned lethargically, to see Jeanie standing behind her with a couple of glasses in her hand, apparently just back from a glass run. They were both now standing next to the door that led behind the bar to the serving area, in a thoroughfare that took patrons from one side of the room to the other (the bar was in the middle). 

"What are you doing?" Jeanie asked, eyes concerned as she took in Ashley leaning on the wall for support. "One moment!" she disappeared for a split second, leaning into the bar to set the glasses onto a surface for someone else to get rid of. Then she was right back beside Ashley. She put a hand on Ashley's upper arm, fingers squeezing gently, clearly worried. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Fine, hun!" Ashley returned quickly, nodding her head as though willing herself to believe it.

"How's your night going?" Jeanie asked, voice friendly. She was standing very close, Ashley noted, so she could hear what Ashley said over the thrumming music of the bar. She was close enough that Ashley could smell her perfume, actually. And her hair. And a faint sheen of sweat beneath all that from working hard. 

The whole experience of having Jeanie so close sent Ashley's senses into overdrive. If her head had been spinning before, now it had doubled in speed ...

"'S fine hun, but I'm kinda sick so I'm probably gonna head. Have you seen ... anyone?" Ashley tried, tried to pronounce all her words, but her pink lips were lazy and it was a real effort to control them.

"No, I haven't seen your friends for a while, at least half-an-hour," Jeanie's eyes narrowed in concentration as she tried to make sense of Ashley's slurred speech. "I think they might have left! -- it's kind of late, you know."

"Right," Ashley muttered. "I'll go ... cab then ... bye bye Jean, you're gorgeous," she flung as a parting shot, before she leant up off the wall and made to walk off. But she zig-zagged and landed into a nearby chair, catching herself on the back of it and breathing hard.

"Ashley!" Jeanie dived for her alarmedly.

"I'm alright!" Ashley was embarrassed. "Seriously hun, I'm fine. I'll see you tomorrow or something okay?"

"Jesus, no you won't!" Jeanie's brow was furrowed with worry. "You can't go outside and get a cab like this. Have you seen the piranhas circling round the bar tonight? Look, I'll take care of you. Just wait here for a moment, okay? Wait here." Her hands were on Ashley's arms, as she gently pulled her off the back of the chair and pushed her against the wall beside the bar door, holding her flat against it for a moment. "Wait here," she told her again.

"Yep, yep," Ashley nodded complacently, but the moment Jeanie turned and let her go, a blind panic engulfed her and she made a break for the front doors again. She couldn't spend time around Jeanie in the state she was in. She was sure her drunkenness would be a total turn-off, and she needed to get away before she did even more damage to her already limited chances with the gorgeous brunette.

"Hey!" a voice rang out behind her again, and she'd only gone four steps before Jeanie's soft hands closed firmly around her upper forearms, stopping her in her tracks. "Listen, sneaky! I told you to stay right here!"

Ashley winced upsettedly and slumped against the wall where Jeanie put her, energy sapped, sick to the stomach and giving up. 

"Alright!" Jeanie said, watching her. "I'll literally be two minutes. Please just wait here, Ashley. I'm going to tell Bella or one of the boys that I'm going to take my break now, okay? And I'll run you home. Just stay, okay? Wait here for me."

Ashley nodded numbly and Jeanie slipped into the bar door. She was back a moment later, her handbag slung over one slim shoulder. 

"Okay," she carelessly grabbed Ashley's hand, in order to help her walk. "We're going to go out the side door." She led Ashley towards the staff exit. 

The people were much sparser away from the main areas of the bar, which made it easier to move, easier for Jeanie to lead Ashley comfortably around all the obstacles as the approached the exit. A tall broad butch called Eliza, whom Ashley knew as an acquaintance from the bar, and who had tried hitting on her a few times, saw them and bounded over, pissed herself.

"Ash, you drunk girl! Come and have a drink with me, you tight little piece of ass! I've been wanting to get into those jeans of yours for yonks now babe, you know that! You look like you're all ready for a good time right now, you look loaded! You won't be giving me your cool-blonde routine tonight, will ya? Come sit on my knee ...!"

"Um, hello?" Jeanie's voice was icy. "That's really inappropriate, she's not feeling well."

"Who are you, bitch?" Eliza peered aggressively at Jeanie with piggy, drunk eyes.

"I'm staff," Jeanie snapped back, "and if you want to use language like that with me, I'll have security throw you out and Tony will give you a holiday from this place for a while, how about that?"

"You the new hot girl!" Eliza stepped back, recognising her. "I thought you were just a random!"

"Should have taken a closer look then, shouldn't you? Now, move! And don't touch her!" she hissed, when Eliza raised a hand like a salami and laid it on Ashley's cheek as though to pull her face up for a quick pash. Jeanie had no intention of letting that happen. She yanked Ashley's arm hard, and wrenched the tall blonde out of Eliza's grip. "For heaven's sake! Put your foot out of line once more tonight, woman, and you'll be kicked out faster than you can blink! Now back off!"

"Didn't know she was spoken for," Eliza muttered angrily, standing down. "She was single as far's I knew."

"It's not ... you just don't try to pull that shit when she's been drinking, that's what I was trying to ... that's not the point!" Jeanie became flustered for a moment, before her voice turned snappy. "We're wasting time. Move!"

Eliza stepped aside, and Jeanie squeezed Ashley's hand tighter as she drew her towards the staff door. She pushed it open for them, and then Ashley was hit by the cool night breeze. She shivered involuntarily. 

"Are you feeling okay?" Jeanie asked, teasing her bottom lip between her teeth as she fixed anxious eyes onto Ashley in the dark. "Your face back there ... I didn't really like the colour ... and your breathing ... you just look really unwell."

"I'm so sorry!" groaned Ashley, shaking her head sadly. "I'm so humiliated!"

