Double Grades

by Kristine Robinson

  “Come here,” I said, putting my hand to her cheek. She lingered for a moment, looking in my eyes before her face turned stony again and she turned her face away. “You’ll get back on your feet, Dominique. I know you will.”

  There was fire in her eyes now when she said, “I bet you’re counting on that.”

  “What does that mean?” I asked her, narrowing my eyes at her. She put her hands on her hips and glared at me back, her face hostile now.

  “I assume you want more of the princess treatment?”

  I shook my head. “That’s not what it’s about.”

  She sneered at me. “I’m sure it’s not. You broke all of your rules in search of the ‘high-life.’ And I doubt you’ll stick around now.”

  I lost my temper and closed my eyes for a moment, then flashed them at her.

  “I did like the flowers and the music,” I told her. “But I liked you more.”

  Her eyes softened, her rage seeming to subside for a moment as she considered my statement, but then she smirked and said, “I guess you made another bad call.”

  Those words felt like a slap. Blinded by tears, I turned from her, went back to my car and got inside. She had already shut the door by the time I looked back at her. I wiped the tears from my eyes and drove away, drove back to my apartment in a fog of numbness. I hadn’t been hurt like this in a long time. I couldn’t believe that’s what she thought of me, that she assumed I was the kind of woman who would be interested in her for her money. I hadn’t asked her for the flowers, nor the date, and though I had appreciated them deeply I hadn’t done anything to deserve her accusations. Trying desperately to push her out of my head, I did everything from reading to watching TV to distract myself. I would have done anything to stop feeling the pain I was feeling at her rejection. The sting of it was overwhelming.

  I tried to go about life as usual after that. The days passed in a fog, though. My life felt like it had a little less light in it—though I had known Dominique only a short while, she had touched my heart in the same gentle, tender way she’d touched my body. Jamie tried to cheer me up by telling me jokes at work and planning girls’ evenings for us afterward but I something new in me seemed to be broken and I was under a blanket of darkness because of it.

  We were at work one day when she asked me if I wanted to go get a drink later in the evening. I told her no. I just wanted to go home and rest. Lately it seemed like all I did was sleep and work; I had no interest in anything else.

  “Hey,” said Jamie. “Cheer up. At least you didn’t get in too deep.”

  But the truth was that I had. Even in two dates, I knew that I wanted to have Dominique in my life forever, knew that I wanted to hold her and kiss her every day for the rest of my life. I was in love with her, with or without the things she’d lavished me with. But there was no way I could make her believe me, so I had to let her go.

  Chapter 6: Dominique

  It was already killing me that I had so callously pushed her away as she was leaving my front porch. I regretted all the words I had said instantly and wanted to take them back, but I could tell in the set of her shoulders, the look on her face, that nothing I said was going to fix what I’d ruined. I’d accused her of something I knew logically she would never do; she had never even asked for the things I’d given her, not even hinted at expecting them. I had showered her with gifts and though she had accepted gratefully, she hadn’t seemed to be trying to get her hands on more.

  I felt like an idiot. After the night we shared together, the romantic date we’d had on the Bay, I should have known better than to screw it all up. It had been magical and perfect. We fit together so well, body and spirit. There seemed to be nothing we couldn’t talk about already, and I felt as if I had known her forever. She was perfect for me. And I had destroyed her.

  I spent days thinking about it, about her. I stayed at my place in the Bay and would lie in bed at night, wishing she was beside me. No matter what I did, she filled my head. I went to a bar one night in desperation, sat down on a stool and ordered a drink while trying to ignore the people around me. After a few moments, a woman took the seat next to me and ordered me another round. I turned to look at her and saw that she was beautiful in a long-legged, elegant sort of way. She was dressed in a tight outfit that showed off her every curve and had lips the color of berries. I smiled at her, though there was a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

  “Hi, there,” she said, taking a sip of her drink. “What are you doing over here, all quiet?”

  “Waiting for the right company,” I told her, slightly tipsy just from the small amount I’d had to drink before she got there. “Looks like it found me.”

  She giggled and brushed her hand against mine. We talked for a moment, nothing important. Small talk. What we did, how we ended up here. I made up a story about who I was and what I did for a living. There was no way I was going to go into the fact that I had lost my job, no matter how much I was worth. I rarely told women who I was upon first meeting them, which is another thing that had been different about my time with Sandra. With her, it was all honesty, refreshing in the best way.

  I flirted with the stranger most of the night, trying to fill some hole that had become a part of me. I went home with her but stopped myself when she took that dress off. It wasn’t that she wasn’t beautiful, it was that she didn’t have the same soft skin as Sandra, didn’t make the same noises when I touched her. I left with an apology and without an explanation, only got in my car and took off in the direction of Sandra’s place. There was no telling what I was going to do when I got there, but it was the only place I could think of to go.

  She wasn’t home yet, so I sat on her porch and waited for her to arrive. When she saw me, she stopped and stared, tilting her head to one side to study my face.

