The last thing Patty was expecting to hear at 11pm, an hour before Hurricane Gordon was forecast to hit New York City, was Perry calling from the foyer to tell her that Ellen was downstairs. She had just finished dinner – by herself, as usual. Catherine was fast asleep; she was still exhausted thanks to her medication and with any luck she would sleep right through the hurricane. Patty doubted that there would be much disturbance anyway. The media always over-hyped these things.
"Thanks, Perry. Send her up."
She pushed the empty bowl of Pasta to the side, checked her watch again, glanced towards the rain stained windows and picked up her phone. She had missed a text from Ellen fifteen minutes beforehand:
"Patty, on way to your apt. Hope you don't mind? Just want to drop something off."
Patty did not mind. In fact, she was bored out of her mind and if she was honest with herself, a bit lonely. She could do with Ellen's company for a while, but with the timing that was in it, she expected her to stay only a few minutes. She would probably want to head off home to avoid the worsening weather.
"Ellen, come in. I'm just finishing dinner. I didn't see your message. Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, everything is fine. I've been preparing for Erickson's deposition for days and you said you'd take a look at my notes when I was done. I know, it's really bad timing but if-"
"I'll take a look at it. So, how is it out there?"
"Pretty crazy, actually. Streets are empty. Wind is getting worse by the minute, so I shouldn't stay long."
"Well, you're welcome to a quick drink before you go, if you want."
"Um, yeah, why not."
Of course, there were plenty of reasons "why not"; the primary reason being that in about 40 minutes a hurricane would likely tip the banks of the Hudson, flood parts of lower Manhattan and down trees along the streets; but it wasn't often that they were given the opportunity to blame a hurricane for Ellen's lingering presence in the apartment, and Patty for one was going to make use of that opportunity. She poured two glasses of bourbon and sat down at the dining table beside a window overlooking lower Manhattan.
It had been two weeks since Bill Herndon had walked into Patty's office to find her sitting beside Ellen on her couch, peering into Ellen's laptop and laughing; so close that it appeared from where Bill was standing that something less than innocent had been going on. Of course, nothing had been going on. That is, unless you count the ever-intensifying sexual tension, which was nothing new.
Six years had passed since Patty had first hired Ellen and despite sexual chemistry that tipped the charts and numerous opportunities to do something about it, they never had. They had spent far too long being preoccupied by their sadomasochistic mind games and their love hate relationship to ever consider complicating things any further by adding sex to the agenda. It had never been referenced, implied or suggested in any form that the tension even existed. They were experts at hiding it if necessary, but anyone with half a brain could see that there was something going on behind their innocent façade.
Bill had startled the women as he barrelled into the room, lunged forward and parked himself on the armchair in front of the couch they were sitting on.
"Sorry to interrupt the marital bliss over here but I have something for you."
Marital Bliss. Those were the exact words he used and the awkward moment which followed was undeniable. Patty looked at Ellen, who in turn looked back down at her laptop almost immediately. Since then, things in the office had been tenser than usual.
Ellen sat down, took her glass from Patty and stared out the window. It was a comfortable silence but then again, that was largely due to the fact that they had spent six years perfecting the art of sitting beside each other, drinking, sometimes fully drunk, and restraining themselves, no matter how desperately they wanted not to.
After a few moments, she stood up and walked to the window without saying a word. She watched the rain for a couple of minutes before Patty spoke.
"Have you eaten? There's some pasta in the kitchen if you're hungry."
"I'm fine, I ate earlier. Thanks."
It was moments like these that Ellen wondered why she felt so drawn to this place. She had forgiven Patty. She felt comfortable in the apartment again. She would almost go as far as saying that she trusted the woman - almost. It made little sense to her but she felt it every day – every time that Patty looked at her, the guilt was visible on her face. She looked at Ellen as though she may never see her again, every single day. It was difficult to read Patty Hewes, but Ellen was a pro. She could read the slightest hint of sadness, regret, fear, even momentary spurts of happiness. Patty was so accomplished at hiding her emotions that they appeared and disappeared from her face quicker than the most sophisticated subliminal messaging, and faster than the speediest of micro-expressions. What she loved about Ellen was her ability to read those micro-expressions so well, that whether she liked it or not, Ellen could penetrate those walls she had built so high around her. Ellen knew more about this woman than any other human being ever had – and it allowed her to forgive what would otherwise have been an unforgiveable act.
Patty stood and walked toward the window. She came to a halt a few of inches to the right of Ellen. The storm was gathering strength and she watched Ellen as she stared out the window, intrigued.
Jesus. The therapist would have a field day with this.
Patty was losing herself in thoughts of coming clean to her therapist before their eight sessions ran out. It could be an excuse to keep seeing him. He would insist. And she would reluctantly give in, but secretly she would be more than willing to continue their sessions.
Ellen broke her train of thought.
"It's crazy, isn't it?"
"What is?"
"A storm like this, I mean - in the City. Crazy, the things that happen that you never imagined could. It's just, I don't know, strange."
Patty had a feeling that Ellen was referring to more than the storm and was about to respond when out of nowhere, the branch of a tree hit the window with such force, that the glass shook. Ellen jumped to her right, her natural instinct being to move toward the person standing next to her for protection, as a sound close to a scream escaped her. The storm had done Patty's job for her. Nothing Patty could have said in that moment would have had the effect that the branch had – and if it took a hurricane to get Ellen close to her, then so be it.
