A New Alexandra Ch. 02

Alexandra opened her eyes. Her first feeling was confusion. Where was she? What time was it? Was she late for class? Did she even have class?

The answers slowly unraveled themselves in reverse order: No, therefore no; around 10 a.m. according to the clock on the nightstand; and ... Kira's place. Her new lover Kira, who she had just met the prior night, and who was now no longer in bed next to her.

Alexandra stretched under the covers, then ran her hand through her hair, untangling it painfully. The events of the prior night came back to her in a haze: after an initial chance meeting in the library while studying and sending some steamy texts, she had ended up in the bed of a take-charge lesbian half a decade her senior. Following their lovemaking - no, fucking - they had had a steamy but relaxing shower together and passed out shortly thereafter. And now it was morning.

Kira's bedroom looked little different in the soft light of the morning than it had at night: clean, sharp lines and wooden furniture, including a dark wood headboard and bed frame. Nothing out of place, photos aligned straight on the wall.

Thoughts kept coming to Alexandra in no particular logical pattern. Where was her underwear? Had she brushed her teeth last night? Did her breath stink? What the hell had gotten into her to do something so out of character? Seriously, where were her panties? And where the hell was Kira?

The final question answered itself as the tall blonde appeared in the doorway, her wet hair draped over the shoulders of her navy terrycloth robe.

"How's the morning, sleepyhead?" Her tone was playful, the polar opposite of the commanding lover of the night before.

Alexandra smiled. "Mostly gone, I think. I've usually gotten breakfast, a shower, and run by now..."

"Not missing class, are you?"

"Nah, no class Fridays."

"Then no reason to get up just yet, yeah?" Kira's long legs carried her across the room in three strides as she gently folded her figure onto the empty side of the bed. "Breakfast in bed?"

Alexandra laughed. "You've got to be kidding me. What is this, my birthday?"

In return, she received a soft kiss on the forehead. "How do you like your eggs?"

"Um, scrambled?"

"Toast? Coffee? Tea?"

"Uh, either? Um, tea, I guess?"

"Whole wheat toast okay?"

"Def," Alexandra said.

"Def? Did you just abbrev-speak me, missy?" Again, this playful, flirty Kira was new this morning. "And the tea - any cream or sugar?"

"I'll have just a bit of cream or milk, waitress." Flirt one way, flirt right back.

Alexandra sat up and stretched, her arms first. She finished just as Kira returned with breakfast, the taller woman's still-wet hair now twisted into an enormous bun atop her head.

Alexandra smiled shyly as the tray with breakfast was placed on her lap. "Breakfast in bed at ten a.m. Yikes."

Kira responded with a quick laugh. "Well, we were up pretty late last night... Oh dear, blushing?"

Alexandra couldn't be sure without a mirror, but blushing seemed about right. She realized she still hadn't fully processed the prior night's events: she'd had sex with another woman, orgasmed harder than she ever had before, and begged for more. That scenario just hadn't been something that had ever crossed her mind. "Well... maybe?"

"Not a worry. I was only teasing. Hey, listen. I've got something to go to downtown pretty soon, but if we leave pretty quickly I can probably drop you back at your place and then get back up there in time. Ride?"

"Sounds great. How much time do I have?" A ride would certainly solve the problem of getting all the way across Chicago.

"About fifteen minutes sound okay?"

Alexandra nodded. Time enough to eat breakfast, wash her face, and get dressed. It wasn't like she had makeup, her hairbrush, clothes, a toothbrush, or anything else useful here, anyway.

That time started, however, by picking at her breakfast while watching Kira get ready in the bathroom. Alexandra suspected Kira had left the door open for just this reason, to allow herself to be ogled. And Alexandra could hardly do anything else: even from behind, she couldn't get the thought out of her head that Kira was just really fucking sexy. Tall, with long, gorgeous legs, tanned, and muscular in all the right places without being huge. In short, everything Alexandra had ever admired in men, but now packed into feminine form. But there was more as well, from the smoothness of her skin to her tapered, feminine neck and the strong but light jawline.

