Thanks for the lovely feedback and the news that I'm not totally alone in here! It does help...honestly.
So...Naomi has the delicious Effy as her date tonight and, as improbable as Naomi thought it would be, we know that the even more delectable Emily Fitch is in da house. Sadly not looking forward to tonight quite so much. Still...things change.
Emily
I sat on the bed and stared at the blank wall for a bit after leaving the window. My first instinct, when I saw who it was in the back compound, was to bang on the glass to attract her attention. Luckily I didn't. I watched the whole scene play out with mounting anxiety. First Naomi walking to her bike and pulling off the grey cover, then her looking round the yard as if waiting for something.
Someone as it turned out. When the truck arrived and I saw the American Motorcycles logo on the doors, I got a real lift. If Naomi was sending the bike somewhere for repair, it meant not only was she in the same building as me, but was likely to stay here even if it was for just a couple of days, I have no idea what needs to be done to a Harley after several weeks of hard riding, but I guessed it wasn't a couple of hours job. So instead of obeying my instincts and either hammering on the window or (horror of horrors) opening it at the risk of inhaling this mornings rancid breakfast left overs, I waited.
Lucky for me as it turned out.
The slim grease monkey in overalls who jumped down from the cab slipped off an oil smudged baseball cap with the same logo as the truck and shook out a substantial mane of lustrous brown hair. Well...unless she was fresh off the set of the Aussie version of Sons of Anarchy, this was indeed the mechanic sent to collect the bike.
I watched the silent (to me anyway) interaction below with growing dismay. I might be late to this whole gay thing, but my gaydar is getting better every day. Right then it was howling like an air raid siren. Blue eyes fenced with blue eyes and I saw the smirk on the mechanics face when Naomi said something. I know flirting when I fucking see it. My heart hit my shoes.
The saner part of my brain told me not to be so defeatist. However mad Naomi had been at me for doubting her, I found it hard to believe she would move on to some random quite as quickly. She told me even just before she left, that she still had strong feelings for me. You can't just switch that off for the first pair of admittedly attractive blue eyes you come across, can you?
Apparently you can.
I saw the girl give Naomi some headed paperwork before they both manhandled the big beast up the ramp she had lowered from the trailer. Even though the girl looked slight of build, there was obviously considerable strength in that body. I hated her for that already. No doubt Naomi would look at her and compare it with my own recent fragility in the face of danger. This girl didn't look the backing down sort at all. Bitch.
One nil to the beautiful stranger.
The icing on the cake was the final conversation I observed. Not that I could hear a thing through the double glazing, but the talking was more animated and less businesslike and as the girl mechanic leaned out of her truck window, I saw Naomi's eyed widen at what she'd said. Then my ex turned away towards the building as the diesel truck crunched through the gravel in a tight turn, heading for the exit gates.
Naomi's face was flushed and excited. The sick feeling in my stomach grew as she looked carefully at the folded paper in her hand and a sly grin spread over her face.
I didn't need a map to understand what had just happened. Naomi had been hit on...and it didn't look like she was struggling much. Fucking great, I thought...just what I need...beautiful competition.
XXX
Naomi
Well...that was a nice surprise I thought, as I went back up to my room to stash the invoice and pick up some cash. A date, no less.
My conscience pricked me several times as I waited for the lift. Emily Fitch was still very much on my mind, but who knew where she was now? She could be home already, or right across the city making eyes at some stranger too. Either way I had to try to forget those magnetic brown eyes. Or at least try to.
I stared at the reflection of myself in the brushed aluminium of the inside of the lift doors as it shot upwards to the top floor. Maybe a bit of personal grooming required Campbell I grimaced, as I took in my road worn hair and pale complexion. Days spent behind the carbon fibre helmet hadn't done much for my tan and even though I'm not naturally a make up princess, I could do with some improvements I guess.
Specially as I have a hot date tonight?
