ii.
It's always odd, being a Superintendent at a party. Julie floats between tables, chatting to everyone and anyone - she knows all their faces, and she is generally good with names - but she never stays in one place too long. She's forever conscious of the fact that she's One of The Bosses, and she knows how she'd be if Karen Zalinski were here - never quite able to relax. So she moves around, sits with this group for twenty minutes and that one for thirty, and drifts back to the bar in between.
She's almost finished having a pint with some of the lads from her old nick at Duke Street - who know Gill from her brief stint as a sergeant, before she was offered the crime faculty job - when a pair of hands slide around her head and cover her eyes.
Recovering from the surprise, Julie barks a laugh. "That better not be you, Richardson. God knows where your hands have been."
The blokes at the table laugh, and one of them says: "Younger. Much younger. Barely even a copper!" A sliver of light appears between two of the fingers as whoever's got their hands over Julie's eyes attempts to give the speaker a two-finger salute without taking them away. There's laughter at the table, and a few of them try to give her clues that she barely even hears over the mirth. Julie tries to work out which of her youngest subordinates has the balls to be so familiar, then one of the lads says, "Cor, but he doesn't half look like the both of 'em, does he?", and the penny drops.
"Sammy?"
The hands drop away and Julie lets her head fall back, finds him grinning down at her. "Hiya," he says.
"Hiya, kid." Julie smiles, twisting in her seat and rising to give him a hug. "Didn't know you were coming tonight!"
Sammy returns the hug and it's quick but fierce - it's been way too long since Julie last saw him, which was late on the night of his engagement party, after Julie finally, finally got away from the grilling Karen Zalinski gave her and the incident reports she had to file. They hadn't talked long that night, either - Julie had been far too preoccupied with her need to see Gill.
"We can't stay long," Sammy says as he pulls away. "We've just been at Orla's Mum's 50th, and I've got a mate who's having a 21st tonight, too, but we wanted to look in." He gestures across the room to where Orla is having an animated conversation with Gill.
"You driving?" Julie asks, as she fishes her nearly empty pint off the table and drains it.
"Nah," Sammy says, grinning. "It's Orla's turn. I had to carry her home last weekend."
"Well," she claps him on the shoulder, "you can buy me a drink, then. Cheers, lads." Julie salutes them with her empty glass.
She doesn't, of course, actually make Sammy buy the drinks. By the time they make it to the bar, her money is already in her hand. "About time for another shot, I think," she says to him. "What do you reckon?"
"Tequila?" Sammy answers, looking hopeful, and Julie laughs.
"Sounds good. With a beer chaser?" She arches a brow at him.
"Have I ever told you I love you?" He bats his eyelashes at her.
Julie elbows him. "Oh, give over, you daft twat." They fall in behind a few other people waiting for drinks.
"So, how was the 50th?" Julie asks. "You get on all right with your in-laws to be?"
"Yeah," Sammy nods, smiling. "Orla's mum is great, and I finally beat her step-dad at pool tonight, so hurray for that. They're good, yeah. Her dad's re-married too, so between the two of us that makes Christmas a bit hectic, and I don't know how it's going to go at the wedding - we'll have to figure something out unless we want a high table that stretches for miles, but yeah. They're cool."
"Glad to hear it," Julie says. "Good to know that Orla understands that family can be...complicated, too."
Sammy laughs. "Yeah, she does at that." He glances around. "What about here? Is it just the usual, any excuse for coppers to get pissed is a good one, or...?"
"Yeah, mostly," Julie says, as the people ahead of them receive their drinks and clear off, leaving Julie and Sammy to take their places at the bar. "Nothing dramatic or gossip-worthy just yet. Janet gave a nice speech, earlier. Pity you missed it."
Sammy laughs. "Oh, I got the highlights when I went to say hello to Mum. From, er, that one." He points to where Mary is laughing drunkenly with Lee Broadhurst. "Who's she, again?"
"Scary Mary Jackson," Julie says. She doesn't much like the nickname, mostly because it's usually used behind Mary's back, but on this occasion she deigns to use it, purely because 'Scary Mary' is infamous enough for Sammy to have heard of.
It has the desired effect. Sammy's mouth drops open. "She's never!" he exclaims. "She grabbed my bum! Right after she finished telling me that Mum used to have hair down to there."
Julie throws her head back and laughs. "Daft bitch," she replies, once she's recovered. "Suppose it's been a while since she felt a warm one."