"No, don't be!" Jeanie's fingers were still firmly laced with Ashley's, and she began to lead her across the outside carpark and over to what was apparently her car. "You're acting fine, you're not doing anything silly! It was just that you looked a bit ill, that's all. And I didn't want to leave you to the mercy of a cab driver! One ripped one of my friends of by like, a hundred dollars once just because she was drunk and he could take advantage of the situation. What sort of friend would I be if I allowed that to happen to you?" she gave Ashley's hand a squeeze and grinned over at her. 

Subconsciously, Ashley supposed, she'd been building things up in her head again already. There was the concern. Jeanie's protectiveness against Eliza. But now, there was the label. Friend. At once, all those subconscious, not-really-processed hopes, thoughts and classifications were immediately dashed on rocks. Ashley grimaced.

"Don't worry, Ash," Jeanie said kindly, misreading the reason for the blonde's unhappy face. "You'll be safe at home soon. This is my car. Just let me let you in -- I don't have central locking."

It was a small white 1989 model. Jeanie had her keys out of her handbag and the next thing Ashley knew, her door was unlocked and opened for her from the inside. She unsteadily climbed into the car and sat beside Jeanie, hands in her lap, body tense. Alcohol was still pounding her system.

"You're going to have to tell me where you live, Ash," Jeanie reminded her. "I haven't been to your place before."

"Redman Parade, flat number eight, number ... fifty-two ..." Ashley slurred.

"Great!" Jeanie smiled at her, and programmed the information into a little GPS unit she had attached to her car. "My parents brought me this for Christmas because I have no sense of direction," she revealed to the almost senseless Ashley. "It's the most useful little thing ever. Hey, you're pretty close! Should take me just over five minutes to get there! Do you want to listen to some radio?"

"I just want to hear your voice," Ashley thought -- then, to her shock and horror, realised that she'd accidentally spoken those words aloud in her inebriated state.

"Haha, okay!" laughed Jeanie. "Tunes might annoy you in the state you're in anyway, I guess, and you're probably sick of music -- it was so loud in the bar! I swear, I used to like AC/DC but they play them every night at the bar and god, I'm so sick of them!" 

"Yeah," was all Ashley could manage. She was so embarrassed about what had come spilling from her mouth.

"Slack of your friends to leave!" Jeanie wore a slight frown. "I'd never do that to one of my pals!"

"I texted them I was alright," Ashley mumbled. "I didn't think, I think they thought I was gone already."

"Hm," Jeanie accepted it, eyes scouting the traffic ahead. "Who was the huge girl who tried to kiss you?" she asked next.

"Eliza, she always hits on me," Ashley rolled her eyes. "She's so not my type," she declared.

"Haha no, I could tell you weren't really feeling it," Jeanie laughed again. "If your face was pale before, it turned white when she stampeded towards you!"

Ashley giggled tiredly. Jeanie's easy, cheerful chatter was as soothing as it was enjoyable. 

"Sorry you had to use your break to ..." she roused herself to slurringly say, but Jeanie cut her off.

"Don't be silly, Ash, I offered and I wanted to," she said, gently. "It's not a big deal at all. Almost there," she added, with a quick glance at the GPS.

She pulled over to the side of the road and put the car into park. 

"Okay, thanks so-much," Ashley said, tugging at the handle.

"Sorry Ash, that handle is broken from the inside," Jeanie admitted. "This car is a bomb. I'll have to get out and open it from the outside. Hang on." She kicked her own door open and strode confidently around the car. She pulled the door open for Ashley and stood back.

"Thanks!" Ashley said again, standing up unsteadily. "Thankyou so much, Jeanie. You're so kind and beautiful." Damn it, the alcohol made her gushy and affectionate.

"As long as you're okay," Jeanie smiled at her. 

"Thankyou," Ashley stepped up close to her, and put her arms around her shoulders for a hug goodnight. A flood of emotions came over her -- she'd been struggling to control them all night, but now alcohol had made it so that her resistance was right down low. "Jeanie," she pulled her close and whispered to her, as Jeanie's hands encircled her back to make sure neither of them lost their footing, "I really want to kiss you," she muttered into Jeanie's ear.

She heard rather than saw Jeanie's throat muscles work as she swallowed. There was silence for two long seconds.

"Oh Ashie," Jeanie got out with difficultly, pulling Ashley to her body and hugging her close.

That's all she said. Her arms were tight around Ashley, holding her securely. Ashley hugged her back, lips and nose falling to land in the delicate crevice between Jeanie's neck and her shoulder blade. She was very aware of the sweet scent of Jeanie's skin under her nose, of the beautiful brunette's luscious breasts pressing against Ashley's own, slightly smaller ones. Ashley's nipples went hard at the contact -- she was drunk and undeniably horny and Jeanie's body against hers just felt ... perfect ... but ...

Ashley hugged Jeanie to her even tighter. It was a consolation hug. Jeanie didn't want to kiss her. That hurt. It hurt a lot. Ashley could feel Jeanie's heartbeat, keeping a steady beat. Her own pulse was racing with alcohol, lust ... and pain. Jeanie was rapidly becoming all she could think about, and the fact that the younger woman obviously didn't feel that same way made Ashley's chest ache with sadness.

One of Jeanie's arms held Ashley around her back, the other hand went tenderly to the back of her neck, and she cradled Ashley's head into her shoulder. 

"Oh Ashie," she said again, voice affectionate and low. 

"I gotta go!" Ashley roused herself. It was humiliating, getting a consolation hug. A rejection hug. She needed to get away from Jeanie immediately and pretend that nothing had happened. "Thanks so much again." She pulled herself away from Jeanie and turned without looking at her, and started up the driveway to the block of flats.

"Will you be alright?" Jeanie called after her.

"Yes!" Ashley's feet moved quickly up to the front entrance. She ripped her keys from her bag and started stumbling for the lock, but her fingers didn't seem to want to work and the keychain feel to the floor with a loud jangle.




Is She, Isn't She?



