—

Chapter 3:

—

There wasn't much sleep for her that night and in the morning she was woken by a timid knock on the bedroom door. It was Nessie, the birthday girl, asking if they were up yet.

Toward afternoon the house and yard began to fill with family who came over for the barbeque. Jake and Nessie were at the grill, Nessie standing on a wooden block, Jake carrying a beer, and together they basted the steaks with marinade and flipped them over and forked them onto plates for the guests. The season was turning cooler and the pool was covered over with a blue tarp. Most of the guests wore jackets or sweaters but Jake was wearing shorts and a polo shirt like a prototypical suburban dad and he sipped from a beer bottle and nodded in approval at Nessie's work at the barbeque.

Jessica had come over as well with a small present for Nessie and now she was standing with Bella under the veranda which was festooned with streamers and balloons and birthday signs. Her expression had been turning more stern and now she shook her head.

"I can't believe you're actually seeing someone behind your husband's back," she said. "How could you?"

Bella let out a frustrated breath. "It's not like that, Jess."

"Sorry, Bella, but the fact that she's a girl doesn't make it any less reprehensible."

"What about the fact that I might be gay? Does that matter at all?"

"How could you possibly be gay, Bella? Look. Look, over there. See that man at the barbeque with that little girl?"

Jessica was pointing. Bella looked over. Jake had set down his beer and now he was dumping strawberries into a blender and pouring in some rum.

"See him?"

"Yeah."

"That's your husband, Bella. Your male spouse. The man you've had three children with. The man you've loved and lived with for what? Fifty years?"

"I'm only thirty eight."

"Whatever. The point is, you're not gay. You're just confused. And you need to stop right now before you actually sleep with this chick. That way I guess it's only emotional cheating."

"But that's just it. I'm not confused."

"What do you mean?"

Bella sighed and shook her head. She was beginning to think her young blonde friend would never understand no matter how much she explained it. "It's not just this girl, Jess," she said. "Even if I never saw her again, I'd still feel exactly the same. Unattracted to my husband and attracted to other women."

"Oh, so your attracted to all women now, are you?"

Bella frowned at her tone and then she glanced about to make sure no one was looking. The boys were playing soccer on the lawn with a few other kids. Several parents observed. No one was taking any notice of Bella and now Bella turned back to her friend and lifted a hand and traced the backs of her knuckles along the globe of Jessica's right breast.

Jessica's mouth dropped open. Bella looked at her insistently.

"Yes," she whispered. "That's what I'm trying to tell you."

Jessica stepped back awkwardly. She didn't know how to respond but that's when Jake came over with a tray of strawberry daiquiris.

"Hey, ladies," he said. "You look like you could use a drink."

Bella smiled at him with practiced ease. "Thanks, honey."

Jessica smiled as well, much more awkwardly, and took one of the glasses.

The birthday presents had been piled onto the gardentable out here under the veranda and soon Nessie was sat down to unwrap them while Jake hovered by with a digital camera. Most of the presents were clothes or cookbooks, a couple Barbies, some hair accessories. After that Bella and Jake went inside to get the cake. Bella had baked it herself from carefully selected nut-free ingredients—both of the boys were allergic—and she bought it back out to the veranda with eleven candles on it. The candleflames had no glow in the bright light of day and they seemed feeble in the wind. The family started singing Happy Birthday and Bella sang along as well, clapping and smiling robotically with eyes that stared vacantly into the pale candleflames until her daughter took a deep breath and blew them out.

After the cake was done the guests began to trickle away. Once they had the house to themselves again they sent the kids to their rooms to put their costumes on. It was still Halloween and Jake was taking them trick or treating. They wanted Bella to go as well, the kids pleading with her with Nessie dressed as a witch with a fake wart-covered nose and the boys as zombies, but she said she had a headache and she should probably clean up.

It was dark by now and Bella got to work scraping leftovers into the bin and stacking the dishes into the dishwasher. Wrapping the remains of the cake. Setting it inside the refrigerator. Feeding the cat. Once she was done she took a glass and the bottle of rum and sat down at the gardentable outside. Nessie's presents were still strewn all over the table. She looked at them for a long time and then she reached and took up the Barbie. Small blonde little plastic thing. Bella chuckled once and looked up its skirt and then she fiddled with its legs a little bit before setting it down and pouring herself a glass of rum.

