Snowblind

Chapter 11: The Rehearsal

Half Moon Bay, California

July 14, 1995

The Pillar Point Inn was arguably the nicest hotel and spa in the Half Moon Bay region. It stood six stories tall, with three complete wings, on a vast stretch of lovingly manicured green lawn that sat atop a bluff overlooking the ocean in a town where African-Americans were rarely seen. The staff of the facility, from the manager all the way down to the lowliest housekeeper, were used to dealing with the upper crust of society in their day-to-day operation. They all seemed more than a bit intimidated when the wedding party for the Gordon Paladay/Tanisha Jefferson nuptials rolled in on this Friday afternoon. G’s entire family and the vast majority of his friends were black; most of them lifelong residents of East Palo Alto, which was only thirty minutes away by car but an entirely different universe socio-economically. Half of Neesh’s family were black as well—those on her father’s side—though they were more your upper-middle-class blacks (many of them were intimidated by G’s people as well). The other half of Neesh’s family—those on her mother’s side—were Vietnamese, and they were almost as perplexing to the staff as the blacks were.

Still, the hotel employees remained polite and subservient—probably more out of fear than professionalism—and the wedding rehearsal on the bluff went well. Neesh practiced walking down the aisle with Bartholomew Jefferson, her father. Her group of bridesmaids, which included Laura; and her maid of honor, a beautiful olive-skinned woman named Talia Livnat; practiced taking their positions. Jake and Nerdly, who were the only white groomsmen, practiced their roles in the ceremony while G himself and Ricky, his best man, worked on their own struts to the preacher’s podium. Everyone was dressed casually for the rehearsal, mostly jeans and pullover shirts, and they had time to go over everything twice. From there, the group broke up and headed for the main event center in the hotel, where the rehearsal dinner would now be served.

The food for the rehearsal dinner was catered by the hotel, as they would the reception tomorrow, and it was very good. Filet mignon wrapped in bacon served with sautéed mushrooms, potatoes au gratin, and steamed asparagus. For dessert there was crème brulee. And, naturally, there was an open bar for the enjoyment of the wedding party.

After eating, people broke up into groups and mingled a bit. Laura headed over to where the ladies were congregating, and Jake headed over to where G sat with his parents. Jake had been briefly introduced to them earlier. Their names were Tevin and Ramona. Tevin was a big, burly man with graying hair, powerful looking arms, and a considerable beer belly. Ramona was short, dark skinned, and quite chubby herself. Their last names were not Paladay, as Jake discovered when he sat down with them to mingle.

“I’m not Gordon’s biological daddy,” Tevin explained. “Ramona and I met and started steppin’ out together back when Gordon was fourteen years old.”

“That’s right,” said Ramona. “His real father ain’t been around since Gordie was ‘bout three years old or so. Tyrone Paladay was his name.” She looked at Jake matter-of-factly. “He was a shiftless nigger. Couldn’t hold no job, couldn’t keep his prick in his pants, got into freebasin’ that cocaine. I sent his ass down the road. I heard he ended up in prison at some point.”

“Didn’t stop his ass from comin’ sniffin’ around once Gordon made it big though,” said Tevin. “Didn’t try to make no contact with him all that time and then once he finds out Bigg G got his fuckin’ DNA, he all of a sudden want to get together and ‘make up for lost time’. Shee-it.”

“I told him to take a flying fuck,” Gordon said. He put his arm around Tevin’s shoulder and pulled him close. “This man here is my real pop. Before he came along, I was heading down a bad road. Cuttin’ school more than I was going, playing around with the rock cocaine, hanging out with the local Crips and startin’ to think about joining up officially, not listening to my momma.”

“That’s for sure,” Ramona said, nodding her head.

“And then pop here showed me what it was like to really be a man,” Gordon said. “He kicked my ass for me when I needed it.”

“And you needed it a lot those first few years,” Tevin said with a grin.

“Shore did,” Ramona agreed.

“Yeah, I was gettin’ to be a thug all right,” Gordon said. “But he showed me that a man takes care of his family, that he works hard to do that, that he does what needs to be done when it needs to be done. Because of pop, I got away from the gangs and the drugs, graduated high school, developed my musical talent into something I could sell, and learned the work ethic to stick with it. Hell, I even went to college, if you can believe that shit. That’s why I call this man ‘pop’, Jake. He’s my dad and I’m proud to have him here with me.”

“Amen to that,” Ramona said.

“What kind of work did you do?” Jake asked him.

“Janitor up the hospital in Stanford,” Tevin said. “And I’m still doing it. Been pushin’ a broom and cleaning the floors and toilets there thirty-five years now. Course, they don’t like me callin’ myself a ‘janitor’. They want me to say I’m in ‘environmental services.’ Ain’t that some shit?”

“You’re still working there?” Jake asked, surprised.

“He’s still working there,” Gordon said sourly. “And mama’s still working at the grocery store on Donohoe Street. And they both still livin’ in that little two-bedroom house in East Palo Alto. The one with the chain link all around it and the goddamn crack house next door.”

“No kidding?” Jake asked.

“I’ve offered many times to set them up in a fuckin’ mansion on the hillside in Los Gatos or a bayfront pad in Burlingame and give them a bank account full of dead presidents and credit cards that they don’t have to pay on. They won’t take it.”

“It wouldn’t be right,” Ramona said. “We didn’t earn that money.”

“It ain’t right having the two of you living in the damn ghetto and workin’ forty hours a week at your ages while your boy is a goddamn multi-millionaire,” G countered.

“What would we do in Burlingame or Los Gatos?” Tevin asked. “We’re ghetto blacks. That’s where we lived all of our lives. Do we need a bunch of rich white people glarin’ at us every time we go out? Shee-it, it’s bad enough here at this place, watching people afraid to get into the elevator with us, sitting as far away from us as they can get in the dining room. I even had one woman lock all the doors on her car when I walked by in the parking lot.”

“Amen to that,” Ramona said. “We live in East Palo Alto. That’s our home.”

“You could at least let me pay off the mortgage and pay your bills for you,” Gordon said.

“Not gonna happen,” Tevin said, shaking his head. “Those are our bills and our mortgage. We only got another five years to pay on it. I’m proud that we’re paying that house off ourselves, with our own money that we earned honestly.”

“You got too much pride, pop,” Gordon told him.

“Could be,” Tevin said, nodding wisely. “But that’s better than not havin’ enough, ain’t it?”

Jake had to admit that the man had a point.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the hall, Nerdly and Sharon were sitting at a table with Neesh’s parents, Bartholomew and Phuong Jefferson. Bart, as he insisted the Nerdlys call him, was a light skinned black man with short, slightly graying hair. Phuong was a tiny, petite pure-blooded Vietnamese woman who had been born under Japanese occupation in Saigon in 1944. Both of the Jefferson elders were doctors; Bart an anesthesiologist who practiced at Providence Saint John’s Hospital in Santa Monica; Phuong a doctor of veterinary medicine who was a partner in a successful practice that owned and operated three clinics in the Los Angeles area.

