by Anne Eton
Gina treaded water until she found a spot where she could stand on firm bottom with their heads above the surface. She held Dominika tenderly. The blonde closed her eyes and set her face on Gina’s shoulder. “You were always so gentle,” she whispered. “In the play. You never bruised me, not even one time.”
“I’m glad,” Gina replied. “I was really worried about that. Like, it kept me up nights. You know?”
“You did not seem worried.”
“I know. A lot of reasons for that.”
They said nothing more. Dominika moved her hands slowly up and down Gina’s back, feeling her warmth and strength. Gina closed her eyes. After a moment she added: “I take it back. Maybe we can stay here all night.”
In response, Dominika tightened her legs around the taller girl. She felt Gina breathe harder. Their cheeks were touching. Slowly, they slid their faces toward each other, their lips growing closer…
“Hey!”
Startled, they both jumped as their heads turned. It was a portly security guard in a heavy coat. He had a remarkable resemblance to Don King. Trudging toward them from the road through the grass, he bellowed: “What the hell are you doing!”
The girls disentangled themselves. “Nothing officer,” Gina shouted.
“Yeah, well.” The uniformed man paused at the pond’s bank, eyeing them doubtfully. “Y’all students here?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Well, listen. If it was up to me, I’d let you canoodle all night because your business ain’t mine. But I’m under orders. All people, all, need to get inside, right now. There’s hail coming.”
“Hail?” Dominika asked. She shivered.
“That’s right. And that ain’t all. Some freezing rain, and all kinds of nice surprises. The longer you ladies stay in here, the tougher it’ll be when you get out. This pond might well freeze over by morning.”
“We’re leaving now, officer.” Gina strode out of the water, helping Dominika as she hopped on one foot.
“You need a ride?” the security officer asked. “Shouldn’t be walking around soaked in this cold.”
Gina looked at Dominika, then back at the portly man. “That would be great.”
Soon, the man’s campus security car was depositing the girls outside of Gina’s dorm. “Sorry we got your seats wet,” Gina called as they stepped out of the back seat.
“Ain’t my cleaning bill,” the officer said. “Y’all go on and get inside now. Warm up!”
The girls closed the car door, waved, and ran inside. The car rolled away.
“Hot shower, hot shower,” Dominika chanted in a mantra as she hopped shivering up the stairs with Gina’s help.
“You got it,” Gina said.
Inside, the party guests gaped as Gina and Dominika entered. The girls left a trail of dripping water on the carpet.
“Yo, where are the chips?” a girl asked.
Gina gave her a look.
“Kidding. Seriously, what happened?”
“Tell you later.” Gina turned to Dominika. “You gonna be okay getting up the stairs?”
“Yes.” The blonde girl gripped the banister and hopped up the carpeted steps, one by one. She heard Gina ask, “Where’s the whiskey? Really yo, I need to warm up.”
Dominika reached the upper floor. “Which bathroom should I use?” she called down.
“First door on your right,” a voice shouted up at her. “There’s only one bathroom in this place.”
Dominika saw the door, slightly ajar. She pushed it. The bathroom was empty. She stumbled inside, shivering. Locking the door behind her, she leaned against the washbasin and began removing her sopping clothes.
A soft knock came from the door. Dominika jumped. “Who is it?”
“Me.” Gina.
“Oh. Hello.”
The handle rattled.
Dominika reached over and unlocked it without thinking.
“Hey,” Gina said, slipping inside. She re-locked the door behind her.
“Hey.”
“You okay?”
“What? Oh. Yes, I think so.”
“Good. Let’s go.” Gina started to strip. Her soggy shirt made a splissshhh sound as it hit the linoleum floor.
Dominika’s jaw dropped. “Go? Go where?”
“Into the shower, where else? We’re both freezing and there’s not much hot water. Our water heater’s the size of a thermos.” Holding onto the wall towel rack for balance, Gina removed her socks, the last item of clothing on her body.
Dominika’s brain reeled. She realized that the object of her dreams and fantasies was standing stark naked in front of her. She was RIGHT THERE.
