The door opened and a head popped in. “Three minutes,” the man said.
“Thanks, Chet.” Alice walked over to the mirror in front of the empty vanity and took one last look before turning and saying, “OK, ladies, let’s get out there.”
Alice led me down the long hallway and to the door that led to the main area. She gave me a quick hug. “I’ll see you in a few. Your seat is right on the floor, second row.”
I made my way to my seat. On one side of me was a man with a huge beer gut eating a hot dog with all the fixings and drinking a beer. On the other was a more stylish man in a suit of all things and a very fashionable, and very rich, woman who looked bored. She sat with her legs crossed, her breasts almost popping out of the too-tight red dress she wore. All I could think of was one of those eighties bimbo movies where the women with their big hair and fake boobs were married to mobsters. She even sat filing her nails and chomped her gum like them.
The stadium was not full, but there were still a lot of people. I glanced around and saw people sitting up on the second tier, which was pretty good for this type of event. Although there were mostly men, there were a few women sprinkled here and there.
The main lights dimmed and spotlights illuminated the ring. I had never been to an MMA match before and I was more than a little nervous. Fighting made my anxiety rise whenever I was around it, probably because I tried to stop it at school so often. It certainly was not something I was accustomed to.
As a man dressed in a tuxedo walked into the ring, everyone around me stood up and began cheering, and he had not even spoken yet. My head was pounding from the noise, and I wished I had thought about bringing earplugs. It should have been a no-brainer with the number of concerts I had gone to.
The announcer did his thing and the crowd yelled even more. I felt overheated and stifled in the crowd. Luckily I was in the second row so I could see very well. Had I been any further back, my shortness would have played against me with all the taller men around standing and holding their beers up above their heads and yelling. I glanced apprehensively over at Beer Gut Man, hoping he would not spill his beer on me.
A few minutes later both fighters, wearing shorts and small gloves, were facing each other. The referee threw his hand down. The crowd got louder and then the guy in the yellow shorts threw up a high kick. My heart jumped, wondering if it would kill the other guy, but he managed to block it. The next few minutes went by quickly, with the guy in yellow shorts sitting on top of his opponent, hailing down a flurry of punches.
The bell rang, and both fighters got up and returned to their own corners.
Beer Gut leaned over, his breath smelling like relish. “You know, I can do all that,” he said.
“That’s great,” I said, hoping I wouldn't pass out from his breath.
He started to talk, but then my attention was diverted to Alice. She came up and walked around the ring, holding a sign with the number two on it. Long legs, tight butt, I needed a glass of water to throw over me.
“That’s my ex-girlfriend,” Beer Gut said. “I broke her heart when I left her.” Then turned his head quickly and sneezed. I ignored him this time and watched fascinated as Alice received whistles as she walked, her hips swaying. I wanted to wave to her, then admonished myself for acting like a child.
By the time the third round came around, I was standing up and screaming, my initial apprehension gone. “Kick him in the face!” Then horrified for what I did, I looked around. Everyone else was up and yelling. Then the referee jumped between the fighters, waving his hand as the bell went off. My adrenaline was pumping, it was so barbaric and yet so satisfying.
***
“So, what did you think?” Alice asked as I handed her a glass of wine. I sat down next to her on the sofa and pulled my feet underneath me.
“Well, at first all I noticed was how loud it was,” I said laughing.
“Oh, yeah, that it is. Just be sure to bring earplugs next time. Sorry, I didn’t even think of giving you a pair. I wear them all the time, but I’m so used to it, I don’t even think about it anymore.”
“Nah, it’s all right. I should have known better. Anytime I’ve gone to concerts there, I knew to bring them. It just didn’t occur to me this time.”
“What else?” Then a look of concern crossed her face. “Did you hate it?”
“Oh, no! At first I wasn’t so sure, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I actually found myself getting kind of into it. And when you walked out…” I dropped the sentence and looked down at my hands.
“Oh?” Alice said, her voice dropping. “What about when I walked out?”
“You looked pretty hot up there.”
Her smile radiated on her face and I thought I would melt right then and there. Then she was leaning in and kissing me, and I found myself responding.
When she pulled back we were both breathless. “Sorry,” she said. “I just couldn’t help myself.”
“No, it’s OK. I’m glad you did.”
Alice got a mischievous look on her face and batted her eyelashes. “So, do you want to be my girlfriend?” She reminded me of a teenager the way she said it.
My jaw dropped. This gorgeous creature wanted to have a serious relationship with me? I found myself tongue-tied, and she must have taken it for a no.
“I’m moving too fast, sorry. If you don’t want to, that’s OK, I was just kidding.”
“No, no! I’m sorry, I’m just so shocked. Yes, I’m ready for the next step.”
“Good,” she said as she pulled me into her, her lips on mine warm and searching. Her hand grabbed my breast and a shiver ran through me.
