Chapter 14
Caroline struggled to get the key in the door.
"Kate darling, will you stop groping me for one minute? You can have all of me once we're inside."
"Hmm, I've never had sex outside; let's have a quickie right here, right now," Kate drawled. At the restaurant she had the majority of the Prosecco as Caroline was driving. Both were in good spirits; over their three course meal they'd spoken and agreed on the small things that often came between them and led to misunderstandings.
Caroline promised to take a harder line with John and not let him use seeing Lawrence as an excuse to pitch up whenever he wanted. Kate admitted that she could be more supportive and less ready to jump to the wrong conclusions where arrangements with John were concerned.
Throughout the time in the restaurant the women were very affectionate with each other. Caroline didn't notice or care if anyone saw them holding hands across the table, or when she frequently leaned forward to plant soft kisses on her wife's luscious lips.
Kate, slowly getting merrier by the second, couldn't take her eyes off Caroline's cleavage in the low cut royal blue dress she wore. On more than one occasion she threatened to sit next to her wife and quickly 'cop a feel of the puppies on show'.
In the Jeep on the way home, Kate's hands never left Caroline's thighs; between gear changes Caroline lifted the soft brown fingers up to her lips for a kiss.
It was only when she pulled up on the gravel drive in front of the green BMW that Caroline remembered John was inside with Lawrence. Still, nothing was going to spoil her evening. She couldn't wait to get inside and do what she'd been wanting to do all evening; make love to her gorgeous wife.
The women both fell into the hallway and each other's arms. They exchanged strong passionate kisses, tongues fighting each other for dominance.
"Caroline, Caroline, listen," Kate slurred whilst struggling to unzip the blonde's dress. "I want you to take me upstairs and fuck my brains out, then I want you to make slow and sensuous love to me. Do you think you can do that?"
"Of course my love, I'll do anything you want. That's just as easy as breathing." Caroline backed her wife up against the banisters and murmured into her ear, "You go up, I'll just grab a glass of water."
Kate deliberately swung her hips from side to side as she climbed the stairs, aware that Caroline's eyes were glued to her behind.
"Oh you tease, I want you naked and in bed when I get up," she commanded. Kate smiled at the wink that accompanied the order and blew her wife a kiss signalling her compliance.
John sat in the lounge listening to the two women kissing and fondling. 'Bloody dyke,' he thought, 'it should be me upstairs waiting to make love to my wife, not that lesbian marriage wrecker.'
His hands, balled into fists, were pushed deep in the pockets of his green corduroy trousers while he paced up and down the lounge. Mimicking the two women, he whined, "I want you naked in bed, take me upstairs and fuck my brains out. Bitches!"
Not watching where he was stomping, he stood on the TV remote and turned his ankle. What he also didn't notice because he was too busy cursing, whilst rubbing his foot, was his ex-wife standing in the door way. Caroline didn't know what peed her off most; the state of the lounge, John still being in her house, or his pathetic jealousy fuelled ramblings.
"What are you still doing here? Where's Lawrence?"
"Caroline! I, I, didn't see you there; hello darling, have a good evening did you?" The man went from bitter ex-husband to grovelling smarm in a flash.
Her blue eyes pierced his; she was fuming. She looked around at the state of the room assessing the damage before marching into the kitchen, knowing full well what to expect but still dreading it anyway.
She glanced from right to left at the devastation. Not one surface in the kitchen was visible. Dirty pans occupied all five hobs, pasta sauce pebble-dashed the walls and spaghetti littered the floor. Empty tubes of Pringles, popcorn packets and chocolates flowed out of the bin; beer cans and a couple of empty wine bottles filled the kitchen sink.
A rage like no other flowed through Caroline's body. It took every ounce of strength and discipline to compose herself and say calmly but with icy-coldness through gritted teeth, "Get the hell out of my house."
John, as ever oblivious to why Caroline could ever possibly be upset, replied, "What, can't I have a coffee in my own house before I go? I'll help you tidy up if you want."
"If you are still standing here in the next five seconds, John, I will not be responsible for my actions. GET OUT!"
Upstairs Kate thought she heard something so wrapped her dressing gown around her warm, naked body and went downstairs just in time to see John, hunch-shouldered as ever, slinking out of the front door.
