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Beauty Pool Knockout

By: Smokey125



SS46: "Beauty Pool Knockout" 

An original, sweet story here—I was quite pleased with the way this came out. In a funny way, this is a little bit—not much, but a little—like "Hypnothe-Rapist" for lesbians (no rape here though). It bears some similarity too to another personal favorite of mine, "Lost And Found." And one more little fun fact: "Long Live The Queen" made the most of English's least common letter, 'q'; this one I believe gets the most mileage of the second least common (and alphabetically last) letter in the language, 'z,' at a whopping 671! 

*** 

July 22nd, 10:02 p.m. 

It was a dark and stormy night. 

No, seriously. It really was. 

The warm 77° temperature mingled with the dense rain and unforgiving winds, giving way to thunder and lightning and shaping a tropical atmosphere extending to the city's outskirts. Trees in full bloom shook, rustled and shed leaves three months ahead of schedule. Rumbling black clouds hogged the celestial spotlight from the quarter moon and dull starlight. Wet gusts buffeted pedestrians on foot and challenged visibility of drivers en route to their next destinations. So-called "windproof" umbrellas were nearly whipped right out of their owners' hands while struggling to keep their stretchers down. And the soaking precipitation gave promise to a bright, shiny rejuvenation of nature's kin the following morning. 

Braver individuals who did not allow the weather to interfere with their evening plans stepped out to dinner, the movie theater, the 24-hour convenience store, and other late-night venues of activity. Homebound folks curled up with good books, good meals, good remotes, good friends, and/or good lovers, settling in to enjoy the soothing outdoor sounds of meteorological tumult. 

The utterly enormous Bayside Inn on 38th Street and Fisherman's Avenue—just beside the aptly named Fisherman's Bay (which also happened to be the name of the entire surrounding resort)—was busy as ever during this, the middle of summer. The normal rush of business travelers was enhanced by the additional wave of vacationing visitors who could ill afford interstate trips, or simply preferred to stay in town. The gigantic Inn and accompanying Fisherman's Bay were bordered by a thirty-block boardwalk with the predictable array of arcades, casinos, retail outlets, restaurants, dessert/snack stands, tattoo/piercing parlors, and souvenir/gift shops, most of which performed decently business-wise, even with the disadvantage of occasional thunderstorms. 

The thirty blocks spanned by the boardwalk were dotted on the other side of the bay and resort hotels by amusement parks, country clubs, upscale bars, more restaurants and shopping centers, and just about everything else the R & R-hungry voyager could hope to find, for a width of roughly twenty miles. Aforementioned boardwalk activity notwithstanding, Fisherman's Bay's nightlife was compromised this particular evening by the unpleasant weather situation, but which failed to hinder indoor recreation. 

One hearty thrillseeker who'd adjourned to the Bayside for her yearly retreat was Zoe Trix Palmer, a 30-year-old beautician having settled peacefully into her week-long vacation here in Midwestern paradise. She always took her vacations just in the middle of summer, and kept them to a modest week. She liked her job, and while nothing compared to getting away from it all, Zoe normally found herself eager by week's end to get right back to it all, unsheathing her arsenal of weapons to fight unsightliness: her blow dryer, her combs and brushes, her shampoo and conditioner, her sprays and gels, her clippers and files, and lest she forget, her colleagues and workmates, the loyal gang of bandits and accomplices. 

She and her girls came up with these slang terms themselves, in relation to their shared career. It was not as if Zoe and her cohorts did any sort of underworld business. They simply enjoyed the whimsy bandying about such language to create and play up a bit of excitement in the beauty shop biz, as if to lend an air of "danger" to a perfectly light, fluffy, beneficial, literally beautiful profession. All in the name of fun and playfulness, of course, as well as illusion. Three years back, someone presented her with a birthday gift of a humorous sign for her to display in her shop that said, "I'M A BEAUTICIAN, NOT A MAGICIAN." Zoe believed in its facetious truth, although she was pretty skilled at doing amazing, almost even magical things with clients' tricky capillary situations. 

When summer arrived annually and she faced the thorough but enjoyable process of organizing a vacation, she was met with a host of details to consider. Depending on her budget, she might go out of state, perhaps out of all the States, maybe even off the continent...or just stay home. She might travel with friends, family, or on her own—solo being the opted choice this year. Then there were the multi-act plays of where to stay, how long to stay, mapping out of activities and contacting her selected hotel for reservations. Here she was this year at the Bayside, on her own, for one week, earlier settled down in her room, now out and about. 

It seemed an ideal short epoch in which things couldn't go wrong. 

Zoe was an optimist. She'd grown up, attended school, graduated and moved on to cosmetology college, from which it was simply a hop, skip and a jump to her future career. And she'd done it all with a positive, sunny attitude and hard, diligent work. When things went wrong, Zoe tried to let them plague her as little as possible. She'd resigned herself to the rollercoaster ride that was life, plain and simple, and carried on, always knowing her next source of good fortune could be right around the corner. 

Zoe Palmer was sort of the girl next door, but a couple more houses down. But not all the way down the creepy end of the street, either. She had a free-spirited quirkiness to her that would give off an air of eccentricity to some, but at the same time, she certainly couldn't be accused of being a daffy, kooky young crone. She knew when to be flighty, and when to take things seriously. She had no significant others or better halves in her life just now, but it was all part of the enjoyment and excitement to her, that the love of her very life could pop up at any point and float right into her arms and heart. Anytime, anywhere: at home, at work, at play... 

Which brought her to her yearly vacation, during which, whatever the circumstances, she was determined to have a wonderful time. And so she had been. As nice as having a companion was, the upside to vacationing by herself was of course the privilege of being able to do whatever she so pleased at any moment without obstructing or interfering with her travel mates' plans. It was what a vacation should be, after all, she reasoned, so why question things? Be a wild girl! she encouraged herself. Tell caution to stuff it! 

Tonight, she'd planned on going for a dip, a quest not squelched by the tumultuous weather. The hotel had a large in-floor indoor swimming pool, surrounded by a couple dozen plastic chairs and joined by a steam room, shower, and hot tub. Zoe enjoyed the snugly safety of indoor warmth against the contrast of storms on the exterior, and it was only Tuesday; she knew it'd pass long before she returned home. Monday she had checked in, rested briefly in the room, enjoyed a seafood lunch, traversed the boardwalk, had an Italian Ice and a funnel cake, worked them off with a few dozen rousing rounds of skee-ball, played a course of miniature golf, treated herself to a lovely heaping buffet dinner, adjourned back to the hotel room and let supper put her to peaceful sleep. 

So far today, she'd taken a long, hot shower, tried the hotel's continental breakfast—which was actually better than she was expecting—gone shopping for a number of different items, dropped by the ice cream parlor for a cone, trolleyed over to the amusement park to ride some rides (which she found would have been a better idea before the ice cream), played some midway games, had some cotton candy...and then it began to rain, so she swung back to the Bayside. 

Once more, she wasn't put off in the least by the storm. The conditions may not have been ideal for a single day at the resort, but she still had four more to go. And in the meantime, there were plenty of things she could do inside the hotel. She could work out in the gym, she could play the pinball tables and shoot pool in the game room, she could pig out courtesy of the vending machines, she could hang out in the lobby and read a book or meet people, she could check out the gift shop...orrrr, she could do just as she was planning for the remainder of the night: take a few refreshing laps in the indoor pool, return to her room, order up some room service, put the TV set on sleep mode, slip under the covers and drop off in serene tranquility. 

Her timing was a bit late, but she had about fifteen minutes to circumnavigate the pool doing her laps before it closed for the night. She was the last remaining guest swimming this evening. It was nice having the pool to herself. The water was three feet deep at the edges, with steps and railings for easy exit. In the middle it reached nine feet at deepest. The lifeguard was still on active duty, but needed a quick bathroom break around 9:57. She'd have this last young woman vacate the pool when she got back. 

Five minutes later, she returned to see the girl still circling the perimeter of the pool counterclockwise. She tweeted her whistle. 

"Excuse me, ma'am," she called to Zoe, who was completing her sixth lap. "The pool's closed. I'll have to ask you to come out now." 

"Oh! Okay," Zoe acquiesced, doggy-paddling to the set of steps she was nearest. "No problem!" 

The lifeguard, whose name was Lizzy-Beth—Elizabeth at birth, now clipped and hyphenated at her own discretion—gave a smile and a nod, and turned to go grab her towel. Zoe took hold of the railing that arched into the water and hefted herself out with a light grunt. About to fetch her own towel, she decided to take care of something else first. 

"Miss? Miss?" she called to the lifeguard. "May I please use the restroom?" 

Lizzy-Beth figured this must be an urgent call of nature if the young lady couldn't wait to return to her own room, so she obliged. 

"Oh, thanks!" Zoe did have to go pretty bad, and didn't want to contaminate the pool. And so, just able to mainly focus on her nagging bladder, she gaited into a run for the ladies'. 

Unfortunately...one thing stood in her way. 

In her rush to relief herself, Zoe failed to notice, in her path, a patch of water splashed across the tiles while she was swimming. 

And still in her also wet bare feet...she slipped. 

She lost her balance. She had nary a moment to notice, panic and flail her arms to try and catch herself before she was falling. 