Ashley swore and bent down to try to find them, eyes struggling in the dark. A warm shadow moved up behind her and bent down to reach easily for the fallen keys.

"Here," Jeanie smiled and handed them to her.

"Thanks," Ashley muttered ungratefully, turning away from Jeanie and trying to fit her keys through the lock. She struggled and struggled but it wouldn't work for her.

"Here, let me, Ashie," a hand reached over the top of her own and Jeanie gently removed the set of keys from Ashley's fingers. "Is it this one?" she questioned her, holding the offending key up.

Ashley squinted at it attractively. "Yeah," she grunted.

"Okay," Jeanie was smiling to herself. She fitted it into the lock in one movement and turned it for her. The door pushed open. "There you go," said Jeanie. "Will you be alright to get into your flat now that you're in the building?"

"Yes, thanks, fine, I mean ... thankyou so much again for all this, hun, you didn't have to, and I'll see you round," Ashley mumbled, desperate to get out of her company.

"Bye Ashie," Jeanie called after her in a cutesy voice.

Ashley bolted into the lift and her fingers slammed on the close-door button. Jeanie had already turned and walked back to the street, and she heard her car pull out.

What a disaster.

***

Ashley did not go anywhere near Bolton's in the week that followed her drunken incident. Nor the week after. She was determined to get Jeanie out of her system. She'd just as good as told Jeanie how she'd felt about her. She, Ashley, cool strong blonde, who never lost control of her emotions, who always had the upper hand, may as well have painted a neon sign on her forehead with her "kiss me" shenanigans. 

She had almost fallen for a straight girl, she realised in disgust. She was supremely irritated at herself. She, Ashley, was gorgeous. Women stumbled all over themselves for the chance to be with her. She did not make a fool of herself, ever, she didn't need to -- and now she had. All because Jeanie looked so good, Ashley had been thrown. She was a grown woman of twenty-eight, for god's sake, almost twenty-nine, she wasn't a hormonal young girl anymore. She had poise, dignity and control -- all of which she'd lost in one fell swoop when Jeanie came to town. 

Even if Jeanie wasn't one-hundred percent straight, even if she did have the smallest of bi tendencies -- the only time she'd shown any interest was in Chantelle, when Chantelle had talked dirty to her. She obviously just wasn't into Ashley. Ashley screwed up her face angrily whenever she thought of it. Looked like she'd lost her "challenge" with her butch, cap-wearing friend.

So, although she pined for Jeanie a lot, and her thoughts dwelt on her a lot, she removed herself completely from temptation, and didn't go anywhere near her once-favourite bar. Her walks toward that area of town stopped and she started using her treadmill again, pounding out on it grumpily, knowing that only time would remove Jeanie from her system.

Her friends still went to Bolton's for after-work drinks, etcetera, but Ashley always found an excuse not to go. She found out from Tansy that Jeanie had laughingly asked their group how the blonde had pulled up the morning after their big night. Well, if only she knew, how agonising the morning after "that night" had been for Ashley. Not only had she been revoltingly hungover, but she'd been in stitches of embarrassment on top of everything else. Pure anger and wretchedness, was what she had been feeling. 

"You given up the chase, Ash?" Claire asked her over the phone, about a week and a half after Jeanie had dropped Ashley back home. "I haven't heard you mention anything about netting Little Miss Hot-Pants Jeanie for a while now."

"No, I don't really dig it anymore," Ashley responded casually. 

"Wow! Okay! Because we all thought you were really keen there, for a while."

"No," Ashley said, voice still relaxed.

"Soo ...?" Claire prompted. "Why have you been making excuses not to come to Bolton's? We've all noticed. Please, you have to come this weekend, at least! Chantelle's being odious, bragging to everyone that it's because you've thrown in the towel on your little game because you know you've lost to her and you never stood a chance against the Mighty Chantelle, or something."

"You know, on the surface, Chantelle doesn't sound like a very good friend, does she?" Ashley snapped, irritated at Chantelle for being so bigheaded at her, Ashley's, expense.

"You know she's just joking, she's just playing around," Claire appeased her. "She's always been like that." She paused, then said cannily, "I know you probably want to know how her pursuit of Jeanie is going, even though you'll never ask because you're much too dignified. So, here's the lowdown, without you having to crack your Snow Facade: apparently she's talked dirty to Jeanette a few more times, reckons she gets major vibes off her each time, but, every time, Jeanie shoots her down. Last time, Jeanie actually threatened to speak to Tony, if Chantelle didn't behave. Chantelle told her she needed disciplining -- I think spanking was mentioned -- Tony was told, and made Chantelle apologise, and had a quiet word to her. It was so funny! Chantelle said she didn't give a rats, that Jeanie's just playing the hard-to-get game because she's enjoying having Chantelle chase her -- modest, isn't she? Either that or sadly delusional. Ha ha ha! Anyway, Chantelle said she'd hold a low profile on the flirting front for like, a week, then "get back on the saddle" -- her words. Apparently, she thinks she's wearing Jeanie down. Poor Jeanie! Like a deer in the headlights, don't you think?" 

"I don't think anything," Ashley complained, annoyed at the surge of possessiveness that she still felt -- but Chantelle shouldn't be talking to Jeanie that way, it was way out of line! "I'm pretty sure I'm free on Friday for Bolton's, Claire, I'll just have to check and confirm with you later in the week ..."

Claire took a breath and paused. "Look, your birthday's coming up. I know you're having a party this year, and you have to hand out invites, and just about all the people you'll want to invite hang out at Bolton's, so you need to come to do an invitation drop, if nothing else," she reminded her, trying to pressure her into giving a concrete response.

