[MOD]
Anti-piracy Officer
Somewhere in south-central England.
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Handle With Care
Olympe was first to arrive at Etta’s. The wine bar wasn't as busy as she had expected for a Saturday night. She accepted her luck, and demanded a good table for two.
Rachel arrived a few minutes later, wearing a pretty white, short sleeve midi dress. She quickly glanced around the space, noticing the bright modern decor. Seeing Olympe in her booth, she smiled and said, “Hey Olympe! or Pia!” giggling and leaning in for a hug.
Olympe stood to hug her. "I like your dress, Rachel! Summery, very chic.”
“Oh, thank you!”
“How do you like mine?" Olympe did a theatrical pose and twirl in her mini dress, which was off-white, sleeveless, and showed off her bare legs from mid-thigh. It also revealed that she did not shave her armpits or legs.
"You look absolutely stunning!" Rachel said. She glanced at Olympe’s underarms and legs, a bit surprised to see a woman who was not depilated.
Taking her seat, Rachel was again in awe of Olympe’s handsome face. "How have you been?” she asked. “How's the training going? Thank you for inviting me, my week has been so busy!"
"I've been busy but bored. It's stuff I already know, but I have to repeat it to get the certificates for Illinois. How is your Pilates coming along?”
A waitress brought two menus. Olympe smiled quick thanks at her. She left her menu on the table, waiting to hear Rachel’s reply.
“Perhaps you would like a few minutes...?” the waitress asked, and moved away.
"As for me,” Rachel said, “Kristen has been showing me the ropes, teaching me more about Pilates, and introducing me to clients. It’s been slow but I am growing into it." She started to go through the menu. "Okay, what are we drinking?"
Olympe scanned the wine list, her eyes flashing as they danced over the card. “Gosh! There’s more choice than I thought. What style of wine do you like, Rachel? Shall we share a bottle, or drink by the glass?”
"I do prefer white, Pia. It’s always white or beer for me, and given the atmosphere, wine sounds good! What would you like to have?"
She smiled at Olympe, noticing her large gold earrings, which made Rachel feel she should dress a bit more feminine the next time. She was wearing basic makeup and small circular, gold stud earrings. She was curious about the underarm hair.
“Well, it’s summer so let’s have something light,” Olympe replied. “Gruner Vertliner is trending now. Shall we try a bottle of that? What would you like to eat?” Pia took up the food menu, but she was distracted and did not open it straight away.
"The Gruner sounds good," Rachel smiled back. Her mind was still on underarms. She could not understand the reason for not shaving.
“I like your earrings, Rachel.” Olympe leant forward to see them closer, and also to take a discreet breath of her fragrance. Rachel had worn a sporty scent. It smelt quite refreshing.
"Well, thank you," Rachel smiled, touching the stud in her right ear. "You are very kind, and you are a lot more fashionable than me.”
“Don’t talk yourself down, girlfriend. Everyone has their own style. You look great! I love your hair. I only wear this short style because it's low maintenance. I like long hair.” Olympe’s hair was a choppy, layered pixie cut, roughly styled with salt spray.
Rachel noticed that Olympe’s fragrance also was light and fresh, a different, lighter scent to the one she had worn when they met in Myopic Books.
“Oh! I never explained why I called myself Pia when I rang you up. It’s because Olympe is difficult for British people to say. It means Olympus, which is also Olympia, so I got ‘Pia’ as a nickname. I said it absent-mindedly. But please call me Pia or Olympe, whichever you like the best, because you pronounce it perfectly.”
“Pia suits well. So, food-wise, how about the spicy meatballs and focaccia?"
Pia had realised that Rachel had clocked her armpits during her twirl pose, but she put the matter on one side to concentrate on the food order. “Spicy meatballs and focaccia sounds bang on! Should we share?” She waited for Rachel to agree, not wanting to seem pushy and controlling.
Rachel nodded, acknowledging the compliment. "Yes, let’s share. The spice will go well with our drinks." Rachel smiled at the waitress, who noted down the order and left the two in their booth. They looked around at the decor and the other fashionably dressed diners.
"You have great taste, Pia. I’m not used to such fancy bars, but I sure needed the break tonight.” Rachel was not well off. Coming here she felt a bit intimidated, but Pia was the reason she had come, and she was a calming presence.
“Tonight’s on me,” Pia said, “Because I invited you. Anyway, let’s talk about something more interesting. How about them Cubs. Isn’t that what Americans say? I don’t know what it means.”
“Oh that’s not what I meant, Pia!” Rachel looked rather embarrassed at giving that impression, which was not her intention.
