The four women found themselves splayed out anyhow in the cool serenity of Simone and Annabelle's living room, busy chilling out.
They had all decided the morning after their marathon music making session that while the garage made for a great workplace, the seaside house was the place to recharge their senses. They hadn't bothered changing their clothes from last night so they were still wearing jeans and T-shirts, feeling not unpleasantly sweaty and they could still hear the buzzing sounds of amplified music played in a confined space. After a while, Simone volunteered to stagger through into the kitchen to make four mugs of coffee as they all felt parched and in need of liquid brain food. Her own throat felt rough with all her singing and her body felt as if she'd been working out in the gym but in a pleasurable fashion. More than that, she felt emotionally on fire from her share in the songs she'd both played and sung as the amplified sound of her voice had carried way beyond the limits of what she could do unamplified and at the same time, she had struck notes from her guitar that had more sustain, more attack than anything she could conceive of. She had loved the cool sounding bass notes that Erin had plucked with much more attack than when they'd played acoustic and Diane's drumming kicked her up the ass in the nicest possible way. She blessed their friends for generously reining themselves in when they had first played acoustic together. As for Annabelle, not only was that enchanting woman her friend, her soul mate and her lover but her comrade in arms too. Tears of happiness trickled down her face as she remembered how they had meshed both their voices and their guitar playing better than she could have imagined. It felt like the first time that they made love together but without all the trauma the morning after.
It was right at that moment that everything went misty eyed before her as the sun shone in through the windows and the memory of Annabelle's willing body against hers as they made passionate love last night on the floor of Erin and Diane's flat in full knowledge that their friends were doing the very same thing. She didn't even notice that the overfull electric kettle was boiling and exuding water all over the work surface.
"Hey Simone, the rest of the gang really need their morning coffee," asked Annabelle suddenly from behind her laying on the pathos in her voice.
"I'm really sorry,"Simone said hastily with a little jump as she clicked the electric kettle off and tore off a strip of kitchen roll to mop up the water."I was busy daydreaming."
"So what were you daydreaming about, honey?" Annabelle said with a kittenish smile on her lips and draping her arms over Simone's shoulders. The two women fell into each others' arms and they indulged in a long, deep kiss, pressing up against each other.
"Our wonderful music making yesterday. It was so inspiring,"Simone replied as soon as her mouth was disengaged. The little smirk on her face teased her lover into replying in kind.
"And the music we made last night...and Erin and Diane getting it on as well," Annabelle said in her mischievously sexiest manner. Simone laughed at this spurious attempt to embarrass her.
"Diane and Erin's lovemaking sounded absolutely fabulous...so long as we were getting our share of the action."
In this lovely lazy early morning get together, Simone suddenly sounded uncomfortable while trying not to be that way. Annabelle stepped into the breach to give reassurance. "Darling, I'm sure that Diane and Erin are definitely not into group sex any more than we are. This isn't some swinger's club we've joined. Besides, this would cause sexual tensions and jealousies and that would totally fuck up the group. They know it. That's two good reasons why it would never happen."
A brilliant smile spread across Simone's face and she planted a soft kiss on Annabelle's lips. Then, sensing murmurs from outside the kitchen, she turned to her task and her swift movements produced four large mugs and she rustled up a trayful of drinks and brought them into the living room. A chorus of satisfied sounds greeted Simone from Erin who was sprawled out on the armchair and Diane who was lying on her lap.
"Oh you darling,"Diane exclaimed with a mixture of enthusiasm and mock reproach."The coffee's just the way I like it, steaming hot but why were you so long with two coffee addicts dying of exhaustion."
"Probably making out with Annabelle in the kitchen," snickered Erin
"Of course we were,"Simone said with calm aplomb,"but that doesn't mean we neglect our duties."The four women burst into laughed in a free and easy fashion. Simone had a lovely feeling of reliving adolescent enthusiasm in hanging out with the gang but with the hindsight of maturity.
Just then, Simone's mobile bleeped as it lay on the table. Simone picked it up in an irritated fashion, suddenly became nervous and jumpy but froze in inaction at the thought of answering it.
"My mother," she mouthed at Annabelle before flopping back on the settee and answering the call.
"Simone, it's a while since we last met and ,since I'm in the area, I propose to call in on you today," she spoke in the relentless manner of one accustomed to rolling over any opposition. No mention of their brief encounter at Annabelle's graduation, she noted. She afforded just that chink of time to Simone to intervene who grabbed the opportunity.