"Hmm ..." Ashley spoke unwillingly. It was true, she was planning a modest celebration for her twenty-ninth birthday -- she had been planning on seeing out the last year of her twenties with some sort of festivity. She'd been going to invite a group of friends to a club, Spiral. A fortnight spent away from Bolton's was probably long enough, she thought. And she had been thinking of Jeanie less recently -- except when she was masturbating (and that really needed to stop). "Well, I know that!" she hastily regathered herself now. "I haven't been avoiding Bolton's, Claire, I've had legitimate reasons why I haven't been able to make it ..."

"Yeah yeah, Ice Queen. That line will work on people who don't know you as well as your friends do, but I went to grade school with you, remember?" Claire teased. "You can hold it together pretty well when you want to, but I don't buy it. You're trying to get rid of a crush and what's wrong with admitting that? We're all human, we all have feelings! But I don't need to tell you the obvious. Come out with us Friday for after work drinks! Hand your invitations out, stay for an hour and leave!"

"That won't be a problem, if I'm free this Friday," Ashley replied in a voice of stone. "Look, okay, I'm pretty sure I am, I just wanted to cover my bases. I'll see you then."

Now she also had the dilemma of whether or not to invite Jeanie to her birthday celebrations -- the idea had been toying around in her mind. She sort of wanted to -- she missed Jeanie, missed her lively chatter, her infectious laugh. But at the same time, she wanted the brunette out of her system. 

She wanted to have sex with someone else, she decided -- she hadn't had sex for months and she needed it. And she wasn't going to get what she needed from Jeanie.

***

Friday rolled around and Ashley sat nervously at a table with her friends toward the middle of Bolton's, having decided to be self-disciplined and not invite Jeanie to her birthday party, under the heading It Wouldn't Be Good For Her, the birthday girl, if she did. She needed to stop thinking about the brunette, and inviting her out to a social event was not going to be helpful in that department. She had to be strong.

She hadn't actually seen Jeanie yet, didn't even know yet if she was working. The thought of seeing the beautiful bartender again tore her up inside more than she cared to admit. Despite her inner turmoil though, she sat prettily at the table, posture perfect, blonde ponytail high, cool green eyes calmly taking in her surroundings, and keeping a sharp eye out for one brunette in particular. 

"Who else are you inviting?" Tansy asked, fingering her invitation in front of her.

"A couple of girls from the bank, plus Fleur, Paola, Tina, and Bella. I was thinking there'd be a group of around maybe twelve, thirteen of us ..."

"Are you inviting Sweet Jeans?" Chantelle barged in and interrupted. "I mean, if you're inviting Bella ..."

"I don't think so," confessed Ashley. 

"She wouldn't say yes, even if you did," Meredith rejoined stoutly. "I was talking to Bella, you know how social Bella is, goes to most parties, socialises with the other side of the bar too, and she says Jeanie's been invited to like, fifty things since she started working here and says no to every single one. Which makes sense, because she's straight, so she obviously doesn't want to give anyone the wrong idea ..." here she stared pointedly at Chantelle.

"The only reason she's turned her ripe little ass up at everything is because I wasn't the one to ask her to it!" sniffed Chantelle, grinning around at the table. 

"You are too bigheaded for words, Chantelle, settle down!" a tiny bite of irritation entered into Meredith's voice. "The point is, everyone's been trying to coax her out and kitty won't budge, so let's just leave it ..."

"It would be rude to invite Bella and not her though, wouldn't it? I mean, they're the only two girls who work here," Tansy mentioned.

"We've known Bella for a lot longer, we're much closer to Bella," Ashley heard herself saying bluntly.

"Yeah, but I thought you and Jeanie were friends and stuff," Tansy shrugged.

"Well, not really. I mean, we're friendly sure, and we've had some friendly chats, but I haven't seen her for a couple of weeks, because, as you know, I've been too busy to get down here, so ... I mean, it was more just a friendly acquaintance kind of thing ..."

"Changed your tune now that you're doing the dance of defeat, Ash, what was it at the beginning? "Who says you've got dibs on her"? "She's sexy"? You went from a bitch in heat to a "friendly acquaintance", that's such a shame," Chantelle jumped on it, smirking.

"Chantelle, shut the hell up!" Ash held her gaze, and her voice went cold. 

"What?" Chantelle demanded laughingly, her eyes going wide. "You can't get defensive! This was just a little friendly competition, after all! One that you lost," she added snidely. "You should see little Jeanie start to salivate when I talk dirty to her. She won't admit it but she loves it, it's written all over her face. Meanwhile, you've taken six steps backwards and become an "acquaintance". Never picked you for a quitter either, Ashley Angelique James, but here you are, plain as day, rolling over and playing dead!" and she laughed again.

The atmosphere at the table had plummeted. Meredith, Tansy and Claire were looking from Chantelle to Ashley warily.

"Who says I've quit anything?" Ashley asked icily. "She's straight, Chantelle!"

"Oh no she isn't! I know a pussy-hungry bitch when I see one, and she's got it written all over her. It's animal instinct, baby, and mine is more finely tuned than anyone else's. She's a timid little thing, but she wants it."

"She's not shy at all, I wouldn't call her shy!" Claire disagreed with a frown at her friends.

"She's too scared to stop playing it straight!" Chantelle clarified. "Mark my words. She wants me," she leant back in her chair comfortably. "Invite her to your birthday party, Ash, so I can get off with her!" she barked another laugh.

"So one of us can get off with her!" Ashley knew she shouldn't be doing this, knew that she was setting herself up for massive failure and humiliation. All evidence pointed to Chantelle being exactly right when it came to Jeanie's secret attraction to her -- Ash had seen the hungry look Jeanie had fixed Chantelle with that first time. But now, Chantelle was pushing all of Ashley's buttons and the usually composed blonde was starting to see red, and it was making her uncharacteristically rash. 

"Invite her then!" Chantelle played on this, eyes bright.

"She won't come," Meredith tried to interject.

"Fine!" Ashley cut her off. "I have a blank invitation here. Put her name on it, Chantelle, and let's see what happens."

"You're going to let me go to the bar with it?" Chantelle asked, in surprise.