"Whoa!" she shouted reflexively, rediverting Lizzy-Beth's attention. The lifeguard looked up to see it happening, almost as if in slow motion. The angle threw Zoe back towards the edge as she tumbled off-kilter. 

Then the worst-case scenario came true, in living color, before her widening eyes... 

...As Zoe came down, she sharply, cringingly banged the back of her head...against the lip of the pool edge. 

"OH!" she cried as the wind was knocked from her, tilting her off equilibrium and letting gravity take over. 

Abruptly unconscious, centrifugal force tossed her back over into the pool. She let out her oxygen in effervescent, surface-rushing bubbles, and sank to the deep end through nine sloping feet of water like the densest of stones. 

Lizzy-Beth gasped. "Oh my God!" she yelled. She dropped her towel, whipped off her whistle, let it fly, scampered to the edge of the deep end, careful not to slip herself, and dove in. 

Kicking like mad, Lizzy-Beth fought her way to the bottom, chasing after the girl's k.o.'d body. Metering out her own breath, she finally reached her, slipping her arms under and around Zoe's. She held the breath she had left, willed it to hold out, summoned her strength, and pulled the both of them back up. 

When her nose and lips finally broke the surface again, she was struggling hard to breathe, but she retained the presence of mind to hold on to Zoe and transport them as fast as she could back to the shallow end. 

It ate up all her upper body power, but Lizzy-Beth managed to get Zoe to the steps, bit by bit, and out of the pool. Laying her cautiously on her back, she knelt beside, opened her airway and initiated CPR. 

It took a number of resuscitating nose-pinched breaths and chest pumps Lizzy-Beth was too panicked to count, but her persistence paid off. To her delighted relief, Zoe gave a lurch, gurgled and coughed up a few mouthfuls of swallowed poolwater. 

Whew, thought Lizzy-Beth. "Oh, thank God," she mouthed. Still only half-conscious, Zoe's eyes fluttered and her head lolled until she passed back out again. She had fallen right to sleep, but she was breathing. 

But Lizzy-Beth's job still wasn't done. This specific case wasn't limited to yanking a drowning swimmer out of the drink. She didn't want to start this way, but she wasn't sure she had a lot of choice, so she took Zoe's towel, draped it over her body from the chin down like a blanket, swaddled herself in her own, momentarily shut the lights off, scurried to her room and practically attacked the closet, which was luckily supplied with some white robes. Snatching one for herself and one for the girl, she dashed out, let the door slam behind her, made her way back to the pool as rapidly as she could, flipped the light back on and knelt down with her again. 

It took some maneuvering, rolling this young woman back and forth, lifting her head and shoulders, but she got her dressed in the spare robe. She looked up to see the girl appeared to have only brought her flip-flops and hotel room key. Lizzy-Beth grabbed them and put the girl's flip-flops on her feet. Now came the more difficult part. 

She pulled Zoe up, put her arm around her own shoulder and eased her out towards the lobby. 

"This guest had an accident," she told the receptionists. "I'm taking her to the E.R. Can someone help me get her out to my car?" 

One of them took Zoe's other arm and lent Lizzy-Beth the requested hand. Once Zoe was safely belted into the passenger seat of the car, Lizzy-Beth drove her the five miles up the main highway until she hit their destination. 

*** 

July 22nd, 11:37 p.m. 

The drive wasn't very smooth in the still-pouring rain, and Lizzy-Beth could just as easily have called an ambulance, but the whole idea simply zipped by her cognizant mind. On top of which, she couldn't help but feel a little responsible for this, even though she knew it was not hers, but physics' fault. Although, she thought, if she'd told the girl she couldn't use the bathroom, she might've just scooted off to her room instead and avoided this accident... 

Stop it, she ordered. Don't do that. This is no time to start persecuting yourself. Just get the girl to the hospital. 

Fortunately for Zoe, Lizzy-Beth had both life-saving skills and the anticipation to realize that she was going to have to have a little preparation at the ready when they arrived. Zoe hadn't completely woken up, so when Lizzy-Beth eased her out of the car, walked her in and up to the front desk, she was nervous, but the girl's health was still at stake. She didn't like to lie, but sometimes she had to. And she had to do this convincingly. If she was going to fabricate her way through this, she had to answer the questions in a reasonably timely fashion, but not patently blurt out her responses right away. Opacity and confidence were key. 

"Can we help you?" 

"Yes, she bonked her head. We need someone to see her ay-sap." 

"Name, please?" 

Lizzy-Beth gave the lady the most common first name she could think of and used her own last. 

"Eh—Jen. Jennifer. Jennifer Williams." 

"The patient's name, please, ma'am?" 

"That-that is her name," stammered the lifeguard, trying to cloak the fib in coolness of voice. "Mine's Lizzy-Beth." 

"We'll get someone right out for her." 

"Can I go back with her?" 

"Are you a relative?" 

"Uh, yes! Yes," said Lizzy-Beth, trying to maintain support to keep Zoe crutched up while going into her purse. She dug up her license and insurance card. "I'm her cousin. We're cousins. See? Er—here you go. Lizzy-Beth Kessie Williams, that's me." 

Oh, nice going, L.B., she castigated herself. That wasn't obvious or conspicuous at all. Luckily, her last name really was Williams. 

"Okay," agreed the satisfied receptionist. "We'll take you back in just a minute. In the meantime, you can start filling this out." 

She presented Lizzy-Beth with a medical form and a pen. Oh dear. This would require a little more bluffing. Well, she would mark down their address as the Bayside Inn right now, fake her way through the rest, and deal with it at a moment out of crisis. 

It worked. One hour and five stitches later, Zoe blinked herself to dizzy consciousness. The doctor had fixed Zoe up and given them a few minutes alone together. Lizzy-Beth of course stuck to her story about being cousins for consistency. Now that the girl was up, she supposed she was going to have to either come clean with the staff, or convince the girl to be Jennifer Williams until they left. 

"W—...w-wh—...where am I?" Zoe finally weakly croaked out. 

"You're in the hospital," Lizzy-Beth told her. "You hurt yourself at the hotel pool, and I brought you here." 

"...H—...hotel pool?" 

"Yeah. You fell and clocked yourself out. I CPR'd you." 

Zoe blinked about a dozen times, furrowing her brows. She appeared to be confused, unaware what Lizzy-Beth was talking about. 

"Are you okay?" Lizzy-Beth asked her. 

"I, uh...I dunno." 

Zoe tried to think back and grab something out of her recent memory. To her surprise, when she mentally went into the memory room and flipped on the light, there was...nothing there. 

The bang taken by her noggin had jarred a lot loose. Some files of her personal life lay here and there, but they might as well have been translated into a foreign language with blurry, smeared ink. Aside from these, it was as if the safe had been broken into, robbed and cleaned out in one fell swoop. She was indisputably amnesic. 

She did, however, still feel the woman beside her place a hand on her shoulder and speak again. 

"Is there anything I can get you?" Lizzy-Beth asked her. "Or do for you?" 

"I...I..." Zoe shook her head. "...I have no...idea. I..." She turned to Lizzy-Beth in disturbed bewilderment. "...Lady, I don't think I... 

"...I don't remember who I am." 

Lizzy-Beth's eyes widened and her brows arched. 

"And I certainly don't remember who you are." 

Since the doctor had left them alone in the room, Lizzy-Beth poked her head out the door to make sure they were definitely in private. They were safe, but Lizzy-Beth still lowered her voice as she returned to Zoe to tell her the truth. 

"Well, that part makes sense," she replied. "We haven't been introduced. My name's Lizzy-Beth." 

She offered her hand, but the bemused Zoe only stared at it. 

"You mean I never met you?" 

"Well...not before tonight, no...uh...I don't know your name," she admissively uttered. 

"Oh, great," Zoe grumbled. "So that makes two of us. 

"But...wait," she said, turning back to her. "So...you never met me, but you pulled me out of a pool and took me to a hospital?" 


Beauty Pool Knockout



Lizzy-Beth shrugged. "Well, I'm...I'm not some strange random person who goes around aimlessly rescuing people; I'm the lifeguard at the Bayside Inn. It was my job." 

"Bayside Inn?" Zoe repeated. "Wh—...where exactly am I?" 

"Fisherman's Medical," Lizzy-Beth went on explaining. "We're in the Fisherman's Bay resort. We were at the Bayside Inn a couple hours ago, at the pool. You were swimming, I told you it was time to leave, and you asked me if you could go to the bathroom, and that's when you slipped, fell and bopped your head and rolled back in." 

Not all of these details seemed direly important, but one of them concerned Zoe, who was still trying to put things together. 

"I hit my head?" Zoe fingered her scalp, feeling for the injury. 

"Well, yes, but you see, that's why I took y—" 

Zoe's eyes popped open as she felt the stitches in the back of her head. Unaware they were stitches, she panicked. She gasped and shouted out loud before Lizzy-Beth could finish. 

"Oh God!" 

Lizzy-Beth gently took her arm. "No, no! It's okay!" she insisted. "It's okay. They already took care of the stitches. They said you could go home now if you really needed to, but they also said you could stay here overnight if you wanted." 

Zoe's heart was pounding, but she understood what Lizzy-Beth said. 

"Well, that's good, since I don't even know my own name, and I have no idea where I live." 

