The Floating World Pt. 03

For minutes they pressed their breasts against each other, taking turns to nip and suck and bite. Their first frantic undress slowed and they found themselves lying on their sides, their hands and fingers slow caresses. Gabriela held her beloved friend's face in her hands and gazed upon Felicity, soaking in her high cheeked beauty with her eyes. That was how their love started many years before, holding each other's young bodies, close and innocent, comparing themselves.

Felicity loved the heavy weight of Gabriela's breasts, and slid her fingers along her deep cleavage, twisting firm nipples between her finger and thumb, tracing the spray of freckles. Their movements slowed between them, leaving slow sensation and lingering touches.

"What are men's hands like, Flick? I don't know."

Gabriela wondered now, having left boys behind many years before and never finding a man who would take his time with her, a patient man. A longing was building up in her, a curiosity; some uncoiling thing to break down the small dread inside her, a vague fear time was passing by and leaving her behind.

Flick was the only woman she had known intimately, almost as well as she knew herself, but at least Gabriela knew the sexual pleasure a woman could bring. She couldn't remember the fumbling boys from her teens, but the idea of a man who knew how to seduce her, ah now, that was something different.

"A man's hands, Gabs?" Felicity pondered. "I don't know how to describe the difference, not really."

She looked at her own hands. "Bigger. Longer fingers. Sometimes gentle, sometimes not. I don't really know." Felicity thought back to their earlier conversation. "You might have to wait, Gabriela."

She was silent for a moment, then intuition hit her. "This man from the cafe, Gabs. Has he really noticed you, do you think?" Her own hands stopped moving on Gabriela's breasts. "What are his hands like?"

"Warm. Even on winter mornings, they're warm."

"I meant what they look like, long fingers or short, wide hands or what." Felicity laughed. "But you tell me you know they're warm already!"

Felicity moved her hands down Gabriela's belly to the waist of her skirt, sliding down the zip she found there, probing their way inside Gabriela's knickers. "I think Gabs," she lowered her voice, "I think you might need to make this man see more of you. That's what I think."

Gabriela shivered with the run of Felicity's fingers over her clit, partly from Flick's light touch and partly from the idea of Adam. Adam. His fingers trailing over her belly, like Felicity's? Could she imagine it?

"What should I do? I don't know what to do, not with a man."

"Oh Gabriela," Flick replied, "I think you'll do just fine, if he saw you with your gorgeous curves and your red lips." She undid the button on Gabriela's waist band and tapped her on the bottom. "Lift your bum, so I can get this off."

As she slid the skirt down Gabriela's legs, Felicity sat up and looked at the woman lying abandoned before her. Gabriela's throat was flushed red with her arousal, and the top of her chest too, the blush darkening the freckles between her breasts. Her nipples were dark brown nubs, hard and tight, standing up from smooth skin. Between her sprawling legs, the crotch of her panties was a spread of dark wetness.

"Gabs, a man, finally. Are you ready for a man?" Felicity's voice was high and playful, teasing, but she knew this was a serious matter. Her darling Gabriela, wanting a man now? "Who is this man, Gabs? Describe him for me." Reaching down to Gabriela's waist, Flick peeled the wet knickers down. "Oh fuck, the lucky bastard," she whispered, "he's going to have that. So wet."

Gabriela's sex was dark between her legs, a fine tangle of black hair coiled tight along her lips, a slick of wetness shining. Her cunt was lush and opening, a butterfly of inner lips rising from the darker outer pair. Felicity looked, long and hungrily, then slowly spread the inner lips to reveal a darker red, almost purple. "The lucky man," she repeated, "a paradise awaits." She slowly ran her fingers into Gabriela's cunt, finding her rough spot and pressing there. "Make sure he finds this place," she said, as Gabriela arched her back in ecstasy.

Felicity eased her fingers from Gabriela's hot sex, knowing she'd tease Gabriela and return there. But not yet. There was more she wanted to know about Gabriela's mystery man.

"Nooo, don't go, that's so good." Gabriela clenched her thighs together to trap Flick's hand, but the other woman was relentless and pulled away.

Flick needed to know more about this man. She wasn't exactly jealous, but it was something close. "What's his name, Gabriela? Tell me his name."

They'd had long conversations like this before, slowly circling around the topic of discussion, interrupting themselves with a kiss or playful tickle, giggling and gasping between their sheets, until finally they were beyond words and the only sounds in the room were low moans and sighs. But this was serious. Gabriela had never spoken about a man like this before, and Felicity needed to know more about him. She needed to approve.

