A Long List of Firsts: A Carlsbad Village Lesbian Romance

by Sabrina Kane

  Ainsley hesitated, suddenly not sure if she should have opened her big mouth when the idea had popped into her head. The last thing she wanted to do was scare Rachel off. She probably should have slept on this idea for at least a couple of days.

  “Okay,” she began, “but first you have to promise me that you’ll believe me when I say that I’m only making this suggestion because I love spending time with you and not because I’m a lesbian who thinks you’re super-hot.”

  Rachel laughed and also blushed, which Ainsley loved.

  “I like it when you’re nervous,” Rachel said.

  Now Ainsley felt herself blushing.

  “Why?” she asked.

  Rachel shrugged.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “It’s just cute.”

  “Whatever,” Ainsley said, knowing her blush was increasing. She stuck out her tongue. “Anyway, you have to promise. In fact,” Ainsley held up her hand with her pinky extended. “You have to pinky promise,” she added.

  Immediately, Rachel hooked her pinky with Ainsley’s.

  “Pinky promise,” Rachel said solemnly, completing the time-honored ritual.

  Rubbing her hands together, Ainsley said, “Okay, here’s my idea…Since we both don’t have dates for Valentine’s Day, why don’t we do, like, a friend-date together that night?”

  Rachel’s eyes sparkled and she smiled broadly.

  “I love it!” she exclaimed. “Yes! Let’s do it!”

  “Awesome!” Ainsley clapped her hands. “We may not have real dates but at least we’ll be together having fun.”

  Rachel sat back in her seat and crossed her arms. She gave Ainsley a faux-stern glare and Ainsley felt herself getting wet.

  God, why does she look so fucking hot when she does that!

  A fleeting image of her and Rachel role-playing in the bedroom, with Rachel as a very stern schoolteacher who was about to teach her naughty student what happens when she doesn’t study passed through Ainsley’s mind.

  “Um, excuse me!” Rachel began. “I take umbrage at your classification of me as not a real date.”

  Ainsley quirked her eyebrow.

  “Is that so?” she asked.

  Rachel nodded.

  “Yep. In fact, I expect flowers!”

  Ainsley felt herself getting wetter.

  She also sat back in her seat and, mimicking Rachel’s posture, also crossed her arms.

  “Fine,” she said. “Then I expect chocolates.”

  “Fine,” Rachel declared. “You’ll get them.”

  “I’d better.”

  “You will! And the flowers had better be fabulous!”

  “So…not from the grocery store?” Ainsley asked.

  “Or a gas station or anyplace that also sells power tools.”

  “That sounds like such a Josh thing to do,” Ainsley said. “Anyway, my chocolates had better be out of this world.”

  “So…not from Walmart?”

  “Or Target or anyplace where I can also buy tampons.”

  “Deal.”

  “Deal.”

  They shook on it.

  Chapter 11

  On Wednesday afternoon, Rachel was at home and online.

  So far, she’d had a busy day. She’d done two showings this morning but one was in Vista and the other all the way in Escondido, so there had been a fair amount of driving involved. The good news was that both showings resulted in offers being made. The bad news was she was certain one of the offers, for the Escondido property, would be rejected. Probably more like laughed at. For some reason, the buyers, a newlywed couple, the Crawleys, were really insistent on lowballing the sellers. Actually, it had been the husband who insisted on making such a low offer. His wife, who really loved the house, had wanted to make a more realistic offer, one that was only slightly less than asking. But her new husband had convinced her to go along with his way of thinking.

  Rachel expected Mr. Crawley would quickly learn his lesson, though. To begin, Escondido might not be on the coast but it was still a seller’s market and there was no way the Melendez’s were going to accept such a low offer for their immaculate house.

  Moreover, Mr. Crawley was going to learn that if he kept dashing his wife’s hopes like this whenever she found a house she adored, he was going to have bigger problems than paying the full asking price.

  For now, however, Rachel submitted the ridiculous offer. Such was the realtor’s life. If Mr. Crawley ever wanted to get serious about buying, he’d learn to adjust his thinking or probably end up divorced. In the meantime, Rachel would show them however many more house it took before Mr. Crawley woke the fuck up. It was her job, after all.

