Lennox laughed. “What are you doing?”
“Anything you want,” Paige said.
Lennox advanced towards Paige. “Anything?” she asked coquettishly.
“Anything.”
Lennox took Paige by the wrists and led her away from the doorway. She reached behind Paige, shut the door, and pressed Paige up against it.
Paige stared at Lennox, awestruck.
Lennox kept her left palm on the door above Paige’s shoulder and with her right hand, she unfastened the top button of Paige’s shirt, her eyes never diverting from Paige’s. “How about this?”
“Uh this? We…um…yeah. This.”
Lennox smiled. “Relax.” She freed the second button. “We’re just talking.”
Paige glanced down at Lennox’s fingers, then at Lennox. “We are?”
“Yes.” Lennox ran her finger over Paige’s neckline. “Oh. Did you think I was going to seduce you?”
Paige shook her head. “You’re gonna wish you didn’t do that.”
Lennox shrugged. “What did I do?”
“You teased me, but it’s alright because that was nothing compared to what’s coming to you.”
“Ha! You think you can top that?” Lennox asked.
“I know I can top that.”
“You think you can top me?” Lennox smirked.
“I’m sorry, was that a question?”
Lennox chuckled. “I like you, Paige Galner.”
“I like you back.” Paige smiled. “Lennox Hansford.”
Lennox pecked Paige on the cheek. “Thanks for asking me out on a date.”
“Thanks for saying ‘yes.’”
“And for coming here to my room so we can do things that people do on real dates,” Lennox said.
“Um. What was that?”
“You heard me.”
“Are you fooling with me again?” Paige asked.
“Nope.”
“What kind of things?”
“Shh. Just let it happen,” Lennox said.
“Right.”
“So, how was your day?” Lennox asked.
Paige squinted. “Is it happening?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. I can do this.” Paige straightened her posture. “Well, my day was alright. Yours?”
Lennox smiled. “Chaotic but productive, what with the moving and the training and the practicing.”
“Good. And how’s Olivia?” Paige asked.
“She’s a godsend.”
“Excellent.”
“I read your post on unification earlier,” Lennox said. “Was it for me?”
“No. It was for everyone.”
Lennox grinned. “Spectacular. I loved it.”
“But you were the impetus for me writing it,” Paige said, “so thank you.”
“It was beautiful, Paige.”
Paige’s eyes danced over Lennox’s face. “Have I told you how beautiful you are?”
Lennox dropped her gaze, cheeks rosy. She shook her head diffidently.
Paige put her finger under Lennox’s chin and lifted it. “Lennox.” Paige tilted her head to the side and moved it closer to Lennox’s, their lips barely touching. “You are,” Paige whispered.
“You are, too.” Lennox quietly breathed the words against Paige’s mouth just before Paige closed the distance between them with a kiss.
Their lips meshed in faultless coordination, slowly deepening with each intake of air, each turn of their heads, and the silent negotiation to open their mouths. Lennox skimmed Paige’s tongue with her own and ran her hands through the layers of Paige’s lustrous, brown hair. Paige broke the kiss to catch her breath.
“Why’d you stop?” Lennox rasped.
Paige placed her hands on Lennox’s waist. “What if you decide I’m inadequate?”
“What?”
“My mom…she decided that my dad was inadequate. What—”
“No. That won’t—No.” Lennox smiled gently, took Paige’s hand, and brought her over to the bed on the left side of the room. She looked at Paige. “This fear you speak of, did you have it with any of the other girls you dated?”
“Just you,” Paige said.
“Okay. Is this about my bisexuality?”
“No. It’s not.” Paige stared at the floor. “It’s that there was only Marissa and Hanna and with them, I wasn’t in—I didn’t like them the way I like you.”
Lennox put her hand on Paige’s face and turned it towards her, their eyes finding one another’s. “What’s different?”