  “Why are you here?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. I sighed and walked to her, took her hands and held them between us.

  “I missed you,” I told her honestly. I missed her more than anything. All I thought about was her. She looked at me and didn’t pull her hands away, just squeezed mine and gazed at me as if she hoped for the best.

  “Why did you push me away?” she asked me, lifting her hand to my cheek. She stroked my lips with her thumb and I knew she was about to kiss me, that she couldn’t resist being in my arms any more than I could hers. I pressed my lips to hers, unable to wait any longer, and she responded with a kiss that was sweet and feather-soft.

  “I lost my job,” I said, holding her close. “My lifestyle. But the worst part is that I can’t give you everything you deserve.”

  She smiled at me, leaned forward to kiss me again.

  “You made a bad call,” she said, her eyes sparkling. I looked at her with confusion, wondering what she meant. She kissed my fingers.

  “The gifts were lovely,” she told me. “But the real prize is you. You’re all I need.”

  I slipped into her embrace and we stood interlocked on her porch, our mouths and bodies molded to each other. All I could think about was her skin and her scent, how beautiful she was, what I would do to make it up to her. I didn’t know what I would have done if she wouldn’t have accepted me back; my whole heart was beating for her and her alone.

  “Come inside,” she said, breathing against my lips. I followed her in and straight into the bedroom, where she started to undress me with slow, nimble fingers. She pulled my shirt over my head and kissed me in the spot where my neck met my shoulder, then lowered her mouth to my breasts to take turns taking each of my nipples in her mouth. She spent a long, delicious moment lingering over my breasts, sucking and licking them. While she did so she took off my panties, nearly ripping them down in an effort to get them off of me. The next thing I knew she had undressed herself as well and was naked in my arms, her mouth finding mine and taking it in a hungry, passionate kiss. My body molded to hers and I slipped my hand between her legs to feel that she was more than wet. I stroked her folds, dipping the tip
of my middle finger into her channel, and brought the moisture up and over her bud, which was swollen with desire. She pressed her mound against my hand and moaned, then intertwined her legs with mine so that we were chest to chest sitting up and our sexes were pressed together. I had been able to tell this is what she enjoyed the most about the last time and was happy to give it to her again.

  I was angled on top of her and began to grind my hips against hers, barely bumping our buds together just long enough for us to both really feel it. She whimpered and moved forward to make the contact more regular, to rub against me so that I had no choice but to meet the movement of her hips in a rhythm. Her wetness felt so good against mine that I couldn’t help but to grind against her harder, almost losing control of my hips in the fluidity of hers. Her breathing grew ragged against my mouth as her orgasm built and when she came she squirmed underneath me with a soft, breathless moan. I finished after, my body hitting its peak, shattering as I gushed all over her folds.

  She reached over and pulled something out of her bedside drawer. It was a double-ended toy, something that we could both slide inside of ourselves at the same time. I had never used one before but I knew the experience would be incredible just looking at the thing, and at Sandra’s face, which was lit up by a small, wicked smile and flushed from her orgasm. I kissed her, devouring her mouth as I made her lay down underneath me and spread her legs. I wasn’t going to finish again without tasting her, without making her come on my face. I moved down her body and slung her legs over my shoulders, then parted her lower lips with my thumbs and planted a hot, open-mouthed kiss on her inner folds. I kissed her as if I would kiss her mouth, my tongue sliding in, sliding upward, circling her bud. She trembled beneath me and sighed, trying to keep her hips still, to let me work. I ate her for what seemed like a long time, making her come over and over again, making up for the lost time when we were apart. I was going to taste her every day from now on. I wasn’t going to waste a moment of our time.

  Finally, I pulled my mouth away. I picked up the toy and teased her bud with the tip of it, kissing her thighs, her belly, and her nipples. I slipped it just two inches inside of her and moved it back and forth in gentle thrusts, getting her used to being filled by it. Her channel was wetter than before and eager to take the toy all the way, so I had no real trouble sliding it deep inside of her. I pumped it in and out for a few moments, making sure to hit the spot inside of her that was sweetest. She let out soft cries of pleasure as I began to lick and suck her bud while I worked her channel.

  After a moment, she wrapped her hands around my shoulders and pulled me upward to kiss her, using one hand to hold the toy so that I could straddle it and using the other to rub and cup my breasts. I aimed the toy inside of me and pushed down against it, filling myself up in one stroke. We were laying scissored on the bed and both began squirming on the toy at the same time. Each time she moved to work it within her it pushed deeper into me, hitting against the back of my channel. We began to move with each other, both of us getting pleasure out of the other’s movements and moans. I reached between my legs to rub my bud and I gestured for her to do the same. The harder we ground against each other, the faster we moved, so that I felt so filled and pounded by the toy that my channel clenched around it and I came hard, rubbing my bud in circles. I sat up with the toy still inside of me and plunged it inside of her with my hips, pushing it deeper into me in turn. I switched my hand to her bud and began to rub until she came too, letting out a cry that filled the small room.