“You are an avian veterinary specialist?” asked Nerdly, who had just been told that Phuong’s clinics focused primarily on birds.

“That’s correct,” she said, her English clear and precise, without so much as a hint of accent. “I’ve always loved birds, ever since I was a little girl growing up in Saigon. It was caring for injured and sick birds that inspired me to study veterinary medicine when my family came to America after the French left. As it turns out, avian medicine is quite a lucrative specialty. It took me an additional two years of residency and study, but our clinics are one of only a handful in the Los Angeles area to treat all the pet birds that people have.” She soured a little. “Those that care enough about their birds to actually seek treatment for them, that is.”

“What do you mean?” asked Sharon.

“Most people who buy birds for pets do it on impulse and have no business owning them. They treat them like disposable pets, keep them locked in cages all the time and just want us to euthanize them the first time anything ever goes wrong with them. It’s sad, really. Breaks my heart sometimes because birds can be such wonderful companions if you let them be part of your family.”

“That makes sense,” Nerdly said. “They are flock animals, after all. It would seem intuitive that they would exhibit the best companionship traits if they felt as if they were part of a flock.”

“Exactly!” Phuong said brightly. “Have you owned birds before, Bill?”

“Never,” Nerdly said. “To tell you the truth, I’m quite afraid of them.”

“Don’t ever come over to our house then,” Bart advised. “We have three of them, all of them on the loose whenever we are home. Two cockatiels and a rather foul-mouthed parakeet.”

“Foul-mouthed?” Sharon asked.

“Yes,” Phuong said, casting an evil glare at her husband. “We’re not proliferate users of profanity by any means, but someone likes to let the occasional politically incorrect phrase fly out.”

“You do it too,” Bart said, smiling.

“In any case,” Phuong went on, “little Ding, that’s the parakeet’s name because he likes to ding a bell that hangs above his favorite perch, always seems to pick up those utterances quite well and then repeat them over and over.”

“Just like a baby,” Sharon said, delighted. “Kelvin will be doing that soon.”

“Yes,” Phuong agreed, “but with a baby, they eventually outgrow it, or you can at least get them to stop doing it. Ding is seven years old now and his vocabulary only grows with each outburst.”

“I’d love to meet him sometime,” Sharon said with a laugh.

“He sounds interesting,” said Bill. “But does he bite?”

“Yes,” Bart said without hesitation. “He bites.”

“Not that hard,” Phuong said. “And only when he’s upset.”

“I see,” said Bill, making a vow that he would never set foot in their house as long as those birds lived.

“So...” said Bart, “I understand that you, Bill, were the piano player for Mr. Kingsley back when he played for that rock band of his.”

“That is correct,” Bill said. “Jake and I have known each other all of our lives. Our mothers played in the Heritage Philharmonic together and are best friends. We grew up together and I was always drawn to the piano. When Jake joined Intemperance, he thought I might be a musically complementary addition to the base sound of the group, so I went and played for them. The rest is history.”

“I guess it worked out well for you,” Bart said, nodding. “You sound quite intelligent.”

“I have a tested intelligence quotient of one hundred and thirty-nine on the Wechsler scale,” Bill without so much as hint of pride. He was just stating a fact. “There are, of course, some who suggest that my abnormally high score is inflated to some degree due to my early childhood musical training, which some data suggests may artificially enhance such scores.”

“I see,” said Bart slowly. “I’ve never heard that before.”

“Where did you go to college?” asked Phuong.

“I was accepted to Stanford, Harvard, and the New England Conservatory of Music,” he said. “Alas, I did not actually attend any institute of higher learning. I started playing music with Intemperance shortly after high school and there has been no real need to pursue further studies.”

“Really?” Phuong said, her voice flirting with disbelief. “You’ve only a high school diploma?”

“It has gotten me this far in life,” Bill said. “Sharon, by contrast, is the holder of a master’s degree in Audio Engineering from the University of California at Los Angeles.”

“Is that so?” Phuong asked, new respect showing in her eyes. “UCLA is our alma mater, both Bart and myself.”

“It’s a good school,” Sharon agreed. “I learned a lot there. Truth be told, however, I learned much more about my profession by working with Bill.”

“Really?” Bart said, raising his eyebrows a bit.

“Really,” Sharon said. “I have the education, but Bill is a musical genius with a superb ear for sound reproduction. He and I are the most sought-after sound engineering team in the United States right now. We could name our own price if we decided to hire ourselves out. I never would have accomplished that without him. I’d be lucky to be working on television commercials in some basement somewhere if it weren’t for Bill.”

“I think she underestimates herself a small amount,” Bill said.

“Really?” asked Phuong.

“Oh yes,” Bill said. “I think she would at least be working on second rate media fills by this point if I had not made her acquaintance.”

The Jeffersons laughed for a few seconds before realizing that Bill was not kidding.

“So ... anyway,” Sharon said, “you two met in college?”

“That’s right,” Phuong said. “We were undergrads together, both working on our biology degrees back in 1965. We took a lot of the same classes together—chemistry, bio-chem, organic chem, microbiology. Back then, there weren’t a lot of black people attending UCLA—at least not any who weren’t playing on the football or basketball teams. Nor were there a lot of Vietnamese—my family were among the very first able to come to this country before the war over there started to ramp up. Bart and I were both outsiders, as you can probably imagine, and we were drawn to each other. We used to study together in the library and then we started going out to lunch and dinner, and then ... well ... we became a couple.”

“That’s right,” Bart said. “And there weren’t that many mixed-race couples back then either, especially not black and Vietnamese. I guess we were trendsetters.”

“We got married in 1967,” Phuong said. “That was the year we both got accepted into our schools. Bart in UCLA’s medical school, me at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. We didn’t plan to have any children until both of us were done with school, residencies, and in practice, but ... things happen in life.”

“A failure of contraception measures,” Nerdly said with a nod. “A common occurrence. There are studies that suggest that up to fifty-eight percent of pregnancies within a legally sanctioned heterosexual relationship are a result of such failures.”

“Uh ... right,” Phuong said slowly. “That is indeed what happened. Early in the morning on New Year’s Day of 1968, we experienced such a failure. Neeshie was born on September 24 that same year.”

“It sounds like it was meant to be,” Sharon said, smiling at the story.

“Since you know the exact date of conception,” said Bill, “I theorize that your method of family planning at the time was the so-called rhythm method, in which you try to only have intercourse during the female’s non-fertile time of her cycle, basing that estimation on the date of the last day of menstruation.”

Both of the Jeffersons nearly choked on their wine.

“Bill,” Sharon chided, “not everyone appreciates your deductive reasoning abilities.”

“I’ve been told that before,” Bill said, perplexed, as always, by this information.

“Wow,” Bart said, shaking his head in wonder, a grin on his face. “I’ve decided I like you, Bill. You have a highly interesting mind and no filter between it and your mouth. Yeah, it was the rhythm method and we guessed wrong. You see, we didn’t get to see each other all that much back in those days since I was living in LA and she was living in Davis, and we’d had a few too many drinks on New Year’s Eve, and we thought we were safe, and, well ... the rest is history. A Neesh was born.”