“Everything. Lennox, no one has ever challenged me the way you have, and no one’s ever had an impact on me the way you did. The way you do. You got inside of me somehow. Now I’m filled with you, covered in you, carrying you around everywhere I go. You are a permanent piece of me. You are why I’ll never be the same.” Paige held onto Lennox’s hand, still on her cheek. “I’d have this hollow space without you, if you ever decided…”
Lennox’s eyes fogged up. “Paige, I made my decision. You’re who I want.”
Paige smiled. “Good. Because you’re who I want, too.”
Lennox leaned closer to Paige, kissed her sparsely on the lips, then again on her chin, and again on the helix of Paige’s ear, where she paused. “Then take me,” Lennox whispered.
Every organ in Paige convulsed with wantonness. Eyes closed, she parted her lips for air. “Take you where?” Paige croaked.
“Lie down,” Lennox said. “It’s time for another date thing.”
Chapter Thirty
Lennox and Paige were reclined lengthwise on Lennox’s bed, face to face, their heads sharing the same pillow, Paige on her left side, Lennox on her right.
“So, this is the next date thing, huh?” Paige asked Lennox.
“Do you dislike cuddling?”
“No, but I thought maybe you were alluding to some other kind of activity for us to do here on your bed when you said what you said.”
Lennox raised both her eyebrows and started laughing.
“Ugh. That was not meant to rhyme.”
“Nevertheless, it did, and it was awesome,” Lennox said. “Okay. This will be more enjoyable if we take advantage of our circumstance.”
“How?”
“Well, there’s me and there’s you and we’re lying on a mattress together. Use your imagination, Paige.”
Paige pursed her lips, nodding. She put her hand on Lennox’s hip.
Lennox smiled. “That was good. And now I’ll do this.” She draped her arm over Paige’s waist.
Paige inhaled.
“Is this okay?” Lennox asked.
“Y–yeah.”
“Alright. Now, ask me a question,” Lennox said.
Paige squinted. “Any question?”
“Yup.”
“Is making a beat with someone something that’s greater than sex to you?” Paige asked.
“Wow. You’re audacious.”
Paige frowned. “Sorry.”
“No, it’s fine,” Lennox said. “In short, yes.”
“Is it a form of making love for you?”
Lennox blushed. “Spiritually, yes.”
“Can you have an orgasm from doing that?” Paige asked.
Lennox closed her eyes. “A mental one, yes.” She looked at Paige again.
“And did you when we…”
“Paige! A question. Not four.”
“What? I want to understand.”
“That’s confidential,” Lennox said.
Paige smirked. “I’ll take that as an admission.”
“Take it as you will. I’m up.” Lennox smiled. “At what age did you start writing?”
“Ten. At what age did you start playing music?” Paige asked.
“Eight. You made it known earlier that you’ve only slept with two girls. Was Marissa your first?”
Paige winced. “She was.”
“Huh.”
“Envious?” Paige asked.
“Was it the best sex of your l
ife?”
“No.”
“Then no.”
Paige smiled. “Your choice literary genre?”
“Lyrical poetry. Your choice musical artist?”
“Leela Clementine.”
“Mine too,” Lennox said.
“Really?”
“Yes. She has a very cinematic sound. It’s entrancing.”
“You’re entrancing,” Paige said.
“No, you’re entrancing.”
Paige laughed. “Okay. Where do you keep your books?”
“Under my bed, away from my roommate’s nosy friends,” Lennox said. “Were you looking for them?”
“Yes.”
“Writer’s quirk?”
“Yes,” Paige said.
“That’s reasonable.” Lennox smiled. “Because I was about to ask you where you stored your music.”
“On a shelf at the foot of my bed. Were you looking?”
“Obviously,” Lennox said. “Cassettes, CDs, or MP3s?”
“CDs and MP3s…and vinyl.”
“I’m swooning.” Lennox fanned her face with her hand.
Paige chuckled. “You?”
“Same goes for me.” Lennox gave Paige a light kiss on the lips. “So when can I see your records?”
“Saturday, when you have dinner with me and my dad,” Paige said. “They’re at my house.”
Lennox pointed her finger at Paige. “Ahh! That was sly.”
“Be my date?”
“Absolutely.”
Paige grinned. “Excellent.”