"Excuse me but I've got company," Simone started to say, feeling Annabelle squeeze her other hand tenderly.
"It's not as if you're still working, Annabelle,"her mother replied sharply."I'm rushed off my feet as usual as you know very well."
"Listen up, mother,"Simone interjected, gratified that a very welcome feistiness swelled up inside her instead of humiliating feelings of willingness to please."I do have a life of my own. I have my friends round here who are very dear to me. You are my mother and I won't shut you out bit don't ever think you can walk over me and my friends and get away with it."
There was a shocked hush on the other end of the line while the other women's faces registered joyful astonishment at Simone's courage. Way to go, they silently thought. They had twigged the situation very quickly, helped by Simone's mother's carrying voice. Faced by this unexpected defiance, she decided to change her tactics.
"Well I only hope. Simone, that you are more settled than you've been in the past I'm sure that your recent unpleasantness can't have helped," she said in a smooth persuasive fashion.
For a few seconds, her mother's insinuation of instability slipped under Simone's guard and she came close to believing what she was told. Suddenly, her mind cleared and she suddenly viewed her life over the years as if she were standing on a mountain top with an Olympian perspective. The way the Mother Immaculata had controlled her life was only a continuation of her mother's doings and she'd been brought up by alien expectations. Never again, she vowed as she breathed in and out and framed a reply in her own time, not her mother's.
"Mother, I've changed such a lot in the past year, especially the last few weeks since I've been living with Annabelle Tillman. I'm now more stable and centred than I've ever been in my entire life. We've got two friends of ours here and you'll have to take us as we are if you're serious about visiting. Above all, don't ever try to manipulate me," Simone replied with all the confidence in the world finishing up with a stern warning.
"I, I'll come Simone but I won't be able to stay for long," her mother stammered. A detached portion of Simone's mind registered the fact that this was the first time she'd heard her mother sound so nervous. She signed off the conversation with a flourish, feeling fantastic inside.
"You darling," Annabelle said in unusually gushing tones for her, amazed as yet another facet of her lover's personality was revealed. Simone vaguely thought this must be something she'd done.
"Shit, I couldn't tell that to my mother- unless I got drunk first,"confessed Erin, amazed at her friend's toughness and determination. She hides some of the best in her, that's all, for a reason I don't get, she thought to herself.
"I just stay out of my parent's way,"confessed Diane."They think of me as a lost cause."
A silence hung heavy on the air. Diane's words had encapsulated the sense of parental disapproval that could easily sneak past their outward guard of defiance.
"What about when your mother comes round? She ain't exactly going to welcome us," Erin said hesitantly.
Annabelle said nothing. She'd once seen Simone's mother one day when she'd been hiding behind the rockery at St. Theresa's when she'd been talking to her while they were on the terrace. She was out of earshot to properly hear the conversation but she could sense that her mother was lecturing Simone whose body language depicted her discomfiture. The only thing that was untoward was that Simone was glancing in her direction. Times had changed as Simone had said. She knew she'd be in the firing line so it was down to her to help stand up for them. However Simone got there first.
"This house is mine and Annabelle's," Simone said with steely determination, her steady gaze telling Annabelle that, yes, her mother had originally bought the house as a graduation present out of guilt for neglecting her over the years. It meant that she wouldn't put up with the slightest attempt by her mother to levy a belated emotional debt repayment."You guys are really welcome here at any time. It's my mother whose presence is on trial. She gets no special favours for being my mother. We shouldn't go out of our way to badmouth her but we shouldn't take any crap from her either."
An involuntary burst of cheering met Simone's firm leadership. Annabelle was transfixed by her partner's forceful clarity of purpose. Echoes of the way she'd gripped the attention of the class she'd taught came back to her. This time around, the purity of Simone's personality shone through as she had no role to hide behind. At that moment, she loved this woman of hers all over again and it framed her intervention.
"If there's any trouble, guys, I reckon Simone and I are likelier to take the heat. We'll have to deal with it, that's all. We're a shit hot rock and roll band so we can do anything if we put our minds to it," she said with quiet certainly.
"That's great, that's good," Erin said enthusiastically, rubbing her hands together and grateful for someone to do some leading around here."So what do we do while we're waiting?"
"Sing a few songs. You brought your guitars with you so we can practice a few harmonies while I can tap out a rhythm on a guitar case,"Diane said shortly. Everyone was pleased at the idea and they went at with a will, picking out some of the lighter hearted songs to work on. A half hour later, the palms of Diane's hands were rhythmically slapping the wooden case while the other three women's voices shaped gorgeously structured harmonies around Annabelle and Simone's rhythmic strumming to the point that they had almost forgotten about the impending visit. It was only when they heard a sharp rapping sound on the glass door when Simone swore under her breath and, still gripping her guitar by its neck, answered the door and swung it open.