"Well, you're clearly staying at the Bayside Inn; you're not allowed in its pool if you're not a guest," said Lizzy-Beth, trying to help. 

"You mean...what is it, I'm on vacation?...But, then where do I really live?" 

She sounded understandably distraught. Lizzy-Beth suddenly began to see just how grave the situation potentially was. All this girl had taken down to the pool was her flip-flops, a towel...and, presumably, her room key. She didn't have a purse or wallet with her, so they couldn't find or consult them for identification. She had her own room key, and she was pretty sure they'd held on to this girl's as well, but she didn't know if the hotel staff could recognize the girl on sight, or find her room number just by the key. Maybe they could scan it or something, she wasn't sure. But if not...then what? The Bayside Inn had over a thousand rooms, some closed off from general access. If even possible, it would take forever to try the key in every single one, and the chances of doing so without anyone noticing were practically zip. Swell. Now what do we do? 

Lizzy-Beth didn't have it in her to just leave this girl alone knowing she'd lost her memory and didn't know what she'd do or where she'd go now. And...well, the bed in her room at the Inn was big enough to sleep two, but... 

She guessed she could let the girl stay overnight, as advised, but she had to go back on duty the following morning. She wouldn't be able to come back and pick her up, and the girl couldn't be left to fend for herself with total amnesia. 

She thanked the staff, and took Zoe/Jennifer back out to her car. 

*** 

July 23rd, 12:24 a.m. 

Lizzy-Beth wasn't sure about this, but again, she didn't see what choice she had. She'd explained to Zoe the dilemma of trying the hotel room key in every single room, and the recep staff couldn't be of optimum assistance. Unfortunately for the lasses, even though Lizzy-Beth had told them on the way out the girl'd had an accident, their policies did not include scanning cards for room numbers unless the occupant could provide identification, or at least give them a name. Once more, anything that could have sufficed was locked in the now elusive room. This was an especially frustrating circumstance under which Lizzy-Beth wished the rules could be bent just a little. Even after she yet again explained to them this was the girl they'd helped bring out to her car—and that she'd had an accident and lost her memory—would she get no further in this endeavor. Unbelievable, she thought incredulously. 

"Well, what am I supposed to do then? The poor girl lost her memory!" Lizzy-Beth reiterated. "I don't even know her name!" 

"We're sorry, Miss Williams. We simply can't scan for the number without identification." 

This put Lizzy-Beth between a rock and hard place. It was after midnight, and she had to do something. She wasn't sure how she felt about having her unknown acquaintance sleep with her in her room—let alone her own bed—but she couldn't just abandon this poor confused gal after saving her life, and she had virtually zero other options. She led the girl to her own room and took her in. 

Lizzy-Beth, what makes you think this is a good idea? the more cautious part of her mind wanted to know. 

I didn't say I thought it was a "good idea," the other part of her explained. It's not even noble or altruistic. The girl's on vacation, has no idea who she is and nowhere else to go. It's the right thing to do. We'd be a terrible person if we just shut her out. And, even on the ridiculously minuscule chance she'd try to make off with something, where's she gonna go? 

Besides...she's cute. 

That's funny, I don't recall asking our hormones for an opinion. 

Zoe—now under the assumption of "Jennifer"—wasn't exactly thrilled about the arrangement either, but she agreed their proverbial hands were basically tied here. Frankly, she was scared. She felt alone and helpless. She even wanted to cry, and Lizzy-Beth couldn't blame her. For Heaven's sake, neither of them had the slightest idea who the girl really was. 

Lizzy-Beth told her in the gentlest tone of voice that she knew what a terrible pickle the girl'd found herself in. She was calling her Jennifer at this point just for purposes of having something to address her by. She also said since there really wasn't anything they could do about this, especially at this time of night, they might as well try to settle in together, get comfy and just...hang out. 

"In fact, I was thinking, and, uh...well, I've been trying to put myself in your place about this. I can only imagine how scared you must be. But I want you to know you can trust me. Especially since there's really no place for us to sleep in here other than the, eh..." 

She gestured to the bed, half-heartedly to try and keep things from getting awkward. She went on. 

"...Anyway...I was also thinking, I'm going to ask one of the other lifeguards to take my shift for tomorrow. It occurred to me that if I worked, you'd either have to spend the whole day in here, or outside somewhere, neither of which seems too preferable. And I also think the time could be put to much better use trying to jog your memory back somehow." 

Zoe/Jennifer still didn't say much. She understood that this lady was trying to be hospitable and friendly, and she was certainly appreciative. Yet she felt still uncomfy, basically at Lizzy-Beth's mercy. Lizzy-Beth could read it in her face. 

"In the meantime," said Lizzy-Beth, "We can do whatever you want till it's time for bed..." She counted on her fingers, keeping an amiable smile on her face. "...We could watch some TV, we could play cards, we could read... 

"...Or, y'know, we could just sit and shoot the breeze for a while." 

Zoe/Jen nodded, considering the selections. Finally, she answered— 

"...I think...TV sounds good. And...who knows, maybe...maybe something I see'll...remind me of something." 

"Good idea!" said Lizzy-Beth. "Okeydoke, here's the remote; I'll watch anything you wanna watch. Can I get you something to eat?" 

Zoe/Jen thought herself quite fortunate to have fallen under this lady's care. She seemed like she really wanted to help. And she didn't see herself in too much potential danger here. And she was hungry. She accepted the late supper offer. 

Ten minutes later, Lizzy-Beth and Zoe/Jennifer sat at either foot of the bed, watching an unfamiliar but humorous program and munching on leftover microwave pizza. It may not have been the perfect meal to enjoy just before bed, but Lizzy-Beth hadn't been grocery shopping for a while, and she wasn't certain how great a deal of sleep would be achieved tonight anyway. 

She received a treat as something funny happened on the TV screen. Zoe/Jennifer, who was beginning to loosen up a bit, giggled. It was the first time Lizzy-Beth got to see her smile. It became a nice little moment. She laughed along. 

Shortly after the remainder of the pie was consumed, Zoe/Jen decided she had abruptly turned very tired. Understandable, thought Lizzy-Beth, pizza having that effect. The girl yawned, stretched, lowered herself horizontally onto the mattress and pulled the comforter over herself. Lizzy-Beth turned the TV off, a bit surprised her new roommate could fall asleep so easily and quickly. Then again, she'd had quite an eventful night, she was likely decently wiped. Lizzy-Beth clicked off the lamp and laid down. 

Zoe/Jen was facing inside the bed, which Lizzy-Beth found preferable, as she would rather study her new friend's cute, pretty face than her stitches. At the same time, it was patently clear that she could do no more than admire the lass' comely kisser. If she were a cruel or wicked person, she could take advantage of the poor amnesic and defenseless Jennifer, have her way with her and be done with it. But she was good-hearted. She couldn't do any of these things and live with herself afterwards. And she liked this girl. She had saved her life, now she wanted to help her further to get her memory—and consequently her hotel room and possessions—back. 

Moonlight filtered in through the Venetians, casting a single strip of illumination upon Zoe/Jennifer's sleeping face. Lizzy-Beth marveled at the sight until she had to avert her eyes to the ceiling, just to keep herself from doing something inappropriate. 

It wasn't as if Lizzy-Beth were some sort of intimacy-lusting horn dog, seeking a little action wherever she could get it. She hadn't enjoyed a wealth of passionate love in her life, but the one-on-one emotional connection remained more important. Lizzy-Beth knew she couldn't exactly have an emotional connection with a girl who couldn't even remember her own name, and she might have been jumping the gun, but she couldn't help wondering if fate had a hand in whatever might have been going on here. 

At 28, Lizzy-Beth Kessie Williams had been a lifeguard at the Inn for three years. Around the time she graduated swim college, her finances were drained from paying off student loans, and she needed some income. The Bayside was looking for a lifeguard, and had a room reserved for the candidate for as long as needed or desired. Lizzy-Beth, who was strapped for funds and also needed a place to crash while getting her living together, saw this as an ideal opportunity. Fortunately for Zoe, though the hotel upheld the policy of not honoring their scan request without ID, and though Lizzy-Beth was under the hotel's roof, she had free rein in her own room. She and her own guests came and went as pleased. 

Even as a little girl growing up, Lizzy-Beth had never wanted to get bogged down in ruts in her life. She always wanted to keep things reasonably shaken up; she didn't like that which was boring, routine and predictable. This trait was a contributing factor in her early decision to nick her first name from Elizabeth. Of course, she could get away with more spontaneity at a younger age than she could now as a grown-up, a fact she'd just have to live with. 

She'd decided to be a lifeguard because she enjoyed helping people, and was very skilled in both swimming and first aid, so the vocational path was right up her alley. The scary part was that this post placed a fair deal of responsibility and pressure squarely on her shoulders when someone fell prey to a life-threatening emergency. And though she was adept at her job, she wasn't omnipotent. The rewarding part was that this line of work was far from thankless. When she succeeded in her intrepid rescues, she was decently often lavished in hearty thanks and hugs. This may not have been true in Zoe/Jen's case, but Lizzy-Beth understood the girl was thoroughly disoriented and would need a while just to be able to see straight, much less get her memory back. She felt so bad for her. 