"Yes, because she'll say no, just like Meredith says she will!" Ashley snapped back.

"You won't need to go anywhere near the bar," Tansy spat the straw out of her drink and looked up. "Look who just got into work? She's doing a glass run, she'll be over at our table in two minutes."

"And she'll say no!" Meredith reminded them all again, as Ashley furiously scrawled Jeanie's name on the invitation, folded it and shoved it into an envelope. "She's been invited to heaps of things by girls in this bar and she turns them all down."

"Here, gimme that!" Chantelle snatched the envelope from Ashley. "Shut up Mez, don't be so damn pessimistic all the time! Watch this, she'll say yes to me, I guarantee it!"

Jeanie looked tired when Ashley first clapped eyes onto her for the first time in almost two weeks -- but still just as beautiful as ever. She collected glasses, and reached their table.

"Hey guys," she said, barely looking up, eyes taking in Chantelle only. She seemed a little irritated.

"Hey hottie!" Chantelle grinned at her. "Still got your handbag on. Late for work? You bad girl."

"Yeah yeah, it happens to the best of us, I got caught in traffic, some stupid old geezer in front of me was doing like, forty under the speed limit and holding the rest of us normal people up. Obviously the fact that some of us actually have lives to be getting on with was a foreign concept to him -- Ashley!" she finally realised Ashley was there, and Ashley couldn't help but find her exclamation of happy surprise flattering. "Hey, I haven't seen you since ... that night!" she put a hand on her hip and ginned at her.

"Yeah, I've been really busy," Ashley tried to say casually, but Tansy was quick off the mark.

"What night?" she demanded. "Did something happen between you two? Oh my god ..."

Ashley could have kicked her -- in fact, she did, under the table. The embarrassment she and Jeanie both obviously felt was stifling. Jeanie's cheeks flushed and she immediately displayed signs of being flustered.

"Ha ha, no no!" she hastily corrected them, eyes still on Ashley. "It was the night you girls all, er, had a big one. That's all. Well, it's good to see you, Ashley," she smiled at her. "I can't believe it's been a whole two weeks!" her full lips turned downwards in displeasure as she noted the amount of time that had lapsed. 

"So, sugar-britches!" Chantelle was determined to get Jeanie's attention back onto herself. "I have something for you!" she put the envelope into Jeanie's hands.

Jeanie started at it blankly. "What is this?"

"It's an invitation to ..." began Chantelle, but Jeanie abruptly cut her off.

"Sorry Chantelle, but I don't attend social gatherings with patrons from the bar I work, it's unprofessional."

"What are you on? "Unprofessional"? It's not like you work at the doctor's surgery, you work in a bar, for Christ's sake girl! Everyone does it. Bella's coming, why do you have to be so high and mighty?" Chantelle rolled her eyes angrily at Jeanie's spiel.

"No, sorry, I never mix work and social life. Personal rule I have, I never break it. I've said exactly the same thing to everyone else who's invited me to things. It's not that I don't appreciate it, thanks for thinking of me, but I won't be going," Jeanie tossed her hair at Chantelle, held her eye and stared her down.

"It's for Ashley's twenty-ninth birthday party," Tansy inserted innocently.

There was silence for a moment. Jeanie's eyes widened slightly in realisation, and she turned to Ashley with a face full of immediate apology and yearning -- she did want to go, since it was Ashley's party and not Chantelle's -- that much was painfully obvious from her facial expression and body language. Her eyes moved from Ashley to Chantelle in distress for a moment. Colour definitely stained her cheeks now -- Ashley could see the cogs whirring in her head as she tried to work out a way to come out of the situation gracefully. Unable to find one, she had to backtrack, and go straight back on the haughty words she'd just uttered, looking even more embarrassed than ever, voice sheepish.

"Um," she pulled a piece of hair behind her ear, set the glasses down on their table for a moment, and opened the envelope, making a show of reading it. "Um ... I ... you know what? I might make an exception. I mean, you're right, Chantelle, I don't work at a doctor's surgery. And what do you know?" her cheeks were bronzed pink now, and she wasn't looking at any of them, instead concentrating on the writing on the paper in front of her. "I'm actually free that night. The boys are working -- I'd love to come, thankyou for inviting me, Ashley. Sounds really fun."

Chantelle's face blackened but she didn't say anything. Tansy and Claire were both wearing shit-eating grins. Meredith's brows raised slightly, and the bottom fell out of Ashley's stomach. 

"Great!" the words tumbled out of her surprised mouth. "Great, that's fantastic. Um, I'm really happy ... you're always more than welcome, you know ..." her brain ordered her to shut up.

"So ... so it's next weekend, isn't it?" Jeanie cleared her throat, making sure not to look anywhere near Chantelle. "So, um, I've never been to Spiral. Is it a, er ... is it an, um ..."

"It's not a gay club, no," Tansy supplied for her, voice still innocent. 

"The crowd that hangs there is a mix of bi and gay," Claire built on Tansy's effort. "Some of Ashe's bank friends are straight, so we picked a venue that would suit all. You should be able to slip under the radar unnoticed with them too, straighty." 

"Ha ha!" Jeanie laughed nervously. "So, um ... how ... like, I mean, maybe ... maybe I should give you my phone number Ashley? Because I don't know how to get there, or where this club is so um ... in case I get lost on the night, I may need to call you ..."

"Seems like a sensible and reasonable precaution to take," Claire's eyes were twinkling as she good-naturedly mocked.

Ashley kicked out under the table again and Meredith squeaked. 

"You missed, Ash!" she got out between gritted teeth.

Ashley felt even more flustered as she realised Jeanie must realise that she was resorting to the immature practice of kicking people under tables. 

"We're all meeting at my apartment first for half-an-hour pre-drinks, I think it says so on the invitation ..." Ashley turned away from Meredith, speaking quickly to distract Jeanie. She pointed to the piece of paper still opened in Jeanie's hand.

