Empress of the Night
The other guests had already assembled in the salon when Carol and Therese walked in. The women had chosen to sit next to their respective partners the only exception being Megan who occupied a plush armchair right next to the host couple. The only available chair looked comfortable enough but compared to the one Megan was hogging all to herself it was minuscule at best.
“Sit on my lap,” Therese murmured to Carol as she sat down on its soft yet sturdy cushion. Not bothering to wait for a reply, she pulled her on top of her and circled her arms around her waist. It certainly wasn’t what Carol had had in mind but she saw no reason to resist it either. Therese was petite and thus hardly the most suited person physically to cradle a woman of Carol’s size in her arms.
To her own surprise, Carol was able to relax and to even enjoy the intimate closeness they’d been more or less forced into. She wished she could have seen Therese but the way she was pressed against the brunette’s lap made it impossible. She did feel her hands, the warmth of her palms on her ribs as they moved across the fabric of her dress in one continuous, absentminded caress.
A coffee table with twelve shot glasses was set in the middle of the floor. Even though Ruth and Alice, the seniors of tonight’s gathering, had already retired to their room for the night, there was still a dirty dozen left to enjoy what was left of Friday.
“Okay, I know some of you have played this before,” Abby admitted, “and even with me,” she snorted, “but I thought ‘what the heck, let’s give it another try’…” Her speech was already slightly slurred, which was starting to grate on Genevieve's nerves.
“Honey, have some water,” she reminded Abby, “I’m sure you don’t want this night to end too abruptly, do you?”
Irritated, Abby pretended she hadn’t heard a thing. “We’re going to start out by playing ‘Never Have I Ever’…” She shot an amused look around the room to see if everyone approved.
“What is this?” Leaning all the way back, Carol was able to whisper her question right into Therese’s ear.
“It’s a stupid-ass game where you’re supposed to claim some outrageous thing you yourself have never done in hopes of that some other schmuck in the room actually has.” Listening to her explanation, Carol felt Therese’s breath warm her cheek. “If someone has done it, she must down a shot. If no one has, the speaker drinks.”
Carol looked at Therese who seemed distressed by what was about to happen. For a quick second she forgot about the silly game, the glasses filled to the brim with ice-cold vodka, the worrisome way in which Abby behaved already for she couldn’t help but wonder what went on behind Therese’s tentative frown, her viridescent eyes that stubbornly withheld the smile Carol had seen only glimpses of.
“Well, this should be relatively easy then,” Carol murmured back. “I haven’t really done anything – at least not anything risqué if that’s what this is supposed to be.”
Turning her head slightly on one side, Therese was clearly amused. “Now that would be a grave mistake,” she mumbled, “Don’t forget that we’ve been together for a couple of weeks already and we haven’t been acting all too chastely either.” Her hands slid down Carol’s sides making them quiver unnoticeably. “When someone says something referring to lesbian sex, I will pinch your ass, okay? That way you will know when to raise your hand…” A test pinch startled Carol but not because it was too hard or anything like that. It was a perfect, soft nip designed to awaken not hurt.
Maura, Abby’s old basketball pal, was to go first. “Never have I ever… had sex in the car watching a drive-in movie.” Only three hands shot up – Lauren’s, Genevieve’s and to Therese’s big surprise, Carol’s.
“It’s their straight past shining through here…” Megan belittled. “Nothing any of us gold star dykes know about,” she scoffed contemptuously.
“Hey, hey, hey…” Abby interrupted, “Don’t you go putting down drive-in car sex – I’ve had sex there as well, I just wasn’t watching the movie!” She burst out in hearty laughter.
“You are splitting hairs, dear Abigail,” Maura scolded her. “Have a shot – all four of you!” The women in question reached for their glasses and downed them in one glug. Only a squint of an eye gave away the strong content of Carol’s drink whereas the others took their time to shudder out of the effect the vodka had on their taste buds.
“Never have I ever…” Lauren started making up her claim as she went along, “…been eaten in my office… during office hours.” Therese pinched Carol’s ass, and as her hand went up, Therese extended hers as well.
“My, my, my…” Megan snarled after having acknowledged her penchant for semi-public oral sex, “I’m going to have to rethink my decision to buy that chaise longue from your shop, Abby darling.” She placed her wine glass on the side table. “I’m afraid your business partner may have ruined its delicate exterior while you’ve been away.”
By now, Abby’s reaction time was slowed down to the extent that she paid no attention to what Megan or anyone else was saying. Somehow she did remember to queue up for the shot she was doomed to have.