At the same time, Lizzy-Beth had to be honest in admitting to a certain feeling of intrigue in this unusual setup. Whatever the circumstances, she tonight had ended up with a pretty girl in her bed. Once more, she couldn't emphasize it to herself enough that she couldn't actually do anything but just let her sleep. But that was all right; they'd spend the following day together trying to come up with ways to help restore the girl's memory, and in the process Lizzy-Beth would tell about herself and her life. Perhaps something would ring a bell, common ground could be struck upon. Anything was possible. 

Anything is possible, she thought, shutting her eyes with a smile. Hee-hee-hee... 

Whoa. Down, girl, she reprimanded, catching herself. Come on, don't go there. You know she's off-limits. 

I know, I know... 

Pondering the possibilities of any potential sense-jogging activities in which they could engage, Lizzy-Beth soon too fell to sleep. 

*** 

July 23rd, 10:22 a.m. 

Morning dawned anew courtesy of Sunny Ray breaking through cloud remnants, gently encouraging the Earth to wake up and say hello. Last night's weather violence had resulted in some wrought havoc throughout the town and Fisherman's Bay resort, but the worst that was to be dealt with was a felled tree on the shoulder of Solomon Road. Citizens and especially vacationers were delighted to see the weather was mild, gentle and sweet once more, and that they could enjoy their time outdoors again. 

Lizzy-Beth had turned off her alarm clock so she and Zoe/Jennifer could sleep in. When they'd both awoken, Lizzy-Beth provided her with a couple of articles from her closet. 

"I don't know how close you may be to my own size," she said, "But you've gotta wear something." 

Her new friend carried a slightly more narrow build than she, but managed to fit one of Lizzy-Beth's tank tops and pair of shorts. And then of course she had her own flip-flops. The first thing Lizzy-Beth did afterwards was take them out to breakfast. And while she'd solicited Zoe/Jen's opinion out of good manners, the girl wasn't exactly able to offer one. 

"Here we go," she remarked as they parked and reached for the car doors. "Nikki's. One of my favorite places? Y'ever been here?" 

Zoe/Jennifer shot her a helpless look. 

Lizzy-Beth winced sheepishly. "Right," she nodded. "Sorry." 

A hostess sat them in a booth. Lizzy-Beth produced a spiral notebook she'd brought with a pen clipped to the rings to write notes. 

"All right, I thought we'd try to do this by documenting our experiences, looking for clues and paring away," she explained. 

"Thank you, Lizzy-Beth," said Zoe/Jen. "And thank you for taking me out to breakfast. I can't tell you what this means to me." 

"Hey, no problems!" Lizzy-Beth waved it off. "Tell you the truth, this is kinda interesting and fun for me too. I don't wanna make you feel like a project or anything, and I'm not trying to turn your misfortune into my hobby, but...I'm fascinated. I wanna help you." 

She was met with a warm smile of approval and appreciation. 

"And in the process, I'll tell you about myself so you can get to know me too." 

Meanwhile, Zoe/Jennifer's eyes had fallen upon the menu. 

"Good Heavens, look at the size of this thing!" she commented. 

Lizzy-Beth nodded. "That's why I took you here. Not only's the food great, but they can make anything. Selection's unbelievable." 

Having only heard half of what she said, an excitedly hungry Zoe/Jen flipped enthusiastically through the breakfast section. 

"Oooh, crepes..." she admired. "...Mmm, blintzes...cereal...pancakes, waffles, French toast, fruit, sides, appies...it all looks great." 

Her mouth was beginning to water. She had to be careful not to start drooling on the laminated pages. As she browsed, a cute brunette in her mid-20s approached in her apron with pad and pen. 

"Good morning, ladies!" she greeted. "My name's Carolyn, I'll be taking care of you this morning. Can I start ya off with a bevvie?" 

Lizzy-Beth asked for a glass of orange juice. Zoe/Jennifer requested chocolate milk. 

"Excellent choice," smiled Carolyn, scrawling waitress shorthand on her pad. "A'right, we'll get those right out for ya. Go ahead and have a look through the menu, and I'll be back in just a couple secs!" 

Carolyn pranced back to the kitchen. Lizzy-Beth watched as she headed away. 

"Gosh, she's pretty," she remarked, fishing for another clue. 

"Hm?" Her friend looked up from the enormous plethora of options available on the menu. 

"The waitress. You think she's cute?" 

Zoe/Jen turned in the direction she thought Carolyn scampered off towards. "Oh, I, uh...I dunno. I didn't really notice." 

"Ah, well, 's not important. So...what do you think? Anything seem more familiar than last night?" 

"I really don't know, Lizzy-Beth, I've got...just, like...really spotty, vague recollections of this and that, at the most. Like, like...I can see what looks like a golf pencil, a quarter, a...thing I can't really identify, and...a hair dryer." 

Lizzy-Beth opened her notebook and started scribbling. 

"How interesting..." she remarked. "Seems a little like dream interpretation. Maybe we should get one of those books. 

"Okay, anything else?" 

"Nope." 

"'Kay...can you describe the thing you can't identify?" 

"Not really," Zoe/Jennifer admitted. "That's how spotty it is." 

"Hmmm...'s too bad we can't find a good psychologist around here. They don't exactly drum up a lot of business in vacation resorts. We might be able to find a book that could help us, though." 

Carolyn returned with the drinks and asked if they were ready to order. Lizzy-Beth got a dish of Swedish crepes and Zoe/Jennifer finally settled on the sampler: a little bit of everything for a tiny bit of money. Carolyn noted, took their menus, returned them to the menu stand and trotted off to her next customers. The girls sat through a few moments of silence before Lizzy-Beth spoke up again. 

"Well," she said, dropping her pen on the open notebook page, "This seems about as good a time as any to tell you about me. So let's see...my full name's Elizabeth Kessie Williams, I'm 28, I'm a fun-lovin' lesbian, I'm a Pisces, my birthday's March 3rd, and I was born and raised in St. Paul. I went to Broughton High School, where I was in the marching band, science club and swim team. Then I went to swim college, and that's how I eventually ended up at the Bayside Inn as a lifeguard. It's a nice job, but I don't know if it's the kind of thing I can do for the rest of my life, and I'm not sure what else I wanna do yet. I like...tennis, fishing, riding horses, and Su Doku...I'm afraid of bees, clowns, fire, and nightmares...I hate rude 'a'-holes, violence, and seeing people in rotten moods...and I love kittens, loud rock music, chocolate cake, strawberry wine, vanilla wafers, and glorious, passionate lovemaking." 

Zoe/Jennifer arched her eyebrows in a bit of surprise upon hearing this final declaration stated in the same matter-of-fact tone as the rest of her autobio. What was more, Lizzy-Beth punctuated the admission with a goofy smile blended with a delightful mixture of coyness, silliness, and playful seduction. She kept the smile modest in case her visual affection fell on blind eyes. She may have been on something of a mission to help the girl reclaim her powers of recall, but it didn't mean she couldn't engage in a bit of friendly, harmless flirting. She couldn't anticipate whether her buddy girl might feel the same way about her, but she could hope. 




Beauty Pool Knockout



Zoe felt her own facial muscles pulling into a smile as she studied Lizzy-Beth's quirky, eccentric grin. She adorned it with a bunny-like scrunch of the nose. Zoe started to notice for the first time just how attractive she was. Lizzy-Beth had blonde-lit brunette hair parted off-center and curtaining down the right side of her face. She sported thin, almost semicircular brows above her limpid brown eyes, and that scrunchy nose was so straight, petite and cute it just begged to be tickled, tweaked and nuzzled. Her cheekbones had a little feminine chisel to them, and framed her funny smile quite marvelously. Her lips were full, pink, plushy and...inviting. 

This was of course to take nothing away from Zoe's own pulchritude; she was quite the looker herself, with feathery blonde hair and sapphire eyes with a unique touch of gold around the corners of her irises. She had a soft, pronounced nose, a subtle nuance of natural blush in her cheeks, and yummy-looking red lips that required no accentuating touch-ups. The enamel of her pearly ivory whites gleamed off both the artificial light inside and the natural light filtering through the window. When she smiled at her, Zoe/Jennifer's face became a happy land Lizzy-Beth could have been content to inhabit indefinitely. 

Neither of them hardly even noticed when Carolyn returned with their meals. 

"Here we are..." said the waitress, setting down Lizzy-Beth's first, "...Swedish crepes...and you've got the sampler. 

"Okay, ladies!" She clapped. "Please do enjoy, and, anything else I can get you right now?" 

Their eyes barely left each other's faces. 

"...Oh, I...I think we're fine, thank you," Lizzy-Beth finally said, casting Carolyn a pleasant glance. 

"Terrific!" said Carolyn. "Bon appétit!" 

The food was lovely, and the flavor did not go unsavored, but it failed to captivate their undivided attention. Both girls were getting a bit too engrossed in one another's remarkable foxiness. It was less than ideal to act on the urges settling on all four shoulders, reawakening awkwardness over Zoe's veritable anonymity. But this didn't hinder them from drinking in the tall glasses of goodness sitting across the table. And as their eyes grew happier and fuller of love, so did their tummies. 

After breakfast, they returned to Lizzy-Beth's car to make their next stop. Lizzy-Beth had begun putting them together a small itinerary for the day. She next ferried them to the Surf 'N' Stroll, a retail outlet that offered summer clothing and accessories both stylish and affordable, for folks who wished to be chic on a tight budget. Lizzy-Beth took them inside to have a look around. 

