Scene Fourteen

"Whatever goes on in our lives in working our arses off in our jobs and helping out our friends, Friday night is somehow special in letting our hair down, right," Nikki observed as they drove home from work with the whole weekend to look forward to. The nights were starting to draw in a bit and leaves on the trees were turning brown but the weather was still sunny and warm.

"You mean, we need time for ourselves? Fancy going out to Chix?" Helen asked.

"That's the general idea. We've not been there lately."

On Friday evenings, they always flopped down on the living room sofa and cuddled up against each other to relax from the tiredness of the week's work. Though the best part of the evening, as always, was showering, this washed the harshness of the week's work through their systems and provided that erotic spicing of the pleasures of life which both women loved so much. Getting made up and dressed up gave them the chance to be whoever they wanted to be, especially as they passed through the emotional front door of 'Chix.' They always mentally stretched their limbs as they came to feel themselves as wholly real. It was as if the rest of the time, they felt that they had to be on their best behaviour as if for invisible parents. Of course, they were nicely settled into their jobs and felt comfortable but there was always something just that bit constrained in how they behaved. It wasn't as if they wanted to get drunk and become loud and boorish. All they wanted was that their skin fitted normally on them.

******

Trisha and Sally Anne greeted them in their own effusive fashion just at the point when the club was starting to fill up. Both women felt as if life was pulsing through them in time with the music, and that they were renewed.

"You look as if you'd always been here, Sally," Nikki generously praised her.

"I feel more confident than I ever thought I'd be. Trisha is good to work with if you don't mind me saying."

"Of course you can. You've every right to say so. You and Trisha look good together."

Nikki's knack of emotional honesty in words as clear as a mountain stream was very endearing to Sally-Anne. Nikki did feel that nostalgia for the times when she and Trisha were building up the club together from those first regulars who gave them some measure of loyalty and friendship. That belonged to another era to a person who was somehow other than the one who stood in her shoes. She wasn't one to consider that the grass was greener on the other side of the hill or the hill she had once stood on.

"I feel so much better. There's nothing like the love of a good woman."

"You're talking about me, naturally," Helen put in, mischievously pretending to be the center of attention. Her eyes were gleaming and her manner was excited and ready to party.

"You, sweetheart and every other woman who's been truly loved," Nikki said in a deeply affectionate tone of voice, gesturing to the dance floor, which was starting to fill up.

"So long you're not holding up the drinks, babes," came the pert reply, the soulful glance and the hand on Nikki's arm.

"I suppose you mean that I'm driving us home tonight? Well, I don't mind. I can party and still be stone cold sober," Nikki smiled affectionately, her hand sliding round Helen's waist. This was still the one place where the two women could feel free to be physically affectionate with each other. This was the fruit of her earlier labours, not only for Helen and herself but every like-minded woman. Trisha grinned in reply, nostalgic memories in her eyes and promptly served Helen a generous measure of vodka and lemonade and an orange for Nikki.

"Hey, that's just the way I like it, Trisha. Nikki always pours small measures at home."

"You two get out and enjoy yourselves, babes," called out Trisha.

The two women chattered away to each other while the sounds of the party music infused their moods and the flashing lights made each woman glow through the eyes of the other. Nikki's large brown soulful eyes exchanged images with Helen's sparkling green eyes. They treated themselves to the way that dark shadows sculptured out the contours of each other's faces, the lock of hair flicked over Helen's ear and Nikki's slightly boyish sideways parted fringe trailing over her forehead.

"Helen, Nikki. How lovely it is to see you both," called out a familiar elegant voice from behind them.

They turned round to see George and Alice approach them, hands linked in each other's. Both women opened their eyes wide in astonishment. Alice looked as good to the eye as she always had but George was a revelation. They had been used to seeing the blond haired woman in her courtroom attire of formal suits and white shirt. This time, she was wearing a glamorous low cut purple dress that flowed round her contours to her best advantage.

"Didn't know that female barristers could look as good as you're looking right now," joked Nikki.

"Thereby hangs a story, Nikki. I bought it just before I split up with my ex and he hadn't the slightest idea of how I looked in it. I got to realize before I met Alice that I was dressing up for me. Now that I've met my lover, I don't have to be narcissistic, well not as much," laughed George as she kissed the cheek of the taller woman affectionately. Alice was glowing and transcendent.

"George, you didn't waste any time in picking up one really good woman who deserves to be looked after and loved as she should be," Helen added softly. She could relate to George's situation so easily and the sheer joy that flowed between her and Alice.

"I don't know but some guardian angel pointed my feet in George's direction. As you might guess, we are an item, aren't we not, babes."

"Definitely, darling," drawled George.