“I thought as much,” Bill said. “The rhythm method statistically has one of the highest failure rates among standard contraceptive measures. Even higher than coitus interruptus.”

“Yes, so we found out,” Phuong said. She was smiling as well. “Anyway, that’s the story of my little Neeshie; though she’s not so little anymore. And now she’s getting married tomorrow. How fast the time goes.”

“I’m curious,” Bill said. “It is quite evident that your family and the family of Gordon, Neesh’s betrothed, come from quite different sociological and economic backgrounds. Was it hard for you to come to terms with this fundamental difference?”

The two Jeffersons looked at each other for a moment and then back at Bill. “Yes,” Bart said. “It was hard. In fact, when she first told me she was dating a famous rap musician, I almost hit the roof. I thought she was going through some kind of late rebellion.”

“It was even worse than when she told us she was pursuing law instead of medicine,” Phuong said sadly.

“Yet you are here today,” Bill said. “And you, Bart, have rehearsed walking Neesh down the aisle at the ceremony tomorrow. It would seem you have come to some accommodation with your daughter’s choice of marital partner.”

“We have,” Bart said with a nod. “It took us a bit, but after we met Gordon a few times, we came to realize that he is not what we were envisioning. He is actually quite intelligent, has a keen head for business, and, most importantly, he truly loves our daughter and will be able to provide for her.”

“And she truly loves him as well,” Phuong added.

“They do seem to have a long-term biochemical compatibility to them,” Nerdly observed.

“Uh ... yes, they do seem to have that,” Bart agreed.

“Neesh and Gordon remind me a little of Bill and myself,” Sharon said.

“Oh?” Phuong asked.

“My parents are conservative Jews,” she explained. “They’ve always been active members of the Temple; we always did the whole shabbat ritual with the candles and the challah bread every week. They took being Jews seriously. And then I started dating a gentile rock and roll musician who was associated with some fairly wild stories about Satanism and drug use and ... you know ... sexual impropriety...”

“The stories of Mr. Kingsley snorting cocaine from a woman’s buttocks,” Bart said knowingly. “Yes. I can see how that would give them pause.”

“Did he really do that?” asked Phuong.

“Only that one time,” Nerdly said. He then considered for a moment. “Well ... as far as I know, anyway.”

“I see,” said Phuong.

“Anyway,” Sharon went on, “Mom and Dad were not happy at all about me dating Bill. I actually kept the relationship secret for them for quite some time after he and I went from being friends to romantic partners. Eventually though, I had to fess up since I was taking time off school to go on tour with the band in Europe and Asia and Australia. And then, once I came home, I had to break the news to them that Bill had proposed to me in Paris and that I’d said yes. I’m not sure which was worse in their minds; that he wasn’t a Jew or that he was associated with Intemperance and Jake Kingsley. As they got to know him, however, they came around, particularly when he converted to Judaism so he could marry me.”

“You converted to Judaism?” asked Bart.

“Yes, I did,” Bill confirmed. “It is the oldest monotheistic religion in the world, as I’m sure you’re aware. It is rife with traditions and values that should be embraced by other schools of theistic worship. I have never once regretted my decision to convert—not even when Dr. Rosenberg had to make an incision on my penis to symbolize my covenant with God.”

Bart raised his eyebrows. “I beg your pardon?”

“I was already circumcised prior to my conversion,” Bill explained. “In order to seal my covenant, however, I had to undergo a ritualistic pseudo-circumcision to finalize the conversion. That is when Dr. Rosenberg, who serves as our Temple’s mohel, used his scalpel right where my foreskin used to be to inflict enough of a wound to draw blood from me.”

Bart winced. “Jesus,” he said and then winced a little more. “Uh ... I mean, wow. I assume he numbed you up first?”

“He did not,” Nerdly said. “The ritual is supposed to be painful to undergo.”

“It sounds painful all right,” Bart said.

“It was,” Bill agreed. “Sharon and I were unable to engage in conventional intercourse for nearly a week after that.”

“Uh ... I can imagine,” Phuong said.

“We were, however, still able to engage in alternative sexual gratification practices such as—”

Sharon’s hand reached up and covered his mouth. “I think they get the idea, Bill,” she said.

“We do,” Bart confirmed, trying to suppress a chuckle.

And while her parents were discussing Neesh with the Nerdlys, the bride-to-be was sitting at another table with Laura and Talia Livnat, her maid of honor. Laura was absolutely fascinated with Neesh’s lifelong best friend.

Tally, as she liked to be called, had been born in Haifa and held dual citizenship in both the United States and Israel. She was the only daughter of a pair of orphaned Italian Jews who had been taken to Palestine as children in 1941 after the Italians, pressured by their Nazi allies, started rounding up the Jews in earnest. As founding citizens of Israel, both had joined the IDF as young adults, had fought in the Suez Crisis in 1956, where they became reacquainted with each other, and in the Six-Day War in 1967, after which they got married and quickly produced Talia, their only child together. By the time the Yom Kippur War of 1973 rolled around, however, the elder Livnats were divorced and Elina, Tally’s mother, had emigrated to Los Angeles where she quickly met and married a partner in a prestigious architecture firm and then made a success of herself in the world of fashion design. Tally grew up in the same upper-class beachfront neighborhood of Santa Monica as Neesh had and they had been friends since elementary school, drawn together as two darker-skinned outsiders in a community dominated by WASPs.

The two girls had been inseparable all throughout grammar school, junior high school, and high school, both graduating with honors in 1986. After that, they strayed from each other as Tally went back to Israel to reconnect with her father and complete her two years of service with the IDF. She spent the majority of her active military service riding a desk and never fired her weapon outside the training range. After discharge in early 1989, she returned to the United States and was accepted at UC Berkley, where she spent the next four years working on a bachelor’s degree in Computer Programming. After graduation, she began working on her master’s degree part-time while bouncing around through various entry-level programming positions in the Silicon Valley. Just a year ago she landed with a small start-up operation called Netscape and was finally making decent enough money in her chosen field. She and Neesh had kept in touch throughout all of this, talking on the phone frequently and, these days, embracing that new phenomenon known as email that was sweeping the nation. They tried to get together when they could, but usually this only meant once a year or so, maybe twice if they were lucky since both were still quite early in their respective careers. Tally’s flight in for the bachelorette party had been the first time the two of them had gotten together in eight months.

Apart from being mentally fascinated by Tally, Laura found herself physically fascinated by her as well. She was quite beautiful, as full-figured as Neesh but not as tall and not quite as well-endowed in the breast department, although her rack (as Jake would have termed it) was still considerably larger than Laura’s. Her skin was olive colored, her hair black, dark, and luxurious, her skin smooth and unblemished. Her body was tight and fit looking, though still quite feminine in appearance. And she had the cutest accent that Laura had ever heard. This fascination kicked up a few notches when Tally, who had told Laura earlier that she had a boyfriend back in Mountain View, made an allusion to an episode of ‘girl-time’ that had taken place during the bachelorette party.