My body responded as her hands roamed over me, and I found myself exploring hers. At first we moved cautiously, carefully, but soon she pushed me back on the sofa and lay on top of me. I had trouble breathing, but not from her slight weight but from the desire that burned inside me. It had been two years since Theresa and I had been together and I had not had another relationship since. However, Alice raised a need in me that was beyond anything I had ever felt before. My body tingled as she pushed my legs apart and lay between them and a throbbing between my legs made me raise my hips against her.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” she asked. I was taken aback for a split second. Only someone serious would stop this voyage to ask a question like this, and it made me smile.
“Oh, I’m more than ready,” I said and I pulled her lips to mine, devouring her as my other hand followed down her back to her amazing butt, pressing her into me, trying to calm the ache that was building between my legs.
She pulled herself up, and the space above me felt empty. I looked at her questioningly, but then she reached out her hand and helped me stand, which was not an easy thing to do. My legs felt rubbery, as if they could not support me. But they did long enough to allow her to lead me to the bedroom.
When we got there, she kissed me again. Her hand reached for the bottom of my shirt and slowly pulled it up, inch by inch, until my bra was exposed. She stood back and looked me up and down. “Damn, you’re so beautiful,” she said. How this gorgeous creature could say this about me was beyond understanding, but I said nothing. I do not think I could have if I tried.
The shirt was off me in a matter of seconds and she leaned in and kissed the tops of my breasts. We walked over to the bed and she leaned me against it and unbuttoned my jeans.
I giggled when the button refused to move. Why had I worn something so difficult to undo?
“Don’t laugh at me,” she said with feigned hurt.
I pouted. “I’m sorry. Here, let me make you feel better.” With that, I drew her to me. As we kissed again, I undid the button on my pants and she resumed undressing me. The pants fell to the ground.
“You know, you really have a great body. You should be wearing better clothes.”
I lightly hit her arm. “Hey, I wear nice clothes. Those pants aren’t cheap.”
She laughed. “Yeah, but they are
two sizes too big. You need jeans that hug,” - she grabbed my butt and squeezed the cheek - “here.” Her hand moved around to between my legs. “And here.” Her voice was just a whisper as she began rubbing where I throbbed the most, and my breathing became harsh as her fingers twirled. But before I was able to reach a climax, she stopped and pushed me lightly onto the bed.
“God, you’re beautiful,” she said huskily as I lay splayed before her. In no time she was naked and joining me on the bed.
“I wanted to help you out of your clothes,” I whined.
She chuckled. “Next time.”
Soon we were once again touching each other, caressing, and loving each other, and it was more than I had ever experienced before in my life.
Chapter Nine
After our first night of lovemaking, Alice had to go out of town for two weeks. But I had the memory of our bodies together to sustain me until she returned.
She called me as soon as she got home and we set up a day date for Saturday. Sure, I had grading and planning to do, but I could put that off to spend time with the woman I was falling for. I could not wait to see her, touch her, be with her, and I had to wait three whole days until we could meet up.
I hated the mall, especially on the weekends. Kids running around everywhere, screaming, whining, yelling, chasing each other. It was too much like being around kids at recess—and sometimes my classroom. Only here I could not tell them to walk. I caught myself more than once almost telling someone else’s children to not hit or to keep their hands to themselves. The worst was watching a boy grabbing a clothing rack and trying to hang from it only to have it fall over on top of him.
Alice walked next to me, a smile on her face. I could not help but smile myself despite the chaos around us. Just being able to spend time with her was enough to make me happy. She was exciting and new and I loved hanging around with her.
“So, Chris is getting better with his reading,” she said after I had caught her up on how school was going.
“He really is. I’m so excited. I still think there’s something there that’s making it more difficult for him, but I found some information online and ordered some books on dyslexia, so I’m using those strategies with the books we’re reading. They seem to help.”
“That’s amazing. You are so good at your job.”
I laughed. “Well, I do all right. I wish I was as together as Georgia. She’s so calm and collected.”
She pulled me to a stop and turned me toward her. “You need to stop looking down on yourself. You’re doing a great job with your students. I mean…you’re even getting a kid to read who might have a disability, and that’s without extra help. So, you’re not as calm as another teacher. So what? You teach the way you teach, not the way someone else does. Stop comparing yourself to others and realize your own potential as the person you are.
I considered this. She was right. For as long as I remembered, I had always compared myself to others. I was never good enough at something because I knew someone who was better at it than I was.
“Let’s go in here,” Alice said, grabbing my hand and pulling me into a clothing store. I saw a dark blue blouse on the wall and headed toward it.
“I like that blue shirt up there. I have a pair of black pants it would look great with.”
Alice raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”
“What?”
“Are you old or something?”
“Old?” I looked up at the blouse. “It would be perfect for work.”
She rolled her eyes at me and grabbed my hand again. “No, you have enough work clothes,” she said, looking me up and down.
“These are not ‘work clothes’,” I said defensively as I yanked on the bottom of the shirt I was wearing. “I can’t wear jeans and t-shirts at school.”
She gave me an exasperated sigh. “You’re way too sexy for that.”
We made our way through the store crowded with clothing racks to a back section. The clothes were for a much younger crowd and I said as much.
“Younger? We’re still young. I don’t know about you, but I’m not old.”