Pia felt bad to have embarrassed her friend. She looked down at the tabletop, not knowing what to say. She took a sip of mineral water and planted her feet square on the earth to centre herself. She changed the direction of the conversation.
“How is your car search going, Rachel? I’ve ordered an electric moped for general commuting. Well, it’s a scooter, actually, I mean a sit down one, a Vespa. Do you call them scooters? That’s what we call them in Britain.”
“A Vespa does sound cool. It's called a scooter here too. As for my car search, Kristen has an old vehicle which is not being used, and I’ll be able to get it from her this week. I’m so excited.” The smile on her face said it all. Rachel hated the bus.
The waitress arrived with the cold, pale wine. She filled the glasses carefully and withdrew, leaving the bottle in a dewy cooler. Rachel called for Pia to decide the toast.
"To your car and my scooter. May we go a million miles!" She smiled brightly and held her glass out. They clinked, and sipped the bright, fresh wine. Pia watched Rachel's face, hoping her friend's mood was restored.
"As good a toast as any! Cheers to that!" Rachel felt a whole lot better, and was again glad to have met Pia. She brought so much energy with her, making Rachel look at life from a new perspective. "This wine tastes so good, it’s certainly among the best I’ve ever had. So tell me about you. Any boyfriends? I want to know everything.”
Rachel was keen to learn more about Pia, and her situation on the personal front. Things were still new between them. To Rachel, Pia was a friend, though she felt a definite attraction towards her.
Pia looked down at the table again. She put her wine glass down, and began to rotate the stem between her fingers, an unconscious movement which betrayed some inner turmoil.
"I had a boyfriend in Tokyo last year,” she said, quietly. “It just about broke his heart when I left. I never meant for that to happen, but it was at least half my fault, and I feel so guilty. I never took it as seriously as he did. What makes it worse is that Hikaru had warned me to be serious. She's my brother's fiancée. She set me up with a university friend of hers, because he spoke French and I couldn't speak any Japanese. I hurt her too, indirectly, and my brother. I don’t want to hurt anyone again, so I need to be careful. Well...”
She looked up, smiled at Rachel, and took a sip of wine. “Anyway, I don’t know how to talk to American boys, so nothing’s going to happen.”
Just then the waitress brought the food, and Pia asked for side salads, apologising for being late with the request. The waitress smiled and added the new order to the bill.
Pia suddenly realised that Rachel could not be a vegetarian or a teetotaller, as she was happy with meatballs and wine. She giggled to herself at the slowness of her uptake. So much for me being a detective.
Rachel sipped more wine, loving Pia’s expressions and her laughter.
“I guess we’re two new girls in Chicago trying to figure things out for ourselves,” she said.
With her hands folded on the table after a big sip, Rachel said, “You continue to intrigue me, Pia! It’s obviously not nice to break up with someone, but it has to work for you, right? People do get hurt and I can understand. I was cheated on by my boyfriend in New York, and for a year, life was miserable. I’m done with men.”
“Being cheated on is the worst,” Pia sympathised. “I mean, eyes can rove and so on, that’s only natural, but playing around while you’re in a serious relationship is just wrong. I’m not surprised you left him and moved away. But you seem to be recovering, judging by the sparkle in your eye.”
Rachel blushed as soon as Pia said that. It sure was true. It had been a long time since someone had grabbed her attention like the tall blonde seated opposite.
Pia speared a meatball on her fork, cut it in half and ate a chunk, with her British manners. “Don’t let your food go cold, Rachel. It’s really good.” She ate the other half of the meatball, and followed it with a piece of focaccia.
“Hey, Rachel, I saw you clock my armpits earlier. You’re wondering why I don’t shave. It’s partly because I’m half-French. Lots of French women don’t shave, and I got the habit from my mother. Apart from that, it’s my small rebellion against the patriarchy. Making women feel ashamed of their natural bodies is a way of exerting control. That’s what I think, anyway.”
She ate some salad and took a sip of wine. “Then again, if I had dark hair I probably would shave my legs if I was going to wear sheer tights, so maybe I’m not as hard-arse a feminist as I like to think.” Pia laughed quietly at her minor hypocrisy.
"Honestly Pia, I think it’s a good cause, but I just hate any hair on my body. It annoys me, but hey, each to their own, yeah?"
Rachel smiled and went back to sipping her wine, resting her back against the chair, looking at Pia's body once again. She could not stop herself! She noticed that Pia was nearly done with her first glass. "May I pour you more wine?" She was enjoying how open Pia was with her, and thought the alcohol would help loosen her tongue even more.