The pangs of regret over breaking up with Emily mixed queasily with anticipation about tonight. This Effy Stonem girl was a bit of an enigma. Dressed like a boy, but with startling strength in those slim arms. That mane of lustrous hair hidden under the greasy baseball cap. Not to mention those eyes...fuck they were hypnotic. If Emily's are deep and beautiful (which they definitely are) Effy's were all knowing...piercing...as if she could see exactly what I was thinking. Thank God that's not actually possible, considering the random erotic thoughts which riffed through my head as I watched her efficiently securing the Harley to the trailer. Guilt at being so quickly distracted by a pretty face (and arse Naomi...) competed with growing excitement at meeting someone so obviously interested in me on my first morning in Perth.
Oh...and that last comment?
Put out? My God… no stranger had ever been as forward as that with me, even back home in the dark recesses of an anonymous club. Drunk and horny, I'm as susceptible to a promise of imminent sex as anyone else. But with that casual throw away line, I was instantly hot for her. I knew I'd have to watch this one carefully. As well as being stupidly sexy, she had danger written all over her. Which of course only increased her fascination for me.
By the time the doors hissed open, I'd formulated a rough plan. My resources might be dwindling, but the Y was relatively cheap for a city centre room. I knew my mum would be good for another few hundred dollars if I got desperate, so I decided to go for broke.
Half an hour later I was walking into a hairdressers. An hour after that, I was walking back out with my hair freshly cut and styled...and back to the subtly highlighted blonde I used to prefer back in Inverleigh. Gone were the dark roots. I liked it shortish now anyway, so a shower before I went out tonight wouldn't do too much damage if I used a shower cap. Next stop were a couple of little boutique fashion shops near the Y. Effy had said dress to impress? Which was a worry to me. I've never been exactly the clothes horse type. At home it was more tight jeans or leggings with a tee or button up shirt over. Being known as the local muff muncher meant no one was surprised if I dressed a bit meh anyway. But tonight had to be different, right?
Those two words 'put out' rang loud and clear in my head. This Effy creature was more or less guaranteeing me a shag if I made an effort. Again I got a severe twinge of regret that I wasn't shopping to impress a small brunette any more. But Emily was who knows where...what's a healthy gay girl all alone in the big city gonna do when offered 'it' on a plate by a beautiful stranger? I swallowed my doubts.
So, after another hour of foot slogging and enduring the sideways glances of over made up sales assistants, I emerged into the lunchtime heat of a Perth summers day with three bags of goodies.
Two pretty v neck tops, a very short summer skirt and a pair of dress up heels. The tops were tighter than I usually wear, but I needed back up...because also in the bag was the most expensive item I'd bought. I found it in a second hand shop off the main street. It was a Warehouse floral jaquard shift dress in a pretty silver and blue leaf pattern. Short, so it showed off my best assets and sleeveless too. I hummed and hawed for a bit before buying it...apart from the $80 price tag, it was also higher in the neck than I normally wear, but I decided to get it anyway. Another woman was eyeing it hungrily as I held it in my hands, obviously ready to grab if I put it back on the hanger. So I shook my head at my own indecisiveness and tried it on.
Staring at myself in the tiny changing room mirror, I knew it was exactly what I wanted, Revealing without being slutty and sexy without overkill. Perfect. And one long and easily accessible zip down the back (shut up I chided my libido)… I decided there and then that tonight was definitely a bra free zone too. Time to let the girls do their job and reel this Effy in…?
All I needed to finish off was a small blue clutch bag...something I swore back in Inverleigh never to own... before I walked back to the Y with my shopping bags swinging from my hand.
Operation 'new life' was on…
XXX
Emily
After an hour, the blank wall opposite the bed was getting a bit samey. I sighed deeply and turned over in my mind the prospect of probably never getting Naomi back. Something I had deliberately made myself refuse to acknowledge previously. Perhaps there really was nothing left to save now? Maybe that short and intense affair on the road was something I needed to put into some sort of perspective now she was gone? Maybe I was just a pleasant diversion for her after all on that epic road trip. We'd reached the destination we'd both wanted. It was just that instead of enjoying it together, we were going to do it apart now?