After a few drinks she got up again and piled the presents into a garbage bag and moved them to Nessie's room. Then she bought the bottle of rum back into the kitchen and sat down at the breakfast counter where her keys and her phone were just sitting there. There was an unread text and at first her heart skipped a beat. But it was only from one of her sons. Not Alice.

By the time her family got back with their sacks of candy she was quite drunk yet curiously clear in the head. Her husband might not've noticed at all if he didn't notice how much was missing from the rum bottle.

"Honey, you drink all this?" he asked, holding up the bottle.

The kids were showing Bella their haul and Bella gave her husband a peevish shake of her head for him to not mention it in front of them.

For the rest of the night she was a little light on her legs but she managed to carry herself tolerable enough. She allowed the kids to devour some of the candy and then she clapped her hands and shooed them off to bed, making sure they brushed their teeth first.

Nessie changed into her Hello Kitty pajamas and Bella knelt down beside her bed in the lamplight and stroked her forehead.

"Did you have a good birthday, sweetie?" she asked softly.

Nessie nodded. "Yeah."

"The barbeque turned out wonderfully. You're a better cook than I am."

"Next year can I make the cake as well?"

"Next year," Bella echoed, unable to even imagine her life that far into the future.

"You could teach me how to use the oven, can't you mommie?" Nessie asked, laying there on the pillow.

A sharp salty feeling rose in Bella's throat but she swallowed it away and gave Nessie a nod. "Sure, sweetie. You just get a good birthday sleep, okay?"

"Okay."

"Sweet dreams."

Bella kissed her and rose, wobbling slightly, and flicked off the light on her way out.

The husband was in the bedroom. He was wearing a white t-shirt and white shorts and he was doing some quick push-ups on the floor and now he stopped and hopped up to his feet.

"Hey, babe," he said. "Ready for bed?"

Bella cocked a thumb vaguely behind her. "Actually, I think I'm gonna catch a late night work out in the spare room," she said. "I skipped gym today, so…"

"Are you sure that's a good idea? You had a lot to drink."

"I'll be fine. I just don't feel right if I don't work out."

Jake nodded and then grinned. "Well, how about you get in bed and let me give you a proper work out?"

Bella chuckled a couple times, as if he was joking, and then she turned and went out.

The spare room was just down the corridor and it contained nothing but an exercise bike, a rowing machine, and a few scattered dumbbells. There was also a small chest of drawers with some gym clothes inside and she got changed into a sweatshirt and some sweatpants before climbing onto the bike.

At first her head was utterly blank and jostling on her neck as if it was only loosely attached. Her eyes stared at nothing. No music in her ears. No iPod. With all the alcohol in her system she started sweating very easily and after a while she stopped cycling and wiped her forehead with her sleeve. She had closed her eyes and she seemed to be spinning. The whole room. Spinning and slipping and spiralling outward in a vast black helix that was carrying her away and away. Finally she opened her eyes and fished her phone out of her pocket and called Alice.

It rang. Bella waited with her eyes closed and then someone answered.

"Yeah?"

It was Alice. Bella's eyes squeezed tighter. In the background she could hear music and she guessed the Halloween party over there was still going.

"Hi, it's me," she said. "I'm sorry, I just…I wanted to apologize for not being able to come to the party."

"Look, Bella, you don't have to explain anything. If you're not ready, you're not ready. Just forget about it, alright? I've been through this before. I thought you were different, but I guess not. No hard feelings, okay?"

"I'm so sorry, Alice. I really like you, it's just…"

"Look, I get it. Some women have a hard time coming to terms with it. Don't worry about it, alright? You'll get there eventually. And don't worry about me, either. You don't like me as much as you think you do. I'm just the first girl you ever had feelings for. The first time is always the most intense. But in the end, it's nothing special. Just a stepping stone. That's all I ever am, I guess. Just an experiment."

"You're more than that to me," Bella whispered. "Much more."

