A Night at Millicent's

Gabby waited, keen and eager, sitting collected in a generous chair. She'd removed her shoes and pulled her legs and feet up with her, hands around her knees in anticipation. She'd made it clear to Sophie that she could stop reading anytime, but secretly, Gabby wished deep down inside that she never had to stop hearing this regal voice.

She didn't know how she'd ended up here tonight or how this had all happened so quickly or splendidly, but she felt a compulsion to thank her lucky stars. While she also didn't know this, she was near Sophie's age—mid-20s—and never fathomed she was drawn to other girls until recently. She'd been with boys in her late teens and early 20s, but never a girl. She'd begun looking at girls in a different way, a way most boys did at a decade younger. She questioned herself as to the possibility of being gay, until driving herself crazy. Finally, she tried an experiment one day to see for sure. About to graduate college, she concocted a sexual fantasy involving a hot older female teacher.

Biology professor Taryn Tatum was a smoking hot brunette who stirred up funny feelings in Gabby while in her class. So one restless night approaching her finals, Gabby lay in bed thinking incessantly about Professor Tatum. Finally, she eased her dominant fingers into her pussy and slowly took herself into a schoolgirl trance, fantasizing. She imagined she cheated on an exam and Prof Tatum caught her. So after dismissing the rest of the class, she forced Gabby to stand at the teacher's desk—face down, bottom up—and spanked her. The fact that such strict, extreme discipline hadn't been permitted for decades made this taboo scenario even hotter in Gabby's mind. Fueled with such mad, rampant administrative fire, Gabby Whitmore proceeded to girl-wank herself into a far more powerful, mindblasting orgasm than a boy'd ever been able to give her. Apparently, she was gay after all. She guessed too that she had a dirty and kinky mind, but then again, in some way or other, didn't everyone?

Short though it remained, biology class wouldn't be the same. After graduation, Gabby almost got the opportunity to ask Professor Tatum out on a date. She chickened out, but in something of an Aesop twist, she rationalised that she had a ridiculously minute chance of getting a yes anyway. She found herself disillusioned at the Sapphic minority she'd dropped into. This was one reason she'd never been with a girl before: in her experience, finding another dolly who also liked chicks was akin to the needle-haystack dilemma.

It made her feel sorry for herself. Surely, she'd concede, there were others who were much worse off. Still, such odds stacked against her finding someone to love, call her own, perhaps even with whom to share her life, seemed unfair in such a heterocentric world. The advances in technology in her generation gave her a bit of a leg up, but even so...it was hard enough finding that special person to begin with. While she knew it wasn't a good idea to get her hopes up so high...in this case, Gabby did.

In the short time they'd been chatting it up, the loquaciously gabby Gabby noticed with budding delight, Sophie seemed to be flirting with her. The overly friendly manner with which she giggled to Gabby and bestowed her with light, subtle touches fueled her with a bit too much conviction to believe otherwise. Unbeknownst to Gab, Sophie knew a good thing when she saw it. Beknown to her, this pretty witty Britty had a gorgeous smile and baby soft-looking chestnut hair. Prof Tatum had helped Gabby realise how partial she was to brunettes.

She could hardly wait until Sophie got her water and came back down to read to her. The book sat innocently unopened on the sill beside the cold, frosty window. Gabby had to struggle a bit to resist the temptation to pick it up. She instead helped herself to a bit of Godiva to bide the moments. She shut her eyes and sat back, smiling dreamily, waiting for Sophie.

She thought of a possible way to see if Sophie liked her. Well, there were a few ways to be sure, but she needed one that was innocuous, and not too aggressive. She heard her footsteps coming back downstairs. She quickly put her plan in motion. She slid her butt down the seat of her chair, deposited her feet in Sophie's, laid back her head and rested her hands on her belly. Finally, she peacefully shut her eyes.

The corners of her mouth curled up as Sophie audibly approached. Don't smile, Gabby forced herself. Just look cute and unassuming.

"Okeydokey!" she heard Sophie contentedly sigh as she half-walked/half-trotted back over. As she got closer, Gabby heard her stop.

Don't smile, Gab! Don't smile!

"...Gabs?"

Gabby raised her head, but kept her eyes closed. She raised a paw, swiped at the air, and meowed.

"...A—..." Sophie chortled, a bit unsure just what Gabby was on about.

"...Are you sleeping?...Are you...dreaming you're a cat?"