"So, I know you probably don't remember your exact size right now, but why don't you find some cute stuff, take it into the fitting room and have at yourself?" said Lizzy-Beth with a wave of the hand. 

Zoe/Jennifer realized what Lizzy-Beth was generously giving her next. 

"Oh my gosh, you're gonna buy me clothes??" she asked in amazement. 

"Well, of course! If we both just wear all my stuff, I'll run out of outfits super-fast and have to spend twice as much on laundry." 

Zoe threw a hug on her. 

"Oh, thank you!" she exclaimed. She planted a grateful kiss on Lizzy-Beth's cheek, which was not unnoticed. 

"Thank you so much, Lizzy-Beth!" she reiterated. "That...sounds like the kind of thing I...might refuse ordinarily—I mean, I can't know for sure—but under this circumstance...I...I mean, I just don't know how to thank you for all this! I love you!" she chuckled. 

Lizzy-Beth's heart swelled with premature devotion. She suspected Zoe/Jen meant this more or less in a friendly manner, but again, it didn't mean she couldn't augment the atmosphere's emotions with her imagination. 

"I love you too, honey," Lizzy-Beth chuckled back, making her think she was kidding. 

"Now let's find us some pretty threads, what'd'ya say." 

Lizzy-Beth and Zoe stayed in a relatively close proximity until the latter found some things she wanted to try on. She approached the fitting room, then stopped and turned back for a moment to throw Lizzy-Beth a smile and a thumbs-up. 

Lizzy-Beth returned the thumbs-up, wishing Zoe/Jen her desired luck. When her pal disappeared from her line of sight, she placed a hand on her chest, sighed out her breath and felt her excited heart beating extra hard against her chest. 

*** 

July 23rd, 2:33 p.m. 

The Surf 'N' Stroll the girls visited was but one in a legion of stores throughout the resort. Lizzy-Beth, who lived here and thus knew the area better than most tourists, opted for a location in decent driving distance, and with a wide assortment of stuff, and friendly, knowledgeable staff. This Surf 'N' Stroll was also on the way to the next stop Lizzy-Beth wanted to make: Barnes & Noble, where she purchased them a couple helpful-looking books on amnesia. Finally, before returning to the hotel, they were feeling a little tingle in their sweet teeth, and there was no hurry, so they traversed the boardwalk till they found some saltwater taffy. 

Back in Lizzy-Beth's room, she'd ordered them up some room service—a nice complimentary bonus for employees—retrieved and opened her Dell laptop computer, slipped on a pair of reading glasses, and cracked the newly purchased tomes. 

A few studious moments later— 

"It says here that one technique to help treat amnesia is word association," Lizzy-Beth told her, raising her eyes to meet Zoe/Jen's. 

"Wanna try it?" 

"Sure, sure, I'll try anything." 

"Okay, good. So I'm gonna say a word, and you say the first word that pops into your mind. Ready?" 

"Yup." 

"A'right, now remember, there are no right or wrong answers. Just, whatever comes to your mind. Okay, first word: 'first'?" 

"Um...'cut.'" 

"'Cut'? Oh, interesting," said Lizzy-Beth, taking a second to quickly scribble down Zoe/Jennifer's answers. 

"Okay then, 'side'?" 

"'Burns.'" 

"...'Star'?" 

"'Glitter.'" 

"...'Chocolate'?" 

"'Mousse.'" 

"...'Golf'?" 

"'Pencil.'" 

"...'Pencil'?" 

"'Eyebrow.'" 

"Eyebrow"? That's interesting... "Okay, 'eyebrow'?" 

"'Tweeze.'" 

"Tweeze"? Hmmm... 

"...'Hair'?" 

"'Style.'" 

"...'Coins'?" 

"'Cash register.'" 

"Hmm...'blow'?" 

"'Dryer.'" 

Lizzy-Beth paused for a moment to take a look at all her friend's responses she'd written down. She had mixed the elements of the daydream Zoe/Jen had come up with at the restaurant in with a list of unrelated words. She was starting to pick up a theme. If she was on the right track, she decided to continue along this path and see what happened. 

"...'Eye'?" 

"'Shadow.'" 

"...'Base'?" 

"'Makeup.'" 

Aha. Yes, she was definitely onto something. 

"...'File'?" 

"'Nails.'" 

Lizzy-Beth nodded confidently. "Wow. Well, my friend, we can always do more of these later, but for right now...not to get your hopes up too soon, but...I think we may've made a small breakthrough." 

Zoe's face beamed. "Really??" She seemed unaware of the common thread in the wordplay. 

"That's right," grinned Lizzy-Beth. "Just from our word association, I reckon that you are either: one, in the cosmetology business, two, studying cosmetology in school and soon to be in the business, or three, otherwise highly interested in the business." 

Eyes wide open in pensive, motivated thought, Zoe placed a few fingers over her pursing lips. 

"Does that ring any bells?" 

She shut her wide open eyes and concentrated hard. 

"...Am...am I...a cosmetologist?" 

A hopeful Lizzy-Beth hopped up and scampered to her bathroom, from where she brought back her brush and palette. "Let's find out!" she announced, willing to take a chance. "...Wanna do my makeup?" 

They exchanged sweet smiles before Zoe/Jennifer practically snatched the objects right out of Lizzy-Beth's hands. 

"That sounds like fun!" she exclaimed. 

"Awesome!" said Lizzy-Beth. "I'll just go get washed and moisturized!" 

*** 

July 23rd, 3:18 p.m. 

"Okay, and...ready?" 

Lizzy-Beth took a breath in excited anticipation. "Yes." 

"Open your eyes." 

A gasp. 

"Oh my gosh!" whispered Lizzy-Beth, gaping into her reflection in the mirror, a proudly smiling Zoe/Jennifer beside her. 

"I...I look...I look..." 

She slowly shook her pretty head in disbelief. 

"...Beautiful!" 

Her charmed friend took her arm and hugged it, grinning into the mirror with her. 

"Little touch of makeup," Zoe/Jen shrugged modestly. "Who'd'a thunk, huh?" 

Lizzy-Beth turned to her, still stunned—and indeed stunning. The bonk Zoe's head absorbed had brought about a catastrophic memory-quake that shook and rattled everything loose in her mind, but some of her most quintessential traits—like her tricks and tips in applying makeup and styling hair—miraculously remained flawlessly intact. Her identification, contact info, and other things she'd grown to take for granted were swept to unknown reaches somewhere inside her, but after a bit of mental replenishment, she could retrieve and reach into her bag of cosmetological tricks at the ready. It was virtually untouched. 

"My God, you're a genius!" Lizzy-Beth proclaimed. 

"Yeah, I guess so..." contemplated Zoe, lightly brushing a stray strand of hair behind Lizzy-Beth's ear. 

...How'd I do that?...Maybe I didn't lose as much of my memory as I thought. 

They turned back to the mirror in Lizzy-Beth's vanity. Zoe's eyes fell upon the sink, where just beside the toilet lay a magazine. 

"Oh, what's that, Marie Claire?" 

"Yeah, I have a subscription. That one's a couple years old, but now and then I like to go through the back issues and just...y'know, reread 'em. Just for my own pleasure." 

"Who's that on the cover? She looks kinda familiar." 

"Oh, Zooey Deschanel. You know her, right? She's on that show New Girl? She was also in a bunch of movies before that." 

"...Zooey Deschanel?...Z—... 

"Yeah, she's a doll, isn't she? Cute as a button. Little-known fact about her—" stated Lizzy-Beth, "That goofy spelling of her name comes from a male character in a J.D. Salinger book from the '50s. And don't quote me on this, but I think as a boy's name it's pronounced 'zoo-ee,' with an 'oo'-sound. But hers's pronounced just like normal. Like Zoe Saldana." 

She chuckled. "That's just one of those bizarre random trivia things I know. Probably found it out from reading one of these mags." 

"...Zzzzoh-eeee?" Zoe repeated, sounding out the syllables. 

Lizzy-Beth turned back to her friend, whose face had metamorphosed since last she looked at it. The poor confused girl was gazing blankly into the mirror, actually on the verge of culling an epiphany from beneath the rubble of her memory-quake. 

"...Jen?" asked Lizzy-Beth. 

No answer. 

"...You okay?" 

A shake of the head. A few more seconds passed. Finally— 

"Lizzy-Beth...I... 

"...I don't think my name is Jen." 

Lizzy-Beth shrugged matter-of-factly. "Well, I mean, I don't think it really is either. I mean, I was just kinda calling you that, y'know, as a place-filler. It's one of the most common names there is, but I figured the chances are pretty slim it's actually yours." 

Zoe gave another slow shake of the head, not unlike Lizzy-Beth's upon seeing her newly made-up face. 

"No, no, I mean... 

"...I think I may have just remembered my name." 

Lizzy-Beth gasped. "No way! What??" 

"This is really weird, but...I think it's actually Zoe. I'm, uh...not sure how to spell it, though." 

"Oh my God, that's amazing!" said Lizzy-Beth. "Do you-do you remember anything else?" 

"Um..." Zoe shut her eyes in deep thought, trying to concentrate some more. "I don't..." She sighed. "Oh gosh, I don't know!" 