"Adam. Come back to me, Flick. Don't go." Gabriela didn't want to trade pleasure for information, but sometimes there was no pleasing Flick. "His name's Adam."

Flick's fingers grazed across Gabriela's clit as a reward, sliding pleasure up into her throbbing cunt, connecting the image of this man in Gabriela's mind with desire and lust, cunt proud and deep.

Felicity sensed a change in her friend. She wanted Gabriela to want a man, to be filled and full. She grazed her fingers down the long slide of Gabriela's wetness. "How old is he, Gabs?"

"How old? Oh, fuck, your fingers, they feel so good." Gabriela keened with pleasure and struggled for words. "He's... He's... Jesus Flick, you're wicked, stop... he's... I don't know, fifty." Her breath caught up, "older maybe, ohh."

"Fifty, Gabs?" Felicity's fingers continued their pressure, sliding the start of a slow fuck into Gabriela's clenching cunt, pushing the idea of cock into her. "He's old enough to be your father."

"I know. Is it wrong?" Gabriela bucked her hips up, clenching Flick's fingers inside her.

"Oh no, Gabs, every girl loves her Daddy, don't you think?" Felicity fucked two fingers deep into Gabriela's sliding cunt.

"He's not my father, Flick, he's... Adam, he's.... Oh Flick, fuck, stop, you're teasing me." She moaned, and cried out his name. "Adam, he's...."

Felicity was satisfied. "Sshhhh, my darling, no more questions." She leaned down to Gabriela's mouth, her kiss and darting tongue a reward, and her fingers sliding around Gabriela's clitoris a promise. "Ssshh, lovely girl. Let me. I want to."

Felicity gazed down at Gabriela, her legs spread wide on the bed, her throat and chest flushed; and she loved her sweet friend so much, so so much. She ached inside, and nearly wept, but Gabriela's pleasure was all that mattered now. Felicity cared nothing for herself at this moment, Gabriela was her purpose and her prize.

And Adam's prize. Felicity didn't know this man, but trusted Gabriela in her choice of him. But who would seduce who? How would Adam know?

Gabriela looked up at Flick and saw something in the other woman's eyes, flickers of emotion running through her. She reached up her arms in a wide embrace. "Come to me, Flick. I'll tell you, I promise, but it's us now, just us. I love you, Flick, don't ever forget it. You're my first girl."

"But you've found a man, Gabs."

"Don't be jealous, Flick, he couldn't ever be like you." As was always the way with their deepest, most intimate conversations, conclusions were reached and promises made. Gabriela realised what her words meant. Adam was inevitable, and he didn't even know. Witches were at work, spells being woven like a tapestry, a cloak; spells sewn like the finest embroidery, a web, a veil.

"No, I'm not jealous. Envious maybe." Felicity paused. "Gabriela, did you know, back then, what saying no to all those boys meant?"

"No, I don't think so. They just weren't right for me, that's all I knew."

"Adam's right though, isn't he?" Flick thought of practicalities. "How will he know?"

"Tomorrow, Flick, we'll go buy me a dress. If I'm going to try to catch his attention I'll need a dress, a beautiful dress." She pictured herself. "A long flowing dress, tight at the waist."

With that thought in her head, Gabriela reached for the waist of Flick's tight jeans and undid the single button there. "Lift your bum," she said, "so I can peel these things off you. Too much talk, Flick. We always talk too much, don't we?"

They stopped talking, but the room wasn't silent for long.

Later, in the still of the night. Gabriela's father made his round of the house, like he always had since Gabs was tiny, checking the outside doors were locked and all the lights were off. He saw light under the door to Gabriela's room, and knocked gently. Hearing silence, he softly opened the door and went to the bedside table to turn the lamp off.

"Pull the covers up Daddy, I'm cold." Gabriela's sleepy voice was just a tiny whisper, her words automatic, triggered by his presence.

He looked down at the two women lying naked, back to back on the bed. He smiled as he gently covered them with the sheet, not wanting to wake them.

"G'night, Gabs," he whispered, "love you."

"Love you back, Daddy." Their night time words, always, but she was asleep, Flick too.

He left the room, quietly shutting the door behind him. He wouldn't say anything to Elizabeth, but wouldn't forget the sight of them, either.

***

"Gabriela, hello. It's good to see you. Did you have a good break?"

Adam greeted the young woman warmly, remembering she had gone back to her family for Christmas.