"Oh yes, of course, right!" Jeanie nodded. "Well, I know where that is."

"How do you know where Ash lives?" Tansy asked, voice surprised.




Is She, Isn't She?



"I gave her a lift home once," Jeanie replied, voice slightly uncomfortable.

"You should probably give Ash your number anyway," Tansy advised wisely. "Just in case there is a hiccup on the night, for whatever reason."

"Yeah, I think so," Jeanie nodded, not looking at Tansy either -- she knew she was being teased, but was doing her best to pretend she didn't know it. She ripped a pen out of her handbag and grabbed a coaster. "Please don't let anyone else from around here get a hold of this," she pleaded jokingly as she scrawled with the pen. "You haven't heard what some of these women have said they want to do to me! I know they're just teasing me and most of it's in good fun, but if certain of them got my number, I'm sure it would be brutal!"

"You wouldn't have that problem with our Ash, she'd never do anything to make you feel bad," Claire practically sang. "She's nice and gentle. Or so I hear."

Ash swung her leg out again brutally and this time she found her mark. Claire jumped and flinched.

"Sorry about them, Jeanie, they think they're being hilariously funny," she apologised to Jeanie, glaring threateningly at her gang of misbehaving girlfriends. "So this is your number?"

"Yeah," Jeanie nodded, still looking nervous for some reason as she handed it over to her.

"Mine's on the invitation," Ashley nodded to the paper still in Jeanie's hand. 

"This is really cool!" Jeanie let a smile creep out across her face. 

Ashley found her enthusiasm adorable. The resistance she'd been building up against Jeanie during the past fortnight was rapidly all coming undone under that beautiful, sweet smile.

"I bet you've never been to a twenty-ninth birthday party before -- how old are you again?" Claire joked. "You're still just a baby, aren't you?"

"Yes I'm a baby but I've got the important things covered -- as long as my ID works and lets me drink, right?" Jeanie winked at her. "Twenty-two," she reminded them. "So no, I've never been to a twenty-ninth before -- but I'm really looking forward to my first time!"

"I bet you are!" Tansy and Claire rang out at exactly the same time. "And how special for Ash that she'll be the one to take your cherry!" Claire added, sniggering. "For your attendance of twenty-ninths, I meant, of course."

Jeanie blushed bright red. "You're outrageous, Claire," she shook her head. "I've got to go before the floor swallows me up or Tony fires me, one of the two. Catch you at the bar, ladies!" and she quickly turned and bolted.

"I could kill you, Claire!" Ashley exploded at her as soon as Jeanie had gone.

But Claire and Tansy were both collapsing against the table with simultaneous laughter, and Meredith was grinning from ear to ear as well.

"She likes you, Ashley!" Claire told her, voice happy. "God, she was so cute! She has a crush on you! She got all flustered and embarrassed. And she was so happy to see you!"

"And I didn't know she'd given you a lift home one time, sneak! You kept that very quiet! Did anything happen on the drive home?" Tansy pried, also wearing a massive smirk. "Pity you don't live in Timbuktu and she had to drive you there! A five minute drive, I'm sure, wouldn't have been long enough in the hot box with her."

"Nothing has happened," Ashley, for the first time in what seemed like days, felt herself breaking into a natural smile. "She was cute, wasn't she?" she drummed her fingers against the table and grinned at her friends. 

"She was flirting with you!" Tansy corrected her. "She gave you her number! And as if she didn't mean for you to catch on to that "first time" pun. She's a bright girl, she knew what she was doing -- she just didn't expect us to call her out on it in front of the whole table!"

"I'm going out to have a cig," Chantelle grunted, black thunderclouds on her brow, getting up and slouching immediately off.

Meredith, Tansy and Claire all burst out laughing again.

"If you're thinking of calling time on your pursuit of sexy little Jeanie, think again Ash," Claire advised her. "If that little display was anything to go by, she'll be yours for the taking at your birthday party. Best birthday present ever, right?" she winked at her.

"It hasn't happened yet," Ashley tried with dignity to put the brakes on everyone's speed-of-light presumptions. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"Oh, Ash, you're a predator, I've seen you in action!" scoffed Claire. "You're one of the hottest women I know, of course Princess Jeanie's lusting after you. Seal the deal, break her in, she's asking for it! It's obvious to everyone sitting here that she wants you and wants you bad."

"Chantelle's face was priceless," Tansy actually had to brush away tears of laughter from underneath the black frames of her glasses. 

"Jeanie's face was priceless, when she realised the invitation wasn't from Chantelle, it was from Ashley!" Meredith joined in the merriment. "I think our girl might be a little curious for some girl-action, Ash, and it looks like she wants you to be the one to show her the ropes!"

Ashley succumbed to their light-hearted bantering, but inside, she was torn with uncertainty. If Jeanie did want her, why hadn't she kissed her two weeks ago when Ashley had offered, when she'd been drunk? -- Or had Ashley just answered her own question? Or, had Ashley's absence from Bolton's made Jeanie's heart grow fonder? Had Jeanie been thinking a lot about the kiss that had never been between them?

Only one place she was going to find all that out, she was certain, and that was at her birthday party. Only one week to go...

***

Ashley still kept away from Bolton's in the week leading up to her birthday party. The fact that Jeanie had turned down her kiss that night still stung her. She and Jeanie had, though, exchanged a few, borderline-flirty text messages throughout the week.

Jeanie started it by sending Ashley a text asking about dress code, stating that she didn't know what to wear.

Ashley admitted she was starting to get suspicious of Jeanie's feelings now. If Jeanie really wanted to, she could have just gone onto Spiral's website and checked the dress code there, same as she could have for any other club. Still, of course the good-looking blonde been delighted to get it, and of course she'd replied flirtatiously, telling Jeanie that whatever she decided to come in would look hot on her.