"I clenched it for her and all," Sammy says, a blush rising in his cheeks.
"Well, you're in now. Your first autopsy will be a doddle. Mary never forgets anything." Julie laughs again.
The barman reaches them and takes their order, and they watch as he prepares two shots of tequila and serves them with lemon wedges and a salt shaker, then picks up two pint glasses and heads for the taps.
"Is it true?" Sammy asks, as he sprinkles salt between his forefinger and thumb and then passes the shaker to her. "Did Mum really have hair that long? I don't remember that."
"Well, you wouldn't," Julie says, licking her own hand before she sprinkles it with salt. "She cut it off when you were only a few months old - it was too much work, I think, with a new baby." Julie slips the lemon wedge between her fingers, carefully balancing the salt, then passes Sammy his.
"Oh, well now I feel bad," he says, as they pick up their shot glasses.
"Don't," Julie says, smiling. "I don't think she ever looked back." She lifts her glass. "Cheers."
"Cheers," Sammy grins, then, licking the salt off their hands, they tip their heads back and down their shots. It's burning and tart - revolting really, Julie's never much liked the taste of tequila - but the salt and the lemon make it bearable, and it leaves her with quite a pleasant buzz.
They discard their lemon rinds and shot glasses, and Julie gives her head a shake. "God, that's so bad it's good," she says, and gratefully picks up her pint, which is now waiting.
"Right?" Sammy agrees, grabbing his. "Hey, have you met Orla properly? Don't think I got the chance to introduce you at our engagement."
"I haven't," Julie says, "but your Mum's told me all about her."
"Good," Sammy says, "because I've told her all about my Cool Gay Auntie, too."
Julie laughs. "I hope I can live up to that," she says, and follows him through the crowd. As they move, though, Julie licks salt off her bottom lip and remembers a time when she had a mouth full of it, back when Gill still had hair down to her bum.
ooOoo
It was 1987, a few weeks since Gill had received her placement at Bolton CID, only six months behind Julie's placement at South Manchester. Two days earlier, she'd been on the phone to Julie, telling her about the fancy dinner reservations her boyfriend of two years, Jack, had made for their Friday night.
"He says he wants us to celebrate my promotion properly," Gill had said, voice breathier and more excited than any posh dinner had ever warranted. "Slap, I think he's going to propose."
Julie had made the appropriate encouraging noises, even though she didn't think much of marriage as an institution, personally. She knew that was what Gill wanted out of life - the whole package of career and husband and family - so she was genuinely happy for her that it looked like that was the way things were going.
Only they weren't, it turned out. At ten o'clock on Friday night, Julie's doorbell rang. When she rose from the settee to answer it, she found Gill outside, all fancied up in a wine-red dress, hair curled and pinned back in a twist, a few artfully arranged ringlets falling around a face that was now streaked with tears.
"He didn't propose," was the first thing she said.
"Oh, love," Julie replied, but she didn't have the chance to get another word out, because Gill was flinging herself forward into her arms.
Julie hugged her, fiercely, curling herself around Gill's body and turning them away from the door, shouldering it closed and then just standing there, rubbing Gill's back and murmuring sympathetic noises as Gill buried her face in Julie's jumper and shook with a fresh bout of tears.
"Come on, now," Julie murmured, once the sobbing subsided. "You didn't really want to marry a bloke called Jack, did you? Imagine listening to those hill and pail-of-water jokes for the rest of your life, hey? That would have been a fucking arse."
She felt Gill laugh against her chest, and then Gill lifted her head, red-eyed and sniffling but composed.
"I'm all right," she said after a moment, offering a fragile smile, "I just didn't want to be alone."
"Well, come on," Julie said, giving Gill's shoulder a nudge, "I've got a big glass of wine with your name on it."
She waited until Gill nodded and pulled away, and they made their way into the kitchen.
"So," Julie said, as she poured wine into two rather large glasses, "do we have to burn him in effigy? He didn't take you out to dump you, did he?"
Gill was leaning against the counter. "No," she said, with a sigh. "He really did just want to celebrate. But between each course I was kind of...waiting, I suppose, but then we finished pudding, and he called the waiter over and just...asked for the bill. He could tell I was upset, when we left, and asked me what was wrong, so I told him. Turns out we just weren't on the same page at all."
Julie grimaced sympathetically and picked up the wine glasses, holding one out for Gill. "What did he say?" she asked.