“Now where were we? Oh, I got one. Fave pie?” Lennox asked.
“Boston Cream!”
Lennox giggled. “Insider lesbian joke?”
“No! Har har. What’s yours?”
“Apple, the pie that surpasses all pies,” Lennox said.
“Pfft. Whatever. In your kingdom, the majesty of nut butters is?”
“If I had a kingdom, almond.”
Paige smiled.
“And you would be my empress.” Lennox winked. “I’m gauging by the glitter in your eyes that you are gratified with that answer. Perhaps our palates are complementary?”
“Perhaps.”
Lennox chuckled. “Good. So, piercings. Only your ears?”
“Yup. Same for you?”
“Yes. Do you have any tattoos?” Lennox asked.
“Nope. You?”
“I do. It was my eighteenth birthday gift to myself.”
“Oh.” Paige’s gaze charted Lennox’s body from top to bottom, then back to Lennox’s face. Paige’s right eyebrow arced inquisitively.
“‘Where could it be,’ Paige thought to herself.” Lennox smirked.
“Will you show me?” Paige asked, her cheeks ablaze.
Lennox put her hand on Paige’s and guided it from her hip to the hem of her tee shirt. A wave of heat enveloped Paige; she began to perspire. Together they eased the fabric upwards, revealing Lennox’s pale skin, embellished with black ink, a silhouette of an arrow carved along her left ribcage. The fletching of the weapon was closest to Lennox’s waistline and the arrowhead pointed to her chest. Paige stared at the drawing without words. Lennox smiled, took Paige’s fingers, and placed them on her flesh. They both shivered and held their breaths. Lennox ran the soft pads of Paige’s forefingers over the tattoo, stopping before reaching the champagne-colored, lace band of Lennox’s bra. Lennox swallowed. Paige licked her lips, exhaled feebly, and set her eyes on Lennox’s steady gaze.
“What’s it mean?” Paige asked.
“The arrow dictates my direction. I’ll always follow wherever it points.”
“It’s aimed at your heart.”
Lennox smiled. “Exactly.”
“And you’re here with me,” Paige said.
“That’s right.”
Paige bit her lip and traced her short nails back down Lennox’s side, over the artwork. When her fingers met the rim of Lennox’s jeans, they sailed sideways, below Lennox’s belly button, and then upwards, along Lennox’s torso. Lennox squirmed.
“Are you revenge-teasing me?” Lennox asked Paige.
Paige began to outline the lace trim of Lennox’s bra with her thumb. “Yes,” she whispered.
“Okay. Just checking.”
“I’m tempted to take your shirt off for a full view of the lingerie you’re wearing,” Paige said.
Lennox raised an eyebrow. “Is that what you want? A full view?”
“Well, I…uh…yes.”
Lennox smirked. “Then that’s what you’ll get.”
“That’s what I’ll…huh?”
Lennox put her hand on Paige’s shoulder and carefully maneuvered Paige onto her back. Paige went to speak, but forgot her words when Lennox mounted her, sitting on her knees.
Lennox grinned. “How ya doing?” she asked Paige.
“You’re on top of me.”
“Naaaah. Am I?” Lennox asked.
Paige smiled. “Yeah. You are.”
“Oh. I can relocate if—”
“No! You’re fine.”
“Okay.” Lennox nodded. “You’ve got strong legs. Do you work out?” She giggled.
Paige pursed her lips and shook her head. “What did you say? You want me to give you a workout? I can do that.” Paige winked.
Lennox laughed. “Is that a promise?”
“Yup.”
“Mmm. We should warm up then, increase our stamina.” Lennox lifted her shirt over her head and dropped it on the bed by the wall. She looked at Paige, who stared back, mouth agape. “Is this what you wanted?” Lennox asked.
Paige’s eyes traversed Lennox’s body, absorbing everything: her smallish but shapely lace-clad bust, the fair complexion of her skin, and the complacent expression on her face as her lips splayed into a coy smile.
“That was hot,” Paige said.
“But are you hot?” Lennox asked. “Like I know you’re hot because I have eyes, but are you…excited?”