“It was just like the good old days,” Tally said with a licentious smile.

“Maybe even a little better,” Neesh added, a grin of her own. “We’ve both had a little more practice at it since the last time we got together, haven’t we?”

Laura looked from one girl to the other, part of her wondering if they were really just talking about their friendship and not actually ... well... girl-time as Neesh defined it. Surely, they wouldn’t talk about it so blatantly in front of her, would they? Unless, of course, Tally already knew about the girl-time that she and Neesh had engaged in. But that was their secret! Neesh wouldn’t have told Tally about that, would she? Even though she was her best friend?

She would, Laura found out a moment later.

“So,” Tally said, casting her eyes upon Laura, the licentious look still on her face, “Neeshie tells me that you’re one to appreciate a little girl-time on occasion as well.”

Laura cast a startled look at Neesh, who at least had the decency to look a little embarrassed at her friend’s words. “Uh ... well...” she stammered, “if you mean getting together with the girls and ... you know ... going out and doing things ... uh ... yeah, I’m all for that.”

Tally giggled a little. She was, after all, on at least her third glass of white wine. “Doing things,” she said. “You’re right, Neeshie. She is so adorably cute.”

Laura cast her eyes back on the bride-to-be. “Neesh,” she hissed at her. “You didn’t tell her about ... about... that kind of girl-time, did you?”

“Uh ... I might’ve let it slip out,” Neesh admitted with a small giggle. She too was well into the wine.

“Neesh, that was private ... and personal!” Laura said.

“And fuckin’ hot too,” Tally said, licking her lips. “Doesn’t Neeshie have the softest, most suckable titties, Laura?”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Laura said, blushing, indignant, angry enough to use a Jake-ism. But she was also starting to feel aroused—more aroused than she always was around Neesh.

“I’m sorry, Teach,” Neesh told her, actually sounding sincere. “I shouldn’t have told Tally about what you and I did, but Tally’s my best friend. We tell each other everything. Always have.”

“That’s right,” Tally said. “I know exactly how big Gordon’s cock is and that he has a bit of a foot fetish.”

“Tally!” Neesh barked. “That was privileged information. Forget she said that, Teach.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Laura said again.

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Neesh said. “Lots of girls are into girl-time. Trust me on this; I know.”

“I have no doubt that’s true,” Laura said, “but I’m Jake Kingsley’s wife. I have paparazzi who stalk me. I have entertainment reporters who dig into every detail of my life. Do you know what would happen if one of them found out that I’ve engaged in girl-time?”

“The same thing that would happen if they found out that I’ve done some girl-time,” Neesh said. “Remember, I’m Bigg G’s fiancé, will be his wife this time tomorrow. There are probably photographers and reporters watching this place right now.”

Laura had not considered that. She looked around nervously, suddenly wondering if one of the waitresses or cocktail girls was actually a reporter in disguise, or if someone had bribed one of the hosts to set up hidden cameras.

“Look, Laura,” said Tally, lowering her voice down. “Girl-time is between girls and it’s private; something that isn’t discussed unless one knows one is dealing with a like mind. I’m not going to tell anyone about you and Neeshie, or about me and Neeshie, or about anything else unless I know that person has as much to lose as I do. What happens between the girls stays between the girls. That’s the rule and neither one of us are going to break it. You think I want my bosses at Netscape to find out I like to suck a little clit on occasion? You think I want my advisor at school to find out? Or my boyfriend?”

“You just told me about G’s foot fetish,” Laura reminded her.

She dismissed this with a wave of her hand. “G’s not a girl,” she said. “That doesn’t count.”

“Uh ... it needs to count,” Neesh said sternly. “G would absolutely kill me if the entertainment press got wind of that.”

“I swear that Laura is the only one I’ve blurted that to,” Tally promised.

“Make sure she’s the last,” Neesh told her.

“You know it, Neeshie,” she promised. She then turned back to Laura. “Anyway, Teach ... can I call you Teach?”

“Sure,” Laura said.

“That’s such a cute nickname,” Tally said. “Anyway ... Neeshie and I have been having girl-time for years, with each other, with other like-minded girls, and we keep the secret. All of us. Girl-time is between the girls who do it and no one else gets to hear even a hint about it.”

“I certainly hope not,” Laura said softly, trying to hold onto her anger, but the arousal was creeping up, drowning it out, especially after what Tally had just casually mentioned. She swallowed. “Uh ... when you say you two have been having girl-time for years ... do you mean ... like ... like years years?”

“Well ... yeah,” Neesh said. “Years years.” She looked at her friend. “Since what, Tally? Since we were like fourteen, right?”

“That depends on how you define actual girl-time,” Tally said.

“What do you mean?” Laura asked.

“Well, when we were like twelve or so,” Tally said, “we used to take off our shirts and compare boobs with each other. We didn’t have much in the way of boobs then, of course, but as they started to grow bigger, we’d ... you know ... take turns feeling each other ... just to see what the other was like.”

“Right,” Neesh said, laughing at the memory. “That wasn’t really ... you know ... sexual back then. I’m sure lots of girls who didn’t later get into girl-time did stuff like that.”

“It did feel good though,” Tally said. “Remember? We used to pinch each other’s nipples until they got hard and then laugh about it.”

“I remember,” Neesh said nostalgically.

“But yeah, we were about fourteen when we really started getting naughty with each other,” Tally said.

“Getting naughty, huh?” Laura asked, trying to sound casual. “What do you mean?”

Neither Tally nor Neesh was fooled.

“Are you sure you want to hear about this, Teach?” Neesh asked. “You don’t do girl-time anymore, remember?”

“Well ... I may not do it anymore,” Laura said, “but this is ... you know ... kind of interesting.”

“Kind of interesting?” Tally asked knowingly. “Is that why your nipples are hard?”

Laura looked down and saw that her nipples were indeed sticking out quite prominently. She felt her blush rise. “It’s a little chilly in here,” she said weakly.

Neesh laughed. “Of course,” she said, shaking her head a little. “Well, ironically enough, it was back when we started really getting into boys when it started. We didn’t have any experience with them. We weren’t allowed to date boys yet and most of the boys didn’t want anything to do with us anyway. Not that we weren’t attractive—on the contrary, we were both smokin’ hot back then—but because all the boys at our school were white and came from these hoity-toity families and couldn’t just start dating a half-breed nigger or an Israeli Jew. I’m sure they wanted a piece of our action, but they weren’t gonna be seen courting us, that’s for damn sure.”

“Boy, did they miss out on a couple of horny girls,” Tally said.

“Goddamn right,” Neesh agreed. “Anyway, we were both really curious about the whole boy and girl thing and neither of us had ever been kissed before and we knew there was this thing called French kissing, where you put your tongues in each other’s mouths, so ... well ... we decided to try it with each other one night when we were having a sleepover at Tally’s house.”

“That was quite a night,” Tally said fondly.