My stomach felt sick at the finality of that reality.
So with that bleak last thought echoing in my head before I got my arse up off the bed, I decided there and then to actually do something instead of waiting for life to happen to me. If Naomi had moved on so smoothly, so easily...maybe I should too?
I checked my savings book balance and set my jaw in what I hoped was a determined way. Time to look after myself for a change. I think a nice haircut, a few new clothes and a night out in the big city. There was a tourist guide on the bedside table and I picked it up before I left the room. Lunch I think...somewhere better than the roadhouses I had got used to lately...and a read up on the hot spots for gay girls in Perth. Perhaps it isn't only Naomi who can attract gorgeous locals…?
XXX
Sitting in a nice riverside cafe with a large Mocha and a croissant after two hours shopping, my feet ached like a bitch but mission had very much been accomplished. New clothes, new hair style...gone were the long brown tresses, replaced with a slightly butch bob and vivid red colouring. Looking at myself in the stylists mirror I hardly recognised the old Emily. I got some expensive blue skinnies, three new tops and a cute waist length leather jacket with zips and studs all over it. It cost me over $300 but I just couldn't resist it. I might be a weak and feeble jelly inside, but just trying it on, with my new boyish hairstyle and even an old tee underneath, I looked like a proper tough little dyke, if I say so myself. The girl in the boutique definitely gave me the once over as I twirled in front of the mirror. Not my type at all actually, but the obvious interest did wonders for my frail confidence.
Having read the city guide, I was pleased to see that the Court bar (apparently the classy gay bar) wasn't far from the Y. I could have gone for a louder, more club type place, but as a newbie, I wasn't about to go full out first proper night here. Even back home, when I'd been to clubs with Katie in the nearest big town to us...the memories of all that spilled beer, clumsy chat up lines and bruises on my arse from the pinching still echoed. OK, maybe a gay club wasn't as full on as the sort of dives Katie insisted we go to pull guys, but lets just say I fancied a quieter, gentler introduction to my new choice of nightlife. If it turned out to be shit, I could just leave and be back in my room in a few minutes.
As it turned out, the whole 'walk in a gay bar on my own, discretely crapping myself' scenario I frightened myself with while I was out shopping wasn't gonna happen anyway. No...I wasn't as lucky as Naomi had been, being hit on by a hot girl right off, but I did get chatting to another girl in the lobby while I was waiting for the lift. I might have only been on the first floor, but my feet were aching enough for me to ignore the stairs.
Lucky for me as it turned out.
Shreya, her name was. Obviously Asian heritage...but with a strong West Australian accent, so I guessed she was born here, even if her parents were from Mumbai or Hyderabad. She was just saying goodbye to a skinny long haired guy in garish Bermuda shorts and a 'Fuck Trump' red baseball cap as the lift doors opened. Not a romantic goodbye by the looks of it. More a 'nice to have met you mate' sort of thing. She smiled at me as I started to move past them into the elevator and after the guy had walked off, came back in to join me.
"Good shopping trip?" she said pleasantly, watching me struggle with the multiple bags. I shrugged and gave her a weary smile.
"New image required actually...new city, so new shoes, new clothes...new haircut" I grinned back. It was nice just to shoot the breeze with someone friendly. After this morning with Naomi and the snobbish shop girls, I was well overdue some genuine human interaction.
She reached over and took two of the bags from my cramped hand.
"Here...let me give you a hand...My names Shreya…?"
I let her take the bags...its not as if I was likely to get mugged in the lift in the Y, is it? The girl was about the same height as me but even slighter in build. Her hair was black and shiny, falling over her shoulders in soft waves. Deep brown eyes regarded me as I gave her the once over. She was very pretty in that way that young Indian girls are...you know, all smooth coppery skin and brilliantly white teeth. Still, she was the first person I'd met here who actually looked into my eyes when she spoke, so I relaxed and nodded.