A sigh from the other end of the line. "Look, I gotta go," she said. "So long, okay? Take care."

Bella didn't get to answer. The call disconnected and that was it.

For over an hour she pedalled away until her thighs burned and then finally she stopped and stood up, wincing, and limped away to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth numbly and showered and covered herself with a towel before going back into the bedroom.

It was dark in the room and the husband was snoring. Just lightly. She could hear him and she could see the faint shape of him in the light from the hallway behind her. The idea of climbing into bed with him filled her with loathing and she stood there in the doorway for a long time until finally she went over to the closet and opened it and took out a black dress.

—

The party was winding down by now and people were starting to leave. Alice was saying goodbye to Cleopatra and Little Red Riding Hood when she glanced over and saw Bella.

Bella had only just walked into the apartment and she was one of the few guests not in a costume. Instead she was wearing a short, tight, black cocktail dress that she hadn't worn in years. It had only been these last few months that she was thin enough to even squeeze into it. She had her purse in her hands and she was looking around and after a while she noticed Alice staring at her.

Their eyes met across the party. A techno dance mix was playing throughout the house but the sound was lost and faraway in Bella's ears as her eyes roamed over that girl by the punchbowl. She was dressed as a honeybee. With a striped yellow and black corset and wings on her back and floppy antenna on her head. The skirt was a tutu of black lace and on her feet were black stiletto heels as sharp as a real honeybee's stinger. Bella's chest began moving up and down and the girl smiled at her and looked away and then looked back again before starting over.

Bella stood there, paralysed. She still fully didn't understand what she was doing here but she didn't care. Alice was weaving among the remaining guests, most of them female, one of them dressed as Wonder Woman, another as Princess Leia. A skeleton with a chalk white face. A sultry SWAT officer in fishnets. Bella had eyes only for Alice and she smiled as the girl approached.

"Hi," she said.

"Hey," the girl replied. "I didn't think you'd come."

"Me either."

Alice didn't respond to that. They were still looking at each other, checking each other out, and Bella's body seemed to burn under Alice's huge gorgeous eyes.

"Wow," the girl said. "You look incredible."

"You too."

"Want a drink?"

"Sure."

Alice tilted her head and Bella followed her to the punchbowl.

They didn't talk much about their earlier complications or even at all. Bella had arrived to the party already drunk and after a few more drinks she was swaying on her heels. Guests were leaving and Alice was kissing some of them on their cheeks and thanking them for coming. Bella nodded at them as well as she tottered about the room gathering papercups. Oldest woman in the room that nobody knew. Cleaning up like a maid or a mother on a surprise visit.

Alice was leading the last of the guests to the door. Bella was in the kitchenette. She was looking around and after spinning on the spot with an entire armful of papercups she found the rubbish bin. It had a pedal to lift the lid but she was having a hard time stepping on it. She had to concentrate. Finally the lid flung upwards and she dropped the papercups in. Two of them hit the rim and rolled across the floor. Bella swore under her breath and got down on her knees to grab them up and then she lifted the lid of the bin with her hand to throw them in.

When she stood up Alice was standing there by the kitchen counter.

"What are you doing?" she asked with a smile.

"Oh, um, just cleaning up a little."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of that in the morning. You're kind of drunk, aren't you?"

Bella was washing her hands at the sink. She chuckled and shook them off and dried them with a dishtowel that the girl handed to her.

"It's okay," Alice said. "Usually I'd be pissed for someone to show up at my place drunk, but I guess it's better than you not showing up at all."

"I'm sorry, Alice. I've had my head so far up my ass lately."

Alice nodded as if she agreed but then she smiled. "I should apologize too. I promised to be patient, but I haven't been all that patient, have I?"

Bella still had the dishtowel in her hands. Alice took it away from her and placed it on the counter. Bella was backed up in the corner and Alice was right in front of her. Clad in her yellow and black costume with those floppy antenna on her head. Tall spike heels but still not as tall as Bella. The girl gazed up at her for a moment and then she lifted a hand and used some fingers to brush aside a lock of Bella's dark hair.

"Truth is," she whispered. "You're really sexy."