  After the Escondido showing, Rachel had then had to skip lunch and get back to Carlsbad on the double to meet Alfred, the home inspector she used for all her sales, who was going to inspect the house Ainsley bought. Ainsley was of course invited to be there also but she had told Rachel her duties at the hospital would prevent it. She sent a text saying she trusted Rachel to give her the full report later.

  Fortunately, the inspection went well. Alfred pointed out some missing flashing at a couple of transition areas on the roof and he suggested the thermostat be replaced because it was rather old and most likely not very accurate, but other than that, the house was in excellent condition. Rachel had called the Havershams, given them the report and gotten assurances from them that they’d pay for the two fixes, which meant that Rachel had to then amend the purchasing contract to include that stipulation, which she did when she finally got home with takeout from McDonald’s.

  Now, she was online, still munching French fries, and reading an article on Cosmo.com and discovering that she was not alone.

  Other straight women had gone through what she was going through with Ainsley: suddenly finding themselves wildly attracted to another woman. Just, like, out of the blue!

  For example, there was Kira (34) who realized one day that she was crazy attracted to her best friend.

  Kira’s story was interesting but Rachel had never been attracted to Amy. Sure, she had always thought Amy was super pretty—anybody would think that—but never had Rachel ever felt so much as a flutter of desire for her bestie. And how many times had she seen Amy naked? Countless. How many times had they laid out suntanning on the beach together, Amy in a tiny bikini? Also countless. And how many times had they gone out together for a girl’s night out, Amy looking devastating in a short dress and high heels? The answer: countless.

  Yet nothing.

  No, Rachel determined that her story was more like that of Emma (27), whose story she was reading now. Emma had never had a lesbian thought in her life until a new woman started working in her office. Suddenly Emma couldn’t stop thinking about her and even fantasized about her while masturbating.

  Exactly! Rachel was thinking, engrossed in Emma’s tale. She continued reading, discovering that Emma and Luce (not her real name, apparently) eventually started dating and were now living together.

  And then, Rachel read the last line of Emma’s essay and it was making Rachel think Emma and her were soul sisters.

  I guess, Emma had written, for me it took encountering the right woman to awaken something inside me I wasn’t even aware was there.

  “Holy motherfucking shit!” Rachel exclaimed aloud. “Exactly!”

  Soul sister!

  But what did it mean?

  Had something been awakened inside herself? Something that had been lurking there, unseen?

  Had some really, really, really recessed gene been suddenly activated by Ainsley?

  Rachel wished she had someone to talk to about this.

  Amy was the obvious choice but Rachel didn’t want to talk to her. Not yet. What if all of this about Ainsley came to nothing? She still wasn’t convinced that her feelings for Ainsley weren’t just part of a silly crush that she’d get over given enough time.

  No. She’d talk to Amy if she ever actually did anything with Ainsley. But do what? Was kis
sing Ainsley enough?

  “Fuck,” she moaned as the thought of kissing Ainsley made her inner walls clench. She shook her head to refocus.

  No. Kissing wasn’t enough. Amy would laugh at her! Amy would say something like, “Ooh, you kissed a girl! Congratulations! I’ll make sure you’re the grand marshal at the next Pride parade.”

  No. Rachel decided she’d bring Amy into this only if she actually had sex with Ainsley.

  “Fuuuuck,” she moaned again. The thought of kissing Ainsley had got her walls clenching. The thought of fucking Ainsley turned on the waterworks below her waist.

  She continued reading. Most of the other stories in the Cosmo article were similar to Kira’s and Emma’s: basically, a straight and cis woman discovers one day that, out of the blue, she’s attracted to another woman. Bam! Just like that! Rachel thought it was interesting how widely diverse the ages of these women were when this happened to them. Most were in their twenties or early thirties, but several were in their fifties. One essay writer was even in her sixties!

  Then, Rachel read something in an essay written by one of the forty-something women which gave her something else to think about.