“Yes, it was,” Neesh said, reaching over and giving her friend’s leg a brief squeeze. She turned back to Laura. “We were pretty awkward at first, just lip kissing and giggling a lot. But then when we started to try the French kissing ... it got kind of hot.”

“Oh yeah,” Tally said with a sigh.

“We ended up making out for almost an hour,” Neesh said. “And I’m talking tongue-swirling, drooling on each other, lip sucking, hair stroking, hot making out. We pretended like we were just practicing, like it was just an educational thing, a rehearsal for the real deal, but we weren’t just practicing. I remember to this day how hot I got kissing on her like that.”

“Yeah,” Tally agreed, her own nipples now poking out against her shirt. “And we were rubbing our boobs together and pretending that was accidental too.”

“Wow,” Laura heard herself whisper. She could feel the juices flowing freely between her legs now and she had to resist the urge to rub her thighs together. “And then what happened?”

“Nothing,” Neesh said.

“Nothing?” Laura asked, disappointed.

“We were fourteen,” Neesh said. “And it was our first time. We didn’t know there was anything beyond just kissing. We made out for a while and then we started doing something else that fourteen-year-old girls on a sleepover do.”

“Looking at teen magazines or some shit like that,” Tally said sadly. “Damn, Neeshie. If we knew then what we knew now.”

“I feel you, girlfriend,” Neesh said. “When I woke up the next morning, my pussy was still wet.”

“That’s crazy,” Laura said, her head filled with visions of the two teenagers making out. It was not an unpleasant image. “When did you start doing ... uh ... other things?”

Tally smiled at her. “It was a while before we worked our way up to full-on girl-time as it exists today,” she said. “You see, back then we didn’t know that what we had done was ... well ... maybe not exactly normal, but not that unusual. Remember, this was the early eighties, the start of the AIDS crisis and the height of homophobia. We were brought up to be good girls and good girls didn’t do things like that. Or so we thought, anyway.”

“That’s right,” Neesh said. “We didn’t even really talk about it to each other, not at first. But whenever we would have a sleepover at one of our houses, or when we were alone in the house after school or in the summer, one of us would suggest that we practice our kissing again. That’s what we called it for the longest time. ‘Tally, you want to practice our kissing again?’ I’d ask. And Tally would pretend to think it over for a few seconds and then just kind of shrug and go: ‘Yeah, I guess so. This show is a rerun anyway’. And then we’d go cuddle up in my bed or her bed or on the couch if we were home alone, and we’d go to town on each other, hands all rubbing up and down, tongues in mouths, boobs rubbing together. That went on for ... what? At least a year, right?”

“At least,” Tally said. “And then one night—it was at Neeshie’s place and her parents were out for dinner—I upped the ante a little.”

“Another good night,” Neesh said with a sexy sigh and a smile.

“It was,” Tally agreed. “I asked her if she ever wondered what it was like to have her boobs sucked.”

“And it turned out I had been wondering that,” Neesh said.

“Wow,” Laura whispered again. This time she could not resist rubbing her thighs together a few times.

“We spent a few hours sucking on each other’s boobs,” Tally said. “We did it so much that I could barely wear my bra the next morning because my nipples were raw. After that, ‘practicing our kissing’ expanded to include boob sucking as well.”

“And we started to do it more often too,” Neesh said.

“Oh yeah,” Tally concurred. “Pretty much at every opportunity. My stepdad almost caught us once when he came home from the office early. We were on the couch with our shirts and bras off, taking turns sucking nipples and alternating that with making out, when the garage door opened and we heard him coming in.”

“Oh my God!” Laura said. “What did you do?”

“Neesh thought fast,” Tally said. “She pulled a blanket over us and then stuffed our clothes in with us. He came in and gave us a strange look because we were bundled up under a blanket watching MTV in the middle of the afternoon, but we told him we were cold and he just kind of shrugged and went upstairs. We got dressed fast as soon as we heard his door close.”

“I bet,” Laura said, her eyes shining. “What do you think he would have done if he had caught you?”

“I don’t even like to think about that,” Tally said. “He’s a good enough guy. I love him and he loves me, and we’ve always had a decent stepdaughter/stepdad relationship, but he’s got a pretty good stick up his ass when it comes to things like sex and homosexuality.”

“I bet he would’ve liked seeing my bare boobs though,” Neesh said matter-of-factly. “I used to catch him checking them out when he thought I wasn’t looking.”

Tally considered this for a moment and then nodded. “Probably,” she agreed. She turned to Laura. “She’s got a nice set now, of course, but when she was sixteen ... goddamn premo, baby. The fuckin’ pope would’ve jizzed on those things.”

“I bet,” she said, envisioning Neesh’s perky teenaged boobs.

“So that’s how girl-time began for us,” Neesh said. “Good story, right?”

“It was very ... uh ... interesting,” Laura said.

“Interesting?” Tally scoffed, shaking her head a little. “Not exactly the word I would use.”

“Okay, it was hot,” Laura admitted.

“Damn right it was hot,” Neesh said. “My pussy is all juicy right now just thinking about those days.”

“There’s one thing you left out though,” Laura said.

“Oh?” Tally asked.

“Yeah,” Laura said. “You didn’t tell me when you two started ... you know ... doing other things.”

“Other things?” Tally asked, raising her eyebrows. “Such as?”

“Things ... down below,” Laura whispered.

Tally chuckled. “Oh my God, Teach,” she said. “Down below. You are just too fucking adorable. I could just eat you up.”

“Literally, right?” Neesh asked with a smile.

“Literally,” Tally said, licking her lips and giving making Laura shudder.

Laura flushed and blushed some more but said nothing.

“All right,” Neesh said. “The story of down under, if you will. It really isn’t all that interesting though.”

“I seriously doubt that,” Laura blurted before she could stop herself.

Neesh and Talia both chuckled.

“Well...” Laura stammered, “I mean ... it’s just that ... oh fuck it. You know what I mean. Tell me.”

“If you insist,” Neesh said. “It was Tally who did it first.”

“You mean she ... uh ... was the first to...” She couldn’t finish the sentence.

“To go down on me and eat my pussy out,” Neesh said, looking Laura in the eye. “Is that what you’re trying to say?”

“Yeah,” Laura breathed.

“Adorable,” Tally said again, reaching out and letting her fingertip glide over the back of Laura’s hand for just an instant. It was just the lightest, briefest touch, but it was electric for both of them.

“It was a weekend session,” Neesh said. “At my house. My parents were both working, and we had the day off from school, so we’d been hanging out since around noon or so. By this point we were both seniors in high school and we’d both even gotten ourselves laid by boys.”

“Yes, we had,” Tally said with a fond smile. “We’d discovered the joys of college boys and college parties the year before when we started driving. UCLA isn’t very far from Santa Monica and their boy population was a bit more diverse, a little less concerned with propriety when it came to sinking their sausages into a hot piece of ass.”

“I was a little more discrete than Tally,” Neesh said. “She turned into quite the little slut.”