Gabby brushed her other forearm against her temple, swiped again and let out another meow. She indeed had Sophie a bit bewildered, but whatever the deal, Sophie supposed she was willing to play along.

"Are you being a kitty?...Are you a cute adorable kitty cat right now?"

Gabby couldn't keep herself from grinning any longer. She snickered through her crinkly nose.

"Ah, so I see you're not asleep."

Gabby shook her head, and gave herself a light, demonstrative scratch under the chin to convey Sophie a message.

"You...want me to tickle you under your chin, little kitty?"

Her already big grin grew still as she nodded. "Mraow!"

She heard Sophie laugh.

"Right. Okay..."

Gabby felt her do just so. It felt nice enough to make her tingle inside. She tilted her head back and vibrated her tongue against her palate, trying to sound like she was purring.

"Aw, feel good, that? Kitty like it?"

Gabby nodded. A moment later when she'd had enough chin tickling, she placed one "paw" on Sophie's fingers to get her attention. With the other, she lifted her shirt and caressed her own belly. Sophie looked down.

"You...want your tummy rubbed?"

Gabby finally opened her eyes to look up at Sophie. Now that Sophie was back here with her, she felt a little sheepish. In her head this seemed fun and quirky. It was Gabby's whimsical way of saying that she felt she could trust Sophie, as a real cat would do by rolling over on its back for a belly rub. Now, if Sophie felt this was getting a little weird, Gabby couldn't say she would blame her. She spoke.

"Kitty likes her tummy rubbed."

Fortunately for her, Sophie found it only adorable. She again obliged, crouching beside her and gingerly smoothing her palm over Gab's abs. Gabby resumed purring. A few silent moments passed.

"What else does kitty like?"

Her eyes popped open, catapulting her brows. She tilted up to see a smirking Sophie stroking her belly and batting her own eyes.

Gabby's heart fluttered and raced. She was. She was definitely flirting with her. There was no mistaking this. Gabby felt her emotions running wild. Her logical brain told her there was no way she could be falling in love already, having known the stunning British lass for barely two hours. But her heart reminded her that love knew no logical bylaws. Love played its own game, by its own rules.

Just go with it, said her heart. Take it to the next level. Tell her how you're feeling.

She smiled. "Kitty likes you."

Sophie blushed.

"Why, how lovely. I do believe I fancy this kitty as well, quite."

Gabby blushed back.

"Does kitty like being read to?"

Her fingertips danced playfully over Gabby's rising and falling stomach. She blinked, seeing stars in Sophie's eyes.

My God...I think I am in love already. My God, is it possible??

"She does."

Sophie's smirk spread into a nice grin of her own. She kissed her fingertips, gave them one more gentle pass over Gabby's belly, and climbed up on the windowsill with her copy of Come Back Down. She flipped to the first page.

"Ready?"

"So ready. I can't wait."

Sophie crossed her legs at the ankles and swung them back and forth. "Right; 'ere we go. Chapter one."

She took a deep breath as an introductory caesura, and started reading.

"'I thought that I should never see a tree so lovely as a poem,' the bedridden Karen lamented. 'And I was right. One of my fondest wishes had always been to see that which was real, as beautiful as that which was not. Unfortunately, some wishes do not come true.'"

Gabby sat and listened, shifting position so her hands sat under her head for a manual pillow. The story started off sad, but since Sophie'd already told her the main plot, Gabby knew it would cheer up eventually. She had no trouble following, but were there anything that could distract her right about now, it was Sophie Trimble's elegant inflection.

The nowhere-to-be-found clock struck midnight shortly before she began reading. She took pauses here and again for a sip of Voss, and concluded the first chapter an approximate twenty minutes later. She made a small announcement to the effect, gave a yawn, and unscrewed her water bottle once more.

"Gosh, you read so beautifully," Gabby gushed. "I barely heard you stumble over any of the words."

"Oh, I owe a good bit of it to me folks," Sophie modestly admitted. "I had a wonky back tooth when I was younger, and Mum and Dad got it fixed for me. They also bought me elocution lessons. But yeah, I suppose me love of reading 'elps as well."

"Have you gotten very far through it?" asked Gabby, gesturing to Come Back Down.

"I've finished chapter four on me own. So I know what happens up to that point. If I keep reading to you after that, I guess the tone'll change a bit, 'cause it'll be new to me as well. Want me to start chapter two?"