  And just like that, the woman, Marlene (44) wrote towards the end of her story, I went from being the gal who always dated the movie-star handsome guys to being a gal who is obsessive about keeping her fingernails short and trimmed.

  Rachel gasped and looked at her own hands.

  She had had them done recently at her favorite nail salon and they now sported a gorgeous French ombré paint job. The nails weren’t outrageously long but they were long nonetheless. Certainly longer than what she considered was lesbian length. And since she’d been reading and re-reading the Jillian Ashley books Sally wrote, Rachel knew that women who love women tend to keep their nails short for obvious reasons. She pictured Amy’s fingernails. Yep, short. Sally’s as well. Vanessa at La Vida Mocha? Also short. Ainsley? Ditto.

  She bit her lip, considering.

  It seemed silly to make a drastic decision about her fingernails simply because for the first time in her life she was hot for a woman and thought she might enjoy having sex with said woman. After all, sex with Ainsley may never transpire.

  But what if…?

  She shook her head. No, she liked her nails and was used to them being long. She’d keep them as is.

  Then again…

  Biting her lip once more, she thought about how she was playing volleyball again. Ainsley and her friends were now expecting Rachel to play with them every Sunday, whenever possible, and Rachel really wanted to keep doing that, provided she didn’t have any showings or other real estate business to tend to.

  Her manicures were expensive. It hardly made sense to destroy the excellent work of her nail technician, which she paid a premium for, by putting her nails through the rigors of playing such an active sport. Really, what was the point of that?

  So, there! She’d call the salon later today to book an appointment and get her nails cut short for the sake her volleyball playing. Nothing at all to do with Ainsley…

  Her phone rang.

  Speak of the devil!

  “Hey, you!” Rachel greeted Ainsley.

  “Hey!” Ainsley said. In the background, Rachel could hear hospital-type sounds like monitors beeping and numerous people moving about. “Sorry about not making the inspection.”

  “My fault,” Rachel said, switching into professional mode. “I should have done a better job of scheduling it to accommodate you better.”

  “Oh my god, you are so sweet! But really, it doesn’t matter! I completely trust you with handling that. How did it go?”

  Rachel gave her an overview of Alfred’s report, telling her that the Havershams would take care of the roof and the thermostat.

  “So, all in all, I picked a great house, huh?” Ainsley said.

  “Well, what you don’t know is that I bribe Alfred to make the inspection reports sound better than they are. Truth is, the house will probably fall down around your head a month after moving in.”

  Ainsley laughed.

  “After you’ve cashed the commission check, no doubt,” she said.

  “A girl’s gotta eat,” Rachel told her. “By the way, I never asked how Mr. Smith is. Did that something-something-ectomy go well?”

  Ainsley laughed again. Rachel loved Ainsley’s laugh.

  “It did! And if you’re going to be hanging out with me, Ms. Rachel Hamill, you’re going to have to learn all these medical terms.”

  Rachel briefly shut her eyes.

  God, why did Ainsley using her full name just now make her clit pulse?

  “Um…so how has your day at the hospital been so far?” Rachel asked.

  “So-so,” Ainsley said and Rachel noticed the doctor’s tone of voice change. “I performed a much-needed operation on a woman today who would be dead by next week if she didn’t get the procedure done.”

  “But…” Rachel prodded.

  “But she has bargain basement health insurance and they won’t cover it. Her family is about to get hit with this enormous medical bill. Even a Kardashian’s jaw would drop at the amount. But there was literally no way to avoid it. She was referred to surgery by the ER because she had gone there last night in agony. Seriously, Rachel, this woman was about to die!”

  “Fuck!” Rachel muttered. As a real estate agent, she did not get health coverage from the brokerage she was currently an associate with. She had to pay for her own insurance and though she was young and healthy, she made sure she had a good plan, certainly much better than bargain basement. And as a single woman with no dependents, who made an affluent-level living, especially being the Doctor Whisperer, she could afford such insurance. However, it was still frightening to be reminded of the many people who were just one illness away from financial disaster.