“I’m hurt, Neeshie,” Tally said. “Just because a girl hooks up with a different college guy every weekend and then never sees him again, you call her a slut?”

They had a laugh about this.

“Anyway,” Neesh went on, “once we started dating guys and doing things with them, we kind of stopped doing things with each other for a stretch of time. It seemed kind of phony to say we needed to practice our kissing when we were doing quite proficiently on our own by then. Neither one of us wanted to admit that we actually liked getting together and sticking our tongues in each other’s mouths and rubbing our boobs together and sucking our nipples.”

“Hell no,” Tally said. “That might mean we were bisexual or something.”

“But then, one day after school, we were over at Tally’s place and she just blurted out that she wanted to make out with me like in the old days,” Neesh said. “I was a little taken aback at first. I wanted to do it, but I didn’t want her to know that I wanted it. So I say: ‘you mean practice our kissing?’ And she just shakes her head and says we already have enough practice at that. ‘Then what’s the point?’ I asked her, hoping, of course, that she had a good reason because I really wanted me some Tally. It turns out, she did have a good reason.”

“I just told her I wanted to have some girl-time with her,” Tally said.

“Yep,” Neesh said. “The first instance of using that phrase. And so, we hit us up some girl-time that day, just like in the old days, but with a new little twist.”

“What twist?” asked Laura.

“We’d both independently discovered how to get ourselves off in the interim,” Neesh said. “And we both knew by this point that once we got all heated up by kissing and boob sucking each other, we needed some release. And so, we started taking off our pants and panties too and rubbing ourselves while we played. We’d lay back on the bed or on the couch and hook our legs together and kiss while we put our fingers down in the valley and jilled off for the finale.”

“That’s very sexy,” Laura whispered, wanting to jill off herself by this point.

“It was,” Tally agreed. “And, of course, it wasn’t long until we started rubbing each other off.”

Neesh giggled naughtily. “I was just like practicing kissing at first,” she said. “We were just showing each other the best technique to make yourself come. We weren’t really finger fucking each other in the strict sense of the word.”

“Ahhh, the human ability to rationalize anything,” Tally said fondly.

“We didn’t keep up the charade as long with the jilling as we did with the practice kissing,” Neesh said. “In fact, I don’t think we carried that one out more than a month or so. Pretty soon we were right back at it, stripping down to bare nakedness and sucking face and nipples and jilling each other’s pussies with our fingers whenever we got the opportunity. We still went out with the boys on the weekends, still let them do their thing with us, but we also had girl-time, now named and accepted in full context. And that was what led to the first episode of down under at my house.”

“Tell me about it,” Laura breathed, no longer bothering to hide her enthusiasm for the story.

“Well, as I said earlier,” Neesh said, “there’s really not a whole lot to tell. We were in my bed, naked, just like always. Tally was sucking on my boobs and her fingers were playing between my legs. She didn’t say anything to me. We didn’t discuss it at all. I just felt her mouth start to work its way south, kissing over my belly, licking my belly button. It felt really good. No one had ever done that to me before. And then, before I really knew what was happening, her face was between my legs and she started licking me. I was shocked at first, but it felt so goddamn good there was no way I was going to stop her. I’d had a few guys put their mouths down there before, but none of them knew what they were doing and none of them stayed down there long enough to figure it out. Tally knew what she was doing. She sucked a tremendous come out of me and then just came back up and went back to what we’d been doing earlier.”

“What made you do that?” Laura asked Tally, eyes shining.

“I wanted to try it,” Tally said simply. “I’d been touching and playing with her pretty pussy for a month or two at that point. I’d licked her juices off my fingers and found them enticing. I’d come to grips with the fact that I was bisexual. And so, I started working my way down there and, when she didn’t stop me ... I just did it.” She smiled. “It was everything I was hoping it would be. After that, every time Neeshie and I had girl-time, I’d go downtown and give her a ride.”

“She is really good at it,” Neesh said. “It took a while before I got up the nerve to return the favor. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to, it was what Tally just hinted at: if you put your mouth down on another girl’s pussy, you kind of have to admit you’re bisexual. I wasn’t quite ready to admit that for a while longer.”

“But you did,” Laura said.

“I did,” Neesh said. “You know that as well as anyone, Teach. And the first time I put my mouth between Tally’s legs, I knew I’d always want a little taste of girl in my life. And I’ve had it, though not nearly as much as I like since we graduated high school. Girl-time is getting to be harder and harder to come by.”

“It is,” Tally said sadly. “At least until those times we’re able to get together. Now that Neeshie’s out of law school and I’m only part-time in the Master’s program, we might be able to see each other more?”

“Maybe,” Neesh said hopefully. “Gordon’s going to be on the road again soon. Maybe a sleepover could be arranged.”

The two friends shared another naughty laugh at this thought.

Laura had many more questions to ask them. She was completely enthralled with their stories. But, at that moment, Gordon and Jake came over to their table, fresh drinks in their hands, and all talk of girl-time came to a screeching halt.

The next day, the wedding ceremony was to take place at 1:00 on the large lawn. Laura got out of bed at 9:00, smelling of sexual musk and stale alcohol. She had all but attacked Jake after they’d returned to the room last night, demanding that he eat her pussy out until his mouth cramped and then riding him ruthlessly until he blasted off inside of her.

“The Neesh effect again?” Jake had asked after she’d collapsed atop him in a heap.

“Kind of,” she admitted.

“What does that mean?”

“It was more like her friend Talia,” she said.

“Oh yeah? She is pretty hot looking.”

“Yeah,” Laura said. “And ... I ... uh ... oh, never mind.”

“What?” Jake asked, lifting up her chin to look in her eyes.

“Well ... I kind of think that maybe she’s into girls,” she said softly.

“Really?” Jake asked, not the least bit upset by this proclamation. “What makes you think that?”

“Oh ... just some vibes she throws off.”

“Vibes?”

“Vibes,” Laura assured him. “It’s just a feeling, really.”

They had talked no more about it, but now, as she walked naked into the bathroom to start getting ready for her role as a bridesmaid, she was still thinking about it. And as she thought about it, she started to juice up again down below even though she was a bit sore from Jake’s ministrations the previous night.

She brushed her teeth, showered, put on a nice pair of silky underwear and a strapless push-up bra, and then, after combing out her hair, donned a pair of denim shorts and a simple sleeveless blouse. By the time she was done with all of this, Jake was up and around and ready to take his own shower. Once he was done and dressed in his jeans and shirt, they made their way down to the café in the lobby to have some breakfast. The food was excellent, and they ate an abundance of it, knowing there would be nothing else until well into the reception. Jake did not bring up Talia, nor did Laura.

“Okay,” Laura told him when they arrived back at the room. “I’m going to head over and start getting ready.”

“Sounds good,” Jake said. “I can’t wait to see you in your dress.”

Laura chuckled. “Green bridesmaid dresses. I’m going to be the only one who looks good in that color.”

“Gotta love that red hair,” Jake agreed.

She gathered up the bag with her dress and shoes in it and then kissed Jake goodbye. “See you there,” she told him.