In the split second while these two women's eyes met, Simone's thoughts raced a million miles a second. This stranger, dressed in a dark blue jacket, light blue full skirt, her shortish grey hair framing her face drew her attention to a thin face with slightly beaky nose and, at the centre of focus, her cold eyes, oh so cold. She was only an older version of the Mother Immaculata and that thought lifted her spirits.
"Your clothes sense has obviously gone downhill, Simone. You should have kept up your standards with your upbringing,"Simone's mother said dismissively.
"Are you meeting me or my clothes?" countered Simone shortly.
"That's not the point," snapped her mother, Simone's sharp eyes noting that she was inwardly rattled.
"Do you want a cup of tea? I'm making one for everyone," Simone said lightly, still holding onto her guitar and feeling more sure of her ground.
"Who's everyone?" demanded her mother icily.
"Annabelle Tillman for a start," Simone replied, bouncing inside on an adrenaline rush. She pushed the door open to reveal a smiling Annabelle, cradling her guitar and continued in her best drawing room manner."Erin and her partner Diane are with us as well." Bubbles of mischief welled up inside her as Erin executed a casual wave while Diane rat-tatted on the guitar case.
"Who- or what are you?" Simone's mother said in tones of strangled anger that might have reduced Simone to apologetic submission in an earlier epoch. Not today.
"The four of us are 'Creation', a lesbian rock and roll band. We're working on songs right now," Simone retorted defiantly, leaning her guitar in the corner."We want to go out there and perform for the people, start getting gigs and make some money. We think we've got the creativity to make a mark. Want to come through to the kitchen while I make us all a cup of tea?"
In a trance like state, the older woman tottered after Simone while her three friends' eyes and mouths opened wide with amazement at Simone's spectacular lack of caution. It was as if she'd deliberately gone out of her way to court confrontation, as if she'd hurled a large brick through her mother's front window. Fortunately, the only sounds coming from the kitchen were the clinking sounds of cups and saucers, the kettle boiling and, in a short while,Simone emerged, holding a large tea tray while her mother followed, looking as if the steam level of a pressure cooker was getting to the explosion point. All four women braced themselves for the inevitable outburst and sure enough, it came.
"Simone, you cannot expect me to approve of throwing away the benefits of your college education, your years in teaching in following this foolish fancy."
"What alternative was I left since your sister called in the cops and make a big drama out of sleeping with Annabelle?" shot back Simone boldly."After all, she's my partner now."
"You've got a nerve," Simone's mother exploded."You've dragged the family reputation through the mud, on the front page of the Los Angeles Tribune and now you want to parade it onto the stage of some seedy club. Well, I wash my hands of you."
"Let's stick to the facts," Simone said in a curiously controlled tone of voice even though she was shaking inside with anger. She knew that this was the shootout at the OK Corral that had been a long time coming."I don't accept that because Annabelle was three weeks short of her eighteenth birthday and due to leave St Theresa's that we'd done anything morally wrong. Even if I accept that Annabelle was a student under my care and I was being unprofessional, I could have been asked quietly to hand in my notice with no fuss but no your sister had to go in all guns blazing and ruin me professionally. That means I have to turn to an alternative career."
"Call this a career?A bunch of degenerates..." Simone's mother started to sneer before she was cut short.
"Enough," yelled Annabelle."I don't see why the fuck we should hear all your shit. We need to all calm down and drink a cup of tea before it gets cold."
Erin and Diane promptly burst into laughter at their friend's idiosyncratic intervention which Simone joined in with and finally Annabelle. She didn't know how on earth her intervention took the tack it did but is sure the hell sounded funny. The carefree laughter took the tension out of the situation which was winding up tighter and tighter like a spring. All four women hated to see this happen after the lovely carefree atmosphere earlier on .
"Well, are you going to enjoy our hospitality or not? Shall you stay or shall you go?" Simone said with quiet amusement, knowing that she was forcing her mother to behave. The feeling of asserting her power over her felt good to her. The glare she received in reply was answer enough.
"In that case, I'll be mother," Simone said perkily and, having sorted out the cups and saucers, started to pour the tea. She knew that everything would be fine from now on and her mother would make her excuse to go after a face saving excuse. That was fine by her and the rest of her friends.