Make This Last Forever Pt. 02

This is my long-awaited sequel to "Remember This Moment Forever" which takes place ten years after the original story. What was originally intended to be one long story eventually grew so large that I decided to split it into four parts with a new story being posted at the end of each summer month (beginning with Part One in May and ending with Part Four in August). Each part is roughly the same length or even longer than "Remember", so you can understand my need to partition them. If you're looking for a quick fix in your erotica, this probably isn't the story for you. While there is plenty of sex (hopefully very hot sex, in your assessment), this primarily is a story of love, loss, longing, hope, and fulfillment. Just so prospective readers know what they're getting into, some of the tags for this individual story include lesbian sex, cunnilingus, interracial sex, anal sex, and analingus. If any of these subjects might offend you, I advise you to stop now before reading something that makes you uncomfortable and causes you to voice your displeasure all over the comment section.

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Previously...

Part 1: Dani returns to her hometown for her ten-year high school class reunion hoping to use this event to reunite with her old friends and lovers Ashley and Sam. Dani has just undergone a tumultuous breakup with her longtime partner Sandy and is still feeling lost and adrift as a result of it. Shortly after arriving in town, Dani runs into her former best friend Lindsey who had betrayed and exploited Dani by forcing her to make sex tapes and subsequently posting them online for the whole world to see. It is only several years later with Sandy's help that Dani is able to overcome the trauma of this event. But now Sandy is gone, and Dani is all on her own. Dani goes to stay with her mother, whom she hasn't seen in over three years after they had a falling out.

Make This Last Forever: Part Two (of Four)

28

Dani parked her rental car next to the curb outside a large white-painted two-story house with dark-blue trim lining the windows and doors. A large bed of pink and red roses grew next to the stairs leading up to the spacious porch that had a swing hanging from the ceiling and screen windows to keep insects out during the summertime. The house looked entirely unchanged from the last time Dani had been here over seven years ago except for a new garden that had been planted where a rock bed used to be and new rows of flowers growing around each side of the house. It seemed Dani's mother had found few ways to spend her time other than working and gardening.

Dani grabbed her suitcase out of the trunk and climbed the stairs up to the front door. The door hung open to allow fresh spring air to pass through the screen door that otherwise obstructed entry. Dani hesitated outside the entrance for a moment. Though she lived in this house for over eighteen years of her life, it no longer felt like Dani's home. When Dani walked inside, she would be seeing her mother for the first time in over three years even though Dani lived only a few hours away. They had not exactly parted on the best of terms during their last encounter. Dani breathed in deeply and fortified herself before opening the screen door.

Dani yelled, "Ma, I'm home!" as she walked inside.

Dani found her mother in the kitchen tossing salt and pepper out of their shakers onto a steel platter of carrots and potatoes. She had on some old R&B music while she cooked, Dani thought it might be Benny Hill playing.

At first glance, Pamela Meadows looked nothing like her daughter. Dani had inherited her striking blue eyes and dirty blonde hair from her father. Ms. Meadows had long brunette hair and brown eyes instead. But judging by old pictures Dani had seen of Pamela from when she was Dani's age, Dani's figure with its full breasts, small waist, wide hips, long legs, and shapely behind had been received from her mother.

For a woman nearing sixty, Pamela's beauty still had not dulled. Besides her body, Dani's smile and general good lucks could also be attributed to her mother. Though to be honest, Dani's father was very handsome as well which might explain how two attractive people had combined to create such a beautiful daughter. Not that Dani really noticed whether guys were handsome.

Dani's mother wore a red polka-dot apron over the long black dress she must have worn to work that day. Her hair, wore long and flowing, had more gray in it than Dani remembered but otherwise Pamela seemed unchanged. She perhaps had a little more flesh on her tummy than she used to but Pamela remained quite attractive for a fifty-seven year-old woman.

The lady knew how to cook too. The kitchen smelled wonderful, with the scent of cooking meat and onions permeating the air warmed by the oven. Dani stood there silently watching her mother hum to herself while working around the kitchen for a minute before Dani announced herself. She had loved cooking with her mom when she was a little girl, her mother's abilities like a kind of witchcraft to Dani's young, naive mind. The mystery of Pamela's culinary arts had vanished eventually, but never Dani's fascination.