As she hurriedly polished off her breakfast lest Kira have a chance to call her out on her staring, Alexandra's mind ran through a checklist of her day. She needed to finish a paper, work more on her thesis research, and try to work out. Hopefully it wouldn't be freezing and she could actually run outside, but this was Chicago in winter, so she didn't get her hopes up. Instead, she just threw on her clothes from the prior night - those that she could find, at least - ran her fingers through her hair once more, and carried her dishes to the kitchen, stopping to rinse them off.

By the time she returned to the bedroom, Kira had emerged and was sliding her way into a light gray pantsuit that had been hanging on the left side of her closet. Conscious of the gulf between her own rolled-out-of-bed appearance and Kira's ready-for-business attire, the younger woman grinned nervously, standing nervously in the center of the room and looking for a way out of the situation.

"Well, I'll get my coat on so I don't hold you up any more," she heard herself say.

"Ridiculous," Kira responded. "I still need to finish my makeup. And don't feel like you look bad or something. You don't. You look absolutely morning-after sexy."

Alexandra found herself blushing as Kira continued: "To be perfectly honest, I'd do you again right now if I had the time. But if you're feeling self-conscious about wearing the same thing as last night, feel free to borrow something from the second closet - that's where I keep my casual stuff. Most of it'll be way too big on you, but some might look good." Then she returned to the bathroom, running her fingers lightly along a frozen Alexandra's back as she passed on her way. "Go on - have at it."

It took Alexandra a few seconds to even begin to move to the second closet on the other side of the room. The feeling of how Kira had touched her was lingering: so light, but so confident, assertive. It was like she already knew Alexandra would do whatever she was told. And, thought Alexandra, she might be right. Focus, Alexandra, she thought, shaking her head vigorously as she opened the door to a large closet. Dresses of most every description hung on the left, and on the right side was an eclectic wardrobe of sweaters and tops of numerous types, yet somehow nothing she would have ever chosen to wear. They were all so...well, so not-Alexandra.

She only realized that she must have spaced out when she felt Kira's arm encircle her waist from behind and soft lips meeting the side of her neck. A tingle ran down her spine as Kira pulled her head back up and asked "Want me to pick one out for you?"

"I'm...uh..." Alexandra almost managed to get the syllables "I'm fine, don't worry about it" to begin their journey into the world before Kira stepped past her and quickly rifled through the right side of the closet, pulling three or four items out as she went. How, after a late night last night, could she possibly have so much energy?

When she turned around, Alexandra was surprised to see her holding only one item: a heavy plaid flannel shirt, mostly forest-green, narrowly tailored and with light-brown accents. She held it out. "Go on, try it on. It should look really good on you." Alexandra pulled her sweater back over her head, exposing her torso again. She could tell Kira was trying hard not to stare at her abs as she began to button the shirt from the top. So maybe I'm not totally helpless here, she thought, looking down and doing the buttons carefully. Then she realized why it was taking so long: they were on the right side.

Kira seemed to read her mind. "Yes, it's a men's shirt."

Alexandra looked in the mirror and laughed. "I'm guessing you don't button it all the way up, though?" It came to her again that she was voluntarily flirting with another woman, and she had those familiar butterflies in her stomach as she did it, afraid to say something wrong.

Kira crossed her arms under her large breasts, almost teasing Alexandra. "No, but I like my ladies thin, long limbs, long torso. Your proportions are really, really good that way."

Alexandra suppressed a giggle. She shouldn't be feeling like this. No guy had ever been able to both honestly compliment her and take charge over her: it was either all fawning or simple macho arrogance. Not Kira - she had suggested, almost ordered, Alexandra to try on this alien shirt, but then made her feel attractive wearing it. And looking in the mirror, she wasn't wrong. The green flannel mixed well with her hazel eyes, and the subtle brown matched well with her hair.

"You don't wear glasses, do you?"

"Actually, I do. Well, I'm supposed to, anyway. I've just never found a pair I like, and I don't need them much at all, so I almost never actually use them."

Kira nodded. "You'd look totally hot with the right glasses. Little bit hipsterish, really sporty..." She trailed off. "Alright, got to get a move on. Can't be late for a court hearing, even if I'm just sitting in the back. And I imagine you've got a busy day too, judging by that nervous look on your face."