Bella stood there brittlely. The hand was now cupping her cheek and the cheek was radiating heat. The pulse point in her neck was throbbing steadily and the apartment was utterly silent. The music turned off, the guests all gone. Alice watched the other woman go through these reactions and then she smiled and lifted slightly on her toes and pressed her lips to Bella's.

Bella's eyes dropped closed and she seemed to reel in that blackness. The lips were small and soft. Delicate. So different from anything else she had ever experienced. She could smell the other girl's perfume. A feminine scent that invaded her head and caused it to ring gently. It was the first time she had kissed anybody other than her husband in almost two decades. First time she had kissed a girl. More than one dream was coming true in that kiss and the enormity of the sensations were almost more than she could bare.

Alice held her mouth there for a few moments and then she rocked back on her heels to disconnect the kiss. Bella had been holding her breath that entire time and now it came out in a shudder.

"Oh god," she said, but whether she was talking to god or to this Girl of her Dreams she didn't know.

Alice giggled. "You okay?"

"Yeah."

"Want me to call you a cab?"

"No."

"Are you sure? You're very drunk. I don't want you to regret this."

Bella looked at her liddedly. "The only thing I'd regret is if I don't."

The girl's mouth curved into a smile. Then she took the woman's hand and led her into the bedroom.

A small room down a short corridor. Shoes all over the floor. Pumps, sneakers, sandals. A desk in the corner with a sewing machine on it and a laptop. Nailpolish bottles. An aroma of perfume and body spray. The bed was a double and it was unmade and together they sat down on the edge. The girl smiled at her and took the lead. Cupping her face and drawing her into a kiss. Deeper than the previous one. Bella moaned and opened her mouth. The tongue that came in was wet and strange and more lovely than anything she'd ever had in her mouth.

Bella moaned some more and Alice responded with even more tongue, smiling into the kiss, toying with the older woman. Deliberate movements, pulling at her head, weaving her fingers into her hair.

"Last chance to back out," Alice whispered onto her lips. "I don't want to force you."

Bella shook her head breathlessly. "I'm not backing out."

Alice grinned and kissed her a couple more times and then she bent over Bella's lap.

She was reaching down to Bella's feet. The girl's face was hovering just over Bella's lap and Bella sat there rigidly as Alice took off her shoes, one pump then the other, and raised up again. Not all the way up. Just partly. She had a hand on Bella's knee and she let it slide up Bella's thigh a little.

"Mmm," she murmured. "You never skip leg day, do you?"

Bella was twitching from constrained excitement and little gasps were coming out of her. The hand on her leg left a trail of sparks and then the girl leaned down again and placed a kiss on her kneecap, her thigh, higher toward the hem of her dress.

A strange whimper came out of Bella. Alice chuckled at the sound and raised up and began kissing her mouth again. Bella let her eyes roll up as that tongue came into her mouth once more and she didn't care that she was cheating on her husband. She didn't care that she had three kids at home. She didn't care that she was a lesbian. The only things that existed in her entire world right now were the hammering of her heart and the humming between her legs.

Alice was stroking Bella's back and now her hands sought out the zip of Bella's dress.

"Are you sure about this, Bella?" she whispered into the kiss. "Because I really don't want to stop once we get started."

"I've never been more sure about anything," Bella whispered back.

"Good," Alice said, and pulled down the zipper.

Bella was basically in a daze at this point and she giggled as she peeled out of her dress like something emerging from a cocoon. She was shuffling backwards on the bed and lifting her hips and the girl was tugging at the dress and pulling it down along her body until it came all the way off.

No bra underneath. Nothing but a pair of sexy black panties. Bella had her head on the pillow and she was laying on her back with her breasts on her chest like hills. They were large and full and topped with big stiff nipples and she made no move to cover them as they tingled under the girl's grin.

"Mmm," she said, grabbing one each in both hands. "Nice tits."

Bella laughed as the girl gave her mounds a squeeze. She was vaguely amazed that her naked boobs were being groped up by another woman but it was less awkward than the kiss. Less strange. Perhaps she was already getting used to it.

