It was 7:02pm when Judy heard the front door open and Jen returned from her date. She had been texting a bit until Judy had told her she was being rude to Gregor.

Judy was unfortunately just as sexually frustrated now as she had been when Jen left due to a near mortifying incident that involved Charlie and the guesthouse. Judy was going to have to tell Jen about it and figure something out, but first she had to hear about Jen's date.

"So? Tell me everything? Are you in love?" Judy propped her chin on her fist at the kitchen counter as Jen fumbled in the fridge for a bottle of Chardonnay.

She paused and turned to glare at Judy. "He kept calling me "Starbuck" and he brought a Battlestar Galatica game to the restaurant, but it took nearly the whole time for him to explain the show so we didn't get to play." Jen said sarcastically.

"Oh damn, but Starbuck is really hot; that's a compliment," Judy assured her.

"He's a super nerd and his only personal training client is his mom, but I'm sure he would do well with the ladies at ComicCon. He's just not my type. And Applebees? Oh, I hate Applebees. I was on my third Dollar drink by the time I figured out that Battlestar Galatica is about Robots fighting humans in space."

"Cylons, actually," Judy corrected her. Jen gave her a look. "What? It's an amazing show."

"Hmm, I know it's like 7pm, but my leg is killing me and I just want to lay down, do you think we could go upstairs and cuddle for a couple hours?" Jen asked like it was totally normal thing to do after a bad date.

"Oh, sure. I just need to clean up the kitchen. Why don't you go on up, and I think we need to talk a little bit about something uh, private so... yeah." Judy turned away so Jen couldn't see the ridiculous blush that had bloomed on her face. She squeezed her eyes shut.

Jen just stared after her, and Judy heard the clink of another bottle of wine and the hitch of her breath in worry, "Okay, don't be too long."

...

Judy's throat was super dry by the time she got upstairs to the bedroom, and Jen was already changed and under the covers. She paced at the foot of the bed and rubbed her hands together, and then worried that made things look worse than they were.

"Jude, you okay? What's going on? What do you need to talk about?" Jen was sitting up and clutching her wine glass with both hands.

Judy's voice was tight and she was stalling, "Oh, so I take it you're not going to see Gregor again, but are you thinking about more dates in general?"

"Uh, no, come on."

"Okay... um.. Charlie almost caught me masturbating tonight."

"How?" Jen shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"How? Um..."

"I mean what? Why? M-more context please," she spun her hand in a circle to signal Judy to explain.

"I can't do it here, in our bed... so I went to the guesthouse/art studio and I was totally under the covers... I didn't think that the boys would come in there, but I was just trying to get some privacy because I'm so fucking horny and I needed to.., well, Charlie just walked in looking for something, and ..." Judy swallowed and looked up at Jen.

"And? What did he see?"

"Uh, I was under the covers on the bed and was like quiet and he apologized and said he didn't realize I was trying to nap out there," Judy shrugged.

"So he didn't see anything?" Jen asked cautiously, but Judy could tell she was picturing something morbid or obscene. She had the same weird blank look on her face that she wore back when they were showering together and Judy started to feel tears prickling at her eyes.

"No, but I feel so bad...and like you never seem to need to have um..." Judy clamped her mouth shut.

"Judy don't be upset... no harm, no foul. Right? That's what we said. Come here." Jen sat her wine down and opened her arms and Judy gladly crawled onto the bed and into the waiting comfort.

"I think Charlie went in the guesthouse because he knows I moved up here and didn't expect me to be sleeping in there, but I didn't feel right uh doing that in here," Judy said softly and implored Jen to give a response. She needed something by way of a acknowledgement or inkling of understanding. That's what Judy was realizing she wanted from Jen. While it was great that she was invited in the house and she was welcomed into the master bedroom, there were a few pieces of the puzzle that were missing.

The deeper they both got into their relationship with each other, the harder it would be to explain it to others and what if Jen did want to date a dude and bring him home for the night? Would she kick Judy out of her own bed. Things would just be so much easier if Jen was into Judy sexually. They were already practically married (all out of order in typical Judy fashion) but God, if all this cuddling and showering and flirting were sexual, Judy could only imagine it would be mind blowing.

Judy had been so lost in her own thoughts and the feeling of Jen's arms wrapped around her shoulders protectively she hadn't realized how long they'd been sitting in silence until Jen spoke.