Before Alexandra could even try to play it off, they were out the door and driving out of the garage in Kira's Wrangler. At ten-thirty, it was sunny but still below freezing. Kira drove calmly, even when drivers were cutting her off left and right on Lakeshore. Despite her nerves, Alexandra felt comfortable: conversation was easy, with no subject in particular but no awkward pauses. She felt the tension draining out of her shoulders and face, and warm giddy feelings of excitement start to seep in.

Out the driver's side, Kira pointed to a small beach on the lake. "That's where the Chicago Triathlon begins. Just imagine a few hundred people there."

"No thanks. Not now. Freezing just to think about it." Alexandra smiled.

Kira returned the grin, punching her gently in the shoulder. "It's in August, silly. But seriously, I've done it the last two years and it's great fun. Those super-serious triathlete bros with five-thousand dollar bikes kinda suck, but ignore that crowd and it's a great time. You ever try one?"

Alexandra heard herself answering in the negative, but her mental picture was Kira in a bathing suit. Not a triathlon, athletic one-piece either. "I don't think I can swim that far. The rest I could do, I think."

"It's just running with an arm workout," Kira responded.

"And it's wet." In truth, it was really the smell of chlorine that bothered Alexandra, not the water itself. Growing up, the pools in her neighborhood were always massively over-chlorinated. Even the thought of swimming made her eyes sting.

Kira looked over. "Oh come on, don't tell me you don't like wet."

Alexandra felt the warmth returning to her cheeks again. Deep breath. Flirty voice. "Oh, I think I can deal with wet sometimes. For the right reasons."

Soon they arrived outside Alexandra's building. They'd been here roughly twelve hours ago, but it seemed much longer. Alexandra hesitated, then spoke. "So..."

"So, 8:30 tonight?"

"Can't wait."

"Fabulous. I'll make a reservation and text you. Any preference?"

"None. Just make sure you're there."

"Likewise." A pause. Kira turned her hand over and crooked her finger, beckoning Alexandra across the seat. The younger woman leaned in, their faces now only inches apart. "Really. You look hot in that shirt. I wish I didn't have to go, but I do."

"Not yet," responded Alexandra, sliding her hands into the blonde hair across from her and kissing Kira on the lips. They stayed locked together for perhaps ten seconds, only breaking when Alexandra applied a gentle nibble to the soft lower lip and slowly released. "Eight-thirty."

"Eight-thirty."

As she got out of the car, Alexandra made sure to put some extra swing in her hips as she walked towards the door. I don't know why, she thought, but I definitely want it. Just go with it. Deep breath.

***

Twenty minutes later, Alexandra was out the door for a run. The running paths in Jackson Park, just off campus and right on the lake, were usually cleared right after snow, and Alexandra's four years in Chicago had caused her to accumulate an impressive array of cold-weather running gear. By the time she set out into the still sub-freezing midday, the only exposed skin on her body was her face. For once, the wind off the lake was little more than a light breeze.

Running cleared her thoughts. When she was running, all Alexandra thought about was the next mile, the next few minutes, how her muscles were feeling. On a good run, she thought of hardly anything at all. She didn't wear earbuds: music was a distraction from the nothing. Today was one of those days for roughly six miles of nicely-paced circuits around the lagoons, down to the lakeshore, and back across the island smack in the middle of the park.

She was more than halfway through when she felt a tap on the shoulder. Alexandra glanced over her shoulder and was tremendously relieved to see the flaming red curls of her friend and teammate - no, former teammate - Lydia enter her vision. They slowed, then stopped.

"Sorry," Alexandra apologized. "I thought you were some mugger or something."

Lydia smiled, but just shook her head, so Alexandra picked up the conversation again. "Still lapping me on runs, I see." Lydia Shiflett was the fastest player on the team, both at sprints and over distance. Her teammates joked with her that she ran so fast because she was carrying nothing: even with her muscular soccer-player legs, Lydia barely broke 105 pounds on her 5-foot-3 frame.

"Some things never change, Alex." Lydia was also the only person who ever got away with calling Alexandra "Alex." The sophomore was widely regarded by her teammates as something like Alexandra's kid sister. They came from very different backgrounds and had very different attitudes towards soccer and life, but Alexandra had admitted to herself that Lydia was probably the only one of her teammates she genuinely liked an admired as a person, at least of the ones she really knew well. The redhead had grown up with her grandparents in the middle of nowhere in Montana and still made it somehow onto the soccer team at a prestigious major-city university. She was a breath of fresh air, in other words.