I laughed. “No, we’re not old, but I’m no kid either.”
“Now this,” she said, ignoring me and grabbing a black top with a skull on it from a rack. It hung off the hanger awkwardly, or I thought it did before I realized that it was supposed to hang like that.
“Uh, no, that’s not my style.” It would hang off my shoulder. What was I, fifteen?
“Just go try it on.” She must have seen my skeptical look because she added in an overly sweet voice, “Do it for me.”
I could not resist her pouty look so I sighed, took the shirt and headed to the dressing room. As I expected, it hung down, exposing my shoulder and an ample bit of the top of my breast. “I don’t know. I look like an eighties teenager.”
Alice laughed. “Yeah, that doesn’t quite suit you. Here.” She handed me several more shirts and two pairs of jeans. “Try these on.”
I rolled my eyes but went back into the fitting room. The first shirt was a half-shirt that showed off my stomach. I was fit enough—the jogging was certainly paying off—but I felt very uncomfortable. When I walked out, however, Alice’s eyes went big, and I felt myself flush pleasantly.
“Wow,” Alice said breathily. “That’s pretty hot.”
I had to be bright red because my face felt like it was on fire. I turned and looked at myself in the mirror and was surprised at what I saw. A younger me stood staring back with a wide-eyed expression on her face.
Alice walked up behind me and put her arms around my waist. “See. Look at you. You’re beautiful.” She kissed my neck and I thought I would just burn alive right there on the spot, leaving a petrified version of myself in my wake.
“I…I’ll go try on the other stuff,” I mumbled as I hurried to the fitting room. Once inside, I fanned my face and took a deep breath, trying to calm my heart.
The second shirt did not cover much more, but the third was not too bad. The pants were tight-fitting, and I had to wiggle around quite a bit to get them to button. But once they were on, they were surprisingly comfortable. However, I gasped at how much they formed around my butt.
Alice laughed at my embarrassment. “You’re so reserved. You need to let loose a little.”
“I’m a teacher, I have to watch what I wear and what I do. What I do reflects onto the tiny minds of my students.”
“But this is your time. You should be who you want to be when you’re not working.”
“I know but…”
“Hi, Miss Johnson,” a small voice said from behind me. I turned and saw Jenny Rogers, my third-grade student, standing and smiling shyly at me.
I thought I would roll over and die right there. My arms covered my bare stomach as I smiled at the young girl. “Hello, Jenny, how are you today?”
“Good. I’m here with mom. She’s over there.” The girl pointed to the front of the store where I recognized Pam Rogers looking through a rack of sportswear.
“Well, it was good seeing you, Jenny. I’m going to go get back into my regular clothes now.”
“OK, Miss Johnson.” She turned and walked away.
I shot a glare over at Alice before I went back into the dressing room. I was dressed in no time, and by the time I came back out, Jenny and her mother were gone.
“So, are you going to get any of the things I picked out for you?”
I gave her a pointed look and said, “No, that’s OK. It’s really not my style.”
Alice laughed. “Not your style,” she repeated the words as if they tasted like lemons. “I swear, you really are an old lady. And who was the kid?”
“That was one of my students. See what I mean about keeping up appearances even when I’m not at work? I can’t give her the impression I dress like that when I’m out of school.”
“And what’s wrong with dressing like that?” Alice had her hands on her hips and a frown on her face.
“Noth
ing is wrong with it,” I said, trying to console her, realizing what I had said, “but I have to maintain a certain image to be a positive role model for my students.”
“And I’m not a positive role model?”
“That’s not what I meant…”
“No, of course you didn’t ‘mean’ it,” Alice said.
I pulled her close and gave her a kiss. “I’m sorry, that is not what I meant at all. You are a stunning example of what so many girls want to be when they grow up, and I love that about you. I want my students to see that there are other ways to grow up and that it’s fine to be someone like me, someone who is plainer than who they see on magazine covers. You are the epitome of womanhood. I want to give girls another option—if they want to take it.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Alice said, but she still looked unhappy.
“I’m glad because I don’t want you to be angry with me.”
She relented. “I’m not angry, at least not anymore. What you say makes sense, I guess.”
“Good. Let’s go.”
“So you don’t want any of these?” Alice asked, holding up the shirts I had tried on.
I felt bad. I grabbed the longest of the shirts and said, “I’ll get this one.”
She smiled triumphantly. “And get that blue blouse you wanted,” she said, “it will go great with your eyes.”
I laughed. “Even though it’s an old lady’s shirt?”
“I was just kidding about that.”
As we walked toward the front of the store, Alice stopped and pulled a dress from a rack. “Oh, you have got to try this on, please!” she begged. It was a dark blue, very close to the same color as the blouse I was going to buy. A feigned a frustrated sigh and made my way back to the fitting rooms.
The dress hugged my curves and made my breasts look even bigger. It was a racy number that would never have passed the “three fingers width” test for school that said that all shorts worn by students had to be at least three fingers width in length to be allowed in school. I stuck my head out the fitting room door. “Oh, my God, Alice. Are you kidding me?”
Perfect Match: A Lesbian Romance Page 5