"Sure! Maybe after that one we can take a little break, and...I dunno, get up and walk around?"

"Well, yes; if there are two things we can do in Millicent's, they're read, and walk about. I knew this place was brilliant the first time ever I came here and saw it."

Gabby laughed.

"Sorry, I'm sorry," she apologised. "I'm not trying to make fun of you, I just...you...you just said 'sawr it.' But I'm not laughing 'cause that's funny, I swear; I love it. I just love it when British people do that. But, I'm curious, though, what's up with that? Why do they do it?"

"Oh," Sophie chuckled. "Well, be honest, it comes so naturally to us, we don't even know we're doing it. But yeah, that happens because Brits drop our 'r's. Even the letter 'r,' it sounds like 'aw,' you know. But when we have two vowel sounds come together, we link them with an imagin'ry 'r.' So 'saw' and 'it' together, just like you said, turns into 'sawrit.' That's why. So if your next word starts with a vowel sound, you'll also get stuff like 'idear,' or 'bananar.'"

"Oh, I see. Yeah, I thought I noticed that happen a couple times while you were reading. That is so cool!"

Sophie laughed. "Glad you like it. It's a bit like the way we spell words like 'colour' with a 'u,' but you don't over here. Lots of folks around the world do the imagin'ry 'r' thing, not just us. Australians do that, so do people in Ireland. Actually, some Americans do too, I've noticed, people in New York and New Jersey. They also drop the 'r's where they belong and put them in where they don't."

"Well, maybe, but people in New York and Jersey don't sound nearly as refined or classy or smart as you do."

"Aw, Gabby, that's very sweet of you. Yeah, I've always liked being British. We moved here twelve years ago. And I was sad at the time, 'cause I had to say goodbye to me best mate Nigel. But coincidentally enough, he's actually in town right now on business! I'm going to hang out with him tomorrow! And I like it here in the States too. I do quite like the attention. Americans hear me talk, and just like you, they automatically want to tell me they like me accent."

"Yeah, I guess America's such a big country, we don't get to hear that many accents that aren't ours," mused Gabby. "And Canadians sound just like we do...except when they go 'eaut and abeaut.' That's one thing I remember from geography: countries in other continents are way smaller. So they get to mingle around and experience each other's ways a lot more. Size does matter."

"Very true," nodded Sophie. "And if we were to have any doubts, look where we are! We're in a bookshop! We could just look it up!

"Actually, come to think of it...right now, we could probably look up anything we might be wondering."

"You're right!" Gabby giggled. "I should make a list of stuff I'm curious about and we can go check it all out!"

"Well, while we're stuck in 'ere. Once we can go back home, you just get on your computer, and you've lit'rally got the world at your fingertips. Books are an incredible thing, so's the Internet.

"What makes me sad about it, though," Sophie went on, her smile evapourating, "Is that the advances in technology and entertainment we've got now've put a lot of shops out of business. Like...we've still got Millicent's, thank goodness, but we lost Borders four or five years ago. I still miss them. There were lots of those near our house."

"Oh yeah...I liked Borders too. I have a Nook now, but I still like coming to the store."

Sophie nodded again. "Ah, yes, the iPods of lit'rature. Yeah, Nooks and Kindles are nice and convenient. But for me personally, nothing'll ever replace the feeling of a book. Slipping your finger in to slide it out from the shelf...the way it feels in your grasp...the sound of pulling apart the pages that've been pressed together for so long...turning page after page to see what happens on the next...the smell of fresh parchment..." She took a deep whiff of a random point in the middle of Come Back Down. "...Ahhhh. So nice."

Nose still literally in the book, she opened her eyes and looked up to see Gabby half-smiling at her with arched brows.

"I see," she amusedly commented. "Real treat for the senses, huh?"

"Well, we love books, we devour books, but we can't exactly...you know, eat them."

"Food for thought, huh?"

"Right!" said Sophie, taking another swig of water and picking the book back up. "Well, shall we go on to chapter two then?"

*****

Champing At The Brit

Sunday, January 3rd, 2016, 12:54 a.m.

After an equally enjoyable chapter two, the girls stood to stretch out their legs and traverse the store in their bare feet. Even though it was below freezing outside and the lights were off inside, Millicent's remained warm enough to traipse shoeless. It was a no-no under normal circumstances—as was being shirtless—making it all the more freeing to break the rules, as it were. The carpet was soft, cushy and felt good on their soles. They started on the first floor and ambled through together, pointing out their favourite sections and books they'd perused and/or purchased in past visits. These books, amongst other things, served as launchpads to get to know one another better.