Pia felt Rachel’s eyes moving over her body, and she didn’t mind at all. Pia’s broad shoulders were emphasised by the cut of her dress. She had a strong chest and a svelte bust, which made her look quite athletic. “Thanks, it’s good wine,” she said, and accepted the top-up with a smile.
She was strongly attracted to Rachel, whose smooth caramel skin, brown eyes, and freshly-cut, short brown hair were so pretty. She subtly checked out Rachel’s figure, thinking that she probably wouldn’t notice. For months Pia had only had her Hitachi magic wand for company. She felt a surge of desire.
But go slowly, Pia, because here’s someone who can be a friend and sometimes that’s more important...
She ate some more salad. “Well, I totally get you about shaving. I promise I won’t try to push my ideas... ... Hang on!? You don’t like any hair on your body?”
She leant forwards and her voice dropped to a whisper. “Does that mean... you shave… down there...?” Pia covered her mouth with her hands, embarrassed at having asked such a personal question. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” she said in a horrified whisper from behind her hands. Am I getting drunk? I’ve only had one glass.
Rachel burst out laughing when Pia asked her about shaving down below. The conversation with her was so good! She loved how open Pia was. It worked to bring her slowly out of her shell and her comfort zone.
"No need to be sorry, I do shave down below too, I always have," she said with a smile and nodded, showing off her white teeth. Rachel had only thought idly of women before, but she had the strong feeling that Pia was perhaps adventurous and into women.
"You sure seem quite naughty, Pia! You do intrigue me. I find you very attractive. I am sorry if it’s coming off the wrong way, but I just had to say it.”
Rachel blushed and looked away, not sure what Pia would make of it, but it made her happy to declare her attraction out loud. She was quite shy at this point, having confessed her feelings to a woman for the very first time in her life. Her heart was racing.
“How could anyone take offence at being told they are attractive?” Pia smiled openly. Her eyes crinkled at the corners, which showed it was genuine. She raised her glass and took a mouthful, feeling a bit nervous, put it down again to look Rachel in the eyes. She thought carefully about how to phrase a response.
Just then the waitress came over to ask if they were enjoying their meal. “It’s delicious, thank you,” said Pia with a grin. When the girl had gone away she went on.
“Actually I hate it when they ask that. Being English, I can’t say anything except that it’s fine, no matter how bad it actually is. Luckily this place is great.”
Rachel's nervousness and anxiety were not visible in her face, however she kept shaking her leg below the table, and she was glad that Pia was leading things.
“Listen, Rachel, you know there’s a team for girls who like boys, and a team for girls who like girls. Well... I bat on both teams... And it’s not always easy.” She waited to see Rachel’s reaction.
Rachel responded with a shy smile. "Oh, I think I know what you mean. I have only ever played on the boy team. This is the first time I’ve thought about crossing over. I am so nervous," she said with a shaky giggle, and looked away, unable to meet Pia's gaze directly.
Pia was in mental turmoil. She remembered the times she had come out to close friends and family, not all of whom had accepted her sexual identity. It was even more difficult to make your feelings known directly to a girl you fancied. Rejection always hurt, and it hurt worse if it was accompanied by a bad, possibly homophobic, reaction.
Her heartbeat accelerated. Her hormones were urging her to take Rachel somewhere and pin her to a hot, tangled bed… but that would be wrong. It was only loneliness, and the phase of her monthly cycle, driving her instinct. This girl deserved respect, and a gentle, careful exploration of her feelings. Otherwise it would almost be a kind of assault.
Also there were practicalities; so far they were getting on well but there was so much depth to a possible relationship. Tastes in music, dancing, art, all sorts of things, might synchronise or antagonise and they didn’t really know each other yet. It was impossible to know so soon where things might go.
The first thing was to calm Rachel down. Under the table, Pia stretched out her bare leg and carefully felt for Rachel. When she sensed the contact, she held the warmth of her calf still against Rachel’s smooth skin.
“It’s okay, Rachel, it’s okay,” she said gently, putting as much reassurance as she could into her voice. “It took a lot of guts to say what you did, and I’m really touched that you chose to say it to me. Take a deep breath, and have a drink. I’m not trying to get you drunk, but it would help you relax.” She lifted her own glass, and waited with a warm smile to see if Rachel would follow suit.
Rachel could barely believe what was going on. There was an exciting tension between them. She just wanted to lean in and kiss Pia, but she was not the type to take the initiative. Rachel's heart was racing. She liked Pia's playfulness and openness, which were qualities she never been strong in.
What do I want from this? Just some fun, or something more?