"Um Judy, I'm sorry. I didn't think about your needs and that was uh...a major oversight. So if you need more privacy to take care of your," Jen coughed and then choked before continuing, "um, excuse me, needs. Um, well, obviously you don't have to hang a sock on the doorknob or anything, but like you can do that in the bed and I can just go downstairs or you know I don't mind if you..." she choked again.

Judy unwrapped herself from her grasp and got up to get her a glass of water from the bathroom. Jen could barely look at her and her face was beat red.

"I'm sorry, this is so embarrassing." Judy pleaded. "Forget it Jen, I'm fine.. okay?"

"No, Judy, it's... I want you to be happy and you have every right to touch yourself in your own home."

"Oh God, Jen. This is... just awkward." Judy sat on her knees and blushed bright red. She wished she'd never said anything. She would have kept it in house (so to speak) but really it was untenable. She was so horny all the time.

"Judy, just let me say this, cause it's not easy for me to talk about sex stuff..."

"I know."

"Um, if you want to masturbate and don't mind, you can just do it and I will pretend not to notice, okay?"

"Right next to you?" Judy leaned forward to clarify what Jen was saying.

"Yeah, if it helps you feel um... comfortable. I'm fine with it," Jen said in the most clearly-not-fine-with-it tone ever.

Judy tucked her chin and tried to process this turn of events. "So do you want me to like announce it and give you a head's up, or like just start and let you catch on to what's goin' on beneath the sheets? Or maybe you'd like a play by play- um, a narration?"

Jen was fucking squirming in bed now, "Again, like I said, Jude, I love you and I want your needs to be satisfied so whatever you need, I am here for you."

"Wow, now that's a friend," Judy laughed and crawled under the covers. There was no way Jen was serious though and no way that Judy was actually so brazen that she'd run her clit and fuck herself senseless with her best friend in bed with her. Judy had spent time at a homeless shelter for teens when she really couldn't go home and one of the boys there masturbated in the cot next to her and it was fucking gross and traumatizing. She couldn't do that to Jen.

"So did you kiss Gregor?" Judy asked out of nowhere as her mind wandered subject to subject, this time wandering to subject of kissing Jen.

"Yeah, it was yuck." Jen admitted without beating around the bush.

"Did he move in on you or did you kiss him?"

"Are you kidding? I kissed him, he wouldn't have made a move if we'd waited a million years. I was in conquering mode and like you said this was just to prove to myself that I could dominate." Jen laughed.

"I said that?" Judy winced at how Jen had interpreted her online dating idea in such a Jen fashion.

"I didn't like the kiss," Jen admitted sadly. "I wasn't attracted to Gregor."

"I know," Judy said as if it was obvious. Had Jen really missed the point of this dating experiment?

"I think I have a lot of um... repressed stuff going on in that department Judy," Jen turned her head to look Judy in the eye for the first time since the conversation began and then she started crying.

"Oh, honey, hey, it's okay that's you're not into Gregor and he probably kissed like a fish or something. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you," Judy instinctively wrapped Jen up in her arms.

"Life is short and I want more out of it, after the accident...God why can't we just..." Jen was crying harder, and having trouble with her words as it was often the case when she became this emotional.

"It's sorry," Judy apologized automatically. She needed to stop doing that.

"Judy, there is something wrong with me, like why don't I masturbate?" Jen sobbed and it would be comical if she didn't sound so desperate.

"You're still healing and trauma... you might throw your back out," Judy wagered as she rubbed Jen's back to comfort her.

"Even before the accident, I just blank out - if my body gets worked up I just run or listen to metal and let my rage out and eventually I don't feel the need to touch myself anymore."

"It's on purpose then?"

"I'm repressed, remember? Since Ted wouldn't and even that one time with Ben... which was like close, but I was practically blackout drunk and then I cried and kicked him out... and all I could think about was fucking Steve and why fucking Steve? Cause you fucked Steve and I..."

"Let's not get so upset about it, it's not really something you can control, and everyone is just different. Don't overthink it, Jen," Judy stroked Jen's cheeks to whisk the tears away.

"I'm a fucking mess, Jude."

"No, no, no," Judy rocked her sweetly. "But maybe you're right about being a bit repressed. We could go to a Yoni workshop and peel back the layers of your intimate flower; get you two reacquainted. Ooh, I know a lady up in Irvine, she's very good," Judy said in excitement.

Jen shook her head and Judy knew that was not happening. She got quiet for a minute and then asked, "How come you like men and women? How did you know?"