"Hey Mom, it's me," Dani said as she peeked around the doorway into the kitchen.

"Danica," said her mother in reply without looking away from her cooking. "Welcome home."

"How are you, mother?" Dani asked carefully as she stepped into the kitchen. She really hoped this would go better than the the last time she saw her mother. Though in fairness to Pamela, Dani had been an absolute mess back then and shared plenty of blame for that unfortunate incident.

"Doing well enough," Pamela answered as she snatched a wooden spoon from the utensil jar and began stirring the brown gravy she had simmering in a small pot on one of the burners of the stove. "You know me, I never complain. How was the drive?"

"Uneventful," Dani answered. "What's that deliciousness I smell cooking?"

"I decided to cook a roast with carrots, onions, and potatoes," Pamela answered before lifting a spoonful of gravy to her lips and blowing on it delicately.

Dani smiled at her mother. "My favorite!" she exclaimed with delight. "What a nice surprise."

"You can take your stuff up to your old room and get yourself settled in," Pamela said before sipping gravy from the wooden spoon with a nod of approval. "Dinner will be ready in half an hour."

"Thanks for letting me stay here," Dani said. "It means a lot to me, you know. Being welcome here again."

Pamela turned back and regarded Dani for the first time since her daughter arrived.

"You're always welcome here, Danica," said Pamela. "You know that."

Dani left her mother to finish cooking dinner and carried her suitcase up the stairs to her old room. It had hardly changed in ten years time. All of Dani's old stuff from her teen years had been left in here seemingly untouched. Her high school clothes were still stuffed haphazardly inside the hard-carved antique dresser that used to belong to her great-grandmother and all of Dani's old dresses still hung from the rod in her closet.

Dani unpacked all her toiletries and makeup and stored them in the bathroom attached to her bedroom before grabbing out of her suitcase the minimal amount of clothing she packed. Dani hung the dress she planned to wear to the reunion tomorrow night in her closet while she stuffed the rest of her clothes into the mostly empty bottom drawer of the oaken dresser.

While she waited for her dinner, Dani spent some time looking through her old wardrobe in both her closet and dresser. God, I haven't worn some of this stuff in over a decade, Dani thought with amazement. As she poked through her mostly boring underwear drawer Dani recalled how painfully prudish her clothing choices had been in high school. None of these smallclothes were even remotely sexy-looking, unlike the lacy red thong Dani was wearing at the moment. Dani dug further back in the drawer and found tucked away some dark-blue and cyan striped panties with a My Little Pony logo of Twilight Sparkle imprinted on the butt. Dani covered her mouth to deaden the volume as she started laughing uncontrollably.

"Oh God, I had forgotten about these," Dani wheezed when she nearly recovered from her laughing fit.

Dani had worn this underwear on the night she lost her virginity and realized she was gay. That magical prom night she had spent with Ashley and Sam so many years ago. They gave her so much shit for wearing such childish underwear to prom, though Dani believed Sam was secretly turned on by how cutesy and girly the underwear were. She was much too cool and gothic to ever admit it though. The morning after Dani made love with a girl (scratch that, girls) for the first time, Sam took a Sharpie and wrote "My Little Dani" in black marker on the waistband of the rear portion of the panties and also drew a tiny heart in dark writing right next to an uppercase "S".

Dani hadn't washed or worn the MLP panties since then to keep them in the exact same shape without fading Sam's writing. When her, Sam, and Ashley had their three-way breakup, Dani must have shoved the underwear to the back of the dresser in an attempt to avoid anything that might recall painful memories of being with Ashley and Sam. Dani felt gladdened that she hadn't simply thrown the panties away. In a weird way, Dani thought finding them again was like a sign that what she was doing was right and that this weekend might actually work out the way she wanted.

Dani heard her mother calling "Dinner!" from downstairs and she bounded down to the main floor two steps at a time with a terribly famished stomach. Dani sat at the dining room table where Dani's plate, napkin, and silverware were already laid out at a seat across from her mother's placesetting. Between their chairs were platters covered with more food than the two of them could possibly eat. Dani cut herself a side of beef using the carving knife and fork before spooning roasted veggies onto her plate. She felt ravenously hungry and the wonderful-smelling food in front of her did her stomach pangs no favors. But Dani waited patiently for her mother to return and fill her own plate before Dani started eating. Her parents had raised Dani to be polite, if nothing else. A moment later, Pamela came out of the kitchen holding by the stem two glasses half-full of red wine.