Her mind buzzed with so many thoughts, while she was trying just to remain calm. Feeling Pia's leg below the table helped, and she could sense the hairs on her calf while their two limbs played with each other.
"Your leg does feel nice,” Rachel finally spoke with a blush on her face, picking up her glass of wine, enjoying her first real attraction to another woman. "What do we do about this? I am new to it, please help!" she asked playfully, as she watched Pia take a sip of wine. She felt a lot more comfortable now.
Inside her head Pia was going totally manic, and her body was reacting too. Oh God! I’ve been so lonely for so long. She tried to keep her face calm.
Rachel noticed that Pia’s nipples were standing proud, pushing at the fabric of her dress. Pia took another mouthful of wine, put her glass down and reached over with her right hand to take Rachel’s left. The contact was warm and soft. She tried to hold Rachel’s eyes, to say something important.
“Look, Rachel. I like what I know about you so far, but there’s a lot to a love life apart from eating out and physical intimacy. So we need to explore things. I mean, I could totally go for a one-night stand right now, and I reckon I would rock your world, but that might not be right for you. You have a lot of feelings to process. We need to go at your pace, so you’re comfortable and happy.”
She withdrew her leg, giving up the skin contact, partly because the table cloth was short and did not hide what was going on from other diners, but more because she didn’t want to push the girl hard with sensual touch. She wanted to defend Rachel and help her explore her emotions.
“What do you want to do, Rachel? Have some more food here? Go somewhere and talk, a bar maybe?” Or I can take you home and screw you into oblivion. “We’ll do whatever feels right for you.”
Rachel's mind was racing towards some sort of decision. She had gotten calm physically, but her mind was not at peace. Stay calm Rach! she kept saying to herself. Rachel looked down to see Pia hold her hand, comforting her, but those perky nipples still stood out, and just like the underarm hair, they turned Rachel on.
"I know,” she said, “You are totally right. You sure are more experienced. Let me just try to process what is going on with us right now, Pia," she said with honesty, as she looked into her piercing eyes. Pia’s apparently innocent face now seemed so much naughtier than she could have imagined, and that made her tingle down below.
Pia released Rachel’s hand, and placed both her hands on the table. She paused for a moment, and said, “Excuse me, I need to go to the powder room.” She went to the ladies’ room with her handbag, to give Rachel a chance to think alone.
Watching Pia walk away, Rachel breathed slowly, trying to calm and compose herself, wondering what she wanted. She did not care about people seeing them play legs with one another. It was fun. Looking around, she noticed couples sat together, and wondered if it was a relationship that she was looking for.
Are you ready, Rach? So many confusing, conflicting thoughts.
Pia refreshed her make-up and fragrance. Her emotions had calmed a little by the time she took her seat again. She refilled Rachel’s glass with a smile and looked hopefully to see if she knew what she wanted to do next.
Rachel watched Pia walk back and sit elegantly, and thought she was the most beautiful woman. With a big smile, Rachel found the answer. "So, I have been thinking, and I know that I would like to take things slow, but I am looking for a relationship. We can date, we can explore, we can do everything, but that is my end goal. And if that is something that works for you, let’s go get that drink you mentioned.” Rachel spoke confidently. She was self assured, ready to explore her sexuality with another woman.
Even though Pia’s lust had dissipated somewhat during the bathroom break, she felt a stab of disappointment. She kind of wanted to go faster, but her magic wand was fully charged, so things would be alright once she got home.
Anticipation makes the heart grow fonder, or something.
“Great!” she said cheerfully. “I’m going to swipe the last meatball if you’re not quick enough.” But she cut it in half to let Rachel take some if she was still hungry. “Let’s finish the wine. It’s too good to waste.”
She poured the rest of the bottle into their glasses, and chugged hers down after her mouthful of meatball. She looked for the waitress, who came quickly and produced the check. Pia paid by card, giving a good tip. She drank the last of her water.
“Okay, let’s get going!” She stood up and held her hand out for Rachel’s. Together they went out onto the warm street, which by now was dusky and coloured rose, yellow and blue-white by a mixture of sunset and neon.
“This kind of entertainment district is such fun!” Pia bubbled, “It reminds me of Kabukicho.” She tugged Rachel along by the hand. “There’s got to be a decent bar around here.” She was searching on her smartphone with one hand, but she couldn’t find anything good.
“No. Screw this,” Pia decided. “I’m taking you somewhere we’ll be guaranteed a good, quiet booth and whatever we like to eat or drink.” She flagged down a taxicab. 15 minutes later they were at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel out on the Gold Coast.
© 2020 Starship Captain 88
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