“I could’ve had oral sex at work with my ex-husband, you know?” Carol whispered to Therese. She wasn’t that innocent after all. “And why is it so bloody important to claim that we’ve done it?”
Therese stared at her curiously. “So have you?”
“Have I what?” Carol asked impatiently.
“Have you had oral sex at work with your ex during office hours?” Therese held her gaze stubbornly.
“Well… no, but that’s hardly the point…” Carol whispered hastily only to be interrupted by Therese.
“But it is the point,” Therese explained patiently. “You see… if we were a couple and we’d known each other for only a few weeks so far, we would’ve already done it everywhere and in every possible way.” She winked her eye at Carol who felt suddenly overwhelmed by this new information. “Believe me, I know what I’m talking about, and when I do, it’s better to stay as close to the alleged truth as possible.”
She tried to lift Carol up to go with her to get their shots but the blonde woman didn’t budge. “You’re trembling. Do you need a shawl?” Therese asked worried. Carol shook her head and slowly pushed herself up to accept the shot glass Lauren was all too eager to offer.
Soon it became very evident that the star of the evening wasn’t going to shine for too long. As a matter fact it had been obvious already for some time that the twinkle in Abby’s eyes had grown dim with the fifth shot she’d foolhardily consumed.
“Abby doesn’t know the meaning of the word ‘never’, “ complained Genevieve when the birthday girl had finally passed out in her favourite easy chair. “There isn’t a lot she hasn’t at least tried once so even when it’s her turn to utter that stupid sentence, it’s usually she who ends up doing the drinking. “ Carol was sorry to see Gen so displeased but a part of her was also relieved that the night had finally come to its end.
“We’ll help you to get her upstairs,” Carol suggested to Gen who was only too grateful to accept her offer. “It’s late and I think we both really need to go to bed as well.”
Amused, Gen wiggled her eyebrows. “Never have I ever had sex in a mansion in the Hudson Valley?” Her words were followed by a spurt of laughter. “Oh but no – Abby already caught you in the act, didn’t she?” Genevieve’s mischievous eyes darted from Carol to Therese and back.
Carol couldn’t help but blush. The tension she’d experienced through the entire evening due to Megan’s rudeness, the unfathomable effect Therese had had on her – to have it all somehow connected with her simple wish to sleep – not as in sleep together but as in close one’s eyes and forget this day ever happened, she reminded herself - was just too much to digest.
“Yeah, it is late,” Therese confirmed. “Let’s get Abby in her bed first and then, baby, it’s time for us to hop into ours.”
The room was dark when they opened its door, only the moon lending its glow on the desk, the floor and the bed in one silvery sliver. Therese walked over to the window to gaze outside, and the sight of her made Carol forget any inclination to turn the light on.
“Come and see,” Therese said to Carol, and the private little smile that played in the corners of her mouth was more magnificent than the moon Carol was invited to meet. “This is the place for it, don’t you think?” The question made hardly sense to Carol.
“Place for what?” she asked suspiciously.
“The Longfellow’s moon,” Therese grinned knowing very well that she was being obscure at best.
Bemused, Carol smiled back. “I’m afraid you’ll have to be a bit more specific...” Somehow she knew this was the answer Therese had been waiting for.
“Look at the garden, the stairs, the stone walls ahead…” Therese put her arm around Carol’s shoulders and brought her next to her. “See the billowy clouds?” Carol was captivated by what she saw – next to her. “Okay, here it goes…”
As a pale phantom with a lamp
Ascends some ruin's haunted stair,
So glides the moon along the damp
Mysterious chambers of the air.
Now hidden in cloud, and now revealed,
As if this phantom, full of pain,
Were by the crumbling walls concealed,
And at the windows seen again.
Until at last, serene and proud
In all the splendor of her light,
She walks the terraces of cloud,
Supreme as Empress of the Night…
Therese came alive before Carol’s eyes in a way she hadn’t thought possible. She was in her element giving Carol a glimpse of the inner life no money could buy or bribe. You are a phantom, occurred to Carol, mysterious and full of… pain? An urge to reach out, to ask and to understand, to tell and to be told in words and silences, in equal amounts yet always in excess speared her then and there.
“Supreme as Empress of the Night…” Therese repeated wistfully. “I think it’s time…” she said looking at Carol, “to wish good night to our celestial alpha.” She removed her hand that had both held Carol together and torn her splendidly asunder. Therese took her toothbrush but just as she was about to enter the bathroom she turned once more to speak to Carol:
“I’ll take the sofa.”