Gina, however, seemed all business once again. She turned on the tub taps and pulled the faucet’s plunger up to direct the water to the showerhead. Her big breasts wobbled as she moved, bent at the waist. Glancing back, she frowned. “What’s up?”
“Eh?”
“I’m telling you, this water will go from hot to cold in nothing flat. If you’re coming in, let’s go. You look like you’re freezing.”
Dominika undressed as quickly as she could, on autopilot. Her mind felt numb. She would be naked with Gina… What did that mean? Was Gina only wanting to shower as a pretext for them doing something sexual? Dominika decided that she did not care if that actually was the case. And, anyway, she was indeed freezing. With two yanks, she removed her own socks and then stood as naked as her host.
“Come on,” Gina said. Placing a gentle arm around the smaller girl, she helped the blonde hop over to the shower. “You get in first. Hold onto the wall handle there, above the soap dish. You don’t want to fall. You’ve been through enough tonight.”
She is so tender, Dominika thought. A wave of powerful emotions rushed through her, and she fought to keep her voice steady. “Thank you.”
“No prob. You good? Okay. Here I come.” Gina stepped into the tub with her and pulled the shower curtain closed.
Dominika stood closer to the showerhead. Gina directed the jets high, so that water rained onto both of them.
“Aaaaah,” Dominika moaned. The air began to steam. “That feels so good. Hot water!”
“Enjoy it while you can,” Gina said.
Dominika opened her eyes. Gina was shampooing her hair, grimacing as she squeezed her eyelids shut to keep the soap out.
Dominika stared. The Italian-American’s big breasts were impossibly firm, jiggling as she scrubbed her scalp. Gina had trimmed her pubic hair into a perfect triangle, a patch of mystery between her creamy olive-skinned thighs. Water rivulets ran down her body exquisitely. Dominika stared at Gina’s breasts again, almost eye-level; if I reach my tongue just a little bit… The Polish girl was sorely tempted. But she was too shy; and, anyway, she did not want to startle her host, whose eyes remained shut.
Gina rinsed her tresses, twisting out the dark locks behind her head. Her eyelids opened. She smiled. “Hi.”
“Hi,” Dominika replied. Gina was so beautiful. The blonde felt shy, inadequate, and horny, all at once. Horny! Yes, I do, she thought. Who would not, with this amazing girl?
“You have mud in your hair,” Gina said. She touched Dominika’s head.
Dominika felt the same jolt of electricity through her body that she had experienced in early rehearsals, when the actress had touched her cheek. “What?”
“Mud.” Gina withdrew a finger and held it up. “See?” A little bit of dirt disappeared under the jets.
“Oh. Yes.”
“Here, let me.” Gina squirted shampoo onto one of her palms and began lathering Dominika’s scalp.
Instinctively, Dominika placed her hands on Gina’s hips for balance, bowing her head and closing her eyes. They stood so close that the Polish girl could feel Gina’s breath on her hair.
“Isn’t that better?” the brunette whispered. She rinsed out the blonde tresses, running her fingers through them slowly and luxuriously, as if it was something she had long wanted to do.
In respo
nse, Dominika snuggled in close. Her arms snaked around the taller girl, and she turned her head so that her ear rested against Gina’s chest between her big breasts. She felt Gina inhale sharply. Dominika listened to Gina’s heart race at a breakneck tempo, betraying the brunette’s excitement.
The water grew progressively colder as the water heater failed. Gina’s hands rubbed the smaller girl’s back, massaging, warming her. The hands moved lower, then lower still. They finally slid over Dominika’s tight round ass before holding it. The Polish girl squeezed Gina closer.
A bang at the door startled them. They separated, looking at the entrance.
“Yo!” a drunken girl cried from the hall. Another bang. “How long you gonna be in there? I gotta pee!”
Gina exhaled: a long, loud noise of frustration. Dominika said nothing, but felt the same way.
“Yo!” the voice repeated. The girl outside began rapping on the door with her fist. “I’m serious, bitches, I’m gonna let go right here on your carpet. I been holding it as long as I can…”
“Okay, okay!” Gina shouted. She stepped out of the tub. “We’re coming.”
“‘We?’ How many you got in there!” The tipsy girl laughed.