  This fucking country…

  “Anyway,” Ainsley continued, “it just bothers me when shit like that happens, you know? Like, what a choice for that poor woman! Don’t get the operation and die; or get the operation but live with crushing debt.”

  “Well, if it makes you feel any better,” Rachel said, “I find compassion to be a very attractive quality in lesbian doctors I flirt with.”

  There was that laugh again.

  “Good to know,” Ainsley said. “Oh! Kinda-sorta on that topic…I also wanted you to know that I am not a Josh. I have made our reservations for Valentine’s Day.”

  Rachel felt a thrill shoot up her spine and it really annoyed her that Valentine’s Day was still nine days away. Can’t time move faster?

  “Ooh! Where? Where?”

  “Q, in La Jolla,” Ainsley replied.

  Rachel’s eyes went wide.

  Nice!

  She’d never been to Q but she’d heard about it. Michelin-starred, overlooking the ocean, very exclusive and hard to get into. In short, a restaurant so fancy it only needed one letter in its name.

  “How did you get reservations there?” Rachel asked.

  “Um…hello! Surgeon!”

  Rachel laughed.

  “Oh, I see! Is this one of the advantages of friend-dating a doctor?”

  “Well,” Ainsley began, “the advantages of friend-dating a doctor are too numerous to mention. And once you upgrade to actually dating a doctor, your mind will be blown at the kind of advantages you’ll receive.”

  “Oh fuck,” Rachel couldn’t help muttering. This woman with her voice and her innuendo. Quite a bit of arousal was now slicking her panties.

  Ainsley laughed.

  “Did I cause another reaction?”

  Blushing, Rachel crossed her legs under her desk.

  “No comment,” she stated.

  “Full disclosure, though,” Ainsley said. “Yes, using the title ‘Doctor’ when making reservations does help. But at a place like Q, what really helps is when your daddy is the district attorney for San Diego.”

  “Fuck! Seriously?” Rachel exclaimed.

  “
Did I not mention that?” Ainsley asked teasingly.

  “No! So that means I’m friend-dating royalty!”

  “You are,” Ainsley answered, chuckling.

  “Well, okay…so I am officially impressed with your non-Josh reservation-making skills,” Rachel said. “But what I’m really concerned about is, have you found a place to take care of my flowers? Reservations at Q only gets you so far.”

  “And the flowers will get me the rest of the way, huh?” Ainsley asked, the teasing lilt in her tone causing another reaction.

  That voice and innuendo.

  Rachel was full-on aroused by now.

  “Maybe,” she said, wishing she could see Ainsley’s face as she said it. “Anyway, I am hard at work on your chocolates.”

  This was true. Since Sunday, when she and Ainsley had agreed to the friend-date on Valentine’s Day, Rachel had done some Google Maps-based research, mostly at home in her pajamas. Turns out there was an extremely well-regarded chocolatier in nearby Vista. Expensive as fuck but Rachel didn’t care. For the first time in a long time she was actually looking forward to Valentine’s Day and Rachel wanted to pull out all the stops on her end to make her friend-date feel special.

  “I can’t wait to see if the chocolates match the flowers,” Ainsley said.

  “Do I strike you as a woman who disappoints?” Rachel prodded.

  Ainsley laughed.

  “Not at all,” she assured Rachel.

  “Anyway, what time are our reservations that night?” Rachel asked. “I’ll need to factor in drive time.”

  “Why?”

  Rachel blinked.

  “Uh…so I can meet you at the restaurant?”

  “Oh my god! You think I would make my date meet me at the restaurant? That’s such a Josh thing to do! No, I’ll pick you up.”

  “Ains, are you sure? That’s a lot of driving!”

  San Diego north to Carlsbad. Carlsbad back south to La Jolla. La Jolla back north to Carlsbad. Carlsbad back south to San Diego.

  Christ! Ainsley would be spending most of the night in her car!

  “I don’t mind, really,” Ainsley said.

  “Well, I do!” Rachel said. Then, with her heart pounding, she said, “I’ll only agree to it if you stay the night here.”