"Well, that's okay! That's okay!" said Lizzy-Beth, taking her hands and leading her back out into the room. "We can keep working on it!" She returned to her bed where lay the pad and pen and resumed writing. "A'right, so we think we know two things now: one, that you're somehow or other involved in the beauty industry, and two, your name very well might be Zoe." 

"I have a good feeling about it, Lizzy-Beth. I must have gone through a hundred names in my mind, but when I saw that magazine, something clicked inside that was really clearer for me than anything else has been!" 

"Excellent! Awesome!" encouraged Lizzy-Beth. "Okay, good. Let's see, what else can we do?" 

Zoe stretched. "I think I could use some fresh air," she decided. "Could we maybe go sit out on the balcony?" 

"Of course!" Lizzy-Beth picked up her laptop and books. "My Wi-Fi works just as well out there." 

The temperature outside had reached its day high of 82° as they slid open the door and stepped out, even with the wind factor. Loose strands of otherwise in-place hair swirled aimlessly in the balmy, saline breeze, flying back and gently whipping their owners in the faces. Now feeling more confidence returned with the recall of her name, Zoe laid her head back, shut her eyes and lips, smiled, and inhaled the sweet air through her soft, pronounced nose. She listened to Lizzy-Beth's fingertips and nails tapping and clicking her laptop's keyboard as she went about her continued research. They settled into a short relative silence. 

Clickity-clickity-click-click-click-click-clickity-clickity-clickity-click. 

"Mm, it is so beautiful out here," Zoe gushed. 

"Yeah, look at those palm trees just swaying down there," Lizzy-Beth pointed. Zoe opened her eyes. 

The reference to the waving palms registered in her brain...and swept away some more rubble. 

"...Palm?" she whispered. 

"Hm?" 

The same look of realization came over Zoe's face once more. Her eyes and mouth grew congruently wider open. 

Lizzy-Beth noticed out of the corner of her eye and shifted attention from her laptop. 

"Zoe?...Babe?...What is it? D'you remember something else?" 

"...I...think so, yeah..." 

"Aces! What is it??" 

"Well, this seems a little weird too, but... 

"...I think my last name might be...Palm." 

"Really?" 

"I...think. I mean, I got that feeling again! But, that...that's kind of a weird last name, huh?" 

Lizzy-Beth opened a new tab in her web browser. "Hang on, let me Google it." 

Clickity-clickity-click-click-click— 

"Oh! Oh, I found some Facebooks!...Hmmm...no...no...don't think so...no..." 

Zoe leaned over to take in Lizzy-Beth's search conducting. 

"...Nope, eh...not quite...negative...no dice... 

"Hmph," Lizzy-Beth eventually concluded. "Maybe that's not your last name." 

"It's possible, I guess. That feeling did seem pretty strong, though. Maybe if you tried to specify, or narrow down the search?" 

"Oh, you mean like-like put something else in there too. Good idea! Okay, let's try 'cosmetology.'" 

Returning to the top of the page, Lizzy-Beth clicked in the engine's search field, typed, "Zoe Palm" in quotation marks, then closed them and added the additional desired word. She clicked Enter. 

"All right, this time we've got more results for Palm Beach, Palm Springs, couple beauty sh—" 

Lizzy-Beth stopped scrolling as something caught her eye. 

"WAIT a second..." 

"What?" 

"This looks like a site for a beauty shop called Zoe's..." Lizzy-Beth mused, "...Not too far from here! And..." 

She paused, perusing the main page and links. Zoe grew more anxiously impatient. This seemed a bit more than vaguely familiar. 

"...What?" she reiterated. "And what??" 

Lizzy-Beth clicked on the link for the staff members. The next she did was to cry out in revelation. 

"Ah!" Her shout was so voluminous several vacationers down on the boardwalk looked up to see what had happened. "Zoe, look! 

"Could it be Palmer?" 

Zoe was starting to get a little dizzy from all this intense thinking, but not such that her mind couldn't be jolted by this discovery. 

"...Oh my God, Lizzy-Beth, I think you're right!" 

Lizzy-Beth eagerly clicked on the link with her name. A new screen began loading, consisting of an image and a miniature bio. 

"Oooh! There's a picture!" Lizzy-Beth announced, growing more exhilarated by the moment. "Let's see if I can enlarge it!" 

She clicked. To the girls' delight and elation, the screen went blank and a large, blurry rectangle appeared, slowly downloading. It looked like it could be her, but the connection was taking its sweet time to finish. 

"Come on...come on already!" Lizzy-Beth urged. "Come on, you slow piece of—!" 

The page and picture finished loading. And sure enough...there she was. 

"AH!" exclaimed Lizzy-Beth. "It worked! Zoe, it's you!" 

Zoe was so euphoric she thought she would cry. 

"It is me!" she half-laughed and half-wept with joy. 

"Omigosh, that's fantastic!" Lizzy-Beth laughed giddily. "And wow, babe, the camera loves you! Wait! Wait, let's read the bio." She went back to the biography page, zoomed in to expand the text, and read. 

"'At 30, Zoe Trix Palmer has been having a ball in the beauty game for four stylish years. Growing up in Rochester, Minnesota, she attended the Quartet Academy before relocating to Minneapolis to begin her career with the establishment of Zoe's Salon & Shop in 2010. She insists on only the highest quality top-line products and services for the benefit of her clientele. She takes modest, professional pride in the fact that her customer reviews are highly recommendatory of her and speak for themselves. Her areas of expertise include hair, makeup, nails, waxing, and mani-pedis. She holds her customers in the highest esteem, and loves meeting people both in and out of the office. In her spare time, Zoe enjoys reading, roller-skating, billiards, swimming, fine dining'..." 

Lizzy-Beth paused to look back up at Zoe as she memorized the final nine words. 

"...'And making new friends, not necessarily in that order.' Aw, how adorable is that??" she giggled. 

Zoe, needless to say, was pretty astonished. "Wow," she breathed. "Oh my God, Lizzy-Beth, it's...it's all coming back to me now! It's...it's just all...all of it! My-my-my childhood, the...growing up, school, beauty college, opening the shop, the...list of hobbies down there...I'm-I'm just...oh my stars, Lizzy-Beth, I'm totally dazed here! I—...it's...all of a sudden, it's like someone went in my memory, refreshed everything and cleaned it all up...and it's in perfect order now!...I feel like a totally new girl!!" 

Lizzy-Beth chuckled again. "Well, that makes sense, Miss Deschanel," she joked. 

Zoe wanted to cry again. 

"Oh, Lizzy-Beth!" she shouted, throwing her arms around her. "You're the best! I can't believe this! This is incredible!" 

Lizzy-Beth carefully removed her hands from the laptop to hug Zoe back. It felt very good. On many levels. She heard Zoe sniffle happily, and a small tear indeed trickled its way down her cheek and plink!ed on Lizzy-Beth's shoulder. 

They held their seated embrace for a few moments before Lizzy-Beth remembered— 

"Oh, and hey! You know what else this means!" she proclaimed. "Now that we know your name, we can go down to the desk and find your room number and get your stuff!" 

"Ohhh-ho-ho!" Zoe again jovially half-laughed and half-cried, even happier than she couldn't believe she could be a moment ago. 

*** 

July 23rd, 3:57 p.m. 

Now that they could supply the front desk with a full name, the receptionist found Zoe's room number, escorted them to room 741, and asked Zoe to please provide her driver's license, which she was able to do once she went into her purse and dug around just a bit. 




Beauty Pool Knockout



"Here it is!" she showed euphorically. 

The receptionist gave the card a quick examination and handed it back to her with satisfaction. 

"All right. Thank you, Miss Palmer, and enjoy the rest of your stay." 

Slam went the door and the girls were alone, now in Zoe's room. Zoe wasted a grand total of zero seconds. 

"Ohhhh!" she gushed, trying as best she could to leap into the air in slow motion. It went without saying how utterly thrilled she was to have her room and belongings back—to say nothing of her memory. The first thing she picked up was her purse.  

"Oh, my purse, my beautiful purse!" she giggled, audibly kissing it all over. She pranced around the room, similarly rejoicing over her beautiful clothes, her beautiful suitcases, her beautiful soap, her beautiful toothbrush. An almost equally ecstatic Lizzy-Beth stood by the bed, clasping her hands to her heart and watching her companion celebrate having everything splendidly back the way it was. Zoe danced out into the room, pounced on Lizzy-Beth, landing them both in her own generous mattress, and squeezed her. 

"Ah, my friend, my dear, lovely friend," Zoe chuckled, shaking her head for the umpteenth time. "How can I ever thank you??" 

Lizzy-Beth darted her eyes away for a moment, arching her eyebrows provocatively with a mischievous smirk. Her voice lowered. 

"...Is...that a rhetorical question?" she asked, demurely batting her lashes. 

For a short time they lay together in the bed. Lizzy-Beth was dying to kiss her, to feel those naturally ruby red lips making love to hers, but even yet more, she was dying to be kissed. She yearned for the precious knowledge that Zoe wanted and needed to keep her just as much as she did Zoe. She longed for the promise that her already deep feelings of affection would not be in vain. She hungered for the possibilities that she and Zoe Trix Palmer could be ever so much more than just overnight friends. 

She silently mouthed her name. 