Gill glanced at the wine glass in Julie's hand but didn't take it, gave a brittle little laugh. "You know, this is going to sound mad, me coming here and throwing myself at you and all, but I don't know if I really want to talk about it."
"Okay," Julie said, nodding. "We'll see if we can find something funny on telly then, hey?" Julie stretched the wine glass out further. "Come on, before my hand drops off!"
"Will you take it in? I just want to go and wash my face."
"Oh, right." Julie pulled her hand back. "Course."
Gill vanished off to the bathroom and Julie padded into the living room, set the wine glasses on the coffee table and turned the TV on, flicking through the channels to find something appropriately mindless.
This was pure Gill, here tonight, wanting comfort but saying she was fine, crying but not wanting to talk about it. Julie was more bemused that Gill thought Julie would think her 'mad' for voicing it, be in any way surprised by that, than she was by the statement itself.
Julie found a sitcom rerun - Kate and Allie, somewhat appropriate - settled down onto the settee and picked up her wine. No, she was more than used to Gill being a ball of contradictions - quite liked it, in fact, that Gill was comfortable being that way with her, trusted her enough to be the one she came to when she couldn't quite articulate the sort of care she needed.
Gill reappeared in the doorway, pink-faced with her makeup and mascara streaks washed away. Somehow, the lack made her look smaller, younger, vulnerable. She came over and curled up on the settee beside Julie, picking the glass of wine up off the table and taking a hearty sip. "Thanks, Slap," she murmured.
Julie just smiled at her.
And so they watched a sitcom about two women sharing the burdens of living, then the terrible cop show that played after it. Julie wasn't quite sure how much Gill's mind was occupied by it, but they took the piss out of the procedure well enough. When Gill had drained her wine, she shifted in her seat and snuggled into Julie's side. Julie let her arm fall down off the back of the settee to curl around Gill, and they were silent.
It was nearly midnight by the time the show finished, and Julie had felt her head drop a few times. A comfortable seat and a warm body - Gill was always warm, like a little oven - curled up against you would do that.
Gill lifted her head as the credits rolled. "Can I stay here tonight?"
Julie smiled at her. "Course you can. Spare bed's made, and I can dig out an old t-shirt for you to sleep in." They didn't move immediately, but after a few minutes Julie rolled her shoulders to shake off the drowsiness. "Come on," she said, and they disentangled themselves and rose to their feet.
Upstairs, Gill hovered in the doorway of Julie's bedroom while Julie found an appropriately threadbare t-shirt for her - soft and well-worn. She grabbed a spare dressing gown from the drawer, too, and only realised as she handed both items to Gill that she'd seen her wrapped in that gown once before, after the night they'd...
"Thanks," Gill said, taking the bundle of fabric from Julie's hands and tugging her away from the thought.
"There's, ah," and for a moment Julie struggled to find words, too distracted by the memory that was flitting through her brain. "There's towels in the cupboard on your left, as you head for the bathroom. If you need one." Julie had only bought this place a few months ago; Gill had never stayed over before.
"Okay," Gill said, looking somewhat bemused, clearly not realising the reason for Julie's sudden distraction. "Goodnight, then."
"Night," Julie said, offering a smile, trying not to look like such a knob.
Gill disappeared down the hall and Julie closed her bedroom door, tugging her jumper off and giving it a quick inspection before tossing it onto the chair in the corner that was already heaped with clothes that were worn but clean enough to wear again. The top underneath she tossed into the hamper, and her trousers ended up rumpled on the chair as well. She removed her underwear and slipped into her pyjamas, trying not to think about the night that had ended with Gill wrapped in her dressing gown and failing spectacularly.
For the last two years, it had been easy not to think about it. A few months after that night, Julie had met a woman called Helen and they'd done the whole intense lesbians thing, ended up living together with a dog in under a year. Julie had put the deposit on this place with Helen in mind, but things had fallen apart before the settlement date - Julie was never home, spent too long at the pub when her workday was done, all that sort of thing. Helen had got custody of the dog and Julie had moved into her newly-bought house alone. She didn't mind, really - perhaps she'd not been ready to settle down and hadn't been honest enough about it - but being single again certainly gave her more room to be flustered by Gill, which was unproductive at best.
Julie had just brushed her teeth and was emerging from her bathroom when there was a gentle tap at her door.
"Slap?" called Gill's voice quietly. "You still up?"
"Yeah," Julie responded, "come in."