"Yes, it was lovely to see mum and dad. I slept, most of it."

"Lucky girl. But now back into it, yes?"

"Yes. A new year. New promises, New things." She smiled up at him. "But you, back here again? It's a latte still?"

"Yes, it's still a latte." He gave her the right money, and her fingers were warm. "I'm quite predictable, I'm afraid."

"But I always remember your order though, that's useful."

"I guess it is, useful."

As he turned from the counter, he noticed Gabriela touch the buttons on her cuff, and thought it a familiar gesture, but couldn't quite place it. Then he remembered. Before the holidays, when she said goodbye to him, she had made the same gesture. It seemed almost a nervous thing.

As he waited for the barista to brew the coffee, he admired Gabriela from behind. She was efficient, her hands busy with the till and change, but she was hidden behind another counter, so he could see only her profile, the fall of her hair, her back. And the ridge of the bra across her back. Idly, he wondered if her bra was red, to match her lips. He smiled to himself. How would he ever find out?

The barista called Adam's name, and he took the coffee. As he turned outside the door, he glanced back. Gabriela watched him leave, her fingers twisting the buttons at her cuffs. Adam saw the movement and wondered if it was a subconscious thing. Her smile was for him, and he took it with him down the street.

Gabriela followed him with her eyes, and as she did so she reached inside her collar and adjusted the strap of her bra. She was aware of the weight of her breasts and the ache behind her nipples, and the shift of her flesh felt good. It was a conscious thing, because of him. Her bra was a pale shade of blue, a nice contrast to her dark skin.

That night, Gabriela rang Flick. "I don't know what to do. I've seen Adam, but how do I get him to see me outside the cafe? How do I say something?"

"You need to get him somewhere where he can see you in the dress. Once he sees you in the dress, he'll be interested." Felicity paused, and the line hissed with distance. "What time do you get off work? Could you get away an hour or so earlier on a Friday? Meet him somewhere?"

"I guess. I can ask Ruth. Tell her I've got a doctor's appointment or something."

"That would work. Meet him a couple of blocks away from your work. Somehow suggest drinks."

Gabriela could tell from Felicity's staccato speech she was thinking as she was talking.

"A drink. What's a good celebration?" The logic of Felicity's thinking caught up with her. "A doctor's appointment won't work." The line went quiet. "You just need to be a damsel in distress. That always works in books."

"It's not a book, Flick. That won't work." Gabriela was disheartened. "Grrr. How can I make him see me, outside work?"

"What time does he finish? Bump into him as he walks past."

"What? No, surely that won't work. It's too obvious."

"It works in books, Gabriela, so you can make it work."

"The way you're talking, I need a library." There was a long silence. "Are you there, Flick?"

"Yes. Too much thinking, Gabs, we're thinking too much."

"What do you mean?"

"Simple is best. Just give him your phone number, Gabs. On a piece of paper. Easy." Felicity laughed. "Who's not going to call you? If a woman gives a man her phone number, of course he's going to call."

***

Adam unfolded the piece of paper, smoothing it out in his palm. Her name, Gabriela, was written in a looped, feminine hand, together with her number.

"Adam," she'd said, her voice low and her eyes looking down. "Please, I'd like you to call me. I've...."

He remembered her earlier words and the nervous movement of her fingers around the cuffs of her blouse. He'd taken the tightly folded paper quickly between his fingers, and touched it to his lips. The movement pulled her eyes to his face, and he mouthed the words, I will, saving her from her own fear and fuelling his own curiosity.

He wondered at her action, and felt she was brave doing it, or terrified. Perhaps both. He didn't know what she wanted, but thought she must want it keenly. The next steps, wherever they might lead, were now his to make it easier for her.

"Gabriela, hello. It's Adam. You wanted me to call. Is it a good time?"

"Yes. Adam. It's me. I..." She didn't know what to say next. "Can I...."

"Gabriela, how about I pick you up somewhere, and take you somewhere else? You can ask me then, when you're not rushed." Adam took control. "When can you be ready? And where?"

There was a silence on the line for a moment, then Adam heard an intake of breath, and she gave him her address, and a time. "Is that time OK? Does it suit you?" Now that Gabriela had made up her mind, clocks were ticking and time was everywhere.

Adam was slower, more patient. In his world, time always slowed and spiralled inwards towards a moment. He was intrigued, no doubt: what did the young woman want? Did she come bearing gifts or seeking offerings? He instinctively thought of a still place, a quiet place, where she could slow herself down. The image of fingers twisting and turning on the cuffs of her blouse caught in his head and he wondered about that.