“Yes. I’m charged, thanks.”
“You’re very welcome,” Lennox said
“I think you should come closer.”
“Why?”
“So I can kiss you,” Paige said.
“Just a kiss?”
Paige clutched Lennox’s forearms and pulled. Lennox yipped gleefully as she fell onto the mattress beside Paige. She started laughing until Paige placed her index finger on the base of Lennox’s throat and meticulously moved it over her collarbone. Lennox inhaled, her eyelids shut.
“Just a kiss,” Paige said quietly and caressed Lennox’s lips with her own. After a moment, she interrupted the kiss to trail her tongue along the neckline of Lennox’s bra.
Lennox gasped. Paige looked up.
“No?” Paige asked.
“Yes,” Lennox said throatily. “Definitely yes.”
Paige pressed her mouth to Lennox’s again, fiercely this time. In a fever, Lennox separated her lips to intensify the kiss even more, tangling her hands in Paige’s hair.
All of a sudden, Lennox pulled back and stared into Paige’s eyes. “I’m sorry,” Lennox said breathlessly. “We have to cool it.”
Paige kissed Lennox on her jaw. “It’s alright.”
“That was my fault.”
“Lennox, shh. We’ll wait.”
“I want you so badly, but—”
Paige swept her lips over Lennox’s. “I can give you a preview.”
Lennox shook her head, perplexed. “How?”
Paige took a deep breath, reached down, and unfastened her own jeans.
“Whoa!” Lennox cradled the side of Paige’s face in her palm. “You don’t have to…please, no. If you masturbate, I’m going to want to watch because it would be fucking sexy, but I can’t watch. I don’t have superhuman willpower, and I...yeah. And us with the wait, so…there.”
Paige chuckled. “You’re flustered.”
“Hey. You’d be flustered, too, if your girlf–fun-loving date was about to do what you’re about to.”
“A taste of—Ohhh.” Lennox smiled. “Really?”
“Yes, but you know, now I’m thinking no.”
“What? Why not?” Lennox asked.
“What if it’s not sexy to you?”
“Paige, I have total faith in you and your sexiness.”
“Do you though?”
“I do,” Lennox said.
“The moment’s gone. There’s nothing left to sample. Sorry.”
“Not even a dollop?”
Paige shook her head. “Nope.”
“Can I help?”
Paige shrugged. “You can try if you—”
“Paige.”
“Yes?”
“I want,” Lennox said and kissed Paige longingly. Paige closed her eyes and put her right hand in her own pants, moved her fingers around inside of herself for a minute, and then pulled them out. Paige opened her eyes, palpitating all over. Lennox severed their lip lock, grabbed Paige’s wrist, and brought Paige’s glistening forefingers up to her mouth. Paige’s breath trapped in her chest as Lennox slid Paige’s middle finger into her mouth and licked it, her gaze never leaving Paige’s. Lennox grinned, playfully bit Paige’s finger, and inched it away from her lips.
“You’re delectable,” Lennox said.
“My god,” Paige uttered. “And you’re…wow.”
Lennox chuckled. “That is a good description of me.”
“Sorry, I’m a little rambunctious now.”
“As am I.”
“You are? More than before?” Paige asked.
“Yes and yes.”
“Right.” Paige nodded. “Should we take it from the top and mellow it out?”
“Let’s!” Lennox cleared her throat. “Alright, I’m gonna recycle a word here cuz it’s truly how I see you. Is recycling permitted?”
“It is.”
“Okay. Here goes. Paige, you are gorgeous.”
Paige smiled, blushing. “And what I meant, Lennox, was that you’re exquisite.”
“Aww. I’m happy you think so, because I’ve been saving all my exquisiteness for you.”
“Have you?”
“Mmm hmm.”
“How will I ever thank you?” Paige asked.
“You’ll come up with something.” Lennox smirked.
Paige wrapped her arm around Lennox, pressed her hand against Lennox’s naked back, and drew her closer. Lennox’s velvety skin melted into Paige’s fingers.
Never the Same Page 17