The door clicked open. Gill wasn't wearing the gown, but Julie wasn't sure if that was better or worse, all told. The t-shirt Julie had given her hung loose on her frame, but not nearly as loose as a man's would have. Her shape was still visible beneath the fabric, and while it did hang long enough to cover her backside, it only barely did. Julie took all this in in the time it took Gill to move through the door, then pushed it from her mind a moment later, focusing instead on Gill's face, on her hair still in that complicated updo, a few tangled strands pulled loose on one side.
"Slap, will you help me with this? I went to the hairdresser to have it done, and I can't see properly in your mirror, and there's no hairbrush in your bathroom, and I'm making a mess of myself." Her eyes were large, like she was trying not to burst into tears again.
"Well, I'm sorry my facilities aren't up to standard, your majesty," Julie quipped, trying to make Gill smile. When she didn't, just looked more spooked than ever, Julie changed tack quickly. "Of course. C'mere." She plucked her hairbrush off her dresser, crossed the room and prodded her pillows into shape. When she'd settled onto the bed cross-legged, she patted the spot in front of her. "Been ages since I've done this - since I moved out of home, probably." Julie was the eldest of four girls, so she had plenty of experience playing with hair, but it had definitely been a while.
Gill offered a weak smile as she came to join Julie on the bed, settling in with her bum against Julie's feet. Julie felt the rasp of lace against her skin as the t-shirt rode up - the fancy knickers Gill had no doubt put on expecting quite a different ending to the night.
Julie let her fingers fall against Gill's shoulder. "This is quite a job," she said, studying the elaborate construction of the twist in Gill's hair. "They did it beautifully."
"Mm," Gill murmured, "I'm always really happy, where I go. Pity it didn't make any difference."
Julie made a sympathetic noise and gave Gill's shoulder a squeeze, then let go and went to work unravelling the hairdo, sliding pins out one by one. Gill's hair was thick and fine, silky against Julie's fingertips as she released the twist from where it was pinned against Gill's skull. It came away in a heavy rope and Julie untwined it, threading her fingers through to find the pins hiding inside.
"He said I'm too much," Gill murmured into the silence, almost to herself. Julie stayed silent, kept up the motions, untwisting this strand and that, sliding out pins, waiting for Gill to continue. Eventually, she did. "He said I'm too intense, too focussed on things - my job, the future, everything. Said he couldn't keep up with me, couldn't keep trying to."
Julie raked her fingers back through Gill's hair, feeling for any remaining pins. "That's really shit," she murmured.
"It's not the first time someone's said that to me," Gill whispered. "I've always been like this. When I was little, girls used to tell me I was too bossy and they'd go and make friends with someone else. I lost one of my closest high school friends over a stupid project we were supposed to do together, that she just slacked off on and expected me to do."
Satisfied that she'd got all the pins out, Julie picked the hairbrush up off the bed and lifted the ends of Gill's hair, running it through to dislodge any tangles she'd made pulling out the style. "Some people are just..." she said, then smiled wryly. "It's a good thing we weren't at school together. I was the worst student, bunked off all the time, total waste of my parents' money. If it wasn't horses or music, I didn't give a shit about it."
Gill's shoulders gave a shrug as she snorted. "Funny how you meet some people exactly when you need to," she said.
"Mm," Julie agreed, then they fell silent again, Julie moving higher with the brush and stroking down, taking her time, toying with the puffy little strands that had been curled especially and so fluffed up when brushed out.
Gill made an appreciative noise. "That feels nice," she murmured, letting her head fall back. Julie reached up to her temples, smoothing the little face-framing curls back with her fingers then catching them with the brush, feeling Gill's skin twitch under her touch. The tangles were well out, now, but Julie kept up the motions, rather enjoying the whole experience. Gill's hair was long enough that the ends of it were tickling Julie's feet, and brushed out like this it smelled faintly sweet, like milk and honey.
"It's a pattern, you know," Gill said, "with me. Too bossy, too demanding, too much. I just, I don't know how to be anyone else, and what if it's…" Her voiced cracked. "What if it's always too much for people? What if I never..." She cut herself off, breathing sharp and ragged.