Alice was still grinning and she gave them a bit of a massage and a kneading before she leaned down and licked at one of the nipples. Bella hissed in a breath. A sharp throb of lust occurred between her legs. Alice moaned and licked some more and then she took the nipple between her lips and suckled at it. Honeybee wings on her back like something pollenating a flower there.

"Oh god," Bella said, squirming under that hot wet mouth. "Oh god."

Alice chuckled into the breast and continued suckling at it. "Is it weird yet?

"Yes."

"Weird good or weird bad?"

"Good. Very good."

"That's good. Because it's gonna get even weirder."

Alice rose up from her chest and began unbuttoning her corset. It buttoned up the front and Bella lay there on the pillow watching. Flushed. Lidded. Her dark hair spread all around her.

Alice opened the corset and peeled it away and threw it to the floor with her wings. Bella was staring at her breasts. She had seen glimpses before but never allowed herself to look. Now she was looking, and they were incredible. Small, pear shaped, perfectly perky. Nipples that were a perfect shade of pink.

"Wow," she said.

Alice was kneeling there in her bed and she touched her chest coyly. "Not as impressive as yours, though, huh?"

"Better."

"Wanna touch?"

Bella didn't know how to answer and Alice took her hand and pressed it to one of her breasts. The girl was watching for her reaction but the woman was simply stunned. At how soft it was. How warm. She let her hand take a tentative feel. A gentle squeeze.

Alice smiled at her. "What do you think?"

"I don't know."

"Is it weird?"

"Oh, yes. You have no idea."

"You're right. I don't. Sometimes I wish I did, though. For me it was never weird. Just natural and exciting. That's why I always kind of envied women like you. It must be so kinky to try new things and experiment and—ah!"

Bella had flicked her nipple with her thumb. They both laughed at her little squeal.

"Sorry about that," Alice said, smiling shyly. "I have very sensitive nipples."

"They're beautiful."

"Want me to lay down?"

"Yeah."

Alice lowered herself and laid down on the other pillow and Bella sat up so she could fondle those tiny little bumps with both hands. They were so small. Almost completely flat on her chest. But so different from a man. So soft. So slight. Like the plumage of a dove. Bella leaned down and placed an experimental lick across one of those hard pink nipples.

Alice sucked in a gasp. Bella smiled and licked it again and gave it a little suckle. There was little awkwardness here either. The nipple was hard in her mouth and she didn't care that it belonged to another woman. Maybe it wasn't as weird as she claimed. Maybe it was kind of natural for her too.

Alice was moaning and her chest was heaving up and down. Bella had moved on to the other nipple and she gave it a wet kiss with her lips and licked and sucked at it with moans of her own. She could feel Alice's hands on her head. Her fingers woven into her hair. Her eyes were closed and her mouth all but watered from how delicious these stiff little nipples were.

"Mmm," the girl murmured. "That feels so good."

Bella raised up and looked at her face. Short black hair. Huge brown eyes. The girl smiled at Bella for a moment and then Bella leaned down and covered that smile with her mouth.

At first her hand remained at Alice's chest but then it journeyed lower to between Alice's legs. She was still wearing that black lace tutu and there were black panties underneath. Bella began rubbing the front of those panties and this is where it became weird again. Weird and exhilarating and completely amazing. She was touching another woman's vagina. Rubbing it. Making her moan and heave her hips.

The panties were getting wet. Bella could feel it on her fingers but she kept rubbing until finally the girl gasped and broke the kiss.

"Oh god," she said, breathless, face flushed with heat.

Bella grinned at her. "I know."

"Take off my panties."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Take them off now."

Bella stopped rubbing and shuffled down between Alice's legs. Her slim and pretty and very female legs. They were wide open and the panties were stuck to her wetly. Bella took the waistband and pulled them away and the legs closed momentarily before spreading open again.

A wave of dizziness rolled over Bella as she laid eyes on all that wetness. She had never seen one up close before and she was struck by the beauty of it. The girl was waxed and she had only a small strip of black curls down there. Bella smiled and touched it with her fingers and started rubbing it again as she moved back over to Alice's face.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked in a whisper.

Alice was moaning and moving her hips. "What do you mean?"