Jeanie had sent a giggling reply that was quick to return the compliment, something sweet along the lines of "I'm sure no one will outshine the birthday girl. Can't wait!"

A couple of others were sent -- Jeanie asked if she should bring pre-drinks to Ashley's and Ashley told the younger woman that she'd already organised tequila shots. Jokes about tequila followed. Then there were the cute messages that made Ashley melt "only three sleeps to go! Soo excited!"

Ashley, in previous relationships, had always been hard-nosed and emotionally unavailable, really, for the most part, but this time! She was completely lovesick! She hadn't had an orgasm for a month without Jeanie's body or face dancing in front of her eyes -- that had to be some kind of record for her, alone. Her attention-span wasn't renowned for being very high. But all her sexual focus had been solely on Jeanie now for weeks. 

Although, as the big night drew closer, there was still the issue of the turned-down kiss. By this time, Chantelle, Tansy, Claire and even Meredith thought that Jeanie was displaying signs of being bi-curious at the very least, but Ashley was less sure because of the no-kiss incident -- it filled her mind with doubts, every time she almost convinced herself the Jeanie's cat was in the bag. 

She determined to try to kiss the girl again at her party, one last time, to find out once and for all. If Jeanie turned her down again, that would be it, finite, caput, o-v-a-h. But this time, Ashley would find out for sure if there was anything there. Because this time, the playing field would be even. Previously, all their interactions had taken place when Jeanie had been at work, where there had always been a barrier of professionalism between them. This time, they'd just be two women going out to a club together for a good time. They'd also both be drinking. Ashley just had to make sure that she personally didn't get too drunk to get to the bottom of this situation with Jeanie -- which she could foresee as being difficult, since she was the birthday girl and obviously all her friends were planning on getting her as wasted as possible. 

Additionally to all this, there was the issue of Chantelle, who had been moody and slightly hostile to Ashley since the invitation debacle -- obviously, her ego had been bruised, and Chantelle did not take kindly to having a bruised ego. Ashley could bet that Chantelle would be hopping all over Jeanie as well come party night to make up for it, and to prove to everyone that she really could land the babe. Tansy had told Ashley that Chantelle had told her that she was convinced that Jeanie's little "pro-Ashley display", as Chantelle had apparently been calling it, had been all about teasing Chantelle, and making Chantelle jealous. It had, in short, been all about Chantelle all along. 

Well, it was a plausible theory, Ashley was gracious enough to suppose. But she didn't really place much stock in it. Jeanie's reactions had been too genuine, too spontaneous and too real. And the text messages to Ashley afterwards made no mention of Chantelle there either -- in fact, Ashley suspected that Jeanie wasn't interested in her pretty butch friend at all, despite the fact that Chantelle made plays for her constantly. 

So, now it was the big night, and Ashley didn't know what to expect as she dressed. 

She wore a white halter top that showed off her nice shoulders, and supple neck. She added a tight black skirt to the outfit -- she didn't often wear skirts, preferring tight jeans or the occasional dress, but she had really good legs and why not show them off properly for once? She slipped a choker necklace around her throat, tied her long blonde hair up into a high-ponytail again, sliding shocking pink lip-gloss onto her pouty lips and applying thick mascara.

She'd timed everything perfectly. Just as she finished the last touch-ups of makeup, her flat was buzzed and the first of her guests arrived, a couple of girls from the bank. She checked herself over in the mirror one last time. She was hot, she decided. Very hot. Tall, in black heels. The muscles in her legs rippled as she moved. She was blonde, she was young, she was sexy and articulate, strong and successful, she had piercing green eyes and she had a good feeling about tonight. She looked like a knockout. She wanted Jeanie to have trouble keeping her eyes from her. Then she wanted to make out with her. And then she desired even more than that -- there was only one thing she really wanted for her birthday this year.

Fifteen minutes later and everyone had arrived but Jeanie. 

"Shot time?" Chantelle was eager to get underway, as usual. "What the hell are we waiting for?"

"We're not all here yet!" Meredith rolled her eyes at Chantelle.

"Do you reckon she's freaked out? Do you reckon she'll bail?" Claire asked the other girls.

"Give her some time, she's probably just making damn sure she's not the first to arrive, because she must be so nervous about tonight because she's got such a big crush on Ashley," giggled Tansy.

"Yeah yeah Tans, I'll believe it when I have my tongue down her throat," joked Ashley, and all the girls laughed, just as the flat buzzed. It had to be her.

"Right!" Ashley whirled on her friends. "Now, all of you, be-have! She's young, sweet and kind of naive, and I don't want any of you to scare her off. I think this is her first official outing with a group of dykes -- not that all of us are dykes," she added to her bank friends, "but in the general sense, we want to make a good impression. Birthday Girl's orders!" she commanded.

"If Ash or Chantelle have anything to do with it, this will be the girl's first official "outing"!" Paola, one of Ashley's work friends from the bank, sniggered.

They all laughed.

"Aw Ash, it's no fun, we like to tease!" drawled Claire, laughing. 

"Alright guys, alright, I mean it!" Ashley warned, buzzing her up and going down the hallway to her front door alone. She pulled it open.

Jeanie stood there, apprehension and nerves all over her face. But Ashley's eyes got big as they drank her in and she could only stare at her. 

She was wearing a strapless, tight-fitting black and white dress that covered her body like a glove and sat above the knees, exposing acres of beautiful satiny skin. Ashley had only ever seen Jeanie in her black work clothes, but now she could see so much more. Jeanie's legs were sexy heaven -- long and shaped, they went on forever, ending in killer black heels. Her shoulders and neck were beautifully bare, exposing all the intricacy of her collarbone. Ashley wanted to kiss and lick her along her attractive neck immediately -- Jeanie had gone for the choker-necklace too. Her dark hair was out, spilling over her shoulders. Her big eyes were lined with black and smouldering, drinking Ashley in as well. 