Zoe smoothed her light-blue polished nails over Lizzy-Beth's smile-bearing cheek. 

"Thank you so much," she whispered, feeling another tear approach her eye. Had her voice been activated, it would have cracked. 

Lizzy-Beth maintained her silly grin. 

"You talking to me, or God?" she whispered back. 

Zoe laughed. "Both." 

"Zoe, honey... 

"...Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" 

"...I...dunno, Lizzy-Beth...what are you thinking?" 

Lizzy-Beth gave a coy, kittenish leer. 

"I dunno..." she repeated, adding a dash of sauciness to her whispered tone. "What are you thinking?" 

Zoe stroked her single index fingernail down Lizzy-Beth's petite, scrunchy, ticklish bunny-like nose, making her giggle. 

"I think you know what I'm thinking." 

Lizzy-Beth's heart quickened. 

"...So that's a yes??" she asked, trying to contain her growing enthusiasm. 

Zoe flipped her own eyebrows at her. 

"I think it is." 

"Oh my gosh..." Lizzy-Beth murmured in increasing intensity. "...So... 

"...We're really gonna do this?" 

"Oh, you bet," Zoe uttered back. "We're gonna do it, a'right." 

She leaned in, waited for Lizzy-Beth to close her eyes, and announced— 

"We're gonna get more pizza for dinner!" 

Lizzy-Beth's eyes rapidly blinked back open. That was not precisely what she was hoping and expecting to happen...still holding onto one another for the moment, Lizzy-Beth tried to alleviate this unplaceable moment. 

"O—...oh," she stammered, clearing her throat. "Well, I mean, that-that's cool...I mean, y'know, I love pizza, of course...it—" 

Zoe chortled. "You silly girl, I'm just messing with ya!" 

With that, she proceeded to make Lizzy-Beth's dream come true. 

All four eyes closed tenderly as indistinguishable wild colors and other psychedelia dazzled the girls' senses. Their first kiss was dear, grand, sublime, and true. Lizzy-Beth knew she had been feeling something strong and undeniable these last fifteen hours, including the time they'd been asleep in her bed. She was a born romantic, and the prospect of what she'd done for this girl the previous night, saving her life and taking her to be treated for her injury, had placed thoughts in her mind of a nature that wanted her and the girl closer together (whoever exactly she was). It wasn't entirely unlike a kitten she'd once rescued from a shelter at a much younger age. After saving it, she wanted to keep it and love it for as long as it would have her.  

Zoe surprised even herself with the activities at hand, not having expected things to progress just like this, but she literally owed this young lady her life. She may have just been doing her job, but Zoe remained nonetheless enchanted by Lizzy-Beth's steadfast devotion to the restoration of her memory. There was a world of truth in the things she'd said. She honestly didn't know how to possibly begin thanking Lizzy-Beth enough, for everything, just in the last eighteen hours. What she did know was that the lass was a figurative—bordering on literal—angel, and that she was irresistibly pretty. The makeup job Zoe'd performed on her didn't hurt either, if she did say so herself, and she had a feeling Lizzy-Beth had already begun fostering a crush on her. 

And sincerely, Zoe couldn't fight off the mirroring feelings of infatuation she'd been developing towards Lizzy-Beth as well. 

The span of their first marvelous kiss had afforded them time to get their limbs in motion, snuggling and caressing yet nearer each other all the time. When they could no longer sufficiently circulate the oxygen through their noses, they brought the firework kiss to a merciful halt and gasped like they were breaking the surface of the pool again. They briefly settled down to catch their breath. 

"Oh my good gosh," Zoe moaned, smiling playfully, blinking things back into clear view. 

"Yeah," agreed Lizzy-Beth. "I think we can safely say that that happened." 

"Yeah...wanna make it happen again?" 

"Very much so." 

"Well, I'm right here, amiga," Zoe challenged her, grinning defiantly. "Come and get me." 

Her tone and choice of words made Lizzy-Beth so desperately hot, her pussy started sweating. She did as her amiga commanded. 

Blood raced and hearts began to pound as subsequent kisses and fondling ensued. Zoe too felt her hormones kicking into gear and her libido firing up as Lizzy-Beth cupped her face in two hands and nuzzled, exhaling hot breath into her mouth just as she'd done the night before administering CPR. Zoe had no way of remembering this the first time, but now wished she could. Lizzy-Beth couldn't imagine Zoe being more turned on than she already was, and had she known the truth, it would have pleasantly surprised her. Zoe didn't just jump in bed with anyone, but when she did, her system got to work fast. 

The girls' bodies heated and tightened up until their clothing began to feel constrictive. More sweat generated as the room's atmospheric temperature gradually rose, and an indubitable scent of succulent romance permeated the air. Zoe's and Lizzy-Beth's minds began to go flighty and silly as overwhelming happiness settled over and wrapped them. They nipped and pecked at one another amid harmonizing giggles, naughty, misbehaving fingers wandering where they would. 

"Hee hee...I'm enjoying it here," remarked Zoe. "I don't think I wanna leave." 

"Lucky thing you don't have to," purred Lizzy-Beth. "You're still on vacation, but I have to go back to work tomorrow." 

Zoe grinned sinisterly. "Not if I kidnap you and keep you as my slave you don't." 

Lizzy-Beth pursed her lips and nodded pensively, while her randy parts went inflamed with passion at this thought. 

"I like the way you think," she winked with approval. 

*** 

July 23rd, 5:32 p.m. 

Post-sex, Zoe Palmer and Lizzy-Beth Williams both could have continued kissing for eternity and nothing more, but pre-sex, they built to a point where neither could stand a moment longer before yearning and desire morphed into downright mandatory need. 

To this point they had been lying on the mattress, on top of the sheets and comforter. Zoe was the first to shed the newly bought apparel Lizzy-Beth'd purchased for her that morning, and once she had at last spectacularly bared herself in full, she burrowed under the blanket, poked her eyes back out from the edge, and began a festive round of peek-a-boo. 

Lizzy-Beth's back was turned as she stripped. Peeking out from the blanket, Zoe's eyes crinkled up as she smiled in secret, admiring the curves and arch of Lizzy-Beth's spine and shoulder blades, and then her luscious-looking ass as her shorts and panties came down. Zoe tingled under the covers from nose to toes at the sight of her sweet buns. 

Lizzy-Beth turned her face around while keeping her back to her galpal. 

"...Zoe?" 

"Yes, honey-tush?" 

Lizzy-Beth shut her eyes and turned red in her powdered cheeks. 

"I'm a little shy," she coyly admitted. "Would you mind please covering your eyes till I can get under the covers?" 

Zoe found this only utterly adorable. 

"Well, of course, cutie, but from here, I don't think you have anything to be shy about." 

Regardless, she honored Lizzy-Beth's wishes, pulling the comforter up over her eyes and shutting them. Making sure the curtains were securely closed as well, Lizzy-Beth crept around to the other side of the bed, crawled in, and burrowed under along with Zoe. Zoe's eyes stayed closed, and her lips remained contentedly grinning. When she felt Lizzy-Beth half-overlap her body, Zoe groaned with a spiritually ethereal expression on her face, reached, found her playmate's warm, soft bare skin, and collected her in her arms. 

"Mmm...still want me to keep my eyes closed?" 

"I think you can open them now." 

"Nice...so how 'bout a little more of that mouth-to-mouth resuscitation?" 

"Welllllll...tell ya what: I'll give you mouth-to-mouth, if you'll give me chest-to-chest." 

"Let me think about that a moment. Okay, deal." 

Picking up where they'd left off, Zoe and Lizzy-Beth did their best to mummify each other in their limbs, smothering one another in kissprints, nuzzles, eyelash tickles and the occasional affectionate indentation of teeth. Their almost identically sized breasts indeed made mutually close friends, lovingly mushing across together and interlocking like puzzle pieces. It began to feel so wonderful, both pounding hearts melted. Neither girl could imagine it felt better for the other. 

Their legs had become pretzels, playing a game of Twister without the mat. Multiple muscles flexed and pressed on one another. The young ladies' hands clenched into fists around each other's backs and their toes curled as they shared leg and ankle massages with their soles. Blazing hot smoky kisses were desperately stolen, stolen back, and stolen once more, at an alarming rate. Hot, wet passion surges fired through deeper and deeper recesses in both soft, perspiring feminine bodies until they could no longer bear it. 

"L—...Liz—...Lizzy-B—...I...I need y—..." 

Lizzy-Beth nodded. 

"Copied, Zoe...and I need you too." 

Unclenching their fists, both girls loosened their grips and slid their hands downwards along each other at a moderate pace. They wanted to maintain some romantic discretion, but at the same time they couldn't withstand the wait. Quivering fingers groped for each other's precious womanhood. Lizzy-Beth reached first, grazing Zoe's tummy and beneath to finally rub her light, tufty bush. The initial promising sensations took hold of Zoe as she reached Lizzy-Beth's own carefully groomed pussy. With no pubic hair to block or stifle the sensations, the shy but eager lifeguard cried out in ecstasy. 

"Oh, Zohhhhhhh-eeee!" Lizzy-Beth exulted gleefully. The awesome pleasure compelled her to forego any residual subtlety and go straight in for the kill. She reciprocated, rubbed right through to Zoe's damp, waiting cunt, and began fondling her slit. Zoe, whose nose at the moment was making love to Lizzy-Beth's ear, moaned delightedly into her jaw and started in underneath for the hickey of a lifetime. Quickly secreting moisture encouraged the pussies' digital visitors and beckoned them closer inside. 