"Oh my gosh! Look at the state of this place. What the hell happened?"
"What always happens when that useless prat of an ex-husband of mine is around: bloody chaos. Look at the state of my kitchen!"
Blue eyes darkened with rage, while brown eyes remained calm. Kate stood alongside Caroline and linked arms, "He's gone; we can tidy up in the morning. Let's just go to bed my love."
"Kate, have you ever known me to go to bed and leave my kitchen in such a state?" Caroline asked, her blonde's locks falling to one side as her head tilted.
"No I haven't but, look, we've had a wonderful evening, let's not let 'the prat' spoil it for us. Come upstairs, I'll take your mind off all this." On the one hand Kate knew that she couldn't stop Caroline's obsessive compulsion to have a spotless kitchen but she was determined to end the night sexually satisfied, not cleaning bloody pots.
"Caroline, you can't tell me you're going to turn down all this?" She undid the tie on her dressing gown releasing the silk material which slithered down her shoulders. She shifted her weight onto one leg and the gown continued its journey, gliding slowly over her buttocks. She could smell the arousal that had been increasing in intensity all evening.
"What would you rather be doing?" she asked, moving in front of her wife to give her a better view of what was on offer. Caroline's eyes automatically shot from Kate's come-to-bed stare to the equally enticing fine brown breasts, finally resting on the triangle of soft black hair lying in the valley between her hips.
Both knew that it was a no-contest situation. Eyes re-locked. As if choreographed their finger-tips found each other's, heads moved forwards and foreheads touched while a small but obvious distance remained between their bodies. Each head rotated until lips gained contact, gently and reverently, like wisps of the wind.
Kate was almost instantly sobered by the awesomeness of their connection. "John isn't the only one to have realised his loss tonight. Zeus is also aware that his power has been well and truly broken."
Kate and Caroline were instantly transported to their first non-professional conversation. Two years previously, as a consequence of Caroline agreeing to do some lecturing for Manchester University, the school had been fortunate to be loaned some paintings from the Whitworth Gallery.
Kate had been mesmerised by one particular work of art and spent every available free moment lost in the wonder of its beauty and challenge. It was there one evening, quite late, that she had been disturbed by Caroline walking through the assembly hall.
"Good evening, Kate. You're here late. Not that I blame you. We'll only have the collection for a short period of time."
"Yes, thanks to you. You are a real inspiration. The school is lucky to have you."
"Kind of you to say, but the long and the short of it is that I consider myself lucky to have the school. It's been my saviour." Caroline instantly regretted her openness and honesty. What had made her say that?
Since starting at the school five years previously Kate had not spoken to Caroline about anything apart from school related issues. She knew from other, more long-standing, members of staff, that Caroline was a closed book on her personal life and she was too taken aback by the frankness of the conversation to follow up on what Caroline might have meant before the Head spoke again.
"What's this particular painting that seems to have taken your interest? I know it is something to do with Zeus but I'm otherwise clueless." Change the subject, Caroline, move the focus away from yourself, was her thinking.
"Yes, indeed, it's Zeus. Greek Mythology said that humans were originally created with four arms and legs and a head with two faces. Zeus was, supposedly, scared of their power and split each person in two. The end result of that is that humans were condemned to spend the rest of their lives searching for their other halves. This painting is about the awe that would be felt if those two halves ever found each other again.
Plato said that it would be like being lost in amazement at the connection of love and friendship. In this day and age I guess we would say that it would be like finding our soul mate. Look at the connection mirrored in the eyes of the two in the picture. Oh, what it must be like to find that person and feel whole. I'd give anything for that."
Kate was now the one to regret her frankness. Caroline reached out her hand to briefly touch Kate's elbow.
"Sounds like we both need to drown our sorrows. Fancy a small glass of something?"
Then as quickly as they silently recalled the start of their first evening together they were back in the present moment. The truthfulness of the myth was evident in reality. They did not need any discussion to know where their individual thoughts had been.
"I've not thought of that moment again until now. It's true, Kate. That love, friendship and intimacy is ours. We really are two halves of a whole. Wow. No wonder Zeus was scared of the power generated. Let's go to bed and express that unity."
And they did.