They'd left Sophie's purchased books by the first floor window, seeing little chance of them being stolen. They plucked a few from the shelves, playing a game of opening to a random page and reading passages they found. Some were surprising, some were whimsical, some were melancholy, some were sensual. Then Gabby began trying to read her selections in a British accent, and Sophie hers with an American one. They exchanged more cordialities and flirtations. Their inner affections grew. Though neither could be certain, and both were a little timid to ask, two hearts were ballet dancing. They were feeling a secret desire to take their fledgling friendship up a level. They spent a lot of time on the first floor, combing the narrative sections and acquainting themselves with a myriad of lovable fictitious characters, sparking according discussions. Finally, they left floor one and ascended.

"What did you wanna be when you were little?" Gabby asked as they started up the escalator.

"Well, for a couple years in the '90s I wanted to be a Spice Girl. Then I hit double digits and after that for a while I wanted to be a teacher. Then a short time after that—very short—I wanted to be a cowgirl. Then I grew up. And you then?"

Gabby laughed. "Wow, how aspiring. Well, for me, that's easy: I always wanted to be a cat."

"Really?"

"Absolutely," said Gab. "If you're a cat and you can latch onto a good, loving owner who'll feed you and play with you and give you a nice home, your life is made. Cats have some of the simplest, most carefree lives. They sleep more than half the day, eat when they want, play when they want, bug you for attention whenever they want, lie around wherever they want, you get the point. They make our lives revolve around them. And we don't even care, 'cause they're just so damn cute."

"Ha!" Sophie tossed her head back. "I must admit, that is hard to argue with. Okay, next question. What's your biggest fantasy?"

Gabby felt a tiny smile creep up her lips. Her cheeks reddened.

"Ummm...ssssssexual or non-sexual?"

Sophie tingled. This girl was a flirty bird, that was for sure.

"Let's start with non- and go from there."

"Hee hee...well, besides being a cat...believe it or not, it's unoriginal, I know, but...I wish I could fly."

"Ah, there you are! Well, unoriginal may it be, a dream's a dream. Who wouldn't love that?"

"Well, yeah, there're all sorts of reasons: it'd be so liberating, such an amazing feeling of defying gravity...and it's practical, too. Would save a ton on travel expenses. Of course, I can only imagine it. I've only been able to fly in my dreams."

Speaking of her dreams, Gabby felt as if one of them came true just a moment later. They began circulating the second floor of the store side by side, and Gab felt something warm and soft. She realised what it was. Sophie was holding her hand.

"Perhaps we could come up with a way to make you fly, love."

Gabby all but buckled in the legs and fell on her knees where she stood. She couldn't believe her fortune. Sophie's tone of voice and the tenderness she fostered linking her fingers were definitive. Sophie liked her. She wasn't kidding when she said she fancied the kitty. And Gabby sure as shooting stars wasn't kidding about liking her. She began getting so excited inside it was overwhelming. She'd never had another girl like her in this way before. She felt happier than she'd been since the day she'd jilled off thinking about her professor, and realised she was gay. Not only was this gal a British brunetty betty, she actually mirrored her fancy. Gabby'd always subscribed to the theory that if something seemed too good to be true, it probably was, but this belief was being questioned right now. It was after midnight, but she knew she was wide awake, and she knew this wasn't a dream. Somebody up there loved her. She was glowing. She wanted to cry.

"Right," she heard Sophie say. "Shall we browse some more? Travel and Geography are up here; we could find a nice book on England."

Gabby had a bit less interest in reading books just now. She raised the hand being held by Sophie's, and planted a kiss on her knuckle.

The girls came to a halt in their tracks. Sophie looked down to see and feel the peck, and it was her turn to be enchanted. Her own heart swooned. What the girls didn't suspect was that both felt just about exactly how the other did. Neither dreamt the other's excited infatuation could have surpassed her own. It was ever so much more than a mere coincidence. It was a double miracle of love at first sight, that put ordinary coincidences to shame. Neither planned on meeting her soulmate here tonight in this bookstore—let alone by themselves after business hours—and yet, here they were. All of a sudden, Sophie's immediate interests also shifted elsewhere.