Gill's words hit Julie like a blow. Her heart answered with a pang, because all of that was just a little too close to home. She remembered going through a similar cycle of ultimately unhelpful and self-defeating thoughts, after Helen: who would ever want to commit, long-term, to a woman who who considered her job her first priority? Helen had called her an abrasive workaholic, in the end, and Julie knew the latter was true, and the former also accurate, at least sometimes. Julie was forthright, blunt and opinionated, and not particularly ashamed of it, so no matter how much she tried, that was never likely to change. Altogether, that had made her a bad fit with Helen, and of course, in her darker moments, it made her completely unlovable, destined to be alone forever. Apparently, all that was rawer than she'd thought. The irony that she and Gill - so similar, in many respects, both strong-willed and passionate and driven - were sitting here having this conversation did not escape her, either. They were perfect for each other, except for the part where Gill was straight, or at least straight enough to not want a relationship with another woman.
Julie couldn't help thinking, though, that even if a relationship was never going to happen, they could still be of some comfort to each other. That she would be all right with that, just this once.
"I don't think you're too much," she whispered, and before she could think any more about it, leaned forward and pressed a kiss against Gill's shoulder.
Immediately, Gill tensed up, and Julie pulled away. "I'm sorry," she said. "Is that a bad idea?" She toyed with the ends of Gill's hair.
Gill took a deep breath, sounding rattled. "I don't know," she said. "Isn't it? We said we shouldn't, you said, after last time."
"I know. But it's a woman's prerogative to change her mind?" She smiled, even though Gill couldn't see it.
"I haven't," Gill said. "Not about where I stand."
"I know," Julie murmured, twining a strand of Gill's hair around her index finger. "And I'm okay with that, tonight at least. I mean, on this occasion, not in the way that I'll regret tomorrow."
"On this occasion." Gill snorted, and the tension went out of her shoulders. "Posh bitch."
Julie smiled, and chanced a touch, laying her hand on Gill's hip. "Well, now you're just provoking me," she said, sliding her hand around to rest against Gill's stomach when she met no resistance. "Say things like that and I'm almost contractually obliged to kiss you, just to shut you up." She gathered all that hair up into her fist and laid it over Gill's left shoulder, trailing her fingers down the long tail and feeling the back of her hand brush against the side of Gill's breast.
Gill leaned into the touch, or perhaps that was just incidental, shifting to the side so she could look back over her shoulder at Julie. "You sure?" she asked, searching Julie's face.
"Yeah," Julie murmured, smiling crookedly. "If you are."
In answer, Gill arched back toward Julie, turning her head even further until Julie leaned in and met her in the middle. Julie's eyes fluttered closed as their lips touched, brushing right past tentative to a languid exploration, feeling out the familiarity and the difference, since last time. Julie's fingers curled against Gill's stomach and her other hand stroked Gill's arm, and Gill made a little noise into Julie's mouth and nipped at her bottom lip.
"Mm," Gill murmured as they broke apart, eyelashes fluttering, "this is a much better note to end the night on. Fuck men."
"Well, no," Julie replied, nuzzling her face against Gill's cheek and trailing lips along her jawline. "That would be missing the point entirely."
Gill laughed, reached a hand back to rest on Julie's knee, and canted her head to allow Julie's mouth better access to her throat, which Julie took full advantage of. Close up, she could smell traces of Gill's perfume on her skin - something woody and floral, nymph-like, and she murmured her approval even as she caught a faint, bitter taste of it and moved her mouth lower to bypass the spot. Meeting the edge of the t-shirt, she nudged it away with her chin just enough to suck on that fleshy spot where Gill's neck met her shoulder, nipping it lightly before she lifted her head again.
"I think I want to spoil you tonight," Julie whispered in Gill's ear, before shifting back on the bed slightly so she could wriggle her legs out from behind Gill and stretch them out either side of her. That done, she wrapped her arm around Gill's middle again and tugged her close, so that her back could rest against Julie's body. "How does that sound?"
Gill laughed, settling back against Julie and using her knees as armrests, fingers idly trailing over Julie's shins. "Permission to be selfish? What am I, a princess?"
"Queen," Julie answered, without missing a beat. She nibbled at Gill's ear. "I crown you pillow queen for the night."
Gill's head turned toward her. "Is that a rule?" she asked, dropping the laughter.
Julie paused her nuzzling, considered. She was surprised that Gill even remembered what that was - the conversation they'd had once about stone butches and femmes and all the different words lesbians had for talking about and exploring their sexual identities had been ages ago, and had occurred in the pub. "Not specifically?" she answered, after a moment. "But I want to take care of you, wear you out, so I hope you won't object." She slipped her fingers beneath the t-shirt and felt Gill's abdomen quiver under her touch.