The four women drifted out on the dance floor and celebrated their mutual existence. They felt on top of the world and felt at one with the music pumping out from the speakers in synch with the flickering lights. They danced away in an undulating wave of sensations and delighting on the little bodily twists and turns of their partners. On the dance floor, they could drink in the female beauty of their partners just as the other couples did.

*******

"So, you and Alice look as if you're having a whale of a time. I'm really glad for both of you," Helen said kindly to George as they took a rest.

"I can't believe how good this last month has felt. It's turned my life completely around. I mean, when I first came to this club, I didn't plan on seducing this extremely gorgeous woman who I clapped eyes upon. It was something that happened to me….and I'm so glad it did. The sex is just fantastic for a start," George replied in a breathless stream of words. Her skin positively glowed

"I couldn't disagree with that one," commented Helen with dry wit. "All the same, you're pretty remarkable in changing your course in life so drastically. From what I've heard from talking to other women, they go through a lot of soul searching, like I did. It's not like absorbing an intellectual proposition or trying on a different dress."

"I know what you're saying. Let's just say I hadn't got any ties at that time or anything to hold me back. I became receptive to the idea in seeing Trisha and Sally-Anne together when I was representing them. The time was right. The only fly in the ointment is in broach this with my daughter Charlie."

"That's something that's beyond my experience, George," Helen laughed. "Tell me more."

"She's at university, thinking she's terribly radical in getting involved with animal rights protests and I'm the ultra conservative power mad, money mad barrister. She's going to have a shock when she finds out what her mother has been doing behind her back."

"You mean she always thought you're stuck in your ways and you couldn't possibly understand her," laughed Helen understandingly. "Try telling her that she can't be oh so radical in one area of thinking and hidebound reactionary in another."

"It's a nice idea but you might be making the mistake of thinking logically. She's that age of morally having her cake and eating it."

"What about John's guiding parental hand?" Helen inquired.

"He doesn't know either."

"How does Alice feel about the situation?"

"She's been absolutely marvellous. She's offered to talk to both of them or stay in the background of any discussions. She's said that there's no need for them to be threatened. Neither of them would be losing me. Alice is one in a million. I'll tell you Helen, that if I had met a woman like her years ago, I would have become a lesbian then. Of course, making love with Alice is just out of this world," George said dreamily, the light of pure love in her eyes.

As she propped her hand in her chin and gazed upwards at the lights, she let them splash their multicoloured patterns into her eyes. She lazily thought that if her ex's political cronies heard her talking right then, they couldn't begin to frame the thoughts to describe her. She heard a crotchety, intolerant voice sounding rather like hers exclaim 'I wish in hell that, that troublemaking lesbian was still stuck in prison. We could all sleep easier in bed' she realized the voice was her own. She smiled to herself at that persona who was a million miles away from herself and let it pass.

"A penny for your thoughts, George."

"You can have them for free. I've been thinking that I've come a long way from the fearful woman who once sounded off about Nikki as a 'troublemaking lesbian.' The only good that came of it was that she put me very much in my place and it led me to where I am now, totally and romantically in love with Alice. So I'm now another 'troublemaking lesbian'. That feels really good."

"You're in the best possible company," Helen's voice told her warmly.

Suddenly, slim fingers softly caressed George's arm and passed onto her shoulders. A well-remembered kiss was softly planted on her cheek. It could be only one woman and it drew a blissful smile from George.

"Alice darling, Helen has been kindly reminding me why the best thing that happened to us was for you to move in. After all, there's little point in playacting and playing it cool."

"Hey, that's fantastic news," broke in Sally Anne enthusiastically from behind her." It only right that you share your lives."

George had that curious long ago feeling of when she was a little girl and wearing her birthday dress and being the center of attention at a party that was laid on for her. Everyone wished her well, including her proud parents and she was basking in the attention everyone was giving her. She clutched her presents to her and she had that same golden feeling within her. Here she was with those most priceless gifts of public approval. Nikki looked on approvingly while Trisha grinned with that sense of understanding. All these women were sensitive and intelligent and their approval of her meant the world to George. Alice placed herself on her lover's lap and wound herself round her. She placed George's face between her hands and kissed the blond woman whose hand lovingly caressed the dark haired woman's hip. This moment was sheer paradise.

******

Helen and Nikki looked on and were happy to immerse themselves in this communal celebration. They felt good about themselves to savour every passing pleasurable moment while their concern over Karen's misfortunes was put on the back burner. Tonight was the night to enjoy themselves and they didn't have to lay a guilt trip on themselves. Nikki knew for one that Yvonne would have told her not to be such a stupid cow in being miserable in solidarity action with them. They bloody deserved to enjoy themselves on the outside, as they'd deserved it. The time would come for the hard work and toil to start up again. Just as they felt the presence of these women smiling approval on them, they in turn blessed George and Alice's radiant happiness.