"I took the liberty of popping the cork on one of our most expensive Cabernets," Pamela explained in the same dignified, laboriously affected voice she always used. Dani thought it sounded like Pamela tried to speak with a British accent but failed to pull it off. "I suppose this is a special occasion so I saw no reason not to. I hope you like it."

Dani tried not to let any negative reaction show on her face though the sight of the wine turned her stomach even as her mouth started to water. She knew her mother had opened a really fancy bottle of wine and it would be impolite to refuse her, but Dani couldn't fall into the same trap she had so many times before. Alcohol was dangerous for her.

"Um, I think I'd rather have an iced tea if you have any brewed already, Mom," said Dani meekly. "Or else water is fine."

A sour expression came over Pamela's face and then was gone in an instant as she replied icily, "Fine. An iced tea it is."

Pamela went to grab Dani a glass of her preferred drink from the kitchen and when she returned Pamela simply added the wine from Dani's glass to her own until the wine nearly reached the brim of her glass. The mother and daughter sat in awkward silence for a few minutes while they ingested their food. They had spoken only a few times in the last three years and had never seen each other in that time. Pamela called Dani to tell her that she and her father were getting a divorce and Dani called her mom on her birthdays and on Mother's Day but that was the extent of their communication. Even though there was so much for them to catch up on neither knew how to speak to the other any longer.

Pamela cut through the stillness in the room when she remarked, "I like your hair better when it's long."

Of course the first thing she says disparages me in some way, Dani thought. At least she's attempting to converse. That's a start. Baby steps.

"I'm just trying it out," Dani explained. "I've had my hair long since I was a little girl so I felt like trying something different. I haven't decided yet when I'll grow it long again."

Dani thought it better to leave out that the reason she originally had her hair cut this short was because she finally became sick of always brushing hair out of her way every time she ate out her last girlfriend Sandy. Which was often.

"You've at least filled out some since I saw you last," Pamela mentioned through a mouthful of beef. "I was worried about you, you looked so thin."

"Thanks," Dani replied. "I'm much healthier than I was back then and I've started living healthier too."

The awkward silence continued unabated while they focused on their meals. Just trying to make idle conversation, Dani asked, "So have you been seeing anyone new since you and... well, you know."

Pamela looked at her daughter quizzically and took a long gulp of her wine before answering.

"No, I know the men in this town far too well," Pamela said with a critical wave of her hand. "The single men are all drunks, philanderers, perverts, or all three. I have no interest in finding a new man at this stage of my life. Probably ever, to be totally honest."

Dani couldn't help wincing. Her mother seemed determined to go to her grave bitter and alone, and would probably enjoy it all the while. God, that is just like her, Dani thought. Dani had never seen anyone hold a grudge the way her mother did. Slight Pamela in the tiniest way and you were pretty much dead to her forever. The more Dani learned about her mother, the more she understood why her parent's marriage had been so unhappy. Dani hoped her mom had a decent vibrator if nothing else. Dani couldn't imagine spending the rest of her life without an orgasm, whether externally or manually administered.

"Well, how about you?" Pamela asked casually as she leaned back in her chair with her wine glass clutched tightly in her grasp. "Do you have a... girlfriend at the moment?"

"Not currently," Dani answered with a shake of her head. "I did have a significant other but we, um, broke up a couple months ago and she moved out of the country."

"Ah," Pamela said simply. "I'm sorry."

Dani waved her hand dismissively to indicate it was no problem, though Dani had to admit her apartment felt awfully lonely without another person in it. Thank God she her cat, Ms. Juniper, to keep her company. Otherwise, Dani might not have made it through her breakup and the grieving period that ensued. Dani and her mother conversed about their respective jobs and Dani's progress in obtaining her master's degree, but neither person seemed particularly interested in what the other had to say.

Is this what the relationship with my Mom will be like for the rest of my life, Dani wondered. Stepping on eggshells all the time, prattling on about inconsequential bullshit, and having to cover up if not totally ignore my identity just to appease her backward notions. What an awful thought.