Jeanie swallowed and seemed to demure under Ashley's intense stare. The silence lingered and became laden with sexual tension. Jeanie's lips parted, after the muscles in her long neck worked again. 

"Hi," she managed to get out softly, looking more nervous than ever. "Happy birthday, Ashie." 

Ashley started at the endearment, and reached out a bronze, toned arm toward Jeanie. "Thankyou hun," she returned. "Does the birthday girl get a hug?"

Jeanie nodded quickly and stepped into Ashley's arms, pressing her body to Ashley's intimately and squeezing her warmly. "Have you had a nice birthday?" she asked into Ashley's ear.

"It just got a whole lot better the moment I opened that door," Ashley told her slyly, deciding to go all-out with the flirting tonight.

Jeanie giggled girlishly, obviously enjoying it. "I didn't know what to get you for your birthday," she said, stepping back, and holding up a bunch of flowers that Ashley had failed to notice because she had been too busy checking out Jeanie's hot body in the dress. "It's not a proper present but ..."

"They're lovely, and your company is my proper present," Ashley knew how to turn it on when she wanted to, and now that she had decided to go for it, there would be no holds barred. "Come in. You look stunning, by the way."

"Thankyou! You look gorgeous too. And look, we're matching!" Jeanie pointed to her neck, and to Ashley's, speaking in a cutesy voice again.

"Ha ha ha! Kindred spirits!" Ashley winked at her, causing her to laugh again as they joined the room with other girls.

"Hi Jeanie!" those who knew her called out. 

"Can we fricking break out the shots already!" grouched Chantelle.

"I'll get the tequila -- Jeanie, come and help me?" Ashley asked, deciding her safest bet was to get Jeanie away from all her mischievous friends, not to mention the predatory Chantelle as well.

Jeanie nodded obediently and trotted after her, keeping close behind her at all times, eyes nervously sliding quickly past Chantelle -- who was in tight jeans, a black singlet top and, as ever, in her staple favourite green baseball cap. 

Something had shifted in Ashley. She was in her own apartment, for a start, she had home-turf advantage. She knew she looked great, she was the centre of attention and it was her birthday. Plus, she'd felt the sexual tension at the door. Jeanie hadn't been able to take her eyes off her. Ashley felt sexy and confident, and it was translating to her behaviour. Her walk was straight-backed and tall as she led the younger woman into the kitchen.

"Here," she handed her a bottle of gold tequila. "You pour out the gold shots, I'll pour out the white shots. Two of each for each."

"You mean we're going to do four shots of tequila before we even hit the door?" Jeanie laughed. "Gosh, I'm going to be trollied!"

"It should be a fun night!" Ashley merely smiled.

She had two trays of shot glasses prepared in the kitchen already, and she and Jeanie went about filling them. 

"You've got a really nice apartment," Jeanie said then, voice friendly. "It looks really new!"

Ashley's apartment had clean white walls, and high ceilings, with generous lighting creating a bright and spacious feel. 

"I've been in here four years now," Ashley told her. "First place I've owned outright!" she added.

"Really? Awesome!" Jeanie flashed perfect white teeth at her in a dazzling smile. "I rent an ugly, big old house with three other friends," she revealed. "It's alright! We have fun. Although we probably drink too much sometimes." She giggled. "Although, because of study and uni exams, I haven't gone out for a while! So tonight my body's going to be like, whaaat? Ha ha ha! I think I might be a little lightweight tonight."

"That's okay," Ashley smiled at her. "I've got your back tonight, as long as you've got mine. Team?"

"Team!" trilled Jeanie. "And um, while we're on the subject of having each other's backs ... this is kind of awkward and I was going to text it to you but I ... I didn't know how it would come off, I mean, I didn't want to upset you, since she's your friend and all ..."

"Chantelle?" Ashley asked at once, knowing.

Jeanie's brow furrowed cutely and she nodded, biting her lower lip worriedly. "It's just that, I'm really not into her and I've told her, and she's really inappropriate ..." she got out all in a rush.

"It's alright, Jeanie, I'll make sure she behaves tonight," Ashley assured her, inwardly rejoicing at the confirmation that Jeanie felt nothing whatsoever for the cocky Chantelle, and also inwardly thinking how adorable Jeanie looked when she was anxious. 

Jeanie still looked highly stressed, despite Ashley's remarks. "I'm really sorry," she apologised.

"No, don't be!" Ashley exclaimed. "She's my friend but she is really full-on at times. I know what she's like, don't worry."

"You two almost finished yet!" Chantelle barged in right at that moment, Claire and Tansy hurrying after her with apologetic expressions on their faces, Tansy even going to far as to mouth "Sorry" at Ashley -- obviously they had tried to keep her from going into the kitchen and disturbing Ashley and Jeanie.

"Just about!" Ashley returned, with a smile of understanding at Tansy.

Ten minutes, and four shots of tequila each later, and they were all tumbling merrily down the footpath toward the train station. Ashley was spending time with all her other guests, but she was keeping a close eye on Jeanie -- Meredith had simply nodded to Ashley's meaningful stare, and had struck up a conversation with her. Ashley trusted the responsible Meredith. 

Meredith kept Jeanie busy until they got to the club. They were all on the guest list and got in within five minutes. They ordered a couple more shots from the bar, then moved to the floor and started dancing. 

Spiral wasn't the largest of clubs. It had purple lighting, an intimate dance floor, surrounded by a stage sealed off with well-spaced jail bars, that people could swing from and dance behind -- the cage covered the walls all the way around the dance floor. The area behind the bars was shadowed, with silhouettes swinging out from time to time to the beat of thudding music.

Ashley and her group started on the normal dance floor, then split up, some going back to the bar, others heading for the stage, some remaining where they were. 

Jeanie hadn't visited the dance floor yet at all. She'd come to the bar with the others when they'd first got there, then she'd visited the bathroom and had had to line up to use it. As a result, she was a full fifteen minutes gone and by the time she got back, the group had already scattered.