"I'm only on the first floor...but to be honest, I'm a bit knackered...I think my legs have given out?"
She chuckled again and I relaxed a bit more.
"So, err…?" she said, arching a curious eyebrow. I realised I hadn't told her my name yet and flushed with embarrassment.
"Oh...uh yeah...sorry. Emily?...Emily Fitch...late of the most boring town in Victoria...hoping that Perth is a hell of lot more exciting?"
Shreya grinned again and I decided I could quite happily see that expression a lot more in future. Even though common sense told me she was a: probably straight and b: not in the least bit interested in me that way anyway.
The lift hummed efficiently up to the first floor and she exited it with me.
"Your floor too?" I said as we walked towards my room at the back of the building.
"Nope...4th floor actually...but its hardly a biggie helping you with the bags Emily Fitch of Boringtown Victoria?"
We shared a giggler this time. I started to relax for the first time since I'd been the unwilling spectator to the little vignette in the back yard this morning.
It seemed downright unfriendly not to invite her in for a coffee...which luckily I had covered. The rooms had all the basics, like a kettle and hair-dryer, so I fished out the small jar of good quality instant I had in my bag and made us a cup each.
By the time we'd drunk it and were sitting by the window (still closed as a precaution against the kitchen stench) I'd found out quite a bit about her.
She was Indian in heritage, but not from the subcontinent. Instead, her parents were Ugandan Asians, part of the thousands who were deported to Britain back in the 60's. They'd been children at the time, but the families were friends and inevitably, once they were teenagers, they'd got closer and in the end married. Both families were called Patel...which is a bit like Smith is in the west...pretty common. Anyway, they took an assisted passage boat to Oz, like hundreds of thousands of other Brits in the 70's and Shreya was born in Australia, the third child of their marriage. They lived in a small place called Bunbury, some miles south of the city, where they had a grocery and tobacconist shop. So far, so predictable I guess.
Shreya said life in Bunbury was boring, provincial and stifling, so we had that in common right off. I told her about my upbringing in Victoria, my bossy twin and overbearing mother. We shared a wry smile at the similarities. I left out the personal bits about how I met Naomi, but I sort of sketched out the way I got here in broad terms. However lonely I was feeling, I wasn't ready yet to blurt it all out to a stranger, however nice.
I could see she realised there was a lot more to the story, but she didn't press and I was grateful for that. I did let on I was gay though...part of my determination not to fall back into my old ways, hiding who I was to just fit in. Shreya just shrugged and carried on talking. I breathed an internal sigh of relief that she was so accepting. Back home that confession, however fleeting, would have produced shock and disbelief, followed quickly by social isolation.
Anyway...after another shared coffee, I was feeling much better about the whole Perth situation. True, Naomi was as far from me as she'd ever been...given that it looked like she had a hot date tonight at the very least. But I'd made a friend (she didn't say anything about her own sexuality and I didn't ask) and that was something. If she was straight...well, that was cool as well. I needed someone to just be normal with me at the moment. Being all alone in the big city was a bit daunting, however much I kidded myself with the new look Emily.
We agreed to meet up later that evening...have a few drinks in the town. She'd been in Perth for a month, working part time in the building next door's cafeteria, waiting tables, so she had a good idea where the best places to go were. The 'gay' thing didn't get mentioned again, so I shelved my idea of going to the Court bar straight off. Maybe a pleasant evening just chatting with another human being would be better than trying quite so hard to be a newbie first night here?
Once she'd left, I busied myself by using the new pay as you go phone I'd got this morning to key in the contacts I actually wanted to keep. I knew at some stage I would have to speak to Katie again. Whatever our differences, I was sure that she'd be worried about me being all alone here. I decided to just send her a bland text for the time being. Safer all round. Then I sat with the phone in my hand deciding whether to put Naomi's number in the new handset at all. I hovered over the save button for a good few minutes before pressing it. My head said no, but eventually my heart won out... this time. I wasn't sure if it would be quite so easy to keep it if I found out Naomi was seeing this other girl more than once…?