"Why on earth would I object?" Gill asked, voice breathy, dropping her head back against Julie's shoulder and arching into her touch. Julie hoped that was a rhetorical question, because her mouth immediately occupied itself with kissing Gill's throat again.
Taking care. That was what this night was about, wasn't it? Gill trusted Julie to be the one she came to when she couldn't quite define what she needed, and Julie would give it to her, whatever it turned out be. Tonight, that need was quite clearly a comforting touch, as well as a kind of mental oblivion; Julie could provide both.
She slid her left hand around Gill's waist to join the other underneath her shirt, and together they traced lines over Gill's skin, fluttering up and down her sides and drawing circles on her belly. Julie wrote her full name out with her finger, liking the way the loops and whorls made Gill's skin twitch, then using her bellybutton to dot the 'i'. She kept her mouth moving against Gill's throat and watched her in profile, enjoying the sight of the blush rising in her cheeks.
When both of Julie's hands slid up to cup Gill's breasts, Julie felt the moan vibrate through Gill's throat before she heard it. Gill turned her head, then, mouth finding Julie's again. This time, there was nothing languid in her kiss. It was hot and demanding, and Gill's fingers curled around Julie's ankles as she stretched her head further back to devour Julie's mouth. Julie rolled her thumbs over Gill's nipples; Gill groaned against her lips.
"I think I like being the queen," she whispered as their lips parted, mouths hovering close. "Queens are allowed to be demanding."
"Mm, they are," Julie replied, keeping up the light motions of her fingers until Gill started to squirm. "But don't forget that the monarchy is largely a symbolic institution these days." She grinned and kissed the edge of Gill's mouth. "The queen can demand all she wants, but the people will do whatever they please." She rolled Gill's nipples between her thumb and forefinger for emphasis, pinching lightly.
Gill whined and arched her head back against Julie's shoulder. "Think I preferred the days of absolute power."
Julie chuckled and nipped Gill's earlobe. "Now, where's the fun in that?"
She gave over a few moments later, though, as soon as Gill's whining and squirming grew just a little too frustrated. With one hand splayed out against Gill's breastbone, holding her close, she slipped the other down over stomach again, feeling her way down, running a finger over the waistband of Gill's knickers before bypassing them completely to trace patterns on her thighs instead, first with the tips of fingers and then with her blunt nails, smirking as Gill groaned and spread her legs wide, hooking her ankles over Julie's feet.
Gill twisted her head against Julie's shoulder until her lips found the underside of Julie's chin. "You're a cruel woman," she murmured, pressing hot little kisses there. "Horrid."
"I've barely even gotten started," Julie whispered in response. She slid two fingers along the edges of Gill's knickers, right at the apex of her thighs, and Gill arched her hips up off the bed, trying to make contact with Julie's palm. Smirking, Julie pulled her hand away completely, then brought it down in a quick sharp slap.
"Fuck!" Gill cried, jerking upright so quickly that her head butted Julie's chin. Blinking, Julie laughed, and a moment later Gill collapsed back against her, laughing too. "Bloody hell, Slap," she gasped, then realised what she'd said and laughed again. The laughter cut off abruptly when Julie's hand finally lowered to cup her mound.
"God, Gill," Julie whispered, feeling how wet she was. Heat radiated off her, and those lacy knickers were all but soaked through. Julie teased a finger over her through the fabric and Gill trembled in her arms, and the strength of that reaction filled Julie up with powerful, satisfying pleasure. She brought her mouth down onto Gill's throat again, trying to convey in her kiss just how glorious it felt to have made Gill so molten hot, but it just wasn't an accurate enough form of communication.
Gill's hips were rolling in little circles on the bed, pushing herself up against Julie's hand. Julie allowed it for a time, giving up her palm for grinding, squeezing gently in response, but then she nipped Gill's throat and lifted her head again.
"I want to put my tongue in you," she breathed in Gill's ear. "Want to taste you. Will you let me?" As soon as she'd said it, Julie cringed inwardly. The words sounded ridiculous to her, like a bad romance novel, even if they did accurately describe Julie's desire - what she'd wanted to do ever since the first time she'd got her hands on Gill.
If Gill noticed the wording, she was far too far gone to mock it. "God yes," she whispered, pushing herself up against Julie's fingers one last time.