"Well, do I…?"

"Go down on me? Nah, it's okay. Most girls don't go down their first time. Just use your hand. Yeah. Just like that. Come here."

The girl wanted a kiss. Bella leaned down and smothered those lips with her own and pushed her tongue inside. Alice loved it and moaned and squirmed her little body under those lips and those fingers.

"Mmm," she murmured. "This is so good. Keep going."

"Do you want to me to…?"

Bella had wriggled the tips of two fingers into the tight little hole down there. Alice hissed and gave a buck of her hips.

"Yes," she said. "Do it."

Bella pushed them in. Slowly. Gently. Watching Alice's face. It was bright red and filled with lust and she moaned and moved her hips and moaned some more.

"It's so warm," Bella said.

Alice opened her eyes and grinned and let her vagina squeeze on those fingers. Bella's heart skipped a beat. Inside that small hole was the tightest, hottest, wettest space she had ever felt.

"Is this good?" Bella asked, curling her fingers and exploring that burning interior.

"Yes," the girl hissed. "Yes."

Bella smirked and leaned to her nipples and began to suck on one of them. Hard sucking. The girl groaned and bucked her hips. Bella turned her wrist and stirred her fingers and poked at every secret place the girl kept inside her until the girl was moaning and heaving.

"Oh god," she said. "Oh god."

Bella had moved her mouth to the other nipple and now she withdrew her fingers and rubbed a little more until she found Alice's stiff little clit. She could hear how close the girl was to climax and she knew exactly how to push her over the edge. She took hold of that nub between her thumb and forefinger and gave it a quick little pinch.

Bella was watching her face as it happened. Her mouth opened and a gasp came out of her. Her whole spine arched off the mattress. Her eyelids were closed to little slots and the eyes behind them were rolling up in lust as her mouth moved into a smile and a gale of beautiful laugher came out of her as she sagged back to the mattress.

Bella laughed as well and continued rubbing her. Her entire hand was covered in wetness and the smell was thick throughout the room. She let her eyes wander over the small bumps of her breasts, her whole chest heaving, and then she looked back into her face as those eyes fluttered open again.

"Wow," she wheezed. "That was great. You're a natural."

"Well, I did a bit of research."

"I'm sure you did," she said with a chuckle. "Now it's your turn. Lay down."

The two of them exchanged places with Bella laying on the pillow and Alice raising up at her side. Bella was wet and throbbing between her own legs and she was so tired and exhausted she could hardly keep her eyes open. Alice was much perkier and she giggled as she cupped one of Bella's breasts and began massaging it like dough.

"I have to admit, I've been thinking about this for a while," she said. "Even before we met. I always noticed you."

"You did?"

"Yeah. The first time I saw you, I thought you were pretty hot. Then you kept losing weight. And toning up. You really are very sexy."

Bella smirked and patted her stomach. "Still no abs, though."

Alice smiled and lowered her eyes to Bella's torso. The skin there was flat but without much definition. The girl lowered her mouth and began placing kisses all over her tummy.

"Abs are the hardest part," she said. "You'll get them eventually."

"Thanks. I was always worried I'd be too old for you."

"I was always worried I was too young. I guess we're both silly, hm?"

Bella laughed to herself. Alice raised up and grinned at her.

"May I take off your panties?"

"Young lady, control yourself."

"I don't want to."

Bella laughed again as the girl tugged them away and tossed them aside. A hot wave of embarrassment washed over her as she opened her legs but the girl didn't even hesitate. She lowered her head and applied a swift lick directly across Bella's wet vagina.