Gina retrieved a folded towel from under the sink and tossed it to Dominika. The blonde turned off the water, stepped out of the tub, and quickly dried herself.
The waiting girl began moaning her discomfort. Gina wrapped her own towel around herself; it barely covered her torso. Dominika followed suit. Gina opened the door.
“Fuuuck, dude, just in time,” the drunk guest mumbled, stumbling in. She dropped her pants before she had even reached the toilet. Gina exited, gesturing at Dominika to follow.
The couple left the bathroom and walked down the hall. Gina led Dominika into a dark room. She closed the door behind her and switched on the light. Two twin beds; Tracy and Gina’s bedroom. The beds were pushed against opposite walls, showing a clear demarcation—Tracy’s half was strewn with clothes, books and detritus, while Gina’s half displayed an almost obsessive tidiness.
Dominika gazed at pictures that Gina had taped over her bed. The Italian-American smiled and posed with dark-haired people who looked like her—family members. A few holes in the picture collage on the wall puzzled Dominika, until she remembered: Annabelle. Gina had removed all of her ex’s photos.
The Polish girl glanced further and froze. The color drained from her face.
Gina, who had been watching her, gaped with alarm. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
The tall girl followed her gaze. On Gina’s spotless desk next to her bed lay a black strapon, the phallus so shiny that it displayed reflections on its surface.
“Oh. Oh, shit,” Gina gasped. She looked around wildly, then whipped off her towel to throw over the strapon. She turned to Dominika. “I’m sorry—”
Dominika stepped back from the naked girl.
“No!” Gina cried. She struggled to keep her voice steady. “Just wait two seconds, okay? I can explain. Wait.”
The brunette hurried to her closet, her hourglass figure jiggling. She withdrew a terrycloth robe and donned it, tying the belt around her waist. “Listen,” she said, giving Dominika a beseeching look. “Yes, okay, that’s mine. I bought it. But I bought it a long time ago.”
“Do you always leave it out there?” the Polish girl whispered. Her color had not yet returned to her face.
“Of course not.” Gina sighed. “All right. This is, well, kind of awkward but it’s the whole truth. And you deserve the whole truth.” After a pause, Gina continued:
“I got that… on a trip with Annabelle. Dominika, please, look at me. We were on a vacation, and she wanted to go to a sex shop, and… The strapon wasn’t exactly her idea, I admit, it was both our idea. She said she wanted to try it, she wanted… Anyway, when we got home she changed her mind. And I couldn’t return it. I had been the one who paid for it, naturally.” Gina shook her head. “So it just stayed in a box under my bed. It’s never been used. Not once.”
“And so why was it there? Out?”
Gina looked at her feet. “I got it out earlier, when Annabelle came with that guy. I figured she’d come up to my room with him, being all, ‘Hey, look at my new BOYfriend.’ I wanted it to be like, when they walked in, he would see it and think, oh, okay, so this girl I’m dating used to get it from this other girl, who maybe was bigger than me.” Gina looked up. “I wanted to embarrass her.”
“Oh.”
“I’m not proud of myself. I admit it.”
“I see.”
“So then I heard the fight downstairs—you, and her. And I rushed out and forgot all about it, till now.”
Dominika exhaled. “I thought perhaps… you had left it out for me. That you had planned all this—”
“No!”
“I know now; I believe you.”
“I would never… I would never, ever.”
“Yes. I believe you.”
“You don’t know how much I…”
Dominika waited. Gina’s voice trailed off. She looked down again.
Downstairs, the music stopped.
“I think the party’s ending,” Gina said. She returned to her closet, and withdrew another robe. She handed it to Dominika.
The blonde girl laughed, a happy sound breaking the tension. “This… is too big for me.” And it was. The bathrobe was Gina’s size. Dominika’s feet would have tripped over the dragging hem.
Gina frowned. “Oh… right.” She looked in the closet again. “How about this?”
Minutes later the girls descended the carpeted steps to the first floor, Gina in her robe, Dominika in pajamas whose pant and wrist cuffs had been rolled up high.
“How’s it going?” Gina asked her roommate Tracy.