They manouvered. It was a little complicated, as tangled as they were, and Gill was hardly clear-headed, but Julie managed to guide her into a comfortable position without too much trouble - head on the pillow with all that hair spread out behind her, looking like a wild goddess with her cheeks flushed pink. Julie tugged her knickers off - something Gill was all too willing to assist with - then nudged her knees apart and crawled between her legs.
Much to Gill's chagrin, Julie didn't dive right in. She tugged at the t-shirt first, rucking it up over Gill's stomach and pressing kisses there, in the hollow beneath her ribcage, then down to her tiny rounded belly. Gill's protests were inarticulate, spoken in groans and whimpers and writhing, but Julie read them well enough. She lifted her head just long enough to throw Gill a grin that felt feral on her face.
She kissed Gill's hip, finding the jut of bone and working down from there, mouthing her way along a thigh and licking at that sensitive skin. She gripped Gill behind the knees and spread her wider, switching to the opposite leg and giving that attention too, sucking kisses and the gentlest of bites, just to vary the sensation. She could smell Gill as she worked her way up, musky and earthy and wet, and she longed to taste her, feeling rather desperate herself, but she forced herself to draw it out. By the time she dragged her tongue along the apex of thigh, Gill was trembling with need. Her back was arched off the bed, her entire body strung tight as a bow. Julie breathed a gust of warm air against her sex, and even that made her jerk. Time enough, Julie thought. With a hum, she lowered her mouth to Gill's cunt and kissed her deeply.
She felt Gill turn boneless, every muscle in her body sagging in relief as Julie licked her. She tasted salty and warm, and Julie devoured her, not letting up now she'd started, wanting to draw her tight again and send her flying into oblivion. Gill's whimpers turned to moans, throaty and raw, and Julie marvelled at it - she'd not been nearly this vocal last time. Her fingers found their way into Julie's hair and fisted in it, tugging her closer, and Julie felt the strain of Gill's thighs as she held them open to give herself unlimited access. She sucked and licked and fucked with her tongue, gave Gill everything she had, and when she felt Gill's body going taut again, felt her muscles quiver and heard her voice falter, she fastened her lips around Gill's clit and sucked, slipping a hand up to slide two fingers inside her. Her hair fell across her eyes as Gill buried a second hand in it, and then she was crying out and shaking and her fingernails were digging into Julie's scalp.
Julie let her fingers slide away once the quivering eased, smoothing her tongue over Gill's wet while she lay twitching. She trailed her hand up to cup Gill's hip, holding her the only way she could. She looked up for a moment, up at the sight of Gill's breasts heaving underneath the bunched up t-shirt, at her head arched back against the pillow. Her thighs still twitched, and Julie wondered. With a smile, she lowered her head again, lathing the flat of her tongue over Gill's slit, curling around her clitoris and sucking gently. Gill murmured in a confused sort of way, but then her thighs gave a jerk and she shouted "Oh!" as a second climax shuddered through her body.
"I wasn't sure if you could do that," Julie murmured, once the tremors faded away.
One of Gill's hands had fallen, limp, onto the duvet. The other carded weakly through Julie's hair. It took her some time to respond. "I didn't know… I never have before."
"Hm," Julie murmured, smiling, kissing Gill's thigh, the thought warming her whole body through. "Think I'm quite proud of myself, then." She lifted her head, caught Gill's smile. Her eyes were still closed but her lips twisted up in amusement.
"Cocky bitch," she murmured.
Julie chuckled, pushed herself up to sit. "Suitably worn out?" she asked.
Gill cracked her eyes open; they were warm and sated. "Yeah, completely. Hope that's okay."
Julie smiled. "I said, didn't I? I don't say things I don't mean."
"Can I sleep with you?" Gill asked, sounding lazy and hopeful.
Julie laughed. "Of course you can, you dozy cow. We're getting under the covers this time, though."
Gill murmured in protest. "That means moving."
"Only for a moment, lazy sod."
Julie pushed herself up properly, slid off the bed, reached for Gill to help her up. With another murmured protest, Gill lifted her hands to Julie's, allowing herself to be tugged upright long enough for Julie to turn the duvet down and rearrange the pillows. Then they were crawling back in and Julie flicked the light off and snuggled down, getting comfortable before she reached out a hand and tugged Gill close, arm draped around her middle and thumb trailing idly back and forth over her belly. After a moment, Gill's hand came up and curled around Julie's forearm.
"All right?" Julie murmured into the darkness.
"Yeah," Gill responded, sounding sleepy and pleased. "You?"
"Yeah," Julie agreed, and found she sounded the same.