“See you there,” he returned.

Gordon and Neesh were staying in separate rooms in keeping with tradition—though Laura had no illusions about where they had actually spent the night. She walked over to Neesh’s and found a beehive of activity inside. Neesh, Tally, and the other three bridesmaids—Jessica Towler, one of Neesh’s law school classmates; Barb Hawkins, a cousin she had been close with growing up; and Lydia Powell, a former college roommate—were all there in various stages of getting ready. Four professional cosmetologists had been hired for this occasion. One was working on Neesh’s hair, one on Tally’s, and the other two were working on makeup for Lydia and Jessica.

“Teach!” greeted Neesh happily. She was sitting in a chair in her robe while her locks were being worked on. “Come on in! Grab a seat and join the party.”

Laura did so, hanging her dress bag on a hook and then taking the seat next to Tally. For the next hour, the room was a loud, giggling forum of girl talk and hilarity that reminded Laura of high school. They had their hair done and locked into place with hairspray and then had coats of makeup expertly applied before donning their dresses. Laura looked at herself in the mirror at the end of this process in amazement. She rarely did her hair in anything other than a ponytail or simply hanging down and she almost never wore makeup. She didn’t think she looked like herself at all, but rather like some magazine cover version of herself.

“You’re beautiful, Teach,” Neesh told her with a smile. “Not that you’re not always beautiful, but you’re particularly gorgeous today.”

“Thank you,” Laura said shyly, feeling almost like an imposter. She then looked at Neesh and took her in. “It’s you who are beautiful though. My God.”

And this was true. Neesh’s dress was the traditional white with a wide, flowing hem. It was backless, showing the smooth, dark skin of her scapular region and, in front, it displayed a considerable amount of her cleavage—not enough to be gaudy or tasteless, but enough to show the bride’s assets.

“I can’t believe this dress cost ten thousand dollars and I’m never going to wear it again,” Neesh said with a shake of the head.

Just before noon, everyone was ready for their parts in the ceremony. The cosmetologists all packed up their things so they could retreat to their respective rooms. As they walked out the door, Tally grabbed the chubby, middle-aged woman who was in charge of them. “You’ll remain on standby until after the ceremony, correct?” she asked her. “In case something needs touching up?”

“Absolutely,” the woman told her. “I’ll be in room two-eleven until the reception is complete.”

“Very good,” Tally said with a smile.

Tally led the green dress girls over to her room on the fifth floor and the four of them settled in to wait for it to be time to report to the staging area. They drank bottled water and chatted for a bit and then Tally went over everyone’s positioning one last time, just to be sure they all knew what they were supposed to be doing. They did.

“All right,” Tally said. “I’m going to run back over to Neeshie’s room and wait with her there. Remember, down to the staging area at 12:45. Don’t be late.”

They promised they wouldn’t be late, and Tally left them to their own devices. The three of them continued to chat, playing the get to know someone you’ll probably never meet again game. Laura mostly listened, although both bridesmaids asked a fair number of questions about what it was like being married to Jake Kingsley.

At 12:15, the room’s phone began to ring. Everyone looked at it for a few moments and then Jessica finally got up and walked over and picked it up. “Hello?” She listened, nodded her head, and then said, “Okay, I’ll get her.” She looked over at Laura. “It’s Tally. She wants to talk to you.”

“To me?” Laura asked, surprised.

“She asked for you by name,” Jessica said.

Laura walked over and took the phone from her hands. She put it to her ear. “This is Laura,” she said.

“Hey, Teach,” said Tally’s voice. “We got a little situation here and I need you to come over and help.”

“What kind of situation?” Laura asked, wondering what could possibly be going wrong forty-five minutes before the ceremony.

“Neeshie’s having a little attack of nerves,” Tally said. “She needs to be chilled out a little.”

“Really?” Laura asked, surprised. Neesh had always been rock solid as long as she’d known her.

“Really,” Tally said. “Can you pop over here really quick?”

“What am I going to be able to do?” she asked.

“Talk to her,” Tally said. “You’re her best friend after me. Between the two of us, we can get her through this. We need to make it fast though.”

“Uh ... okay,” Laura said. “I’ll be right there.”

She told the other three girls what was going on and then headed out the door. A short walk down a corridor and up a flight of stairs took her back to Neesh’s room. She knocked on the door lightly. A moment later, it was opened and there stood Tally in her green dress.

“Come in,” Tally said, stepping aside to let her in.

Laura entered the room and saw Neesh sitting on the couch. She didn’t look like she was having an attack of nerves.

“Thanks for coming, Teach,” Neesh told her.

“No problem,” Laura said. “What’s going on? Tally said you were having some ... issues?”

“I’m a little nervous about going out there,” Neesh said. “Tally’s going to help me get through it. She thought you might be helpful for this too.”

“Uh ... sure,” Laura said. “What can I do?”

“Go sit on the couch next to her,” Tally said.

“Uh ... okay,” Laura said slowly. She walked over and sat next to Neesh.

Tally walked over as well. She remained standing, positioning herself right in front of Neesh. “Now,” she said to Laura, “I want you to take her hands in yours and hold onto them tightly.”

“Take her hands? What’s going on here?”

“Just do it,” Tally said. “Trust me.”

Neesh held her hands out to Laura. Laura took them in hers. “Uh ... why am I doing this?” she asked.

Tally smiled and then slowly, carefully dropped to her knees on the carpet, so she was kneeling before Neesh’s dress covered knees. “Because,” she told Laura, “Neesh has a hard time keeping her hands to herself during this maneuver. You can’t let her mess up my hair.”

“Maneuver?” Laura asked, feeling herself flush. “You mean you’re going to ... to...”

“I’m going to relax Neeshie the best way I know how,” Tally said. With that, she reached out and grasped the hem of the wedding dress. She pushed it upward, revealing bare knees, then bare thighs. “Open your legs, Neeshie,” she told her. “I need some room here.”

Laura was shocked, but also quite aroused. “Uh ... Tally ... Neesh ... are you ... uh ... sure you should be doing this?”

“I’m sure,” Neesh said with a smile. “Just hold onto my hands, Teach. You don’t need to do anything else.”

Laura nodded, letting her eyes drop back down. Neesh’s legs opened up as the dress went higher, revealing a pair of frilly white panties. Tally put her hand high on Neesh’s inner thigh and stroked the flesh there for a moment. She then slid her fingers higher, until she was touching the crotch of the panties. She slid her knuckle up and down a few times, smiling as she did so.

“You seem a little damp down here, Neeshie,” Tally observed lightly.

“Don’t fuck around,” Neesh said, her voice a pant. “Just do it.”

“Right,” Tally said. She looked up at Laura again. “Hold those hands for me.”

“Okay,” Laura said, panting a little herself.

Tally hooked her fingers into the elastic band of the panties’ crotch and pulled it to the left, revealing Neesh’s womanhood. It was smooth shaven, the lips swollen and glistening with moisture. Her clitoris was already poking up. The smell of her arousal permeated the air, sending shivers down Laura’s spine.