  When we were finished, once our bodies were settled down, I cuddled up against her warm, soft body and kissed her cheek. She looked at me with sweet eyes and smiled.

  “Am I enough?” she asked, stroking my cheek with her fingertip.

  “You’re more than enough,” I told her truthfully, leaning in to kiss her softly on the mouth.

  “This is total joy.”

  Under The Rain

  ~ Bonus Story ~

  A Contemporary Lesbian Romance

  Beverly is a doctor who has an affair with a patient that ends in tragedy. Instead of letting it ruin her days, she heads down to Chile to a resort at her parents' suggestion. When she gets there, she is approached by a female guide named Vanessa. Vanessa is bold and beautiful, the kind of woman that people think of when they think of strong women. Beverly is at first wary but then warms up to the idea of spending some time with Vanessa as a tour guide.

  Vanessa takes Beverly out to a beautiful spot that she doesn't usually show anyone, or often visit because she's afraid of other people finding out about it. The place is a breathtaking waterfall, the mists of which sends up great plumes of that create giant rainbows. On the way back things becoming interesting as a squall moves in from the coast to the hinterland. Beverly and Vanessa must figure out a way to make it through not just the storm, but life, together—or maybe not together. Beverly isn't so sure, and it's up to Vanessa to convince her.

  * * *

  Chapter 1

  Beverly wasn't sure what to do about her life anymore. So much of it had revolved around what had been work, and what had turned into her love life, now that those things were gone she felt loose, adrift. She'd just helped a patient through rehab, held his hand through some of it, literally. Along the way, they'd had an affair which could have ended her career, but it had been worth it because it had made her feel alive, and it had made her believe in love again.

  Of course, as soon as the man of her dreams was out the door he'd forgotten all about her. Their times together were nothing to him, apparently, and like chaff to the wind everything they'd held dear as a couple went with him. There wasn't anything to be done about it. Beverly knew that there was a good chance he'd back on the streets again in no time, that his quick fix at the rehab center would probably be the first of many quick fixes that led him down a path as dark as it was deep. A big part of her was glad that she wouldn't be there for it.

  It didn't make it hurt any less, though. Because she really had loved him, but he'd taken off. Not only that, he'd stopped checking in with his addiction group. Beverly had known the entire time that he, Sean, would either come clean and be with her, or pass through the program to go back to junk. And instead of her, he'd chosen junk. That's how it went with a lot of junkies, there was just no way to break them of the habit. Then again, Sean had hardly seemed ready or willing to humble himself enough to actually think he needed help. In Sean's mind, he was always just about to figure everything out, not just where his next fix was coming from, but how to make one of his doctors fall in love with him.

  Beverly would never know why Sean hadn't tried to blackmail her to get drugs to use, maybe it was because at least a small part of what they had felt together had been real. That had to be it. And he didn't want to face the facts, that he had been involved emotionally as well; so instead of twisting her arm for drugs or money, he just took off.

  “Mom,” Beverly said. “I can't just take off. I have a job to work, and patients to see.”

  “Well honey,” her mother said. “I already made everything all right with your boss, and your father and I bought discount tickets to a resort on the tropical coast of Chile for you to spend some time at.”

  Beverly was on her way home from work. A vacation did sound like just the thing she needed, but at the same time, it wasn't like she could just be whisked away—or at least that's what she thought.

  “You know what mom,” Beverly said. “I'm going to switch to the other line really quickly and call my boss. If everything checks out, I'll go, all right?”

  “All right, sweetheart!” her mother said.

  Beverly switched over to the other line and called her boss.

  “Carl,” Beverly said. “My mother is on the other line talking about some craziness where she called you and got you to say it was all right that I take a vacation.”

  “Well,” Carl said, his voice weary from a long day. “That's exactly what happened. I know that you've gone through a r
ough time recently. And although we can't talk about it, because I can't officially know about it, I do think you should go down to Chile and see how the resort is. I really do believe that it would do you some good.”

  Beverly had to think about it for a moment. Her yearly review had been a few months ago, and Carl had given her top marks. This made her feel a little better about having this conversation with him. The last thing that she wanted was any of this getting back to her work in a negative way, which would include velvet daggers on her yearly evaluation. Now, with the buffer of time she had, Beverly was confident that there wouldn't be any effect on the next one.

  “Carl,” Beverly said. “I'm going to take you up on that offer.”

  Carl chuckled. “That's good to hear,” he said. “Now tell your mother you love her!”

  Beverly switched back to the other line as she parked on the street in front of her apartment.

  “Mom,” Beverly said. “You are the most wonderful women I have ever met.”

  “Oh, dear,” her mother said. “I know that you need the time off. Work is hard on you. And although you haven't told your father or me much about it, we know that you've been going through heartbreak. It's good to take some time off.”