He walked to the step of her door, a small townhouse on the south side, with a tiny walled garden. Frangipani brushed his sleeve and he was scented by her flowers. Adam was aware of a heat low in his groin and his senses tightened. His vision sharpened, and he breathed in deeply the sweet scent of the flowers. He heard movement on the other side of the door, and stepped back.

Gabriela opened the door and Adam saw her silhouette framed there, the small curve of her waist the perfect width for his hands if they danced, but they weren't dancing yet. He reached out his hand to escort her over her own threshold, and she rested her fingers on his. Adam raised her hand to his lips, and it was the perfect gesture.

"Nobody's ever done that before," she said, "it's my first time for that."

"Gabriela," he replied, "it won't be the last."

He turned and she followed, pulling the door shut with a solid clunk. Her past closed behind her.

"Come, I know a lovely place." Adam gave her his arm, and escorted her to the car, her dress flowing with movement. "Your dress, it's beautiful." Gabriela's eyes shone, she must tell Flick every thing he said.

"Thank you," she said, "this is the first time I've worn it."

"It's a special occasion then." Adam looked down at her, "and I'm the lucky man to be seen with you." He opened the passenger door, admiring her legs as she swung them into the car. He reached for the seat belt, for the pillar was a long way back, and passed it to her. He watched as Gabriela took the buckle in her hand and clicked it in place, and he saw two buttons on the cuff. Her wrist was delicate. Her hair was coiled high on her head in a twist, escaping strands soft and dark against her throat.

Adam took in a breath and began to see all of her, assembling a collection of glances into a complete vision of a woman. He moved around the front of the car, so she could see him.

"Have you been to the Japanese Garden, Gabriela, on the edge of the parklands?"

"No, but I've heard about it."

"It's a quiet place. It'll suit you." Adam started the car. "It's exotic and slightly mysterious." He glanced across at her and wanted to reach out and touch her cheek, to prove she was real. But he didn't, afraid she might vanish, not real.

"Am I?" she echoed, "exotic and slightly mysterious?" She looked across at him, and wanted to touch his cheek, but he wasn't her father so she couldn't. "I've never been called that before."

"Another first then. So many firsts, Gabriela." He slowed, and turned onto a road running beside the parkland, trees in the distance and hills beyond. "I'm beginning to think I'm your first man." He glanced at her, and saw the sudden twist of her hands in her lap.

Gabriela, startled by his words, took in a deep breath and felt a sharp stab deep within her breasts. Her nipples felt huge, as if every nerve pulsed there, and she knew if she pressed her hand to her flesh, her nipples would be hard, hot hard. She felt heat in the base of her belly, and her cunt bloomed and opened. Her senses felt visceral and raw, and she saw veins threaded on the back of Adam's hand. A tiny pulse beat there, beating blue.

And so they awoke to each other's presence. Gabriela knew instantly her choice was right; and Adam sensed he was chosen, but he knew not for what.

Adam brought the car to a stop, and they turned to each other.

"Hello, Gabriela, finally. You're here now."

"Yes, Adam. I am. I'm here, with you. I like it."

"Come then, my lovely, let's go to the garden and we can walk. And then we can sit and talk." He gazed into her eyes. "You can tell me what it is I can do for you."

He knows, Gabriela thought, he knows I want him, but he can't know for what.

She's chosen me for something, wondered Adam, but what?

The Garden was a gift from a sister city, and was a small, self contained enclosure separated from the bare grass paddocks by hedges and high fences. Water surrounded an island that could be reached by flat stone bridges. Circuitous paths meandered through exquisite vistas, cleverly designed and contemplative, each turn perfectly constructed for the view beyond. It was well established, with tall pines casting shade and keeping the walks cool.

Other than Adam and Gabriela, it was deserted. A gentle breeze blew warm against their skin, and Gabriela's dress swirled and lifted as she walked. They went side by side silently for a while. Adam, who knew the garden, set a slow pace; and every now and then Gabriela would stop as they turned a corner and saw a new miniature landscape, a rock for a mountain, a tree for a forest.

"It's so clever how it's laid out. Each stopping place has a perfect view." She looked up at Adam, and leaned into his arm; the pressure not quite the weight of her head against his shoulder, but almost. "It's quiet, isn't it? The sound of the little waterfalls, it's just gorgeous."