She’s really going to do this, Laura thought, black arousal seething through her. She’s going to eat her pussy forty minutes before her wedding, while she’s in her wedding dress!

“Mmm,” Tally said with a smile. “You just gotta love girl-time.”

With that, she lowered her head and went to work. She licked up and down Neesh’s labia a few times and then fastened her lips to her clitoris and began to suck on it.

“Oh ... yesss,” Neesh moaned happily, her head falling back on her shoulders. “That feels so fucking good.”

Laura held onto Neesh’s hands and listened to the wet, slurping sounds coming up. Neesh’s grip tightened on hers as her arousal shot up, but she made no attempt to pull her hands free or touch Tally anywhere. Soon, Neesh was panting, her hips rising and falling slightly on the couch cushion.

“That’s it! That’s it!” she moaned. And then she exploded, her skin breaking out in goose flesh and flushing, her breath becoming ragged, her hands squeezing spastically on Laura’s.

“Okay, okay,” Neesh said. “I’m done.”

Talia brought her face out from between the bride’s legs. Her lipstick was now smeared everywhere, the makeup on her chin in disarray, moisture all over her upper lip and nose. She was smiling. “Feeling better now, Neeshie?”

“Yes, very relaxed,” Neesh said, nodding. “You can let go of my hands now, Teach.”

“Oh ... right,” Laura said. She was incredibly aroused by what had just happened. She let Neesh’s hands free.

Neesh stood up and pulled her dress down, covering her legs once again. She looked up at the clock. “I’d better go clean myself up a little down there,” she said.

“Probably a good idea,” Tally agreed.

Neesh headed into the bathroom and closed the door, leaving Tally and Laura alone. Tally was smiling contentedly.

“That was the hottest fucking thing I’ve ever done in my life,” she declared. “I just ate a bride out on her wedding day. How often do you get to do something like that?”

“Not very often,” Laura had to guess.

Tally smiled at her. “We still have a few minutes left. I’ll need to get the makeup woman back over here to fix me up a bit.”

“Yes,” Laura agreed. “You’re definitely going to have to do that.”

Tally made no move to the phone just yet. “However, it looks like you could maybe use a little relaxation yourself.”

“You mean...” Laura started, but was unable to finish.

“You know what I mean, Teach,” Tally said. “How about it? I’ve never licked a redhead before.”

Laura shuddered a little, felt temptation tugging at her, but was able to shake her head. “I can’t,” she said. “I’m married.”

“Of course you’re married,” Tally said. “I’m not talking about stealing you from your husband, I’m talking about girl-time. Girl-time doesn’t mean anything.”

“It does to me though,” Laura said. “I made ... well ... an agreement with my husband.”

“An agreement?”

Laura nodded. “He knows I like girls, and he’s okay with that, but ... I promised him I would never do anything with another girl without talking to him about it first.”

“Really?” Tally said.

“Really,” Laura confirmed.

“That’s wild,” Tally said, pondering that. “How many times have you talked about doing it with another girl with him and then did it?”

“Never,” she said. “It hasn’t happened yet.”

“It hasn’t happened yet?” Tally said. “How come?”

“I haven’t found the right girl yet.”

“Hmmm,” Tally said slowly. “But your agreement is that if you do, all you have to do is talk to him and let him know about it first?”

“That is the agreement,” Laura said.

Tally nodded her head a few times. “Tell me something, Teach,” she said. “Questions of marriage and girl-time and the ramifications of all that aside, do you want me to go down between your legs and lick your pussy?”

“It’s tempting,” Laura said, “but...”

“Screw tempting,” Tally said. “That’s not what I’m talking about. I want to know if you physically want me to go down and eat your pussy? Do you desire to feel my lips and tongue between your legs? I’m not saying you should let me do it, I’m just asking if you want it.”

“Yes,” Laura admitted. “I want it very much.”

Tally’s smile grew wider. “Well, maybe we can work something out here then. We’ll just have to do it quickly.”

It was 12:30 when the phone rang in G’s hotel room. The groom was there, dressed in his tuxedo, looking quite snazzy. Ricky, the best man, and the groomsmen were there as well, all dressed in their respective tuxes and ready to get on with the show. G was doing what he did to relax in circumstances such as these. He and the rest of the crew had just downed a few shots of Jägermeister to mellow them out.

The phone began to ring. Ricky picked it up. “Talk to me,” he said into the mouthpiece. He listened and then turned to Jake. “It’s for you,” he said, holding out the handset. “Your old lady.”

Jake looked at the clock for a moment. What the hell does Laura want right now? he wondered. He walked across the room and took the handset. “Laura?”

“Hey, sweetie,” Laura’s voice said. “Remember how I was telling you that I got a vibe off of Tally last night?”

“Uh ... yeah,” he said. “I remember.”

“Well ... it turns out I was correct. She’s into girls.”

Jake blinked. “Uh ... I see,” he said slowly. “That’s very interesting, of course, but why are you calling to tell me this right now?”

“Because I’m in Neesh’s hotel room with her right this moment and she wants to eat my pussy out before we go to the staging area.”

Jake was too stunned to say anything for a moment. Had he really just heard what he thought he’d just heard?

“Jake, you there, sweetie?” Laura asked. “We don’t have a lot of time here.”

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m here. Is this a joke, hon?”

“It’s not a joke,” she said. “She’s standing in front of me right now, waiting for me to talk this over with you. That was our agreement, remember?”

“Yeah,” he said, his head swimming. “That was our agreement. Is this something that ... you know ... you want to do?”

“Very much,” she told him.

He briefly let a vision of Talia in her bridesmaid dress going down on Laura, his wife, flitter into his forebrain. It was a pleasant image that sent a little blood surging into his little head. “Well ... all right then,” he said. “It’s all right with me. Just be sure to make it to the ceremony on time.”

“Will do, sweetie,” Laura told him. “Thanks.”

“You bet,” he replied. The phone clicked in his ear. He held onto it for another few seconds and then slowly hung it up.

“What was that about?” asked G.

“Nothing,” Jake said dismissively. “She was just checking to make sure we’re all on schedule here.”

The wedding started on schedule. Jake and Laura met up with each other in the staging area just before it was time to walk out onto the lawn. He was paired up with Laura for the walk to the podium. They had a brief moment alone before showtime.

“Did she do it?” Jake whispered to her.

Laura smiled and nodded to him. “She did it,” she whispered back.

“While you were wearing your dress?”

“Yeah,” Laura said dreamily.

Jake nodded appreciably. “That’s pretty hot, hon.”

“It was,” she said. “It was very hot. Thank you for letting me do it.”

“Anytime,” Jake said.

It was time to go out. Since Ricky was G’s best man, he was paired with Talia. Jake took one look back at them before heading out the door. Talia’s eyes caught his. She smiled and gave him a nod. Jake smiled and gave her a nod in return.

I wonder how all this came about, Jake couldn’t help but wonder.

He couldn’t wait to hear the story.