Lydia's lip moved, then she bit into it, clearly deciding whether or not to say what was on her mind.

"Out with it, Lyds."

"I...uh...I don't know how to say this. I feel really bad about it and I'm sorry I haven't talked to you since the season ended." That was true - it had been a lot longer than they normally went without speaking. "I just, well, I don't..."

"OK, how about this? We finish this run together, then we go get some coffee to warm up and talk there?"

Lydia nodded and broke into a jog, then a run. Alexandra stayed with her, and they didn't say a word for the remaining two miles until Lydia led them into a Starbucks. Fortunately, Alexandra had brought a credit card with her in a tiny pocket with her ID. She paid for the drinks.

"OK, so what's bugging you?"

"I think I'm going to leave the University after this quarter."

"What?" Not just quitting the team. Dropping out entirely. "What's wrong?"

"Everything." She looked to be on the verge of tears. "I'm shit at school, I'm shit at soccer, I'm shit at fitting in here. It's just not working. I feel so bad telling you...like, you were the one who took me through my recruiting visit here, you're the one who taught me to play defense when coach switched me this season - which I sucked at and still suck at and therefore can't get any playing time and won't, by the way - and you're the one of the rich suburban girls who didn't treat me like I was different."

Alexandra took a deep breath. "So, what's your plan?" Maybe Lydia didn't really have one and was just venting.

"I'll take exams. I need to do pretty well to even be eligible to play next season -"

"What? How?" The surprise was genuine. Lydia was one of the smarter girls on the team, no small achievement at an elite university.

"I'm smart, but I also one of the worst at actually getting work done. You all went to these nice high schools with parents who forced you to do homework. I was smart enough that I just passed the tests and the teachers gave me good grades for that. I can't adjust."

"Why didn't you tell me any of this before?"

"What were you going to do? Get me sent to some academic counselor? I know you, Alexandra. You're a fixer. I don't want fixing. I'm not broken, just burnt out and shit at this and needing a change."

Deep breath, Alexandra. "So what are you going to do?"

"Like I said, take exams. Then take at least the next two quarters off, until the summer. Housing has agreed to refund my money. I guess dorms are full and they need the space. Then I'll go out to Denver. I have a cousin out there who just got engaged and has 3 months to go on his lease, so he said I can just take over at his place for half the rent because he's not actually allowed to sublet. I'll get a job for a while, actually live life a bit, and then consider coming back. The University admin is fine with it."

"OK, so you've got a place lined up and it sounds like you've thought through this fairly extensively. But what do you plan to do, and what is 'living life' out there?"

"I'm a botany major at a great university. I think I can find something to do in Colorado." She smiled, showing a row of large white teeth behind her full lips. "As for living a little bit, the same thing. I'm 19, Alex. All I do is work out and go to class and go to soccer practice. It's not fun. Like I said...like, I'm sorry."

"You tell coach yet?"

"No. Can't imagine she'll like it, I but can't imagine I give a shit either."

"Are you sure you're not just angry and maybe this isn't all a bit too drastic?"

"No on the anger, yes on the drastic. I'm going to do this, Alexandra. I just wanted to tell you and hope you're not mad at me. Can we talk about something else?"

**

They stayed at the Starbucks for nearly three hours, talking about Lydia's life growing up in Montana and what she actually wanted out of life. It struck Alexandra that she wasn't the directionless kid that Alexandra had always assumed. Quite the opposite, actually.

Alexandra took the elevator to her floor. She didn't know quite how to feel about her friend's decision yet; it felt like a grieving process seeing someone she'd brought to the University, to her team, to her defensive position, abandon all that. But she also knew there were more immediate concerns of her own, like the date she'd managed to put out of mind for the last few hours. Now it all came rushing back: the butterflies, good and bad.

Alexandra jumped into the shower and rinsed her hair. What was she going to wear? How was she going to get there? Had Kira even told her where they were going to dinner? She had to shave her legs anyway. She had to... oh, lord, she'd promised Kira last night that she'd shave a lot more than just her legs. Kira had given her a pass on doing it immediately in her shower - she was tired, could use her own razor, et cetera - but there was no doubt. Alexandra had promised she'd shave her pussy completely.