XXX
Naomi
Anticipation mixed with a definite twinge of guilt was my primary mood as the can pulled up in front of the motorbike shop. It was definitely a bigger operation that I'd expected. I'd imagined some back street shed with a showroom next to it, but the squat black and yellow building was quite impressive and looked well established. I got out of the cab and paid the driver. As it was after closing time, the showroom was in relative darkness, apart from the spotlighted new bikes in the windows. Electra Glides, bobtails and Road Kings like my own stood in all their shiny glory. I took a moment to compile a mental wish list. You know, like everyone does when they're confronted by all that glittering and expensive machinery.
Which is when, just when I gave a little sigh and reminded myself that I wasn't here to ogle new Harleys but to go on a date, there was a gentle cough from over my shoulder.
I spun round, knowing who it would be. I just had time to enjoy the thought that someone had obviously been watching for my arrival before my breath was taken away by the sight in front of me. Gone was the cute grease monkey of this morning. Instead, flowing brown hair unrestricted by baseball cap and overalls gone, stood one Effy Stonem.
She was wearing a dress...well...something like a dress. Gossamer thin silver and almost see through, I couldn't stop my eyes drinking in those subtle curves clearly visible under the delicate material. Honestly...if that dress didn't say 'fuck me' loud and clear then I'm not a lesbian at all.
I looked up in time to see the smirk on her face widen for a moment before she spoke.
"You look...quite lovely Naomi" she said quietly. I swallowed hard. Lovely is one thing…
"Thanks" I said, my throat dry and scratchy. God...if this is whet she looks like clothed, I'm a goner, I thought feverishly. Treacherously, my recent guilt pangs about moving on from Emily quite so easily were fading fast. I tried a smile, which I'm sure came across as forced as it felt.
"Err...yeah...you too...you look..." I floundered, trying to come up with words to describe the creature oozing sex in front of me. It wasn't like when I was with Emily...not at all. With her the feelings went way deeper, effortlessly sexy as she could be. But on a purely animal lust level, I was being hooked like a fish and I knew it.
Effy smirked again. In anyone else it could have been annoying, but right then I was ready to forgive her just about anything.
"Fuckable…?" she finished for me, leaving me with an open mouth to complete the landed fish image. "...well, we could skip the whole night out thing and proceed straight to the main course…?" she said in a low voice "...but that would be a bit of a shame. I want to show you off to my friends before...well before we find out if you're as delicious as you look?"
I closed my mouth with a snap and just stared at her. Straight to the point again then.
"Look I….I..." I started, trying desperately to get this conversation above our waist level, but she just waved my protest away.
"Why waste words, Naomi?..." she said, slipping her hand in mine, making me shiver at the contact of her cool skin "...you want it...I want it...I don't see the point in pretending this is gonna end up any other way than both of us naked on my bed..but now lets go party...I have plans for tonight I think you'll like...a lot"
I found myself being led by the hand round the building to a parking area where what looked like a crimson vintage Dodge Charger was standing, engine idling. In the drivers seat was a guy a couple of years older than us. Same blue eyes and intense stare as my date. Call me intuitive, but I reckon this was Effy's brother. His eyes gave me the full once over and he whistled then grinned at the girl holding my hand.
"Niiice..." he said "...my sister has impeccable taste. Ladies, your cab awaits..."
I looked questioningly at Effy.
"Its OK Naomi...Tony's just giving us a lift into the city. He has his own hot date tonight...right Tone?"
The guy grinned.
"You bet, little sister.." Tony smirked. An expression I was getting uncomfortably used to lately.
I walked towards the open passenger door, wondering what tonight would bring….curiouser and curiouser as Alice said.
XXX
OK, thats that. Later this week we get the full story of the date nights. Comments as always, very welcome!