It happened within a split second. Just as Ellen had instinctively jumped to her right, Patty had instinctively reached her arm out and wrapped it around Ellen's back, pulling Ellen into her, almost as if she was protecting a child. The moment would have provided its fill of awkwardness had Patty let go of Ellen then and there, but for some reason she was shocked to find that she still hadn't let go even seconds later. More shocking still, was that Ellen had made no attempt to pull away. There they were; standing, rain crashing against the window, hurricane howling outside, Patty's arms around Ellen.
How the fuck did this happen, Ellen thought.
She noticed the slightest shake in Patty's hands, but was distracted by her own heartbeat and convinced herself that Patty could hear it, loud and clear. Surreal was not the word for this moment. In fact, a quick mental scan of her extensive vocabulary and Ellen concluded that there was in fact no word to describe how she was feeling in that moment.
Ellen, you cannot kiss her. Are you fucking crazy? This is bullshit. Just, back away.
But Ellen couldn't listen to her own logic and it turned out that she didn't need to. Patty had already made that decision for them. Ellen felt a soft kiss on her right cheek and a whisper in her ear.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm-"
Still, Ellen had no words.
Fuck it.
She leaned forward and this time kissed Patty on the lips, the scent and taste of bourbon still lingering on this woman, as they usually were, come evening. Patty kissed back. It was polite and cordial, at first. Both were unsure of themselves and what was expected, what was too far or not far enough, but it didn't take long for that to pass. Ellen became frustrated by the lack of passion. It wasn't natural. There was so much fiery passion between these two women that it was almost dangerous. No, not almost dangerous. It was dangerous. On more than one occasion that had proved beyond reasonable doubt to be the case, and it's what kept them going, kept them addicted to each other.
Ellen stopped abruptly.
"Patty. If we're going to do this, we might as well do it right."
"Meaning what exactly?"
"Meaning, for some screwed up fucking reason, I want this to happen and I don't want to waste any more time being polite about it. I-"
"Well then. What are you waiting for?"
Ellen took a step forward and began unbuttoning Patty's blouse, almost frantically, right there in front of the window. She opened Patty's silk blouse to reveal a black laced bra, beautifully soft skin, and an almost completely flat stomach.
Ellen cupped her hands over Patty's chest and squeezed gently before running her fingers playfully down Patty's abdomen, her touch so light that it made Patty flinch and laugh a little. Patty was not used to being touched like that, and as such, her skin was extremely sensitive.
Ellen reached the waistline of Patty's skirt and reached from there to grab hold of Patty's left hand. They walked through the apartment, up the stairs and into Patty's bedroom. The last time Ellen had been in this room it had been in less than friendly circumstances – and this time, as it happened, it was in more than friendly circumstances.
They reached the end of the bed and Ellen pushed Patty down on it. She noticed Patty was about to kick off her stiletto heels.
"No. Leave them on."
"Why?"
"Why? Because you look incredibly fucking sexy in them. That's why."
Patty laughed.
"Alright then."
"Lie back."
Patty lay back, knees bent at the edge of the bed, shoes still touching the floor. Ellen stood between her legs, pushed Patty's skirt up around her waist and inched her legs apart a little more, before kneeling down between them. She could feel Patty lift her head to look down at the scene before her, possibly slightly uncomfortable about what Ellen was planning.
"Patty, it's okay, just relax. Let someone else be in control for a second."
"Ellen, I haven't-"
"I know, neither have I. But you're a woman. And I know you. I think I know more about what you need than any man ever has."
Patty needed no further convincing. She lay back, noticeably relaxed and let Ellen do exactly what she wanted. She was beginning to enjoy Ellen's youthful confidence more than she ever had. It was that feisty little twinkle of confidence in Ellen's eye that she loved so much.
Ellen began gently kissing the inside of Patty's thighs. She knew that it would drive her crazy but she was in no mood to have this over and done with. She wanted to enjoy every second. Slowly she moved her mouth over the silky underwear covering Patty and kissed gently over the material before pushing it aside and brushing her tongue of the soft, wet skin underneath. Patty involuntarily moaned and arched her back.
Okay, enough teasing.
She ran her hands from the bottom of Patty's legs right to the top, and then climbed onto the bed, lowering herself over Patty, leaning down to kiss her – leaving one hand in place between Patty's legs. It didn't take long.
"Jesus Christ, Ellen"
And just like that, six years of waiting had come to the most pleasurable climax they could have imagined. Ellen climbed onto the bed and lay beside Patty, amused and satisfied by her own obvious talents.
"Where the hell did you learn to do that?"
"Clearly I just have the right instincts, Patty."
"Clearly you do."
"And there's plenty more where that came from."
"Glad to hear it."
The two women smiled at each other. They had every intention of getting up to continue but within minutes, they had fallen asleep beside each other.
Eight hours later Patty's phone rang and startled her. She jumped up and answered immediately.
"Yeah. Yeah I'll be later than usual this morning. Yeah. Thanks."
She lay back down and noticed that Ellen had woken and was staring at her. Only when she looked at Ellen did she realize that prior to waking she had had her arm around Ellen – for God knows how many hours. Shit. That was more than sex.
"Maggie?"
"Yeah."
"What time is it?"
"8am. I don't think I've slept nearly eight hours since I was in high school."
Ellen laughed.
"See, I'm pretty useful to have around."
"Oh, I know you are. Now, get a move on."
"Why?"
Patty smirked at Ellen, walked out of the room, leaned her head back around the door frame and answered:
"Because you're late for work."