Bella groaned and tossed her head, wincing as if it had hurt. Another lick came, long and hard, from the bottom all the way up until her tongue flicked her engorged clit. Bella whimpered and clutched a hand to her breast. Her eyes were closed and her body was covered in sweat. Glistening. Heaving up and down. A red glow over her face and each mound of her breasts. The girl was moaning and licking and kissing at the insides of her thighs. Bella whimpered again and pushed with her hips. The girl responded with more licking. Hungrier now. Harder. Firmer. Licking and licking until Bella was teetering on the edge of an orgasm that had been months in the making. No, longer. Years. Decades. All her life there had been something unsatisfied. Sleeping. Now it was waking. She could feel it stirring in the pit of her stomach. Building like a tidal wave. Growing bigger and scarier. Something huge and powerful and all consuming. She had become breathless and her moans were high and helpless, her face wet and strained. Her legs wide open and the girl's head between her thighs. Licking. Licking. Licking and kissing and nibbling at her netherlips. Bella was gasping with her mouth open and her spine was arching from the mattress and she heaved and heaved and finally cried out as the orgasm crashed into her body and crushed everything she ever was.

—

The apartment was on a high floor and the windows faced east. The curtains were open and as the sun rose the room began to fill with light. On the floor was a discarded dress and a pair of honeybee wings and two pairs of panties. The two women under the covers were still asleep but as the room became brighter the older of the two began to stir.

Softly at first, rolling over in her sleep. She was on her back when her eyes fluttered open. It took a few moments before she realized where she was and then her heart stopped.

"Oh, shit," she said.

Alice woke from that and her eyebrows raised before her eyelids even opened. "Hmm?"

Bella flung away the covers.

"Oh shit," she said. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit."

She grabbed up her dress from the floor and she was throwing it back on. Alice had raised up on an elbow and she watched the other woman's body with a sleepy smile.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Bella looked at her phone. Texts from the husband. Voice mails. Tears sprang into her eyes and she quickly wiped them away before the girl could see.

"Uh, nothing," she said. "It's the cat. She hasn't been fed all night."

"The cat sent a text?"

"No, no, I was just…"

"Wait, so you're going?"

"Yeah, I'm so sorry. I'll call you later, okay? Thank you for last night, it was…"

"…awesome?"

Bella paused with her dress half on and laughed at the utter understatement that was. The girl was propped up in the bed on an elbow and her hair was mussed and adorable like a pixie who just had sex.

"You have no idea," Bella said.

Alice smiled.

"But I really do have to go."

Alice seemed a little disappointed but she nodded from the bed and Bella nodded as well and offered another smile before running out with her shoes in her hand and her dress unzipped down the back.

She drove home with tears leaving paths of mascara down her cheeks. Among other things, she couldn't believe she had actually drove the car in the state she was in last night. She wouldn't have cared if she killed herself—would've made everything much simpler—but it was soooo dangerous to other drivers.

It was still early in the morning when she pulled up in the driveway. She hadn't answered any of the text but the husband came to the door as soon as he heard the lock. The kids were getting ready for school and kicking a soccer ball up and down the corridor. Jake stumbled to a stop as soon as he saw her. Black dress. Barefoot. Hair messy around her head and makeup smeared all over her face.

"Hi, mom!" the boys called from the corridor.

Bella didn't answer. She was looking at her husband and her eyes were filling with fresh tears. "Honey, I can explain."

Jake's whole face had drained and for a moment he looked twenty years younger like the boy she met in college.

"So this is why you've been so distant lately?" he asked in a small voice. "You're cheating on me?"

"Baby, please, just…"

Bella was reaching for him but Jake recoiled from the hand and snatched his keys from the sideboard and continued out of the house without even looking at her.

The boys noticed all this and looked at their mother worriedly.

"Where's daddy going?" one of them asked.

The car was starting outside and pulling out of the driveway. Bella sniffed back tears and closed the door and turned back to her children.

"He's just going out for a while, sweetie," she said. "Where's your sister? Is she ready for school yet? Mommy has to call work and go for a shower, hurry up and get ready."

The boys didn't seem to understand but they nodded and went back up the corridor.

Bella had started to move too but then she stopped and put her hand in her hair and stood there with her eyes closed and her head pounding before blowing out a breath and hurrying into the bathroom.

—

AN: Hope the lemon was okay. Not sure if that shit would fly in a novel, but hey, it's just a draft, lol. I just hope the story isn't moving too quickly. It wasn't designed to be very long, but a lot has happened in only three chapters. Might've been a bit early for all that, but at the same time, we don't want to dawdle either. Well, I guess we'll have a better idea after the story is finished. New chapter soon. :)