Tracy shrugged. “Everybody’s out. This is getting ugly.” She nodded at the window. Wind thrashed the trees. “Forecast says hail will start any second, so it’s exodus time.”
The guests called their goodbyes to Gina and Tracy, and Dominika too, as they left through the door.
“I’m out too,” Tracy continued. “Daniel called.”
“Aw, no,” Gina said. “You’re driving? In this weather?”
Tracy smirked. “He promised me hot chocolate. And maybe other things.” She extended her hand to Dominika. “It was really nice meeting you.”
The Polish girl shook hands. “You too.”
Tracy smiled. “I meant it when I said you’re my new best friend. Take care of her, okay?” Tracy shot Gina a knowing glance, then hurried out after the others, closing the door behind her.
Gina and Dominika stood alone in the apartment.
“So,” Gina finally said.
“So.”
“Well, your clothes are soaking wet,” Gina began, affecting her businesslike manner. “And this weather is nothing to go out in, anyway.” She paused. “Why don’t you stay here tonight.”
Dominika hesitated. She still felt vaguely unsettled by the strapon business. Why had it upset her so?
“I can make some dinner,” Gina offered. “Or breakfast, whatever.”
“That is kind of you,” the Polish girl said. And suddenly, she realized: Gina is a genuinely kind person. Dominika knew in that instant she could trust the tall brunette, even with her life. The blonde smiled.
“Hey, nice smile. That’s better,” Gina said.
“I like you. Very much.”
Gina looked surprised. She seemed to wrestle with powerful emotions as she replied: “I like you, too.”
“Good.”
“Well, uh… so, are you hungry?”
Dominika smiled again and shook her head, no.
“You ready to turn in, then? I’m beat.”
The blonde nodded.
* * *
Gina and her guest entered the bedroom once more.
“You can sleep in Tracy’s bed, or mine,” Gina said, turning around.
Dominika considered. Tracy’s bed was piled with clean and
dirty clothes, CDs, unopened bags of junk food…
The blonde girl turned. “How can she sleep upon this?”
“Believe it or not, she moves all that crap off every night, puts it on the floor, and in the morning lifts it back on again.”
“Hmm. This seems like much work.”
“Yeah.”
“I will perhaps sleep with you, if you do not mind. But your bed is not so large.”
“Uh, it’s big enough,” Gina stuttered. “Really. There’s room…” The taller girl stopped as Dominika began giggling. “Okay, whatever,” Gina continued with a wry grin. “Just get into bed.”
Dominika obeyed, hopping under her host’s covers. Hail and rain began beating against the bedroom window.
Gina removed her robe, and stood naked once more. She reached into the closet and withdrew folded pajamas.
“No,” Dominika said.
Gina stared.
“Like that,” the blonde whispered.
A moment passed that seemed like forever. The brunette finally placed the pajamas back in the closet. She flipped the light switch down. The sound of the heavy weather against the windowpane echoed in the dark room.
Dominika felt Gina crawl into bed with her. “Hi,” the tall girl whispered.
In response, Dominika slid her body under her host’s, kissing the first thing she found: Gina’s arm. The Polish girl raised her hands and tried to pull Gina’s face toward hers. Their lips found each other; their kisses, soft at first, grew more urgent as hunger possessed both of them.
Suddenly, Gina pulled away. “Wait.”
Dominika gaped, speechless. Wait? Wait for what? Her eyes had adjusted to the dim room. She saw Gina, inches from her, naked. A small sheen of perspiration had covered the curvy strong body; the Italian-American girl’s breasts wobbled ever so slightly with her ragged breaths.
“Okay, premier: I really like you,” the host began. “The first moment I saw you, I thought I had to be careful, or else I would lose my heart to you in a second. I lose my heart really easily. I give it. I put up a good front, I’m a good actress, I come off as tough and strong and whatever, but it’s all a pose. I’m incredibly sensitive, and generous.”
“I know,” Dominika said. She reached to hold Gina’s hand.
“And that has hurt me, in the past,” the brunette continued. “I knew Annabelle and I were wrong together, from the start. But I had jumped in. And I swore if I ever got out of that relationship, I would put everything up front next time. There would be no misunderstandings. So, this will be an awkward conversation, but a necessary one.”