Soundless sweet nothings filtered into the steamy air and accentuated the girls' pleasure like rainbow sprinkles as the entirety of the experience ascended another level. The two young angels' voices blended in a chorus of sublime goodness, slowly losing their bearings as they all but blindly nipped and gasped for perpetual facial contact. They wanted as much tangibility between them as humanly possible and more. They had scooted directly past friends in their short time together. 

It was hard for either of them to believe they had just met last night, hadn't even known each other for twenty-four hours, and yet were at this moment making glorious, incredible, sensational love. But they didn't want to think about this, for fear of anything diluting or compromising the magic with which fate had literally thrown them together. Their mutual thrusts continued, unabated, with growing ferocity. They pumped and humped until they could no longer see the visions before their dazed eyes. 

They crushed their hands between their sticky hot thighs, legs entwined, trying with stark determination to bring their famished cunts together. Their clits were so hard and swollen it was no longer possible to conceal them beneath their hoods of skin. Bolts of static lightning zapped them with stunning precision each time their clits brushed. Their surrendered heartstrings boisterously zinged like arrows of eros. The bed and hotel room surroundings vanished. They were all that existed right now. 

Their shared passion had become so extreme, so explosive, it made them literally cry. Jovial tears spilled from their fluttering eyes. Their hands and pelves found a rhythm to get lost in, sinking and penetrating their soaking pussies deeper and deeper, sweeter and sweeter...as cosmic waves rode them and broke, flinging them to the ocean floor. For all they knew they were in the ocean right now. Clenching and holding on until circulation was in peril, they knew it was coming soon. Zoe was the first to pick up the signals. 

"Oh God...OH GOD..." she croaked helplessly. "It's c—...it's coming, Lizzy-Beth— 

"It's coming!!" 

The announcement elated Lizzy-Beth so very much, she felt herself pulled recognizably closer to the edge herself. 

"Me too!" she sobbed ecstatically. "ME TOO!" 

The last few moments were pure surreality. Had either of the girls tried to think straight right now, they would have failed in doing so. They were spiraling through the final stretches of the alternate dimension they had created together just for themselves. Nothing would ever be the same once they made it back out. 

"Oh, yes, my sweetheart, yes!" exclaimed Zoe. "Let's try to come together!" 

"Anything for you, princess, anything for you," Lizzy-Beth gushed. 

Pulling out whatever stops were left over, the girls went all-out. Almighty passion ruled their dual world as they strained, held, stroked and rubbed one another frantically, ferociously, deliriously, relentlessly. They couldn't turn back. Life as they knew it before was left behind and abandoned. They clutched onto each other for dear life as the rumbling within them finally erupted. 

Outbursts of unisonous glory broke free as the tremendous climax avalanched Lizzy-Beth and Zoe, sending a collective power surge through their nerve systems. Scream after raucous scream punctured the silence as they shot back through to the indigenous dimension, through cloud after orgasmic, mindbusting cloud. Just as abruptly as it all had begun, next thing they knew, it was over. Mercifully, exquisitely over. Zoe concluded her breast-to-breast resuscitation upon Lizzy-Beth, and the next thing Lizzy-Beth knew, Zoe's head landed on her shoulder with a thud. She was again knocked cold, but there would be no memory loss this time. 

Lizzy-Beth let her own head collapse onto the pillow as the real world greeted them back. Sweat had collected in their eyebrows and pasted stray hair to random spots on their heads. She felt their thighs covered with come... 

...A warm, earthy, musty lather of wonderful come. 

My God, she thought in astonishment. We...really did just do that, didn't we... 

Zoe, whom the orgasm dizzied right out, was already snoozing on Lizzy-Beth's shoulder, dead to the world. One part of Lizzy-Beth, who was still awake, thought she should find a way to get up and clean herself. The other part, which won without hesitation, told her to stay here with her sleeping angel and enjoy the afterglow. There would be plenty of time for cleanup later. And they didn't even have to wash the sheets; housekeeping would take care of that, she thought, with an embarrassed blush and giggle. She snuggled in nice and close to Zoe, held her in her arms, silently whispered to her that she loved her, and kissed her forehead. 

As she closed her own eyes to give them a soothing rest, she reflected on their very brief time spent in each other's company. It really was remarkable what she'd been able to do for her, and she'd have to be nuts to blame Zoe for being grateful enough to repay her in this manner. She certainly wasn't glad Zoe'd hurt herself, but she was so happy it granted them the opportunity for something that was sure to be truly special. She wasn't sure how Zoe would react if she knew Lizzy-Beth had just said she loved her, it may have been too soon, too forward, but they had just made love, after all; it made sense to her to feel emotionally towards her as well. 

What was more, she didn't know how much longer Zoe was vacationing here, but it went without saying she wished for them to stay in touch after this, and...she had been working and living here for three years now, and she did crave semi-constant shifts of routine and activity. Perhaps in some way or other, her time spent with Zoe after this could lead her to the next phase of her vocational or residential life. Her next chance to shake things up a bit? Who knew? Once again, anything was possible. 

For right now, though, tonight they had a mouth-watering (fresh) pizza dinner awaiting them! 

But first... 

All this thinking wore her out. There was no point in trying to scientifically break it all down like this. She had only to relish it, to revel in it as she already was. No further action was necessary. 

And she was once again departing her dimension. 

She fell asleep with Zoe. 

*** 

"I got no means to show identification/I got no papers show you what I am/You'll have to take me just the way that you find me/What's gone is gone and I do not give a damn/Empty stomach, empty head/I got empty heart and empty bed/I don't remember/I don't remember/I don't remember, I don't recall/I got no memory of anything at all/I don't remember, I don't recall/I got no memory of anything/Anything at all" —Peter Gabriel, 1979 




Beauty Pool Knockout



"Sometimes life can make you crazy/It can really put your body to the test/You try so hard to make sure everything goes right/And you find you've only wound up with a mess/It's a common situation/Even though you feel abandoned and alone/Child, you ain't the first to experience the hurt/So don't panic when you hit the danger zone/When you're feeling down and out/And you've got troubles on your mind/Love will save the day/When you're feeling full of doubt/And fear has got you in a bind/Love will save the day/When your world's falling apart/All you have to do is say a prayer/And love will save the day/There's an answer in your heart/So let your light shine on, my dear/And love will save the day" —Toni Colandreo, 1986 

"Lead me to the river of love/Pour a little water and wash my pain away/Leave me in the ocean of joy/Water from below, I can feel your flow running through/You know that I do/I'm drowning in you/Take me to the tide of your heart/Take me to the shore, babe, and hold me close to you/Leave me when the sky's getting dark/Water from behind, I can feel a fine line from you/You know that I do/I'm drowning in you/Say hello, there's no goodbye/If you can read between the lines/Found a love that I can't hide/Oh, I've been drowning in your eyes" —Per Gessle, 1987 

"Spoil me/Spoil me with you/And soil me with the world of you/Watch over me with a mother's eyes/Judging my worth only to glorify/Watch over me/Save me, save me/Carry/Carry me through/And bury all my doubts of you/Clothe my desire with spell or prayer/I'll shroud every sign of need, I swear/Clothe my desire/Save me, save me/Save me, save me" —k.d. lang, 1991 

"Say goodbye to not knowing when/The truth in my whole life began/Say goodbye to not knowing how to cry/You taught me that/And I'll remember the strength that you gave me/Now that I'm standing on my own/I'll remember the way that you saved me/I'll remember/Inside I was a child/That could not mend a broken wing/Outside I looked for a way/To teach my heart to sing/And I'll remember the love that you gave me/Now that I'm standing on my own/I'll remember the way that you changed me/I'll remember/Happiness/I'll remember" —Madonna, Patrick Leonard and Richard Page, 1993 

"You tried to learn from history/You tried to kiss like a lover should on the balcony/You took a swim in an ocean of fools, I still loved you/You took a dream, then you painted it blue, but I loved you/I thought you never would come back/I thought you never could come back, oh no/Stay/Stay another day/I want you all the way/At home, at work, at play/Won't you stay/Make it easy, babe/Wait another day/Stay home, at work, at play/Won't you stay/Please stay" —Per Gessle, 1995 

"Why do you let me stay here?/All by myself/Why don't you come and play here?/I'm just sitting on the shelf/Why don't you sit right down and stay a while?/We like the same things and I like your style/It's not a secret/Why do you keep it?/I'm just sitting on the shelf/I've got to get your presence/Let's make it known/I think you're just so pleasant/I would like you for my own/Why don't you sit right down and make me smile (uh-huh!)?/You make me feel like I am just a child/Why do you edit?/Just give me credit/I'm just sitting on the shelf" —Zooey Deschanel, 2006 

"Breathe life into me/Breathe life into me/Breathe life into me/And make it happen/You can make it happen/I used to hear and speak/I used to dive in deep/Oh, won't you show me what to keep/Before my senses fall asleep, whoa/Breathe life into me/Breathe life into me/Breathe life into me/And make it happen/Just make it happen/You can make it happen" —Per Gessle, 2007