Dani cleaned her plate with a forkful of potatoes soaked in gravy and dabbed at her mouth with a cloth napkin as she chewed her final bite. Dani thanked her mother for the wonderful dinner and excused herself from the table. Pamela nodded in return and stared out the dining room window distractedly with the brim of her wine glass resting at her lips. She barely seemed to notice that Dani said anything.

Dani regarded her mother more critically than on her initial assessment and realized for the first time in her life that Pamela was growing old. Wrinkles were forming around her mother's eyelids and Dani detected more gray between the brown strings of her hair than she originally noticed upon her arrival back home. In just a few years Pamela would be sixty. A sudden fear gripped Dani and she wanted nothing more than to rush to her mother and hug her tightly knowing the time they still had together would soon dwindle. But Pamela probably wouldn't even hug her back. Dani knew from painful experience that her mother would reject the embrace and keep any feelings for Dani boxed away if her daughter tried to display any affection toward her. That was just her way. With a resigned sigh, Dani left her mother to her deep thoughts and wine as she trudged up to her room.

Dani laid on her bed and stared up at the ceiling as she idly wondered how this class reunion would go tomorrow. She tried reading the book she brought with her but was too distracted by the thoughts buzzing through her head to follow the novel's plot for longer than a page. Dani searched through her room until she located the old rolltop chest that she kept some of her old things in. She opened the chest and perused the collection of photographs and papers, finding old report cards and aced exams as well as pictures of Dani with her dance team and flag squad.

Dani couldn't help feeling disgusted when she saw the picture of her eighth grade dance team in their uniforms with giant pink bows in their hair. Dani really had been the most basic-looking All-American girl back then. Gross. That wasn't what nauseated Dani though, rather it was seeing her younger self smiling next to Lindsey and Paige with her arms wrapped around their shoulders. There was Rita and Halley-Anne standing nearby in team picture too, though not tight together like the three inseparables had once been. This photograph was taken long before Dani came out, though looking back Dani realized she had already started appraising girls' beauty with an appreciative eye at this age. But this was still part of the era when the popular, snobby girls considered Dani "one of them".

Dani looked through the chest until she reached the bottom and what she found in the depths made her heart drop. Buried deep within the chest were pictures of Dani, Sam, and Ashley that had been taken during those few wonderful months they were together. The photos were all Polaroids, the classic style of course. Not those crappy smaller films from when they tried to reintroduce the brand. Dani flipped through the assortment, feeling her heart and stomach go all aflutter as the warm memories came flooding back.

On top of the stack was a photo of Dani and Ashley sitting on a bench snuggled up together as they ate each other's ice cream. Their tongues were sticking all the way out as they licked the other girl's cone and they looked hilariously ridiculous. Sam must have taken this picture, the angle wasn't right for a selfie.

A picture Dani had taken herself showed Sam leaning back against a building downtown with one leg folded behind her and her foot pressed to the wall as she wore sunglasses and smoked a cigarette like a badass. Sam didn't even know Dani was taking a picture of her. She looked so damn cute that day in her red-and-black checkered miniskirt and white button-up shirt, Dani recalled. If Dani's memory served, that was the very same night when her and Sam first made love without Ashley being present. Ashley had some trouble with her parents and couldn't join them to her detriment. That had been the beginning of the end, unfortunately. Ashley's jealousy and insecurity combined with Sam's resentment and inconsiderate nature ultimately doomed the seemingly perfect relationship the three of them shared.

Dani started cracking up and giggling uncontrollably when she looked at the next photo. The Cornwell city park had been located in the same locale where a minor Civil War battle took place back in 1862. An old replica cannon that Dan knew for a fact was actually from WWI sat in the Civil War memorial of the park. This picture showed Ashley straddling the war machine with the shaft of the cannon sticking out from between her legs like an enormous phallus. Ashley raised her fist to the air with her mouth bared open in a silent but wild battle cry and a crazed expression on her face. Dani and Sam had about died laughing when the picture was first taken, and now Dani chortled at the image until tears streamed down her face. Whether she wept from laughter or sorrow, Dani couldn't say.